Dean Cline Band

You know that rock star I mentioned in my last post? He's my uncle and while I don't get to see his band play as much as I'd like, whenever I do, I'm so proud that he is my uncle and that I'm related to one hell of a cool guy. If you were at my wedding, you might remember him. He played guitar during the ceremony.

My sister and I went to see him play last night at my cousin's bar in New Castle. I had spent a whole day with family (on my mom's side) and it was great to spend a whole evening with them too (on my dad's side).

Here are some pictures from last night:

Here he is! If you can't already tell just by looking at him,
he's my dad's youngest brother.

Me and my aunt Lesa (my dad's sister).

Jess and me.

Like I said, it was great to spend time with family, but whenever I'm around family I think I miss my mom a little more just because I am around people that knew her and loved her so much. So thanks to my cousin Amber (I'm pretty sure she requested this), Dean and his band played "Brown Eyed Girl." A little back story on this--"Brown Eyed Girl" was my mom's song. And if you were at my wedding reception then you remember that we played this in memory of her and everyone that knew my mom came and danced with me. It truly is one of my most favorite memories from my wedding day. So here he is singing her song (I apologize for the poor quality at first...it's hard to video and dance at the same time...but it gets better):

And here's a little bit of a classic bar favorite:

They will be at Joe's Grill on 96th street on October 10th. Come check them out!

I'm Back!

My loyal blog readers (all six...OK who am I kidding...all three of them) have requested that I get back into the swing of this blog thing! And I agree! I was kind of afraid that this would happen when school started. I know I would put this thing on the back burner but that's exactly what I don't want to continue to do...so here we go.

Speaking of school, things are going well in my third year. I always said that the first year of teaching is like keeping your head above water, the second year is when someone has thrown you a life jacket, and by your third year you should be in a boat and sailing smoothly. Well, I'm not sure how smooth I'm sailing my boat, but it's sailing! I'm really busy with teaching a couple of new classes this year as well as cheerleading and yearbook. Our 2008-2009 yearbook just came out and it has been receiving really positive feedback so now I feel that the pressure is on even more to do well for next year. We are in full competition mode with cheerleading and soon I will have cheer competitions for four Saturdays straight.

And if all that wasn't enough with trying to be a good little wife (more on us in a minute), I decided to take on something else to put on my already over-flowing plate. I am now the Event Chair for the 2010 Fortville/McCordsville Relay for Life. If you aren't sure what Relay for Life is, check it out here. I've really been looking at doing something to honor my mom ever since she passed away and the opportunity came up to be on the RFL committee and not being one to sit in the corner of a committee meeting, I took the reins and now I'm the Event Chair. Justin and my sister, Jessica, are also serving on the committee so it's nice to be doing this with family. We are currently recruiting other committee members and are in the early stages of planning, but I feel really good about this and feel that is a great way to do my part for cancer fund-raising. I always know that my mom is proud of me, and I couldn't feel more strongly about that since I made this decision.

But with the committee and everything going on at school, I could wear about ten of those "stressed" nametags from my last post everyday. I enjoy everything I am involved in and that's why I do them, because I have a passion for each one, but it all gets to me sometimes. I was talking to my principal this past week and he said he could definitely tell that I had a lot going on. We had a really nice talk and he said that while I may love everything I do, that nothing should keep from setting aside some time for me every now and then. And, well, the only time I get to myself these days are those four to five hours that I sleep each night. He said that people would still like me and think that I am a good person if I say no every now and then--something I struggle with and inherited from my mom, I think. He's right, though. While I am going to continue to do everything I am doing now, I have to start making sure that I am putting some hours into the day for myself.

Now on to the newlyweds. We are technically still under that title for a few more weeks now! Justin is great (working all the time) and while we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, we still enjoy the time we do get together. I cherish our Tuesday and Wednesday nights together (his days off) and even though we usually just spend it making dinner and smiling every now and then at each other as I grade papers/plan lessons and he watches TV, those are my favorite nights of the week. He is taking three days off for our anniversary weekend and I'm excited to get see him for a full 72 hours!

Jess and I went to our family reunion today. It was great to see family members from my mom's side of the family. I forget how much fun I have just talking and catching up with family. We're enjoying some down time right now before we head back to New Castle to watch my uncle's band play. Yep, I'm related to a rock star.

I think you are now caught up on my life. And for more late-breaking news: I'm thinking about biting the bullet and just doing it...joining Facebook, that is.