About Me

So, you really want to know about me? Here goes. My name is Kara. I've been living in Knoxville for most of my life. I once lived in rural northern TN and once lived in Ohio for 8 months. Otherwise, I'd call East Tennessee my home. It's where I was born, grew up, and returned to as an "adult" post-university. It's a beautiful part of the country, even if the air quality makes my life miserable. If you follow me on Twitter at all, you're bound to see some kind of rant about pollen, allergies, and general inability to breathe. 

I was born almost 29 years ago. I'm a Leo, and my birthday is August 17. I like to stretch out my birthday celebration to be as long as possible. I'm stubborn and very opinionated. I do not have much patience for ignorance. Stupidity, I can deal with. I mean, come on. I teach sixth grade! 

Speaking of which, I've taught 6th grade for five years, entering my sixth year on my birthday this year. Happy Birthday, Kara! Have 100+ 11 and 12 year-olds! (Lucky for me, it's always a half-day!) The first five years of my career, I taught Reading and English. This year, I'm in for a big change, which is good, because if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time at all, you'll know I wanted a change. I didn't exactly get to move to the lower grades like I was hoping, but I'm going to be moving into a Science position. I know, it seems like a huge change, but did you know I was once a Chemistry major? And then a Biology major? Those were before I changed my mind and didn't want to be PreMed anymore. 

I have a B.A. in Literature with a minor in German. Then I stayed on at my wonderful alma mater, East Tennessee State University for two more years and acquired my M.A. in K-8 Education. I come from a family of teachers and so does myhusband. He's not a teacher, though.

 

I met the Hub my senior year of high school. He was a junior. We were in a multi-level AP German class. We became friends, and even attempted to date, but we weren't exactly high school sweethearts. We didn't really even truly get together until my last semester of grad school. We got back together via AIM (remember that technology?) because we both happened to still have the same screen names we had in high school. I hadn't talked to him in 5 years before that.

On our first date, I was late and ruined his plans. He was on crutches and spilled beer on my foot. It was a disaster. And we fell in love over that disaster. The rest, they say, is history. 

We got married on July 1, 2006. It was mostly a family affair. It was effing hot. What were we thinking having an outdoor wedding, in Tennessee, in July? Plus there was a bumblebee that kept bouncing off the Hub during the ceremony and I had a seriously hard time not laughing. 

I actually got to marry my best friend, who happens to bring out the best in me! It rocked! 
 

 





We also have a furbaby. He's a 2 1/2 year old schnauzer named Kaiser. I'm kinda fond of him. He's painfully cute, and also somewhat of a butt. He's got the uber-protective nature of the schnauzer and isn't too fond of men outside of the family. Luckily, he is mellowing with age, though. 

And we bought our first place last Spring. It's a condo in the suburbs where we grew up. Yup, I bought a place one mile from my in-laws. And I really don't care. It's not too bad actually. 

I'm a big geek. So's Hub. I like everything Whedon, silly T-shirts, reading mass quantities of books, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Star Wars, learning to like Star Trek, comics - mostly of the Marvel and Dark Horse variety, Futurama, dystopian science-fiction novels, costuming, and buying handmade geek fun on the interwebs. I spend waaaay too much time online, especially on Twitter (@teacher_geek).

There's also the fact that I love food and love to cook. Every once in a while, I post food stuff. I'm a coffee snob and drink locally roasted, self-ground coffee virtually every morning. I don't function without my caffeine.

Anything else, feel free to ask! Find me on Twitter or email me at crayonsandcylons@gmail.com