Monday, March 26, 2012

And now for the next step: Planning a Wedding

Well, to start off, I'm going to do a little celebrating... I SURVIVED STUDENT TEACHING!!! With my class, that was no small feat :P But really, I did enjoy it. I learned a lot. And I made a life-long friend in my co-operating teacher (who just so happened to go through the temple for the first time last weekend, so Jeff and I were able to join her and her husband for that.) Student teaching was the cause of a lot of stress and tears for me, but the second I finished my portfolio review, it felt as though a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Seriously. All I really had to go through after that was parent-teacher conferences (also a headache, but that's another story for another day.)

But, because of parent teacher conferences there was no school on Friday. Which was a good thing because I was so utterly and completely exhausted. I came home from Jeff's Thursday night and basically collapsed into bed. I told him I'd text him in the morning to let him know i was up. Well, 8:30 rolls around and he still hadn't heard from me, but just knew that I was already up. Not so. He woke me up. He felt bad, but I say it was okay. I had things that I could get done while still sitting in bed and didn't get out of bed until 10:00.

I got my kitchen and bathroom completely clean. (All I have left to do this week is clean my bedroom, do another load of laundry, and vacuum the floor). I washed and vacuumed my car. And I went with Jeff's sisters Amy and Alison to look for wedding flowers. I found EXACTLY what I want. I just have to head back down to get a sample tomorrow so I can take them up to Idaho this weekend to show the florist and lady who's making my cake what I found so we know what we need to get. I had a blast with them! I love having big sisters! And I'll be getting some pretty cute nieces and nephews to boot!

That night, Jeff and I drove down to Provo to go to the temple there. We also went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was pretty yummy.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early. Jeff and I had a full day planned: We were going to go apartment hunting!! Yep. We went searching for OUR first home. That was pretty exciting. We knocked out 9 of the 15 places on our list, and by mid-afternoon, we had narrowed it down to 2 places. We looked up the ratings of the complexes online, as well as the crime-rates in both areas and have decided where we want to live. Now we just have to pray that they'll have the apartment we want available for us when we need it. Which will be sometime the first part of June so I don't have to live in a cardboard box. (Not that the people I live with would kick me out, because they wouldn't. But their daughter is getting home from her mission and I don't want to intrude on their family time, because I know how it is. So I plan to move out before she gets home.)

After the search for apartments, Jeff introduced me to his favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Moochies, where i had the BEST Philly Cheesesteak sandwich I've ever tasted. Oh, it was mouth-watering good! Then we hit up the new City Creek Center downtown. It was crazy packed. Like worse-than-Disneyland packed. (Okay...probably not...but it was packed!) We wandered a bit. Then headed over to the Gateway. You see, I'm on the hunt for a graduation/Easter/wedding luncheon dress. And still haven't found one I like. *sigh* I guess I have one I can wear if I can't find one I like in the next little bit...but honestly! I'm not THAT picky! I'm also on the hunt for a bridesmaid dress for Kesha for the wedding.

So basically...that's what's up with me. I've got a week left here in Utah, then I'll be home for a week working on wedding plans and such getting ready for graduation. Then it will be back down here to start my temporary job and continue hunting for a job for the fall. Wish me luck in my endeavors!!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Venting

No one needs to read this post. In fact, it's probably better that you don't, because it's strictly me venting, and at this time of night with this level of stress, that's never a good thing.

For starters, I am SO fed up with my class right now. I can't take it any more. I've all but given up even trying to teach. The students don't listen to me. They don't respect me. And I"m at the end of my rope trying to be patient and not blow my top at them. I only have 10 more days in the classroom. Hallelujah! It will be nice to be done. Very nice. But before those 10 days are up, I have my huge portfolio review by professors from campus who are coming down. I just finished teaching the unit I have to use to put that portfolio together yesterday. Which basically means that I have the weekend to put this huge portfolio together and make it look super professional and well thought out. And my motivation level is at ZERO right now. And my stress level, on a scale of 1-10, is at about a 20. Those two numbers are not a good sign for the amount of sleep I'm going to be getting in the next week.

Next, I give a ride to one of the other student teachers. Every morning, I text her when I'm leaving my house. It takes me 10 minutes to get to hers.  I call her when I'm rounding the corner to let her know I'm there. And I still end up waiting for a good 10 minutes EVERY morning. Today it was 20. I should have just left. And I might tomorrow if she's not ready. My BIGGEST pet peeve is being late/ having others be late. Not to mention, it's just common courtesy to be on time when someone else is going out of their way to pick you up.

Also, my engagement ring had to be resized. Which it shouldn't have had to be in the first place, because we very clearly told them what size it needed to be when we ordered it. And they clarified it back to us 2 or 3 times. But no. They gave us a 6.5, not a 6 like I needed. And, when Jeff went to pick it up on the day they told us it would be ready, it wasn't ready yet. Not having it didn't ruin his plan of proposing, but it did frustrate him. But, we took it in on Monday after school to be resized. They told us we'd have it back today. That was 3 days...should have been plenty of time to take the size down, right? No. I still don't have it. When Jeff showed up tonight, I could see that he was upset...and I instantly knew why. I don't blame him at all, and didn't get mad. I was so disappointed though. It's such a small thing, but it means so much to me. And, if it's not done tomorrow, the soonest I'll have it back is Monday. I have now been without my ring longer than I've had it. I am just so frustrated with everything I have going on now. Needless to say, they're going to be getting a VERY upset phone call from me tomorrow. And should consider themselves lucky that Jeff is the one going in to pick it up, and not me.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Best. Day. EVER!!!!

I've been expecting it...and was trying to wait patiently. But my patience was starting to run thin waiting. I thought for sure that something would happen last night. It was, after all, our 2-month anniversary of our initial contact online and our 6-week anniversary of our first date. Seriously...when he rang the doorbell last night and I wasn't quite ready I was so flippin' nervous that I couldn't even bring myself to open my door right away to go out and see him. I was more nervous than I was for our first date! But eventually I did. And as the night dragged on, I realized that he wasn't going to be doing anything. So last night I stood in front of my closet and tried to think of what I would want to wear when, and if, I got engaged this weekend up here in Idaho.

I got up bright and early this morning so I could curl my hair and look cute "just in case," though I wasn't going to let myself hope for anything to happen. I got a text from Jeff this morning asking how I'd slept. And unfortunately it wasn't as good as I would have liked. But I'd slept some. He got an "I hate you right now" text from me. And I may or may not have called him a punk on more than one occasion. I headed off to school, bracing myself for yet another long day of dealing with 6th graders.

I got to school and walked into my classroom, totally not looking forward to the day with a sub...one who I really don't like but who keeps the kids under control. I got to my classroom and walked through the door to find a special surprise at my desk. Jeff was sitting in my chair with a camera set up on a tripod on my desk. Needless to say, I was speechless. Well...not quite speechless. But shocked. VERY shocked! The first words out of my mouth were "What are you doing here?" (Um...Kira...that's a rhetorical question. Why else would your boyfriend be sitting in your desk, when you know he has your engagement ring? DUH!!)

I gave him a big hug (looking all nerdy with my backpack and lunch box hanging off of it). He told me that on January 29 (our 3rd date, and day we decided we wanted to see where things would go) he asked me a question, and asked if I remembered what it was. Apparently, the question was if I had a middle name. The answer to that question was no, I don't. And he turned my attention to the board where he had written "Miss Good, will you marry me?" I was so happy! I wanted to cry, but there were no tears to cry. Well, of course I said yes!

I was on cloud 9 all day long. And my class was incredibly well-behaved...mostly because they really wanted to hear the story of how it happened and I held it over their heads that I wouldn't tell them if they weren't perfectly behaved.

So yes. Good news of the month. Kira's engaged. July 6 is the big day. Rexburg temple is the place.

The end.




Thursday, March 8, 2012

Waiting...not so patiently

It kinda stinks sometimes. And that's all I'm going to say, or I'll be giving away my big news that I don't officially have yet.