School's Out FOREVER.

I have officially finished the last of my classes to get my master's degree. Although I am thrilled that I will no longer be paying for said classes and I'm pretty excited that when I get a real, full-time job (when, not if) I'll get paid quite a bit more, I m a bit anxious about the whole not being in class thing. I've been a student for about 20 years now with no more than a 6 month break in between. What am I going to do with myself? Although, I'm not going to worry about that right now - it's time to enjoy SUMMER.

I've been working quite a bit so far this summer, so between my time back at good ol' Malley's and all of the research work for my class my days have been pretty packed. This hasn't kept me from squeezing some fun in there, oh no.

Besides seeing friends, going to cookouts, and enjoying time in my garden, I've even had time for more!

I've already traveled to spend a weekend in Chicago for the graduation party of a family friend. Weekend festivities included seeing family and friends, eating too much, and swimming with Mackenzie in the hotel pool.

Since Miss Mack proved to be such a little mermaid, Uncle George and Aunt Amy took her once again to swim in George's family's pool. She had a blast, and besides jumping into the pool once without holding on to Aunt Amy's hands, seems to be really close to being able to swim.

Just last week George, Rachel, Jamie (George's sister), and I all went to see Joel McHale perform at the Civic Auditorium. He was hilarious, his opener Chris Hardwick (current host of Web Soup and former host of Singled Out) also made me laugh my butt off, so the evening was a success.

After my last class I went out with the girls, many of whom I've traveled through most of the EdTech program with for a while now, and I genuinely had a blast. I've been feeling a little anxious in social situations with people I don't know well lately, but something about this group was so dynamic and wonderful. I'm really going to miss a lot of the girls and the program in general.

The future holds two weddings (I'm super pumped for Irene's this weekend), another trip to Chicago, a week at the beach, and hopefully a lot more time with friends and my favorite niece.


I have been using Twitter, albeit poorly, but you can follow me @amypoporad.

This book is either the greatest or the most disturbing thing ever. You be the judge.

I'm saddened by all of these celebrity deaths lately, particularly Michael Jackson's. I've always loved his earlier work and I think he was an amazing performer despite all of the weirdness that surrounded him. But, that's all I'll say. There are plenty of touching memorials out there that are much better than I could ever do.

I would love to go see this collection. I particularly love the green and white number and of course the champagne colored dress on the second page. The queen was a fashionable lady, my friends!

I would like to answer a few questions right here so that they won't be asked of me every single time I see someone.
#1 How's married life treating you?
This is like asking me how it feels to be however old on my birthday. It's pretty cool, but really not that different. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying my married life just fine, but in the long run there haven't been that many changes. I still go to work, come home, eat, and sleep. I just do it in a different house with a different person.
#2 When are you going to have a baby?
No time soon. And yes, I have gained some weight and yes, I'm probably not drinking tonight; but no, I am not knocked up. We are not in a place right now financially where it would be a responsible decision to have a child. Once I have a contract or once George starts to sell multi-million dollar homes we'll start planning, but until then, don't ask.


Help me to make this summer even more successful. Call me, invite me out. I'm free most days after 5.

A Few Things

First:

Heck yes, Mr. Rogers!
I also like that this is categorized as comedy on YouTube.

Second:
Why are lamps so expensive?
I'm looking for lamps to register for to put on our night stands, and I can't help but be shocked at the prices for some of these. Here I am, innocent little me. "Oh, hey... That looks like a nice, simple lamp. Wait? It's how much? Holy heck!"
That's not really one that I was looking at registering for, but can anyone tell me what would make that worth $359!?!! For that much I expect it to be made out of parts from an animal on the endangered species list or something like that.
I do kind of love some of the lamps at Urban Outfitters though.
I also like this one from World Market, but I can totally see the cat having a grand old time with that.

In other news, I've been working a lot. I just finished up a long-term job at school and now I'm looking forward to the possibility of a few days off. I'm also doing assistant manager at good ol' Malley's.

Wedding and house things are starting to fall into place.
Don't get me wrong - I still have a shit-ton of stuff to do, but I'm finally starting to see results.
In the house: We have a mostly done master bedroom (complete with a furniture set!), a bathroom that just needs a nice coat or two of paint, a guest room done except for some sanding and painting on the ceiling, a beautiful dining room, and a kitchen that's starting to look a little more like a kitchen.
For the wedding: I've got a sting quartet for the ceremony, a DJ for the reception, my dress, flowers, and a man.
Things are looking good.

I started planting things outside and this excites me.

On Saturday, I had a fun filled day with my college roomie, Megan.
I met up with her and some of her boy toys for breakfast and then we went to the Westside Market. I love the Westside Market and need to start going there more often. Volunteer chaperones are more than welcome to join me.

thanks Karrie

Hello old friends.
I've fallen off of the blog wagon and I'm a little worried that I have forgotten how to blog.
Hopefully things will come back to me (not that I was ever an excellent blogger to begin with, but whatever).

Alright, so... things that I have been up to.
Starting over the summer, I had the opportunity to pick up yet another part-time job working with Heather and Karrie at Liberty.
I read a lot, had a fun time, and very much enjoyed most of the people that I worked with. Although working three jobs was tough, I had a great time doing it and got a good start on a book collection for once I get my very own classroom.
Sadly, in early January, the store closed.
I barely know what to do with myself - between not having a great supply of (free or at least nicely discounted) books and having my evenings free, I'm just a lost soul. I also have far too much free time in which to spend all of my hard earned cash (which is slightly diminished anyways due to my lack of a third income).
I'm still slinging ice cream and shaping the minds of America's youth, so it's not like I'm an unemployed slob or anything like that, but I do very much miss my bookstore.

I've had quite a few regular jobs this year in the subbing world.
I had the opportunity to work with a teacher for a week and a half while her team-teacher was doing an exchange program in Turkey.
This was amazing because not only did I get to pass off all the tough stuff to my colleague, it was also like a little mini field experience. To top it all off, the teacher I was working with was amazing and the kids were great too.
In December, my entire month was spent in a long term subbing position for the woman I student taught with.
Several of her students were little shits, but for the most part, I enjoyed my time there.
I'll probably be back for her again in May.
Later on this month I also have a two week job for a teacher doing contract negotiations.
I've spent almost the whole year in the middle schools which has been excellent.
It's given me the opportunity to get to know a lot of the teacher and to suck up to the administrators an awful lot too. Let's hope I've gotten my foot far enough in the door this year that I'll get a full time position soon.
I should probably start coaching something soon so that my chances will be greater. Too bad I'm the least athletic person on the face of the planet.

Wedding plans are going slow. A lot of it has fallen in place, but there are still quite a few details that need some more planning.
If all else fails, at least I've got the big things - a dress, a ring, and a man.

I've been horribly socially awkward lately.
Sweatpants and the couch have been my best friends. The worst part though is that every time I don't go out and do something, I regret it horribly the next day. On the other hand, if I do go out, I feel awkward and out of place no matter what.
So I'm a loser no matter what.
Boo.

New and exciting things:
1. I have a doggy.
He's cute and cuddly and I like him an awful lot.
Goliath is living with George and his family until we move in and get settled in the house.

2. I got my ears pierced.
I've been talking about doing it since Becky got married, and I finally manned up and did it.
My deformed nubbin ear still hurts like all get-out and has been just a little crusty, but considering it's funky and deformed, things seem to be going well.

Okay blogging world, hopefully this hasn't been too painful.
Thanks for welcoming me back with open arms.

Joel Stein makes me laugh.

A holiday for sluttiness - Los Angeles Times

I would just like to point out that it's only 5 in the morning and I just got a call for a job.
Sometimes this subbing stuff really stinks.

Dear Friends,
I wear a 9.

I'm not much of a hip hop fan, but damn, Chris Brown's VMA performance is awfully entertaining.

Wanna know what I did on my day off?

Today I did this.