Photo Update

Well since I decided to spruce up my blog a little bit, I thought maybe it was time to give a little photo update of my life recently. THEN I realized that I haven't even uploaded the newest pictures onto my computer yet! Be on the lookout for some more pictures soon, and hopefully an actual update in words, not just pictures! Love you all!

Holly and I enjoying what we thought would be the last warm days of the year. Can you believe its November and still in the 70's?


Mike and I out with friends. Love this picture oh so much.


80's party... And yes I bought that dress at Forever21 and there are people running around wearing it not as a joke. Its sad really.


Lovely roommate, boyfriend, and our friend Craig. That was such an awesome night!


First tailgate of the year! Go Pokes!


Mike and I at the Zoo! It was so hot outside, so we took a break in the Monkey House


Heidi, Holly and I at one of the football games! Love spending time with these girls!


Does everyone know that they do lucha libre (wrestling in Mexico... think Nacho Libre) at Elote once a month? Its pretty comical. Holly and I enjoyed it.


Super tired, but enjoying ourselves none the less.


Holly's 26th Birthday! So much fun!


Oh how I love Jenny Johnson!


Dancing awkwardly with Holly's boyfriend, Brady


Oh how I love this man and the OSU Cowboys! The perfect gameday combination


Best friends and our boyfriends living it up at the fair


Last bite of the Krispy Kreme Burger. Surprisingly tasty. And no we did not eat a whole one. It was split between like 6 people.


Shark Attack!

Different Perspectives

So I had a pretty interesting conversation with some people tonight about all of my life goals, and I just thought it was funny. Everyone at the table was talking about there career goals. What they wanted to do, where they wanted to work, how much money they wanted to make... etc. Then I said something that apparently was a bit shocking to them. I said that honestly, I wasn't a career driven person. I'm more of a family and life driven person. I will be honest and say that one of my biggest dreams is to get married someday and have kids. I would love to stay home with them if that's at all possible. And wow, can I tell you the looks I got at that statement. It was like I had just told them I wanted to sit on my butt all day and do nothing for a living. My favorite part was the vocal reaction I heard. "Wow, you really are setting back all of that feminist stuff aren't you?" That comment really got me thinking though. Does it make me less of a feminist because I wanted to stay at home when I have kids? Should I be ashamed because while I love my chosen career (something I am currently in school for again so that I can become better at it when I do get another job), I want to stay home when my kids are little and teach them there? Honestly, I think that the joy of feminism is that you support a woman's right to be whatever she wants to be. If a woman wants to be a lawyer, then she sure as heck has the right to do that. If a woman wants to be an executive or a tv anchor or a doctor or a physical therapist, then that's her choice and she totally deserves to be able to do that. But if a woman chooses to stay at home with her family, that's her choice too. That's her chosen profession, because yes, it is a job. My mom did it for many years not because she had to but because she loved it. Ok... off the soapbox now. Hope everyone out there in the blogosphere is doing really well! Sorry I have written lately... Here's hoping the motivation to write gets stronger.

Awesome Moment in Life #3

Awesome moment in life #3: the moment when your boyfriend realizes you got him tickets to the sold out concert he desperately wants to go to.

So Mike loves the Black Keys and they are coming to Cains on October 10th. He was super bummed out last month when he went to buy tickets and they were already sold out. So of course, I made it my mission to find a pair of tickets to give him for his birthday. I will be honest though and say that there was some selfishness behind this hunt. I have grown a mild obsession for the Black Keys and was really sad myself to think I wouldn't get to see them live. This is one of the few noncountry bands I know and really like enough to see in concert. Anyway, thanks to Craigslist and an awesome Fiji alum, I scored two tickets. As you all know, I am a terrible secret keeper when it comes to surprises so I decided to give them to him early (2 weeks before his birthday) to save myself from ruining the surprise and to make sure he didn't keep stalking craigslist himself to buy them. I wrapped them up in a tshirt, wrapped the tshirt rather nicely in a box and gave it to him today. His face when the tickets fell out definitely made it worth it. Now here's hoping that I can add the concert as an awesome moment in life on October 10.

Little update on my life: My mom is doing great. She finally got cleared to ride in the car for more than just trips to the doctor. She is still hurting and she can't do anything around the house yet (no cooking, cleaning or lifting anything), so I still help out whenever I can and go over to spend time with her and my dad. I started grad school last week and that is going really well. I have great professors and I am looking forward to learning a lot. I am gradually dealing with not having a real job, but am looking forward to substituting at several different districts. I now have 2 roommates, and they are both incredibly busy with medical school type things (Holly's in OT school at OU and Danielle is in medical school at OSU). They are so fun though and I'm really excited about the rest of the year living with them. Other than that, theres not a lot going on here. Looking forward to a time when people are all around again and I can catch up with everyone.

I'll leave you with a cute little video from the Black Keys. I love the song (even though its not my favorite by them).

Awesome Moments in Life #1 and #2

So my friend Casey's facebook status the other day was about how she has a friend who posts awesome moments in his life as a status. He is up to like 23 or so I think. She has now started to do this too and I just thought it was such a great idea. And of course, what better place to post awesome moments in my life than on my blog that I sadly do not write on enough. So here you go:

Awesome Moment in Life #1: The moment when your nephew offers his crying little sister his ice cream because hers is gone and she is sad.

Awesome Moment in Life #2: The moment when your niece is riding a carousel for the first time and keeps laughing and telling you "Its so funny Aunt Ticole! Its so funny!"

Now a little background on these two awesome moments. A couple of weeks ago it was my brothers weekend to have the rugrats and since I hadn't seen them in over a month, I decided we should take them to get ice cream. So Mike and I went to pick them up at my brother's apartment and took them to the mall for ice cream and the Disney store. Sadly, I was unaware when this arrangement was made that my little niece, Kylee, (she's 2) had not had a nap and was in an awful mood. At the mall, they were both so tired Mike and I each had to pick one up and carry them to TCBY. We sat at a little table with our ice cream and of course my massive eater, Kylee, finished her ice cream in lightening speed. As soon as I told her it was all gone you would have thought the world had ended. She started bawling. Being the sweet and absolutely wonderful big brother Dylan (he's 3) is, he tried to give her his ice cream to make her feel better. I was so proud of him for sharing.

After our ice cream melt down, I thought the carousel would be a fun way to end the mall trip. Neither of them had ever been on one as far as I know and they loved it. They laughed the entire time and it made me appreciate how such small things make kids so happy.



We ended our mall adventure with a trip to the Disney store and two precious bean bag stuffed animals, one of which I literally could not pry out of the hands of my niece in order to pay for it. We had to put her on the counter so that they lady could scan the tag, which she still couldn't get to so Mike finally just tore it off and handed it to her.

Thought this was super cute!

"Anyone Else But You"

Pretty much love this song. The Juno version is great because of the awkwardness that is Michael Cera and Ellen Page, but the original by The Moldy Peaches (or is it just Moldy Peaches... I'm not sure) is great. I'm putting both here, so just take your pick and enjoy!

Time Flies

Tomorrow is my last day of my first year of teaching! How crazy is that? I was rereading some of my old posts, and a little less than a year ago I was asking the blog world for prayers for my interview. Time seriously has flown by so fast. I wanted to dedicate this post to some of my most memorable moments with my wonderfully unique class:

*My first interaction with a student went something like this:
Boy: "Miss Ecton, can I tell you a secret?"
Me: "Sure" while thinking 'Oh goodness please don't make this be something serious that I have to report on my first day.'
Boy: "I am a vampire. They removed my fangs. Sometimes I miss them."
Me: "Well isn't that cool." while thinking 'Oh dear lord, what did I get myself into?'

*My first throw up
Girl: "Miss Ecton, I think I'm going to be sick"
Me: "Ok, lets just to get you to the bathroom"
Girl: "BLAH!!!" All over my jeans and shoe.

*My First Cursing Situation
Boy: "He cussed at me!"
Me: "What did he say?"
Boy; " He said the S word!"
Me: "Oh goodness! The S word?"
Boy: "Yeah, he told me to (whisper) shut up"
Me: Trying not to giggle "Ok i'll talk to him"

*My favorite make believe story
Boy (same boy from the vampire incident): Miss Ecton, I need to tell you something.
Me: Yes?
Boy: Last night something very strange happened to me.
Me: Really? What happened?
Boy: You know how I told you that Percy Jackson was claimed by the god's in the Lightening Thief?
Me: Yeah, I think I remember that.
Boy: Well last night while i was in the shower, I was claimed by Poseidon.
Me: What does that mean?
Boy: I can control water. I am going to be playing in the sink a lot more often now. I just wanted you to know.
Me: Thanks for telling me.

I'll post more memories later. Just know, I have the most fabulous class a first year teacher could have. Tomorrow is a bittersweet day for me. Love them more than I could have ever imagined, and am so sad to say goodbye!