10 days!

My wedding is in 10 days! Yikes! 

I have to-do lists upon to-do lists and I keep rewriting them as I get things done. I am so excited and surprisingly not too stressed. There's a lot of little things to think about but I think for the most part I have it together. I think my top stressor is everything being set up, but I remind myself that is why I hired a day of coordintor and I will have my brother and his girlfriend, plus my mom, there to oversee it all. I know it will happen, there isn't a ton to do. 

ahhh! 

I have so many posts I want to make about it, but I think I'm going to wait until after the wedding. As for right now, the weather is looking awesome for both the rehearsal and thew wedding. I'm praying that its stays that way! 

Wedding Wednesday: Bachelorette Bash!

My bachelorette party was last week and it was AMAZING! My bridesmaids went above and beyond to make it such a fun trip. We stayed in a condo on the water in Chelan and it was gorgeous! Two of my bridesmaids got their early to decorate, it was so cute and festive when I arrived! 

When we arrived we spend a couple of hours lounging at the pool and enjoying the sun! 

 That night we went out to an awesome Italian restaurant, we stopped for a group picture before we went in to eat. 

We caught the sunset after dinner. I loved being right on the lake. 

We went on a wine tasting tour the next day. We rode in this open air vehicle and our driver was great, he took us to the best wineries, was our personal photographer, and make the day a great adventure. Oh, and I made the girls wear tutus and it was a blast. :) 

The second night we played some games and stayed in. After wine tasting all day we were all exhausted and it was nice to just hang out with each other in the condo.

It was the perfect trip! The last big thing before the wedding! We are only 17 days away! :) 

Linking up! 

JUNE RECAP

I can't believe today is the last day of June! It has been such an awesome month. School's out! The end of the year went pretty well, it came super fast and I was a little sad to say goodbye to my kids, but I don't miss them yet. haha. Summer is in full swing, and my wedding is only a month away!

I can't believe how fast everything is going. I have crazy to do lists and I'm working really hard to get in shape and lose weight for the wedding. I'm always better with a timeline so I can really crack down for a month and do great. I've run every day for a week and I'm already feeling great.

Things with my fiance have been great. There are a few stressors here and there but overall, I think we are both super excited for the wedding. It was his birthday last week so we celebrated with cake and presents. I tried to spoil him. :)

I've been reading a ton! I already finished two books this summer and am working on my third.

I also try to spend like an hour at the pool each day working on my tan. Slow and steady should make me the perfect shade of golden brown for my wedding. 

Life is so good! 

Teacher Tuesday: Two Years Down!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow my second year of teaching is over. It feels so much better than the first, I was more confident and a much better teacher. Last year I remember being totally exhausted and worn out and this year I actually still have sone energy! I think some of it might be excitement about it being over, but hey, it's still energy! 

Things that went well...winning Nationals! I still can't believe that was this year, it was a life dream and I accomplished it already. I can't believe it. Next year I look forward to branching out more in FFA and continuing to pursue other competitions and activities. 

I felt like my classroom management improved this year. I did better at drawing the line, saying no, and sticking to it. I'm also not afraid to contact parents to try and get them on my side and get the behavior figured out. 

Things I want to improve on...organizing late work and missing work. I have a folder for students to get papers from but they don't realize that the papers are there most of the time. Even when I direct them there they are like, "where can I find that paper?" #frustrating

I also want to use my classroom website and technology more effectively. I think there are so many cool tools online that I'm not fully taking advantage of. In the same token, I do want to improve on cracking down on cell phones. I just need to say no, and have activities for students when they are finished with work that do not involved being on their phones. 

Teaching is exhausting and stressful, but also so incredibly rewarding. I wouldn't  trade it for anything. 

One more day! This summer is going to be great, probably the best of my life. I'm so ready. 

Weekending: It feels like summer!

This weekend was amazing! The sun was out, it was 80 degrees every day, and we got to hang out with a bunch of our friends. I didn't think about school at all. With only 8 days left, I'm on auto-pilot and so ready to be done. 

Friday night we went to a baseball game with some friends from church. It was a beautiful night and there were fireworks after! 

Saturday morning we cleaned the apartment and went to buy some birthday presents for friends. That afternoon we went to a pool party for a friend who is joining the Air Force and moving to Texas this week. We spent about 5 hours in the pool, it was glorious. 

This morning we went to church and listened to an amazing message about ambition and our selfish desires. It made me re-evaluate how I am living my life, who I am trying to impress, and where I should be placing my focus. 

It's the last full week of school, summer is SO close! :)

Linking up with Meghan! 

Five on Friday: Book Edition

A couple of months ago my best friend decided to start a book club. We've had two book clubs meetings alrady and are on our third. Since then I've also finished my masters and had more time so I can read for fun. It is one of my favorite things to do and I've been loving having a little time to myself. Here are five of the books I've read lately which are my current favorites! :)  

1. The Ice Princess

I just finished this one and it wasn't what I expected but I really enjoyed it. It was a murder mystery with a little bit of a love story set in Sweden. I highly recommend it! 

2. Half-Bad

This book is about witches and I did not enjoy it. I thought I would like it because I enjoy YA fiction but there were so many plot lines and they weren't very well developed, not a bit fan. 

3. The Girl on the Train

I know I'm a little late to this party, but this book is SO GOOD! It kept me guessing the entire time and I read it so fast because I wanted to know what happened. I was satisfied with the ending which made me happy because sometimes these types of books can leave you unsure of how to feel. 

4. The Husbands Secret

After hearing so much about this author I couldn't wait to read this book. It did not disappoint! It was another one that kept me guessing until the end, but I loved how all of the stories were intertwined and the seemingly perfect lives were incredibly imperfect. 

5. The Girls of Mischief Bay

I just started this book and I am really enjoying it. It's a perfect book as we get into summertime. It seems like a pretty light read so far, but we'll see what happens! 

One of the things I'm really looking forward to this summer is hopefully some more time to read! 

Linking up! 

Amanda!

Christina.

Midweek Confessions || 6

I'm linking up with E @ E, Myself, and I for some midweek confessions!

*My students want to go on an officer retreat for their club and i really, really, really, don't want to go camping. I am not big on the idea of cooking on a campfire, sleeping on the ground, and not showering....while being surrounded by my students for three days. Don't get me wrong, I love them...but can't we just stay in a nice hotel or something? 

*Big Brother is my favorite show of the summer. Watching people live in a house and do nothing with their lives? Sounds like a winner. You'd think I'd have something better to do than watch it THREE nights a week and read spoilers online in between. 

*I want to put flowers/plants in my classroom but am afraid they will die && it will look bad since I'm the horticulture teacher. 

*I'm not the best driver and when I was on the highway the other day I was reaching for my chapstick and swerved really bad into the other lane. Thankfully I was in the middle of nowhere and there probably wasn't another car within a mile so nothing happened. EXCEPT that my car started beeping and yelling at me and a little car with swirly lines came on the dash. I've never seen that before. Lesson learned, chapstick isn't that important. 

*I haven't straightened my hair in like 3 weeks and it's the softest it's ever been. I might continue to rock the messy buns just because I feel like my hair is so much healthier and stronger. 

Anyways that's all for this week! Happy Wednesday! 

-J

Five on Friday

I am linking up with Darci to join in the fun of 'Five on Friday!' Today my edition is the five top things from my vacation. It seemed too short but I also was excited to come back home and start getting ready for the school year! Anyways, my top five!

1. Getting Tan! I came home considerably darker than I was when I left. I attribute this to a couple days on the beach and my devotion to soaking up the sun. Even though it was 90 degrees with high humidity I sucked it up in order to get some color.

2. Walking the Boards! I was nervous to see the Boardwalk after it was devastated by hurricane Sandy bur surprisingly a lot of it was up and running again. It was heartbreaking to see where the pier was that is completely washed away. Also my favorite arcade was swept into the ocean. It's weird knowing it isn't there anymore but I love the memories I have from that place.

3. Pontoon boating! My dad rented a boat for the day and we went out with my cousins, aunt, and grandpa. We used to do this when we were younger and at my Uncle's Cabin in Upstate New York. It was always a blast then and I am glad that it was just as fun this time around. It was a gorgeous day to be on the water, laugh with my family, and swim in the bay. We saw so many gorgeous houses, I wish I could live on the water someday.

4. Harvard! This school has so much history and touring the campus was the coolest thing. Plus our tour guide was awesome and gave us so many fun facts to take home as trivia tidbits.

5. Family! Nothing beats getting together with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandpa who I haven't seen in a year. It's amazing that even though we are apart for so long we always pick up right where we left off and have an amazing time together. I am so fortunate to have such a loving, fun, and supportive family.

That's my five! Off to visit my boyfriend for the weekend!

Boston.

My brother and I made a little trip up to Boston for a couple of days and it has been a blast. I haven't been here before and since I am such a history buff it is really cool to see all of the sights. I have picked out some of my favorite pictures to tell a little bit about our journey. 

In Boston we traveled along the Freedom Trail which is genius. They literally have a trail of bricks (or red paint) that you follow the entire way. It's great because then you don't have to have your map out and constantly be checking it. We were able to leisurely walk it and enjoy looking up at all of the architecture surrounding us. I bought those sparkly silver shoes yesterday and I LOVE how they look in the picture. To the right is Paul Revere's grave. We also went in his house and visiting the Old North Church where he hung the lanterns to warn the colonists that 'The British are Coming!" 

Before we got to Boston we stopped at Yale! I am a sucker for visiting colleges (even though I'm already done with college) and exploring their campuses. We didn't spend a lot of time at Yale but we stumbled upon a copy of the Gutenberg Bible (circa 1450) and a dining hall that looks just like the one that Rory eats at in Gilmore Girls. I'm not going to lie, I spent most of my time at Yale trying to picture scenes from Gilmore Girls and I wasn't too successful. I'm not convinced she actually went to Yale. 

In Springfield, Massachusettes there is a Dr. Seuss Memorial Garden and we couldn't resist. They had statues of Horton, Sam I Am, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the Cat in the Hat. It was cute. 

           

As I mentioned above we love college so of course we went to Harvard. It was absolutely beautiful. I was amazed by the brick buildings and how pretty the entire campus was. We went on a tour so we got to learn about some of the history and that really made the campus come to life. I decided that I definitely liked Harvard more than Yale (the campus was easier to navigate, it was in a better location, their color is crimson...haha jk) but maybe I'm biased since we didn't do a formal tour at Yale. Regardless I'm glad that we visited.

Tomorrow morning we have a little more sightseeing then it's back towards my Dad's for a couple more days before we return home. I don't want to leave, vacation is too much fun.

What I'll be doing for the next 10 days...

• Walking the boardwalk, eating salt water taffy, new york style pizza, and sno cones. 
• Laying on the beach for hours soaking up the sun and working on my tan! 
• Catching up with my dad who I only get to see once a year since he lives on the other side of the country. 
• Seeing my grandpa, step-sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephew who I haven't seen since lasts summer. 

• Eating way too much yummy food that is not nearly as good where I live. I'm already looking forward to bagels, dunkin donuts, sweet corn, chinese food, and frozen yogurt. 
• Road-tripping to Boston with my little Brother 
• Reading a new book
• Relaxing and enjoying some time away.

I'm off to the east coast for the next 10 days! I might have a few updates but I'm not sure. I hope everyone has a fun filled middle of July!