Long time no blogging!

Hi everyone!

I haven't been on here in forever!! Teaching has been very hectic and stressful lately with all the TAKS preparation that has been underway at my school. However, I am pleased to say that this past week was the big week and TAKS is now officially over! yay!

Today marks 41 days until I marry my best friend and I cannot wait to walk up the asile and let James take my hand. I love him a lot and this past year apart has shown to me, even more, how much I love him and how good he is to me.

Plus, the wedding means only 2 weeks until our HAWAII honeymoon! WOOOO!!!

If you can't tell I am very excited! ;)

December Happenings! (Part Two)

Since December was filled with a lot of events, I feel like it needed two separate posts :)

After graduation, James and I headed back to Norman because James had to work the week before Christmas :/ I love going up to see him because there are soooo many things to do up there! I know it sounds crazy because Oklahoma is notoriously known for being lame, but Norman is actually a cool place to live...its a big college town and it's only 20 minutes from OKC! While James was at work, Lucy and I went on long walks through the neighborhood that James lives in...its really peaceful! After he got done at work, we went on fun adventures...one of them was snow tubing!

OKC has a AAA Baseball team that is owned by the Texas Rangers (or it used to be...) and they have a stadium downtown that is really big for a AAA team. So every winter, they turn the stadium into a "winter wonderland". There is a kid snow tubing hill that goes from mid deck to home plate and a bigger hill that goes from the upper deck to second base. Of course you know which one James made us go on...the bigger one! It was super scary because I definitely had air and was flying down that hill like crazy. At the bottom, they had bumpers that were supposed to stop you, but they definitely didn't stop me...I just bounced off and kept on going. LOL BUT...it was a lot of fun and I'm glad James took us to do it! It was definitely something out of the ordinary! Here's some pictures we took while we were there!

After our fun filled time in Norman, we headed back home to spend time with my family! I love being home for Christmas! We also got to spend time with our AMAZING friends Jill and Tommy Montoya! We had not seen them in a very long time, so it was good to catch up! Holidays are absolutely the best!

December Happenings! (Part One)

December was CRAZY! I graduated, went to Oklahoma and froze to death, came back home to Christmas, visited my grandparents and old friends, and got a job...thats a lot in one month!

I've graduated from college and I am now a certified teacher...weirdest/coolest feeling in the world! I really do miss the Christmas break that college kids get to enjoy! Now all I get is two weeks and I still have work to do during my time off! Neverless, I love what I do and would definitely not trade it for anything!

Graduation day was a lot of fun! I got to see quite a few people in my family, say goodbye to the amazing friends and professors that I have met while at SHSU, and eat a yummy BBQ celebration dinner at McKenzies. :) Here are some pictures from the day!

The Marshall and Clubb women :)
Aaron and I are the only ones in our family that can look at the camera.

James' dad


Maw Maw and Paw Paw...who is Maw Maw giving the evil eye to??


James and I...both SHSU Alumni!!

Me, Shannon, and Kerri. I love these girls! They braved reading block, methods, and student teaching with me!

So now I am officially an SHSU Alumni! James and I both remarked, on our way to OK. after graduation, how smart our car was right now b/c we are both college graduates...then we looked in the backseat and saw Lucy (our dog) and changed our minds. Poor dummy Lucy ;)

College Grad!

Attention world! I am officially done with college classes!! Well, at least for a little while...I want to go back for my master's, but I need to make some money first! ;) On Thursday, student teachers headed up to SHSU for an "important" meeting. This meant that the College of Education just wanted to waste our time for a day...booooo! However, it was lots of fun to get to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while and eat some yummy Huntsville food!

The picture above has some fabulous ladies in it!! (from l-r: Aurora, me!, Kerri, and Shannon) We were all very excited at this point in the conference because we were almost done for the day!! After the conference, we headed over to Farmhouse Cafe to eat AMAZING home cooked food! Farmhouse has the best rolls in the entire world and their charcoal chicken is to die for! That is one thing that I really miss about Huntsville...it has the best local restaurants!

After dinner, Kerri, Shannon, and I headed back to Conroe to stay in the super nice condo that Kerri's parents let us use...it was super cute and so peaceful out there! At the condo, we undertook a SHSU tradition of decorating our graduation caps. It was so much fun to just hang out, relax, and be creative with two of my best friends! All of our caps really turned out cute and I cannot wait to wear mine on December 18th! Graduation here I come!

I know, I know...I'm an AWFUL blogger!

I will try harder...promise!! Life just gets so crazy sometimes!
So, since the last time I blogged, a LOT has happened...

I'm ALMOST finished with my student teaching!!! Only 4 more days until freedom...and a feeling of uncertainty! :/ The job market for teachers is not so great...nobody wants to quit or retire anymore! I guess that leaves me to substitute teaching for the rest of the year. However, this may be what I need right now so that I can focus more on the wedding. :)

James and I have been living in different states now for 4 months and it has been hard! I hate not being able to see him every day, but this change has made us a much stronger couple! It's crazy that it takes a drastic change for people to realize how much something means to them, but I'm glad that I've been exposed to this. Being apart has made me realize how strong our relationship is...we can go 4.5 weeks without seeing eachother, only talking on the phone, and then pick up right where we left off the last time I saw him. It's just like something natural and amazing...man I love love love this wonderful man I'm going to marry in a little over 6 months!!

I flew on my very first plane!!! People have always commented on how weird it was that I'm about to graduate from college and I've never flown on a plane. Well...now I have thanks to James! :) It was kinda scary at first, but I've found that I like it a LOT better than driving 7 hours to Oklahoma!

I said "YES" to the most gorgeous wedding dress!! (Thanks mom!!) It's definitely not something I thought I would have liked, but I tried it on and mom and I both cried...I knew it was the one! Now all I have to do is make sure that I fit into that size 6 dress when it comes in AHHHH!!! The pressure is on! No gaining weight!!!

That's it for now...I still have four days of school left with my 5th graders, so I need all the beauty rest I can get. ;) I will post pictures of all my fun adventures later this week!

YAY!!!

So, I finally started a blog...exciting I know! I have to give credit to Jill Montoya for finally convincing me that I should go ahead and get over my fear of this relatively new concept of blogging.
Anywhoo...Today has been a relatively unproductive day. I've been at work since 8am and all I've managed to do was check all my emails for free food (its really awesome...just sign up for all the major chain restaraunts' email clubs!) and listen to several hundred grouchy SHSU parents/students that are having trouble with financial aid or tuition payments. SOOO FUN! (notice the sarcasm here) ;) If you don't know, I work in the Visitor Center of Sam Houston State University, so I'm basically the voice and face of the university for all prospective students and alumni...it's a very interesting job... I really do love working at the visitor center and I love all my coworkers, so I will be very sad when August comes around and I have to leave for student teaching.
This is just an overview of what's been happening in my life lately (since January 2010):

1. I've lost 30 pounds since January and it's awesome!! I definitely feel much better on the inside and look much better on the outside :) Now if I could only lose these last 5 pounds so that my Weight Watchers membership is FREEEEEE!!!
2. I've discovered that I have the most amazing people in my life who have helped me through this crazy time in my life. My mom, James, Kerri, Shannon, and Amanda keep me sane, happy, put up with my mood swings, and motivate me to be healthy!
3. James and I have finally set a date and booked a venue for the wedding! June 10, 2011 at Magnolia Lake in Huntsville, Texas at 6:30pm! So, mark your calendars and make sure you can be there!!!
4. My mom has been an amazing mom since the beginning of time, its just taken me until now to realize how awesome she is!! She's truly my best friend and I can not even begin to express my gratitude to her for EVERYTHING!
5. I survived my methods block and got a 4.0!! It was definitely an eye-opening and fun experience in my second grade classroom. There were times when I thought I was going to smack some people for being so unprofessional, but I am proud to say that I got through it without even saying a rude word to them! ;)
6. James turned a quarter of a century old on May 2nd! He's SOOO old ;) and he's going to hate me for putting this on my blog... His birthday was so much fun! We went to Kemah and had lunch at The Flying Dutchman, dessert at Joe's Crab Shack, pet and fed the stingrays at The Aquarium, looked for fun books at Half-Price Books, and then had dinner at Iguana Joes with my parents. It was a long, but YUMMY day!

That's all I can think of for now...sorry this is so long! I'm beginning to like this blogging thing!