So far so good

Hey hey!
It's me again. I am surviving a busy spring semester so far. I am taking my assignments and homework day by day and it's not going too bad. I also had my first day of practicum on the 27th and it went great! I was worried how things would be at the elementary level for me since I've been working in a high school for four years and didn't know if I'd be able to connect with the little ones as much as I do with the adolescents but I made some connections! The little kids loved me and they are all so accepting and friendly. They make you feel like you are the most important person in the world and it's just awesome. The guidance lessons are so bad either. That was the main thing stressing me out was guidance lessons because it involves classroom  management. I think I can be good at classroom management but I don't like to be controlling or mean in any way so the kids won't like me. Know what I mean? I hate the fact of not being liked. Especially when I'm trying to teach them an important social skill or something, but I think with little kids it won't be that bad. My first day I got a lot of direct hours and helped the school counselor with four guidance lessons and we were pretty much co-teaching the last lesson together. It was fun. All of our lessons had to do with tattling vs reporting and I loved the lessons she used. I just need to practice reacting to disrupting moments by the kids and do it in a kind sort of way....or should I? Oh well....this practicum is about learning so I'll make mistakes.

If school isn't stressful then it's wedding stuff. We recently had a little bit of a reception scare. The lady with whom we talked to and made arrangements with and signed the contract with at our reception place left at the end of October and we had no idea until about two weeks ago. Nice huh? I made an appt. to speak with the new lady in charge and she informed us that the other girl didn't write ANYTHING down about our reception details and lied to us about some things. I had a minor freak out.......but thankfully everything is taken care of right now. Everything got written down and we're good to go. Phew. If I run into the previous lady I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. Stupid.

Jared and I had our 2nd marriage counseling session today with my pastor and it went well. It's our last one which is just another check mark off of things to do before the wedding. We also made a deposit down for our honeymoon. Yeeeeeahhhhh buddy!!! Did I mention the picture below is the background on my computer and phone?

Oh, lovely St. Lucia. I can't wait to meet you. How can you help but not say, "Ahhhhhhhhhhh," when you see this picture? It's a daily reminder for me to relax and it helps me get my homework done because this place IS something to look forward to and I know that once ALL my homework is done for the semester I will be able to go there. Yippeee!! Can't wait. Now I just want my dress to come in......

Until next time. Time to keep truckin' on.

I. Can. Do. This.

Another blog update from me in less than a month? Crazy! But needed. Very needed. I am about to embark on a very tough spring and am nervous about it but with positive thinking, self-reflection, positive self-talk, and encouragement I know I can get through it. This spring I will continue to work full time at the high school as a paraeducator, will be taking 12 hours of class at night, start my practicum (one day a week for 12 weeks), and will continue to do more wedding planning. That is a lot. Plus Jared is still in the process of trying to find a job for when he is done with dental school so he's stressed out about that and I'm stressed out that I don't know where we'll be and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I'm getting a little side tracked as I write this because I'm watching The Bachelor. I usually don't watch it but the bachelor is an Iowa boy and I just have to watch it! It's ridiculous but entertaining to watch. I hope he finds a good girl for him who loves Iowa because lets face it...Iowa is awesome :) (although winter sucks sometimes) Anyway........so about this spring....which starts tomorrow because classes start up again....I don't want it to start at all. I will have class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but two of the classes are hybrid classes (live class every other week with online modules the weeks we don't have live class) so that helps my situation. Working full time plus taking classes is tough with getting homework done and not having enough time to do anything but I've been handling it well so far. I didn't know if I would be able to work full time this spring with my practicum starting plus taking 12 hours because the last time I took 12 hours it was awful. I worked it out so I can more time to do homework at work so I'm looking forward to that. I hope having more time to do homework at work will keep me from going insane and homework won't take up my weekends as much.  I love the program I'm in and LOVE what I'm learning I just.....HATE....homework. It's just blah.

For my practicum I will be going to Hoover Elementary school in West Branch one day a week for 12 weeks.  Since I've been working in a high school for the past four years and know adolescents pretty well I wanted to try something different: going to an elementary school to see how I connect with the younger kids and I wanted the school to be a small rural school. I am interested to see how guidance lessons are run and how effective those lessons are at a younger level. I'm good with kids I'm just nervous and hope they will like me!! Guidance lessons freak me out but running small groups don't freak me out as much which is weird. I just want to be good right away but I know I will continue to learn as I go on and will figure out things as I start to practice in school settings. I just want to be a good school counselor and have students want to come to me to help them. I want to be effective as much as possible and have everyone in the school be comfortable with me as the school counselor, think that I do a good job, and trust me. Wherever I end up. I want to be competent and be able to back myself up.

And last..but not least...wedding planning will also be happening this spring. My dress and the bridesmaids dresses should be coming in sometime this spring, we are talking to the cake people in February, having another marriage counseling session (we had our first one this past weekend and it went well), getting the invites printed, assembling them, then sending the invites out in April, registering for gifts, booking our honeymoon, having my bridal shower, and possibly do some food testing for the reception. Don't get me wrong...I love doing all of this but sometimes....because of my OCD and the need to control everything...I feel like I'm doing it alone since I want things a certain way and it stresses me out. My mom offers to help quite often because I've pretty much done everything wedding wise up until now and she wants to feel like she's doing something so I might take her up on her offer this spring just so I don't get too stressed out. She's a pretty good mommy and will do anything to help me out :) Jared has been helpful too (don't want to leave him out) and he said he would help out whenever he needed to which is nice to hear. I sent out our Save the Dates about a week ago and it's been fun hearing and seeing people's reactions when they got it :) I will say one thing I can't wait for is our HONEYMOON!! We haven't booked it yet but we know where we want to go....St. Lucia!! We will be staying at a Sandals resort call Regency La Toc and it looks A-MA-ZA-ZING!! Here is a picture of our resort:

Ahhhh! I can't wait! Let's just say I will be needing a vacation after all of this wedding planning...Jared will need a vacay too :) Any time I feel stressed out during this spring I will just remind myself of our honeymoon and look at this picture. That should do the trick, right? ;) Haha we'll see!

Since today is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day it is only fitting I find a quote from him to help with this situation. "Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." Even though I don't know everything that is ahead of me this spring I have to take a leap of faith and do the best that I can.

Wish me luck as I take on this spring. Until next time!

Peace out 2014. Hello 2015!

I have not written on this thing since July. Wow, Corrie. Come on!!

Time for some updates!

Today is New Years Eve (and also my cousin's birthday, Happy Birthday Sarah!) and 2015 is upon us. Here are a few things that happened in 2014:
1. Took an awesome trip to the Ozarks with Jared's dental friends.
2. Took engagement pictures :)
3. Three of my best friends had babies (Hallie, Rachel, and Lindsay) and another two (Kim and Dana) got pregnant!
4. Ran two 5k's.
5. Jared started his fourth and last year of dental school!! He also passed his manikin boards and second round of written boards :) One more set of boards to go in March.
6. I started my second year in the school counseling program at Iowa and continue to love it.
7. We had to put Sydney (Jared's family dog) down on 12/13/14 :(
8. Got A LOT of wedding stuff done and spent too much money.
9. Jared's dad got a brand new truck and it's preeeeeettttttyyy nice :)
10. I took two summer classes which were not fun but glad I got them out of the way.
11. Got an awesome tan this summer due to playing sand volleyball and softball almost every night of the week. Going to the Ozarks helped further my tan as well :)
12. This winter SUCKED!
13. My dad finally had his hernia surgery. Woohoo!
14. Jared's dad got a new left knee! Double woohoo!
15. I finally got a chance to get back to the Iowa State Fair and it was great. I went with Jared's family. Jared did a rotation at the Des Moines VA for seven weeks so his family and I went up to visit him and took a trip to the state fair. I hadn't been there since I danced with Janet Long so it had been a while! Was good to go back :)
16. My mom got left her job at CDD and is now working in the Pathology unit at the University.

Overall 2014 has been a great year and I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for us. Here are some things happening in 2015:
1. Jared and I get married!! And go on our wonderful honeymoon :) :)
2. Jared graduates dental school, gets a job, and we move away from Iowa City :(
3. We get a dog (fingers crossed and praying to God we get one).
4. Running more 5k's.
5. My bachelorette partaaayyyy.
6. My best friend Dana has her baby and she gets to travel back to the U S of A with her hubby and the little one in July for our wedding.
7. We buy a house (maybe) and I get to have fun decorating it.
8. I get a job (maybe) and start my third and final year in the school counseling program. No more school after this. I'm done!
9. I work my butt off and lose 10 pounds for the wedding.
10. My brother will finally be able to get a cat :)
11. Need to renew my coaching authorization (I am typing this on here so I remember to do this).
12. Jared and I get passports.
13. This is my last year working at City High.
14. See the new Fifty Shades of Grey movie that comes out in February :) :)
15. Go to an ACTUAL haunted house ;)
16. Be happy and stay healthy.

I hope everyone had a tough year this year has a better year in 2015 and everyone stays happy and healthy. My new years resolution last year was to not take life so seriously and just live in the here and now (I like Gestalt therapy if you can't tell) and I think I did an okay job of doing this but couldn't definitely do better. My new year resolution this year is to still not take life so seriously, floss more, workout more, be happy more often, and just have fun with life.

I have a lot to look forward to so why waste time complaining or worrying? I shouldn't! I need to say this to myself everyday. "Stop worrying, Corrie. Just live life and make the best of it."

Happy New Year everyone! Until next time....

Long overdue update!

Hey guys,

Not sure who reads my blog but there's not much to read since I rarely get on here anymore. I got on here a lot during my multiculturalism class last fall when I had to but ever since that class ended I haven't paid much attention to this. I'm sorry blog. Forgive me. Well....here is an update.

Let's see...the last time I wrote on this was in March. Good Lord. A lot has happened since then. I turned 27, two of my best friends had their babies, weddings happened, more wedding planning got done, engagement pictures happened, project getting rid of my mom's crap happened (a lot, she had emails she printed out and bills from the 1980's and 1990's, she is a packrat), project repainting my dressers happened, a trip to the Ozarks happened which was SO much fun, lots of sand volleyball and slow pitch softball has been played, and Jared started his last year of dental school! I am able to write on this right now actually because I sprained my ankle at softball last night so I have it up right now. It's my bad ankle. I swear I have no ligaments left in that ankle. Scraped up my right leg pretty good too. It happened right after I hit a bomb to left field and I was running to first. There was a hole in the dirt in the baseline and I planted my left foot right in it and went down. Luckily it was the last inning, but man it was a good hit! Oh well!

Here are a few engagement pics Jared and I took out at his family farm and Lake McBride:

I just love them so much! Our photographer, Emily Crall, is awesome. She is so easy to work with and has such a fun personality. She rocks. Bottom line. Can't wait to see how our wedding photos turn out next July. Eeek!

Here are some pictures of my mom burning old, and I mean OLD, crap out at Jared's family farm. I was very proud of her. My dad and I went went through most of it and we helped her burn it. There was so much of it we couldn't burn it in one night and we still aren't done.

It was fun going out there and burning the stuff. It made for a huge bonfire. We roasted some hot dogs and brats even. Jared and his dad came out with us and we had a good time. Casey and my dad managed the fire most of the time. Another trip that needs mentioning is going to the Ozarks. There were 12 of us that went down and most of them were Jared's dental friends and they were a blast. They are a fun group of people and going to the Ozarks with them was a great time and lots of memories were made :) I wish we could go there every summer.

Well, that's all I have for now. I got a little bit of summer left before work and school starts. Better make the most of it. Jared leaves for Des Moines this weekend for a five week rotation at the VA there. Yesterday was his LAST first day of school. Can't believe he's almost done. I am so proud of him for how far he has come and am excited to see where the future takes us. I plan on visiting him in Des Moines and possibly going to the state fair. Haven't been to the state fair in forever. The last time I was there was probably when I danced there for Janet Long (a dance program I was in). That was a looooooong time ago. Like 1990's long time ago. I love fairs and I missed the Johnson County fair here so I need to go to the state fair! I'm excited :)

See you guys later!

Truckin' Away

I know....it's been a while since I last wrote on this and I swear I say that every time I write a post. Finding time to sit down and actually write a post takes some time and that's something I don't have a whole lot of, but I should still find time to do it at least once or twice a month if I can. Here is an update of my life:

Hmmm let's see...where should I start? I will start with track. Track season started Feb. 17. Crazy, huh? Practices started the 17th and we had our first indoor meet the first week of March. The season crept on me. Instead if being a paid coach this year I am only a volunteer because of grad school commitments. Instead of going six days a week I can only go three days a week. My throwers are a little sad I can't be there as much but they are still glad they get to see me and I am still glad I get to coach them and be around them. One of my throwers reminded me the other day of why I love my job of coaching and being around high school students to make a difference in their life. I had written a letter of recommendation for her during winter break to attend a college she had dreamed of going to so I was anxious to hear when she heard from the college. She deserved more than anything to get into that college. She is such a great student, leader, and athlete. She is every coach's dream athlete to coach and every teacher's dream of a motivated student who wants to learn and do the best she can. She told me last weekend she got accepted after waiting patiently for the mail for a couple of weeks. She was so excited and she gave me a hug and said she couldn't have done it without me. She said  for the application process she had to write an essay about what events or people in her life has led her to become the person she is today and she told me she wrote a paragraph about me. I just wanted to melt as soon as she said that. THIS is why I love my job. I had made a difference in her life the three years I have known her and this is the greatest feeling to me. As a future school counselor in training I know I will have the opportunity to do this for many others as well. I will continue to do it as long as I coach and work in a school :)

Another thing I can talk about is that I went to see my favorite movie on the big screen....GREASE!! It was a $5 dollar movie night where they play old movies and Grease was one of them so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I'm lucky my mom found out it was playing. Myself, my mom, aunt, cousin, and cousin's fiance all went to the movie and it was so cool! I've been obsessed with John Travolta ever since I saw him in this movie when I was little. I around 7 years old (1994) and still remember the first time I saw it on TV. I was watching TV in my parent's room and came across the movie. I ran out to the living room yelling, "Mom! Mom! There is this really cute guy dancing and singing on TV!! Who is he?!" My mom started laughing and said, "It must be John Travolta." And low and behold it was! I have watched this movie at least 200 times with my cousin (one of my matrons of honor) so she is just as in love with it as I am.....but I think I'm a tad bit more obsessed. We can quote the entire movie and of course we know ALL of the words to every song. It was a neat thing to see it on the big screen like everyone did back in the day :) Was memorable to go to it with my mom. She's even met John before. Yeah, not fair. She used to live in CA back in the day where he lived. She was at a friend's house and was on the deck looking at the view and apparently John was at the house next door and he came out on his deck too to look at the view. They said hellos and I think he said, "Beautiful day, isn't it?" and she said, "Yeah, sure is." And that was it. I don't know how she kept her cool but she met a lot of famous people when she lived in CA so I bet she learned how to keep her cool. Haha. She even met her idol...Barbra.

Wedding planning is another thing I can talk about.....it's giving me a headache. I'm stuck between two wedding dresses I love so I am playing with the idea of being able to alter my mom's dress (since it lightened up quite a bit after taking it to the cleaners) into a mixture of the two. We'll see if our amazing seamstress can do it :) Another thing that is giving me a headache is that I think I am starting to think too much about what others want....and by others I mean my bridesmaids. Yes, I want everyone to be comfortable in the dress....yes, I want ALL of them to look good and feel good in the dress....but I am coming to realize that some don't like certain dresses I like or they all don't agree on a dress so I'm just going to have to put my foot down and pick a dress I think will be best. I try to please everyone all of the time and forget to think about myself.....so I'm going to start doing that as of.....NOW!

I guess I should talk a little bit about my fiance shouldn't I? ;).....he amazes me and makes me proud everyday for what he is doing. Dental school is hard. That's it...well I think it would be because I suck at science stuff.....and he is doing awesome in it. He is in his third year and is in his last rotation of the year. This last rotation is the hardest out of all the rotations they do in their third year....it's called Super Block. He leaves at 7 in the morning and doesn't get home until 10 or 11 at night. He works with patients all day then is in the lab at night preparing dentures and doing other stuff that I don't understand (although I am getting better at what stuff means). He is so dedicated and enjoys what he is doing. He told me he was going to have a busy week this week doing root canals and such but I didn't have a doubt in my mind he'd do awesome. He didn't get home until 11:30 last night and it was only Monday so he was right....he's going to have a busy week. He is starting to look around for places to get a job at and I am PRAYING he finds something close to here. I would LOVE to say close to Iowa City since both of our families live here and most of our friends are here. I wouldn't mind Des Moines but my first choice is around here. Basically, wherever he goes, I will go. When he is done I will have one year left in the school counseling program so I'll stay in Iowa City for a year then go wherever he is. I know he'll be an extraordinary dentist and do the best he can to help others. Can't wait to see where the future takes us! :)

That's all for now! I'll write again sooner before later.....I promise.

Cancer sucks, grad school, and wedding dresses

One year ago today one of my best friends lost her best friend, her mother, to breast cancer. Those of us who are close to Dana are wearing a pink bracelet to honor her mother, Lin. It took all of us by surprise and shock when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mom had gone to the doctor because she thought her skin was starting to look yellow. Little did she know that was the last time she would see her house because she was taken by ambulance up to the University of Iowa Hospital that same day and a month later she was gone. I can't imagine what Dana went through seeing her mother being taken away so fast and so early in life. My mom is my best friend and the thought of losing her scares me every single day. Losing either one of my parents scares the shit out of me quite frankly and I can't help but think about it every day. I'm a worry wart. It's what I do and I hate it. I don't want to live without them. They are my everything. Dana lost both her mother and father within three years at the age of 26. That is far too young to lose both parents :( This girl has gone through so much within the last five years she amazes me by her strength and courage to keep going. Despite everything she has been through she keeps truckin' through.

Throughout the years I have heard way too many people getting this nasty thing called CANCER. I hate it. This nasty thing runs in my family. In fact my family is full of it. Great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, my father, and even my fiance have all experienced cancer. It's like we as human beings can't get away from it. Even if we do everything "right." If we eat right, exercise, aren't around certain chemicals, put sunscreen on, etc. Somehow we still end up getting it and it SUCKS. Cancer survivors are awesome and they are what keeps giving people hope. We CAN beat cancer and we WILL find a cure someday. Until then, cancer can kiss my butt.

On a lighter note, grad school starts back up tomorrow! Well, I guess that isn't a lighter note because I don't want it to start again. Yes, I love what I am going to school for but everything I went through last semester makes me want to cry. Working full-time and taking 12 hrs of course work was horrible. I don't think this semester will be that bad so I should be alright. Track starts next month as well! That's a happy note! :) Sad part is I won't be able to coach as much this year because of grad school but I will still be there for my throwers. You bet your butt I will :) Love my throwers and the rest of the team of course. I was able to coach some club volleyball over the winter break. Was filling in for an Iowa student who plays volleyball for Iowa. She went home for break and I was asked to cover a few practices for her. It was so much fun coaching volleyball again. I flipping love that sport. The girls were great too. They wanted me to co-coach with their coach by the end of it :) Made me feel special. It boosted my confidence and I need that every now and then.

Hmmmm...what else can I write about....oh yes! My mom and I took her wedding dress to Cedar Rapids to the dry cleaners to see how much they could brighten/whiten her dress. If they can whiten it enough then I will probably end up altering it and wearing it for my big day :) I'm excited to see what they are able to do. Won't know for a couple weeks or so. It would be so great if I could wear it. I know it means a lot to my mom and seeing her so happy about it makes me feel so good :) I am still going to go shopping for dresses just because that is fun to do! I was originally going to wait until March to start trying on dresses but I can't wait. I made an appointment to try on some dresses this weekend. It will be just my mom and I for this one. I wanted to go to at least one appointment where it was just her and I so we could cherish those moments together. I love my mommy very much and want to make as many memories with her as I can because life can be short. Dana deserved to make way more memories with her mom than what she was given. Seeing someone go through such ordeal makes you appreciate what you have and don't take anyone or anything for granted.

That's all I have for now. I will try to get on this more, I swear. Haven't been good at writing posts lately. I'm going to go eat my peanut butter cup and chocolate ice cream now then go run a mile. Makes sense, right?

Peace!   

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yep, I know I haven't written a post in a while. My bad. It was a busy semester, okay! Happy to announce my first semester of grad school in the school counseling program is over. Phew. It was definitely a tough one working full time and taking 12 hrs of class, but I did it! There were times I wanted to cry (and often did), throw a fit like a 2 year old (occasionally did), and just give up. Papers after papers and presentations after presentations! I felt like things would never end but when they did it felt oh-so sweet. Even though I lost almost 8 pounds simply because of stress in the process I ended up with all A's and am pretty darn proud of myself. Woohoo! I am enjoying this month break from school and taking advantage of my time by doing what........WEDDING PLANNING!

Wedding planning is so fun! :) There are so many things that come with planning a wedding and it's challenging. Which means I like it! Bring on the challenge baby. I'll crush you. I am already ahead of the ball and we aren't getting married for another year and a half. Our wedding date is July 11, 2015 and already have the venue, church, and photographer booked. Boom! I also already asked my six bridesmaids to be in the wedding and they were all excited :) I made cute little cards for them and gave it to them for Christmas. I am in the process of making sure I get a trolley and DJ I want so those could be checked off very soon. That is if my fiance will let me make those plans. Ya see---I like to get things done right away whereas he is more laid back and likes to take his time. Nope, can't do that. I can do that with some things but when I know I want something, I gotta have it! The girl singing, "I want it now!" from Willy Wonka just popped into my head. Yikes. She really wanted that golden egg. I'm not like her at all, but can be at times ;) Hah. I just like to have things done a certain way and I want to make sure everything is in order. I probably won't go dress shopping until my spring break which is fine. I can wait for that. Speaking of wedding dress. I tried on my mom's wedding dress the other night and actually really liked it! I mean--yeah instead of it being ivory like it used to be it was more yellowish from being in a box for 33 years, it was wrinkly, and was a little too big but overall it was a pretty dress. My mommy is very important to me and I want to incorporate her dress on my dress somehow or even alter her dress to make it into something I could wear. She said I could alter it any way I wanted because she would never wear it again ;) There is some potential and can't wait to start fiddling with it.

 Hmmm....what else to write about.....2014 has a lot of things in store! My best friend's baby girl is due in April. I still can't believe she's pregnant. My other best friend is going to be having a baby as well and is due in June. She has a feeling it's a boy and it probably is. Whenever she has a feeling about something she is usually right on. Two of our good friends are getting married this year and Jared and I get to take our engagement pictures this summer, and Jared will start his LAST year of dental school this coming fall! I'm excited!

One thing that I would like to see happen this year is for one of my best friends who is very far away from me in Australia to have a wonderful year. Her 2013 year was not ideal in any way and she deserves to have a great 2014 year more than anyone I know. She is the most generous, kind, thoughtful, and selfless person I have ever met (besides my mommy) and she deserves the best. She has quite the mouth on her and lets "f" bombs out left and right but it wouldn't be right if she didn't. I hope God blesses her with the many wishes she is currently hoping for and I am constantly rooting for her to get those wishes granted. Love you Dana!

Here is to 2014! Until next time....