And just like that...

I'm a teacher! Today was my first day and I'd be lying if I said I didn't come home at 4 pm, have dinner, and take a nap. I forgot how lively high schoolers are! And I forgot what the sky looks like at 5:30 am...totally black. I forgot to take a first day of school pic but just imagine a bright dress and a jean jacket to get a good idea.

After I woke up from my nap, I made a Target run in which I spent more than intended (has that ever NOT happened?) and enjoyed Starbucks for the second time today.

Cheers to surviving!

New Car, New Job

What our life looked like for a few days- Oliver watching me watch TV, read,  etc.

Hi! A lot's changed in the past couple of weeks. But we'll start back in August. Or really, last spring. I began applying for teaching jobs earlier this year and after the school year started, I hadn't heard anything from any school. In late August, I started getting job interviews. I went on several and while they went well, none seemed like a good fit. Then two weeks ago, I interviewed at a school and loved it. Towards the end, they told me I was the youngest and least experienced candidate. My hopes of getting the job sank, especially when the day I expected to hear back came and went without a phone call or email. 

Then about two weeks ago, I got in a wreck. I won't go into the details but it was bad. I came out of it as well as anybody could in that sort of thing- with a few scratches, bruises, and banged up knees. I spent a few hours in the hospital before some very sweet friends (D+L- seriously, I can't thank you enough) were able to bring me clothes and wait with me until I was discharged at some point that night.  I was still in shock at the time and spent the majority of the night wondering where my new Bonlook glasses were. The firemen couldn't find them in my car before taking me to the hospital. Once I was at the hospital, I kept fixating on how much one of the doctors looked like Emilio Estevez. I've heard when you're in shock, you focus on one thing to cope with the stress. Now I understand why.

The next few days were weird, for lack of a better word. I ached all over and kept reliving that night. My parents were wonderful and helped me out more than I'll ever know. And Oliver was totally fine with napping all day. On Friday, my dad and I decided to go car shopping. It was his birthday and I felt guilty that he had to spend it helping his hobbling daughter pick out cars. On the way, I got a call from the school I loved. They wanted to hire me! I couldn't believe it. And my dad was so happy to be looking at cars that he failed to realize at one point that I was half asleep on a bench. 

That night, we found a car I liked and enjoyed late night milkshakes and everything felt alright again. Since then, most of my bruises have gone away, I turned in a notice at my current job, and started collecting supplies to decorate my classroom. I'll be finishing up my current job on Friday and hopefully starting my new one shortly after that.

It's wild to think of what I was doing just a month ago and what I'll be doing at this time next month. Thanks for taking the time to read all this. I'm excited for what's coming! 

25

Two months ago, I turned 25. And I freaked out a little, especially when my sister texted to say "Happy Birthday! You're starting to look old like the rest of us." You can always count on sisters to be honest. Here are a few pictures ( several are compliments of my friend, the lovely Callie) of the rad Quarter Life Crisisparty we had to celebrate:

This picture is super flattering...NOT.

I can't believe I can round up to 30 now! 

Truth Be Told

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Truth be told, I've had a badditude for the past couple of months. Nothing terrible has happened and I'm not totally sure what brought it on, though I fear turning 25 had a little something to do with it. And the ever-looming question of "what's next" hasn't seemed to help much either. Hopefully I'll be back to the regularly scheduled programming soon! Thanks for caring and asking.

DC Part II: Staff Ball

I've been thinking of the perfect way to write this post since January. Just kidding. I've actually just been being super lazy and halfway forgot about this thing called the internet.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the Staff Ball in DC the day after the inauguration. This was likely the only time I will ever be in the same room as the Obamas, the Bidens, Lady Gaga, and Tony Bennett. A good time, that's for sure. I can't believe it's been almost six weeks since I was traipsing around DC. I love that place.

Shameless selfie.

The ladies, always laughing

It was cold. My bare legs started turning blue in the time it took to hail a cab.

Joe and Dr. Jill

Obamster and Shelly

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

Looking forward to 2013

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In 2013, I'm looking forward to...

> reading more than watching

> finding a place for everything

> buying less and making more

> filling up my gas tank before the light comes on (trust me, it's become a problem)

Long Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving crept right up on me. It felt like one day I was watching fireworks in July and then the next I was being questioned about the lack of turkey on my plate during Thanksgiving dinner. Like most weekends, this one came and went entirely too fast. Though it was filled with all kinds of goodness: shopping all night on Thursday straight on until breakfast time on Friday, hanging out with beautiful friends who I rarely see now that they're off being brilliant in other states, watching Grand Ole Opry with my grandparents, and seeing Sufjan Stevens at the Haw River Ballroom.

This is the first holiday season where I've felt old. I knew the day would come when I didn't have a month-long holiday break but after being in school for so long and then switching sides to play the part of a teacher, I've had long Christmas breaks for the entire time I've had a working memory. 

Less than a month until Christmas. Good thing I got my shopping (mostly) done on Black Friday. It was worth staying up all night and was much more fun than those pesky exams that force college kids into caffeinated disasters around this time.

Book Club

Ali, Lauren, Mary, (the other) Courtney, Kelly

A few weeks ago, my friend Lauren proposed the great idea to start a book club with some of our lady friends and I jumped on board immediately. I was lucky enough to get to pick our first book options and we ended up deciding on Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, my author crush. And boy, was it an interesting book. Definitely different than his others but just as good. 

This past Monday, we met up for a potluck dinner and to talk about the book. The rain and heavy storms kept a lot of people away but we're hoping for a bigger crowd next month when we discuss The Innocents by Francesca Segal. I'm especially excited to read this one because it's described as  "combining 'Gossip Girl' with every one of your own dramatic family get-togethers."

Thirteen

Abigail at 3 years old, being flower girl in a wedding

Today my sweet little niece, Abigail, turned 13, older than I was when she was born. She's one of the people I love most in the world and the past thirteen years of watching her grow have been wonderful. She's an awesome big sister and can talk to anyone about anything. I think she's got an old soul. It hit me that she was growing up earlier this week when I called home to ask what she'd like for her birthday and was greeted with an official teen's answer: money.

Greetings, loved ones.

Hi again. It's me. Back to apologize for taking what turned out to be a three week long break from the blogosphere. I've spent the past weeks doing some pretty fun stuff but mostly staring at my computer screen, drinking iced coffees, and praying for a job. It's hard to blog (or read or practice guitar or do anything, really) when I know what I should be doing is updating my resume and writing cover letters. But since we're being realistic, how long can a person be expected to apply for jobs without going absolutely bananas? B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Happy

Today marks the official end to my first year of teaching and I couldn't be happier. There are a lot of things I loved about teaching and some things I wasn't quite so crazy about. More than anything, I just can't believe I survived a year of waking up before the sun and tricking angsty middle schoolers into reading. Go me! Go America!

A Tale of Two Alleys

The Alley

Jill and her ball.

I hadn't been bowling in years and somehow ended up going twice in the past couple of weeks at two alleys that couldn't have been more different. The Alley (top 2 photos)was a hipster dreamland of vintage patterns and PBR. We even had to keep track of our own scores! It was a learning experience for me. 


The second alley, or "bowling boutique" as its website says, was incredibly swanky. Sparians (bottom 2 photos) had huge leather couches to wait on between turns, a waiter who brought drinks, and huge TVs everywhere. Unfortunately those luxuries didn't help my game and I ended up bowling a 57.  

Happy four day week! Woo!

Meet Amber.

So my cool friend Amber who I met back when we both worked at Gap and dreamed about getting famous by way of trendiness recently set off to Liberia for a few weeks to do work at a Liberian Civil Service agency. She's one of the funniest and most unpretentiously brilliant people I know and she's writing about her adventures on her tumblr. If you want a good laugh and some information on Liberia, then check it out.

And today is her birthday! Happy Birthday, Amber!

What to Expect & Copy Cat

Alright guys, I have an announcement. Instead of having two blogs (that aren't updated enough), I'm going to start posting more on this one, which means that you  might be seeing a lot more about clothes and whatever else crosses my mind. For a long time, I thought that caring about clothes and trends was synonymous with "idiot" and shyed away from "fashion" blogging. I've grown up a lot this year and have done/am doing a lot of things I thought I never would, like being in a classroom with 30 middle schoolers and actually teaching them something. Wow. Anyway, all this is to say: expect more clothes. 


And just to add to the word never-ending paragraph about clothes, I'm going to go ahead and introduce something I used to do on my other blog called Copy Cat. The gist is this: I like expensive things but can't always be dishing out all my cash for a pair of shoes or a dress. So I do the obvious and search for a cheaper alternative.  So without further ado....


The Splurge

MIA Pamela Sandals, $50 at American Eagle

 The Save

Mossimo Supply Co.Wilton Flat Sandle w/ Ankle Strap, $20 at Target

$30 cheaper and practically identical. Which ones would you choose?

Kelly and Ryan

The bride

The Colliers

Bride & her maids: Kelly, Kristin, Lauren, Danielle, Caitlin, Lizzy, me, Erika

Our grand entrance to the reception

More of the bridesmaids

There's not much more I can say about this wedding than that it was perfect. Kelly was beautiful, Ryan was sweet, and the reception got wild (in the best way).

P.S. Thanks to Courtney Lancaster for the incredible photos!

Holding Babies

Last week, one of my best friends from high school had a baby. After I got over the initial shock of "damn, the girl I used to watch 'Napoleon Dynamite' with has a child," some other friends and I went to visit her and baby Estelle June. That baby is CUTE. Congrats, Moriah and Tommy!

Happy cold Monday! 

Back to work I go.

Photos (Clockwise): A wall decoration at a shop in downtown Southern Pines; Enjoying drinks with Syd and Emma, The most delicious chamomile lemonade at The Meatball Shop in NYC; Barney refusing to get out of my car when I was attempting to head home.

After a lovely spring break, it's time to go back to work! Luckily we're in the home stretch at school with only 45 days left...not that I'm counting or anything. 

Happy Monday! 

Quiet

Click for source

It's going to be a bit quiet around here for the next few weeks. March is likely to be spent watching basketball, grading papers, and figuring out what life's going to look like after June 10th...which can't come soon enough.

See you on the flip side, cuties.

24

Well kids, I'm growing up. Wednesday marked my 24th birthday and thanks to some wonderful and crafty friends, it was perfect. I've been lucky enough to go to a different  birthday celebration pretty much everyday this week, beginning on Monday with a trip to The Raleigh Times for dinner. And props to Kelly for making the most delicious caramel cake ever!

Luckily I decided not to give up desserts for Lent or else the past couple of days would've held a lot of temptations. After deliberating for the past couple of weeks, I've decided to give up listening to music in the car in the mornings and forgoing my afternoon cup of caffeine.  Lent is relatively new to me- I'd never really understood it until college and even then I often resolved to give up caffeine. Giving up the snooze alarm last year was probably the least successful of all my Lent attempts but I'm hoping my grownup willpower kicks in this year!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and thanks to those of you who Facebooked, Twittered, called, texted, instagrammed, emailed, and even Pinterested me  on my birthday! 

Over the Weekend: Feb. 17-19

Fruity Pebbles for dinner, lots of rain (and even some snow), and Kelly's first bridal shower all happened this weekend! Lots of fun and lots of sleep are the perfect way to spend the weekend.