day 117

Thursday was a busy day of running errands & last minute gift shopping. but i started the day out at the DMV, because guess who lost her license at the airport? this girl, that's who.

yeah... getting back through security was really fun with no license. thankfully i had my social security card (who knows why!) and an expired license...so they didn't give me a hard time. i guess it's a good thing that i keep everything (and that I don't look too suspicious!)

Anyway, I was hoping not to find myself at the DMV again for a while, but there I was in line on Thursday morning waiting for a new license. 1 hour, 2 forms, and $13.50 later, I had one!

day 116

i came home to this beautiful sight tonight!

i didn't make it home 'til close to 11 p.m., but it was great to be back. it didn't feel like christmastime in florida - any christmas decorations seemed out of place when it was above 60 degrees outside!

day 115

while I was visiting, my dad asked me to hang all of the pictures he has of his children and grandchildren up on the wall in his office in a big collage. it's still a work in progress, but so far, so good!

oh...and were you wondering who that cute little girl is on the beach up there in the green frame? it's me!

here's a close up :)

day 114

it wouldn't have been a trip to see my dad if we hadn't had gone out for chinese food! But, I guess I've never eaten Chinese in South Florida - or if I have, I've never noticed the fortune cookies in Spanish! What a fun surprise :)

day 113

look at that sweet little puppy!

my dad and susan got a new cocker spaniel, and this was my first time meeting him! his name is Ike (Issac, but Ike for short) and he is the sweetest puppy I've ever met. He loves to just sit and give kisses and lay in your lap. I was in puppy heaven!

this is his favorite way to hang out on the couch....just chillin' looking at everything going on

day 112

these are two of Janet's 4 kids - Alysha and Jack

i love being aunt lauren :)

day 111

hellooo from florida! i'm here for six days visiting my family :)

for the first three days i'm staying with my sister and her family - spending lots of time shopping, eating, talking, reading books, and cuddling with that cute 4 year old up there. here are some out-takes from our photo booth session!

day 110

If I thought what we got on Monday was snow, then today was a blizzard! I left my last final (yay!) to discover a winter wonderland outside!

day 109

tonight i spent the happiest hour with kristen after our "worst-class-to-ever-exist" (aka EDMS410) final. see ya never Dr. Alvestad!

day 108

it snowed last night!

reasons this is good:

-it's snow!! i love the snow!

reasons this is bad:

-it's fah-ree-zing out. ("as cold as the north pole on Christmas!" as one of my kindergartners so aptly put it)

-the potential for me to slip and fall is about 50% higher than it is on a normal day

-my car only likes to be driven in temperatures above freezing and on dry roads.

She whines and throws a fit when I try to take her out in the freezing cold.

I'm choosing to ignore any negative effects of the snow and just wear my pajamas inside out and backwards with a spoon under my pillow in hopes that it keeps snowing this winter. Who knows, maybe we'll get another "snow week" off from class like we did last winter!

day 107

since I can't get any work done without making some sort of list or schedule or some other visual representation, i now present you with:

my finals week schedule:

day 106

I spent the day studying today in my new favorite study locale - Jason's Deli!

There's a great little study lounge, plus you can pay $7.99 for the salad bar and keep refilling your plate all day! (and the free ice cream is a perk too, obviously)

day 105

bad news: our toilet was leaking.

good news: it got fixed

bad news: the floor was disgusting and smelled like a sewer.

good news: i cleaned it and now it's beautiful!

day 104

tonight I spent a glorious few hours christmas shopping/browsing through the most beautiful Barnes and Noble ever - it was 3 stories! I could have stayed forever. I just love that place.

When I was little my dad used to take me every Friday night - I think that's a tradition I might need to reinstate in my life!

day 103

tonight was our cookie/gift exchange. loving all of the presents under the tree!

(i got $10 to noodles and $5 to starbucks...wahooo!)

day 102

things I needed to be doing today:

- writing a 12 page paper on arts integration

- writing a 5 page paper on children's problem solving skills

- making a poster on reading comprehension

- doing an investigative report on recycling (what?!)

things I didn't need to be doing today:

- cooking a real dinner

- baking cookies

- cleaning my room

- scrubbing the stove

obviously I did all 4 of the things on the second list before starting the things on the first list.

but doesn't the stove look so nice and shiny?!

day 101

Tuesday night found me and my poor, sick, strep-throated Maggie at the Patient First Clinic in Laurel, MD. The health center on campus was closed and she needed some meds ASAP. Plus, I figured I owed her a "sick trip" after she trekked around Barcelona with me trying to find a 24-hour pharmacy one night.

Luckily she got to see a doctor and they sent her home with a "get out of class free" note and some drugs. And, on the bright side, now I know where the patient first clinic is!

day 100?!

p.s.....that was just my 100TH POST! who woulda thought I'd have made it this long? not me, that's who!

day 100

Today was the start of the last week of classes - aka the last time I will EVER have to sit through my 3 hour Monday class again. Words can't describe how much I hated this class - I dreaded it every week. An outrageous amount of work, coupled with a less-than-average teacher (and that's being generous) makes for a terrible class, hence the burning of the papers after I was finished.

I swore I'd never do something like this again after I got in big trouble in 7th grade. It was the last day of music class and as we were walking out the door I made a spectacle of throwing my binder into the trash can and letting everyone know how happy I was the class was over. Little did I know the teacher could see me - she proceeded to tell me I was disrespectful and to "have a little more tact." Oops! This time I waited until I was home to burn the papers and celebrate, but man oh man I don't think I've ever been happier to be done a class than I was with this one!

(oh and for the record, I'm not a pyromaniac...I really just burned this one paper for effect - I didn't set a bonfire up in the living room or anything)

day 99

okay, okay...I have a confession to make. I don't have a picture for Sunday.

Normally I would just ignore that and take a posthumous picture of something I did on Sunday, and none of you would know the difference! (mwahahaha)

but to be honest, I just don't feel like it! it was the last week of class and really all I did was study and do homework all day. who needs to see a picture of that?

if you're dying to know, it looked exactly like this, only with some more books and my computer in front of me.

forgive me? thanks :)

day 98

I realize this doesn't really look that appetizing, but you'll have to take my word for it that it was DELICIOUS! It's vietnamese noodle soup, aka pho. Try it sometime - it's SO good.

day 97

Christine and I got to go to Emily's house for Hanukkah dinner!

I forgot what a fan I am of matzoh ball soup and potato latkes

love my roomies :)

day 96

This picture may not seem like a big deal to some, but anyone who frequents my room often will know that it took a great deal of cleaning to get it to look like that. I mean really, let's take a closer look and examine...the bed is made, you can see the floor, you can actually sit on the desk chair....it just looks like a real room! Life is 10x better when my room is clean.

day 95

Happy 1st night of Hanukkah! Emily lit candles and said the prayers and I sort of hummed along every other word. Look at our multi-denominational holiday decorations! So many pretty lights

day 94

Today I went to the health center to get all of the vaccines I need for my trip to Honduras in January.

Check out that full arm of shots!

I got a shot for Hepatitis A, Tetanus, and the flu, plus pills for typhoid fever and malaria. That's a whole lot of stuff.

But all of this Honduras talk got me so excited to go! In a little over one month I'll be there :)

day 93

on Monday night we went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings - delicious food and even more delicious left overs!

day 92

knox 210 is officially ready for the holiday season! check out our b-e-a-utiful christmas tree!

day 91

I came down with some mysterious 48-hour bug/virus/disease/plague on Friday and so today, I'm eternally grateful to wonton soup and all of its healing powers.

...oh, and to extra strength tylenol. that helped too I guess.

day 90

oh, King of Prussia Mall, how do I love thee? let me count the ways...

k well I'm not actually going to count the ways, but i just really love this place.

even on black friday.

actually, especially on black friday...

p.s. kudos to my momma for letting me drag her out, sick as a dog, to the second biggest mall in America on the craziest shopping day of the year. what a saint :)

day 89

today I'm thankful for:

... a turkey big enough to feed 33

... cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, and grandparents (i've got a whole lot of each of those things... both in and out of this picture!)

... old traditions and new traditions

... memories, hugs, and Kleenex

... pumpkin roll

... Christmas music

... disposable plates and silverware & rented glasses (aka no dishes to wash!)

... phone calls to the people you can't be with on Thanksgiving

... being in a room where you can actually feel the love

(too cheesy? deal with it.)

I'm just thankful for Thanksgiving :)

day 88

today i'm thankful for kitchen aid mixers...

...and for the big plans I have to have one in my own kitchen one day.

(a girl's gotta dream right?)

this amazing appliance helped me make 6 (that's right, s-i-x) loaves of friendship bread tonight! I realize the recipe says to use a non-metal mixing bowl, but I made the executive decision that that has more to do with the fact that it comes from the Amish, and less to do with the actual quality of the bread. we'll see what the verdict is tomorrow night at Thanksgiving dinner :)

day 87

Today, I'm thankful for Starbucks for...

... keeping me awake on my 4-hour-supposed-to-be-2-hour drive home

... spreading holiday cheer

... being delicious no matter where I get it - at Stamp, on route 1, or even at the MD House rest stop!

thanks, Starbucks - you're the best!

day 86

Since everyone's gearing up for Thanksgiving, I want to post a picture of something that I'm thankful for every day this week.

(besides all of those obvious things like my family and my friends - they go without saying!)

I was inspired to do this because of a conversation I had with a kindergartner this morning...

here's how it went:

...out of the blue

R: Miss Levine...do you have a mom?

Miss Levine: Yes! Do you?

R: Yep! Do you have a dad?

L: Yes I do!

R: Do you have a grandfather? Or a brother?

L: I have both!

R: Wow. Do you have a house? And does it have a roof? Because if your roof is broken my dad can fix it.

L: I do have a house! My roof isn't broken, but if it ever breaks maybe I'll ask your dad for help.

R: Okay. Oh, and also do you have a dog?

L: Yes I do!

R: wow....you have everything!

Leave it to a kindergartner to simplify things and leave you thinking! If having 4 family members, a dog, and a house with a roof means that I have everything, then I am one lucky duck - especially since I have so much more than that!

So today, I'm thankful for my job at the CYC - for brightening my day and for making me appreciate the little things.

day 85

don't you just want to jump in this pile of fall leaves?!

day 84

On Saturday night the Terps played Florida State University in a "Blackout Game." I dressed in all black, went to a fun tailgate, and had a great night with my friends....and a cousin!

(My cousin Brett came to the game too, and I got to hang out with him for a little while.)

Unfortunately, UMD lost - it was a pretty depressing ending. But it was still a fun night!

day 83

two pictures for today! the first one happened thursday night, but it was technically Friday! We went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part one at midnight! I've gone to almost every midnight release of HP, so I had to keep up the tradition! (I didn't dress up this time though; I left my wizards robes at home)

But then, Friday night, our friends invited me over for an early Thanksgiving dinner! I was so impressed...there was so much food, and it was all delicious! I'm thankful to have such great friends :)

day 82

Leah turned 20 on Thursday! We went to Chevy's to celebrate :)

i love this girl!!

(ps sorry for the phone-quality pic!)

day 81

My Kindergartners are still studying sports, but now they've moved onto baseball. I got to go on a field trip with them on Wednesday to Shipley Field, Maryland's baseball stadium. We got a tour of the field, bullpen, and dug outs, and the kids got to practice throwing baseballs to one of the Maryland pitchers. They're such lucky ducks!

day 80

Today was a rainy, cold Tuesday, but for the first time all semester, I didn't mind! That's because I FINALLY got a pair of rain boots, and was really just waiting for it to rain so that I could wear them!

day 79

this looked a lot cooler in person, but now I realize it didn't turn out so well .... butttttt, I don't have any other picture for today, so this will have to do!

day 78

bad news. knox 210 (well, knox towers in general) has a serious roach problem. we see at least 3 or 4 a day, and that's on a good day.

I can't even imagine how bad the problem is in apartments where no one cleans!

Anyway, on Sunday I decided to show those roaches who's boss. Since I put the traps down, I've only seen one bug! Hopefully that means they're working.

day 77

Maggie, Kelly, Kristen, Ashley, Katlyn, Emily, Me

Tonight Kristen treated us all to a delicious pasta dinner! We had penne a la vodka (her secret recipe!), green beans, and bruschetta. Each of us brought some dessert too.

A delicious dinner with delicious friends!

day 76

On Friday night I went to a surprise party for my friend Jesse! He turned 21 :)

I love when surprise parties actually get pulled off and the surprise isn't ruined!

day 75

At work on Wednesday night, my manager asked me to take the white board from the front of the restaurant with all of the specials on it home and "make it pretty." He told me he'd give me a free meal and let me go to CVS and buy all new white board markers in exchange for the job.

Little did he know that I LOVE whiteboards, have my own collection of markers, and didn't need any incentive to do this, but I wasn't about to turn down a free meal nor the chance to get some new markers.

Anyway, there it is! Aren't you craving some Mexican food now? Come visit me at work!

day 74

wondering about that boring, ugly picture up there? that's my schedule for next semester!

today was my designated registration day for spring semester 2011 (!?!) classes.

also, as an education major, it's my last semester registering for a full load of classes.

next year both of my semesters are already laid out for me with a schedule packed full of student teaching and methods classes.

so here's what my classes look like for next semester:

- Instruction for Creating Skilled and Motivated Readers

- Principles and Methods of Teaching in Elementary Schools

- Educational Psychology

- Honors Seminar

- and two of these 3 classes (depending on which wait lists I get off of!):

- Family Demography

- Creative Writing

- Constitutional History of the United States