First day of school as a teacher

I survived my first day of school! I was so nervous the night before I couldn't even eat dinner. School was great! My students are amazing and the day went by so fast! I can't wait for tomorrow!

All about Care Bear

My Turn....

Carolyn:

Carolyn loves Dogs, everything on TLC, One Tree Hill, Grey's Anatomy, children, Dogs, her friends, her family, Scrubs, The Office, The Notebook, Dogs, the Beatles, Across the Universe, Rent, Musicals, ESPN (just kidding), Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers, enchiladas with a flour tortilla and sour cream sauce on top, Birraporetis (however you spell it), PetLand, working out, tailgating, going with me to games, Dogs, Facebook. Oh and me. Carolyn has lived in Arlington all of her life with her mom, dad, sister, and pets. Carolyn now lives in south Arlington with her sister Lauren, her sister's dog Barkley, and our dogs Lucy (Chocolate Lab) and Rowdy (Yellow Lab). Carolyn works at Bowie High School as Life Skills coach in the special education department where she gets to take kids out to job sites like Walmart and CiCi's Pizza. School starts and Moday and after preparing all summer I can tell she is really excited and ready to get going. Everyone always says it takes someone special to do what she does, and trust me it does and she is. We met on the golf team at Arlington High and Carolyn said "yes" on January 2nd and will say "I do" on July 11th. She has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever known and I love her.

House, Car, School

We are officially home owners!!! Wow, what a feeling! I am so happy! We get the keys on Wednesday and I cannot wait!

I also bought a new car. I know what you're thinking, "Carolyn, you just got a house and a car.... are you crazy." Yes, I am crazy, but I needed a car desperately since the car insurance took mine away on Monday. I got a navy Honda 4-door Civic and I love it!

School is going well, my room is completely set up and I have great teaching assistants. It's hard to believe the time is finally here. I feel like I have been waiting to have my own classroom for years. Now that it's here, I'm so nervous. I know everything is going to go well, it's just the first day jitters. I'll take some pictures of my classroom and post them so everyone can see. Yesterday, I worked up there from 7 to 7 and came home and feel asleep on the couch at 8:30. Hopefully this is not going to become a habit. Lauren and Jerry wouldn't stop making fun of me, but I was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted.

Everything is coming together slowly, but surely.

Got a house----check

got a car----check

classroom ready----check

I'm choosing to make my next focus school and wedding. I'll keep you posted. I'm also making an effort to recognize that not all things need to be perfect. I never thought I was a perfectionist, but I'm starting to realize I am. I think my biggest fear is failing.

I really miss my friends. Congrats to Megan for getting a 3rd grade teaching position! She's going to do great! Also, congrats to Kristen for passing her teacher test! I knew she could do awesome!

Virginia

We just got back from Virginia about an hour ago. We had so much fun! I got to meet a lot of people that I have heard about and see a lot of family and friends. The first night we went to Blacksburg for a party at Larry's boss' house. They had a live band and a lot of great food. It was really nice being outside when it's not 110 degrees out and the mountains were amazing to look at. I can't imagine being able to wake up to something so beautiful everyday. The next day we had a huge barbecue with family and friends. Larry smoked ribs, corn on the cob, and pork. The food was amazing! The next night we went to an Italian restaurant and came home to play Monopoly. This was no ordinary game of Monopoly... me, Chase (one of Walker's friends), and Jerry had all been knocked out by Karen. Walker was barely hanging on when Jerry decided to become Walker's "teammate." Needless to say the game lasted for over 3 hours and Walker ended up losing. It was a valiant fight though. The next day we went to Anthony's a great little diner in Salem for breakfast and Red Robin for lunch. By the time lunch was over we had to head to the airport. In between barbeque's and going out to eat we had a great time visiting with family and friends. It truly was a great weekend.

The trip kind of ended in a bang. Our flight from Roanoak to Charlotte was delayed and Jerry and I barely made the next flight to Dallas. We had to sprint across the airport. I felt like I was in a movie, it was kind of fun. If we hadn't made that flight we would have had to spend the night at the airport, which would have been interesting.

It was a great weekend and I cannot wait to go back again!