Updates: Teaching, Weight Loss, Dating

My certification is in, which means I am officially a teacher and can (and am) applying for jobs as I like. The relief that this process didn't take too long is overwhelming. Hopefully I will be subbing soon. The head of field experiences for my program emailed me with news of a long term sub position she thought I might be interested in, 5th grade for a local parochial school. Not a place I had ever really imagined being, particularly in a grade that is outside my cert. For parochial schools, a teaching certificate is not a legal requirement so I could teach any grade they would accept me for. I don't think it is a wise thing to take at this point, as I will hopefully be going on lots of interviews for contract positions in April and May and June, but having the glimmer of hope that something soon will go my way professionally was REALLY needed. After two and a half years of studying, I have been feeling like a real job is so close yet so far...and it got just a little bit closer with that email. 

I have been making good progress on making good exercise choices, though my running has been stalled due to having a lot of pet sits taking up my time, and not awesome weather. I have been walking many days a week though, which is still the most important activity to me. I have been making progress with my weight loss, slowly. In the first two weeks of the new year I have already learned to make four new recipes (out of the 50 I hope to learn this year), though I have not been counting calories in the strictest sense. That being said, I am trying not to weigh myself except for once every few weeks, maybe even once per month so I can avoid the losses and gains from hormones, and not focus on the number as much as the choices that contribute to the number that is my weight. As of now I am 308 pounds, down 7 pounds from my original post, though pretty far from my original end of the year goal. Student teaching ended up being too all-consuming to focus enough on what I was eating. But now I am back on track.

I also went on a date this week that was the first I've been on that made me excited for a LONG time. I've dated since my breakup, but it was more to get back into the mental space of dating, and to help give me things to do given how few friends I now have around here since the breakup. But they were all just one or maybe two dates with the same kind of not-so-interesting man. Given my life circumstances being in such transition, I haven't been willing to compromise on anything I might want in a partner. Only the best would be worth the effort. This latest guy so far has met my best and then some, and I couldn't be happier. Some hope is in my professional future, and even if things don't go anywhere I now have hope in my romantic future as well. So far this is an amazing start to 2015.