one more week..

so as another weekend winds down, i gear up for the busiest week yet this holiday season. i have an event every night, i'm having to find substitutes and turn down plans and after this coming week, it will be surprisingly relaxed on up to christmas. but i have to get through the next five to seven days first :)

friday afternoon, i was able to help paint the aquarium that will go in our 3rd building. dr. lang, our art teacher for elementary kids, has been planning on painting the base of this aquarium for some time, and we're enlisting the help of several middle schoolers to do an "underwater scene." well, while she and another kid worked on sketches of the fish that will be included, one of my 7th grade girls and i got to paint the watery background, blending all of these fabulous blues, greens, purples and pinks into one wavy ocean of color. SO much fun. i love releasing my creative energy into painting projects like that.

friday night was the first time i had seen justin since last sunday, and it had been a tough week for both of us. just being able to give him a hug and talk to him in person made my entire weekend and it made me realize how much we had missed each other this past week. hopefully that won't happen many more times, but when it does happen, it certainly makes us appreciate our time together even more. i went out friday night to celebrate patrice's birthday, and like last year, we chose to go to tiebreakers (a smoke-free billiards hall/sports bar) for some good ol' karaoke. most of us sang a couple of songs ("first cut is the deepest" and "suds in the bucket" for me) and nathan stole the show again with his rendition of "i believe in a thing called love." the guy even made a comment about how all the good singers seemed to keep coming from the corner back where our table was, if maybe we had all come over from the "singing school." we didn't tell him that no, it was just a singing church :)

saturday was sleeping in--yay!--and then lots and lots of christmas shopping. the biggest challenge was finding a parking spot at the mall, but with both me and justin getting the majority of our christmas shopping done, hopefully there won't need to be too many more trips. and saturday evening was spent at joann's house as she and her husband hosted the economics department at ecu and hallie and i stood in as her 'surrogate daughters' since her actual daughters were away at school and she needed the extra help. i cannot say enough about these two women and what they have done to make me feel welcome at oakwood. they are AMAZING and continually remind me how happy i am to be here.

church this morning, lunch with the crew, a few chores around the house and then dinner and tree-trimming at justin's mom and stepdad's house. lots of fun, and now i'm back here doing some more laundry and getting ready for work tomorrow...

and in one week, justin and i will celebrate a year since we first met. what a year it has been--and what a week it is going to be until then!

that's all for now--later :)