The last year of my life condensed into one blog post

I promised a "life update" post (if anyone is even still reading my blog at this point), so here we go.  Yes, it's in bullet form.  I thought that might make it a little easier to read.

• Teaching became extremely time-consuming at the beginning of the school year last year.  Our English department became the target of a district-wide standardized test improvement plan.  This meant six observations instead of four, mandatory meetings every month, daily two-page lesson plans for every class we teach, and extreme restructuring of curriculum.  I also personally acquired two journalism classes and the school newspaper.  With a year of all of that extra responsibility under my belt, I should have more posting time this upcoming year.
• Health-wise, I ran into big-time knee problems when I started training for a half-marathon this past September.  I struggled until March, when my doctor finally decided I needed surgery.  The recovery was longer than it should have been, and I didn't get back to working out until May.  Because I was sort of out of commission physically from September to May, I gained back about 10 of the 30 pounds I had previously lost.  This was frustrating and infuriating, to say the least, especially when it came to clothes.  Since then, I have traded running for circuit training, dancing, and yoga, and I seem to be back on track.  I've even lost about five pounds!
• Fashion took somewhat of a back seat until this past spring.  I was sort of just going through the motions of getting dressed every day because of my knee situation, my weight-gain, and my added work load at school. 
• My love life flourished somehow, through everything going on in my professional and personal life.  My boyfriend went to doctors appointments, listened to me vent, and encouraged me to stay positive.  On December 3rd, 2010, my boyfriend became my fiancé.  :)  We had our engagement pictures taken last week, and our amazing photographer, Leeann from Leeann Marie Photography, posted a sneak peek of our session on her blog:

Yes, that's a Harry Potter book.  :)  We did a literary-themed engagement session to go with our literary-themed wedding that we're having next June.  We both teach high school (he's history, I'm English), and we're both avid readers, so it's only fitting.

Once I get the rest of our pictures, I plan on doing a post about what I wore for our session.  In this sneak peek, I'm wearing a costume pearl necklace that was my grandmother's at one point (I'm pretty sure I stole it out of my mom's jewelry box years ago and never gave it back...sorry Mama) and a vintage dress I bought in high school at a store that has since closed.  It's one of my favorite vintage pieces, and I was thrilled to get the chance to wear it.

So, that's my life over the past year in a nutshell.  What have you all been up to?  Any new, exciting news that I missed during my blogging hiatus?