2013 is Dead

Let's attempt this end of the year wrap up, shall we?

January: I went on my 3rd trip to Disney World.  So far it has been my favorite trip!  I completed my 3rd 5K and my first half marathon.  We ate around the world in Epcot (took about 3 hours I believe but so worth it).  I wish I had at least one more day because I wasn't quite finished with everything I had wanted to do which has left me very anxious for the next trip.
  I also started student teaching this month.  More on that later.
February: Starting to feel a little stressed from student teaching.  The beginning felt like a breeze as I was only taking over one subject at a time.  Evan and I celebrated Valentine's Day early.  He bought me the complete Star Wars saga on Blu-Ray which is proudly displayed in front of all of my other DVD's on the shelf. XD

March: Evan and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary by going to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and having dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  This was an amazing break from student teaching which was definitely stressing me out as I was taking over the classroom.  I pretty much had no social life.

April: Majorly no social life.  I had a countdown until the end which helped me survive the days.  Near the end of the month I attended the awards ceremony on main campus to collect certificates and a medal to wear at graduation.  I just remember the cake tasting really good.

May: Student teaching ends.  My mom and I go to Pittsburgh for a few days to see Alice and Chains as well as go shopping (dude, tax free clothes, ya feel me?).  Very shortly following our return I graduate university with my bachelors degree and even had the surprise of graduating Summa Cum Laude which was pretty neat.  
Stephanie and Matt came up from Florida for a little bit this month and we all went to Cedar Point.  Which mind you, I live about 45 minutes away from, had been twice in my life before that day, and hadn't been in about 10 years.  It was great!

June: First, I started working at the library again.  My old paging position but I was happy to not be unemployed anymore like omg.  Steph was still in for a little bit and we got some last minute tickets to see Darren Criss at the House of Blues.  For as many times as I had been to the Cleveland House of Blues, I had never seen a concert there.  But it was amazing even though the girl in front of us clearly didn't want to be there but was stealing a great view anyway...

July: I moved up at work to Assistant Librarian.  Something I never thought would happen.  I became one of the desired occupations of my childhood.  I had decided not to go for a teaching job because it was too much for too little pay.  Call me greedy, but I don't want to teach because I would always be on myself to make things better and that's too much stress I can't deal with my whole life.  Honestly at this point, I still don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life.  That's a big ass decision people.

August:  I turn 23.  I also notice I always forget how old I am.  I guess age doesn't matter after 21, ammiright?  Megan and I celebrated our birthdays (they are about a week and a half apart) by spending the day at Swings n Things and grabbing linner at Applebee's.  Bumper boats officially become epic.  Evan also randomly bought me roses this month.  It took him over 5 years to buy me roses, that is romance ladies.  That is when you know he isn't just trying to get in your pants.
I went to the Great Lakes Science Center for the first time in forever to see the Titanic exhibit.  We also went on the William G Mather which was very interesting and is one of those things you constantly see so you think nothing of it.

September: We spent a short weekend in Detroit so I could go to my favorite zoo to see the Penguinarium before it is torn down and changed.  We also stopped at the Great Lakes Crossing outlets again because that place is just bloody awesome.  We ate at Uno pizza too so I mean you can't go wrong with penguins and pizza (consonance my friend).

October: The Cleveland Indians win the Wild Card and I get to go to the game!!  Too bad they lost but I did get to scratch that off of my bucket list, see an Indians game in post season.  Now can we move on to the next one which is see an Indians World Series game?  I also bought a ton of books at the library booksale and dressed up as Han Solo for Halloween.

November: I finally got a big group of friends together after not being together at the same time for a bloody eternity.  We went bowling and terrorized Steak n Shake.  Goodtimes.  Goodtimes.

December:  Seriously though, did December even happen?  That was a blurry blur of blurrness.

I read A TON of books this year.  According to Goodreads I read 181 which will probably be at least 182 at the end because I still have a few days to go. ;)

I am looking forward to a new year.  Who doesn't like fresh beginnings?  I always feel like I get two fresh beginnings a year.  On my birthday and on New Years day.  Bring it, 2014.

WakkaWakka

1. I finished my 2012 Disney World scrapbook yesterday!  Now I want to finish my Florida roadtrip/LeakyCon stuff from last year before the new year starts so after the new year I can start by 2013 Disney World scrapbook.  I'm hoping to finish that one before May so I have a nice break before the next trip in October.  Though between that time I want to work on my 2012 book.  Now it's a mad dash to finish the randomness besides Disney trips.

2. I think that is all.  Now I need to find the motivation to clean again. XD

Maxon Jaxson Flaxon-Waxon

1. So Saturday after Black Friday shopping was a great success.  I found quite a few things I wanted and got them much cheaper than their usual price.  I found a few sweaters from Aeropostale which I hadn't stepped foot in in forever.  I hate the way the majority of people pronounce the name (Arrow-pah-stle).  Seriously, no.  It's pronounced (Arrow-po-stall).  Damn Americans.  Everyone has seriously argued with me over this since seventh grade.  Suck it, bitches.
*ahem*
Anyway!  I also bought Lady Gaga's new album which I honestly have yet to open.  I've heard a lot of people are disappointed so I'm afraid of being disappointed.  I bought Blu-ray/DVD combo packs of The Amazing Spiderman and Les Miserables as well as the DVD 6th season of Big Bang Theory.  I found things for my parents and bought this huge bareminerals A-Z set which is just amazing.  Their Moxie glosses have the same tingle as Burts Bee's lip balm so I'm in heaven and the eye shadows are gorgeous colors.  Smoke Lilac seriously made me buy the damn set.  But 26 items for $49 was so worth it.

2. I only have 4 pages left of my 2012 Disney World scrapbook!  I actually churned out 12 pages today and have worked in it so much this week.  I'll probably end up finishing tomorrow which is 12 days before my deadline of Christmas Eve. :)

3. That then gives me 12 days to finish my room which became a complete disaster on Saturday because I could find my other red heel and completely threw stuff around everywhere.  I really need to stop doing that.  I can hardly maneuver around the stuff on the floor without falling over now and that is just not okay.  I want it ready for the unknown presents Evan bought me this year because who knows what I will have to try and cram into my room next.

4. I really wish I could be one of those minimalist people who have like a lamp on their nightstand and that's it.  Instead I have a lamp, a pile of books, 7 little glass animals, a picture frame, a snowglobe, and a coaster.  And that is considered clean.  Now, however, there's like 4 different nail polish bottles, 2 cups, nail polish remover, a watch, a tissue, some pictures, a bracelet, a clip, Debrox drops (I get so much wax in my ears so fast I could open my own Yankee Candle...), a bag of pistachios, Evan's 10th grade ID (dafuq?), a penguin beanie baby, and a tiny pump thing of lotion.

A Nice Bowl of NOPE

1.  I am sooooo excited for the usual Saturday after Black Friday shopping trip with Evan's mom and aunt this year.  I have been in such a shopping mood the past few weeks which also leads to the fact that I have been receiving extra hours at work so I have some extra cash so I don't have to feel guilty if I splurge.  Which, let's be honest, I never splurge.

2. I FINALLY HAVE A DAY OFF TODAY.  It has felt so great to just have a lazy day.  In fact, I only left the house to go to the bank.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have left the house.  I'm kind of in the mood to clean a bit but it's going on 9 and I want to knock out some more of the book I'm currently reading (Confessions of a Shopaholic) so that way I can definitely finish it sometime tomorrow and begin the next book in the series.

3.  Speaking of books, I have realized my book problem.  I buy books, don't read them, and instead keep borrowing books from the library.  So my solution has been found and has been working out so well so far.  I made a list of all of the books that I own that I haven't read or haven't read in quite a long time as well as all of the books that I want to read that I don't own, write them on paper (I've used index cards and cut each book into strips so they are all the same length and roughly the same size) and placed them in a jar.  Series were grouped together to be marathoned so I don't end up pulling the 4th book of a series or something.  I will pull a new slip out after I am 50 pages in to the final book I am reading before I would need to pull a slip out so then that way if I need to get it from the library, I have a few days left of the book I'm on (haha hopefully) in order for it to arrive.  The last one I pulled was a few days ago and I pulled the Confessions of a Shopaholic series.  I own the first three books and placed the other three on hold through the library and it's taking them a bit to get here.  But no worries, I still have a quarter of the first book to go as well as the second and third before I need them.

4. Again, speaking of books, I'm thinking about maybe starting a booktube channel on Youtube when the new year arrives.

5. It would be very nice if I was currently in Disney World at the moment.  I miss it a ton and can just imagine walking around certain areas of the parks, recognize the music, and can we talk about ride smells??  Some of the rides just have certain smells.  Especially Pirates of the Caribbean and Spaceship Earth.

Steaming Bird Carcass

1.  And now the month of November is drawing to a close.  For some reason this year feels like it has been really slow but also fairly paced.  During my student teaching it seemed to last forever but then the summer flew by.  So can winter fly by now so I'm back to summer?  It's already too cold for my liking!

2. I don't think anything special has really happened since I last blogged.  Just work and cleaning and realizing that my scrapbook won't be done before Thanksgiving but better be finished by Christmas.  I just noticed there's a potato chip on my shirt that had to have been sitting there for the past 10 minutes...

3. I get to see the majority of my lovely friends tomorrow night which I am mega excited about.  The past year or so they moved out of town to pursue bigger things and I am still left in our hometown.  Luckily, many of them are in for the holiday this week and we all actually have the same times available so we're going to get together and it's just going to be an amazing time.  So excited!!

4. I'm also pumped that I will be seeing everyone when I get off work tomorrow night and then after working a very long weekend I am off for two days!  The break is much welcomed since there's exciting things going on on these days.  More friend time Wednesday and then spending Thanksgiving with Evan where we will be seeing the new Disney movie, "Frozen" and eating Denny's because we don't like Thanksgiving food.

But yes.  I am excited for shopping times ahead.  I've been getting a lot of extra hours and treating myself to some nice things come Saturday. :)

Goodbye, Old Life

I finally got around to packing up the majority of my many binders of lesson plans and books I had acquired from my past mentor teachers and putting them in the garage or recycling things.  This was a very depressing experience.  I chose not to pursue the field that I got my degree in so putting all of these things out of the house made it feel like I had failed when in reality I had just decided to take a different path.  However, this didn’t make it any less difficult.  Five of the hardest working years of my life now fit in one plastic bin and a large brown box that once held my newly purchased items that I had shipped home from my trip to WDW this year.  The only thing I have to show for it is a stiff piece of paper in a sleeve on my shelf.

The good news though, is that I still have it when I need it and eventually when I get my own place it won't be stuffed in a garage.  There is a lot of stuff I can use if I ever become a children's librarian so that's a plus as well.  AND even better, I now have some space in my room!  I still have to go through my closet containers.  I have a load of Hello Kitty stuff from childhood that I have no idea what to do with so that automatically takes up a bin.  I believe another bin is a lot of stuff from high school that I don't need either.  It would be nice to clear one out so I can put purses in it because right now they are just kind of found their way to a random spot somewhere in the house.

At least I can kind of make my room look like an adult lives here.  I also really need to change some of the pictures in frames on my wall.  I'm pretty sure the earliest is from the middle of junior year of high school...which was almost 7 freaking years ago.  Time to get some recent pictures up there!

Oopsies

Uh, it's amazing how fast 2 months flies by, isn't it?

1. Honestly I cannot think of anything that has really happened the past couple of months except for going to Detroit for a weekend to my favorite zoo.  Otherwise, it's been work and procrastinating on cleaning.  Though I did get halfway through my 2nd Disney World trip scrapbook in a matter of a week...which is odd.  I think I did that the first week of September and I haven't touched it since.  Though I will need to get back around to working on it because I want it done by Thanksgiving.

So yeah.  That's about all I've got for now. XD

Plausible Bag

HOW on earth is it the end of August already??  Yeesh.

1. I FINALLY got to the science center.  I hadn't been in at least 10 years.  They had the Titanic exhibit going on which was great to see again now that I'm older and can remember things a lot better (or at least I like to think so).  They had this green screen where you could get your picture taken before you departed.  Well, Evan's shirt matched the green screen so he was just kind of all floaty arms, head, and legs.  While it is greatly amusing because I'm always going to laugh at it whenever I see it, I guess I have to accept the fact that we will never be one of those "romantically in love couples".  We'll always be the comical couple which I'm perfectly fine with, but the romantic bit is nice every now and then.  Though Evan did surprise me with roses last week so I guess that evens everything out. XD

2. Guess who finally started one of the Disney scrapbooks I've been putting off?  I'm currently halfway finished with Day 3 of our 2012 trip.  This one is seriously going to be longer than the first trip scrapbook of 2009.  I'm guessing it may end up being about 50 pages where the 2009 one is 40.  Instead of sorting out pictures based on park and putting them in the book that way, I instead scrapbooked by day and kept some themes on some pages based on how many good pictures I took of it.  One thing I'm really glad I took plenty of pictures of was the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun parade because that ended up being discontinued.  I just started on Monday and I have 24 pages completed.  I have about halfway through Day 5 planned out.  I need to go to Pat Catans tomorrow and find a few more pages and stickers though.  I also need to copy some pictures.  My new goal is to have it finished before Thanksgiving but I may have it finished in 3 weeks or less.

3. I've recently reached into my girly roots and have been starting to get into makeup.  Now I am very comfortable in my own skin and pretty much NEVER wear anything except for chapstick makeup wise on a daily basis unless I randomly feel like it.  Sometimes you just want to try something new.  Nothing dramatic and crazy, just a little bit different.  Sometimes it just gives you a little extra boost of confidence for the day.  Confidence leads to happiness and happiness is something everyone should possess.

4. The room cleaning has kind of slacked the past few weeks.  Blame the scrapbooking because it always just makes a mess of things.  I have things out and don't want to put them away because I'll be coming back to them the next day, random bits of paper everywhere, and whatnot.  It's also been quite warm around here this week and I can't stand cleaning when it's so humid outside.

Inflammable vs. Flammable. Who's the genius there?

1. If I were still in school, I would have went back today.  It is quite nice being completely finished and earning money instead of spending it.  Well...sort of.  Those pesky college loans will show their ugly face come November.  But in the meantime, no textbook purchasing for me!  Just books that I want to read, which luckily are much cheaper, aren't as heavy, and look better on my bookshelf.

2. I haven't gotten any scrapbooking completed since my last post.  I did get some cleaning done to the point where all of my dirty clothes now fit in my hamper which is an extraordinary form of a miracle.  As I go I'm still trying to figure out better ways of organizing things.  I also really need to go through my tank tops because that drawer is just a disaster and I need somewhere to put my favorite sweaters that I don't want to hang up and get all stretched out.

3.  Looking around my room, I also need to change the pictures in my picture frames because they currently span from late 2007 to mid 2011.  I should get around to updating those...

4. One of my coworkers had answered the phone at work today while I was crazily sticking labels on DVD cases.  He was on the phone for awhile so when he hung up he looks and me and says, "Well, that's never happened before.  The person asked if it was okay if they prayed for me and they continued to pray right there while on the phone with me."  I guess they wanted to be sure their deity got the right guy.

5. Anyone have any ideas on how to make your period arrive a few days earlier than it's supposed to?  I'm trying to avoid it for the mini vacation I have next month and any advice would be super.  If anyone reads this anyways. XD

6. So pretty much every book I've been picking up recently I've been loving.  Which is just fabulous.

Scrapbooking Randomness

I bought a lot of scrapbooking supplies at Pat Catans last night and I"M MEGA EXCITED TO GET MY SCRAPPIN ON.  I purchased:

1. A new scrapbook that I think I'm going to use for the year of 2010.  Or I might just start it for this year.  Not quite sure about that yet.
2. A variety of letter stencils that came in a couple packs so I'm not using a ton of money on letter stickers that YOU ALWAYS RUN OUT OF A PARTICULAR LETTER AND REMAIN FRUSTRATED ON HOW TO USE THE REST OF THE LETTERS.  Erg.  So this will be tres awesome.
3. A circle stencil of various circle sizes so I can have awesome circular photograph cuts in my books.  I wanted a square one too but they didn't have any. :(  Off to Michaels I will go soon.
4. A pack of small variety colored cardstock for journaling and photograph backgrounding.  The colors are SOOOO PRETTYYYYY.
5. A tiny stuffed lobster keychain.  What could I say?  It was freakin' adorbs.
6. A lot of individual sheets of scrapbooking paper.  Sheets for my birthday, Cedar Point, past trips, baseball games, and more.
7. A packet of paper and stickers for Sea World which will be used for the trip next year. =]
8. Extra page protectors because scrapbooks never come with enough.

So I bought all of that for just over $40.  My receipt said I saved almost $30.  I say not bad!  Now I'm working on getting pictures uploaded to Walgreens photo thing online so I can get 10 cent prints.  I miss when you used to be able to print a 4x6 picture for 5 cents.  Now it's so damn expensive.

I also just picked up three of the large glue sticks at Marc's for 88 cents each!  Woot!  Let's get some of this finished. :)