Thankful for a lot...

So obviously, yesterday was Thanksgiving. And just like everyone else, I had a lot to be thankful for. It was a wonderful, relaxing day spent with the people I care the most about. So my 5 for Friday is going to revolve around yesterday, even though there were a few other bright spots in my week like first grade pulling off very fun and successful Thanksgiving centers, finishing my Christmas shopping while out and about with my best friend on Wednesday, and oh just the fact that I have 6 glorious days off from school??

1. Our first Thanksgiving photo that I made my mom take. I felt really pretty yesterday and I love how the picture came out! I'm uber thankful for J and feel pretty blessed to call him my husband.

2+3. I contributed not one but TWO very yummy things to my family's Thanksgiving dinner: Boston Creme Pie Poke Cake (um divine!) and Broccoli Blue Cheese Casserole (which everyone agreed was delicious!) It's fun showing my family I do know how to cook.

4. Speaking of yummy food, my mom and dad really outdid themselves this year. Lunch was AMAZING and I'm thankful that my parents are such amazing cooks!

5. J and I decided NOT to head out for shopping. So we came home, changed into our comfy and WARM clothes. We refuse to turn on the heat just yet!

So two thumbs up for an awesome Thanksgiving, and I can't wait until tonight where we will decorate our Christmas tree!

What was the yummiest thing you ate yesterday?
Did you go shopping and find any good deals?
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

As always, linking up with Lauren!

Little bit of sunshine...

Let's face it... the school year comes and my blogging goes out the window. I don't like it, but that's how it happens. Which stinks, because I really do have some fun things to blog about.... like the time J and I couldn't decide what to do for dinner so we decided to each get our own take-out meal! (Everyone wins, right??!) Or how awesomely hilarious (yes I know that's not right but I do not care) my class is this year.

So when I saw I got nominated for the Sunshine Award by Lourdes over at Love is Life, I knew I had to do it. So even though I am a bit late, and even though I'm not going to nominate other people (at least not at the moment) here are my answers to her questions!

1. Growing up, which parent were you the closest to? Did this change at any time?
My mom. And no that hasn't changed. My dad and I are the EXACT same person so we tended to butt heads a lot growing up. Took me a while to learn how to accept and interact with him. But my mom and I have always been close. Which is why I don't always get it when people are not close to their moms. 

2. Do you believe in "Love at first sight?" Do you think it happens?
No. I believe in attraction at first sight. I used to believe in love at first sight but J changed all that. Love and affection is something that definitely has to grow and be tended to. And it's amazing what happens when that moment finally hits and love starts to bloom. That reasoning is one of the reasons that J and I chose "I See the Light" for our first dance. 

Seriously, tears everytime!

3. What period of history is your favorite? Why?
WWII. It just encompasses so many different aspects of history and it was SUCH a pivotal moment in history. Doesn't really matter which part of it, I love reading about all of it. So many of my papers in high school revolved around World War 2. I just loved learning about it. 

4. If you could change one thing about your appearance what would it be? 
I'm kinda over my acne and acne scars. I just finished reading a book that has an intriguing plan so I'm gonna give that a shot. It's just annoying to still be dealing with it!

5. What is your favorite fast food place?
Chick Fil A. I barely eat it anymore but it's still my favorite! Mmmm chicken nuggets, waffle fries and a fruit punch! YUM!

6. If you could live in any country, where would you live? If it isn't the country you currently live in, why did you choose another country?
England. Or anywhere in Europe really. Just to have a different experience. 

7. How many kids do you want to have? Boys? Girls? 
No more than 2. A boy and a girl preferably. 

8. Can you do a push up?***
 Yes I can. I worked out with a trainer off and on for about a year and he really helped my upper body strength. I used to be able to do a few in a row...now I'd probably die. 

9. Who is the most influential person in your life? How have they influenced you?
My mom. She's just the most amazing person, and I've never met anyone who didn't like her. She always has a positive caring spirit no matter who she is around or what she has gone through. I try as much as possible to be like her. 

10. I nominated you because I love your blog. Why did you start blogging? Has your motivation for blogging changed as time goes on?
Last summer I was bored and decided I used to have a Livejournal so why not try another blog. Never knew I'd find this world! My motivation has died since then, but I still like to maintain it. I need to stop reading blogs on my iPhone so that way I can actually comment!

What would your answers to these questions be? Anything like mine???

Man, good + crazy weekend

I'm writing this BEFORE the weekend ends because of a number of reasons:
a) I won't get to it tomorrow
b) I really want to remember what happened this weekend
and c) I just feel like it.

Friday, J and I walked around the mall. We are on the hunt for a nice looking fake Christmas tree. I adore rel trees, but I just don't trust my cat around one. Found a nice one at Sears and will be going back Friday to get it because just like everything else, it will be on SALE!

J is the HARDEST person in the world to buy for, so when he mentioned he wanted new sunglasses, I was like SWEET! So we went to try some on at Sunglass Hut, but those people? WAY TOO PUSHY for me, and I worked retail before. After we left, we came upon another sunglasses shop, where the guy looked surprised to see us come in.
He turned out to be AWESOME at helping J figure out what style he wanted, and since his store had like NO customers, he told me he'd give me a great deal on a pair. So I kicked J out of the store and proceeded to buy him a pair. Here are the one's he picked, but he has no idea which one I finally chose!Obvs, not going to say on here which pair he's getting, but let's just say I think I picked a GREAT pair.

Saturday was the annual Nights of Lights ceremony in St Augustine. I adore this time of the year, because it's just the perfect kick-off to the holidays. Nights of Lights was even voted by National Geographic as one of the best holiday light displays in the USA. J and I even took our engagement pictures down there last year:

To change it up, one of my closest friends and her family joined us for the fun. Afterwards J, my brother and I hung at their place, playing the hilarious games Things. Needless to say, combine alcohol and a group of people that have some interesting senses of humor and you got one great night! My bro ended up crashing on my couch.

This morning, my cat woke me and J up because she obviously doesn't get the concept of weekends. When I went to put her in the guest room, I heard running water coming from downstairs. I go downstairs and step in a massive puddle. Seems that our toilet had a mind of it's own, ran the whole night and pretty much flooded almost all of the downstairs. When I told J what happened, he kind of looked at me like this:

So after lots of towels, J running to the store to buy a mop and moving all our furniture around, our floors finally dried. Still don't know why the toilet did that!

So now we are just crashed out on the couch, because obviously that's what ya do after a really long, and fun and crazy weekend. Thank goodness this is only a 2 day work week, or I'd be in panic mode!!!!

How was your weekend? Have you gotten your Christmas tree yet? Ever woke to a household emergency?

PS. THE JAGUARS WON! WOOT! WOOT!

Cara Box Reveal

I know this is a bit late, but it's been such a fast zooming week! I've been meaning to share what I received in my Cara Box.  For those of you that do not know, Cara Box is an exchange created by the wonderful Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals. You get to know two other bloggers and send one of them a fun box.

This time around, the swap lasted three months. I loved that, because it really gave me more time to get to know my partners! I was partnered with Raewyn, who blogs at Warrior Queen, and Melissa, who blogs over at Honeysweetbee. Both are awesome girls, so definitely go and check them out! You can go  see what I put in Melissa's box.

The theme for the swap was falling into fall! Raewyn sent me a box that smelled instantly of fall the second that I opened it! Unfortunately, there are no pictures at the moment because my camera went caput and my phone is being a bit silly and not wanting to email my pictures, so I Googled for different images to match the items I received! I'll try to update this post if I am able to use J's iPad to take pictures. :)

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She sent me a mini candle, yummy cranberry hand soap (love the jar!), pumpkin lotion (even though I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin scents, I loved how this one is so light and the lotion is super creamy!) and a cute little fall gift bag. Raewyn also sent me a box of Cinnamon Apple Tea, which J promptly opened up and made himself some!

Being that I am a teacher, she also threw in a note pad (seriously, can NEVER have too much of those!), cute pens (once again, I'm ALWAYS losing my pens), and cute little orange and brown leaf table decorations. At first, the table decorations had me confused, but when I read my note, Raewyn explained that she thought they'd be good for math. I can't wait to add them to my fall counting centers, my kiddos are going to flip!

So thanks Raewyn! It's been a lot of fun getting to know you. If you want to get in on the next Carabox, it's not too late! The next sign up opens up December 2! Click on the button to find out more.

Days off are so refreshing!

Just like everyone else, I love an extra day off. It's just nice to have an extra day to get things done. Here's some of what I got accomplished today:

• Lesson plans. This wasn't too difficult, since my team and I share, but I like putting them in my words so I can remember it better. 
• Cleaned the bathroom. It's a chore that always gets left off. 
• Went to breakfast with my one of my closest friends. I don't get to see her as much as I used to, so this was nice!
• Folded all of J's laundry. Boys are dirty and their laundry piles up faster than anything else I've seen!
• Tried one of my pinned crock pot recipes. My house smells heavenly right now!
• Bought and made the caramel apple cake mix. even better? Finally used the cake pop pan my mother in law bought me for my shower! I'm going to melt some caramels and have a mini fondue party with J for dessert!
• Order honeymoon prints! J and I bought a cute scrapbooking set before we got off the Carnival Dream but I haven't ordered the pictures. Finally did today! And I ordered a print of the two of us at our wedding to mail to my grandma. She keeps bugging my mom about it!
• Had a DIY mani/pedi time while catching up on Revenge!

Man! That was a lot wasn't it? It was nice to have the day off and be able to do everything I needed to do in a relaxing way!

Here's to a great week!

Better week

Last week, I posted how I was getting too into my head. (Ugh, that sentence is so wrong but it's the only way I can explain it!)

So I decided to be proactive (my school uses the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for kids) and get around the cause of all my stress (my own mind!)

And I was successful! Whenever something happened that I would have previously analyzed or moaned about for hours or days, I told myself, you can't control that/them. I would remind myself of my own positives.

I also took advantage of any free time I had during the day at school to prepare for the next day. It was nice to come home and not stress about waking up early or try and do some work. It allowed me to have more time with J. We even took two walks this week around our neighborhood. The walks were perfect! Nice weather and good conversation! They made me feel a heck of a lot closer to him, which is exactly what we had been needing!

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I'm going to continue to attempt to do the same this week. It's going to be a struggle, because we have a major district visit on Tuesday. The head honchos of curriculum will be in my room. But here's the thing: I know I am a good teacher and I know they will find something wrong. Hopefully what they find "wrong" will be something constructive. I appreciate constructive criticism; I can't stand nitpicking!

Have a wonderful week!

How do you overcome your own stresses?