...develop immunity.

after two days of observing first grade classrooms, i am already sick! howisthatpossible?? i've been gurgling warm salt water and guzzling hot water with honey, trying to cure my sore throat and it seems to be working. this may be a looong semester. thank goodness i have the day off to rest.

...let the grass die.

 i loathe yardwork. needless to say, shoving 38792837 milllion leaves into the lake (so they don't kill the grass) was a chore that i not looking forward to. i thought using a leaf blower would be fun & efficient...notsoomuch. thus, i was forced into using a rake which is the P90X of yardwork. i'm gonna pass out!

...cook dinner at home.

  after spending 6 hours observing the first grade classroom i'll be student teaching in this semester, i drove downtown to spend the evening with nicholas. after finding (and finishing) the last of our new year's champagne, we walked to the grocery store in search of dinner ingredients. along the way, we saw a dog in a store window (that we thought was fake at first glance, haha).

back at the apartment, nicholas made penne pasta with broccoli, red bell pepper, and pesto tofu with garlic/pesto bread, while i was sent to the convenience store for some strawberry champagne. mmm. while eating, we watched the imaginarium of dr. parnassus, which was thoroughly confusing. i really have no idea what it was about, though falling asleep in the middle probably didn't help. in my defense, i had woken up at 3 AM from nerves about meeting my cooperating teacher. totally understandable.

...admire music.

this picture of nicholas & i, in the basement of his relatives' house in new jersey (thanksgiving holiday) just surfaced. how cuteee is it?! taken by his amaziiing photographer cousin, whose pictures (predominantly of new orleans and sports) can be found here.

...enjoy patio weather.

my best girlfriends from high school (&before) were both in town at the same time (for once!) so the three of met up for lunch today. we sat in the sun for hoursss eating gyros and pasta salad at papa zuzu's, facebook-stalking michelle's blind date (scheduled for wednesday), and catching up on life!

i laughed sooo much. though we were separated by college for the past few years, michelle's now working in summerville and sara's moving home for medical school in the summer, yessss!

...just add 2% milk.

oh, and upon waking up for the day, nicholas and i went out for bagels with cream cheese and chai tea (bruegger's is sooogood). then, off to work i went. and no, i'm not making resolutions this year. ya know, besides surviving student teaching which starts on the 10th!

...haaaappy new year!

new year's eve was not at all what i expected it to be. you see, just like last year, i was scheduled to close at work. but unlike last year, a party of 12 came into the restaurant at 10:10 pm and took their precious time, not leaving until 11:35 pm. ON NEW YEAR'S EVE!

there i was at 11:55, walking down the street, cell phone in hand telling nicholas to get the tv turned on and the champagne ready! with 58 seconds til the new year, we were live-streaming the ball drop on his laptop. after a kiss and toast of andre peach passion (my new obsession), i had a glowstick bracelet rave in the dark, chugged a glass of champagne in 11 seconds (officially timed), slow-danced to phish, went to pita pit with brittany&co. and played scene-it before everyone got too tired to function.  

though entirely different from last year's experience (spent drinking tequila sunrises and dancing at wasabis til 2 am) - i felt lucky that nicholas and i were able to have so much fun together, just the two of us. he definitely knows how to make me laugh and though i generally dislike phish music, there's something about glowstick raving that makes everything more pleasant.