Life

Sunday I went to "Charming Charlie" with my mom and grandma. I always want to add an "s" to Charlie, so I do it anyways even though I know it's wrong. :-) It's a store mostly of jewelry, but also hats, scarves, purses, and some clothes. It's huge and seperated out by colors. During my time there my friend Heather texted me and some others to see if we wanted to see a movie that night, so I said yeah! The past few months I've been overly excited when someone invites me to something because it's been years of not having many friends. Anyways, Sunday night I went to the movie, "Megamind" with 5 other people. It's a kids animated movie, but I liked it! I thought it was really funny, in my opinion. We decided to go to Chilli's after, and since I'd already had dinner I got a peice of cheesecake.

Wednesday my mom turned 50! We had a surprise lunch for her that one of her friends got together. All of them were over 50 except me. Three had grandkids or will be soon, one is a teacher that is retiring at the end of this year, etc. Although I was at the opposite end of the spectrum in life, it was still a good lunch. That afternoon my family and I went to the movie, "Gulliver's Travels" which is also a kids movie about a guy who goes through the bermuta triangle and then ends up in a world where he's a giant. Apparently there are books that tons of people have read but I've never even heard about it - what's up with that?! How did I miss these books? Anyways I liked the movie. It was somewhat predictable though - the guy (played by Jack Black) liked this girl he worked with for 5 years and at the end he tells her and she's all like, "Oh! How sweet!" and they kiss and live happily ever after. Same with the little people - the guy likes the princess but since he's not nobility he can't pursue her, until he saves the day and she likes him and they get together at the end too. News flash - life doesn't turn out in predictable ways. But what kind of movie would it be if they didn't end up together? We're so used to happy endings that maybe it makes us angry when our own lives don't turn out that way because we long for that happy ending. We went to O'Charlie's for dinner after.

Last night after bible study I played the game "Risk" for the first time. I may have heard about it, but I can't remember. Well it was a 4 hour long game! Since I didn't know how to play I partnered up with someone, so I didn't really play much, but next time I'm ready to win. :-) We played from like 9:30ish PM to 1:15ish AM. The people who live in the house we were at have a newborn so Lee Ann (the mom) was up some anyways. I got to hold their baby again and she is so cute! Last night, I'm not kidding, I dreamed about playing this game though. I've started dreaming more about things I do before bed, especially if it is a longer ordeal. It's weird. Like I've been watching "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" because I'm buying them cheap on ebay, and the other night I watched a few hours of it before bed and then dreamed about it when I slept. And another night there was just something I was thinking about a lot and dreamed about it. I know that it sounds normal, but it's not for me! It's weird because my dreams are usually so obscure, not what I"m actually doing or thining about.

Tonight is New Year's Eve. I was going to go to a lock-in about an hour away at a church with a whole  bunch of other churches as a chaperone for the middle and high schoolers because that's what I've done the past few years, and before that I baby-sat, and before that we went to my parent's friends house. But some people from my bible study invited me to a party at their apartment, and I've never been to a new year's eve party with people my age!! haha. So I'm going tonight and I think we're playing games and stuff.

I have one more week of "freedom." Next week I am going to a big meeting at my college for them to talk to us about student teaching - 9 AM to 3 PM!!! 6 hours - really? And what an awful time, it covers up all of lunch and I don't know if we'll get a lunch break or what, so I'm bringing a sack lunch and eating during the meeting if there's not really a break. Haha. But really, how could there be a meeting that long? And next Saturday I take my teacher certification test (again) called GACE  - I forget what it stands for but something to do with Georgia. I took it in July and passed half and failed half, so I'm taking the 1st part again. I've studied this time. I only failed it by 3 points!! Ugh! I'm not TOO worried, but the whole process of paying for it, driving all the way out there to take it, sitting for hours trying to concentrate in a silent room, and then waiting a month for the scores to come back is frustrating. We live in a fast paced world, can they not just stick them through scanners and get back to us in a few days?!? They're all multiple choice except the essay! I start student teaching Jan 10.

Two of my good friends are going to be student teaching at the same school I am! I'll be in 4th and they'll be in Kindergarten and 2nd grade. Who knows if I'll actually see them though! I was in 4th grade when I knew I wanted to be a teacher, so it's funny that here I am student teaching that grade. Thinking back to being that age I really thought I was older than I was. I've always wanted to grow up faster - since I was 9 I've had this goal of being an elementary teacher, a wife, and a mom. But isn't it funny how you can only have so much control over your  own life? I may become certified to be a teacher, but then not be able to get a job in teaching for years. Or I might. As for a wife and mom, that seems so distant, like I'm still 9 and hoping it will happen some day.

Well, a lot is coming up in the year 2011. A new young adults service is starting at my church that I've  been helping plan. I may sing at it, I may not. I will student teach, graduate college, and hopefully get a teaching job in August. I don't know what kind of job I'll have over the summer or what I'll be able to do (help with VBS? volunteer at Wellspring? chaperone the youth mission trip to Florida?). I want to live life to the fullest. I don't want teaching to consume me. I want to be happy. I want to have deeper friendships. I want to manage my time well and not be so busy. I want to make the best out of whatever situations I am in. I want to read books more throughout the whole years instead of just when I'm on a break. I want to eat better. I want to do new things. I don't say all these as "resolutions" because those seem to last only a month and then dissapear. I want this to be just something I do all year and check up on throughout my life. Maybe I could type up a "check on my life" list to see how all is going and what I can do to make life even better. Yep, just decided I will. :-)

Reacp of my 2010: moved home, went through TOSS this semester- 4 classes and part time student teaching, started going to a new bible study (which made 2), chaperoned a bunch of youth group trips and events, took a trip to see lots of relatives in NC and MD (and my cousin from Washington state came with me), baby-sat full time over the summer (6 AM - 6PM), baby-sat part time during the 1st half the year, and met a TON of new people through many different things.