Oh, the Internet.

Okay, so I came upon this little gadget randomly (though I use the website from which it came often) from perusing a blog I found linked from a friend's blog.

And I love it.

And I love you, Dear Reader, so I thought I would share.

Washington DC restaurants on Urbanspoon

I'm certainly an opinionated woman, but when it comes to dinner, Mr. Peaches and I are quite the typical passive couple. This solves the problem and makes going out to dinner much more interesting. Love it.

Ouch, my ovaries!

They hurt, Dear Reader.

Too.Much.Awesome.

This has been a seriously amazing week.

Mr. Peaches and I decided to order our wedding bands, which are costing us a pretty penny (but we decided we would rather spend the money on something we would be wearing daily forever than on bills or even a wedding).  We are purchasing them from a couple we found online who makes jewelry and specializes in wedding bands like these:

That's a fingerprint you see there- my band will have Mr. Peaches's fingerprint and vice versa.  If you are interested in learning more about the artists or their jewelry, be sure to ask- or wait for me to pay mine off when I'll post a link to their online store.

Yesterday I made our very first appointment to meet with someone and scout out their venue.  It is August 4.  While I'm reasonably sure we will not be celebrating our wedding there, it will be nice to "practice" and ask questions and start to learn how to navigate The Wedding Game.  Gulp.

The First Venue

On the teachy front, I received my orientation information and I got even more excited about teaching next month.  There are three and a half days of events, which I (mistakenly?) believe will be very beneficial to the beginning of my school year.  There is a seminar on de-escalation, student violence, maintaining teaching credentials, and a full afternoon meeting with my department about the curriculum (!!!).


Today I learned about my textbook, including the title and found out there are supplemental plans and curriculum maps for the sixth and seventh grades.  Holy excitement, Batman!  I get to pick them up next Thursday and meet the woman who is (I guess?) in charge of the curriculum for the Spanish/World Languages Department with my City Schools.

Mr. Peaches even received his Law School schedule this week (!!).

Then my friend Miss Mae came over and we talked for hours and hours.  It felt good to chew on life and be "girly" with someone in person.  Miss Mae is also beginning her first year of teaching next month and she just got married last year, so there was a lot to chew.

As I said on my facebook status today, "There is so much awesomeness right now my head might explode." 

Here's to awesomeness.

My So-Called Life

My life of late:

I suspect this will be my life for at least the next nine months.  Stick around, this should be funny (for you, Dear Reader, you sadist).

Señorita Peaches = Nostradamus

On February 6, 2009 I wrote this:

"2010 should bring at least one of these things: law school, the start of a master's degree, a move to Spain, teaching Spanish (somehow the least likely of these things), or a second "real job". And, particularly if my family has anything to say about it, a marriage certificate."

I'm not ready to start a master's degree, and we aren't moving to Spain.  However, in 32 days, Mr. Peaches will start law school and I will officially be "teachy" (as we have termed it here in the Peaches household), which is to say a "real" teacher in a "real" classroom who is really scared shitless.

It has been against so many odds that Mr. Peaches and I made it to this moment.  We lived through seriously crippling poverty, and got by on public loans, private loans, and grants and loans from the Bank of Mama Peaches (also known as "the money tree out back").  I fought professors and department chairs, mentor teachers, and occasionally Mr. Peaches.  We took summer classes and I tripled up on credits by studying abroad.  Praxis.  LSAT.  We did this all living in a COLD place I DO NOT LIKE where it SNOWS two feet in APRIL!

But we made it.

We're still broke, actually, like I-can't-get-my-friend-of-21-years-a-wedding-gift broke, but in the next four weeks Mr. Peaches is going to get his first $9K student loan check from Law School and then I will start receiving paychecks and our financial worries will be nearly eradicated indefinitely (or so we think).  And I can send my friend a statue of herself made of gold to symbolize my happiness for her love.  Or something like that.  Until then, we're just letting our bills...be.  Pile up.  Collectors call.  WHATEVER.  We made it.

The marriage certificate is not happening this year, but last Wednesday, Mr. Peaches was telling me a long story about our future travels to Paris (a city I am totally in love with and convinced I must one day move to).  He talked about drinking coffee on the Champs-Élysées and visit the artists at Montparnasse and playing fetch with Mr. Holden at the Arc de Triomphe.  We would eat baguettes and walk hand in hand all day long.

This kind of fantasizing is not unusual when you are poor (we even fantasized about gourmet dinners), and we have talked about living this way many times before- sometimes it's Paris; sometimes it's Madrid; hell, sometimes it's Cincinnati, but it's always lovely.

This time was different.  This time my heart starting beating faster and some crazy love was in the air.  Hormones and shit, I don't know.  I started thinking, for some totally unknown reason, "If he does not ask me to marry him right this second I will die."

And then he did.

And I said yes.

And cried like a little girl.

So we're doing it.  Details to follow.

Apparently it is still love, Dear Reader, when you take the bigger piece of the pie.

It's a Berry Fun Summer!

One of my favorite people is a woman I call Miss Mae, who I worked with at the only serious job I've ever had.

When Mr. Peaches and I moved to our new city, which Miss Mae shares, she and her wife brought us this:

It wasn't supposed to grow any berries this summer, but we got eight!

¡Bienvenidos a la clase de Señorita Peaches!

Today Mr. Peaches and I decided we would try again to go get my ID Badge for MY NEW JOB. 

Important Note: The badge has to last three years unless you decide to pay for a new one.  Now, I'm not a terribly photogenic human being, so I did primp a little more than usual for this trip to the administrative building so I would at least have that extra bit of makeup on my side.  After all, I have to use this thing forever.

However, when we arrived at the offices, I learned that the Photo ID printing machines (...?) are down.  Still.  Last Monday when I signed my contract the Photo ID area was closed.  I went back on Friday to try again, because this is the very last thing I need to do before I am totally official and I am anxious to get it done.  The system was down, but "should be back up in a few hours."  Today? Still down.

Don't get me wrong, if this is my only problem becoming an official City Schools employee, I'm all about it.  I only live three miles from the office.  I don't even need to take the highway.  It's not that inconvenient.  However, that stupid machine IS the very last barrier between me and being a full-fledged employee so I'm getting a little miffed about that.

Regardless, Mr. Peaches and I decided to head out to my new Middle School anyway, so we could check out my classroom, which has changed since I met with my boss (the principal, duh) last week.  Instead of #108, my room is #210.  And I love it.

Here is my new desk (though something tells me the current teacher will take her chair with her):

And here are my new students' desks (there will be thirty total desks in my room, but I'm still holding out hope that the classes will be smaller than that):

 

 Here is the "front" of the room, which I am considering changing into the back:

I have four chalkboards, three bulletin boards, been twice promised an LED Projector for my songs and PowerPoint slides, and tons of space.  I even have a class website. 

 It's going to be a fun year.

Appley Goodness

A question for you, Dear Reader:


Is it still love if you take the bigger piece of pie??

.

Oh yeah, and happy 4th!

I know it's been a while since I last posted, Dear Reader.

Wanna know what has been taking up most of my free time?

That's right, an eleven year-old computer game.  I apparently never got the memo about its complete and total awesomeness.  I find myself playing for three or so hours at a time and when I lay down at night (once at 430am due to my new found addiction) I think about how I can improve my city.  This is all thanks to Mr. Peaches.

In addition to obsessively zoning residential areas, I turned in the last stray items to make my employment official and am just waiting on the school board to stamp their approval at the Board meeting next week.  I have been creating list after list of things I need and things I want for my classroom and brainstorming ways to use cheaper products.  Later this week I get the textbook for the 8th graders (which I don't plan to use, except as a guide) and my City Schools Employee Photo ID.

I'm getting pretty darn excited.