December business, blah blah

I've been working out a lot lately, in an effort to somewhat counteract some of the delicious holiday goodies that are tempting me at every turn. I feel myself getting a little blue, so I have been pushing myself to get out to the gym more. Working out makes me feel happier and better about myself. I have some time off of work this week and I'm going to change it up by throwing in some extra yoga and Zumba classes.

So I mentioned that I went on a few dates lately. He was a very nice guy, and actually perfect on paper. He had almost every quality that I would potentially want but there was just something about him that didn't click well with me. So I guess I don't know what I actually want. I've actually had a few good phone conversations with old college boyfriend about that. We both seem to be turning to each other (as friends) as we try to navigate dating in our 30s. It's rough out there.

I picked up this little candle at Target and it smells so yummy. It's also only like 6 bucks, so way cheaper than a Yankee Candle.

Seriously. I want to eat it.

Isaac's dad approached me about Christmas. Historically, Isaac wakes up with my family at my parent's house and then usually at some point in the early afternoon he goes with his dad for the evening. This year Isaac's dad and his grandfather asked to join us for Christmas day. I've never met Isaac's grandfather on that side. He is from Sierra Leone but he is spending the next year or so here in the states living with Isaac's dad. He is Muslim and I don't think really observes Christmas, but wants to spend the day with Isaac. Isaac really loves him though and talks about him a lot. It will be a little bit awkward to share the holiday with them, but I think it will be really nice for Isaac to have all of his family together for the holiday. (Sorry mom if you are reading this before I had a chance to tell you-- I've tried to reach you all weekend!)

As far as Christmas stuff, I feel like I'm a day late and a dollar short on Christmas this year. I'm not done my shopping yet, which is unprecedented for me. I've still got to pick up my parents' presents and get a few more things for Isaac. I didn't get my Christmas card together in time to do a photocard. I did make quite a few holiday cards though, so they are together at least. Most of them are even mailed. I have a few more addresses to get together for cards, I need to organize gifts for my coworkers, and for Isaac's teacher and daycare workers.

I picked up a copy of The Poisenwood Bible with a gift card I got for my birthdat. Hopefully once I'm done school I'll have a chance to read it before the new semester starts. I'm taking two classes in the spring unfortuneatly because of the way some things worked out. I will be taking a math methods class and a class for teaching ELL students. So at least they are interesting classes. I'm nervous about doubling the amount of time I have to spend away from home on campus as well as increasing my grad school workload. Fortunately the bulk of my IEPs and other work stuff should be over, so hopefully it will balance out in the end. We'll see.

Anyways, I'm off. Happy Sunday!

...

source

so... what's been going on lately?

Just a quick update....

I had a nice weekend. I went on a blind date Friday. I wasn't 100% sold, but he was a very nice guy and I will probably see him again. I'll leave it at that for now. My mom and I did some Christmas shopping on Saturday and then I hung out with my girlfriends Saturday night. I had about an hour drive home and I ended up talking to old college boyfriend for the whole time to pass the time. It was a nice conversation and the whole day just made me feel so happy and grateful at all of the good friends I have in my life now. I remember after Isaac was born and genuinely feeling like I had no friends at all. I'm so glad to have such great people around to support me.

Sunday I picked up Isaac and then went to visit this adorable doggy:

a miniature daschund Giselle that my brother just adopted. She is SO SWEET and adorable. She absolutely melted my dog hating heart. I wanted to smuggle her out in my purse.

Work has been CRAZY lately. The forecast has a chance of snow later in the week and NOTHING would make me happier than a 2 hour delay. =P

I finally got in with my advisor at Albright and it has sent me into a big panic. I have quite a bit of work in front of me and the matter of the student teaching requirement from the state still has not been settled. I also have to take another Praxis exam. It's quite overwhelming and it's hard to not be discouraged.

I know I am so late to the party, but I just discovered the Biggest Loser (watch instantly on Netflix will be the death of me). I kind of love it, although I may or may not have watched two episodes tonight while eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's frozen yogurt.

boring

So I haven't been a great blogger lately.

Everything is fine; nothing is out of the ordinary but nothing is exciting or note-worthy. Being the token single friend in basically all of my social circles, I feel like people expect me to provide them with exciting tales of the bad dates and random escapades of my life as a exciting girl out on the town. Maybe it's the fact that I'm 30 now but I've got nothing.

Nothing at all.

Eating a fistfuls of chocolate chips while refreshing Twitter and watching episodes of Psych on Netflix on a Friday night doesn't make for very entertaining stories.

The fact of the matter is I'm lonely. I'm tired of being by myself. And I don't have any more ideas on how to fix that.

Anyways.

Thanksgiving was lovely. Just like last year I essentially slept the day away. I slept late. Got up, ate breakfast, and then went back to bed, pretty much up until we ate dinner. I don't know why. I had no business being so exhausted. But I guess I needed the rest. Isaac spent the day playing NBA Jam with my brother. We had a lovely dinner and then I went to bed early.

The night before Thanksgiving I met up with my good friend from college, Nicole and some of her family at an Irish pub. She is from Lancaster and now that is where my parents live, so it's been a nice way to catch up with her when we are both visiting family. I always feel a tiny bit of anxiety when I see her now, just because she (and all of her family and friends) are so successful and gorgeous and thin. The most ironic part-- she works for Weight Watchers (corporate office). The pub we met at had approximately 449045840958340985 people in it. I wore cords and a long sleeved cotton shirt and was disgustingly sweaty within 3 minutes of walking in. Like my hair plastered to the back of my neck, sweat rolling down my spine, armpits straight up soaked, which just made me feel even more self conscious and gross. Aside from that, it was fun to catch up with Nicole. Even though we don't see each other often, she really has been a great friend to me over the years.

Latest obsession: Spotify. I've been on a Broadway kick (probably from my latest visit to the piano bar and catching up on Glee)-- the soundtrack to Les Mis is blasting right now. I've also been listening to the Indigo Girls a lot lately (Staring Down the Brilliant Dream has been playing constantly in the car since I went to their concert). The other day I overheard Isaac singing "Get Out the Map" and when I started cracking up he was like "What?! Some of their songs are really catchy!"

I only have one more class/project and then I am done with grad school for the semester. It's been a good class and I've learned a lot about how to use different software (even though I doubt my district will be able to afford a lot of that software for another ten years or so). I'm glad I was able to work things out so I am only taking one class at a time though. Even one class can be a lot to juggle. I have an advising appointment coming up and then I can register for next semester's class: The English Language Learner. Should be interesting.

In a quest to save some money I called the cable company to have them cut the cable. I seriously never watch TV (Netflix all the way!) and it seemed like such a waste to keep paying for it so that I can let the occasional guest flip on ESPN. Turns out that I get a good deal by bundling my internet and cable, and if I cut out the cable, I will only be paying 10 dollars less for internet. So I figured I may as well just keep it. Seriously, this is how boring my life is. I've resorted to blogging about my cable bill.

Anyways, I should wrap this up and head to church. Have a great day everyone!

only comes once a year...

For all of the drama, 30 has been nothing short of awesome so far. This will be a little recap of the birthday funness I've had so far. I will be my traditional birthday year in review post at another time.

I started the celebrations the weekend before my birthday with a nice family dinner at the Hibachi. I wanted to do it on a weekend when Isaac would be with me. Our chef wasn't quite an animated as some I've seen, but it was delicious and yummy. They brought me out a little dish of icecream with a candle in it and everyone sang. We all started cracking up because as soon as we finished the last night Isaac promptly yanked the dish over to himself and started eating. In true Stephenson tradition, we didn't take any pictures. Afterwards we came back to my place for cheesecake and Dad helped me fix my vacuum cleaner.

I had a long day/night of parent-teacher conferences on my actual birthday. I did have a nice birthday dinner at Applebees with a group of my coworkers. My fabulous classroom assistant Sheree bought this cake (which was delicious!):

When I got home my mom surprised me with super cute placemats. They match the kooky chefs in frames on my wall.

This weekend I had the best birthday ever with my girlfriends. We went to Becca's in Fishtown and had a Stampin' Up rep come and help us make this adorable card:

The party decor was so fun. Becca made me this great banner:

The plates somehow managed to combine my favorite things, pink and animal print:

One of my favorite parts of the party was when Becca's husband Steve brought over a homemade Nutella panini. I order one of these at this great place in the city Tria every year for my birthday. We didn't go there this year, but they still brought me one, complete with a tea light on top.

They gave me some really thoughtful presents, including an awesome Wii game, one of those karaoke ones with the microphone.

(It should also be noted, that I received some *ahem* less thoughtful presents... anyone who knows me knows how I feel about bananas...) The evening ended with a trip to the piano bar where I sang "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid. =) So, so far 30 has been pretty great.

ugh...

I'm freakin' 30.

as much as I hate Glee...

This is so clever!!