Poetic Moment

God's Wheel by Shel Silverstein

God says to me with a kind of smile,

"Hey how would you like to be God awhile

And steer the world?"

"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.

Where do I set?

How much do I get?

What time is lunch?

When can I quit?"

"Gimme back that wheel," says God.

"I don't think you're quite ready yet."

I Am Such A Dork!!

You're a 90's kid if:
-You've ever ended a sentence with the word "SIKE!"
-You can sing the rap to The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air
-You remember when Kurt Cobain, Tu Pac, River Phoenix, and Selena died.
-You know that "WOAH!" comes from Joey on Blossom and that "How Rude!" comes from Stephanie on Full House.
-You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
-You remember reading Goosebumps
-You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off."
-You have pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
-You took plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.
-You danced to Wannabe by the Spice Girls. (So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.)
-You remember the craze then the banning of slap bracelets and slam books.
-You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence. Not...
-Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? was both a game and a TV game show.
-Captain Planet
-You remember when Super Nintendos became popular.
-You remember watching Home Alone 1, 2 , and 3........and tried to pull the pranks on "intruders."
-I've fallen and I can't get up!"
-You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
-Two words: Trapper Keeper.
-You ever got injured on a Slip 'n' Slide.
-You wore socks over leggings scrunched down.
-"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black, with silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back. SHE ASKED HER MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER FOR FIFTY CENTS CENTS CENTS TO SEE THE ELEPHANTS PHANTS PHANTS JUMP OVER THE FENCE THE FENCE THE FENCE. He jumped so high high high he touched the sky sky sky and he didn't come back back back til the fourth of July ly ly.
-You remember boom boxes vs. cd players.
-You remember when New Kids on The Block were cool.
-You knew all the characters names and their life stories on Saved By The Bell.
-You played and or collected pogs.
-You watched the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles.
-Encycolpedia Brown was the best mystery books series.
-Gack was the coolest thing ever when it made that fart noise.
-All your school supplies were Lisa Frank brand.
-You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.
-You used to wear those stick-on earings, not only on your ears, but at the corners of your eyes.
-You remember a time before the WB.
-You've gotten creeped out by Are You Afraid of the Dark?
-You know the Macarena by heart.
-"Talk to the hand." ... enough said.
-You thought Brain woud finally take over the world.
-You always said, "Then why don't you marry it!"
-You remember when everyone went slinky crazy.
When we were younger:
-Before the MySpace frenzy.
-Before the Internet & text messaging.
-Before Sidekicks & iPods.
-Before MIKE JONES
-Before PlayStation2 or X-BOX.
-WHEN LIGHT UP SNEAKERS WERE COOL.
-When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.
-When gas was $0.69 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.
-When we recorded stuff on VCRs & paid $3.50 for a movie.
-When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off our walkmans.
-When 2Pac and Biggie where alive.
-When the Chicago Bulls were the best team ever.
-Bill Nye the Science Guy.
-MR ROGERS!!!!
-When Toys 'R Us overuled the mall.
-DID I DO THAAAAAAAAAT???
-Skip It and Bop It.

You're a 90s kid if you read this and smiled and laughed at least five of these.

Update

Well, this week closes another school year!! WOOHOO!! This year was a really good one for me--I think it has been my strongest year so far. We got our writing scores back and none of mine failed. We haven't received reading scores, so I am not sure what my gains are yet; still crossing my fingers. My school is sending me to vast amounts of training this summer, therefore making me incapable to work or go to grad school. I am getting trained in a writing program that we are piloting, AP training in Dallas, TX, and AVID training in Atlanta, GA. I am very excited about all these opportunities. Plus, all the alone time in hotels will give me the time to catch up on my leisure reading. :-)

Grad school is going well. I finished my second semester with straight A's. I am doing better now as a grad student with a full-time job and a life than when I had all the time in the world as an undergrad. If all goes well, I will finish my degree next summer. That means next July I will be celebrating my honeymoon, my graduation, and my 30th birthday. That will be AWESOME!!!

The wedding planning is going well. It gets a bit frustrating at times, but I think we've narrowed down our options. Thank God I have Phil to help me because he as into the planning as I am and he notices all the little money "thigs" that I miss. I think we've pretty much decided on a venue but we have one more outdoor possibility to look at today. Our goal is to have a contract signed by the end of the week. We've also added one more person to each side of the wedding party, making a grand total of five on each side! One of Phil's best friends is a girl, and he really wants to include her, so I've asked Brian M. to stand up on my side. So does that make him a bride's man? Hmm... I'm not going to make him wear a dress, although that would be humorous for all those around.

We went to our first bridal show yesterday. HOLY CRAP!! Even I was a bit overwhelmed by all the "stuff" and crazy women. If they had a man's lounge, I think I would've gone to sit in there for a little while. My favorite party was tasting the cake. Yummm. Oh, and I won a tiara. How perfect--a tiara for a princess.

We are hoping to get our engagement pictures done this week. Once those are available, I'll send the link to everyone. This whole process is going to be lots of fun, so there will be lots of updates.

More to follow...

It Begins

Phil and I have begun wedding planning and it is a bit overwhelming. I've heard about weddings being expensive, but now I know how expensive. We have not set a date yet because we need to find a venue first. We have checked out a few places and have some ideas; we have a few more to visit before we make a final decision. The one thing we have decided on is that we want to get married next May after school gets out. We have both also decided on our wedding party. I can't tell you who Phil's party is because he hasn't informed them, but my party consists of Melanie, Tracey, Karis, and Lauren. I am very excited to spend the most exciting year of my life with these ladies.

Aside: I was thinking out loud the other day about how this is my second wedding. I was discussing how this has been a little more of an adjustment than I thought it would be. Honestly though, I was not this excited the first time. I mean, yes I was excited, but not in the same way. This is the way it should have felt. God had a plan for my life and I can start to see it coming to fruition. How exciting!!

Once Upon A Time...

Well, due to the massive amounts of email, I've cleared my schedule for the evening to ensure enough time to blog the juicy details of the latest development in my life. :-)

First I have to give some background information so that you'll be able to understand the entire scenario, but you have to promise not to judge me (you'll understand that comment soon enough)...

Once upon a time, in the far away land of Orlando, FL, there was a princess named Jessie...

About three years ago, Phil and I began dating. We had been together for roughly four months when my insecurities got the best of me and we broke up. I broke up with Phil on Valentine's Day, 2004. I know, I know... I've been listening to the jokes for a few years. Anyway, we didn't speak for a few months, for obvious reasons, but then we began talking again. I knew I still had feelings for Phil and was pretty sure he still had feelings for me. He was still hurt, with good reason, but we grew closer and closer. On May 9, 2004, I was chaperoning a prom. At the time, Mike Kelley and I worked at the same school, and we decided to make a fun evening out of it and actually double dated with some friends from church. Even though I was interested in getting back together with Phil, I had already committed to bring a different date to the prom (that's sounds so high school...). At one point in the evening, I received a text message from Phil that said "Meet me downstairs." I went downstairs and there was Phil, all dressed up, holding a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream (my favorite). We sat outside for about 20 minutes, talking and eating ice cream. Then I had to go back inside and complete my duties for the evening. When I got home, Phil met me and we went out for a drink. It was then that we decided to get back together.

Fast forward two years later, April 29, 2006. I was chaperoning another prom (my first set of 10th graders at FHS are graduating this year). Phil could not attend with me because he was playing the piano for UHS's production of Evita. I was bummed, but understood that it comes with the job. At around 11:15, I received a text message that said, "Meet me at the lagoon." I had no idea where the lagoon was and didn't know if I'd be able to leave early since I was actually helping with something. Finally at 11:45, I got permission to leave prom early and went to go find this lagoon. At this point, I sorta' had an incling as to what was going to happen. When I got there, Phil was all dressed up, waiting for me. He handed me a rose and told me he loved me. Then we sat down and he handed me a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I was freezing, so I asked him to open the ice cream for me, but he said no. At this point I was sure as to what was happening. Why else wouldn't Phil open a carton of ice cream for me? When I opened it up, inside was a jewlery box and inside the box was the most gorgeous engagement ring I have EVER seen. By this point, Phil was down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes!!

And that's the beginning of OUR story...