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My Word for 2014

If you read blogs regularly, you've probably noticed the trend of, rather than composing New Year's resolutions, to choose a "word" for the year.  Myself, I love writing resolutions.  It's a list - what's not to love?! The problem is, year after year, my list looks like this:

1. Eat healthier
2. Work out more
3. Floss more often
4. Keep better in touch with old friends
5. Join a small group at church
6. Eat out less often
7. Go vegetarian five days a week
8. Wear real outfits when I leave the house instead of yoga pants
9. etc.
10. etc.

By the time I'm done, I typically have - no exaggeration - about 30 resolutions every year.  Let's take a guess how many of them I adhere to for more than a week.

So this year, I've decided to do a bloggy thing and pick a word for the year.  For me, 2014 will be the year of:

living purposefully.

Okay, it's a two-word phrase, not just one word, but whatever.  I love it, because it really encompasses what I truly want to accomplish most.  When I quit my teaching job (ugh, maybe I'll write about that one day), I returned to the restaurant.  While not exciting in and of itself, I was excited that it would give me more free time to figure out what I actually enjoy.  I'm 27 years old, but I don't have any hobbies, really.  Not many interests, either.  So I want to be more purposeful with my free time, using it to enjoy my life.

I want to be more purposeful with my time with Patrick.  Sitting together in bed watching TV as we fall asleep does not count as spending time together.

I want to be more purposeful with my time with my dogs.  Just because I'm tired when I get home from work does not mean that they are.  They have slept all day and want to play!

I want to be more purposeful with my time with the Lord.  Namely, I want to make time with the Lord.

I want to be more purposeful with things that I say.  I don't think enough before I speak, so I want to say what I mean.

I want to be more purposeful with my relationships with friends.  We've only been in Wilmington for 6 months, and I'm not as social as I wish I were.  I miss female companionship.

Really, I could go on and on...kind of a repeat problem of resolutions, no?  But really, it's not the same, because I just want to be purposeful with everything that I do, as much as I can.  Of course not all the time with everything, but I just know that life is short, and I want to actually enjoy mine and have mine mean something.

Do you ever focus on living purposefully?  What do you think of the blogging trend for a "word of the year" instead of resolutions?

Bureaucracy Blues

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I am so very, very sad to report that while teachers go back to school tomorrow, I am not allowed to join them.  And when the students go back a week from today, I will not be allowed to join them, either.  In fact, I will be lucky if I get to go to school the day after Labor Day.  Why, you ask?

Bureaucracy.

This high school wants to hire me, and has no other candidates at this point, and they have recommended me to the School Board.  I have already gone to the county office and completed all of my new hire paperwork and gotten an ID card made.  BUT.  The School Board hasn't officially approved hiring me.  What they are waiting for, I have no idea.  They aren't going to interview me or anything, so whatever information they need they must already have.  Yet here I sit, waiting for a formality.

Then even when the School Board does approve me, I still don't technically have a North Carolina teaching certificate.  Yes, I have completed all of the requirements, and yes, the school district accepts a letter of certification of completion of an approved teacher education program (what a mouthful) from my University, but no, I cannot start teaching in this state under those conditions.  I never thought I'd wish for the South Carolina education system, but down there, this would never have been a problem.  Also, apparently in North Carolina, to be a sub, you must not only have an active teaching certificate, but you must also interview with a principal at an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school before you can get hired on. So this means that to hire me as a sub and have me start out the school year as my own sub would actually take longer than hiring me as a full-time teacher!

So for now, I wait.  Who knows how long it will take for these mountains of paperwork to be processed?

Ah, bureaucracy.  Gotta love it.

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Guess Who's Back... Back Again...

Ahoy!! (Hopefully, you watch The Big Bang Theory and get that joke.  And if you don't, hopefully you think I am awesome and own a yacht.)

I would love to report that this summer has been full of lazy days on the beach, watermelon, outdoor concerts, and cookouts with friends.  Unfortunately, it has been full of my last two graduate classes (in one of which I received a B, which ruined my beautiful 4.0 *tear*), moving, commuting an hour to wait tables open to close, and a fruitless job search.

Okay actually the moving was good.  I love Wilmington... or at least I think I do.  Because there are basically no Social Studies teaching jobs to speak of, I have been driving to and from North Myrtle four days a week, so I really haven't gotten to spend much time up here at all.  BUT!  There is a light at the end of the tunnel...

I FINALLY GOT A JOB!!!!!!

Well, not officially, I suppose.  They do have to complete a background check before they can actually make the offer, and of course there is paperwork involved, but as teachers go back to school Tuesday, I'm rather optimistic that this process is going to be rushed.  Words cannot explain the immense feeling of relief that rushed over me yesterday.

I will explain more once I sign on the dotted line, but I am so soo excited.  And not only to have a job, but to have This Job.  I think this school is going to be a wonderful fit, and I absolutely cannot wait to get started.  Having never really found a true niche for this blog, I think it's going to fashion itself as a chronicle of my first year of teaching.  While the Interwebs seems to have a plethora of blogs and resources for elementary teachers, I find there isn't as much community for high school teachers, which is too bad.

I've also realized that, having fallen deeply in love with reading blogs, I really changed why I wanted to start one in the first place.  When I first logged into Blogger (two awful, ugly blogs ago) (and yes I realize this one probably isn't much better), it was because I missed writing.  I wanted to start a blog for me. Then, as I began reading blogs more and more, I wanted to be a Blogger.  Obviously I failed miserably at this, and I know it's because I shifted my goals from blogging for me to blogging to blog.  Regardless of the goal, the few paltry posts this blog has are mostly me musing about blogging, without actually doing it.

The upside?  No one reads this anyway!  I feel confident that I could really delete the less than twenty posts I have and just start from square one (since I'm only at like square one and a half, anyway), but why bother?  It will give me something to look back on, and, if anyone ever ends up reading my blog if I ever get it going, it will give them a chuckle to see How It All Began.

Or maybe not.  But who cares?  This blog is for me, and I HAVE A JOB!!! :)

Recap: Monday Must-Dos

I know I'm not the only one that starts off my week with a giant to-do list... so here's to holding ourselves accountable and actually getting stuff DONE! (And no fair adding stuff to the list just to cross it off, even though I may be guilty of that myself!)

Moving
- Pay application fees (done!)
- Email copy of my ID, proof of income, and photos of the dogs (done!)
- Email copy of Patrick's ID and proof of income (done!)

Cleaning
- Finish laundry (done! I don't really mind doing laundry, to be honest.  It's just pairing socks that I hate.)
- Guest room - sheets, towels, dust (done! dusting the guestroom is so easy since there's no dog hair in there!)
- Sweep & mop
- Vaccuum
- Fill up the 6000 empty water bottles on the counter and put them in the fridge (until we get a Brita, this will probably never happen.)

Jobs
- High school #1 (apply in person)
- High school #2 (reapply as a JV cheer coach (and hide your enthusiasm while doing so.))
- Send resume & cover letter to private school placement agency
- Check for any new job postings in North Carolina

- cancel Planet Fitness membership (two trips in 6 months is hardly worth the money!)
- try on bridesmaid shoes and tell Heather my size  (had to size up from an 8.5 to a 10, eesh)
- wish Lauren a happy birthday! (done!)
- put the top back on the Wrangler because it is pouring rain! (done! pretty impressed I figured it out by myself, even if it took way too long and I broke half my fingernails.)
- PAY SUMMER TUITION for my last two classes!

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Ughhh now that it's all written out, it looks like sooo much... and that's all stuff that I really need to do TODAY! (Normally the cleaning wouldn't be so very urgent, but I have company coming into town around dinnertime.) But you know what, it's a rainy day, so the beach isn't calling my name, and I have no excuses.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Who's with me? Any must-dos you're trying to cross off your list today? Let me know, because misery productivity loves company!

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Well, it is now Thursday morning, and I got a lot of my list done, but arguably none of the important stuff - the job hunt tasks!  Also, paying my tuition is pretty important, and since class starts Monday, I'm pretty sure today is the last day to do so.  Off I go to do that, and I'll make sure to swing by the gym on the way home to cancel that membership.  As for the job hunt, let's be honest, that will always be on-going.

How about you?  Does your Monday must-do list look about the same as it did Monday, or did you make some progress?