In the Merry, Merry Month of May

May was quite an exciting month in the Cashatt household. First of all, I got my new awesome job after searching for over a year. We also got to spend time with both of our moms on Mother's Day weekend, AND it was my birthday! (which will be a whole other separate post) In addition to that excitement, we also had a few other things going on:

If you know anything about TV, you know that ratings are what determines whether a show gets to stay on the air or not. What you may not know is that the ratings are run by a company called Nielsen. Well, I was contacted by the company back in April to keep a TV diary. So, for one week in May I wrote down EVERYTHING I watched. Now, I already knew that I watched a lot of tv, so I wasn't too surprised to see my diary quickly fill up during the afternoons and evenings. Anyway, it was kind of fun, and I would love for them to send me a Nielsen box so I can be a permanent part of the ratings, like my mom!

Our friend Tara has a Cornhole Tournament every year near Memorial Day weekend. Jamie is always my partner (duh) and this year we won two games, which obviously is not much, but it's the most we've done! So next year our goal is three... we'll see how that goes :-)  There are no pictures of us actually playing, but here's April and me (and doggie Ren) waiting for our next games.

And this is the cornhole board that hated me: at least half of my bags slid off the back of the board!

Although we didn't win the cornhole tourney, I DID win something else last month. One of my favorite blogs (see my name here!), The A Cappella Blog, did a bracket contest for the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). They have quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, somewhat similar to March Madness. Anyway, I filled out my bracket with who I thought would place in the top two for each competition. I did so well I got second place! And so, I won a copy of the Best of College Acappella (BOCA) 2012. It's a compilation put out every year of the top recordings from around the country and I haven't gotten one in several years, so I was very excited to receive a free one! Here's the tracklisting, in case you're interested:






I also got to go to the End of Year Author's Celebration for the class I was the long term sub for. It was so fun to hear all their amazing writing and how much growth they've had even just from when I was there. I loved seeing their sweet little faces and am so excited that I will get to see them around school next year!


So, as you can see, it's been a busy past few weeks and I enjoyed every minute of it!

12 for '12 Update: April/May

SPIRITUAL
I'm doing much better on my Bible reading, usually reading at least 4 times a week. I'm going to start doubling up on entries though because I know it will be much harder once school starts again. I want to get it in while I know I'll have the time!

PROFESSIONAL
I am kicking butt on this section :-)  Most importantly, I got a job for next year! Woohoo! I'm going to be teaching second grade, which is somewhat nerve wracking (since I have virtually no experience at that level), but I'm also looking forward to the challenge. I've been spending LOTS of time reading and searching through professional materials to see what I will be able to use next year. In conjunction with that, I'll be starting my teaching blog soon, so you can all follow my progress in preparing and teaching 2nd grade (it will also be a great resource for me to later remember everything I did!).

HEALTH
In my last goals update, I talked about my lack of motivation for working out. Well, putting back on some extra weight around the midsection will give a person some motivation :-)  As I'm making my "schedule" for the summer, I'm definitely putting some exercise time back on the list to prevent too much sitting time. I'm also continuing to do well with my eating, which joining the co-op definitely helped with!

BLOG
Goals: met and continue to be!

OTHER
The grocery budget is still working and I'm really working hard to try and make it even lower for the next couple of months (until I start making money again!) because we actually have quite a little surplus of some things. We are three episodes away from being finished with the second season of Lost. I think that we will be making great progress during the summer since we don't have any regular shows to watch (once college baseball is over anyway!). As for singing, I still really want to do something, I'm just not seeing an opportunity right now.


Well, I'd say that this update looks much better than the last! Go me!

12 for '12 Update - February/March

Sooo... I don't know how well I'm doing with some of these goals at the point. I may have bitten off more than I can chew! In any case, here we go...

SPIRITUAL
My Bible reading has been a bit inconsistent these past couple of months due to work, but I'm getting back into it now and am still on track to finish by Janurary. Jamie and I have put our devotional on hold for now. When we both got sick at the beginning of February, we were going to bed really early and got out of the habit. So we will have to get back into a routine and create time for that again... or try again next year.

PROFESSIONAL
I'm still working on getting a job for next year. I went to two job fairs in February and hopefully am somewhat close to landing a position. I don't want to talk too much about it, in case it doesn't work out. Rest assured, as soon as I sign a contract, the whole world will know!
I've been reading plenty of professional material, as I got to plan and study for lessons, as well as read to my students each day. Pinterest has actually greatly helped me in this area as well, as I've read about lots of great ideas to use in the classroom!
That brings me to a question for you all. I want to begin work on my teaching website. However, I'm thinking now that maybe I should do a blog. It may be easier to navigate and search for things (using labels) and for me, it might be easier to update and more motivating as well. Opinions?

HEALTH
I have massively failed in one of these goals. When I got sick, I stopped working out and haven't done it since. One of the main reasons I started to begin with was because I was just sitting around watching TV for months and getting no physical activity. Well, working with kindergarteners gets you plenty of movement! I'm just going to have to find a motivation to get back into it: a fun workout would be a start. I have been continuing to eat fairly healthy for the most part though. The MyPlate website has helped me figure out portion sizes and how much of each group I should be eating each day.

BLOG
I've started my two weekly features, I just haven't been able to keep up with them recently... but I think I'm more than making up for my two a week blogs this week :-)

OTHER
As you've seen from my "Thrifty Thursday" posts, I've definitely been sticking to my $50 weekly grocery budget average, which I'm very proud of! Jamie and I have finally started watching Lost and are at the end of disc 4; we have a long way to go though. I haven't found a way to get back into singing yet. The choir I was talking about hasn't participated in any services since Christmas, so I don't know if that's a viable option or not.


Okay, so I haven't done as bad as I thought, but I can always do better! How are you doing on your goals?  

Where've You Been?!

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you might have wondered this to yourself sometime over the past couple of months. Most of my time was consumed by long term subbing, which was wonderful and I'll write a separate post about. Here are some other things we've been up to these past few weeks.

Taxes- One of the first weekends in February we spent doing our taxes. It took alllll day on a Saturday, but we got them done early!

Valentine's- We both spent the weekend before Valentine's Day sick, so we decided to celebrate the weekend after. It was quite eventful! We went to our favorite Asian restaurant (Antai in Lexington) and enjoyed a delicious meal. Then we got a surprise visit from Cin (& Court the next day) and took our first picture together since my wedding:

Jamie also upgraded to an IPhone 4S and while we were there, we switched to AT&T U-verse. We've been thinking about switching cable providers for a year, and finally made the plunge. So far, it's been pretty good. There have been a couple of little glitches, but it's much cheaper than Time Warner AND we get whole house DVR, which I've never had. And of course, this is just enabling my TV addiction even further ;-)

Celebrations- My mom came down at the end of February to stay with us and we took her out for a birthday dinner. For St. Patrick's Day this year, our friend Magan had a small get-together which was so fun. She set up a treasure hunt in her apartment, leading us with a series of clues, and Jamie and I won some yummy "gold nuggets" and "money mints." I also won Scattergories... I felt very lucky that day!

Speaking of good fortune, Easter is not yet upon us, but Shandon always does their modern worship event on Palm Sunday. This year, we were so blessed to have Kevin Olusola as a guest artist. Kevin is well known for two reasons: some know him as the "beatboxing cellist." Others (such as myself) know him as the vocal percussionist for the a cappella group Pentatonix, who just so happened to win a little show called "The Sing Off," which I'm more than a little obsessed with! If you want to see him with Pentatonix, you can go to one of my previous posts: Friday Four- February 11 
Here he is using the talent he bestowed on us Sunday:

Sad Times- One of the most important events of the past couple of months was the death of my maternal grandmother. She had Alzheimer's for the past few years and so it was inevitable I suppose. The State newspaper had just done an article about my grandparents last Valentine's Day, since they had been married for so long. It was so sweet then, and made bittersweet now that she's gone:
SC Man Loses his Loving Singing Partner 

My very first youth minister, Stan Stone, passed away recently from cancer. He introduced me to the sounds of Jars of Clay and DC Talk, and was such a kind man. He also looked kind of like my daddy! In addition to both of those deaths, one of my colleagues from my former school, Peggy Tiller, passed away after losing her fight with breast cancer. They always say death comes in threes, and this time was no different.

Randoms- We also went to our first baseball game of the season last month, which just happened to be the heartbreaker where we lost to Florida in the last inning. On a lighter note, Jamie almost had a star encounter a couple of weeks ago, as he delivered to the film crew of "Oprah's Next Chapter," who were in Orangeburg filming a show about Shaquan Duley. He didn't know it at the time, but after watching the show, we are pretty sure that Oprah was just inside the house that he delivered to!


Whew, I think that about rounds it up for now. I'm sure I left out something, but that's okay :-)

12 for '12 Update- January

SPIRITUAL: So far, I've read two more weeks' worth of Bible entries this year, so I'll have to pick up the pace if I'm going to finish by December! Jamie and I have been faithfully keeping up with our daily devotional, doubling up on some nights if needed.

PROFESSIONAL: I'm officially restarting the job search for next year on Saturday with two district job fairs. I've started the planning stages for my website, mapping out the different sections and resources I'd like to include. I started out faithfully reading my professional material, but have been a little slack the past couple of weeks as "life" has started to pick up. I'm hoping to get back into it soon.

HEALTH: I am proud to say that I have kept my 3 times a week exercise regimen for a month. Go me! This has been increasingly difficult, as I am working more often during the week, but I'm really going to try to stick with it. MyPlate has been a really interesting tool to help me with my eating habits. I plan to write a full blog about it in the next couple of weeks.

BLOG: I've definitely been writing at least twice a week, as I've started two weekly features. I'd like to write more one time features though, so if you have any thoughts on what you'd like me to write about, let me know! I'm also thinking about changing up the "Friday Four" to include a different category list each week. I'm taking suggestions for that too :-)

OTHER: I've more than stuck to my average of $50 for groceries a week, even coming in under budget most weeks. We have not started watching "Lost" yet, but hope to start soon. And I haven't looked into joining the worship choir yet, since we were contemplating the move to Charleston, but I'll make an inquiry into that soon.


There you have it. All in all, I'd say I'm doing pretty well with most of my goals. Some could be better, but I have the whole year to work on them!

How about you? How are you doing on your goals?