I'm taking a brief interlude from the 2-inch pile of papers that need to be looked over and marked. I decided I would bring the work home because I couldn't bear the thought of working any longer in the stuffy classroom. Now I am at least in the comfort of my room, in pjs (yes, at 4:30 pm, it's perfectly acceptable...) and the coffee is ready to go. I doubt I will make it to the gym tonight, but I don't feel so bad considering I worked out for about 1:45 minutes yesterday. I also have cramps, so that gives me another excuse.

This weekend went by in a blur... it was my uncle's birthday supper on Friday, and then Alex's birthday supper on Saturday. Also, I worked at the library and did a bit of prepping somewhere in there. I've also been getting ready for Julie's bachelorette party, which is coming up this weekend! It's going to be quite the time, I think. We're going up north, to her cottage near Tremblant, and we're bringing all kinds of concoctions with us to torture Julie with before she ties the knot. Hahaha! No, I'm only kidding Julie, no need to get alarmed...


I keep walking by my neat and tidy scrap space an fantasizing about three weeks from now, when I'll be able to walk over there and create at any given moment. It actually looks very inspiring when it doesn't have heaps of crap on top of it. Well, it might not be in three weeks from now if the teacher I'm replacing comes back. I have to find out about that today, actually. She might even come back next week, which would mean only three more days!

Alright, well I better get back to work. I did make a digi page a few days ago, so I'll leave you with that. Cheers!

So I am a graduate again!

The day was cold and rainy and very, very long, but in the end, it was worth it and I'm happy that my mom forced (okay, strongly urged) me to go. Patrick slept over on Tuesday night so that we could get up early and leave by 7:15 since I had to pick up my gown. Turns out that there was no line-up at all, so we had a good hour to kill before I needed to robe and start to line up (at which point it started raining!). I saw a lot of people I knew and was able to catch up, but too bad I didn't see my pal Mallory until the last minute, and then I didn't meet up with her after :( so no catching up or photo opportunities. After we lined up in Redpath Hall, we walked down the hill to the tent, and that's when the excitement/anxiety began to set in. I felt strangely and surprisingly emotional - so I guess Julie was right when she said it would provide a much-needed sense of closure. I never went to my first grad, and we didn't even have a party, so this time around it definitely felt more special. We sat through rounds and rounds and rounds of names until finally it was time to get ready to go up on stage. I got to keep my cap on AND have a handshake because I have another degree (those with only one degree have to take their cap off and get taped on the head by some important McGill person - how bizarre, no?).

After the ceremony, the faculty gathered together for a class photo on the steps of the Redpath museum, which took forever! We were all squashed together and tons of people were swarming around to take our photo, which happened to block the actual photographer... and then it started to rain on us... Finally they got all the shots they needed (which you would need to buy) and I was looking everywhere for Mallory but couldn't find her! By then I was fed up and decided to leave - I came home with a migraine, and was pampered by Patrick. I took a nap and woke up just in time to prepare for the arrival of our guests.

My mom went all out with the food and drinks, as usual. I was spoiled with gifts and cards, which I did not expect at all! We took loads of pictures, which I am just sorting through now. Overall, a nice day that left me quite exhausted. Going back to school today was hard, but it made me realize how lucky I am to be working in the same classroom everday until (fingers crossed) the end of the school year.

Okay, time for a shower and *maybe* some scrapping before bed. Cheers!

Time keeps rolling by... lalalala...

So, I'm still working hard in grade one! It's a short week however, since I'm taking tomorrow off to go to my grad, and then Friday is a ped day. Summer is right around the corner.

Today was a busy day. Aside from work, I helped my mom clean our house, since we are a having a party tomorrow evening to celebrate the "big" day... (truth be told, I'm not all that excited and am not looking forward to about 4 hours of waiting to walk across a stage for all of twenty seconds... but I have to humor my mother)... I also went to spin and felt as though I was going to die because the instructor was so intense! She kept telling us to put up the resistance, but we weren't allowed to decrease it even during the rest period. It was a super-endurance burn. Then I came home to plan the outfit, now I'm helping Pat to plan his, and soon I will go take a well-deserved shower. I hate how high-maintenance my hair is. Whenever I wash it, it has to be blow-dried and then straightened or else it looks like a giant poof-ball. Anyways, enough rambling on that topic.

I hope the sun decides to show itself tomorrow, even though it's unlikely that will happen.

I wish I had some interesting photos or layouts to share, but I don't. Actually, I'm behind on uploading a few cards and a layout... will get around to that eventually. And I'm sure I'll have some nice photos after tomorrow (or at least I hope so!). Cheers!

Hmm... maybe it's time that I update my blog again...

It's funny how life ebbs and flows. Right now I am really not in the mood to blog. I am busy with other things, like teaching. I haven't been scrapping. But I have been reading and watching a lot of movies. Oh, and working out at the gym. Those seem to be the priorities that are most important to me right now. I have no desire to go to my scrap table - none. I have more desire to do some digi scrapping, although I have been downloading all these kits and many have yet to be touched. When summer comes, I'm sure I'll find my groove again for all these other projects that I have on the back burner.

My students were so good today I could have just cried. It's been such a long road, but after 5 weeks together, they've finally settled in (fingers crossed). Even the one boy who is very, very difficult was so good today. It makes me feel so accomplished. Many of the other teachers have been complimenting me, so that also really means a lot!

It was my mom's birthday on May 6th, and then of course it was Mother's Day on the following weekend. So I ended up getting her these two things as a combined gift:

The show was amazing! I definitely recommend it to anyone. They are soooo talented. The costumes are out of this world. The whole thing was really more than we expected, especially since we'd never seen a Cirque du Soleil show before.

Anyways, there is more to say, but I'm tired and in no mood, plus I need to fold laundry and then get ready to go to the gym. So cheers...

Talk about being out of the blogging groove... I apologize to all my loyal followers ;)
So, life as a first grade teacher is indeed an interesting thing. There is never a dull moment. All of the teachers in the school have been saying that it's trial by fire, and after this I'll be ready for anything. So, so true. Did I forget to mention that I'm replacing a teacher for the time being (possibly until the end of the year)? Well, that's what's been consuming my life for the past two and a bit more weeks. I have become the ultra-organized multi-tasker. Thanks for all the prep Anna, I'm finally ready to take it all on :)

Aside from that, my bestest bud had her "surprise" bridal shower yesterday (above is the card I made for her). Well, we didn't fool her very much, and she was being a very naughty girl questioning her fiance for every detail, but he didn't let the secret out before the actual event. It was a lot of fun, many laughs, good food, and a pile of gifts for Julie! You deserve it!! Here are some photos from the event. Julie may kill me for the "hat" photo.

Four days off just flew by in no time at all. It was my birthday weekend and Easter combined, so quite a few things were going on, not to mention the fact that I finished my stage last Thursday and have now started subbing in a grade one class for an undetermined amount of time at the moment. I feel like I need another four day vacation after today! But I would rather reminisce about my lovely weekend.

On Thursday night, I stayed at school photocopying resource books until past 6 pm (crazy I know) and was pampered by my cooperating teacher who gave me some nice teacher-related gifts. She even made a little spiral-bound book with pictures of the class, and hand-written messages from all the children. I got all sappy over that.

After the long day, I went to Patrick's for supper. His family had decided to celebrate Easter that evening, so I rushed there to have a really nice several-course meal prepared by his aunt and uncle. They made the famous Oreo cake for dessert, and of course I had to have a huge piece. They sang me happy birthday and all, and I got a nice card from Pat's dad and sister.

The next day, I went to do my own workout at the gym and relaxed in the sauna (wow, I love my new gym). Then I went shopping for supplies, went to get my hair high-lighted, cut and styled, and then Julie and Ken had us over for my special birthday supper. I don't know how I managed to forget my camera for that event. We are really out of the photography and scrapbooking groove. Anyways, it was a super great meal with chicken parmesan and cupcakes for dessert. We then played the now-famous psychiatrist game - it never fails to disappoint. We acted out our parents this time, and apparently I am pretty convincing as my mother, because Ken caught on immediately, which kinda ruined the fun, but watcha gonna do.

Saturday was another busy day. I went to do spinning in the morning, started planning for this week, went to try on shoes for our bridesmaid attires, then had an Easter dinner (sort of, although half the family was missing). By the evening, all I wanted to do was vegetate, which exactly what I did. Patrick watched hockey and then I went to bed at 10:30 pm.

On Sunday, my mom made a brunch with blueberry waffles (just for the two of us) and then I got packed to go to the Alt hotel with Patrick as his birthday get-away gift for me. We arrived in late afternoon and stayed the night. Wow, what a nice place!! Check the photos... it was so good to go somewhere chic and new. It was just the escape that we both needed. We also went to try Casey's for supper and were pleasantly surprised.

Yesterday was an easy-going day. I tried the new Jukari class at the gym. If you aren't familiar with this (as I wasn't before I joined), you will be amazed after watching this. I am in so much pain today after holding on to that bar and jumping around for an hour. It is so much fun though, despite that!

Anyways, time to crawl in bed. I'll leave you with some photos from the hotel. Cheers :)

Some random thoughts/happenings at the moment:

1 - I have 4 days of stage left and then I'm officially DONE. Yay me!

2 - I am now a member of Mansfield gym. I did a spinning class this morning and found it very hard but so invigorating. It's going to be fun getting back into the groove of working out properly.

3 - I need to get inspired by photography again. I need to take more pictures.

4 - I need to get back into scrapbooking.

5 - I'm getting my hair cut next Friday night and can't wait. It's about time for a change.

6 - Patrick is super busy with clients lately and I'm so proud of him. Things have really picked up in the last little while. I can't help but think how the world works in mysterious ways. I'm tempted to believe that it was part of his mom's gift to him...

7 - We are carrying on fairly well considering.

8 - I'm working at the library this weekend, so I have little time to do anything.

9 - My mom had a birthday supper for my grandma and I this evening. There was lots of delicious food, 2 amazing cakes, and the usual laughs. Of course, I got no decent pictures of the event.

10 - We also got a new kitchen table today, which was set up just on time! There is always something going on...

11- We played this game called "psychiatrist" where one person leaves the room, and everyone else has to think of a "problem" and then act it out when the person comes back. That person then has to guess what the problem is by asking questions and deciphering what the heck is going on. It is SOOO funny. Some examples: we collectively were Celine Dion; another one was that each person was a finger (thumb, ring finger, etc); and yet another, we each acted like the person sitting to our left... The game was introduced to us last week by Nadine and Brad and we had a great time playint it then as well. I recommend it if you have a crowd over and are looking to laugh like crazy.

12 - I should really be going to bed now. I feel like I'm on the verge of coming down with something again. Patrick and my mom are both sick. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm starting to develop an immunity against the infected children I come into contact with every day. Anyways, goodnight!