I finished it! 
So. Much. Mud.
After getting hosed off by a fire hose.
Next Day: Whimsic Alley & Malibu
I am planning on putting up pictures of my classroom soon, as well as a recap of my first (super-busy) month as a full-time teacher!
I was supposed to go hiking this weekend, but now it looks like there may be lightening storms in the mountains, so I probably won’t be going. 
I haven’t been hiking since May and I miss being in the mountains. It about a 2 hour drive up there, though, so I have to really plan for when I’m going.
I’m really hoping I’ll be able to go hike Half Dome on August 5th (I was able to get a permit to hike up the cables for that day- you had to reserve them three months in advance!).
I hiked Half Dome (in Yosemite National Park) about 5 years ago, but I did “Dome at Dawn,” which meant we started hiking at about 10:00 PM and got to the Dome around dawn.
I didn’t do so well on that hike. I am the type of person who needs her sleep, and some meds I take at night make me drowsy, so by the time I got to the cables to climb to the top of Half Dome, I knew I shouldn’t go up them. People have died falling off Half Dome, and I just didn’t have the strength to pull myself up there.
So for the past 5 years one of my goals has been to do the hike again (in the daytime) and make it up the cables. This summer I was finally able to work it into my schedule.
I don’t know if I’m in shape enough to do this hike (it’s about 15 miles), but I’m hoping I’ll be able to do it. If I end up going, I will be sure to take pictures and let you know how it goes!
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Yesterday my sister, B, and I finally went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I’ve been dying to go since it came out, so I was excited to say the least.
I can officially report that I really enjoyed it. There were quite a few parts that were different from the book, but most of them worked with the flow of the plot.
B hadn’t read the second half of this book, so a lot of it came as a surprise to her. It was kind of funny hearing her saying, “What?! Oh my gosh!” all through it. 
I told her she needs to finish the book to get the whole story.
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I spent today running around shopping for school supplies at GW (huge warehouse FULL of school/teaching stuff at 20% off = AWESOMENESS!) and Staples (yay penny folders!). I spent some of my own money and a lot of the school district’s money.
I came home with my stuff and I seriously felt like it was my birthday.
I can’t wait to start getting everything in my classroom!
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Time to get ready to go to my softball game! Hopefully we finally win one!
Exciting News:
I have officially been hired as a 5th Grade Teacher for the 2011-2012 school year!!! 
I am so excited!!!!
I had pretty much given up on finding a job for this year, and I was so surprised when they offered me the job. It will be at the school I do a lot of subbing for, so I know most of the teachers and I feel comfortable working there.
Not to mention, fifth grade is my first choice of all the grade levels to teach. Yay!!!
Now I have to start planning and setting up my classroom…. I get a little overwhelmed just thinking about everything I have to do!
Also, for the first two years of teaching, I have to do BTSA, which is a beginning teacher program that I hear is extremely time-consuming and tons of work. Hopefully I survive!
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I promised to show you the finished armoire that I painted for my friend Jess’s baby room:
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I also just wanted to thank everyone who reads my crazy blog! I noticed a couple days ago that I have had 1,000 page views since I started in June. I know that doesn’t really mean much, but it feels kinda cool to know that a few people other than my mom are reading this (I’m just assuming my mom hasn’t clicked on my blog pages 1,000 times all on her own…. right mom?).
I’m thinking about doing a giveaway sometime in the near future in honor of all the cool things happening in my life right now…. So stay tuned! 
….Okay, probably not, but it feels like it. I have sent out soooo many applications for teaching jobs, and it is driving me bananas. I’ve had a few interviews, but no job offers yet.
Last week I met with an administrator who used to work with my mom, and is now a principal in the local elementary school district. He agreed to meet and take a look at my resume and cover letters to see if he could help me tweak them a little to increase my chances of getting interviews.
He was super nice and had some great advice! A few things he mentioned were:
I’m sure some of this is common knowledge to many people, but for someone just starting out, it was a huge help! 
Anyone else have any job hunting tips?
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On the topic of teaching….
I took my mom and nana to see Bad Teacher this weekend (and Bridesmaids– finally!). It was a silly movie, but it had some funny parts. All three of us are teachers (they are retired High School English teachers – in fact, about 2/3 of my family were teachers), so we could relate to some of it. But for most of it we just laughed because it was so ridiculous. 
It was entertaining, though, so we enjoyed it.
*Just know that about 97% of what was depicted in that movie could never have happened in real life! 
The other 3%….. well, not all teachers are in education because they love working with kids. But most of us are!
Stop and Smell the Wildflowers 
