A family that....

I hope this blog finds you all safe and healthy. You're probably all recovering from the return back to work. like myself. So how was my holiday, you ask. FANTASTIC, actually!! I think it was one of the BEST of all times. There were a total of 29 people at our house at any given time, that includes, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, second cousins, first cousins once removed, nieces, nephews, and Bernetta, our "adopted Grandmother", who also happens to be my dad's Godmother. As most of you probably heard, I was really excited for this family gathering and I was not disappointed. So the festivities really began on Wednesday, I didn't make it out to mom and dad's as soon as I would have liked, but I didn't get my stuff done early enough. So some of the highlights of the holiday weekend would be Pictionary game that lasted until 3 AM, Scattegories, "Gluten-Free Baking", my dad losing the Scrabble game, laughing to the point of tears, the Pace Family Video, Cowgirl Birthday Party, Trampoline Jumping, Boys and the Four Wheelers, the Hula-Hoop competition, Bingo, the Estimation Jar, and Thanksgiving in the New millennium- aka everyone playing on their iPhones/iPads/iPods. Of course, the Aggies won the football game against UT, the Cowboys lost to the Saints, two more highlights of the weekend. I didn't go shopping on Black Friday nor did I end up in the paper, also highlights. My cousin Kim got us all addicted to new apps on the iPhone, "We Doodle" which was free and is basically pictionary, and "Train Conductor" which was .99 but is so addicting. I've mastered the day shift, and I think I just mastered the night shift this evening. All the little second cousins are bonding which is super cute. There are four little girls that are pals: Renee, 8, Aubrey, 8, Sarah, 6, and Rylee, 4. The boys are a little more spread out: Josh, 11, Andrew, 10, Jakob, 6, and Cedric, 4. My brother is becoming a typical teenager, unfortunately. He's almost 14 and spent just about the ENTIRE weekend playing video games. On Saturday morning, he looked awful, so now I'm anxious for him to outgrow that phase. My pictures are all on facebook and shutterfly so you should check them all out. Unfortunately the weekend wasn't ALL fun and games. My mom's aunt Betty (my grandpa's sister) passed away on Thanksgiving Day and her uncle Jay ( Nanny's brother) passed away on Sunday morning. Betty I didn't know very well cause they used to live in Fritch but moved to Oklahoma when I was a kid. Uncle Jay though I did know quite well. Jay lived a sort of gypsy life in that he moved around alot. He also was a very good storyteller. He always used accents and his stories always had lots of details. My mom was able to drive to Oklahoma today for Betty's funeral though and I'm glad she got to see some of her family. I love you MOM!
Well, I would like to end the blog on a brighter note though. As of publication time, I had 8 paying travelers on my trip to Italy & Greece which means  that my trip is now paid for and I'm only 4 away from the next free chaperon place. And on another happy note, our school's raffle was a very successful fundraiser. We sold over 2000 tickets! Oh and my principal told me today that people are noticing how much the school's been in the news lately! We were in the paper 3 times just last week alone!! Someone told Father that "someone must be doing their job right" ahhh, that's ME! Well, I think my new laptop is about to die so I better wrap it up and get this thing on the World Wide Web! Eight more regular school days until Semester Tests start! By the way I have half-days that whole last week of exams!! Isn't that neat?
Have a GREAT WEEK! Thanks for reading.
Until next time~

I don't do emotions...

Notable November to you all! I have a couple of neat things to blog about. First, my roommates and I just hosted our first gathering in celebration of Halloween and Teresa's birthday. Not going to lie, it was pretty great. My costume was alot of fun, for me at least. Haha. I was Antoine Dodson and if you don't know who that is you should go look him up on YouTube. I won apples to apples and it was the first time I had ever played. They say that the cards you get are supposed to describe you and my five cards were Easy, Cool, Tough, Sensual and Stunning. I'm not really sure I have an opinion on that.... If any of my friends are reading this though, THANKS so much for coming!!! Also thanks to Neon, without whom I would have never had such a great costume.

Red Ribbon Week was last week and while I was completely stressed most of the week, I really think that it was a great week! I got to go around to each homeroom and show an anti drug video that focused on pain killers and I had some really good discussions. I had never really thought that my ex-friendships (just one really) would come out to be helpful, at least in this manner. It was kind of sad talking about someone that used to be my best friend. I have started to just accept the fact that she just isn't the same person that was my friend, not really sure she ever will be..

I told you all last week that I'm going on the trip to Italy & Greece with some students from school. We started telling the students about it, set up a meeting. So, one of the 10th graders asked the other sponsor if this was an "academic trip" and of course he answered yes. The student seemed dissappointed but he explained that this was not a trip for him to find an Italian girlfriend. Well, we were saying this in front of my principal, who looked at him and said "Isn't that why you're going?" HAHA, anyway. She then went on to say that Italian women and men are very emotional and dramatic. My response to that was the inspiration to the title, I don't do emotions. Then someone was saying that you wouldn't be able to understand them anyway, which made me think that he could be throwing a fit and I would just be staring at him saying "oh, how cute." Well, I better wrap this up. Only 16 more school days until Thanksgiving BREAK!! Yeah!!

Until next time...

Rocktober

So, I guess I'm running a little short on creativity, cause "Rocktober" was the best that I could come up with tonight. I decided to blog "midbook" because there's something about this book that I REALLY, REALLY LIKE and it's better to blog while, well, I should just start my blog now.
So, I'm curently reading "The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan and I've really enjoyed it so far. As I'm reading, I find myself thinking of all the reasons that I like reading. One reason I enjoy reading so much is because I find it very similar to solving a puzzle, which I guess it is. I like predicting what's going to happen and changing the prediction as I continue reading. I like BEING RIGHT! I mean, who doesn't right? Same reason I like Math. For example, I've been tutoring someone fo Trig and tonight there was one problem that had me stumped so I came home and drew one picture, and when that didn't work I drew another picture. I just kept adjusting my picture until it made sense and was something you could work with and I finally got it. I'm not sure where one gets the desire to figure things out like that.  I'm not sure if it's from childhood, genetics, school. I don't know, but however you get bitten by the bug, I've been bitten. It seems as though being a teacher has sparked my interest in learning.
Something else being a teacher has sparked, my interest in travel. I never realized before how connected it was to learning but it really is. Which brings me to another announcement that isn't new to those of you that already read it on facebook. I will be traveling with a group of students from Holy Cross to Italy & Greece duing Spring Break of 2012. I'm REALLY excited about this!! Í'm planning it with another of the younger teachers from Holy Cross and I've talked to a couple of the students about it and they seem really stoked about it. So let this be my first plea for help fundraising. We will be doing LOTS of fundraisers cause we have so long until the trip. I'm hoping to do some really fun, creative fundraisers, instead of the same old boring ones.
Another thing I've decided to try and take on is a Girl Scout Troop. My wonderful niece Aubrey has been involved every year until now and she says she doesn't want to do it anymore. When I asked her if she would join if I were her leader she said yes. At the time, I was just kind of saying it. Then I was asked to lead a troop last weekend at Camp Kiwanis through an overnight. Even though I didn't know any of the girls, I had such a FANTASTIC TIME, so noooww, I'm looking into becoming a real leader for Aubrey, with my wonderful sister as the Assistant Troop leader of course. :) My roommate says I'm crazy, and I'm sure she's right, but WHATEVER. I'm only young once, right? I mean, some day, I'll have a family and what not and won't have the time to do ALL OF THIS STUFF. Well, maybe I'll find a way, haha. Anyway.
It's late. I have a workshop with my Senior High Student council tomorrow and next week is Red Ribbon Week, so needless to say, I'm ready for October to be over. Plus, NOVEMBER MEANS THANKSGIVING. Pace Family, I have an email in my "Draft" Box that I will send out immediately after finishing this. So, it should have already made it to your inbox. :) Have a great rest of the week!
Until next time!

almost missed it!

I can't believe that almost all of September has gone by and I haven't blogged. I think part of is cause I've BEEN RIDICULOUSLY BUSY! I quickly want to say that I've finished another book, "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks, not the most depressing book he's ever written..you should check it out. I don't guess I've told you everything that I've gotten myself into this school year. I know I told you at the end of last year that I would be taking a Public Relations Coordinator at my school, as a way to make extra money. I found out when I got back from my trip that I'm also the Student Council Sponsor, which I'm really excited about. Then at the first staff meeting they asked for volunteers for PSIA coordinator, which is basically Private School UIL for 1st-8th grades. Again, I'm REALLY excited about that. I LOVED taking my Advance Science class to that competition at Tech last year! It was GREAT! So I'm excited to get to do that some more!! Then a few weeks ago, I volunteered (sort of ) to take over the 6th grade homeroom! The teacher who had them, also had them for like 3 other classes in the morning which is too much for ANYONE! Which if anyone from Jones is reading this, you probably know how STINKING EXCITED I AM ABOUT HAVING A HOMEROOM!! My 4th grade homeroom a few years ago, was my homeroom soul mate!! They LOVED COMPETING and I'm fairly certain we won (or at least tied) every competition that year!! So I'm hoping to work my magic and bring this sixth grade class to life! They're a little immature and have been a challenge, but I've had worse :) Oh and I'm currently planning something else, that if you have a facebook you've read about my super secret project :) I'm a little hesitant to announce it just yet since it's not completely official but hopefully in a matter of weeks it will be OFFICIAL! Plus, since I'm not working another job, well at least not one somewhere else, I have been able to participate in the Young Adult activities at St. Thomas which has been a lot of FUN! I've also made it to several volleyball games, middle school and high school. Oh- I'm also teaching (facilitating) a Dual Credit College Algebra, which has been a challenge. I've enjoyed having the seniors in class, but I have to spent time the night before going over what I'm supposed to teach them....I'm hoping it's one of those things I get to do again, so I can do it better....Oh, I also attended my last wedding of the past year. From October 2009-October 2010, I attended SEVEN, yes 7, weddings. Apparently this is something that happens to everyone at some point in their life,  and at least I had a really awesome black dress that I was able to wear and uniquely accessorize for each occasion! Well, I've got a trip this weekend. I'm going to Irving for a PSIA workshop on Saturday until 2, then I'm heading South for AUSTIN! It's Betsy's Birthday!! So I'm really excited about that!!!!! So I guess I better start putting things together so I can leave after school on Friday! So until then....
 Thanks for reading.

Aren't they the best

So I just wanted to type a quick blog this wonderful Sunday afternoon. I'm just hoping I can actually keep it quick. First, I finished reading Mockingjay in like record time- it was ridiculous, there's nothing to even blog about cause I don't want to give anything away. So just READ THEM. Second, 2010-2011 School Year is off to a great start. I think I'm going to be really busy, but that's good, maybe I will actually save money this year! Which brings me to three, I've moved in with Paula and Teresa and so far things are going pretty great! It's been a couple of weeks and there's been no bloody noses or slammed doors, so I'm optimistic. Next, this weekend was pretty fantastic. I LOVE BEING AN AUNT! I love that Aubrey, Andrew and Jakob are becoming their own little person with their own little personality. I was supposed to go see Eclipse with Cassi last night, before you judge- it's been out two whole months and I'm just now seeing it for the FIRST time. But things didn't work out, so I asked Aubrey if she wanted to come, we were all hanging out at "Grandma & Grandpa's" and she of course said yes, but then surprisingly, so did Jakob! So off to the movies for our birthday movie date. It was fun. Aubrey and I had fun dancing to my new album on the way to the theater (Justin Bieber....feel free to judge me for that, but the songs are catchy...) So now I'm about to head off to mom and dad's again. Then it's week 3 of school. This weekend one of my wonderful friends from Midland is getting married in Dallas and I can't wait to help her celebrate. Cool thing is that I will also get to be in Dallas to celebrate Aunt Lou Ann's Birthday!! Then hopefully between school, student council, public relations, workshops, weddings, homecoming, football games and birthdays....I'll get to do something else that will inspire me to write a blog. Until then!
Thanks for Reading!
Also I don't feel like proofreading this so sorry for any mistakes....

What I learned in Alaska...

This list is in no particular order, just typing as they come to mind, which may be random since I've been back for almost 2 weeks...

1. There are a few ideal situations for maximizing your cruise enjoyment, that does not include a single 26 year old going with a 13 year old brother and parents that go to bed at 9 o'clock...
2. ...it could include going with a group of friends, family reunion, or honeymoon/couple. (HINT! HINT! FAMILY....)
3. If your dad says he will pay for you to go fishing in Ketchikan, THEN GO FISHING IN KETCHIKAN!!! No matter who goes with you!!
4. Don't pack sweaters or jackets cause you'll end up buying three of them that say Alaska and then won't have room to pack them in your suitcase.
5. Bring along plenty of games that your group can play together. Things that include cards, dice, etc.
6. Sign up for at least ONE WHALE WATCHING excursion, hearing someone tell about thier  experience just isn't quite the same.
7. Make sure the camera gets turned off every time it's used, unless you want to spend 25 minutes in Juneau finding a spare battery and/or charger.
8. There is no "Redneck Night" on the ship...no matter how much your dad wants there to be...
9. Head to the bow of the ship early for the glacier stop, unless you just want to remember what the back of every one's head looks like after you get home.
10. Go to the gym on the FIRST DAY you're on the ship, otherwise, you never will....
11. Participating in the trivia with your cruise director Anthony and making a group with other single people will win you prizes, especially if one of you shouts "I want a coffee mug!" :)
12. Have someone in your group that can act as a moderator for at least MOST of the trip...no one can be THAT patient for 11 days...
13. Listen for people shouting "OOooh!" pretty much anytime you're on the ship, it means there's probably a whale or other sea life outside the ship
14. UNDER PACK! I know that sounds crazy but the ship has a washing machine, and you'll wear the clothes you buy.
15. If you're shoving things in a bag, buy a $20 carry-on so you don't end up having to pay $50 for the 5 extra pounds you "shoved"...
16. If someone in your group likes to go to bed early, make them stay up at least ONE night on the ship for a program or activity. Even if they act like they don't want to, you will all end up having a blast!
17. Order the milk & cookies every night for room service. Holland has the BEST DAMN chocolate chip cookies I've ever had, EVER!
18. Send the postcards you buy as soon as you buy them, otherwise half of them will end up coming home with you...
19. Go to every dining room (the free ones at least) and try all the different kinds of foods they have to offer...
20. If someone is offering a food you REALLY want to try, don't pass it up, there aren't repeats on a cruise ship's menu.
21. Convince as many people as you can that they need to go back with you on your next cruise.
22. Have someone in your group that knows how to work cameras and other electronics...
23. .....And make sure they're willing to help you figure out how to work them.
24. Keep your phone OFF until you are on land
25. ALASKA IS AWESOME!!!

Yesterday was my first day of school, and I've spent a whole week at my new place now, so hopefully in the next few weeks I will have an opportunity to upload all of the pictures and videos on the computer so that you can all see what a blast we had...at least most of the time :)
Thanks for reading!

North to the future

I'm sure that as an informed citizen of the USA, many people would assume that I've researched everything there is to know about Seattle and the various stops in Alaska. And in truth, I have at least read the information given to me by the cruise line and the few things that Uncle Don sent to us. But I think that sometimes, the best things to see in a place are the ones that aren't advertised or promoted a whole lot. My plan is to get off the boat at every shop and just walk around the different towns, do some shopping, eat some food or drink some drinks. The only thing that I HAVE TO SEE in Alaska is the Totem Pole collection!! I've always had a slight fascination with totem poles, not one that is very dominant or anything. I don't like research them or know a lot about them, but if one's in front of me, I will look at it. And of course, I'm hoping to see LOTS of Wildlife!! A few weeks ago, I purchased an 8 GB SD card, and with mom's camera, I can take up to 4000 pictures!! I'm sure you're saying "YOU are taking pictures with your mom's camera??" Well, you're only saying that if you haven't seen mother try to take pictures....HAHAHA! sorry mom, there's lots of things that you do much better than me, but we all know that photography is not your strength! My 5Th grade pictures include absolutely NO HEADS, it's like I went to an alien school where everyone was headless that year.... anyway- I'm sure like everyone I've told this to before you're thinking "FOUR THOUSAND PICTURES?!? IS THAT A TYPO?" or "I'm not sure that I want to look at 4,000 pictures..." And don't worry, I don't really plan on taking that many pictures, but the girl scout in me would rather be over prepared for this situation. I mean what happens if I can only take 400 and the 401st picture is like a whale or bear or something bad ass like that....I mean WOULDN'T THAT SUCK!! OH, something else that I'm looking forward to is Seattle, maybe it's because we're going to be there for several days so we're actually making plans, but we're going to a Seattle Mariners game, the only disappointment is that a week or two before we're going, they're playing the Yankees!! But that can't be helped. So I'm missing a few things on this trip. I'm missing Staff Party at Camp, which I'm kind of sad about, but when you compare it to Alaska- I mean...sorry camp staff, but it just doesn't compare. so enough about the trip already....
I've moved out of my apartment!! YEAH!!!! I'm so glad for several reasons: 1) I HATED those apartments, sure they were close, but ugh- I HATED THEM! 2) I know have TWO FANTASTIC ROOMMATES!! (of course, I'm sure some of you are laughing at me, especially since I've never had roommates that weren't related to me, or that were temporary (camp) but I'm pretty pumped about it.) 3) I just feel like living alone was not good for me, it's not good for most people, but if I find room for all of my crap I'll really like it- I may have to sell most of it...
I'm also missing some school stuff, but my principal knows about it and is cool with it. One thing I'm nervous about missing is a meeting at Amarillo College, cause instead of teaching Calculus as originally planned, it looks like I'm going to be teaching Dual Credit College Algebra. I'm unsure of this. Honestly though, I was unsure about pretty much everything this year and I made it through that, so I'm going to work really hard to make sure I do well this year. You can't screw up a thing like college Algebra, but maybe since it's through the college, it'll be better than I thought. Well, I will more than likely NOT post a blog before the trip. I may write one during the trip and post it afterwards but you know for a fact that there will be one at the conclusion of the trip!
9 days until the cruise
3 days until my birthday
Thanks for reading guys! Happy summertime!