2011 into 2012

Things that were awesome this year:
-Internship in NYC and living there for eight days for free.
-GOING TO EUROPE. Finally. And falling completely in love with it.
-Almost finishing my senior thesis.
-Getting a great, regular, new babysitting job with great kids/parents that pays well.
-Starting my Etsy shop.
-Getting my first commission t-shirt quilts to make.
-Getting my student teaching placement.
-Choosing a date and place for our wedding.
-Starting to substitute teach for the first time.
-Living with one of my best friends again.


Things I'm looking forward to in 2012 (it's a big year):
-Student teaching in middle school.
-Coldplay, Blue October, and Fun. concerts (some of my favorite bands!)
-Graduating from college.
-Seeing my grandma and mom get better.
-Making a quilt with my mom, start to finish.
-Our wedding!
-Actually living in the same house as Mike.
-Looking for a teaching job and hopefully getting one.
-The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hunger Games (movies).
-Continuing to quilt/finishing my longest WIP (work in progress) - my wedding quilt.

Woo! Bring it on, 2012!

The holidays this year

Julie's post made me think about how I felt about the holiday season this year. With college, I always feel like I miss so much - because December is spent at school, studying for pointless final exams and writing endless papers. As much as they try to make it feel like Christmas at school, it fails every time for me. Christmas and the holidays are about being home, and for the past four Decembers, all I wanted was to be home.

This was the first year that I was unsure about how much I was really missing of the Christmas season. Maybe it's because I spent four consecutive weekends at Barnes and Noble, watching streams of people flood through the store with no end in sight. Maybe I'm just growing up...?

But I miss the magic of Christmas (and Hanukkah). I'm really hoping that this year was the only year I'll be this jaded. I really want to enjoy this time. The month flew by so fast, faster than usual, I felt. I'm looking forward to see how being a normal person, no longer on college time, will affect my view of the end of the year.

Otherwise, the holidays were good to my family and me. I very much am (still, surprisingly) enjoying all the family time, and the relaxation is unbeatable. It's been great seeing family and friends alike from all over (Thanksgiving with my dad's side and Mike, Hanukkah dinner with my cousins, aunt and uncles, grandparents (dad's side again) - Christmas Eve with Mike's side of the family - my birthday with Mike, family, and friends at school - and Christmas Day with my family and also Mike's).

I'll be posting about the New Year shortly. I have some things I need to write out.

-Jess

...is this real life?

Is it really almost New Year's Eve? ...yes.
Is the holiday season really over already (...really?!)? ...yes, really.
Am I really never going to live in a dorm again? ...hopefully, probably not!
Is it really this cold in my room right now? ...unfortunately.
Why didn't I write more of my thesis in the summer? ...question I wish I had the answer to.
Did I really try to buy a drink at dinner with my family and forget my ID at home? ...unfortunately.
Why didn't I drink more caffeine today? ...another question I wish I had the answer to.
Should I go to bed? ...probably.

I'm feeling very up-in-the-air tonight... can't you tell?

Last full day living at school

I can't believe it's my last day! I have a (very difficult) final tomorrow morning from 11-2 (I WILL be there the whole time), then I'm eating something quick and signing out. All my stuff will be ready to move. I just can't believe it's over! I'm a little sad, but I'm extremely happy to be going to home to enjoy the holiday season (it's really hard to do that here - they decided to put up the big Christmas tree and menorah about a week ago). Also, not so much anymore, but everyone has been super stressed about finals here. Not exactly the cheery holiday atmosphere.

Because I'm weird, one of the things I'm looking forward to most (besides seeing my family and Mike everyday, and quilting again all the time) is getting all my stuff in one place.

Case in point: Last night, my friends were taking me out for my birthday dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger. I had brought all my pants home earlier in the week (though I thought I left one pair of jeans at school) - because I needed to get some stuff out of here. Of course there were no jeans! I went to dinner in sweatpants. Not really complaining, and it wasn't a big deal (it's not at all a fancy place), but having your things in two different places can be a issue sometimes.

I just got my last meal equiv coffee, and now I'm studying and packing. This is so weird.

If I believed in reincarnation...

I'm feeling a little philosophical tonight. :)

I've always thought that in my past life, I was a professional figure skater. I have always loved watching the Winter Olympics, wishing I could glide on the ice like that. Wear a sparkly dress (not as short as they tend to come, though). However, unfortunately, Mike and Julie can attest to the fact that not only do I have two left feet, but I can't ice skate for the life of me.

Here's my theory: when you go to your next life, one BIG characteristic or trait changes. For example, I was an Olympic gold medalist, spot on, a beautiful ice skater, but somehow, I twisted my legs up in some kind of freak accident. Maybe on the ice. I'm not an expert on my past life... there's a reason for that. That's why I am who I am now, and not who I was then ;)

But anyway - the point is, that accident didn't kill me, but it disabled me, and as a result, in my current life, I'm experiencing extreme clumsiness in the following forms: tripping, tripping over my own feet, falling on ice outside, bumping into furniture when I know it's there, etc.... no matter how careful I try to be.

However, I think I can deal with this knowing that I won an Olympic gold medal in figure skating in my past life :)

By the way, as of tonight, figure skater is interchangeable with ballerina. I went to see the Nutcracker tonight with Melissa, and it was beautiful. I remember when I was in preschool/kindergarten/1st/2nd grade, and I was in dance school - and how envious I was of the older dancers, who were learning pointe, who were the stars of the recitals, who had the most gorgeous costumes (I guess I was even fascinated by fabric at a young age, though I never would have guessed...). Maybe I was the Sugar Plum Fairy in my last life, wearing that amazing purple tutu I saw tonight. In that case, I had it goooood.

In my current life, I'm going to be a teacher and a quilter. I'm obviously happy with this. Things are good, even though I may always continue to stumble every time I walk into the next room.

However, in my next life, I'm making a prediction. I'm going to be the next J.K. Rowling. I'm going to have this AMAZING story idea (maybe I thought of it on a plane instead of a train - maybe I'll actually like flying in my next life) and I become a really prolific writer. Not in it for the money, though. Obviously, that's a plus. But the big thing that will change for me is my level of extreme procrastination. Sure, everyone needs to procrastinate a little. It's healthy. But as a writer, I'm going to love what I do and somehow, naturally, limit the writer's block. I'm going to travel all over the world and write until my hands fall off.

Maybe in my NEXT next life, my big change will be that I have no hands and teach kids how to drive without steering myself? (oh, and I'll like driving)

I really want to write a novel about this... am I getting a little ahead of thing here? This is supposed to come one life from now... ahh, anyway, really. The wheels in my head are turning.

-----So let me ask you... what were you in your past lives, and what do you think your future lives hold?