Adios Amigos

Tomorrow at 6:30am, a limo is arriving to take my family and I to our favorite home (sorry Illinois). No--Santa's sleigh is not arriving to load us to the North Pole (although we are on the short side). We are off to our vacation home in Punta Mita, Mexico! We will be spending the next 15 days in the sunshine, with a crew of 29 other family members who are meeting us there on Christmas Eve. I can't wait to

Walk on the beach...

take dips....

Make friends with the locals....

Take in the views...

Go whale watching in richity boats...

Spy on the beach hotties.....

Read about failed marriages....(I'm still bitter about this one)

See beautiful sunsets...(2-pictures-worthy)

Get a little crazy...

And toast in the new year!

Can you tell I'm excited???

For Emily

Joel and I celebrated our 3rd Christmas together. We exchanged the nicest gifts yet. Joel got a shiny new Swiss Army watch, and I received this david yurman bling below...


Not bad!

An Iowan no more...

University of Iowa, you have served me well. I just moved out of the lovely Iowa City, and am back at home. It doesn't seem long ago that I had moved into the dorms. I was so nervous to meet my random roommate, Jamie, from a small town in Iowa. I came in from a run and she and her family were moving in. There was no turning back. That year, she became my closest friend. She is so different from me; she is the life of the party, with no reservations. She is wild and crazy, loud and spunky, and anyone that gets the unique pleasure of meeting Miss Jamie, can't help themselves from loving her. Four years later, we looked at each other and couldn't believe that time had passed so rapidly. I am forever grateful for meeting Jamie and know that we will be in each other's lives forever.



Our next door neighbor in the dorms was Sara. Our little Sara who wore her pants too high, loved(s) pink, and kept us laughing every single day. Sara is someone I could spend days and days with. She and I could talk for hours, over analyzing every word we've ever said. Sara recently accepted a job offer in Chicago and will be moving to the Land of Lincoln in the next month. I'm so happy that I get to have you all for myself!



My last few nights were spent with all of the people I have truly come to love

1 for 2

I'll take it! Yipee!

Blizzard Warning

Blizzard warning is in effect. Do you think it could blizzard so bad that the Iowa City Public Schools cancel school Tomorrow and Wednesday? That would make me a really happy camper.

"G-O-D Hey! Give us a snow day" - Repeat at least 50 times.

When I was a wee young one, we used to chant this in order to produce a snow day. I think I will start my dancing now.

Please?

Dear Santa:

This is would make for a great teaching interview outfit. Thanks!
Love,
Tess

Thanksgiving

My personal 4th annual turkey trot 5k started off the next few days of celebrations. The weather conditions were not in my favor so I told Joel running for me was going to be a no-go. I told him to call me at 7am on Thanksgiving if it wasn't raining. Sure enough, I got the call. I was sleepy, and didn't want to run, so I told him I was out. For the next 7 minutes I laid in bed yelling silently at myself. Well, 8 minutes later I was frantically tying up my laces and shoving a banana in my mouth. I layered on lots of clothes and headed to the course. 500 people came out to run the turkey trot. It was raining, 30 degrees, and soaking wet everywhere. The course was a trail run so everyone was so dirty. The first 2 miles went fast and were fun, I was running slow, but steady. The last mile was the killer. I finished it without stopping, which was my goal, but my body could tell I hadn't been running for almost 5 weeks.




About an hour after our race, I headed to Chicago for a Thanksgiving dinner. I was so hungry by the time I got there I sort of ruined my dinner with all the yummy appetizers. It was great to hang with the fam and realize what we are truly thankful for. We made lots of great desserts and we were home by 7.







Saturday, we celebrated my momma's 51st birthday. My mom is the greatest. I love her so much, and she knows it. The girl is one of my best friends and I hope to be as cool as she is at the ripe age of 51.

Giving Thanks

I have so much to be thankful for:

• First, and most important, is my health. This is number one, because without your health, you don't have much. Even though I get down on myself when I don't eat right and when I don't run enough, I am lucky to be able to decide to eat wrong, or not run. I am so thankful for my good health and hope that this year I try harder to better it on a daily basis
• Family. I'm not sure if you know my family, but they're pretty good to me. Each member of my family brings a different element to our crazy house, but we couldn't do it without all of us. Even though we all get on each others nerves now and then, I know that Mom, Dad, Hannah, or Nellie, would be there for me without a seconds thought. I'm so thankful for them ,and their good health too.

• Joel. My boyfriend of 2 1/2 years. He is so good to me. He is the ying to my yang. He is calm when I am crazy. Funny when I'm in a grumpy mood. Sweet when I'm sour. One of my most favorite things about Joel is that we would have a good time together in a jail cell if we were stuck in one (which we will never be, but I'm just saying). He is determined and postive, and he makes me a better person. I am so thankful for him, and again, for his good health.
  

• Friends. On a side note, the really cool thing about this post, is that some of my friends are my family too. I'm so lucky that my family members are actually my friends. I won the family jackpot (on most days...). I have a lot of friends. I have a lot of really good, really pretty, really funny friends. When I sit down to think about the amount of really good friends I have, I become overwhelmed by my thankfulness. Each one of them brings me so much joy in their own ways. I've gotta throw a shout out to my very best friend Claire. I am so lucky to have Claire in my life. We only get to see each other a few times a year but this girl knows my in's and out's, and still loves me. Bff's since 2nd grade, and no end in sight.
  
• Kuka & Papa. My grandparents. I'm so thankful that I have such a good relationship with them. They are so youthful and paitent. I am so thankful that they take care of themselves, and love to be around family, and have instilled such values in our lives. I am forever in love with my Kuka and Papa who are some of the most generous people I know.
  
• Teaching. It feels really good to have a love and passion for the career I am about to get into. I am so thankful that I get excited to go into the classroom. I am thankful for the 32 brilliant 5th/6th graders I have met this year and couldn't imagine I could love and care for them in the short 12 weeks I've known them, but sure enough....they've got me.
• My house. I am so thankful for my house. It's so warm, and cozy. I am thankful that I am moving back home. I am thankful that I will get to spend a few months at home with my mom, dad, and nellie. It will be an interesting transition, but I am thankful for the option and the comfort.
• Comet. My dog is about the sweetest animal I have ever met. I am so thankful that he is so cuddly and happy to see me everytime I come home. I'm even thankful that he wants to kiss me when I come in sweating from a run.
• Mexico. I am so thankful that we have a vacation home in Mexico. I love Punta Mita, and I love that we get to spend Christmas down there. My entire family gets to relax and spend time with each other, and thats what Christmas is about. I am thankful that in 4 short weeks I will get to do yoga in the sun, read easy fun books, slather myself up in SPF 90, and get to dance and eat at resturants where the floors are sand.

I am thankful for so much more but it's 11:24, and my bed is making me pretty thankful for sleep. Happy Thanksgiving to all and Give Thanks.

Lemons

Those that know me will know exactly how much I adore this pic

The big 15k race was today. 9,000 runners in attendance. Not including me.

For the past two weeks I've been sick. Started with H1N1, turned into an Upper Respiratory Infection, and has left me with a pulled muscle (*hopefully not a splint rib) in my rib cage from all my coughing. All of this equals= no 9 miles. Really disappointing. Hoping in a few weeks to pick back up and complete a Thanksgiving morning turkey trot.


On the bright side, I had a great weekend at home. Our Halloween was as perfect as they get. We made pumpkin cupcakes, carmel apples, a white chicken chili, played board games, and watched the HAWKEYES kick butt against Indiana. All in all, being home was just what the doc ordered.

Don't be tardy for the pardy

Voiceless blog.

That's right readers (bahaha, if they're are any) ((I humor myself)). I've gone from infestation of the swine, to straight up voiceless. And let me tell you, voiceless teachers don't get very far. Why voiceless you may be wondering. We had a Tyrrell invasion this weekend here in good 'ol Iowa City, with an unbelievable HAWK WIN. Wow!.

Amanda, my most wonderful cuz, and her bf Andrew came to visit. Also, little 16-year-old Nellie had her first college experience as well. Unfortunately she is now home with 102.0 degree temp and chills. Clearly, she is not prepared yet.

Overall we had a really great, stress free, late nights, bad food, no sleep, typical family weekend!

Tyrrell Sista's

Well isn't that nice! ha

I'm Sick

:) This helps a little bit.

Counter-Thingy

Okay, something must be askew. That little counter thingy to the right of this post is claiming that I have had 12,000 hits on this blog. I do not believe it. #1. None of my friends have blogs #2. None of my family have blogs #3. I'm not that interesting. However, I'm going to pretend that I have people reading my blog as stalkerishly as I read other blogs. In fact, I have stumbled across two unbelievable blogs. These two women are crafty, creative, stunning, organized, and deisngers (with great camera's). If you're bored, or even if you're not, I highly reccomend grabbing a glass of wine, and perusing their lovely sites.

P.S. Did I mention that "these two women" are twin sistes. Just an FYI.
Darby and Erika

P.P.S. I aspire to have blogs like their's. Give me 3 years. Or more.

P.P.P.S. This blog post (probably only read by Joel, will inadvenrtley concern him, guarntee)

15k

I JUST REGISTERED FOR A 15k

which means I have to run it.

FALL has arrived!

My favorite season is here!

Joel is a good sport because this weekend was dedicated to any and all fall activities I could think of. Saturday we headed to an apple orchard to pick apples and get some cute pumpkins. We made a really good apple crisp, made a pizza, and watched some UT football. It was a success



And then today we decorated Halloween cookies. It was a great weekend, minus the fact that it has landed me under the weather. I had to leave work this morning in hope to not infect all of the children. I'm hoping by tomorrow I will be back to kickin' form.

I'm very proud of the bat cookie :)