Subbing

December has been a wonderful month for subbing. I worked every single day except for the days that I had YMCA training/work. The paycheck, whenever it arrives, is going to be pretty glorious! I can't wait! It's still not very much money, but at least I'm feeling very busy. Tomorrow is 8th grade Language Arts, Tuesday is high school English and Wednesday is supplemental floater at SAMS! Woohoo! It's going to be a glorious week!

Monday, Matthew and I are exchanging gifts to each other. Tuesday, Hack Pgh is having a Christmas party. Wednesday, we're packing and cleaning. Thursday, at 5am (Eastern) we're leaving to go home to EC! I can't wait to be back home with two feet of snow, wood heat, decorating cookies with Mom and watching a Packer game with Dad. I'm glad Matthew and I are able to spend a significant amount of time at home. It would be horrible if we could only be home for three days. I'm thankful to have a school schedule, one that has winter and spring break!

EC ladies, I can't wait to see you on Thursday!!

Cafe Sam

Last Tuesday, Matthew and I took ourselves out for a nice dinner to a local restaurant called Cafe Sam. I have been driving by it since I moved here and we hadn't gone to it yet. The food was, by far, the best that I have had since I moved to Pittsburgh. The atmosphere was perfect (kerosene lamp lighting, subtle holiday music in the background) and the service was excellent. I also discovered a new delicious beer Abita Purple Haze. It's a smooth, wheat beer and not overly fruity. As I said before, the food was just out of this world! And very reasonably priced for the portions that we got. I had a gyro with lamb and cucumber sauce.

I recommend this place if you're looking for a cute date night place. I can't wait until the summer when we can sit out on the wonderful veranda, drink a beer and forget that we're in the city for a few moments. Five out of five stars from this restaurant critic:)

Three Cheers!

Today has been a wonderful day!! My PA teaching license came!!! It looks so pretty and official. Dad asked if I was just going to sit and stare at it tonight. The answer, yes:) Almost 1.5 years later, and I'm a fully licensed Pennsylvania teacher!! Woohoo! Hip Hip Hooray!!

I had my orientation at Pittsburgh Public Schools today and it was wonderful! I can't wait to start working in their schools! There were a lot of people who are about to graduate from school (aka they're finishing up their student teaching) so it was nice to be an experienced substitute. For once, my experience is paying off:)

Happy Anniversary to my parents! 31 years and going strong. Jake and I aren't throwing them a surprise party this year, but hopefully we can all get together and celebrate during winter break.

Only 15 days until we're driving back to good old EC! I can't wait!!

Christmas Shopping

Check! I'm pretty much done with my Christmas shopping, minus a few little things. All I have left to take care of are the projects I'm making by hand at home. I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow, along with putting up our Christmas tree and lights and other decorations.

I watched White Christmas today for the first time while I was wrapping gifts. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. West-central Wisconsin got snow last night/today and I must say that I'm jealous. Snow on the ground really puts me in the mood for the holidays!

Also, I'm proud of myself for actually keeping up with my blog again. Yay!

Christmas Music Season

Now, I really like Christmas music (not as much as some people I know *cough* Jessi *cough*) but I don't believe in listening to it until after Thanksgiving. I guess I just feel guilty or something; it's weird but I guess waiting to listen to Bing Crosby sing White Christmas and TSO's version of Carol of the Bells makes the music even more special.

It's past Thanksgiving so I've got my Christmas music playlist all set up, wrapping paper waiting to be unrolled and a list of gifts to get! I love picking out gifts for people; I love making gifts especially for my girls at home. They all say that they look forward to my annual mixed CD and hope this year is no different:)

We're heading home on December 23rd! 20 days and I'll be at home sweet home!! I can't wait to see my favorites and my family!!

Harry Potter

I saw the first installment of the final Harry Potter film on Saturday and it was AMAZING! The music, the cinematography, the special effects and the best part is that they kept pretty darn close to the actual plot in the book! I also thought the movie was going to end sooner than it did; the rumor I heard turned out to be incorrect so there was about 15 extra minutes that I wasn't expecting! Yay!

I'm rereading all the books right now and am about 150 pages into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (#5 for those of you keeping track at home).

Up on the movie docket:
Love and Other Drugs
Burlesque
Tangled
Megamind

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely weekend in South Bend! I'm so fortunate that I was able to spend it with my parents and other members of the Sullivan clan. There were so many stories, so much laughter and many rounds of Yahtzee and Perquakey. Matthew survived meeting a whole bunch of my extended family, so my hat is off to him. It's time for me to repay the favor to him and go visit with all of his extended family:) It was sad that Jake wasn't there but at least he was with family for Thanksgiving--the other side of the family:) And we did talk to him on the phone!

One of the highlights of the weekend was visiting with my cousin Lauren, her husband Greg and their adorable new baby (she was born October 12th)! Norah fell asleep in my arms and made adorable sleeping sounds and kept stretching:) I wonder what she was thinking about as she slept. Isn't she adorable?!

Kittens

Like cats or kittens?
Looking for a time waster?
Look no further than Kittenwar!

I'm ashamed to say I wasted quite a bit of time on this website today:) They are just so many pictures of adorable kitties!

Today we're having a Thanksgiving feast at the afterschool program that I work at for the YMCA. Turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies. Granted, it's not a whole turkey and we're making what we can with the resources we have available (my kitchen that's 5 minutes from the school and the microwave at the school). But! It's going to be a blast! I'm excited to hear what our kids are thankful for and really hope some of the parents come to share in the meal as well!

Tomorrow, we leave for Thanksgiving in South Bend, IN! I can't wait to see my parents, grandma and whatever other Sullivan clan members are in the Bend for the weekend:) It's going to be wonderful! Not to mention that Matthew gets to meet a lot of my extended family (I'm super excited but I think he's a little nervous...)!

I'm still hoping for a sub job for tomorrow but if there aren't any, I could be content with getting things done around the house, like laundry and cleaning, picking Matthew up from school around 3 and leaving for South Bend. We'll see:)

Happy Thanksgiving to all you blog readers! Think about what you're thankful for this year:)

Pearl and the Beard!

Last night, Jessi, Pallas and I went to see Pearl and the Beard! It was amazing!! Their music is a wonderful mix of cello, guitar, percussion and wonderfully passionate voices. Pittsburgh was the last stop on their "Black Vessel" tour and I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to see them. I bought their CDs and they are wonderful! We also heard Judith Avers, a local Pittsburgh artist and her voice gave me goosebumps.

Thanks to Jessi and her cousin Abby for sharing this music with me!

A personal favorite: Douglas Douglass

Great news!

So, in January, I finally received my PA teaching certificate, however it was a only a Temporary Teaching Permit (TTP) because I was missing 3 credits of college math (aka one class). I called the PA Department of Education on Monday and left a message for my evaluator. She called me back today with excellent news! They changed their Math/English policy so if I send in $80 and one form, I'll be getting my Instructional 1 certification!! Hooray!! I'm glad things worked out! I did get all the necessary documentation to have one of my classes at UMD count as my math requirement (like it did when I was in undergrad) but it's no longer necessary! Hooray!! I'm so excited! Not to mention that since it's a re-evaluation, I should get my full teaching license in about two weeks!! I probably thanked her about 50 times in the span of the 10 (or less) minutes I was on the phone with her!


Matthew took his Qual today. I've got my fingers crossed until Friday afternoon. Think good thoughts for him!

Well, here I am keeping up with posting on my blog but really, nothing much happened to me since Thursday. I have a pretty lame life:) Matthew is taking is Qual on Wednesday so he's been studying/papering/preparing all day today and doing pretty much nothing else for the next two days as well. I think he's in good shape for the Qual on Wednesday, but all I can do is hope for the best and cross my fingers. Black Friday (as the grad students call it) is on Friday so there's a happy hour at CMU which should be fun:) Black Friday (the non-retail one) is the day when people find out if they passed their Qual or not. The Happy Hour is for celebration or consolation:)

I can't wait for Thanksgiving in South Bend! It's going to be wonderful to see Mom, Dad and the rest of the Sullivan clan who will be in town. It'll be Matthew's first time meeting almost all of them, so I'm also crossing my fingers for that.

We did not get any snow here in Pittsburgh, unlike the 8 inches in Minneapolis. I'm a little jealous, just because I want an excuse to curl up in bed with tea and a good book and not go anywhere:) I know that winter is coming soon and I shouldn't get ahead of myself since we'll have winter until March. Hopefully, no snowpacolypse this year:)

Man, I'm really bad about keeping up with this thing! I need to work it into my day better. I wish I had access to blogs at school because then I would update all the time when I'm on a prep hour while subbing. Sadly, not the case:)

Over Halloween weekend, Matthew and I headed out to Etna to go out for an Oktoberfest celebration at "club" (it's like the Moose Lodge in Eau Claire...not that kind of a club, just one in which people have to be members and you can pretty much do whatever you want in there, like smoke) which had delicious German food, German beer and a polka band! It was a blast! We went with my coworker (and friend) Meribeth and her husband. Matthew and I were easily the youngest people in the room but it was such a blast! Meribeth and Rich may have children who are almost my age, but they sure know how to have a good time!

Last weekend, we packed up the car for a trip to Michigan State University to watch the Gophers and the Spartans. It was a wonderful weekend with great friends and great weather (the football team at least 1. beat the spread and 2. didn't get shut out)! I love living closer to other Big Ten schools. Next year's trip is going to be Michigan which is only 5 hours from Pittsburgh AND we have a friend who lives there! She's going to grad school there and the law quad seriously looks like Hogwarts. I would want to study there all the time!

I just want to say, in the spirit of Jessi's recent posts, how thankful I am for the opportunities I've been given in the last year. When I look back and think of where I was in November 2009 and where I am right now, it truly amazes me. I've got great friends, a very consistent job, a loving boyfriend, a different "after school" job which I love so much more (go YMCA, boo Kohl's) and a truly supportive group of friends back in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I miss you all terribly each day but I know that we'll all get to catch up at Christmas time:)

So yes, I'm thankful for what I've accomplished here and for all the people who believe in me! Thank you!

Back to the Future!

Last night Matthew and I went and saw a screening of Back to the Future at our local AMC. The screening was in honor of the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future! Before the film started, there was BttF trivia and prizes given out. It reminded me of the midnight shows of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings I went to when I was younger...well except that hardly anyone was dressed up in Marty or Doc Brown costumes:) BttF reminded me how much I LOVE the song "Johnny B Goode"! It was a great night! I'm glad that we had the opportunity to see the movie on the big screen!


Tonight is the Glee version of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"! We watched the film over the weekend with Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon (among others) and even though I was a little confused about some elements of the plot, it was wonderful. I've had the "Time Warp" in my head for three days.

David Sedaris

Now, I'm a big fan of David Sedaris and when I saw this spring that his tour was bringing him to Pittsburgh, I absolutely had to go. Matthew and I got tickets and it was well worth it! Sedaris read from his new book Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: a Modest Bestiary, some essays, some diary entries and even took time for a question and answer session. I liked that he took the time to take questions from the audience. Someone asked about his sister Lisa's parrot, which cracked up the entire audience. His writing just has a way of capturing your attention, even if you aren't actively listening . I remember listening to Sedaris read his essays on NPR's "This American Life" and inadvertently being sucked into the stories about his Southern upbringing and seemingly crazy family.

He also plugged another writer's book which I thought was fantastic! The author: Wells Tower; the books: Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Sedaris also read a few selections from the book which peaked my interest and desire to read it. It's about Vikings told in modern language.

I'm #20 on the list of people who requested it at the public library so I doubt that I'll be getting it before the holidays.

For a man whose book tour consists of him reading out loud to full audiences, I don't think my face has ever hurt so much from smiling and laughing!

Reading outloud:)

New Baby!

My cousin Lauren and her husband Greg welcomed a beautiful baby girl into their family on October 12th. Everyone is healthy and doing well at home. Her name is Norah, which I love! My mom said that Norah was on her list of names when Jake and I were born but Dad vetoed that one:)

Here's some adorable baby pictures of Norah Jo! I hope that I'll have the opportunity to see them and meet Norah soon:) She's so cute!

Emily's Wedding

It's been almost a month since I last posted but I'm back on the blog posting wagon and will hopefully keep up with my updates. The most significant thing that has happened since my last post is my best friend Emily's wedding! Michael and Emily were married on October 1st and it was an absolute blast! The entire wedding party was a riot and I don't the last time I've laughed so much with people I didn't know very well:) It was a wonderful day and nothing went wrong, minus a teensy bit of rain, but everyone rolled with that and was flexible!

Emily said that the professional pictures should be available for viewing soon. I can't wait to see them! The picture on the left is Emily and her husband (that still sounds weird to say) Michael



Me and Emily!

It's starting to feel like fall!

This weekend Jessi and I went to Simmons Farm. Jessi hadn't ever been to an apple orchard where you pick your own apples so it was wonderful to share a new experience with her. We each picked a peck of apples, went on a hay ride and browsed the delicious smelling gift shop. It was a gorgeous, albeit windy, day and I couldn't have asked for a better day! With the apples I made homemade applesauce and apple muffins, both of which Matthew said are very tasty!

I saw the film Easy A on Sunday and it was hilarious! The writing is very witty, humorous and the ending is absolutely adorable! There was also a preview for Harry Potter at which I was pretty much squeeling in my seat!!! Yay HP!

Tomorrow we make our trip back to the land of cheese and beer for Emily's wedding. I'm so excited to see her and all the things she has ready for the wedding! Not to mention getting my nails done for the first time in my life! We leave Pittsburgh around 7am tomorrow so it's going to be an early one, but worth it because we get to Eau Claire at 11am:)! Hooray!!

Happy Birthday

Happy (belated) Birthday to my dad! His special day was yesterday! Dad, you're awesome! He's a DJ on a local community radio station, WHYS Radio. Check it out:)

Weddings

My friend Emily is getting married next week! I'm one of her bridesmaids and I absolutely can not wait for her big day! Her fiance is wonderful and I feel so blessed to be able to help share in their special day:) It's also going to be wonderful to be in Eau Claire for a few days! Not to mention that we get to fly Pittsburgh to Chicago and Chicago to Eau Claire! I don't think I've been to the EC airport more than once.

Back!

It's been a quite a while since I've posted on here but my life has finally slowed down after a super busy May and really busy summer:) Overall, the summer was great. Working for the Y was awesome and I'm continuing with them in their afterschool program, which happens to be about 5 minutes from my house. I don't think I've ever lived that close to a place where I work, not even in college.

Still no full time teacher job, but subbing is going okay. I subbed two days last week and for sure sub this Friday. Things are a little slow going with subbing, but there's not too much I can do about that:) I don't want to cross my fingers and hope that teachers (or their kids) get sick; that just sounds cruel.

Glee Season 2 started last night and I LOVED it! Next week is a Britney episode and I can't stop watching the preview!!

GLEE!

I am LOVING that Glee is back! The two episodes that have been on (the third one is tonight) have been full of wonderful music, drama and a boatload of Sue Sylvester snark. The "Power of Madonna" episode was excellent!! Mercedes and Kurt are hilarious and so very talented. I was checking out wikipedia yesterday to see the list of songs for each episode and I can't wait for the "Funk" episode and the one where Lady GaGa songs are performed (Bad Romance and Poker Face)!! I know that I'm a Gleek but I really truly love the show and how talented all the actors are.

Who would have thought that a quirky show about singing/performing misfits would be so incredibly successful!? I personally feel that without Jane Lynch as Sue, the show would be lacking an incredible persona.

Congrats!

I would like to congratulate my brother Jake on his position at the National 4H Center in Washington DC! He starts May 12 and will be supervisiing CWF (Citizenship Washington Focus) Program Assistants and participants! How exciting!. Last summer he was a PA and now this summer he gets to be in charge of them! Hopefully this summer position will be extended for a year so that Jake can stay in Washington DC! I also really hope that he ends up loving what he is doing and not getting bogged down by supervisor duties and paperwork.

Washington DC is only FIVE hours away from Pittsburgh! How awesome!? That's a train ride. That's a weekend trip. That's the same time zone. Yay Jake!!!

I'm also so proud of him, and the UWEC Forensics team, for finishing 8th in the nation at NFA! Woohoo! Great Job!!

Visiting Ohio!

Over the weekend I had the opportunity it visit Columbus and Athens, Ohio. The trip was fantastic! I left right from work on Friday (the teacher I was in for had 10th period prep so I got to leave a little early--score) and drove to visit my cousin Molly and her family in Plain City, OH (it's about 30 minutes from downtown Columbus). We had dinner, played the Wii, and chatted. Her children and husband are fantastic! Erin (7) and Katie (4) are/were so sweet and kept me laughing:) Jake, who just turned one last week, was all smiles; he is such a flirt! Molly and John are doing well and it was lovely to get caught up with them and spend some time with them not surrounded by a million Sullivan relatives.

Saturday morning there were blueberry pancakes and feeding the family turtle, Bubba. After that I packed my stuff back up in the car and headed over to my other cousin Elizabeth's home about 20 minutes away (still in the Columbus area). At Elizabeth's house I had the opportunity to watch some home videos that her parents made when she and her siblings were growing up. I got to see a few clips of my parents; they looked so young and Dad had dark hair!! I love seeing old pictures and movies like that. Liam and Clara (Elizabeth's children) just turned five and are full of interesting conversation. Liam is a HUGE Star Wars fan and I promised to play him in Star Wars Monopoly the next time we see each other. The coolest Star Wars toy they had was Darth Tater (Mr. Potato Head with Darth Vader gear)! Love it!

After lunch, I began my journey to Athens, OH to visit Jake at Ohio University. Jake was at OU for the NFA National Forensics Competition. I LOVED seeing him in his element and with all of us friends and fellow competitors. I haven't seen him compete or hear any of his speeches in all the years he's been in Forensics (neither at MHS or at UWEC...I'm a bad sister). I'm glad I was able to see his last competition at the National level. The speeches were all super interesting, even the ones about international economics (at least I learned something). It was great to see him, albeit for a limited amount of time. I loved hearing WI accents and talking with people who know about the same places that I do. I'm glad that I went on the trip, even if I made it on my own. Good for me, I must say. I've never stayed in a hotel room by myself before and it was a little unnerving at first, but by the time I was ready to sleep, I was so tired that it didn't matter:)

An excellent weekend full of family, traveling, and learning!!

Everyone Needs a Sassy Gay Friend

1. Ophelia from Hamlet: things would have been different if she would have had a Sassy Gay Friend
2. Juliet from R&J might be my favorite!
3. And last but not least, Desdemona from Othello

People are so creative and I LOVE it!

Update!

This summer I will be working as a co-Camp Director at the Oakland YMCA Day Camp near Pitt/CMU. I went into the interview looking for a counselor position and was offered the Camp Director position. It's pretty exciting!! The pay is good and I'd be getting between 30-40 hours per week, which is awesome! And they're good hours 8-5, so no late nights at Kohl's. In fact, I'll just be working on the weekends during the summer if I stay at Kohl's. It's going to be fantastic summer!! The only downside about my awesome new job is that I'm not going to be able to go home for an entire week during July, like I had planned to do. It's okay, but I really wish I could see more of my family. Matthew and I talked about coming home to EC/Mpls in early June inbetween, but we'll see if that actually works out. I have to start doing planning and programming for Camp in late May (after I'm home to see Jake graduate) so who knows. I'm excited to be starting something new, albeit a little bit nervous because I'm really going to be in charge of kids and counselors and makign sure that all of their records/forms/finances are up to date. It sounds a little overwhelming to me. For more information, check out Collegiate YMCA

Lately, things have starting going downhill at Kohl's and I'm really questioning my desire to be there. I don't get paid a whole lot per hour and am busting my butt. And for what? So I can get a piece of paper that says "Yes you did"?! I already know that I'm good at my job, I don't need someone else to give me a note that says I am. I'm doing my job... That being said, I applied for a few jobs at the Carnegie Library in Oakland; the hours are about the same that I work at Kohl's, the pay is MUCH better and I'll be doing something that I actually like. Hopefully I hear back from them soon.

A few weeks ago I substituted at Shaler Middle School for one of the librarians. I absolutely loved working there; the other librarian put me to work pulling books, showed me how to check books in and our and had me do a catalog searching project (something that I'm a professional at from my days at the CLRC). Apparently the librarian I worked with said that she really liked me and my enthusiasm (I was really pumped to be there). That said, I'm going to go back to school at the University of Pittsburgh starting in Fall 2011 for my School Librarian Certificate. I'm not sure if it's a full MLIS (Master in Library and Information Science) but it's what I want to do. The program is fall, spring, summer and I'd be student teaching in Spring 2012. I would start up next Spring 2011, that's an option, but I think I want to have other peers/a cohort taking the same classes that I am in the same order. I'm not sure if there is cohort type group with each start date...guess I should check that out. Pitt's Library School is a high ranked school in terms of MLIS so since we're in Pittsburgh, I may as well apply and attend a great school!

Over the Easter weekend, my friend Laura (from UMD) came to visit good ole Pittsburgh. The first thing she said when she got out of the car at 5:30 was "Wow, this city is screwed up". True story right there, the roads are insane and not set up super logically. I guess that's what happens when the city is built/organized before the interstates were built and where two large rivers converge. That said, we had an excellent weekend! It was fantastic to see Laura since I haven't seen her since August 2008! We're good at being long-distance friends, it works for us. Friday night we cooked dinner and played cards. Saturday we all slept in, walked around Squirrel Hill, went to the Carnegie Science Center (they had super sweet robots). After our exciting and fun-filled day we had a relaxing evening card playing, frosting cookies and dying Easter eggs whilst watching Jesus Christ Superstar. The Easter bunny came on Sunday leaving baskets for Matthew and Laura and bags for Robin, Larson and Emily. The latter came over for an Easter meal and some playing of the Wii. Robin and Larson were in town for about 24 hours and I'm super glad we got to see them. Laura and I went and saw the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) at the Benedum Center on Sunday night. It was amazing!! I love their Christmas music so their show "Beethoven's Last Night" was as awesome/exciting as expected. I loved it!

Since Easter, Matthew and I have been working, cleaning and enjoying the springtime. Did I mention that when Laura was visiting it was in the 80s? Yeah, insane weather for April.

Oh April...

...you've gotten away from me. I can't believe that today is April 13 already! It's Mom's birthday today, Happy Birthday! Anyway, I have a big update coming due for all you blogosphere readers (if there are any,lol). School's not the best place to get it done so I'll try and work on it after work is over.

To Update on:
1. Summer Job at YMCA
2. Easter gathering
3. GLEE!
4. Sassy Gay Friend (everyone, including Shakespeare's characters, needs one)
5. Trip to Ohio
6. MLIS, substitute teaching, library job
7. Kohl's

Don't get too excited:)

St Patrick's Day Cookies

No holiday would be complete without making festively shaped cookies. St. Patrick's Day is no exception. From the The Joy of Cooking the recipe is as follows:

Cream:
1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
Beat in:
1 egg
Combine and add:
2 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Chill dough 3 to 4 hours before rolling. Preheat oven to 350. Roll out and cute. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly colored.

It's been a busy busy month!

Well, I haven't updated very much lately but I've been busy with work (both at Kohl's and subbing) and enjoying the warm weather in Pittsburgh. Thankfully, the snow is all gone (except a pile by one of the CMU parking ramps which is in the shade and will probably take until July to melt) and we haven't had tons of rain thus far.

Yesterday, I kicked a kid out of my 7th period class because he wouldn't stop throwing paper crumpled up into balls in the recycling bin and said "you're not a real teacher anyway". He lingered in the hall so a teacher told me he'll get at the minimum a 2 hour detention. My hands were shaking like crazy when I sent him out. It's not really a power surge, like my other friends have said. I'm always nervous because the kids are usually bigger than me, especially in the high school. Subbing, overall, is going well but I'm really looking forward to having my own classroom with kids who know me, know the content that is being taught and know what I'm doing (at least with the academics). Who knows how I'll do as an actual classroom teacher, but I'd like to be at least given a chance with a long-term substitute position

Other than subbing, I'm still working at Kohl's. The plan, since I've gotten more teaching gigs as of late, is to start putting the Kohl's money into a savings account that will be used to pay off the student loan debt (awesome). Currently, I deferred by loans until September because I don't have a full time job or one that pays me very well in the first place. Figuring all of that out was definitely a load off my mind.

My friend Laura is coming to visit for Easter. She currently lives near Dayton, OH and we're also going to see the TSO concert on Easter Sunday. They're performing Bethoven's last symphony so it should be AMAZING! I'm super excited to see her since the last time we hung out was August 2008. I'm pumped to show her my city! She's our first real guest and I can't wait!! I'm also going to Athens, OH April 17-18 to see my brother compete at a Forensics competition. It's only 3 hours away from Pittsburgh so it's totally do-able for a weekend visit. Kirsten and Ross are coming for a visit May 14-16 and I'm going home to EC May 21-23 for Jake's graduation from UWEC. My grandmother is also coming from CT for Jake's graduation and we're meeting in the airport. It's going to be great to see her and see home!

I filled out my NCAA bracket and am doing quite well. I'm in a pool with Matthew's research group and am currently in second place, behind Matthew's advisor's 11-year old son. I'm glad I didn't pick Kansas or Villanova to win the National Championship! I didn't do any research on the teams this year, just picked and chose, which seems to work out the best. I love that Northern Iowa and St Mary's are doing their very best and beating higher ranked teams. It's great to see upsets, since I think that's what this tournament should be about.

I'm still in the search for a summer job but have pseudo-interview on Monday with the Collegiate YMCA at Pitt. I really hope it works out because then I'd be able to ride the bus or my bike (when I buy one) to work (it'll beat driving every day).

Matthew and I celebrated St. Patrick's Day with some wonderful friends from CMU.

Homeward Bound

Yesterday I bought my tickets to go home to Wisconsin for Jake's graduation from UWEC. It was fairly inexpensive which I'm very grateful for. I called my granmda to see if she had purchased her tickets yet or if she was even still considering going. She gave me her information, I bought her tickets for her and she and I will be meeting at the Minneapolis airport on May 21 around 3pm! I can NOT wait! It will be wonderful to see her, my family and my friends, especially Ms. Emily! I can't wait to see her ring in person and give her a HUGE hug!

Jessi, my fashion consultant and personal shopper, and I went shopping yesterday at TJ Maxx. I got a bunch of great stuff for less than $100. I got some much needed sweaters, dress pants and a cute blouse with a belt that I loved. Jessi has such a great eye! I'm so glad I have a girlfriend to go shopping with; Matthew is completely useless.

We also played/danced Just Dance last night and it was amazing! I'm totally going to buy it for myself. It's a great workout and something that I actually have fun doing, which makes the idea of working out that much more appealing!

Subbing today, which is DVD watching and book work! Hopefully I can at least get an interview for the Long-Term teaching job that I applied for; any interviews will be GREAT practice for the future, even if I don't get the job. Practice makes perfect.

Happy Monday!

Absolutely Precious!

Now, I'm a sucker for kittens. I'm also a sucker for the Lolcats website. This kitten is definitely melting my heart!!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

Matthew and I made an amazing cheesy veggie chowder last week. The recipe I'm sharing serves about 32 so make sure you have a big pot. If you're only making it for two people, it might be a good idea to halve the recipe.

Ingredients

* 7 cups water
* 9 cubes chicken bouillon, crumbled
* 6 potatoes, cubed
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 large white onion, chopped
* 1 bunch celery, chopped
* 3 cups chopped carrots
* 2 (15 ounce) cans whole kernel corn
* 2 (15 ounce) cans peas
* 2 cups chopped fresh green beans
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 3 cups milk
* 1 pound processed cheese, cubed

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine water, bouillon, potatoes and garlic. Bring to a boil, then stir in onion, celery and carrots. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
2. Stir in corn, peas and green beans and continue to cook on low heat.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour all at once to form a roux and let cook 10 seconds. Whisk in milk, a little at a time, and cook, stirring, until mixture is thick and bubbly. Stir in cheese until melted. Pour this mixture into the large soup pot, stir well and heat through.


Roux-ing...it was a new skill for us... a little weird, but fun!


Everything all mixed together


Finished product in the bowls. Yum!!

Too much snow!

Today it is snowing, yet again in Pittsburgh. Personally, I'm a fan of winter, winter activities and being outside. I am not, however, a fan of driving on twisty-turny roads with two-wheel drive and limited experience. Also, it's almost March, can the snow just end, please? Besides, the city doesn't know what to do with itself. Needless to say, I stayed home from school today. I was supposed to be in for an aide at Burchfield Primary but I was just super worried about getting there, especially because there isn't a "nice" way to get there. I'll miss out on the money, but personally I'd rather be safe, just saying.

Last weekend was the Winter Party at CMU. Jessi, Matthew and I were on the decorating committee and spent many hours coordinating and organizing decorations/orders/flowers etc. Thankfully it didn't take us too long to take care of things on Saturday morning so we were able to have a few hours to get ready before dinner and the dancing. The Twentieth Century Club is stunning! Even the bathroom was decorated so lavishly. I loved it! It would be an awesome place to have a wedding reception! Lots of room to eat, dance and hallways and floors for kids to run around. After dinner there was dancing which quickly turned into Indian music hour; one of the Indian guys brought his iPod up to the DJ who continued to play that music just so people would be out there dancing. As Matthew said, "I think we were just out-cultured." We, the silly Americans, did the Macarena, Cupid Shuffle and Cha Cha Slide. I'll put some pictures up when I figure out how to upload pictures using Linux

Valentine's Day was very uneventful. Matthew had a migraine in the morning and I worked 1-9:30. I feel so horrible that he gets migraines and there's absolutely nothing I can do for him except bring him a glass of water, an extra blanket, tuck him into bed and leave him alone. He did go to the doctor last week and got some medicine to try. My friend Emily carries around Excedrin Migraine in her purse in case her finance(!!) Michael needs one. Last night Matthew asked me to carry one of his pills in my purse all the time, which I'll gladly do. I want him to not feel worse, especially if we're out and about.

My friend Emily got engaged on Valentine's Day!! Now I think proposing on Valentine's Day isn't the most original thing in the world, but they're doing the long distance thing and they weren't going to be seeing each other again until May, so it's totally warranted. I'm so excited for her and for Mike! They've been together for such a long time and I'm so glad that they're making wedding plans. October 1, 2011 can't come soon enough! She asked me to stand up for her and I feel truly honored and privledged to even be part of her special day. I'm also psyched because it means we'll talk at least once a month, which is great because both of us kinda suck at playing phone tag:) The only bad part is that I'm in Pittsburgh, far away from EC and the day to day planning. I can't just spurt-of-the-moment go wedding dress shopping with her, it has to be planned around when I'm home and stuff like that. I'm not going to be in EC again until May (Jake's graduation) but I'm going to do the very best I can from here because Emily deserves the very best. I can't wait :)

Some friends of Matthew and I are expecting their first child in September! It's weird to me that people our age are having babies; I mean I know that I very well could have a child by now, based on my age, but personally, I'm just not ready. It's all well and good (and totally normal) when my cousins have children but friends that I know having children just seems really out of the ordinary. I asked Jessi if she thought it was a little strange to have her friend Callie (who sounds amazing btw) having a baby and she admitted that at first it was a little strange. *phew* I'm not totally abnormal for thinking that. I mean N&A got married in October 2008, got a few pets, bought a house, have stable jobs...I guess a baby is the next step! Congrats to them and best of luck!

I can't believe the Olympics are over on Sunday. I must say that the past two weeks have been amazing; I'm so glad that I'm not in school, with homework, projects and studying to do (like I did in 2006) so I can enjoy the Games! Matthew and I watch them every night (for the most part). I got really sucked into Snowboard Cross, it was so interesting! I think I like the Winter Olympics better than the Summer Games; there are less sports, but I enjoy watching almost all of the sports/events (Curling, though a totally MN/WI sport, doesn't hold my attention the way skiing and snowboarding do...also Ice Dancing could totally be removed from the Winter Games, this coming from a girl who actually likes Figure Skating). It will definitely be interesting to watch the Summer Games in London. I'm wondering where on earth they are going to fit all of the incoming athletes and spectators, since London is already a really busy city.

In nerd updates, I switched my computer to use Linux instead of Windows as an operating system. So far, so good. My dinosaur of a computer, okay it's from 2005, is running a little faster than it was with Windows, but I'm sure that I'm going to have to get a new one within the next year. Here's to the winning the lottery (or maybe the job lottery).

Last night Matthew, John, Jessi and I went to see Broadway Rocks with Marvin at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. It was an absolutely wonderful show and Heinz Hall is a stunning building, inside and out! The orchestra was accompanied with 4 phenomenal vocalists who have been on Broadway! Check it out! I loved it and got to be really nerdy about musicals, surrounded by other people who were excited about them as well. I spotted this show in July last year when I was looking for cool stuff to do in Pittsburgh. Thank goodness we actually got to go!

I'm wishing and thinking Spring. Hopefully it'll arrive shortly, without flooding the entire city when all of the snow melts! Spring!

Snowpocalypse!

Holy Crap! It snowed 20 inches in 24 hours. Friday it started snowing and we woke up Saturday to see everything buried under about 20 inches of snow. I've never seen some much snow fall in such a short period of time. It's insane! I couldn't even go to work at Kohl's today because our street isn't plowed yet.

I've never seen so many people out and about in our neighborhood as we did yesterday; we walked to Home Depot to get a shovel and saw tons of people shoveling out their vehicles parked on the street. It's pretty snow and makes Pittsburgh look lovely! The buses aren't running, power is still out for many people in the city and there was a water shortage yesterday. There's definitely a state of emergency in Pittsburgh, but people seem to be handling it quite well. There's not a lot that we can do when we're snowed in. I said to Matthew today that if we were in Wisconsin, the roads would be clear and our street would have been plowed twice.

I filed my taxes on Friday and can't wait to get the return. I'm hoping to get PA and MN done today but we'll see; they seem a little more complicated:) Oh well, I'll call Dad if I have questions since he's my go-to guy with tax questions.

I’ve been subbing pretty consistently this week, which I’m thankful for. I’m getting all of my PA Educator stuff finished up today. It’s a website where you put all of your teacher information, experience and clearances and districts can contact you for employment or substituting. It’s also a fantastic way to find jobs in PA since I think all (or almost all) of the districts use it. On Thursday I heard about a long-term sub position opening up at the high school in the English department. I’m really hoping that I can at least get an interview; eve if I don’t get the job, it would be nice to have the interview experience.


The view from Negley down our street


There was not a car hiding in this big pile of snow



Pretty trees!


The car before we cleaned it off!


Matthew was excited to have the car cleaned off!

Big Update

Sorry for the lack of posting; I've been busy with school and work and getting this squared away in Pittsburgh again.
1. I've started subbing at the Shaler district, the place where I was subbing as an aide before. The teaching pays more money, though the work isn't as interesting because I'm not chasing around younger kids all day. High schoolers are so interesting, especially what they talk about. I don't remember hearing stories about parties, drugs, pregnancies and kids getting kicked out of prom because they brought some coke to the dance (not the lovely carbonated beverage...)
2. Things are getting pretty invovled with the Winter Party decorating committee. It's becoming a little frustrating, but I'm glad to be doing something active, like committe work, to occupy my time.
3. Matthew and I took a trip to Harrisburg and Hershey, PA over the MLK weekend! It was a blast and super fun to have a mini-vacation
4. My cousin Meg and her husband Mike had their third child on Tuesday! Welcome George Sullivan Hatton! You are entering into a huge family that is full to the seams with love for new babies. My other cousin Mike and his wife Jess are expecting twins this spring as well! Hooray for more babies!!
5. Jessi and I spent this most recent Saturday having a Girl's Day In. We made pancakes (and grits, yum!), watched her wedding DVD (which I loved!) and baked some delicious chocolate chip cookies from scratch. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday (not to mention the Friday night of staying up late with popcorn, beers, girltalk and "Sex and the City"). It reminded me of being in college and how much I loved my roommates and how much I do miss them. I loved waking up on Saturday, making breakfast (or lunch) and chatting about our Friday nights or what was planned for that Saturday. It's different living with Matthew, not bad, just different.
6. Kohl's has scaled back our hours so I'm lucky to work twice during the week. Thankfully, substitute teaching has been plentiful so I haven't had to worry too much. Thankfully, all the bills are still being paid.
7. I bought a book called Nightlight which is a parody of Twilight written by some snarks at Harvard. It is HILARIOUS! Matthew and I were laughing really hard last night when we read the first chapter out loud.
8. Trying to eat healthy and exercise more so that I can be healthy and have more energy; going to bed earlier will also probably help that. 5:30 is very early to get up to get ready for teaching each day.
9. Happy (almost) birthday Jessi! I'm so glad we've become such good friends! I don't know what I'd do without you:) Loves!
10. An even ten points always looks good on an update, though I don't have another bullet point...lol

Approved!

After waiting four months, two weeks and a day, my PA teaching certificate has finally been approved!! Hooray!! I honestly can't believe that this day has arrived! Now all I have to do is wait until after the Janurary 20th board meeting for district approval and I will be all set to go!!!! It also turns out that to make up the three math credits I'm missing, I can take the SAT Math Subject Test and if I score high enough, it will count towards that requirement! I'd much rather take a test for around $70 than a three credit course that I have to go to classes, take tests and do homework! Hopefully, that is acceptable for the PDE and I'm going to call to double check (since you never know).

Back to work!