Wonderful People in My Life

I came to realize today how much I love the people in the classes for my major. There are about 15 of us in my class for the PHETE (Physical & Health Education Teacher Education) major and even though I've only known these people for 2 years or less, I feel like I've known them forever.

We justed started the Practicum part of our classes and we're finishing up our second week of going out to New Life Christian Academy (NLCA) and teaching PE classes to Kindergarten, 1&2, and 3&4. My class is split into 2: Group A and Group B. And within those groups are 3 smaller groups of 3 people. Group A and Group B go out on different days and we all rotate with who teaches which.

It's fun when we go out because my whole group grabs a quick lunch together at Chick-fil-a before heading over to the school.

Today was my first day of teaching, and I taught Kindergarten. I can't remember the last time I was so nervous and worried about doing something, but I can honestly say that everyone helped to calm me down and make me less stressed. The amount of help and encouragement from my class was phenomenal. Never have I felt like so many people knew exactly what I needed and what I needed help with. It's what we've all been doing for each other since the teaching started, but since it was my turn teaching, I saw it all from a totally different perspective.

When we were still at Longwood discussing rides and getting equipment and such, I had several people ask me what other equipment, etc. I needed. That was the first thing that made me realize these people are awesome. When we got to the school, since I was first to teach, there was so much to do to set up the gym and move chairs and tables out of the way, and just little tasks like that. But let me tell you, everything got done in about 5 minutes. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE pitched in in one way or another and I felt so relieved so have so much help. I cannot even put into words how appreciative I was, and still am, for the amazing people I work with in my major.

When I was done teaching I had people telling me how good I did when I was teaching and then a few things I need to work on. Normally, getting negative feedback from peers would put me down, but because I've grown to trust these people so much, I loved getting it. I know, weird, right? Even on the ride home I had a friend say again, "you did really well today," and it just really was the icing on the cake and made me feel so much better, and like I stressed over this for absolutely nothing!

I am so looking forward to the next time my group goes back to NLCA, which unfortunately, won't be for another 3 weeks (the week after Spring Break). I won't be teaching this time, so it's less stressing for me =)

What's in my purse?

I saw this idea on a blog before, and thought it'd be fun to do. Here's everything that's in my purse!


1. Stopain: This Roll-On Pain Reliever is life saving! I feel like I have more muscle and bone aches than anyone ever should in one day, so it's very convenient to have this. And it really does help, even though the Listerine smell fills the room every time I put it on!

2. Root Beer Barrels: Root Beer mints from Cracker Barrel...I get them every time I go! Unless I've been recently and I still have a bag on hand. Man, I just love them. And I hope that even though I gave up soft drinks for Lent I'm still able to have these!

3. Poem: This is one of the poems that Matt's written me. He wrote this one for me for Christmas 2007. It's nice to have it with me to read whenever.

4. Senior Class Rank: Ok, I don't really carry this with me, it just fell out of this purse when I flipped it over.lol. But hey, I'm not going to lie, it is very encouraging to try and keep up with my high school GPA...haha.

5. Brush: Even though I don't brush my hair when it's curly, I keep it with me for some reason. I suppose for those maybe 5 times a year that I straighten my hair and it gets really tangled up?

6. Ibuprofen: I believe my body is becoming immune to this stuff, because I have to use it so much. I get headaches like no other and I feel like I take this at least once a day. If my headaches aren't too bad, I do try to tough it out though so I don't take so much.

7. Wallet: This was my first Vera Bradley purchase and I couldn't contain my excitement when I finally saved enough money to buy it. Needless to say, it holds everything I could possibly need and is stuffed with stuff--not stuffed with enough money though!

8. Pencil Pouch: I keep pens, pencils and highlighters with me at all time. Very convenient at random times.lol

9. Pocket Calendar: This saves my life at times. I mostly keep dates and stuff on the calendar on my phone, but sometimes, I just need to have things written down in two places. I don't know why, I just do.

10. Inspiration: Some people have an inspiration board, which I am actually brainstorming to make, but for now, I have inspiration paper. Just a few pieces of paper with pictures and such that I carry with me.

11. Lotion: I mentioned in my last post about hand lotion my Memaw gave me for Christmas. Well, this is it!

12. Santa Purse: I've had this thing since I was little! I hadn't used it in a while, but at Christmas 2008, I found this purse in all of our Christmas stuff and thought it was cute for carrying all my chapsticks in my purse. Well somehow, this thing ended up staying in my purse year round, and it now carries my iPod (which is not currently in it, because I took it to the gym!).

13. Lipgloss: Honestly, this isn't even the lipgloss I use. But even so, it still goes with me from purse to purse. I guess one day, I will actually use it. I just don't know. haha.

14. Nail Clippers: This is just a must. That's all I have to say.

15: Ambesol Jr.: I get ulcers a lot from eating acidic foods (mostly the pineapple I eat almost every day at breakfast!) and this stuff is so relieving! And yes, I get the kids' kind....because it has a better flavor!!

16. Mirror: Ok, do I really need to explain why I carry a mirror with me??

17. Nail file: I love having this nail file, with all the different sides. But, as you can see, it's time to buy a new one. They're usually at WalMart if you're interested!

18. Cougar: Yes, this seems absolutely ridiculous, I know. But if you've ever seen Talladega Nights, then you've seen the cougar that gets painted on Ricky Bobby's new car. Matt and I watched this movie once, I just called him Cougar. I don't know why at all, I just did. haha. So, Matt gave me this little cougar. He also has a tiger. Can you guess why?

19. Cars Notebook: I find myself always needing just a blank sheet of paper to write stuff down, it could be anything. A grocery list, a random game of Hangman, anything.

20. Words to Know: Last year, mom mailed me random newspaper clippings and comic strips. One day, she mailed me a clipping of words that I should add to my vocabulary. The two words are Gumble and Fizzlewit. And, I do use them regularly, when they fit into the conversation! Let me know if you know the meaning of either of those words, without looking them up! ;)

21. Lipgloss: This is the lipgloss I use. haha. I bought it on one of our mission trips. I can't remember which one, but I know we went shopping at a mall, because that's where I bought this. I feel like it was when we were in Georgia? No idea. Anyway. It's from Victoria's Secret. And I bought it because 1) It was on sale (1/2 off!), and 2) I find it funny to say this is the only thing I own from Victoria's Secret. lol.

22. Hand Sanitizer: Apparently, you're only supposed to use this only once a day, or it starts getting bad for hands. Well then, my hands are horrible, because I use this quite often! Oh well, as long as I don't have germs!

betcha didn't know.

I really don't even have time to post a blog. I shouldn't even have any windows open except those that are school related, but sometimes, a break is greatly needed.

My Aunt Diane (here is her blog!!: http://ninadiane.blogspot.com/) just wrote a blog with the title "Betcha didn't know......" and wrote a few things that people may not know. Well, I decided to do my own, but just real quick, because that lesson plan has to get done sometime.....

So here it goes.

Betcha didn't know.......

• I still don't know what I want to major in. You'd think half-way through college I'd know by now, but I don't.
• I have a favorite winter Olympic athlete that I love to watch. I always talk about loving Michael Phelps in the summer Olympics, but there is a winter athlete I love too: Apolo Ohno, who is a speed skater. I find those events to be so awesome and really keep you on the edge of your seat. I wish I could try out speed skating sometime!
• There's a total of 12 pictures of just Matt, or both Matt and me on my desk. Okaaaaay, one of those frames is a rotating cube thing with 4 pictures on each side and four on the inside, so I guess that makes only 9 visible on the outside, but still. That's why I never have enough room on my desk!
• I love Oreos. Almost too much. I made the mistake of buying a pack of them on Monday, because I'm constantly wanting to eat them, just knowing that they're sitting on the shelf in my closet.
• I collect hot suace packets from Taco Bell with the funny sayings. Ok, here's the story. It originally started with Shrek the Third came out in theaters and McDonalds had green straws. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Well then, I started noticing how many different straws there were at restaurants/fast food places: green ones, black ones, white ones, white with a red and yellow stripe, clear, etc. One year at the family reunion, we were in Taco Bell and Dad and I were reading the packets and one said, "I collect straws." Dad told me I had to get it. And I guess as they say, the rest is history. I just got one the other day and it says, "Will you scratch my back?" Love. It.
• Anatomy is my favorite subject this semester. Last semester, I couldn't stand it and dreaded going to class. This semester, new teacher + awesome material = new favorite class that I actually look forward to going to.
• I used to hate putting lotion on. Even suntan lotion. I hated the feeling of it. I started putting it on this winter because my Memaw gave me some for Christmas. Now, I feel weird if I don't put any on.
• I just found myself loving writing random things about me that people may not know, so I think I'd like to do this more often, maybe with some themes in the future???? Any ideas? :)
• TODAY IS MY HALF BIRTHDAY! WHOO HOO!!!!

A New Addition

All of the stuffed animals that Matt and I have are named. Some are crazy and you'll probably wonder how the heck they got those names, but no worries, I'll explain :)

The first stuffed animal I got was a baby Shrek stuffed animal, which Matt named Sparrow. Matt won him out of a crane machine at the movies when we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. So that's how he got his name.

The next animal I got was Mater. Matt gave him to me for my 17th birthday. There was no need to change his name :)

Next, Matt won me the big red mouse at the state fair in 2007. We named him Milkshake, after the amazing Virginia Tech milkshakes my family gets every single year at the fair!

For Christmas in 2007, I found a stuffed moose where you can record someone talking and it plays back. I don't believe anything is recorded on him now......but Matt likes to record me doing my "chicken laugh" and play it back, which makes me laugh even more.lol. But anyway, since I gave him the moose for Christmas, he was named Mistletoe.

Valentine's Day in 2008 came around, and Matt gave me the softest stuffed dog ever. That same Valentine's Day, I made Matt fortune cookies with fortunes I made inside. And even though they didn't come out as good as they did on my trial run, he said he still liked them ;) haha. Anyway, the dog's name, of course, is Cookie.

In fall of 2008 Matt and I went to Build-a-Bear and we each made a bear. We had them stuffed, picked out clothes and everything. He named his Daniel; I named my Loraine. --our middle names, if you didn't know! He keeps Loraine; I keep Daniel. We even bought them the cutest Elf costumes this past Christmas, which you can see more pics of in a previous post.haha.

Here are some pictures:

Mater, Milkshake, Daniel, Cookie, Sparrow.

Loraine, Mistletoe.

And as I mentioned, Matt gave me a new stuffed dog for Valentine's Day this year. We just called him Baby Cookie at first, because he looked just like Cookie. Well, last night before bed, he was named. And Matt thought of the name. Meet Porkchop!

You can go back to my last post if you don't understand how he got his name :)

Valentine's Day

When I first asked Matt what we were going to do for Valentine's Day, the first thing he said, without hesitation, was that he was going to make me dinner. Hey, I am ALL for that :) The only problem was, he wouldn't tell me what we were having! And it drove me crazy not knowing. Just ask Matt, cause I worried him to death!
Well, short story short: My boyfriend is awesome! lol. There's no simpler way to put it!

This is what I was greeted with on the fridge...

And this was my salad...as you can see, I didn't want much, because I didn't want to spoil my appetite :)
and HERE is one of my favorite forms of chicken (and I like a lot of chicken!) This is chicken wrapped in bacon, and covered in brown sugar and chili powder. MMMMM!!

And here is my plate of porkchops, mashed tatoes and peas. I like to eat these all together. In one bite. Triple yummyness.

This is Matt's plate, where he made a smiley face. haha.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the sugar cookies he made but they were delicious! He made his own pink frosting for them, the kind where it's liquidy and after you pour it on and let it set, it hardens.

It was just a great night :) And we of course watched the Olympics. Couldn't miss Apolo Ohno!

Thennnn. Today before we left to come back to school, he told me he had forgotten to give me something. Well, that was a scarf, gloves and a headband/ear warmer, and also: Baby Cookie. Cookie is this stuffed dog that he gave me for our first Valentine's Day, and this dog he gave me this year looks just like the original :) He is still in the process of being named.....haha

I couldn't ask for anyone better :o)

A Common Denominator

It seems as though there has been a common denominator of the week=stress. Loads and loads of stress—which would explain why I haven’t been able to keep up with blog posting or even checking the blogs I follow. I’ve had test after test, assignment after assignment, interviews, meetings, studying, you name it, I’ve probably done it. Tuesday was the worst; my calendar on my wall looked INSANE it had so much written on it. I got so excited as I went through the day and was able to erase something off of it. The feeling of completion feels very nice.

I haven’t had the time to call my parents as much as I normally do, nor have I had time to read just for fun—which is something I love being able to do. But now, I’m done with classes for the day, and I have just 5 classes left of the week, and to be honest, I’m not really stressed out about them, and that’s something big, coming from me of course.

Because of everything that’s been going on, I also haven’t got to talk to Matt hardly any. Yesterday, I think we had a ten minute continuous conversation at 11:45 last night, and that was almost the only time we even talked to each other. When I have class, he doesn’t; when he has class, I don’t. Everything’s always just a hit and miss, and it’s way harder being 2 ½ hours away all the time. But luckily, in exactly 48 hours, I will be driving home, knowing that I’m leaving all school-related work behind, and will finally see Matt again that night.

I wouldn’t say that we have to “put up with each other” all the time. It’s more like, we have to find ways to work around our busy schedules and still have time for each other, but sometimes, it seems literally impossible. We haven’t been able to see each other as much this semester, and I’ll be the first one to admit that I hate it, but I survive. I’m so looking forward to being able to spend this weekend with Matt for Valentine’s Day.

God is amazing for helping me get through everything I had this week, and still for all that is to come.

I have to thank Matt, though, for “putting up with” my hectic schedule here and for being so understanding. I don’t say it enough how much I appreciate you, but I do.

A New Year, a New Look

I felt like my blog needed a make-over. Nothing too drastic, because HTML and Mallory do not mix well together. Just a new layout & template would do fine!
So I went with a Valentines background, for now, and may change it according to seasons/holidays/occasions/etc.
I also like the section where the posts are, because it looks like they're written on old paper, and I love that look!

Also trying to think of a new name for the blog. The link will always have to be memoriesbymallory, unless some computer genius wants to tell me how to fix that :)
But for now, what I came up with was Moments in Memories, because I like to try to remember EXACT moments in my memories.

That's all I have for now.
Will hopefully have MORE snow pictures coming.

But honestly, I'm starting to get tired of the snow :/

MICHAEL BUBLE!!!

I cannot CONTAIN my excitement!!! I just bought Matt and me tickets to see MICHAEL BUBLE in July!!!! We're each paying for our own ticket, and it's our birthday present to each other for this year :) :)
We didn't get the seats we really wanted, which obviously, would have been on the floor, but we didn't get horrible seats, so I'm not too upset! We're both VERY excited!!!!!
Matt bought another one of his CDs last night, he now as 4! haha, and it came with a DVD. Matt said that Michael Buble is hilarious, so I'm looking forward to the concert even MORE!