HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow! Is it 2010 already? Where has the last year gone? Heck, where has the last decade gone? Sometimes it feels like just yesterday I was graduating from high school and now its been ten years! A lot of great things have happened though, since those teenage years and I know I'm better for the experiences.

Here's to a great new year to all my friends out there! Let's make 2010 the best year ever! :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your holiday season is the best ever and you enjoy your time with friends and family. I know I will be!

DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY, RIGHT?

So I know I never use this thing and for the VERY few of you out there who actually read it every once in a while, I apologize for that fact, but I guess I just need something to do so here's an update on me.

Well.... To be honest, there's really not a whole lot to say.

Still substitute teaching, though I've been picking up more long term sub jobs now, but still can't find a permanent position. Very depressing to be perfectly frank with all you strangers and friends alike out there in cyberspace. I absolutely love teaching! It really is my favorite thing to do and I can totally see myself teaching for many years and multiple generations to come because I love seeing young people learn/understand new concepts and grow and develop as individual human beings. However, nobody can survive as a substitute teacher for very long, and I'm going on my third year. Granted, I was student teaching during part of that time, earning a Masters degree and a teaching credential, and am still enrolled in courses that will earn me a certification that allows me to teach ESL students, but this is a pity post so I'm going to vent/cry anyway. :-)

When is real life going to start for me? When is that perfect position that so many of my colleagues/teacher-friends keep telling me is out there, going to show itself? I don't want to be a totally Negative Ned here, but I guess I'm just getting tired of spinning my wheels and spending more money I don't have on degrees and certifications and licenses and credentials when I'm still unable to do the one thing I truly love: TEACH!

I don't know. I guess I'll keep telling myself (and listening to others who do the same) that there is something for me out there, but right now, that something just seems so.... unreal. Tomorrow I'm going to put on my happy face and remind myself that the holidays are here and I'm going to be pleasant and fun for my family and friends, but for today, I think I'm going to spend the rest of the evening in my bed.

Summer's End

Well, it's that time of year again, the start of another school year and the end of another summer. This one has definitely been a fun one, especially since my cousin Sarah was down here for most of it. She left yesterday to go back to school in Utah and I miss her already. :( She's the best. But, I had a great time visiting with friends who had come into town, going to theme parks (Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm), the Del Mar Fair, a trip to Utah, seeing the Broadway Musical Wicked for the first time (awesome, by the way), and a trip to Las Vegas to visit with great friends and my favorite author: Terry Goodkind. Couldn't have asked for a better summer.

On a slightly more depressing note, it looks like I'll probably be substitute teaching again this year because, after applying to many positions, in many states, I didn't even get an interview for a teaching position this year. *sigh* I blame it mostly on the fact that my credential from Arizona took so long to get to me and I'm still in the process of having that credential transferred to California. So....it looks like another year of small paychecks. Oh well. I figure I'll spend my time getting as many certifications and supplements to my credential as I possibly can so I will be totally hireable next year.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed their summer and are ready for this coming fall! Oh, and I'll try to post on this thing more often, if I can, with much more interesting stuff. :)

P.S. I absolutely love Fall: Football season, great weather, and most of all - holidays!

Finally finished!

Okay, so I never use this thing but I figured I'd update the very few of you who might actually read it. I'm finally done with my Master's degree in Education and teaching credential! It is so nice to be done and finally get to have my own classroom. Now, of course, the big question is where I'll end up working. I've been looking in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and of course, California (although California isn't hiring as much as these other states). Any suggestions on where you think I should go? I'll be applying for teaching postions over the next few weeks and hopefully be flying out for interviews this summer. Here's hoping I end up somewhere I'll be happy! :)

Student Teaching....Finally!

I know, I know, I never post on this thing but I figured I'd better start again at least for a little while. :) Well, I'm finally starting my student teaching this semester at......Woodland Park Middle School! Yep, it's the same place I taught at last year but this time I'm actually finishing my Masters program and credential by teaching subjects I actually know/like!

I'll be teaching 2 periods of Language Arts, 2 periods of Ancient World History, 1 period of World History, and 1 period of U.S. History. For the very few teachers I know out there who might be reading this, yes, I will have a lot of prep work cut out for me but I'm just too excited to be moving forward with my career to care all that much! :)

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed their holidays. Now onward and upward!

FAMILY REUNION

So this last weekend was pretty hectic. We went to Utah for a 4th of July family reunion and my cousin Tara's wedding. Needless to say, we were running all over the place! I just thought I'd share some pictures of the weekend's happenings for the very few of you who might care. :) The first few are us hiking the Y mountain in Provo. (That was quite the experience! Ugh!) The others are some of the family reunion pictures we took. These are just snapshots since we actually had a professional photographer there who probably took much better ones. Anyway, enjoy!

Hiking the Y. I always seem to be out of shape when we do this activity.....

View from the top!

My brothers are dorks. What else can I say?

The whole Miles crew! (My mom's side of the family)

The Miles family. (The ones who got it all started!) My mom's the oldest on the far right.