Are You (still) Listening....?

HEY EVERYBODY!!

It's been foreverrrrr, I know! But, life has been so busy. Let me try to skim through as much as I can~~^_^


Taught 3rd grade after that crazy year of teaching 5-8th grade Special Education! I loved it, but realized I was still getting burned out....I decided to take some indefinite time off. I've currently been coaching soccer and substitute teaching at my former school. I LOVE IT. As long as we can still afford bills and such with my part-time work and Ian's full time, then I'll keep it up! I really enjoy teaching here and there. Coaching soccer has been great~! We are having so much fun and I am still learning a lot about coaching. Maybe I'll just get a coaching cert. so I can continue even after my teaching cert. expires (Which won't be until 2017).

My Daddy passed away this past October. It was and continues to be a difficult experience. I took care of basically everything: cremation, cleaning and packing his apartment, moving his stuff from a storage unit to my garage to sell (still taking up the garage!), and emotionally healing. I was the one to find his body and that has been the hardest to heal from. I think about it all the time, and am not sure how to deal. Everything else about losing him has been easier. I trust that God has him safe and home in Heaven, and that my dad is no longer in pain. He was having a rough weekend before he passed, coming off pain meds. But I love you always Daddy! I will always be your little girl and I know you are proud of who I am and all that I have done. I have no regrets in my relationship with him.

On a happier note:
Ian & I will celebrate 3 years of marriage next week!!!! It's a weeknight so we won't be doing much until the following weekend - then we're heading to Phoenix for the Arizona Renaissance Festival! We went a few years back and it was awesome. I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate besides a fancy dinner. Oh, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the chance to get dressed up, but I really cherish our trips together. We've been to Bisbee, Tombstone, camping, Flagstaff, on a cruise. Those have been my favorite moments we spent together. We are also hoping to take a cruise to Alaska in a year or so, and Disneyland again....hopefully!



Anyway, the biggest reason I want to start using this blog again is to have a way to keep track of my health and fitness goals. I put on a lot of weight this past year with the cruise and not working full time. I am at my heaviest at 185lbs. It's not a lot compared to others, I know! But at 5'4" (on my best days lol), that is a lot of weight! I actually re-injured my ankle I think due to this.
My sis-in-law shared with me the Piyo program and she was super impressed with it. I have only done a couple workouts but I love it! It's yoga and Pilates combined which are my favorite ways to work out. I even joined a soccer team again and I played my first game with them last Friday night. I am amazed I don't hurt today! I'm giving credit to the Piyo. ^_~ I got a bit off track though, because I started a few days ahead of the calendar. I should be on week 2 today, but have missed a few workouts. I'm thinking I'll just do some other workouts til Wednesday, then I can get back to the 1st Week of the calendar. I think I'll do better on this program because I won't be burning myself out like I did when I was doing Zumba and other high intensity/cardio exercises.

My food won't change much, seeing as that has always been my downfall (get that from my Daddy) BUT I will be sure to add in more fruits and veggies to each meal so I am not eating as much of the processed stuff. More homemade, I hope!

Current Weight: 185lbs
Goal Weight: 130lbs --> Lose: 45~50lbs
Workout: Daily, with rest every Friday according to the Piyo calendar (unless I have a soccer game! Then I might skip the day before or after)
Update/Post: Weekly

I also want to post some progress pics....please be kind lol! ;-P
Feel free to share your own progress, if you are working on your health, or give some advice.
Photo taken JANUARY 13th
185lbs

Only done 2 days of the Piyo calendar, plus a full soccer game - so 3 total work out days as of now.

Thanks guys! Have a wonderful Monday~~~

xoxoxo,

     Claire

A Change in My Life~~

Hello all!! It has been only four months since I last posted! That's not bad... ^_~ They have been some eventful months~~ School has been crazy busy! I have never felt so overwhelmed with paperwork. It's like I am never caught up! >.< I am always behind in scheduling or finishing an IEP. Just this past week I discovered I had written the wrong due date on an IEP, but it has been hard finding a free day! I have three meetings next week, an away game for soccer, and there's no school Monday! I have never thought I'd say that I didn't want a three day weekend....but seriously it's like everything decided to hit at once! And it's not even AIMs week!! April is the worst for my IEPs. Almost half of them are due that month!! GAH. It's going to be a tough rest of the year....and I don't even want to think about next year! I am pretty certain they want me to take 5 - 8th grade again. :-/ It really wasn't a successful combination. I ended up having to schedule 5th and 8th grade together for one class. It makes for a weird dynamic, to put it nicely. I can't get them to work with each other. >.< Not a great way to teach. I just pray things will work out budget-wise and we can hire someone else to help! we really need three SpEd teachers for a K-8 school. Of course, with our size, that's apparently impossible. Why does it always come down to money?!?! Moving on..... Let's see. The last thing I talked about on here was Tombstone. I know a lot of people say going once or twice is enough, but we stayed for almost 4 days and it was a blast! I can't wait until we can go back again. We took most of the tours, but missed a few shows here and there and didn't eat at all of the recommended places. But, being from AZ is probably why Ian and I enjoyed it so much. There supposed to open the mine a lot more, so I think we won't visit until after that opens. In October we went to Flagstaff, finally!! I was able to see my NAU bestie, Jun and her family. It was so great being able to visit with her and my nephew, Nico. Taylor was awesome and let us stay with her (which of course saved our cost!) We were originally there for Homecoming weekend and to see some classmates, but they were all really difficult to get a hold of! I didn't even have many numbers...Hopefully next year we can get together! We went camping the very end of November. Boy was it cold!! We prepared well with tons of hand warmers, sleeping bag liners, and even a hot water bottle! haha I was sure to be comfortable. ;) It was a great time with Conor and Michelle too~~~ Except for the run in with illegal aliens....we were hiking and came across them! I don't think they found them, but we did report it to the Border Patrol. Hmm....I think I've caught you up with everything I wanted to. OH! As of Wednesday, I have become a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant!! I am stressing about my job and really concerned about the income as well. I might not be able to spend a lot of time on it until May, but at least I can spend this time learning what I can about the business! ^o^ I am so excited! So, if you don't have a consultant, please feel free to contact me!! I am in the Sahuarita area, but I have a lot of contacts in Tucson. Actually, my Senior Sales Director had a contact in Sahuarita to work mother/daughter sleepovers and such, but she isn't here anymore. I, along with my awesome recruiter Genny, will be in charge of that job now!! I am so excited~~~I have a lot of coworkers with children. :D That's the biggest news I have at the moment. No children yet! ^_~ We are just barely getting to our one year anniversary!! It's in 15 days!!! I need to get Ian's present this weekend, actually. I hope I won't have to order it. :P Well, take care my lovelies~~^_^ Have a wonderful three day weekend!! xoxoxoxo

Long time, no see!

Hey there!! It's been a long time! I've pretty much neglected both of my blogs since coming back from Korea. Everything else just takes precedence and I forget... Anyway, I guess I'll have to go back a few months. The wedding was wonderful! Only stressful up until that day~~^^ I had the best Matron of Honor (love you Ashley!!) and everything just fell into place! My mother in law was fantastic in helping take care of the little things, I took the initiative to ask for help and so many people did! My sister in law, Suz, gave us such a beautiful gift on top of everything else she was helping take care of! Ian and I have fantastic family and friends. Thank you!♥ Here are a few pics. Most of you have my facebook, so you can see the tons of pictures there! After the wedding, I came right back to work~~we waited to go on our honeymoon until Rodeo Break, so that I didn't have to ask for any more time off. I had already used all my days! ^^; Disneyland was awesome! I hadn't been since I was a toddler, so it was all a new experience for me. I am obsessed! I can't wait to go back...in fact the Henry Family reunion might be in CA next summer! WOOHOO~~~^^ We had a wonderful but tiring time. Definitely the best place to go with my best friend<3 PICS! Let's see...school finished quickly after all the fun. I worked a technology summer program and that was a learning experience! I was able to use the technology they wanted to order for the middle school this year. I still haven't had a chance to use the new tech, but they're still getting it all organized and labelled. I get the extra devices so I might not have a full class size. Lucky for me, my largest class is about 10 students at one time. I also already have old laptops from last year. Before I get into the busy life of this year, let me go back to the summer. We adopted two kitties, spent time with family and took a mini vacation right before going back to work! :D I'll share in pictures~~~~ Petie and Apricot! Biosphere 2~ 6 Month Anniversary♥ Tombstone stay-cation ^_^ That's about it for now! I have to go and get ready for my meeting this afternoon, so I'll post again later. Soon, I hope!! ^.^

Deck the Halls~ *^o^*

Hellooooo~~

Been a long time huh?! Don't even know if anyone is following this blog anymore! :P

Anyway, a lot of updates for you:

- Wedding in less than 2 months!!! OH MY! YAY!! ^_^ I am so stressed right now, but I start break after this coming week and that means I'll have more time to get some organization and planning done!
Major blessing coming next week too!! I applied to take part in the 301 money (we have to do a few "extra" things...that honestly help with my teaching so I don't mind doing them!) and we get half of it before the holidays!! Which means I get some extra income for the wedding!!! :D This makes me so happy and a lot less worried about things. We should probably put it towards the Disneyland Honeymoon so we can reserve our room and such.

- Christmas is coming~!! We are going to spend the Eve with Ian's family and head to NM to see my family on Christmas and possibly stay an extra day. Need to call my mom today and finalize all that.
I decorated the little white tree I have and bought a few extra things to put around the house. Not much but I'll make an effort to hunt for deals on decor that we can use next year. It's a big house to decorate! :P

- Also on the house...we're pretty much moved in! I have a lot of things at John n Ashley's since I'm living there, but that will get moved out probably the last week in January or after the wedding. ;) It's going to be busy!! I am only taking the day before the wedding off from school. But, I've already had a few people suggest I take the week off. It's so much easier not to plan for a sub, tho! We'll see how January goes and I'll decide. I just don't have enough extra days off! I'm using them already with the wedding and honeymoon. I accrue days but enough for what I've already asked off by then. I think it'll work out~~~

- We hosted Thanksgiving at our house too! It was a blast and a little stressful. But our kitchen isn't quite set up enough for more than a few people cooking in there. We had almost 4 people trying to cook some dishes!! It was busy busy~~~The food was delicious!! Had a lot of leftovers even after we passed it out to send home. ;)

- I'm at home today...woke up stuffy and coughing yesterday so I decided to take it easy this weekend. I have another week of school so I wanted to fight this cold off before it got worse. Especially because I have too much to do during break!! Hope it works~~~keep praying for health for everyone during this season!♥

- Goal today: Clean up a bit (need to get my body moving!) and possibly work out. I'll do yoga since that's a little easier on my energy. I slept a lot yesterday and last night, so I should be okay on that but I don't wanna overdo it~

Have a wonderful day and week!♥

things to come

It's been even more busy since the last time I updated. I didn't know that was possible!! :P

We put in an offer on a house. It was everything we wanted! Perfect size, gorgeous kitchen, nice layout. Everything! But, it had 7 other offers...and sadly we didn't get the house. We recovered and went searching again last weekend. Found a house just as nice, with a different layout. It's two story, but we feel that with the houses being sold so fast, we have to keep options open (we were only looking at single story). It's a small size, but large enough for us. It's also in Rancho Sahuarita! They have some awesome amenities. :)

Also started teacher orientation last week. The kids come back the day after tomorrow!! :D I am so not ready, but pretty calm about it. I teach Special Ed resource so I won't be seeing the kids outside of the classroom until next week, sometime. That means I'll have time to get a schedule made and some lessons organized.
The classroom still needs work too. But I share the large room with three other teachers, so it was hard to set up without them all there. Finally had that chance today. :) It'll come together!

I moved closer to my work, staying with my friend Ashley and John. They have been wonderful and so helpful to me! It's gonna be a nice transition into the new home once Ian and I are married. Still unsure whether Ian or I will move into the house. He has an apt contract that he might not be able to change. But he just renewed it, so it might be easy. We'll see~~

I guess that's it for now. Getting adjusted to the early days. It's only 8pm and I want to go to bed! :P I might just go and read until 9. One final day to prepare for the kids!!! Meet and greet at school is tomorrow! Wish us luck~~~♥

Back in the states~

I'm back in town! Have been since July 3rd, but I've been a busy bee~~~I have wedding and job stuff to take care of. Here's an update:

I made cake pops!! :PPPP They turned out better today than when I started them on Monday. Although, the next recipe I might try less cream cheese frosting just to save on those calories and sugar. They're very rich!
We want to use them for the wedding favors! So cute, right?! XDDD Here's the link for the recipe and a pic of my attempt:

CAKEPOP RECIPE



Also found my dress!!!!!! :DDD I bought it last week~~ Here's a link to the pic of me. That way if Ian wants to check out my recent posts, he won't see it. ^o^
DON'T CLICK THESE BB!
FRONT
BACK

Even went and figured out tuxes today! Found a store much better than David's Bridal! Guh they were charging me so much and I didn't like their styles for the vests. Word of advice: Go with the smaller rental shops, they'll charge less and take care of you~~much better customer service! And we haven't even dealt with the fitting...

Still working on bridesmaid dresses. I can't decide on styles/lengths. It's going to be February but Arizona is not that cold in winter and it's an indoor wedding. But, I'll just go with some of my girls and have them try a bunch on. XP One of them is requesting longer styles.

JOB! I HAVE A JOB!! I was offered the Spec Ed position at Continental Elementary School in Sahuarita/Green Valley area (South of Tucson) The only delay is on my end; I have to convert my teaching certificate. It just requires some letters and signatures from my two previous employers, though. It's hard to get a hold of everyone in Korea what with the time difference.

But, I have a job! Ian and I will start looking for houses out there sometime this month. We can get a great loan if we buy before October. I also would like to be out there by August mostly because I start teaching then. We'll see!

That's all for now. I'll probably change the name of this Blog since I'm no longer in Korea. :P we'll see...

Love ya!! <3

Packing tips ^.^

I leave Korea in 9 days! This fact carries a ton of bittersweet feelings. I am very happy to be coming back home, closer to my loved ones. But, I'm sad that I have to leave the ones I've come to love over this past year: my kids, the friends, the food, this country. I have adapted well here and have enjoyed every good and not-so-great moment. It's taught me so much!

But, I digress. My experience can be told another time. :) I'm here to help those who might be in need of some packing ideas~~~

It's amazing the amount one can acquire in just 12 months. I think the amount of stuff I have doubled during this year. I had to send home 3 boxes. Okay, the first box was smaller because it mostly had the gifts I bought. But, today I brought 3 boxes to the post office. One large box contained clothes and 2 medium-small boxes had some books, cds and some clothes to protect everything. I was lucky to bring my co-teacher with me (She's amazing I tell ya! Always willing to help me!) and she explained that the guy in the box-packing room suggested I put it all into 1 giant box because it would be cheaper.
Turns out they measure the boxes by volume, not weight! So, keep that in mind when you think sending 4 little boxes is the way to go.
Anyway, he took everything out of the smaller boxes and wrapped it quick and nice~it only cost me 5,000won! that included the box, the wrapping and his work. :P

I went to the counter with my labels filled out (they want addresses, numbers, cost of items, and a general idea of what's inside) and sent them off! The cost for both large boxes was around $200. I event sent it by plane, which mean it won't take 2 months to arrive! yay~

Another thing I discovered the other day sending a box of gifts home: If you want insurance, it will cost you the amount the items inside the box cost. I averaged all my gifts to be almost $200! Sadly, I did not choose to add insurance to that box. The other boxes are just winter clothes and a bunch of notebooks and cds. Just keep that in mind when writing down the cost of items inside! It might help the keep the cost down, if you really want to use insurance.

Those were the major things I came across at the post office. Hope this helps! If you have questions, feel free to comment. I'll help in any way I can. The easiest way, honestly is to make sure someone who speaks both English and Korean is there to help. There's only so much that can be explained with your hands! :P

Take care~~~