24 March 2009

The Ups, the Downs, very downs, and the Ups again.

Well first off I'd like to start with the ups... At the end of last week I decided that I seriously needed to partake in some very important girl rituals. Namely getting my hair cut. The last time I'd gotten it cut I didn't really like it from day one. I'm used to this as my hairdresser usually just does whatever she wants (within reason), but the last time I never really grew into liking it. This time I took in a few pictures of how I'd previously had it cut and really liked it. She started cutting and asked if the length was right and I, being the spontaneous one said, "Na, just a little shorter." Now that it's too short to put in a pony tail I am frustrated at it, but I still love it!!! It may not seem like a very different look, but it sure feels like it. People were telling me that I looked more my age, only I was carded in the bar that very night, and all I ordered was a Coke.



Unfortunately with my ups, comes my down. As many of you know, back in October I was planning this wonderful surprise for my Gramma for her birthday in November. I wanted to take her to see Wicked that was coming in March, yet the tickets didn't go on sale until December. So for her birthday I made this awesome card formally inviting her to accompany me to the event. As soon as the tickets went on sale I sat down with her on the phone and started looking at dates and times and seats. It was a whirlwind of an adventure to get it all lined up. We had decided on the 28th of March as it was the last Saturday before Spring term started at school and I didn't know if I'd have any other plans for the break. I bought our tickets and only gave them a slight thought for the next three months.Tonight I sat down to print the tickets, as our date would be this Saturday. I logged into tickemaster.com and to my surprise it said that I had no upcoming events. I thought surely this was a mistake and that maybe I'd just clicked on the wrong button. I then went to my ticket history. There to my disbelief was the date for my tickets. March 21, 2009. Yes folks I said the 21st, last Saturday. Gramma and I have officially missed our show. Instead of getting ready for a wonderful afternoon of entertainment I spent last Saturday in the doctors office having tests done. Now I'm at the mercy of the powers that be at the Keller Auditorium. I called ticketmaster, just to check and make sure there was nothing that could be done and they told me that the Keller has the power to re-seat people in situation where the tickets have not been picked up or printed. I'll spend the rest of my evening praying for mercy, praying that whom ever I end up talking to tomorrow will be having a good day and be feeling like paying it forward.


Speaking of paying it forward... Lately my budget has gotten VERY tight, and while the things that are happening are for the best, it's still going to be very interesting getting everything paid. No more eating out, no more trips to walmart... though this is not a bad thing and since I didn't do much of it last term I have some money saved up. Anyway back to the paying it forward part. So even though I've found myself on a shorter money leash, I've also found myself to be more giving. There are many charities out there right now that are asking for donations. I haven't said no yet, nor have I just been donating the minimum $1. I've been donating to March of Dimes, to Animal Shelters and a few other charities. I feel better for it. If everyone just gave a little, it could easily be a lot.


So I urge you, get involved. Anyway you can. Time. Money. Or even just word of mouth. It's up to you, How will you pay it forward?

21 March 2009

Turning another year older...

Who would have thought that just hours before officially turning 25 I would be up baking 25 individual star shaped cakes? I never did, but you know me once I get a random idea it's not likely that I'm going to do something simple. I like to say go big or go home! Well I did, it took a bit of work, but I managed to bake and frost all 25 cakes and only about 7 went to waste that I know of. I baked the cakes not only for my birthday, but also for the spring picnic we were having for the staff at school. Even if it was a few weeks left until the official start of spring.

My 25th birthday started out uniquely. My mom started by texting me at 9 the night before to inform me that it was at that time 25 years earlier that she was telling my dad to hurry up and finish bowling, because she was going into labor with me. My dad texted me first thing the morning of my birthday to wish me a happy day. My mom also texted me a very special poem of sorts.

I guess that this would be a good time to mention that I was not looking forward to turning 25. It was a really rough start to a day that I honestly just wished would wait a few more years to come. I had always thought that by 25 I would have done so much more in my lifetime than I have. I thought that I would be married, finished with school and have started my career and be gearing up to have children. It was hard to think about the fact that I was turning 25 without any of those things being a reality.

I started my day by going to school and only informing my students that the day was special and that I had a surprise for them at the end of the day. When it came time for me to be able to share what I had for them (juice and cookies) they had many other guesses of what the surprise was, that their teacher was leaving early for the day, that the PE teacher was going to come in and sit with them, they had no idea that it was my birthday. When they found out they sang and gleefully drank their juice and ate their cookies.



After school was over Emily met me at my school and we ran errands together before meeting Matt and Jess at Red Robin's. I also had a good friend Breanna, who was working at the time to help make the evening even more special. We got seated before other people on the waiting list thanks to Breanna who was more than happy to add our table to her already stuffed to the max section. We drank and ate and I opened some WONDERFUL gifts from both Emily (Thanks for my teacher stuff and my necklace!!!) and Jess (Thanks for my music, book and life support!!!). We also took some very crazy pictures and
Breanna even make me this awesome hat before she
(along with the rest of the restaurant) sang to me!
I loved the hat, even though it said "Wow you're old!" on it. I'm really thankful to my wonderful friends who helped make the day extra special!!!