Sweet Summertime...for now!

Every year it is inevitable... August 1 comes around and my brain goes into back-to-school mode! It is impossible for me to separate the two from each other. My aunt and cousin are in town from Iowa staying with us right now, and we had dinner at a restaurant down the street from my school. The itch to start getting things done in my classroom came on very strong! While we don't actually start school until after Labor Day, our staff workshops start the last week of August which means less than a month of summer left... I know, I know. That's still quite a bit of time compared to some schools. My mom is a speech pathologist at a school in South Dakota and she goes back in a week. But now that August is upon us I know full well I won't last much longer before my days are being spent in my classroom organizing, decorating, lesson planning, and blog stalking :).

But in other news, I can't let the event that occurred on July 22nd pass with out mentioning it. It was our first wedding anniversary! Peter and I had a lovely time celebrating the completion of our first year together as husband and wife. We went out to St. Croix Falls in Wisconsin and did a little exploring in the town and in Taylors Falls as well. We also went to Interstate Park along the St. Croix river and hiked along through the forest and along the river up to Lookout Point. Quite beautiful! We are so very fond of being by the water, so it was only fitting to include that in our celebration.

I made the poor life decision of wearing heels and a skirt.... Fail! I didn't know that our excursion was going to include such extensive hiking! :)

One wonderful year together! You are so wonderful to me and I am so lucky to have you. Love you, pickle!  Cheers to many more.

We had dinner at a fabulous little restaurant called Grecco's on the St. Croix right in the heart of the town. After arriving, we found out that it was their annual town celebration complete with street dancing, music, and a giant parade making it nearly impossible to get anywhere we were trying to go. We parked a little ways away and enjoyed the small town charm during our stroll down Washington Street before locating the restaurant. It was DELICIOUS! They make everything from scratch and have a completely new menu each week. We sat out on the patio overlooking the river and watched the sunset as we ate and enjoyed some sangria. Perfect :). 

After arriving home from Wisconsin and watching the Bachelorette finale with our neighbors, we had to partake in the tradition of eating the top layer of our wedding cake...

The cake was pink champagne with raspberry filling. We ended up making a giant mess because the frosting was quite disgusting so we pulled it all off and just ate the cake part. It was actually pretty good! :)

All in all, a lovely time!

Changes...

I think your 20's are years of constant change. In your 20's you are both a child and an adult- you go to school, live with your parents, move out on your own, get a "real" job, and probably get married and start your own family all in one decade. Quite possibly it is the most diverse decade of your life. This can be both exciting and scary!

In the past year of my life, I have had a lot of change... Last year, I was living with my mom after finishing college and I taught my first year in a 3rd grade classroom in Sioux Falls, SD (which is also where I grew up, and will always be my *true* home ;) ). I then got engaged to my now husband, Peter, and we made the decision to move to the west side of the twin cities because he was offered a job he just couldn't pass up. This was very hard at the time, but I left my job and my family in Sioux Falls and we were married last summer on July 22nd, 2011 (our 1st anniversary is right around the corner!). We found an apartment in Plymouth, MN to live in after the wedding. This was going to be the first time either of us had lived on our own, and I still didn't have a job at the time! Talk about a leap of faith! Lots of learning was to come for us through these experiences! The day after we arrived back from our honeymoon in Costa Rica, we moved into our apartment and I interviewed with a small Catholic School in Wayzata, MN. I got the job and was simply elated!

We had been looking to buy our own house for a while, and with us both being employed, we decided it was the perfect time. After hundreds of house showings with a very patient realtor, we ended up deciding to build a new house in Maple Grove, MN. We moved into the house on in January of 2012 and everything seemed to be going swimmingly! I was loving my job, loving my husband, and loving being able to decorate our own space! Peter was doing extremely well at his job, too, what more could I ask for? There's always a bump in the road....

The enrollment at my school went down 20% so the school wasn't able to renew the contracts of the 2 newest teachers (me being one of them). Many tears were shed over this. I loved my job teaching 2nd grade, the school and the community were just a dream. But I picked myself up, and started applying for jobs like crazy! I was pretty much stalking the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul website. I got an interview with a public middle school in the Wayzata district and I was stoked because that is such a great district to be in, but I was quickly disappointed after being turned down for not having any middle school experience. I also interviewed for a 5th grade position at a Catholic school in Rogers and was all set to take that, when I received a call from my principal at the Catholic school I had been teaching at in Wayzata. She said the 6th grade position had unexpectedly opened up and she wanted to offer it to me. I could hardly believe it. Even though I was a bit hesitant at first to jump from teaching 2nd grade to 6th grade, I truly do feel that it was meant to be that it unfolded this way. I accepted the position, and I feel so blessed to be continuing on at such an amazing school. I've already been preparing for next year!

After all the changes we've tackled this past year, Peter and I have come out happy, healthy, and even more in love. Through all the turbulence of life, I don't think we could ask for much more.

New Blog!

After spending so much time reading other people's blogs in search of organizational and decorative ideas for our home and hopping from one teacher's blog to the next trying to plan hands-on meaningful lessons and activities for my students, I decided it was time to start a blog of my own. Yes, it is a fun way to share our daily journey with others, but mostly I just wanted a way to chronicle and remember the events that are happening in life with my family and friends.

In light of our upcoming first wedding anniversary, I am going to try and go back and highlight some of the more important events in the past year.....my life has changed so much in the past year, I feel like I need to go back and remember everything that's happened!