one year

last year i was boarding a plane in shannon and flying back to new jersey on march 24th. i have been back in the states for a year now and what a year it has been. the last 365 days have been pretty incredible and i've decided to write a post summing up the fabulousness of the last year rather than a post about the sadness of missing ireland.

quick note for all the new readers - i lived in cork, ireland from september 2007 to march 2009 and had an absolutely amazing time doing my masters in history, working & traveling.

so since i landed at newark liberty international airport at 11.30 am i have:

-bought a new car - colby my 2009 chevy cobalt who i just hit 18,000 miles on yesterday

-moved to connecticut with my college roomie 5 days later

-started teaching middle school students about whaling, maritime history and working on a ship and loving it

-my college loves and i reuniting in providence/boston and ct multiple times

-making some bad decisions with gator...

- cheering on one of my best friends as she ran the boston marathon

-danish ghosts at work

-seeing a good friend of mine catie and going to a bruce springsteen concert!

-crazy drinking in connecticut. between margarita nights, saturday nights and parties...

-applying to a million and seven teaching jobs

-helping amy coach rowing

-being super sad to leave connecticut

-home in jersey for a few days

-some kitty drama with scarlett being eaten and lillian being attacked but surviving and putting alice/trixie to sleep

-moving down to nova/dc for the summer to work at a high school leadership conference

-having the best summer roomie, crazy 7-11 runs, lots of tswift/kclarkson/mcyrus,

-team westpark and the happy hours

-dating the boy for the summer

- fun times with high school students in dc/nyc for 7 weeks

-getting a teaching job in nj

-enjoying the month of august in the jersey shore,hiking,lots of pa, nyc

- a crewie reunion in maryland

-joining my sorority alumni chapter

-a crazy fall pretty much spent at school but loving my co-workers and some great students

-seeing my first crew regatta in 2 years

- a redic halloween in connecticut

-going back to wac/maryland for the first time since graduation

-meeting friends in nyc whenever i want

- a first thanksgiving with my family in a long time and the parade in nyc

-started coaching the ski team

-a nice christmas with my family

-a quiet nye with erin

-started seeing matt

-seeing friends for dinner

- still loving my teaching job

-an awesome trip to kansas to see patricia

-waaaay too much snow

- putting puppy to sleep :(

-riverdance!

and here i am today... it was a pretty awesome year, full of the unexpected. because when my plane landed i knew i was moving to connecticut until june and then the unknown. and i have been so lucky that it was a positive year and so many incredible things have happened. i've met so many amazing people, made new friends and had a few crazy adventures.

my heart will always be in ireland and i am so glad that i had the opportunity to live there, but i really have been happy with my decision to move back to the states and everything i've been able to do this year.

female coach

finaaaally friday. it is weird, while the months are flying by, it seems like each day is slow. i feel like the last few weeks i've been, how is it only tuesday? but here it is march 12th. seriously! but it is a super yucky rainy weekend here but earlier this week it was gorgeous! so i can't complain. spring is on the way. and this weekend is time change! yesss, not getting dark until later.

earlier this week was winter sports awards and it was a fun night. to hear a little about each other sports season and then each team broke off and we did our own thing. coach and i talked about each of the kids and then their awards and the 2 seniors/captains gave out team awards. and then i was shocked. to thank me (i was a volunteer coach) coach got me new ski poles, reallly nice gloves, goggles and then a ski tuning kit with wax, sharpeners. so now i wish it wasn't spring and i could go skiing to use all my new toys. i can't wait for next season. but the kids all made me laugh talking about me and thanking me. and one of the boys started calling me female coach early on in the season and it kinda stuck. and all the kids were calling me it by the end. and the nickname makes me laugh. i do miss ski season.

and then the other day i got my haircut. and i did something i did 8 years ago when i was a junior in high school. i dyed my hair. i'd been frustrated with it recently. it was dull and just blaaah. my mom suggested some color or highlights to give it some uuumph. so i went to the salon and got it done by the woman whose been doing my hair since i was 13 and wow, does it make a difference. recently i'd been going to a new place because i hate paying $50 for a haircut. but she is so good and it comes out so much better than the cheaper places. so after getting her opinion and her telling me to go with a semi-permanent dye (she knows i don't want to deal with roots) and letting her pick a color. i went with it. and i LOVE it! it is a bit darker with a hint of redish in it.

after before

and this week is quiet, going to the outlets with erin tomorrow in the pouring rain, driving to pa to see twin this weekend and her new apartment! yay! and it is going to be a good week. i have a field trip on thrursday/friday and then RIVERDANCE on saturday with erin. and then matt and i are doing something. and this wednesday is also st. partick's day but i probably won't be doing anything. all i want to do on wednesday is be at sin e with a pint of beamish and listening to a trad session.

any fun weekend plans?

done with winter

that's it! i am done with winter!

the weathermen have finally been right in my area - we've gotten about 2 feet of snow over the last day and a half. and we also had some slushy snow wednesday too. so total this week i've worked for 2.5 days. and i am done with winter.

i was not happily expecting this storm, i really didn't want school cancelled for 2 days. i want to be done in june, not going extra days. and i don't want days taken off my spring break in april. while shoveling this morning which took about 3 hours, my mom and i were talking how we haven't gotten a storm like this since i was a kid. when we used to get at least one of these 2 footers each year. but it has been a snowy winter here. especially in february!

and i wanted to be productive these 2 days. i brought home a stack of grading 6" high and i have lots of powerpoints to create for notes on the civil war and the civil rights movement. but i have a hard time being productive at home. so i'm now sitting at the kitchen table and i told myself i have to work until 5. and then i should be getting a phone call from a cute boy with our plans for tonight. since it has stopped snowing and the sun is out! maybe it might melt the snow?

and also having the olympics has also made it hard to concentrate! my skiers haven't done well the last 2 days, but the final event mens event - slalom is tomorrow. and the canada-US women's hockey game was good. and i'm excited for the men's US game with finland today.

and i was sick earlier this week, but falling asleep when you get home at 4.30 and then sleeping to 7am the next morning is the easiest way to feel better! (yay for a delay wednesday morning) until your students get on your case about not having anything graded. oops, sorry guys.

oh and i saw something yesterday that reminded me i was in italy a year ago now. so last night i went through all 700 of my italy photos and laughed about the fabulousness of that trip.

and i'm going to end this because it isn't making any sense. hope you had a good end of the week! any fun weekend plans? i'm not doing anything this weekend and it makes me sad :(

the house and alll the snow at 9.30 this morning

up the road at 4.30 on thursday afternoon

our silly dog just relaxing in the snow this morning when shoveling

i'm really short...

uggh, so even though this week was a 3 day week it seemed to drag by! i had a million things going on and lots of confusion. but it was a good week. and an even better weekend. and lots of skiing!

school was rough this week, not sure why. but i was having a hard week and the kids also didn't want to be there. and it seems like time was just standing still. and i was spending more time than usual in guidance dealing with a few issues. but i'm hoping that this is a regular week things will be better. oh and my students totally made fun of me and my kansas history weekend when i showed them a few pictures of me and history of what we'd been discussing in class.

it was a crazy week with skiing. the meet tuesday was postponed to wednesday and it was our final league meet. our boys were in the last spot to make it to semis and as long as we held where we were we'd be ok. the boys all had great first runs but the second not so much. so we were a little concerned, but it turned out we ended up tied with another school for the last spot in the semis. or so we thought. thursday morning coach finds me in my prep and goes we're racing today, turns out the first race had some timing issues that he only found out about that morning. so we didn't make semis. so that was disappointing. so we thought the race was normal time. until i'm teaching and one of my skiers is in that class and gets up to leave. race is at 3 coach... umm, since when. since other coach saw me before class. ok... so i drive up after school and they did well there. and i'm excited for next year - there will be a few great boys coming back and hopefully we can find some girls. and the one girl raced on friday in the semis and she qualified for the state championships this week! yay! so that is awesome. so my season is over. i'm sad that it is over, because i really have loved coaching, but glad at the same time because well getting home at 7.30 every night and 9.30 on race nights is exhausting. and i've been kinda slacking on some of my school work, so now being able to stay at school to get work done will be good.

and it was a good weekend :) ran a million errands friday night and then dinner with erin. and pretty much fell asleep watching the olympics at like 9.30. and then saturday was a family affair in the morning for my grandfather's 81st birthday and then i was off to penn for the charity ball with matt :) had a great time with him, i met his parents this weekend and i think it went well. talked a lot with his mom at the event, so now he just has to meet my parents... and here we are

and looking at the photo i realize i how short i really am! i'm wearing 3" heels here. and i'm still like 9" shorter than he is. so we had a fun time at the event and then just hanging out this morning. watched the best movie ever this morning- mighty ducks. and then i've been olympic watching all night. the canada-us hockey game! which was pretty intense. i love hockey!

and let me just discuss my love for the us ski team, as anyone following me on twitter must know. i am so proud of them this year! we've medaled so far in every event for both men's and women's alpine so far. and i can't wait to see the gs and slalom races later this week. between bode's 3 medals (finally got his gold today) and lindsey vonn and julia mancusco tearing it up for the women's team. i'm in my heaven just watching them race. looooves it.

and this weekend was birthday ball, sadly i wasn't in maryland this weekend celebrating george washington's birthday this year with everyone at my undergrad. but i was thinking about it and i will be doing my own toast to george on tuesday!

anyway how was your weekend? watching the olympics?

let it snow...

so we finally got our snowstorm in western jersey. about 15 glorious inches of snow fell wednesday. and i greatly enjoyed my day off school yesterday and the 2 hour delay today. i love delays, seriously they could happen a bit more. school starting at 9.30 instead of 7.30 is amazing. getting up when i would be at school already is brillant! it was a highly unproductive snow day, which was nice, but it means i need to do work this weekend now. i enjoyed sleeping in, watching some millionaire matchmaker, reading a book, a few cups of tea and also watching some trashy movies on nexflix instead.. and going on a walk in the snow with my parents and dog and shoveling out my car twice. so all in all a productive day right? but i've had enough snow for the year, so it can be spring now. kthanx weather gods :)

i leave my kansas tomorrow night! yay :) just have to get through tomorrow and i have a faaaabulous 4 day weekend. which 3 of those days will be spent singing along to taylor swift, seeing valentine's day, going to a KU basketball game, drinking, reminiscing about team westpark, making a million jersey shore references and having an ammmmmazing time with patricia! if only the 3rd member of our posse wasn't busy working in dc. booo. but i am SO excited. i realllly miss going on adventures. i've been back in the states for almost a year now (seriously time is flying!) and while i've loved going to visit friends in dc/md/ct/pa/nyc... i just miss hopping on a plane and going to italy or london or spain or somewhere fun in europe. so hopping on a flight to kansas kinda reminds me of my european life. which i miss pretty much every day.

and the silly snow has really messed up things with ski team, but hopefully it is all figured out. and fingers crossed the team makes the semi-finals to maybe make states? but practice today... ommmmg - was incredible. i forgot how fabulous it is to ski on powder... usually we have ice. so it was real skiing today, not ice skiing. and we just told the kids to have fun and ski. so i did about 6 runs myself and just tore it up. i am going to be sore tomorrow, because i haven't skied like that since m and i went skiing. usually i do like 2 runs and just stand around. and it made me remember how much i love skiing :)

anyway it is late and grey's/private practice are almost over and i'm ready for bed. and i graded the quizzes i gave today and my lesson plans are done for next week :)

what are your plans for the weekend?

crazy crazy crazy

crazy crazy crazy, that is what february will be. the next 20 days are pretty insane. but i am super excited about most of it!

i have a usual week this week with ski practice until 7 m/t/th and a meet wednesday. friday night is out with erin. saturday is another ski meet/zta recruitment. monday is a ski meet, tuesday is zta recruitment until midnight, wednesday is a ski meet, thursday is more zta recruitment until midnight and friday - monday is kansas! wednesday/thursday are ski meets and saturday is the ball. and either harrisburg,pa or conn the weekend of the 27/28....

ahhhhhh! but it is going to be a lot of fun! so just get me through the next 20 days and i'll be fabulous. because ski will most likely be over the 18th, because i don't think we will have anyone making it to states. and the usual crazy of work. but i love being busy and i'd rather be busy than just coming home and not doing anything.

last week was good, but the week seemed to draaag by. maybe because it was the end of midterms and then wed-fri were normal days of school but neither myself or the students wanted to be in school, so wed/thurs were horrible. like they were just djsjfjsfjsdjfsjfjsgjd and off the wall, like the worst behavior i've had all year. but they were much better today.so here's hoping the rest of the week will be good and the days will go by fast like they usually do. today sure sped by and they were good. and it was hilarious to see a few of my girls reaction to the new german exchange student... i had to bite my lip to stop from laughing...

had a fun weekend though, met my college friend jclark in princeton for some bonding. we had a great time walking around the town and the university in the freezing cold! and the highlight, we snuck into an academic building and took pictures of ourselves. haha! what dorks we are! and then i went to pa to see the boy and his new house and met a few of his friends. so it was fun and relaxing and like usual went by waaaaay too fast.

and saw this today and i was laughing so hard. i know these are like so two years ago, but i still laugh and love them. so here is hitler's reaction to the jersey shore being relocated for season 2.

and yay for tswift winning 4 grammys! i must say though i was highly disappointed with the performances though. the lady gaga/elton john was fabulous, but after that i was like wtttf?

happy february to everyone and hope that punxutawney phil doesn't see his shadow tomorrow and spring will be here sooner!

sunday update

another weekend has gone by... and they go by waay to fast! i hate how fast sunday night sneaks up, but really before i know it it will be thursday night again. seriously does anyone else just feel the weeks flying by? like next week is february already! (which is going to be a fabulous month) but i still have another week of january to enjoy.

so things i have been up to the last week (because it seems like i only write on sunday anymore)

-it was midterms most of last week at school. so the kiddies had half days and we had the afternoon to grade. so far the 3.5 classes i have graded they did well or what was usual. so i was happy with that. and i also gave them a chance to grade me for the first half of the year and nothing really unexpected from that. they for the most part like my teaching style, though i could vary it more, i'm prepared, organized, know my history and they like my class. so it pretty much affirmed what i was thinking that they like my class and me. but gave me a few things to work on in the 2nd half of the year - try to do different things and make it more relavent to their everyday life. this week i have 2 days of exams and tomorrow i have a day to just get work done! i need to grade the essays for 1 class and finish up notes for the chapters i'm starting this week. so it will be nice to get a day to get stuff done. and then wednesday starts the 3rd marking period.

-skiing is still going well. i'm enjoying my afternoons on the mountains and getting to ski, though i spend most of my time standing on the mountain at the top of the practice gates while the kids ski down and then take the lift back up. but it is fun, they make me laugh. and they did well last week, with our top 4 boys being about 7 seconds apart from each other, so lots of internal competition.

-tuesday went to see leap year with erin. and while it was cute i was disappointed. just a few random bits about ireland in the movie made me kinda eehhh. like in the beginning going from wales to dingle when she was trying to get to cork... if you look at a map it just doesn't make sense! also dingle is one of my favorite places in ireland and nope, not filmed there. and they made western ireland look really backwards. now i know the bus schedule is miserable (believe me i used it a TON) and the train is almost non-existant and really bad. and i wish it was actually filmed in the dingle/tipp area since thats what they said. but it was filmed in connemara and wicklow which look totally different. and the scenery, well i was rather disappointed with the little they showed. ohhh well. besides the irish scenery part i enjoyed it. it was cute and predictable and i love my romantic comedies.

-faaabulous weekend. went to dinner with twin friday night. haven't seen her in a while, so we spent 3.5 hours talking about life, boys, the future, work, laughing about being 16, and everything. it was great and i can't wait to see her new place in penn when she moves in with her bf next week! annnd then last night i went out with m. my original plan was foiled by winter, so we drove around talking and then went to a great little brew-pub for dinner and stayed for a bit listening to the music and then headed out and i decided to take him on a little adventure where we made out in the backseat of my car... which made me feel like i was 16.. which is funny because i didn't do it when i was really 16. i've really enjoyed spending time with him and i can't wait for next weekend! and i'll work on getting a picture, which is funny, because i haven't taken any pictures, which for me is extremely rare. so i'll work on it.

-and i finally joined the 21st century and signed up for netflix. any movie suggestions? i'm pretty heavy on the romantic comedy side of things.. haha

-and the jets loss. it was a pretty crazy game. they started out strong, but couldn't hold it in the 2nd half. i give the jets a great run. they had a rookie qb and coach. and while even i though rexie was crazy when he said they would go all the way, they did surprise everyone by making it this far. and maybe i'll have a good team next year?

-and i'm sad. a year ago roomie and i were frolicking around ireland. and i was driving the best rental car ever and we were laughing and hugging history and also about to head off to spain. i miss going on euro adventures every month...

how was your weekend?

why i love my job

i've mentioned a lot how much i am loving my job. and most days i really enjoy teaching high school students. and this week has made me love my school and teaching and my students (well most of them). so my school has a pretty good media program and they televise the morning announcements and every morning between the warning bell and start of school they play a song over the loudspeaker and have some random phrase on the tv. usually the phrase is like wacky wednesday! or TGIF... well last week was the week of john mayer and it put me in a good mood and on tuesday they played "crazy game of poker" by OAR and hearing that just brought me back to freshman year of college. and to make the morning even better on the screen it said - GTL baby, gym. tanning. laundry. now for those of you unaware it was a line from jersey shore. and i burst out laughing when i saw this and then my students discussed the show during homeroom. soooo today it said - it's thursday which means jersey shore! and well i just laughed. and then during announcements they were reading something for ski and on accident they said mr. mylastname instead of miss. so of course my students called me mr. allll first period. but i also found it pretty amusing too, so i couldn't blame them.
and my juniors today both first period and later in the day remind me almost everyday why i love teaching. they are fun, are actively learning and are relatively problem free. unlike my sophomores... which are another whole story. my 9th period class welllll frustrated me beyond belief today and they reminded me that your average high school student is lazy and no matter how many times you stress accountability and practically give them the assignment they still won't do it and then give you some great excuses as to why it isn't done. buuuuut i love teaching despite the redic high schoolers sometimes.

and skiing is going well. our first meet was last night and my skiers did well. they placed ok and we didn't come in last, and they all individually skied well and now they are more ready for next week. and it was weird, but i really felt like a coach yesterday. i had the 3 new kids and we were inspecting the course and as i'm explaining the gates and the best ways to attack the course it hit me, i'm a coach. and then as i was at the top before their first run and walkie talking down to coach at the bottom discussing their runs and my skiers all asking me for advice :) so i'm loving getting to see students outside of class and also getting to coach and learning a lot more about skiing.

and in random news... so i've been listening to a lot of darius rucker. he ia country artist and has had some pretty popular songs recently - alright, it won't be like this for long and (my favorite right now) history in the making. sooo i was listening to something and they were talking about his recent success and they said something about hootie and the blowfish...

yea, darius = hootie.

and it wasn't until i heard him sing, i was like omggggg. how have i not realized this before. and apparently my mom knew it when i told her, so i felt kinda stupid that i didn't know.

so here is the song i've been in LOVE with - history in the making. (i can't embed it)

and the lyrics are just increddddible.

and it is almost the weekend. i'm looking forward to it and it should be fun :)

ohhhh jersey

so post secret made me laugh this weekend because I KNOW WHERE THIS SIGN IS! i pass it when i take I-80 west to pennsylvania (exit 4b if you wanted to know) and i was just this way over the weekend! and i go on 46 allll the time, i was today. YAY for weird town names in jersey!

anyway, luckily we missed most of the blizzard in northwest new jersey, only about 4-5 inches of snow! yay! but it did mess up my weekend plans, so i couldn't go down to philly to see jeanne for the weekend. booo. but friday night was fun, one of my co-workers and i went and finished christmas shopping and went out to dinner and just had fun :) yay! and then i spent the weekend finishing up christmas cards and reading.

there are 1.5 more days of school until break :) yay! and then i am off until january 4th!

and there is a lot of change going on at school, still not sure how it will effect me, but overall i think it is a positive but it means things will be pretty crazy in the social studies department. and today we had a lockdown drill. and the end of a lockdown is a firedrill (still not sure of the logic behind congregating the school in 2 open fields if we think something is wrong...) but it was at 9.30 this morning. when it was below freezing. did they warn us? nooope. so we were standing outside for 15 minutes this morning. not cool.

tomorrow is the first day on the mountain for practice! yay :) sooo looking forward to seeing if i remember how to ski.

and i am WAY behind on the best of 09, i started out soooo well. so hopefully tomorrow i'll get around to that :)

ahhhhh!

umm, so last week quickly went out of control. like from 15-60 in about 12 hours. i just had SO MUCH stuff to do! and like no time.

wednesday was a snow day. we got like 4 inches of super wet heavy snow, and up by school they got about 7 inches. and then it rained and made life gross. it was nice, though i hate using a snow day up in december. i slept, which was glorious. and then graded 40 world war II propaganda projects which took forever! and then thursday was test day, so i now had 100 tests to grade on world war II and antebellum america. and thursday i also ran practice, and i made my skiers do our crazy ab workout from college, haha! and then i went to the christmas concert at school. and i also had to make sure i had sub plans in order. i swear that is just as much work! because on friday i was going on the model congress field trip. so i was just like sjfsgkkdgkdkfdkfd.... and then i went to connecticut for the weekend to see the fabulous roomie and other mystic friends.

and i just finished grading the last few tests because progress reports are due tuesday morning at 9am. so tomorrow i need to go in slightly early and enter the grades, i just finished grading. and when my one class was like are we getting tests back and i said, no i didn't get to finish yours - i responded with sorry i had a life this weekend. i don't sit around all weekend grading tests, i like the weekends just as much as you guys do. they laughed. and i am so glad this is the last full week before christmas. i am soooo looking forward to 10 days off. and maybe i'll get some stuff ready in advance, so the next chapters will be easier? and with midterms and everything. ahhhh, so much going on. but i love it.

so i've been neglecting the best of 09. so here is the last week! how did that happen? eeek!

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

moment of peace? all the long car drives i've made this year. i do a lot of thinking in the car alone, while rocking out to my favorite music and just wondering. or popping into my favorite coffee shop in cork - tribes on rainy sundays with a great book to just sit and relax for a few hours.

December 9 Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

best challenge is a tie between moving back to the states and my first few months teaching. both have been extremely rewarding and oh so challenging. but i love it. i'm so happy i'm back in the classroom and that moving back to the us has been as amazing as it has. honestly 2009 has just been incredible.

December 10 Album of the year. What's rocking your world?

ummmm, i think you know this. but taylor's fearless. i know it came out in november 2008, but it has honestly been my soundtrack this year.

thought for one in 2009 i'm quite fond of the glee soundtrack (yes, i went there)

December 11 The best place. A coffee shop? A pub? A retreat center? A cubicle? A nook?

ummm, best place... i can't choose. there are too many places i've loved. from ireland to my travels around europe to connecticut, dc, philly, maryland, new jersey....

December 12 New food. You're now in love with Lebanese food and you didn't even know what it was in January of this year.

red wine. wasn't a big red wine fan until the roomie and i went to spain in january. now it is almost all i drink! especially spanish red wine. now i want a glass.

December 13 What's the best change you made to the place you live?

ummmm, i lived in 4 different places this year.

cork, ireland - mystic, ct - westpark hotel - new jersey

December 14 Rush. When did you get your best rush of the year?

best rush. getting the phone call 4 hours after my interview offering me the teaching job. i was completely shocked and couldn't believe that i was going to be teaching this fall! it was so surreal!

how is everyone's week? i can't believe christmas is so close! my students remind me everyday! and i'm excited for this weekend and seeing my love in philly! yay :)

night :)

put me in coach...

december? how is it december? seriously?

i'm still in shock, how fast 2009 has gone. but it has been one extremely awesome and incredible year. i still can't believe it.

life is good :) today was the first day of ski practice. well not on the slopes, but our dryland training. so looots of running and getting into shape. and it went well. the team is small, but it should be fun. and i'm excited to do something outside of school and getting the opportunity to coach, even if i am just volunteering this year.

i have 65 projects to read on the lowell mills and 40 on world war II propaganda. not looking forward to reading all those... and i'm getting my second observation by my supervisor tomorrow. it should go well, we are discussing 3 supreme court cases from the early 1800s that deal with nationalistic policies - mc cullough v. maryland, dartmouth v. woodward and gibbons v odgen.

so yay for school going well. and ski and everything in life.