My BEAUTIFUL flowers that Allison got me for my birthday

My birthday weekend. Joey's parents have a river that runs throughout their neighborhood, so we took the dogs and got some non-city scenery!

so pretty!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

This week has flown by! Wednesday after school Joey and I drove up to Knoxville for his nursing boards on Thursday morning. When we got there we just went out to dinner and came back to the room and watched the American Idol results show :) but Thursday we were crazy busy.

After his test we checked out and drove up to Chattanoga Tennessee which is right on the boarder of Georgia and TN. It's the cutest town ever! I want to move there. It's in the mountains, and soooo beautiful. We wanted to go do something fun so we went to the Tennessee aquarium which was AWESOME! I took some pictures on my camera, but I forgot my memory card so most of them are on a disposable that I had to buy at the aquarium... I'll have to post those later.

Sunday's my birthday. Tonight we are going out with Brent and a few other of Joey's friends, then tomorrow afternoonish we are heading down to his parents for the rest of the weekend. I think we're suppose to grill out on Sunday, but I'm not sure the weather is gonna be that great. Either way, I'm sure I'll have fun. Nothing too spectacular, but I love it down there and I love to get out of Atlanta even more.

Nothing exciting is going on other than that. I got a job for the summer working in Allison's office. I really didn't want to work this summer, but it will be nice to be making the extra money and actually paying all of my bills and having a little left over. I'm sending out some resumes and cover letters to principals this weekend because the job fair was pretty disappointing. It was basically walking up to a table for 10 seconds, handing them your resume, then going to the next table. I was like "What??? Ask me stuff!!" but they didn't. So now it's time to kiss up to some principals. We will see. The sooner I get a job the sooner I can MOVE which is not soon enough for me!!!!!! :) Anyway, here are a few pics from the aquarium. Happy St. Patricks Day!

Isn't this so pretty! It was inside where the RIVER otters live... they were my favorite!

Playing hookie from school and doing something fun = Happy Shauna

I got to pet a shark! Joey was a big baby and wouldn't do it, so he just took the pictures :)

We are sitting back in a little hole here with the water all around us... but it's hard to tell in this picture

Happy 5 month anniversary to me!

Here is Joey and I yesterday sitting at the Mexican takeout place waiting for our food. Don't we look glamorous! :) We met at a Mexican restaurant 5 months ago, so every month we do dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. The problem last night was that American Idol was on... so we got takeout instead. I'm so lucky to have him in my life!

What cuties!

Joey got an NCLEX date!!!!

THIS IS THE BEST NEWS EVER! Joey finally got approved to take his NCLEX exam! I'm sooooooooooo incredibly happy for him I can't stand it. His internship at big Northside Hospital in Atlanta was suppose to start this coming Monday and we didn't think he was going to be able to do it because he hasn't gotten a test date, but by the grace of God the internship has been pushed back two weeks and he got a test date for March 16th in Knoxville! I'm playing "sick" from school that day to go with him. Now he needs to study study study.

Thank you to every freaking awesome person that has been praying for us! I know there is a lot of you and I love you so much and THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Now all I need to worry about is getting a job for next year. As of now, I am officially unemployed as of 6/1/06. Last week I had to sign my release from contract papers which is SCARY considering I don't have a new job yet. BUT as I have already told my mom and sister, I would rather live in Joey's basement and work at Starbucks than work for APS another year... so we will have to see. I finally got my application out to Cherokee County, and the job fair is next Saturday, so if you could keep the prayers coming that would be fantastic... I surely need them.

I am very excited for this weekend. It's the first weekend that I have been in town/Joey doesn't have to work in about a billion years. Tomorrow we're going down to Conyers GA to see Joey's friend Jason's dad's band (did you get that?). We're staying at his parents that night and on Saturday I think we're driving up to Cleveland (GA, not OH) to see Michael play baseball. I'm very excited! Normal weekend activities!

I won't be in Michigan again until June for Michelle's bachelorette party, followed a week later by her wedding, followed a week later by Kimberley's wedding... whew... I will be busy, but I am getting excited for my girls!! I NEED TO TAKE VOICE LESSONS!!! I'm singing at Michelle's wedding and everytime I attempt a run-through of the song I sound like a dying frog...

I am reading the most fabulous book right now. It's called Jamima J. Someone suggested this book to me about 3 years ago and I bought it when I was in London. I think I read like the first 30 pages and wasn't too impressed for some reason. I picked it up again last week and could not put it down! I read the first 200 pages in about an hour... it's so good! Totally a chick book... but super funny, and awesome, and although I'm not done with it yet, I recommend it to anyone who wants an easy entertaining read.

Hopefully I will take some good pics this weekend and post them up soon!

I have the BEST boyfriend ever! :)

Happy WAY LATE Valentine's Day! Mine was AWESOME!!!! (hence the title of my post). Joey wrote me a poem and made me a cupon book including a weekend roadtrip to wherever I want, a picnic in the park, a entire night of him not bitching about my cats, and a bunch of other SUPER cute and wonderful things... last of all he got me round trip tickets to fly home!!! I was so super excited!!! I left last Thursday and got back yesterday night. I had so much fun at home! The only thing that sucked was that Aimee wasn't there because she went to Disney World for the weekend. But it was great to see all my other friends and family :)

My mommy also bought me an AWESOME camera for my birthday, so I have new pictures!!!

Other than that, nothing new and exciting happening in Atlanta. The Cherokee County job fair is coming up March 11th, and I'm really really praying that I get a job that day! I don't think I could take the suspense much longer. I am super excited to finish this school year and move out of the city!

My dad is suppose to come visit me next month around my birthday and then my mom is suppose to come over Spring Break. We're going to take a roadtrip to Savannah (very excited!) I am really hoping that Natalie and Rachel can tag along as well! I got to spend time with them on Sunday this past weekend when I went up to their new house/church. Steve's church is really awesome and has a lot of room to grow, I'm very happy and excited for them. We took Natalie to Chuck E Cheese's where she didn't want to leave... and then I drove back to Southgate that night.

American Idol is coming on in 10 minutes, so here are my new pics! Enjoy!

KITTY!! After her 2 months living under my grandpa's floor, she's finally happy back at home :)

Michelle and I at RP McMurphy's

Singing kareoke at Prushs'

Natalie at Chuck E Cheese's

Me and Natalie riding in the car to Chuck E Cheese's!

I have the best boyfriend in the world :)

What do Teachers Make?

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." To corroborate, he said to another guest, You're a teacher, Susan," he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a C+ slap in the face, if the student did not do his or her very best." I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home."

"You want to know what I can make? I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful over and over again until they will never misspell either one of those words again. I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your heart... and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you pay them no attention."

"You want to know what I make? I make a difference. What about you?"

I FEEL FABULOUS!

WHOO HOO!!!!! Ok people, I've found the cure to ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Yesterday evening I fell asleep on my couch at 6:30 watching TV, then woke up at 8:45 and went to bed. I feel GREAT today! Driving to work this morning I was thinking of all the awesome stuff I want to do this summer when I am NOT WORKING for 2 months! Well, I will be working, but it's going to be at Starbucks or some other coffee shop or book store that won't take up too much of my energy or brain power. Anyway, I decided not to start my masters this summer until I'm SURE that teaching is for me. So hopefully after I get a job in Cherokee and work in a normal environment and like teaching, then I will get my masters, but just in case I'm not too thrilled with next year either, I should wait!

Anyway, Anyway, fun stuff I want to do this summer: I want to go hiking at least once a week. Now, this may be difficult considering the summers here are like 95 degrees and super humid, but If I get my butt up at 7:00am and go, I'm thinking it won't be too bad, and it will make me feel even more fabulous. Secondly, I want to take some kind of dance class. Wouldn't that be fun?!? I'm in the hip hop capital of the world, so I might as well take some class to show me how to shake my bootie better than I already do :) Maybe I can talk someone into do this with me... Jennifer... I also want to take a salsa class that I'm hoping I can talk Joey into taking with me... I think he might consider it. I've already mentioned that I want to work in a coffee shop. Wouldn't that be fun??? Maybe not Starbucks but a non-chain would be cool. I would love to work in a book store, but the whole retail thing is annoying... Hmmm... what else... more to come I'm sure, but my kids are here now and I guess I should do my job :) OH YES! AND apparently I was arrested yesterday for mail fraud. Check it out:

I've decided to get my camera fixed even though it costs $250. So hopefully new pics to come soon. I can't wait for Valentines Day!! :)