tired

i forgot how tiring teaching is.

and getting up at 5am.

but i've enjoyed being back teaching. and as crazy as the seniors are driving me because i'm making them do work i am happy to be teaching. i know i am cruel and horrible to make the seniors do minimal work in an elective in the spring. what can i say - i have standards.

and i'm continuing to deal with drama with physical therapy with insurance issues. part of it is with the insurance card issue from the state in january which we are trying to fix. the other part is well my pt office made a huge mistake and finally admitted to me yesterday that - ooops, we made a mistake. it is our fault. so at least it isn't going to affect me, just that most likely they won't be paid by insurance for 8 visits. (aka a lot of money). and now i'm waiting on the insurance company to authorize more visits because well i need them still. so fun all around. but i jogged for 5 minutes on monday! woooo! it hurt a bit after so just taking it slow to get used to the new motions. but wooo!

and one perk of being in nj is getting to be back with my nj zetas! i've been able to go to a few events in the last few weeks and it makes me happy going to see these lovely women so often! i'm looking forward to brunch this weekend and then a dinner next week too!

and i'm trying to figure out my march schedule. it looks like the position i'm subbing in will end on friday. so i'm sad about that - i'm going to call the other district i sub for in nj and let them now i have some availability in march too. plus i have two conferences to look forward to! i'm off to chicago (sooo excited about!) and then just down the road in princeton (not as exciting) but the chicago one will be a blast with some amazing coworkers and i'm hanging around a few days to actually explore the city, since i've never been! so any good chicago recs? i'll have almost 2 full days to explore after the conference is over.

oh and happy leap day! it was a nice day today because we got some snow so we had an early dismissal from school! wooo! very nice to get that message ar 10:30 that we're done at 12!

happy birthday george

a big happy happy 280th birthday to my favorite president george washington!

celebrating at mt. vernon with the wac book prize crew - may 2006

all snazzy for graduation - may 2007

my graduation - may 2007

love him - november 2009

gotta say hi to george - june 2011

we did this a lot sophomore year - spring 2005

playing in the snow - feb 2006

martha not happy with me at mt. vernon - june 2011

i've given him a lot of love over the years... these are just a few of the many many photos of me and george over the years!

hope wac has a wonderful weekend of wishing him happy birthday!

check out this hilarious video of george on campus!


why i love my college & gw!

oh hi

oh hi. february is almost over and well i've been a bit busy. and well i haven't been on my computer much and i hate blogging from my phone.

so the last few weeks via pictures.

went into nyc for the super bowl to see two of my good friends from hs. we had a great night watching football and chatting about life and such. plus i drove into manhattan for the first time ever! 

i'm a very active sorority alumna both in nj & sc. i used to be a membership advisor for a collegiate chapter in nj but when i moved i resigned, but i went to help a few nights for their recruitment and had a great time! 

 

went to boston (well outside boston) to work a conference. it was a fun weekend. 6/7th graders are pretty funny and i was working with some great people. 

and i was able to see another great friend from hs who i worked with at summer camps and lives in boston. we went to dinner when i arrived on wednesday for tapas & sangria. it was delish and i haven't had good spanish food since the summer in dc. 

my work trip to boston had to end short though - my great grandmother (nanny) died and i missed the last day of the conference for work. she was 98 and had lived a great life. she had 3 children, 10 grandchildren, i'm 1 of 20 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren. sadly she was the last of my great grandparents. i knew 3 of my great grandparents all on my father's side, with her husband dying my freshman year of hs, my other great grandmother dying my junior year of college and her when i was 26. so i've been extremely lucky. this picture is 60 years old and is from my grandparents wedding and my nanny & poppy are shown there. 

my knee is doing well! i am 9 weeks post op today. and things are going great. my knee bends all the way, which is great and now i'm just getting my strength in my right leg back. therapy is going well and i can start jogging next week. wooooo! i'm doing all sorts of fun lunges, wall sits and such. 

so in other news i'm teaching for a few weeks in nj at the school where i used to teach. so far it has been good - interesting but good. it has been kinda weird to be back - i taught there the 09/10 year but was let go due to my position being cut due to the budget. and now i'm subbing in my old department for a few weeks. i'm enjoying my classes and i have about 15 of my old students who are now seniors which is funny and it has been great to see them. so just enjoying a few weeks of teaching and it really does make me miss teaching and having the same students. and it also has been great to see so many of my old co-workers! 

and to end it - this story came out of my undergrad last week and when i first read it i was so proud of washington college and to be an athlete there. it is an incredible story of sportsmanship by our basketball team and it has received a bit of national attention and a piece on it will be on next weeks (feb 25) college game day. 

happy presidents day! 

thoughts

so a few random thoughts running through my mind today, most of it is silly and just things i'm slightly obsessed with and the other is a bit more serious and has been pretty controversial in the news the last few days.

so light & fluffy first!

i'm kinda slightly obsessed with downton abbey. i'd heard about it last year from some of my british/irish friends and thought it sounded like something i'd like. and in the last month or so i've started to hear more & more about it on facebook/twitter and a few friends told me it was right up my alley and it was on netflix. so over the weekend i had some time and started watching it. and was hooked in .32 seconds.
hello.
my research interests are domestic servants (especially irish ones) and it is a historical piece and it drama/soap operay. what about that wouldn't i like.
so why i'm in LOVE with downton abbey.
-the domestic service aspect
-the 1910s/world war I time period (so under-rated!)
-so many twists and turns! i just don't want an episode to end
-umm cousin matthew
-maggie smith is in it.
-the clothes

so i watched all of season one saturday night & sunday. and then went to pbs.org to watch season two and tuesday night i'd watched the 4 episodes that have aired in the states. and i'm sooo looking forward to season three. with the years they have said (1920-1921) i'm guessing a little bit might be on the irish independence? so yea. in love with downton abbey.

moon pie!

my sister and i went to cracker barrel for lunch today. and it was amusing. we also were able to get some moon pies. which made us very happy!

the new m&m all wrapped up

sunny day!

ohhhh - and so i live down the road from where they make m&ms. and on my way to PT i pass the mars plant. so my mom noticed on saturday night (on the way home from the airport) that there was a big thing covering the plant. so on monday driving i stopped to take a picture because they had a m&m bag covering the newest m&m. and as i was in the parking lot
taking the picture i laugh because it looked like a bunch of people were coming outside for the unveiling of the new m&m and when i drove by on tuesday it was unveiled! so it is the little things that make me smile!

and well it was a gorgeous day! it smelled like spring outside (aka farmers out in the fields) and i could get used to this 60 degree february first.



and onto the serious.

so i'm sure many of you have heard about susan g. komen ending their funding to planned parenthood.
npr link  & nyt link
and well i'm not so sure about the ending of this partnership and how it is being played out with the media and how i feel about the issue.

my sorority's national philanthropy is susan g. komen and since 1992 we've been sponsors of the survivor recognition program at race for the cure. over the last 8 years since joining zta i've volunteered and donated money towards susan g. komen programs and today i am questioning my decision to continue to support this organization and also wondering how an organization i care so much about is responding to this issue.

i am pro-choice. i believe in a women's right to choose. i wouldn't say i'm pro-abortion, but if a woman weighs her options and decides to have an abortion she has the right to make that decision. i think there should be counseling and laws in place with regards to abortion but overall i believe in education and helping promote safe sex and reproductive rights for women. and planned parenthood does that. they are the largest provider of reproductive rights in the country and the majority of their work is in education and providing the resources to help women. only 3% of their services are abortions while 35% is contraception. and much of their work goes towards low income women who can't afford health care. so while i've never supported pp, i do support their ideals and women's reproductive rights and education.

and with everything that has come out recently with the withdrawal of funding to planned parenthood by susan g. komen for preventative care, screenings and education for breast cancer i'm not happy. overall sgk annually gives about $700k towards this to pp (a small percent of their overall) and i read the email i got from the northern nj komen and the annual donations to local groups they support in my area. and after looking at the issue from both sides and while komen says it is because of the house investigation they have withdrawn their support it really seems they caved to the right wing side, especially with their newest svp extremely pro-life and in her bid for governor of ga outright said she would never support pp.

so now i'm kinda disappointed in sgk for this action and how it was handled. i think that is what i'm most upset about is the way this was done and that is looks like it being disguised by something else. and how they are cutting funding for something (preventative care and information for those who need it most) but making it seem like it is because something else. and how this has become such a politicized issue.

and i guess my conflict is if i can continue to support sgk and an organization i used to believe in. i'm curious to see if zta is going to make a statement about everything? i've been a part of some interesting discussions with sisters about this and many of us are conflicted. while i love the work zta does part of me wonders if we should change our philanthropy to something else? not due to just this but the attitude of being "over-pinked" in october and other issues with sgk. so i'm interested to see where this is headed and what will happen?