Job Searching

I had two different interviews this week for schools.  One in a smaller community as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and the other in a pretty large city as a Social Studies/ESL teacher.  Both positions exciting.  I had the interviews and then heard no dice on both.  I am not sure what God really wants me to be doing right now.  Until that answer comes, pluggin on with some serious job searching!

Helping my mother at the PTO Carnival at school.  We were in charge of the cotton candy.  I let mom do the spinning for about an hour and then I decided I wanted to try it for the last two.  I had cotton candy up my arms, in my hair, all over my clothes and even on my shoes!  It was a blast helping at school though!   I will not need to eat cotton candy for at least another 5 years.

FIRE!!

So this was me earlier today when I said I could go out and start the barbeque for the pork.  So....I cranked up the gas and threw in a match.  The next thing I knew a wall of flame was in my face.  Thank goodness  I had JUST pulled my hair back.  When I pulled back, I check my face, and hair....okay...still there but definitely crispy.  When I came inside to access the damage, I found that my hand was burned, my eyelashes singed (tops and bottoms), my bangs were crisped, and my eyebrows were a little burned.  All in all. . .an exciting experience I never want to have again.  DANG!

History of Rap Part 2

Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon do it again!
This is hilarious!

http://www.justintimberlake.com/news/video_justin_on_jimmy_fallon_history_of_rap_part_2

Korean Subway Online Market

This is sweet! Smartphones!

WEDDING!

Nope not me.  I was in a second wedding this year in Hastings, Nebraska.  This wedding was for my two friends from college, Ashley and Nolan.

Highlights
I knew going into this wedding, that it was going to be very Catholic, which I am totally fine with.  I also knew I was going to be the only non-Catholic person in the wedding party, meaning I am the only one that doesn't have a clue what all this kneeling, sitting, standing business is.  During the rehearsal while the priest was going over everything including communion, he asked, "Well...is anyone not Catholic?" All heads of the wedding party that knew me swung their heads to look down at the tallest bridesmaid.  I slowly raised my hand like I was being called out by the teacher in front of the class.   He smiled and said, "Oh! You always need that Protestant in the group." Everyone quietly laughed including myself and then I said, "Well...actually I'm Mormon." He looked at me for a second, like I just uttered an alien language then went on to tell me that if I did not want to partake of the communion what I needed to do.   Now, before anyone flies off the handle...I DID appreciate him telling me what to do because I felt it would be inappropriate for me to take communion.  Its just a great story.

Our awesome mug holders the bride made us and our flowers!

 

That is their last name...too funny!

Dancing fools! We were definitely rockin the stankey leg!

Our chariot from the church to rehearsal hall!

The Maine Affair

My friend from high school, Betsy Barber got married last weekend on June 18, 2011.  Omaha, Nebraska to Bangor, Maine, slipped into a sweet rental, drove two hours and arrived in Topsfield, Maine.  Topsfield is a small community, there is a church, The Store, two schools, and one intersection.

 Highlights!
*The beautiful ceremony-yeah, I cried. (I know, shocker ;) )
*The reception DJ--all of bridal party and friends, just plugging our favorite in and dancing like crazy!
*Seafood-lobster rolls, home made clam chowder, and soft shell crab. Mmmmmm....
*The groomsman being actually taller than me! (always a plus.)
*Meeting so many cool people and wanting SO badly to go back!
*Being able to do the maid of honor and the bride's make-up, since I was the only 'girly-girl' out of the bridesmaids.

 

Chocolate suckers, Yum! Plus, wild flowers that actually made it!

 

Oh yes, look at those socks! HAWTness!  I had to get them for the girls and my brother, Ben because our bride loves Wicked and Pirates!

 Our bouquets that we made ourselves.  They turned out great!

 

Riding in the wagon from the church to the reception!  But, a group of motorcycles drove by when we were all waiting for something to sit on.  The horse on the left reared up and nearly bolted--a little scary!  Sam-the groom, his uncle, father and the whole bridal party gave the motorcyclists a chewing.  The border patrol showed up and held them back about a mile while we traveling without event to the reception. 

 The adorable church! Part of the bridal party that was near Maine came out to help paint it a few weeks before.  It's gorgeous!

WICKED

So, I had listened to the soundtrack repeatedly the summer of 2009, because the two girls I was working with had seen the show in New York.  We knew the all the words, the order of the music, and the accents that went along with each song.  FINALLY, this past Sunday on May 29th, I was able to see the show in the flesh in Omaha, NE. 

So, so, so, so very good!  I cried, I laughed, and I sang a little to myself too.  It was pretty epic and I really recommend it to anyone.  It is really just a really good, wholesome show about the 'real' story of the Wicked Witch from Oz.  I will definitely being seeing this show whenever possible again!

Let's Argue

There is just something about people that have to argue with you on every point, that REALLY gets under my skin.  I mean, it really aggravates me.  I know, I am a teacher and yes I should be used to this.  But, surprisingly I have had maybe only one or two students EVER do this to me repeatedly. 

I am just curious at what enjoyment people get out of being confrontational with you for a whole conversation.  I am not going to lie, sometimes I like to irritate old friends of mine with this, but to do it repeatedly? No thanks.  

I will agree with that there are some people you just can not get along with. I will also grant that sometimes it is fun to play devil's advocate with people, get them worked up about things.  But, you do not travel in a car with that person willingly, do you?  You do not continue to hang out with this person if they aggravate you to no end, do you? 

How do you interact with people that talk/treat you like this?  

Car Zoo

On May 3rd, I packed my friends and Jessica plus the two kids she nannies for a sweet trip to the Conservation Park/Wildlife Safari.  It's a miniature zoo that you drive through with your own car.  Elk, Deer, Buffaloes, Owls,  Bald Eagles, Geese, Swans, Bobcats, and a sweeeeeeeeeeeeet playground. 

The one year old boy, Jackson sat in his car seat transfixed with the food in his hands or smearing them on the window or side of the car. 

Ally the five year old girl was okay with looking at the animals UNTIL. . .she poked her finger into one of the owl cages and when she pulled it back, gave her light cut.  Good thing I always keep a band-aid in my wallet, because THE WORLD WAS GOING TO END!

Plus Ron was a great sport and entertained the kids!

It was perfect weather and made me really glad to be living in Nebraska.

Stones

 

Since I like to keep things interesting once a year around this time, I thought stones would be a great thing for 2011!

Two weeks I went to the doctor after yet another restless night of tossing and turning in my bed from constant stomach pains.  She told me I was going to have to have an ultrasound done--I'm sure my parents were excited about going to an ultrasound for the alien baby inside of me. 

After about two hours of waiting around for the hospital to call we found out that no, it was not an alien baby but instead a very large gallstone that was causing me all this pain.  How big was it?  1.7cm.  To give you a better idea....about the size of a large steely marble...

 

That's right, the big one in the center.  

So last Tuesday, I talked the surgeon about the procedure that would be done.  He told me that they were going to remove the gallbladder and the stone as well.  Yipee!

Unfortunately, I also had to tell me about past surgeries I have had...that meant telling him all about the toothpick incident. 

What does he say?  

"So Amber...the problem seems to be when you put things into your mouth."  Straight faced.

"Yes...it does seem to be the problem...thanks for the diagnosis."  

So on Friday, the 22nd after waiting for nearly 2 hours in the prep room, I was wheeled into the surgical room. It was freezing!  They gave me some blankets that felt like they had just been taken out of the dryer and then I was OUT!  Anesthesia is amazing.  I woke up and immediately asked if they got it all out...yep they got that pesky gallbladder and stone out.  Along with finding that I actually had 5-6 other stones in there!!! As my friend Val said, "Wow! Good thing they took out that gravel pit!"

After a short of morphine and some other drugs to take off the edge, I was able to go home that very same day.  SORE as heck for Easter weekend but luckily I was not sick! 

Right now I have what looks like four knife wounds on my stomach.  Today they are sealed up and still healing.  

I can't wait for 2012's exciting medical procedure!

Eye Doctor

Try to go to an eye doctor after watching this beauty from Comedian Brian Regan:

 I almost literally bust out laughing when he did the, "Did 1 or 2 look better? One or two?"

Oh man, Brian Regan is hilarious!

Balloons

Recently for one of my classes I'm taking online for my ESL/ELL certification, I had to make a word wall.  Anyhoot, mom and I (but really just mom) made the following.  SUPER CUTE!  It's for the K-2 kids at one of the elementary schools in town. 

Job Searching

Careerbuilder.com. . .great site from my experience. 

I looked on the site last week for ESL/ELL jobs. . .100+ hits for. . .wait for it....KOREA!  Would I mind going back? No.  I loved living in Korea, you know except for that pesky toothpick incident.  But, I really thought when having the 'feeling' to come back that you know, I would find something. . .

Maybe, it's the experience!

Turkeys!

Some of the reasons I love living in Nebraska! This is what I found on my way into work a few weeks ago...turkeys!!

Pinterest

A woman I knew from high school put this sit up on her wall feed a few weeks ago:  www.pinterest.com

I waited I think one week for them to invite me after I sent in my email address.  I think they do this to weed out the spammers. Anywho, the site is a virtual pinboard.  Very cool!  You find pictures from all over the web and 'pin' them up on self-created boards.  You can go through the site, looking at others boards and pin their stuff to your stuff.

It's just such a cool place to find new things that I would never before have the chance to look for or even wrap my head around looking for. I definitely think that you should check it out and sign up!


Some of my coolest finds:

Violin ROCK Concert

Oh yes...you read that title right.  My mother and I received tickets to David Garrett's violin performance.  I was prepared to listen to classical pieces all night and attempt to be sophisticated. 

However, as soon as I saw the stage set up from our 2nd row seat...of a keyboard, drum kit, a bass, and two electrical guitars, I knew that this wasn't going to be your normal violin concert. 

David Garrett's music combines classical and rock pieces together...such as using Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson, Led Zeplin, Metallica and many more.

This is David Garrett explaining and playing some of his pieces.

If you want to just listen to a few pieces of his...here is a video.

The concert was amazing!  Garrett and his band have very good chemistry and you can tell that they love performing.  If you have chance to go see him live...DO IT!

The audiences was mostly people over the age of  40 but there were still people yelling and cheering throughout the concert. 

Including the woman next to me, who had to be at least 50 years old, who asked me,

W: "Do you know how old David is?" 

Me: "Umm...well the program said he was 29, I think...."

W: "Oh  my! He could be my son!"

Me: Thinking....hmmm....why would she want to know that....

W:  "He is so HOT!"

Me: ....omg....

Trying Something New

So for one of my online classes I am taking, we have to go out and have 4 cultural experiances....whatever that means to us.  I wanted to try a new food, that I had I never had, and my dad suggested Ethiopian.  I found a little place on Cass & Saddle in Omaha.....Mmmmmmmm!

Assorted stuff...mmmmm, meat, feta, cabbage, lentils, salad and other stuff!

Meat, bread, eggs, salad....Mmmmm.

By the way, this by far some the tastiest tea I have ever had period!

Seriously, go out and try something new!

The DOD

The D.O.D.  aka The Department of Defense!!

I finally applied to the DOD for teaching, I sent in my stateside application form.  And soon I will be sending off the international one, much to my mother's dismay. 
The application form was fairly easy to fill out, which makes me very, very, very nervous.  I really hope to get past this elimination phase of the application process.  I really want to be in this program, especially if they send me overseas!  All of the benefits of living on base and overseas, how does it get any better than that?...
Plus, how cool would it be to teach social studies or ELL (English Language Learners)- I love teaching!

So let's hope for this toothpick girl getting into government! Woot!

Face-Lift

I have been wanting to change the name of this blog since I have returned from the land of K-Pop.
So I have been thinking and thinking and thinking a little more for the past two months, what makes me unique-out here in blogger world?   Well how many people have swallowed a toothpick and lived to tell about it?  I don't know.....

But here it is!

If you don't know the legendary toothpick story,  here it is  Toothpick Troubles.


ALSO!
I am still tinkering with the name of the blog, if you have any suggestions.....leave them in the comments, they are greatly appreciated!

Reppin "O"

Where You Come From?

Well...I'm pretty close to Omaha....
Yeah check this out, try not to be jealous of my city!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjjEMkNomRc&feature=youtu.be

Dude!!!

One of the guy's in my church just posted this on his blog and well it's hilarious!  Take a long read my guy friends!!



The 10 Commandments of Men's Fashion

http://zacharywanderson.blogspot.com/2011/01/ten-commandments-of-mens-formal-fashion.html