birthdays, lazy days, and vacation days...

so ive been meaning to write for a few weeks now, but with public school being out for the summer and brad without any classes, im constantly tempted to be away from the computer. however, i thought it would be good to do a quick catch up on the happenings of this past month. happy july second, by the way! the time sure flies...

well, it's official. im old. well, if 22 is old, anyway. my students seemed to think so. i had a great birthday that began with brad waking me up with some beautiful flowers. i then proceeded to pamper myself by getting a mani/pedi, trim my hair, and even color it just for fun. you could barely tell a difference by the end of the day, but i felt pretty dang good. i then got dressed in my new really nice shirt brad bought me and we went out to red lobster. brad...what a great boyfriend! you may not know this, but brad really doesnt like seafood. of course, i didnt know this until i had fed him shrimp about 10 times. but still being a trooper (and knowing red lobster is a favorite of mine), he took me there and made me promise to eat not only an appetizer but whatever i wanted...i wasnt allowed to look at prices. i was SO full that i was about to burst when we left that place! but boy, it was worth it :). we finished up the evening by renting lars and the real girl (recommended to us by scott, one of our very close friends). it was definitely an interesting movie. not a kids comedy by any means, but there is certainly a mix of emotions that you cant help but feel for lars (who falls in love with an inflatable doll)...yeah. if you havent seen it and you like deeper meaning movies, you might want to check it out.

besides that, i just finished up subbing for some different classes (as well as the third grade class in which i student taught that i love so much). i "subbed" for peggy for a few days while she got all of their end of the year presentation night stuff ready, and i actually got to go to the show (it was a mock trial, an adaptation of the true story of the three little pigs). it was so cute. the best part though (besides the girls shamelessly asking if brad was my boyfriend in the middle of the play--we stood off to the side) was when i walked in. we were 5 minutes late and the entire class started smiling, pointing, and waving at me. needless to say peggy almost had a coronary because the kids lost focus for a second. it was a proud moment for me.

we've tried to do lots of fun things lately, but we are so poor it is pathetic. any ideas? here we are up at the Mayan in Sandy (we had prime seating for the diving show, which is behind us):


ive also spent a disgusting amount of time playing the Wii at brad's apartment. his roommate owns one, and while i really wasnt good at first, im starting to give brad some competition (either that, or he fakes it well. what a good boyfriend!). we REALLY love mariokart, and if any of you have not had the chance to play it before, then get your hands on this game as soon as possible. if you played the N64 version....it's 100x better. SO FUN. my new obsession (as of tonight, actually) with the wii is the Wii Fit. holy moly....it is so addicting. and yes, some of you may be anti-Wii, arguing that you can cheat and just flick your wrist through the games, but let me tell you...this one is intense. it comes with a balance board that tests your weight, BMI, and your level of balance, and you set goals and do different activities to achieve those goals. for instance, i made a goal of losing 5 lbs in the next month. you personalize your profile, so they literally have a 'trainer' for you. and it has EVERYTHING. you can do strength exercises, yoga, and even running. there are also tons of games that are geared towards aerobic activities (like hulahooping as fast as possible for three minutes) or balance strengthening games (like snowboarding, tightrope walking, and heading a soccer ball). it's EXTREMELY addicting for me since im so competitive, and im proud to say that after logging 20 minutes of work out time, i was all sweaty and i had lost half a pound! not a lot, i know, but i was pretty impressed, since it's a "video game" and all. maybe i should be embarrassed that i was so gross after this, but i still loved it. once i get my first paycheck, there is a good chance i'll be buying the Wii just for this game. no way will i ever consider running in the snow again. and when i have children, this will be a requirement before they can play other games. i guarantee it.


okay okay, this is getting really long. but here is an overview of what i will be doing for the rest of the summer:
-July 2-9: trip to GA/AL to help the rents clean out Pappy's house
-July 11: attend new teacher training and receive my classroom key!!
-July 13-21ish: family vacation (sort of) to Idaho/Wyoming
-July 26-Aug 3: Ivey family vacation to Lake Tahoe (this is still not set in stone though)
-Aug 4-10: trip to TX to see sisters and their respective families! (also not in stone...)
-Aug 11: report to CSLA for the first teacher prep day
-Aug 20: first day teaching my own class!
-Aug 26: move into my ginormous new apartment!

so yeah....i'll update again as soon as possible!

wait, one more thing. just FYI, i finished the city of ember last night (on my shelfari, if youre wondering) and it was SO GOOD. it's a fifth grade reading level, so if you would like an easy but surprisingly captivating book with adventure and suspense, i recommend checking it out. it is very clean, and very easy to get into. i literally had to force myself to go to bed every night because i wanted to keep reading, and that hasnt happened since harry potter. and i've read a LOT of books since then. im excited to go read the sequel to it right now!