Sunday, May 26, 2013

Summer 2013

It's Memorial Day. First of all, I have a deep respect and appreciation for our military members, and their families. Thank you all for what you do everyday for our country.

Memorial day is also the unofficial start to summer. Of course, the summer "officially" starts at 2:45 June 13th. I am taking a cue from my friend Erika and I created my own Pinterest inspired, fancy-pants looking summer bucket list.

Just like Erika said in her post, many summer bucket lists out there are focused on parents. I took some ideas from Erika's list, added in some things from my 13 in '13 list and some of our summer plans. After thinking about some other things that I always love in the summer I narrowed it down to 20 things I would love to do this summer.
Some highlights:

  • There are only like 2 drive-ins in Oregon, and we live about 15 minutes from one, yet I don't think we have ever gone together. 
  • There are tons of local breweries in Oregon, including one just about 6 miles away from my house: the Rogue Farm/hop yard which is probably one of my favorite places ever. 
  • My town also puts on weekly concerts in the park (usually for free) and hosts a ton of festivals. Festivals, as you all know, include some of the yummiest food on the planet. 
  • We already have one camping trip planned and we have plans to head down to San Francisco to visit my Aunt.
What's on your summer bucket list?

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Happy stuff

I have not read anything about the tornado in Oklahoma. I just can't. There is too much yuck in our world. Boston. Ohio. Newtown. Afghanistan. Instead I am choosing to try to focus on things that make me happy. 







What has been making you smile lately?

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Confessions

A while ago I use to write these mid-week confession posts. E hasn't hosted the link up lately, but I am feeling the need to get some things off my chest.

I confess...

  • I don't know the difference between "effect" and "affect" 
  • I am a terrible speller. I cannot spell definitely. Every time I type I get the red squiggly line under it, and use spell check to correct it. When I am writing it out, I don't even try. I just write "def."
  • I have never read The Great Gatsby and I really have no idea what its about.
  • I pretty much kill every plant. Except for this one. And I think a mutant has taken over it.

I don't think snap dragons are supposed to look like this. Erika? 

  • I only have 14 days left of teaching this school year, and I am ready to be done. (I'm not showing movies everyday... yet)
  • Tonight was the first time I ever had pomegranate seeds. They were on my fro yo. I liked them, but I still don't know if they are worth the hassle of cutting open a full pom.
  • Every time I watch a military homecoming I cry. Every. Single. Time. Especially if it involves kids.
What do you need to confess?


Monday, May 20, 2013

Me Then and Now

I apologize for the long post with no pictures. I just have been thinking about this little topic for awhile and once I started writing, there was just a lot I needed to say.

I have seen a lot of bloggers posting letters to their 16 year old self. I think that is a great idea, and maybe someday I will write one. I mean I have learned a bunch of stuff then, and yes there is a ton of stuff I wish I had known back then, but to be honest, I was pretty awesome.

I want to be clear, I am not one of those people who think about high school as the glory days. Yes, I had fun. Yes, I have good memories, but I really don't need to relive it. But I have been thinking about me now and me back then. I also was not in the "popular group." I did have a small group of close friends, but I was friendly with kids in all the cliques.

Back then, I was pretty confident. If something sounded fun, I went for it. Even if I had never done it before. Even if I knew nothing about it, I would still try it out. When I was in 8th grade, I decided I wanted to try out for cheerleading. None of my friends were trying out, I had never done anything like it, but I thought it would be fun so I went for it. And I made it. (Looking back, if I hadn't made a team, I am sure my confidence would have been shot, and I wouldn't have done much else.)

My freshman year of high school I tried out for a play and got the lead. I never had really acted or been on stage, but it sounded fun and since cheerleading was over, I thought what the heck. I also started volunteering for the hospital around that time as well. Throughout my four years of high school I also decided to join choir, take jewelry class, take the stats for the wrestling team, counsel at Outdoor School, and a bunch of other things that were outside my comfort zone. Actually, now that I think about it, not much was outside my comfort zone. I was pretty comfortable pretty much everywhere.

I think things all started to change in college. I don't really know what it was that made me become more of an introvert. I remember on move in day my freshman year. My roommate was a soccer player and was at an away game, so she wasn't going to be at school for another few days. After my mom left I was sitting there in my room, completely overwhelmed with everything. I knew there was a new student/freshman BBQ happening on the lawn for dinner. Without having another person (a roommate) I really didn't know if I was going to go. That was the first time I was nervous about doing anything by myself. (By the way, a girl on my floor whose roommate was also a soccer player invited me to go with her to the BBQ. Nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. Seriously.)

Today I am definitely an introvert. As much as people don't believe me, I don't like being the center of attention or talking in front of big crowds. (However I do run several assemblies at school and talk in front of 900+ kids) I also get really nervous about trying new things by myself. Which I hate! I wish I had the confidence that I use to have. There are a few things I would like to try to do, but I make excuses. In reality, I am just scared of looking dumb in front of people and not having that friendly face with me. For example, I have been looking at an aerial fitness class (the kind with the ribbons and stuff) but I am just nervous scared about trying it out by myself.

I started thinking about all of this after taking a personality quiz thingy at a teacher training a few weeks ago. They said that our personality traits (like introvert vs. extrovert) don't really change throughout our lives. Um, lies! Mine did a complete 180, and there really isn't one thing pointing to why that is. I want to know, has your personality changed as you have gotten older? Any advice for how to come out of my shell??

Sunday, May 12, 2013

5 for 5 Week 14


It's Monday. Yuck. I actually only have 5 Monday's left of work this school year, so I shouldn't complain. I also shouldn't complain since I took Friday off, and I enjoyed my impromptu 3 day weekend.
Any who...Monday's mean that it's time to see how I did on my goals last week.
PartyOfOne
1. Workout 3 hours. Any combo of classes, runs whatever. I just need to get moving again! (and I really want to buy some new Nikes!) We actually went on a couple of long walks this week, I am giving myself credit for 1 1/2 hours. Total for the month: 1.5/12
2. Don't eat a meal out this work week. We took Craig's mom out to an early Mother's Day lunch but other than that, we ate at home.
3. Have all papers graded before I leave on Friday.
4. Have all materials for the next day ready before I leave work each day.
5. Start organizing my garage...

Not so great. I made some progress, and the colors look pretty, but I would prefer all green.
This week I want to:
1. Work out 3 hours.
2. Have all papers graded before I leave on Friday.
3. Get the rest of my laundry washed and put away.
4. Weed my garden boxes and get them ready to plant something. Maybe.
5. Only buy coffee once this week.

What are your goals for the week?

Looking forward and back...


Sunday Social

1 year ago...
We were celebrating Mother's Day at mom's house.
We were planning our summer vacation to Kauai.
I was anxiously waiting for the school year to be over :)

5 years ago...
I was 26.
My 26th birthday. It was an ugly sweater party.
We had only been dating for 2 1/2 months.
We were all googley eyed at each other.

10 years ago..
I was 21 and a junior in college. I was really excited to become a grown up. Dumb.

Source
1 year from now...
We (probably) will be living in this same house, working in our same jobs, and maybe expecting a baby. And I will be looking forward to summer.

5 years from now...
I'll still be teaching. Maybe at a high school. We'll have a little family.
And I will be looking forward to summer.
10 years from now...
I'll be 41. Yikes. We will be involved in what ever the kid is involved in. And I will be looking forward to summer :)

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Pinterest Challenge: Summer Sangria

I mentioned that last week I hosted my bunco group. That meant I was in charge of dinner for 14+ women. I decided that since we were so close to Cinco de Mayo to do a taco bar for dinner. I could cook the chicken in the crockpot all day, cut up some taco toppings, warm up some tortillas and we would be set. I was looking through the most recent edition of Everyday With Rachael Ray and I saw this article:
Pinned here
A sangria bar? Sign me up!

One problem... I have never made sangria, so I started to look up some recipes.
1/2/3/4
I also looked at the sangria recipes Rachael Ray also has on her website. While a lot of those look yummy, they all have a TON of ingredients, besides for the cut up fruit. I wanted simple. Then I stumbled across this
Source
4 ingredient, plus fruit? Sign me up. I did make a couple of adjustments. I don't like red wine. Actually, I don't really like wine, but I tolerate the white kinds much more. So after standing in the wine aisle for way to long, I grabbed a random bottle of white that was under $7. Also, my grocery store didn't have passion fruit juice concentrate, so I settled on 2 cans of Passion-Orange mix.

I had two trays of fruit cut up for people to add to their cups: fresh mango, apples, limes, kiwi,and oranges and a tray of frozen strawberries, peaches, raspberries, cherries and blueberries.

I also made up two non-alcoholic beverages for people who  don't drink alcohol. I thought lemonade and peach ice tea would also be fun to add fruit to. I had a glass of lemonade with berries and mango added to it.
The sangria turned out so yummy! Another lady in the group brought a bottle of peach schnapps to add to the sangria, so we topped our red solo cups off with it. I thought it was a great addition to the punch.

Do you have a go to drink recipe? (this is now mine!) Did you do anything for the Pinterest challenge this time?

Check out the other Pinterest Challenge participants at Katie, Sherry, Renee and Emily's blogs!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

What happens when I pretend to be a fashion blogger

Thank you all so much for your concern over my diagnosis yesterday. Today I tried to ease my symptoms by pretending I was at the beach all day while I was teaching. I did that by wearing this dress.
I think I went a little crazy on the editing. My face isn't really that orange/tan.
I am also to lazy to reedit the picture to make me not look so weird.
This is my first maxi dress and I cannot believe it took me so long to jump on this bandwagon. It is the most comfortable piece of clothing I own. Including my ever so constricting sweat pants. I bought it at the Macy's clearance center for $10 a month ago (I am pretty sure it was from last summer- yes, chevron is so 2012), but I love it. It is strapless, so for me to wear it to work I put it over a tank and under a jacket. This black jacket is from Old Navy  forever ago.

I also am loving my hair. I have naturally wavy/frizzy hair and I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to wear it straight for pretty much all 31 years I have been alive. Recently I have been embracing my waves and enhancing them- old lady style.
Yup, hot rollers. It is actually so easy to do. It is quicker for me to use hot rollers than to use a flat iron. I roll them up, then do my make-up, pack my lunch play a few lives on Candy Crush and 20 minutes or so later I take them out and flip my hair around. Boom. My hair is done. I don't even use product on my curls and (probably because of the wave) my hair lasts all day.

I also have been trying to wash my hair less. My hair dresser has been telling me for years to not wash my hair everyday. If I am not working out that day, I don't wash my hair. I am sure that also helps to keep the curl in. I have been using this product pretty regularly to give my hair some volume.
In all honesty, I received this product for free from BzzAgent, but I love it. I have tried other powder/volumizing products before, but I really do like this one the best. They all work, but it doesn't leave my hair with a weird texture like the spray products, and it also is cheaper than the other powder products I have tried. I highly recommend this stuff if you want a little lift in your hair.

What is your favorite summer look? Any fun products to recommend?

Sunday, May 5, 2013

5 for 5 week 13!


PartyOfOne

Let's take a look at last week's goals...
1. Confirm with our DJ for the last two dances of the year.
2. Give the pets their flea medication.
3. Finish reading Undead and Unreturnable
4. Go to one class at the gym. (baby steps people, baby steps)
5. Paint my nails.

Four outta five aint bad, but I really do need to make it back to the gym or out for a run or something! On Saturday we were at the beach and I was struggling walking up a little dune. The last two months I didn't meet my 12 hour a month workout goal, and so I have challenged myself: if I work out 12 hours this month, I get to buy new workout shoes.

So this week's 5 Goals:
1. Workout 3 hours. Any combo of classes, runs whatever. I just need to get moving again! (and I really want to buy some new Nikes!)
2. Don't eat a meal out this work week. (We kind of indulged this weekend...)
3. Have all papers graded before I leave on Friday.
4. Have all materials for the next day ready before I leave work each day.
5. Start organizing my garage...