Wedding Wednesday: Hotel Bags

Happy Wednesday! One thing that I knew I wanted to do for my wedding was make hotel bags. When I went to my cousin's wedding in NJ we were welcomed with one when we checked in and I thought it was the cutest thing! I bought these navy bags on sale on black friday for like .25 each, score! I bought a roll of silver tulle at JoAnns to make bows and tie each bag closed. 

Buying personalized bags is expensive, so instead I got these labels. Online there are a bunch of templates and I picked one out and made my own labels. I think this package of 60 labels was like $4 at walmart. 

Now it was time for to stuff them! I priced things out at Winco and Costco, turns out that Winco was cheaper and I didn't end up with as much excess. My shopping list included: Oreos, peanut butter crackers, granola bars, fruit snacks, gum, starbursts, and water. 

I wrote a cute little note and that was that! 

Of course I forgot to take a picture of them completed, but they were pretty cute if I may say so myself! It also didn't cost nearly as much as I thought. I bet it was under $100 for all 30 of the bags that I made. 

Linking up! 

Teaching Tuesday: Google Drive

I am starting my third year of teaching and I feel like I am finally getting a good feel for what I am doing. I am more comfortable in the classroom and in front of the kids. In no way am I an expert, but I am a lot more confident in myself and my instruction. 

I wanted to share something that has become a major timesaver for me as a teacher, and that is google drive. I used to plan my lessons at home and then bring them to school on a jump drive. That sounds great in theory, but then you have to always have the jump drive or stay late at school working on lesson plans. The solution, google drive! You can work on your powerpoint presentation or word documents from anywhere online. This is also awesome because during my planning period I am not able to be on my computer so I can access my documents from any computer in the school.

It also works well for students because they can work on group projects (such as powerpoint presentations) simultaneously. This gives each student more responsibility to be doing their part of the project since they can all work on it together. The students can also 'share' it with me so that I can monitor their work and leave comments as needed. 

Does anyone else use google drive in their classroom or workplace? I think it's such a time saver and as a teacher, I am always looking for those! 

Weekending: See ya, September!

Can anyone believe it was the last weekend of September? Holy moly, this year is flying!

Friday night I took some FFA students to a leadership camp. I was in charge of the group who was running it so it was a little stressful but it went really well. All of the students (about 60) seemed to have a great time and I had some quality time with the advisors. Sleeping in a cold cabin isn't my favorite, but we woke up to a beautiful sunny day so that was lovely.

That afternoon I went to a marching band competition with C. His group did awesome and he was super happy. I love music and marching band, so it was a lot of fun being at the competition. The first of many this year, you'll be seeing a common theme for my Saturdays until November. 

Sunday we went to the horse races with my mom and her boyfriend. It was a lot of fun and we all won! I left with like $30 more than I went with and my brothers girlfriend won $50 on a 10 cent bet, it was super exciting. We usually go a few times each year but this summer with the wedding we were so busy that we only went once. It was nice to go one more time before the season ends.

This week isn't too busy so I am looking forward to it. I need to start running because I'm supposed to be doing a 5k at the end of October. Let's see if I can find the motivation. 

Linking up with Meghan! 

Five on Friday: Fall Favorites

I love fall. Since this is officially the first week of fall, here are some of my favorite fall things!

Fall Candles!

I love all of these delicious scents. They are so comforting and make our apartment feel so much more like fall. I need to stock up during the next sale at Bath and Body Works! 

Football! 

Whether it's Friday night games at school, Saturdays visiting our college, or Sundays watching NFL on the couch, football is a big thing this season. I can watch it for hours and I love the time with my husband enjoying it. We already headed back to college (about 5 hours away) for one game and we are going back for homecoming in October. I can't wait!

Booties!

I finally bought a pair of booties and I am kinda obsessed with them. I always said I could never wear them, well guess what, I guess I can. 

Trees!

After moving to the west coast I always felt a little jipped when it came to fall because we have so many evergreens and not the beautiful deciduous trees, but I am starting to find the beauty in it. We have a few deciduous trees and I appreciate them and their beautiful colors even more. 

Pumpkin Goodies!

I love pumpkin muffins and cookies which are perfect for fall. I haven't baked any yet, but maybe this weekend I will whip up my first batch. :) 

This sums it up! 

Have a great weekend everybody! 

Linking up with Amanda!

Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaid Gifts

Happy Wednesday! I am so excited to be talking about my wedding which truly was the best day of my life. I am blessed for have five wonderful bridesmaids who were by my side throughout the entire process. I gave them their gifts at the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding and I was rather proud of them. :) Here's a look at what they got!

I ordered them personalized bags on black friday and saved them all of these months! They are the perfect size for an overnight trip. 

I saw this on pintrest and loved the idea. I bought these hair ties for $1 at walmart and printed out this cute saying on cardstock at home. 

Bath and Body Works is my fav! I picked a fun summer scent that matched my colors. If you watch for sales and use coupons you can get a great deal. 

Old Navy Flip Flops! Watch out for the $1 day, that's when I bought mine. 

Tissues, these came in handy. 

EOS! I got the Costco pack and split it up, one per girl. Perfect since I had five! 

The robes were my favorite. I got them for each of the girls so we could get ready in them && take an adorable teaser picture. :)  

It was a lot, but since I spread it out over several months it was totally affordable. I recommend just picking up little things here and there, before you know it you have a great gift! 

Linking up! 

Year Three.

I started my third year of teaching and officially completed my first full week last week! I am teaching four periods of freshman Biology and one period of upperclassmen in Environmental Science.

I am really excited for this year because I want to be more dedicated to my teaching and focus on making my classroom more engaging. Last year I was working on my masters and planning a wedding on top of teaching and all of my duties as an FFA advisor so I was stretched pretty thin. This year I am married, my masters is complete, and I can focus purely on my teaching and FFA program.

I've already made a couple of changes and my biggest one was enforcing my cell phone rules. No phones in my classroom, period. Before the bell, in the last minutes of class, not at all. I was afraid of more push-back but so far the students have been respecting the rules. As long as I don't cave, I think it's going to be a great change. I want my students to interact with each other, as opposed to turning right to their phones when they have a few minutes to spare.

I haven't been on this blog often since the wedding, but I'm going to try and do better as well as start working on my Wedding Wednesdays to recap my special day.