why i love my job

my computer was in the gym. we were going to listen to our song for colorguard and practice with it. and this is what happens (on a sticky note, of course).


HEY!
HI MS> MASON
yo hi dude dude
what is up homedog??? haha i crack myself in half
lol!
HEY DUDE!!
omgsh!
did u go to the crowder concert??
it was awesome! i luved it
mis amigas y yo were jumping up and down the entire time in the artist's section!!
it was totally worth the label of awesomeness!!
hahahahahahahahaha!
hehehehehehehehe
im supposed to be practicing my speed spins right now i just don't feel like it! so anyways this is allison your computer is cool. i meant cool beans. totally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! flags is cool and is fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omgsh! dude!! so anyways my name is Allison and i am a person and mg is a person too!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nemo like finding nemo did u know nemo is nobody in latin
hola me llama chrissy yo dude what is up home dog blerb spongebob rocks my socks

oh, to be a 7th grade girl again...

and... breathe.

so it is now post-auction time at school, which means it will be time to focus on the upcoming formal, spring break, and everything else that will soon be taking lots of my attention. but auction was great--my photo package went over extremely well, i love the family that won it, and i had the best time spending time with my friends, justin and performing with the oakwoodettes. yay for fancy nights spent at the hilton feeling pretty and having fun.

i know it's late, and i fully intend to go to sleep in about 10 minutes. so bear with me while i get this all down before i prepare for the beginning of another week.

chicken and pastry went over extremely well at young adults. i love trying out recipes that are successful. recipes that are more trouble than they're worth are not so much fun. but this one turned out well and i had so many leftovers, i took them to work. yum!

this seems like an extremely long month paycheck-wise. i'm being very frugal until the 31st. i've figured out that it's probably because february is a very short month, so march seems long in comparison. go figure.

the aquarium stand at work is almost finished. i will soon be working on a paper mache moon for our formal photo backdrop. i LOVE these kinds of projects. i also love when i address issues with kids and hear from their teachers a week or so later that everything is great and going wonderfully. though i know it isn't guaranteed to stay that way, it still makes me feel good.

justin's dad and step-mom, kim, were in town this weekend. we were all couch potatoes for a couple of days. we watched basketball, went to the movies (v for vendetta--psychological thriller with a tad too much violence for my taste) and ate and ate and ate. i now feel like i should go to the gym for days to make up for it. but it was still good to see them and spend time with his family all weekend. i feel like i have lots of laundry to do and tons of TV to catch up on, but otherwise--i'm good. this coming weekend---going to fayetteville for a bridal shower for my cousin meghan.

april fool's is coming up. i feel like seeking some healthy revenge for last year. ideas?

alright, that's it for tonight. i'm spent. later, y'all :)

*gasp*

wow, can you believe it's 2 1/2 months until the end of school?

ha--now that's a look of surprise.

actually, it's a look of a happy, go-lucky girl in the apple store at streets at south point (and her ever-adoring boyfriend in the background). i would have way too much fun with photo booth and an iSight camera. in the meantime, though, i think i'll set my goal at purchasing adobe photoshop elements (the much cheaper $90 version of the typically $500 photoshop software).

i love photography. as i get older, there are more things that i wish i could have included in my life plan. the fun thing is--with some of this stuff, it's not too late. hallie, at work, has helped do wedding planning for several of her friends, and she has one now that's looking for a cheap amateur photographer for their wedding. i told her i'd think about it--can you imagine how cool that would be to add that to my "portfolio"? (i don't actually have a portfolio, but i'm starting to think about it...) i only get nervous because these are someone's WEDDING pictures and i would feel awful if the lighting was horrible or everyone was blinking or i captured all of the double chins in a room. there's just some things that i would love to get technical instruction on--but for the moment, i'm having a good time.

so yeah, we went to southpoint on saturday since there was nothing going on in greenville. i got to see my aunt and my cousins, which was always fun. there's something fun about going to the mall when you know you can't spend much money. you end up taking silly pictures, getting massages in the chairs at sharper image, and watch ncaa tournament games on really big tvs. always fun...

it was a terribly busy week at work. a few new kids to work with, several class discussions, and lots of preparing for the auction and the formal coming up in a couple weeks. the auction is friday, and i have been roped in to being part of the entertainment. this requires a couple of practices after school during the week, on top of my regular meetings and colorguard practices. i'll be glad when that's over, though i'm very much looking forward to friday night. opportunity to get dressed up, see all of my friends at work, sing and dance a little bit, and get to raise lots of money for the school--doesn't get much better than that!

hosting young adults tomorrow (and i also have the day off, so that's great). i'm trying out a chicken and dumplings recipe that my mom gave me, so we'll see how it goes. i'll spend most of the day cleaning and cooking, but i also plan to go to the gym, return a skirt, and see what else i can get into. i am veeeeeery much looking forward to my next vacation--spring break!--where i'll get to go up and see linda at virginia beach. and today, i just made reservations for the ferry on the first weekend in june for justin and i to go to ocracoke with his parents the week they're renting a house over there. can't wait for the summer :)

alright, i should get back to doing some work. later, y'all...

odd bits...

i always buy fruit in pieces of three. not grapes and strawberries, of course, but apples, bananas, pears, oranges--always three.

i don't mind washing clothes, and i don't even mind folding them. i hate putting them up. i'll let them collect in large, folded piles in my laundry basket or on my floor before i'll get around to putting them up.

i leave shoes everywhere. that's one of the benefits to living by myself.

i could not live without my replaytv. it is the most beautiful, amazing, wonderful piece of technology invented.

i always secretly wish i was at the beach. no matter what the weather.

i could eat cereal for any meal of the day. maybe not all three meals in one day, but it is an excellent alternative.

acoustic guitar is my favorite sound, seconded only by really really good piano.

i've been drinking diet sodas for so long that real soda is just too sugary and thick for me. but every now and then, i'll get a craving for it and have to have a "shot" of it (or maybe a sip.)

okay, now that's it :)

sunburn in march?

oh yes, it's possible. aloe has once again become my new best friend.

it's the end of a gorgeous weekend, with 80 degree temperatures and lots of sunshine. hence the aloe. but i spent as much time outside as possible enjoying every possible moment. we had our first picnic of the spring out at the town commons saturday for lunch, and went from there back to the daffodil field to take pictures of carter and sadie, jennifer's (from work) kids. we decided that she would just pay me back by buying dinner at the next book club, and it's helping build a growing collection of great photos. i even put in a package for our school auction offering an hour photo shoot. we'll see how that goes in a couple of weeks... at any rate, we came out with some excellent excellent pictures. click on the website to the right to see them all...
so it's spring break for all of the college kids here. my spring break won't come until april. but that's just a few weeks away now, so it'll be here before i know. tentative plans so far? going to see linda up in virginia beach for a couple of days and... that's about it. let me know if you have any ideas :)

first softball practice of the season today (more aloe). it looks like i will be splitting time between catcher and right field this season, which is fine with me. i still hate batting and opted to have my first batting price of the season at the local batting cages instead of embarrassing myself infront of the team today. i just stress out at batting. amy, the p.e. coach at work, has offered to help me as well, so hopefully it'll all come together and i'll feel more confident about batting. but until then--i just don't like it!

that's really all i can think of right now. so... later, y'all.

in like a lion...

out like a lamb. waiting for that lamb part--we got a taste of it this past week, and it's gonna be a greeeeeat spring.

after completing an extremely successful routine to "respect", i put my colorguard on the task of finding a new song for our next performance. between my 5 (yup, i got one more) 7th grade girls, we had a tough time finding one that they'd all agree on. and when it came down to making the decision, the only one that fit the bill was---"whip it", that crazy 80's song by the band devo. now being a child of the late 80's, i can understand the pleasure of this song and how much fun it must be to my 12 year old girls. however, from a choreography standpoint: it's extremely fast, it follows no basic "verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus" pattern, and it also goes into like 6/8 or 3/2 or something crazy there in the middle. so i sent them back to the drawing board and then finally came up with one on my own. so now i'm listening to "what i like about you" by the romantics about once a day to come up with our new routine. the girls love it, and we learned some new tosses that i'm going to add in there. oh yeah.

middle school drama wears me out. i know i was probably this complicated when i was younger, but it just seems more emotionally draining now. i still love my job, though. (in case you were wondering.)

we watched "walk the line" tuesday night. great movie, very much in the same category as "ray" where you can just see how the music and the musician take shape. i joked around that i would love an accent like reese witherspoon has in the movie. i have had so many comments over the years that i emerged from the south relatively accent-free and only in certain settings (or around certain people) does the accent actually come out. even then, it's not really noticable except with certain words. like "country"--ironically enough.

friday night was the 9th grade sponsored "pizza/bingo" night, meant to be a fundraiser for the freshmen trip to NYC. they were about halfway to their $3,000 goal before friday, and after selling pizza, bingo cards, taking in donations for haircuts (yes, a mom was there doing haircuts--i got one and she was fabulous and evened out some of my crazy layers) and taking in bail money for the basketball coach who was "put in jail"--they surpassed their goal. it was great to be a part of that and help out. i was actually the one counting all the money as it came in, so to be able to give them that news was exciting. i so enjoy being there for those school events. i understand how some teachers need that distinction between free time and school time and to put in extra hours at school with those activities can be hard. but i learn so much from those events and parents get to see me in a more relaxed setting and it's just nice to be able to relate to the kids on a different level. so until i get burned out (or become involved in my own family) i'll be there for those dances and festivals and fundraisers and such.

every now and then, when i'm at the grocery store, i'll pick up a pack of 5 catnip mice for $2. cheap enough for an occasional treat that grace and milo can enjoy. they don't last long, though, because about 2 hours after i've put them out on the floor, all 4 or 5 mice seem to be gone and nowhere to be found. well, justin noticed that milo seemed to be pawing under the couch for something, so he lifted it up and we discovered a stash of about a dozen mice and other cat toys under there. even after we got them out, they continued to lose them under the couch. so now, there are rolled-up t-shirts lining the front end of the couch and the chance for the mice to stay out in the living room has significantly increased. silly cats.

saturday, after running errands and doing some shopping, justin and i decided maybe it was warm enough to get some fresh air. so i directed him to outside of winterville to a little place where i had been once before. yup, the daffodil field. the weather around here has made our daffodils bloom early, and this little grove of trees and flowers was no different. i had fun taking some pictures (which you can see all of them here) but i thought i'd put a couple up. those of you who don't know the story of the daffodil field--about three years ago (wow, that long?), linda, jessica and i went out to the daffodil field to take pictures of us to put in our brand new apartment we were getting that fall. it was a beautiful day and we ended up with some awesome pictures--BUT all three of us ended up with poison ivy in some form or another on our bodies. i was particularly concerned because i had a formal event in about 2 weeks that i had to be ready for. so i was careful yesterday to avoid any suspicious looking plants (plus it was chilly so i was well covered.)

last night's excitement came from #15 UNC beating #1 duke 1) at cameron 2) on senior night 3) right before the ACC tournament. first time they won at duke in 5 years, first time they won at duke on senior night in 10 years. i was never so proud of my tarheels (even though they let duke score 8 points in 51 seconds with 2:30 left in the game--talk about trying to give me a heart attack!)

and finally, the oscars tonight. the oscars, the golden globes and the emmy's are like my superbowl, world series and nba finals. i can name the nominees, i can tell you who is predicted to win, and who should win even though they won't. i watch them all the way through, and i will be able to tell you the next day about what celebrity wore what dress and whose hair was just way too much for their outfit. oh yes, it will be a good night tonight.

that's about it for now. later, y'all.