You can just call me Mrs. Fernandez. :)

Finals are over, and while I have no idea how I did on one of them, I have a general idea of how I did in my classes and it was almost worth the blood, sweat, and tears. Except EAS. I just hate that class, period. But, no matter, for exams are in, I can do nothing more about my grades, and I passed everything. On to the next challenge...student teaching!

I visited my classroom again today. I had prepared a list of 25-30 questions, and my teacher was gracious enough to let me steal her from the kids for a while (they were taking tests all day, poor kids, but yay me!). We got through about half of them, which ain't bad, kiddos--but now I've got a bajillion things to process and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed already! I seriously think I have an panic issue or something, I just can't seem to enjoy a moment, without the distractions of anxiety and my ever-increasing to-do list running through my mind, not to save my life.

But even so, I must admit that I'm stoked. I have a lot to learn from this cooperating teacher, and I think I have a lot to offer the kiddos in her classroom, too. I have so many things I want to try that I don't even know where to start, and in a way I wish student teaching was longer so we could really sink our teeth into everything more fully. But we'll see. Maybe in a few months I won't be saying that.

Anywho, regardless, I am a semester away from FINALLY graduating in a career path I love, and with a 3.9 something GPA and a TON of work/volunteer experience already under my belt before I even begin, I think I'm on my way to doing well. You can just call me Mrs. Fernandez. :)

First Christmas

Our quiet little soldier, standing vigilant by our door. :) This is our first Christmas as a new family together, and Paul & I spent all night putting up the decorations as our FHE activity. Of course, we realized after we'd put up the tree that we had no ornament hangers so we had to run to WalMart at like 9:30 pm to get the ball rolling again. :) And I have a major sinus infection that kinda killed the fun of it...mostly. There was still just enough fun left for a memory. Let me take you on a little tour:


This is our small dining room table. :) And here's a close-up of the centerpiece (which I arranged myself, and I love the simplicity of it!):

This is the mistletoe ball I made:

and here's how it looks over our doorway, with our wreath:

We decked out our piano (where the nutcracker stands watch over the tiny nativity):

And here's us putting the finishing touches on--and then admiring--our tree:

I LOVE our tree, and our home. Walking into my living room this morning and seeing our new tree lit up against the darkness and coldness of the last few days just brightened my whole spirit a little. Which I really just kinda need once in a while. :) I was also able to get a blessing from Paul--the first one since we've been married--and I'm SO grateful to have a husband who holds the priesthood just an arm's length away. I love you, Paul!!!

ALSO...

I have a trial version of Adobe Photoshop, as I mentioned before. I want the real thing! I've only begun to discover all the wonderful things you can do with it. But here are some cool things I discovered (and am using for a handful of Christmas gifts...), and I'm also going to show you examples using this picture:

1. You can make any photo you have into a coloring page (Great for kids!). Just open the photo up in Photoshop, click on the "filter" tab, then "sketch" and then "photocopy." Adjust the details and the darkness (usually less detail and a little darker) until you have a basic coloring page! Here's the coloring page of the same picture from above:

2. For one of my gifts, I made a little desk calendar...and I knew I wanted to make the too-familiar photos a little more artistic for this project, so under the "filter" tab I clicked on "artistic" and then "poster edges." P.S. This is probably how I'm going to do illustrations for the picture books on Bookemon!!! Here's the same photo as a "poster":

3. I'm a huge fan of Fresco. Here's what the picture looks like with that filter (also under "artistic") (and I'll probably use that for some illustrations, too!):

I can't wait to discover more!

Ten things I really LOVE...

Because I promised...and these are not in any particular order other than the order they popped into my head. I must say, without a doubt, that Paul is NUMERO UNO on my list! These are just some other perks of life.

10. Excedrin. With all the headaches I get, excedrin sometimes feels like my best friend.
9. Learning something new. It's a rush!
8. The temple. Not only are they beautiful, but going inside and feeling the Spirit always gives me a better perspective on everything else that goes on in my world.
7. Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa. I ship a small box out every winter, and I'm blessed to have a husband that totally supports me in that tradition!
6. Books. Reading 'em, writing 'em, listening to 'em...I love a good story, and I love the feel and smell and weight of a real book in my hands--especially if it's new! I don't understand the appeal of Kindle.
5. Music. I haven't listened to it much this year, or played it, either...but last night I listened to some instrumental Christmas music to come off the rant and MAN ALIVE I LOVE MUSIC!!!
4. Ebay. It's the reason we're poor...but everything we have, we got at discount! :)
3. Feeling competent. For all my imperfections, sometimes I surprise myself with how much I CAN do. Especially when those moments happen in front of others whose opinions matter to me (for whatever reason), I really love the feeling of knowing I am capable.
2. Planning with Paul. We are in the planning stages for the next semester's FHEs, and I love planning things with Paul--he always has a fresh perspective on things, and crazy ideas, and sometimes we get a little carried away with all the activities we want to do. We have so much fun trying to figure out how to do everything we want to do on a budget. It's like a game. Planning for the wedding was a blast! We're also starting to plan our trip to Utah this summer, and that's a TON of fun, too.
1. My student teaching placement. I've only visited the 3rd grade classroom once so far, but I've already got SOOOO many ideas of things I want to try and I can't wait to get to know my students better!!!

Five things I really HATE...

I promise I will write a more positive post to counteract this sometime in the immediate future, but I'm not in a very chipper mood so I want to write about the five things I hate most in the world right now.

5. My upstairs neighbors. Even the kids. Maybe especially the kids.
4. The smell of smoke...especially if it is from something illegal that I choose NOT to smell and it is flowing through the vents of our apartment building!!!
3. People who snap at you for no good reason.
2. Christmas shopping.
1. Feeling lonely. Especially if it is on top of feeling sick.

Basically, I hate today.
But the sun'll come out tomorrow...right? :)

Yay for 3rd Grade!

I got to visit my student teaching placement for the first time today. I'm SOOOOOO ridiculously excited! Here's why:

1) I have only 17 students.

2) The principal is anti-textbook.

3) My coordinating teacher is allowing me near-total freedom in what I try.

4) It's a small school--as a teacher, I will have more input and a better chance of becoming part of a small community.

5) They focus on math and language arts, so I get to find creative ways to integrate other subjects into them and thus become the "fun" teacher.

6) I love intermediate grades (2-4), period.

7) My coordinating teacher calls her students "dude."

Dude!

I love what I do. :)

33 Things

Because I am procrastinating my last two weeks' worth of projects, papers, lessons, and more, I thought I would blog for fun. I don't have many, if any, real secrets in my life, and even if you don't know everything about me, not much will surprise you. I'm nevertheless going to try to find 33 things about me that you may or may not know about me:

1. I used to really love television, and part of me still does--which is one of the reasons I'm grateful we don't have cable, or I'd waste even more time than I already do. I'm not ashamed to admit that I love "Psych" and "Monk." I'm a little ashamed to admit that I love "The Office."

2. I'm not technologically savvy. While I love blogging upon occasion and facebooking, checking email, etc., and I LOVE Microsoft Office 2010, I would have no idea what to do if my computer didn't do what I wanted it to do, except to cry. I've learned a lot in my last seven or so years of college, enough to put me at an advantage in the workplace, but that's about it.

3. I love teaching. It's not just something I do, it's a part of who I am, and I enjoy every minute of my schooling and my job, even if I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. I'm finally seeing myself in that position, as a professional equal to other teachers I work with.

4. My favorite cocoa is Stephen's, which we faithfully ship out here once a year in mass quantities. I love the Orange Creme and the Mint Chocolate Truffle the best.

5. I'm terrified about finding a teaching job around here...I don't know how to get the job, just how to do it!

6. I hated the color pink growing up. My parents painted my bedroom a bright pepto-bismol pink and I covered almost all of it up with New Era posters and comic strips. I also hated flowers. Anything girly at all pretty much I hated. Now I'm pretty darn girly. I want to have a flower business on the side and I had pink as one of my wedding colors. Go figure. :)

7. I want to learn lots of languages in my lifetime, but especially Japanese, Spanish, and French.

8. I never liked video games growing up, but I played sports and outdoor games a lot. I now LOVE the Wii that Paul bought me because it's something I can do, injury and all, to relive my childhood.

9. I'm a pretty good speller. I didn't know how valuable a commodity this was, especially in education, until last year when we had a spelling bee in my literacy class. Wow.

10. I really do love to write, and wish I had more time to do it for fun. I have dreams of being published someday. (Another side business, on top of the flowers...yeah, I'm gonna be a busy woman!)

11. I want at least 5 kids. So does Paul, so that's lucky. :) But I'm terrified of the kind of mom I'll be...I only recently came to the conclusion that I would be happy if I got a surprise pregnancy right now. But I'm NOT, and I'm okay with that for now. :)

12. I love puppets.

13. I love karaoke!!! A lot a lot. I love that I have a karaoke machine so that I can host karaoke parties to my heart's content.

14. I'm not an awful singer, but I don't have a pretty voice. I've got a great sense of pitch, but I'm more of a choir girl than a soloist. :)

15. Before I ever dated my husband, I tried setting him up constantly with a good friend of mine who was in love with him.

16. Actually, long before that, I was supposed to go on a date with Paul as part of a ward activity--but because I was the activity chair and our activity involved a scavenger hunt, I had to be at the church so I passed him off to the friend mentioned above, which started the whole crazy thing off. Guess the Lord works in mysterious ways! If you had told me then that I was passing off my husband to another woman, I'd have never believed you!

17. The three countries I want to visit most in this world are Japan, France, and the Philippines. Other countries are cool, too. :)

18. I really, really want to go on a cruise before I die. Something about paying a flat rate for all-you-can-eat buffets and entertainment, plus getting to see the OCEAN!

19. I can't wait to serve a mission with Paul.

20. I need light like I need air. Being in rooms that are half-dark or dimly lit gives me headaches and makes me kinda crabby.

21. I was taught how to play chess this semester by some first and second graders, and now it's one of my favorite games to play! I get really excited when I beat the computer. Paul & I bought a small hand-carved set at the Feast this year that will be traveling with us on all our adventures together. :)

22. I love to read, and while I've always been a realistic fiction kinda girl, I've lately been really into historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. I feel my horizons broadening even as we speak!

23. I love Oldies music the best, followed by instrumental and then some Asian pop. There will always be a special place in my heart for John Denver.

24. I love planning events, especially if I don't have to be a big part of it. I could be an event planner professionally. I love themed birthday parties and I get really into the planning stages of almost everything.

25. I am learning how to play the guitar (slowly but surely), and I have enough chords down to play 5 folk songs, 3 J-pop songs, 1 John Denver hit, and about 25 Christmas songs. :)

26. If I were a car part, I'd be the steering wheel. If I were the button on a keyboard, I'd be the "control." If I were a button on a remote control, I'd be "power." Get the point? :)

27. I have an intense fear of failure, which keeps me from doing lots of things I would love to do. I'm working on that. I don't know that I ever learned how to fail gracefully. It's something I try to help my students learn early so that they have a better life.

28. I haven't thrown up since I was 9 years old.

29. I don't particularly like roller coasters, but I'd be willing to give them a second chance.

30. There are LOTS of things I want to learn how to do in life--I just love to learn and I really love the creative process. The four things I want to explore more in the immediate future are ModPodge, stained glass, glass etching, and woodburning. Someday I want to learn how to do cakes, photography, quilting, and paper making, too. People I know are going to get sick of all the handmade presents, but oh well. :)

31. I really like my in-laws. They're as crazy as my own family, and they have been nothing but kind to me. I could've had it SO much worse, and I'm grateful that they have let me into their small, tight-knit world.

32. If I had to describe myself as an animal, I'd want to say a horse because they're beautiful, strong, majestic, wild...but I'd probably, if forced to be honest, say something like a platypus...kinda odd and funny-looking and average but still interesting enough to want around.

33. I'm addicted to chocolate milk. Dean's. It literally flows through my veins.

Okay, that's all, folks. For now, anyway. I spent long enough trying to think of those, I've gotta go rest my brain now. :)

Gobble Gobble Taco Day!

Yes, you read that right. It is a Darland family tradition to have tacos on Thanksgiving, and this year will be no exception! We're stoked. And I'm still making pumpkin pie, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. So there. :)

I actually really love this tradition of ours. I don't know if I love it enough to carry it on when we have kids--is depriving them of memories of turkey and stuffing un-American? We'll decide on that later. For now, though, since Paul's allergic to turkey, Charissa's a vegetarian, Mom hates to cook (even though she's great at it), and I'm not too huge on cranberry sauce or yams with marshmallows, we're all pretty happy with a huge and filling taco bar. Plus, it makes a great conversation topic. :)

In other news, we saw "New Moon" this past weekend and loved it...can't wait for "Eclipse" to come out in June! I'm not a Twilight junkie or anything, I've only read the books once through and I didn't see either movie on opening night--in fact, I didn't see Twilight until it was out on DVD. But I like the series well enough, and I like that Paul likes it well enough, too. So we're excited that the third "installation" is coming out in a mere seven months! I also learned today that they change the director for every movie to give each its own distinctive feel, and now that I've seen the trailer for "Eclipse" I'm pretty stoked about the direction it's going to take. I am always amazed, mesmerized, even, how two people can look at the same thing so differently, or start with the same material and create two completely different visions and products. People are fascinating if nothing else.

FHE--Similes and Home Desserts

I like to pass on fun activities, especially family-related ones, to pretty much anyone who will listen.

Paul & I have recently started planning FHEs again (his work schedule and my school schedule just didn't coincide enough to have real activities, so we read a chapter out of a church book on Monday mornings before rushing me off to my classes...now that he has Mondays off, we are doing it "right" again!). Last night we had a simple little activity that we found out of a book I love, FHE for Newlyweds, and I thought I'd share.

There are 10 categories (cars, food, shoes, animal, color, season, cartoon character, sport, place, and movie star are what are in the book, but I think you could easily adapt the categories to fit the interests or age levels of your family). You basically make up a simile for your spouse in each category, stating the reason behind it--for example, in the car category, you might write, "You're like an SUV because you're adventurous and you love the great outdoors". It was a challenge, but a fun one, and we got a few giggles. And now I can scrapbook the little notes. :)

I won't bore you with everything we wrote, but here are my three favorites Paul wrote about me:

"You are like a pizza, well-rounded with a little bit of everything, and, of course, my favorite."

"You are like ballet shoes, pretty and seemingly delicate but strong enough to support whatever is needed."

"You are like Chicago because I smile whenever I see you."

And here are my three favorite things I wrote about him:

"You are like a puppy because you're friendly, loyal, cuddly, and fuzzy--a best friend to the end."

"You are like your military boots because you always look so polished."

"You are like the winter because you make me want to curl up and stay in bed all day."

For dessert, we made these little house-shaped pastries--basically, you use a thinly-rolled pie crust and cut it into shapes (we used a house), then sprinkle on some chocolate and peanut butter chips and cover with another of the shapes. Bake it in a 375 degree oven on a parchment-covered cookie sheet for about 12 minutes, or just 'til the edges start to brown. Simple(ish) and tasty! And I've got a ton of chocolate and peanut butter chips left over for next time.

It was a good night. Especially since his new shift started today so we'll see even less of each other most days, it's nice to know that I have him all to myself on Sunday and Monday.

Student Teaching

I finally found out my placement for student teaching! I'll be teaching third graders in a small rural community some forty-five minutes away. I'm excited! And terrified. For those of you not familiar with how education works, even though I've had classroom experience teaching and observing each semester here at Purdue, student teaching is a time in which you gradually get control of the entire classroom all day, every day--you essentially become the teacher for a few weeks or months, and then you gradually hand the reins back to your mentor teacher as the year draws to an end. This means that I get to navigate the students through their first-ever ISTEP testing experience, as well as try to help all the students learn enough to meet the Annual Yearly Progress for the Title I school. I get to do the whole parent-teacher conferences thing, and I get to plan lessons day in and day out for a fourteen-week roller coaster ride. Pressure! But I'm still elated. I want to teach third or fourth grade, and I feel blessed to learn from a teacher who has taught at a few different levels. So I say--bring it on!