Gravity

JOHN MAYER CONCERT IN 2 DAYS! I am so excited. We're going because it's Sammi's birthday on Sunday and Teresa's birthday on Tuesday. It's going to be pretty awesome. We may even see Jennifer Aniston there because she's been going to his shows. That would be sweet.

In other news, I go back to work on Monday for a math inservice. Then, I have Tuesday off, Wednesday is online lesson plan (a.k.a. KMAC) training, and Thursday and Friday is New Teacher Academy.

I brought Sammi out to see my classroom yesterday. She gave me lots of good ideas, and she's going to help me make some curtains for my shelves. So we went to the fabric store and I got some green gingham fabric, some maroon fabric to make a bulletin board by my desk for my friends and family pictures, and some paw print fabric for "Beckendorff Bear Facts" and to make another small little bulletin board for my Amber pictures. It should be pretty cute, but I can't really put any bulletin boards up yet until I know where my SmartBoard is going to be. Yes, I said SmartBoard! I already went to my training for it and I'm really excited about having one in my classroom.

Oh, and they put our names on our doors already. I was so happy to see it because it means that that's really my classroom!

It's says "Ms. White" but it's kind of hard to see. I'm getting really nervous about having my own 150 students... how crazy is that?

Lunch time!

-Ashley

New Dwellings

I am now officially all moved into my apartment with Teresa and Sammi. It has been kind of hectic getting things settled in and organized, but I'm loving every minute of it.


Can I just say how much I love my roommates? They are so amazing and so much fun. Ok, that's just my little blurb on that.


Today, Sammi and I went to the Harry Wong conference. If you're not privileged to have been an education major and sit through the hours of video lectures given by him, Harry Wong is the classroom management genius. He wrote a book called The First Days of School, and it's pretty awesome. The conference was about 6 hours long, and most of the time he spent talking about classroom procedures... which was actually really helpful. I feel a little more confident now about heading into my first days of school. But enough about that...


So it's really rather weird being all moved out of my parents' house. I stopped by this evening to eat dinner with my mom, and it sort of felt like normal but then sort of not. It was good to see my little puppies. I really miss them.


Ok, I'm sort of rambling so I think I shall go to bed now.


-Ashley

What do you think?

How do you fancy my new blog layout? I thought it was pretty cute.

P.S. I went swimming today! In my clothes! And it was so much fun. I really miss swimming and the great workout that it is. But I'll have a pool to use as much as I want in less than a week!

Family Dinners

I miss family dinners. What happened to the times where you turn the TV off, sit down at the kitchen table and enjoy a meal with your family?

I'm sure there are families out there who still do this (maybe even yours) but my family rarely does. We usually sit at the bar with the TV on (and it's usually ESPN because that's what my dad wants to watch) and hardly have a conversation. It kind of makes me sad because it's pretty much the one time during the day when we can all come together as a family and be in the same room.

Unfortunately, I'm moving out in a week... and my dad's going to Denver tomorrow and he'll be gone through Sunday. So, there's not that many chances left for us to a have a family dinner unless I come over to relive Mom's home cookin'.

Speaking of moving out, I can't believe I'm doing just that! Sammi and I have already started getting our room organized at the apartment (we're sharing a room... it's so much fun!). Yesterday, I went with Teresa and James (Sammi's fiance) to Gallery Furniture so Teresa could buy a couch for the living room. When we got there, we immediately saw Mattress Mack! I heard his voice and it sounded so familiar, so I turned around and there he was. He was on the telephone, though; otherwise, I would've totally asked if I could take a picture with him. Hey, a celebrity's a celebrity even if he's just a snappy "commercial" celebrity.

After doing some setting up at the apartment, my parents took me out to dinner to Sullivan's for my graduation dinner (speaking of family dinners). Yes, I know, it's a little late, but the day before graduation, my friend invited me to go to Boot Dance on graduation night, so we had to postpone. It was the most delicious meal I've had in a long, long time. We had yummy bread, seared ahi tuna, a wedge of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing, filet minion, spinach with garlic, white cheddar au gratin potatoes, crab stuffed shrimp, and for dessert, black bottom peanut butter pie. Don't get scared, this is all the stuff we all had and we kind of shared. I didn't have all of that for myself! That would be scary. But it was all so good.

Well, I think I'm going to go pack up some more stuff to take to the apartment. Have a splendid day!

-Ashley

Where has the time gone?

Time sure has flown by.

I miss the days of being a carefree eight year-old. You have nothing in the world to worry about except making sure your Cabbage Patch Kid doll has on the right outfit to go out and play in.

I miss being able to wake up super early on Saturdays just so I could catch the Saturday morning cartoons.

I miss wearing sundresses and going outside to twirl and watch my skirt float up like a balloon.

I miss playing "house" and "teacher." (Although I am a teacher now, it won't exactly be playful.)

I miss playing dress-up. Oh how I miss it! I used to be the princess of dress-up. My grandmother would give me her old high heels that she didn't wear anymore. I would prance around the house in them, thinking I was a model.

I wish I could just briefly feel like a little girl again. The older I seem to get, the more I wish that I had savored my childhood. It's like it went by in a flash and I'm having trouble remembering it all.

Wouldn't that be neat to be a little girl again knowing what you do now?

Even if it were just for a day, I can't begin to tell you how much fun I would have.

Well, that was a random post. Off to read in bed!

-Ashley

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've updated. The summer has been crazy busy recently, and I feel like I'm just now able to take a breath.

I had a wonderful time in New Orleans/Baton Rouge/McComb/Canton. We met up with my aunt and uncle who are from Oxford, MS in New Orleans and we had a blast. It felt like we walked all around the French Quarter about 4 times! My feet were so sore but it was totally worth it.

That's Aunt Frieda, Uncle "T", my dad, me, and my mom at Pat O'Brien's with hurricanes! Don't worry, my mom and I split one, and we didn't even finish it.





The famous Cafe Du Monde. We ate beignets here for breakfast one morning. It makes me miss living in Louisiana! I was covered in powdered sugar when it was all said and done.

We rode the street trolleys all around the Quarter. This is my aunt and my parents getting off the trolley before going to Harrah's.

The main reason we were in New Orleans was because my dad had some business meetings to go to. So while he was doing that, my mom and I headed to Mississippi. First we stopped in McComb to see my great-aunt Elouise (my grandmother's twin sister). We were actually there a couple of days after Jamie Lynn Spears had her baby at the McComb Hospital (the town was buzzing with paparazzi).

That's the hospital from a distance. I felt very... "Beverly Hills."

Aunt Elouise and me.

So after McComb, we headed up to Canton. My mom and I hadn't been there in several years (because there's really no point anymore since my grandparents have passed). The town square is still really quaint and small town-ish, so I thought I would take some interesting pictures to have printed in sepia to hang up in my room.

This is the Mosby home, a very prominent family in Canton. They own several businesses in town, and no one but a Mosby has ever lived in this house. It's actually been standing since the Civil War.

This is the Presbyterian church in town. My mom said it's one of the first churches, if not the first, to be built in Mississippi. I think it's beautiful.

This is the court house. If you've seen A Time to Kill, then you've seen the court house. They actually play old timey jazz music outside the court house so that when you walk around the square you can hear it. I felt like I had flashed back to the 1940s.

This is my attempt at being artsy.

This is part of the square. Isn't it cute? You can actually see a Mosby Drug Store on the far right.

It was really good to be back and to see Canton. It was exactly as I remembered it.

In other news, I went to my school on Monday with my mom and we started setting up my room. I know it's early, but one of the girls on my team called and said she was going to start getting things ready (she's also the math department chair) so I thought, "Why not?" It took me 2 hours to finally decide on a seating arrangement and how to position my desk, and I'll probably end up rearranging it before school starts. I got a few posters and some border from the teacher supply store, so I'm really excited to actually put it up on the walls.

Time to clean!

-Ashley