happy holidays!

well it is official: we are on christmas break! i am so pumped because that means family togetherness and new years new orleans '09! it also signifies the completion of my first half of a year of teaching in texas again- i have enjoyed it immensely. i have the most amazing students! i think i always say that, regardless of what school i am at, but it's so true! 

i don't have much to update, but i'd like to take the opportunity to send christmas wishes everyone's way and a very happy new year to you all as well. cheers!

turkey trot

well after karla and i did the 5k, i decided i wanted to do the turkey trot 10k. so i build up to it for several months, and on thanksgiving morning, dad and mom came to support me running the turkey trot! the weather was perfect, and the run was great. it was very hilly! it was about 6.2 miles...apparently not all 10k's are created equal, because i believe the dallas turkey trot was around 7 miles. anyways, it was pretty cool, so here's 2 pictures from that. oops i meant to post them in a different order- the one where i look cold is before (it was cold!), and the one where i am sweaty and smiling is after (it got warm!) 

life is going well- school's good, the house is good, it's cool living close to the fam again. i am meeting up with some habitat friends over new years in new orleans, so i am very pumped for that! i am ready for christmas break! :) i hope everyone is doing great- grandpa if you read this, i can't wait to see you when you come down for christmas! 

much love and cheers-

long time, no update!

Grandpa you inspired me to update my blog! I am sorry it has been so long. Things are going well- very busy. We had today off from school, which was nice to get a chance to catch up on things, like grading mainly. I am enjoying my classes and school, but it's hard for me to stay caught up! I just took on Freshman Cheer Coach a couple weeks ago as well, so I go to the freshman football and volleyball games with my cheerleaders. I am glad to get the opportunity, because you know me- go, go, go! I like to be involved. This is also a great way to get to see my students involved in sports play while coaching my freshman girls. So all in all, I am happy for getting to work with cheerleading! I feel very responsible again. Not that I wasn't in New Orleans, but this is definitely a different kind of responsibility. In New Orleans, I would work really hard at work, but then when I came home, it was all play. Here I work really hard at work, go to the gym, and come home and work really hard on more work. While I can get overwhelmed by the pressure at times, overall I enjoy having a job with outside responsibility. New Orleans felt like a vacation sometimes! I think in everything you must find a balance. And I am certainly still trying to find a balance now. 

Aside from school, I am helping with Ft. Worth Habitat for Humanity every once in awhile here; not as often as I'd like, but that's because of school and other things that come up. Karla and I ran a 5K the other week, which was really fun. I would like to do the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, which I believe is a 10K, so I need to work up to that. I keep up with close friends from New Orleans, and one of my friends and I are planning a New Years New Orleans '09 bash. Then I am going to a really good friend's wedding that first weekend of January. Then it's back to school the Monday following. I realize the holidays are right around the corner- school is flying by! I am ready for cooler weather- for the perfect Cowboys-watching weather. :) 

I hope everyone is doing well. Here are pictures from the 5K (hopefully Karla won't mind me posting these) and a couple pictures from my backyard I took today. Who knew such pretty flowers would bloom in October! Cheers and much love- 

pics from carter build

so this first pic is day 1- we started with the floor system, and this photo is from about 12:00pm. the second pic is friday (the same week- 4 days later)- the house is completely finished. all the subs in, flooring, sod- it needs a fence and punchlist touch-ups. the third is the crew working on the house, and the green shirts up top were our habitat staff crew leaders.

can you believe it? a whole house in one week! it's mind-boggling. mind you, the days were long- on thursday night we didn't leave till like 11:30. but it's possible!

carter build

hey guys- short note because it's late, and i'm sleeeepy! but i got internet at my place now!! so that's a good thing.
this week is the jimmy and rosalynn carter work project build, meaning habitat works about 14 hour days building a whole house from floor system to dedication in 5 days! i took yesterday off work and got to help all day, but the rest of the week i only get to help after school. i am so impressed by everyone at habitat and how hard they have all worked in preparation for this event and how hard they are working this week. they are a bunch of talented individuals. getting to work on trusses, roofing and shingling really makes me miss doing construction! it's just a feeling like no other- manual labor that is so physically intense, and you see the fruit of that labor right in front of your eyes. sometimes with teaching you hope you're making a difference, but you can't tangibly see or know a difference has occurred. construction- it's either done or it's not! it's either right or it's wrong. it either looks good or needs to be redone. it's very black and white- and it's always fixable. anyways, i will def. put pictures up later this week, but i at least wanted to say hi, and there is a good amount of media coverage on the event- tomorrow president carter and rosalynn come on site to work- i will not be there until the afternoon, so i probably won't get to work with them, but you may check out the news or paper tom. or thurs. and see if it's mentioned. i should also mention that the carter build is going across the whole gulf coast where hurricane damage occurred. it's a huge deal. i feel very fortunate to get the opportunity to work for an event such as this.
alright- well until then i hope everyone is well- talk soon. much love

jazzfest weekend 2

hey guys! hope everyone is well. well, this was weekend II of jazzfest, and i had a bit of a different experience with it. i was working at a local artist's booth in the crafts section. he makes these gorgeous decorative masks out of leather (i'll try and put an attachment on here from his website) and also handbags and belts and stuff. it was really fun. catherine's birthday was on sat. and she had backstage tickets for jimmy buffett, so we got to see him more from the side in front of the stage- but it was really close! :) i skipped school today because i am sick and also had a mosqito bite that kept growing and growing, so i went to the doctor. i got bit in the backyard sat. morning when dallas refused to pee because it was raining, and i was so mad at her! so anyways, but i noticed yesterday at jazzfest my foot was really swollen and itched/hurt really bad. by this morning it looked like an elephant foot, and it hurt like a bruise. so the doctor made me get xrays of my foot because he thought the infection may have spread to my bone. can you believe it!? well thank GOD that the xrays came out fine, but he gave me 3 antibiotics for the infection. ridiculous! and to think i was gonna ride it out. sometimes you've just gotta go to the doctor. anyways, so that's my second weekend adventure. i'll attach a picture of a mask. hope everyone's well! love much!! pic didn't work- here's his website you've gotta see what can be done with leather!! http://www.johnflemming.com/limited2.htm