'Tis the Season!

After school ended for Christmas break things slowed down... 



waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay 



d
            o
                          w
                                        n. 



I spent my mornings sleeping in, waiting for Brian to get off work, and making life simple again.  I wasn't going to leave for Hawaii until December 28th, so I spent Christmas day with, first, Brian and the guys house at CMA in the morning.  Then, in the afternoon I went to Melissa's house for a cookout with her, her parents, and fiance Carlos.  We had EXCELLENT chuleta (pork chops) on the gril. OH. MY. GOODNESS they were so good! Melissa and I got engaged around the same time, so we of course had to take a picture of our fabulous rings :) 

The next day, the 26th, was the reason I stayed in the DR till the 28th...Melissa's wedding! We got our hair and makeup done - dOmInIcAn style - que chulo! 
We were basically dominican barbies...

Her and Carlos looked so great, and we had a great time! Definitely had a great time at her big, fat, dominican wedding (as she calls it) ;)

The 28th of December I flew on three planes, and 18 hours later landed in Honolulu.  It was super weird to be home at this time of year, let alone for only about 12 days.  But who knows when i'll be in Hawaii again? 
In one word, here's what I did while I home...

SHOP.


Every single day, except new years. For what? Pretty much all wedding stuff. At least now I can say I'm prepared for my big day! 

New Years Eve was uneventful. I fell asleep at 7pm, woke up at 11:59, said "happy new year," and went to bed. stupid jet lag.... or maybe i'm just old? 

In between shopping, I was in desperate need for the beach. The stupid rain kept me from my tanning crave, so I just went anyway.  Luckily, there were some patches of sun up there somewhere. 


The Saturday before I left, my mom threw me a bridal shower.  It was so great to see some old friends, make some new ones, and just celebrate getting married with people that have known me for a very long time! I'm really not used to having all the attention centered on me, but it wasn't all that bad after a while ;) 

Then I had to say goodbye :( Not as many tears at the airport like normal, but it was still hard to say goodbye.  At least I'll see my family again in two months!!! :):):):)

teeny tiny update

First of all, my sincerest apologies. Not even a small update since September? I am so sorry about my neglect of updating my blog.  So much has happened this school year so far - definitely a year of change! Here it is in a nutshell ---

I house sat for a family for the month of September, and took care of their dog.  It was a great, relaxing time...after school, at least.  This month as well, I was one of the administrators of JCS, as well as third grade teacher.  It was completely overwhelming and very stressful!  Thank goodness God did not see me fit for this role, and soon brought my best friend Melissa back to JCS to teach and fill in for my administration role.  

In October, I not only (gladly) stepped down from my administration part of my job at JCS, but I got the opportunity to move out of my house onto the Caribbean Mountain Academy campus, where Brian works/lives.  I moved into the house that we would eventually live in together.  It's very cute! Soon afterwards, Brian and I got a dog together - a purebred German shepherd named Luna.  She's super cute! Although she doesn't live with me yet, I still see her a lot :) 

November and December seem like a blur..everything just seems to blend together.  Brian and I went to the beach for Thanksgiving, we had our Christmas program at JCS, things were crazy CraZy, CRAZy!!!!! 

Things are now settling down, kind of, and wedding planning is now at FULL FORCE! 

Updates on Hawaii and Miami shortly :)