We made it to Chicago safely. Only three days more and I'll be a married woman. Whoa...

(If you want to read about my freak out moment, go to Susan's blog.)

Our school had a spelling bee for the third graders last Friday. Two of my students were chosen as winners of our class spelling bee. I was so nervous every time it was their turn. When one of them misspelled "beginning" (he said "beganning"), I wanted to go right up to him to tell him it was okay and that he did a good job. The other student held in there until the last round. Another student spelled "government" wrong (he said "goverment"), then my student spelled "beautiful" correctly, and the last student spelled "exactly" wrong (he said "exactily") and the student from our class won! Our whole class was rooting for him and clapped for joy!

I got an email from my friend Angie in Spain. She lives in Madrid so she emailed to say that she was alright. I also know a missionary family there but they're on their furlough right now. I know that they must be concerned about their friends there. I've been feeling somewhat heavy myself, more prayerful. Life is precious.

I feel so unsettled right now. I know I'm moving and I know I'm getting married. My life will dramatically change in some ways. I'm ready for the chips to fall.

Today we started our afterschool tutoring class in preparation for the upcoming state exams. My students were dismayed that they had to study until 4:05 P.M. when they are so ready for the upcoming vacation as was I. I didn't push them too hard and tried to make it fun. We played a multiplication game and took a practice math test. I gave out prizes to the winner and the high scorers. I even gave them snacks. When all was done, one students remarked, "Hey, it was kinda fun. It wasn't boring like I thought it was going to be," and finally left for the day. Thank you God. I survived another day.

On a different note, I've been noticing the tree in the yard right by the teachers' parking lot. It's the first thing you see when you walk in throught the gate and the last thing you see as you leave the school. Right now there are beautiful pink flowers blossomed all over the tree and it touches me every time I look at it. Beauty touches me. It fills my heart with gladness, melting away some of the negativity and weariness. I'm thankful for that tree.

I went on a shopping spree this past weekend. The excuse being the honeymoon, I shopped for my trousseau. My friends had thrown me a kitchen themed bridal shower so I had only received one gorgeous black embroidered lingerie from my sassy friend Jenny. So I hit the mall with my married friend Jesga to look for the wedding night lingerie as well as some more for the honeymoon. We headed directly to Victoria's Secret and after trying on seven different outfits purchased one lovely white one for the wedding night. With the most important purchase done, I felt much more relaxed as we headed to Nordstrom where I happily purchased a sexy black outfit on sale and a comfy baby blue one for myself more than Erik. I also enjoyed my first visit to Frederick's of Hollywood where we had some good laughs. Some of their lingerie were really not there at all. But their prices were much more friendlier than the earlier stores so I purchased one of the more modest red number in the store. Having purchased enough evening wear, we marched off to Macy's for some swimsuits and marched right out with nothing in hand due to the enormous price tags. Erik meanwhile went on a shopping spree of his own and bought a solid top Takamine guitar for himself. Of course he bargained and got a great deal. He has been practicing diligently and making progress.

The next day, I went to Ross and bought three swimsuits for less than a price of one at Macy's.

It's been really hot here since Sunday, up to 90 degrees. My students and I've been feeling miserable at school due to the breakdown of our AC unit. The office had to call it in somewhere and we don't know when someone is going to come by to fix it. Meanwhile, this is our third quarter testing week and I'm not expecting my students to do well under such conditions.

This monday was difficult for me. I loathed being at work. I wanted to quit for no good reason. I even searched job search engines on the web during the lunch break. I kept thinking that I could not do this for the rest of my life. The thing is that I probably won't, but having this bad attitude is not helping my present situation. I even asked God why he gave me another teaching job. I am such an ingrate. I've been fighting this sudden negative attitude so it's slowly getting better but I don't even know what caused it. Are my feelings just playing tricks on me?

Last week I started on the South Beach Diet which required me to abstain from all rice, pasta, bread, fruit, and sugar. I decided that I needed to go on a diet after trying on my wedding dress just a week before because it was much tighter than I remembered. So I headed over to Trader Joe's to buy low carb foods. My first low carb meal was terrible. I made low carb pasta which looked, smelled, and tasted like cardboard. Then I got my period and I realized that I had just been bloated. So I lasted a whole three days on the diet. These no or low carb diets were not made for rice eating asians like me. After this experience I decided that exercising is less painful than going on a diet.