March 16, 2018

The interesting part about an old blog is that you find yourself coming back to it over and over. I never got into writing or blogging to become blog famous. I never thought that was a possibility for a Missouri girl like me - I just wrote because I loved it. Last August I started #wlovekimberly and it has been an amazing, driving force in my life. I bought the domain, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish, and I get to write about them as I plan/do them. It's pretty great! It's also not a place that I can just write about what's going on in my life and head at any given moment, and I think that's why I found myself back here in my old stomping grounds. After all, I am still KDinKC.

I won't try to catch up on everything that's happened over the past year, because that just seems crazy, but here are some of my favorite 2018 highlights [in pictures, of course]:
B and I celebrated 4 whole years of marriage, the Chiefs made the playoffs [and lost], I lost 30 pounds, Carl and Aniston both turn 3 within the next 6 weeks, and Cami is about 1.5 now. Shelby moved back to Kansas City and bought a house. Ben and I booked a trip to Europe and leave on June 6.

Work is really tough this year. Not only is this class of 8th graders quite the group, but there have been a lot of growing pains personally as I try to navigate teaching curriculum, test scores, and learning more about the people I work with. New work relationships have formed, while others have fallen apart since August. I'm not upset. I'm growing, I'm learning, and I'm figuring out what's best for me... but it's hard. I miss my old school and the community/love. I struggle with that because I loved it there and left for the "better district," and what I'm finding is that it's only better on paper. I know that I'm in a good place, I've met wonderful people, and I also know that you "can't go back," but I wonder if Cameron was where I should have stayed sometimes.

Aside from that, Ben and I are in the thick of planning our trip to Europe. We've booked most of our big transportation and are researching hotels/hoping to book lodging by the end of the month. Our schedule right now looks like this--
KC -- Toronto -- Rome 06/09
- Flight to Toronto @ 4:25p
- Flight to Rome @ 9:10p
Rome: 06/10-06/15
        - Train to Naples [day trip on 6/11]
        - Train to Florence/Piza [day trip on 6/13]
- Flight to Nice @ 1:00p on 06/15
Nice/Monaco: 06/15-06/18
- Flight to Paris @ 2:55p on 06/18
Paris: 06/18-06/23
        - Train to London [day trip on 6/20]
Paris -- Chicago -- KC 06/23
- Flight to Chicago @ 11:15a
- Flight to KC @ 3:50p

We originally had planned to stay in Naples for a couple days, but after doing some research have decided to just make that a day trip since it is only a 1 hour train ride from Rome. The reviews of a lot of the hotels were less than amazing and I've heard numerous things about dangerous areas. Instead we're going to take a day trip to explore, grab pizza, and visit Pompeii as well.

I've started making a basic packing list. We're hoping to stay in an AirBnB during our time in Nice. This way we can have a washing machine and do laundry and re-wear our clothes for the second half of the trip. The plan is to check only 1 suitcase and each have a carry-on back pack. I'll update more on that next time because I have lunch plans here in about 20 minutes!

Ciao!