Blake Robert Newman

Welcome to the world, Blake! From the moment I found out your mom was pregnant with you on Christmas Eve, I have been anticipating your arrival. I guess skype will have to do for now, but I cannot wait to hug you, squeeze you, kiss you, and love on you when I'm home for Christmas. You are just as beautiful as I imagined. You look so much like your big brother when he was a baby and I look forward to seeing you boys grow up together. You two are my little lovers and I brag about you both to anyone who will listen. I may not be around all the time to tell you, but know that I love you will all of my heart and pray for amazing things for your life. Love, Auntie Autumn.

LBRS, v3

Let's be real...a beer at a tavern is better than a coffee at a christian coffee house. Last night my roommate and I went downtown to Shindig on the Green to see some coworkers, watch live (not so great sometimes) bluegrass/clogging/fiddle/etc performances, and enjoy our beautiful weather here (seriously, what hurricane?). After what proved to be an...interesting evening, we decided to head down the street for a beer to debrief on some recent events. On our way to the bar we passed the Christian coffee place. After some consideration we decided to go in, out of pure curiosity. Already feeling the humor of our dramatic turn in choice for the evening we eventually decided on a couple drinks and a piece of cake. Within mere minutes we had a couple boys (and I do say boys because they couldn't have been older than 23) not so casually find a spot at the counter right next to us and have a loud-enough-so-we-can-hear conversation. We humored them while waiting for our order and, bless their heart, rejected their offer to help us carry our plates to our spot in the next room. We couldn't help but laugh at the irony...here we are wondering how much longer it will be until we can exit the dating (or non-dating in my case lately) scene and we (very kindly) blow off two interested Christians. Before you start lecturing me on giving people a chance, while they were nice boys there was no future there. Just trust me on this. So we took that awkward 10 minute encounter as a self-esteem boost and walked ourselves over to a tavern for a couple beers and fried pickles...a much better ending to our night :)

GPS, my BFF

I'm not quite sure how I survived before I got a smart phone. The navigation feature alone has saved my life. With no offense to my real friends, I do consider my GPS my BFF. I can finally get to work and back confidently without using it. But that's about as far as I can go. I consider myself to be somewhat intelligent, so I suppose my terrible sense of direction is a nice contradiction. It keeps my life from being boring because I never know where I'll end up.

One problem I've encountered with my GPS though: it doesn't tell me how to get to different offices and classrooms in my school. To my credit, the school does not have much rhyme or reason to its layout. Everytime they needed more room, they simply built on another wing, theater, or gym. I feel like a freshman trying to get around. I stare at my map trying to figure out how I'm supposed to get from my floor (which is kind of the 2nd floor even though you enter it at street level) up to the 3rd floor (which I think you can exit at street level too). I'm pathetic.

One other thing my GPS doesn't do for me: it fails to remind me to leave out "the" in front of my freeway #s and to not call freeways, freeways (I think the accepted term is highways here). Apparentally those two things are a dead giveaway that I'm not from here. Oh well, I still think "the 40" sounds better than "40" or "I-40".

Let's-Be-Real Sunday, volume 2

Let's be real...powerpoint slides can either make or break worship and a sermon for me. When I know the worship song we're singing, I don't pay too much attention to the lyrics on the screen. However, when it's unfamiliar to me I rely on those lyrics to the point where I get irritated when there are even the most minor problems...a slide changed three seconds too late, a spelling error, a line in the wrong order, etc. I think I get frustrated because I hate not knowing the song and not being able to sing it. Dear worship leader, stop trying to make me feel left out of the cool club that knows every song. The same sort of thing can happen during a pastor's sermon too (and, brace yourselves...it happened to me today). I really enjoy powerpoints during sermons so I can write a lot of notes, keep track of the verses, and not feel like I'm missing anything. So pastors, please don't go through your slides too quickly. When you put all that time into those nuggets of advice you have for me, give me enough time write them down. There's nothing worse than an unfinished thought/sentence in the middle of my sermon notes in my journal. It's part of my self diagnosed OCD. I'm okay to admit that. Again, feel free to judge me today and on every Let's-Be-Real-Sunday.

Back to the Grind

It's been almost a week since my last blog. Why? Because I went back to work. I forgot how much time work takes. After over two months off, it's terribly exhausting. I know, right now you are feeling really bad for me because I had to work one week after having nine off.

Honestly though, after yesterday I realized how excited I am to start another school year. My students' first day was on Thursday, and it went just fine. The first day of school is kind of chaotic with schedule changes, weird bell schedules, giving out and explaining a billion handouts, and trying to find your way around the new school (for the freshmen and me). Even though I felt pretty good after the first day, I was still not so excited to get up on Friday. I was tired, stressed about everything I needed to get done, and not really mentally prepared to teach my first lesson to each of my classes. All of that changed when I started teaching the lesson in first period. In both first and second periods (Geometry), my students were (seemingly) interested, answering my questions, asking their own, working together, and understood what we were talking about. It was exhilirating. My third period (Algebra 2) started much slower and took a little longer to get going, but once it did it was amazing. (Side note: our scheduled lunch is in the middle of that class period). I even had about three students stay during the first couple minutes of lunch to have me check and explain the examples they were working on. Seriously...what high schooler sacrifices lunch time for math? When they got back from lunch it went even better...they were working so well together, helping each other out, unexpected students were answering questions, and one student begged for an extra example to do on his own. I seriously could not stop smiling. It absolutely confirmed that I love what I do. Teaching is both my passion and calling. Come June I will want and appreciate another summer off, but I know all of the hours I will have spent working and stressing will have been worth it. I know I'm still young and only started teaching last year, but my advice to you: if you haven't found a job/career that you love doing and look forward to, keep looking.

Alright enough blogging for now...I have eight days worth of lesson planning/note making to get done by Monday.

Let's-Be-Real Sundays

Have you heard of Jon Acuff? He has a blog called "Stuff Christians Like" where he pretty much mocks the quirks of Christians (and he's a Christian too so it's not like he's a hater or anything). Some of his stuff is so hilarious because you have done or thought exactly what he's talking about.

I'm going to do my own version every Sunday, hence the name, "Let's-Be-Real Sundays". If you know anything about me, you know I love God and my faith is a core part of me. But, let's be real...we Christians are far from perfect. I often talk with my friends about trying to find "real" Christians. I don't mean that I'm questioning their faith, more that I'm questioning their legit-ness as a normal person. This usually revolves around how many single Christian guys are not normal. (I mean, is having a solid job too much to ask for? How about actually approaching a girl you might be interested in rather than waiting indefinitely for the perfect Christian girl who is far out of your league and does not actually exist? sorry, sidetrack) Sometimes, though, these conversations lead to laughing at ourselves for what we say and do, usually at church. So without further ado, here is this week's "let's be real" moment...

MY TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE: I have always taken a liking to the NIV translation of the Bible. It's not that I don't like or trust other translations, the NIV is just what I was introduced to at church and have stuck with in all of my Bible purchases and studies. I find myself getting annoyed in church (Jesus forgive me) when a pastor/speaker does not use MY translation of the Bible. Out of all the translations out there (possibly hundreds)...how did you not know to use the NIV? Pastor ______, your sermon has just lost some validity in my eyes because I cannot follow along in MY Bible while you read YOUR translation of scripture. Ok, so I don't really get that upset. But I do have to stop and laugh at myself every once in a while when it happens. Feel free to judge me.

One step closer

Oh my gosh. Jamie (roommate/a bff) and I found a treasure today. No joke. A true southern belle treasure. We heard rumors from different people about a J.Crew gem. Now, these southern women are tight-lipped about this and after some more research I understand why. I don't feel comfortable leaking too many details on this yet, but trust me on this: if you come visit me, you too will know all the secrets. Check out those price tags (and I didn't even pay those prices because of my discount - just another one of the secrets I'll share when you come). I got a pair of nice jeans and amazing work pants for a whole $45 (with tax!). "What's the retail value?" you ask...over $200! And because I love numbers (and you love me because I love numbers): I paid 23% of the original J.Crew prices. I saved $155 on just two items. How could I not? There is more where that came from and I can't wait to update you on it in in 1.5 weeks. With my first two J.Crew purchases in hand, I am one step closer to becoming a (somewhat preppy but who cares at those prices) southern belle. Does this entice any of you to visit me any sooner? Hope so!

Oh and for those of you I've complained to about my new budget: I'm not starting that until September. So save your comments :)

Slow in the South

One of the reasons I love the south is it offers a slower pace of life. People with patience, a shorter to-do list, real conversations in the middle of the day, less of an urgency to get things done right now. It sounds good, doesn't it? I thought so too.

Okay, so I really do want it...but it's taking some getting used to. Everything, and I mean everything, seems to be slower here. For instance...

THE MAIL: In my few weeks here I've realized that it takes a good week or more to receive a simple, one-stamp-letter. I was used to waiting a whole 2 to 3 days in Vegas. Nope, not here. Apparentally the USPS got the memo that we're okay waiting.

DRIVING: They drive the speed limit. On the freeways (slash highways/interstates...I'll save that for the next post). Really? Who drives the exact speed limit, and often times 5 under on freeways? The good people of Asheville, NC and other southern places, that's who. I suppose it would be good for my stress level and gas mileage to learn to drive like them instead of how my Las Vegas/California roots taught me.

TALKING: Can you please say what you need to say just a little bit quicker? I could probably fit about 2 to 3 times as many words in a minute as many people here. I'm sure some of you would appreciate me learning this one...especially my dad who tells my sisters and me that we belong on Gilmore Girls.

CHECKING OUT: (not men...at Target) My dad offered to help me drive and move, and I adore him for that. However, on our first night here he made a huge mistake. He asked the cashier at Target a question while she was ringing me up. It wouldn't have been so bad when she physically stopped what she was doing to think about her answer (for an extraordinary amount of time) if I had been the only one in line. But no. She was the only cashier working and we had a line of about 10 people behind us. Thanks dad. A few hours here and I'm already hated by at least 10. Oh I forgot to add...bless her heart.

I look forward to the days when I am acclimated to this lifestyle. But until then, I will learn how to wait and be patient. Which according to my ongoing relationship status you'd think I would have figured out by now...

I did it.

I decided to blog. My good friend and former roommate Stefanie was telling me about the blogs she liked and encouraged me to get into it. She reassured me that if I made the leap she'd "follow me" on here...even if noone else did. Thanks Stef...I'm holding you to it! It's not that I think my life's that much more interesting than yours (it's not), or even that I love writing (I don't, I love math)...I just decided to use this as a fun way to document my new life out here and share stories with the people I don't get to talk to everyday because of our busy lives. Really, I want to give my mom a way to read about me since I won't accept her friend request on facebook (it's true, I'm a horrible daughter). I hope you enjoy my life as much as I do. Let me know if you blog too, because I'm always looking for new ways to procrastinate.