happy halloween.

all grown up.

This weekend I felt like a grown up.

My weekend began early with my very first Fall Break. However, instead of enjoying my time off and relaxing, I spent the extra time scrambling to find all of the necessary components to build my professional portfolio. That's right, I had my very first interview.

After spending Thursday gathering letters of recommendation, unit plans, reflections,

transcripts and resumes, waking up Friday morning with my first interview looming over my head was enough to make me want to stay curled up in bed. I suppose knowing that I would be spending the weekend in Chicago with Kyle was the perfect motivation to pull me out of bed and get me going.

Gathering all of my weekend necessities, putting on a suit, and driving away in my heels, I felt like I was actually beginning my own, independent life. As much as I love coming home to see my family, the journey I took this weekend made me realize that maybe I am more ready than I thought to be on my own.

While I struggled to find energy on my lengthy drive, I couldn't help but feeling refreshed as I pulled into the petite and homey town of St. John, Indiana, home of Lake Central High School. Having over estimated my time, I arrived an hour early. I filled the time by driving

around the neighborhood, checking out the area to help provide me with a better idea of whether or not I could see myself living there. Maybe it was huge trees, full of the changing fall colors, or maybe it was the small side streets accompanied by warmly decorated houses, but something about St. John was purely welcoming and invigorating. It could have just been the thought of independence that was fostering my emotions, but the town seemed wonderful.

The interview itself went well. It's always nice to be surrounded by friendly people and encouraging faces. I could see myself there, and I suppose that is the first step in this lovely process. The ball's in their court now, we'll see what move they make.

The situation itself provided me with experience and a glimpse of what my life could possibly look like in the future. While that future might not include St. John, I'm now even more excited and motivated for this next step in my life.

That being said, the weekend continued in this positive light, but how could it not when I am spending my time with Kyle?

We began the weekend the way we normally begin: food. He took me to this wonderful restaurant that filled us both up to our throats in food. While we both went away somewhat uncomfortable, we couldn't hold back our laughs in the movie theatre. Couples Retreat was funny, and like any movie involving couples, made me hold his hand even tighter and thanking heaven that I found such a catch.

Saturday, Kyle, Greg and I took the train to Northwestern's campus and hustled tickets from a guy named Hollywood for the game. While the boys stood helplessly watching, I took charge and while I didn't get the tickets quite down to the $20 we were hoping, I got the three for $30 a piece. Not bad. While we were surrounded by Northwestern fans, and sat in front of an old man who spent the game talking about bridge and the origins of football, Kyle and I simply giggled to ourselves and enjoyed the game...or at least the first half.

Leave it to IU to get up 28-3, and end up losing 29-28. We should have known, when the wind picked up and the cold sank beneath our many layers, that the end was not going to be pretty. Unfortunately, the little hope we had, kept us shivering in our seats, crossing our fingers that those Hoosiers would find some way, any way, to pull out a victory. Our hope was defeated by the last touchdown our boys basically handed the Wildcats thanks to silly penalties. The worst loss, is a loss caused by stupid mistakes.

The cherry on top, was the fact that we lost to a team who found it imperative to use grammatically correct punctuation on the flags they run up and down the field with. Yes, I am an English teacher, who is deeply devoted to grammar, however, when cheerleaders run with large flags across the football field that spells out CATS, but with an apostrophe, like 'CATS, because that is indeed the grammatically correct shortening of WILDCATS, I can only shake my head and wonder how we lost.

Even though we didn't come out victorious, being at the game, surrounded by passionate fans, was enough to bring me comfort and warmth. There is something about football games, the scarves, the boots, the hot chocolate, the hot dogs, cheering, and overall spirit that is enough to put a smile on my face even now. Add a boyfriend and a weekend in Chicago to the mix, and there is nothing to complain about.

The rest of the weekend basically consisted of naps and homemade cooking (aka quesadillas and ramen), the perfect end to a busy week and weekend.

Of course I can't leave out the hilarious fact that Kyle spent the weekend following around both Greg and I with Lysol wipes, wiping down every nook and cranny we touched because he, as he spent the entire weekend saying, is "not getting sick". Only my Kyle.

While I feel rejuvenated, I can't help but wish I was still in Chicago, curled up under the blankets, sharing laughs and kisses with Kyle. Our lives were made to be intertwined.

hoosier for a lifetime.

There sure is nothing like Bloomington in the Fall. The beauty of the season is at its best in this wonderful little college town. Factor in IU Homecoming, and you are in for a treat.

I was curious as to how I would react to the college campus, having been removed from the scene for quite some time now, and I must say, it wasn't too difficult to get right back into the swing of things. Once a Hoosier, always a Hoosier.

I will admit, however, that when pulling into Bloomington, a wave of nostalgia and homesickness came over me. I hadn't really realized just how much I had considered this place home. I spent 4 wonderful years developing a relationship with this town, and to be back, as an (almost) alumni, is beyond words.

I so badly wanted to crawl into a bed at Theta, cuddle up for the upcoming episode of Gossip Girl, Facebook stalk one of my roommate's new love interests, walk into Ballantine, grab a Starbucks and the Union, gobble down some delicious pancakes from Village Deli and gather around for a candlelight. Bloomington will always be a place full of memories, and the best I can do is continue to add on to those already unforgettable snapshots. It begins, of course, with tailgating.

The weekend was beautiful and victory was in the air. We were victorious, not just on that beautiful football field, but those muddy tailgating fields proved to be a place of winners as well.

While I somehow acquired a great deal of mud on my festive IU attire, I know that there were cases of much deeper and more significant party fouls. I consider my little encounter with a muddy hill minute compared to some of the other people I saw walking away from those fields late Saturday night. But hey, Bloomington wouldn't be Bloomington without the stories to wake up to the next morning, right?

Spending a weekend with friends and Kyle on the tailgating fields of the IU campus can only harvest positive and lasting memories. I can only hope that as the years continue to pass, we continue to be brought back to the place where we started as strangers. I reflect frequently on my decision to come to IU and I always come to the same conclusion: I am and will always be a Hoosier.

pink.

Dropping temperatures, Uggs, tights, pashminas, pumpkin spice lattes, oranges, reds and yellows can only mean one thing. Fall has officially arrived. The colors, however, don't stop at the oranges, reds and yellows, but include one very important color, a color close to my heart: pink. That's right, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, a month dedicated to making more people aware of the prominence and significance of breast cancer worldwide, but it's also a month celebrating the survivors and remembering those who have left their mark on this earth.

My grandma, a woman who brought so much into this world, wore the color pink with pride. She struggled with breast cancer for years and the treatments brought a great deal of pain into her life, but she didn't let that stop her. She never stopped fighting. The color pink brought lif

e and hope into our family, she would glow when she wore it, and we loved seeing her in that light.

I can still remember our early mornings in downtown Denver, gathering with people from all over the state, to walk for a cure. The sun always shined on those days, as if God was proud of the work we were doing. I know he was proud of my grandma.

I love seeing Lacoste, Vera Bradley, and others doing their parts in order to raise awareness and support Breast Cancer research. If there's one thing I know about my grandma, I know her hope would be to find a cure, and keep others from the pain she went through. I can't imagine having the strength that she had,

but I know there are others that do, others that can and will be saved.

When I am in front of my classroom, loving what I am doing, my mind falls back to her and the little chicks that she raised with her kindergartners. I still secretly wish I could share my

stories with her, the funny ones, the stressful ones, the scary ones, the happy ones, the

significant ones, and the hard ones. I wish I could hear about her experiences and get advice from a woman I know made a wonderful teacher.

This month, I will wear pink. I will wear it and carry it with me wherever I go. That pretty little pink ribbon is wrapped around my heart, keeping me warm

and reminding me that my grandma is not only watching me but helping me along.

I love you, grandma. I love you today. I will love you tomorrow.

beauty of words.

Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife, in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times stated that in terms of literature that "it's kind of an unaccepted place for anything really strange to happen."

The more I thought about this, the more I wonder if we have become a society that has limited our own imaginations. Have we lost our ability to enjoy stories that extend beyond reality?

Why in the world would we want to limit our abilities to be entertained to "The Real World", "Cribs", and other addictive and ridiculous reality show

s? Our desire to see the extremes of reality, but not to extend beyond it, are quite possibly diminishing our chances of creating wonderfully crafted art.

I am happy to see that Harry Potter and Edward Cullen are still capable to rising in popularity, but does it stop there? Can we push the limits of our imaginations no further without automatically associating the results with Sci-fi? I commend Science fiction writers. Now, science fiction may not be my cup of tea, but the amount of creation it takes extends so far beyond other genres, that I am still curious as to how they do it. I am still struggling to come up with the "perfect" name for my characters, I can't even imagine creating alternative worlds, rules, and expectations.

Being in the middle of a Dark Romantic unit, I have found that going beyond the normal, everyday capacities of our minds opens doors that reveal so much more about our humanity, thus making it unbelievably entertaining and interesting. Though weird and bizarre, the dark romantics successfully provided future generations of writers and artists with the potential to look into every nook and cranny of their minds for inspiration.

Despite where we are or where we might go, art is still a driving force, one that nothing else can replicate nor exceed. Words are beauty and beauty we can always find in words.

23 love.

Happy Birthday Libby!