Short, But Sweet

I had a short break in between student teaching and when I had to report to work as a new teacher. So my parents and I took a quick trip to sunny California. We woke up early Saturday morning and drove to LA to see an Angels vs. Yankees game. I am really not a fan of either team, but it was a pretty good game. We cheated and sat in some pretty good seats for about three innings until the real inhabitants showed up and we had to move to our ticketed seats which weren’t so great.

Good Seats

Not so good seats

After the game we drove around LA looking for this famous hot dog stand called Pinks. Apparently it is a big deal, I hadn’t heard of it before but my parents went years ago. Anyway, so after we found the establishment we waited in line for an hour (yes…we waited in line for an hour…for a hog dog…). The hog dog was actually pretty good and would have been even better had I not got the spicy one. WOW!!! is all I have to say.

The line wrapped all the way around the back of the building

So after the excursion at Pinks we drove up the coast a ways to spend the rest of our vacation in breathtaking San Luis Obispo, CA. I love SLO. My brother has lived there for 17 years and I am so glad he does because it makes a great place to vacation in the summer to escape the vegas heat. The high was about 75 degrees while we were there and the nights got down to about 50. Sunday, after church my parents and I went Downtown to a couple stores and then went to Morro Bay, a small touristy coastal town about 20 minutes from SLO. It was beautiful but cold, really cold. We got on a trolley and drove around on that for a little bit and then walked around to a few shops.

Eating lunch in dowtown SLO

On the trolley in Morro Bay

Morro Bay Rock

It was freezing down by the water, but I had to put my feet in!

Monday I didn’t want to do anything except lay by the pool and read. So, that is exactly what I did. I laid by the pool ALL day and it was fantastic! (In case you are wondering I was reading Breaking Dawn!) That night my parents, my brother, and nephew went to Pismo Beach to eat at Splash Cafe, a yummy restaurant and then walked out to the peer and on the beach. It was freezing out on the water. I can’t believe how cold it gets there in the evening.

Waiting outside of Splash, again a long line!

Getting my tan on

My nephew, Mathew

Pismo Beach

And then that was the end of the vacation. I had to be back to work on Wednesday so we drove home Tuesday. The vacation was WAY to short but it was soooo nice to get out of town for a couple of days and it was soooo nice of my parents to take me out of town. Thanks Joe and Shelley!!

Look Out World (or 6th graders), Here I Come!!

I have officially entered the world of adulthood….I have a teaching job! Your looking at the new 6th grade Reading/English teacher at Silvestri Junior High School. It is called a CORE position, which means I teach reading and English to the same group of students and they stay in my class for two periods. I am totally excited!!! This is my dream job and to get in my first year is really lucky. You know the saying, “It’s not what you know it’s who you know”? Well, the only reason I got this job is because the principal at Cartwright ES (the school I am student teaching at) was talking to the principal at Silvestri and she put in a good word for me. I am actually shocked he wanted to hire me since I didn’t exactly nail the interview. First of all I didn’t even know he was going to interview me. He came in for an observation and then tells me he wants to go out in the hall to “talk”. I think it was a good thing I wasn’t expecting an interview otherwise I would have worked myself up and been even more nervous. Anyway, so he asks me what novels I would use for in my classroom for 6th graders. I was totally stumped. I didn’t want to just say, “I don’t know” So I answered with a book that, I found out later, is at a much lower grade level...totally embarrassing. But I did tell him as I was leaving that I was going to look up 6th grade novels immediately. And I did. (For those of you that are curious about what 6th graders do read here are a few top picks: Walk Two Moons, Loser, Freak the Mighty, Wrinkle In Time and The Giver.)

I have a job and that is fantastic! The bad news is I will get a whole four days off! My last day of student teaching is August 8 and new teachers go back for orientation on August 13 (sigh). So, I am making a quick trip to Cali for the weekend to catch a ball game and see my brother and his family. This will be a much needed vacation! I have made it through student teaching and now the next speed bump to get over is the first day of school...I'm nervous.