Leaving Lakewood..

This summer Barbara Bein forwarded an email that showed two history job openings at Redondo Union HighSchool. I honestly was not looking for job as I have been at Lakewood for 10 years and its my home. I decided I would apply as its so close to home. I called the principal Nikki Wesley and she encouraged me to apply. I (Dennis) updated my resume and it looked pretty amazing!! I then had to get letters of Recc so Cheryl Cornejo, Lisa Busch and Sean Mcchorter wrote them for me. I scheduled an interview and it was intimidating! There were about 8 people on the panel and they asked many tough questions. I left feeling excited and like I was myself. One of the questions they asked...Is why after being at a school for so long do you want to leave LHS? Deep down I was like "shorter commute, less ghetto kids, air conditioning" hahaha. However I answered with " I would love to teach in the community I live in blah blah blah! I drove home and ready to jump out of my suit and into my sweats and I received a phone call from Nikki Wesley. They offered me the 100% position of MW History and US History...I accepted the position but then reality hit!! WTF did I just do!!! hahah. I am leaving my work family that has been through so much with me!!!! I wrote pros and cons and really thought it over. At Redondo I would have to switch to Kaiser insurance where in LBUSD I have the best benefits. At RUHS I would be bottom of the totem poll!! I made list after list....and finally I thought ....THIS IS MY CHANCE!! I have the opportunity to switch to a better school close to home. I took the job!!


After calling my friends Matt Ruiz offered to host a BBQ to send me off! It was such a great dinner!! They printed pictures for me and gave me a list of all of my funniest comments in the lounge! Thinking about this makes me cry because I know I will never have family I had at LHS. I cried so much for the next few weeks. Packing up my classroom was also so so hard! I prayed I made the right choice!


Meeting friends?


Map activity


Email


Juli and meetings


Students


Ashley and geoff


Final eval

February Girls Night

We ended up at Tantalum's, had a margarita at Acapulco's and chatted up a storm! I had a blast!

The Brummel's X-Mas Party

It was our 2nd annual Christmas Girls's Night/ Couple's Party! Charla and Dan hosted last year and it was so fun that they decided to host again. As always I love to get together with my co-workers outside of work because we can actually talk and enjoy each other's company. Dennis was not able to make it again this year so I was a little bummed. It was Tapas style and we brought way too much food, I could not stop eating and drinking! Char set-up a photo booth and we all took fun pictures. I think Cora and I enjoyed it the most though. hahaha. We ate, danced, laughed, and even cried! I hope this becomes a tradition!

Grateful!

It has been months of uncertainty…I have been teaching for six years now and it is what I love to do! I could not wrap my head around being laid off but after getting called in to the Principals office and filling out the Seniority survey I was sure I would get a pink slip. This definitely brought me closer to God..I have been praying more and usual. This week I was expecting my RIF notice and on Monday I did not get one. I could not hold back tears as Cheryl told Lisa Busch and I that I had avoided the cuts. I am so grateful because now I feel we can plan as we had been doing. I am sad for my friends that did receive a pink slip, especially for Cora who was not even warned and has been teaching for so long. I feel a bit of survivors guilt but there is nothing I can do. We will see what the future will bring, hopefully it’s all of my friends return next year.

I am so excited as I am off today to Europe. Our Paris/Rome vacation was planned last minute as a Master’s present to one another! We will no longer have to pay USC Marshall school and will have a little extra money. Last year we were in Japan for Dennis’s Globe trip. So we are off to explore a new adventure! We will be in Paris and Rome for 4 days a piece and will even meet up with my best friend from high school Luz and her husband Mike on St. Patty’s day. It was a mere coincidence and will only overlap one day. It was a very hectic week at school with lay-off notices and getting my sub plans ready.
I am excited to blog about my trip and will do my best to keep good notes and take cool pictures!

Arriva Derci and Au revoir!

My Lakewood Buddies visit

It was so nice having my co-workers over in Hermosa! Even though I have worked at Lakewood for six years I don’t think I have ever had a co-worker come over to one of my places. It was a great morning! A walk to the pier and breakfast at Scotty’s on a windy day. I especially loved having little Lu over!

Memorial Weekend

Started off with Thursday at the Jimmy concert. Matt's RV was totally cool, and it was fun to take a day off of school for a fun filled day of drinking and friends. Seeing 50 year old boobs with my mom in law and Mich was hilarious. I got kinda mad at D because he always seems to not hang out...it was a fight that dragged on because he said I worked to hard..huh?

Friday at work was cool..tired but the day went by quick. Went to mami's after to return all the borrowed goods. Laughed and chatted with my bro.

Saturday I went to Cora and Aarons bbq, while D played basketball..later we watched the Lakers and went to CPK. Hung out with Jon and Katie..totally chill.

Sunday off to Murrieta with the Gomez Fam..Vero hosted us. I realize how much I love spending time with my nieces and nephews. I can't get enough of them!! So fun.

Monday we went to lunch with my inlaws at Lucilles..so nice hanging out with them. Then the outlets that night.

Great weekend with no stress!!