Ahhh, a lazy Saturday. Finally! It seems like every weekend since Labor Day has been completely booked with plans from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. But right now I am still in my sweats and hoodie and it's nearly 3 p.m.--love it. For the most part, I am incredibly happy to be out with my friends, driving across the state for parties, meeting people for lunch or dinner or drinks, etc., but every once in a while it becomes exhausting. I definitely needed a break, and this cloudy, dreary, dull-looking day is the perfect kind of day for sleeping in (also a rarity), lounging around watching TV, and cleaning the house. Also the perfect day to update this blog which I feel like I never have the time for.

So what's new since I last wrote...Jeff and I celebrated our second anniversary (already!!) on October 14th. We had dinner at Bravo Bravo in downtown Mystic and then stopped by the Hilton where we had our reception. Since it was a Tuesday night, the place was relatively quiet, so we went to the front desk and asked if they wouldn't mind letting us into the ballroom. They were so pleasant about it and opened the doors, turned on all the lights, and let us wander around. In typical Tara fashion, I had my tiara with me and placed it on my head for a photo opp. with Jeff. Being in that room made me feel an array of emotions from nostalgic to wistful to happy and to melancholy. It's hard to believe that I spent a mere six hours of my life in that room and yet it created such an amazing impression. I will never forget that day and I hope that we continue to celebrate it with as much enthusiasm each passing year.

The next few weeks at work should be fairly entertaining. This Tuesday, Nate and I are going to pick out our pumpkin for our team's pumpkin carving contest that is scheduled for Thursday...then on Wednesday my new team is having a team lunch...on Thursday we're having pizza with my current team and then doing the carving outside on the picnic tables...and on Friday the entire department will be judging our pumpkins for the winning entry. These are only a few of the reasons why I love working there so much. The following week (from the 3rd through the 6th), I am flying down to D.C. to assist with open enrollment meetings. So far I have one meeting scheduled for Wednesday at the Department of Justice which is right downtown. The meeting is from 9-2 and then I plan on changing into comfortable clothes and checking out all of the monuments again. It's been over six years since Jeff and I went there in the spring of 2002.

I will also have the opportunity to telework two days a week starting when I come back from D.C. I am really excited about this because although gas prices have started falling, I have managed to put over 10,000 miles on my car since I bought it at the end of April. It will be interesting to see what a difference working at home makes not only in our budget for the month, but also in the extra time that I will gain from not having to commute 2 hours a day. When I sign off my computer at 4:15, I can go directly downstairs to work out on the elliptical instead of getting in my car and driving for an hour first. I will be working at home on Tuesdays and Fridays so stay tuned for how all of that is going.

I managed to reconnect with two people (both were important to me at one time in my life) last week on facebook. I realize that it might sound lame because facebook has become synonymous with lazy communication and lack of human interaction, but it certainly does serve its purpose in allowing people to network and touch base once again. The first person was one of my best friends in 6th grade that I admired. We were only close for about a year, but I think when you are 11 and 12 years old, you truly gain insight into the person you will eventually become, and therefore those friends definitely help create who you are. She lives a few states away now, and we wrote messages back and forth and then I mentioned that my dad burned a bunch of our home videos onto DVDs last year, and that I have her singing in our living room as well as a solo she did in our 6th grade concert on DVD if she wanted copies. I don't recall her parents every videotaping school events, but since my dad taped EVERYTHING, I thought maybe she would be interested in looking at moments long gone by. I was right--she was so excited at the prospect of seeing her younger self, and she said her husband would be, too. I couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the day because I know how important all of those videos are to me (and I constantly thank my parents), so to give someone a piece of their life to them, I don't know, I just couldn't think of a better gift to give, especially after all these years.

The other person that I reconnected with was one of my 4th grade students from when I was student teaching at my own former elementary school. She is a great kid, and I saw her photo in my hometown newspaper this month for receiving a $1,000 scholarship. She is in 9th grade now, so I figured she might be on facebook. I sent her a message to congratulate her, figuring that at 14 she would most likely be too cool to write back to an old student teacher (especially four years later!) but I was happily surprised by her message:

"oh my goodness!!!!!oh my gosh i miss you so much!! I love Holy Cross it's awsome and yes I am doing dance. Trying to get better and better everyday. My teacher says im improving so much. Holy Cross is a lot of fun. I made so many new friends. Caitlyn and I had another student teacher together who was so funny but we like you better. Christina goes to Westover now and Lumbardh is at Woodland. Hmmm who else? Jamie is doing good too she also goes to Woodland. I can't believe you guys are married. that is so cool!! I wish I lived near the beach, your so lucky. I was just thinking about you the other day and how you made that desert for us and showed the layers of the earth, and how christina went up on stage to sing. How are you? Are you teaching? Your class can't be nearly as fun as ours was. haha I'm just kidding im sure it is."

How cute is that? I know that I am not meant to be a teacher because I really love what I do now and I can see myself being very successful at it, but this part of teaching is the one aspect of it that I will miss. There is no greater reward in life than to make a profound and positive impact on someone. She said she actually thought of me the other day...and I haven't seen her since the summer of 2004. That really is the point of life, I think, to truly make a difference to as many people as possible in our short time here.