Well, dear readers (if I actually have any left), I know you've been wondering to yourselves,
What has Megan been doing all summer long? In fact, she hasn't posted in something like 4 months! I know, I know, it has been a long time. I am determined that I will begin posting regularly again, although once the school year starts, who knows how long I'll keep that up?
The end of last school year was extremely hectic. In addition to getting all of my paperwork together for the permanent files of each of my students, getting together the paperwork of the students that needed to be held back, and just trying to keep my sanity as well as that of my classroom, I was also looking for a new job for next school year. I had an interview on the last day of the school year, so I took off half the day and trekked up to Canton, Georgia (which is about 45 minutes north of my house, and the farthest north Atlantian suburb--in fact, the principal there didn't really consider Canton as a suburb of Atlanta, but a separate town altogether) and went for a several hour-long interview. It was nerve-racking, but fortunately a totally different environment from the one at which I previously worked. A private school on 13 wooded acres with a private lake (do I sound like a real-estate agent?), it is a school that has small class sizes (generally 13-15 students per teacher plus teacher's assistant), great ammenities, and
extremely involved families. Anyway, I interviewed with the principal and the team of kindergarten teachers to see how we'd get along if I was offered the job. It was a very nice school that seemed the extreme opposite of what I was used to, but of course with that comes a whole different field of problems. For instance, overly protective parents, higher standards to meet, more pressure for me to make sure that I'm doing the right thing, etc.
Anyway, I had the interview and then went back to school for that last half of the last day. I walked in to a surprise party that my students and assistant threw for me (it was really sweet), with flowers, cake, and presents. I cried, of course. But the year ended and I left the school (only to return the following Monday for a teacher work day, but after that, never to return again).
The next day Andy and I left Atlanta for a month of vacation/traveling to visit family members. We packed up a month's worth of clothes and locked up our little apartment and set out. First stop was North Carolina, where we met with our photographer to plan our wedding album (we had Caroline and Mary Katherine with us, but they were actually pretty good considering that we were in the car for 8ish hours that day). Then we went to Asheville to stay at Mimi's house and prepare for Holly and River's wedding (that's my aunt and her new husband). We helped with the cooking for the reception (all the food was done by River's Armenian/Syrian mom, so it was very ethnic--we helped with things like stuffing grape leaves and toasting pita chips and making hummus) and the setting up, etc. The wedding went off without a hitch ('nuff said).
Anywho, we then helped Andy's brother Steve and his new wife Jamie move to their new home in Jacksonville, Florida, where Steve has since started his orthapaedic surgery residency program. We had time to merely move in the furniture and boxes and begin unloading them before we took off for Chicago for Steve's medical school graduation.
We spent a few days in Chicago doing the inlaw thing, and then we left for Mexico, where we vacationed for a week. We were at the Riveria Maya, which is on the Yucatan Peninsula at a resort where we did not much except swim, eat, and drink. It was a very nice time (pictures of the trip are below).
And then we returned to Chicago, drove from there back to Jacksonville (a less-than-fun car trip) and spent several days stripping off the hideous wallpaper in Steve and Jamie's house so that they could paint the walls. We also saw my family, went to a swim meet where Mary Katie placed 1st in two heats and Caroline placed 2nd. We had a big family dinner at my parents' house where a lot of mojitos were consumed.
And then we came back to Atlanta, one scant night before Andy's and my first anniversary. I can't believe it's already been one year! We didn't do too much for the day, since we were exhausted and had to unpack and do laundry, etc. But we relaxed and then went to dinner at a local restaurant. And I got beautiful pearl and sapphire earrings to match my sapphire necklace that was a wedding present from Andy.
And ever since then, you may wonder, what have I been doing?
Absolutely nothing. And it has been perfect. I've read a lot of books, cleaned, cooked a ton (some dishes good, some not-so-good), shopped, caught up on movies, and worried about my upcoming job (I did, incidentally, get the job at that private school, I found out midway through our month-long trip). It has been a perfect end to the summer, which I can scarcely believe is almost over. In a scant 2 and a half weeks, I'll be back at school.
And that's what I know. I hope this post finds all of you well. Although I haven't read many blogs in the several months that I have not posted, Andy has been reading and keeping me up to date. Plus since half my readers are my family and I talk to them practically everyday (or 12 times a day as the case was with my dad and Meredith calling yesterday), it doesn't really matter that I haven't been keeping up. I'll try to do better in the future.
