My First Week of Being a Teacher :)

Hello Friends!


I have to apologize for not posting anything in over a week, as you know from my last post, I got a teaching job and I started in my new classroom this past Monday!  I am in utter bliss, this whole week has been exhilarating.  My room started off as quite a dump, it was split to be two Spanish classrooms, with two male teachers, in a building built in the 60's.  There were, until I got a hold of a razor :) velcro stickers EVERYWHERE, to the point where my Assistant and I felt anxious looking at them.  So, my room has become my new favorite hobby, it is like my own Walk-in Scrap-Book, how much fun!  I go into work an hour early (7:30 am) and I stay until the janitor kicks me out at 6:00pm.  It hasn't even phased me as being "work", I am just still so pumped up of having my own room, and I could not be happier!  I will post final product pics of my room later this week. But until then, here is a picture of me and some of the kids with our class puppet, Curiosity the Cat:

As for the kids, I have ALL 4-year-olds!!! Yeyyyy, no diapers :) And, so far I only have 9 children, so I have had a lot of time to focus on the small groups and getting to know these 9 kids, until the other 6 show up.  My Assistant is fantastic, and it just so happened that we know each other, we went to high school together (in a small class of 130 graduates), and we went to Montclair State together, we are friends, and she is so much like me in her OCD behaviors that it is just a PERFECT fit.  She has her teaching certification too, so she has been a tremendous help, I don't know what I would do without her.


Last Monday was also the first day of my Nutrition class... I am sad to say, but after driving up to class (took two hours after my first day of teaching), in a crazy storm, I walked into a class with a professor who used to work for the FDA.  The title of this course was "Food Regulations and Compliances", and I was excited.  I thought, like many of my other college courses at Montclair, that this class would be as Liberal, and open to all ideas.  I thought that I would walk in and be able to proudly state my knowledge (and the reason why I eat a mostly vegan diet), and impress my professor and fellow classmates....But, I was wrong...rather this professor stood up in front of a class of future Nutritionists preaching about how it is ridiculous that when "science" and  the FDA say that something is "SAFE", like irradiating food, then the government and small groups of people should not be able to argue.  In New Jersey, Irradiating food is currently illegal.  Not because of the FDA or Science, but because of people like you and me who fight to make sure that the food that we put on our table to feel our families and ourselves is in its most natural form.  It such a scary thought that the other 20 students in this class were listening with excitement as this ignorant professor spoke. Shouldn't NUTRITION classes be about the best possible nutrition one can have?  I was infuriated, as I sat there trying to control myself from walking out! The thought of that painful 2 hours, just makes me a little queazy! I was relieved when I ran out of that class and dropped it on my walk to my car :)  I will try again in January, hopefully with better luck!


So today my mother and I are throwing my sister (whom many of you know) her Baby Shower!! My little niece is due in November, and we are so excited!! I made a delicious Quinoa dish, which I will post many, many pics next week.


I am going for the first run in over a week- I am so excited!! Have a fantastic and peaceful week! <3

i got HIRED!

After all of my mopping and tears last week... I found out this afternoon at 5:10pm that I GOT HIRED as a TEACHER!!! Wooooooo!!!


 Ya know, The Secret (The Secret) really does friggen work! I mean, come on, before this I was set on not wanting to teach... and then this weekend hit and I remembered how much I LOVED to teach, and I cried about it, wished for it, and BOOM I got it. Wow. I am lost for words. I AM good enough to be a teacher, they DO appreciate the work I do. I WILL be a great teacher, I know it.  I begin Monday morning, I will spend all weekend preparing (so excited!) and I know I will do the best possible job that I can do. 


Thank you Universe, thank you. I could not be happier right now.  


Also, on Monday I begin my first day of classes in my Nutrition degree... which I will not let fade away. I read an article today posted on Kris Carr's email letter through Crazy Sexy Life found HERE about New York City's efforts better nutrition in schools.  Coincidence? No. Omen? Yes.  This is my first step to making a difference, I am now a teacher, so now I have the power to make the difference I want to make. Ahhhh I am so excited!!!


Have a fabulous weekend.  Enjoy the fall weather. I know I will!  I will post updates after Monday.


Thank you for your support!! And please keep believing in your dreams.  Anything you set your mind to, you can achieve. I believe in The Secret.

Navesink RIver, Believing in your Dreams, 2009

Running is my therapy...

Hello All! Happy Labor Day, I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend.  It was perfect running weather here in New Jersey.  The type of weather we wait all year for and pray that it never goes away.

So, I have a confession to make... two nights ago my emotions got the best of me and I was not confident or positive at all.  As my boyfriend and I were about to go to bed, I was suddenly overcome with strong emotions due to rejection (isn't it funny how these things come and bit you in the butt out of nowhere?). It was as if all of a sudden everything that has happened with my work situation was dumped on me all at once.  Whyyyy didn't they hire me? What did I do wrong?  If I had a teaching job would I still be pursing a Nutrition Degree? Then it hit me, the hardest question, is the reason I do not want to teach any more because of all of this rejection?  I have come to believe that I cannot be a good teacher, regardless of how well I did in my student teaching, and regardless of how much I loved it, at this point I have convinced myself that I won't be happy as a teacher. But, is this all because of the rejection? Have I trained myself to believe these thoughts as resilience?  This realization caused me to have so much hatred.  I went to sleep that night with these feelings still very present... and I woke up on a beautiful morning with more sadness and anger then I had before.  Just the thought of it immediately brought on the water works... I was in a state I could not get out of... a very sad state. The worst part was that I could not even enjoy this beautiful weekend!

So, I did what I know always makes me feel amazing: I laced up my sneakers and headed out for a run in the woods.  For the first mile my mind was replaying the past year, as I was trying to figure out what exactly I did wrong. But then by the second mile, as I entered my favorite part of the woods, my senses kicked back in. I felt the cool end-of-summer breeze that rustled through the trees. I looked around at the bank I was passing through and noticed the sun glistening through the trees. I took a deep breath in, the smells were magnificent, the pine, the fresh air, it was a surreal experience. And then, my stress was gone.. anger, sadness and all, and my confidence returned. I felt strong, I felt smart, I felt determined, and I felt like I was on the right path, once again. Yesterday I not only ran my longest run of 7 miles, but I ran with passion. The passion I had lost for those few sad hours.  Running brought me back down to Earth and helped me to remember that everything happens for a reason. I am in the situation I am in, because there is more that I need to do.  I do not need (or really want) to be a preschool teacher.  I need and want to teach something I am passionate about, and that is Nutrition. Running reminded me that I am and will be a great teacher, and I will change many lives.  I am so blessed to have running as my therapy. Who needs drugs or therapy when you have two legs to run with?

Oceanic Bridge, Rumson, New Jersey (9/4/10)

"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you."- Carlos Castaneda

Blessings in Disguise...

Hello my new followers, thank you so much for the love and support you have given me already :) I am so happy to be here!

Today was the very first day back to school in the pre-school.  A day I was looking forward to with both joy and apprehension. As I mentioned in my first post, it has been quite a battle to get a teaching job.  Currently I am a paraprofessional...oh wait, sorry, new name for that now, drum roll please.... an "instructional assistant".  Anyway, I do love my job.  How bad could it be? I get to work with wonderful people who are all so different from one another, AND play with 3-year-olds all day! So there is my joy.... my apprehension... well, I have learned in life that when you work hard, you are rewarded. Unfortunately in my current situation, when I work hard, I am kept in the same place while others tend to advance, and be rewarded.  Yes, a situation that would make many of us quite depressed.  A situation that my first encounter with a psychic labeled as being in a "weird place". I actually almost cried when an excited substitute, who was hired, ran over to me today to see where I have been placed, of course assuming I was moved into a teaching position... this is where The Secret jumps into work.  Any other time in a like situation I would have stood around and moped.  Accepting all of my fellow sincere employees regret for me.  But today was different (well except for that 2-3 seconds when I almost cried, which I must say I quickly recovered from).  Today I held my head high because I have a new found sense of faith in my purpose.  I am literally RUNNING in the direction of my dreams, sorry Thoreau, "going" just isn't my pace. Today, when asked questions like, "WHY didn't they hire you, Amanda? What is wrong with them?" I responded by saying that I am happy where I am, I could not be happier.  I am blessed to have this job, because THIS job allows me to fulfill my purpose.  Because of THIS job as an "instruction assistant", encourages me to go back to school and receive my Masters in Nutrition and Food Science.  Because of this job, I can not only afford it, but Hey, they will reimburse me so that I do not go into (more) debt (undergraduate student loans).  Because of this job, I have more time and more energy to focus on what I, Amanda, really want in life.  

From the outside, many people may feel bad for me.  I mean come on, straight A student, has worked her butt off her entire life to get to this point, was promised a teaching job last year (yep...), and just keeps being over looked... but to ME this is a blessing.  I may not have realized it as a blessing if it were not for my new found acceptance, faith, and belief in my dreams.  But, this is all a true blessing and everything is working out just the way it needs to. I do not want anyone to feel bad for me. I want them to be excited for me.

While I lay in bed tonight, I finished reading The Secret, and the lesson learned about life in this last section has pretty much reassured me that I am Okay, as long as I believe.  In these last few pages I read what I found to be my favorite among the many inspiring quotes throughout the book:

"The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without." 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo of the Navesink River, New Jersey (2009)

If you are in a "weird place" like me, please share your stories so we can continue to support and inspire one another.  BELIEVE in yourself, in your DREAMS.  As my buddy Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, success comes from within, not from without.

Have a wonderful day, thank your higher power for everything you have been blessed with, especially for those disguised blessings... Believe and SMILE because you know you are on the path to reaching your dreams <3

 Thank you for your support!