Sunday Social!

1. What is your favorite type of workout to do?

I really love Zumba. I have been taking it off and on for the last 3 1/2 years (way before it was all over the place.) 

2. What is your favorite guilty pleasure candy or sweet?

Peanut butter and chocolate. 

These have the perfect ration of PB and chocolate.

I also really love these

3. What is one thing you continuously forget to do?

I am terrible at taking daily medication. Birth control pills, allergy medication whatever... I just forget. 

4. Do you prefer post-its or phone reminders? Why?

I use a paper planner. And I am all about the post it notes at work. I honestly don't know how to set up a reminder or an alarm on my phone. Maybe if I could, I would remember to take my dumb allergy pills.

5. What is your favorite picture currently on your phone that always makes you smile?

This was in Kauai last summer at Banana Joe's. This was where I first discovered banana "ice cream." Craig absolutely hates this picture, but I love making him stand behind those types of signs :)

Happy Easter everyone!

Nail Files

It's spring here in Oregon. I would say finally, but I know a lot of people are still in winter and you don't want to here it from me. Any who, I thought I would pull out the most spring color I could find for my nails :)

The bright pink is Sonic Bloom by Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. This is one of my top brands. It really does dry fast, and one coat is usually enough. The accent nail is Dazzle Me by Pure Ice.

Have a great weekend all!

Let's Smile!

After a couple of heavy posts it's time for...

What? Just cuz it's March I can't use Buddy the Elf?

True Story:

My mom could fold a fitted sheet like a champ. She tried to teach me several times. As weird as it is, one of my biggest regrets is not learning this from her.

Ooops... things just got serious

I have asked students how they see. Now I know.

Here is one to get you thinking..

Best caption wins something. For reals.

Life Can Change in an Instant

Another heavy post today. I think I need another edition of Smiling is My Favorite after this post.
My heart has been heavy this weekend. It is heavy for a woman I didn't know, but was very similar to myself.

On Friday morning there was a 3 car accident on the highway I take every single morning. A west bound truck crossed over several lanes of traffic and crashed into two cars traveling east. One of those cars carried a teacher to work. She grew up in the small community she now lived in, and would drive the 30 minutes or so to  the larger city to teach high school English. They used the jaws of life to free her from the wreckage, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. That morning was her last day of work before spring break. It was also her last day of work before she went on maternity leave. She was 8+ months pregnant.

I haven't been able to get her out of my head since I heard the news.  I am hurting for her husband. Obviously. He lost his wife and his baby girl that he never got to meet. I am hurting for her students as well. She was well loved in the school (one of her students even asked her to be the godmother of her baby). Lord knows our students need good, strong adults in their lives. I am hurting for the other teachers in her building. The phrase "it takes a village" really does apply to schools, especially the low income schools that we both teach in.

The similarities between her and I are pretty obvious. We both live in this small community, and drive the same roads. We teach in low income schools, she is at one of the high schools in town, and I am at one of the middle schools. We both are in our early 30's. I can think of so many mornings when I have left and was grumpy with my husband for something dumb. Selfishly, I can't help but think, what if I were to leave in a bad mood and then something like that were to happen to me? What would the people most important to me remember?

I want my students to know that they can be anything they want to. I love my job and the main reason is them. My students are such a big part of my life and I worry and think about them after they leave my school.
I want my friends and family to know how much I value our time together. I hate how easy it is to not get together.
I want my husband to know how important he is to me. How much he means to me and how I know my life is more complete with him in it.

Has anything hit you? What do you want people to remember about you?

5 for 5: Spring Break Edition

A look at last week's goals:

1. Have everything ready for the first week of April before I leave on Thursday night.

Done and done. 

2. Go to Zumba twice this week (Monday and Friday)

I went Friday morning, but Monday, I just wasn't feeling it. 

3. Drink water everyday.

I brought water everyday, and I was drinking it! It was no where near the 64 ounces you are supposed to drink in a day, but baby steps. 

4. Make my lunch the night before.

Why is this so hard for me???

5. Blow dry my hair each night. 

I did it 2/4 work nights. Eh.

I didn't do too bad, but I could have been better. This week is spring break, so I have some free time. Hopefully these goals this week will keep me somewhat productive. I mean, I will enjoy my lazy time too.

1. Clean out the freezers. 

We have a chest freezer in the garage, plus our freezer that is attached to our fridge. Both of them are full. I need to go through and get rid of open packages of whatever. I want to do some freezer meals, but there is literally no room in there.  How long can stuff last in the freezer anyway? 

2. Go to the library.

I want to get some nice fluffy chick lit for spring break.

3. Make this:

Source

She just posted this super easy tutorial for this tote bag. I have a ton of fabric that I can use for it already, so the project will be essentially free. (well, I wouldn't be spending any more money.)

4. Work out every weekday.
This is a big goal. But I have found that I end up working out less during breaks. Boo for that.

5.Weed the back yard flower beds. 
I did the front yard already. I really hate yard work, but I know it needs to get done.

From the Mouths of 8th graders

Stuff heard in my classroom:
J: "Mrs. C. Can I get permission to hit this foo' with a ruler?"
Me: "No, Juan. You cannot hit that fool with a ruler."
J:"You're lucky she didn't give me permission."
not even 5 minutes later...
J: "Mrs. C, can I please get permission to hit this foo' upside the head with this ruler? He aint be doin nothing for our project!"
Me:"No, Juan. You cannot hit him upside the head with the ruler. Bryan, I think if you don't start working, Juan will stop asking permission."

"Why I got a D in this class? My mom be trippin!"

"What fool don't know how it spell bipolar?"

"Justin Bieber is just under a lot of stress with the paparazzi. They just need to realize he's only 19!"

"Did you hear that Justin Timberlake is a singer now?"

While looking at my New Kids on the Block poster:

"Those guys are like from the 70's or something."
"Why does he have girls jeans on?" (because of the ripped jeans)
"He is the only cute one." (Pointing at Jordan of course)
"So was this like One Direction before there was One Direction?"

Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

I can't believe it has been 6 months since you left us. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday I got the phone call. Sometimes it feels like you have been gone forever. Sometimes I forget and want to call you to tell you about some little dumb thing that happened. Usually it is about your cat and how he is adjusting to life here. Then I remember he wouldn't be here if I could still call you.

The holidays were hard, especially Thanksgiving. Christmas is so busy, but there is always a lot of sitting around and thinking/talking on Thanksgiving. I was expecting the holidays to be hard. But this time after the holidays have been harder. I think its just coming down to doing the day to day stuff is what is dragging on me. I guess its just weird to go about my day to day life knowing you aren't here any more. I have a hard time thinking about what it will be like if we start a family. I think that will be some of the times when I want my mom the most.

The house/estate stuff has been weird too. I am trying to be practical with the stuff I am taking home, but it is hard to let some of the stuff go, but I try to remind myself that it is just stuff.  Your closet is still hard to go into. The Christmas decorations were also hard. Slowly we are getting things cleared out.  I am going back during spring break to work some more.

Mom, I sure do miss you.

Weekend Adventure

This weekend I...

...did not do any sort of St. Patrick's thing what so ever. I just don't get it.

I did however go to the allergist. How's that for a party?? I have been dealing with a pretty severe cough for awhile now. I first went to the doctor about it in August before we went to Hawaii. Since then I have been on a couple of different antibiotics, had a chest x-ray and been tested for asthma. I am hoping that Friday's 2 hour doctor appointment will finally figure it out.

It started with a questionnaire:

Kids seriously carry everything. I'm sure I am exposed to something.

Then came the allergy swabs

I was tested for 30 different allergens. This is one of my arms. Good news is that I am not allergic to cats or dogs, so my furbabies are staying. (like there was a chance of them going anywhere!) I also am fine for milk.

However mold and dust mites are a no go. Dang it. I really wanted a moldy dust mite as a pet.

Source
Gross

The doctor prescribed some nasal spray and told me to buy some Claratin.

This weekend I also had to wash all of our bedding, including the pillows. This was also part of doctors orders. (Why can't I have a cool doctor that just prescribes Xanax for everything?) This was the worst prescription ever.

This weekend I also ran into a former student. She was actually our hostess when the Mister and I were stuffing our face at lobsterfest. I love seeing them all grown up. Well almost. She graduates in June.

This weekend I also got to go shopping for clothes for the Mister. THis is exciting to me. You see, my husband finally got a new job. For the last 10 years he has been a reporter at our small local paper. The stress of his job and the hours he was working was definitely not equal to his paycheck. He has even had to go to the hospital with anxiety issues due to the stress of working all the freaking time. I have been telling him to quit for about a year, but he didn't want to quit without something else. He was starting to get pretty discouraged after a couple of bad interviews and rejections. BUT he was offered a job with the state. It is a part time clerical job but he will be making almost as much as he was working 60+ hours a week for the paper. The paper's dress code was pretty lax, so it was time for my husband to wear some grown up clothes :) His first day is Tuesday. Wish him luck!

How was your weekend?

5 for 5 week 7

As always, a look back at last week...

1. Finish week 4 of Couch to 5K.

2. Only eat out one meal all week.

The Mister and I had planned to go out Saturday night with a gift card. Saturday morning he surprised me with a breakfast bagel when I got home from my run. I also had lunch out twice since I was on a weird schedule at school. 

3. Go to the bank.

4. Mail off my grandfathers flag.

5. Go to ULTA to replace my foundation powder.

It may seem lame to have put this on here as a weekly goal, but it needed to get done. And I did it. So there. :)

4/5 ain't bad! This week is the last work week before spring break, which means we have 2-12 hour work days for conferences. Boo. That also means we have Friday off completely, and there are no kids on Thursday. 

1. Have everything ready for the first week of April before I leave on Thursday night.

That means having all my materials ready for the first day back and for the rest of the week so I don't even think about work during break.

2. Go to Zumba twice this week (Monday and Friday)

Working late 2 times this week means I really do need to schedule in my work outs. I love having Friday off so I can get my workout done in the morning. 

3. Drink water everyday.

I am so bad about this. I need to be bringing my water bottle to work and drinking out of it. Especially with my two long days this week.

4. Make my lunch the night before.

I have pretty much failed at this goal the few times I have written it on here. Hopefully this is the week I succeed. (I mean I don't have to make my lunch for Friday, so there is even less days I need to do this!)

5. Blow dry my hair each night. 

I take my showers at night, but more often than not, I don't dry my hair. My husband hates it and it takes longer to get ready in the morning. 

Have you been setting goals? I'd love to see your 5 for 5 posts!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

I think a lot of us sign up for blog giveaways. I mean, who doesn't want to win cool free stuff? I have won a couple things before. Actually, the first give away I had ever signed up for I won. It was this lady's book. After that, I thought I wold win them all. Then I hit a year long giveaway dry spell until I won a gift pack from this awesome girl. That was back in September. Then just last month, my lucky dog won 2 giveaways. I mean technically I won them, but I am not going to use his stuff. Check it out.

First Gus won a Frosty Paws prize pack from Sarah and Floyd. It included that cute little Frosty Paws stuffy and coupons for free packs of doggie fro-yo. Since it has just now started to get sunny here, we haven't cashed in yet. He has had it before and he loves it. 

The other half of that picture is the contents of Gus's Bark Box. He  We won a one month subscription from Jessica and Avery. While I loved the box, Gus was not impressed.

I mean, he likes the treats, but he eats cat poop, so I don't think that is a good measure. He has only sniffed at the pink thing but he has torn up that duck looking stuffy.

One thing that I am impressed with is the prizes I won from Resolutions in Motion. One of two prizes was a print from Olive and Birch. I chose the Beetles print that she has. Check out her stuff. It is super cute. Check out the other thing I won

Look at my cute new sweatshirt from Nutrition Snob. For reals, go look at her stuff. It is so cute. I also won a tank from her as well. It took me forever to decide what I wanted. I could have chosen anything in the shop and been so happy with it. This is my new favorite sweatshirt. Great quality, super comfy, and I love the message. She is also gorgeous which make her stuff look all that much better. 

Have you ever won a blog giveaway?

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My Last First Date

I love my husband. A lot. Maybe I am feeling nostalgic or whatever but I was thinking back to when he and I first met. I thought I would share the story of our first date with all of you.

Five years ago (on leap day) I went on my last first date. I have already shared that the Mister and I met on MySpace. After a month of emailing and messaging back and forth, he asked if we should get together for dessert at a local bakery. I had oral surgery the week prior to the date, but I thought that I could handle cake and tea.

The day of our date came, and he messaged me saying that we might as well meet for dinner since it was going to be dinner time. I agreed, although I was pretty worried about my mouth. I was still eating a mostly soft food/soup diet at the time. He suggested we meet at Thompson House, a local brewery/restaurant that was literally across the street from my apartment building. I gave him my phone number (we hadn't talked on the phone yet) and told him to call me when he was at the stop light. Once I got the call, I walked over.

I met him inside. Immediately I noticed his outfit: jeans, a Rogue brewery baseball hat and a brown shirt with two guns on it. Clearly he had taken the same amount of time as I had to pick out my outfit. :) They sat us upstairs and we both ordered a drink. After some small talk, we started looking at the menu. I was scanning for anything "soft." I settled on the halibut and chips. As we were waiting for our food, two of my girlfriends from work showed up. They saw me and came over and started talking. One of them realized we were on a first date, and got them out of there.

We kept chit chatting, when two more of my guy friends walked up the stairs. (The crazy part, one of them was living out of state, and I had no clue he was in town.) They had heard I was there, and they came to crash it. My poor date just looked so confused, as if I had sent all these people to the restaurant to spy on him. Eventually all of my "guests" left and our food came. Besides for the random interruptions  we had no awkward silences.

When he got up to go to the bathroom, a table of guys near us leaned over and asked if we were on a first date. I laughed, and said yes. The told me things were going very well. When I asked them how they knew it was a first date, they said something about how I hooked my purse to my foot under the table.

At the end of the date, we walked outside and fumbled our goodbyes. He claims I ran away and across the street. I say I just walked home. Later that week we ended up going out for cake and tea and stayed 3 hours in the bakery talking. :) The rest, is history.

What was your best first date?

First World Problem

I will start off by saying, yes there are bigger problems than this in the world and even in my own life.

My husband is starting a new job, which will be so much less stress. I have been begging him to quit his job for over a year now, but he wouldn't without finding another job. Practical but he was so unhappy and stressed out all the time that I don't really think it was worth it. Any way... because he is starting a new job, that means he won't have vacation time saved up for our usually big summer vacation. I am kind of bummed about this, however he is supposed to have Fridays off and leave at noon on Thursdays, so I have been dreaming about several weekend trips we could take this summer.

1. Boulder Beach Water Park, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
 
We are totally big kids at heart and we love water parks. We even went to one on our honeymoon (and he lost his wedding ring.) According to Google maps this is about a 7 and half hour drive from our house.

2. Bend/Sunriver, Oregon

I love Bend and the surrounding areas. Sunriver is an awesome little vacation community with bike paths and little shops all through it. This is about a 3 hour drive from home.

3. Seaside, Oregon

Seaside is probably the most touristy area of the Oregon coast, but we hardly ever make it there. I love the large beach area. 2 1/2 hours by car.

4. Astoria, Oregon

Why yes, Astoria is where The Goonies was filmed. I have been wanting to go hang out here in this town for awhile. It would make a lovely camping trip for us. And it is only 3 hours away.

Have you ever been to my neck of the woods? Any weekend trip ideas for us? Do you plan big vacations or smaller weekend trips?

5 for 5 week 6

I can't believe it has been a whole week since I last posted. Did you miss me??? Let's see how I did with my 5 goals from last week:

This week is pretty crazy at work. Here's hoping I can get these 5 things done:

1. Work out 2 times outside of the Zumba class I teach. 

I got two runs in. I wanted to make it to a class at the gym, but I just couldn't fit it in.

2. Go to the bank.

I did it. I hated it. I have to go again this week. 

3. Have everything ready for the next day before I leave work for the day. 

Honestly, I don't remember, but I am sure I did it some days...

4.  Buy a phone charger. 

5. Pay the bills on my mom's estate. 

My goals were kind of lame last week, but I accomplished them. Now for this week:

1. Finish week 4 of Couch to 5K.

Yes, we started this in January and we still are just on week 4. 

2. Only eat out one meal all week.

We get lazy and end up going out usually 2 or 3 times a week. We both know we should be cutting this way down. 

3. Go to the bank.

I wish I could just do all this banking stuff through the ATM or online. 

4. Mail off my grandfathers flag.

While going through my mom (and grandmother's) things, I found the flag that was presented at my grandfather's funeral. He died before I was born, and I know my aunt would love to have it.

5. Go to ULTA to replace my foundation powder.

I actually have been out for a couple weeks now, but I need some new Bare Minerals. 

What are your goals for the week? What do you do when you are in a blog funk?