Will Not Your Average Jane Continue into 2013?

Will "Not Your Average Jane" continue into 2013?

Yes...Not Your Average Jane will continue in 2013.

Why haven't I been blogging? I blame my laziness for 98% of my lack of posts.  The other explination is I am officially out of space to upload photos.  It has taken me 5 years on blogger.com to actually run OUT of space, so I'm hoping this like renewing my driver's license...something that will only happen once in a grand long time.  But, I have to er...pay a whopping 2.50 for more space on Not Your Average Jane...and I haven't gotten around to doing that.

So now that I have officially decided to pay the 2.50 for more space I want to talk about some of my major milestones from 2012.

January: Student Teaching at Holy Family School

 It was probably the better of the two placements (sorry Hemlock...) for the fact that I always knew somebody at a private school will hire me over public most days.  (And I was right!) I worked at Holy Family as an after care employee, and I rocked at my job.   And did I mention that I just loved working in Chrissy's classroom?  I'm sure there were many times she thought I was completely crazy, but she let me try things out that I probably won't get to do again.  (Because she teaches 3rd grade and I teach kindergarten.) I still have students from that classroom emailing me. 



 My desk, in better days...some days it was like a skiing mountain!

 February: I Picked Up a (Second) Church Job

I promised myself I wouldn't work at two parishes once I left Old Saint Joesph.  I wanted to give 200% to student teaching and any remaining energy went to A/piano lessons and B/playing at Resurrection Parish.  Well, this job kinda just...came up by accident.  I know what you are probably thinking...how does a job just "pop" up?  Well, when it comes to church jobs in the GB area, they have.  I actually turned this job down TWICE before I accepted the job.  Once in 2009; they called me on my cell and never returned their call.  The other time was in December 2011, when I subbed for Emily Slavek and they wanted me to work there.  At that time, I was still finishing up my duties at Old Saint Joe's and getting ready for student teaching.  I was taking time off of work to get my feet wet and get used to how things went.  I told them I wasn't working until Feb. 1st.  They called me ON Feb 1st and asked me to work for them...at that time I needed the cash so I said sure.  I'm sure I rocked a few boats at Res and made my parents very angry (Why did you pick up another church when you could just have played more 8AM's with Paul Defnet?)  In the end, I inherited a choir, playing tempos the way I want them, and having the opportunity to have something I never EVER got to have at Resurrection (and never ever will...) a microphone to sing in. 

March: Kindergarten!

In March the DPI picked me up from Holy Family and dropped me in Hemlock Creek.  I never felt like a fish out of water.  My quirky personality had to be in check at all times there.  It was a challenge to get to know the other teachers, but it was a good challenge to force me out of my strange and exciting box.  Being at Hemlock gave me a lot of good experiences with working with the grade I will be working with the most.  There are things I saw in Pam's classroom that I still use in my teaching!  She also taught me to be organized...something that I never could master.  Pam was the person who gave me the advice: "Always clean your desk off before you leave at the end of the day; because you never know what tomorrow is going to bring you."  To this day I still follow that rule.   I also found my obsession with 31 products.


April: Old Enough to Rent a Car!

I turned 25 and threw the party of the year!  You guessed it... it had wine, singing and Brittany de Laurelle.  Good times!  I don't have any photos to share with you, but that's okay.  We can just enjoy this picture of Brittany instead.

 Brittany and Em in Feb 2012 at La Vie Boheme; our favorite place for Moscato! 

May: Graduation

On May 14th, I got to do this...!

  

Noelle, Andrea, Brittany and Em with the best professors ever... Chris and Ty Meidl  

Seven years later...I graduated from college!   This was a huge celebration among my family.   Even Chad was proud of me!  My family went to mass (where I sang harmony on "All the Ends of the Earth," and cantored the Gospel Acclamation.)  It was also the mass where the Cardinal told me that "he could tell when I was playing because I had a strong presence that commanded people to sing."  (Thanks Michele I got that from you!) Even though we didn't agree about a certain topic, I think it's pretty cool he recognized my skills in music.

June: Signed My First Teaching Contract... AND... began to Nanny

Although I officially got the job in May, I didn't officially tell people outside of a very tight circle of family and friends, until I signed the contract.  I wanted to make sure it was the real deal before telling the entire world.    I remember exactly what I did as soon as I got the email that said I got the job...the kids were having snack and I checked my email.  I screamed at the top of my lungs and jumped up and down.  The kids were extremely confused but then cheered for me once I told them why I was off my rocker. 

Leah and Meredith came down to sign my lease and we discovered the wonderful world known as Moca Moments! 

Leah, Em and Meredith discover Moca Moments! 

 

I also got to Nanny the three cutest kids ever!!! 

Aren't they just adorable!  Alana (1 yr), Kiana (5 yrs) and Leila (8 yrs)

I enjoy working with these girls! (I say enjoy because Tony and Jade still have me work with the kids.)  I helped Lelia grow a deeper interest in science, curb Kiana's anger and teach the kids the art of scrapbooking:) 

July: Vacation Bible School... AND... Signed a Lease!

The hot topic between my mom and I for the first half of the summer was Vacation Bible School.  My mom and I LIVED every day prepping and making the church parlor change into a magically and wonderful setting for preschoolers.  Every single person loved the room.   I felt very "teacher-like" during this week.  I had creative control and could make the educational decisions for the kids.  I was blessed to work with great people to help the program enhance even more. 

This room took 6 hours to make. 

But before the adventure in VBS began, I signed my lease.  Then I became responsible for this place!  This would be my super dooper awesome kitchen. 

 I'm in love with this kitchen.

August: Started Working at St. Patrick's...AND my Best Friend's Wedding

In August, my mom and I moved me down to Janesville...and I started to create my first classroom!  This is one of my many incarnations of the classroom.    The first version of the classroom took about 6 hours.  The second took about an hour and the final, most likely to be the forever set up of the classroom, took 4 hours. 

Version 12/25 of my classroom.  One day it will look like I know what I'm doing;) 

 

Then I got to see my best friend Jennifer marry her other best friend, DJ.  I got to stand up in the wedding and I apparently was the maid of honor!

 Jenni made her own dress...I got mine in the mail!

September: Welcoming Home Paprika and Cilantro

Pickles gained two more brothers...Paprika and Cilantro.  While Cilantro is a little skiddish and tends to hide every time anything ever happens... Paprika is more than happy to run up and down his cage making noise for the both of them.  For those of you who don't know who is who, from the left to right is: Paprika (6 months), Cilantro (9 months) and Pickles (5 years old) 

 By some miracle...they decided to pose for a quick pose!

October: Dating Kyle

Let's be real... if this doesn't explain our relationship, then I don't know what does.    I don't know what I would do without him. 

 Gangman Style! 

November: I Cantor at Old Saint Joe's... (and people didn't boo me out!)

A big part of my role at Old Saint Joe's, was to make music...good music.    When I left OSJ in December 2011, I honestly thought I was never ever going to play on Rodger again.  I was pretty broken-hearted about that.  Rodger is a good organ that is bullied by the congregation.  He's a little loud at times, but that is only because the craves the attention and respect he deserves.

Well, by a Thanksgiving miracle, Jennifer and I thought it would be a good idea for me to play a few hymns on the organ.  I was pretty excited about this ordeal! 

The big surprise was when I decided I could cantor the psalm.   I was very thankful I heard Michele sing it the day before...otherwise I wouldn't have known how it went!  I actually did a good job.  I could see the big smile the Fox had on her face after I finished singing it.  After all...she was the one that thought it would be a good idea for me to sing out loud in the first place...


Joe, Jennifer and Em Christmas 2011


December: Christmas at Resurrection!
 
Resurrection reopened their doors to their church just in time for me to take some time off!  So I made sure I made the loudest, krumhorn-style splash on the organ.  Why? Because I could;)   Mom says I have this knack for making the coolest sounds from coming out of the organ.  I hope so, because this year alone...I spent about 12 hours preparing Christmas music on the organ!  Deacon Riely and Paul Defnet stood and gave me an applause afterwards, so it was totally worth it!

Before Christmas Day, comes Christmas Eve (in case you didn't know;), which meant mass with the Youth Music Team.  The group started in 1999 and ceased in 2011...and yes I was part of the team for all those years.  Being part of the YMT was one of the longest commitments I have ever had, behind my education.   It was nice to have the team back together playing the music we know best!  

And of coarse after mass I celebrated Christmas with the people I love the most (most of the time...) my family!  With everything that happened this year with my family, I'm glad I had another year to spend with them.  We may get on each other's cases, and we may talk about church all the time (says Chad), but we got each other's backs and that's what's important!

That's all I got for now...I hope you enjoyed looking back at my awesome year!  2012 was a good one!

<3
Em