He can't swim!

Winter keeps slogging along here in upstate New York. We had 50-60 degree weather for about 3 days last week and it was a total tease. When the cold came back it felt like a slap in the face. I'm so sick of running on a treadmill in my apartment's sad excuse for a "workout" room. More like a smelly closet with three machines and a tv. Let me outside winter weather!

I'm on a lovely winter break this week from both my master and my elementary school internship (these breaks were nonexistent in MI, I have no idea why). I did a solo week last week at my internship so the break was very much a welcome one. The solo week went well, although I did feel like I was running to keep up a couple times. It feels like the students there are getting used to me and off I go soon (I'm done there next week). Next I will concur middle schoolers.

The break isn't a huge break on the work level. I'm using the pause in homework to catch up on my resume, cover letter, portfolio, online portfolio, LinkedIn account, getting fingerprinted, and going to the dentist. It's been very productive so far.

Brian visited last weekend which was fun as usual. It's good to see him since we def won't see each other next month. I'll be dog/house sitting the whole month for three different families. I met one of the dogs this week, a very friendly Portugese water dog. I feel closer to the Obama's already.

Old School Stuff

I'm in the last weeks of my first student teaching post. I'll be really sad to leave. The school librarian I'm working with is awesome and the library aid is really nice. I'll be sad not to see them every week. Being in an elementary school has changed my outlook on my ideal job. I always thought I would be happiest in a high school library but now I think I might prefer an elementary school. It makes me ridiculously happy to help students find books on what they want: karate, scary stories, chickens, robots, Shiloh, etc. It's pretty great.

I call Brian by his last name all the time. I'm now realizing that I might need to take that down a notch since when we get hitched it will be my name too. Gotta say, I'm a little sad to see my last name go. My initials now are so nice plus they are the same backwards or forwards.

I just started training for another 5k. I have a really hard time committing to running regularly unless there is an end goal to work towards. I think this training will be much easier that the last time since I can actually run for more than 5 minutes now.

Check it

"A Wrinkle In Time" In 90 Seconds from James Kennedy on Vimeo.

This is pretty great.

Can I just say something, "Isn't copying wrong?"

The holidays flew by as they always do. Brian was here for 10 days which was really nice except he was sick for about 4 of those days. We don't get to see each other that much so that was a bummer. Overall Christmas time in Albany was really nice. The food was delicious and the company was lovely.

Right after Bri left, I started one of my student teaching posts at an elementary school library. I'm currently splitting my time between there and work, next week school classes will be thrown in there as well. I really lucked out with my mentor school librarian, she is also an adjunct professor and was probably one of my favorite professors. She really knows her stuff and immediately threw me into working. I've already taught multiple library lessons by myself, booktalked, collaborated with teachers, and attended faculty meetings. I'm being worked to the bone, but I know I'm going to learn a lot.

Since I have two internships/student teaching posts, I am only taking two classes this last semester. One class is online and the other is at the undergraduate level. In all my graduate semesters I have never felt more relaxed about my work load.

While the New Year's celebration came and went without too much fanfare (Brian wasn't really eating food yet), 2011 is going to be a big year for me. It will contain:
-last classes ever (unless I need some sort of other degree but I can't see that happening)
-graduation grad school (never really thought that would happen until a couple years ago)
-hopefully getting job in a school library or library field (please please please)
-moving back in with Brian (the sooner the better)
-further planning of wedding (I'm so glad I have till summer 2012 to finalize everything, no stressing out here)

Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus?

The holidays are here! Thank goodness we got another dusting of snow last night, I was starting to see the grass and it was a little disturbing. The big bummer with any snow fall for me is the maintenance man for my apartment complex snow blowing around 5:30 am. We had about a quarter of and inch but I guess shoveling is out of the question for some individuals. The other bummer about winter in my apartment is that we don't control the indoor temperature. Since I'm in a second floor place, we hover in the high 70s most of the time and that's with our windows constantly cracked open.

I always eagerly anticipate my winter break but this one has been pretty boring so far with no roommate or Brian around. I go to work everyday which is fine, but when I go home I get really restless. I'm used to thinking about so many assignments and projects that my head feels a bit empty. To make up for it, I've been watching a lot of online TV shows: Parks and Rec, Bones, Castle, The Office (again), Arrested Development (again), Top Chef (bootlegged since Bravo is stupid), etc. I've also been reading a lot of books. Current YA favs: The Sky is Everywhere and Before I Die.

There was a lovely Fowler get-together last night. I love Fowler people and I'm so thankful I decided on a pretty big whim to apply to work there near the end of 2004. I would have never met Brian otherwise and moved to New York and decided to enter grad school for librarianship. Seriously, right now I could be living in Michigan, doing god-knows what, and scoping out dudes on Match.com. My current life is obv better than the alternative.

Spreading the cheer out the window

School ended last week which was a huge relief. Even though I only had four classes, as opposed to the five I took on during my first two semesters, the ones I had this semester were more challenging. Sadly I did finish all of my school librarianship class requirements. In my next and final semester I will be completing my last two education courses and two 150 hour internships. I am very excited to start my internships. My first one is under a school librarian who was also my adjunct professor recently, so hopefully I am learning from the best. I'm starting on Jan 3rd, so the winter break will seem shorter this year.

It is very strange to be contemplating graduation yet again. When I graduated from college in 2007 I felt much more unsure of my career path yet the job market was better. Now I feel confident in the direction I am headed and love my chosen focus in librarianship, but the possibility of finding a job seems bleak.

Thanksgiving already seems so far away. I spent the holiday in the Midwest and packed my time full with family and friends. I also completed my first 5k during the Grand Rapids Turkey Trot. Thankfully it was not too cold and I was able to complete the run without walking once (my ultimate goal). Since I've never been an athlete this was a pretty big accomplishment for me. I'll have to find another 5k soon because after I finished, my motivation to run took a nose dive.



Christmas will be upon us soon. I finished my shopping yesterday and today Albany got it's first snow fall. I really needed some snow to get into the spirit, so now I feel much better. Brian will come to visit for the holiday and I am looking forward to some Bri cooking.

I got marbles in my mouth

So I've been avoiding blogging since there always seems to be something I should be doing instead (homework/reading books). Also Brian left last week so I've been trying to hang out with him a lot before he took off for WI again.

So in no particular order (although I will try for chronological) lately I,

-attended a lovely Camp Fowler wedding for Darrick and Katherine. They looked super happy and put on a lovely wedding. I really liked seeing a wedding at camp since Brian and I are looking to do ours there in 2012.

-got the new Guster album: love it.

-visited Eric and Miriam again. Last time we went their place still had that moved-in-recently look too it. Now it looked like a real house where adults lived. Crazy! I really liked all their stuff on the walls and made a mental note to get some of that eventually.

-had a weekend trip to Boston w/ Brian where we: went to a museum, had lobster rolls, visited his cousin, and had the best soup ever! I never tried a lobster roll before and now I can cross that off my bucket list.

-took a midterm, presented two presentations, and turned in an 8 page paper all in the same week Brian left! It was intense.

-scheduled my last semester of grad school. Thank god all the classes I need are being offered, it was close.

-I've been training for the GRPS Turkey Trot 5k in Grand Rapids. I've never been an athlete so this is a lot for me. Surprisingly (to me) the training is going really well. My schedule makes it hard since I'm not home from about 8-10 a few days a week and the complex workout room is only open 9-9 (a joke). Running in the dark in the morning kinda sucks. But each Saturday, when I ramp up the distance I'm running, its the farthest I've ever run continuously in my whole life. I feel pretty good about that.

Anyway, fun times...

I can't believe I'm going to be done with graduate school come May. That really isn't that far off. I never really thought I could go to grad school, so I'm really happy I did and I'm really happy I found what I'm interested in and can make a career out of it. Recently at one of my field studies, a 5th grader asked me, "Ms. Stevens, in college do you get to study whatever you want?" I told him that after he took some general courses he could. I said that I liked libraries so I get to study libraries in my classes. The little boy and the girl next to him got so excited I didn't want to burst the bubble about endless gen eds. Man, he still has a lot of "general" schooling head of him. With his 5th grade class we introduced a site called Glogster for making online posters. They 5th graders love it and they also love the brightest colors imaginable.