A Little Update on Life...

A little update on life...

I haven’t written a blog since late summer! So here’s a little update on what’s been going on lately and some plans for the near future:

We finished our second grad course! Yay!

This past Thursday my husband and I celebrated our last class of our second grad course! We went out to one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Maggiano’s, in the city. Although we only completed two classes so far, it seems to be passing by quickly (hopefully it stays that way)! We are in the same graduate program for our master’s in psychology with a concentration area in teaching - yippee! It’s only an 18 month program, so it should fly by in no time inshallah! Plus, being part of a grad program with your significant other just makes it so much easier... We get to go to class together, enjoy dinner in the city afterwards, and do our work for class together at home. Instead of only one of us being busy doing grad work, we both are! Which is better than just one being busy and the other being bored... Alhamdulillah, so far it’s going great. We just have to submit our final paper this upcoming Friday and we are finally off for an entire month! It’s definitely needed... Grad school consists of a lot of papers (2 to 3 a week)! My hands are ready for a break...

Maggiano’s Chicago

Man does this restaurant serve some good food! We’ve tried so many things from their menu and everything is just delicious... From their appetizers to desserts to espresso... And they have a menu where you can buy one and take one for the next day! Really cool stuff... Also, their atmosphere is pretty romantic especially during this time of year! 😍🎄🎶

Winter break is around the corner!

Winter break for work is finally around the corner and I never felt I needed a break more than I do now! I feel like I’ve been busy nonstop since the school year began in August... For those who don’t know, I’m a teacher (in psychology and physical education), an athletic director for our school, and I’m also a head volleyball coach. With that being said, you could imagine how busy I could be! Although my husband and I took a mini roadtrip to Tennessee over Thanksgiving break, it didn’t feel like much of a “break” since all we did was hike mountains! It was fun, but tons of work too, which included waking up at 7 am (I’m not a morning person)! But I won’t complain that the first semester of the school year seemed to pass by extremely fast!

Special Accomplishments

One of the things I’m very proud of from this school year so far is my varsity volleyball team! This year they have outdone themselves... I am so proud of each of them and extremely honored to have coached them! This is only my second year with such a great team and they’ve proved to me how awesome they truly are. The first year I coached them, they achieved only 3 wins, which was honestly huge because the year before me they didn’t win any at all, and this year we’ve surpassed my goal of 6 wins with a total of 7 wins! We were ranked 2nd place in our conference and beat schools they haven’t beaten in a very long time! I couldn’t have been more happy about such a successful volleyball season, alhamdulillah!

Plans for Winter Break

What I can’t wait most for is simply not setting an alarm... That’s the most exciting part of being on break for me, tbh! Other than that, I’m going to make sure I get a lot of relaxing time and do things I enjoy! I’ll most definitely whip up a few more recipes while I have the time... And I for sure can’t wait until Christmas! Since everything is closed, my husband’s family does a huge dinner just like Thanksgiving and so it’s basically Thanksgiving dinner part two and I couldn’t be any more excited! I just might make another pumpkin cheesecake... 😏

Shortly after New Year’s Day, I’ll be going on a ski trip with my high school seniors in Wisconsin! We’re going to ski, snowboard, and go tubing! I’m definitely looking forward to it... I’ve never been before, so it’s going to be a new experience to share with you all inshallah! If you’ve been skiing or snowboarding before, give me your tips!

Anyway, what are your plans for winter break? It’s coming quite sooner than we think! Whatever you do, be safe and enjoy yourself!

Xoxo,
​Hijabeautiful