Refreshing

I just ran to Costco to get shampoo.  With my sister home for the summer I swear we go through it more than twice as fast as when it's just me.  In any case, we were basically out and I had a coupon so off I went.

The refreshing part comes when I was standing in the shortest line I could find.  As anyone who frequents Costco knows, the lines are horrendous.  It doesn't seem to matter what day or time of day you go.  The woman in front of me had quite a cart full of stuff and when she saw that I only had two things, she let me go in front and said that she knows how it is to wait when you only have a couple things to get.

It was such a simple gesture, and I'm sure everyone experiences it at one point or another, but when there are so many rude people out there - on the road, in a restaurant - it's really quite lovely when you run into a kind soul once and a while.

Girls in La Jolla

This weekend was the mini-vacation that Steph and I have been trying to take every since last October.  The fact that it took so long is a testament to how crazy and busy our lives are.  And to how impossible it is to find time when two crazy busy people are both free.  Technically I wasn't free, I had rehearsal.  But I said to hell with it because I'm going on my girl vacation, dammit!

And I'm oh so glad I did.

It may have only been a couple of days, but it was wonderful.  We laughed, we ate, we SLEPT.  We took pictures.  We walked.  We acted like dorks.  Ah, such good times.  It was one of the best vacations I've had.  And I've been to Europe, people.  And to Japan.  And Solvang.  And the East Coast (twice).  And the grand canyon.  San Francisco (twice). Damn I've been a lot of places.  I should stop complaining about my life.

In any case, it was a wonderful little vacation.  For the first time in a long time I allowed myself to just sit around and eat whatever kind of crap I wanted.  Am I feeling a little guilty about it?  A little worried that I'll totally regret it at ballet tomorrow?  Yeah, a bit.  But not nearly as much as I usually would.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  And was it worth it?  Heck yes.

At La Jolla Cove

In other news, I found out I get to teach three sections of Algebra II and two sections of Geometry this next year.  I met with the assistant principal on Friday afternoon (the supposed half an hour meeting with for almost two hours) and learned a TON of stuff about the school as well as my teaching assignment.  It has become more and more real every day and I'm getting very excited.  It's pretty awesome stuff, this being a teacher thing.

And with that, only one more week of MISS and then another vacation.  This time, the beach house with the family. And friends visiting here and there.  Good times.  Yes, missing more class and rehearsal.  Oh well.  Too bad.  I have a life and I want to live it.

Relief

Yesterday was one of those days.  I was perhaps the most stressed I've ever been.  Well, that's not exactly true.  One day every year, at this exact same time of the year, I'm this stressed out.  Without going into too many details, it has to do with medical tests and things.  Not my own, but someone very very close to me.  There's never any legitimate reason to worry, but because of some doctors with not very nice bedside manner, my family and I are very very nervous and anxious every year.  Everything ended up fine just like it always does, but getting to that point was horrible.

Add to that the horribly long and boring Church Council meeting of the night before in which I truly wanted to scream, and you had a pretty grouchy Melissa.  Not good.  I still don't know what I'm going to do about Church Council - if I want to quit or not.  I will figure that one out later.

The good news of yesterday was that I finally signed my job contract!  And, my salary is $600 more than I anticipated based on last year's salary schedule.  I assumed the salaries were either going to go down from last year or stay the same, but it appears to have gone up a bit!  Then, once I finish my Masters in October, it will go up again.  Very exciting!

And on the job note, the assistant principal called me today asking if I could go down to meet with him tomorrow at 2.  I should also get to meet the math department chair.  I'm hoping I'll be able to find out what I'm teaching also.  It would be great to get a textbook, but we'll see.

Steph and I are finally going on our vacation.  This has been in the works since my birthday last October when she gave me a trip as a present.  It turned out to be more expensive than she/we wanted, so I'm going to help pay and it will now be birthday and Christmas presents for both of us for this year also.  We're staying at the Marriott in La Jolla.  We wanted Santa Barbara, but it was either too expensive or totally booked.  It will be fun no matter what though.  We're pretty entertaining people.  I anticipate laughing more than I've ever laughed before in a single weekend.  And I'm missing more ballet and rehearsal.  Oh well, too bad!