Guitar Videos #1

I've been playing my guitar a lot more lately -such a relaxing and fun hobby. I am so glad I bought this guitar from Lacie. It's a good one & has treated me well thus far. I feel that I'm learning a lot (thanks to Youtube, haha) & getting better & better all the time. I've only been playing for almost a year, so I'm not brilliant at it yet. I'm improving, which is all that matters, lol. I'll try to post a few videos on here, if it works, so you guys can see. Ignore the voice cuz that part sucks, but I'm pretty proud of my improvement. I'm working toward achieving a huge goal I set for myself! And for those of you who tolerated my "guitar-banging" when I first bought the thing, haha, you will appreciate some improvement! :) Kristen -I no longer play an entire song in "G"!

I'll try to continue posting videos as I make them.

Hurry up, June!

You know what's crazy? ....It is Sunday again, already! Oh, where do the days/weeks go anymore??? The past couple of weeks started out really well, and I am happier than ever with my decision to prance my way over to the west coast here shortly. I hear the licensure process in CA is brutal, so I have to plan early. Good for me, since I love to plan -especially when I am this excited to move! I also need to be out of my apartment by the end of May to avoid paying rent past my lease, so I have to look into moving companies and apartments to have everything moved by then. I am going to stay with my supervisor Stacie for a couple of weeks after until my assignment here is up. And, God, help me -that can't come soon enough after the crimes happening at my elementary school lately. Last Thursday, the guidance counselor's car was broken into. Somebody shot a gun through the windshield three times and threw a brick through the passenger side window, destroying the dashboard & steering wheel. And to beat it all, they did all of this for a darn diaper bag. I guess they thought it was a purse. Anyway, on Friday, someone followed one of our second grade teachers up the front stairs to the front door and held a shotgun to her head and demanded her purse. He was wearing a ski mask. Holy cow, I would have literally pissed myself had that been me. You can't survive a shotgun. Hell, I wouldn't want to survive a shotgun. Ah, so scary. Needless to say, I am terrified to walk to and from my car and into work now. Like beyond terrified. I am not programmed to handle situations like this. I work in the worst possible area of this huge city. Awesome. I got some pepper spray, but I hope I never have to use it. Hurry up, June!

Moving right along. My friends, Laura & Josh, just moved into my apartment complex which is awesome. We will get to hang out a lot more. I'm looking forward to our Superbowl Party we are planning. It should be fun. Also in the works: my sister and possibly my dad are trying to plan a trip down here for Spring Break when we will finally get our chance to go to Disney World. I've held off on going because that's something we've wanted to do together. I hope my dad gets to come too. Jenn & I have the same week off which will work out nicely. I may actually try to plan a trip out to San Diego for a few days then too. We shall see.

I can't post without talking about my dog (a.k.a. my child). Arnie has really made a breakthrough with this bell ringing thing. He doesn't use it as a toy, like I thought he would, but he nudges it with his nose, stares at me, wags his tail, and waits patiently by the door to be let out -just like I had hoped he would learn to do. AWESOME!!!! However, problem: he wants to go outside 50,000,000 times a day now. He loves it out there. I am being consistent -still showing excitement & taking him out every time he rings it (or else I would defeat the purpose of training him with a bell, ugh), but geez I just want to sit through an entire television show without having to pause it, LOL. Thank God, again, for DVR! Oh, my little boy is entirely too intelligent for his own good. I love him. I took him to a dog park yesterday with a coworker (Danyell) & her husband (Ronnie) & their chihuahua (Beemer). It was nice to let Arnie off of the leash & let him run free. He did so much better than I thought he would, seeing as he likes to approach complete strangers for attention, & he stayed alongside us (well, pretty much) the entire walk through the park. He played & bonded with Beemer which was very cute. As you can see, they became best buds! :)


I love and miss you ALL! Until next time.....

On to the Next!!!

The verdict is in. I have made a decision, that I am for once not second guessing, which entails me moving to San Diego, California after my assignment here in Florida is up. I have done a lot of thinking and flip-flopping of ideas to figure out where I want to go next. I filled out a job application for Logan County Schools and faxed it in.... then immediately had a bad taste in my mouth. Who was I kidding? I don't want to move home. I don't want to give up on what I have dreamed of doing for so many years. I am single. I am young. I have time. I have opportunities to live out. Yes, I miss home. I get homesick often. I miss my family and my friends. Yet, home will ALWAYS be home. Friends will always be friends. Family will always be family. They are all so supportive in wanting me to do what makes me happy. I'm just trying to figure out what that is. So I do this.....

I started looking back at all of my pictures over the past few years. Whoa -there are a lot! That is even an understatement. Anyway, I realized that San Diego is the one place I've been where I didn't spend my time there worrying about where to go next or what to do with my life after I left there. Granted, I knew what I was going back to in only a short period of time: completion of grad school, family, friends, graduation, etc. However, I didn't want to leave. I cried the entire way home and for days after. I actually, in its entirety, enjoyed every moment I spent there. I wondered how I could convince my family and friends that it would be a good idea for me to move there for a job. That is the one place that I was content and was okay with that contentment. (Reference to Lynsey Skagg's post on steering away from contentment. I am the same way.) I was so excited to move down here, and as soon as I got here I was already trying to figure out where to go next. Actually, I was already trying to decide that before I got here since my plans didn't work out as "planned." I realize now that I do not have to convince anyone that it's okay for me to move across the country. I just needed to convince myself. My dad has been more than supportive and encourages me to take every opportunity possible -big or little, near or far. I am so grateful for my family and friends. Like beyond words grateful. And I am okay with a phone call, video chat, message, letter, card, or a visit to or from these great people on holidays/breaks. I will see them or hear from them regardless of where I am in the country!

So, needless to say that I am super excited again. Let the planning begin. Yep, I'm a planner. An anxious and excited planner. I am determined to find that happy place in my life. It is out there somewhere. On to the next! :)

Now for some random tid bits in my life:
Work is great at the elementary school. I still love it. Except that today a 2nd grader (yes, still a baby) was searched and found with a gun toward the end of the school day. The cops, his parents, and social services were all called on the kid. I don't know if the gun was loaded or not. I don't know what happened after that. I got out of there quick. All I know is well, whoa, scary. Holy Cow. :( Is this school year over yet? At the middle school, my bully (the ESE teacher in my classroom) treated me as her personal assistant again -asking me to get up and turn the heat down, open the door for one of her parents coming in, and to get up in the middle of a therapy session to get her an envelope. UGH. I am such a wimp. Why can't I just tell her no. I am not her assistant. Or her child. EEK! Then, she asked me for pain pills when I told her I had a minor surgery. Um, no. Um, hell no. On a brighter note: I did have the IT tech put in another internet port in our room, so we no longer have to share.

I am getting super sleepy and need to get to sleep. I promise to try and become a more loyal blogger and update this thing more than once every couple of weeks. There is plenty more to tell. Until then, I must sleep. Goodnight, all. XoXo

Home for the Holidays

Home for the holidays? Hah! How 'bout the Bahamas for the holidays?!!!? What better way to start a break than to take a cruise with such a fun, open-minded, adventurous human being such as my supervisor and friend Stacie.... Seriously. The cruise lasted 3 nights, which was plenty of time to relax and have a good time. The weather was kinda windy but still a lot warmer than anywhere in the U.S. in mid-December. The coolest part of the ship was seeing all of the Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas music at the dinner table. It was amazing. This made for a much different experience than the first cruise I went on back in May. We drove down to Cape Canaveral where we sailed out on Friday and docked in Nassau on Saturday. We spent most of the day venturing around the island and headed out to the beach -which was as breathtaking as the first time I saw it. The tide was too strong to get in the water, but I couldn't have asked for a prettier view (except for the guy in the speedo -yikes). We were scheduled to go to Cococay Island on Sunday, but a bad wind storm prevented us from being able to dock there. Therefore, we sailed all day on Sunday. It was actually very nice because we just wanted to relax and enjoy some time with no worries, stress, cell phones, internet, or even clocks. I don't think we checked the time that entire day. I swear that made me feel like we were on the ship for 7 days instead of 3. Nice. All in all -WONDERFUL vacation!

So I return to Cape Canaveral early Monday morning -just in time to drive to Jacksonville, unload and reload my car, pick up my dog (I had a friend nice enough to volunteer to dogsit for the weekend), and begin my 11 and a half drive drive HOME, yay! I was there by midnight, so the drive wasn't too bad. The holidays started out busy and remained that way. I had surgery to finally have a cyst removed from my shoulder (long overdue). It only needed 4 stitches, but it hurt a whole lot more than I anticipated once the numbness wore off. I stayed on Lortabs for 3 days cuz I couldn't even sit still without pain much less lie in bed and sleep at night. I got to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day at home with my family, well except for my daddy. He had to work 11 straight 16-hour shifts at AEP to help restore power to damaged areas. I have never ever heard him use the word stressed when referring to himself until that first week (of two), so I knew he was worn out. We took Dad's gifts to his office and ate dinner there with him there on Christmas Day. Even though I didn't get to see much of him around the holidays, I did get to spend a couple of evenings with him while I was still home. I didn't complain because people need electricity, and a hug is good enough for me. My niece, Kyra, also came into town from NC. I only got to see her for a couple of hours, but any time is good time. She is growing too fast. My aunt, Jeanetta, spoiled me for two weeks: homemade potato soup, cornbread, pinwheels, ham & the veggie works, cabbage rolls, chocolate chip cookie bites, red velvet pound cake, butterscotch brownies, and boiled custard! Gosh, I must've gained about 15 pounds during the break!!! I love that woman! I got some new clothes, boots, gift cards, and a box set of Viva La Juicy Coutor perfume (my favorite)...and money from my dad (he didn't have time to shop -not that he would anyway, haha). To be honest, though, I didn't even care if I got absolutely nothing for Christmas. I have everything I need and more already. All I wanted was to be home, with my loved ones, enjoying time spent together. As cliche as that sounds -it is the truth. I am beyond blessed.

Speaking of spoiled -Arnie definitely got a lot of attention at home. He was constantly in to something, tormenting someone (whether the cat, dog, ferrett, or a family member). He got fed a lot of people food, so now he won't eat his dog food. Awesome. I will admit: he is a cutie, which makes him hard to resist, I know.

My cousin Michaela came in from Colorado and surprised us all. None of us knew she was coming, so that was a nice treat to the family -especially my aunt (her grandmother). We took her iceskating which was, of course, a blast. I spent just about every minute with my sister. It was difficult for us to leave each other's side. I did leave her long enough to go to Huntington to see my loves. I'm reminded of how blessed I am every time I get to see my wonderful friends. I truly have the best friends in the world. All of them. I could write a post on my friends alone and what each of them means to me. Maybe I should do that one day. It would be interesting, even to myself. Seriously, though, my friends are amazing. I even love saying that word. Friends. <3 Oh, how I really do miss them. The reunion at Rio was fun, even though we were missing a couple of girls. I got to see Lynsey & Mike whom I haven't seen since graduation. I stayed with Lacie & Holly that night & then went to the doctor in Huntington the next morning. Everything is A-OK! I am healthy and doing better than ever. I got my stitches out in Logan that same day. Now if only I can find a good dentist down here and get my teeth cleaned I will be all set!

Back to the topic of friends: I got to spend some time with my buddies from Logan as well. It was nice to have "guy time" and watch football/basketball and drink beer. Almost all of my friends in Logan are guys, but they are like brothers to me. They make me laugh til my belly hurts every time I'm around them. It's refreshing. Jenn and I spent New Years Eve with the guys as well. Cobb & Bryan (brothers) had a party at their house, which was crazy fun, and we didn't go home until 8am. I haven't stayed up that late in forever -but it was so worth it. I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be on NYE than with close friends.

I am now back in Jacksonville, enjoying the above-20-degree weather and back to my routine. It's kinda chilly here, but I can't complain. The sun still shines. Life is good.