What is going to come out her mouth next?

I know some of you are thinking that I never blog, when in reality I just like to keep you guessing what is going on in my life. For example, I bet most of you are unaware that I have become a very crafty person.

Just like most of my posts this is going to be an update. "Now, sit back with a cup of hot chocolate and a nice unbroken candy cane...Enjoy!!!"

November- Home Sweet Home
The weekend before Thanksgiving I got do a drive by visit with my family :) I say drive by because I probably only saw them for a couple of hours the entire time I was home. Even though the visit was super short seeing their faces was an extremely wonderful thing. (They all look the same by the way.) The real reason for my visit was to participate in my friends wedding, which was beautiful and super fun. The weekend was filled with lots of fun wedding festivities such as a bachelorette party, wedding rehearsal, decorating the reception hall (winter theme), and of course the actual wedding. The bride was stunning and the bridesmaids were looking pretty nice themselves (me included). At the reception the bridesmaids wore sock money slippers, which were warm, comfy, and super cute. Once I get some pictures I will post them so you can see what a great weekend I had.

Thanksgiving-
If you were worried about me being depressed and lonely on Thanksgiving have no worries because I wasn't. My friend and GA informant invited me to come celebrate with her family. I had a splendid time eating and socializing with her family. On Thanksgiving day it was her birthday so her mother put candles in the turkey and we all sang to her. I was completely entertained by the whole experience.

December- CRAZINESS
The past couple of weeks have been crazy in my classroom. When I got back from GA I found out that three of my students had lice; thinking about them having lice still makes me itch. We had just started to get over that itchy experience when a stomach bug went around my classroom. Thankfully I have avoided the lice and the stomach bug...fingers crossed I continue to avoid them. So, the week after Thanksgiving I only had about half of my class till Friday. I would like to say that I enjoyed it but I just wished they were there so they didn't miss out on instruction. This past week my students were STUPENDOUS everyday but Friday and I will take blame for them being crazy. On Tuesday, I had an observation, which my students and I did wonderfully on. (I love my kids behavior most of the time.) The reason they were crazy on Friday is because we went to another classroom and started working on making gingerbread houses. The process of making the gingerbread houses wasn't that bad but the whole you can try the "glue" confectioners sugar and water was not so great. Here comes the part where it was my fault they were crazy, at lunch they got to come into the classroom to eat and I rewarded them with a winter shaped cookie for their great behavior on Tuesday. Poor students their little bodies couldn't handle the "glue" and cookie in one day. Some of them kept themselves together and were not crazy but others suffered from a sugar overload. (lesson learned) We did go to the neighboring schools pep rally because I help out with the cheerleaders and my students were 200% better than the students at that school. Go Kids!!!!

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK!!!!!!!!
JARED IS GETTING TO MOVE BACK TO ARIZONA THE FIRST WEEK IN JANUARY!!!!
This may not excite anyone else as much as me but I can't wait to have him here....well closer than he is now.

I would say I will be better about posting but I shall not lie especially since it's the Christmas season.

Yours Truly!

Twenty-Two Thankful Thoughts

This girl is going to be GA bound in four long and hectic days. I couldn't be happier to be flying home to participate in my friends wedding.  Also, I am just plain excited to see and spend time with some familiar faces. Even though my visit will only be for four days it's going to be crazy busy but extremely worth it. The one part of this trip that I not looking forward to is all of the preparation that has to take place before I hop on the plane.

The other day while I was attempting to prepare for my trip home I realized I HAVE MY OWN HOME! I know you are probably thinking "duhhh" but it never seemed like this was home until I had to prepare to leave it. That takes me on to my next thought at the age of twenty-two I have a ton to be thankful and proud of.

Twenty-Two Thankful Thoughts:
I am thankful for.....
1. a loving family.
2. my amazing friends.
3. my "big girl" job.
4. the opportunity to show I can be an awesome teacher.
5. my new home!
6. everyone who has been supportive of my choice to move out west.
7. the ability to have a new set of wheels. [Not thankful for the payment] :)
8. my co-workers.
9. the wonderful group of students that I get to teach Monday-Friday.
10. my parents because without them this blog would not be possible. thanks mom and dad.
11. the fact that I live in a place with amazing weather.
12. being able to get a job right out of college.
13. the start time of my school. (I don't have to be at work until 8:05)
14. the gym. (Just wait, you will understand this one when I see you.)
15. the friends I have made since being here.
16. my parents sending me teaching supplies.
17. a town that is laid out like a grid, so I don't get lost as much.
18. the chance to go home and see my family and friends.
19. a car that gets amazing gas mileage.
20. for my bestie because she is always willing to listen to my random thoughts and happenings in my life, even with the time change.
21. for my East Coast partner in crime. (Without her I would never know what is going on back home. Soon enough I get to see her and get caught up on life. I can't wait! :)
22. Jared's impulsive decision to move out west. (Clearly he didn't move but I ended up with a job and an amazing life.)

I hope my list helps to get you thinking about what you are thankful for in life. Over the past few months I have learned to be thankful for the small things in life even if they seem silly. What are you thankful for?

Yours Truly!

Let's Play Catch Up

Yikes....it's been several weeks since I have updated you all on my life. I am going to try my best to update you all on the adventures going on in my life. Please sit back in your seat and prepare to relive the past three to four weeks.

Cliff Notes:
A couple of weeks ago I had my first parent/teacher conference week. I am very happy to report that I had 23 out of 24 parents come in for conferences. Even more exciting is that I survived all of the conferences and the parents seemed pleased with their students progress and their time in my classroom. Also, everyone loved the cracker candy "crack" that I made for the bake sale, my item sold out first. (I am not bragging...just saying)

One thing I love about my school district is that the week following conferences we had our fall intersession. I think it is extremely smart on their part to give the students and teachers a break right after a hectic week. Prior to fall intersession I was dreading the fact that I had to entertain myself for an entire week, I wanted nothing more than to hop on a plane and fly home. Looking back on the week I am glad I stuck it out and stayed in my new home. Each and everyday was filled with something to do, which kept my mind off missing home. The big events of the  week were that I went to the movies, painted pottery, and had several lunch dates.

The past two weeks I have been back in the classroom teaching and loving on my students. The week before last we read the story "Hedgehog Bakes A Cake", so of course we had to make our own cakes. My students did a stupendous job following the directions and ended up making edible cakes. Go Kids! Last week we read the story "Lemonade For Sale" all throughout the week. Can you guess what the class got to do on Friday? Well, if you guessed make real lemonade you are correct. My students thought rolling and squeezing lemons was an exhilarating activity that they had never participated in before. Of course I had to make the lemonade educational so we compared/contrasted real and concentrate lemonade, we also used our five senses to come up with adjectives to describe the lemonade.

This week we are starting the story "Johnny Appleseed" and you better believe we will be doing tons of activities with apples. I absolutely love having my students do hands on activities that they will remember over the weekend. I know I should probably say that they will remember them  for a life time or for their schooling career or even for their elementary years; but lets be realistic the activity could slip their mind by the end of the weekend.

I will leave you with a funny story about one of my students and a fabulous fact.

Story- A student came up to me on Thursday and put both of her hands on my stomach, she then proceeded to tell me an entire story. Once the student has finished her story she looked down at her hands and then up at me several times. After a few moments she said, "Miss Martin your real skinny real skinny" she then proceeded to take her hands off my stomach and  follow her class out the door. I just smiled and said, "thank you."

Fabulous Fact- I will be home in eleven days. :) :) :)

Yours Truly!

Open Mouth Insert Dessert...I Mean Foot!

So, here is some back history to my lovely incident today. This week at my school we are having parent/teacher conferences, which equals tons and tons and tons and tons of stress. (If you were wondering I am a bit stressed this week) Anyways, this week we are also having a bake sale every day during conferences, which means the teachers have to bake something to bring one of the conference days. You may be asking yourself two questions right now.... First, does Jessica even know how to bake? Second, will it be safe for the parents and students to eat what Jessica bakes? The answer to both of those questions is of course I can bake (follow a recipe) and no one will be harmed in the eating of my baked good (weight gain does not count).

Tonight we had our first round of  parent/teacher conferences, which meant a lot of sitting and waiting for me. That's another story in itself...focus! Since I had some time to kill I walked in to the hallway and ran into my coach, who by the way is amazing. She asked me what I was making for the bake sale and I responded, "crack candy." She politely asked, "what is crack candy?" I went on to explain to her what crack candy was made of....fast forward about twenty-minutes. My parent never came for her conference so I proceeded to walk myself down to the book fair where my coach was working. As I am talking with my coach and another teacher, my coach says, "Tell this teacher what you are going to be making for the bake sale." I quickly respond (no processing involved before speaking) "CRACK CANDY." If you guessed that parents and children were looking around the book fair as I made this proclamation you are correct. Yikes!!!! To say my coach and the other teacher were shocked would be an understatement; as they were picking their jaws off the ground I quickly fixed my mistake and said, "I am making CRACKER CANDY." I proceeded to blame my word vomit on my frontal lobe because I have heard it isn't fully developed until you are twenty-five. I still have three more years of making dumb decisions.....right?

FYI- If you are going to use the term crack candy make sure it's around those who know what you are talking about.

Shout Out---Thanks Tracy for the recipe :)

After this hectic week is over I will update everyone on my physical and mental state of being.

Yours Truly!



This pan has white chocolate m&ms on top. Yummy!  



This pan has candy corn on top. I haven't tried this one becuase I am not a fan of candy corn. (Crossing my fingers it is good.)

Fall is Officially Here...Well Not Exactly!

So, last Friday was the official start of Fall and you better believe my kids and I had a party. No really, we literally had a party to celebrate the first day of Fall. Now this may come as a shock to you but no other teacher celebrated Fall quite the way we did. One other teacher did some Fall activities with her students but that was about the extent of the Fall excitement in her room. I do not blame my fellow teachers for not feeling the same passion for Fall as I do because it is currently still over a hundred degrees everyday out here. So, in their defense it's a little hard to get excited about a season you don't even get. (Please take a moment to think of these poor people who don't get to experience the amazing Fall weather and scenery...me included now.)


Our Fall Day:
The beginning part of the day was filled with fun assessments...yay! (not really) Then, it was time for science to start and that's when  my kids worlds were turned upside down. My parents sent me a box of dried leaves, which my kids thought was the greatest thing ever. You would have thought I had given them a million dollars each when in reality all I gave them was a leaf. Ok, I might have built the leaves up and made a huge deal about them coming from GA and not being able to get anymore and how fragile and special they were; but all of that aside my kids thought the leaves were the greatest things ever right until....Soandso broke one. Let's just say soandso almost lost his hand because of the breaking of a leaf. Thankfully, I was able to rescue him before the leaf detectives were able to get to him.


The rest of our day pretty much consisted of leaf and fall activities, sprinkled with a million questions about fall and why we don't have Fall. The best part of the afternoon (other than the cake) was when my students made their leaf into a creature or monster. If I ever figure out how to put pictures on this computer then I will take pictures and show you how amazing they did. Some students made their leaf into real animals like tadpoles and fish, while others made theirs into scary/silly monsters. The students also wrote about their creature/monster that they made. Crazy cute! 


Funny Story Time:
The other day one of my fellow teachers was getting observed by our principal and coach. Well, she pulled out a book about the four seasons and soandso from my class started going off about fall and all the things we had done in our classroom. Bet she never thought one of her kids would come in with background knowledge about Fall. (Yay! For Me!) Apparently the fall activities and leaves left quite the impression on him. The teacher is amazing so she recovered and went on to have a wonderful lesson.


Dear East Coast,


If you would like to send some of your amazing Fall weather this way that would be much appreciated.


Thank you,
Jessica (The girl who misses fall like crazy!)


I suppose that is all for now, but just remember I would be alright if someone would bottle Fall up and send it to me.


Yours Truly!

Jessica VS Running

I can do it....I can do it....I can do what?

What I can do.....Run a 5K in December. My goal is that by December I will be in shape enough to run a 5K. When I joined the gym a couple of weeks ago I told the guy that the only thing I wanted to be able to do was run. Well, that was a couple of weeks ago and I have yet to run. I have been to a variety of workout classes but none of them have actually involved running. There is one class that I love going to and it's called body tone. The class consists of a full body work out using cardio and weights. I am going to go out on a weight here (get it..haha) and say that my body is becoming a little more tone.

Reward System: I have learned through teaching that sometimes my students just work better if there is an actual reward at the end of the task. So, I have decided that if I actually run a 5k in December that I will reward myself with something. The only thing I know so far is that I refuse to reward myself with food. I have thought about new tennis shoes, work out clothes, pedicure, or new outfit. Sadly none of this things really motivate me to want to go to the gym and run. Any suggestions?

There is one reward that I am hoping to get in December when I come home, but I can't tell you what it is until it happens. Sorry you must wait until then to find out what it is. Plus I am just giving you incentive to check in on my blog every so often.

My goal for this week is to run/jog (probably walk) three times.

Look out Georgia, I am going to be coming back as one SEXY (sorry mom/dad but it had to happen at some point) young woman.

Yours Truly!

(Crossing my fingers I am better at running than blogging.)

Three Day Week

The answer to my previous post is the library. I love going to the library and checking out books for my students to read in class. The library books really motivate and push them to finish their work on time. My goal is to change out the books every week for them so they have a new collection to pick from. So far providing my students with library books has been an excellent decision.

In the past two weeks I have only taught my students six days, three days the week before and then three days this past week. The week before I had training on Thursday and then Friday the students did not come to school. This past week we had Monday off and no school on Friday due to the power outage. I love teaching my kids so I am genuinely looking forward to a full week. Plus having all of these weird schedules is causing the kids to get out of the routine of school. No good!

The AMAZING outcome of a three day week!!!! Thanks to the power outage which resulted in school being cancelled I was able to see Jared this weekend. Jared is in town visiting with is parents who live about 7 hours from where I currently live. So, yesterday I drove up to meet Jared at a half way point between where he is and where I am located. (He ended up driving a little bit farther than me but I am alright with that.) We were able to spend the majority of yesterday together and then a small amount of time today. I LOVED being able to see him but even more than that I loved being able to see a familiar face. The visit was very unexpected which made it that much more special; although the leaving part was of course bitter sweet. (No tears at ALL, everyone should be extremely impressed.) I will admit though once I made it back home I was in a bit of funk for a couple of hours because I started to miss him and everyone else back home. No worries though I have begun forging through with school work and I am going to hang out with friends tonight so life is happy just like always.

I am not the biggest fan of fundraisers and it seems as a teacher you get hit up all the time to help out with stuff. I have decided to start my own fundraiser though, so if you would like to see my face in October instead of December you can donate to the SEE JESSICA FUND. I am just kidding there is no fund to get me home in October. I have already been out here 2 months, so the next 3ish months until I am home should fly by. Fingers crossed.

I hope you all enjoyed reading about the randomness in my life.

This picture isn't from our visit this weekend. It's actually from

when we came in December to visit his parents and go to the

company party.

 
Yours Truly!

My New Obsession

Over the last month I have developed a very bad obsession for......

It was very tempting for me to stop typing after the first line but I shall not be that mean. What I am going to do instead is describe my obsession to you in detail. The person who comments with the correct answer will receive a gift from ME. :) I just can not wait to see who gets it right! (If you can not comment for some reason message/call  me and I will reward you with your prize)

Here are five clues to help you figure it out.
1. My new obsession is a place.
2. I go to this place once sometimes twice a week.
3. This place helps me to enrich my students learning.
4. Every time I go to this place I am by myself.
5. Next week I am going to start a class at this place.

Bonus Clue:
This place could potentially end up being very expensive and put a kink in my budgeting system. (Hopefully, this clue confused you a little.)

I know that the clues are not very detailed but I want you all to use your noggin and figure it out. If for some reason you have the urge to guess more than one thing that is alright with me.

Teacher Update:
The teacher next door to me is going to be out of school for the next two days. Normally it would not bother me that my fellow teacher is going to be out of town, but this week it makes me a little nervous. Our principal wants us to teach our students about 9/11, which is fine minus the fact I am teaching my class and my fellow teachers class. YIKES!!! Please keep in mind that none of my students were born and they don't know where NY is on a map. I always look forward to teaching my students new things but this lesson could end up being very interesting.

Yours Truly!

Reason 2: Why I can not have children!

If anyone would like to know the real reason I can not have children, please read Michelle's comment on my last post. She hit the nail on the head for why I can not have children right now. No worries, I have already let my sister-in-law and brother know that I am ready to be an aunt again; mainly because I have a big girl job and could spoil my niece or nephew. (Remember: He/She must be born in December or June/July, thanks for considering my schedule)

Now for the silly reason I can not have children. Reason number two someone would always want my attention so he/she could show/tell me something. I have come to realize over the past couple of weeks of teaching how much attention I receive throughout the day. My students are always figuring out cute little ways to get my attention. I must give my students a large amount of credit because some of them are very crafty when it comes to attention getting. So, far I have experienced a lot of the typical ways students try to get their teachers attention but now my students are moving in to more advanced techniques. Here are some typical attention getter's: broken pencil, not feeling well, patiently waiting me for me to personally address him/her, and the disappearing piece of paper. I love teaching the younger students because when I ask what happened to their paper, they always magically know where it went. My all time favorite way  two of my students try to get my attention is by following me around. My response, "I am not a mother duck, so you can not follow me around. The day I start quacking like a duck is the day you can start following me around." (You laugh but you are probably going to try it on your own students/kids.) My two students have stopped following me around and now remain in their seats, the magic of humor.

It's officially been a month since I started teaching my second graders. I would not trade them for anything, even those who pull on my patient string. Everyday when I leave work I can not wait to get back and teach my students the next day. My decision to move across the country was hard but the decision to get up every morning and teach is the easiest one I have ever had to make. Since, I do not have time to tell you every detail of my job what are some things you would like to know? If you have a burning question you would like me to answer just leave it as a comment.

Drum Roll......I am not computer less anymore, I received Jared's computer in the mail a couple days ago. Yay!!!!

Your Truly!!!

Reason 1: Why I can not have children!

A person who tends to neglect things at times should not have children. Case and point tomorrow it will be officially one month since the last time I blogged. When I started this blog I looked at it as my "child" and was going to nurture it into something great. Thankfully, my blog is not real and can easily be fixed with time and effort. My goal is to blog every couple of days so that everyone can read all about my amazing west coast life. If you start to feel jealous just remember, I too once lived on the EAST coast. I personally do not have a preference for living on the east or west coast. Now you all may proceed to comment and vote for your favorite coast. Please do not cast your vote until you have experienced both of them. I know some of you have not been out to the west coast, so I suppose I could take some time out of my life to help you experience it. (YES, visitors are welcome!!!)

The next order of business has to do with teaching. I contimplated writing all about my first month as a teacher but there is just to much to cover. Tomorrow I am going to start blogging about the highlights of being a second grade teacher. I know you are probably very worried that I will not blog, if you start to get the shakes because I have not blogged please call or text.

Other than neglecting my blog for such a long time; my life is going amazing and I am loving teaching! Please stay tuned for the second reason why I can not have children.

Your Truly!

The First of Many Weekends

July 15th- The day I followed Jared for three ours in a rental car. Jared was driving the u-haul which contained my entire life. Well, what I could fit in an extremely small u-pack. Those three hours allowed me to reflect on life like I had never done before. I know it is pricey but if you need to think about your life just load your stuff in a u-haul and then follow it for three hours. I probably experienced every emotion possible, except regret, which is good cause at that point there was no turning back.

First impressions/thoughts: Wow, this place is really brown and seems to go on forever.Where is my school? It's hot but I don't feel the humidity so I think I might like it here. I have to live here in this big apartment all by my self. Where is my school? This could be a little bit different then back home,maybe not. And where is my school?

The entire first day was spent with Jared being my tour guide and me just shaking my head because I was so overwhelmed. The second days focus was finding me a set wheels to ride around in. I really wanted a hot pink low rider with a poppin stero and a system that would make the car hop when it was sitting still. Sadly, none of the dealerships had anything like that. So I ended up getting a 2012 Ford Fusion. The third day was a Jared and Jessica day since it would be our last for quite some time. (I know it makes you all sad but I will see him again in November.)

Also, I got to see my school. Now it's time to do a
happy dance. That means you too, so get up and dance a little jig. The reason for the dance is because you probaly are missing me right now and need to get the happy juices flowing.

Typing Note. Still no computer so this was done on my phone.

Yours truly!

Everything Shall Be New

I justed wanted to let you all know my computer has gone to be with the metal gods. It passed yesterday evening but the death was not confirmed until today. Please take a moment to remember my computer now. My computer put in four good years of service before deciding to pass on. Every one should be grateful for my computers life because without it we may not have communicated as much. I will miss making memories with it. Some of my fondest memories come from our years in college together. Thank you computer for being so faithful and helping me earn a college degree.

Cause of Death:
I am convinced my computer died in protest of being on the west caost. The geek squad guy said the cause of death was just from normal usage and could have happened anytime. He diagnosied my computer with a broken LCD screen and wiring problems. The part that sucks is my actual computer was working just fine. Since, my computer was a Mac they would have had to send it away to be fixed and that would have run me about the same as a new computer. I do wish it had been something else so they could have fixed it. I guess this just goes to show if you lose your vision then your whole life could be ruined. If you don't have vision then you don't know where you are going, just like I was unable to use my computer because I couldn't see what it was doing.

I have started the search for a new computer. No fun! Any suggestions for a new computer?

Yours Truly!

Side note: This blog was created on my iPhone so excuse the errors as it was hard to see and type.

My Daddy's Imaginary List

Over my lifetime I have made some funny, dumb, and out there decisions about things in life. Throughout it all my dad has been standing right beside me asking, "Do you really think that was the smartest decision Jessica?" I do know for a fact though, no matter what my father loves me more then anything in the world and I can't make a decision to funny, dumb, or out there that would cause him not to love me. I am convinced though that he has an on going list of my decisions, which he looks at shakes his head and says this girl would give me gray hair if I didn't already have it.

The day I told him about my teaching job, I am pretty sure he leaned over and added this decision to his list. When anyone would ask me what my parents thought about the decision I always mentioned the list.  At this point I am pretty sure my decision to move so far away has topped my daddies list with flying colors. Now I know my daddy really doesn't have a list but it humors me to think about what might be on that list if he had one.

The following are things that happened during my three weeks before moving. Some of these things may or may not have made it onto my daddies list. For those decisions, which I think made it I will make sure to put a smiley face. (HINT HINT-What would be really cool is if my brother would teach my parents how to comment, so you all could see what my daddies list really does consist of.) 

Week One: 

Signed My Contract :) 

Found A New Home 

Put My Car Online To Be Sold 

My Mom Invested In A U-Pack (thanks mom) 

Gave My Notice 

Booked Plane Tickets 

Booked A Hotel 

Booked A Rental Car

Week Two: 

Sold My Car :) 

Started Packing-Sorta 

Began Saying Goodbye

Week Three: 

Packed Up My Room At Home

Packed Up All My Other Stuff 

Packed the U-Pack 

Said More Goodbyes 

Had A Yard Sale 

Got My Hair Cut 

Those are the highlights that I remember from the craziness of those three weeks. I do remember calling home to ask about a million questions because everything made me so overwhelmed. Also, I remember asking Jared the same few questions over and over again,  which he always answered. Finally, when it was all said and done Jared and I boarded a plane and headed to my new home. :) :) :) :) 

I will never tell anyone how to feel but I did provide an emotion checker at the start of this blog. If the first section did not pull on her heart strings or make you feel warm and fuzzy then I need to introduce you to the amazing man I call my daddy. 

Yours Truly! 

Another Sweaty...Minute Filled Day

Since, I neglected to post on Thursday I have decided to spoil you all with two posts today. I hope you feel loved and know that I want to get you caught up to date on my life. (You can always call to get the first hand scoop on how I am doing.  If you call before 9am eastern time I will probably be a little groggy.)

Day Two Continued: At the end of my interview the principal asked if I could send my references to her. Once I hung up the phone and had showered of course I started freaking out because I didn't have one of the references home or cell phone numbers. Being the subtle person that I am I sent the reference a facebook and e-mail message asking for a contact number. She responded in a very timely manner, which should have made me feel better about life but it didn't. The reason being I forgot another one of my references contact information back at the apartment, I completely spaced on picking it up before heading out to house/dog sit. My head hit the pillow feeling like I had blown my chances because I was unable to get my references to her in a timely manner.

Day Three: Jared woke up, got ready, and then headed to work with some fun round doughnut looking things (tires).  So, I decided I should head back to the apartment and send in my references. I finally sent in my references at 7:30am (GA) 4:30am (AZ). In the mid-afternoon I got a call from the principal, which I missed of course so I had to call her back. Making that phone call had to be one of the most nerve racking things I have done in quite sometime. The principal answered the phone and said, "I would like to offer you the job. Also, I want you to know your references were all great and that I do not normally hire people over the phone, but something drew me to you." In the middle of the apartment complex parking lot I began to do my happy dance and proceeded to call everyone I knew. I must have stood in the parking lot talking for five hours or maybe even more.

The only person I waited to tell in person was of course Jared because I knew his reaction and face would be worth seeing.

Yours Truly!

Quick and Very Sweaty!

The three day journey that ended with a job offer.

Day One: 

I was sitting on the couch contemplating what to do after my long (sarcasm) work day. As I was checking my e-mail I realized that I had an unsent message in my draft box. So, I opened the e-mail and realized it was my resume that I had never sent out because I did not know what to put in the e-mail. Well, a few days prior to this finding my brother had sent me some resources on how to communicate with districts and principals. I found the e-mail he had sent me and read over what he put in the e-mails he sent to principals. I figured it couldn't be that hard to come up with three interesting facts about my teaching, so I began to think what would catch the readers eye. Let's just say this process took a bit longer then I had expected, anyways I came up with the perfect to the point e-mail and sent it along to the human resource department. 

Day Two: 

I drove home the morning of day two because I had an eye doctor and a dentist appointment. I like to be proactive and get my check-ups done in the same day, plus I like to save on gas. My mother and I went to the eye doctor and found out that my vision hadn't changed..yay! Then we proceeded to have a small coffee break before heading to the dentist. Please keep in mind the whole time these events are taking place my pupils are about five times their normal size, pretty much I look like I am strung out on something. Anyways, so we head to the dentist, which I love going to by the way, while I am getting my teeth cleaned some weird number calls and leaves me a voicemail. I listened to the voicemail and it was one of the human resource ladies calling me to see if I am interested in moving to Arizona. Clearly I said that I would be willing to move, so she contacted the principal and let her know. 

Principal Time: 

 The principal called and asked if I was going to be in Arizona anytime soon. Shocker, my response was sadly I will not be in Arizona any time soon. In my mind I was thinking, if you hire me then of course I will be in Arizona soon. She proceeded to talk with me a few minutes and then set up an interview for 2:00pm (5:00pm) that same day. Being the smart educated person that I am I looked at the clock which said 1:50 and said, "Arizona time right?" Well, five o'clock came she called but had to hang up because her mechanic called. I completely understand the importance of a great mechanic, I do miss and love my mechanic back home. Anyways, so she called me back and I interviewed with her for about forty-five minutes. 

Time to Visualize: Our apartment has horrible cell phone service if you have the provider At&t, which I do of course. So, when the principal called I ran to the only quite place I knew my car. I got into the car and closed the door so that I could concentrate  on the interview, a few minutes into the interview I began sweating unlady like amounts. I thought to my self maybe I should open the door and let some air in so I do not pass out, but of course right at that time cars started driving past. I didn't want to screw up my chances with getting the job so I closed the door and continued the interview. By the time the interview was over I was red faced and had drenched my dress with sweat, it is a great thing she couldn't see me at that moment. 

When I got  back downstairs to Jared he asked how the interview went. My response, "I feel like a nasty pig, but I think the interview went good for the most part. Now time for a shower."

Yours Truly!

Tires, Tires, and More Tires

I have made the executive decision to start from the beginning and work my way to present day. Please do not worry I am not going to back to when my parents first fell in love. I am only going back a year, which may seem like a long time but time flies when your reading about my life. Before you continue on from this point please allow for an adequate amount of time to read this post because it is on the lengthy side. I suggest 2-6 minutes depending on how fast you read.

Background Information- Please try and follow. Comment below if you get lost.
Tires or should I say the tire business plays a huge role in all of my adventures. A wonderful family that I baby-sit for is originally from Arizona, so they come back every summer to visit their family and friends. Just so happens that this particular summer the husband decided to invite a young chipper tire tech back to Georgia to become full time. Well, that tire tech decided he liked the offer and packed himself up and moved clear across the country to humid Georgia. I suppose after being deployed for the majority of six years moving across the country seemed like nothing to him.

One Year Ago-
The day my life would start to change and lead me to Arizona. Let me set the stage for you! I (Jessica Martin) was headed to my friends house for a nice glass of sangria, which we liked to partake in on occasion. When I walked in her house I saw she had a new counter decoration, which I nicely looked at, judged, and then took a glass of sangria. My initial judgement was that she needed to invest in a new counter decoration because the vibe from this one was that of a jerk. That happened on a Friday, then Saturday I used my friend for more sangria and the ability to flirt with her basement dweller. I know from the looks of it I am using my friend, but lets me honest we all do it sometimes and in my defense she was aware of it. Anyways, turns out  the basement dweller wasn't a jerk, but to save time I will not go into the details. Let's just say from Saturday on Jared and I became inseparable and not a whole lot has changed. No, worries we are normal and have had our cactus pricks along the way, some have stuck in farther then others but we are human. (Jared is part metal man but we will let that slide.) I suppose another thing that has changed is I am in Arizona and he is in Georgia but that's a small fact.

Please push the fast forward button to June. Intermission...Snacks and Drinks are located in your kitchen or at your nearest Wal-mart.

Start of June- Jared comes home and says that he wants to move back to Arizona as soon as possible, which in his language means yesterday. So, being the supportive and loving girlfriend that I am I decide that he can't go without me because there is no way he can brave it alone. As we know he was/is in the Marines for six years and was deployed for the majority of that time, but fighting and domestic work are two very different battles. You just don't let those you love face the battle of cooking, cleaning, laundry, running errands, and trying to get a title on their own, so I started the job search, sorta.  For the sake of time/typing all I will say is I filled out a general application for Arizona and that was it other then sending my resume to my current school system. The only person who knew I even did this much was Jared, because I was to scared to tell anyone that I might be moving across the country. What happened next?To learn more about how I ended up so far from home you will need to tune in tomorrow for the next blog.

Enjoy!
Yours Truly!

Location: Your Computer Screen

If you are reading this blog then you are well aware that I am currently two thousand miles away from my home town of Murray County. Or you could look at it like I am a 30 hour car ride or about a 4 hour plane ride, please look at it whichever way makes you feel the best. Personally, I like to think of it as one really long skip, hop, and jump away from my family and friends. The purpose of this blog is keep everyone updated on the happenings in my life as I establish myself in a new town and begin my first year of teaching. 

Disclaimer: I have graduated from college with a degree but I do not profess to be the best writer. What I mean by that is my grammar can be off sometimes, alright a majority of the time because I think faster then I type. (Do not worry in the classroom my writing skills are extremely impressive.) So, please do not expect excellent writing because these are just some random and hopefully comical thoughts about my life. 

Also, if you could keep your comments to only positive ones that would be greatly appreciated. In my current state I am a little fragile. I am just kidding please put any thoughts that pop, slip, or crawl into your mind while reading my posts. I hope you all enjoy reading my sandy thoughts. (Get it desert...sand) And the jokes have begun.

Yours Truly!