wordless Wednesday...

(as close to wordless as this chatty Cathy can get)

Missing my girls...

Can we plan our next trip? (Napa is calling...)

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

showing out!!!

You can take the girl out of North Nashville but you cannot take the North Nashville out of this girl :)

I miss my former students at some point almost every day but today they came out in my a little and I have to say I'm pretty thankful. I can't give all my "show out" credit to my former students. I have always had too big of a mouth...and today was no exception.

After a very long 11 hour day, I made myself go to the gym. Didn't want to go...but drug myself to the gym because the half marathon is coming in October whether I'm ready or not.

As I walk up to the stairs to the really expensive gym, I am greeted by a student..

"Mrs. Pratt, I thought I saw you out of the window...I came to the front door to see you. OMG I LOVE seeing teachers out in public. It's like Christmas" student

After a great laugh and a bit of awkwardness working out my giggles in front of my student...I ran. Ran a lot. Was feeling good. Ran more than I planned and was feeling proud of my progress. Starting planning the rest of my week of amazing runs that would end in 30 miles for the week. (Don't you love when you start planning these insane goals that in some insane moment you believe that you will actually achieve?)

As I'm leaving the extremely busy and expensive gym, I have to cross 2 lanes of traffic to get to the turning lane and then finally get into the lane I need to be in. It's 6:30 at this point and extremely busy. All the sudden this tacky, snobby, botoxed (to be fair, I have no idea if she had botox, but it's likely) horrible excuse of a person starts honking at me.

(she may or may not have looked like this)

(Or more likely... this)

 She wants me to cross into the turning lane (suicide lane) when cars are coming both ways...Finally after the fourth honk, something came over me..I got out of my car... yes got completely got out of my car, looked at the lady and yelled, "there are cars coming from both ways, what do you want me to do? Stop honking at me!!!" and then got back in my car. Finally a feeling of terror overwhelmed me! I'm in... Brentwood! That could have been one of my student's parents. I just got out my car, yelled like a banshee, and pointed at an old lady and she could have been one of my student's parents. Omg, when I've already decided that I'm definitely fired, I call my number 1 fan, my Mom and she of course has the best way of think of things. "She should be ashamed she honked 4 times at a teacher..." and even better P said I should have given here even more and she deserved it. Let's just hope if I meet her at open house she will think the same way....

So, I guess this would be a good time to discuss my new goal....

I, Natalie-Corinne, will no longer show out...in Brentwood.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.



Adieu, Lindsay

Bon Vogage, Lindsay.

I know we don't live in the same town but I have been lucky enough to see my super talented friend Lindsay pretty regularly for someone who lives several states away. While I'm super proud of her for becoming even more successful I am a super excited but a tad bit sad that she will be so far away in the beautiful city of Paris. 

Bon Vogage, Lindsay... I guess we will just have to go visit here in Paris at chez Lindsay!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Not such a manic Monday

So my last post was all poor, poor pitiful me.

NOT so much, anymore.

I have a friend who does High Five Fridays... I know it's not close to Friday, but I decided I have been too much of a Debbie Downer ( I feel sorry for the real Debbie's of the world...)/ pity party dweller for a while....so what I haven't seen friends in a while and have been working nonstop. When you put things into perspective and realize some folks just lost their homes to natural disasters, and there are SO many people who struggle.. like for real struggle it is easier to realize how lucky I am! Drum roll please....here are my....

Must Have Mondays:

1. Today was my best day at work thus far. Still the hardest job I've ever had but feeling better and I actually sat and ate lunch today for 10 whole minutes and didn't run around while shoving a sandwich (God, I know I'm literally the only one still eating carbs)down my throat. Success.

2. I had happy hour with the best Momma in the world!

3. After have a pity party all weekend and feeling sick P and I made a great steak dinner and really had fun being at home together. I can taste food and breathe out of my nose!

4. I left after 9 hours of work rather than 12. Made ALL the difference in the world.

5. I'm pretty sure I smiled more than I stressed!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

blahhhhhhhhhh

I know transitions are  hard but lately I fel like I might have met my match. Whenever I have these thoughts my other self ( aheemmm...perhaps this is the problem.. apparently I am Sybil) you basically worked in a jail, kids threw food at you, turned over bookshelves and filing cabinets, you can take these kids. But this is so different. I can feel the judgement from students constantly and I feel like I am never good enough. Friday we completed our first performance as a choir and we survived...:) One of the top choirs always sings the national anthem at the home football games. We rehearsed and sounded really great. I asked questions about what time to arive at the game, etc from other teachers, vice principals, etc, thought I had done all the right things. We get to the game around 7:05, the game wasn't until 7:30 but I was told to be there early  b/c we sang around 7:15. Okay, great. Well we wait, and wait. I hear students saying things like, "why are we here so early?" and "this is ridiculous" etc. In a way I know what they were thinking and I remember thinking similar things about my former directors. I also wanted to smack their cute little, perfect teeth, faces and tell them not everything is under my control. So anyway, a student from tv pro comes and tells me he will be holding the microphone. I thought the microphone looked a little odd but since I am so illiterate about anything involving technology I took his word on it. Thank God someone had a question for me in the sound booth b/c as I was up there talking to him someone asked, aren't you planning on using a microphone and I said, "yes he has it" and this random angel said, "oh, no that is for tv pro". I looked at the student with the most wtf/teacher face possible which he responds with, "oh, sorry". It was a mistake but I

almost had a panic attack thinking what if I hadn't come up here. So as I'm up in the sound booth I see my choir going on the track...with. out. me. ummm???? The sound people keep wanting to talk to me but I say um, I've got to go, I have no idea where my choir is going. Another teacher thought they were going to be late so she ushered them onto the track...so we could wait another 10 minutes and the students could laugh about how awkward we seemed. I was sweating bullets. Finally we sang, and I thought they sounded really nice. According to people in the crowds, the sound was awful. Great. Not really the response I was hoping for on my first directing debut honestly I had to choke down tears. I know I can rationalize all of this in my head, I am not responsible for the sound, I came to the game when I was told to come, my students are teenagers, etc. But I have to admit I am not good at brushing this kind of stuff off and I MUST get better if I want to survive. Oh, I almost forgot they introduced me with my maiden last name which was awkward. "BOTTOMS?"  Who is that? Why did they say that? etc.etc from my new students. I wanted to collapse inside but right after all of that I talked to my principal and he said "congratulations! they sounded great!" He has admitted several times knowing nothing about music but just hearing something positive from someone made me tear up! Finally it hit me that the only one stressing this much over all of this is...ME! Sure the students are going to talk about me but I don't think anyone has ever been in a choir (sport, group, etc) and NOT talked about their director or coach. It's going to happen, right? In my previous jobs I've found ways to cope...laugh things off, do stuff I enjoy, etc and I just haven't felt like doing anything. I am constantly thinking about work...staying late, coming in really early, working when I get home, and literally dreaming about it. I just don't really feel like myself and feel super isolated. I don't really see any adults at work and haven't hung out with friends in a while. I know things will get better, just a tough spot and if again my other self (scary!) would say hello? You've been there 2 weeks! I've got to get better about not over analyzing everything. Whenever another teacher or adult asks me, "how's it going" they always have this concerned look on their face and I'm left dwelling on what they might have heard, etc but I've just got to get over it. Sometimes it's hard to give yourself the buck up and do speech but I think one is definitely in order! I'm also being a wimp b/c I have a cold and being sickly on a weekend is just insulting.

Ugh, okay, totally over this pity party. I promise upcoming posts will be positive. I guess I'm about 7 years late to the Chuck Norris bandwagon but I guess everyone needs a role model!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

how do I say I'm sorry....

How do I say I'm sorry to all my old teachers?

How do I slap myself for thinking I knew everything?

How do I tell others that I am not 103 and am not stupid...

How do I make my old self realize teachers never stop working and think about success and failure of their students and their classes constantly?

How am I already sick?

I'm sorry former teachers. I was a little turd of a student and I'm taking back all the fun. All. The. Fun.

Just one of those days...Don't get me wrong, I like my new job, but I can see myself and my friends in my students and it hurts.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.



no title

All 5 of you used to read about a quirky girl named Natalie.

That girl no longer exists.

She has been replaced by someone who works at least 12 hour days, never stops thinking about work and is living in a constant state of crazy exhaustion.

In other words.. I'm a teacher again.



There is so much going on I don't really know where to start but a grammar fail is always good.

I found this on facebook....of course I won't share the name.. but here you go.

Random facebook quote "job interview tomorrow.... prey for me...."

Seriously? Prey?

I mean, can I say more?

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

weekend goodness

Ummm.... what can I say? Life is GOOD. This weekend we celebrated a graduation, saw family, had dinner with best friends, ran, then got invited to play on a boat. Originally I planned to work all today but...when you get invited to go on a boat downtown...you GO. I wish I took pictures of the entire weekend but these are some from today.

 General Jackson

 I always thought this was a part of the old Hangman from the glorious Opryland days but others think it is just a statue...does anyone know?

 Travis and Kate

 Jenna and Doug were with us in spirit. I love this trend from weddings, I am one of the weird ones who keeps and uses them...

the pageant wave

The captain

 Not the best picture...but I hope you're getting it...

No? These guys were living in a van down by the river.

 

 the crew

the swim shorts

the happy girl.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

ode to my tv

Months ago I thought I was extremely intelligent and misjudged what I really do with my time. Somehow I was under the impression that I didn't watch a lot of television. Hello? I'm in a book club. I read blogs, work, starting new jobs, run, try to go to yoga, I don't even have time to watch tv, I totally don't need it and won't miss it.

Under my misguided advice we. cancelled. cable. We went to Europe, had a wonderful time, watched a lot of BBC but didn't miss cable even a little bit.

Then I came home. We both had pretty crazy jet lag. Like so thrown off that P washed the cars at 4AM and I cleaned the bathrooms.

After cleaning BOTH bathrooms and doing approximately 1,000 loads of laundry by 10 AM, all I wanted to do was submit to the couch and the television to go in and out of television consciousness. Then I realized how my life had been changed drastically forever.

We did not have cable. Or any television channels. Nada.

At first I made do. Since this whole scam was my idea, I watched reruns we downloaded of Modern Family, the Office, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. I watched a few episodes RHWONJ on Hulu but I was just so out of the loop. Finally I cried uncle. I miss cable, I crave it, I NEED it. I told P that I was so over it and needed cable yesterday. To add insult to injury P didn't even miss the glory of 400 channels. He was fine with out it. Ugh, no. Momma needs her times of lobotomy-esque television pleasure.

FINALLY yesterday the miracle occurred. The planets aligned, God smiled down and brought us the magic of cable. It's so beautiful and I promise to never quit you again cable.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Student Quote

Oh, you know it's that time of the year again...

"Ugh, wow. I'm just so glad you're not weird" One of my students

I don't care who you are, a girl will take a compliment when she gets it.

Obviously I have started living back in crazy town and am barely able to walk to my car after I finally leave the building. There is no creative juice left so I just googled imaged teacher and found these gems.

 Every teacher stereotype makes me look like a real deal teacher.

 I'm the teacher that makes you uncomfortable but you will deal with it because I'm the teacher.

 I'm super cute. I'll shame you with my cuteness...try to talk back.

I remember when you were born....

I'm the teacher staring off into space pensively...

 Oh, I'm super cool and casual with my jeans and cute smile. You will totally love Math now.

Are you listening? Yeah! Give that teacher look!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

welcome back

Hello first 13 hour day I've had in a long, long summer.

Good to be back. In a kind of exhausted, feet are killing me, need a weekend off after one day at work kind of way.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

the man

I'm so being brought down by the man.

I learned that I have limited first amendment rights as a public servant. (exact quote)

I realize this blog doesn't have anything really bad but in no way would I ever want anything taken out of context, etc, so I'm making it private. I probably should have been doing this a while ago but I worked so far away from where I live. Now I'm a whopping 3 miles away and everything is just getting real cozy.

Let me know if you want a super exclusive invite.

The part I hate most about this is that I stalk other people's blog and then secretly hope that randoms stalk mine and now that stalking will have to be all out in the open.

Life is hard :)
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

last weekend with out students

Poll time..

(I never want to do these because I see other blogs do them and then no one responds and I'm like...lame)

This is my last weekend sans the students. This fall my life will change in ways I don't think should be legal. While I'm so (ppl always say this but I am legit) excited about this new and awesome opportunity, I will live at work for a while. A lot of Friday nights, Saturday days (Sundays being at my singing church gig) so I will say holla to my social life for a while it seems.

WHAT SHOULD I DO THIS WEEKEND?

(The teacher in me highlighted the important messages of this post and please note Vegas is out of the question)

Let your girl know. Obviously this is super important.

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Nat+facebook=forever

It's back to school time... do you like that little math problem/title? Today during my new teacher orientation we began talking about technology and how it is used in the classroom. This year my students will be encouraged to bring their ipads, phones, laptops, etc to classes. I think it could be extremely effective is some ways, in choir for example, there would be no more sheet music, it could all be on their ipads. (so green!) I have to admit if it were me, I would play solitaire, gchat, blog, and basically everything but use this new device for educational purposes. Then someone brought up facebook (dum dum dum). Some people thought you should create a teacher profile so you can share upcoming events with parents and students, some people thought you could create an organization website to do the same, some thought twitter was better and then some thought facebook was Satan and that we would all automatically begin to date students if we were on facebook. While this debate was raging, I began thinking back to my humble beginnings with facebook. I believe I joined circa 2005. I remember hearing about it in my sorority house and then asking my then boyfriend about it. He told me it was an honors network and that you had to be invited (should have known then...ugh) But then when I was back at the sorority house and a really...uhh....less than "honors" member said she joined facebook (then thefacebook, remember?) I knew this could not be true. So anyway, I joined. Became friends with high school friends, college friends, people I met out, wrote on walls that did NOT contain pictures. etc. Then it hit me. OMG. I have been on facebook since 2005? That's 6 years! Six years! Facebook and I have been together longer than my marriage, my current career, when I graduated from undergrad, we were together during my entire graduate program, we have been together longer than this current President has been in office, we were together when Pluto was still a planet, when phones were not smart, when I taught in Batesville, when I moved to Arkansas, when I left Arkansas (praise Him), when we moved back to Nashville, bought a house, and on and on and on. We have been together (creeper) for longer than any other relationship I've ever had. (perhaps the saddest statement ever written, and of course I'm not counting family and friends.. I mean relationships) ahhhh and they say it wouldn't last. Maybe one day I'll sing that sweet song that Adam Sandler sings to Drew Barrymore in The Wedding Singer.

Facebook+Natalie= together forever.

(please note that my rules for using facebook will always apply)

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

baby mamma drama

This post is due to inspiration from long time friend Claire. Last night I received a text message that may have made my life worth living. My former roommate and dear friend sent me a picture of our mutual friend in the worst/most awkward/ridiculous maternity picture ever created in the United States and perhaps the entire world. Believe me, it is taking all my will power not to post this picture. Anyway, I started thinking about this trend last night. I know the whole natural/not posed style of photography for weddings, engagement pictures, family pictures, whatever has been around for a some time and while some of those non staged except really staged moments can seem really trite, sometimes they turn our super cute and better than the olan mills

posed cheesiness...(obviously look above...yeah show off that ring!). Maternity pictures though, seem to have waved bye bye to "capturing the moment" and embraced some sort of fantasy land where embarrassment and mythical influences are required. Although I will not post the picture that inspired this post (and believe me it's soooooo good) I will post some of the worst pictures I found on the trusty Internet. The sad part about all of this is these really aren't the worst. I found some that were so awkward and inappropriate that I wouldn't even post them. I kept picturing my Dad reading this blog and didn't want to subject him to that.

Guaranteed this one will be in the baby's book "Your first Halloween". When I saw this picture I kept thinking of the kids who came up to this door for Trick or Treat. Definitely tricked at this house.

Wilderness style baby! Better learn to earn your keep out here little wilderness baby.

This picture says, "we started embarrassing you way before you can even remember"

Yeah, this is just my pondering face. Totally normal to be sitting here in a satin blend tarp.

We're having a baby but we're still cool. I've still go a tattoo AND muscles and our backdrop is so nontraditional. Baby blocks are for suckers.

(and my personal favorite pic)

Don't worry baby, Mermaid Mommy will always be here to protect you.

I just don't get it. What makes you think...hmmm this is a good idea and better yet I should share it on the Internet where creepers (hello, like me!) can find it and put it in their blogs?! Bottom line.Everyone is excited about your upcoming baby...but not everyone is excited to see you in some kind of awkward maternity picture. Lastly, if you take a picture like this, folks will talk about you and send each other texts in the middle of the night. This is fact.  

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.