I “had” to go shopping…
May 19, 20104/18/10 I finally had to go shopping for new work clothes… the fact that items were falling off of me was just making me look sloppy. I realized that with parent meetings fast approaching, I need to have clothes that look professional. The workouts continue to go well but I have seemed to stall a bit on my weightloss. I am still dropping but it has slowed to 1-2 pounds a week… I keep trying to remember how far I have come but it still is hard to watch things slow up… I guess I just have to keep at it!
4/23/10 This week has been INCREDIBLY busy… even with my busy life, it has been more hectic that usual. The students that I work with have their progress measured by what is called an “Individual Educational Plan” (IEP). This allows teachers to meet with parents and to review the goals that were set the previous year and set new goals for the upcoming year. Because our students live on campus, we set aside one week in the year in which there are simultaneous meetings scheduled for 4 days straight from 8:30-10:30, 11-1, and 2-4! During those 3 time slots, we conduct approximately 15-20 meetings in various places around campus. As an administrator, this week involves me preparing all of the paperwork for these meetings as I am unable to attend all at the same time. Needless to say, I have had several work days of 12-15 hours each! Once I get through next week, life will be better.
4/26/10 Today has been a whirlwind day. In addition, it allowed me to take a break from all the work focus that has been going on. In preparation for the “Women of Diablo Valley” magazine reception, my day was busy with appointments.
It started this morning with my appointment with Dr. Scott Pope! I will admit, I avoid the dentist like the plague. I went to the dentist before my Peace Corps service (because it was required) and I went at the end of my service (again, because it was required), but other than that… I try to avoid them. It is one of those situations where you envision in your mind that it will be worse than it is. To have Dr. Pope check my teeth (one cavity) and be able to fix it so I know that my teeth have no cavities now, is such a blessing. But, on top of that, Dr. Pope is going to fix my lower teeth and upper teeth gaps with Invisalign. I am SOOOO super excited! Understand, my gap never bothered me signifigantly… it was simply more of a pain in the butt to remember to wear my retainer every night. My retainer is the same one I have had since I was 15 years old… so to get the news that I was going to be given the gift of “adult” retainers… well, it was so exciting.
After I finished that I headed over to the Changes Salon where I was done up! I was talking with Christina (who does my hair) and I realized that while the heads of the organizations are the ones doing the donating to the prizes, it is the direct people who have worked with me that I wanted to be sure to recognize. They include Christina (who has been a great hairstylist), Khrys (who has done my makeup and all my facial work), and Christine (who has done my nails), and of course my amazing coach Laura (with Corequest) who has been up every morning with us kicking our butts at 5:30am. I just wanted to make sure they got recognized as well.
After getting all done up I got to head over to Jim Fidelibus for my “after” picture. This was much more fun as I actually got to wear a fun outfit that I liked and we did shots outside (which I always feel are more natural than indoor shots). I have not gotten a chance to see the pictures yet but I do hope the come out well.
After all the pictures my mom, sis and I headed to the Claremont in Oakland for the “Women of Diablo Valley” reception. I have to admit, as much as they have made me over… I am still not entirely comfortable at large gatherings. However, it was nice to have my support team there. The food was amazing and my favorite was the Mashed Potato Martini Bar… LOL! The reception benefitted Kristi Yamaguchi’s “Always Dream” foundation which I was familiar with because her foundation build the fully accessible park across the street from our school at the central park in Fremont. Parks like this allow students with different physical abilities to play together. While I did not get a chance to personally meet Kristi, I did get to meet and chat with her sister which was lovely. I also got to see the ad in DiabloValley Magazine with the picture that was taken at the last photo shoot. A great day to relax me for the upcoming week ahead.
4/28/10 Camala is always talking about Kharma and how things align for a reason… and I had a funny story about that. I posted pictures from the Diablo Reception on my facebook page and I had a friend respond. Even though I consider myself relatively intelligent, sometimes I don’t always put things together. Case in point- my realtor (who I am friends with and have known for 4 years) is named Greg Pope. My dentist is Dr. Scott Pope… my thought “oh, how interesting, my dentist and realtor have the same name”… until my realtor Greg contacted me to ask if I noticed how much he looked like my dentist… LOL!!! turns out that Dr. Scott Pope is the older brother of my Realtor, Greg Pope! Go figure… what a funny small world!
4/29/10 Today I had all my difficult meetings. During most of my work existance, I feel like a teacher who has just been thrown in the role of administrator. I prefer to work with the students and standing up and making decisions that may be unpopular is not a strongsuit of mine. However, during meetings today, I had to do just that. Of course, it was not something I was overly comfortable with but at the same time, I also survived and realized that I do have the skills and abilities to make the hard decisions and stand by them.
5/7/10 Today is my 33rd birthday and I haven’t been in this good of shape in a long time… I am looking forward to the celebration tomorrow. For my birthday, I wanted to spend time with my nephew and my family and I are going to do just that…. tomorrow is a day at the Oakland Zoo followed by a family dinner with some close friends… just what I need at this point.
5/8/10 The zoo was so fun today! Spending time with my nephew is probably my favorite thing in the world to do and getting to watch him enjoy himself and grow and explore is just amazing.
5/11/10 One thing I am getting better at is setting my limits and taking care of myself. Yesterday was a really trying day at work and when I got to the end I just couldn’t face the next day… I was getting anxious and feeling a pounding headache… so I took a personal mental health day. While I readily admit I am a work-a-holic, being able to know when I need to re-energize myself is a good skill I am learning.
