Weekending: On the go.

This weekend flew by, typical! It was a little too packed for my liking, but I made it through and managed to take a nap on Sunday afternoon.

Friday night we went to my Aunt's house to celebrate my Grandad's birthday. He's 82, I love him so much. This was him being goofy. 

On Saturday, C and I slept in until 10:30! I couldn't believe it. I don't even remember the last time I slept that late. It was glorious. I had a lazy morning cleaning our apartment, shopping, and wrapping Christmas presents. 

Saturday night was our staff christmas party. I have an awesome staff and we had a blast relaxing, chatting, and doing things outside of school. It's so nice to get away and not be surrounded by students and stress. It was a lot of fun. 

Sunday after church we had a work day at the student farm. I had some quality time with my lambs and pigs. :) 

We went to lunch with my college roommates at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM! It's always good catching up with these girls who I spent every day with for two years. I am blessed to have friends as good as them. 

I took a nap Sunday afternoon && just relaxed to get ready for this week. I only have one night meeting so that means it will be a lot easier than last week.  Two weeks until break! 

Linking up with Meghan!

Nationals Bound!

My alarm clock is set for 2:30am and I will be heading to school to meet my students and then we are off to Louisville.

We will be hanging out with 60,000 friends at the National FFA Convention. 

This is always one of my favorite weeks of the year, let's hope this year lives up to my expectations. 

Weekending: Lack of Sleep

This weekend was crazy and I have very little pictures to prove it.

Friday night we had an auction for FFA to raise money for our students going to Nationals. We are taking 13 students this year and this year's auction was a hueg success. We raised enough money to cover the rest of the trip (flights, hotel, registration, rental car) for all of them! We made over double what we did last year. As I was counting the money I could not stop smiling. The parents and booster group have worked so hard to put this auction together and all of that work was totally worth it.

After the auction ended, we got in the car and drove 3 hours to Eastern Washington to where my husband is from. We arrived around 2am. Thankfully one of his friends came with us and they stayed up and chatted while I crashed in the backseat. I didn't sleep much, but I didn't have to feel guilty after not walking to talk the whole way. I was drained.

We spend Saturday at a marching band competition. There were a ton of great groups, saw a lot of C's friends, it was a fun time. We were in the stadium or walking around with groups warming up from 10am - 10:30pm. It was a marathon day.

We drove home pretty early on Sunday which was great so then I could clean up the apartment, do laundry, and relax on the couch. I needed a restful afternoon after the busy weekend.

I don't have too many meetings this week so I am really excited, we also don't have school on friday. Woo!

Linking up with Meghan! && Bianca!

Five on Friday: October Favorites!

I am so excited about this month! There are so many fun things going on that I have to look forward to. 

1. Halloween fun with friends! 

One of my friends asked if we can go to the corn maze and have a Halloween-y party and of course I agreed! I am not a huge fan of scary things, but as long as we go to the corn maze during the day time I am totally down. Plus, who doesn't like a reason to get together with friends?

2. WSU Homecoming!

My husband and I are heading back to our college town for the homecoming football game in the middle of the month. Both of my roomates are also going with their respective significant others, as well as a few other friends. Even though we graduated 3 years ago it feels like no time has passed and I am looking forward to the hitting our favorite places in town and cheering on out team. 

3. FFA National Convention

As part of my job I am an advisor for our school's FFA chapter and I have the privilege of taking 13 students to Louisville for the National Convention. They are all competing while we are there so that is stressful, but also so rewarding. 

4. Growing in Faith

I am in a bible study group and we just had our third meeting and I am really enjoying it. I was in a small group before through my church, but this is a little more challenging and I like being with a new group of women. I also am meeting with my Pastor next week to talk about being a leader for a teen group which is both intimidating and exciting. I'm just praying for guidance and that if it is meant to be, I will be a good fit for those girls. 

5. Wedding Planning.

If you've been reading my blog you know that my wedding has already passed, but I am a bridesmaid in 3 weddings over the next year so there is still plenty of planning to be done. One of my friends has her first dress shopping appointment this month and I can't wait for that and all of the other fun things that will be coming up.

Linking up with Amanda!

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! 

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.

Masters...check!

It's true, I have completed my Master's Degree! 

I earned a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from WGU. It was all online, a two year program that I completed in 10 months. If anyone out there is looking to go back to school and do it online, I can't recommend WGU enough. It was so convenient and user friendly. 

Originally my goal was to finish in December, when we moved our wedding to August I made my goal July....well it's April. :) I've been working on it so much, spending my weekends writing papers or doing research, it's so crazy that it is totally done. 

I get to participate in commencement on Saturday, I can't wait! This might be my last time ever graduating but who knows, maybe a Ph.D is in my future. ;) 

Happy Thursday! 

Linking up! 

http://www.hodgespodges.com/

Five on Friday: Looking Forward

Spring break is over! :( I'm so sad, but I am going to make this day great and enjoy the weekend. Instead of being negative I am going to think about five things that I'm looking forward to this spring. 

One. 

My bridal shower! 

This is happening in June and I can't wait! My MOH is the best and I know she is planning something wonderful. Also, the mother of my flowers girls was actually my 6th grade teacher and then I was a nanny for her girls and she is almost like a second mother. I know that she wants to spoil me so it is going to be a wonderful time. Plus I will get to see all of my friends and family, I'm so excited! 

Two.

Memorial Day with my best friend! 

One of my best friends lives in Oregon and is attending graduate school so I am going to spend the long weekend with her while C goes and teaches drum corps. We are planning lots of shopping, a day trip to the beach, and probably seeing a movie. I can't wait to just hang out with her and spend time together. 

Three.

State FFA Convention

Myself and my partner teacher will take about 30 students to our FFA State Convention in May. We will be staying in the dorms and the kids will be competing over the span of 4 days. It's high stress, but also high energy and so rewarding. I love watching the kids get excited for FFA and have fun running around a college campus for a week. The lack of sleep and stress is so worth it. 

Four. 

Celebrating our Anniversary

*us on 5/30/09

C and I will celebrate our last 'dating' anniversary in May. 6 years and going strong. I think the date will always be significant to use even after we get married. LOVE LOVE LOVE. 

Five. 

The Last Day of School! 

I feel like a terrible teacher saying this, but the last day of school is going to be a GREAT day. I love my kids and I love teaching but I have so much to look forward to this summer that I'm so ready for it to be here. 

Happy Friday, Linking up! 

Weekending: Relaxation

This weekend was wonderful. We didn't have many plans and I loved not being crazy busy. 

Friday evening we red-boxed Divergent in order to refresh our memories before we go see the second one next weekend. I made dinner for my fiance and best friend and we had a movie night. Surprisingly we didn't all fall asleep which is what usually happens. I'd consider that a success! I also forgot how much I actually liked that movie and I'm really excited for Insurgent on Friday! 

Saturday I cleaned up the apartment a little bit and worked on grad school. I finished a paper that I needed to write and turned that in. That afternoon we went to have dinner with my roommate and her new boyfriend. It was so much fun catching up with her and her new boyfriend is super nice. We went to the cheesecake factory, so good! 

Sunday we went to church and I spent the afternoon reading. I started and finished a book this weekend. I am trying to read more for fun and 

This week is going to be a busy one but next week is spring break! Five more days! 

Linking up with Meghan!

Update!

I've disappeared off of the blogging radar the past month and I wanted to do a little update on things that have been going on.

Wedding: Wedding planning is great! Things are coming together and I am as excited as ever. My spare room is exploding with things that I have been buying and it's pretty much all I want to talk about. The countdown is at 132 days! I will be sharing more on Wednesday and the Wednesday's following.

Grad School: I am working on my capstone! I will be walking at graduation on May 2nd which totally blows my mind. I might not be completed done with my paper by then but I should be getting close. I have to have it submitted by the middle of June. I can't believe I am actually going to have completed my Masters Degree in a year.

School: Teaching has been great! My kids are only driving my slightly crazy but thankfully we have spring break in a week. My FFA students have been working hard and we have our district competitions this week. After those we will be preparing for State Convention in May. Even when I am exhausted and swamped with life I am so thankful for such a rewarding and fun job.

Healthy Living: I have been failing miserably at eating healthy and working out. I can do so well for a month and then I totally fall off the wagon. I am going to start again (for real) either this weekend or next week when spring break starts, and I will be making myself work out daily. I'm down to 2 months before my dress fitting so there really isn't any time to mess around. I don't need to lose a ton of weight but since I'm going to hawaii for my honeymoon and planning on running around at my bachelorette party in a tutu, I want to be feeling good about myself.

That's pretty much it. I'll try to be more consistent with writing, but thanks for stopping by to catch up!

Five on Friday: First Semester Complete!

This week has been wild. You would think that after a 3 day weekend I would be refreshed but due to several things I am straight up exhausted. Thank goodness for another 3 day weekend this week where I Can hopefully recover some of my sanity. Here are 5 things from this week!

1. The semester is ending! I'm halfway through the year! But I am also being bombarded with kids trying to raise their grades when they've done nothing all semester.

2. I got to babysit my 'kids' on Tuesday night. I nanny-ed for them when I was in high school and always visited them on breaks. I've known them since the middle was two weeks old and met the youngest on the day she was born. Now they are 6,7,and 8. They are my flower girls. :) We had a dance party to Taylor Swift and read lots of stories. I love them so much.

3. I went to bible study for the first time in a couple of months and it was so wonderful. I forget how much I need Jesus and how much these people fill me up. Good times.

4. I ordered my first Jamberry nails and I can't wait to put them on next week. A few teachers at my school sell them and they look like fun. I got this cool chevron pattern.

5. Me and C are going on a date night tonight and I can't wait! I think we are going to see American Sniper and I know I will probably cry a lot but I just hope it doesn't end in a super sad way. After wards we are getting cold stone which is so unhealthy but one of my favorites.

Happy Friday!

Linking up!

Weekending: checking things off the to do list!

Friday night C and I went to the gym after he got off work. We've both been trying to eat healthier and workout so we decided to go even on a Friday night. Afterwards we came home and changed and went out to dinner. I got a salad, and it was even more delicious since I was starving. We came home and tried to watch Noah but fell asleep on the couch and decided to just go to bed, we never finished watching the movie.

On Saturday C had to teach drumline during the day so I worked on my masters for a while and went to the gym. I'm also working on planning a surprise party for my mom so I was chatting with my brothers about that. I'm really excited for her party, I think it's going to be a lot of fun and she is going to be totally surprised. I love the invitations that I got for her.

Saturday night we went to my mom's house to watch the Seahawks game. Was anyone else watching? The best part of the game was when Chancellor (31) jumped over the defense, TWICE, to try and block a field goal. It didn't end up working either time but it was still awesome.

Saturday night we went out for drinks with some friends. They are recently married so we chatted wedding stuff for a while. I love hearing from other people what they did and their opinions on some of the troubles we are having.

Sunday morning we went to church then one of our friends came over and we relaxed and watched football all day. I also finished another one of the classes for my Masters. Woo! It was super relaxing and a great weekend with a mix of fun, productivity, and relaxation. 

How was your weekend??

Linking up with Meghan && Lisa! 

School Clothes

Each year at the beginning of the school year I can't help but want a completely new wardrobe. My school is super casual, there are teachers who wear jeans every day, but I try to dress up a little since I'm young and I like looking more professional. By the end of last year I was so tired of all of my clothes and I want all new clothes, too bad my bank account doesn't agree. 

Here are some of the things I've been looking at and am hoping to get this year:

Some new skinny jeans. These are a necessity && I like the dark washes the best. 

Flowy chiffon tops are my go-to. I have them in so many colors and I love that they are super comfy and I can wear them even when I'm not feeling my best about my body. 

My classroom is like an ice box so I almost always have to wear a cardigan. I like the longer length of this one and that green color is one of my favorites. I wear so much black and grey that I really need to add some color into my life. 

I wear ballet flats almost every day and a lot of my old ones are pretty worn out so some new ones would be a great addition to my wardrobe. I like having ones with some pattern or a little bling. It's a fun way to add a little something to my outfit. 

New boots! I would be happy with like three new pairs of boots but I know I will probably end up with one or two. I love these with skinny jeans or with leggings and a cute dress. They make a comfy outfit look so much better. 

Those are the things on my wishlist! What clothes are you hoping to get for fall? 

All of these looks are from Old Navy, one of my favorite stores and an easy place to find so many cute teacher clothes in my budget!