It's been a while

Hello again blog world. I has the best of intentions for blogging over break, but somehow that never happened.

I had a wonderful 10 days off at the beginning of the break, and J and I got to be in Tennessee with my family for Christmas. Then I came back to work for the remainder of the break, so that time off is feeling like forever ago. But I'm ready for the semester to start and to return to my normal schedule and routine. I am teaching the same class I taught in the fall, so I am feeling mostly prepared. 

It's hard to believe this will be my last semester teaching. I will still spend the summer in the newsroom, but I won't be teaching. And then in the fall, I will be a full-time student.

Wedding plans are going well. A few nights ago, J asked me what we need to do next, and I didn't have an answer. We've wrapped up what we can for now, and I'm going back to Tennessee in March to make some final reception decisions and have a dress fitting. J is working on adding a master bedroom/bath to the house.

I'll end with a story. J and I don't go to bars. He doesn't drink, and in a college town, it's really not our scene. The two times we've been to bars together were for work functions for him. But on Friday night we decided to go to the country bar in town. We knew there are dance lessons there on Friday nights and thought that might be a good thing for us to try out. 

If you know me, you know I have no rhythm and I'm definitely not a dancer. And in that sense, J and I are a lot alike. Anyway, an EMT named DJ taught us a couple of line dances. We weren't great, but we tried. In one of the dances, there is a moment where you pause, and the EMT said that's when you shake. J, trying hard to follow all instructions, took that direction very seriously. I fell in love with him all over again watching him. No promises about our dancing at the wedding.