Recent Holidays in Pictures

corned beef hash and cabbage
st. patrick's day 2010
doesn't look pretty, but it's delicious!

easter 2010

easter 2010

Of course no pictures of the food. The menu was delicious, though, if I do say so myself! Honey cured ham, sweet green beans, Ruth's Chris potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese, homemade rolls, and two kinds of cake for dessert!

Bucket List

No, I'm not planning on kicking the bucket anytime soon. But Bing! Travel came out with a list of 12 places in the world that might be playing soccer with the proverbial bucket. And some of the places were really surprising! Now, I don't claim to be a world traveler... far from it, actually. Up until a few years ago, I really didn't even have the desire to see new places. I don't mind traveling. I just never thought about places I'd like to go. But I'm changing. Maybe it's being married to a guy who spent 2-3 weeks every summer of his childhood exploring all 48 of the continental states. Maybe it's the friends around me who all have places they'd like to go... Alaska, Europe, Hawaii, etc. Whatever it is, I now have my (in)complete list:

(in no certain order)
the Florida Keys: beach. sun. sand.
New York City at Christmas: the lights!
Florida Everglades: Alligators and huge pythons... am I crazy?
Lake Tahoe: D has always wanted to take me here.
Ireland: if you know my maiden name, you know why.
Venice, Italy: "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man"- NYTimes
The Great Barrier Reef: Glass bottom boat, please! No scuba diving for me!
Bahamas: see Florida Keys.
re-visit Grand Cayman: ditto.

What about you? Where in the world would you like to go?
*sings Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego*
Whatever happened to that show? I loved watching the contestants put the flags on the different places at the end of the show. I know, I'm such a thrill-seeker.

My Spring Break To-Do List

Update: As with all to-do lists, the fun is crossing off the things you've accomplished... right, Penny? So I'm updating this post by striking through those tasks that are done. finished. complete.
Today (Monday): It took me half the day to finally get moving, but I did!
1. Take a shower (that would require getting off the couch)
2. Make my menu for the week (Tonight is a traditional Irish meal in honor of St. Patrick's day- corned beef hash and cabbage!)
3. Grocery shopping (my re-organized pantry from last week looks bare, to say the least.)
4. Laundry.
5. Make dinner and some kind of dessert. Spring Break always gives me a sweet tooth.

Sometime this week:
1. Organize closets in guest bedrooms (one down, one to go!)
2. Organize my closet (to make room for new spring clothes... yeah right!)
3. Re-organize bathroom cabinets
4. Dust, dust, dust.
5. Make a spring wreath- getting accomplished this afternoon
6. Clean bathrooms so glad that is done.
7. Schedule my massage that D gave me for our anniversary. Last June. Overdue much?
8. Weed the flower beds in the backyard.
9. Drag D to look for flowers to plant.

Time to get off and busy marking things off my list. Happy Spring Break!

crazy week... cute craft

The week before spring break. The week seems like it will never end while the days fly by as I try to cram impart last bits of knowledge before the 9 day vacation. The craziness doesn't end at the end of the school day... our evenings have been on the crazy side too.

Monday we enjoyed a delicious dinner with friends before our 9:30 volleyball game. I don't know about you, but playing volleyball is not the first thing on my mind at that time of night. It was hard to fight through the yawns, but we did and won the game.

Tuesday found us at the Upward awards ceremony. A church full of elementary-age kids and a magician. Enough said.

Wednesday was finally my first day at home. I cooked dinner so D could get to his Bible study on time, then planned on spending the evening relaxing on the couch, in front of the tv, and not moving until it was time for bed. However, at some point I got this crazy 2nd wind and decided to finish sewing curtains that I had been working on. This led me to organize my sewing materials, which then spurred on a complete re-organization of my pantry. After I finished at 8:30, I noticed my Hobby Lobby bag that contained the supplies for my next craft project and thought, what the heck. This project literally took me only 30 minutes to complete and would probably go even quicker if you use a stencil for the letter. Tada!



You can find the tutorial for this project here at my new favorite blog for cute, crafty ideas.

This is a cheap one too! I bought a pack of three canvas bags for 1/2 off... $3.50 for three! The doilies and fabric paint were also cheap- just a few dollars. I already had the spray adhesive and I printed off and made my own stencil for the letter. I'm anxious to try the freezer paper that Ashley Ann writes about in her tutorial. The canvas bag is a little smaller than I thought, so while I had planned to use this as a grocery bag, I think it will be perfect to take my lunch/other goodies to school in.

Tonight is our Spring Concert- An Evening of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. It is a really sweet time for the Lower School to come together. Kindergarten will be singing an assortment of songs about light, including This Little Light of Mine and an all-time favorite of mine Shine, Jesus, Shine.

Tomorrow is Friday! In less than 24 hours, Spring Break will officially begin! Really, I'm not that excited. ha!

Crafty Valentine Gift in pictures

fun valentine paper and ribbon

your favorite glass bottled soda

colored candy

voila!

valentine gift fun!

could easily be modified for other holidays like st. patrick's day (do they make festive m&ms for that?) or easter!

Happy Valentine's Day

Thanks to my good friend Penny for the idea behind this post... and causing me to finally post, period! In celebration of "Love" Day, here are 20 things 10 things that I love. But to be different, I'm going to countdown...

10. Flats (as in shoes, not apartments) I wear flats all the time. They are so comfortable to teach in and versatile too!

9. Scarves. Enough said.

8. Matt's El Rancho- seriously has become one of my favorite Mexican food restaurants... if only it wasn't so far South!

7. Curling up on the couch with a book or a movie, especially on a cold, dreary day.

6. P-Dub. Or Pioneer Woman, whichever you prefer. I cook way too many of her recipes, but they're so good!

5. My Longhorns.

4. My friends who are so much like a 2nd family. You're the greatest.

3. My family. So much fun. Can't wait for Girls Weekend in a month!


2. My D. Love living life with him.

1. My Jesus. Learning to lean on Him more and more every day.

Yea Orange! Yea White!

Tomorrow is the National Championship game... in case you didn't know. And my Longhorns are taking on the Crimson Tide from Alabama. Needless to say, I'm a little excited. And nervous. And relieved. You see, for the past couple of weeks I've been trying to figure out how to work my burnt orange attire to fit the teacher dress code at my school. Then today I got an email that made me go running out of my classroom (don't worry- there was a parent reader) to the first grade teachers, where I interrupted their conversation to tell them that tomorrow has been declared a jeans and Texas attire day! Don't worry. They understand me so they didn't look at me like the crazy that I am.

And the pictures above? That's the setup that I'm taking to my kindergarten class tomorrow in celebration of the big game. They also know how crazy I am about my Longhorns.

Hook 'em!