A Year Ago Today

If you think this is going to be some dramatic post about how something traumatic happened to me a year ago today, quit reading. This isn't that kind of blog.

A year ago today, my husband and I were in the greatest place on Earth. That's right...

And tomorrow we're hopping on a plane and going right back there. Well, Universal first THEN Disney World on Sunday. My parents and two sisters are meeting us there Sunday. My sisters have never been. I can. not. wait. After a nice week there, we are heading to a condo on the beach for a weekend. It's our dream vacation!

When we get back 10 days from tomorrow, I will head BACK to work for two weeks of training for new curriculum and then I will head down with my in-laws to meet my husband in Florida to spend the week at the beach.

June is JAM-PACKED!



A Good Pair of Jeans

I finally have a pair. A pair of amazing, casual, comfortable jeans. You have no idea how excited I am about this. I can wear them with a t-shirt or a cute top. I wore them with my new classic oxford from Gap and it looked awesome. Such a simple, comfy, classic look.

So here they are... the best jeans I've ever owned.

{via}

The 1969 Mid-weight Curvy Jeans

I'm really not sure I can express to you just how much I love them. I got them Saturday. Here's the Oxford I now want in EVERY color...



The Perfect Oxford Shirt from Gap

{in orange}

That + my jeans + my pearls + cute shoes = my new fav. spring outfit.

Oh Spring, it's good to see you. But could you do me a favor?

Get rid of that pesky pollen. It's killin' me.

Thanks.

{hopefully once school is out, I can show you all around the new apt.}

It is Still February, Right?

So today is gorgeous. Seriously gorgeous. It is sunny with a wonderful breeze/slightly intense wind and it is 79 degrees. That's right. 79. On today. February 23.

I taught Math outside. My kids got outside time, but I needed some too, so I took the sweet ones out for our Math lesson. I really wasn't trying to pump my kids up, I just wanted to go outside, BUT one of my children hopped out her chair and squealed "You're the best teacher ever!" I know that's a flat out lie, but it made me smile.

OK, enough of that.

I'm going to take the dog on a nice long walk again, do a little laundry and sit out on the balcony and listen to some music. Mmmm, lovely!



Happy Prez Day

Well, well, well... here I am again. Blogging sporadically. (Look at that vocab usage.)

Today was in-service. It was really nice to get some things done. I really don't know how people teach without a full-time assistant. (Shout out to Amy!) She's a life saver. I had a meeting this afternoon and I came back to a reorganized Book Nook. For reals.

Everything at home is good. The poor apt. is a mess. The laundry isn't done. It's sitting in a heap on my husband's recliner. The bed isn't made...but, honestly, it rarely is. I need to vacuum and sweep and mop.

But instead of being super productive...like I wanted to be, I'm sitting on the couch snuggled up with the sweet pup watching guilty pleasure television. I won't admit to what I'm watching, but I am way too old to be enjoying it...that's for sure.

Valentine's Day was the best yet. I had work that day and I was really worried I would be tired. I've been sick recently and my body has been a little out of whack (bronchitis and medicine I was taking), so I made a conscious decision to push through any grogginess and enjoy the evening with my husband. I texted him on the way home and asked him not to get me anything. He texted back a simple "OK." I should've known better. I came home to bright, pink tulips on the coffee table.

I love him. Not because he gives me stuff, but because he is flat out thoughtful. That boy is way too sweet.

Anyway, back to Valentine's. We went to see Million Dollar Quartet at the Orpheum. It was FANTASTIC. If you care anything about good music or Memphis...or both like us, you MUST see it. We left very happy and decided to have a late dinner at Rendezvous. Can I just say how much I love this city? Seriously. I love it here.

I hope you had a lovely V-day and a happy President's Day.

The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake

Well... that's what they call it.

By the way, look at me posting two times in three days. Progress!

So yesterday, we slept in, went to lunch with friends and then headed to the grocery store. On a Saturday. I can't stand the grocery store on a Saturday. But we had to get ingredients to make these yummies...

::Vanilla Bean Cupcakes::

This was my first attempt at a cupcake from scratch OTHER THAN the red velvet cupcakes. I must say, I like them! I really wanted to make the Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting to go with them, but Vanilla Bean Paste? Kroger doesn't carry it and you can bet I'm not going to William-Sonoma for Vanilla Bean Paste. Please.

My husband loves Cream Cheese Icing so I just stuck with that. Easy Peazy recipe.

I felt they were a tad dry...but I'm sure that was simply my fault. I will definitely be making these again. As if the smell of them baking isn't good enough, scraping the seeds out of the Vanilla Bean made the Apt. smell heavenly. Seriously... got something stinking up your apt, just scrape out a V.B. Fix that right up for ya.

Happy Sunday!

Fun Friday

In my classroom, Fridays are referred to as Fun Friday. My sweet students (that's what I call them) even say it when we do our "What day is it?" chart each morning. It's never Friday. Always "Tomorrow or Today is Fun Friday!" We make Fridays big deals in my room. We have Fun Friday Music during Morning Work {Veggie Rocks}, we do a Science experiment or really fun Math activity, and we have our Fun Friday story {I chose a book to read for pleasure and they get to lay or sit on the carpet however they want...we normally sit boy, girl, boy, girl}. So as you could imagine... my kiddos LOVE Fun Fridays.

Today was no exception. We listened to Fun Friday music, did an awesome "Sink or Float" Science experiment, read a Fun Friday story AND painted with our Water Colors {for the first time!} I know...shame on me, but I have really struggled to find a way to use them. They were so excited to use their "pretty, new" paint. Now, some of them still look nice and new and a few look like they just sat there and mixed all of them together. Even after an extensive lesson on how to properly use Water Colors... I can only do so much, folks.

After I took my sweet ones to carline, I rushed back to my room to get everything ready for next week as fast as I could. When 3:30 rolled around I wanted to be headed out the door. I must say, I did a pretty good job. 3:35 and I was packed up and ready to start this 3-day weekend! I tend to leave later on Fridays because I have so much to prepare for the next week.

I met my husband at home and we went to an early YUMMY dinner and now we're home with the fireplace roaring watching basketball. We WILL be watching a movie later. Sorry, but I'm getting basketballed out. {It's a word.}

I plan on sleeping in tomorrow, having lunch with one of our favorite couples, and watching some sports.

Have a happy weekend!

::Here's my favorite picture of our baby::

2012

Well time has flown even faster. I can't believe it's 2012. I can't believe I finished my first semester of teaching! I can't believe it is already the second week of the second semester. Please tell me the rest of my life isn't going to fly by like this!

Not too much has changed in my world. We had a wonderful Christmas...my favorite married Christmas so far. I imagine they will continue to get better and better.

We spent the entire Christmas break together...the Husband had most of the break off. We cooked together, saw movies, spent days in our p.j.s. It was a much needed and enjoyed stay-cation.

The Lord has blessed me so much. I am so undeserving. He has really challenged me lately and I LOVE that! Our church is having a service January 29th called Grace Applied. I won't get into too much about it, but it is such a HUGE step in our church's walk with Christ and to mend our testimony to the community. God is so good! (Twitter: #GraceAppliedatGBC)

I hope you had a lovely and blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!

{What a random post. There was no flow to this at all. Clearly I just threw my thoughts out there...}