6 Interesting Facts

So Laura tagged me in this thing on her blog about six random facts about yourself. I decided that since I am one of the most electic people to come across, I might as well spit out six facts about myself. Let's see if you already knew these about me!

1. I'm left handed
2. I can only wink my right eye
3. I don't know how to parallel park
4. My middle name is Gilmore
5. I have the same birthday at Jennifer Aniston
6. I have given roses to Julie Kent (the ballerina who dances with Cooper Nelson in Center Stage. She was Juliet and he was Romeo) for a performance called Titus in Dallas.

Insert Witty and Totally Awesome Title Here

Hello!

Hope everyone's Dead Days are going splendid. Splendid might not be the word that you would choose to describe your days of grueling work and reading chapter after chapter in your textbooks but you are almost done and Christmas is almost here!

I came into Dallas on Sunday morning for a shift at 11. Apparently anyone who is a die heart Northpark shopper doesn't go to church on Sunday because I struggled with finding a parking spot. On a Sunday morning! Isn't that insane? J Crew was filled with woman carrying cashmere scarfs and cable sweaters when I walked in. It was a fun shift. Filled with my co-workers's hilarious life stories that make you fall to the floor laughing.

This week, I've actually gotten a chunk of hours from J Crew which is wonderful because I honestly don't know what I would be doing with myself otherwise. There was a rollout on Sunday night which means that you have a shift from 9pm till 9am. During this time, you take everything off the floor so it can be shipped out to the outlet mall, unbox everything that has come in that day and put it on the floor by following the pictures that the headquarters in New York City has sent us. It's fun. I've done it once when we got our new Fall collection in.

I'm a full blown J Crew associate these days. Meaning I can tackle the woman's dressing room with ease by putting everything back on the floor where it belongs, I can help the damsel in distress purchasers in the back of the store when they come in solely to buy new pants because their trousers have huge holes in them, the cashier no longer is a threat towards me because I have had a crash course lesson on the ins and outs of giftcards, credit card purchases, how to use Northpark gold, do returns, send out packages in the mail, have gift receipts for multiple gifts...I'm basically unstoppable. Who knows, maybe J Crew wants me to become a manager and then one day move up to New York City to be a buyer.

On a better note, I am receiving the greatest gift for Christmas. My little sister, Grace, is going to be attending Baylor next Spring. She is transfering from her school in Mississippi and coming to live in Waco. I'm so incredibly excited. It will be the perfect end to my four years here in one of my favorite places on Earth.

Okay, that's about it. O yea, somehow Grace and I will have ESP moments because she called me a few days ago to ask if I had found the Beyonce video online for "Put a Ring on It" because she has been practicing the dance in her dorm room. Sound familiar? haha.

Two in One Day

I know, I'm one of the lamest people ever for posting twice in one day but Autumn (one of the teachers that I teach with at Spring Valley) made a list of things that she was thankful for and I decided to create my own too!

Things that I am Thankful For

1. Paperclips (if you are an intern too, you know why this is number one)
2. My mom's laugh
3. My little sister
4. Crisp fall weather
5. J Crew catalogs
6. Dark chocolate m&m's
7. Running Shoes
8. Christmas music
9. Lofties
10. Spontaneous Dance Parties
11. Jason Mraz
12. Central Market
13. My dad's sense of humor
14. High heels
15. EZ Graders
16. Baylor
17. My friends that make my life so entertaining
18. Children's Books
19. My 4th graders
20. Photographs
21. White Out
22. Burberry Brit
23. The Office
24. Being a brunette

Rounding to the Last Lap

Hello Readers (Man, I still hope there are some readers out there because I do enjoy being read about. I should have finished living the dream of being famous).

I'm sitting in Plano right now. Unlike the rest of my fellow Senior Friends, I have just one more test to take (this Thursday in ESL) and then I'm home free. So I really didn't have anything to run back to Waco to do. It's so strange being done with teaching. I woke up this morning at 8:45 thinking omgosh, 1st period is almost over and I'm still in bed. Wait, I don't have to be at school. I'm still insync with the schedule that I lived Monday-Friday this semester so it's going to take some adjusting.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. My family and I (including our golden retriever, Spencer) participated in the Turkey Trot. I think Spencer had the most fun out of any of us. We then came home and had Thanksgiving at our house. On Friday, I worked at J Crew for the infamous Black Friday. It was insane. I have never seen so many people in one place before in my life. You would have thought that we were handing out cashmere cardigans for free.

During Winter Break, I am going to continuing my rockstar status at J Crew. I really enjoy working there. It might be the fact that I get to straighten clothes all day. Or help ridiculously good looking boys in thick rhimmed glasses, argyle sweaters and scruffy faces or the fact that my male co-workers insist that we play "dress up" during our shifts meaning that they pick out clothes that they think are cute (both guys and girls because everyone knows I love guy clothes. alot) and then I run into a dressing room, throw it on, and model it for a while for customers. It's fun.

O yea, we have headsets now at J Crew. They are neat-ish. I wore one today while I was working and looked ridiculous. I would be talking to someone and all of the sudden, someone was screaming into my headset about some shenanigan going on. O zang.

And I absolutely love how cold it is outside. It's wonderful.

Coming to a Close

I have three more days of my internship for the fall semester at Spring Valley and then I'm home free. Not going to lie, I'm thrilled about the fact that I won't have to leave my house at 7am for 6 weeks but I'm going to miss my students like crazy.  I spend 32 hours a week with them so going from that to not seeing them at all is going to be so strange.  I have found appreciation for many things because of them this year.  I appreciate homemade homework assignments addressed to "Miss Chambers," I can now throw a football correctly, Hannah Montana is a rockstar along with the Jonas Brothers, cooties still exist and the "cootie shot" is still given...the list goes on.

 I absolutely love them.  I feel like saying "love" doesn't even begin to describe how much I care about them.  I have really developed in the type of educator that I inspire to be over these last few months.  I've learned to be stern when needed but also show my students that I love each and every one of them.  Each of them is so incredible.  So so incredible.  I love their habits, their isms, the things that they find absolutely hilarious, their questions that make me laugh hard.  They are so wonderful.  I wish you (people who still read this) could meet them.  They would make you smile.

Today, one of my kids came up to me during our Math test.  He started coughing and sneezing at the same time while trying to ask a question and I found it to be hilarious so I burst out laughing during the test.  Real mature, I know but if you knew Cory just his stance and his humor and personality cracks me up.  I interrupted my students' concentration but o well.  I told them "I'm sorry but I think I have lost my mind over the course of this semester." And they asked if they could lose their mind too. :)

Today was Abby's birthday.  Matthew Sumrall wrote her a love letter and song.  Pretty cute if you ask me.  She was totally embarrassed and he has no idea that 99.9% of the fourth grade knows about it.  Tomorrow should be fun.

O yea, I'm going to InterSpace Caverns tomorrow on a field trip with my kids.  It's an hour and a half cave tour.  Bus ride will be long but worth it.  Good stories should be coming in tomorrow. Hopefully no bats will attack me while I am in there with them.

There's Nothing Fancy

I just got home from eating dinner at Baris for Molly's birthday.  It was so nice to see people that I don't see during the week and catch up with them.  The topic of subject over dinner was post-graduation plans.   The majority of the friends at the table have a handful of options, sometimes them ending with "eventually" (eventually I will go to grad school, eventually I will find a job I love, etc.).

But with me, it's different.  I'm bursting from the inside out when the question of post-graduation is posed on me because I love telling what my heart is saying and it tells me that I am called to be a teacher.  An educator.  A selfless career whose greatest award is when my past students come and visit my classroom to tell me what dreams they are following when they began listening to their hearts. 

I couldn't have picked a better fitting career for myself for so many reasons.  I love children.  Absolutely love them. I love their topics of interest, their innocent questions, their simplistic views on life,  their uncontrollable laughter when you least expect it and their genuine love.  Today, I had my 2nd formal evaluation from Ms. Cox.  She expressed in my write up how I have developed such a strong relationship with my students.  She told me how neat it was that I could tell her little details about each of my students even when I have 80 of them.  In turn, the relationship is recripricol.  I have a folder filled with letters from my students that I find tucked within my papers that they hide for me to find when I get home at the end of the day.  Bliss. Absolute Bliss.

One of my students has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.  It's a mild form of audism where you struggle with social interaction, lack empathy for others and might get aggregated easily in simple situations.  My student never smiles.  He always looks mad at the world and depressed which is horrible saying he is only nine.  Today, though, was different.  I was up in the front of the room searching for the transparency of vocabulary for the students to copy down and he came up behind me and put his arms on my back.  I stood up and asked him if he had a question for me.  He stated, "I was just trying to give you a hug, Miss Chambers." My eyes teared up and I opened up my arms for one of the greatest bear hugs that I have ever received.  Today made me realize that there is nothing fancy about teaching.  It's what I am called to do.

Gilmore Girls

It's November 11th.  In three months, I will be 22.  Pretty neat stuff.

This week is my last week of full teaching.  Today, I introduced traditional multiplication to my 4th graders.  They freaked out.  Had all of these questions of "why this and why not that" and after teaching it 4 times today, I'm exhausted.  I have learned the beauty of not having to talk.  And PTA luncheons.  And nights when there are not any papers to grade.

Last weekend, I went to Dallas.  I went to the Symphony on Friday night.  Absolutely beautiful.  The Myerson is beautiful and the fact that I got to get dressed up. Perfection.  Then Tinsley came in on Saturday and we went to Northpark.  Shopped, had dinner and hit up lower Greenville for Justin's birthday.  It was fun.  AND I did NOT get lost on the way home! It was such a weird situation.  I have my dad on speed dial for a reason.  To help me find where I am in Dallas.  

I have 9 days left of teaching for my internship this semester.  It is definitely bitter-sweet.  I absolutely adore each and every one of my kids (remember there are 80. Lots of names.  Lots of personality. Lots of ridiculousness).  But it will be great not having to leave my house at 7 in the morning and getting home around 4.  I have been stretched further than I have ever thought I would this semester.  So many unique situations have happened this year.  My eyes have really opened up to different teaching ventures once May rolls around.  I think it would be incredible to teach overseas.  Finding teaching positions is the tricky part. But I think it would be incredible.