summer, school and new beginnings

this has been the best summer i have had in a long time. i got to do so many fun things. i went to long island for 2 1/2 weeks, i got to see 3 of my college roommates, i went to jeremy and ali's wedding, i went to a wonderful nccat seminar where i went white water rafting and broke a board with my hand, and i have enjoyed many lazy afternoons by my pool. i certainly didn't work very hard this summer and therefore i didn't make much money-but it was sooooo worth it. i've also learned a lot about myself this summer and have overcome some things that have held me back in the past. now i am only one week away from my summer's end---ah! next tuesday i go back to school. while this can be a very exciting time for you moms, it is an anxiety filled time for me. what kinds of kids will be in my class this year? will the parents like me? will i get everything done before school starts? what will our schedule look like? how will i get through the dreaded first few months? well, i am taking a new approach this year. instead of being stressed and super-stressed i have decided to go into a "Halsey-God Partnership". yup, I am partnering up with God to get me through this new school year. i'm gonna listen to Him and let him control all that takes place. this is not going to be easy ( since I am a control freak ) but i know that it is what i need to do. so, i'm gonna enjoy the next 7 days and not go crazy! i am going to enjoy every last minute of my summer. then next tuesday my partnership will begin. in the mean time my partner will be handling all stress and anxiety regarding school. so, be in touch with him if you need anything!!!

internet oh internet, how i miss thee

ryan and i moved into our apartment a year ago in july. when we moved in we discovered that there was an open wireless connection available to us. we assumed it was from an apartment nearby because we had an "excellent" connection. i don't do anything top secret on my computer so i wasn't worried about my identity being stolen or anything. i thought it would be okay for us to "share" the connection until we got around to getting our own. well, a year has passed and the connection has never failed us. it has been wonderful to have one less bill. but all good things come to an end eventually. when i was in the mountains last week the people who lived directly above us (whose dog runs around from room to room nonstop!) moved out. and with then went our wonderful internet connection :( once the denial passed and i realized that the connection really was gone i panicked to find a replacement. i called a few different places and ended up going with road runner through time warner. however, they cannot come to do the installation till Sunday!!! the thought of a week without internet was scary. thankfully i have internet assess at work and have been able to check my email, etc. almost everyday. but i miss my own internet so much! i actually had to use the phonebook for the first time in ages this week! i needed to look up a number and i usually just use yellowpages.com, but this time i actually had to dig out the phone book, do the abc's in my head and look up a number. how spoiled are we?!?!? and then i needed directions and i couldn't do mapquest! aaahhh! i had to rely on the not to precise directions from a friend to navigate through downtown raleigh. i'm happy to say i made it-but not without a few wrong turns down a few not too safe streets. but finally it is saturday and i can see the light! tomorrow between 1-5 i will have my own internet connection that cannot just up and leave without my permission! it is amazing to think that less than 12 years ago we didn't even have a computer in our house. i only opened an email account my senior year of high school so that i could communicate with my boyfriend who was already away at college. and now i can't survive without it.! i even caved in and bought a $9.99 day pass for t-mobile at starbucks yesterday! can you believe it! i spent $9.99 just to make sure i wasn't missing anything (that is basically what it all comes down to). as school gets ready to start again i am going to make a conscious effort to not check my email 10 times a day. i'm sure, as i have learned this week, that i will survive.....

a case for coffee

i love coffee. absolutely love it. and i seem to keep finding great reasons to drink it! http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070806/hl_nm/caffeine_memory_dc

have a great day and don't forget to drink your coffee.

breakthrough-literally!

i am currently in cullowhee, nc attending a seminar on "Daring to Lead". it is a week long seminar done by NCCAT (north carolina center for the advancement of teachers). the focus of this week is not about leadership styles or techniques, but about who we are as individuals and what about us makes us a good leader. it has been great so far. today we had the pleasure of hearing from a motivational speaker named brian biro. he is a great motivational speaker and is full of energy! i'll admit that i was skeptical of him at first. he was for sure a bit corny and i thought that he had way to much energy for the 9 am meeting. but then he took out a piece of wood-not just a thin piece of plywood, but a rather thick chunk of wood. he held it up and said that by the end of our time together today that each and everyone of us would breakthrough a similar piece of wood with our bare hand!!!!!!!!! HE GOT ME THEN! i got really nervous and thought all about how i was not going to be able to do it! but as he poured out his energy and confidence in us i began to get excited and think that maybe i could do it. our 3 hour session flew by and it came time for us to break the wood. brian gave us each a piece and asked up to write on the wood something that we needed to breakthrough in our lives. it could be anything from breaking a bad habit to being a better mom to being a more effective teacher. i very carefully decided that i needed to breakthrough my fear of failure. i wrote my words on the wood and then it was time. i was so nervous. several people went before me and were able to do but that did not ease my nerves! then it was my turn. i walked up to brian-handed him my wood and he asked me to focus on him and NOT the wood. i hit the wood-nothing happened. i hit it again-nothing happened. then i looked into brian's eyes and i saw that he truly believed that i could do. then i heard the loud, chanting and cheering..."Jennifer! Jennifer! Jennifer!.....i got in position and i hit it again and it split clear in half! wow! what an awesome feeling!!!! i know that i was only able to do it because of the look in brian's eyes. it wasn't the fact that i had seen several others do it before me, or that we had been taught how to do it correctly, or that 25 people were cheering my name. i was only able to break the wood because i knew someone believed in me.

what a powerful lesson that was for me, in so many different ways. as a leader i saw how important it is to surround yourself with positive people who believe in you, so that you can get things done. on a spiritual level i thought of god and how he looks at me with similar eyes all the time and tells me that i can do it! i can do anything, if i just fix my eyes upon him. yet i still act in fear. so, today i leave the fear behind. i agree to move forward with my plans and to stop living in fear of what will come. i will pursue my master's degree in administration, i will be myself and i will rely on my lord and savior and be CRAZY for him!!!!

so watch out peeps-fearless halsey is here :)

(the picture shows exactly what we did-except we used our hands. i will hopefully have a real picture of me in action when i get back. )

miscellaneous

well, i don't have anything exciting to blog about right now, so your just getting an update on my life. i've been back from new york for 2 weeks now and its been nice to still be on "vacation". sometimes i don't know what to do with all my free time and i get a bit down-but i'm not complaining! i have been doing some babysitting jobs and still working at aqueduct. this week i went out to dinner with ryan and we had such a great time. we had lots to catch up on and he was really talkative. we went to chili's because i had a giftcard, so we only spent $4!!! we went to coldstones afterwards and we started talking about being "single". ryan said the best thing to me-as he was trying to cheer me up about being being single (and fat). he said "if what was on the inside was what people could see on the outside-you would be the most beautiful girl in the world...and me, i would be so single." ryan is a great brother! i also watched two good movies this week, alpha dogs and children of men. both are intense movies that i enjoyed. alpha dogs has lots of bad language though :(
i'm hanging out with renee tonight, we have lots of catching up to do. we are doing sushi and then coffee. yay! two of my favorites! then on monday morning i leave to go to cullowhee, nc for an NCCAT conference. it is called "daring to lead". i am excited. we get to go white water rafting!!! i have wanted to do that for a long time. well-that's really it, not much to report. i hope everyone is having a great weekend.

i think i have a drinking problem...

not the kind you think though (thank god). i went to the grocery store today and i realized that i went there just to get drinks! i left with 3-four packs of flavored seltzer, 2 things of crystal light, and a case of diet coke. it got me thinking about my drinking! and i realized that i am always drinking something. if i am going out to run errands i always have a water or d.c. with me. when i am home i am always drinking a seltzer or crystal light and when i go out to eat i take advantage of free refills like its my job. my mom even noticed this habit when i was younger and she took me to the doctor to see what was wrong with me. she thought that i had diabetes or something. thankfully i don't have a medical problem. i'm not even thirsty all the time-i just like to have a cold drink...ALL the time.
that's my story and i'm sticking to it :)

Permission to nap

I love to take naps, but I'm also well aware of how napping is frowned upon by our high pace society. I've heard people say that if you nap you are lazy, unproductive, etc. Well, I was happy to see an article in the News & Observer this morning about NAPPING! The article not only promotes napping, but talks about its many benefits. Including increased productivity, alertness and health. Yeah! I have been waiting for this for a long time. I now will have no guilt about my napping!!! Christy will love this article too :)