Update

Wow....it's been a while.....

   Well, my student teaching is over (THANK GOD!!!)  For those of you who don't know, I had the cooperating teacher from Hell.  Let's just say that everything I did was either wrong or not good enough.  & you shoulda heard some of the things he told me, such as "when you apply for a teaching job, they're going to call me, and I'm not going to lie to them", when he found out that I wanted to teach high school he said "Oh, I'll break you of that" (but my teacher was absent once & I took over for the day, & strangely, the substitute that was with me said that I was going to make an excellent teacher....go figure).  But as I said,  THANK GOD I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH HIM ANYMORE!!!!   I'VE GRADUMATATED!!!

& on to wedding planning.  My first shower out of three is this coming weekend (WOOT WOOT!!  FREE STUFF!!).  The only main things we need to do for planning the wedding are the flowers and the invites.  The minor things are bridesmaid shoes and flower girl dresses.  Everything else is considered little stuff now.

Also, if you peeps wanna hang out sometime, let me know.  I saw some people at Kristen & Jeremy's barbecue reception yesterday & I realized how much I miss people.  Gimme a call!!!!  =)

Update...

I got a high school placement for student teaching.  I'm at Crystal Lake Central High School with the choir director.  I was pretty excited my 1st day this last Monday: my last placement, I really didn't feel like very official.  I had to sign in every single day as a visitor, I had to wear a tag that said "substitute teacher", I parked in Visitor Parking everyday, and there really wasn't any place for me to put my stuff except for next to my cooperating teacher's desk.

Well, I get to the high school on Monday & I'm signing in the visitor's sheet and the secretary says "oh, go right on in back.  The dean is taking pictures for student teacher ID tags."  I get an ID tag on a lanyard!!!  Then I meet up with my teacher & he says that I get a parking pass to park in the faculty parking lot!  I get a parking pass!!!!!!   Then I get to the music office and my teacher says "just put your stuff by that empty desk.  No one's using it, so you can use it while you're here."  DUDE!!  I GET MY OWN DESK!!!!  How sweet is all this?!!!!

The graduation countdown continues: 31 days to go!!

The wedding plans continue:  possibly seeing a DJ tomorrow, and on the 12th, hopefully making final decisions on the bridesmaid dresses.  Oh!  & my dress came in ALREADY!!!  I can go try it on when I have time, but I'm not gonna get it altered until a month or so before the wedding.

Update

Here's an update on wedding stuff:   I FOUND A WEDDING DRESS!!!!  My mom & I went to this place called Marilee's Bridal (my sister got her dress from there & my mom got her bridesmaid dresses from there too), which is the designer of the dress that I really really really liked.  Once I put it on, the lady helping us came in and asked if I wanted to see it in the multi-way mirror.  She put a veil and headpiece on me & I had tears in my eyes.  Even better was me looking over at my mom & her wiping tears from her eyes as well.  Needless to say, we put a down payment on it & it's coming in August.......Next stop:  BRIDESMAID DRESSES!!!  This will be interesting with having 9 bridesmaids.   Oy!

A little frustration in the way of student teaching:  last Friday, I called Cary Grove HS where my next placement in 2 weeks is at.  I introduced myself to my cooperating teacher and told him that I'll be student teaching with him.  His response: "We don't have a student teacher scheduled to be with us this semester."  I asked if he got info from Judson at all and he said that they did, but they declined the offer to have a student teacher.......my heart dropped.  I talked with the people at Judson and they said that they even have the paperwork that I'm at Cary Grove in 2 weeks.  Then they got on the phone with the Cary Grove people and it turns out that there was a miscommunication and that the point lady didn't pass along the message to Judson that they declined me.   So yeah.....Judson's running around trying to get me a student teaching gig in 2 weeks (this should be interesting being that they had a hard time finding me that Cary Grove position).  But hey.....7 MORE WEEKS TO GO!!!!!!!

P.S.  "Rent" was awesome!!!!!!   "Jesus Christ Superstar".....don't waste your money on it.  The guy who played Jesus was, like, 60 years old.  I realize that he was in the original broadway cast, but come on!!!  That was 30 years ago!!!  Get over it!!!!

Ok, all I gotta say is that the new setup of xanga is very confusing.....it took me 5 min. to try to figure out how to post a new blog.

Anyways.....I just got my evaluation from my elementary school practicum & I got awesome reviews from my cooperating teacher.  I'm at McHenry Middle School right now & I absolutely love it!!!  Middle school students are so awesome!!!  There has been a little bit of drama this last week with some of the students spreading rumors about my teacher, so we went to the administration, who have been questioning students one by one, & now a kid is getting threatened to get beat up for telling us....it's all becoming a big mess.  Personally, I'm surprised parents haven't started calling about this.

Also, I found out what my high school placement is:  Cary Grove High School!!  Which is awesome cuz aparently they have a high reputable music program.  Originally, there was talk about them placing me in with a high school band in Hampshire, but I told them that I'd be more comfortable with a choral setting.  Then, da-da-da-DAAA!  I'm placed with Cary Grove, which should be a better drive, as well.  It takes me 45 min to an hour to get to McHenry....& then some when bad weather hits.

Matt & I saw "Rent" last week.  A-mazing!!  The movie does not do that musical justice!  We're seeing "Jesus Christ Superstar" on Thursday with my family: early birthday presents for both Matt & I.

As far as wedding plans, the ceremony is gonna be at Pheasant Run and the reception's at the Seville.  My next goal to accomplish is finding my wedding dress before March.  Everything else will be downhill from there.

It seems like all I'm doing now is either teaching, schoolwork, or working.  >=(   grrrr.   2 1/2 months to go!!!

A whole crapload of "Wooohoooo"s....

So many "woohoo"s happened over break, I don't know where to begin.....

During the month of December (& a little bit in November), I was leading a Christmas Choir at the church that Matt & I go to.  It was a little nerve-wracking at first cuz we only had one rehearsal per week for 4 weeks to rehearse 2 songs.  Sure enough, the Sunday that we performed (the 23rd), they were awesome!  I was so proud of them!  & enough of them want to keep doing it throughout the year & I was given the ok to go ahead with it & direct it!  & we'll have more than 4-5 rehearsals to work on stuff!!!!!

I got my grades from last semester.  I was really worried about my Faith & Life Issues class cuz I wasn't sure if I was even going to pass it (quite a few of the students in my class didn't pass).  I was expecting to get A's in my ensembles, maybe B's in my lessons & other music classes, and a passing grade for F&L.  To my surprise, all A's and a B- in F&L!!!!!!  (Talk about "Holy crap"!!!!)  This was my best semester ever!!!  For the first time, I made Dean's List!!!!  The downfall of this was that everyone I told was like, "Hey!  Good job".  The downer part was when I told my mom.  There wasn't any "Good job!" or "I'm so proud of you!".....instead, she just asked what the B- was in.  Way to look at the glass half empty, Mom.  Oh well.  At least my Dad's proud of me.  Tina told me that that's all he talks about lately & he has my grades on their refridgerator.   Awww! =)

Christmas went really well.  I was thinking things were going to be pretty hectic with all the families that we needed to visit, but everything was pretty spread out.  & get this!: Matt's parents got us the Wii!!!  & my Mom & stepdad got us season passes for Great America (good thing, too, cuz we both really wanted passes, but we're pretty strapped for trying to pay for a wedding.  Woohoo!!!

During Christmas break, I was trained for being a bartender at work, which is nice cuz I get paid more an hour, plus tips!!  Woohoo!!!

Wedding plans are going good.  The place we wanted to have the ceremony at is booked for the 20th, so we're looking into various golf courses and clubs that have facilities for both outdoors and indoors (it's kinda good that it worked out this way, cuz the last place didn't have indoor facilities in case of inclement weather).  I went looking at dresses the other day.  I found one that I loved & it even made me cry.  But the lady at the dress place was unusually pressuring me to put a deposit on it right away.  She made us all curious as to why she wanted to get rid of that dress so much (it couldn't be ordered for another size & it was too small, anyways, so I didn't want to get that exact one that I wore) .  We took down the name of the designer and the dress design and we're going to look at other places with similar styles.  But at least I now know what I'm looking for!! 

I just started my practicum & it's going pretty well so far.  I'm in an elementary school in Bartlett.  The kids are sooo much fun, but also can get pretty rowdy.  I kinda caught myself being a mean teacher today (which they need that sometimes, but I was being the teacher who was only pointing out the negative things instead of both positive and negative), so I was at least able to turn things around in time.

& last, but CERTAINLY not least:   I FINALLY GOT A CAR!!!!!  It's a seafoam green 2003 Hyndai Accent....& it's only got 15,000 miles on it!  The interesting part is that it's a stick shift.....so needless to say, last week I was reaquainting myself with driving stick.  At first, I didn't really want to drive anywhere cuz I was nervous about it, but now I've gotten so used to it, that it's so much fun to drive now!    & I don't have to take the bus or ask for rides anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!