A thank you to Ron Hawkins

Just a little more than three years ago, I came across a profile in Yahoo! personals. Before I even read the whole thing, I could see that this profile was different from the others. He could spell, for one. 😉 Upon closer examination, I saw that this man and I had a couple of important things in common…among them, a love of music and a love of books.

What really grabbed my attention, though, was the mention of one of my very favorite musicians: Toronto’s Ron Hawkins, frontman for Lowest of the Low. I’m pretty sure that’s what took me from “hey, this guy looks interesting” to “hey, I’ve got to meet this guy.”

That guy, of course, was Rand. In one of our very first email exchanges, he asked me about the last concert I’d gone to. My last concert happened to be Lowest of the Low, and we began exchanging stories about seeing Ron/the Low in concert. Rand started using Ron’s lyrics as the subjects of our emails, and we’d go back and forth, searching for a lyric that seemed appropriate to the topic of our conversation. After a few dates, he sent a message with the subject “you nearly kissed me blind,” and I nearly swooned. 😉 I go back and read those early messages now and then, and they still make me smile.

When he took me out a couple of days before my birthday, he played his guitar and sang for me. Among other things, he played both Subversives and Black Monday. If there had been any doubt in my mind up to this point, it was gone. 😉

Now, I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have gotten together if it hadn’t been for Ron, but it sure didn’t hurt! Thanks, Ron!

And I’m still every bit as smitten now as I was three years ago. (look for a list of things I love about Rand, ala Debbie Ohi, in the near future!)

One more reason…

Why Seanan is teh awesome:

Clicky here.

Heehee. Thank you! This is exactly what I needed today. 😉

Overwhelmed

(Just a little! Kind of scary thinking about all the things I have to think about in the next little bit…)

And so here’s a discussion topic. To my married readers…tell me about your wedding. What did you do? Where? Big and lavish? Small and intimate? Share as much or as little as you’d like. 🙂

My horoscope for todaaaaaaay…

I subscribe to a daily horoscope in Bloglines. It’s fairly unreliable, in the sense that I don’t actually get it every day. This one is technically for tomorrow, which makes it more than a little bit late…

Something big happens in your love life and you can hardly think about anything else. It could be someone new, or maybe a milestone of sorts with your current partner. Whatever it is, keep smiling!

😉

Celebrating with friends

So Jen called me on Saturday on her way home from Rochester to ask if I wanted to go see Superbad with her and Mark. I said sure. She called me a little while later and asked if I’d rather come over to her place, drink champagne and watch bad TV/movies. I said sure. 😉

So I headed over to Jen’s place, and then we went out to buy the celebratory bottle of bubbly. We first went for the supercheap bottle of Ballatore, and then decided that, being grownups and all, we’d opt for the Martini and Rossi.

celebratory bottle

mmm...asti

And then, a toast:

a toast

We had Mark there to take photos for us, so that we didn’t have to do this:

Jen and my chest

Ah, much of our college experience was documented that way… 😉

Jen’s got a few more photos here and a post about meeting up with me for coffee on Friday and then hanging out Saturday here.

I brought my laptop with me to Jen’s, and showed her some of the dresses I was looking at. We planned on watching Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (one of our favoritest movies from way back!), but with the drinking and the chatting, we never really got around to it!

Anyway, it felt really, really good to hang out and celebrate like this. It was exactly what I needed. Thanks Jen!! 🙂

And the search begins

Oh, let’s face it…the search had already begun when I found that lovely (cheap) dress on eBay. The more I thought about it, the more wary I became of making such a purchase. It’s not that I don’t believe the sellers are on the level. The feedback is overall very positive, but there are lots of whatifs. What if I don’t like it, what if it doesn’t fit what if the fabric/colors are wrong, etc…and then I start writing sad short stories in my head about the twelve-year-old Chinese girls who are sewing the dresses…but I digress.

No, we haven’t set a date yet, but that’s not stopping me from looking at pretty things!

Anyway, I did some homework and identified the dress I’m so enamoured of as a Maggie Sottero Eleganza style.

eleganza

I haven’t been able to see this one in person, but I did venture out (by myself) yesterday to try on a few dresses. I did see the strapless version of Eleganza:

strapless eleganza

It’s beautiful. Also, it’s discontinued, so its not too crazy expensive. I think I like the off-the-shoulder version better, though.

I also tried on Grace Kelly:

gracekelly

Which is also quite lovely. Very elegant. And heavy… 😉

And finally…a few years ago, when Susan was looking for her gown and bridesmaid’s gowns, I tried on one that I thought was pretty, just for fun. I was in that shop yesterday, and that gown that I tried on? Is in their $99 room. I’m kind of tempted to buy it just because, hello? $99! It could be sold on eBay if need be. Obviously, it’s an older style, so I can’t find a photo of it online.

So yeah, I don’t know. 😀

Happy, happy, happy!!!

My 33rd birthday. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better…

Well, I didn’t, anyway!

Happy news to follow. This gets a little bit long, so I’m going to cut…

*updated w/new photo!* Continue reading

Career-altering decision news

So, the very first thing I did with my day yesterday was meet with the principal of the middle school in my favorite school district, where I’ve been a day-to-day sub for a couple of years now. They offered me a long-term position in 8th grade English, from the beginning of the school year until the beginning of December. I asked for some time to consider it.

In that time, I talked to Rand, and talked to my parents. I had some hesitations regarding leaving my adjunct positions and potentially burning bridges and such. I also called the personnel office to ask about salary.

I learned that I would make substantially more in the long-term position, plus be eligible for benefits. These are both *very* good things, but just icing on the cake, really. This is an excellent district, a place that I would very much like to work permanently, and it’s a pretty tough one to crack. Getting my foot in the door is incredibly valuable. Also, the experience and building up my portfolio for secondary teaching is very good for me in the long run.

So I couldn’t say no. I felt bad about the adjunct stuff, but there was no way I could pass up this opportunity! Plus, I’m going to keep my evening class at the community college. I’m very excited, and very nervous!!

More bday stuff later…for now, you can enjoy this little flickr set. I’ll be adding titles and descriptions to the photos soon!

Papers to grade. Later, gators!

Hippo birdie (to me)

hippo birdie
(I heart Sandra Boynton!)

Thanks to all who have sent and/or posted birthday wishes!

I met up with Jen briefly yesterday, and she gifted me with these:

cookies

Ginger cookies! 33 of them! Thanks, Jen! 🙂

And of course, I had already received my awesome camera from Rand. I also won the auction for the pretty little dress (which I hope fits me!), bought myself a new yoga mat $12.99 at Marshalls), and renewed my flickr pro membership.

And Thomas has just pointed out that a tropical storm has been named after me. Aw, how’d they know? 😉

Sadly, I really do have to grade papers today. Wah! No fair! I also need to contemplate a career-altering decision that needs to be made by, uh, tomorrow. (if you want more info, email or IM me…)

Later, Rand and I will be going out for dinner. Apart from the grading and decision-making, it should be a good day. 🙂

By this time next week

I will be done (or almost done) with my summer class, and will be able to, at least for a short time, resume normal activities.

Meantime, I’m uploading some new photos to flickr and occasionally goofing off on facebook…mostly when I want to avoid grading papers. 😉