I have become one of those business suit and tennis shoes members of the downtown core.

Over the weekend we had a tiny wave or two of very light snow; enough to dust the ground and cold enough overnight to form little patches of ice on the sidewalk. As proud as I am of the fact that I am quite capable in heels and haven’t fallen or tripped since re-entering the business world after becoming a Permanent Resident, I don’t really want to tempt fate. There’s no sense in ruining my perfect record, right? Heels and ice with as much walking as I do back and forth to work doesn’t sound like a winning combination to me, and suddenly the business suit and tennis shoes approach makes sense. I should have been doing this ages ago anyway — forget dealing with ice, it’s just easier on the feet!

I of course discover this just in time to finish up my job downtown… I start teaching again on November 19 and will be driving back and forth to the small private school that has hired me to teach pre-K and assist in curriculum writing as they plan to expand and include school-age in their program. And besides… business suits and young children don’t really mix! I am so excited I can barely contain myself — I get to write curriculum and teach an entirely different age level than I’m used to. I worked on curriculum mapping when I was teaching in Indiana so that part won’t be entirely new, but I can’t wait to experience the younger age group of kids that I’ll be teaching now. There is a library that shares a courtyard with our school and a performing arts centre nearby, so there will be no shortage of inspiration and resources for reading to my new kids or helping them learn and develop through the arts. I’ve been busy collecting as much information as I can and even plan to take a free course through Bow Valley College to refresh my memory on early childhood development since it’s been a few years. I took early developmental psychology at IU as part of the bachelor’s in education degree program, but with as often as education trends change, it’ll be good to take advantage of this class and have it under my belt to accompany my new position. That starts soon and will keep me busy for a couple hours each weekend for the next several months, and I’m already looking forward to it.

Here’s a scary thought: There’s less than 2 months until Christmas! Lucas and I have been getting our list of gifts-to-get-or-make organized and I’ve been knitting and crafting like mad already; we’re going to be spending a week in Indiana for the holidays, so I want to get everything done for our families with plenty of time to spare so there’s no stress or last minute things to worry about before we go. That means handmaking a lot of items on top of a fairly large set of Christmas cards that I need to get cracking on. Michelle and I are planning to hit the Calgary Festival of Crafts fair that’s coming to town November 29 – December 2. I’m hoping to find a few little items for my grandparents while we’re there and maybe even get some inspiration for future gifts that I can try my hand at making… after all, I’ve taken the ‘buy handmade’ pledge this year! And somewhere in between now and then is American Thanksgiving, which we are planning to celebrate this year. We missed Canadian Thanksgiving when we went back to Indiana over that weekend to be in Herman’s wedding, so I’m making sure we don’t entirely miss out on a homemade turkey and pumpkin pie. ;)

And speaking of Herm and Holly’s wedding, today I got the website link that the professional photographer gives out to the family so that they can check out the proofs of the photos.  They are absolutely stunning!  I saved a few of my favourite proofs and have added them to the gallery (or on facebook) along with the other photos we took.  Enjoy, and have a happy November!  :)