cara mio.
my love, my polaroid mio, my cara mio.
if you have known me longer than 2 weeks, you know my affinity towards polaroid film. with this, i way live up to my hipster street cred. i own five of them, and a long time ago the lovely paradigm girls gifted me my polaroid mio.
they no longer make the mio, but they do make the fuji instax 210 camera (which i also really, really REALLY want for many reasons, not least of which is the wide format. did i mention REALLY? all caps?), and my mio take fuji instax film. thankfully, while the impossible project folks figured out how to make polaroid again, i have not been devoid of my beloved instant lo-fi film.
when we got our engagement pictures taken by the lovely jannelle (who you will remember from the last post i wrote), she was more than happy to take pictures with my cara mio. i scanned them in, tweaked the color just a tad and added my favorite vintage-looking rounded corners, and voila. lo-fi love.
bluebirds, lovebirds.
he’s awfully cute.
“love, love here we are.” — pablo neruda
nerd love.
this weekend was the weekend of accomplishment. i completed one part of my teaching portfolio, which i have renamed the Time Wasting Suck, all 82 pages of it, replete with charts and graphs and student work and analysis and words, words, words.
we registered for gifts. or, well, we registered for part of our gifts. as it turns out, trying to figure out what you have, what you need, and what goes where with what and how…takes a lot of energy and more time than one evening. but we are well on our way.
we got the design of our invitations finalized (after much delay from me who was a little busy to work on the copy) and ready to print/mail this week.
with the incredible generosity of my friends who came to my bridal shower, i also was able to buy a couple of things i had been needing for awhile as well as a few cute additions to the clothes i picked out for our engagement photos.
which were also this weekend.
we spent a windy (thankfully, it died down a little) and mostly sunny afternoon on saturday taking photos with our friend, and fantastic photographer, jannelle. i’ve known jannelle forever, and liked her own personal style as well as her photography style for some time. she composes pictures well, she edits well, and she’s generally a fantastic person overall. but, i wondered if it would feel strange to get my picture taken for hours (not my idea of the best time ever), particularly by a friend?
nope. nada. nyet. jannelle is really great at that too. it more felt like we were on a fun adventure with cute outfits and happened to have someone taking some pictures of us along the way. she has great ideas, is open and spontaneous to new locations and options, and will also help you move 30 reference books at the library to a new shelf in order to get a great shot.
or maybe that’s just if you happen to want your pictures done in a library, because you’re nerds. i don’t know anything about that, really, but i bet if you were in a library and taking pictures, jannelle would haul heavy books, take a picture with your polaroid camera, take the cutest pictures you’d ever seen, and then edit them brilliantly. because that’s just how she rolls.
you know, hypothetically speaking.
the headaches.
man, these headaches have got to stop. for the last two weeks, monday through friday, i get a headache DAILY. they range from mild to full-blown migraine, and i’ve tried changing all kinds of stuff.
drinking enough water, eating more, etc. i’m hoping, now that they seem to be relegated to the afternoons/evenings, that it’s food related, because that means it can be fixed. however, managing to eat every 2 hours is not so easy for me.
i mean, first world problems, sure.
but, i can’t really afford to just put hours on hold to tend to a headache. this last one is just now going away, about the time i’m supposed to be going to bed.
come on, body, work with me!
[complaint over].
hey miss.
my students call me miss.
and it’s not just me. they call other teachers miss or mister (for female and male teachers, respectively).
[side note: this never happened when i went to school. we called teachers by mrs. so-and-so, or by just their last name, or some abbreviation thereof, if they were a cool teacher and/or had an awesome name. i believe we called my favorite teacher mcscruff the crime dog, but that’s an entirely other story. but, miss? mister? seriously? anyone have this in their schools?]
i called them on this awhile back, for two reasons. one, when i hear “miss”, it makes me think they don’t know my name, and in my classroom, everybody knows everybody’s name. it’s a rule. second, and more annoyingly, it makes me feel like i’m a waitress.
and if i am, then they seriously better start tipping me better.
so, i kept insisting they call me by my name, or ms. w for short. one of my more vocal students finally challenged me back. he advised that once they get to know you, then it’s just what they call their teachers. it’s not a bad thing, it’s just how it is.
i demurred.
i now answer to miss.
so, why am i telling you this?
i had to create a temporary blog for my class for their research papers, because i needed a central repository for all of the guidelines, models and handouts that will accompany this next unit. also? i like blogs, and thought it would be fun.
the unfortunate part, though, is to make it easy, i just created it here on wordpress so i could quickly log on to all of my blogs, which at this point number still in the low single digits (3). well, actually, that’s not the unfortunate part, the unfortunate part is that my profile’s signature appears the same on each blog.
and i couldn’t really have the students be reading the postings on their class blog coming from “sara, darling” which has been my signature for a really, really long time.
so, for the next few weeks, you’ll see me writing to you, dear readers, from the desk of “ms. w”.
i’m really not used to it, but in about 2 months, i’ll be called “mrs. d”, and that REALLY weirds me out.
but i’m not thinking about that. i’m wondering how long it will be before i stop turning my head when my students, usually beckoning a classmate) call out “sara!” in my class. good times.
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.
quote for the week/weak:
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
— M. Scott Peck
wedding inspiration: jewelry
ooooh, pearls.
lots of them.
i could pull this off, right?
and oversized?
even better.
because we all know
that i don’t do dainty.
happy st. patrick’s day.
(and birthday to me.)
monday morning ughpdate
1. it has been awhile since a monday update, hasn’t it. we won’t chat about that. quickly moving on…
2. i watched the oscars last night, as i do every year. i do enjoy steve martin and alec baldwin together, i don’t care for what. we’ll have to add the hurt locker to our oscar movie watching list, which stalled out at godfather II, because we just don’t have that kind of time to watch 4 HOURS of the corleones, folks.
our hiatus also may have something to do with my commandeering our regular movie night with the harris’ to watch movies i have to preview for school. what, the crucible isn’t fun friday night movie fare? 🙂
i have very merciful friends.
3. we had a lovely birthday dinner for my sister, brother and i at biaggi’s. i love that family gatherings have resumed being fun and easy (easier) to plan. say what you will about social media, but it makes getting a family of 7 + kids together WAY easier and with much less confusion. i can’t believe my brother will be 30…because that means i’m a year away from it 🙂
4. sad about the miscarriage (sister-in-laws, not mine). jules has talked about this already on her blog, so i won’t go into it, but it’s always more than a little sad for me each time. i have sympathy sadness.
5. my juniors are (or at least some of them are) getting into the crucible. it certainly makes teaching more fun when their attitude is more, shall i say, buoyant. now if only i can figure more stuff out that makes that more possible…
6. speaking of good moments in teaching (as i’ve learned to really relish and enjoy them as they come and not worry about how quickly they can disappear), i unexpectedly had the principal of my school come observe me instead of my normal evaluator, and he gave me a stellar review. gave very specific and helpful feedback, but also really liked it and wanted to come watch me again. i really appreciate specific (and positive!) feedback from someone who says that he doesn’t impress easily.
today was a good day. 🙂
7. you know how boring it is to watch people take tests for 4 hours without being able to do ANYTHING except watch them? in case you wanted to know, it’s worse than watching paint dry. it’s like watching someone who is sleeping through hours of static on their television next to watching paint dry.
in case you were wondering.
8. the boy and i met with our marriage counselors tonight. they seem very nice, and personality-wise we have a decent bit in common. they had the results of our extensive personality tests, and there were exactly ZERO surprises. they thought we were very well-suited for each other and we were exactly in the middle of the “balanced relationship” section.
i tend to agree.
9. speaking of the boy, i’ve been missing him a lot these days. which is strange. since we live in the same town, talk every day, and see each other multiple times in the week. i think it’s just….time. it’s just that time where it’s time to have our time be together. yet, bizarre that we’ll be getting married in only 3 months.
10. yes. all these things are true.
11. the new village inn logo is horrible, but the interior redesign is actually nice. which weirds me out. i wanted to a world where the crappy village inn stays a cloudy, smoky, crappy circa 1977 village inn. they had to get all redesigny on me. i’m not saying this actually affects my life much, because being that the boy spent his childhood years at the kitchen table of his local village inn, we don’t frequent the village inn in town much. or at all. or ever. but we had occasion to be in one lately, and it was weird.
12. spring break = 2 weeks.
13. it bears repeating: SPRING BREAK = 2 WEEKS. woooo!
14. scheduling some lovely engagement pictures with the even more lovely jannelle this month. i am excited about this.
15. hmmm. yes. that’s all i got. 15 is a nice round figure.
sara, darling. 