6 Other Professions I Dream About

I really enjoy my job. Especially now that I am getting ready to start year 2 and I feel more prepared (well, somewhat!) for what is to come. Yet everyone has those days when you like to think about your other interests and dream of new possibilities. These are my top 6 "jobs" I dream about. I say that loosely because I feel like most of them are hobbies.

1. Cook/Chef - I LOVE to cook. I love watching the Foodnetwork and I love trying new recipes. If I am bored, I usually want to cook something. Being on the Foodnetwork looks really cool :)

Giada De'Laurentiis

2. Cake Designer- another profession in the cooking field. I am such a sucker for really awesome wedding cakes, party cakes, themed cakes, you name it! I love to be artsy and crafty so most of my dream jobs involve creativity.

Wedding Cakes

3. Florist-I always used to say that if nothing else worked out then I wanted to own a flower ship. Whether for happy or sad occasions, flowers are such a comforting symbol.

We

Wedding Bells

4. Nurse-because I play the "what if" game I often wonder what being a nurse would be like. I always wanted to help others in some way. I really admire nurses and those in the medical field.

5. Photographer- I have never tried beyond my simple little digital camera but there is something I love about photography. What a beautiful career...being able to capture he most precious moments in the lives of others.

6. Stay at Home Mommy- I hope to add this to my official resume one day, at least for a few years. I love children (hence being an elementary teacher). So now there is much budgeting and saving to be done now in order to enjoy this in the future. Maybe I can practice some of these dream jobs on the side during this time period. One can dream right?

Teacher Week-Must Haves

I found Babbling Abby's blog and she is hosting a teacher week for blogging. Yesterday was teacher "must haves' so I am a day late in posting. So here is my list of 10 things I couldn't do without in my classroom.

1. My computer- the district where I work provides us with laptops to use in our classroom. They are tablet computers so I can download worksheets to my computer and write on them with the "pen" that is attached to my computer. I plug it all up to the projector and voila, my students can interact with my computer and we can use it as if it were an old school projector.

2. Dry erase markers- I know they make better chalk these days, you know, chalk that isnt so gritty and skretchy when you write with it on the chalkboard. However I just love dry erase markers. There is something kinda fun about them. :)

Suppies

3. Bandaids- If I didnt get asked at least once a day for a bandaid I don't think I would know what to do with myself. Students are always getting these itty bitty cuts they "need" bandaids for. So I just buy the cheapest kind and keep them in stock. This saves on a lot of trips to the office that would be unnecessary and it keep everybody happy.

4. plastic bags- I think any kind of storage is a necessity for teachers. I keep materials in plastic bags for the classroom and as well as give them out to my kiddos when they lose a tooth :) They love having a mini plastic baggie to carry one of their few remaining baby teeth in.


5. baskets- any kind of (preferably plastic) basket. Especially the flexible plastic baskets that won't break. I love grabbing items like this up at target in the $1 section. I use baskets for books, markers and crayons, or distributing materials to students. You name your task and a nice basket is there to help you accomplish the task.


6. My clip board. My clipboard is attached to my hip. It comtains my to-do list, info about kiddos I need to remember for the day, my lesson plans, and notes to myself because I can't remember anything on my own. I love clip boards.


7. Post-it notes- come on, am I the only teacher who LOVES Post-it notes? Especially all the cute little cut outs and designs that stores carry now. That makes it so much more fun to use them. I like ot give my kid's little notes of enocuragement on them sometimes.


8. My Brother brand label maker. I just got this last year for Christmas but am so looking forward to labeling everything in myclassrom with this little beauty. As a teacher I think we could all agree we love to have our materials organized.

www.imagesupply.com

9. Pretzels- weird maybe but I always keep pretzels in my room. I get so hungry during the day. My lunch is the last one of the day because I have 5th graders. So by 9 or 10 when I haven't eaten breakfast since 6 am I am pretty hungry. Pretzels are such a great, low fat snack to keep around. It is so easy to grab a quick handful and keep going.



10. Finally, I love the notepads that contain templates for notes to go home for students. They have carbon copies so I can keep a copy of everything I send home. It is very covenient for record keeping.

School, School, School

Oh how life (and mine imparticular) seems to revolve around school much more than I'd like. I guess when I chose teaching as a profession I should expect that, right?

School will start for me in two weeks and I am just starting to mentally prepare. It will be very hard to prepare my classroom since our school is being renovated and my stuff is packed in many many boxes all put in various storage units. The fact that we wont be able to get into our building until a couple of days before school actually starts really stresses me out.

Not only will be career start back up, but I have to take the GRE and apply to grad school so that I can also go back to school. More fun! This stresses me out because grad school is sooo expensive!! More stress.

I was so looking forward to the summer time because I felt I would get to spend more time with my husband. He works part time because he is in SCHOOL to get his MBA. He usually only has classes 2 nights a week, but guess what? He has busier this summer than ever before. He has had a couple of Saturday classes, a weeklong class, then he had to make up work for missing during that weeklong class, etc.

Can you see how school might play a huge role in my life? Im praying that I will not stress over preparing for school in a limited amount of time and that I will be refreshed and ready to meet my new students. I pray that I will not be stressed about the cost of grad school. It is necessary and God has blessed and provided for us all along, so why should I doubt in Him now? I pray that I will treasure all of the time I get with my husband, family, and friends because we all know time is too precious to waste. As easy as it is to be stressed about these things I am greatful to be employed , to be able to persue a graduate degree in an area I am excited about, and thankful my husband has had the same opportuity!

Two Years as Mrs. Jones :)

Monday will be our 2nd wedding anniversary. I can not believe how quickly these two years have gone by. I love remembering our wedding day. It truly was the happiest day of our lives. After years of dreaming and months of planning it was more beautiful than I expected. Not because the decorations were really elaborate or because I had all the perfect songs picked out. It was so wonderful because on that day we had everyone we loved so dearly there with us, to celebrate with us. At what other time in your life do you get to experience that? Most importantly, because we were starting our lives together.

To my wonderful husband, I love you more everyday. I am so proud of all you do for us. Im so thankful to have a husband who has brought me closer to Jesus. Im so thankful to have a husband who can walk with me and hold my hand through the good times and the bad. I love having someone to eat dinners with, pray with, watch re-runs of the office (or whatever show we are currently into) :), and discuss our dreams for the future. Thank you for being my best friend :)

Our very first picture on my 21st birthday :) Derek with long hair.

Our 1 year dating anniversary

Engagement night

With a little paint and fabric...

You can change something from drab (or from nothing) into something amazing. I wish I could get paid to learn how to craft lots of goodies and sell them for a living. Maybe one day :)

Ok, so I went to hobby lobby with some ideas in mind but I came out with materials for completely different crafts! I found a couple of neat fabrics in the discounted/leftovers section and went with it. First I found some burlap and I decided to make a wreath with it. I had seen something like this before but it was plain. I bought some bright red-orange flowers to add to it. Now look at my pretty new fall wreath which cost only about $8 bucks to make :-)

Next I have this chair. I found this green chair at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago for $5. I knew it had potential. This chair is a slimy green color....which is hard to see in this picture. The seat cover (which I did not take a before picture of) was a brown velvet. I plan to paint this chair white. My husband says I may be over doing the white lately.

I recovered the brown velvet material with this awesome print that I also snatched up super cheap from the leftover fabric section.

Finally, I purchased these wall decoration from a thrift store here in Louisville a few weeks ago. Look here to see what they looked like before. Then I painted them white :) (Ok I kinda see his point about the white. But if I paint this wall in a nice accent color I think they will really stand out!

I love having time to do this in the Summer!

Are We There Yet?

Oh how I remember pestering my parents every 30 minutes (like so many other kids) with that common question: Are we there yet? I remember drives to Myrtle Beach felt like they took forever. Yet trips Derek and I have taken in the car don't seem quite as bad. The 8 hour drive to Charleston was nice actually. The scenery was pretty boring but with Derek being so busy this summer it was nice to chat.

We had been looking forward to this trip to Charleston South Carolina for several months and it did not disapoint. We went the beaches, took evening walks, ate tons of seafood, toured downtown by carriage ride, and learned a little history all in the process.

The only major downfall was the extreme HEAT! Oh my.....how I may not ever travel in July again. Our conversations generally went like this: "Oh wow look at how pretty these homes are....but it is soooo hot!" or "I can't wait to go to the beach" and an hour later "I'm dying, lets get out of here!". Our carriage ride was really fun....but I was sitting n the edge and teh sun was beating down on my head for the entire hour. I was embarassed by how much I was sweating yet when we finally got off the tour (it was a group tour) I noticed that the back of everyone else's shirts were also drenched in sweat. Gotta love that heat.


I loved the architecture of the building and homes. That makes Charleston such an amazing city.

I loved this picture. One of the old church steeples. Charleston is nicknamed the "holy city" because it has so many churches in the area.

This was the mansion of a Mr. Calhoun. His daughter got married and he decided to build her the house of her dreams as a wedding present. (See her house below)

This was her house....it was incredible. Must be nice: Not too mention that we were told that her new father-in-law not wanting to be out done sent her and his son on a 2 year honeymoon to Europe. I told you I learned some history. :)

Pretty door.

Poogan's Porch- an awesome restuarant in downtown Charleston which was named after a dog, Poogan. We ate here while we waited out a downpour before trying to get back to our car.

I loved that all of the homes and building were such fun colors.

Another church.

I love walking with my feet in the ocean.

Derek by the big cannons at Fort Sumter.

Fort Sumter...this was interesting and we got to take a 30 minute boat ride there and back which was a nice way to get out of the heat for a bit.

USS Yorktown

It all went by way to quickly!

Eye Opening

I've grown very intrigued by blogs about adoption. As it is something Derek and I want to do in the future we have a lot to think about in terms of when, where from, how we can afford it, etc. I've come across several blogs written by familes who have adopted from Africa, Russia, Korea, foster care, and so on. All are so very inspiring. Often though I come across statistics like these listed on others blogs that really get to me:
(About Ethiopia)
* One out of every 20 children born alive die in their first month of life
* One out of ten die before reaching their first birthday
* One out of six die before reaching their fifth birthday
* There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia
* The median age in Ethiopia is 18
* 1.5 million people in Ethiopia are infected with AIDS
* Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa