A Toast to New Beginnings

Mother of God I'm bad at blogging. I'm apparently really not cut out for this. Oh well.

I thought I'd write because tomorrow is going to be the start of some new things and I'm excited. My new job starts tomorrow and FINALLY, after four years of working as an assistant teacher and twiddling my thumbs out of boredom each work day AND busting my ass in off-hours to get my Master's and a few licenses, will be using my brain and my teaching skills (run-on...deal with it). It's going to be a challenge for sure...I'll be a special educator in a specialized high school program, but it will feel good to (cheese alert) finally be working hard to learn as much as possible and be the best teacher I can be. I even have my very own office! With a window! I feel pretty important, as you can probably tell ;)

Secondly, I'm going to meet with a personal trainer tomorrow in hopes that I will be able to start some kind of personal training regimen. With my dramatically increased paycheck (which would sound braggy if I weren't talking in terms of teacher salaries...), I've decided it's time to make an investment in my health. I'm hoping to work with her maybe twice a week and then on my own a couple times a week to just...be healthier. I'll let you all (Meghan and Emily) know how it goes!

It feels sooo good to not be in school anymore and to finally have the qualifications and time to lead the life that I've been working toward for the past couple years. I feel like this is kind of the beginning of lots of cool changes...although I don't yet know what the others will be!

You gotta take the time to appreciate the good things, right?

Kickass Chicks

For some reason, I've been very sensitive to the ways women are portrayed in the media recently. Maybe it's because I've been watching too much t.v. and waaaaay too many movies, but the juxtaposition between a disgustingly traditional laundry detergent ad that states "Women love [some random adjective] laundry" (that inspired me to yell "MEN DO LAUNDRY TOO!" at the t.v.) and shows like Chuck that have such badass, stiletto-wearing, take-no-prisoners characters as Sarah (see below) is striking.

So, along these lines, I would just like to state for the record that Sarah from Chuck, Lady Marian from Robin Hood (with the exception of being saved by the title hero at the end of the movie...so predictable, blah), and the Black Widow from Iron Man 2 rock my world. Amanda Peet's helpless, pathetic character from 2012 on the other hand...vomit. Come on people, it's 2010 (or, 2012 as the case may be)...

Flo. Rida.

I am going to be here in two days:

Can. Not. Wait.

Whales.

Jon took me on a whale watch yesterday as an anniversary present after hearing me complain for years about how I'd always wanted to do one but could never convince anyone to go with me. The whale watch was sponsored by the New England Aquarium and took us out the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary, which is a protected area of ocean north of the tip of Cape Cod.

We saw tons of dolphins and several humpback whales right up next to the boat...it was very cool. I even saw a dolphin jump out of the water and do a spin, like they do at Sea World. The pictures don't do the experience justice at all because we forgot the memory card for Jon's camera, so these are all cell phone pics:

Probably the best picture we have.

This is the tail of a humpback as it dove into the water. It was a really cool sight, but it just looks like a black dot here.

Whale.

Another whale.

The tell-tale plume that allowed us to spot the whales from a distance.

Lots of people on board...particularly really tall, European men who wouldn't move to let the children see the whales.

Jon eating, per usual.

Even though it was rainy and gross in Boston, it was a beautiful day out on the water.

Coming back into the city.

Image of the Custom House Tower, just because I thought it looked cool.

All in all, it was a fun experience...and allowed me to cross something off my bucket list, as Jon said.

Alot.

Funny article about grammar. (click here)

Clean.

I found this book at the house of the kids I was babysitting last night. It has all kinds of cool recipes (formulas?) for household cleaners, like laundry detergent and wood polish. A lot of them use some seriously hippie ingredients like essential oils, but I'd love to throw out (or, as the book suggests, bring to a local toxic waste disposal site) all of my Clorox and Windex and use natural ingredients to clean. The closest I've gotten so far is throwing used lemons into the disposal to clean it out and make the sink smell good...I highly recommend it.

Pretty.

I drove past this house yesterday on my way to babysitting in a nearby town...a rich town. The picture doesn't really do the house justice (especially because it was raining), but I'd like to live here.