Highlights

 So it's definitely been a while since I last posted.  Let me hit you with the highlights from the past few weeks:

My grown-up room courtesy of Ikea and my dad and sisters

1. I moved into my new apartment!  It was crazy moving in on a Thursday when I had training in Dallas the next morning, but so worth it to finally get all of my belongings out of my car!  Cara and I threw our stuff into our rooms and then slept on air mattresses in the living room.  It was like camping inside :)

2. My family came to visit me!  They were awesome.  For most of you that know me and how I hate making decisions, deciding on bedroom furniture was way more difficult than it should ever be for a human.  But, thanks to their patience and a 6 hour trip to Ikea, my room now looks lovely.  My dad and sisters were gracious enough to spend their time building the furniture for me while my mom and I unpacked and organized the kitchen and ran errands.  I think I might still be sleeping on the air mattress if they hadn't come.

3. While my family was here we went to visit my aunt and uncle's ranch.  So great to see them and so fun to explore the ranch.  Annika even got to ride a horse and Kaisa took a spin on the golf cart.

Cousin Allia and the girls at the ranch

4. There was a crazy storm today that caused a blackout today.  Luckily it only lasted for about an hour.  Also, like a good Arrasmith, I was prepared with flashlights.

Living room!

5. My roommate Rachael finally officially moved in after spending some time home in New Mexico.   Rachael had found a groupon for movers, so we were able to get away with carrying in only the small stuff.  The movers were CRAZY.  "Boss man" was the guy in charge and he was a very outspoken Jamaican man.  Then there was "rude boy," the second in command.  He didn't talk much, but he had worked with "bossman" before.  Then there was "cowboy," who was a native Texan, war vet, kilt-wearing man who was working his first day on the job.  Yes, he was wearing a cowboy hat and a kilt.  They were possibly the least professional individuals I have encountered in quite some time.  It was around dinner time when they started, and after we had helped unload the smaller stuff, Cara and I started making ourselves dinner in the kitchen.  That's right about when "bossman" started demanding that we give him dinner.  This was of course after he unplugged Cara's phone and started using her charger to charge his own phone.  We told them that we didn't get dinner as part of our job, but he kept making comments.  "Bossman" was also very rude to rudeboy, cowboy, and to us.  It would be an understatement to say that we were all relieved when they left.  It does make for a good story though.

Aunt and uncle's ranch

6. I went to some training sessions for TFA where we worked on our stuff for the first eight weeks.  It was really great to be back with everyone from our corps again.  We also got to get into our content areas and were able to learn what exactly would be helpful to us in our own areas.  During institute we learned a lot of general things that we would have to apply to our own situation, but this training was much more directed at specifically what we would be doing.  I was with all the other bilingual elementary teachers.

7. All this unstructured time off is driving me a little bit crazy.  I have way too much time on my hands and therefore have done some productive things like organize my room and cook.  I also started a free trial for Netflix and have gotten through a couple seasons of White Collar.  It's a great show that you should check out if you've never seen it.  We have district training this week and I'm hoping to gain some clarity about things like what language I'm supposed to use to plan my lessons, what reading MINDS on my schedule means, and why during a 9 hour school day my students don't have recess?

Another before shot of the living room/kitchen/dining area

8. I got Texas plates on my car.  I also will be receiving a Texas driver's license in the mail sometime soon.  I was forced to surrender my California one though which made me quite upset.  I almost couldn't believe it when the lady at the counter told me that I couldn't have it back.  I almost just told her "Never mind" about the whole Texas thing, but it was already too late.  Strike 1 for Texas.



I have a mailing address now!  Getting good old-fashioned snail mail and the occasional package are mighty fine surprises.  Message me for my Texas address.  I'm sure that I have forgotten something significant, but then again, I have been mostly boppin' around my apartment and making multiple trips to Target every day.  Well, that's all for now.  Enjoy this pic of Cara at our dining room table.

Cara being uber productive