Teacher Week 2013- Meet the Teacher!

Teacher Week 2013 is finally here and the first topic for the week is Meet the Teacher! I’m so excited to be joining in. I’m going to try to think of some facts that you might not already know about me from following my blog!

{one}

I didn’t always go to college to be a teacher. The first two years of college I was a business major. Business?!! Can you imagine? I can’t see myself ever doing anything different. I honestly used to walk by the teacher center at my college and see people laminating things and get lamination envy. That’s when I knew I had to switch!

{two}

I was homeschooled when I was a kid….and I don’t have three heads! Do you remember in Mean Girls when Lindsay Lohan talked about being homeschooled during the scene with the farmer family? That is one of my favorite scenes because it always made me laugh and think of my own childhood. I got to have a really cool childhood because my mom homeschooled us. We could just up and leave for a road trip across the country whenever we wanted to. Thanks, Mama (and Daddy, so Mama could stay home and do that). I began going to public school in 5th grade. 

{three}

I love, love, love my dog Vegas. I was NEVER a “dog person” I mean NEVER!!! I didn’t grow up with a dog so I was afraid, grossed out, annoyed and disinterested in dogs. Until I met Patrick, and his dog Vegas. Vegas is a black lab and now he is the love of my life. We have so much fun together and he is just so. darn. cute. Now I am a “dog person” who stops on the street and talks to people about their dogs and Instagrams too many photos of my dog and brings him up in conversations when it’s not appropriate. Hahaha.

{four}

Special education stole my heart. Truth be told, I never planned to be a special education teacher. When I was getting my teaching degree I always said I would be a third grade teacher (HA! Like anybody has a choice these days). My college advisor informed me that if I had my certification in special ed *even* if I didn’t want to teach special ed, I would be more marketable. So I took a couple classes to satisfy that requirement. My first two years out of college I taught kindergarten and then I somehow found myself in an interview for a consultant special education position. The rest is history. The way I always describe it to people is that when I taught general ed, I felt as though *I* needed the kids. I needed them to behave, I needed them to read, I needed them to do well so I knew I was doing my job right. When I started teaching special education, I found that I had a totally different love for teaching and working with my kiddos. I felt like *they* needed me, and it was an incredibly motivating and inspiring connection with teaching. I’m not saying that general education teachers aren’t as connected or as dedicated to their students, I’m saying that in my own personal experience, I wasn’t as connected or dedicated to my students until I taught special education. I suppose one would say it’s where I belong. 🙂

{five}

I have a really, really, really great family. Each day I am so unbelievably grateful and in awe that I have been blessed in so many ways. Not only have I been able to know all four of my grandparents, but I have been able to become an adult and have a real relationship with all of them. I know how unusual this is and for that, I am so thankful. They have supported everything I do and everything my sisters and brother do. My Poppop even has Facebook and is reading this post right now! Hi Poppop!! My mom’s parents live 1 mile from my parents and my dad’s parents live in Maine. I can’t tell you how happy I am that my four grandparents get to be at my wedding in December!

{six}

I’ve known my best friend since I was 11. Steph and I met when we were in 7th grade. We’ve spent the past 15 years on the phone with each other all night in high school, crammed in my dorm room bed together and sharing a house together as adults for almost 4 years. She went to college in Ohio and I went to college in New York, but people at my college thought she went there because she was there so much visiting! She sometimes would come to lecture classes with me or play on my intramural softball team. It’s fine, nobody noticed!! She is an amazing, beautiful, hardworking, funny and compassionate person and I am thankful to call her my friend. 

{seven}

I LOVE grocery shopping. It’s seriously my favorite thing. I love to clean out my fridge, go grocery shopping, fill up my fridge and then make a really beautiful meal. Patrick and I spend a lot of time grocery shopping and cooking together (he’s a better cook than me, but I am learning a lot from him!) I think if I could have an unlimited budget somewhere, it would be first at Target, second at Wegmans. I can totally get lost in the cheese department picking out cheese and olives and then spend waaaay too much money. Some of my favorite recipes to make are eggplant parm, homemade pizza and shrimp pasta. Sometimes I document these adventures at my other blog, Miss Eager.

{eight}

I am one of four siblings- Bill {29} Sarah {26} Julia {18} and Lily {15}. Crazy, right? Lily pointed out to me yesterday that she was 7 when I went away to college. 7! Now she’s 15 and that’s crazy to me. My family dynamic has always been different because of our age differences. My brother and I were like one generation and Julia and Lily were a second generation. When Bill and I were in high school and Julia and Lily were in elementary school, people thought we must been from different families or step-sisters. Sometimes people even thought I was Lily’s mom! Nope, we are one big happy family. My brother Bill is a genius. I’m serious. He totally got all the brains in our family (and all the whole milk, evidently, because he is 6’5″ and I am 5’5″). He is an engineer for Tumblr and lives in NYC. So if you ever use Tumblr, you can assume that he probably wrote the computer code that makes your blog-go-round. He also has an unbelievable sense of humor and a beautiful girlfriend named Erica, whom I love. She loves Target and wine as much as me and for that, we are friends. My sister Julia is going away to college in 2 weeks! She is going to be an engineer (okay, maybe she got a little bit of Bill’s brains too 😉 ). My little Lily (baby girl) isn’t so little anymore. She is going to be a sophomore in high school and she brightens the world with her beautiful voice and energy each day. 

{nine} 

I love to read and I tend to cry through a lot of books. My favorite books to read are historical fiction. It sounds crazy, but I love stories about slavery and World War II. These are my two favorite time periods to read about because I love reading the stories of the ordinary people who were affected. I’m in the middle of reading The Kitchen House. I also have a soft spot for chick-lit. I love Sophie Kinsella, Emily Giffin and authors in that genre. If you’re a book worm too we should be friends on Good Reads!

{ten}

I am getting married in December! I’ll keep that last one short and sweet. God blessed me with my best friend, Patrick. We have SO much fun together.