This post is likely to be all over the place…

My dad and I usually make our lunches together and pick on a little breakfast every morning before we leave for work. We both usually leave the house around 7, so it’s been fun to hang out with him in the morning. This morning I came downstairs around the same time (darn natural alarm clock….!!!!), and talked with dad anyway. He made a comment something like “Wow. What a weekend for you! You’ve been going 90 to nothing since you woke up Friday morning!”. I just had to smile. “Dad, I’ve been going 90 to nothing for three weeks!” He returned the smile and a quick “Yea, I guess you have!”. 🙂

The past seven days have seriously been awesome, though my blog with be lacking in pictures for a few days thanks to the perfect timing of my camera to DIE.  Pretty sure I’m getting a nice new one for Christmas thanks to my big-mouth, no good secret keeping fiance. We’ll see.

I administered finals to my 7th and 8th graders, which allowed me A LOT of work time. I was very thankful for the extra time to lesson plan, grade papers, and get all my ducks in a row for next semester.

Side note: My life is so full of “OMG I can’t believe _______ is happening right now!” moments.
#1 – that I’m getting married in 26 days
#2 – that a semester of teaching is under my belt

Anyway, after my kids finished their finals they watched a couple movies and relaxed.They deserved it! St. John’s is a tough school, but is definitely paying off for them because most of them are writing like high schoolers, or better. It’s awesome and I am continually blown away by their work. The students and their parents showered me with Christmas gifts all week long, which was very rewarding and several times left me speechless. Without going into detail, one left me standing in an empty classroom in tears. Incredible kids.

Jennifer picked Jamie up at the airport Friday and she dropped him straight off in my classroom. School had JUST ended, so I immediately put him right to work. Sweet of me, right? 🙂 I don’t have ANY time (and I mean any) over the break to get my room ready for next semester, so we stayed three hours and got most things done. We ended Friday with a classic date suggested by Jamie: dinner and a movie. It was fun. 🙂

Now the best part of the weekend: SEEING SOOOOO MANY OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET! (aka – wedding showers weekend!)

Brittany and Bethy turned our annual Tuscaloosa cookie party into a wedding shower, and it was so much fun! I drove down to Ttown Saturday morning, got my hair done, shopped for SIX HOURS, and finally made my way to B & B’s. I put on my PJs and soaked up some time with awesome friends. Thank you girls for coming!!! So much fun!  We also got to celebrate to engaged for BETHY KOEPKE! If you haven’t seen her ROCK, facebook her. It’s worth seeing! Beautiful ring and an incredible fiance for one of the most beautiful and genuine friends I know! I love you soon-to-be Bethy Clark! 🙂

Sunday (yesterday) was LONG, but the BEST day of this whole three-week wedding planning process so far! Drove home at 7:30, got ready for another wedding shower, and hung out with Jamie’s relatives that drove in from Indiana! I absolutely LOVE them and still feel so BLESSED that they drove seven hours to enjoy the day with me! Ashley Martin, Amberlee Shultz, and Emily Parker threw me a GORGEOUS shower at Ashley’s new home in New Hope, and around 30 people were there at that shower. I loved seeing everyone and catching up. Jamie and I were SHOWERED with incredible gifts, and I am determined to have thank you notes out in just a few days. I want people to know how much I really do appreciate them and all of their support for Jamie and me.

After loading up the gifts, Jamie and me drove to Starbucks to meet our minister that’s marrying us, Ted Amey, for counseling and to set up our ceremony. Let me tell you people – our ceremony is going to be beautiful, and I don’t really have any other words for it. Ted gave us some “homework” to think and talk about before we meet with him next weekend. After THAT, we grabbed a quick dinner at Casa Blanca and headed home. I was out cold by 9. Long day, but incredible day.

I need to get off this thing. We are supposed to be out the door in 59 minutes, and I haven’t showered OR packed. Oops. We are off to Destin/Panama City to meet with ALL of our vendors, get our marriage license, beach wedding permit, and (best of all) hang out with the Armacost family!  First stop: Diamond’s Direct in Birmingham to pick out our wedding bands. HOORAY! I’ve been excited about that ever since I got my beautiful ring.

Thanks for reading all of this! Merry Christmas-week! =)