Five on Friday!

Whew! A teachers favorite days of the year are the day of Christmas break and the last day of school. I promise I absolutely love my job (more than I could ever express) but when I woke up this morning, I was happy that it was the last time with an alarm clock for 2 weeks!!! I will definitely miss my sweet kids and wonder what they are doing but I will also relax and enjoy this much needed break. 
I am linking up with Christina for 5 on Friday today!!..

1) Although I said I am ready for a break, this week started off better then I ever could have dreamed... I was crowned teacher of the year. To say I was excited, overwhelmed, honored, thankful (& lots of other feelings) would be an understatement. I do not teach for recognition but it was nice to be recognized!

2) I have a few New Year's resolutions for the new year but the biggest one is to start meal planning again. When I have a meal planned and the ingredients ahead of time, the night goes so much smoother.  Look for that come the new year!! 
3) I have school on my mind still (& promise to cut it off sometime tonight) and am so thankful for such an amazing team of teachers that I work with. These 5 make the good days better and the hard days easier!

4) I am getting so excited about all of the quality time we have coming up with family the next 2 weeks. The craziness of reality will slow down and I can't wait to soak it all up!
5) STARBUCKS! I have just discovered how awesome some of their drinks are which is a BAD deal! I have an addictive personality and have enjoyed 1 too many Carmel Brulee's lately. Who can really say no to the little red cup (which I thought was super over-rated a couple weeks ago!)

I hope to be back soon but in reality family trumps the blog! If I am not back before Christmas, I hope that all of my followers have a very Merry Christmas!!

Tis the Season!

I absolutely love this time of year!  
Our house has such a homey feeling and it has been so nice to curl up on the couch with my husband, dogs, hot chocolate, and a nice fire in the fireplace. Friends are posting on FB that they are starting to get cabin fever...had you asked me yesterday, I would have said I was fine but I am getting a little antsy now. Since Thursday night, I have taken a couple showers and then put on a new pair of pajamas/comfy clothes. I did go work out on Friday and we just got back from getting pizza but I am done with the cold!! 
Our district just made the call that school is yet again cancelled tomorrow... I may have to get out and do some shopping! Speaking of shopping,  I have had a lot of time over the past few days to make my Christmas list. Here is what I have my eye on this year...

I'm off to make some spiked hot chocolate and enjoy another relaxing night in front of the fire with my loves!! Hope you all had a great weekend!! 

Fingers crossed for some sun to melt all this ice tomorrow!!

Five on Friday!

I am linking up with Christina on this unexpected day off!!

1) Living in Texas, we get so excited, anxious, panicked, and scared when there is a slight chance of ice/sleet/snow. Being a teacher, we have been watching the weather like CRAZY all week! One of the larger districts in our area cancelled classes for today early yesterday afternoon. I was hoping and praying that we would get the call last night...and... we DID!!! I have enjoyed laying relaxing all day so far and really am not sure what I am going to do the rest of the day. Here are a few pictures.. we didn't get near as much as others but roads are bad. 

2) I don't like cold weather so I do not like this upcoming forecast... I live in Texas so that I don't have to deal with the above and the below cold temps. 

3) I am halfway finished with my Christmas shopping! This is a big deal because I normally wait until the absolute last minute. I may have to do some more online shopping since it looks like we will be iced in for a few days!!
4) It is baby boom central in blog land! So many of my favorite blog friends are posting that they are expecting. I am so excited for them and can't wait to follow. Baby fever is HIGH over here..!!
5) Meal Planning... I need to get back into it. I love coming home every night having a plan for dinner and feel very stressed when I don't have it planned. Here are some meals that I am wanting to try. You can find them all on my Dinner pinterest board. FInd me here!! 

Be sure and link up for Five on Friday and check out the other blogs that do! I have found so many new reads through this link up!!

Thanksgiving break recap!!

One of the biggest perks of being a teacher is getting the same breaks for all holidays like when we were younger!!   Minus one set back, I enjoyed every minute of last week. I didn't realize how much it was needed until the other night when I was pouting that it was over. Here is my big recap from the week!!   I don't have a picture (bad blogger, I know) but last Monday I had lunch with a friend at a place called Whiskey Cake. We went to the one in Plano and it was so good!! The whiskey cake is to die for!!! Had another lunch with a group of teacher friends on Tuesday. It is so mince being able to catch up with everyone that you don't get to spend as much time with (even if you see them at work everyday!)
We left for our parents house after Chris got off work on Wednesday. He started to not feel good late that night and ended up coming down with the flu. Boo.. not how I wanted to start or spend my vacation (I'm sure he didn't either!). The rest of the week/weekend was spent driving all over the place so that I (H stayed in bed most of the week) could visit all of our family. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking..
Me with my sister and cousin! 

Love this picture of us!!

Chris & I- he was trying to smile and enjoy his time out of bed...

My mom recently moved and is slowly unpacking.. When my parents got divorced (a long time ago), my dad turned his wedding ring into a necklace for my sister and earrings for me. My home had put them in a "safe place" and for the longest time could not find them. We were going through a bag of jewelry and found them. I was almost in tears when she said this was them.. I had never seen them, just had heard about them. They are so special and will now be in a special place in MY house!! 

We said our goodbyes and headed home this past Sunday afternoon. I was itching to get home and get our Christmas decorations out!! Here is our tree that I absolutely love!!

Couple other decorations on the mantle (sorry for the bad quality pic, it's from my phone). If I get around to it, I will do a full post of our Christmas decorations!

I have enjoyed reading all of your Thanksgiving recaps!! It is just want I needed to motivate me enough to post mine!! 

Have a great rest of the week,

I Miss Blogging!!

Hi!!!  Thank you to everyone that still follows this little blog! 
I have been off all week and staying up late reading blogs. I have been reading a few here and there since taking a personal blogging break but I have caught up on ALL of my favorite blogs (and now I am looking for more!!) I didn't really miss posting much because I really haven't had much to blog about but I want to get back into it!
I am currently waiting for my husband to get off work so that we can head "home" for Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, it should be a really fun, relaxing time for everyone but it is a bit stressful for me. I am so unbelievable thankful for all of our family but getting around to see everyone in 1 day is tricky and makes me stress about spending quality time with everyone. I think we have figured out how we will see everyone but be looking for a recap soon. 
Here is just a sneak peek into what we have been up to for the past, well, long time..!!
I hope everyone enjoys lots of quality time with your family!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Awesome Weekend!

Good Monday morning to you!! I woke up ready and eager to get to school this morning because it was the start of my last 3 days!! I am beyond excited and so so ready for my summer to officially start. I have absolutely loved this group of kiddos but will love lounging by the pool and working on my summer to do list too!   On a side note, I live in Texas and it is now July (can't believe that). When I woke up this morning to see that it was below 70 degrees, my thoughts about this being a great day and start to a new week were confirmed! Temperatures like this just do not normally occur during a HOT Texas summer.

  This weekend proved to be just as awesome! I am linking up with Sami for this weekends Shenanigans. You can find her blog here.  

  My husbands aunt and uncle came into town on Thursday night and we grilled and relaxed around the house.   Friday night, we went to the Rangers game and watched an awesome win! It was hot but luckily we were in the shade and once the sun went down it wasn't that bad.

(not sure why my face looks so streched...)   Saturday, we slept in a little bit. His aunt & uncle brought their 4 1/2 month old puppy named Shooter. Our lab and Shooter played all morning. My stepmom and little sister were in town for an unexpected visit. I met my stepmom and picked up my little sister to spend the day with her. After a trip to the nail salon, we went back home to an awesome smelling pork shoulder being smoked on the egg. Brooke helped pick a couple veggies from our garden and we hung out at the house and enjoyed everyones company.

Sunday was spent relaxing and catching up on house work. I am so thankful for laid back weekends with family.

Enjoy your week!

 

Goals for the week...

We are enjoying a wonderful weekend with family in town. Recap on our weekend will come tomorrow. Summer school is ending this week... after this morning, I only have 2 more wakeups to get through. I keep reminding myself about the paycheck...!!! I am very thankful for the oppurtunity as well because cuts were made this year and all teachers that wanted a job didn't get one.   Since summer school is coming to a close, I am ready to tackle my summer to do list (I haven't really made one yet as you will see below!). I am starting with small goals for each week and tackling other things on my to do list.   GOAL #1- Spend 10-15 minutes cleaning some part of the house.   GOAL #2- Create a summer school to do list.   GOAL #3- Work out 3-4 times a week (every other day). I want to incorporate cardio and weights but not work out for more than 45 mins. to an hour.   GOAL #4- Complete at least 3 loads of laundry a week.   GOAL #5- Drink more water per day than coke.   I am good at keeping up with goals if I write them down because then I feel some kind of accountability. I will definitely check back in early next week!  

50 random things you may or may not know!

I like reading random facts about the authors behind my favorite blogs. Lori over at a crazy walk on the safe side posted 50 random questions and answers about herself. I am stealing the idea from her!  

1. Do you like blue cheese? No!   2. Have you ever smoked a cigarette? Unfortunately, yes.   3. Do you own a gun? I live in Texas...enough said? (yes, for those that aren't sure)   4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? My favorite summertime drink is a Cherry Limeade Slush. When I am on one of my health kicks, I get a diet cherry limeade or just a simple Coke Zero.   5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not nervous, just annoyed that I have to go at all. I absolutely hate the dentist and that might be the only one that I get a little nervous about.   6. Do you like hot-dogs? Yes, I love hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, and sweet pickly relish! Yum!!
  7. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I love starting my day with a coke zero even though it is a bad habit that I am in. Some mornings I try and drink a bottle of water.
  8. Can you do push-ups? Sure, but probably not with the best form.
9. What’s your favorite meal? Anything grilled! I could eat a grilled cheeseburger every day. I also love breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, biscuits, strawberry jam, & hashbrowns.   10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? I have to go with the obvious and say my wedding rings. A very close second is my Aggie ring. If you know anything about Texas A&M, you know that the Aggie ring is a very special ring!
11. Favorite hobby? Shopping!
12. Do you work with people who idolize you? Umm, not sure.
13. Name a trait that you hate about yourself? I hate that I can't say know. Eventually it catches up to me and I am stressed because of all the things I need/have to do.    14. Middle name? Jean.   15. Name 3 thoughts at this moment: I should not have just eaten that donut that our volunteers brought by, I hope the interviews I am sitting in on this afternoon go well, If I ever have to listen to I've Been Working on the Railroad again I will scream (teaching summer school and it is singing time).   16. Name 3 things you bought yesterday: Strawberries, hamburger buns, marinated chicken. (made a weekly trip to central market, love that place!)   17. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Coke zero, water, lemonade.   18. Current worry right now? Nothing, really which is nice.    19. Current hate right now? I am pretty content with life right now and can't really think of anything. If I had to choose it would be my hair... some days it is good and others it is horrible. Today is a horrible day!   20. Favorite place to be? With my family, friends, dogs. Doesn't really matter where as like as I am with good company.     21. How did you bring in New Years? I think we were just at our house... laid back and low key just like I like it. Normally we spend it in Houston with friends but we weren't able to make it down this past New Years.   22. Favorite place to go? Close, Hobby Lobby, the mall, Pappasitos. Far, any beach during summer and any mountain to ski during winter.   23. What is your most recurring dream? Not really sure, I don't remember many of my dreams and if I do, they are all over the place.    24. Introvert or extrovert? I would say an even mix of both.   25. What color shirt are you wearing? Black, purple, gray... It is a leopard printed shirt.   26. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Not really, I have before and I prefer a very high thread count cotton.   27. Can you whistle? Yes!   (I don't know what happened to 28)   29. Favorite color? I don't really have one favorite but lately I have been into green and coral. 30. Would you be a pirate? Sure... (this is a strange question). I would be a nice pirate though.   31. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't really sing in the shower. 32. Favorite girl’s name? Makenzi   33. Favorite boy’s name? Hudson, Adis,
  34. Who is your loudest friend? Jennifer or Maria   35. What’s in your pocket right now?  Nothing.   36. Last thing that made you laugh? Something one of my summer school kiddos said. I could/should do a blog post specifically on things they do and say.     37. Bed sheets as a child? No clue!   38. Worst injury you've ever had?  I tripped and fell in 3rd grade and my bottom teeth went through my bottom lip. Few stiches and popsicles later and I was fine.   39. Do you love where you live? Yes!   40. How many TVs are in your house? 4.   41. What is your worst habit? Taking on more than I can handle at a time.   42. How many dogs do you have? Yes, 2! Love them!   43. Does someone have a crush on you? My husband better... (good answer Lori)   44. Do you own slippers? No   45. What is your favorite book? I like to read but do not have a favorite book.   46. What is your favorite candy? Snickers for sure!   47. What is your favorite sports team?  Texas A&M Aggies (football) & Texas Rangers.
  48. What song do you want played at your funeral? No idea!
  49. What were you doing at 12 AM last night? Sleeping.
  50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning? Do I really have to get up?!?   Let me know if you do something like this on your blog so I can come check it out!!

Five on Friday

Hello friends!   Happy freaking Friday finally! I am teaching summer school (I know, I am crazy) and getting through these days inside with 14 5-6 year olds is tough. I would much rather be outside enjoying the beautiful days or just lounging around in my pajamas inside watching TV with my dogs. It will totally be worth it though when I get my next 2 months of paychecks!! 7 more wake ups... I can make it... I hope!   On to the purpose of todays post, I am linking up with Natasha from Hello! Happiness for Five on Friday. If you haven't checked out her blog before, you are really missing out. Her and her husband just welcomed their second little lady into their family and she is beautiful!!  

  1) Even though I am teaching summer school and had to wake up way earlier than all the ladies I am about to show below, we had a great time at dinner last night! We went to Cafe Madrid and enjoyed a nice dinner and had a great time catching up. I can't wait for the next time!

(sorry for the bad pic quality, it was taken with an iPhone)   2) My husband loves to grill and actually made his own smoker out of a recycled barrel. It was working but for the amount of stuff he grills/smokes, we decided to purchase a BGE (Big Green Egg). It is a little pricey, but awesome! He is in the process of building a table for it...

3) I posted a while back about the garden that he built for me and the different plants that we planted. The plants were really depressing me because they weren't growing or doing well at all and we put a lot of work into putting the garden together. After talking with my dad, we realized that we were not feeding them... oops! Now, the garden is doing amazing and producing a few veggies to eat. We are expecting lots more in the coming weeks!

4) I am counting down the days left of summer school for more than the reason of being done but also because we are going on a cruise in July! We decided to take a nice vacation this summer because we deserve it haha. We are going on a 7 day cruise to a few places I have never been in the Caribbean. To say I am excited and ready to go is a major understatement!

5) I have a massage today at 3:45 and the minutes are d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g- slower than EVER!!!

Have a great weekend!

 

Who Am I?

I am back from my blogging hiatus to link up with Becky from mrs. to mama. I like participating in link ups so that I can find new blogs to read and meet new people! Becky is hosting a 52 week series of blogging with a purpose.   Topic #1: Who Am I?   This could be answered with depth or simplicity and since I am just getting back into blogging, I went with the simplistic route...    I am a LOVER OF MY FAMILY-  Proud of where I came from and happy with day to day life. I am not perfect but strive to do and be my best at everything I try. I have the best sisters, brother, mom, dad, stepmom, and inlaws!   I am a WIFE- On June 4th, 2011, I took on one of my most desired and exciting roles that I will ever have in my life. Chris and I have been married for a little over 2 years and come Jan. 6th of 2014, we will have been happily together for 10 years. Love him to pieces!!  

  I am a FRIEND- Friends mean the world to me. If we are friends, we are like family. I am loyal and try to lend an ear, shoulder, or hug whenever needed!   I am a TEACHER- I have known since I was in elementary school that teaching was in my future. My sound silly but I absolutely love my job, the people I work with, and the kiddos lives that I hope to touch daily. I could never ever imagine doing anything differnt.   I am a MOM- A fur mom at that! My 2 dogs are my world! Love them like they are my kids.  

  There you have it! I little about me! Have a great Tuesday and let me know if you are participating in this link up so I can check yours out!