It's been WAY too long...

Alright, I know it has been such a long time since my last post, but I have several good reasons about why I have been away...

1.) School started-Literally, two days before school started, my classes changed on me so I had to do some last minute curriculum mapping or else I would have been swamped my first week. I basically went from 8th grade to 7th which was fine, but I am a little sad that I am not with some of my kiddies. On another note thought, I absolutelyADORE the students that I have this year, they are P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S.

2.) My computer crashed-Oh yes, it definately Crashed and BURNED! It was such a bad virus that they had to erase my computer and reload all of the programs back into it. It was awful.

3.) Somebody hacked into my MSN account- Now, I found out about this from Jen when she sent me a text about the weird email I sent. Therefore, I logged on and checked my sent box only to find a weird advertisement that was sent to everybody in my address book. I immediately shut down the account and sent an email that apologized to everyone for the inconvienence.

4.) Life- Being newly married, balancing school, and just trying to grapple with life can be an exhausting process. Don't get me wrong, I love being busy, but some things just get put on the back burner.

Now to ease myself back into the proces of (hopefully) blogging every week, I decided to deal with what Dana had tagged me with.

♥ What are your middle names?
My middle name is Reed, but it used to be Elizabeth. Truth be told, I miss my old middle name, but I can't imagine not having Reed being a part of my name either. Sigh, the problems of being a girl. :) As for Henry, his middle name is Laurens, which is super cute.

♥How long have you been together?You know, we were asked this question the other week and it took us awhile to figure it out. We had our first date on February 8th 2006 so...3 1/2. On a sidenote, Dana and I both starting dating the "loves of lives" around the same time. Kind of cool.


♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?Hmm...maybe a few hours. I basically met him one night and at the end of talking to him for a few hours, he asked for my number.

♥ Who asked who out?Henry totally asked for my number and another girl's number at the same time. I was the one that was called. :)

(In case you were wondering why he asked for 2 numbers, it didn't want the other girl feel awkward.)

♥ Who made the first move?Henry


♥ How old are each of you?I am 27 and he is 28.

♥ Did you go to the same school?No.

♥ Are you from the same home town?No.

♥ Who is the smartest?I think it is a tie, even though Henry might say me. I just look at him and say, I could never build a bridge and you couldn't write a paper about Jane Austen, therefore, it is a tie.


♥ Who majored in what?Marjorie- English with a couple master degrees. Henry- Civil Engineering.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?Me Me Me ME.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?Qdoba, Moe's, and 5 Guys. We like our junk food.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?Antigua and New York City.

♥ Who has the worst temper?Again, me me ME.

♥ How many children do you want?3

♥ Who does the cooking?Me. Henry doesn't "do" the cooking thing.

♥ Who is more social?Henry. I kind get tired of the social thing after awhile and then I start longing to read a book. That is kinda sad, isn't it?

♥ Who is the neat-freak?Me. Henry lived with two other guys for a long time and they were very messy. He has a high tolerance for Filth.

♥ Who is the most stubborn?That is tie.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?Right now, it is me because I am trying to work out in the mornings.

♥ Where was your first date?Wolfgang Puck's in Cool Springs.

♥ Who has the bigger family?Henry, he has cousins that are twice removed, great aunts, etc.

♥ Do you get flowers often?No, Henry has a thing againest flowers.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?Right now, we rotate, but I am sure that will change eventually.
♥ Who is more jealous?Me, Me, ME. All of Henry's friends are single and they totally put Henry in situations that make me jealous.

♥ How long did it take to get serious?Hmmmm...6 months.

♥ Who eats more?Henry. He has a hollow leg.

♥ What do you do for a living?I teach Language Arts and Reading at a Middle School and he is a civil engineer.

♥ Who does the laundry?Me

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Me

♥ Who drives when you are together?Henry, he thinks I am a horrible driver and I think the same about him. The only reason he wins out is because I want to sleep. :)

♥ What is "your" song?Um, I guess the song that we danced to at our wedding. "I can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis. I picked it because he was from Memphis and I JUST LOVE THAT SONG. (Thanks Ashley R.)

Well, that is all I am going to blog today, I think my water heater is finally ready to give me a hot shower. (Did I mention that I had to have my water heater replaced today? Yeah, add that to my crazy life list..)I will write more this week because I am on Fall Break. :)

Driving in Antigua

Ok, so if you have read my most recent post, then you would know that our 1 month anniversary was this past Monday. Well, to kind of stay on the same kick of what we were doing this time last month, here it is!

Now, this is technically Part II of driving in Antigua because Part I was too big by like 6 gygabites (or whatever the term is) so I had to put Driving Part I on my Facebook page. Sorry if it makes you carsick and definately turn up your volume, it has dialogue. :)

Randomness could be my Middle Name

Well, the title should tell you exactly what this blog is about...random things that have happened since my last post. :)

Well, this past Saturday, I spent the day on the lake with my cousin, uncle, and Henry because the weather was gorgeous! It is like fall temperature here, but still warm enough to lay out and anyone from the south knows how incredibly hot it usually is in July so this is a rarity! I did water ski...for about 30 seconds and it was just an overall fun day. Later on that night, we thought it would be a great idea to see Harry Potter, but we didn't give ourselves enough time between the lake and the movie.

Imagine this...spending all day on the lake, hair matted, skin burned, definately no make up and your deoderant washed away, and you think that you will have enough time to take a shower and make yourself look decent....wrong! We had only ten minutes to change clothes and leave so just imagine what I looked like walking into the movie! Henry told me that it was ok, not to worry about it because I am married and it doesn't matter what I look like to other boys. Of course that made me smile, but I still don't think that boys get that girls just like to at least feel clean when they are surrouned by hundreds of people. I will say that nobody sat next to me in the theater and it was PACKED. As for the movie, definately worth seeing in the theater and it was great. The only complaint I have is that it just shreds the book, but don't most movies do that anyway when they are based on books? I still recommend that you read the books before seeing the movie because the books are way, WAY better.

Now to Monday...

Well, this past Monday marked our (Henry and I) one month anniversary of being married and it was quite a special day.

It began with a lunch that was thrown by Henry's coworkers where they ordered pizzas and cokes to celebrate our marriage. They actually didn't plan it to mark one month, they just wanted it on a Monday, but it was so sweet! I went to Henry's building downtown, saw his cubicle, and met most of his coworkers. It was obvious how much they all cared for Henry because they were beaming at him at lunch. You could just tell that they all thought Henry was the greatest guy and so happy that he is happy. Very very sweet.

Later on that night, Henry took me to the Cheesecake Factory for one of our all time favorite appetizers, Avocado Egg Rolls. Now if you have not tried these, it is a must the next time you go! Anyways, of course we got other things, chicken enchiladas, a burrito, and Godiva Cheesecake, but we come for the egg rolls. Really, really good.

That is all for now..who knows what else could happen this week. :)

Potter Mania

I am absolutely pumped about next week! Why do you ask? Besides the fact that it will be my one month of anniversary of being married, I will be going to see the new Harry Potter flick.

Now, if you ask my college friends, they know how much I love these series. I believe my sophomore year in college they actually gave me some Harry Potter memorabilia (some pillowcases, book ends, etc.) and I absolutely loved it. When the novels first came out, I loved reading them because they were so different from any of the other novels that I read. It had its own terminology, incredible imaginary lands, and was just so much fun to read.

Now, seven years later (has it been that long!), I love the books and movies for an entirely different reason. This series has caused tons of kids to read for hours at a time. Whenever I have free reading time in my classroom, I always see a kid or two pull out one of these books and just stay glued to it the entire time. Watching them read, it reminds me of how I spent my own personal time reading these books (usually late into the night) and how my imagination would just take off with the text.

I wish that I had these Harry Potter books when I was in elementary/middle school because I definitely would have read them at least 3 times or more. Nowadays, Adolescent Literature has changed from the Doctor Doolittle, the Amelia Bedelia's, and the Ramona Quimby's(I actually named my cat Socks after a Beverly Clearly Book!) that I used to read about to Vampires, Wizards, and tons of other things.

Now, since my profession introduces me to a ton of teen literature, I have had the privilege of reading some great books that I never would have read. I will give you a few reviews of my favorites...

The Giver
By Lois Lowery

Ok, I know the cover looks a little creepy, but one must remember the saying to never judge a book by its cover! This book is about a utopia where everything is controlled for the protection of its people. Hence the role of the giver who "gives" the main character Jonas (a 12 year old boy), all of the memories that his people had experienced in the past. Once Jonas realizes how precious all of these memories are; he devises a plan in order for the rest of his people to experience them just as he did. Now, the problem that he encounters is that releasing these memories will not be an easy task as well as, not everybody would like these memories back.

I mean, when one thinks of the word utopia, its a "perfect" world right? Well, in his world, there is no color, everyone looks the same, everyone receives their job at the age of 12 based off of aptitude tests, the elderly are euthanized at a certain age...basically, think about Fahrenheit 451 or A Brave New World. What I love about this story is how Jonas discovers the beauty in the worst and best moments of life. Also, how he has to fight to pass on to others what they should rightly have, like a David and Goliath story. Definitely some good stuff.

Speak
By Laurie Halse Anderson

Another book that I absolutely love is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Now this book is about a high school student who has a terrible, traumatic experience at a party and she is unable to tell anyone about it. Her grades drop, she loses friends, and eventually turns to art in order to cope with what has happened to her. I compare this book to The Bell Jar except that Speak has a happier ending. Warning: This books is very mainstream so beware of scenarios or words that might make somebody uncomfortable.

The House of the Scorpian
By Nancy Farmer

Now this is my action, sci-fi pick that I guarentee that you will not be able to put down. Set in Mexico, it deals with cloning, awful villians, and escaping to a better world. I mean listen to how it starts,

"Matteo Alacrán was not born; he was harvested. His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium -- a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster -- except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself."

If you want something that is full of adventure, then this book will not disappoint.

Now that is all for my books reviews, but as one can see, books have come very far since I was 12 year old. I mean, if I had these around, I might not have ever left the library. Well, I am not being fair, I still had some books that I couldn't get enough of. :)

School is coming up really, REALLY FAST!

First of all, thanks you all for your fun comments about my blog! It is definately encouraging to know that people are excited to read my blog which also inspires me to write some more so here I am. :)

Anyways, I woke up this morning to several phone calls. One from my dad to see if I wanted to have lunch, one from my sister who is picking up a puppy today, and then just my phone alarm telling me to get up. Waking up tired and groggy, I shuffled over to my coffee maker and started making my essential morning cups of coffee.

Standing there waiting for my daily dose of caffiene, my mind started wandering to how I will be in the middle of school this time next month. Anytime, I think about school starting up again, a SNL skit jumps into my mind that I saw in a graduate class that always reminds me of my students. There will always be a day during the year where the test scores are awful, the bordeom level is high, and it is just like pulling teeth to teach whatever it is you are trying to teach. Now whenever I have one of these days, I have learned to laugh about it and promise myself that it will be better tomorrow since these "bad" days are inevitable. Your class cannot be perfect everyday and you will always have a lesson that bores them to tears, but the key is to always learn from these moments.

So check out the skit (Yes I know I got it off a Jewish Teaching Website, but just get past the commercial and you will see the skit) and try to see me as Jerry Seinfield.



Seinfeld History Lesson

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Inspiration hits at the weirdest times...

Well, getting inspired to start a blog happened around 8:30 p.m. on July 10th 2009 after having a very brief phone conversation with my friend, Ashley Parker. She was out and about while I was at home (Henry was having a night with the "boys") and said she would have to call me back. Sitting on my couch watching Ghostbusters II (no judgement please) it hit me that I never have enough time to truly tell my friends exactly what happens in my daily life.

Therefore, I decided that amongest the teaching, thesis writing, newly married life, and overall craziness; it would be awesome if could have a blog that could catch my friends up (and whoever else) with the events in my life. Having all of my friends spread out all over different parts of the country is really cool and all, but puts a kink in communicating. At least this way, I feel that I am somewhat connected to my friends all of the time and hopefully they can enjoy the events of my day to day life.

Now, you have the reason why I am here, now I can get to the explanation of the title. I wish I had something truly creative, like my friend Ashley Riherd's blog: http://eatingcheetos.blogspot.com/ , I mean who can beat a funny creative title like that!?!?! :)

Well, with my blog naming dilemma, my mind drifted to several alternatives...
2Sassy4U (My Samford friends know of this notorious license plate and I thought it would be hilarious!)
Nashvillegirl26 (City,Gender,Age)
LargeMarjville (Nickname from Highschool plus part of Nashville thrown at the end)

Yet, none of those names sounded right and so I just went to back to the basics...books. Books are what I spend a majority of my life looking at these days and my mind was snapped back to something that I say to my kids all of the time. Whenever I have a student that just doesn't want to read, with attitude I say "Books are fun Girl!" (or boy depending on whom I am talking to.) It usually cracks a smile on that "I am not going to do whatever you say" face and they realize that reading isn't the end of the world like they previously thought. Hence, it ended up as the title on my blog.

Anyways, now that the purpose of the blog and the title has been explained, let the blogging begin!

P.S. Check out the playlist...can you guess what the overall theme is? I mean I did just get marriend on June 20th!