Spring Break recap

Well, Spring Break is over. Time to get back in the swing of things at school.

Over spring break I did manage to successfully add some gold to the bookshelf and got started on the trim painting. The master bedroom and hallway are DONE!

I also got to do a little shopping, have lunch with a friend and cook some dinners. Believe me, it would have been nice to lounge in the South of France but I'll take a little mental break over anything.

Eric also ran his first 5K in Charlotte over the weekend! WAY TO GO ERIC!

So, its back to school here. This week I've got 2 papers to write, 2 tests to study for and about 5 other assignments. Blerg. When is summer break? Oh right, I don't get one until next summer. Blerg again.

Fashion Dilemma

I'm having a bit of a fashion dilemma lately. I need some new clothes that are suitable for student teaching. This is one category of clothes I just can't swing with my current closet. A couple of years ago I was in Public Relations/Marketing/Event Planning so I wore cute dress suits and chic little party outfits. Then I worked part time at a spa and I wore their uniform. I have casual weekend clothes but nothing that really fits in the "dressy-casual but comfortable and must not expose the girls or the crack when crawling on the ground drawing with chalk" test. AND, I refuse to wear the teacher uniform of khakis and holiday sweater. REFUSE.

It's been challenging. Pair the aforementioned test and the fact that I am late twenties and I do not want to look like I shop at Charlotte Rouse OR at Chicos. I want to be somewhere in between. I typically love stores like J.Crew, Ann Taylor, Anthropologie - think classic, feminine but not stuffy or overly trendy. One more criteria: I don't want my new wardrobe to cost the same as my graduate education but I do want it to last longer than 1 season.

PHEW. That's a lot of criteria. Can you help? Where have you found some good quality, timeless, economical pieces?

ALSO, have I been living under a rock or am I finally of the age where it is suitable to shop at Talbots? Have you been in here lately? Or maybe you've seen beauty Julianne Moore in their Spring fashion?

She is gorgeous. The clothes are gorgeous. Can I please have a $1000 shopping spree?

SPRING BREAK 2011!!!

wooo hooo it is finally here! Spring Break!

I'm packing up my bags, heading down to the MTV Spring Break to wear a neon next to nothing bikini and dance in the sand.

juuuuuuust kidding.

Instead, I will be wearing normal clothes, doing a bit of homework, painting moulding, using some gold leaf (if you have any tips, please share), and spring cleaning!

jealous? I would be too, this sounds like a perfect spring break to me.

A very Picasso Valentine

Happy Valentines Day.

This is my valentine to my sweet husband of two and a half years.

It should be noted that I drew this in class after looking at slides of Picasso's children artwork phase. Oh how I love my Theory of Children's Art class. Do you think I was influenced? Yeah, me too.

Speaking of, I should be writing my midterm paper right about now.

Back to School...

Back to school... got my lunch bag packed, my shoes tied tight... (thank you Billy Madison).

Yep, meet "Too school for cool" Liz.

Let's start at the beginning shall we. After college (Go FU!) I went into Marketing/PR/Event planning and had a great 4ish year career working on the agency side, in the non profit world and then finally in the private sector. Once we moved to Columbia - for hubby's job - the economic world broke. Unfortunately, when companies are laying off people and closing their doors who is going to hire for marketing? Personally, I think that IS the perfect time to invest in creating customer loyalty through marketing so you have a customer base when consumer confidence goes back up. But that's just me - I'll get off my soapbox now.

SO... the job prospects in my chosen filled dried up and I took a fun job working at a spa planning on being one of those "ladies who lunch" - yeah, that didn't happen. I soon was working full time at the spa. While I was enjoying the great massages (nice perk) it wasn't me. I wasn't happy and having a mini "quarter-life crisis".

A lot of my friends around the same age can attest to this... you sort of hit this fork in the road, you've been on this path with one career (the one you planned on in college) and all of a sudden you wake up and say... um, I don't think I like this. Or maybe the fork for you is the split between baby land and career land. It's a tough call and you feel like you are the only one having these tough life choices. BUT YOU ARE SO NOT! I cannot tell you how many hours I've spent around the firepit with my girlfriends saying, "Am I living this life?". John Mayer even sings about it...

(I removed the music video - sorry, I didn't realize it would play an ad whenever anyone opened up Splendid Minta. Forgive me? If you are curious - google John Mayer Why Georgia)

After a LOT of soul searching, I decided to head back to school. To be a TEACHER!!! I applied last October, found out I was in at Thanksgiving and COULD NOT WAIT to start in January.

Here's my school:

So I am a couple weeks into my Masters and love it! I honestly feel more alive, more awake and happier than ever. I am learning about educational pedagogy - I actually get to write my own educatioal belief system, or pedagogy here in a couple weeks, I'll be sure to share. It will be kinda like my educational manifesto. I'll start student teaching in the Fall and then again in the Spring. The fact that my program actually spends practically a year student teaching is one of the reasons I chose it - major real world experience.

If you don't mind, I want to share some of what I am learning along the way - I promise I won't make you write any term papers but, please chime in on the comments. Education is such an interesting field and hopefully it's getting better and better - the discourse among different points of view is what helps advance the field.

Thank you for the encouragement! xoxo

a Bobo Haiku

when chewing Bobo
the squeek can be signal
of impending doom

do you haiku?

Snowpocalypse 2011

so apparently, even though we haven't had any precipitation here in the drrrrry south, we are bracing for snowpocalypse 11. poop.
all local school districts are canceled for Monday, the city and county offices, outpatient Drs. offices, the university - where I was supposed to start my first day of classes tomorrow also canceled. poop.

excuse me while I pout tonight. i have been waiting for tomorrow for so long, I just want to go to school. poop.

*photo taken the day after Christmas by moi.

Phew

and now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The test went amazingly well. I was so nervous going into it but, it seems my preparation was just right as I kicked that tests booty. YAY! Now onto the final application work and waiting to hear if I've been accepted.

So, onto the next project: The 3rd bedroom.

While my parents were here this week, my mom and I discussed turning our 3rd bedroom into another guest room. Right now its just this furniture dumping ground and place to put things that don't go anywhere else in the house. Boring. Back when we moved into the house in August '09, we discovered two twin beds in the attic. They are maple cutout headboard and foot board sets - and will look darling with a fresh coat of paint. I think we'll make use of them in the 3rd bedroom!

I didn't realize it but, I've been collecting photos of bedrooms with twin beds and now have quite a few to pull for inspiration. Check em' out.
Don't you just love twin beds in a guest room? Scratch that - don't you just love twin beds in any room? They are so darling and I love the proportion of bedding to headboards and the opportunity to do two of everything - Call me a dork, I think my favorite is the mirror image aspect of it all.

Big Test Tomorrow

My big test is tomorrow.

I've shared this week that I've got big dreams and a big test coming up that will determine those dreams viability - that test is tomorrow.

I've been sorta in this quarter-life crisis over the past couple of years trying to decide where my life is taking me, what I should be doing with my talents and debating a career change. I am happy and in a way, honored to say that I can finally start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

If you've been reading for awhile, you probably read that I've wanted to be many things in my life, a realtor, a teacher, an artist, a designer, a house flipper, a mom - I really wanted to be a neonatalogist when I was a kid. Then one day my husband said, "Why don't you just be you?". Novel idea, I know. I gave myself a really hard look. What do I love to do?

My background is in PR and my undergrad degree in Communication Studies played right into that but when we moved to Columbia and then again when we started to think about having a family, I really desired a career that was both creative and "family-friendly". Teaching was an absolute obvious choice and the more I considered it, the education needed and even getting some part time experience in the field, it became a "why didn't I go into teaching to begin with?".

So, I'm following my dreams - and while I never thought I'd say this - going back to school to get my Masters in Teaching - Elementary Education. (hopefully :)) I've got to take the MAT test tomorrow, complete the application process including an interview and I should know before Thanksgiving.

All that to say, please keep me in your thoughts tomorrow and throughout this process. This quarter life crisis thing isn't easy. A lot of my friends have been going through the same thing lately. Check out Caroline's musings over at Notes from Glad Oaks and Katie's big leap of faith at Sweet Tater.