Spook-tacular October!

Although we decided to postpone a honeymoon - the weeks have still been full of lots of great happenings!

The main reason we came straight home post-wedding was because Philip coaches his high school's cross country team and this year they had a shot at making the state meet for the first time. Thursday, we all traveled to Athens for the Region meet and lo and behold Lakeview Academy came in 4th, giving them a spot in State! All the kids and parents were thrilled and I know Philip was - it was cute how nervous he was! So this Saturday morning we will be in Carrollton, GA cheering on his boys and hoping for the best. Regardless of the outcome, I'm so proud of my hubby and all his hard work with these kids :)

Last weekend, I took Philip to Clemson for the Clemson/GT game. I loved seeing old friends and being back in Clemson as always - I'm just glad Clemson pulled out a win for Philip's first game.

Yesterday, after a day of cleaning house, we got dressed up and ready for our first Halloween! Although he gave me a little lip about the makeup, Philip had fun as Dracula, visiting his nephews, and scaring a few of the neighborhood kids.

October was great, but I'm really looking forward to November, Thanksgiving, and decorating the house for the holidays! Life's great!

Happy Chaos

Wedding week was awesome - we got into the house on Monday and immediately hit the beach. I wanted to relax as long as we could before the stress of all the weekend activities actually hit. Tuesday dad and I ran a few morning errands as we waited for Ben and the girls (wifey and kids) to arrive - they had to drive almost an entire day to get there and we were all so blessed that we got a whole week with them :) Nikki got there on Tuesday as well so the house was getting pretty full of life! Good thing we had 7 bedrooms and 7.5 baths!

Thursday night we hit Sara J's seafood (YUM!) and met more of our family there (Uncle Gary, Aunt Danicia and Zach) - two tables full of seafood and hush puppies later and they rolled us out f the restaurant. Philip and his fam arrived Thursday as well so after dinner we headed over to their beach house for a little time with them. We were so thankful for all our family who traveled from everywhere to be with us. His family's place was just as full as ours but with the addition of his 1, 2, 3, and 4 year old nieces and nephews to keep things lively!

Friday morning arrived and I got to pick up two of my best friends from the airport - Abby flew in from San Francisco and Libba arrived from Denver! WE spent a little time putting together the bouquets and they looked beautiful. My beautiful cousin Ashley and her bf Will arrived Friday afternoon and Nikki's husband Martin got to the house Friday night finally bringing our total in the house to 17 adults and 2 kids - whew! Rehearsal went great with the help of Mandy and Marty and the low country boil was SO yummy!

FINALLY Saturday arrived and began with a beautiful bridesmaid's luncheon given by my amazing aunts Danicia and Lynn. It was a beautiful beginning to the day and I loved giving my girls their gifts - framed Clemson prints :) The weather was gorgeous! After a little break, we hit the salon where we glammed up, listened to the Clemson football game, and Ashley fed me a bagel LOL. We didn't leave a lot of time getting back so the chaos slowly began. The pictures and actual wedding were on the public beach in front of the house which proved a bit challenging with the fishermen. Luckily my brother used some beer bribery and strong words to move them out of view for a while. The wedding was short but beautiful - as the bridal party was walking down the steps dolphins popped up off shore.

Mandy and Marty took tons of pictures that we are excited to get back and share and then my favorite part of the night began - the FOOD! Inlet Affairs catered the reception complete with a pasta bar, fig and goat cheese crostini, beef satay, yummy crab cakes, pigs in a blanket for the kiddos - big and small, chicken cordon bleu, veggies and dill sauce, fruits and a marshmallow dipping sauce, and cheese fondue, brie and raspberries, and an amazing cake from Baby Cakes - layers of lemon and strawberry! We had a blast! Everyone loved the food, the night was beautiful, and most importantly Philip and I were surrounded by the most loving family and friends you could ask for.

life happens when you're busy making other plans

T-minus 17 days until the wedding . . . where did the time go? Philip and I kinda laugh about how what's going on in our lives right now are nothing that we expected, but then recognize and then celebrate how amazing our lives have become.

Philip and I have been showered with some pretty awesome wedding gifts and the new house is really looking more and more like home.

One of the best perks of the upcoming wedding is the week leading up to it. My brother and his family are coming down from NH and our family is spending some QT time at the beach house. I'm super excited for some play time with my nieces Ava and Alannah!

On top of that some of our closest friends are driving and flying in from all over the place to be with us for the wedding. I can't believe how truly blessed we are!

Perfect Weather

The rest of the week at Clearwater Beach was pretty amazing. We had pretty perfect weather the entire week, I had the most amazing almond French Toast I've ever eaten, and we found a little Italian gelato place that we visited three nights for flavors like chocolate hazelnut, ameretto, mixed berry, and finally P's favorite mint chocolate chip. He even took a gamble and tried some weird Coke knock-off called "Cockta". I didn't like it - tasted like cough syrup. I'll stick to the gelato LOL.

The drive home wasn't so nice. For a normal 7 hour trip, it took us about 12 hours to meander through wrecks, cops, and typical stupid Spring Break traffic. But the company and conversation were fantastic which made the drive more bearable.

We headed up to his boat on Lake Lanier to finish out our SB. He took the boat out Sunday afternoon and we worked on those tans a little bit more - completely helped us ease out of the end of Spring Break a little easier knowing that great days on the boat were ahead : )

School started back today - 6 weeks until Summer Break! Woo hoo! I think I can make it . . .

Spring Break for Life!

Decided to head to Florida and spend the week with Philip at Clearwater Beach.  Got a cute little studio apt through VRBO perfect for the two of us and it's right on the beach.  The drive was good until we got to CB and then it took about three hours in traffic to get to our little place.  P is a huge Michegan State fan and their Final Four game was starting at 6:04.  We had to bust our butts to unload and find a place to watch the game and eat.  We settled on a little hole-in-the wall local bar called the Shipwreck and ordered pizza from Angelo's across the street.  We drank our beer from mason jars and had some good laugh for our first night here.

Sunday and almost 24 hours after we left for the beach, we finally got our toes in the sand.  But the sun won.  At the end of the day, we were both fried.  So we made it better with beer, margaritas and some seafood from Cooters.

We stayed under the umbrellas most of the day Monday and just spent the evening around our little place.  Walked on the beach and watched the sunset before cooking up boiled shrimp and veggies for dinner and watching Duke pull off another National Championship - major kudos to Butler for making us remember not to discount the small schools.

About to head back out to the beach again today.  Having a great time laughing and getting to know each other a little better.  I'm a lucky girl :)

New Adventures

Wow - I honestly don't know where to begin. Since the last time I wrote, my world has literally turned upside down - in a good way - yet still COMPLETELY upside down!
I've been working this school year to figure out what I wanted out of life, what would make me happy, and opening up my life to new opportunities -whatever and wherever those might be. And boy did I find some!


DUBAI
About a month ago, scared, uncertain, and wondering if I really had what it would take, I headed to San Francisco to the Search Associates International Teaching Job Fair. Colleagues knew and had been writing reference letters for me for months, I had put my entire life and career info out there for recruiters, and I had researched schools all over the world. My friend, Jason B. had taken on the adventure a few years earlier, worked in Quito, Ecuador, and is currently in Buenos Aires. He has been my rock in all this giving me the inside scoop and supporting me with kind words and a boatload of information!

I was extremely lucky that one of my best friend in the world lives in SF and let me stay with her. Besides enjoying great girl-time and amazing food, she's extremely supportive of my life-change and gave me that extra bit of confidence when a little doubt would creep in.

The job fair was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in my career. Even if I hadn't found a job, the knowledge I gained about schools around the world was more than I've learned in ten years in Gwinnett. I interviewed with schools in Taiwan, Korea, Trinidad, Columbia, Jordan, and learned about countless others. And in the end I accepted an amazing job in Dubai.

Next year I will be teaching at the American School of Dubai. It's literally an American School - similar curriculum that I am used to - just smaller - which is awesome! We will be moving into a new campus next year and the classrooms should be wired with amazing technology. The superintendent that I interviewed with made me feel so comfortable and right at home immediately and I am so excited to be working for him!

http://www.asdubai.org/

The funny thing is - I had NO idea where Dubai even was when I showed up that first day. It wasn't one of the schools that had even been on my radar at the beginning. But the more I learned, the more I loved the idea. The job is a huge step for my career, everyone I've spoken to speaks highly of the school and the area, and the possibilities that could come from this seem endless.




So I'll be flying out of the US August 18th, arriving the 19th there and building a little life there. The school year won't begin for a couple weeks after our arrival so I will have some time to settle in, get the classroom ready, and make new friends first.

BASEBALL
Upon my return from San Francisco with my new job, baseball was awaiting me. And it's been great. The boys are 4-1 as of today and we've got home games every day this next week between all three teams showing me once again that life doesn't stop for anyone. I so enjoy the games and the kids and the experience. Pre-season no one was giving this year's team any credit, giving us the chance to really relax and have fun on the field. And so far, that's equaled some really amazing games and hard-earned wins.

http://norcrossbluedevils.org/

BASKETBALL
After a decade of coaching basketball, I decided this year to take a year off. It was a personal decision, and certainly not an easy decision, yet one that I still needed to make for myself. I was able to finally enjoy the holidays with my family, enjoy my friendships here in Atlanta and around the country when I had the time to vacation and visit friends, and really relax and get my life back on track. For the longest time, I just lived in the moment and just kept feeling that I was constantly just keeping up with everything - never really having the chance to think too far ahead and look at other possibilities. But I gave myself that break, opened up myself to chances, and decided to take them.

Last night, my former team won the AAAAA Girls State Championship Basketball Championship. I was full of such mixed emotions. I knew what I was stepping away from when I took my break. But actually watching it unfold before my eyes was harder than I thought. Regardless, I made the decision, I haven't regretted it once, and I reminded myself of that. I couldn't be happier for the girls and the coaching staff for their win. They sacrifice so much and work so much harder than most people actually realize and I am proud of their accomplishment.

FUTURE
So now I'm making the best of my whirlwind life, enjoying my friends before I leave, laughing more with the kids in the classroom, and smiling a lot more. I am so very lucky for the life I've been blessed with, the friends who have supported me no matter what situations I've found myself in, and a supportive family that is genuinely happy for me. In the past month, as fate would have it, I've gotten to really spend time with a couple of my oldest friends in the world, caught up with another who I hadn't seen in 15 years or more, and made a new friend who really leaves a smile on my face when he's around. It's hard not to question life and God's plan for you, and I've really learned that if you just sit back, pray about it, and let life happen, most of the time it's a lot better than anything you could have planned out yourself. So I'm along for the ride and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Sometimes . . .

Sometimes . . . you just need a hug.  Today was one of those days.  I don't get them a lot.  But today was one of those days.  By 9am my day was ruined, my spirit was crushed, and I knew that before the day was over I was going to cry,  And tonight . . . I'm sitting alone on my couch . . . in tears . . . and I'd give anything in the world for someone to just hug me.