Our short lived summer vacation

Ricky and I are middle school teachers. We usually have the perfect schedule. This last school year wasn't so perfect. Ricky's school was still year-round, so when I was out of school in June, Ricky wasn't out of school until July 27th. I had almost 2 months of summer vacation without him. There might be some people reading this thinking, "What's wrong with that?!" Well, I love to spend every waking moment with Ricky (Literally. He doesn't understand why. He's fine being away from me. He can golf more this way...). Because of our different summer break schedules, we didn't get to take any trips or do any typical summer break activities. We actually, only had a total of 1 week off together. Again, for spouses who are teachers, this sucks.

 I am now back to work, and my 4th school year has already begun. It's a bittersweet feeling. I love to teach, and I love to have fun with my students. I decided this year to allow myself to be...myself. Normally I like to start off the school year as a horribly scary teacher, one that my students won't dare to defy. But honestly, that takes so much out of me. The forced personality change is exhausting. This year I decided to be myself. This may totally back fire, and the students may completely take advantage of my humor and excitement. I'm prepared for this. However, I'm hoping that we can make a deal. I will make math and science fun, if they agree to respect me and my classroom rules. We'll see how long this lasts. I can definitely say that the start of this year was much easier for me than last year, due to the lack of pressure I put on myself to be serious and mean. After all, I did receive one of the best compliments I've ever gotten from a student, "Mrs. Marengo, you remind me of Phoebe from the TV show Friends!" My fun personality that first week paid off!

This school year Ricky and I will both be heading up Student Council at our schools. Ricky is a pro when it comes to Student Council, but this year will be my first; I'm really excited about it. This will mean longer hours at school, more responsibility, and a slight pay raise that is no where near what we deserve. But we'll take it. Of course Ricky will continue to be jack-of-all-traits at his school; coaching volleyball, girls soccer, and a little bit of everything else.

A couple highlights from our/my summer break:

• My long awaited TMZ Hollywood Tour! This was an absolute blast. I went with my great friend Cami, and won myself a TMZ Tour t-shirt by playing the game "Celebrity or Homeless Person". I won by guessing Octo-Mom as a "celebrity".

• I spent a lot of time with the Andersen family as their "Mom" while Katie was at Girl's Camp.

• Went to the most amazing wedding for my friends Will and Melody!

 

• A birthday party for our dear friend, Roy! 

• Baked in the 115 degree weather in Vegas for a few days...

• And last but not least...a surprise 40th birthday party for my main man, Ricky (MUCH MORE on this in my next post...)