A Free Spirit from Jersey

Our Orignal "Bettelejuice-esque" Room; I will be staying here next time!

Our "Royal Suite" upgraded room with all the gold accents. And yes, the phone really worked!

The fountain is in front of the high school... and that LARGE building on the right, is the high school!

Trust me when I say that I spared you about 40 more pictures of dinosaurs. Oh but I did add in the moose and dragon pictures for fun. This museum was amazing! I'd go again and again :)

I would have sworn I took more pictures but I can't find them.... just imagine lots of beautiful flowers and secret gardens!

I owe you all a post about Colorado. I've been back from that most fantastic vacation for a month now and I'm still mourning the fact that I had to come home. Please let me go back!

Mountains, Mountains, Everywhere!

Sitting at the best little Creperie across from the park

One of the hidden gems of Colorado Springs is the Pioneer's Museum. I spent a fair amount of time hanging out in the park and garden that surround this museum. It is an abosolutely beautiful place! On Tuesday, I took some time to go in and explore the museum. It was full of rich history and great artifacts from around Colorado Springs!   

Pioneer's Museum; I took about 67 pictures in here. I'll spare you most of them.

Back Side of Pioneer's Museum

Capitol Building I spent A LOT of time walking around and aimlessly wandering through the city. It was just breathtaking and I was thankful for the views every day!

The Best View

Obviously had to Snapchat my view :)

The park where I spent SO much of my time

The day I learned I HATE mango smoothies. But I drank it anyway because it cost $5 and I'm cheap

On our last day in Colorado Springs, I was graced with the presences of my mother. She finally had a day without conference things! I was excited. We went down to the "America the Beautiful Park" and it was sooo pretty. Momma had known about this park because of her runs in the morning and she wanted to take some pictures. I'm so glad she had me go with her.

America the Beautiful Park

Our last day before Denver

Through her conference, we were also able to visit the Olympic Training Center for a guided tour. Now I'm not the biggest sports or Olympic fan but I would recommend this as a stop anytime you are in Colorado Springs. I do not regret going at all. It was an amazing facility and I learned some pretty cool things.

View from the top of the Olympic Training Center

Winning medal; casually got GOLD ;)

If money wasn't an object, would I still be doing what I do now?

It was my question so it was fair game to fire it back at me. But it still didn't make answering it any easier. I didn't don't know. And that scares the hell out of me. There was nothing I wanted more in life than to be a teacher. Now that I have it, I don't know if it's what I want anymore.

Well scratch that, I'd love to be a teacher. But that's not what I am. I'm a personal assistant, a physical/emotional/social/academic therapist/counselor, I'm a problem solver, a paperwork expert, and a nurse. I'm a punching bag for nasty comments from parents. I'm a fixture in a room that doesn't mean much to the kids who come in every day. But I sure as hell would not say I'm a teacher.
I'm lost and I'm sad and I'm more scared than those put together. But I'm not alone.

So if money was no object would I still be doing this? No. I probably wouldn't. And that answer may scare the hell out of me. But sometimes the truth does that to us.

If money was no object, I'd travel the world. I study languages in Spain, France, and Italy. I'd visit impoverished villages in India and Thailand, volunteering my time and skills. I'd pet a giraffe and ride an elephant in Africa. I'd live in a different zip code every few months. I'd see the world, the way I imagine it is supposed to be seen.

But eventually I'd want more than changing zip codes and personal items that all fit inside a suitcase. Eventually I'd want to settle down. But I'd know just the place because I'd have been there and experienced it for myself. I'd be satisfied with my choices instead of wondering what comes next.

I believe that sometimes we need to be scared in order to see where we are supposed to go next. It is easy for me to sit here and judge to life that I currently have. I know the ups and downs of my daily life. I know the parts that I don't like, but I know that they come as baggage with the parts that I do like.

So if money was no object, maybe I'd choose to do something different. But I'd probably learn that those things have ups and downs too.

But money is an object. And I do love my kids. And most days I feel like I've made a difference. And for now that has to be enough. That is enough.

You know those times when you have a really good span of days and you just can't stop smiling? Well, that was my weekend! I have not been this happy in a while. But I deserve it and I can finally breath normally again. Don't get me wrong, I'll still have anxiety and lots of stress--being away from my family does that to me. But I will not rain on my parade right now! I am so happy :)

This weekend started with a paycheck! Hello happiness. (Then the bills came in the mail... but we can talk about those another time). Friday was a long day but at the end of the day, I realized that I finished my first full week of teaching. Hallelujah! Making through this week was really hard, but definitely made me appreciate all the other teachers in the world a little more.
Friday night, I took a nap on the couch while my friends went out for a drink--yea I'm the exciting one of the group! But then they came home and we just hung out, not really doing anything. But those times make perfect memories to me. To me, it shows that we are comfortable enough with each other to not constantly need other distractions.

Saturday morning started out right when I decided to finally get out of bed at 8:30 and get dressed right away.  The longer I stay in my pajamas, the harder it is for me to get anything done for the day.  I took bagel orders and went out to Panera to get breakfast. Apparently everyone thought I was kidding Friday night when I said that I was going on Saturday morning. But that made it all the more fun for me because I got to surprise people with a breakfast wake up call :) What a good friend I am! Haha, just kidding.
Saturday was filled with very little work for school. Morgan, Mason, and I went for a four mile walk on the Cape Fear River Valley Trail.  It was so peaceful and beautiful. But I forgot to eat lunch so I was a little hungry and cranky... my own fault. We picked flowers and found the river.  We saw the waterfall, which was so peaceful, even running under the railroad tracks. I could have sat out there all day. But we kept moving, and then we saw a snake! Not my proudest moment because I may have screamed like someone was going to murder me... but it really scared me.

One of the Bridges in the Trail

There is a waterfall between the trees if you look closely!

After our walk, we decided that Mexican food for dinner was probably the best idea. So we all went home and showered, and I may have taken a small nap. School makes me extra tired right now. Then Morgan and I stopped at Walmart to buy nachos and cheese and other essential things.  When we got to Mason's, he wanted to return his TV (it was cracked). So back to the car we went. We are nothing if not adventurers. After a half hour detour in our plans, we were headed back to the apartment with a new TV and a very hungry Chandler.
Let's pause and talk about Mexican food for a second. I love my Mexican food. And I really love it with salsa... So when it was discovered that no one had any salsa, my butt got back into the car and went to the store. Now when I go to the store alone, I tend to over buy. So of course I bought chips and pretzels and grapes and salsa. The snacks were bought for Sunday though.
Now we had salsa, nachos, and Morgan was making quesadillas. We set up the TV (harder than it sounds) and watched Happy Gilmore while eating to make my little belly happy.
Then I fell asleep on the couch... really classy I know. I don't think I slept long but I always feel awkward when people have to wake me up and I'm not in my own bed. It's just a thing. Luckily no one cared, or at least they told me they didn't care.

And then we had Sunday. Sunday was Myrtle Beach Day! You have thought I won the lottery by how happy I was to go to the beach.  I woke up at 6:45 and couldn't fall back asleep. So I got up and did laundry. I also typed up the first two days of this post!
Now I want to get something out there, Myrtle Beach is great. But a vacation is only as good as the people you are with. I cannot thank Morgan, Mason, and Emily enough for being my friends and making North Carolina my home away from home.
Now we can talk about how much fun Myrtle Beach was! I may have danced around the house waiting for it to be time to go. We packed the car with all of our things and then we were off. Now being the fantastic (not) singer that I am, I pretty much sang every song for the two hour drive. No one killed me which is a good thing! Once we were at the beach, we realized it was only $5 for all day parking... hello happiness! The beach is honestly the place I feel most comfortable in life. We set up all of our stuff (minus the umbrella, because we have had to move). We swan all day and ate some grapes and sun chips.  We took two walks down the beach (both ways).  We joked about anything and everything; it was such a good day. Around 4:30 we packed up and got changed for dinner.  We went to a tiki bar and had sandwiches and french fries--because we all know that I love me some french fries.
Then we took a long walk (my feet were tired) to a mini golf place and played for ice cream.  Because mini golf is more fun when you are playing for something, even if it's bragging rights! Now I don't want to brag but I may have gotten three hole in ones, two being in a row. However, I was quickly made to be humbled. I got third place out of four, clearly I should go for the pros. Ice cream was gotten after and then we strolled down the beach. And I realized how much I miss home and my mom. But I always remind myself that the same moon I am looking at is the same moon she can see--it's the little things that make me feel better.  After our walk, it was time to go home. Everyone was a little burnt and a lot tired.
Two hours later and it was apparently time to watch a movie. This girl fell asleep on the living floor of Mason's apartment. I'm really classy like that. After the movie, I was woken up to go home. I showered and slept for 7-8 hours.

Monday was a day for planning. Morgan and I wrote out our math and language arts plans in the morning. Then Morgan went to print. I went to sleep. I watched a few episodes of Boy Meets World, because why not. After a three hour nap, we continued planning and I made some food for this week. Shout out to my momma for the Tortellini soup from Seattle, it was really yummy! Late night phone calls, swimming in the pool, and looking for a lost little girl (she was found in her house!) ended out the weekend. And as much as I love my kids, I could really use another day to hang out with my friends and not think about school!

Here's to hoping this week stays positive! And to hoping that you had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend as well.