First Teaching Job

   It has been a long time since I have updated this blog.  I was actually wondering if I would remember how to log in when I pulled up the site.  I noticed I never even posted that I have my first teaching job.  I am working as a kindergarten to second grade resource teacher in the special education department.  I teach reading, writing, and math.  I have six groups a day that I teach. 

   I started this job right after the holiday break in January.  I wasn't sure what to expect, since I have very little experience working with students younger than third grade.  I have never worked with a student that could not write a sentence.  This job was the first time I had really thought about how to teach a child to write a sentence.  It was a challenging experience.  Good thing I had a lot of supporting teachers where I work. 

   Spring break did not come until the week before Easter.  My mom came to visit us and we went to Charleston for a few days.  I wrote a blog post about my last Charleston trip that I took with my husband a few years back, and I have to say that it went much better this time around with my mom. 

   That's it for now.  Check back soon for more updates. 

Terry and Brian's Wedding

    Our friends Terry and Brian got married this weekend. Joe and I were in the wedding party. We wanted to save some money, so we drove up. The drive up was a little crazy between the awful traffic we were stuck in for 3 hours around D.C. and the rain. Once we got there, we changed and headed to the rehearsal. The weekend flew by. Before we knew it we were at the church. The bride was beautiful and picture perfect. Joe and I did some dancing at the reception, which allowed us to burn off some of that extra food we were eating. Yesterday we drove home. We stopped and did some shopping at Peddler's Village along the way.

    We are both so happy for Brian and Terry and we wish them a happy life together and an awesome honeymoon at Disney World.

A Travel Journal

   About two and a half years ago a friend of mine bought me a black travel journal with an Eiffel Tower on it (very fitting for me). I meant to write in it, but of course I haven’t. It is sitting in my bookcase. At first, I wanted to talk about my travels moving to North Carolina and the travels while living to North Carolina, but I felt like I didn’t have much to say even though I have traveled since I have been here. I think I may have missed the whole point to that journal. It was not just about travels that I take, but also the adventures of life.


   Moving to North Carolina was a new adventure for my life. A completely new experience, which I thought I would never have. I never thought I would live in North Carolina. I have learned so much since I have been here. I have learned about culture, about local history, and met people from all over the country and other countries as well. I have had the experience of getting a top notch education through working on my master’s degree in education. I have learned how the schools here are similar and different in many ways from New Hampshire. I would not give up these experiences for anything. I have grown as a person and feel more independent than ever.

   It was a lot of work to relocate, but I would do it again. I love living here, but in some ways I wouldn’t mind moving to another area and experiencing and learning more. I am looking forward to completing my master’s degree and having more time to experience life, travel, and learn more.

US Travel and Places I Want to See

   I received a phone call from my brother this morning who is driving from New Hampshire to Texas. He is seeing some areas of the country, which I have not seen yet, but would like to visit. I love hearing about new areas people visit.

 

   One of my life's goals is to visit every state (at least in the continental US). I have visited every state on the Atlantic Ocean other than Delaware (unless you count when I drove through Delaware on my way down to North Carolina a couple years back).

 

   When I moved to North Carolina, I figured I would start by seeing every state on the eastern seaboard first. Joe and I started with South Carolina and Georgia. Both of which neither of us had visited before. When I was visiting my parents in New Hampshire a few weeks ago, we went to Rhode Island. Even though I grew up in New Hampshire, I had never actually visited Rhode Island.

 

   A road trip would be one of the best ways to see some of the states I have not visited, especially those in areas I might normally fly over. Someday I would like to drive across the country. Interstate 40 starts in Wilmington, NC and ends in Barstow, California. There is a sign at the beginning of interstate 40 that states the number of miles until the highway ends. That is one possible route.

 

   I would love to visit Nashville, and I have never been to Tennessee before. It would be an easy road trip from North Carolina. I have seen signs for Nashville the couple of times I have visited Asheville in the mountain region of North Carolina and wanted to continue driving. Nashville is also a stop on interstate 40 and would be an easy stop while driving through to California.

 

   Of course there are many other beautiful areas and things to see around the country. Here are a couple of cities I would like to visit:

 

• Memphis, Tennessee 
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• San Antonio, Texas
• St. Louis. Missouri
• Los Angeles, California
• Chicago, Illinois

 

   These are couple of my favorite destinations that I have visited in the U.S.:

 

• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Charleston, South Carolina
• Savannah, Georgia
• New York City, New York
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
• San Francisco, California
• Orlando, Florida
• Newport, Rhode Island
• Stowe, Vermont

 

Newport Mansions

    Last week, I visited Newport, Rhode Island for the first time. Newport, RI has many beautiful homes and was a popular summer vacation destination for many years since the 1700's. In the late 1800's, many mansions and summer homes were built in Newport that can now be toured. Many of these homes were designed after elements of castles from France. The homes include majestic stairwells, marble columns, larger than life ballrooms for hosting elegant dinner parties and balls, many beautiful statues and paintings, detailed ceilings, and all of them had electricity and plumbing when originally built before such things were standard in homes. The grounds are beautifully landscaped. Three of the mansions we visited had views of the ocean and were built on the cliff side including Marble House, Rose Cliff, and the Breakers. The Elms was my favorite mansion, but it was not built on the water. It makes up for it with beautifully landscaped grounds.

    I am happy that these mansions have been kept up over the years and people can visit these homes.  The homes we visited were part of the Preservation Society of Newport County.  It would be cool to travel back and time and see these homes as they were when they were in use.  I would love to see one of the balls that took place at these homes and see all the ladies dressed up in their best gowns that were specially made for the occasions and to see the staff at work. 

    The Newport mansions are a destination in "1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die." 

Top 5 Things I Hate About Air Travel

5.  Traveling alone and having to sit in the middle seat between two people you have never met before.

4.  Long layovers with no seats available at your gate.

3.  Having to take our your laptop to go through security. 

2.  No leg room in coach. 

1.  Checked bag fees.  Need I say more?

Everything Paris

    Those who know me well know that I have been dreaming of visiting Paris for many years, but for one reason or another it has not happened. I have wanted to go since I was a little kid. As a child, I would have rather gone to Paris than to Disney World, but that of course did not happen. Since I have been an adult, I have considered going a few times, but something has always gotten in the way. I considered going there for our honeymoon, but it was just too expensive at the time and Joe and I were in our early 20's. I was going to go a couple years ago, but we decided to move to North Carolina instead. Last year I decided to go to graduate school, so it put Paris off yet again for a couple of years.

    I like to think that Joe and I are working our way up to Paris. We have visited other French related things. We went to Quebec City and Montreal together. We visited Paris Las Vegas when we were on our honeymoon, and have many found memories of the hotel including a strawberry daiquiri that was served in a plastic Eiffel Tower bottle. I still have the bottle to this day. When we were in Disney World a few months ago, we visited France at the Epcot World Showcase (above). I was very impressed that I didn't buy a ton of Eiffel Tower and French souvenirs, since I love souvenirs and Paris stuff. Now, I think all that is left is for us to actually visit Paris.

    I have a small collection of Paris stuff around my house. I look for stuff here and there that would be a nice addition to my collection. There are a few stores that tend to carry Paris themed items including Target, Kirkland, and Home Goods. I have bought a few things online as well. People also get me Paris related gifts. One Christmas I got Eiffel Tower salt and pepper shakers. What a great gift. I actually just picked up a new Eiffel Tower item. It is a statue of an Eiffel Tower that lights up. Barnes and Noble also has a selection of Paris stuff right now. I got some Paris bookmarks there a couple of weeks ago.

    This past month National Geographic Traveler magazine had an edition with some information about Paris. It caught my eye because the front of the magazine has a picture of the Eiffel Tower. Inside there were a couple of hotels that the magazine considered to be a good budget hotel. One of the hotels was The Five Hotel. I think this is the place I want to stay with Joe. They have rooms starting at 89 Euros a night and each room comes with rose petals sprinkled on your bed. It sounds so nice.

    So what do I want to visit the most when I am in Paris? It is hard to say. I am obviously going to go up the Eiffel Tower and eat at one if not both of the restaurants up there (Attitude 95 is on the first landing and Jules Verne Restaurant, one of Paris’ finest restaurants, is on the second landing). I think equally nice would be to pack a picnic lunch and eat in the park called Chap-de-Mars at the base of the Eiffel Tower. I want to get lots of picks of Joe and I in front of the Eiffel Tower. Pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower are a must while you are in Paris.

    Montmartre District (also known as the artist district) is a must to see while in Paris as well. There are artists’ influences new and old here, museums, shopping, wineries, and many restaurants. Sacre-Coeur, one of Paris' popular landmarks, is also in this area.

    The Louvre will also be on my list of places to see and Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris), among many other places some well known and some that are lessen known great finds. Sometimes it is those places you were not expecting that end up being spectacular. The list of places could go on and on. I might make another post eventually when I have a defined list of places I want to see. These are just a few highlights.

    For now I am left shopping and dreaming about Paris and adding to my collection of Paris items. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Joe and I travel there very soon.


The Five Hotel
Paris Las Vegas
The Louvre

Our Disney World Vacation

  

  After a stressful semester, I was really looking forward to taking a vacation. I think both Joe and I were equally looking forward to getting away for a week, since we haven't taken a week's long vacation since our honeymoon.

   Joe and I spent five days at Disney World and visited the four Disney parks, Downtown Disney, and the Disney Boardwalk. It took about 10 hours to drive there on Friday, so we were happy to be in our hotel room Friday night to relax. Saturday morning we got to Epcot for about 9:30 am and stayed most of the day. It was over 90 degrees, so we decided to leave for a little bit to shower and change our clothes. We returned to Epcot to have dinner and watch the firework show called illuminations.

   I wanted to eat at the French restaurant at the world showcase (which includes 11 countries) Saturday night, but we had not made reservations. The steak house in Canada was also booked, so we ended up eating in Morocco instead. Afterwards, we walked around the showcase a little more. We took in a show at the American Experience showcase, which was about the history of America, and then waited in line for the boat ride at Norway. Afterwards, we saw the fireworks, which went unbelievable. I wish we had gone back to see them a second night. We didn't get to see the entire showcase on Saturday night, so we ended up going back to Epcot for a second day on Wednesday and we walked the showcase again and was able to eat lunch at the French restaurant.

   Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom (Disney World's newest park). I had never been to Animal Kingdom before. The last time I went to Disney World, I don't think it was open yet. The park was more like a zoo then a theme park, but it did have a couple of rides and some good shows. We loved the roller coaster Everest and the Finding Nemo Musical.

   On Monday we went to Magic Kingdom and we were basically there from opening until when the park closed after the fireworks. We only left briefly to take the monorail to a couple of the Disney resorts we wanted to check out. My favorite attraction at Magic Kingdom was a show called philharmagic, which was a 3D musical show that featured Disney music from Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Aladdin. Donald Duck and Mickey are also featured in the show. We ended up seeing it twice.  Splash Mountain is also a lot of fun and a classic ride. Great for hot days in the park.

   On Tuesday we went to Hollywood Studios. I haven’t been there since I was a kid. My favorite attraction was the Beauty and the Beast Show. I love the music from that movie and it is a great story. I can't wait for Beauty and the Beast to come out on Blu Ray in the fall. I am really looking forward to seeing it again.

   Joe and I also went to breakfast with the characters, where we met Donald Duck, Minnie, and Goofy. It was a buffet breakfast and it even had waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse's head.

   Epcot was also having their international flower and garden festival, which was an added bonus.  I had heard of this show many times before, but I thought it would be over by the time Joe and I went.  I highly recommend going to Epcot in the spring, so you can see the flower festival as well and yes, I do think everyone should visit Disney World at least once in their lives.  Epcot was my favorite park, but I also like Magic Kingdom a lot. 

   So that is a little bit about what we did when we were away. We had a blast. It was definitely one of the best vacations I have taken. Hopefully we will get to go again soon. We would also like to visit Disneyland when we travel to California (hopefully in the next two years). 

Walt Disney World

Busy Week

    The last week has been busy. I spent the better part of the week working on homework (from Monday to Thursday). I spent all day Thursday on an assignment, which I feel asleep on at one point and ended up submitted two minutes before the 5pm deadline. I made my decision about student teaching and signed up for the Praxis exam. Since Joe has a long weekend, Joe and I went away yesterday and last night to Wilmington, North Carolina. Above is a photo we took entering Wilmington's neighboring community, the town of Wrightsville Beach.  We did some shopping, walked around a little, and discovered a new favorite restaurant, Bonefish Grill. I had the imperial longfin and Joe had the grilled salmon. There is also a location in Cary, near where Joe and I live.

    I also posted an image to my blog to promote Autism Awareness month.  For more information visit Autism Society.  I put aside some time tonight for writing and possibly working on my book. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Happy Easter everyone.

Bonefish Grill

A Traveling List, etc.

    Many of you know that I love to travel. I have already mentioned some of my travels on this blog. One of my favorite books is "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" (and "1,000 Places to See Before You Die U.S. and Canada Edition"). Whenever I travel anywhere's, I always check to see what places are listed in those two books. When I see a new place, I check it off in the books. I have been known to call these books the travel bible.


    As much as I love "1,000 Places to See Before You Die," there are some places that I have been to which I have loved that are not in this book or books. No one has seen every place on this planet and even if both Patricia Schultz and I had visited all the same places, we might differ as to which places we really love and think everyone should see. Everyone's travel interests are different.

    Joe and I went to Mt. Airy, North Carolina yesterday. Just a day trip, but we wanted to get out for the day. Mt. Airy is the hometown of Andy Griffith and has many Mayberry attractions. It had the cutest downtown, with lots of shops, a winery, a museum to the history of the area, and the world's largest open-face granite quarry. We drove by the home that Andy Griffith grew up in, which we found out that you can rent for a getaway. We ate at Snappy's for lunch. We had to stand in a line outside to get in. It was the place to be. We had the most expensive sandwich on the menu, which was $4.00, the Pork Chop sandwich. It's Snappy's signature sandwich. There is plenty of other stuff to do in the area as well. It would be a nice weekend getaway in a bed and breakfast. We had a great time.

    On the way home I commented to Joe that I should start a list of places I have visited that I think everyone should visit in their lifetimes (some places that are obvious and some places that are not so well known). Sometimes the places you would never have thought of visiting end up being a great destination. I don't know if it is a book idea or not, but it would be fun to put together such a list.

    My memoir is coming along slowly. At this point I am calling it "Struggling with Words." It is almost the end of March, so I guess there is no way of me having a rough draft done by the end of the month. I have been so busy with school; I haven't even worked on it in the past week. There is still a good amount of work before I could say I have a first draft done. It will take me at least another two or three months to get the first draft done. I am hoping I can have the first draft done by the end of June, but that all depends on how crazy school gets.

    Now, I think I should get to my homework. I added a list of my favorite nonfiction books to my blog page.  I will update my blog again soon. 

Links:
Mount Airy, NC
The Website for "1,000 Places to See Before You Die"

Tired...

    Have you ever had one of those days when you get in your car and you just wish you could press a magic button and be at home? Well, I had one of those experiences last night leaving class. I enjoy going to school, I love to learn, and I am very interested in the material presented in my classes, but sometimes it just gets hard to sit through classes. My classes are about 3 hours long, and since they don’t start until 5, it makes for a long night.


    I had a great time over spring break visiting friends and family in New Hampshire. Everyone kept me very busy. My brother and I explored the Harvard University Campus and Harvard Square in Cambridge. We also visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the MIT Campus, and generally walked around Cambridge. We left the Boston area at 5, which meant heavy traffic on the way home, but we made it back in time to go out for dinner with the family. It had been a long time since the four of us had dinner together, so it was nice. My brother left the next day. Of course I have already told you about my trip with my mom to Concord, Massachusetts on Friday.

    By the time I got home Sunday, I was tired. Something about traveling by air is exhausting. Plus, my flight left at 8:40, so that was somewhat early. Security was tight at the airport, so my carry-on ended up getting searched.

    Since I was so busy over spring break, I didn’t have much time to do homework. When I got home I had to spend time on my homework for my Monday night diverse learners class. That ended up taking me up until when I left for class on Monday to finish (including waking up at 6), so the entire day was homework and class. The next day was the same. I spent the day on an assignment that was due that night and went to class afterwards. I also had homework due for Thursday night, so I had a busy week. This is why I was so exhausted when I got in my car after class last night. I was just so ready to go home.

Above:   Harvard Museum of Natural History

Concord, Massachusetts

    Those who have visited my blog before may notice I added a quote from Emerson, "The man who can make the hard things easy in the educator." I came across this quote while reading for reading and writing methods class today. I thought it was a fitting quote seeing that I am a fellow writer, I am studying to be a teacher, and I recently saw Emerson's house when I was in Concord, Massachusetts last week. I did not get to go inside Emerson's house, since it was closed for the season (it will reopen in April), but I did take a photo, which is above. I also went to the Concord Museum, which is across the road from his house, and the museum had his study there for an exhibit.


    There are many great writers who lived in Concord, Massachusetts. Henry David Thoreau lived there and he wrote about Walden Pond located in Concord, Massachusetts. Louisa May Alcott also lived in Concord, Massachusetts. My mom and I toured her house. She was the author of "Little Women."

    After we toured Louisa May Alcott's house, my mom and I went down to the Old North Bridge. The area had some heavy rain the weekend before, so there was some flooding in the area. There was a sign that was almost completely emerged by water. Afterwards, we had dinner at the Colonial Inn, which was built in 1716. I felt like I was sitting in history.

    I love visiting historic places and eating at historic restaurants. It makes me feel like I are part of history. On my first blog post, I mentioned one of my favorite restaurants is the Salem Tavern in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. That building is not quite as old as the Colonial Inn, but it was built in the early 1800's (and the food is great). Some of the buildings in the area are from the late 1700's though.

    Thanks for reading my blog. I have posted a new poll question as well. Check back soon for more updates.

Visit New England

Many of you know I used to to live in New Hampshire and I just got back from a trip from New England to visit friends and family.  New England is a great place to visit and has a lot of history.  For those who have not been there, I thought I would recommend some places to see for my blog post today.  These are just a few locations of many places to see. 

1.  Boston including the Freedom Trail, Boston Commons, Museum of Fine Arts, Cheers, and Beacon Hill
2.  Cambridge, MA including Harvard Square
3.  Salem, MA location of the Salem Witch Trials
4.  Lexington/Concord, MA
5.  Stowe, Vermont
6.  Newport, RI (the Newport Mansions)
7.  Meredith, NH and the lakes region
8.  The lighthouse trail of Southern Maine

Check back on my blog soon for more updates.

Our trip to Charleston, SC

    In May 2009, Joe and I took a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. We left on Wednesday and came back on Sunday. We hadn't taken a trip for a while, since I had been out of work for about six months the year before and we have also moved down to North Carolina in 2008.

    The first day was memorable. We started our day by jumping on the trolley and heading to South Battery Street, where we walked along the roads and roads of beautiful, expensive homes. We then headed uptown to The Old Exchange building, which is built on the site of the old Charleston wall. We took the tour, which allowed us to see a portion of the old wall and learned the history of the area. Later, we browsed some art galleries and went to the Nathanial Russell House for a tour.

    That evening we had a reservation at The Charleston Grill, which is an AAA four diamond restaurant in the Charleston Place Hotel. We had made reservations about a week before. The service was unbelievable, and we ate like we hadn't eaten in days. To be honest, we barely ate all day, so we wouldn't over do it with calories. Joe had a pork dish, and I had red snapper with grits. For dessert Joe had homemade ice cream, and I had the best crème bruelle I had ever tasted. The food was top rate.

    When we left, we both felt a little bloated, and Joe was complaining that he was having a hard time digesting his food and he felt somewhat gassy. In the middle of the night he woke up, saying he didn't feel well and he was in severe pain. We thought he needed something to help digest his food, so we headed down to a 24 hour grocery store and got some Gas-X and a few other things.

     The next morning he still felt somewhat bad, but he seemed to be doing better than the day before, so we decided to head down to Savannah for the day. We spent the good part of the day there. We took a trolley tour, looked around at some shops, and spent a few hours at the Riverwalk area. Then, we started to head back. Joe slept most of the way back. He was tired, since he had not slept the night before. He woke up about a half hour before we were back to Charleston, and said he was in a lot of pain and he needed to head to a hospital. As fate would have it, our hotel room was right next to a hospital, so we both spent all Friday night, from around 6 until midnight, in the ER. The doctor said he would be admitting Joe to the hospital, so I went back to sleep in our hotel room.

    In the morning, I went back to visit Joe at the hospital and they were running some tests, which took forever. I guess they needed to call in someone to perform the ultra sounds, but they had forgotten to do that. Around 3 or so, Joe was getting really anxious to get out. He said he didn't feel much better, but he didn't want to just sit around in a hospital bed.

    They told us Joe needed his gallbladder removed. The doctor informed us that there was a stone lodged, which was causing the pain. We had two options: we could have it removed there or wait until we got back to Raleigh. Joe decided he wanted to get out of the hospital, and he would just have it taken out when he got back home in a few days.  The doctors released Joe and we got copies of his tests, so we could bring it to a surgeon back home.

    Once we started to head back to Raleigh, we were both exhausted from the ordeal, and couldn't wait to get home. I drove all the way home, which was about 4.5 hours, since Joe was on pain medication. I was so tired. I had to stop to take a couple of power naps on the way back. The second stop I made was at a rest stop. I pulled over for about 20 minutes and shut off my car. I took a nap and headed to the rest room. When I came back to the car it was starting to rain pretty hard. I turned the car and the car wouldn't start. I turned the key again, the car still wouldn't start. I could get the radio to run and so forth, but the engine did not want to start.

    Joe and I sat there or a few minutes. We figured we would just try to start the car in about five or 10 minutes. We tried it again and the car just wouldn’t start. We called AAA to have someone came jump start our car. We didn't even know where we were, just that we were on a rest stop of 95, so it was hard to give the telephone representative directions to where we were. I was so tired when I was driving, I had not paid attention to the exit signs.

    After about an hour, AAA showed up and started out car and we were off. We were so afraid to stop the car again, so we did not stop the car again until we got home.

    Joe had his gallbladder removed later that week and he was out of work for about three weeks. As for the car, I didn't drive it for about a week, since I was afraid I would have more issues, but when I eventually started driving it again it was fine. I had the battery tested at a garage and they said it still had full battery life. Joe and I have no idea why the car wouldn't start at that rest stop. It doesn't make much sense to us, but one thing is for sure, we'll always remember Charleston.

Links:
The Old Exchange

The Charleston Grill