Graduating

I graduated! Okay, I know it was a few months ago, but I did it, yo! See for yourself.

I was the only one from my cohort of mild/moderate credential students who decided to walk at graduation. There were two girls from the moderate/severe program who walked and so I sat next to them. Everyone in my program is apparently a stick-in-the-mud. 

 

 

 

Totally candid. 100% perfect.

I know I could not have done it without this guy. He is my champion. It was a tough program and I had my doubts about doing I'm glad I stayed on track. Plenty of faith, an amazing supportive husband, and just plain hard work. I guess you could say it pays off?

 Yup.

Excuses and a Recap: a post about my experiences over the last year in getting my credential

If you're looking at my blog (which you are), you'll know that I haven't posted in a long, long time. Life gets very busy and then you put things on the back burner. Then you tell yourself that you'll do it later. Then a year goes by and you figure no one is looking at it. And then someone tells you: "I really liked looking at your blog, especially the things you made." Then you think: "Dangit!" because you should have posted those things for your  family admiring fans to look at.

Enough with excuses, here's the real deal:

(A recap)
I started and finished my credential program. What what!

I worked at some sucky jobs. No, really. Like- really, really not good jobs that make you feel sad and not-good and you start to lose hope. Like bad. Not all.of them, but after bouncing around a few jobs I finally realized that I wanted, and needed, to get into a real career that I felt passionately about. While I still love art and designing, I realized that it wasn't going to be a career for me in San Diego- at least not right now. I need to be realistic and know that I am one of those people that have a lot of interests and can be happy doing lots of different things. I just needed to hone in on one of those things and figure out how to make that happen.

I have been working in special education on and off for the past few years and after having gone back to working at it at the middle school level I realized that's what I needed to do. I was actually substituting one day at a nearby high school when a special education teacher asked if I could sub for her in the future, but I didn't have the right credentials/qualifications to do so. Her response was to get my credential. She told me that it's obvious that I like what I'm doing and that I needed to step it up and just become a credentialed teacher. Do it. That was basically the gist of it. I thought on it for a while and then when I became a special education assistant at a middle school I realized she was right. I did need to get my credential.

I was lucky and got accepted to San Diego State University for the upcoming year and to start their prerequisites in the summer. If you aren't familiar with California's teaching requirements, just know that they are very. . . thorough. There are a lot of hoops to jump through. Unlike other states where the teacher licensing is embedded in your bachelors (e.g., you get an English Teaching Bachelor's Degree), in California you have to do an extra "credential" to be certified a teacher, plus more classes within 5 years. Yeah, it's wild.

I will admit that it was tough at first. I graduated from BYU-Hawaii in summer 2010 and was going back to school in May 2013. If you have ever taken a break from college then you'll know that after working for a while it feels weird getting back into student mode. But at that point I was excited and on my way to starting a career that I feel passionately about.

That's when the busy set in again. I was doing my practicum hours- minimum 20 hours of in classroom experience, not student teaching, and taking 21 credits in the fall. Then in the spring I began my student teaching which was. All. Day. Every day. And. Classes. At. Night. It was rough. But I was back at the middle school, working with great teachers and students and it was basically the jam. I was working with a lot of students in general and special education, creating lessons, co-teaching, and creating and administering assessments, as well as running and IEP meeting. It was excellent and I really learned what I needed to from an amazing Master Teacher. Did I mention it was crazy, but good?

That just about bring us up to speed. I graduated in May 2014 with my Level 1 Education Specialist Teaching Credential in Mild/Moderate disabilities. As an hooray for finishing and also celebrating our 5 year anniversary (WHAT?!?!? how did that happen???) Chris and I went to Italy (more to come later), I've had a little too much relaxation time this summer, and then we moved. But I want to get back into updating my blog and keepin it real.

All I can really say is that the last year has been full of lots of changes for me and Chris. Having faith that it will work out, fulfilling my duties at church to work with the young women, and just all around trying to have a good attitude have definitely helped.

But what can I say besides life is good.

Peach Top and Leopard Skirt

I got this shirt fooorrreeevvverrr ago.I actually got it my first semester at BYUH. I even wore it in our engagement pictures.

This skirt I also made forever ago.

I finally decided to changed up the ties, shortened the sleeves and added elastic.

The skirt was the same pattern as this blue one. 

 

And because I know you want to see the very first inception of this shirt into my life...

 (I will not tell you how long ago this was, ha. perfect)

Stripped, Scrubbed, and Restained Dresser

This has been sitting in the draft section so I'll just go ahead an post it....many months overdue...

I bought this awesome vintage dresser at an estate sale. There was a little tag on the back that even said 1952. Cute! We have been in desperate need of a dresser for a long time (I don't want to admit how long), and so I'm always on the look out. Then I saw this guy and thought: project time. Oh, boy.
This dresser was. . . kind of a nightmare. I was excited to refinish it, which was the enjoyable part. It was the hauling it in and out of apartment that was brutal. If we had a small outdoor space, a patio for instance, this would have been much less painful. (Literally. I kinda sorta had to put it down suddenly, incidentally in the same space Chris' foot was occupying.) And this thing is HEAVY. Did I mention it's solid wood?
 At first when we were staining it and the drawers started looking crazy and burnt I almost lost it, thinking: I'm killing myself stripping and sanding and hauling and it looks terrible! But then I decided I like it. I made myself like it.

So maybe there is one handle missing. . .Here's the thing. At first we were planning on buying new handles and then decided that cool ones are really expensive so why not just paint the ones we have, right? Right. But I didn't keep super close tabs on all the screws and so when we put the handles on we were exactly two screws short. Nothing that can't be easily, but not lazily, remedied.

All in all I'm happy with how it turned out. Plus, I'm really glad we have a place to put our clothes instead of in the built in cabinets. No more camping for us!

Coral Skirt

Dyed my hair red! It was so dark - this was a few days after I did it. 

I wore this a few Sundays ago for our talks in Sacrament meeting. I had so many people say they didn't recognize me. I think that was because I was getting flashy in my lacy top, not the hair. I re-did this skirt  I got at the thrift store. It started out it's life as a size 22. I like these skirts with a built in pocket & buttons instead of a zipper, because let's be honest, where else us ladies gonna keep our chapstick and tissues, amiright?

Marigold Dress

I made this dress a long time ago...but I haven't worn it very many times. I used the same pattern for this dress as for the cream floral and the red lace one. I made this one even before the other two, that's how long ago it was. I hadn't changed the back or the sleeves as I did on the other one a just followed the pattern. I don't really love the sleeves- with their sticky-out-ness. When I made the other ones I made them drop shoulder instead of these lil' cap sleeve things. Whatever they are. 

I don't have any good pictures of the back, so just enjoy it's brightness as is.

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch

Since it's been forever, I figured I'd post something great. This great thing is called the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. It's outside Tuscon, AZ. It's pretty amazing. And I bet if it hadn't been 100+ degrees that would have been an extra perk.

We were joined by my brother-in-law, who we were visiting in Tucson, my niece and nephew, and various other in laws.

And one more fantastic thing:

(ostriches are terrifying, giant dinosaurs)

Mormonism

This rocks.

Makes me want to make those statistics even higher.

crazy google earth pictures

Some are weird. Some are funny. Some are sad.

 It's a tie for my favorite between this one:

 and this one:

CHECK IT OUT: 9-eyes.com

(some are a little risque, so be aware of that . . . quite a few contain prostitutes)

black paperbag waist skirt

me: So how does it look?

Chris: I like it. There's just something about it that's weird though.

me: Well...what?

Chris: The bottom is nice but the top kind of looks like a sack.

me: It's called a paper bag waist skirt.

P.S. Happy Leap Day William!