SNOW!!

I took these at home a few days after we got a little bit of snow in Illinois. The weather was great and I decided to go out and use my camera... these were three of my favorite.

matt's action shots

I was trying to be creative in taking pictures around the house... and this is what happens instead...

OH HEY MATT!!!

I am SO SURE that my mother will be so please when she sees these pictures!! hahaha ;) 

Christmas Decor!!

Merry Christmas Eve

PHEW! What a month it has been! :)

Dan and Erik have developed a new Bro-mance. 

My seeester came to see me!!

Kevin and Aimee tied the knot 

in the biggest snow storm of 2010! 

 And Erik and I celebrated it all in style!! 

I'd say we look pretty good! 

I guess I didn't have as much "free" time as I would have liked. I did, however, spend a lot of time on the blanket I have been knitting Erik for Christmas. As of now, it is as wide as a full bed and about a few inches taller than my 5'5" hight. I'm on the last skein of yarn but I just can't finish it. 

I have been prepping for student teaching by reading every single handbook given to me by my University and the high school that I will be student teaching at. I have started to read Night by Ellie Weisel so that I can teach it to the 11th graders. And I was given a folder full of "beginners research material" that I need to update before teaching the 3 sections of 9th grade classes how to write a research paper. 

With all honesty, I am so nervous and it doesn't help that I keep having dreams where I am the worst teacher EVER!!! In my dream last night, I had a 3 minutes to give a lesson that none of my students listened to. It seemed a lot worse in the dream. 

Anyways... my plane is waiting for me! 

this face...

Drake

When this is the face looking at you all weekend...

 you would find it 

EXTREMELY

difficult to do homework too. 

This is unreal!

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players

- Shakespeare (As You Like It) 

 So, on a complete whim last week, I tried out for my Universities 2011 performance of the Vagina Monologues. One of my goals when I arrived on campus was to try out for a performance. That goal had been shoved to the back of my mind as each semester had ensued and had been back there for 4 and 1/2 years. I finally unpacked that goal and dusted off it's hope when I saw in my inbox that there were going to be casting calls for the Vagina Monologues. I thought about it on and off all day. 


After convincing myself that this would be a good idea (based on my oral interpretation class, the fact that I will be teaching a theatre class at a high school, and that being in a college performance would give me credibility in speech classes I would teach in the future) AND some encouragement from my mom... 


I went to audition. 


I knew that if I didn't go right away, I would chicken out and kick myself for not going. So I grabbed my backpack and half ran to campus. I was the first one there and I asked some questions regarding if I would actually have the time if I get a part... all seemed well.


As women came in to try out, I noticed a few friendly faces who came and sat with me from Love Song, a play from last fall. I helped with the costumes for Love Song as well as managed to fracture my big toe in 3 places during strike. 


You wouldn't think that performances were in the cards for me anymore after that incident! However, my new toenail and I decided to give it a whirl. 


With encouragement from the girls from Love Song, and some of their friends, I finally got up to read the monologue I had selected (mind you I waited about an hour and a half to get the courage to even stand up). I used all of my knowledge from my oral interpretation class and


I read "I Was There in the Room"


After I had read it and calmed down a little, I left the auditions. Just trying out was a major accomplishment in my book. Friday night I got an email saying that the cast list would be out before the weekend and when it did, I kept looking for my name. The entire time hoping, that maybe, JUST MAYBE.... and then, there it was!


I MADE IT!!! :)


I got the monologue I had performed during auditions. How EXCITING!! 

I AM IN A COLLGE PERFORMANCE!!! 

GOAL (check!)

At that very moment I grabbed my phone and called all of the numbers I could possibly reach my mother on, but she didn't answer. Erik was hunting so I couldn't call him. So I called Kelsey and her whole family applauded for me in the background. :) I eventually informed both my mom and Erik! 

I am soooo excited for the first meeting in January! 

Our Christmas Tree!

Erik and I decorated our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree tonight!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

Too excited not to share!

As I bundle up for my last walk to an actual class as an undergrad, I cant really contain my excitement! I printed off study guides, a reflection and the 6 page research paper on second language acquisition at the library and walked on over to the lovely Minne Hall. As I was in the library and walking to class, I heard the "mutterances" of people around me. From things like "I'm barely looking at my sources" to "shit!"
I just couldn't help but smile to myself.

Although I am not quite done with all the projects I have due next week, but the fact that this week has come to an end is pretty freaking exciting!

AHHHH!!! I MADE IT!
:)

On to finals!!

A December Proclamation!

I don't think that my posts for December are going to be super extravagant, but I have come up with an idea for my December posts. Upon request from my grandmother, I asked to not be scheduled for work to mentally wind down from a hectic semester and prepare myself for student teaching in the spring, which means I will have a little bit of free time to mess around with my camera (and of course read and knit).

So, I have decided that for December I will do photo updates. I might throw some other things up here, but who knows.  :) 

Also, I am not sure when the first photo posts will show up because as of right now, I have a whole bunch to do still before I can say that my semester is done. 

So, keep checking back. And hopefully I will have some pictures soon! :)