Find more Friday5 prompts at Friday5.org.  I’ve been super busy with the wedding and honeymooning and opening amazing presents that I haven’t had time to focus on this website.  Now I’m busy with setting up my classroom and taking professional development courses to prepare myself as a first year teacher!  When I have the time, look for a new layout, possibly…

Excitement doesn’t quite cover it.  I have already hit the local bookstore in search of books on teaching Kindergarten.  While browsing the aisles, Missy calls me. (Missy is my soon-to-be mother-in-law)

Missy: “Oh my GOD you’re a KINDERGARTEN TEACHER!!!”
Me: “Yes, I know! I’m so excited and nervous!”
Missy: “Where are you?”
Me: “Barnes & Noble.”
Missy: “I KNEW IT! Do NOT buy any books. I already have a box of $300 worth of books on rush delivery that will arrive on Monday. You are just like me.”

And so I silently put down a gigantic pile of books that hopefully she did not hear me set down over the phone.

Me: “Ok…What about Kindergarten Literacy?  Can I buy that one?”
Missy: “Yes, that sounds fine. But just wait. I already bought you…..”

And the list went on.  I am so excited!  I don’t even know where to begin!  But Missy said she’d help me set up my classroom.  My principal (I know.. so weird to say my boss is a principal and not ‘General Manager’) said I cannot set up until mid-July because they are cleaning.  I am going to go get my key on Tuesday next week and take pictures of my room so I can start to get an idea of where to set things up when I can.  I can finally use the gift card one of my amazing third graders gave me as a going away present from student teaching!  I got one book from a local teacher store filled with math blackline masters.  I’m going to hit local stores to stock up on stickers and such.  My wonderful maid of honor gave me the best graduation present ever: a basket full of school supplies, which I secretly have already been using the tissues and glue…

Oh my goodness I am so excited my mind is all over the place.  What do I do next?  Oh yes, call Human Resources…  Is it Monday yet?

You know that point where you think nobody is going to offer you anything and all the jobs you’ve applied for feel like they’re leading you on?  Zach has had plenty of those moments.  I’ve had those moments.  But this is definitely not one of those moments.  God has placed all our cookies in order.  I am now a Kindergarten Teacher!  I am super excited.  I cannot believe how amazing this feeling is!  In the same day I get told I did not get a job that I interviewed for, and within a matter of seconds I get another call saying they’re offering me a job!

Here’s the kicker. I had the interview this morning. They called me no more than 2 hours later.

This is when I get a little snotty and think I’m “all that and a bag of chips.”

Okay it passed.  Can you believe it?  I will be educating young minds in the first year of their elementary school career!  AMAZING.  Zach keeps telling me that.  I keep telling him, “Hey, Zach.  Did you know I’m a Kindergarten teacher?”  He replies with his yes and a giant smile every time.

Which totally reminds me in a super weird way.  We need to get a marriage license in order to get married.  Good thing I remembered a few weeks before the wedding, huh?  Considering it’s 36 days away…

I have been telling everyone I know that I want to make almost everything for the wedding myself.  At first I wanted to make the bouquets, but I ended up getting a florist who has the calla lily hook-up…  Then I said I was going to have an ipod be my DJ, then my mom insisted on hiring a DJ with a pulse…  So I said, fine, I’m doing my own hair and make-up.  I totally won that fight, except my step-mom will be doing my make-up, because lets face it.  I spend a matter of 10 minutes on my face each day and I think it looks great!  But cameras must not like me… So she’s going to do it for me.  I also created my own save the dates, which were in the form of a book mark stating “Book Your Calendar!”  I also printed off my own invitations, which I think turned out fabulous.  I wish I did something more stylish and fun, but I didn’t, oh well.  So I’m left with hand-made place cards and a ring bearer pillow.  I have completed almost half of the place cards (still waiting on RSVPs) and I just finished the ring bearer pillow last night.  I am proud to say I love it.  Aside from the slight stitching mishap on the corner, it looks great!

Tell me what you think.  I’ve taken up a new hobby: cross-stitching.  So I got all these needles and different colors of thread and the silly fabric that you use.  To test out my “mad skillz” I decided I would test it out with the ring pillow. I know right, why test it on something for the wedding?  Well, because who is going to look that closely at the ring pillow?  Other than the ring bearer, who is four years old…  But!  I believe it came out looking fabulous.

What else has my little heart desired to create? Well, I made personalized match boxes for the boys, or men rather, for when they smoke their celebratory cigars on our wedding day at the reception as they overlook Pikes Peak.

I think they’re great!  I made the calla lily myself using paths on Adobe Photoshop CS.  I’ll probably buy a bunch of disposable cameras and create a similar look for the covers to go over the horrid packaging they originally come in.  The font is called Sushi Roll, which I can’t remember where I found… But it was free.  I think it was from Kevin&Amanda.com.  Check them out in my link section.

Let me know what you think of my little creations.  It isn’t much, but I had to get my DIY urges for the wedding in somehow!

Now that I’m out of school and with no promising job prospects on the horizon, the days are blurring together.  I seriously did not realize it was Friday until the Fed Ex truck came with our checks for pay day.  I saw the truck and thought, “Hmm.. Oh it’s Friday!”  Which totally made me feel a bit silly for a matter of 20 seconds.  Anyway, I am hoping to at least get a substitute teaching job as soon as my license gets approved (ahem… CDE… I’m waiting…).  In a way, I really do not mind not getting a job right off the bat.  In my eyes, I see this as an opportunity to get a little more experience under my belt while getting highly qualified in the most glorious of subjects: Math.   Substitute teaching will allow me to take more classes in a single semester than I would have been able to if I had my first real teaching job.  But don’t get me wrong, if you are a principal at an elementary school that would absolutely love to hire me, please call!  But, at the same time, I’m not going to be super bummed about being a sub for a year either.  This gives me a chance to become a brilliant mathematician in a matter of 2 semesters rather than 2 and a summer!

Or I could just be moping about in my PJs whining about not having a job.  … Nahh!  That wouldn’t happen!

So you might have noticed a wickedly simple new layout appear before your eyes.  Or maybe not, maybe I’m speaking to absolutely no one but myself!  In which case, hello self.  Anyways… For those of you that may stumble across this beautiful piece of web real estate, go here –> Free Rice !  For every correct answer you get, their sponsors donate 10 grains of rice.  So get your noggins to work and get the answers right!

My maid of honor gave me my graduation present today!  She gave me a basket full of construction paper, markers, colored pencils, crayons, glue sticks, hand sanitizer, cough drops, Airbourne, Advil, erasers, a journal, and two books for teachers.  It was amazing!  It’s the beginnings of a class set of supplies for my first classroom.  The journal is absolutely amazing, too.  The only bad thing about that, is that now I’ve abandoned my previous journal to use this new one.  And I was only about 10 pages in with recipes and Italian phrases on my old journal.  Gosh, I’m bad at starting new journals.  I literally use it for about 20 pages, max.  Then I find a new journal that I adore and switch to that one.  It’s really bad…

I have my wedding invitations addressed, except for a few, and they’re almost ready to go.  I just need stamps for the RSVP cards and I need to take them into the post office because they’re too heavy for a regular stamp.    I need to get them out this week!  Our wedding is in 76 days!  I can’t believe it.  Oh, and we’re going to ROME!  Isn’t that wonderful?  I have never been to Europe. I’m excited to go on vacation with my new husband alone.  I have never been on vacation alone before.  Alone as in without my parents or his parents.  This will definitely be a trip to remember.  We plan on spending at least two days at the Vatican.  I want to see the old Roman architecture and sculptures. I need to refresh my memory of my Art History days about Roman and Christian art.  Rome is basically the center of world renowned art.  It is the birthplace of modern art as we know it.  Without Rome and the Catholic church, artists would not be where they are today. The progression and famous artists that have pushed art to its limits during their time are from Italy!  I cannot wait to have the experience of being up close and personal with multiple century-old art and architecture.

I can’t believe I only have three days left of attending college for my Bachelor of Arts degree.  My father’s family is coming out to see me graduate and take me out to a fancy restaurant for dinner.  I’m really excited for them to come out!

Some other big news, I’m helping my future mother-in-law create a classroom website.  I can’t wait for it to be complete.  She is just so amazed at my skill, but this is what I love doing.  When I create websites for people, that just in turn pushes me to keep myself up to date on the latest web designs.  I really need to add more to my own website, for instance.  I have been slacking!

Speaking of slacking, I need to plug the QBee!  I have been a member since November 2008 and it is a wonderful way to meet new friends and get more visitors.  They also keep you on your toes with your website if you rarely update, like me!  You need to trade with other bees at least twice a month.  They have activities that you can participate in as well, such as the Easter Egg activity and Home Swarming Activity that are currently going on.  You don’t need to be an amazing pixeler or a graphic artist, which I certainly am not and do not have time to be.  :) Go and check it out!

Oh my goodness, can you believe it?  I graduate in two weeks!  This semester really has gone by so fast.  It’s unbelievable.  I’m almost there!  But wait, that’s when the scary part starts.  Jobless, unemployed, broke, and joining the real world.  Yikes, help… Maybe I want to go back.  Can I go back?!  I’m definitely worried about finding a job.  I have seen how the economy has treated my fiance.  Employment is definitely not easy to find.  A friend and I dropped off our applications to a district today.  I wonder how that will go!  My dream is to head down to Colorado Springs, but if they offer me a job here, Hello!  I love northern Colorado, if only my family weren’t so far away.  I guess I shouldn’t complain.  My fiance’s family is even farther!  But still…

My dream job would be at a school that encourages inquiry, which is exactly what the district I applied to is doing.  It would also be in a place that will allow me to grow as a teacher.  Even though my student teaching has definitely prepared me for my first day, my first year will prepare me to the best teacher I can be.  I want to be in a school that will support professional development and will be there to tell me if I’m doing something wrong.  Because trust me, as a first year teacher, I’m bound to do something in a way that could have been better.  My first year will be a new adventure.  I’m scared, but I’m also really excited to see where life takes me.  I can only leave my life in the hands of God after graduation.  In his hands, everything will turn out the way it is supposed to.  Who knows, that might be in Australia.

I believe I have finally got my teaching mojo back.  I thought I lost it there for a little while… I wasn’t coming up with the fun and exciting ideas as I have been in the past.  I actually had to try and think of ideas.  Could you imagine that?  Trying?!  I know… (As my mother says, “It came easier for you, Lindsay!”)  But I’m back, people.  My ideas are flowin’ and groovin’.  Hopefully they stick around after spring break!

My third grade class is reading The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling during our novel time.  I was trying out literature centers for a while and I have found, (dun dun dun…) that I need more practice/ideas with/for those.  So I have decided to stretch back and do what gets me excited, which in turn will engage the students (if I get excited, so will they!).  We are going to do an “All About Chocolate” poster.  Individually.  Including a section on their favorite chocolate bar/candy, facts about chocolate, summary the novel, like/dislike/rating of the book, and then a compare contrast venn diagram of King Midas vs. John Midas (character from the novel). Hopefully, if they turn out like they do in my mind, I can create a hallway bulletin board using their posters and show off a little of my creativity with a giant hershey’s candy bar with a title like, “Ms. Me’s & Mrs. Cooperating Teacher’s Chocolate Bars.”  And even have the parts of their posters be on chunks of chocolate making up a chocolate bar!

Oh man, I just came up with a zillion more ideas for this…

And when I get around to writing up the lessons, I’ll post them here.