Business Trip, Woah

Tomorrow I'm going on my very first, all grown up, overnight business trip! I'm actually ridiculously excited. I get to stay in a hotel, and visit artsy places, and talk to other professionals about teaching and schools and all sorts of stuff! I get to "expense" things! How neat is that?

Granted, most people my age, who have been in their careers for as long as I have (in education since age 19 - probably about 10 years total in the field, since I took that little break to have hot orange hair and work at Urban Outfitters) have done this kind of thing already. But it doesn't happen nearly so often for classroom teachers.

I'm totally panicking about what to bring - should I wear dresses? I don't have any suits...I usually wear very casual clothes at work, 'cause that's the kind of school I'm at. But these other schools - who knows what they all wear? I think I'm gonna go all Ms. Frizzle, but with less crazy hair. I've got a couple of very teacher-y dresses, and even though it's gimmicky, they've gotta be a better option than jeans, right?

I'm gonna try to take a ton of pictures of cool stuff I see, and I may have to do a total education dork-out post after, because I'm pretty sure I'll be all amped up on best practices and stuff!

And then, after the business trip, it's Kelle's baby shower! It's gonna be so great. Almost all of her boyfriend's family will be there, I think, including his grandmother who just arrived from Vietnam, maybe even planning her trip to be in California for the shower. And all our Liggett aunts! They're the best group of strong sisters ever, and I can't wait for all the hugs and chats and wonderful love they'll be bringing.

I'm super happy for Kel, too, that they're all doing this - I know I loved having my family there for my wedding, and this celebration of a new life is so important too. We really just have the best family - there for each other, so much!