I stink at traveling.

No for real I am the worst traveler in the world, which when you are in a long distance relationship and are required to travel if you want to see the other person at all, can become problematic. Actually I am only a bad traveler because airlines really suck and I say that in the nicest way. I am ALWAYS on time, if you know me you know I get there early (Kevin doesn't understand why I insist being there at least 1.5 hours early, but it's just my nature), I always have my ziplock bag with fluids prepared, I am fast through the line taking out my laptop, so really I AM NOT THE BAD TRAVELER. It's the airlines man. So over the past 2 years of being long distance I have spent the night in 2 airports, due to delayed flights and misconnections (out of my control), I have been rerouted and had to spend an extra 8 hours in the airport (again, out of my control), and today my flight was cancelled due to plane maintenance (the most out of my control) and now instead of spending more time with KG I am writing blog in the airport, sitting in the most uncomfortable chairs when I should be almost back to Nashville. Yes traveling officially hates me.

BUT... I did get to spend 4 days out of the last 2, let me repeat 2, months with Kevin and it was nice, so very nice. What I realized big time this weekend is that getting married is going to let me know him on a whole other level. Like I know him, DUH, but when I was in the shower and using girly shampoo I started realizing that I have to now learn everything that he likes so that when I go to the store and he needs me to pick something up, I know what brand and everything to get. Like crunchy or creamy peanut butter, white or wheat bread. I mean, he will eat anything and I know that, but what are his preferences and does he know mine? Of course I know very general things, I'm not marrying a stranger, but it just got me thinking and do we start using the same things? Like face wash and toothpaste?

On another note Kevin is the most grownup. He wears dress pants and collared shirts and ties to work. And he works in a massive building downtown for people who make more money that my mind can ever fully grasp, being an artist. He gets excited to go to work and his one boss and wife are nice people that teach us things like "happy wife equals happy life". I like them and I like that he has something that he loves to do. It's refreshing in the most innocent way.

One other note, my granddad turned 80 last Friday and he has a huge party to celebrate. Let me tell you, I think there were more people at my grandfathers 80th party than there will be at my wedding. Now that is a man who has made himself known in this city. BYE.

Balance.

I decided to start a blog to remember the last year of my life before I got married. What it was like planning a wedding and making decisions that I probably don't particularly care to make. What I did for fun during the year. Different feelings that have been on my heart. Then I thought how fun would it be if Kevin joined in.... and what do I get? The plain as day realization that boys and girls are completely opposite and yep, we will never write about similar things. Ha. I am a girl. I am emotional and write about things on my heart. He is a boy. A realistic boy who writes about things on his mind. Analytical brain verses my creative, feeler brain. Good thing that for the rest of my life he will be a boy and I will be a girl and we will balance each other out with creative verse analytical thoughts. My highest highs and lowest lows and his always staying even keel in the middle. I'm glad God made boys and girls and I am glad that I have found the one to stand opposite me and balance me out. It's a good thing.

School.

Question: How can we make society more educated and productive?

Answer: Get rid of ...Schools?

Ok, not exactly. But it is unfortunate that greedy investors and lobbyists will spend millions brainwashing kids to think that if they don't go to school/college they will somehow fail out of life. The following are 3 myths that I hope will shed light on our modern definition of this thing we call education.

1. The Department of Education (DoED) is crucial:

October 17, 1979, education in our country drastically changed with the formal establishment of the DoED. Ever since, education has become the most prominent "social policy" in our nation forcing every human to become a cookie-cutter mold of the next. The DoED has done nothing more than to expand America's debt hundreds of billions, all while de-inspiring and de-motivating pliable young minds. The DoED's approach to education has punished the student who was blessed with high energy (thus doesn't have a preference for sitting and learning one subject for hours on end). The DoED also has punished the students who are not good standardized test takers, yet were blessed with a myriad of other talents. All of this has resulted in many kids with diminished confidence and low self-worth.

In the 1980 presidential election President Reagan ran on a Republican ticket that was pushing the dissolution of the DoED. Unfortunately, it never came to pass because of a democratic majority in congress. However, if the passion could revitalize, the presidents and the congress could actually work together for once, and the DoED was abolished it would mean we just found a way to save $71 Billion per year on the national budget and perhaps just a fraction of that money could be given to the states to handle education locally. For goodness sake it is not the distant federal government that lives in our towns, goes to our churches, knows us personally, and attends PT meetings. But THEY know what's best for our kids, not the local agencies, right? Wrong.

2. Only the "A" students are successful.

Every subject, in every college, is way to vast for the most intellectually gifted of students to learn perfectly in the short semesters they study. For a law student to say he has mastered the subject of law after 3 short years of studying centuries of legal theories, evolution and dicta is like saying I counted every rain drop in the thunderstorm this afternoon. It just isn't possible. This is true for medical students, science majors, mathematics or engineering students, et cetera.

A professor years ago addressed my class on the first day of school. He grabbed his chin and asked "Who in here are "A" students?" A few proud nerds had their moment in the sun as they wildly threw up their hands. "Good, good. Now, who in here are "C" students?" Another group of kids, indifferent to the judgements delivered by their classmates sheepishly raised a hand and rolled an eye. The class was stunned, and some offended as the professor sincerely exclaimed "All you "A" students look around at the students that now have their hands up, these are the men and women whom you will be working for in the near future!" The professor understood the value of student abilities beyond the "cramming and regurgitating" trait which is modern education. No exam ever administered, has been able to test the ability of long-term subject retention.

So, even the "A student", without the ability to be a life-long learner, is no further ahead of a "C" student than a newborn is ahead of an infant. Which leads me to the final myth about higher education.

3. School teaches students to be leaders, lifelong learners, and innovators:

This is just all kinds of false. Partly because there are so many disinterested teachers out there. All school does is introduce you to a subject. Even "Entrepreneurial" majors don't teach students to be innovators, critical thinkers and inspiring leaders. That has never been the job of education. It always, and forever will be the job of the family and church. The short of it is this: law school teaches you to be a junior associate at a law firm, not to be a leader and start your own firm. Likewise, a marketing major will teach you the standards of current marketing strategies and advertising forces, it doesn't teach you a method for creating new innovative marketing strategies. That would be better left to the Mark Zuckerberg's (Facebook-college dropout) and Larry Page's (google-college dropout) of the world. To be a life-long learner you must find daily inspiration in life. People can teach about the benefits of life-long learning, but it is up to you to truly be able to learn it (Tip: read the inspired word of God in the Bible)

Proposal: Abolish the DoED and make primary education a function of local and state governments. Prohibit "for-profit" schools of any kind (see previous blog "gainful employment"). Implement more ways in which students can hold apprenticeships in specific trades. An example of apprenticeships is this: I have learned more about the law in a short 3 months of working in a law firm than I have in the previous 2 years of law school. Which only leads me to rationally conclude that I would learn more about practicing law if I could work as an apprentice for 3 years than sitting in a stuffy classroom while I'm force fed nothing but instructions and semi-practical legal theory. Analogy- how do you learn how to play Monopoly? Do you read the instructions? I have, it is the single most complicated piece of literature I have ever seen. Or do you just up and start playing? Exactly.

-KG

FirstSex.

You get to do that when you are married. My parents never taught me anything about it but I learned about it on my own. The kids in middle school told me all about it. But I'm not here to talk about the "how"...or "why"...or "who." Because the obvious answers to those are; the way everyone else does it, because i'm in love, and Amanda, respectively.

Im more interested in discussing the when and where. There is a long outstanding debate, and to keep it clean for the children I'll put it this way, Airport hotel? or Honeymoon destination? There are critical pros and cons to be weighed for either option. Most critically, Airport hotel is sooner. And I believe I have already submitted my due diligence in waiting long enough. Also, "it" could be made to be a part of the whole wedding ceremony and festivities. Unfortunately, those pro's that are in support of the airport hotel are also the cons for the honeymoon destination, and vice versa.

The ultimate advantage for the honeymoon destination is that it is, well, the honeymoon destination. Additionally, this likely means tropical weather with endless privacy, bottles of wine with a delicious feast afterwards. All of which are sure to make for an unforgettable experience! And to be honest, 24 years...what's one more day. Right?

It has been great to post about this! I'm sure I have affirmatively embarrassed Princess Amanda on this blog and will pay for it later. Until then, signing out, and if your married, go have sex.

KG

Gainful Employment / Titans

I recognize that those subject haven't the slightest thing to do with each other. But for the sake of not creating 2 separate blogs I will include them both on this post. Props to my honey for knowing just how to get me to start posting on here (mention football).

It agreement with Amanda it will be a fun football game this sunday. The Titans are forced with an extra challenge of having to prepare for 2 radically different offensive schemes, one led by the fleet-footed Vick and the other by the golden-armed Kolb. The verdict is out on which quarterback will be given the start on sunday.

Flip over the coin and the Philadelphia Fagles, oops, Eagles, will also be challenged not only by the obvious threats of Chris Johnson, but also the apparent resurgence of the Titans receiving core which has torched opposing defenses in recent weeks.

In sum, Titans 31-10. In other football news, Ben Roethlisberger is a closet homo.

Now on to the more important issue of Gainful Employment. If you haven't checked the news lately this hot topic is gaining widespread popularity. While on it's face it may not appear to effect many of you, legislators nationwide are predicting that the passing of the bill (which will be voted on in the coming months) will have a profound effect on our nations educations system.

The brief overview is this: The Department of Education, in response to a swell in the number of grad students NOT GETTING JOBS after graduation, is attempting to regulate for-profit schools (including for-profit professional schools). The regulations will force these schools to deploy more open and honest policies of publishing actual facts such as graduation rate, first-year employment, drop-out rates, etc. The regulations will also be more strict in handing out absurd amounts of federal money to kids who are obviously not going to succeed at the for-profit schools. The for-profit CEO's of these schools are fighting this tooth-n-nail because this means they personally will profit less at the expense of poor johnny who can't even figure out how to zip up his own pants yet he was granted $140K by the Fed after he was accepted to for-profit law school or medical school.

I would urge you all to learn as much as you can about this issue and if you have a chance to vote on this issue, please help continue to rebuild our nations morals and vote in favor of Gainful Employment. To embark on some self-learning you can check out 75 Federal Registry 43616 or click this link

http://www2.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/proprule/2010-3/072610a.pdf

Manda-- Sorry for being political. love you!

house dividedddd

Side note before I begin... our save the dates came in the mail and now my friends you can just put us up on your refrigerators and enjoy until MAY 29 2011! YES.

okay next... so when Kevin and I get married we are going to be a house divided. YEP. He loves himself some titans and I LOVE myself some EAGLES. I was born and raised a dire hard Philadelphia sports fan of everything. The eagles, the phillies, the76ers (but I hate basketball) and the flyers. Except sometimes I actually do really like the predators and doing fang fingers at the games. BUT, we will never be cheering for the same team. Sometimes I think we both secretly pretend we are cheering for each other's teams when they are playing, but I think it's only because we want to be sweet to each other, but really we could care less. He told me the other day that our kids would cheer for his teams because he is the man and the kids always side with the man when it comes to sports. I think that is FALSE. My children will be wearing tiny green eagles jerseys and singing

Fly Eagles Fly, On The Road To Victory. Fight Eagles Fight, Score A Touchdown 1-2-3. Hit 'Em Low. Hit 'Em High. And We'll Watch Our Eagles Fly. Just kidding, but maybe.. I will give them a chance to make their own sweet decisions. Just know that mommy buys the presents children. :) Yep.. let the life long different team rivalry begin. I love you Kevin Gavigan. :)

best days are photo days.

I can spend hours upon hours in fields of cotton, on top of barns, petting pigs/horses, and feeding COWS (which are my heart y'all) all for the love of photos with my BFF for LYFE rebecca june. I mean really, we run out in to the middle of streets in DBURG or sit on the edge of the Mississippi River, or drive in snow storms just to capture an image that we hope depicts the lives we live and the fun we have together. Photo days are the BEST days and I am so glad the RJH loves them as much as I do. When we were driving today Kevin and I were talking on the phone and I explained to her how Kevin has said he has no desire to run in a field of wildflowers and take pictures with me... sad for me but I guess it's not so manly after all. Can't wait for the fun we are going to have taking engagement pictures and wedding pictures. It's like pulling teeth, but it will be so worth it in the end. I showed Rebecca, Kallima Photography today and she said it's perfect. I said I know. Been stalking her for 3 years now and I can't wait.

i work hard for the money.

no seriously I do. Like I work 7 days a week and make poverty level. Thank you age 24 and a degree in the arts. You gave me a creative mind and 4 school years filled with what I love to do most, only to leave me high and dry and in the real world called LIFE. But with all that said, ask me if I would change a thing? Go on, ask. Well I will tell you the answer. Nope, I wouldn't.

I loveeee love love, teaching dance and if I could do it every day full time I would in a heartbeat. Unfortunately the world is not hurting for modern dance teachers and if they are, there isn't much mula to put towards it. But I love it. And I'm working on my pilates certification right now, to go along with my dance teaching and man, oh man pilates has helped me find every little muscle my body contains. It's intense and worth it, but it's time consuming and the certification program is a lot of money that I work for every day and then turn around and spend. Anyways, needless to say, I better be in dang good shape come May when I get married because I will have just finished level 4 and in that level you are hanging upside down on the trap table doing reverse pushups. YES, that will be me.

Anyways, regarding the wedding planning, it has taken a somewhat backseat to life. I figured 7 months, I'm good.>> BAHAH yeah right, I know I have to do it but since I just had to go to Miami for level 2 training I had to focus on working out. Now back to wedding... Can't wait to see the invitations the talented Mrs. Shinnick had come up with.

Ok okay, yeah I love my fiance.

Good way to end it right?

seek up.

I really need to pick out bridesmaid dresses. I really need a passport. I really need to do a lot of things, but everything is just going to have to take a backseat for a little bit. Kevin told me that I could delegate some responsibilities to him, but I'm not a very good delegator. If I do it myself, then I know it gets done. If I leave it to others, then I have no control. I can delegate to my mom because she is just like me. 5 mins later she has done what I asked. I really only trust her. I think more so than ever and especially being older now, I have realized that my mother is one of the most incredible and selfless people I know. If I can be half the person she is, then I am off to an okay start. I am blessed and all over the place in this entry. Yep, it's true.

Oh man, can I please fastforward 7 months?

eat drink and be merry

oh so the best surprises in the world are when people you don't see very often come in for a visit. This past weekend, Kevin decided to come home and man, oh man, I was so very excited. I had to work a lot, but seeing him is better than not seeing him. On Monday we went to Loveless cafe with my parents and his parents and it was oh so nice. We had about a ten minute debate on whether or not the biscuits were some of the best we ever had, but other then that the families get along. Such a blessing, yep it is. We also went to the Frist center to see the Chihuly and Couture exhibits and guess who's idea it was? I'll give you a hint.. in the relationship I'm the artist dancer and he is the sports analytical mind.. so who's idea??? Oh right, that wasn't a hint because Kevin suggested it. I might have stopped breathing for a minute and I did have to ask if he was serious, but yep it was all in real life yall. And his little artistic heart painted himself a picture with watercolors.

I loved it. everything.

Need to order save the datesssss... we made them this past weekend.. next on the list to do.

So much to say, so much to say...

I think I could probably find a dave matthews lyric to title every blog is I wanted to, but I will spare everyone for the simple fact that unless you are on the dave train, you simply cannot comprehend how awesome he is.

Moving on... Planning a wedding is something I hadn't thought too much about previously. I thought about little random things I may want someday but never seriously considered the whole idea of a wedding and what I wanted to have. Since the process started I have successfully, and I'm not sure exactly how we have done it, but crossed off some BIG things on our list. Like where we are getting married, the amazinggggg photographer (and when I say amazing, I mean I have been stalking her blog for 2 years now), and my dress. All of that was fairly simple for me.... But now, everything is hard. Choosing food, when all I want to do is dance and celebrate at the reception, is hard. I mean, I could eat a taco and be satisfied as long as I got to dance with all my friends and be married.

Flowers?? Like I don't even know what the different types of flowers are called. I know roses, which I know I didn't want and maybe that is because it's the only flower I know what to call. I don't know, but we have ideas and I spend hours looking at pictures online, but it's just hard to make decisions.

So in the meantime, I will just continue working and going through my pilates certification with my friend Amanda because now that process takes TIME. By level four our arm muscles are going to be insane.. so be prepared people.

yep, we're getting married.

So in the whirlwind of a summer that resulted in Kevin and I getting engaged, I thought what better way to remember this next year before we get married then to write about it.

Yep, I'm going to be a blogger for a year. Don't hold me to it though because if there is one thing that I have learned since getting engaged, it is that I barely have time to breathe, let alone play on the internet. But as a fault of mine, I'd chose facebook over laundry any day.

I'll just go ahead and in this first post tell how we got engaged on July 19th 2010. For the entire summer and last 2 years of my life, I can tell you that Kevin has NEVER let on to me that we would potentially get married ANY time soon. He has always led me to believe that when and IF we were to get married it wouldn't be until after he graduated law school (which is 2 years from now) As a girl, my patience was starting to fade I guess you can say. I mean the boy lives in FL and I only see him once a month and my heart hurts every time we leave each other, so the possibility of 2 more years like this was maybe not my favorite thing in the world, possibly yeah okay. BUT when you love someone I think that in the end none of that matters, because life with them is better than life without them.

ANYWAYS, Kevin and I had 3 weddings this past summer that we were a part of. So needless to say wedding and friends getting married were all around us. Still, I figured there was no chance of one happening to me any time soon. Per Kevin, it was not God's timing for us yet. Anyways, we went to his friends Jessica and Weston's wedding that weekend and on the way back from Maryville my mom had texted me asking me if Kevin and I would come over for lunch after church on Sunday because my sister was going to college and my brother and sister in law were coming up as well.. I told her of course and thought nothing of it. (meanwhile Kevin and I are driving 3 hours home and he is acting totally normal!) Sunday morning Kevin picked me up for church and we went as usual and I am clueless to everything. As we pulled into my neighborhood Kevin started talking about staying encouraged in our relationship as he went back to school again and all I can think is "yeah yeah I'm hungry." As we were walking to my front door he starts talking about how when I am proposed to it should be spontaneous and special and blah blah (I can't really remember because I was still thinking about food) and as we got to my front step he looked at me and got down on one knee. I HIT him, like maybe 3 or 4 times. I didn't know what was going on. I said "what are you doing? are you serious? kevin get up!" And then bless his heart he asked me to marry him and put the ring on the RIGHT hand. I thought it was a promise ring haha. But then all my family, his family, and my friends came running out of the house and the bushes and from on top of rooftops, snapping pictures and taking videos capturing so perfectly the best moment of my life thus far.

Kevin Gavigan, I love the heck of out of you. You planned everything so perfectly and made sure everyone important to me was there.

I'm so excited for this next year... Let the wedding planning of one indecisive soul begin.