Adventures of Downtown Houston

I wanted to post some pictures of my new place and adventure to Downtown Houston, TX! :-D

First I will share pictures of my apartment. We don't have any furniture for the most part. I brought only what I could fit in my parent's van they loaned me.

Our very empty living room. Complete with fireplace.

(Not that we need it in Texas...)

The dining room with our patio furniture table....

Our breakfast bar and view into the kitchen

The kitchen

Utility room

The pantry

That wall would be where I would put a TV if I had one.

Our bathroom.

My bedroom.

My closet is huge!

So that was my new apartment. I like it here, its is in a great location and is gated. I am close to just about everything! I share my apartment with my roommate Nabil. He is also here from Ball State for student teaching. He's a great roommate and friend!

Patty, her boyfriend UJ, and I went drove downtown Houston, Texas to explore the city! Here are some pictures of our trip:

This is the view from I-45 South into the city.

Miss Patty's driving us on our excursion.

ooooh, shiny!

I was intrigued when I saw how huge this building was!

It has a mini museum, too!

Old time police car

Trooper bike

The memorial wall.

Miss Patty and her friend UJ.

We rode the train through the city.

I'm excited to start school next week. It will be the time for me to see how much I have grown as an educator. More pictures to come, stay tuned!

Welcome to Texas

So, it has been one full week since I have lived in Spring, Texas. I have had the chance to meet some great new folks and scope out my surroundings. I like it thus far, even though it is incredibly hot I would have to admit that I don't hate it.
Well, my activities that I have done involve Teacher In-services and a whole lotta movie watching.

I have watched:
Serious Moonlight **
Kate and Leopold ***
The Blind Side *****
The Lovely Bones *** 1/2
Dear John *** 1/2 (the book is way better.)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ****
Valentines Day ** 1/2 (predictable)
When in Rome ** 1/2 (cute but also predictable)
Precious ***** (This will make you cry, but a must see)

I have given them a Star rating as well those with the most stars I highly recommend.

So, what are some movies that you think I should see?

I start teaching the 23rd of August at Rayford Intermediate in Humble (pronounced without the "H"), Texas. I will be teaching in a 6th grade Deaf Ed classroom and I am not sure how many students I will have in class. I also do not know if I will be using American Sign Language, Sign Exact English, or Pigeon (Which is ASL in English word order.) I have been thinking about a lot of ideas for my classroom and for my LAMP project. The LAMP project is a huge lesson plan that involves a lot of meat and potatoes with standards, assessment, and documentation.
I have been thinking a lot on what sorts of things that I think will be a good fit for my students as well as me. One idea I have thought about, keyword thought, is performing through the art of music. I want to give my students a chance to show that they can be musicians if they want to be. No, this is not because Mr. Holland's Opus, or any other movie you can tie to this. It is however steamed off of the success and inspiration that D-PAN has given to me and many others. Now I have to figure out the meat and potatoes...
1. How to tie this to Texas Standards
2. How to figure out assessment for this...
3. How to connect music...the physics of vibrations or speed of sound to my students.

Any ideas?

With that I am going to do some research.

Do you ever feel as if you have a billion things to do and don't know where to start? I am a to-do-list kind of gal and like to be able to scratch off the items as I get them done but for some reason I'm not getting there lately. I feel as if my brain will explode from everything that I keep cramming into it. I have no one to blame but myself for the condition in which I get myself into. . . I think that one of my goals should be putting my needs first before others. Which is hard for me to do since I am a people person but, the first step is my acknowledgment in the fact that I know that I have a problem.
So, Joey and I talked for a whole 5 mins tonight and I think that we will be in Muncie for at least 5 years before we will move. . . with the promotions and his career goals it will be about that time frame. I really don't know what I will be doing. . . teaching for the Deaf in this area seems to be quite out of reach. That was one of the reasons why I am working on my Plan B as an EMT...
But, it is annoying to me in the simple fact that I have spent a heck of a lot of money on this degree and will be working hard to pay it off for what? ? ? ...Nothing?
I know that in life we have paths that take us on journeys... in which we find new loves, passion, and meaning. . . and that is what I have gotten out of my journey here. I am on a new path of Public Safety/Service... I like the responsibility and rush. But as far as careers go- I don't have an insight in which I should be doing, so far the places in which I like to be the most I do not get paid.
**SIGH**
I like this new background. . . summer is a great season and I love the beach. Joey and I will be able to feel the sand in our toes in a few weeks. Our honeymoon will be in Orlando, FL!!! We'll be driving down there after the wedding on Saturday and just going hitting the open road with the destination being a condo in FL. We'll take our time and explore and just LIVE...which is what I am excited for. . . being with my husband and making memories.

It's about time!

So, I have not had the time to update my blog. Sorry to those who were following. Life is just crazy and busy lately.
I passed all of my classes, of course... ;-) ... and now I am ONE class away from Student Teaching...then graduation.

Wedding planning has been difficult with school, EMT class, volunteering, working two jobs and having a little time for a social life. The wedding countdown is less than a month away and we're close to having everything accomplished.

For our honeymoon we are going to drive to Orlando, Florida. We are very excited and hope that everything falls into place, mostly financially.

Well, I am exhausted. . . this morning we woke up to our next door neighbor's house on fire. We woke up to seeing lights outside and Joe said: "I think their house is on fire." By the time he made it out of the room I had my clothes on and was going to get on my shoes to help. I got outside after making sure my medical bag was accessible from my trunk I found the I.C. (incident commander) of the person in charge of the scene. I identified myself...(Hi, I live next door and I'm an EMT student for Gaston Volunteer Fire Dept.) I checked out the kids and the neighbor and I tried to make them as comfortable as possible. She has a daughter so she grabbed a pair of pants for one of the kiddos and two pairs of socks. After the house was secure and the Fire Department was packing up gear, the family came was ready to have family members to come and get them. I invited them to come into my home but I think they felt bad/embarrassed.

After the wakeup call this morning I think Joe and I are going to put another smoke detector in our home and test them to make sure that they work.

Have you checked your emergency supply kits, smoke detectors, and emergency plans with your family? This is the season for severe storms and we all need to have a GAME plan in place when something happens...
Its just like they say, it's not IF its WHEN.

Take care guys leave any questions you can think of and I will do my best to answer them.

UPDATE!!!

Today we did some kickin' awesome cleaning for Joe's get together at the house. Unfortunately, I found some mold in the bathroom and made the mistake of cleaning it up without wearing a mask and now I feel like I have a bunch of crap in my lungs. :(
I got the most amazing gift yesterday for helping my friends with their computer issues.
She made the snowman with a 5 gallon bucket that has stuffing around the outside of it. Then Felt, Lights, candy and spray on snow. Its BEAUTIFUL!! :D

We also have our Christmas tree up. It's table top size just because we have NO room in my house for a tree anymore with the sofa, cuddler recliner and love seat.

Well tonight Joe has friends coming over for the UFC fight on Pay-Per-View. I am excited to have company and glad that Joe finally is able to hang out with the guys.
We made cookie brownie bars, cheese and smoked sausage, chips and salsa!

Well, I am finished with my last week of classes and now I am going to study like mad for my Math final that is on Friday. The only bad part is that I work over 40 hours this week.

Did I mention that I have a job interview on Monday??
Thanks to Sarah Wood I am going to try and work at Meridian Services Part time to make some more money before the wedding. I am also going to start giving plasma as well to get some extra money. It has been some hard times lately. We have been living paycheck to paycheck this entire year. I am hoping that we can get more financially stable next year!
(Probably not anytime soon in this crappy economy.)

Time to go and cut the brownies and make my cute little food display for the guys. :D
Aren't I just the lil' Suzie Homemaker!?

Hello readers. It's been since Halloween since I have posted on my blog. It's about time to refresh and get a great new background to invite the holiday season into my life. I cannot believe that it is nearly time for finals!! I have just one more week of school before I take my one final exam two weeks from tomorrow...that means lots of time to study!! I am very thankful for that!
Over the past month of my non-blog-existence I have been busy with school, work, wedding planning and my family's visit here in Indiana. I'll talk more about their visit later. I do not want to over populate my blogs with the wedding topic.

So is everyone sick right know? I feel that just about everyone I know is feeling just as sick as I am...and with that its like we are living in the darkness. I cant tell you how exhausting it is to sleep and never feel refreshed... I need my warmer weather-stat!! I haven't been to the doctor just because I do not want to risk getting sicker just by having to wait the several hours it takes to get into see a doctor.

This is the first year for me that it really does not feel like the holiday season. I know if we had kids it would be fun, exciting, and more stressful...but really it is not at all that stressful right now. I am hoping that I can get to feeling better so that I can put in a lot of work time to get a reserve up for the wedding...

Speaking of which i am going to briefly discuss wedding plans as of right now. I have my dress. It's fantastic, I do not want to put up spoiler pictures, but I will tell you that when I walked out of the dressing room all who were by the mirrors gasped or clapped!! :D Which was AMAZING!!
The next thing that we finally gotten care of is the DATE and the RECEPTION hall.
We are getting married on June 11, 2010 in Schererville, Indiana. (YAY!)
As far as colors....and flowers.... not completely sure. I like the idea of Hydrangeas. Colors... are difficult right now. But, I'm sure it will fall into place.

The visit from my sister and mom was great! I had a good time with my mom and am sad that we do not get to do it very often. I miss going out and doing things with her, but it does not make me want to up and move to Georgia any time in the near future.

Alright now I am off to find a fantastic new background. Does anyone know how I can fix my posts so that my cute divider comes back??
Thanks!!

Hope you all are well.

zombie mode....zzzz

I am kinda going through this zombie mode right now, and not because it's Halloween or anything, but because I am not so good at sleeping other places than my own bed. Right now I am with Joe at his parent's house in the Northwest Indiana area. They live out in the middle of the country in a beautiful old farm house. But, since its windy its kind of creepy out and the old house makes lots of noise. Not so bad-- but I hear voices. In the dining room is a EMT radio that is always on... and I hear a series of tones then the voice of the dispatcher. Creepy.

So, I am working more with the Delaware County EMA now and have been put in charge of making them a super awesome website. I am working with a software called, "RapidWeaver". It's proving to me more trouble than I anticipated. I want to post some of the pictures that they had given me, but for some reason it keeps loading my entire iPhoto.... not soo good!!

Speaking of photos--- I have some to share! As you know I bought Joe's Wedding Band last week, and I've been very good at keeping it a secret! Well, I wanted to be cute and propose to him- so I did and he has been wearing it any chance that he gets! :D hehe
Well, we went to Minnetrista, in Muncie to take some pictures in the beautiful fall landscape.This is my Joe. He picked this spot, and I would have gotten a picture of me next to him, but my batteries died! :( sadness


It's great what you can do with a tripod!! :D
There are not too many pictures because the brand new batteries that I got failed me!!
We are going to try again as soon as the weather cooperates. :D


Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic and SAFE Halloween!!!

UPDATE!!! For all whom are confused!

Okay I know this has been nuts trying to keep up with what's going on with the Wedding....

So, Joe and I are not getting married this Friday, Next Month, or this year!
::Drum roll::

We are attempting to get married on

JUNE 6, 2010
Why??
Because I would really love to get married at
Aberdeen Manor
and that is the closest date that
my mom can get to Indiana.

http://aberdeenmanor.com/

I want to have the ceremony outdoors in the garden
then have the reception in their ballroom.
If it rains outside then we can get married in their chapel.

I need to find out where to get flowers and cake in NW Indiana.
I know who my photographer is going to be...
(my mom's prior boss when she was a photographer)

Any suggestions?

TMI Thursdays!!!

Reading TMI's are bad in class...especially if your class is watching a movie and your prof is blind. (not kidding)

BUT yes- check out the site http://www.livitluvit.com to laugh the rest of the evening.

Now to share a TMI story...
One of my great friends in high school had a boyfriend who was also in Band with her. We had gone to Florida to have a concert at Disney World. Well on the way down from northern Indiana. Well, this was before we sat with same sex. (So, she might be the reason why they changed the rules so that we had to sit "same-sex" on the bus!
Well, she and her boyfriend were....well being promiscuous and the bus stated to, well, SMELL... and there was this someone's little sister that was sitting near them and was like. Why does it smell like FISH?! hahaha So that is my lame memory of a TMI. I'll have to work on finding and seeking out more-

Well, have a great day. it's now time to research and figure out what I want to write about for my ENG 393 class paper. I think I'll write about NCLB and how our man "Mitch" is going to screw up the teaching system if he does pass the law that he is in favor for.

i like......fall

I like the:
cool air

yellow orange brown red green leaves

how they flutter then fall

i like the crunchy sounds they make when you stomp on them

I like to rake the leaves in a big pile ..... then DESTROY them.

I like pumpkins

I like scarves

I like cranberry sauce

....i like fall

wedding update...again....

Okay so I know two things for sure....
1. Who I'm marrying
2. That we're going to have the Unit Chaplain do the exchanging of vows.

Now the things that I don't know
1. What I'm going to wear... lol
2. Where we're going to do this...
3. Who's going to be there. . .

What I think is going to happen....
1. My mom, dad, and sister will drive up here Nov. 25th and leave the 29th.
2. We'll exchange vows in the presence of immediate family. (parents and siblings)
3. Then we will all go out to dinner.

But, I am not going to take the date/time off the books at the Muncie courthouse until I hear that my mom gets time off work and that they are going to come up here.

I wish I had more news... I have been working non-stop on this and wishing I could iron things out.

Thank you all for you warm wishes and congratulations. I really appreciate it!!!

The Wolcott House

Well... I had quite a few conversations today with our family...
and our family would like to be involved with our
"wedding"
Which I am totally for ...
but it going to be hard not to have a big thing
which is mainly why we're doing the whole
courthouse thing and then do the
BIG THING
with all our family and friends
(that we can afford to have attend...haha)


So, that brings up the Wolcott House
Joe's family lives near this historical house
And this house is where his sister and brother in law were married.
Well, we were going to have just immediate family
come and watch us become one.
Even though its just to get the military to put me on Joe's insurance.
Moving to Texas (where everyone can carry an gun)
I believe that it will not be a good thing for me to
not have insurance.
**And for the record I am not expecting a child.**

Anyways...
Today we bought Joe's Wedding Ring.
Well, we ordered it and we are hoping it will be here at the end of this month!!

Here's a picture of it.This tungsten band 9mm.
The tungsten means that it will not show wear and tear.
The only thing that I will need to do is figure out what I want to engrave it to say.

We also looked at wedding bands for me and got something a little different.
I will show them when and if I actually get it.

But, yes this is all up in the air now. . . Just wanted to clarify and keep it updated.

Love,
Amber and Joe

Wedding News!!

Exciting News
Dear all my friends and family,

I just wanted to let you all know that Joe and I are getting married October 30, 2009 at 3pm at the Court House in Muncie, Indiana.

........ let that set in.......

Joe and I have been engaged since Dec. 23, 2006 and have been dating since October 30, 2005. We are getting married at the courthouse because at this time in our lives we can not afford to put it off any longer and waiting for funds is not going so well. We want to have a time to celebrate with our family and friends but it will most-likely be in 2011 when Joe and I have more funds when I finally become a career woman. :-)

If you're in Muncie, and would like to join us that would be fantastic! I would like to have a get together that evening with anyone who is interested! :-)
It's not going to be big or fancy until we can put the time and money into it. haha

Thanks for understanding!

Much love,
Amber and Joe

The 3's game....

heyya readers. . . I decided to post this on my blog because it would be a great way to get to know me a little more. :-)

Three names I go by:
1. Amber
2. Ambie
3. Ambernator

Three Jobs I have had in my life (Actually these are all my jobs right now!!)
1. Staples-Retail
2. Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant
3. Freelanced Caregiver

Three Places I have lived
1. Lowell, IN
2. Buford, GA
3. Muncie, IN

Three Favorite drinks
1. Dr. Pepper
2. Coke
3. Koolaid

Three TV shows that I watch
1. Grey's
2. Lost
3. Heroes

Three Places I Have Been
1. Oahu, Hawaii
2. Long Beach, NY
3. Toronto, Canada (boo!)

People who e-mail me regularly (People don't email much anymore. I'll put down websites though.)
1. Ean
2. Letha
3. Facebook

Three of my favorite foods
1. Turkey Burgers
2. Pasta
3. Homemade bread

Three things I'm looking forward to
1. Student Teaching
2. My Wedding
3. Christmas Break

I am super excited about life right now, I just got done meeting with the Student Teaching placement advisor with the Aldine ISD school district in Texas.

I met a great new lady named Patty, who will be my roommate in Houston. :-) WOO!!!

And I am getting my debt under control and becoming more financially stable... yay!

Have a great day!
xoxo
Amber
This picture is of me in Hawaii.... at a Botanical Garden where this tree was made up of the trumpet flowers. It was raining yellow flowers and was soooo beautiful. :-)

My new friend and reader Nicole tagged me in a photo meme.
The rules are:
1. Go to the first photo album on your computer
2. Go to the 10th picture
3. Post the picture and tell a story about it.
4. Tag 5 more people and let them know.

So, My pictures are in order of date and my picture is of my late grandfather.1939-2008
After being diagnosed with esophageal cancer he had to undergo a procedure that removes most of your esophagus. They attach the top of your stomach to your larynx which makes your stomach very small. He was unable to eat all that much food and went through extensive chemotherapy and radiation. Esophageal cancer is relatively uncommon in the United States, and occurs most often in men over 50 years old. It affects less than 5 in 100,000 people.
He was one of those five ...
This picture was taken Feb. 26, 2006 in the Intensive Care Unit at a hospital in
Valparaiso, Indiana.
My grandpa was unable to speak and my grandmother, aunt, and myself all know sign language. He wrote down on paper that he wished he had learned so that he could communicate with us. So, here is him signing, "I love you"

This next picture is one that I would like to share just because it will go along with the story...
This is a picture of Joe and I the same day wearing the masks for the ICU.
We took a sharpie to draw faces on the masks to make my grandfather laugh.
We made a lot of people laugh that day.

Cancer took my grandfather's life in January 2008



The people in which I would like to tag in this photo meme are:
Becky
Ella Unread
I would tag more people but I do not that many on here that would do it. . .

Have a great day
:-)

Thanks to Nicole for the tagging and for making me smile. If you want to laugh out loud check out Becky's blog...t'was quite funny!

what does the future hold?

Sorry I have not updated in a while. I have been busy this week with classes and work. I have been thinking a lot in my spare time about what I am going to do after I get my degree. Someone who I know that just went through the graduate program of what I am getting my bachelors degree in. . . this is his advice to me...
"my advice is to look around while finishing your degree about alternative employment. Teaching special education is very taxing and burns even the toughest out fairly fast. Deaf ed is just politically evil. My biggest piece of advice is not to allow student teaching and finding a teaching position get in the way of you and Joe. You would be making a huge mistake. It would be better to take a resource room in a low paying district so that you can be near him, rather than try to pursue TX or CO for more money etc."

It hurts me to think that I have just wasted so much money on school, and a near decade of my life towards a degree that I am not going to even use. What else would I do??? What can someone with a Special Education/Mild Disabilities/Deaf Education/Early Childhood degree do...but teach?!?

So... right now I am feeling disheartened about what the future will hold for my career. . .
I have had many opportunities in my past of working a vast variety of jobs.
I've been a babysitter for kids with special needs
Worked at a Restaurant
Worked at a Factory as a Gum Tester and QA
Worked as a secretary
Worked as a Residential Advisor in the Dorms in the summer.
Worked at Sally Beauty Supply as a manager
Worked as a Christmas Gift wrapper
Worked as a Manager at a Horse barn taking care of the animals
And currently I work as a freelanced caregiver and as at Staples and I volunteer with the Emergency Management/CERT team.

So, I guess I am pretty much a jack of all trades but what does one do with these things that will actually make money??

fantastic new goodies!

Well, last night til late this afternoon I was sicker than ever with food poisoning... or at least that is what I am calling it. I would go into details but its a little too graphic...But, I am feeling much better now that I slept about thirteen hours.
**sigh**
I really wanted to be domesticated this weekend and get the house cleaned up really good. Also because Joe is staying at his parents working on his car with his dad. I was sad that I had to stay here for the weekend for the training that I did not end up attending for how sick I was.

So, the new goodies are below. . .

Trying to feel better and get out of the house, I went to one of my favorite stores (Target) to do some shopping to spruce up the house.
They had bedding/house wears on clearance!
So naturally I had to look through everything and find the BEST deals.

::Cue Pictures::

First I made my way towards the bedding area. I found this great "bed in a bag" for $99.99.
The last one I had had to be dry cleaned... I washed and dried it and it is ruined... sadface.
But this new one is machine washable and that's a great thing because Rocky.... the droolenator makes things yucky and they need washing at least twice a week!!

Next, I found two fantastic slip covers for my couch ...
they were $12.00 on clearance are actually supposed to be table cloths.
I have a bed that does not need a dust ruffle so
I am going to make some pillows out of the material.
As soon as I get the needle on my sewing machine fixed....
The slip covers are mainly to keep Rocky drool off of the micro-swede. haha

Then, found some great new dishes! They were $1.99 a piece.
They're made out of plastic so they won't be able to go into the microwave,
but at least they will not break!! We had heavy glass plates and they chipped and take up a whole bunch of cabinet space. If you saw my kitchen you would know that I need all that I can get when it comes to space!

So, what do you think??
I think its painfully obvious that I like the design and the colors since everything practically matches. I guess that means that I'm color coordinated. :-D
These great patterns and colors make me want to repaint my cabinets the pretty green color. Right now they are mustard yellow. They are made out of metal and are vintage so they would have to be spray painted. That would be difficult and probably expensive. And it will not be able to enjoy it very long since we are moving by August 2010!
**YAY**

Alright, time to finally make the bed!!! I washed the sheets so that they would be nice and comfy.

Have a great day and hope you're weekend has been good.

the new hair cut. . .

Greeting readers!!!

I have cut my hair, a whopping 6 inches off and its just about shoulder length. I think I might go shorter sometime soon. I want to live with this for a few days.

So, I have joined this website called 20 Something Bloggers. I really like this website, its neat to interact with my age group with people all over the world. It's amazing to see how much you have in common with others. I think that is why I really like about reading blogs and going on the adventure of finding new people that you have things in common with.

I love looking for new backgrounds and buttons. . . pretties I guess.

On my pursuit of reading blogs and learning about all sorts of things I have found out that people have different blog posts for different days of the week. Or that they might post pictures on their blog every day. I am going to try to figure out where I fit in with the whole scheme of things...

Tonight I got to meet up with two old friends. It was nice to reminisce with them about the days when... and it was nice to have a girls night out. I am glad that we're going to attempt to hang out more often. We all should try to spend more time with our friends and loved ones, because we should not look back on yesterday and wonder if we utilized our time wisely.

Carpe Diem ya'll!

the new look....

I am excited to show off my look of my blog. . . It took me a few hours to get it just right, but I think I am happy with the way it looks.

I bought my sister a dress for homecoming. It was on clearance for only $10!! I was super pumped! So, naturally I bought it. . . take a look!

This is the full length of the dress.


The back has a X design.... you can kind of see it here.


Close up to the beading. . .

I hope she likes it!! I think it is beautiful! Especially for $10! Yay for Debs!
If she doesn't get to use it for this dance perhaps she will be able to use if for something else.

Well, I said that I would try to find a bunch of different ideas for the wedding and I found the designer that I want to go through to get my dress....

Here is the storyboard for you to check out!!!
The websites I hunted through was from:
The Knot
Stephanie James Couture
The Buttons Galore
And of course...Google Images


I would love to get some feedback on what you're thoughts are. . .
I am thinking that July will be the best month to have the wedding. Not only because I'll be out of school then but I love summer and the 4th a whole bunch!!

feeling bum'd

So, today was not such a bad day until I came home to find out that Joe has to be in Columbus for the next three days then, he's going to his parents for the weekend. So that means for a very lonely week. I know it could be worse but is still a bummer that we don't get to hang out.

So, I got to email back and forth with two soldiers today. One is currently serving his tour in NEC in Iraq and the other one is in Salerno in Afghanistan. I hope that I can keep their hopes up. Cup of Joe is a great program and I am going to try to donate $10 every other week. I think its the least I can do for them. I know that if my Joe was over there right now I would want someone to do the same.

I have been reading lots of Military Wives blogs and been trying to figure out what to do as a theme for our wedding. I know I want to have a military wedding style but I would also like to make it 40s vintage or maybe Hollywood Glam. My love for this style began when I was in the show "South Pacific" I loved the way they put my hair up and the style is so classy.
Here is a great look that I love. . . some of you might remember it from the 40s episode from Army Wives.

I love this hat as well. I think it would be cool to wear a hat with my dress.... I need to make a "storyboard of idea..."










Sally Pressman