The Longest Week Ever

This was this longest week ever. Like any other week, I had tons of meetings and work to go, but for some reason this week dragged on and on like no other week had. Monday I had to test a preschooler, which is always tiring. On Tuesday, I thought it was Wednesday. I woke up Wednesday and thought, "Is today Saturday or Sunday? I went to work yesterday so oh, good, today's Saturday...crap, it's Wednesday." It was raining all week, so I was wet all week, and the pouring rain on Thursday may me want to stay home. I called my mom and Joy on the way to work to see if I could stay home due to the rain. They both told me the wrong answer and I grumpily went to work. I got an email from Joy in the afternoon saying that I was a grouch that morning. It's your true friends that will tell you that you're being a grouch. I was so grumpy on Thursday that I told myself that I was going to leave school when the kids did. I didn't end up leaving until 5:00 because I realized that I had an evaluation report due on Friday and I didn't want to come in on Friday to do it. On Friday, we had a district PD day and had to listen to the boss of all bosses talk, this boring dude talk, and we had a speech meeting. The big boss was fairly interesting and entertaining and the coffee I had kept me alert. I didn't pay attention to the boring guy because the coffee I drank was ready to come out. I couldn't go to the bathroom, though, because we were in the MHS gym and I was sitting in the middle of the row. The speech meeting was fairly interesting, but I was picked on a lot by my boss. She picked on me so much that a person behind me said, "Wow, she likes to tease her a lot." For some reason, my friends have always picked on me. It's weird because I'm always the one teased in whatever group I'm with at the time. My husband was trying to explain why I'm the one teased, but I think it's because I'm so cute. Well, that's what I tell myself anyway.

My week ended well, though. I went shopping in the afternoon and my friends convinced me to buy these shoes I was staring at. I bought two new pairs of Skechers, even though I was looking for work sandals. My husband surprisingly was not annoyed when my two new "friends" entered the house, but he did suggest that I throw out the shoes that these two supposedly replaced. Throw out shoes? We'll see about that.

The First Week

AND LET THE CRAZINESS BEGIN!!! Yes, sadly enough, I am back at school. Vacation's always seem to end too soon. And it was a good, relaxing vacation. Even though some part's of it were not fun (i.e. being sick for all of it and therefore not being able to see my friends until the end of it and the realization that...nevermind, I'm going to get in trouble for saying that...), it was still a fantastic vacation. My house is clean (which was a multi day project), we have a picture sun and cloud on our living room wall, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with Lance.

Even though I grumble about vacation being too short, it was actually sort of nice to be back in school. I really enjoy the people that I work with and for the most part, I really enjoy my kids. Granted, there are many days that I wonder why I chose to work for the employer that I work for and I love vacations, but for the most part I like my job. If I was at a different site and worked with different people (i.e. like my former second school), I'd probably be singing a different story. I really am fortunate. I think that's the main thing that I learned in 2005. That yes, I did work hard to get to where I am today but I owe a lot of it to me being...well, blessed. I was blessed with a wonderful husband who I met early in life and with wonderful and supportive friends and family. Even our house -- we didn't have to go through the agony of a lottery that you usually have to go through to get a new house in Hawaii. We were just at the right place at the right time. And my school. I didn't have to work hard to get placed at my school. I had to work hard to keep my placement, but I was fortunate to be placed there at all.

Anyhow, this entry was supposed to be about my first week back at work. On Monday we had a district meeting/workshop so no kids. The first half was incredibly boring, but Matt and I kept ourselves entertained by muttering inappropriate things about our speaker to each other. The second half of the meeting was on far more interesting topics so it wasn't so excrutiating. It was nice to talk to Jessica again, who I haven't really spoken to since graduation. I forgot how entertaining she is. Oh! I think the highlight of the day was when one of the SLPs (or was she a CA?) expressed in interest in Matt for her daughter. She was also interested in introducing me to her son and was surprised to hear that I was married. Oh, and my boss also referred to me as "the devious one." I must remember to hide that part of my personality a little more...but then, what fun would that be?

I had another workshop on Tuesday at my school so still no kids. The workshop was surprisingly very interesting. It only lasted half day, though, so I had the other half of my day to get some work done. I had a hard time, though, since it was my first day back. I did start setting up an augmentative communication device for one of kids and I had a lot of fun doing that. AACs really interest me. Perhaps I'll pursue that interest later on in my career.

WEDNESDAY. THE RETURN OF THE KIDS. Apparently, kids really need vacations just like adults do. A lot of my kids were loopy and cranky before the break, but most of my kids returned to school rejuvenated and ready to work. A lot of them seemed to have made some connections over the break and I was thrilled. I think that my kids need more breaks than the regular ed kids. I should give them intensive therapy for a month or so and then give them a week off. They really seem to need that away time to let whatever we've been working on sink in. I wonder if I could do research on that? I'd probably have to leave my current job, though, seeing as how my employer would probably flip out if I stopped services for a week.

Even though I've only been back at work for a week, the craziness has already started. I had a lot of paperwork and meetings to get through and just overall a lot of work to do. It never ends. I sort of enjoyed the first week back (but still, thank goodness for the weekend), but in two weeks I'll be ready for another vacation.

The Painting

This isn't the best picture of it because you can't really see the difference between the background blues, but this is my painting! Yes, I actually created a painting! One of my colleagues shared this hobby with us over the winter break. Now, I'm very aware of my strengths and weaknesses and art is definitely one of my weaknesses so I was a little nervous going into the experience. I was surprised when it came out not bad! I also was surprised that I really enjoyed painting it.

2006

Wow, I'm glad that I was able to post all those pictures before we were too far in to to 2006. Those were a lot of pictures. I guess I should've posted them along the way. I really don't know why I'm so inconsistent now. I was a pretty good blogger during my last year of grad school, but then I don't know what happened. Was it that I was so good at blogging b/c I was trying to avoid doing school work? Or was it that life got too hectic during the wedding planning? Or maybe it was the introduction of knitting that sucked up all my time?

Lance and I trading blows at ESPN Zone. Looks like the honeymoon's over, eh? 

More of the Bellagio display. I don't know who this grumpy looking girl is. Alright, she's probably not grouchy, just concentrating on taking her picture. 

Me and my new friend at M & M World. I got some really yummy dark chocolate M & Ms here. 

In front of the huge fish tank at Caesar's. We want to be fish! 

The Christmas tree at the Bellagio. I really need to learn how to flip pictures. 

The Christmas display at the Bellagio was amazing. Everything, including this bear was made out of flowers.  

Here we are on our December Vegas trip. We're standing in front of this huge tree on Fremont St. I wish I knew how to flip this picture... 

I finally got Lance to take a picture with Santa. I wish someone had told me that my shirt was all funny kine so that I don't look so frumpy but oh well. 

This was our first Christmas tree and our first Christmas as husband and wife. Setting up the tree was quite an experience, as we didn't realize that the bottom branches of the tree had to be cut off for it to fit in the stand. We don't own a saw, so Lance had to use his Leatherman to cut off the branches. It was difficult to cut b/c it was still alive and soft and because the branches were thick. 

I was so happy to find this Nemo hat at Sea World. I wore it for most of the day and I kept hearing little kids say "Nemo!" as I walked past. I also heard a man refer to my hat in Korean. 

The Shamu show at Sea World.  

I really liked the penguins at Sea World. I want a penguin, but I somehow I don't think they smell good. Really, how pleasant can wet feathers smell? 

After the convention, we stayed a few more days in San Diego to play. Here's Matt and I at Sea World. 

San Diego was such a beautiful city, one that I wouldn't mind living in. Here's Matt in Seaport Village, a shopping area near the convention center. We were waiting for a water taxi to take us to Coronado. 

Jaime drove two hours to visit us while we were in San Diego. 

We didn't just work while we were in San Diego. We made sure to have tons of fun as well. These margaritas were really tasty. From left to right: Cheree, Me, Megan, and Dayna w/ the beer. 

Our research paper from grad school was accepted as a poster presentation at our national convention. Going to the convention was such a great experience and is one that every SLP should have at least once in their life. It was so great that we're planning to go again in two years to Boston. 

Kiyomi and Kimo got married in August. I'm glad they didn't listen to me when I encouraged them to elope...it was the week before the wedding and I was stressed and wasn't thinking before speaking. 

My cousin, Celina, also got married this year. She met Tony in Japan and now they're living in London. 

Okay, way too many people to name in this picture. Anyway, my "rocks." Y'know, I really should've posted these earlier and now I know why people have been bugging me to update my blog. 

Me and my dad walking down the aisle... 

Three of the amazing people who helped on our wedding day... 

Matt, Kristen, Nicole, Cheree, Jill, Me, Trina, and Keane from the rehearsal dinner at Natsunoya. 

Lance, Garrett, and Nicole during our pre-wedding scavenger hunt and party with our wedding party and emcees. I think they really meant to smile with their thumbs up...I also think my team really should've won the scavenger hunt...