This vacation is the best thing that possibly could have happened to me. I've been getting insane amounts of sleep, catching up on household stuff, and I have been able to completely leave school out of my head.
On Friday, I got a temp reception job at a hospice care facility. Wow. One man died and I disconnected his daughter. Later, a detective called about a homocide investigation. Guess teaching isn't so bad.

posted by Kristen at 12:17 PM   

Broke up 2 fights within 2 days in our classroom. You have to love a job that puts your physical, emotional, and psychological health at risk every day! Bad timing for them to ask me to sign next year's contract. Ugh.

posted by Kristen at 7:43 PM   

Here are some random pictures from this past weekend. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab the camera on the way to pictures on Saturday morning, and on Saturday evening when Jason brought it to the dance, we dropped it and weren't able to take anymore pictures. Therefore, these are super random and not so good. For what it's worth, we had a much better time than they reflect:-)

posted by Kristen at 5:00 PM   

Stay tuned for photos...

posted by Kristen at 2:34 PM   

Happy belated birthday to my amazing boyfriend, Jason. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I hope I get to spend your next 68(or so) birthdays with you! I love you.

posted by Kristen at 2:32 PM   

Congratulations to the new John and Jenny Bring! We're so excited for you and your new life together! Kisses...

posted by Kristen at 2:31 PM   

So Jason and I are back from a whirlwind trip to Minnesota. It was extremely fun seeing everyone but also exhausting. On Friday we flew in around 1pm, rented a car, got to Alex, ate Jason's birthday cake, went to Jenny and John's rehearsal dinner, and went out for birthday drinks.
On Saturday, I spent the day being Hawk's bridal shadow. We had a fun day doing final preparations, taking pictures, and hanging out. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was so much fun! I got to see both college and high school friends.
It rained on Sunday. My dad, Jason, and Matt were planning on golfing, but the weather said no. Instead, it was spent with grandma and grandpa in the nursing home. (As many of you know, my grandma is very sick with Alzheimer's Disease. She now spends a good part of every day crying and does not say many clear words anymore.) After going to church with both of them, Grandpa took Jason and I out to lunch. When we got back, I was blessed to have a couple hours with them. Jason had a piano recital for the residents at the home(what guy does that? SERIOUSLY!), and Grandma was very responsive to me. She kept petting my face and playing with my earrings. She smiled such a beautiful smile and pointed to Jason, clearly saying the word "handsome". It was so nice.
On the way back to Alex, my dad called to tell us that he had scored us tickets to the Timberwolves playoff game which was only a few hours from right then. We were thrilled! We got packed up and met my other brother, Andy and his girlfriend at the game. We had a blast...what an awesome game!
Late last night was spent with Nell at her adorable apartment. We got in at around midnight and had to get up at 4 to catch our flight home. We got back to NY at 9:45 this morning. Phew.
My ex-nanny friend, Cindy, got in to NJ yesterday and stayed at our apartment. She will be with us now until Thursday! What a crazy-fun couple weeks we have had. We'll sleep well next weekend:-)

posted by Kristen at 2:15 PM   

Goin home tomorrow!!!!

posted by Kristen at 4:49 PM   

Today I'm going to try the 6 second tan at Hollywood Tans. Has anyone done this before? Any advice?

posted by Kristen at 7:07 AM   

Here's my other boyfriend, Gavin...

posted by Kristen at 4:06 PM   

Thank you for coming to visit, Kari and Erik! We had sooo much fun with you here! See you next weekend...

Now that I have my new computer and Kari came for a visit, I will be posting many more pics than I have recently.

posted by Kristen at 3:57 PM   

Thank you to all of you birthday well-wishers! I had the best day ever...since last year:-)

I haven't even written since Kari and Erik got here on Thursday..but that's because it's been so much fun. If you want to see some fun pics and hear what we've been up to, you can check out Kari's website.

AND our new computer came yesterday and it's SO fast. Makes the internet even that much better.

posted by Kristen at 11:13 AM   

Oh, um, it's my birthday! Now I'm old like Nell and Jason. Whooooooeyyyyyyy!

posted by Kristen at 12:33 AM   

Happy Birthday, Nell! Wow, you're old!

posted by Kristen at 4:36 PM   

At the last minute yesterday, J and I decided to take a road trip to Asbury Park, NJ to see Gavin Degraw...
A little white lie at the will call window, and we were in!
Seriously, though, if things with Jason and I don't work out, I'm SO on this guy's trail!
We had seen him for the first time when he opened for Barenaked Ladies. YUMMMMMMMMMMM.

*Minnesotans: Gavin's playing a freebie at the state fair in Sept! You MUST go for me.*

posted by Kristen at 10:42 AM   

Tomorrow's Washington Academy Art Spotlight! You're all invited to come see what my students have been working on all year. But the most important countdown are to the following events:

8 days till Kari and E come to visit
8 days till my 25th birthday
16 days till Jason and I fly home
16 days till Jason's birthday
17 days till Hawk gets married
20 days till I start grad school
49 days till school is out

YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!

posted by Kristen at 6:56 AM   

You gotta see 13 Going on 30 if you have the chance. The teacher in me must always look for the moral. Sometimes we have to let the 13 year old in us come out to unscrew our lives up and get us back on track. I LOVED THIS MOVIE! Besides, they dance to Thriller!

posted by Kristen at 4:37 PM   

A post from last year: "This weekend has officially been pinned, "Pay Off Credit Card Weekend". I have 3 babysitting jobs that take up the whole thing, but I can't wait till Monday to make that huge deposit and then go online and laugh away my debt. WEEEEEEE.
Oh, but sushi and line dancing are still on for tonite! I'm STOKED..."

One year ago today, Jason and I had our first date! Happy Anniversary, JB Baby! XO
Tonight we're going for sushi and line dancing to relive the best first date ever. Hmmmmmmmm.

posted by Kristen at 4:00 PM