Lookin' up.

Valentine's Day just passed and I got something from my hubby that I would never expect to get ever.  Last Friday, the 11th, he gave me an early Valentines Day present.  When he came to pick me up from work he presented it to me. The picture on the left holds truth, he got me an iMac desktop!  Yes, it has been something I have always wanted, but never expected to get it.  It made my day and it felt like it was dream because I couldn't believe it.  I am very happy to receive such a gift.  Since Cory had to work this last weekend, I got to play with my new computer all weekend.  I got it "gly friendly".  It is 21.5 inches widescreen and very fast.  It has an amazing screen and optimum graphics.  It will help a lot considering my photography.  I love my Cory!!  He makes my life a little more at ease on top of everything.  On real Valentines Day we celebrated our love by going out to sushi.  Well we celebrate our love all the time, but since it was such a day, we went out anyways.  I have the best husband ever and I am the luckiest woman on the planet.

On Friday night we also went to a concert at UAA.  I was very happy Cory went with me.  I wasn't expecting him to come at all.  I was looking for a girlfriend to join me, but couldn't find one.  The fact he said he was coming with me, was a surprise.  It was free for students and plus it was one of my favorite bands!  They are called Meg & Dia.  They started out as just the two of them, one on guitar and one on vocals.  They are half korean half white sisters and sound awesome!  Now they are a 5 person band with drums, bass, another guitar.  It was so fun to watch them.  They sounded amazing live and now I love that band even more.  Cory said he even digged it.  I can't wait for their new album.

Well classes and work are going pretty good, minus the fact that I break down sometimes... especially mid week.  Glad Cory is there to keep my motiv going.

Great news, Cory declined the job in Texas.  It was originally our last resort, but Cory just said, nope.  He said he will do everything he can to stay here.  Now working on the slope for him (2 weeks on 2 weeks off), is our last resort if he doesn't find a job by summer.  Knowing the both of us, we probably wouldn't like that schedule.  That is like half a month of not seeing your spouse!  Not cool.  Great job to the people that can take that schedule.  Yes, it is great money, but to him, it is not worth that time spent away from home.  We are now hoping the jobs he has applied for call him in.  He actually had two interview opportunities, but he declined both of them because they were temporary positions.  He wants a permanent job.

In the mean time, he starts personal training certification class coming Monday.  It will be on Mondays and Thursdays from 7-9 until mid April, I believe.  He is also starting his proposal for his graduation project.  He plans on getting my photography business going.  I am pretty excited for it.  He plans on managing it and perhaps helping me edit/take photos.  He has been working on a sweet decal/logo for it and I think it is awesome.  I just don't have the time right now to get a business up and running.  For now it just a hobby, and if someone requests me to take their pictures, I am usually down.  Just comes and goes.  He plans on making it a more busy thing, where we can make extra income doing one of my favorite hobbies.

Well, I have a 3.5 day off ahead of me.   Tomorrow at work is an inservice day.  I am only coming in for half the day because I have a meeting with a math department advisor at UAA.  I am highly considering delcaring my major to mathematics.  I really like math and I would love to teach it at the secondary level.  Gosh, I can't wait for my own classroom.  Other than that, I plan on hanging out with friends and family over this mini break.

-Gly

Hoping for a miracle

Well my schedule lately has been working from 7:30AM-2:00PM, then I am at UAA until 7 or 8.  Yucky.  Pretty exhausting, but I have been getting a lot done with college work.  I took a calculus II test last Thursday and I am awaiting my results.  I believe I did a good job, but there is only one way to find out.  After this semester, I plan on changing my major from Chemistry to Mathematics.  That is SO a done deal.  I really like math, a lot.  I love the whole logical thinking of it and it is basically a challenging puzzle to me.  Good thing I like it, because I think that is what I want to teach when I become a secondary teacher.  I enjoy teaching math more than science.  They are both great subjects to teach.

Anyways, on Friday, Cory and I became models for my friends photoshoot.  Her name is Crystal, and she is taking a photography course at the university.  She asked us to be her models, and I thought why not?  It was a lot of fun.  I am usually the one taking the pictures, so it was pretty cool being the subject.  We got our pictures taken at the fine arts studio on campus.  It was just a little room, but had a lot of equipment in it.  During the shoot, it got really hot.  The studio lights not only emitted light, but also radiated heat.  I did find a fan, which made the shoot tolerable.  Crystal's theme for the shoot was focused on how women are working more compared to back in the day.  It is becoming normal now that women are taking jobs that men used to dominate.  So, we had to wear business attire and get in some poses.  I can't wait until Crystal develops the film so I can show you.

Saturday was super busy.  I met up with Sweet Action Photography while Cory ran errands.  It is a little photography business that does portraits and weddings, started by Stephen Bahner.  He is a friend of mine and we used to work the summer camps together.  Now he works for the school district as a health teacher.  His business is surely growing and it started out with him and his buddy David.  He recruited me to his business and I am glad to be part of it.  We met up at Barnes&Noble for some coffee and to discuss future events we will be photographing.  Here is the website Sweet Action Photography.

After that meeting, I went to my friend, Amanda's second baby shower.  Second, as in, her second baby.  We bought her baby a pink soft blanket.  It was a lot of fun.  Cory decided to stay home, even though it was a coed baby shower.  Guys do not do baby showers and I totally understand.  Her first baby, Charlotte, who is now 1.5 years old was so adorable.  She has become very independent now.  Anyways, we played the game where you guess the circumference of Amanda's belly using yarn.  The boys had to chug apple juice out of a bottle as fast as they can.  Then all day there was a game where you can't say the word "baby" or you get beads taken away from your necklace you wear.  The person with the most beads in the allotted time, wins.  Pretty cool ideas, but I didn't win any games.  I was an inch close to winning the 'guess the circumference' one.  Amanda and I have known each other since we were in Kindergarten.  It is pretty crazy where we are in our lives now.  Congrats to both her and her husband, Brian.

Charlotte, Tasha, Christine, Me, Desiree, and Amanda

When I got home, it was just in time to watch the UFC fights.  Cory ordered them on PPV and got some snacks and pizza ready for everyone.  We invited his friend Brandon, who brought his wife and two boys over.  The boys were busy playing the Wii in the bedroom, while us adults got to watch the fights and converse.  There were some good fights, like how this guy Silva, kicked his opponent in the face for a knockout win.  Oh mixed martial arts.  When the fights were over, I was so exhausted, I went to bed.

Today we don't have to play volleyball, which is a nice break.  We didn't do too good last weekend in our tournament.  Kind of disappointed, but oh well.  It was for the fun of it.  I plan on relaxing and having the super bowl just be on TV in the background.  We aren't into football at all, but I guess you gotta watch the big game.
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Other than all of that, Cory got a job acceptance in Fort Worth, Texas for the Air Force.  We asked if we can come down May 1st, but they may him sooner.  We need the extension.  If they don't give us the extension, then we aren't going to take it.  We want the extension because

1:  We are going to try to find a job here, FIRST
2:  Classes and our rent lease ends at the end of April

Basically, we are putting the Texas idea in as our last resort if Cory cannot find a job here.  Another downfall to moving to Texas, is that we have to move ourselves.  No help from the military because Cory is a reservist.  We have saved way to much money to throw it away on moving expenses.  It would easily cost at least $3,000 to move down.  Not worth it to me.  We have a couple options for staying in Alaska.  If the 3 options do not work out and become exhausted, then we have no choice but to leave (sad face).  Moving would ultimately not be the best choice because of everything we have great here.  Family, friends, coaching, teaching, college, PFD, etc. . The choices that need to happen are:

1:  Cory gets a job on base
2:  Cory gets a job as a locomotive technician
3:  Cory becomes a personal trainer

Still awaiting and hoping for a miracle.......

Still in transition

Well, what a week.  It has been the same old with school and work.  I guess, since nothing much has happened lately, I will just type out my thoughts.

We still don't know what is going to happen with Cory, concerning the job situation.  We are still waiting to hear if he landed the job at Elemendorf, and he even applied to a couple places out of Alaska for the aircraft armament mechanic position.  So far, he has applied to Arizona, Texas, and the New Mexico AF bases.  It would be a bummer to leave this state, but I don't know, we have to do what we have to do.  Cory started applying for some jobs here also, like a special education TA (what I do), a locomotive mechanic, and he even got on the sublist for classified jobs in the school district.  Which means, he may start subbing for some extra income.  In all honesty, I feel like this is all my fault that he got out of active duty.  But I have to remember this is the choice we made together.

It is pretty stressful feeling unstable.  Cory had a career in the Air Force (while he was active duty) and if he can land that same job, he would continue his career and not have to start over in something else.  He is considering all options at this point, and I am just here for the ride with whatever happens.  It will all come down to what is best for us.  It sounds that if Cory can land his air force career back, wherever it may be, will be the best choice.  No matter what we end up deciding, whether we move out of state or not, we will most importantly have each other.  He is thinking about getting his personal training certification, also.  There is a 2 month class at the local gym for $350.  It is a class to prepare pursuing personal trainers for a certification.  He is trying his best to keep us here in Alaska, which I applaud him for that.  All in all, we want to move forth with our lives and purchase a home, and another vehicle.  We want our degrees and a stable career.  At least we are together in all of this, for richer or poorer, for better or for worse.

On the upside,  my camera finally came in on Saturday!  It is awesome and I still have more to learn about it.  Yay for my canon 40D.  It is faster, bigger, and stronger than my old rebel camera.  It is def a great upgrade.

The ball is rolling

Cory and I just got back from snowboarding at Hill Top.  It was a great Friday night activity and we had fun.  I liked how it wasn't so busy because we went for the last two hours of operation.  The weather was perfect with no wind chill and about 25 degrees Fahrenheit.  I just enjoyed it and I still can't wait until we hit up Alyeska with our one night stay in the hotel out there.

Now that classes have started at UAA, life has been busy, yet again.  I hope to get all A's this semester.  I have more time for school work now that volleyball season isn't taking up lots of my time.  Cory is taking 3 classes, which is 9 credits.  He is taking biology, accounting, and a management course.  I am taking 2 classes and 1 lab, being 8 credits.  I am in calculus II, computer programing, and a chemistry lab.  Our classes are at the same times, so it is working out perfect with our one vehicle.  We've saved a good chunk of money, in fact, more than we have ever saved in our lives.  We don't need another vehicle at the moment, but when we do, we will be prepared to throw money down for one.  Too bad we can't use that money for an amazing vacation.

Anyways, work is going really good.  I am helping out in a lot of the same classes.  I only have two switches on my schedule.  This semester, the new classes I am helping out in are a food science class and, my favorite, a photography class.  I was glad to help out in the photography class and I love teaching the kids how to use Photoshop and talk about photographs.  The teacher I am helping was also my former photography teacher. I think the perfect job would be a photography teacher, for me.  Teaching + photography = photography teacher = awesome!  Well, we will see.  I still enjoy the sciences and would love to teach that once I get my degree.

Other than that, we started playing volleyball for adult league on Sundays.  It is a blast and I am glad I picked the certain people for my team.  We are sponsored by Superior Automotive, which is owned by one of my coworkers.  She was generous enough to help pay for the expensive team fees for us, which in turn we got their name on our jersey.  Right now we are 4 - 0.  We are rocking it and we have a tournament on the 30th. We are anticipating first place.

In closing, here are two HDR images I edited.  The top one is one I took in Oregon on Twin Rocks beach.  Cory took the bottom picture of Turnagain Arm in the fall.  I did my best to make them look like an HDR image.  I am awaiting for my new camera, the Canon 40D.  I won it on ebay for $770.00 and it comes with a lens, extra battery, and a memory card.  On amazon the best used price I found was for $945, so I did good.  I am very excited for its arrival.  Thanks Cory for that birthday present.

Until next time <3

Best story about teaching

I don't care to be the richest person in the world, I just want to be happy.  "Do what you love, and the money will follow"  - quote from the book The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards.  Education is absolutely important to me, because it is the key to success in life.

One of the teachers at Dimond, where I graduated from and now work sent a mass email to the staff.  Here name is Susan Rogers, a science teacher, and an amazing woman.  This just got me excited as to why I want to be a teacher again :)

Title:  What Do Teachers Make?

 

 The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. 

 One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He 

 argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best 

 option in life was to become a teacher?"

 

 To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a 

 teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

 

 Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, 

 "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)

 

 "Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. 

 I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner.

 

 I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents 

 can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

 

 You want to know what I make? (She paused again and looked at each 

 and every person at the table)

 

 I make kids wonder.

 

 I make them question.

 

 I make them apologize and mean it.

 

 I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

 

 I teach them to write and then I make them write.. Keyboarding 

 isn't everything.

 

 I make them read, read, read.

 

 I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given 

 brain, not the man-made calculator.

 

 I make my students from other countries learn everything they need 

 to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

 

 I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

 

 I make my students stand and sing our national anthem.

 

 

 Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they 

 were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in 

 life.

 

 (Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)

 

 Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing 

 money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention 

 because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. 

 

 What do you make Mr. CEO?

 

 His jaw dropped, he went silent.

Today I am 23

Today I turned 23.  I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe that I was that age.  But at the same time I have been really happy with where I am.  Married, in college, and working.  I am totally living it on my own, paying my own bills.  I loved the cards I received, the "happy birthdays" from work, the phone calls and text messages from friends family, the birthday dinner, and the ultimate gift I got, which was a new camera.  I have yet to figure out which one I still want to buy.  Most likely the Canon 40D and perhaps a 50mm lens to compliment it.  In fact, I just sold my Canon Rebel XT.  It has been on craigslist for probably a month now, and I sold it on my birthday to some air force kid.  He is pretty clueless as to how a nice camera works and he has been texting me silly questions on how to work the camera.  Poor guy.  Gotta start somewhere, right?

Well the first day back to work from winter break was pretty laid back.  Madonna, the secretary, made a mass email that it was my birthday.  I didn't mind, in fact, I felt really important.  The three new classes I am helping out in seem like a fit.  I am especially excited for the photography class I will be helping out in.  Just the right amount of special ed kids landed in there for me ;-)

Me and my birthday pie slice

Anyways, for dinner, Cory and I went to Simon&Seaforts.  It is famous for its grill and seafood.  It definitely wasn't cheap, but hey, living on the edge!  Gotta celebrate.  I am very thankful Cory took me there tonight.  It was our first time there and I must say, it was delicious!  Their customer service was great.  We ordered a crab spinach artichoke dip with bread for appetizer.  It was amazingly good.  He got a steak and blackened tuna with mashed potatoes, friend onions, and asparagus.  While I got the crab and macademia stuffed halibut with potatoes and veggies.  My meal was yummy.  Cory didn't think his was as good as the Seven Glacier steak.  Since it was my birthday, they gave me a complimentary dessert of my choice.  I chose the key lime pie, which I shared with Cory.  That had to be the best part of the meal.  The pie was so good, it just melted in my mouth!  I did make a birthday wish, and I hope it comes true soon :)

Mother in Law Fun

This whole week was jammed pack with entertaining Colleen, my mother in law.  We had a blast and we were happy she came, sad she left.  If she hadn't have come, I don't think I would of gotten to do so many cool activities.  She came here in the summer, so this was her first time coming in the winter.  Here is the in a nutshell version of what we did

Sunday December 26:
Colleen flew into Alaska at 3:30PM.  Cory and I were anxiously awaiting her arrival, but we kept busy running errands and such.  Once we picked up Colleen, we rested and she ate some left over shrimp we had.  She LOVES shrimp as much as I do!  Yum Yum.  By night, we headed over to my cousin, Julie's place, and celebrated Kadyn's 4th birthday, which is her son.  It was also my Dad's birthday too, he just turned 49.  Everyone was there and it was awesome to eat yummy filipino food and watch Kadyn open his presents.  Cory and I got him a Ben 10 projector watch and a whoopy cushion.  Kadyn also got a remote control helicopter from his mom.  Well, when Kadyn opened the whoopy cushion, he was skeptical as to what it was.  Cory told him to sit on it and once he did, the noise came out, and Kadyn fell in love with his toy.  It was a self inflatable whoopy cushion, so Kadyn would sit on it numerous times or punch it so it would keep making the fart noise.  Everyone was laughing with him.  Whoopy cushions are a hit.

Monday December 27:
Colleen really wanted to see a glacier, so we headed out to Portage Glacier to hike on the lake.  I made some gourmet sandwiches on the go.  After driving for about an hour and a half, we checked out the lake and it was frozen solid with about 6 inches of snow covering it.  We saw a man in the middle of the lake with his dog, which gave us the signal that it was safe to walk on the lake.  We only made it half way and decided to turn back.  The hike was a lot further than we thought it was going to be, hence we didn't get to see the glacier.  It is alright though.  We got a good hours worth of trekking on the lake.

Colleen making a snow angel, no big deal.

Hi Cory!

Pretty Sunset of Turnigan Arm

When we drove back to Anchorage, we decided to stop in Girdwood to show Colleen what Alyeska looks like.  When we got into town we went to one of her favorite fast food places, Wendys for supper!  I had a frosty, yum!  Felt like a kid again.  

Tuesday December 28:
We decided to take my brothers and cousins sledding at Kincaid Park.  It was a blast.  We got to go sledding with the presence of 3 moose.  One of them even had antlers.  They were far enough to do no harm to us.  The boys had lots of fun and it was really cool to see my 50 year old mother in law hit the slopes.

Junior and Kadyn

Justin!

Moosey

The group

Justin, Cory, Rovic and I

Cowabunga, going backwards!

Snow plow

Later that night, my mom, dad and Nor came over.  They brought over delicious pizza and we watched the sledding videos.  My parents were very proud to see Rovic, my baby brother, go down the hill all by himself on a sled.  He isn't that much of a daredevil, but maybe he is after all.  Our moms also exchanged gifts, how cute.  

Wednesday December 29:

This day, we had planned to go ice skating at Westchester Lagoon.  Except, we were all so exhausted from hiking and sledding from the previous days, that we took a rain check.  However, we did walk a little in downtown to do some kind of activity.  There were artists getting the ice sculptures ready in Town Square Park.  Later that night we went to Bears Tooth Theater to watch Hereafter starring Matt Damon.  We already bought tickets early and got a reserved booth seat.  I scored the best seats in the house.  Right in the middle back.  We ate burritos and wraps for dinner with their famous root beer.  Then we finished dinner off by sharing an ice cream cake dessert.  The movie was a good drama, but the food was 10x better!

Thursday December 30:

This was the last full day with Colleen.  We had our batteries recharged and went cross country skiing on base.  There is a golf course called Eagleglen and in the winter, it turns into a cross country ski course.  The trails are super easy and the classical ski equipment was free to rent.  We were excited to get on the trails.  There was one part where we went down a large hill, which was quite the adrenalin rush.  Thankfully, nobody fell.  We were out there skiing away for a little more than an hour.  After skiing, we were so hungry and went to Arctic Roadrunner for some juicy burgers.  At night we went over to my parents place so Colleen can hang out with them for the last time before she leaves.  We played numerous rounds of Mad Gab with the family and it was hilarious.  

Friday December 31:

Well it was a sad morning, because we had to drop Colleen off at the airport.  She did shed some tears, but once we got back in the truck and watched her step into the airport, I started shedding tears.  Cory was just silent and sad.  Then our truck started leaking from the roof, because it had rained, so I conclude the truck was crying too.  There must be a hole up there from when I got my autostart installed.  It is pretty rare when it leaks.  Hopefully we get to see some of his family again soon.

Then we drove to the gym to work out.  We didn't go all week because we wanted to spend time with momma Colleen!  Plus the activities we did, was a work out in itself!  I later got a pedicure with one of my girlfriends, yippy.  Then we went over to the Leopolds' house on base to celebrate their sons second birthday and New Years.  We got him a Mr. Potato head.  We played Mad Gab and Catch Phrase with everyone there.. and of course had some "adult beverages" in celebration of the New Year.

Jude, Birthday Boy

Happy 2011!!

Well what a great week!  Tomorrow I have to go back to work.  Cory will work this week too and hopefully he can get his job full time!  That is all I am hoping for!  That would be the best ever!!  Tomorrow, I also turn another year older.  I can't believe I will be 23.  It sure doesn't feel like it, but man, life is good.  Cory and I started dating when I was 20 years old, another WOW!  Well, now it is forever, and it is sure fun to count the years with somebody I love.

Always,

Gly