Honeymoon!

In true practical fashion, we will be combining our honeymoon with a professional conference. We'll spend a few days running around the D.C. area being touristy and visiting old buddies from my Maryland days then I'll spend 4 days at a conference while D takes in the museums. And the best part, my school will pay for my flight and our hotel during the conference. We've been talking about going to D.C. for a while so this presents the perfect opportunity to get away in the most cost effective way possible. We're thrilled! Now to find the perfect hotel...

Tiny Green Thumbs

This is why I love my job. The younger toddler class has planted a garden. They planted green bean seeds in little plastic cups which have been transplanted to the garden along with poles for them to climb. Their teacher also planted lettuce, tomatoes, basil, bell peppers and flowers that they help water each day. And today they planted onions themselves and watered them. We're talking about kids just over a year old. Children are amazingly capable when we allow them to be.

Farewell, February

I've never been quite so happy about seeing a month end. Here's to hoping my March calendar won't look quite so crazy.

reconnect

Part of entering the real world...the professional world...is learning how to juggle it all without losing sight of what's really important. I'm in love with the most amazing person I have ever met. We've been living together for a few months are are quickly approaching our one year anniversary. She works a fairly demanding job as do I. We're having to learn how to leave our jobs at work and come home and be together, truly together. We spend so much of our time sitting inches away from each other while being miles apart. Her mind is caught up in call stats and profit sharing, mine in enrollment and hiring. I wake up each morning with a to-do list at work already on the tip of my tongue. How can I truly be connected with this one who rules my night and day if I'm caught up in how I'm going to keep ratio in the toddler room on Monday. We were together last night...eye to eye...heart to heart...and suddenly everything around us melted away. We let go and were finally together. No work, no roommates, no exes...and I cried. I was so overwhelmed by how much I miss her that I cried. It was the most intense relief. Not to mention the most intense amazing night. I'm so completely in love and so completely happy. I never thought it could be this good.

Thank you, darling, for loving me so well.

growing up

So I've always had this theory that when people grew up it just happened. You'd be living your life then suddenly blink and be an adult. I was wrong. I find myself in the most bizarre position of having to grow up. I've been in the same profession for years. 11 to be exact and I've certainly put in my time and worked my way up through the ranks. Last month I unexpectedly had the next big professional step fall into my lap. And now I'm questioning everything. Especially when it comes to my professional image. One of the big things I've always loved about my job was that jeans/t-shirt/flip-flops were my daily uniform. I have my ear lobes stretched to a 00g and tattoos on my chest. I've always been taken seriously by those around me as I've always done more than what was required of me and therefore earned more respect and responsibility. It's still those same people looking at me every day and having to answer to me but suddenly it's all different. Do I take out my earings? Do I make it a point to cover my tattoos? Do I actively hide the fact that I'm a lesbian? I feel too young to be in this position and am therefore trying to overcompensate to prove I really am a professional. It kind of makes me want to go back to my undergrad years.