2012, in a nutshell.

Better late than never- 2012 in a nutshell

January: I received a hilarious and somewhat sad note from a substitute teacher while I was out of work for an afternoon. 

February: This was an interesting month with a high on Valentine's Day and a low just before my birthday when I wrecked my car. Luckily the year just got better!

March: This was a quiet month but I did manage to see Fun. play a show in Carrboro.

April: I met a few celebrities in NYC and at the end of the month, I got to meet one of my oldest friend's baby girl, Estelle.

May: Another one of my best and oldest friends got married in our hometown.

June: I finished up my first year of teaching, went to DC, and started taking guitar lessons with the raddest instructor around. What a month!

July: I went to weddings and saw lots of good friends. 

August: I spent most of this month in coffee shops applying to jobs and watching the Olympics. 

September: What a busy month! We had our very first book club meeting and I went to HopScotch Music Festival in Raleigh, saw Florence and the Machine and Ben Folds. And my baby niece turned into a teenager...where does the time go?

October: I spent the month working on Obama's campaign by doing all sorts of crazy things. And it was awesome.

November: Obama won the election!

December: A piece I wrote was featured in PineStraw magazine! (on pg. 75, to be specific)

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.

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!

Over the Weekend: May 18-20

Kelly and Amy enjoying Smitty's ice cream

Art!

With all the college kids (and my roommates) out of town/gone for the summer, it's been awfully quiet around Raleigh. But on Saturday, things got a bit exciting thanks to Artsplosure. It's a festival downtown that gives local artists of all mediums a chance to showcase their talent. There were awesome sculptures on display, multiple stages set up in the center of it all, and some of the wackiest creations for sale by their owner.


Other than that, my weekend was spent catching up on sleep. Only three more weeks until the end of school! 

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! 

Moccasins

Much like the red pants that proved too distracting for 7th graders, these moccasins are on my "do not wear to school" list (along with leather miniskirts and sheer shirts, obvi).

First Five Days

For the first week of teaching, I didn't have an official name tag and was stuck getting visitor passes each morning(...at 6:15 am). These are the pictures from my first five days. Can you see the exhaustion setting in as the week progressed?


Today marked the start of my third week and I can't even imagine how weatherbeaten I'd look in pictures if they were still being taken each morning.

First Day

You guys, I did it! I survived my first day of teaching. Whew! Now I'm off to bed...5 am will be here way too soon.