Memorial Day Weekend and Cooking

Over Memorial Day weekend, our family headed to the beach to spend some quality time relaxing.  Here's what it looked like:

Citrus tree outside of our condo.

Craig fishing in the lagoon outside the condo.

Family photo time!

Me doing what I do best.

Another angle of me doing what I do best.

Mom.

Grandma and Andrew.

It was fairly crowded!

2 dozen raw oysters.  Yummy?

Beauty.

The Gibsons.

Mom and Me.

Now that we are back home, I am in full on summer cooking mode, which is interfering with my motivation to pack!  Today, I am making this:

This pasta is a staple in our house in the summer.  Tomatoes, basil, and garlic are 3 of Andrew's favorite ingredients! (Photo courtesy of Ina Garten)

I'll also be tackling the Pioneer Woman's Pulled Pork:

Photo courtesy of Ree Drummond.

Then...I will pack.

~Angela

It's Not the End

Today marks the end of the school year...and for the first time I have mixed emotions.  This school year brought some of the toughest moments along with some of the best.  Today also marks the end of job certainty in my life.  Up until today, I haven't really worried about getting a job.  But by golly, when those buses pulled away this afternoon, I thought, "What am I going to do?"  Teaching is really all I've ever known.  Teaching is more than what I do, it's who I am.  That's right, I feel like teaching is part of my identity.  So the thought of possibly not teaching next year is a little weird.  I've thought of many other things that I would like to do like being a flight attendant or a nurse, but nothing really speaks to me like teaching does.  I've applied to the openings that are posted for the Capital District...hopefully that magical phone call will come and I will soon have an interview.  Until then, I'll be working my last few days as a Georgia teacher.

On a lighter note, as the buses started pulling out this afternoon some of the buses stalled, my friend Angie (who has an awesome blog and jewelry shop on etsy) started yelling, "Move that bus!  Move that bus!"  If you were there, you would have died laughing (promise)!

It's Been Awhile

Goodness gracious it's been a long time since my last post!!  So much has been going on outside of blogland.  The end of the school year is actually here which brings lots of things like field day, talent show, and report cards.  It also means that summer is upon us so my weekends are taken up with traveling around to different trail runs.  I'm posting a few photos of me and a few of my teammates from field day.  I think they really show who we are as teachers...I'm going to miss these girls!

Mrs. Gibson, Ms. Leverett, and Ms. Meyer competing in the sack race.

Mrs. Gibson and one of her students competing in the 3-legged race.

Mother's Day weekend was fabulous.  I competed in a duathlon with my father-in-law.  We have competed in all 3 in the series as a team.  He bikes, I run...until this last race.  I ran the first leg and sprained my ankle right at mile 1.  I finished the final 1.8 miles of that leg and thought for sure I would be able to run the 2.8 again for the 3rd leg after my FIL biked his 8 mile leg.  I'm going to give that idea a big fat NOPE.  As soon as I stopped, I absolutely could not walk on it without pain.  I've sprained my ankle before, but this time was different.  I didn't think much of it, I just thought it was a bad sprain.  The pain had not lessened by Sunday night so I decided to go see my doctor on Monday morning.  What'ya know?  I fractured my 5th metatarsal.  No running for 3 weeks.  Good thing it is hotter than Hades here in Athens, so swimming is a perfectly viable option to keep up my cardiovascular fitness.  Anyhoo...back to my duathlon story.  Since my FIL so AWESOMELY ran the last 2.8 for me, we finished 2nd in series points!  Here's a photo to prove it!

My FIL and I took home 2nd.  My stepMIL and BIL took home 3rd! 

My ankle right after I finished the first leg.

 

On the way home from the race...pretty soon my entire foot was swollen.  Pretty huh?

 Saturday night we took my mom and stepdad out for dinner and we had a nice quiet night at home watching the Braves.

Life is about to get pretty hectic around here with our upcoming move, so I am enjoying these quiet moments every once in awhile when they come around.  Next weekend we are off to Cartersville to catch up with some extended family members.  Can't wait!

Welcome Home!

I'm so happy to announce that we FINALLY found a place to live in New York!  If you know me outside of blogland, you know that I am very indecisive about issues like this, so being a $400 flight away (meaning I couldn't see every place in person) made this task quite difficult for us.  We took one trip to Albany and looked at about 5 different suburban areas in two days...I know...CRAZY.  We were totally worn out by the end of the trip and we felt like we'd made no progress because we left Albany with no place to live...and worse, no prospects.  After getting home, we continued looking online and finally found a townhouse in one of our favorite towns that we found when we visited Albany!  This really takes a load off my shoulders!  Now to plan decor for the new place and continue to pack the current place...

   

One of my favorite photos of Albany.

~Angela

Let Love Explode

I love this song.  I first heard it when I was in Florida    for my nephew's baby dedication.  More specifically, I love the line, "Let love explode..."  For some reason, that lyric speaks to me.  I suppose it is something I need to be reminded of daily.  I wonder what the world would be like if we all "let love explode."  What do you think?  Leave a comment!  :)

 

When I Get Where I'm Going.

So this is the major thing happening in my life right now...

Andrew and I are moving to Albany, NY this Summer.  WOW!  Neither of us have lived outside of Georgia, so this is going to be a big change and we are super excited.  Why are we moving 947 miles away, you ask?  Well, Andrew is pursuing a Ph.D in Counseling Psychology and will be attending SUNY Albany (UAlbany) in the Fall.  Do I have a job there?  No.  Do we have family there?  No.  Am I worried?  No.

All of this (the logistics of moving such a long distance, packing, purging, reorganizing) has made simplicity a challenge as of late.  But somehow, I have found peace in all of it.  After getting over the initial shock and then the nervousness of breaking the news to our parents, we were really able to see what an awesome road God is leading us down.  The opportunities that come with living in a completely new environment are endless.  New places to see, new people to meet, new experiences to experience.

I'm definitely not saying that this is going to be an easy move for either of us, but we have made the decision to fully live this rather than let this moment pass us by with anxiety filled waiting of the unknown.

Driving from Albany to NYC.

~Angela

The first steps in a journey of a lifetime.

This "journey" of mine began about a year ago.  I read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp upon recommendation from a friend.  I remember several times in my childhood when my mother would say, "Count your blessings."  I credit this book with challenging me to actually sit down and think about all of the wonderful things in my life.  As I started counting gifts in my life, I started to realize that most of my joy came from ordinary things like the way the air smells in the Fall, my mother's cooking, time spent with my family at the cabin, and the opportunity I have to work with such wonderful children.  I was able to make a list of about 50 things.  Nowhere near the 1000 that I had set out to do...I plan to get back to that soon.  Anyway, the point is, I realized that it was the simple things in life that made me the happiest.  Thus, my journey to simplify began.

I am not going to tell you that this has been the most wonderful year of my life.  It hasn't.  In fact, it has been one of the most challenging for me at work.  Simplicity allowed me to see His purpose in those challenges which in turn helped me insert passion into my life.  

Thank you, Lord, for giving me Your eyes so that I may see.

~Angela