Back from Spain...whew!

That trip was such a whirlwind! There was some drama and a few difficulties to endure, but overall, our trip was amazing. My favorite part was horseback riding in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The scenery was breathtaking! We drove from Barcelona (Northeast Spain) 8 hours south to Galera and Granada (Southern Spain), and along the way we saw castles on hills, mandarin orange groves, almond groves, olive groves, the Mediterranean Sea, many traffic circles and crazy road signs. The drive was entirely surreal.

I will share many more details as I get pictures uploaded, but for now, the most important thing is that Mike & I got engaged! It was incredibly romantic - we were sipping wine and watching the sun set between the mountains outside of our "cave house" that we rented. We're both really excited. More to come soon...

#30 - Substitute Teaching

So for #30, I set the goal to sub for 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes, because they are all the grades that I am getting certified to teach. While now I've subbed for most all grades (except 3rd, I think), I can finally cross this one off my list. I wanted to find out how each grade level compared and which I preferred, and I think 7th and 8th is what I'd like to teach. However, I really loved the 2nd grade class that I subbed for. 5th grade was the worst, and 4th came in second. Middle School = major headache. I've gotten lots of great experience, and hopefully someday soon I'll be able to put it to use in my own classroom.

On another note, I'm leaving for Barcelona in the morning, and the excitement is being replaced by the stress of travel. Mike and I are going to IHOP late tonight to discuss all of our last minute details, which we do every time we take a trip, and it seems to help me unwind a bit. I'm not a big fan of IHOP, but it's the only thing open late around here aside from Village Inn and fast food. I'm sure I'll have lots to post when I return. My dear friend Carla is due to have her first baby girl on November 26th, and I'm crazy excited to experience that with her. That's all for now...thanks for keeping up with me :o)

#65, #76 & #92 - Busy month!

So on Columbus Day, Mike & I drove down to Austin to take his Dad to the airport. We both had the day off and decided to hang around Austin for a bit, so I suggested we check out some furniture stores. I had been complaining about our bed for quite awhile and was more than ready to get a new one. We ended up buying an entire King size bedroom set, which we're both in love with and have been sleeping great ever since. Which led me to #76, "Buy a new mattress." While shopping for it all was stressful and we were in a big time crunch to find one because our furniture was quickly delivered, it was all worth the stress and money. Now I'm just waiting for my new duvet cover to come and I need some more art for the walls, but I'm quickly on my way to having a fully redecorated Master bedroom.

Also, while in the process of clearing out the old dressers and making room for the new furniture, we came up with 188 items to donate to Goodwill (and we still have lots more to sort through and donate), so I also completed #65 in the process. The same day our furniture came, the local theater company in Georgetown, the Palace Theater, was putting on a production of "The Producers," and I was able to score a free pair of tickets through Free Night of Theater. Mike was less than enthusiastic because there was a UT game on, but in the end, we both loved it and were so glad that we decided to go. So I also completed #92, "Attend a performance at the Palace Theater."

I've been working on many other goals this month. I finished the 2nd Twighlight book, and today I finished my 2nd week of the Couch to 5K program. Also, Mike & I went to see Railroad Earth (a bluegrass/rock band) at Antone's a few nights ago, which was surprisingly enjoyable. And I've been working a lot on cooking more at home and keeping the house clean. All in all, it's been a great October, but I can't wait for my Spain vacation in November.

Widespread Panic

Last night, I attended a Widespread Panic at The Backyard with Mike and his dad who was in town visiting. The show was very high energy, and lots of fun, except for when they sang "Chilly Water" and everyone started throwing water bottles into the air and I got kind of wet. Other than that, I really enjoyed it. I'm sad that it's the last show I'll ever see at The Backyard (it closes this week and is moving somewhere else), because I have lots of good memories of concerts there. I saw Widespread Panic there last year, and I saw David Gray and Damien Rice with Terrie there a few years ago. I know there were many more, but my mind is drawing a blank. Anyway, it was a good show, and I'm glad I went with him.

Also, I started my Couch to 5K program last week, and it was a lot more difficult getting back into running than I had expected. I felt like I was dying on the first day, but it's been getting easier. I'm going to do my best to stick with it. Other than that, I'm just working and getting ready for Spain.

Camping at Inks Lake State Park, etc.

Mike and I had the "pleasure" of camping at Inks Lake State Park this week. As usual, he really enjoyed himself, and I was reassured that I'm not much of a camping type of girl. It didn't help that the bag of clothing and toiletries I packed got left behind. However, the lake was beautiful, and we got the exact site that we wanted - large and about 10 yards from the water. The dogs had a blast swimming and racing each other for the frisbee, Mike fished for hours and caught nothing, and I read US Weekly. I'll just be sure to double check the trunk before we go camping next time.

On another note, I finished reading Twilight today, and I can't wait to start the second book in the series. The middle of the book got a little mushy for my taste, but it had an awesome climax.

Also, I got to sub for a music teacher today and had to teach songs to Kindergaden through 2nd graders. It was both interesting and exhausting to say the least, but the Principal at the elementary school liked me and booked me for next week, too. While it's fun at elementary, it's not helping me with my middle school teaching goals. We'll have to see what happens.

And best of all, Mike & I bought plane tickets to Barcelona for a spontaneous trip in November. I'm sure I'll be able to take care of some list items over there (maybe riding a train will be involved). I'm so thrilled about the trip, but haven't made any plans yet, so if anyone has any Spain or Europe recommendations, I'm all ears...

Just a few changes...

So after taking some advice from Chloe, I decided to adjust the biweekly and tri-weekly events on my list, #4, #17, and #23. Rather than trying to do something 2 or 3 times each week, I'm giving myself a little slack in case I'm on vacation or something. I just assigned a flat number for each item (250 meals cooked for mike, 300 trips to the park with the dogs, and 400 weight lifting sessions at the gym). I think this will be much better for me, and hopefully I won't procrastinate until the last few months and then go crazy.

On another note, I just started reading Twilight, which is the first book in the Twilight Saga series, and I am loving it. The movie comes out in November and I'm so excited! I recommend that you read it if you haven't yet.

Harder than I thought...

So I've been trying to stay on top of my 101 list and be productive for the past two weeks, but it's turning out to be much more difficult than I imagined. There are some list items that are continuous that I would love to remove (such as lifting weights 3 times a week), so I might end up doing a little reassessing. Also, there are other items on the list that are turning out to be trickier than I imagined to accomplish. I bought my external hard drive to back up my computers, but as of now I only have my Dell backed up. It turns out the external drive can't be configured to back up both a mac and a pc, so now I'm in the process of using the flash drive to transfer my files to the Dell, which is very tedious.

While I haven't been able to cross anything off the list other than #30 (Complete substitute training), I have been making progress towards some others. I just finished my first book for September, Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life. Her second book, Are you there Vodka? It's me, Chelsea, which I read in August, was the funniest book I have ever read - I highly recommend it. My Horizontal Life was also funny, but I preferred her second book. I just hope she writes more and that they continue to improve. Until then, I will just watch her show religiously.

Finishing the list...

So I finally finished my 101 list, and I am very eager to start! I would start now, but it seems to make a lot more sense to wait until the 1st of September, seeing as how many of my goals are monthly. I drew inspiration for many of my list items from many others' lists on-line, and I'm excited about all of the fun ideas that I found. The first 40 items were easy to come up with, but then it took me another 2 weeks to finish my list. Now that it's complete I continue to think of more ideas, so I've had to add some new ones and remove some things from my original 101. Hopefully, I will be able to stick with what I have now. My dear friends Terrie and Ryan are also starting on Sept. 1st, so I'm glad to have someone to motivate me and compare notes with. Yay! I can't wait to start!