Summer 2015 Bucket list

Last summer, my big achievement was to shower most days and keep a tiny human alive. While it wasn't the most exciting of summers, I was successful in both things. Now that tiny human is a bigger tiny human, and I am lucky enough to spend my days at home with her (until August 24 anyway.) Here is my 2015 Summer Bucket list. Some of these things are for just me, some are for me and the tiny human, and others are for the whole family.

Other Stuff and Things here!
What's on your bucket list?

Summer 2013 Bucket list

Lessons from this summer

One part of being a good teacher is also being a life long learner. This summer I have been to 2 different professional development conferences and learned quite a bit that I will take back to my classroom, however I thought I would focus on some other things I have learned this summer.

1. There is a Royal Gynecologist

Who knew that was even a job title?

2. In the middle of downtown in a capitol city, chickens can escape

A truck carrying live chickens through downtown Salem overturned creating havoc. And now PETA is asking permission to erect a statue of a crippled chicken at the site of the accident.

I wish I was making this up.

3. MLM businesses freak me out

I do love me some smelly candles and personalized totes, but I don't like the cultish aspect of some of the pushy distributors. I have a Facebook friend that is really into some coffee thing whose name reminds my of bat poop. 

4. Candy Crush is the devil

What have you learned this summer?

Summer Weekends #3 &4

Oops! What is it about summer that somehow sucks all my time away? I started this post last week...then it was the holiday weekend. Here's what's been happening around here!
Summer weekends really are the best.
2 weekends ago we celebrated our anniversary with a trip to the coast. We had planned this a while ago, and then mother nature decided to play along. Summer came early to the valley, and it has been in the 90's. The temperature at the coast was in the mid 70's-80 and it was amazing. We decided to head to Seaside for our beach trip. From there we could head over to Astoria. In Astoria we took a little movie tour

The Goonies House

The school from Kindergarten Cop

I basically had to beg for Craig to "do an Arnold pose"

We also hung out at the beach

For the holiday we hosted a BBQ at our house, watched our small town parade and just hung out. The weather was fantastic (still!) and we had a good time. We didn't make it down to the fireworks. But we (and poor Gus) could hear them from our house.

I know I took this same picture last year. 

During the rest of the weekend I went to a Zumba party at the park (so fun!) saw The Heat (so funny!) and Craig and I went out for a quick hike. I am trying to make the most out of my weekends this summer, and so far we are doing a pretty good job with it!
How is your summer?

Summer 2013

It's Memorial Day. First of all, I have a deep respect and appreciation for our military members, and their families. Thank you all for what you do everyday for our country.

Memorial day is also the unofficial start to summer. Of course, the summer "officially" starts at 2:45 June 13th. I am taking a cue from my friend Erika and I created my own Pinterest inspired, fancy-pants looking summer bucket list.

Just like Erika said in her post, many summer bucket lists out there are focused on parents. I took some ideas from Erika's list, added in some things from my 13 in '13 list and some of our summer plans. After thinking about some other things that I always love in the summer I narrowed it down to 20 things I would love to do this summer.
Some highlights:

• There are only like 2 drive-ins in Oregon, and we live about 15 minutes from one, yet I don't think we have ever gone together. 
• There are tons of local breweries in Oregon, including one just about 6 miles away from my house: the Rogue Farm/hop yard which is probably one of my favorite places ever. 
• My town also puts on weekly concerts in the park (usually for free) and hosts a ton of festivals. Festivals, as you all know, include some of the yummiest food on the planet. 
• We already have one camping trip planned and we have plans to head down to San Francisco to visit my Aunt.

What's on your summer bucket list?

End of Summer Sunday Social

This is it. It's my last weekend before the kiddos come back to school. The itty bitty 6th graders start on Tuesday, and my big ol' 8th graders come through the door on Wednesday. Secret, I'm kind of ready for the school year to start. I am looking forward to my normal routine, getting to know the kids, and to tryout all the cool Pinterest stuff I pinned to my classroom board. :) So, how fitting is it that the Sunday Social is all about looking back at summer!

1. What was your favorite trip/vacation/activity this summer?

Do I have to say it again? Kauai!

2. What was your favorite outfit look of the summer/clothing item?

During the summer, since I don't work, I wear a lot of what I call "comfy" clothes.

summer comfy by casey-amber featuring racer back tank tops

I will miss wearing a very similar outfit to this every. day. 

3. What is one thing you wish you had gotten to do this summer?

This is the second summer that we have not gone camping. Sad. September usually has pretty good weather, so there is a tiny chance we could still get the tent out this year, but probably not. 

4. What was your favorite song of the summer?

Carly Rae. Is this still cool? Because I freaking love Call Me Maybe.

I also can't get enough of Fun. Some Nights.

5. What was your favorite movie/tv show of the summer?

Because I am off during the summer, I get to watch all the day time trash I want. My favorite (and also kind of embarrassing) is Dog the Bounty Hunter on A&E

I also really like So You Think You Can Dance. 

How was your summer??

Kauai 2012

Today is my first official day back to work. We had some "pre-season" professional development last week, but today is the first day of contract.

This was at the sandcastle contest in Hanalei. 

Finally I am getting around to posting about our vacation! The Mister and I are so thankful to be able to have gone to Hawaii, for the second year in a row. Kauai was just as beautiful and wonderful as it was last year. Because we had already been once, we didn't really feel the need to do a ton of activities while we were there. Most days we had no plan, and just picked a beach and hung out/snorkled. When we were hungry, we'd get a snack and head to a different beach. It was a tough life, that's for sure. :)

Each day that we were in Kauai, I wrote out a postcard saying a couple of the highlights from the day. I mailed them off daily, and when we got back there was a couple waiting for us, and we got one a day for a few days after we were home. It's fun reading back through what I wrote and remembering some of those little things that we may have forgotten.

We hiked the Kuilau ridge trail. It was an easy 4 mile round trip hike, but it was gorgeous!

We made it down to Poi Pu a couple times. Poi Pu is on the sunny south shore and it had AMAZING snorkeling. I am not a great swimmer, and where we were was super shallow but there were a TON of fishies in like 2-3 foot deep water. We also made it to Puka Dog. I had seen it on the Travel channel and it was pretty yummy!

That cat reminded me so much of my Allison kitty. He had a tag on and was just hanging out in the life guard tower.  There was a lot of time when there were hardly anyone on the beaches with us. It was so nice!

Some other highlights:
The mister really wanted to lean how to stand up paddle board, so we took a lesson one morning. It was pretty fun, but I probably won't do it again, he really liked it though. We went to a luau on Tuesday night, and the fire dancer was bad ass. For reals. I ended up seeing 4 sea turtles and 1 Hawaiian monk seal. We had shave ice 3 times and Banana Joe's frosties twice. Gosh, I would LOVE to have some shave ice over mac nut ice cream right about now.

What's your favorite vacation you've been on?

First Weekend of Summer!

I am happy to announce that the first weekend of summer was a success!

The cherries on our trees are starting to get some color, the dog gets to play fetch in the sun, and my jalapenos are starting to grow.

My small town is home to an amazing butterfly garden. They have tons of tropical butterflies and flowers in their green house. So many really pretty colors. Unfortunately Butterfly Bob is retiring so we made sure we made it out there before they shut the doors forever.

They also have a reptile room, that houses this big ass snake. This big ass snake fell of his creepy little perch while I was in the small reptile room, and I'm pretty sure I peed a little.

To make sure I fully recovered from the trauma of the big ass snake, I got myself a pedicure. Then the Mister and I sat out at the Social Security fishing hole and took in the beauty of our town, bald eagles and all. We also listened to all 8 minutes of Blinded By the Light (Old school style, sharing one set of head phones)

For Father's Day we headed over to my in-laws for BBQ and fresh strawberry pie.

How was your weekend?
Linking up with Join the Gossip for the Weekend Update!

Yippee!

Today is the last day with students of the 2011-2012 school year! Which means it is the day of our annual staff golf tournament. Love it! It is also the day that first ever guest post goes up! Head over to  all in a rowe to check out my summer must haves!

If you are stopping by from Kara's blog, welcome! Feel free to look around. I love new readers!

Summer Bucket list revised

I know I already posted my original summer bucket list, but now that the light is at the end of the tunnel week, it's time to get serious. Here is my revised summer bucket list:

Around town

Thursday night Movies in the Park: I have never been to this yearly event. Every Thursday in July and August, the town shows free movies in the park. Most of the time they are family movies, but I know they are showing the new Footloose one night, and I really want to make it to that one.

Friday Night Music in the Park: Free concerts on Friday nights. We went to a couple last year, and even if you don't know the band it is still a fun time.

Rogue Brewery/Hopyard: I LOVE this place. Delicious beers, yummy apps, AND you can bring your dog. Perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Festivals: My town is KING of the festivals: 4th of July, Western Days, Hop and Heritage, Fiesta de Latino (it's called something like that...) Along with the festivals I will be running in the 4th of July mini-marathon (2.6 miles) right before the parade. This year I will dress up! I've also heard they are having a new 5K with the Hop and Heritage fest.

DIY

I have sewing projects up the yin yang that I even have the materials for. It's time I bust them out.

Paint: I need to finish the hall and paint our bedroom. Also, all the trim in our house needs to be replaced. 

Kitchen floor: I don't actually know if this will get done this summer or not. It would be nice, but I am not making any promises.

"Gallery Wall" I have been inspired by this pin to get something up on the walls of our living room. Now to find a big frame.  I am thinking I will just put 4 8x10's  in it, so a poster sized frame should work.

Health

Exercise: Dear Gym Membership, I haven't forgotten you. I miss you so. We will be together again soon! Love, Casey. Besides for the gym, I also want to get back into outdoor running, at the very least, I want to be taking my dog for long walks a few times a week, besides for just playing fetch with him.

Eating: New recipes do not always mean healthy, but I usually "healthy up" most things. PLUS summer is the perfect time to try out new veggie recipes. I also really want to try canning this year. 

Mental health: I will read books for fun. I will hang out with my friends regularly. I will be outside everyday. 

Travel

Kauai: I can't wait until August when the Mister and I step off the plane. :)

Camping: I MUST go camping at least once this summer. 

Portland: We have tickets to see Aziz Ansari in Portland at the end of June. I would love to make it an overnight trip, and just have a little fun up in the "big city."

Girls Trip: I still want to make time to hang out with my girlfriends on a little overnight trip.

The not so fun (These have to go on here, so the Mister knows I am productive on my time off) 

Craft room: This room needs some serious organizational help. YIKES!

Garage: I need to finish going through my stuff out there so we can get shelves and stuff up.

Deep cleaning: Kitchen/bathrooms. Boo.

Seriously, how do you non-teachers get everything done without summer break? What's on your summer bucket list?


Mingle Monday!

My Summer Bucket List

Inspired by Melissa at Forever and a Day and all of our amaze-balls weather we are having here in the  valley, I decided to write my Summer Bucket List. I have about 4 1/2 weeks left of work before my summer break, and I can only dream about what I want need to get done this summer.

80's holla!

1. Tent Camping

Source

I love camping. LOVE. L.O.V.E. Last summer, we didn't go camping once, which was my fault for not making it a priority.

2. Girl's Trip

I have one trip semi-planned (as we in talked about how fun it would be to have drinks by the pool) with a girl friend I work with who will be house sitting in Arizona. I also would really like to get away with the BFF. She has been talking about being done breastfeeding in June, and then she is leaving the kiddo with the hubby and we can at least go somewhere for the night.

3. Kauai

We bought our tickets this week. I want to leave yesterday.

4. Canning
 
I really want to do some canning this summer. I usually do freezer jam, but I think it's time I put on my big girl pants and do some real canning. We have two cherry trees in our back yard, and I would love to can some.

5. Hood River, Oregon

I love Hood River. Every time I head up there (about 45 minutes east of Portland) I want to live there. I have good friends there and this picture is pretty much the view from their living room. The town is so cute and there is so much to do there.

6. Festivals

One thing that my small town does right is festivals, and we have a ton in the summer. This picture is from the Hops and Heritage festival in late summer. There is also a HUGE 4th of July festival, fiesta de Mexicana, and a couple more. PLUS every Thursday night in the summer they play movies in the park. Every Friday night is a concert overlooking the river. We only really went to one last year, and I had tons of fun. I definitely want to make it a few times this summer. (Seriously, its like a mile and a half from my house. And they are free. No excuses!)

What's on your summer bucket list?

Linking up with Meg at Life of Meg for  Mingle Monday!