busy schmusy

Whew!!!!!  My life has been very, very, VERY busy lately and basketball season hasn't even started.  The season starts next Thursday and will last until the end of January so don't expect much from me until after then!  We have 2 days a week that have 4 games a night and, of course, all games need cheerleaders.  This is what's been going on lately:

1. I've gotten back into my running groove but not on a schedule because of cheerleading and how it takes up so much time.  Last week I only ran two days:  one 30 minute run and then a 40 minute run.  Even thinking about it now, I'm just completely blown away at how far I've come in the past 14 months.  I've gone from not being able to run 50 feet without running out of breath to running 40 minutes without stopping and feeling fantastic afterward.  Oh and not to mention my almost 45 pound weight loss!!

2. I taught school Monday with a 101 fever and glands so swollen in my neck that I couldn't move it.  Did I mention I had a surprise observation, too?  And a meeting, and cheerleading practice, and grades due????  Monday was a wake-up call that life can't stop like it used to when I got sick.  So Monday night I went to Urgent care--still with a 101 fever--and got a shot.  Tuesday I went to school with no make up on and received a wide range of comments about it.  "Your eyes look so pretty today!" "You look really tired."  "What's different about you?" "You look so much better without make up on."  I really think that by Friday I will feel 100%.  Or at least I better because my BFF is coming to spend the weekend with me to celebrate my birthday!

3.  My birthday is coming up!!!  On October 25 I will be 24 and working haha.  I was already told by a student that he will be wearing a shirt that says, "Happy Birthday Miss Wiley" so we'll see if he does that!!!

4.  I got the new iPhone 4S and love it!  I like it way better than my Droid!!

5.  My litter sister got her acceptance letter into nursing school and I couldn't be more proud of her!  She is going to be a great nurse because she does a great job taking care of me when I'm sick.  Wednesday she had a project due where she had to pick a poem and give a line by line explanation and commentary of the poem.  What did she pick?  "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan.  Could she have picked anything more difficult??!!!  She got an "A" for her presentation--with a little help.  This is why one of us is an English teacher and the other one is going to be a nurse.

back soon

Sorry for my lack of posts.  Let's just say that being busy is a understatement.  I'll be back when I have the time/energy to write a post.

the problem with initials that spell a word

When I was in college it was "in" to have a personalized car tag with your initials and then 4UA to show everyone what football team (school) you support. So for my birthday during my sophomore year, my mom surprised me with a personalized car tag. Of course this thrilled me because I would never have to memorize my car tag ever again. This also thrilled me because I hoped it would confuse the parking police who kept giving me parking tickets....as in $400+ in parking tickets. (I had parking rebellion my freshman and sophomore year. But this is a blog post for another day.)

This car tag got even better when I bought a brand spankin' new car a month ago and it matched! Of course when I read my tag, I read it as S.E.W.4U.A. However, I didn't realize that I may be the only person on this planet who does that.

Not too long ago, I was pumping gas before I headed to Birmingham with a friend to go shopping. I had the brown dress on in this post. A lady pulled up to the gas pump on the other side of mine and got out of her car. She leaned over and said I had on a cute dress. I promptly thanked her. I thought that was the end, but it wasn't. Read on:

Lady: Did you make that dress?

Me: No, I actually just bought it at the boutique downtown by the train tracks.

Lady: Oh, well I thought you made it because of your car tag.

Me: (silence)

Lady: You know, SEW 4 U.

Me: Ohhh. No, those are my initials. Sarah Elizabeth Wiley 4 The University of Alabama.

Lady: Oh. (and goes back to pumping her gas)

I immediately got in my car and called my mother to tell her that apparently it looks like I made this dress and why did I spend so much money on it.

But it doesn't end here. I've had people that I work with admit they thought I sewed for the university. (Yes, the band uniforms.) And one of my cheerleaders thought my car was the home ec teacher's car because it said "sew" on it.

I think I may have to rethink this car tag if someone else comments on my sewing ability.

My Life is One Big Awkward Moment

My life really is one big awkward moment--at times. I'm extremely grateful that this doesn't happen all the time. That would be, well, awkward--for a lack of words haha!

Anyway, I had to visit the doc in a box today. Mom wanted me to go to the one in the town north of us (to see the "really cute, young, 30 yr old doctor) but they were closed. Sorry Mom. So I went to the one in the town south of us. BIG MISTAKE LET ME TELL YOU. First of all, I have suddenly become a germ-a-phobe now that everyone I know is getting sick. I mean, I just got over an upper-respitory infection and now I'm sick again?? Oh, and I leave for the beach in 2 days. Anyways, mom came back to the room with me since the tiny waiting room crammed with sick people could turn anyone into having clausterphobia. Okay so the dr comes in......seriously weird. I won't name names for privacy reasons but don't ever go to him. He hugged all over my body feeling around for who knows what.....this has never happend and my mother was in the room. THEN the kicker happens. You know when the dr makes you take deep breathes while he listens with the stethoscope?? Well I'm pretty much a pro at that since I've done it for many drs. Well apparently I wasn't breathing deep enough for this guy. In front of my mom, he tells me to BREATHE LIKE I'M MAKING AN OBSCENE PHONE CALL!!!!!!!! What?!?!!? I didn't get it until he left the room!!!! Talk about gross and uncomfortable.

Then tonight, after seeing the millionth commercial for online dating, my mom offers AGAIN to pay for me to join an online dating site. No thanks Mom!! I can just see the engagement announcement in the paper: "...and they met on E-Harmony (losers)" I think that she's just going to have to get over the fact that I'm not dating anyone. She didn't like my boyfriend of 2 years in college whom I was absolutely in love with. I broke up with him because I couldn't stand the tension and she didn't like him. She didn't want me to think about marrying him but now that I haven't had a boyfriend in what seems like forever, she's so desperate for me to have someone. Sorry Mom looks like I'll just be an old maid.

Okay, off my soapbox now!!

FANTASTIC/WONDERFUL/AMAZING NEWS!!!!!!!

As of 6 pm last night, I was officially approved by the board of education as an employee of the school system as a TEACHER!!!!! Even though I've been doing the "teacher" duties since the beginning of the semester, the teacher I was replacing was waiting on the board to officially grant her retirement. Then I had to wait for the next board meeting--in the next month--before I was officially hired.

Boy, am I so blessed by the Lord!!!!!!!! Why am I still amazed at how well God has planned out my life?? He definitely already told me that he had: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Since I have been asking for prayers and y'all have been reading about my struggles with the job market/economy, I wanted to share the news!!! Thank you for your prayers!!!!!!!!!

One Month From Today.....

I will be here!!!!!!!! Tampa, Florida, get ready because I am coming!!!!!!!!!
A little night-time view of the city.

My dear friend, Kelley, just moved to Tampa this past August and is graciously allowing me to stay with her! I can't wait to lay out on the beach in the 80 degree weather while everyone in Alabama is experiencing weather in the 50s-60s.

WHY I HATE TAXES/ GROWING UP

I grew up a little bit today. For the first time in my life, this 23 year old went and had her taxes done. My parents have theirs done by their accountant and since I don't have an accountant and would probably have to wait a while to get into one, I decided to get it done myself. My mom suggested H & R Block because it couldn't cost more than 40 bucks right??? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, I had to wait forever while this woman tried to figure out my taxes...it's not that hard, lady. I had a summer job, my job now, and my tithing balance--no receipts, nothing extra to figure in. After an hour and having lots of people come help us, my total balance showed up on the screen. $170!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!?!?!?!!?!?!? After they picked me up off the floor, I paid that money and ran out of there. Thank goodness I had the money in my account, however, this only means that I won't be doing anything fun until my next paycheck or until my return comes in.

What lesson did this teach me?? Either learn how to do your taxes yourself or marry an accountant.

Also funny story from this adventure: The tax lady sent me out to my car to get my tag info so I could claim my tax (I mean, sure, I didn't pay for the tag but I'll take the money. Sorry, mom....this money's mine) Did I mention that it's also like a wind tunnel outside???? Picture this: I'm on the phone to my mom telling her how stressful this is because this lady is asking me so many questions, "Do you have any money in a Swiss Bank account?" What?! When all of a sudden, the wind tears my tag info from my hand. Picture me screaming, running around the parking lot in my (faux) fur coat chasing after this slip of paper that my mom tells me is so important, trying to catch it on the grill of a truck, then on the top of a tire, then I finally caught it on the ground before it flew out into the busy highway. Believe me, if it would have done that, I would have run out into that highway to get that super important paper--thank goodness I didn't have to!

awesome day.

I just had one of those days where I felt like I was back in junior high or high school. Here's how it went down:

I saw on the sub list this morning the name John Smith**(name has been changed in case someone who knows this guy is reading my blog) and thought "OMG I graduated with John and haven't seen him in 4 years!! I should call him and tell him to come by my classroom if he gets bored." So of course I called the classroom he was in and the conversation went like this:


JS: This is John Smith for Mr. Turner.
Me: John! Hey this is Sarah Wiley
JS: oh hey..
Me: I work here now! If you get bored my planning is 4th and you can come down here if that's yours.
JS: ok great thanks!


Ok so I went on with my day and apparently he didn't have planning 4th--no big. When it was time for lunch I walked out to the lunch room and saw this unfamiliar man sitting at my lunch table....2 seats down from me....across the table from me. I sat down and glanced at his name tag. JOHN SMITH! "What?? This does not look like the same guy I graduated with! I mean...I know it's been 4 years but he didn't gain 100 pounds and dye his hair red??"


Well, turns out there is another person named John Smith and I pretty much had the most awkward lunch experience of my life. I really hope he didn't think I was hitting on him.....


In other news, my bestie Kristi made this GORGEOUS sign for my classroom!!! She is so talented and my students loved it!

If anyone is interested in getting a painting of some sort (baby names/announcements, initials, etc), send me an email and I'll get back to you on pricing!

Leaving you on a happy note:

Isn't she precious?? She was probably like, "ok Aunt Sarah, stop taking pictures of me!"

2010 in Review

2010 has gone by so fast! I remember that when I was much younger the days seemed to last forever. But now that I'm older, it seems that the time is flying by!!

So here's a look back at my 2010:

I spent the new year cheering on the Tide in Pasadena and watched as we became the 2009 National Champions!!
I took this trip with some pretty great friends, too!

I started student teaching in my final semester at UA. I was placed in a 6th grade classroom. Long story short, that was a semester full of challenges and a testing of my faith.

Janie and I enjoyed a snow day in Tuscaloosa--a rarity, let me assure you!

I saw John Mayer in concert...for the 4th time :)

This precious baby was born to my best friend, Ashton, and her husband, Jimmy. Kylee Reese Davis was born March 31 and it has been so much fun watching her grow up!

Janie and I had to pack up our apartment after 3 years of living together :( Lots of people told us that it wasn't wise to live with your best friend, but strangely enough, our friendship became the best it's ever been. It quickly became a joke that wherever one of us was, the other was there too--which was true about 99% of the time. Not long ago Oprah did an interview with Barbara Walters in which she asked about her friendship with Gayle. After hearing what Oprah said, I immediately thought of my friendship with Janie and how I feel the exact same way!

"...She is the sister everybody would want. She is the friend everybody deserves. I don't know a better person. I don't know a better person."

I graduated from college in August! I'm pictured here with my friend Jeremy. We met at the BCM (Baptist Campus Ministries) building on campus. We immediately became great friends and both graduated in August. Jeremy graduated with a degree in Marketing and just landed a job in Hoover at Docupak (I'm still not completely sure what he does ha!). Our friendship has lasted past college and we still schedule time to meet up to eat lunch or dinner together. I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with a friendship like this one!

I went and saw Hanson in Nashville with my sister. My love for John Mayer is the same as Rachel's love for Hanson. It turned out to be a fun concert and a trip with lots of memories!

I got my first teaching job! Granted, it wasn't full time, but it was something to get my foot in the door. I taught 11th and 12th grade for 3 months at my old high school and loved every minute of it! I know this probably helped me get the junior high job that I'll start in January!

I went to only one football game this season which was a huge change for me because I was used to going to every one and sitting in the student section. Jeremy got season tickets for graduation so he let me use the other one for a game. We ended up sneaking into the student section during halftime and sitting in our old seats with our old friends :)

I turned 23!!

A big change for me this year was starting Weight Watchers. But it's been the best thing I've done all year! I started in the fall and have had to contend with birthdays, Thanksgiving, school parties, and Christmas food galore. With all of that being said, I've lot a little over 25 pounds and I'm almost to my halfway point. My goal is to reach that by Aug/Sept 2011.

Here I am before starting. Here I am 25.something pounds lighter!

This year has been full of many surprises! The one lesson I've learned from this year has to do with changes. Friendships have changed--I've reconnected with old friends and lost friendships I had made in college. I've changed not only weight-wise (ha) but in my teaching style. Can't wait to see what 2011 holds for me!!!

HUGE Update!!!!

I GOT A JOB!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!

I am soooo unbelievably excited about this!!! Starting January 3, 2o11, I will be teaching 7th grade English at the junior high in my town. All I can say is that God is so good. If you remember, less than a week ago I blogged about being finished with the maternity leave I filled in for at the high school and was without full time work. I honestly had no idea what I would be doing in the spring--I knew that I would be able to sub, but if you know anything about sub pay you know that it's not a lot!! I wrote that post after I had prayed a lot about my future and I had just stopped worrying. Well, on Friday, December 10, I was offered a position for the spring!! How the Lord provides!!!!!

Later Friday night, I went to see the Cold War Kids in concert. They were so much fun live and my friend and I had a blast dancing the night away!!

This image isn't great quality--I took it with my droid.

Tonight I went over to my sister's boyfriend's house and made "gingerbread" houses with them. Actually, we made them from graham crackers but same thing!! It was so much fun and extremely competitive as to whose would be the best! I ended up making mine look like a A-frame log cabin using pretzels.......maybe if teaching doesn't work out I could try architecture??? Haha!!

Busy Week

Wow....I don't even know where to start. I have been UNBELIEVABLY busy this week. And, sad to say, it's my last week teaching. The regular teacher comes back from maternity leave on Monday and the kids and I are sad that I'm leaving!!

Monday, the principal came in to observe my lesson and so I was a little stressed about pulling off a "perfect" lesson.

For the past few weeks I've also been planning a field trip for my students to meet their pen pals. Can I say that I was a LITTLE STRESSED OUT?!?!?!!? For planning my first field trip ever I definitely had to pick the most stressful and chaotic. Trying to organize 155 students who are going 3 different places is very chaotic.

Today was the big field trip and it went perfectly! I did leave two students at school but that's only because they didn't show up to get on the bus in time to leave so too bad!! Also, my kids have been "secretly" planning parties for me all day. As soon as I saw the party food lists this afternoon, I headed over to the park to get in some running because I won't have time to do it tomorrow afternoon. Since I've lost quite a bit of weight in the last few months, I'm extremely paranoid about gaining weight so I tried to run some to stave off the calories!!!

Tomorrow after school I'll be going with the senior citizens at my church to see a Christmas show at a private college about an hour away. I'm so excited!!

Prayers Needed

For those of you that don't know, my job will be ending soon. I've been teaching high school English this semester (which is my degree) but it's been as a maternity leave fill-in. It ends on December 3rd. So here's what I ask that you pray for:

• I've applied for my dream job and have already applied for it. I've called the place and haven't gotten in touch with the director of personnel--but that doesn't mean I won't stop trying!!!
• Please pray that God wants me to get this new job. It literally would be a dream come true and I just hope that it's what God has in store for me.
• THANK YOU!!!!!! I'll keep yall updated on what I hear. Hopefully they'll at least give me an interview!

Update on Bedroom!!!!!

Get ready for this weekend! I will be doing my bedroom reveal which I am so excited about!!!! I have worked so hard on it (along with my family) and am thrilled to show y'all!!!

Let me just say this week has really made me brain-dead. Seriously. It's 9 week exam week at school and I can barely comprehend anything the students are saying to me because I have so much on my mind....lesson plans for next week, re-reading The Great Gatsby, grading essays, grading exams, figuring out what lesson plans will be for this week. That's just a few of the things on my mind....a lot I know!!!

I'm really excited about this weekend because 1. It's the weekend and 2. I'm off school Monday!!!!!

Be ready for the room reveal!!!!

M.I.A. (and I don't mean the singer)

Oh my--I have definitely been non-existant in the blog world lately. So where to begin?

Well, I started a maternity leave at the high school I graduated from and I now teach English to 11th and 12th graders. I have never been so busy or exhausted in my life!!! Like tonight: I actually fell asleep at 6:30pm sitting straight up in a chair. It's been super exhausting keeping up with 11th and 12th graders and to think, I actually chose the older kids because they were more "self-sufficient". Yeah right. BUT not to make you think I'm complaing or anything--I really am so grateful for this opportunity. I love these kids. I look forward to 7th period (not because it's the last period of the day haha) because this class keeps me laughing the entire class period. These kids continually amaze me with the things they come up with, and it always makes me feel better when someone says, "Miss Wiley, you are the best teacher. I wish you were here forever." or "You look really pretty today, Miss Wiley." To those comments I say: Keep them coming!!!!!

Next week will be super busy with homecoming activities the entire week and I am really excited to be helping out. I'll be checking on freshmen lawn decorations and in charge of program sales at the homecoming kickoff on Monday night.

Did I mention that I'm also in charge of the dance team? That's been so much fun too. The girls get so excited over these dances that they learn and I love telling the girls how great they look. Tomorrow is a pep rally that the girls have been preparing for so I'm excited to see them perform and to see the energy they put into a dance that they are really proud of!!

Forgive me for being non-existant (I haven't even been on facebook much!!!) but I will try to be better!!! I have a ton of blog reading to catch up on! Happy Fall!!!!

Relying on God

August began as a great month! My sister, Rachel, and I traveled to Nashville to see Hanson in concert--her 3rd and my first :) We had a great time together!!

Then 4 short days later I GRADUATED!!!!!! It's exciting but at the same time a little sad because for the past 4 years my life has been at The University of Alabama, and now I'm having to start all over again. I'm so thankful for the friends that have made school feel like home--Mary Beth and all of my SELA friends--and for the one friend who followed me to school :)--Janie!

I looooooove this Lily dress!!

So what's the next chapter in my life? For the first time in my life I honestly don't know! This is where I've had to learn to just give everything over to God and to wait patiently for what He has planned for me. All I do know is that I will be taking over a maternity leave for an English teacher very very soon!!! And I am excited to be the teacher now and not the student teacher!!!!

New Beginnings =......A New Room!!

Moving back in with my parents calls for a room re-do--or at least it does in my book! The room that is now mine in my parent's house used to be my stepdad's mom's room so you can imagine what it looked like. First step was to move all furniture that was in our old house out of my room that way when it gets done I can move my furniture from my apartment into my new room! Then my mom and I tore up the old carpet and padding and then spent over 2 hours pulling up old staples. My mom then tore down all old trim. Now my room needs the ceiling sheetrocked and the hardwood sanded and then everything needs to be painted!!!!

Here are a few inspirations:

My white duvet from PB is a must in my new room!!

This is the color inspiration for the walls. I liked the mustard-burnt-golden-yellow color and found a perfect paint sample at Lowes.
I'll also be making my own curtains because I want them from about 3 inches under my ceiling to touching the floor so I know that I'll have to make custom curtains. I love this blue damask print and I think that it will go perfect with the yellow walls and white duvet--and of course the new hardwood.

All photos courtesy Google.com and PotteryBarn.com

Life Lately

I know, I know...I haven't blogged in what feels like forever!! A lot of things have been going on in my life at this time and blogging hasn't been my #1 priority. But I do want to let yall know what's been going on:

1. After trying and trying and trying, I was never offered a full time teaching position. However, the Lord has blessed me with an offer to take over a maternity leave for a few months. Here's the kicker---it's at the high school I graduated from! So even though I'm still going to have to move back in with my parents, I will have some sort of income and will hopefully land a full time job with the help of this position.

Can't wait to carry this the first day!!

2. I've moved out of my apartment and back in with my parents....officially. This has been the most dreaded part of graduating--not because of having to move back in with my family, but because that meant I would not be living with my best friend from home. She and I have lived together for the past 3 years and it's literally been heaven on earth. I know lots of people warned us when we were moving in together 3 years ago saying it's not wise for best friends to live together but it's honestly made us way, way closer--if that was even possible!!

This would be us 3 years ago the very first night we lived together!!! This would have been around midnight and as you can see we were soooo busy unpacking :)

3. I've started a new bible study. It's on the book of Ruth and is AMAZING!!!!! The author is Kelly Minter and I highly reccommend this for all ladies!!

What Happens Now

So I just finished taking the last final of my undergrad! I can't believe these 4 years have flown by so fast and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I've made new friends, lost friends, been in love, experienced heartbreak, and I have made so many memories with the people in my life! So what are my plans now? Well, I'll be moving back home to save up money and will begin working in the fall. I'll post more about that when everything is official but I'm excited about it and where it could lead me! Oh, and I graduate in August with the 3 other people in the College of Education who didn't make it to May graduation in time :)

ROLL TIDE!!!

And I can't wait to go to football games in the fall!!