It's been awhile

It's been a month again since we posted, but things have been pretty crazy. I finished my internship in Gainesville on December 5 and am now officially done with my Master's Degree! On my last day, we had cupcakes and punch, the kids made me really cute cards, and my teacher gave me group photos of our different classes, and a super industrial classroom pencil sharpener. It was a relief to be done with this semester, but it was also kind of sad to leave the kids. They all kept asking me, "Why can't you stay here and teach us?!" and they wanted to know if they were invited to the wedding. Mylia wanted to be the flower girl.

I packed all of my stuff up and drove to Tallahassee that day with an EXTREMELY full car. I couldn't see out the back at all! We went out to dinner with Becky that night at Carrabba's to celebrate me being done, and on Saturday we went over to our friends Andrew and Marisa's apartment to watch the Gators chomp Alabama. Becky and I also made an amazing stadium cake. We were quite happy with the results.


Throughout the rest of the week, Zak had to write and edit several papers, and worked all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I unpacked and organized everything (we have no boxes left!), ran errands, decorated, Christmas shopped, did laundry, and made Christmas gifts. We also got health insurance, car insurance, renter's insurance, changed bank accounts, paid bills, and all of that other fun stuff. It was a busy busy week.

The most exciting part of the week is that I got a JOB! I had applied for a position in November with the Florida Center for Reading Research (which is run by FSU) and while I was in Tallahassee, they e-mailed me and asked if I was still interested. The job description indicated that you had to be available 3 mornings of the week and the pay started at $8/hour. I figured that it would be better than nothing so I went in Friday morning for an interview. The job is seasonal, but for the first 6 weeks while we're in Tallahassee I'll be able to get 30 hours a week and she offered me more money because of all of my education and experience! It's really the perfect job because I'm not locked into anything, I'll be in 7 different elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and a high school, and I get to put research experience through a university on my resume! Friday was a little crazy because I then had to go back to get my social security card, get fingerprinted at the school board, get an FSU ID card, etc. etc., but it was worth it.

Zak had his bachelor party this weekend, where they played military-style laser tag and lots and lots of video games. We can't believe that there's only TWELVE days to go! Lots of final meetings this week, but everything is under control. Can't wait for Christmas and family time next week and then the wedding on Saturday!

love,
z&j