History, epiphany and happy hearts day...

Well, I had sort of an historical epiphany on Wednesday, I think it was. I was driving to work and I was thinking of why I love history so much and realized it has to do with people, really. I'm so intrigued at how events change peoples' lives but in reality it's people who change peoples' lives. No event in our history has effected or influenced no one. (Is that a real sentence?) Do you get my meaning? I'm not a big fan of when people say, but I'm just one person, what can I do? Every historical event in the world's history began with one person. Seriously, think about it. Eve influenced Adam, Ester influenced a king, Jesus influenced the entire world (one way or the other). Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke of Austro-Hungary, which began World War I. If you think about it, your character, your personality is based on historical events from thousands of years ago and those events will shape your future too. World War II effected my grandfather, his character and because of that event, influenced my father, who in turn has influenced me whether I know it or not. And it's not just one singular event. It's multiple events. Like Shrek said, "I'm like an onion, I have many layers." (Hopefully, I don't stink!) I don't know if you can feel how I feel about history. It's hard to explain but the world's history is about people influencing people and those people making decisions based on that influence positively or negatively. I love it. We are so intricate yet so simple at the same time and that hasn't changed over time. I believe it was like this at the beginning of time as well.

Anyway it was pretty emotional for me to realize that (and I could have been hormonal as well, so....). That's why I went into the education business. I love to teach people the interesting things as well as the important things and try to persuade those bored kids that history from a hundred years ago actually does have some bearing on what they do today. That is my mission in life...so there ya go!

Valentine's day was fun, although the last half of the school day was a waste. Students getting their valentines delivered to them and I'm anxiously waiting for mine which was supposed to be delivered to me too. It's been a long time since I got excited and felt it in my stomach. Ya know what I mean? I've never really had a Valentine's Day where I got something significant from a male (except my father). So this was fun. I got flowers, a teddy bear and some chocolate from Godiva. Seriously...ya can't go wrong with that combination!! I planned a themed dinner of Asian cuisine, and I was excited to cook it. Spring rolls, fried rice, Chinese spareribs, steamed fresh green beans and green tea. I think it was a hit. We also had some sparkling grape juice. Yummy. I wasn't feeling great, but all in all it was a pretty good day!!

Friday was Jason's last basketball game of the season, so I drove up to Sulphur and learned how to really shoot a basketball. Then I sat up in the "pressbox" with Jason while he announced. Both boys and girls won. Woot woot!

Saturday was pretty relaxing. We didn't do a lot. We watched the "We" channel which is having a wedding weekend, so I was pretty excited. I also finished the Save the Date cards, so I should be mailing those out tomorrow. Yippee!! One of my students asked when I was getting married last Thursday and I said June 14th and she said, Exactly four months from today!!" I'm sure my eyes got wide. AAAAHHHHHH!!!! It's less than four months from the wedding!!!! Oh, by the way, I was watching platinum weddings on "We" and I feel really good about how much our wedding costs. Seriously, $40,000 just for floral centerpieces on a couple of tables? Wow! Well, I guess if they can afford it....?

What else, not much else but laundry and, oh yes, the beginning of the NASCAR season today. Well laundry and lesson plans are calling me, so I must depart, for now....

Auf Wiederhoren!!!

Peas and carrots,
Jessica

Mid-February Update and some new finds!!!!!

Hello one and all!!!

Hope you find yourself well. I'm pretty good right now. I'm waitin' on my fiance to come home so we can go eat! He's been battling parents at the always popular parent-teacher conferences. I experienced this last week, so I feel his pain.

Let's see...I think I will start off with my new finds. Well they aren't exactly new but they are to me. First, E.S. Posthumus is a pair of brothers who create this INCREDIBLE music but the only problem is they had only one album out for like a century!!! They kept telling us fans that there would be a new CD coming out very soon. Well it sorta dropped off my radar for awhile and yesterday I got an email (I'm on their list :) saying they had finally released it!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! So I bought it today and am listening to it right now and it is heavenly, literally. The sound is like heaven if I could actually describe it like that. E.S.P. is orchestral in nature and chorale and world beat and contemporary all at the same time. It sounds weird, but I promise you it works!!! You probably have heard some of their stuff, you just didn't realize it. For you sports fans, they composed the theme song to the CBS NFL Sports (Rise to Glory). Also, if you watch the TV show "Cold Case", the theme song is called Nara from their first CD. They also have quiet a few movie previews showcasing their music such as Spiderman 2 and XXX: State of the Union. Yes, I know way too much. I don't care!!!

Artwork for the CD

Ok so go check them out!!!

The other two finds is actually what I thought was one person, Brett Dennen. He has awesome music with a great message. It's perky and folky and that genre makes me happy. His most popular one is Ain't No Reason. Well I got him confused with another artist who is on the new Kia Spectra commercial. Can't Get It Right is the song and Joe Purdy sounds very similar to Brett Dennen. So I'm going to have to invest in both these artists soon.

Those are my new music finds!!! Yay!

As far as my other life. It just seems like I go to work and come home, eat and veg. That's pretty much it but there are other things I've been doing too. Here they are in random order.

• Patrick called me from Iraq on Tuesday! YAY!!! He seems to be doing all right, considering. He didn't talk much and so I rambled and that probably helped him just listening to "normal stuff." I hope so.
  
• Mandy and the girls went to see Drew at Ft. Hood, TX where he is stationed. It sounded like they had a good time!!!
• I've been getting some wedding stuff done, like printing out Save the Date cards, which hopefully soon will be mailed out!!! I've also been actually printing out the invitations. Now if I just can get the addresses of the people I'm supposed to invite!!! MOM!!!!
• School is fine. We are definitely back in the swing of things. Waitin' for that Spring Break!!!
• Updating my iPod as I type....
• Dad came for a visit and we went to Turner Falls, bought and ate some fantastic fried pies off of I-35, and went through the Arbuckle Wilderness (tour of the exotic animals in your car). No exotic animals in the car, just drove through their habitat and feed the ones roaming around like the camels, deer, burros, geese, ostrich (very greedy) and so forth....very cool!!!!! It was like I was a little girl all over again.
  
• I've started waking up at 5:30am to walk on the treadmill at the apartment complex. I've gained SEVERAL pounds since I've stopped swimming. I'm also trying to cut down on the portions of what I eat. Since I've started walking, I have noticed a slight change in the way my pants are fitting, so that's encouraging!!! It's incredible that I can even get up that early but apparently I can!
• What else...nothing much else that I can think of at this moment...

If I think of anything I'll let you know!!!

Love ya'll and happy Friday (tomorrow)!!

Peace and Love,
Jess