Short and Sweet

So today is going to be another one of those "here's a list of my random thoughts" post. I am in the middle of studying for the GACE (test to be certified to teach in Ga) and I figured I would use my mental break time to update you all.  Therefore, my brain is too fried to put together a coherent post. So here it goes:
1. My Christmas was great! I received a lot of great gifts, but most of all I got to spend some quality time with the entire family.  We spent the majority of the day playing games (apples to apples and Just Dance 4).
2. I am almost finished with the book The 5 Love Languages, Singles Edition.  Even if you are in a serious relationship, I highly recommend this book!  It is a fairly easy read, minus the deep self-reflection. It has taught me a lot about how to better express and receive love.  I came to realize that I best receive love through the form of quality time and words of affirmation; which really was no shock.  However, people usually give love in the same way they receive love so I realized I have to actively work on speaking and receiving love in other "languages".  The book talks about how you can intellectually know that someone loves you but still not feel loved by them if they are not speaking love in the language you receive best.  Anyways, it is quite interesting and I am excited to put into practice some of the ideas I took away from this book to improve the relationships in my life.
3. I am taking the GACE this Saturday....and yes, I waited till this week to start studying.  I have never been one to study in my life (thanks to my photographic memory I usually just had to read through my notes once and I was good to go).  However, this test covers all subjects across multiple grade levels, and since my long-term memory pretty much sucks, for lack of a better word, I am a little worried about this test...primarily the social studies section.  History has never been my strong suit.
4. I am really excited about starting my student teaching a week...wait a week?! It seems like it has taken an eternity to get here, but at the same time I cannot believe that in 16 weeks I will be done and hopefully well on my way to finding a full-time position!  I must admit that I was starting to have some doubts about student teaching.  I found myself not looking forward to it as much as I thought I would.  I think it is mostly because my placement is predominantly in 5th grade.  I have met the teacher and the kids I will be with and they are absolutely great!  However, I have been in 4th grade the last 2 semesters and I think I was getting tired of the upper grades.  While I have truly loved my time in 4th grade, and know that I will learn a lot with the 5th graders, my passion has always been with the younger students, especially since my emphasis is on reading.  However, my faculty adviser told me she is working to get my placement changed so that I will be in 5th grade for 5 weeks and 1st grade for 10 weeks (rather than the other way around).  I could not be more excited about the possibility of this!  As soon as I heard this all my worries and doubts immediately went away and the anticipation returned.  I am mostly excited about this because I have so little experience in 1st grade and since this is the grade that I really hope to teach in the future I really want to get as much exposure as I can.
5. I will be deleting my facebook indefinitely...it is time for a break.  I am not on there that often but I just feels good to know I will have one less distraction.  I will still be using my twitter and instagram, so feel free to follow me there.  I will of course be continuing my blog updates.  However, this means that I will not be posting links on my facebook whenever I post a new entry.  So, if you are one of my readers that would like to continue reading my blog, I suggest you add yourself as a follower using the email link and the top right.  If you have any trouble with this, I have opened the comment box below.
6. Thank you all for reading and encouraging me to keep this blog going.  I am impressed with myself for keeping it going this long and it has been a fun learning experience.  This year has been one of many new beginnings.  I look forward to what the new year has in store for me and all of my loved ones.  I have a feeling it is going to be a year of great change for many of us.  So with that, Happy New Year to you all!! xoxo