FOUR Years!!!

I have been so blessed to be married to the most wonderful guy for four years!!! Even though this year, sadly, we could not spend our actual anniversary together, we had a wonderful time celebrating it a few days early. We spent the whole day renting a truck, buying lots and lots and lots of dirt for our garden boxes, buying new flowers for the front, buying more wood for the garden boxes, and hauling and planting all the stuff we bought. It was so nice to set aside work, graduate school projects, and all the other things in life for one day and just spend time doing something together. And now, our garden is one step closer to being "plant-able" and we have beautiful flowers out front. We finished the day by going to a great Italian restaurant, Ciola's, which is where Justin took me on our second date. Very romantical and lots of fun =).
I truly am so lucky and blessed to have such a great husband, who supports me in my grad school work, listens to me when I complain about my school work and students, and helps keep our house/life in order when I get too overwhelmed with everything. He's truly the best!!! I look forward to sharing the rest of our lives together...and to graduation because then I can feel like a "good wife" again =).
Here's a picture of us before we went out to dinner...I like how there's a big pot over my head =)



The reason why we couldn't be together on our anniversary was because I was off at yet another National Conference (another reason I'm lucky...I have a husband who lets me jet around the country to present at workshops because he understands it's good for me and my career =)!!) in Philadelphia. I mostly did conference related things, but today I walked on down to the Liberty Bell, just so I could say that I had actually gone and seen it. My presentation went well, and overall the conference was worth it...though of all the conferences I've been to this year I did somehow pick the worst of the worst workshops. It's always tough to pick ONE workshop out of about 30-40 to choose from...and this time I didn't pick so great...but ah well...I made some good contacts and did learn a few things in the few good ones I chose =). Anyhow...here's some pics from Philly:

View from my hotel room...on the 24th floor...soooo high that my ears actually pop every time I go up and down!!!


The cutest penguins from San Antonio Sea World at the Exhibit Hall...Penny and Percy or something...I think...

\
Independence Hall (view from behind the glass at the Liberty Bell)


Me with the Liberty Bell...and my awesome nerdy science teacher t-shirt...it's one of my favorite shirts of all time...


The Liberty Bell...oooohhhhh....ahhhhhh....