It's almost here!!!!

Back in January, I took on the role of event chair for Relay for Life of East Orange. It has been a ton of work, while stressful, it has also been very rewarding seeing so many people join to help find and fund research for a cure! I still think for time to time what was I thinking?!?!?!?! Once I have a small freakout, I remember the reason I am doing this and the immense amount of support I have received from my friends, family, and COMMITTEE!!!

The event is this Friday, April 27-28. I am starting to stress a little, but I think once things start getting set up and the event gets under way, I think everything will be fabulous! If you are interested in donating, our website is listed here Relay for Life of East Orange

I will be back this weekend with a recap of how everything went!!!! :)

Below is the reason our event is 18 hours:

 Relay For Life is an 18 hour journey providing the light of day and dark of night to parallel the physical effects, emotions and mental state of a cancer patient while undergoing treatment.Relay For Life begins during the day, when the sun is shining bright and the excitement and energy is flowing through the community. The setting sun symbolizes the time when a patient is diagnosed with cancer. The day is getting darker and this represents the cancer patient’s state of mind as he or she feels that life is on an unknown journey. As the evening goes on it gets cooler and darker, just as the emotions of the cancer patient do.

Around 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Relay participants have been walking for hours and may begin to feel tired and the desire to take a break or go home. This represents the time when a cancer patient starts treatment. It is at this time that many patients become exhausted, some sick, not wanting to go on, possibly wanting to give up. Just as the cancer patient cannot give up on his or her treatment, Relay participants push through this phase, showing unity with cancer patients around the world.

By 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Relayers are truly exhausted, but the end is in sight and they begin to believe they will make it to the morning celebration. This symbolizes the coming of the end of treatment for the cancer patient who is tired, but who has hope and motivation to push through until the end of treatment.

The sun rising represents the end of treatment for the cancer patient. They see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that life will go on. The morning light brings on a new day full of life and excitement for new beginnings for the cancer patient. As a participant, you will feel the brightness of the morning and know that the end of the RELAY is close at hand. You will feel triumphant in the knowledge that you, one person, has made an impact in the fight against cancer.

When you leave the RELAY, think of the cancer patient leaving his or her last treatment. Just as you are exhausted and weak, so is that person after treatment. But a new day has arrived and we are continuing to take up the fight against cancer. REMEMBER: There is no finish line until we find a cure.

 

FCAT testing

This weekend did not allow me to line up my posts like I normally do, so I will post when I can throughout the week.

Today started FCAT for elementary, middle and high school students. FCAT stands for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. This test determines whether or not kids can receive their high school diplomas when they take it in 10th grade. It is a high stakes test that stresses a lot of people out!

I was so nervous about the testing last night, that not only did I not sleep well, I had a bit of a nightmarish dream. Everything that could go wrong in regards to the test did go wrong in my dream. I woke up several times to realize that it was just a dream. My test material was messed up and parts were missing, I was late to school, I couldn't get in my classroom, the kids didn't listen when I asked to put away all electronic devices and I had to invalidate all of the tests.


LUCKILY....that was all just a dream!

Testing went very well today! I couldn't be happier with how things went in regards to the students I tested! Tomorrow is the second part of test! If you happen to be thinking about my students for whatever reason, wish them luck! I know many are stressed about it!

I mentioned this dream to one of my classes and one student said, "Do you have regular dreams?" He meant do I have dreams not related to teaching. I just laughed and said, "Of course I do!"  :)

Happy Birthday to you!

Today is my beautiful sister's 27th birthday! She is my best friend and we always have fun together! I am so glad she lives about 10 minutes from me. Even though we are both really busy, it is still nice to know we are just down the street from each other!

Even though we have our differences, we usually agree to disagree! I am so proud of everything she has accomplished in her life and it has been fun watching her grow up as my big seester! :)


Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to Ashley!
Happy birthday to you!

I hope it is fabulous I love you :)

In memory...we miss you

It has been a year to the date that we lost a family member on my husband's side of the family. We all really struggled with the loss and sometimes it is still not easy to think about. I know my husband was very hurt by the loss. We had just seen Uncle Rick at Thanksgiving and everything was wonderful with him at that time, so when the news came in April, it was very much as a shock!

I think about him often and wanted to dedicate this post to him! While I did not get to spend much time with him, he was a very caring person and intriguing to talk to. He left behind a wonderful daughter, two granddaughters, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. I know that we all miss him very much and think about him often.

I close this post with these song lyrics by Rascal Flatts...

"Oh, why? That's what I keep askin'
Was there anything we could have said or done?
Oh, I had no clue you were masking
A troubled soul, God only knows what went wrong
And why you'd leave the stage in the middle of a song
your absolutely beautiful song."

Uncle Rick we miss you and may you rest in peace! 

Wonderful weekends and Easter Sunday

I have decided that weekends go by entirely too quick! I think we should work for four days and then have three day weekends!! That sounds wonderful to me :)

This weekend wasn't originally going to be busy, but it ended up being so as they always do! On Saturday, I helped teach the FCAT Saturday Success camp. These Saturday sessions are supposed to recap two different aspects of reading in order to help the students prepare for the FCAT test on April 16-17. My subject was literary analysis and because it is such a huge topic, I focused on theme, tone and mood. I felt like it went very well and the students were very engaged! It was rough getting up at 5:30 a.m. on my weekend!

Later that evening, we went to Senor Frogs to celebrate a friends birthday! We had a fabulous time! Ate, drank a lot and had a merry time! After we finished up, we decided to go putt putt golfing. It seemed like a good idea, but no one was playing seriously so we just kind of meandered through and played a hole here and there. It sure was funny to watch since most of us were a smidge intoxicated. Even though it was so much fun, I am sure some of us were paying the price the next morning.
The group at Senor Frogs

Easter Sunday! Our family went to church together at a Lutheran church downtown Orlando. It was a very nice service and it felt really good to be back in church since it has been since early January :-| We had Easter dinner at our parents house and it sure was yummy!

DIY wreath

Thanks to a website called pinterest, there are so many new DIY projects out there that I want to do! I spent a little time crafting this weekend. One of them is a wreath that will eventually go on our door. I have to find a new door hanger because the one I bought doesn't work. :( Anyway, I am very happy with the way it turned out and can't wait to hang it. My sister did one as well for her house, DIY front door wreath. This particular project I found on pinterest and wanted to do it even more after I saw how hers turned out. I just happened to use our college colors because I thought the light yellow and the purple looked great together. :)

Materials needed:
1 wreath
hot glue gun (I bought a purple one :) )
floral wire
flowers
wooden numbers
paint
door hanger

I bought half of the materials at hobby lobby and the other half at Michaels. I think I am starting to like Hobby Lobby more and more over Michaels. Which do you like best and why?

The project didn't take long and I think it is great! The husband loves it :)
Drying---please ignore my toes and the fact that the picture is sideways! 

 Here it is completely finished ready to hang!

What do you think? Have you done any fun, home decor projects lately?

Wedding ceremony

This post is dedicated mainly to our ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony. Pastor Julie did an awesome job making it about our union. Prior to our marriage, we took a few pre marital counseling classes. Looking back, I am so glad we did, because I feel closer to my husband than ever before. If that is even possible. We opened up about things that most people wouldn't think are important to discuss. During our ceremony, we did a sand ceremony instead of a unity candle, both my grandparents read a passage, my uncle sang, and our closest family and friends were in attendance. The weather was beautiful and I was beginning a life with my love.

To be honest, I probably look through all of our wedding photos at least twice a month. They are beautiful and helps us remember one of the most wonderful days in our life together.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of Doug and I from our wedding :)

A weird Monday

I already posted today, but after the day I have had I figured I would share. Today was the first day back to work after spring break. I knew it was going to be rough, but things were weird today. My classroom number is 666 and because of that jokes are always made about demons and devils possessing it when something goes wrong.

This morning started off with the bells not working to signal the end and beginning of the classes. People were working on it....no big deal because there have been issues all year with the intercom system. During 5th period, all of a sudden, the lights in my classroom flickered on and off  and then the emergency lights came on. When that happened, my printer stopped working, one of the student computers I have that was completely off had the fan running on full blast, the air shut off and the water fountains near the bathrooms cut off.

I thought this was just happening in my classroom and because of the my classroom number, you can imagine the jokes the kids came up with, so I ran next door to find that class in the dark as well. The temperature was on the rise in my classroom as well as the student complaints of how hot it was. By the end of the day, the power and air were back on, but the phones and Internet were still down. Apparently there was a power outage in the area that also affected McDonald's and Walgreen's.

As I was leaving the building, all of a sudden there was a beeping sound as well as the sound of church bells ringing through the campus. The intercom system seemed to still be going crazy.

Needless to say today was the longest day in the history of the universe and I am exhausted!!!!!

July 30, 2011 our wedding details

In one of my last posts, I mentioned that I was engaged to a wonderful man. We have been together for almost five years and on July 30, 2011, we promised ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives. The wedding was at the Harmony Golf Preserve in Harmony, Fl. The ceremony was done by Pastor Julie Frank. Everything was absolutely perfect not to mention beautiful. My sister was my matron of honor and Doug's dad and brother served as groomsmen.  A lot of the wedding details were done as DIY projects by myself and my mom. I did get Doug to help a few times.

 The pictures above are of most of the DIY projects. If you use them, please credit my photographers, Abba Photography. They did a fabulous job at capturing the love and true beauty of the day.

Stay tuned for the next post that highlights the ceremony, the bride and groom as well as our families.

Welcome back

Hello fellow bloggers,

This is the first post I have done in about a year or so. Life has happened and I have been super busy! After a conversation with my sister (Life after the aisle) I decided to try and start blogging again! This blog was once called Chronicles of a first year teacher. I decided to change it because I am no longer just a first year teacher. I am finishing up my second year of teaching. As a matter of fact the fourth 9 weeks starts tomorrow.There will be lots to catch up on since my post from December of last year. Our wedding and house will be a few of the features as well as what ever else has happened in life!

Thanks for following me! Stay tuned for more :)