~54~Hooray for March!

If you remember last year's post at all, you know that I am a huge fan of March.  There are always so many wonderful things going on during this month, that it is pretty darn hard to top.  Now if only the snow would stop and the sun would come out.  This month in particular is going to be pretty spectacular, I just know it!

Aside from it being National Craft Month, here are the top 5 exciting things going on over the next 31 days: 

5. Orchestra+Ballet

I will once again be playing with the Des Moines Community Orchestra accompanying the Des Moines Ballet Company in this year's production of Snow White.  Last year's Wizard of Oz was nothing short of amazing, and I am hopeful that this year is as well.  The performance will be on Sunday, March 31st (also Easter Sunday) at the Civic Center downtown.  While it is A LOT of work, it is incredibly fun. 

4. My parents/grandma are coming to visit

I go home to Minneapolis several times a year to visit family and friends, so it's a special treat when they come here to visit. (It's true, Minneapolis > Des Moines) In celebration of Easter, our new house, and my birthday, I was able to convince them to come see the ballet and have Easter brunch at OUR HOUSE!

3. Spring Break

 2 weeks from today, I will be heading home to Minneapolis to see some friends, and to do a little shopping at IKEA for the house.  These 10 days off will be a much welcomed break from work.  

4. My birthday

I will be turning 28 at the end of the month.  I have no idea what I'm going to do to celebrate, but I always look forward to spending it with family, friends, and good food!

5. The house!!!

 As mentioned in previous posts, we close on March 19th and move in March 21st.  Jake and I are beyond ready for this exiting move and are anxiously counting down the days! We also officially have someone lined up to sublease our apartment starting in April, so we'll have a month free from living expenses!  

What exciting things do you have going on in March?  

What's your favorite month?

~27~ Violin, School, & Travel, Oh My!

I know, I've been a terrible blogger.  I definitely have not been keeping up with my New Years Blogging goals, and for that I apologize!  While posts will probably continue to occur intermittently, I at least wanted to stop by and clue you all into why.

Honestly, this is a terrible excuse, but I have just been so busy, that my blog has fallen down the list in priorities, and I haven't had a chance to do any crafting in many, many weeks.  I am very excited though to get to devote some quality time to exploring my new Cuttlebug.  I did stop at Michaels (using a birthday gift card) and pick up some supplies to go with it.  Definitely be on the look out for some posts highlighting it in the next couple months.

Last week, was one of the busiest weeks of the year.  As some of you, my dear readers, may recall, I play the violin in a local community orchestra.  We rehearse every Tuesday night and perform concerts for the public each season.  In addition, we also accompany a local ballet company in their annual main stage production.  This year, it was the Wizard of Oz. While it was A LOT of work, it was so much fun! I don't usually rave about music other than that from Tchaikovsky, but this all original score, from Kermit Poling, was nothing short of amazing.  It was some of the most fun I've had playing the violin in recent years.

Aside from orchestra, I have been very busy with school.  My district is currently in the process of transitioning over to the Common Core/Iowa Core curriculum, and that means a lot of work from me and other teachers in the district to get ready for it.  We are also in the final count-down until the end of school.  Only 6 full weeks left or, 33 days.  It's completely crazy to me how quickly this school year went by.

Finally, I was filling out my calendar for all of our upcoming events, and oh my gosh we are booked through mid-May already and several weekends this summer!  Next week, I am excitedly going to Baltimore, MD to celebrate the final sermon and retirement of my uncle, who also married Jake and I.  It was kind of a last minute plan/trip and I'm so excited to spend some quality time with my family-some of which I haven't seen since our wedding 9 months ago.  I'll be leaving Saturday and coming home Monday.

Next weekend, Jake has a bachelor party in Chicago, and the weekend after that is the wedding.  The 1st week in May we have our spring concert, and the week after that we have a graduation party for Jake's cousin and we are participating in the March of Dimes-in honor of our friends' beautiful daughter who was born at just 24weeks!  More on that later.  In June, Jake will be celebrating his 10 year high school reunion (when did we get so old?!?) and we will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary, and another friends' bachelor party.  And then, we have 2 weddings in July.  I can already tell that summer is going to fly by and it's not even here yet!

I will do my best to post as often as I can, but please forgive me if it's sparse between now and then end of school.  I have lots of plans to get some good crafting in once the school year is over.


P.S. Last week I was given some great news!! I was officially accepted into a Masters of Science in Education program at Walden University and I begin classes at the end of June!

I hope everyone is having a great spring!

Until Next Time,