2010 List of Awesomeness

2010 (minus a few days) has been a year of many challenges and even more success. Everyday, good or bad, has been a learning experience for me and is a part of my life. I have spent a lot of this year re-focusing and realizing what is important to me. My list of awesomeness is a list of everything I can think of that made 2010 awesome. I made a similar list a few years ago, and cannot tell you how many times I have looked back on it. Writing and reading the list makes me realize how lucky I am to have great friends and family and to be at UC in the beautiful city of Cincinnati. I am sure my list is not complete, but it is off to a good start. Enjoy and thanks for being a part of my awesome 2010!

- New Years in New Orleans

- Saw Lady Antebellum live in concert

-CMFK fundraiser at Woody’s

- Meeting and mentoring 15 special kids through CMFK

- Meeting all of the CMFK families to celebrate our first year

-Teaching 14 preschoolers at Madeira preschool

- Creating a hats and shoes theme for my lead teaching week

- TONS of snow days to keep me sane during winter quarter

-Skiing with Rallycats

-Talking my way into the Pavilion for St. Patty’s day happy hour

- Green drinks all night long!

- Turning 21!

- receiving an obnoxious, flashing, 21^st birthday pin from an awesome roommate

- Taking so long to make our awesome, non-traditional togas that we missed most of the basketball game

- Seeing AfroFlow live at UC,  meeting the amazing artists, and checking out their tour bus

- Getting pied at XU’s Relay and returning the favor at our Relay

-Selling and seeing I <3 Boobs shirts all over campus

-Hearing Luke Bryan’s “Rain is a Good Thing”  for the first time on a rainy Relay morning

- Relaywood: Lights, Camera, Take Action!

-Genuine awe at the commitment the UC community makes to UC’s Relay For Life in support of the American Cancer Society

-Coming to the realization that seeing the teacher I do not want to be will help me become the teacher I want to be

- 23 sweet kindergarteners

- Field day with my kindergarteners

-receiving great advice from one of my kindergarteners: “Miss Prinzo, sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself!”

- A rainy Sigma Sigma Carnival aka the return of my social life after a not-so-awesome junior year

- Getting paid to walk in the MainStreet Stride and having a ton of fun in the process

- working with 3 awesome PLC’s and 70 peer leaders

- PL appreciation dinner and creating PL superlatives

- Creating and checking off items on the Summer Fun List

- Taking a trip to the Rootbeer Stand (and getting semi-lost in the process)

- Touring Mammoth Caves

-Being lucky enough to take the best dog ever on a few last walks

- Camping out with great friends near Mammoth caves (bobber pong, the ferry, and a campfire to be more specific)
-Getting lost and re-routed in KY only to find a castle!

- Martinis at Lockview ((on a weeknight))

- acting like a tourist at Jungle Jim’s / experiencing Jungle Jim’s for the first time

- finding the “secret” gardens off of Reading Rd.

- Celebrating my first Oktoberfest down town

- signing up for Cincinnati Public Library’s Summer Reading program aka rediscovering my passion for reading

- Volunteering at the Friends of the Library Book Sale and $10 bag day

- touring, shopping, and supporting Crayons to Computers

-Sharing many dinners, cookouts, and nights-in with friends

- starting to get back in shape and discovering that I actually LIKE to go to the rec

-Summer classes aka the path to a REAL double major

- marveling at the ridiculousness of Gatlinburg with my mom

- a perfect vacation to Charleston with my mom (minus the whole Jellyfish and camera thing!)

- an impromptu stop to tour a historic home in Charlotte, North Carolina

- “peer pressure” at football games

- picking pumpkins from the farm

- carving pumpkins with friends

- a Candyland themed Halloween

- Volunteering at the finish line of the 2010 Pan Ohio Hope Ride

- Shopping for a little black dress

- Sharing leggings to ride a mechanical bull

- Laser tag & a giant room a blow-ups for a friend’s birthday

- the taste of Akron food after a long time away ( Tres Portillos, Whitey’s, Swenson’s/Skyway, Wally Waffles, Angel Falls Coffee, AWOK, and Gasoline Ally…just to name a few!)

- being “forced” to hug and kiss Buzz Lightyear by a two year old

- spending 20 minutes hidden in plain sight during an “intense” game of hide and seek

- being lucky enough to have a mentor teacher who is the perfect fit for me

- 20 First Grade Froggers who amaze me a little bit more everyday

- Teaching my first (and one of my favorite) first grade lessons—Community Helpers Bingo

- receiving my first apple from a student

- sharing Engineers Without Borders’ Visual Pen Pal project with my students

- Anything But Clothes Goes 2.0- I mean how often does one get to dress up like a picnic and design clothing made out of Bud Light cases

- joining the blogging community: writing and reflecting on my life as a student-teacher at mprinzo.blogspot.com & learning about the amazing things teachers are doing all over the world

- starting & building a huge folder of electronic ECE resources

- reading 1000awesomethings each weekday and remembering that the little things are usually what make life worth living

- Having my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season!

-Spending the occasional Sunday studying at TAZA

- Finding the perfect planner after a really long search

- taking a trip to a locally-run haunted house

- Bearcat “Bowl”ing trip

- Sharing Thanksgiving in Columbus with my family

- getting my own pan of my mom’s stuffing for a post-Thanksgiving treat

- playing the “stop” game on the BTS

- many shopping trips to thrift stores and book stores to build my children’s book collection & adding OASC favorites to my collection

- Actually succeeding with my New Year’s Resolutions!

- Finally finding new jeans that I actually like!

- Attending a CCM dance concert (and testing out my ballerina skills post-concert)

- Thursday nights at Murphy’s

- attending the Harry Potter midnight premier and LOVING the movie

-attending “The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything” and “The Thirteen Nights of Halloween” Reader’s Theater performances

- Flying & riding in an experimental aircraft

- Meeting all of the families of my students at Open House

- enjoying the occasional walk to Fairview in nice weather

-Strawberry shots!

- taking roommate trips to Cincinnati “beaches” (minus the sunburn!)

-Discovering Q104 does not play Christmas music!

- Spending a relaxing, yet somewhat productive winter break in Akron

- Receiving many complements from the seniors at Copley Place (hello ego-boost)

- Bingo, Skip-bo, Bananagrams, cookies, coffee, and wine for a satisfying Christmas & Christmas Eve

- “Surprising” my mom with a Christmas gift

- Catching up with the Bonacci family after Christmas and getting a whole bunch of "new' teaching stuff as a donation from their family

- Good coffee, a Sunday night bar with no girly drinks and a bad band, and great friends

- Celebrating Melissa's 22nd at BlackFinn with the girls and some new "friends"

- NYE in Fountain Square...crowded bar, no champagne, fireworks, awesome weather, an awesome bar with no cover, and ridiculous walk through the parking garage

-receiving the gift of extra time to focus on school through the Pearl M. Wright Finalist Award