what’s with today, today?

note: i hate april fool’s day.  i hate pranks, i hate jokes that are designed to trick people, i HATE them.  so, nothing you are about to read is untrue.  fyi.

well, i’m home sick.  i’ve been feeling crummy all week, a mixture of headaches/migraines, waves of nausea, a cough/cold thing…just the definition of “under the weather”.  i was going to brave it and go back to school tomorrow, but old fitz (my clinical teacher) told me not to.  he’s demanding that way 😉

so, as i sleep (and i mean SLEEP: i slept for 10 hours last night, 4 hours this morning, and have big plans to go to bed early tonight too) and get back to fighting strength, i thought i’d do a faux-monday morning ughpdate.  on thursday.  because i’m punctual like that.

1. school [high school].  i am actually excited about the research paper i’m doing with my junior class.  it’s a different kind of research paper, and i hope they get into it.  i have a mound of tests to grade from them, and a number of little and big things to plan for them which i’d like to get done so i can work on other things, but i’m interested to see what happens.  i begin also teaching the sophomores in the next few weeks, so i get to reread to kill a mockingbird as prep.  such a good book; i love rereading old favorites.  there’s a good chance i’d name my son atticus.

2. school [university]  renting my cap & gown.  that feels like such a big step!  check these statistics:

9 years after i started my first college classes
5 years after i went back to school, but took design classes that i don’t regret while i worked
4 years after i figured out what i wanted to do and worked full-time and went to school at night 3/4 time
2 years after i quit my job and went double time to catch up
1 year of student teaching…

i’ll graduate with my B.A. in English and a License in Secondary Education.  may 22nd, but i’m done on may 6th with my requirements.

[see also: long haul, marathon.]

but these 6 weeks, these 6 weeks are grueling: i have 6 weeks of teaching multiple classes, 6 papers to write to finish a class (plus a final), 2 enormous portfolios to complete, and various wedding-related paraphernalia to do.

who needs a drink?

3. the above reasons are why i’m nervous getting my cap and gown and being sick right now — i have a lot to do, and nearly no room for missteps, even bodily ones.

phew.

let’s talk about something else.

4. wedding.  this month we have tastings, more tastings, and our engagement photos.  our dear friend, jannelle, is doing our engagement photos.  i’m excited, because as you can see by her photos (go look NOW!) she’s incredibly talented, and fun to boot.

5. honeymoon.  well, because united airlines has some serious holes in their customer service, they cannot get us on a flight using our frequent-flier miles in june.  they can get us…in november.  or, they can get on a flight if we decide to redeem twice the amount of miles for one ticket [translate: we’d pay for one ticket, flier miles would pay for one].  we can’t afford that.  so, we’ve decided to book our european trip for our first anniversary next year, when we can use our miles and also hopefully have a bit more money saved up.

so that left us with where to go for our honeymoon in 60 days?

so, we’re going here:

SEATTLE!!!

now, i realize that seattle does not sound like the romantic glorious honeymoon spot for most people, but for us…it’s perfect.  all i really want to do is have a relaxing vacation with the least amount of stress and uncertainty, a vacation from the stress and uncertainty of both of our lives right now.  that means i don’t want to worry about where we’re staying, where to go, which direction to walk in, but yet have plenty of new things to do and see.

because seattle was my home for a year, it feels familiar and new all at once.

i love it there.  and thankfully, so does the french boyfriend.

so, seattle, here we come!  and since it’s so close, we will have time in town before and after the trip to just hang out and be married and together at our new home.

does that sound as good to you as it does to me?

heavenly.

6. my very lovely friends threw me a bridal shower last weekend.  all i have to do is look around the room at a bunch of wonderful girls who have all come together just because their excited about this new stage in my life, and i beam.  it doesn’t matter the stuff you get (although, i’m well on my way to having a FABULOUSLY set up kitchen, thank you ladies), the plans that don’t quite turn out right (right meg? :), or the busy-ness of life…

having friends and family surround you with love and joy…is a gift.

7.  after a draining day last week, the french boyfriend came to hang out with me and brought me these:

so sweet, that boy.

8. that boy ran into an old friend of mine who apparently (and unexpectedly) reads this blog, and told him that he was tempted to call him the french boyfriend, since i call him that on here.  i thought that was pretty funny (hi, E!).

9. i miss the olympics.

10. 64 days until the wedding.  surreal.  34 days until i’m done with schoolwork.  50 days until my college graduation. surreal.  67 days until vacation.  ??? days until i get a job.  have i mentioned, surreal?

but to quote notting hill, nice.  surreal, but nice.