As an undergraduate education student at Saint Mary's, I absolutely loved reading The Freedom Writers Diary with my education group. The words that teacher Erin Gruwell's students wrote resonated with so many of us who wanted to become teachers. For me, it was a powerful reminder that we often don't know what goes on in the lives of our students. And it also reminded me that our students need a chance to express themselves. 

Today, I got to meet Erin Gruwell. IN THE FLESH. AND WE HUGGED! 

There is nothing cooler than meeting someone you admire so much. With the exception of my fantastic teachers and professors (of which there are many), there aren't a lot of well-known role models in the education field. Gruwell is someone I aspire to be like. I want my students to feel in my classroom the way her students did in hers. 

Erin Gruwell!

Afterward, she signed copies of our books, and we got to speak to her for a few minutes. I told her what an inspiration she was to me, and she told me she was just an English teacher, just like me. I think I love her even more now! Serious gratitude for meeting her today! 

Today I am grateful for:
1. Meeting Erin Gruwell
2. Lunch with my mom, my coworker Judi, and her daughter Sarah
3. A garage to park in (I love not scraping a car in the morning!)
4. Air-popped popcorn
5. A built in workout buddy in Dan (I couldn't ask for a better partner!)

Wedding Wednesday: Why our checklist is the devil

The longer we go through the wedding planning process, the more I'm learning about numbers. Naturally, there are those big, scary numbers (like, the fact that HALF the reception bill was due over the weekend, or the scary number that my fabulous florist Polly showed me and my mom last night), but beyond that, there are a whole lot more numbers. Like, when I log in to our gift registry, and it tells me daily how many days we have until the wedding (as of today, 178). 

Then then, there's the devil checklist, otherwise known as TheKnot.com. Now, I'm not knocking The Knot. They have a great checklist (even if some of it is obsolete or repetitive). But I get mildly panicked when I log in only to find that we're overdue... on, like, twelve different things. According to their checklist, we're supposed to have our entire honeymoon booked (plane tickets, hotels, and itinerary), finalized our invitation wording (oh, and ordered the invites), and taken care of our menu and ceremony music. 

Umm, yes, we've done none of that so far. 

While I'm normally a giant fan of checklists, I'll be the first to admit that this one stresses me out a little bit. There are some things we just can't do yet, for various reasons, but seeing that little red clock or gray exclamation mark next to the item on the list makes me nuts! Ugh! 

But enough complaining. 

Today, I'm grateful for: 

1. A positive report from the doctor's office (all is well in my Rheumatoid Arthritis world!)! 

2. A super productive snow day yesterday! 

3. Any show on TLC AND my friend Dr. Phil 

4. Pinterest. How did we plan anything before it? 

5. A warm up on its way (I'm not ready for this winter stuff!)

Six months from today

I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but this year is absolutely FLYING. On Friday, we will finish our first trimester of school. That means the school year is 1/3 over, people! I don't know where time is going, but pretty soon it will be Thanksgiving (aka THE BEST HOLIDAY EVER), and then Christmas, and then 2014. Wowza. 

So, today, I'm reflecting back and looking forward. Tomorrow will mark six months since Dan sang me a song and asked me to be his wife. I will never forget that moment or how I felt in it. And six months from today marks our wedding day. WE'RE GETTING MARRIED IN SIX MONTHS! I know just how quickly the last six months have gone, and I can only imagine that the next six months will follow suit. We have so much to be excited about in 2014! 

Today I'm grateful for: 
1. The amazing class discussions we had this week on Industrialism, Feminism, Abolitionism, and tolerance in general. I LOVE my students.
2. Brunch with two of my very best friends. 
3. The to-go cup of coffee from the waitress at American Pancake House today. 
4. The warm sun on a cool day. 
5. Celebrating so many birthdays this weekend. I love a good celebration! 

In good health

This morning started off with a trip to my fabulous rheumatologist. I've been seeing her for the past six or seven years, once I transitioned from my doctor at Riley. But let's back up a bit. 

For those of you who don't know, I was diagnosed with Systemic Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was 17. Although it's had a place in my life over the years, on the whole, I've been very healthy (read: very lucky). I had a four year period where I was on some pretty heavy duty meds, but I've been pretty able to live my life normally. 

So, today I went to see the doc for a number of reasons. 

1. I was due to see her in August. Whoops. 
2. I needed refills on my medication. Whoops. 
3. I've been chronically losing my voice since school started. Awkward. 
4. I've had a serious case of itchy legs for, about, five months. Also awkward. 

I told the doc all about my struggles, and she did a little examination and found that I have a wee-bit-o swelling in my hands. So, what I thought was going to be a 15 minute appointment turned into an hour (including two needle pokes and eight different hand and wrist x-rays). It's been awhile since I've been a pin cushion (when I was being diagnosed, I stopped counting vials after 200... not an exaggeration). 

Today reminded me how grateful I am for my good health. I'm certainly not in perfect health. But I have good health. And because I have good health, I have a great life. I'm active and able to do hardcore workouts, and I'm so incredibly lucky for that. 

So many times, we take our health for granted. I'm glad today reminded me that I'm healthy. And fingers crossed that I'll hear good things from the doctor. 

Today I'm grateful for:
1. Good health (!!!)
2. A DELICIOUS homemade dinner of chicken and veggie risotto, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and Moscato (not homemade, but still yummy)
3. My parents and their 38 year marriage (they are my marriage role models)
4. The holidays
5. Supportive, loving, kind co-workers (you are my lifesavers!) 

A Sunday to be thankful for

Dan and I got up early this morning and went for a run. There's nothing like getting an extra hour of sleep and STILL starting the day early! It was nice to get a crisp run in before breakfast, and get started with our day early on. 

We had a very Netflix oriented Sunday while we worked on our marriage preparation booklets. It has been really interesting to work on our books and compare our answers, and it's brought up a lot of good questions for us to answer to ourselves and each other. I'm really enjoying the process of marriage prep, and I think it's what's keeping me calm throughout the actual wedding planning part! 

Tonight I finally cleaned out our pumpkin and roasted the pumpkin seeds. What is it that makes pumpkin seeds so delicious? Well, probably the fact that I drowned them in butter and salt, but there might be something more to it too. :) 

Today I am grateful for:
1. An extra hour of sleep
2. Pumpkin seeds
3. A clean home and full fridge to start the week with 
4. A fun week of lessons ahead with my kiddos
5. Leftovers (which, as a kid, I hated, and now as an adult, I adore!)

A November challenge

Years ago, my fitness inspiration, Janet, challenged many of her gym-goers to eat completely clean for the month of November (with, the exception, of course, of that gluttonous day we like to call Thanksgiving). Although it was definitely a challenge for me, I LOVED the changes that were made to my body, and loved the way I felt. But, eating clean became more difficult, and slowly many of those processed foods made their way back into my life (Diet Coke, I'm looking at you). I still try to eat well, but there are times where I completely and utterly fail. 

This November, Janet has a new challenge for us. It focuses on doing a TON of planks throughout the month, and she's also posting daily tips on her Facebook page. If you want to partake too, use the calendar below, OR, follow Janet on Facebook (Janet Nevills). Today's challenge was to hold a plank for as long as we could. I made it about a minute and a half with solid form, but I know it will improve over the next few weeks! (I'm also thinking it would have been better to do the plank BEFORE my morning run. Lesson learned!)

Today I am grateful for: 
1. Coffee and conversation with my dad this morning. We don't get to do that much, and I SO enjoyed it. 
2. Freshly laundered sheets (is there anything better?!)
3. A meal with our good friends Samantha and Rob tonight
4. Runners, especially our LPHS students who placed SO WELL at state today
5. The power of prayer

A month of gratitude

November is easily my favorite month of the year. The leaves are still changing. The weather is still decent. The best holiday ever falls in this month (Thanksgiving, how I love thee). And the whole month is about gratitude. 

So many times in life, we get so caught up in what's going wrong. We think about the problems at work, at home, with our friends, with our family. Sometimes, it's so easy to focus on what's going wrong instead of what's going right. 

But what if we stop for a second and think about everything that's good in life? What if we start making a list of all the awesome things we have to be grateful for instead? Even if it's only a few things every day, I think your list would be incredibly long by the end of the month. 

My goal is to add a few things to my list every day this month. Today I am thankful for:

1. My loving fiance, who has been so helpful and supportive of me
2. Students who are motivated and dedicated to their school work
3. Netflix. I adore it. 
4. Sweet potato chips. Delish. 
5. People who smile at others.