Here we go again...

Well friends....

More bad things coming my way.

Over that same assignment as last time, from the same woman as last time.

Who is not my teacher.

So I'm not really sure why I'm being called to a meeting my her and my professor,

over my lack of quantity in my work.

I could go into the long, drawn out story of how I had 3 weeks less to work on it then everyone else, due to my prof changing my focus student halfway though, which was completely out of my control, and she totally knew it, but what's the point.

I'm getting screwed over here. 

End of story.

I'm kind of numb at this point.

How much worse can I feel, I was so depressed at the end of last semester that I could barely get off the couch.

I'm not going there again.

I've created a rebuttal for all of the things they said I did wrong, and I'm going to go in and present them with my head held high, because I haven't done anything wrong.

I'm also going to the dean of education, and presenting the same information.

I hope I can get through to someone.

How can one person be so determined to derail someone else's life?

If I can't continue at my school now, 

I WILL get my degree.

I am a good teacher.

It's all I've ever wanted to do.

I'll probably transfer back to BSU, and commute for a semester, which is all i should need.

This is where my strength is coming from.

Every day, I've been writing 

Romans 8:31 

on my arm.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

I'm pretty lucky to have an awesome husband who believes in me, too.

Because here we go again...

♥

Sitting, waiting, wishing...

I had plans to maybe go hang with my friend Amanda today. 

But, instead, I am sitting at my house, waiting for Jamie's computer to come from Fed-ex. 

It didn't come while he was here, so he's panicked that it won't come. 

So, here I am.

Waiting for his macbook.

Oh well, at least I've gotten stuff done around the house and yard!

Gotta look on the bright side, right?

♥

Missed a spot...

Can I just say that I love my husband?

He is so great.

When I first decided on this compost project, 

I totally thought I could build a compost bin by myself.

hahaha, I know, right?

So, when about a month and a half went by, and all I had was this,

(again, I know, right?)

I started to whine a bit about how it was hard.

And maybe it was my whining, or the fact that we had 1 1/2 month old food scraps in our kitchen, or that I had his tools still spread out everywhere, but Tuesday morning, he took pity on me, and did this. Yes. All in one morning. 

He's so awesome.

We got hinges put on today, and got it filled with all of our yard and food waste that we had been storing up. Which was gross, but exciting. 

As you can see, he actually gave it two doors, on on top and one in front. He's a genius.

I also spent about 2 1/2 hours weeding my garden this morning. 

I worked out hardcore last night, so I knew it would be tough because I was sore, but I stuck it out, and once I got stretched out, it wasn't that bad.

It was a lot of work, but my grass patch now looks like a garden, lol. I feel very accomplished.

After all this, I went with Jamie to get some food, and then took about an hour long nap. And when I woke up, I was sore. Crazy sore. My arms and legs feel like I just ran a marathon.

And, when I knew I was going to be outside for a long time, I of course put on sunscreen, because skin safety is important. 

But, apparently my shirt slid down in the back after I started working, because I woke up with this.

I will admit, I find this almost as hilarious as it is painful. Almost.

So now I get to go work a 7 hour close with a 12"x6" burned rectangle on my back, and super sore arms and legs. 

I may not be able to get out of bed in the morning. 

haha, but seriously.

♥

See how the garden grows...

Really great day today.

Jamie and I had a huge fight on Tuesday night.

Although, it's deceiving to call it a fight.

Our fights are like... heated conversations.

There's very little yelling, or anger, we just vent and then try to come up with a solution.

This "conversation" lasted until 3 AM.

But on the other side, we both had a much better understanding of what the other one needs right now to be happy.  

And things have been much better.

We had a lot of fun today. 

I worked a lot on the garden all morning.

The biggest problem in the garden right now is the grass.

 It's taking over.

So, I spent the day laying weed barrier between the rows.

It was a lot of work, but I'm really hoping it will kill the grass, and then next year we won't have any problems with it.

I also planted some more.

Tomatoes, 

Peppers, 

And onions, 

so Jamie can make salsa.

And,

Lettuce,

and asparagus

 are growing!

Then Jamie and I went to the store to pick up some more fence, because the bunnies are eating my green beans. Jerks.

All they had was white.

And all my other fence is green.

It looks pretty redneck, but oh well.

We had a good time in Kmart, which was deserted, like always, and we had a pool noodle sword fight. 

Seriously. 

It was so fun.

It felt good to act like a kid again. I don't do that often.

While there, we found a patio umbrella on sale.

We've been talking about getting one for a while, so..

Tada!

Can I just say, this second picture cracks me up because Emma is trying to knock Minnie's head off. hahaha

Now we just need to get a table and chairs that aren't junk.

Someday. 

♥

My love...

Jamie and I celebrated our first anniversary this past Sunday.

I love that man.

I've been struggling a lot lately.

There are days where I feel like my life is totally spiraling out of control, and it takes everything I have to get out of bed.

Between this appeal on my grade at school, a work transfer that I don't really want, and some serious body image issues, it's a very rough patch in my life. 

He helped me put all of that aside, for the whole weekend. 

While it was a crazy weekend, with 2 graduation open houses, a wedding, and a bridal shower, plus our anniversary, we were able to make time for us.

On sunday evening, we had reservations at Morton's steakhouse downtown. (we had a coupon, haha we are lame.)

We left early, and just walked around downtown for an hour. 

We walked. We talked. It was wonderful.

Just like old times.

And may I just say, the dinner was phenomenal.

As Jamie bit into his filet minon, he said "Wow. Every steak I've ever had to this point has been fake."

hahaha, he makes me laugh.

Morton's is so awesome, they personalized our menus.

I may be a total nerd, but I think this is so cool.

We walked around for a while afterward, and just spent the time together.

Then on the evening of Memorial day, after I worked a crazy 8-5 at work, I came home, and we hung out, and tried cedar plank salmon on the grill!

We haven't cooked together in a long time, and it was really fun. 

And even though it was dark, we started a fire in our pit, and ate outside.

And it turned out amazing.

And this is coming from someone who virtually never eats seafood.

This recipe was pretty complex, and needed a lot of ingredients i had to go buy, but it is a great one if you want to impress guests or something. Here is where I found it.

Then we just hung out and made smores over the fire. 

It was exactly what I needed.

I seriously don't know what I would do without him sometimes.

He is my best friend.

Who would have known 4 years ago, what this would turn into.

Just for laughs, here is a picture of us the day of our first date, May 26, 2007. (I'm not a freak, it was the day I graduated, haha)

And us at his Christmas party, this past December.

A lot has changed.

But we've gotten though it all.

I'm looking forward to many more years with him.

I'm so thankful.

♥

Life lately...

Jamie and I took another impromptu trip to Broadripple!

This time it was my idea.

We ate at "La petite chou" for the first time.

Amazing.

It was literally like being back in Paris. 

I love it, and can't wait to go back. 

I also loved spending the time with my handsome husband.

I needed it.

It's been an adjustment, being married again, as we call it.  

We lived like roomates for almost 6 months, only seeing each other coming and going, and it's taken some time to get re-adjusted to being husband and wife.

I'm so glad we have, though.

On another note, I developed this ridiculous rash on my arms the other day.

Itches. Like. Fire.

Not sure what it is yet.

I'm annoyed that this is coming along right as the eczema on my feet is clearing up.

So irritating.

And, I went out to look at the garden today, and

we have corn!!!

And green beans!!

I'm not going to lie, there was a small part of me that was afraid that we would do all this work, and then nothing would come up, and it would be an epic failure.

Which is why I'm so ecstatic that things are growing!

Off to have dinner with my friend Emily!

I love summer.

♥

Oh the productivity!!

I have had the most productive day ever today. 

It's been great!

This is what I left when I went to work this morning.

hahaha, bums. 

I got off work a little early because we were slow. No one rents movies when it's gorgeous outside. 

Then, I got to work! Here is what I accomplished this evening!

 Updated our calendar (on time for once!)

 Planted Pansies along our walkway, because I'm tired of it being bare! I love them!

 Did a deep clean of the carpet in the office!

 Made time for Starbucks. Love. 

Got all of the dishes done! Yay!

And while I did all this, Jamie worked on repairing the grass in the front yard. It needed it. 

On the agenda for tomorrow:

 Re-organizing the office. It's a hot mess. It became my catch-all during student teaching. 

Wanted to do it today, but the carpet has ended up being a bigger job than I expected. 

Clean up the laundry explosion in my room. This is my #1 bad habit. 

I'm excited that I've been able to focus on the house more. 

I'm one paper away from the semester being over!!

So, so excited.

♥

Impromptu Broadripple Trip!

Husband surprised me with a trip to Broadripple last night. 

It was so great. 

We hung out, ate Qdoba and Red Mango (yum!), walked the Monon a bit, and went into a few little shops.

It's been so nice having him home these past few evenings.  

I miss him now that he's back at work.

So excited for this summer, when I can see him more.

I am one paper away, and for better or worse, the semester will be over for me.

Jamie has a week and a 1/2, and then he is done.

I love him.

Can't wait to have an opportunity to show him that more. 

♥

A lot of randomness.

Worked my last 18 hour day for a while on Friday.

It was my last day of student teaching.

I cried.

I have learned so much, and am so thankful for the time I got to be there. 

I had about a million goodbye cards, and I will love them forever.

Then I worked all day Saturday, and then Jamie and I went out and joined the masses of the last minute shoppers, because I decided I wanted a new dress for Easter. 

I had something really weird happen to me, when shopping though.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt super uncomfortable and unhappy with my body.

It took me a very long time to come to terms with the fact that I will never be a size 2, and to learn to love my body the way it is.  

But for some reason, while trying on dresses, I had this attack of self-consciousness.
I actually cried in the dressing room, and told Jamie "I feel humongous! I hate it!"

It actually kind of freaked Jamie out a bit, because as he said "In the 4 years we have been together you have never voiced any kind of concern like that to me at all." 

I was able to pull myself together after a few minutes and a husband pep talk, and have a good night.

I'm still a bit shaken from it though, and don't really understand why it happened.

But anyway, this is the one I ended up with:

I'm really happy with it, it's super cute.

It'll also work great for the 3 weddings I have to go to this summer. 

More than anything, I was just excited to get to spend the evening with Jamie.

We still don't see much of each other, and we can't wait until the school year's over, so we have more time together. 

We also had our grandfather clock delivered!

Jamie's Nan left us that clock specifically in her will, and I know he is so thrilled for it to be at our house finally.  It looks amazing.

The picture totally doesn't do it justice, but I hope you can at least tell how grand it is. 

I love it.

I was a bit worried that the chime would annoy me at first, but it's actually very quiet, which works perfectly for us.

And then yesterday for Easter, we were going to drive to Rockville and spend it with Jamie's family, but after church Jamie just wasn't feeling well.

He still isn't, and the doctor told him today that he is not allowed to go back to work until wednesday.

I think it's a combination of exhaustion and a cold he is coming down with. 

He just feels totally run down, and exhausted all the time.

Hopefully these two days off will help. 

(And I'm pretty thrilled about having him home with me tonight and tomorrow night.)

So, instead, we spend the evening of Easter taking naps, watching movies, and studying at Arby's. 

It was actually really great.

I'm excited about a lot of things.

School being almost over, Summer, more time with Jamie, my garden, and vacations, including a visit to see Misty very soon! 

Yay!

But now i have to go do homework, to make sure that I pass this class and can enjoy my summer. 

Uggh.

♥

Happy Birthday Husband!

Today was Jamie's Birthday!

He is now 27.

We slept in until noon, and then went to Elegance, a little restaurant in town. It was awesome.

And then we watched "The King's Speech." Also awesome.

This is where he spent the majority of his day.

I was glad to give him some personal time, he doesn't get to play for fun nearly enough.  

This is his birthday loot, on the counter.

He got some pretty good cards.

Then we went out for dinner and drinks with Amanda, Joe, and Dan, and had a great time.  We went to the Slippery Noodle downtown, and they had some really awesome bands there tonight.

While he was playing guitar for several hours, I was painting. 

Results:

I've developed a newfound interest in painting, and I'm considering taking some art classes in the fall.

Not much else has happened in the past few weeks, other than we've been planning for our garden! As soon as school is out we are going to break ground.  Here is my (to scale) plan. I'm pretty proud of it.

It's going to be some work, but I am really excited about it.  I'm also working really hard to keep them organic, and we won't be using anything other than natural gardening techniques. I'm really looking forward to getting started!

In other household news, the chore chart is working even better than expected! Our house has been perpetually clean for about a week now. It's been so great. 

Probably won't be blogging much, if at all, for the next two weeks.  They will be the last two weeks of school, and I have about a million things to finish up.  

Keep me in your prayers, I'm going to need them. 

♥

Don't believe everything you read...

I am a lover and firm believer in home remedies for things.  One pretty big trend of late is creating serums to improve your hair. 

This is an article I read in a magazine a few weeks ago.

Here is the exact little blurb...

"Need some volume? Lifeless strands got you down? in a bowl, mix one egg yolk, a half cup of honey, two tablespoons of olive oil, and two small, ripe avocados. Apply the concoction to the entire head and leave on for one to two hours, until hard. Shampoo and condition as usual. "This is a miracle cure," notes Goddard-Clark. "And for extra-bouncy, nonfrizzy curls, Drew Barrymore taught me to blot ringlets dry with paper towels." 

I thought this was pretty cool. I love such things. And I have quite possibly, the finest, limpest, wimpiest hair in the world. I have to use a ton of product to get any sort of volume.

So, last night I decided to try this!

I went out and bought honey and avocados specifically for it.  

First off, do you know how hard it is to "mix" an avocado? They are not liquid. At all. The best I could do was little pea-sized chunks.

Second, it was quite possibly the worst smell ever.  You know how pumpkin guts smell when you take them out? Imagine that smell, only this concoction smelled like a pumpkin that had sat out in the sun for a week. In other words, rotten.

So, when I had mixed it to the best of my ability, (and created an AWEFUL mess in my kitchen) I took it to the bathroom to put it in my hair.  

Then all of the little avocado pieces began to fall out of my hair. It was raining pea-sized avocado in my bathroom. So, I decided I had to keep it contained somehow. 

This was the only way I could think of.

I felt like the kids in "Signs." No aliens were going to read THIS mind.

So once I had that, I had to go clean up the mess in the bathroom. Which, I found out when I got in there that I didn't actually have to clean up the floor, because Minnie had graciously done that for me. What a good little helper. So, I got all of the avocado mess off the counter and out of the sink, and went about my business.

About an hour later, I decided I couldn't stand the tinfoil anymore, and had to go wash it out.

This is what my hair looked like at this point.

Eww. 

So, I get into the shower. And with little avocado pieces raining down around my feet, I start to wash it. And then I wash it again. And then I was it a fourth time. After that, it FINALLY started to feel like hair again, and not a grease ball. So I conditioned, and let it dry.

So, after all of that trouble, this stuff totally made my hair...

Oh. Wait. 

It did nothing. 

That's right. 

I did all that crap, made a huge mess, wasted money, and my hair is as flat and lame as ever. 

Lesson learned.

In other news, Jamie and i have been having WAY to many arguments about the house being clean. It sucks to have to deal with such things when you work as much as we do, but it's a part of life. So, we are officially going back to a chore chart. 

After many emails back and fourth, and several revisions, here is the final product.

I even laminated it at school today, so that we could write on it with dry erase markers and then wipe it off, so we don't have to print new ones every month.  Awesome.

There are four things per day, and when you complete something, you initial. This takes the burden of having assigned things each day, and we can help each other out and pick up the slack. 

Lets hope it works.

Got my tickets for Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs!

Woohoo! July 14th! So excited!

Oh, and I'll leave you with a video of my dog being a lunatic. 

This happened randomly the other night.

She's such a goober.  I love her.

♥