GASL aka "Nashville"

Late in 2015 I was accepted in the Inaugural Cohort of the Governor's Academy of School Leaders in Tennessee. It meant that I spent one weekend a month/1 week in the summer at Vanderbilt University, learning from Peabody College professors, was paired up with a mentor at another school for an internship and was a part of a cohort of 20 aspiring principals from across the state. This makes me sound way, way more important that I am, I promise.

At first, the struggle was real because being out of my building so many days and driving to Nashville so often was a personal challenge with this family that I do occasionally like to see. But, it has truly ended up to be one of the most rewarding experiences that I have had in my career and I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of this group. The things that I have learned and the people that I have met will stay with me throughout my career and I recognize how lucky that I am to have had such an opportunity.

Lucky for you guys, I started this blog post almost a year ago, so you get action shots of each month!

February:

It was supposed to start in January, but there was a huge snowstorm, so they canceled the opening weekend. 

But, in Feb, we had a super amazing twist because Nicole happened to be in Nashville for a work thing with Hughes and I got stay on their couch bed! I actually checked into my hotel but was really nice to the front desk clerk & she refunded my money and let me leave! So, Nicole and I got to hang out! It was so much fun and was awesome to randomly hang out. 

I did learn a lot from Dr. Murphy about boxes and DNA and all kinds of good stuff. I also learned that Peabody College is second only to Harvard's Education Program! So, that is kind of crazy that I was a part of their program.  

Also, what person who is going into teaching goes to HARVARD?? I am 100% sure that their yearly tuition is more than a teacher's yearly salary. 

March:

In a really super gross twist, I ate a McDonald's Fish sandwich in the car on the way there in March. It was a Friday during Lent, so my options were limited. The consolation was that it was my Nanny's birthday and she loved a fish sandwich, so we had a little moment through the fast food cardboard box in the parking lot. 

So...I missed Brandon and the kids and the house and my SPRING BREAK (I gave up 2 days of Spring Break for this business,) but definitely made up for it by having some Newks/watching Modern Family/reading USA Today in the hotel room that night. Granted, it was 10pm because the classes don't end until late, but it was really quite delicious. Also, TV! I was watching TV while eating, reading the paper, finishing work stuff and checking my email.

Back in Knoxville, Brandon was doing an awesome job entertaining the boys & he kept me updated with frequent pics. 

This one was my favorite-the caption read "The minnows don't stand a chance."

April:

April had a small twist to it, which served to be both a blessing & a curse. My. Aunt Bernice passed away & her services were in Memphis the first night of my GASL classes. I drove from Knoxville to Memphis & back to Nashville on Friday (after eating lunch with A & being his class' guest reader, of course) to spend some time with the family. 

Pops is the youngest of 12 kids and the Salvaggios are a pretty tight knit group, which made this visit pretty sad. Aunt Bernice, just like all of the rest of his siblings, welcomed us into the Salvaggio family on Day 1 and many of my childhood memories are of playing hide & seek at her house or wandering around her yard with her grandkids/our cousins. I am so grateful that I had a childhood with so many cousins/aunts/uncles.

I got there way too early, so I made Mom go with me to find the cookies. We took some pics because we are never actually both dressed and not covered in a kid and we needed to document. Also, we were unable to find the cookies. 

AUNT PAULA IN THE HOUSE!!!!

My Aunt Paula is my favorite. She literally lived next door to us for most of my childhood, so I can't even do the space she takes up in my childhood memory justice with a sentence. 

Again...back in Knoxville-the boys were releasing butterflies!

*Also, April was exhausting. Due to other work trips, work functions, Brandon's schedule, there had not been a weekend where we were both in town yet in the entirety of 2016 and it caught up this week. 

 I have decided that of all of the Mama roles, the "Traveling for Work Mama" is really the most exhausting. I know it sounds crazy because you think you would get all of that rest being away, but it is just not true. Maybe if I actually had 8am-5pm meetings when I was away, it would be different. 

Or, if I was traveling to Hawaii instead of Nashville. 

May:

 I have zero pics. AE Graduation was Friday night, so I had another relaxing & revitalizing weekend of getting to Nashville at midnight on Friday & waking up at 5:30am on Saturday, attending classes all day & then driving back home Sat night to try & cram all of my weekend chores/errands into a 12 hour period. 

I am tired, in case you couldn't tell. 

June: 

In June, I had to go to Nashville for an entire week & we have been planning this since last December. A week is just a long time for a Mama to be away. 

Let's be honest, with Brandon & the awesome grandmas taking care of the boys, they were in awesome hands, but I missed them!

Brandon kept me updated on their lives by sending me lots of pics.

And, I replied by sending him some. Let's be honest, not doing a million things every minute is just not a gene that I have, so when I had a few nights in a hotel by myself, I crammed in many activities. I will say that my coworkers probably wish I was not alone for so long because the amount of emails I sent possibly reached the triple digits. 

By June, I had clearly settled in to my spastic ways in the group settings because pictures like this seemed to be common.

Also, someone asked me: "Have you seen the movie, Zootopia? You remind me of the rabbit."
Our triplet might be a cartoon character. 

June was SUPER cool because Governor Haslam & Commissioner McQueen came to talk to us one morning. It was actually so informative and inspiring in the nerdiest way possible.  I took this pic and it was not even on zoom!

One of my Bucket List goals is to meet a president, so I really, really need Governor Haslam to win the presidency at some point now. 

At the beginning, they said there would be time for 2 questions, which gave me the entire presentation to plan my strategy to ask one of them. 

I, of course, won.

 #squeakywheel

#lifeISacompetition

In case you are dying of curiosity, I asked who his favorite teacher was and why. 

He answered his 11th-grade History because he taught his students how to think and question the world. Love everything about that. 

Also, my hands. 

The group of people I spend weekends with-along with the Gov, Commissioner of Education & Dean of Vanderbilt. It really was such a fun time!

Meanwhile, back in Knoxville, life was continuing to go on. I missed all of Anderson's basketball camp except the last day, but I did bring him a Harry Potter chocolate frog to make up for my absence. 

He also lost his first tooth while I was gone & the tooth fairy came without me! But, seeing that the tooth fairy forgot to actually take the tooth when he lost the 2nd one (when I was there,) this was probably better. 

July:

I got back a little earlier than expected and Brandon had dropped off the boys at Noni's, so...we left them there for a bit so that we could go sushi it up for our 10 year anniversary!

We have Panera for lunch at these meetings and I always save the cookie for the boys. 

I usually snag someone else's too because they clearly each need a giant cookie. 

Somehow these pics have become about my home life....

August:

By this point, I have settled into a routine. I drive to Vanderbilt, getting there entirely too early so that I can complete a bunch of work UNINTERRUPTED! We have class until 8pm (9pm Eastern time) or later, I drive through a drive-thru and eat in my hotel, working on more stuff. 

(I literally might be a workaholic when my family is not around.)

On Saturday, I get up between 5:30-6 and head back to Vanderbilt with my watered down hotel coffee in hand! Every time there is a discrepancy about what I owe at the hotel, which always proves to be a fun argument at 7am on a Saturday morning. 

Brandon took the boys to Putt Putt where they won a million tickets that they traded in for $4 worth of stuff. Anderson was SO excited about the light up cup. 

Meanwhile, back in Nashville, I was still using my hands to talk. 

Noni spent some time sharing her rock collection with Anderson. 

September:

Anderson has this thing about losing teeth via physical activity when I am out of town. He lost his second tooth when he ran into the slide at recess and I, yet again, got the call when I was not here. This time the school nurse started with, "Your son lost a lot of blood...." and added a long pause before finishing up with "when his tooth came out." The only other 2 times that I have talked to her this year have been "Your son broke his jawbone...." and "Your son is not breathing...." Turns out, neither one of those things was technically true either. 

Girl needs to work on her delivery a bit. 

I missed a football game, but the village stepped in and Brandon even took the boys to our new DQ after it! 

Meanwhile, I was living the dream just doing a little school work in my hotel room. I can get a lot done with a few uninterrupted hours and 2 devices. (I now realize that I have mentioned this many times, but it really is my silver lining.)

Our Saturday session ran into the start of the UT/FL game, but I figured out a way to work around that tiny detail. 

Also, GO VOLS for that win!

About 24 hours after returning from Nashville, I had to head to Vermont for some site visits related to Personalized Learning/Competency Based Education. Anderson was excited for me once he realized how close Vermont is to Canada. 

I had to be at the airport at 4:45 am, which is always a fun time. 

Denise & I managed to find a doughnut place within about 10 minutes of being there. 

Again, silver linings. 

I have never been to New England and it was really pretty-trees, mountain, lakes. BUT, as it turns out, we have all of those things in East Tennessee, too. I enjoyed the visit and learned a lot, but after so much traveling, I was really just happy to be back home. 

October:

Seriously, I really do love these people. I guess I should by this point as 10 months together is a lot of months. 

The boys went to a party at Putt Putt while I was gone and, again, really seemed to miss me. 

November:

All of the updates, all of the time. 

Max seems especially proud of himself in this picture. 

Brandon took them to get haircuts/suckers. 

Meanwhile in Nashville, the hotel put me in a smoking room and tried to pretend it wasn't. Too bad they left this little smoking gun in my room. And, why yes, I DID enjoy the conversation with the manager when I brought this to show him. 

December:

When I started this program, these babies were 2 & 5 and now they are basically teenagers. I do think the entire household is relieved that "Nashville" is over. To be fair, I work many late nights so we have a pretty nice routine with our village, but the overnight trips just add an extra layer. Max always asks when I am going to Nashville again. And, when I returned from this trip, he told me "You took a very, very long time to get home from Nashville, Mama." So, hey there, Mom guilt; thanks for stopping by for a visit. 

With that being said, I did have a pretty amazing closing weekend. We had to do presentations on the problem of practice we focused on over the year someone captured me pretty excited about getting ready for mine. I really was excited because I have become borderline obsessed with infographics. 

You know how the word "Governor" is in the title of this program? Well, I just assumed I would get a picture with him, but then when he was at lunch* he seemed so normal & I just didn't want to be the person who started the selfie trend. Luckily, one of my friends took this amazing, high quality, professional shot of me. When you see this framed in my office, please keep your judgment to yourself. Thank you for understanding. 

* Lunch was at the Governor's Residence!! Very cool. 

When he came by our table, we all sort of stared at him and then I thanked him for his belief/investment in education and someone took this picture of us deep in conversation. I am basically a policy maker at this point. 

Also, I now see why it is called a pony tail. 

He was literally right in front of me while he was speaking. 

Posing at the Governor's Residence with 2 of my new friends and the Commissioner of Education!

#thingsIwishIhadknownwouldhappenwhenIwastiredearlierintheyear

Overall, I am incredibly grateful for such an amazing opportunity and the fact that Brandon & the grandmas are so amazing to support me through it!