The Post Office

I have been told to write and am afraid that if I don't soon my life may come to an end by the hand of Marcie.  Which it may.  She tried to close the blog and I told her we had 8 followers.  There is no way we could let our loyal supporters down...however I've had writers block for awhile now.  Well, maybe not writers block.  There is a lot in my head.  Maybe just laziness since I haven't just sat down to get it all typed out...

This morning let's discuss the Post Office.  I have to go there in a few minutes so why not?  I love mail!  I like getting the mail, I love that I now have a massively huge mailbox and packages fit in it and aren't left in the rain by my back door, and let's face it, mail is just fun!  You never know what might be inside that box awaiting you...in high school I had a friend who was known to mail me cookies.  Maybe she instilled this love in me.  Thanks Megan Ford!

Anyway, back to the Post Office though.  They are nuts.  Or maybe the people who set stamp prices are.  I honestly have NO IDEA how much a stamp costs these days.  A sticker.  That costs money and has the power to transport something hundreds or thousands of miles away.  I buy "forever stamps" which have no price labeled on them because the Post Office doesn't want to remind you of how much you are getting screwed to use their gas and little white trucks.

One day though I decided it was my turn to screw them.  That's right.  It was Thanksgiving and I thought I should send Marcie a card thanking her for her friendship.  I sent it TO my address in Athens.  I put the RETURN address as Marcie's in Moultrie.  I mailed the card from Blakely.  Sure enough, it showed up a few days later in Moultrie, returned to Marcie with an ink stamp that said "insufficient postage".

Ha!!!  And that was the day, ladies and gentlemen, that I got my way with the United States Postal Service!

The guilt got the better of me...

It began to occur to me a few weeks ago that once again Megan and I have fallen down on our blog obligations. I threatened to pull the plug on the blog a few days ago but Megan didn't agree. Well, I just couldn't handle the guilt, so here I am. I always have such good intentions of keeping my part of this up-to-date. Oh well! (Please note: Megan has not posted in a WHILE, so it's HER turn!) Let's put it this way- a LOT has gone on since the last post in July!

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Welcome to the First Grade!

First, school started. While I dearly love my chosen profession, I always hate to see the summer come to a close. After much preparation, as usual, the classroom somehow transformed from a discombobulated mess of mangled clutter to a clean and presentable space by Open House Night. The balloons were a hit (Pinterest idea!) and started the year off on the right note for these incoming first graders. Now that several months have passed, I can say that I LOVE "my kids" and the year is flying by. 

M&Ms at the Georgia Dome

One of the only things to ease the pain of summer ending is the kick-off to football season!! After a quick visit to the doctor to clear up my second bout of pink eye in 2 months (enter glasses) I traveled to ATL for the GHSA Kick-off Classic and had a mini-reunion with some of my favorite people on the planet. Of course, we support our college alma maters but we must first support our high school roots. Unfortunately, the PACK didn't take home a win that afternoon but we managed to entertain everyone around us by discussing unfortunate lipstick colors, questioning the decisions of others, taking pictures (during what the males among us deemed as permissible time to stand in front of the football action), and planning the next time we could all see each other.

The old crew!

Perhaps the biggest highlight was getting to hang out with these guys and reunite, if only for a brief time. We have shared so many fun times together that I can't discuss on a public forum (which reminds me that I should ask where all those quote books are currently residing) and this evening was no exception. We got yelled at for taking pictures inside some line that none of us actually ever saw, but I was determined to get a picture to remind me of the "old days." Until the next time, we will rely on group iPhone messages...

The Ichiban Crew

The months of September and October seems like a blur to me now as we enter the 11th month but I know we found time to have a Girl's Night at Ichiban after one of Megan's showers and boy, was it memorable! We managed to plan the "baptism" of Megan's unborn child while we were there, all while alienating our table neighbors at Hibachi. Oh well... their loss!

One fateful day I received a phone call from Megan imploring me to come help with their upcoming move to a newly purchased home. Well, being the great friend that I am, I conceded and took off for the Eastern part of the state. Imagine my surprise when I arrived and found that Megan's definition of "moving" also included "packing". Needless to say, when I move the next time Megan and Zach will be the first call I make! ;-) After the tireless work of a whole group of recruits, we got them settled in their new home just in time for UGA kick-off Saturday afternoon. 

Operation MOVE Megan and Zach!

M & M--- BFF!

Nicole, Megan, Marcie, and Mandy

We gathered again for another shower for Dawson (one day Megan will LOVE getting to repay me for all my "colorful" shower note-taking!) and again took the opportunity to take more pics. (We don't have any!) The older I get the more I appreciate great friends- they often know me better than I know myself and have taught me to love life and laugh at the chaos!

Benton and I at Zoo Atlanta

Fall activities seemed to fill up every other weekend during this season. Trips to the Zoo, the Pumpkin Patch, celebrating birthdays, and hayrides offer just a sampling of these busy last two months. Even in GA, we're starting to get a little chill to the days and are starting to pull out the fall clothes and shoes!

Yay for BOOT WEATHER!

Since I never know when I will manage to find the time get these bloggin' fingers going again, here's a little preview of what's to come...

In true November fashion, we're getting ready to celebrate the birthday of my favorite 6 year old! 
This kid has brought lots of laughs and his birthdays have been a source of some danger (bouncy houses can be scary!) and a whole lot of fun over the years.

M & Ms right before the Bouncy House Catastrophe of 2010. We now have these parties in a properly staffed facility and we refrain from getting in the bouncy houses! 

And... last but certainly not least, we're all getting ready to welcome Megan and Zach's first child, Dawson! I'm pretty sure Megan and Mandy conspired to make life difficult for me during the first week of November, as I will be driving from one end of the state to the other to be there for the little men in our lives, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Dawson's space is all ready! Who couldn't love a kid who's partially named after me?!

I hope that I will be able to make myself blog more regularly in the coming months, but let's not hold our breath. In the meantime, we will continue to live life, laughing all along the way!

At least one thing I learned this summer

In case you aren't aware Megan and I LOVE to travel! We have taken many adventures to include weekend jaunts across the country and have traveled on virtually every mode of transportation. As much as I enjoy the journey, the packing and luggage restrictions inevitably lead to me pacing around the house in an ADD state. Well, this summer I learned some things about the procedure that have changed the way I look at the whole task.

I stole this image from the internet just to demonstrate.

First, being an Army brat I've watched The Chief pack for LONG periods of time all my life. I always looked on slightly confused as he rolled the contents of his suitcase. Fast forward all these years later and I realize  here's another area where I should have just listened to my parents FIRST! HELLO!! This works!! (Maybe the rest of you already knew this, but I've been neatly folding my clothes all these years and complaining about how they don't fit in the suitcase.)

Megan's preferred color

Enter the next packing tidbit: packing cubes. I must give credit that Megan found these first and raved about them last summer (when she was the only one with a small enough suitcase to meet carry-on restrictions). However, at the time they didn't come in yellow and I refused to purchase them. This summer, without any calls on my part to their customer satisfaction department, they unveiled the new colors. You guessed it-- YELLOW! So, Amazon here I come! They come in a variety of sizes and they allow you to compartmentalize your luggage. This will ease your mind if you are anticipating any random luggage checks. (Of course, I just get the random bomb swab test when I fly!)

AH! YELLOW!!

Now add the rolled luggage to the packing cubes and Voilà! ... You're able to fit it all in the smaller suitcase. Even if you have a *slight* shoe fetish like me! Now I know you're going to ask... aren't the clothes wrinkled after all the rolling and packing cubes? The answer: not any more than they normally are after the TSA throws it all over the runway. Nothing an iron or a little 'wrinkle releaser' won't fix.

How the cubes look in your luggage. 

I hope that this little helpful hint can help all your travel woes as well as they did ours! While we are preparing to put our suitcases back in the closet (at least for the long escapades) in preparation for another 10 months of work, maybe you can use these tips in the meantime! Happy Travels!!

Oops!! 6 months later...

Well, well, well... blow the dust off the blog because I'm back!! I wouldn't have thought that we would not have any entries in the months between mine and Megan's birthdays (Hello! They're 6 months apart. But, that seems to be the case.) All I can say is... Oops! If you know me at all you know that I've simply been living life and not really slowing down long enough to wash clothes and re-pack the suitcase, much less document the happenings on this blog.

There's simply no way that I can re-cap all that has ensued in the past six months so I'll simply recall some recent history and hope to do a better job of keeping up-to-date. So, let's see... the summer began with a mother/daughter trip to the Biltmore Estate where we unsuccessfully tried to open all the locked doors and asked the employees lots of unorthodox questions that they were not equipped to answer. (Think: shag carpeting and sleeping arrangements)

Mandy and I with our moms at the Biltmore Estate

From there it was time for family graduations (a great reminder that I'm not getting any younger) and a summer kick-off beach trip. Much to her dismay Megan had to miss the beach trip due to another obligatory event. No worries, though. We always keep in touch and entertained through cross-country text and picture messages! 

Nicole, Meg, Mandy, Marcie (Megan was there in spirit!)

Reesie (a.k.a The Big Brown Dog) and I both celebrated birthdays during the month of June with cupcakes and Lady Antebellum concerts, respectively.

Happy 10th Birthday Reesie

Mandy and I at Lady Antebellum

 Somewhere during the month of June was also when Megan convinced me that a train trip to Washington D.C. for the 4th of July needed to be our next adventure. Now... let's clear this up... we're talking an 11+ hour train ride from GA to D.C. But, I agreed on the premise that I'd chalk it up to another experience. Picture it: 8:00 a.m., a train station in the ghetto, no security measures whatsoever for boarding this silver bullet, stewards who seemed to hate us at first sight, and several children who would be referred to our very own school of behavioral intervention before our arrival in our Nation's capitol. Yes, it was an experience indeed. We changed seats 6 times, commandeered an area reserved for "families of 3 or more", critiqued both the wardrobes and destinations of all our fellow passengers, learned that you can get very drunk on an 11 hour train ride (NOT US!), that Spades and bacon cupcakes can bring all manner of individuals together, and that, if we ever again have doubts, we can successfully entertain ourselves for long periods of time in enclosed spaces. I will just say that whether you end up liking it or not-- go ride a train! If for no other reason, you'll have lots of fun stories!

The silver bullet

Once in Washington, Kim served as an excellent host and even 115 degree heat indexes did not stop us from tracking down all the local cupcake bakeries. After a fun-filled trip, we traveled back IN A CAR with Megan's parents. (The return road trip would take another entry by itself!)

A Capitol Fourth

There have been other trips as well but mostly the summer has consisted of (almost) viewing all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls (Megan and I have daily conversations about our likenesses to these two colorful characters), making sure that each week my skin is a darker shade than the previous week, and perfecting the best way to pack a suitcase (again, another entry!). For now, it's almost time for us teachers to blow the dust off the lesson plan books and get ready to begin the process of training a new group of kids. As much as I love summer I'm also looking forward to the busyness of the school year. You have my permission to remind me of that comment when I'm neck deep in Common Core Standards, meetings, and Relay for Life planning!

OH!! In other big news... Megan is having a baby, Dawson!! Everyone loves him already because his name is partially inspired by my middle name. I'm sure that this whole namesake thing comes from the fact that I once managed to spare Megan's life while flipping my vehicle. ;-) I suppose one day I will have to return the favor with my name choices. In all seriousness, I am incredibly honored and am looking forward to a lifelong bond with this little guy!