and that's alright by mee

this song is stuck in my head... and it may be called "Raymond" or "She calls me Raymond," but either way... it's stuck in my head right now.

I have a lot of things I want to say and updating my status a million times to say them just isn't going to work. Today my dad is going to pick up my bike. I just bought a bike, but I couldn't take it home because... well I was silly and long story short my bank is closed so... my dad is going to get my bike today. I am really excited and I'm going to start riding it asap, as long as it's nice out. :) yay! I don't want to go through my first day of riding in the rain.

I have 9 days left of my internship as of today. NINE days. and 3 days in that time I have a break because the kiddos have off! Sooo... I will have the 22nd completely off and the 25th, then I will come back the 26th, 27th, and the 29th is my last day. WOW. I'm also going to be done with classes that week too. Technically I am done with one of my classes already.  I'll be done with the other as soon as I finish up my research study... and then I'll be done with the third class after we get our last writing assignment.  Woohoo. :) I am really excited about all of this... and actually, I need to sign up for this NASW prep course that is in May, if there is still room. I'll sign up after this paycheck. For some reason I keep pushing this thing to the back burner, which isn't... a good thing to do. I could wait to take the class, but I'd rather take it when I have NOTHING else going on so that I can concentrate on it more.

Today I have group with my kids in one of the classrooms here... I'm excited for the group, but I feel like I'm not reaching the kids... though my supervisor said that is how everyone feels when they do group in that classroom, so I'm just going to go along with that and agree. I just do my best..

Oh. So, it was really nice yesterday, but today it's supposed to be... 45? and rain a lot. I've noticed that a LOT of the people here are wearing (by people I mean teachers/staff) skirts and capris... and all this nice weather clothing. Here I am in my stretchy black dress pants and tank tops (covered by a nice cardigan) and my loafers. I have on a pretty necklace too, but I sure as heck do feel trapped in winter. Oh well, I'm not a big capri kind of person, though I was going to wear a pair today, but I decided not to. (I guess I should have). I'm happy with my outfit though

and i'm even more happy to leave today so I can go ride my BIKE. I wish I could leave early early, but I have to meet with some kids until the end of the day.

It's only 8:37... still first period... blarggg. oh hey, there are a lot of sandals in here too. I'm not much of a sandal kinda girl... so i'm kinda glad i'll be done here soon... i feel kinda outta place with my outfit. haha. :)

Oh and so a development with my dear friend Brandon. About a week and a half ago he said he would stay on AIM messenger on his phone so that we could talk more often without him having to use text messages.  I thought that was really sweet of him, because we used to talk a LOT, but we don't anymore.  Now I know why we weren't talking... so it's all good now. I love talking to him because he is always so encouraging and supportive and just... there for me. I told him I lost 20 lbs since last summer and he was really proud of me.  I told him I just bought a commuter bike and he was like "so no more riding the bus?" and all and was happy about for me. He's such a great guy. He always sends me endearing messages.. so it's kinda confusing, but it's ok. he's a cutie and i'll take it. haha. :) Last night he said "night manda" he doesn't typically call me that... so that's why it's special. I think this is holding me back though, you know? from possibilities. it's preventing me from bringing someone new into my life, because i'm caught up on "is it going to work out with him or not?" Really, my dream is to be able to talk to him about this in person when we're hanging out sometime so that I know what's going on for reals. When I'm around him it's hard to talk about emotional stuff though, because I try to keep it all back... so, if I talk about it.. I won't be able to hold it back. YAY. my bike is almost picked up. just about another hour. Anyway, brandon lives in NC, so it's kind of hard to just "hang out" and talk, since i'm in PA.

Oh and so I posted on facebook about my dream to ride the pittsburgh, to maryland, to DC bike trail and lots of people were commenting. My aunt in michigan reminded me that there are awesome trials up there. haha. :) I'll head up there one day to ride. Maybe sometime during the fall semester? We'll see. :) I've decided my first few runs on the bike are going to be to actual locations, such as: the gas station, the grocery store down the street, and the craft store that is up and down a lot of different hills. I think riding to these locations will give me some good practice to make sure I can do all kinds of commuting. I'm going to ride for fun to locations and I'm going to ride with time in mind so I know how long it takes me to get certain places. My parents bought me a basket yesterday for my bike rack, which was awesome!! I am working on figuring out how I am going to keep stuff in it though, since it has no top, but I think I'll just tie the things down with hemp. haha. :) Sounds silly, but I think it's going to work. I could also use bungee cords.. hm.

Ok, well I really am just wanting to type right now, but I guess I"ll break this off here.

Love, love, love
- Amanda*

p.s. tomorrow is my 23rd birthday!! YAY :D