Woot! Woot! It's Friday!

Hi all! Feel like I keep ignoring this little blog space of mine. I could lie and say I've been busy, but eh that wouldn't be true. Unless you count watching the Olympics being busy!

Let's get to my five from this week:

J surprised me by bringing home roses and strawberry cheesecake from Publix on Valentine's Day. Because of all the extra expenses heading our way, we had agreed to not do anything major but he broke his own rule. :)

I received my Carabox from Jessie. Can't wait to paint my nails with the fun colors she gave me!

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I've really been loving watching the Olympics every night. I love that I was able to watch some of the best events live! I'm kind of bummed that the Olympics ends on Sunday. I adore the Winter Olympics. I can watch every event (yes, even curling!). Plus it's just fun!

I went out last night with one of my friends from my old school. It was nice to vent and just catch up with each other!!! Plus this ecard's perfect because we ended up at Chili's!

I don't have a number five, except to say YAY WEEKEND! :)

Where do you go for dinner with friends?
How was your week?

As always, linking up with Lauren!

Why we work

So I love reading Bonnie and Taylor and when I saw them do this fun link up, I knew I had to join in.

Tomorrow's Valentine's Day and I think it's really fun to look back and see why J and I work. We've been together for 3.5 years now (married for 7 months) and I think we really do complement each other.



So without further adieu... why J and I work:

He's black/white and I'm all about the gray.

He's laidback and I'm dramatic. All about balance right?

We both love sports. We've been perfectly content watching the Olympics.

Speaking of,  he loves to watch curling (which is analytical) and I love figure skating (which is emotional!)

We both love food. Simple as that. :)

We push each other. In a good way. I push him to watch his words and he pushes me to be a little neater (I'm working on it!)

Family's number one. To both of us. Watching him interact with his nieces, always puts a smile on my face.

He watches girly shows with me. Not necessarily because he likes them (except for Total Divas!) but because he likes to be with me. Same reason I'll watch Seinfeld with him.

He lets me get cupcakes for my class. And he comes to read to them.

I laugh at his dirty jokes. In fact, he loves to make me laugh and he loves to find the weirdest ways to make me laugh.

He looks out for my brother.

He's always down for ice cream...even when it's cold and drizzly (hello ice cream sundaes!)

We know how to dig at each other. And while we don't always do that nicely, something good always comes out of it.

We're both stubborn but end up figuring out someway to compromise. With both of us being Cancers...that can be tough.

We share a birthday!

 

 

 

Simple. Because despite the fact that we are too of the most stubborn people EVER, we try our hardest everyday to make each other happy. And sometimes that scale can be tilted in one way, we try our best to make sure it tilts the other way.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!



FRIDAY!!!

Is it just me, or did this week crawwwwwwwwl by? Yea, it crawled for me, probably because I wasn't feeling 100% all week. But I can still find five things that made my week:

1. Did I mention that J and I bought a house? Oh yea, we did. We haven't closed yet, but we did hear back that the seller will fix some issues AND that the house is now in a safer zone which means lower insurance. Woot!

2. I killed it on my formal observation. Nice when your hard work is noticed!

3. Did I mention that my student loans are paid off??? THEY ARE! Back in November, I received the good news that 5,000 dollars of my loan was forgiven. Which left me with 700 dollars to pay. J and I paid mine off and it feels SO good to say that!

4.

Yea, it's NO secret that I love football. I really like the Seahawks(mostly because the Jags current coach, Gus, came from there and because I can't stand Peyton) but I also really like Richard Sherman's story. I hated it when all the world went off on him for his rant. His story is one that I would hope for all my at-risk kids. 

We are hosting my family that day and I can't wait to watch a heck of game and eat lots of yummy food!

5. Finally, I'm having a girls' date with two of my closest friends at Chipotle tonight. A carnitas bowl is calling my name!!!

Have a fabulous week!

Do you watch the Super Bowl?

What's your favorite restaurant?

Linking up with Lauren!

What I've learned about teaching...

I haven't blogged in forever. But reading Bonnie's post today inspired me.

I'm a teacher. Everyone knows it. It's a huge part of my life. But being married this year has taught me that it's just a job.

That I can be a good teacher and not spend ten hours at work. I can have amazing conversations with my kiddos (like the one I had today with one of my boys about skeletons and just listening to all of his amazing questions) and not spend my entire life at work.

People may find this bad to say, but I've learned that I can't save EVERY kid that walks through my door. That I have to do my best and work with what I have, but  I have to realize that it may not be enough. That I'll drive myself crazy if I stress out about the fact that little Johnny still cannot tell me that RAT and CAT rhyme. That I need to spend just as much times on those kids that could grow if I spent 10 extra minutes with them and that I need to spend time with my ones who just GET it.

Now that's not to say I'm going to brush little Johnny to the side. I still talk to our ESE specialists about strategies and I meet with Mom and Dad to see what we can do to help (that is, if mom and dad care.) But it means I'll stress about things worth stressing about.

I had my formal observation today and I wasn't nervous. I didn't freak out when one of my kids confused erosion and weathering (even though we've talked about it for days). I know that I'm good and I know that my class is learning. I see it when they run up to show me a table of contents they found or they shout out that they know 100+100 is a doubles fact. I see it when I see former students wave hello or let me know about their day.

And that is all that matters. Because at the end of the day, my very important job, is just that.... A JOB.

Thanks for reading this. :)

Trust

I've been loving this idea of having a word for 2014. I very rarely make resolutions (mostly because I don't see my life in calendar years, but in school years) but the idea of having a word to live my life around really speaks to me.

2013 was a year that taught me a lot about LOVE. I've always known J loves me (duh, why would I have married him! :)) but it's been wonderful to realize how he chooses to show it. My ENTIRE family came from Puerto Rico to be at my wedding. I don't get to see them as often as I like (if anyone figures out a cheap way to get to San Juan, let me know!) but seeing their happy faces in my wedding photos just shows me how much they care. Same for J's family. It's been nice to have this whole other family where I know that I am cared about. My own family taught me about love as well. So I suppose my word for 2013 probably should have been LOVE.

For 2014, I am going to with the word TRUST. If you;ve read me awhile, you've probably figured out that I overanalyze EVERYTHING. I think about things over and over and over and over. It's hard to just let things be.

So that's where TRUST comes in.

I need to not only trust in the Lord more, but I need to trust myself. I know what I am good at and I know that I am a good person. I need to believe and trust in that during those overanalytical times. 

There are many things that I am hoping for this year, but many of those things I cannot control. So I need to trust that things will happen when they happen. 

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And I need to trust that overall good things do happen a lot of the time. Goes back to that overthinking bit. 

So here's to TRUST in 2014. :)

What's your word for 2014? Do you make and stick to your resolutions?

2013

So, when did tomorrow end up being December 31st? Man  I lose track of the days so badly during this time of the year! I blame it on not having to go back to work until next Monday.

So 2013 was a pretty FANTASTIC year for me. I'm normally not the most optimistic of people, but as I look back, I really have no reason to complain about anything that happened this year. So let's get to it!

Obviously, so much of my favorites this year are going to be wedding related. Like the fact that I had oe of the best nights ever at my bachelorette party! Thanks to these wonderful ladies!

I got married. And my wedding was everything I could ever imagine it being and more! Full of love, laughter and being surrounded by my family friends. It still blows my mind that I had a wedding like that!

My school nominated me for Teacher of the Year. I didn't win, but still awesome to be thought of. I'm at the point of my career where I feel I deserve to get recognition. It takes time and I'm glad I had to work for it! Oh and my class is by far the cutest one I've had in a really long time!

It's been fun getting to have my own place with J. I know my habits drive him crazy, but I do love our little home! Here's to hoping we find our permanent one in 2014!

J and I had a wonderful first Christmas together. I think we did a good job of balancing family and having some time to ourselves. Plus between the two of us and our families, we got spoiled this year!

Like I said, even though 2013 wasn't perfect, I cannot complain. It wouldn't be right or fair. So here's to hoping 2014 is just as good!

First Christmas

I hope that you had a Merry Christmas yesterday (or a fun, relaxing day if you don't celebrate!)

J and I spent the earlier part of the week until Christmas Eve night at his parents' house outside of Savannah. Always so relaxing when we go up there.  His parents are the best and let us open presents on Christmas Eve. His mother got me the prettiest shirts from Loft and so many other things! It was fun to see his mom's reaction to her gift, a smaller parent version of our wedding album! I'm pretty blessed to have the in-laws that I have!

Christmas Eve we made our way back to Jacksonville, to stop at my parents' house. My favorite Christmas tradition has to be our pjs. My mom gets us new ones every year and in recent years has been getting the girls matching ones too!

I would be lying if I said it wasn't a bit odd to wake up Christmas morning with J, but it was so much fun! (I wish I took pictures, but we were just too into gift giving to do that!) He loved my gifts to him (pretty sure the electric toothbrush was his favorite... he's all about the dental hygiene!) but I hit the money on the clothes and the yummy pistachios he later found in his stocking.

I think my favorite presents from J were the Michael Kors watch (finally!) and he surprised with a Pandora bracelet. My first two charms are a stack of books and cute little kitty. He's such a thoughtful guy.

Around 11 we headed to my parents' house in our PJS! I texted my mom if she minded, and she said no. SCORE! Made it that more fun to open presents in your pjs. Love this picture that my uncle took:

Not sure what's better, the matching pjs, my expression or my brother's! We got some really thoughtful gifts from my parents and my mother loved the parent album we gave her, too.

After my parents' house we stopped at our friends' house. J played XBOXone with her husband and I learned how to make this bracelet on a Rainbow Loom!

Can I just say... I kind wish I had my own rainbow loom??? Completely understand why kids are obsessed with it. Plus it's nice that one of the most popular toys out there right now is more crafty than techy.

J and I ended the night back at home where I made jalapeno poppers, bang bang shrimp and a bruschetta cheese ball.

YUM!

All in all, a pretty perfect first Christmas for J and I. :)