new jewelry and new additions....

The past week has been one big long celebration for many reasons.

First and foremost, my favorite sister in the entire universe (my only sister but that's beside the point) got engaged!!! My little Ferf is going to marry Michael in July of next year and everybody in my family is very excited for them. Hopefully, one day soon I will be given a picture of them with Ferf wearing "The Ring" and I will include it with this post. So, YAY for Ferf and Michael!

Another big thing that happened is that Anne, Tedd, Maceyfacey, and Buggie added a member to their family! They got a puppy dog!! Her name is Sally and everybody thinks she is great (even Tedd, though he put up a valiant fight and almost had us believing that he didn't want a puppy!) Sally is 3 months old and is black all over with just a smidge of white on her chest and paws. The vet thinks she is a mix of black lab and beagle with maybe some other hound thrown in for good measure. I think the best two things about Sally are: 1. she smells like a puppy- not doggy yet, just very puppyish, 2. she has very large, very soft ears that I could rub all day long. I have also heard reports that she is a good singer but I will have to confirm and repot back. Again, hopefully I will get a picture of Sally soon and post it.

Other celebratory happenings- I started my clinical hours with Ms. Old High School Teacher on Monday- my time with her will be interesting to say the least but I am already learning a lot and picking up great ideas. Gayle, one of my best friends who I am lucky enough to have known for what seems like forever was in town for the weekend and despite our crazy schedules we got to hang out and catch up- isn't it nice to have comfortable old friends? My good friend Lindsay found out on Tuesday that he passed the NC Bar so he is officially allowed to practice law in North Carolina! I am so proud for him and excited for both he and his wife (another one of those comfortable old friends!)

When so much in the world is dismal and heart breaking, it is nice to be able to celebrate others' love, joy, and accomplishments.

karma's a... well you know

It has been brought to my attention that it has been three weeks since my last post, which should give you some indication that my life is pretty boring. however, lucky for you, just this morning I had quite the "My Name is Earle" moment, minus the dumb redneck best friend and ex-wife.

To catch you up- my fall term classes started about three weeks ago (also co-inciding with the drop-off in blog posts). I am taking 3 classes but am carrying a full 12 credit hours because along with my classes, I have to do a 75 hour clinical in a public high school. For this clinical, I am assigned to a specific teacher in a specific high school and must observe her teaching and teach a few lessons myself. This assignment was supposed to be posted on the Converse website the first week of classes so that we could get started as soon as possible. Of course, my assignment was not posted and only after weeks of being what my mom calls "being the squeeky wheel" (basicly annoying the tar out of the professor responsible for making my assingment and complaining loudly to anyone else who would listen), I was given my clinical placement today.

And this is where karma comes in. I was assigned to my Old 11th grade English Teacher at my alma mater- Go Pats! My Old 11th grade English Teacher did not exactly claim me as her favorite pupil. Every student in the school knows that she favors boys over girls and since I had the good fortune of sitting next to a particularly cute yet chatty boy, I was constantly called down for talking during class. There is also the matter of the research paper I wrote for her class in which I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Shoeless Joe Jackson did not throw the 1919 World Series and should in fact be reinstated in baseball and his name should hang in The Hall of Fame. It was the first real research paper I ever wrote and I have never been more proud of a paper since. Well, Ms. Old 11th Grade English Teacher stole my paper! I have yet to see it again since I turned it in over 10 years ago(yikes! i'm old!). I asked for it repeatedly my Senior year when I found that she had given my classmates papers back to them- but my paper was inexplicably not returned. My theory on this scandal is that she used my paper as the basis for her doctoral thesis when she went for her Ph.D. a few years after I graduated! All this to say, I have spent many years remembering Old 11th grade English Teacher in not the most kind ways, laughing at her obvious bias against girls, and always sympathizing with students in her classes.

So now, fittingly, I will be spending 75 hours in her classroom, watching her teach and trying to learn how to become the very best high school English teacher I can be! It's funny how things turn out isn't it?

bouquets of newly sharpened pencils...

Don't you just love the beginning of school- everything is fresh and exciting, your notebooks have never been written in and all of your pencils have sharp points! My classes start on Monday, but I have been nostalgic this week as all of the youngsters in my life are heading back to the classroom. I saw my twiners today and they were very excited to tell me that they had played basketball at school today! It's the little things, right? Tonight is Maceyfacey's birthday party- she is having a campout party complete with a creek hike, cooking hotdogs on the fire, smores for dessert, and campfire songs! Anne has been working really hard on a great campfire cake and Maceyfacey is very excited to finally be so old! Somedays- like today when it is 85 degrees with a pleasant breeze and white fluffy clouds in the sky- I wish I were that old too!

first day of school...

Maceyfacey joined the ranks of public school student on Thursday! She has a wonderful teacher and lots of new friends in her class. After a healthy breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (brain food!), she donned her fabulous "new school outfit" and left with Anne for her first day. We did pause on the front step for a few pictures!

Maceyfacey, stylishly waiting to go to her new school for the first day!

Buggie loves her Maceyfacey!

After Anne and Maceyfacey left for school, Buggie and I headed out to run a few errands and on our way home we had to stop at Krispy Kreme because the "hot fresh now" sign was on. Buggie is now the newly crowned Krispy Kreme Princess!

edisto....

Saturday, I returned from a fabulous beach trip with some of my favorite people in the world. It was a great trip and a fitting way to spend my last few days of the summer. Just in case you are dying to know what we did- here are the highlights!

On Wednesday, after I arrived, Tedd, Anne, and I met Nan, Pop Pop, Uncle Sparky, Maceyfacey, Buggie, JohnJohn, and Aunt Nell at the Ruby Seahorse for burgers. Maceyfacey and Buggie entertained us with stories about their morning visit to the serpentarium with JohnJohn and Aunt Nell- better them than me!

Maceyfacey showing off the rubber snake that Aunt Nell "wasted her money on" at the serpentarium!

After lunch, Anne and I took the girls to the rec center to make flip flops which was fun despite the semi-tropical environment of the screened porch where we were housed. The girls were entertained by this crafty project for a whole 10 minutes and that includes the time it took to pick out the 48 fabric pieces to tie on the flops. We headed to the pool after our craft project and Maceyfacey dazzled us with her awesome surfing moves!

Surf's Up!

We all headed to Nan and Pop Pop’s condo for supper where I’m pretty sure I ate my weight in boiled shrimp. After a game of 90’s trivial pursuit during which I learned that I actually didn’t live through that decade, we called it a day.

Buggie- bright eyed and bushy tailed

Thursday, we had a lazy morning- and by we, I mean Anne and I (that Buggie is an early riser!) Tedd took the girls to the beach in the bike wagon and Anne and I followed a few minutes later in the car. Upon our arrival and the discovery that the water was at high tide, we made a quick decision to head to the pool. While re-packing the car, Anne declared that we had a stow-away, I yelped and jumped half-way across the parking lot, and a kind fisherman saved us from certain harm by removing the small fiddler crab from the back of the car! Maceyfacey, Anne, and I had a “super secret, girls only, ice cream date” at the combo ice cream/video rental store after lunch.

Maceyfacey enjoying her cone of "killa vanilla" yum yum!

Afternoon storms kept us confined to the house for the remainder of the day and we ordered a “Belly Buster” cheese pizza for dinner- not as belly busting as one might think!

good thing that watermelon isn't messy!

Buggie doesn't like watermelon, but she does like to dance at the table!

Friday we headed back to the pool for the morning and after a special lunch of watermelon- Maceyfacey’s favorite!- we called the tram and headed to the beach. Ahh, the sun, the surf, the salt water in the eyes, the crushed shells covering the beach, the sand fleas…. It was a great afternoon! Maceyfacey helped me build a sandcastle so now my summer is complete. After everyone showered, we had house quiet time. JohnJohn and Maceyfacey had a special dinner date and Tedd took Anne out for the evening which meant that Aunt Nell and I got to hang out with Buggie. While she refused to eat her gourmet hot dog and easy mac, Aunt Nell and I enjoyed our fried shrimp take out from Dockside.

Saturday was very overcast and as soon as we had all climbed into the cars and waved goodbye to the beach, the skies let loose. I was glad to be riding and not driving! We stopped at the mall in Columbia to eat lunch and ride the carousel- possibly the highlight of the trip depending upon whom you ask. We made it back home safely and at just a little bit sad that summer is very rapidly coming to a close. Many thanks to Tedd and Anne for inviting me to join them at the beach- I had too much fun!

Surprise!

On Tuesday, Meggo and I hosted a small gathering of friends to surprise and celebrate our friend Lucy. Her birthday was on Wednesday and on Sunday, she is moving to Charleston to start law school! What a week! While I am so sad that my sweet friend will no longer live just a few minutes away, I'm so excited for the journey she is taking and I love Charleston and am always glad to have a good excuse to visit the Holy City! We love Lucy and we'll miss her terribly! I took a few pictures of our fun event- enjoy!

Our yummy funfetti cake!

Erin, Nicholas, and the Birthday Girl

me, Lucy, and Meggo

VBS

today is wednesday, which means that i must survive only one more day of vacation bible school at my church. i volunteered to help so that my sweet, precious, angelic, four year old babysit-ee could attend the four day fun fest. i mean, how bad could it be- he hangs out with friends from school, learns about how great he is and how much god and jesus love him and i plan a fun craft projectand get a little bit of adult conversation for three hours a day- piece of cake, right? could not be more wrong. i'm beginning to seriously doubt that many of these children have ever heard the word "no", my body feels as if i have been running daily half-marathons while studying for final exams, and poor winston (the absolute best yorkie ever) is so sad that all his best friend is capable of at night is to throw his rope once and then pass out in her bed (well, his bed- but he generously shares it with me!) children are exhausting! on the upside, the kids are having a ball and maybe they are learning something, too!

determined to end on a positive note, my sweet friend travis asked his terrific girlfriend, meg, to marry him this past saturday and she said "yes"!! i am so excited for them. this also means i get to visit one of my favorite cities in january- dallas here i come!