A Plan

By now you have probably forgotten that I had some exciting news I wanted to share. Yesterday we finally received the documentation we were waiting for....so I can officially share the good news with all of you!

AJ was offered a job at the law firm where he worked this summer! He worked very hard and put in a lot of hours, so I wasn't too surprised when he called me the morning of his last day at work and told me the good news. We made a lot of sacrifices this summer (long distance marriage, living with my parents, etc.), so we were very happy when he received the offer.

Unfortunately, this means we will be leaving DC next summer. This is a bummer for a few reasons. I have met some wonderful people here and I will be so sad to leave them. I have a pretty great job and am just getting into a groove where I feel comfortable and appreciated. I love city life and am a tad scared of moving back to a suburban area. Ahhh! Those three things are enough to induce a small anxiety attack.

On the other hand, I am so excited to be moving closer to my family (and even more excited to not be in the same quarters!). I grew up with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins by my side and am grateful that my children will have a similar close-knit family experience. I am also thrilled that we can afford to buy a house. And yes, I have already been looking. Also, I am so happy that my husband has a job. Period. In this economy, we just didn't know if he would find one. Even better, he will be working at a firm that doesn't require 80+ hours a week. That just wouldn't work for our family. Plus, he genuinely liked the firm atmosphere and the people that work there, so it really is a win-win situation for him!

As for me....hopefully I will make new friends (but, keep the old!) and find a new job back in Upstate NY. I know it will all work out in the end. For now, I am just happy that we have a plan and am so proud of my husband!

Happy First Day of School!

Today is the first day of school. Summer is officially over and it is back to the daily grind. I'm excited for a new school year, but it is always hard coming back after a long break. Luckily there are a few things that are brightening my day this morning!

I am wearing a pretty Vineyard Vines dress that my husband surprised me with on Friday. He knows that a new first day of school outfit is a must!

I also have a new monogrammed lunch bag courtesy of Simply Bags. The bag is black quilted fabric with kiwi thread and is the perfect size for someone who brings breakfast and lunch to work. The inside is insulated and there are two outside pockets. If you are in the market for a new bag (tote, beach, diaper, laptop, etc.), check out Simply Bags!

Disclaimer: I was sent a free sample of this product. Click here for more information.

The first day of school also brings back fond memories of the days when I was in school. During elementary and middle school, my mom, brother, and I would walk over to my aunt's house for a special first day of school breakfast with my cousins. My aunt would make Belgian waffles (which I always topped with cherries) or french toast, which was such a treat for all of us. I really hope to have some kind of tradition like this for my future kids...it made the first day of school extra special!

Last Day

Today is the last day of school. I can't believe it is FINALLY here. While I am sure the last day of school will always be a significant day, it is especially significant for me because it is the last day of my first year of work. I knew it would be a difficult year solely because I had to prove to my school that I know what I am doing and that I am capable of holding my own in a difficult environment. It has been a long, hard year, but a very rewarding one as well. I have grown as an individual and as a professional and am very happy with the job I did. Sure, there are areas where I need to improve, but isn't there always something we can do better?

In 10 months I have changed a lot. I am more articulate and well-spoken, I can stand up for myself when I am right and I can accept criticism with grace when I am wrong. I learned how to sympathize with parents, how to control my emotions, and how to quiet my critics. I learned to not take things personally, like when I give parents negative reports and make them cry or when I tell a teacher something they don't want to hear and they get mad. I now know that "taking one for the team" is really not that bad and can help open doors, but also that I need to assert myself and not let people walk all over me. There are many more things that I have learned this year, but those are just a few examples. Each experience this year has taught me something, and I really need to reflect on everything during summer break so that I am refreshed and ready in August. Because I am not going to lie.....I am tired and ready for a break.

And speaking of August.... If you follow me on twitter you know that my position was terminated back in April due to budget cuts, but that I was reinstated earlier this month and will continue to work for my district next school year. I am so glad I can relax this summer knowing that I have a job to come back to in August!

Smiling

I had a rough couple of days last week. It was most notably awful because I received notice that our department might need to make cuts (dun dun dun) and I am one of the people that could be layed off since I have only worked in the district for one year (my internship year doesn't count because I wasn't part of the union last year). It makes me so angry that the cuts are NOT based on performance and instead are based on date of hire. Alas, that is the case and they aren't going to be changing the procedure anytime soon. I am trying to stay positive and not let future lay offs rule my thoughts, so what better way to avoid those thoughts than by listing out a few things that have me smiling lately!

Last weekend the weather was beautiful and spending time outside with my little family and our neighbors really helped lift my spirits. We spent a ton of time gardening, weeding, walking, and barbecuing and look forward to doing these things a lot more in the coming weeks. This weekend will be a little cooler, but it is supposed to stay dry so that is good enough for me. We might venture down to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms or we might just enjoy the weather in our own backyard. We'll see.

Spring break begins tomorrow. The kids were itching for a vacation so I am hoping they enjoy the time off and come back refreshed and ready to finish out the school year strong! I am still working through Wednesday, but no kids means I can catch up on reports and paperwork. I hate doing desk work during the school day when there are other things that I can be doing with the kids. Needless to say, the paperwork piles up quick! With this break, I'll be all caught up in no time.

Today I won this super cute lunch bag from the Preppy Princess! I'm taking this as a sign that I will still have a job to which I will need to bring my lunch.

And of course my loving husband, snuggly puppy, supportive parents, and amazing friends keep me smiling. Without them I wouldn't have made it through this week! Thank you all so much.

What is making you smile lately? Anything you share will be greatly appreciated!

Work Attire and Self-Esteem

Well hello there!

Somehow two weeks have flown by since the last time I posted. I guess that is what happens when work gets busy, I get sick, and I don't open up my laptop at night. I've also been reading a lot of books lately, so blogs and blogging have fallen to the wayside. Yesterday I had to mark all as read in my google reader because it was out of control and stressing me out. Blogging shouldn't stress me out, it is supposed to be a fun outlet!

I am feeling better, but work is still crazy. We are in the middle of state testing and the annual rush to get students referred and tested before the school year is over. Today was the first day in a while that I was planning to spend the day working solely with kids. Imagine my surprise when I got to school this morning and found an agenda for NINE pre-referral meetings regarding kids with academic and/or behavior problems in my mailbox. On "kid days" I tend to dress more casually and don't wear make-up, which is definitely what I did today. Since going off the pill I have had trouble with acne on my chin, and although my face has finally cleared up, I still try to give it some breathing room every once in a while. On meeting days I dress more professionally and always have on a full face of make-up.

Luckily I had my make-up bag in my purse and I was able to apply some foundation and bronzer so that I don't look like an 18 year old when I am trying to convince people that I have the answers to these kids' problems. They will just have to deal with my sweater/khakis combo because I don't have any extra clothing. Honestly though, most of my team will be in casual clothing and no one from outside the building (e.g. attorneys, advocates, etc.) will be in these meetings, but for some reason I still feel less professional when I am not "dressed to impress". It's not like I work for a Fortune 500 company where business attire is required, so what is my deal? Why is that clothing makes such a big difference in our self-esteem and our perception of our ability to do our jobs well? Am I being elitist in thinking that I should be dressed better than everyone else?

What are your thoughts on this??

Office Tour

I'm still here!

I have survived the first half of the first week of school. I have spent most of my time getting my office together and organizing everything for the school year. I even took pictures of my office on my BlackBerry. I am not done decorating; I need to fill my walls with posters, but you can get an idea of where I spend my days!

My half of the office (I share with the Speech Language Pathologist)

My kid table topped with bins of crayons, toys, and other things I need to assess students

My desk

My filing cabinet plastered with motivational sayings from the principal. I have since filled the two empty bins with my test kit materials.

The SLP let me steal some of her magnetic letters, but didn't have enough letters for "psych*ologist"

The view from my desk

Inside my desk drawer

I have enough pens/pencils/markers to last me my entire career

I heart Sharpies

My shelf filled with all my books and binders

Hope you enjoyed my office tour! Life is crazy the next two weeks, bear with me while I am MIA.

First (Real) Day of Work

Tomorrow is my first day of work at my new school and I am freaking out. It's like I'm a little kid going to kindergarten over here! My stomach is in knots and my hands are a little clammy. Yikes. I need to relax! The kids don't come back to school until Monday, so this week will involve a lot of introductions, meetings, and preparations. I am most excited to organize and decorate my office. I will definitely take before and after pictures!

The sad part about the start of the school year is that I won't be able to post or twitter at work. However, I didn't post that often during the summer anyway (something about summer and blogging don't seem to mesh well for me) so I guess just my twitter feed will suffer. I am hoping to get back into a nice blogging rhythm once fall hits.

Anyway...in preparation for tomorrow I am planning to paint my nails a neutral color, lay out my clothes, and pack my bags before I attempt to go to bed. I probably won't get much sleep, but hopefully my adrenaline will keep me going tomorrow!

Wish me luck!

Virtual Vent

Remember that STUPID seat belt ticket I got forever ago? Well my day in court has finally arrived. Tomorrow morning I will argue that I did, in fact, have my seat belt on and thus, the ticket should be dropped. I will do this right after I interview at my current place of work.

Yes, that's right. Tomorrow I have an interview at 8:30 in the morning at the place where I already work (this seems asinine to me) and then must race to court (by 11 am) to fight the stupidest ticket on the face of the planet.

I tried to fanangle the dates, but work is only interviewing tomorrow and I could not get in touch with a real person to change the court date despite calling EVERY number on the DMV website when I found out these two events conflicted. I did get to change my interview time though. My slot was originally at 11:15 am, so I rescheduled for 3:30 pm (plenty of time to get back to work!), but then yesterday my secretary called to tell me that my supervisor needed to reschedule to 8:30 am because she had an afternoon meeting and wouldn't be able to interview me at that time. Ugh.

Did you know that tomorrow is Friday the 13th? Shoot me now.

I plan to be back to my cheery self tomorrow night (job or no job, ticket or no ticket).

De-Stress Me

I have the craziest week ahead so my posting may be few and far between. Or I may post a bunch as a way of procrastinating.

Either way, my stress levels are likely to be through the roof by the end of the week because I have tons and tons of stuff on my to do list. For starters, I have to go to North Carolina on Thursday for an internship meeting, so that is always stressful just because of the 5 hour drive there and back in a 24 hour period. It doesn't help that I have to have the ultimate final draft of my thesis ready by Thursday either. And my portfolio, so I can graduate. Plus all the reports I need to write this week. Okay, enough complaining.

After this week I am hoping to de-stress by doing something relaxing and/or good for my mental health. In my past (pre-internship/law school/bread winner) life I would have splurged for a massage or even a mani-pedi, but since we are on a tight budget and my mom isn't here to go with me (ahem...indulge her only daughter), I need some low cost ideas.

What do you do when you are stressed and need to unravel? Or do any DC gals know of some low cost places I may be able to hit up?

Alive and Well

According to the Wii Fit, I've lost 4.9 pounds since Thursday.

What's my secret?

A bad case of the flu. I woke up at 2 AM yesterday morning and was seriously ill until about noon today. It was not pretty and I literally felt like I was dying. I know that the first year working in the schools is notoriously rough because you have to build up your immune system, but man, I feel like I have battled 903157 illnesses since I started in August. Yuck.

Luckily I am feeling tons better and am on my way to being healthy again. Plus, I only had to take one sick day because today we had a snow day. Funny how being sick makes you appreciate the small things!

Espanol, Here I come!

Last night Alson and I invested in the Spanish version of Rosetta Stone. We have been wanting it for a while; especially after moving to DC and feeling like the only monolingual people in the city. I took Spanish in high school and for three semesters in college, but I am certainly not fluent.

Hopefully this will give us a boost when we are both applying for jobs in the coming year. As an intern, my contract is up at the end of the school year, so I have to apply to become a full-time employee in my district. In the past, interns are usually hired wherever they intern, but because of the tumbling economy and the serious budget and job cuts in my district, that may not be the case next school year. Looks like I will be applying to all the districts in Metro DC. I may even apply to some private and charter schools. So, anything to set myself apart is a plus! There are currently only 2 (out of 101) bilingual school psychologists in my district. That is not proportional to the number of Spanish speaking students! You get the idea..

Alson will be applying for summer associate positions in the fall, and the same idea applies...he has to set himself apart.

We saved a bundle by buying all three levels at once and by purchasing it through eBay. I can't wait until it arrives and I can get started. It will give me something to do in my free time and will up my stock!

Kids Say the Cutest Things...

I meant to post this last week, but forgot...

A small group of boys are coloring various pages from a take-home story book I was reading to them. One boy has a cow in his picture, and as he grabs a brown crayon, he asks the other boys...

Boy 1: "Can a cow be brown?"
Boy 2: "Duh, where do you think chocolate milk comes from."
Boy 3 and Boy 4: (nod heads in agreement)
Boy 1: "Oh yeah, I knew that."

A Natural Antidepressant

I haven't really talked about it on my blog, but I spent most of September in kind of a funk, particularly during the week, as my somberness was definitely related to work. I was having a hard time transitioning into a new district, especially a much larger, more urban district, with a generally "tougher" population of students. It was really hard to hear the terrible stories and backgrounds of the students I was working with, on top of all the difficulties I was having as a new, young person in the schools. Bottom line.....The policies, procedures, and casework were all very different, and I was not feeling comfortable and confident in my new job.

This past month I participated in Mission: Put Together, a challenge to be creative and thoughtful in my dressing each morning, as well as a way to chronicle my outfits. I decided to take part in the challenge because I thought it would give me something exciting to do on the weekdays. I generally enjoy getting all gussied up, but most days (during my funk) resorted to khakis and cable sweaters because I felt uninspired and dreaded going to work each day. Although I still love a classic khaki and cable sweater ensemble, wearing it daily was a little boring.

Following my first day of participation in M:PT, I immediately perked up and was excited to head to work in my spiffy little outfit each day. The comments and inspiration provided by the other M:PT members really helped to boost my spirits. Although I am sure getting used to my job and finally feeling as though I could handle the stress associated with working in my district were also at play, I think M:PT provided the kick in the butt I needed to feel like myself again. So thank you M:PT (including OPH and RA), the challenge and everyone's amazing comments helped improve my overall mood!

You can view my M:PT outfits here. Yes, I did wear a lot of jumpers ;)

Worky Work, Busy Bee

Okay, so maybe a month ago wasn't the best time to embark on blogging.

The past 3 weeks have FLOWN by and it has been a whirlwind of last minute assignments, cases, presentations, thesis stuff, etc. My to-do list kept growing and growing for the longest time, but it's starting to get smaller and smaller. Oh how I love crossing things off that sucker.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel! Today I attended my last day of graduate school classes EVER, and am finishing up my last day working at Disability Support Services. I can't believe the day has arrived!! Granted, I still have two finals, four days of practicum, a countless number of assignments to fine tune, and the dreaded thesis defense.....but at least I won't be bogged down with 9 hour days on campus twice a week. Once May 8th arrives and this semester is officially finished, I will only have to return to campus once a month (starting in August) to participate in my internship meetings. So although I won't officially get my degree until May 2009, graduate school is almost in the past. Like I said, the year of internship is technically part of graudate school, but at least I will be out of Greenville, working full-time, and most importantly....not having to worry about homework, tests, papers, and the like. I have been in school since I was 5 people! Time for the real world.

Lunch time has arrived and my co-workers at DSS have arranged a going away party so I am off to that.