Anything but ordinary.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011: After some inspiration from my sorority sisters, I’ve decided to create my own 99 in 999. What this means is that I will post 99 goals I have for myself and will strive to complete all 99 of these in 999 days. Starting today, that means I have until October 6, 2013 to complete all of my tasks. Here we go!

The strike-out ones will be ones completed.

The italic ones will be the ones in progress.

The bold ones will be the ones that are incomplete.

1. Visit three new states to add to the Nifty Fifty.

2. Fly in a plane at least 5 times.

3. Go on another cruise.

4. Get a passport.

5. Apply to grad school.

6. Attend 7 friend’s weddings.

7. Invent a new alcoholic drink and teach it to all my friends.

8. Go skiing and attempt to snowboard.

9. Take a trip out of town with best friends.

10. Ride a jetski WITHOUT falling in the water.

11. Participate in Relay for Life in honor of Nanny.

12. Visit the Biltmore House.

13. Continue to spend New Years with all of my best friends. (2011 success!)

14. Watch the sun rise/ set at the beach.

15. Sing Karaoke.

16. Have my students write letters to the soldiers in Iraq.

17. Have a student teacher in my class.

18. Become a mentor teacher for a new teacher (in Fall 2011).

19. Host awesome showers and bachelorette parties for my three best friends getting married (0/3)

20. Try a new type of sushi.

21. Spend a week off of facebook. (0/7)

22. Get an iPhone 4 from Verizon.

23. Adopt a puppy.

24. Take classes with the puppy at Pet Smart.

25. Go to 5 USC Football Games.

26. Finally go to a Winthrop Basketball Game.

27. Re-join the gym and attend regularly (3-4 times a week) for a month straight. (0/4)

28. Cook dinner each night for a week. (0/7)

29. Blog about 40/99 on this blog.

30. Join Netflix. (January 16, 2011)

31. Meet someone famous.

32. Go to a USC Bowl Game.

33. Become an expert parallel parker.

34. Meet someone new who changes my life.

35. Host a successful dinner party.

36. Learn American Sign Language (ASL).

37. Finish my USC scrapbook.

38. Go to St. Pat’s in 5 points.

39. Attend a street festival in Charlotte.

40. Ride a motorcycle.

41. Find a type of wine that I actually like.

42. Go to ten concerts (0/10).

43. Travel out of town with Samantha to see Fun. in concert.

44. Go on a spontaneous road trip. (3 hours or more)

45. Get back in the habit of going to Elevation Church (or watch them online when in a bind).

46. Go to the South Carolina State Fair.

47. Visit Mark in West Palm.

48. Visit my friends in Washington DC.

49. See the Rockettes.

50. Read ten new books. (0/10)

51. Have weekly dinners with my parents for two months straight (2/8)

52. Buy a sled and an ice scraper.

53. Buy a bright-color pea coat.

54. Pay off my Rooms to Go furniture credit card.

55. Get an iPad or a Mac laptop.

56. Take a yoga class at the gym I join.

57. Take a mother/daughter trip.

58. Learn how to do car-things from my dad (check oil and other liquid levels).

59. Buy a new fish.

60. Get a new camera and take more pictures.

61. Learn how to bake 5 new things. (0/5)

62. Finish all of my lesson planning for the next week before Friday for four weeks straight (2/4)

63. Go skydiving.

64. Learn how to drive a manual vehicle.

65. Ride a 4 wheeler.

66. Read a how-to book.

67. Help coach an intramural sport at YPA.

68. Have a sleepover with the just the girls- movies, Wii, junk food, the whole nine yards.

69. Take a fun family vacation to a new location.

70. Don’t let the gas light come on in my car for 8 weeks straight (1/8).

71. Donate to someone who is doing Dance Marathon at USC. (Sarah C.)

72. Attend an ESA reunion of some sort.

73. See one of the last Twilight movies at the midnight showing.

74. Eat a full meal at The Melting Pot (not just dessert!).

75. Donate some old clothes to charity.

76. Buy a book about dreams to decode all these weird dreams I have.

77. Fall in love.

78. Have a day to stay in PJ’s all day and not leave the house. (Snow Day #3- 1/12/11)

79. Take a pretend sick day off of work to do something fun.

80. Do 5 random acts of kindness. (0/5)

81. Release a message in a bottle.

82. Fly in a hot air balloon.

83. Spend a day with the cell phone completely turned off.

84. See a musical with my mom.

85. Spend a month without fast food (0/30).

86. Swim with dolphins.

87. Teach someone to dougie. (Taught Walt on 1/22/10)

88. Go to a Theme Park and persuade someone to ride a ride they think is scary.

89. Save more money in my savings. Build up to at least $3,000.

90. Learn how to knit and knit something for a friend or family member.

91. Watch a meteor shower/ eclipse.

92. See someone I haven’t seen in years.

93. No caffeine for a month (0/30).

94. Sell something on ebay.

95. Go back to Wet Willies in Charleston with my best friends.

96. Donate my hair to Locks of Love or Pantene Give Great Lengths.

97. Rearrange my bedroom.

98. Go on a ghost tour.

99. Inspire someone else to make their own 99 in 999.

Okay so I know in my last post I said I would post pics and stories from teaching…that’s gonna have to wait a while. I need a chance to reflect on the past year. The ups (and downs) and what I want to make out of 2011.

I’m gonna start with the bad. That way I can end on a positive note. First up, the wicked witch of the East. The worst boss I’ve ever had (and is no longer a boss- KARMA). I’ve never in my life had someone make me feel as horrible as she made me. She told me I was not a good teacher, she had me in tears everyday and had me looking for jobs all over the board. I’ve never been as happy as I was to find out that I had received my second grade job at a new school. I’m surrounded by positive reinforcements and receive compliments everyday. And no, I’m not just teaching for the compliments, but everyone needs a “Good job” every once in a while. I’m never going to let someone treat me the way she did.

Another bad note- losing my pawpaw. I feel like I am so bitter now about anything that has to do with grandparents. I had so many people say “I know how you feel, I lost one of my grandparents when I was blah blah blah.” Yeah? Well do you know what it feels like to lose all FOUR? To know that at your wedding you won’t have the grandparents section or procession down the isle. Do you know how hard it was to have a Grandparent Day at school three weeks after it happened? It sucks. I miss him so much. But I’m glad that I was with him ALL day on his last full day alive. I know he’s up there with Nanny and Grandma and Grandpa Potter. I have a lot of guardian angels up there and I think that’s what’s keeping me going.

Now for the good stuff- because there was a lot of good in the year. I found my new job, the job I want! And even though I’m exhausted and worn out everyday, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love my TWENTY-SIX students. (and yes 20 of them are boys). I LOVE the people I work with, which brings me to my next good thing. I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by amazing friends. Work has allowed me to meet so many awesome people and I don’t know how I would survive without them and our Friday Night Ritual. Another good thing is I moved out of my parents house and now live with a wonderful roommate. We have an adorable house and I feel independent. It’s hard to keep up with bills, I’ll be the first to admit that, but I love living here. Also in 2010 my best friends moved to Charlotte, instead of living in Columbia and Atlanta. I was so lost without them and I’m very glad they are back!

So what all will 2011 hold for me? Weddings. Lots of them. Starting with MK’s in February. From there, just call me 27 dresses- that seems to be about right. My three very best friends are all getting married in the same year. Feel free to donate money to me for bridesmaid dress costs. Haha.

Sam’s wedding: June, bridesmaid

Teachout’s wedding: August, Maid of Honor

Erin’s wedding: October, Maid of Honor

So please friends, wait until 2012 to get engaged. haha.

Well I’m off to pack and get ready for a fun-filled weekend with my best friends in Queens City. You know my New Years are always crazy!

I definitely did not keep up with this as I had planned. But life has been going a million miles a minute. I can’t seem to keep up or finish everything. But I’m happy- and that’s all that matters.

My grandfather passed away very suddenly on September 19th, 2010. I was there with him on his last day in the hospital (we thought it was only pneumonia) and I’m so glad I was able to spend that time with him. He meant so much to me and the rest of my family, I miss him so much. He’s done so much for me since I was born. I love you paw paw.

I’ve had to reevaluate some relationships in order to keep myself sane. I’m tired of putting everyone else before myself and I think it’s time for me to do things my own way for a while. Just like my mom told me today, I’m officially an adult (But dad if you’re reading this please don’t stop paying for my car haha) and so I need to have adult relationships. NO DRAMA. Over it.

In my next post I plan to have pics/stories of the first year of teaching. (the whole reason for this blog) but as always, life goes differently than planned.

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Michael, am I Chinese? (me)

No, you English. (One of my fabulous 2nd graders)

tumblrbot asked: WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

Italy

So yesterday I went by to see my “learning cottage” and it looks good! It’s completely bare (no desks or any type of furniture inside) but somehow I will get it done. There are no major issues that need to be fixed, but they told me it wont be ready till Saturday and Open House is Monday! AH! But I’ve got great friends and great family so I know somehow it will look great by then! I am feeling overwhelmed, but I have to remember it will be okay. They wouldn’t have hired me if they thought I couldn’t handle it. This is my dream job coming true- I just have to be patient.

I will post pics of BEFORE in my classroom later. Gotta get ready to run some teacher errands with Grace.

So today I was randomly looking around on the internet and found my blog from when I was a senior in High School. It was so silly and pointless, but it was a great way to remember all of the stuff going on in my life at that time (and a lot of things happened that year). I decided that I wanted to create a new blog to capture what’s going on in my life.

It’s been an absolute whirlwind of a summer and my I’ve finally found the job I was looking for. Thinking back about my times at the preschool, I remember the times I came home stressed, upset, and feeling helpless. There were times that I questioned whether or not I should be a teacher. I never want to feel like that again, and I’m never going to let anyone make me feel that way. I’ve learned (on my own) this past year and I’m excited to see what’s next. I am glad that I worked there because I met some wonderful students/parents, and my co-workers became some of my close friends. I also met my roomie Alice there and I’m so thankful that I have her in my life now.

I don’t know how often I’ll be able to update over the next few weeks, because I’m in “Operation find out what the hell I’m doing.” Any help in my classroom would be greatly appreciated!