Toast to February

It's that time again! The time where we Toast to [insert month]. A time where we can acknowledge all the small details that might not have needed an entire post, but deserve a little attention on this space of webz. 

Here’s to hyper elite socks. Whoever created those deserves an award. They make me want to pay $20 bucks for socks. But looook how pretty my feet looked at the track meet yesterday!!

Here’s to Drita. Because I love Mob Wives, but I’m really glad I’m not one.

Here’s to my boyfriend for not getting me one piece of chocolate for Valentine’s Day…. It’s like he knows me. I always worry when people that know me get me chocolate…. Knowing I won’t eat any of it. ???

#carpic

Here’s to MTV for sucking an upper 20s back into their programming. Are You the One has such an interesting premise to it!! Would you recognize your perfect match if they were right in front of you? I’d say I probably do not have a good track record.

Here's to day trips with D-mommy. Or my grandmother for those of you new around here. Little road trips are a perfect time to talk about everything under the sun. Including what she would do if the bridge gave out and we fell into the water below, real talk.

Here’s to teacher friends. Specifically teacher friends who tutor rich people and get me autographs. Say hello to my newly obtained Rusty Greer baseball cards. These babies are going in a safe!!!!

 

There's officially 5 days left of school before Spring Break. As always, I'm not sure who is more excited.... because it would take a lot to top my level of happiness. Bring it on March!

Seth Rogan

Seth Rogan and I have never had much in common. 
He smokes a lot of weed.. I don't. 
He makes a lot of movies that I don't think are that funny. I'd rather watch Mr. Darcy a million times over than Superbad. 
I don't think we would be friends if we met randomly on the street. 

However, as of last night, I have a lot of respect for him. Because it can't be easy to get up and speak in front of a Senate hearing; and it really can't be easy to talk about such a serious matter such as Alzheimer's in front of a Senate hearing.

I appreciated the way he didn't act like he did this every day. 

I appreciated the way he looked almost nervous reading off of his sheet of paper. 

I appreciated the way he addressed the common misconception that Alzheimer's only affects really old people... in more of a "oh they're just senile" type of way. 

I really appreciated how he talked about the "shame" stigma that is associated with the disease. Simply raising awareness is a huge part of gaining research funding. 

I appreciated he also brought awareness to the cost of taking care of Alzheimer's patients. The cost is outrageous. 

I loved the amount of people wearing purple in the room. The official color of Alzheimer's. 

And I love that this happened the same week that BvB announced that this summer our goal is 400,000 dollars. 

Thank you Seth Rogan. You're ok in my book.  

Jalapeno Peppers

Duck Dude and I decided to host a cook out on Sunday afternoon. It just felt like it was going to be a perfect, sit on the back porch and mingle with friends type of day. So we did. And it was. And the only thing that would have been better is if none of us had to go to work the next day, and the fire pit didn't stir up all 1000 of my allergies. But I'll continue....
So I decided to try out some stuffed jalapenos that have just been sitting on Pinterest waiting to be made. I, of course, kept the jalapenos, cream cheese, and cheese and then I modified just about everything else! Here's what I came out with! They were delicious and an excellent finger food appetizer.   

Of course, like the excellent blogger I am, I did not get an off the grill picture. So you're just going to have to use your best imagination skills as to the perfect crispiness of the bacon and the delightful crunch of the jalapeno! 
I think this is one of those recipes that you could change every time you make it! Three cheese jalapenos? Black bean jalapenos? Take it and do what you want with it!! 

1D for Life

If you’re not familiar with the term 1D, it stands for One Direction. As in, the hottest boy band from Europe. With British accents and British names like Harry, Liam, and Niall. They’re like the Spice Girls of this generation, except for nothing could ever compare to the Spice Girls.

And if you live in the middle school world, they are anything and everything. Some girls are die-hard fans. Some try and act cool, but I know they secretly love them. But the other day, they took it to a whole new level. One direction for life. 

Because, obviously, the one Direction knee high socks are not enough.

Because, obviously, a 10 in by 10 in picture of Harry Styles on a pillow is not enough. However, that might make a good present for my college sister who turns 21 in a couple weeks. She’s just as obsessed as my 7^th graders.

Because, obviously, a pillow that makes it look like you are holding hands with them is even better than a 10 in pillow of Harry Styles. If you place your hand on top of the pillow hand, it’s almost like you’re holding hands with them in real life.

Because, obviously, custom platform shoes to wear around in everyday life, are not enough. 

No. One of my students came to school with a 1D tattoo. On her calf. A calf 1D tat. Just soak in all that goodness. And then soak in all the goodness of these photos. 

Because why would you not want a One Direction tattoo on your body for life?

(I am aware that this tattoo might scrub off with the use of soap and water, but that made for a way less dramatic post) 

Pretttty Blog

Looook at my blogggg!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eeeeek. I'm so excited and love every little detail! My good (blog) friend Erin designed it for me and it turned out exactly as I was imagining it in my crazy little head. Simple and sleek. Navy and gold. No chevron. Anywhere. These were the images I gave Erin to work with.

Pretty spot on, right? Feel free to look around! Check out my pretty new social media tabs. Take in every part. And if you decide you need a new face lift yourself.. head on over to Erin's page! And that's about all I can write cause I'm too busy staring at my computer screen! 

Over and out!

Confessional Friday

I confess... I'm ready for the Olympics to be over so all my regular scheduled programming comes back on. Thank goodness the Bachelor didn't take a break. 

I confess... that because my regular TV has not been on.. I've gotten a lot of reading accomplished this week and I kind of think that's exactly what I needed. 

I confess... that I might try and do a book review whenever I finished The Book Thief... even though I have no idea how to write a book review. 

I confess... that my hair needs to be recolored so badly, but I don't have anything important coming up, so I'm waiting another two weeks. The grays are out loud and proud.. I'll let them survive a little longer.

I confess... that I made it another week without having to go to the grocery store! I should probably not be confessing this.. because it's really more embarrassing! Tom Thumb.. I'll see you soon... maybe.

I confess... that I'm exploiting my 8th grade athletes to do all of my grading for me and it's fantastic. I should have started this a lot sooner in the year. They love grading and I love not grading!!! Win, win.  

I confess... that even though I only taught 3 days of school this week... I am still over the moon happy it's FRIDAY!!!!!

Link up with Leslie and let's hear your confessions! And, of course, happy Friday!!!!

Pinterest Vacation

It's happened. This week I officially made a "Vacation Inspiration" board on Pinterest. So I'm terribly sorry for all the people who want to punch me in the face for the non stop pins of swimsuits, long maxi skirts, and beaches. I think I've reached the point where I am ready for summer. There's only 12 weeks left in the school year, only 4 weeks left until the STAAR test, and then it's basically over for me! Another school year down. So we might as well start talking vacation now. 

It's also simultaneously re-motivated me to look more like the girls in the swimsuits and less like the girl cramming Mexican food down her throat 4 days a week. Except for today because I have a meeting at La Hacienda.... so I have to eat Mexican food, duh. 

I'm feeling a mix of swimsuits.. gotta switch up the tan lines, ya know? But these are some I've pinned so far: 

 

The one on the left is only $179, so that's reasonable. #pinterestdream

I really want a back like this one. And then of course, every basic color there is possible so I can make a mathematical equation about how many different combinations of swimsuits I could make! 

As far as outfits go, I'm all about the maxi skirts on the beach. 

 

I'm not sure about the sandals on the left, but they're growing on me! And I already have everything for the outfit on the right! And the bottom one just screams BEACH!!! 

Right now, my biggest dilemma is deciding what kind of hat I want and if I'll actually wear it on the beach. My next biggest dilemma is when to start my day countdown!!!!!!! 

Digital Win!

Applications always make me nervous. Even though I blog almost daily, I feel like I'm not a good writer. It might be because I'm a math teacher. It might be because growing up English teachers either absolutely hated or absolutely loved my writing - and I think it somehow forced me to be self-conscious about my writing. 

So when I decided to apply for a digital classroom, I had about four other digital teachers check my application. Did it sound ok? Did I sound too harsh (cause my mom tells me I'm harsh)? Did I sound too blunt? Did I do enough explaining of why I wanted a digital classroom? Was my "why wouldn't I want a digital classroom?" too snarky... but I didn't mean it as snarky.. I was completely serious. 

On the time table they gave us they talked about student interviews, collection of artifacts, and twitter chats, with the notification of acceptance on May 1st. So you can imagine my surprise when I got an email yesterday stating I had been selected to have a digital classroom!!! Everyone said I had nothing to worry about, but how embarrassing would that have been if I would not have gotten it when everyone thought I would! It just stressed me out more! 

So next year, I will have a class set of iPads in my room!! All day, e'erday!!! I won't have to go through the hassle of trying to secure them from the library and I can use them any time I want!!! I still have to go through all the trainings, but I am so excited to have been selected! I cannot wait to see how it is going to enhance and improve my classroom!

The Yoke’s on You

On Valentine’s Day I wrote about my mom… not my Duck Dude. I don’t do mushy real well and he’s totally fine with that! That being said, we decided to go out with his sister and bro in law, and another couple on Sat night for hibachi! That’s the way to do it! A good time with good people is perfect for us!

After driving around the parking garage for 20 minutes and doing some relaxation breathing practices while we were at it, we made it to the restaurant. We found Duck Dude’s sister and bro in law and got ready to watch some hibachi magic!

Everything was great, our chef had just taken his egg out and spun it calling it an “egg roll.” We all clapped and cheered. Then he started bouncing it on his spatula… and it all went awry.

The egg took a couple awkward bounces and before I knew it was coming right at me! So I did the only thing that my reflexes allowed me to do… I caught it. The only problem was when I caught it, my firm grasp (surely from all the working out I’ve been doing) crunched the egg right in my hand. In the meantime, the chef was still trying to recover and knocked my drink over with his spatula. Luckily, I did have a quick enough reaction time to move out of the way of that, all while holding this egg in my hand.

He immediately started the “I’m so sorrys” which I continued to get for the remainder of the night. It really was fine! I got my drink replaced, my raw egg chopsticks replaced, and hand sanitized my hands, so I was good to go!

Just when we had finished cleaning up Duck Dude’s sister turned to me and said, “Well, the yoke’s on you!” And the yoke was on me, but last time the 6 of us went out Duck Dude got salsa spilled all over him…. So we decided that his sister was next in line! Luckily we all love “interactive experiences” and I don’t think a couple spills will stop us from going out with each other!

Post yoke

Hope everyone had a marvelous weekend!

What I Love About Mom

My mom has been banished from this blog forever!!!! Fine, just for today. That's only because I will not see her until tomorrow and today is all about her.. and what we're giving to her for Valentine's Day. It's this little book that I bought after Christmas and it's perfect for her. It's called What I Love About Mom. 

Then I had a thought. I wanted the three of us girls to fill them in! I will put our initial in the bottom corner so she knows who filled it in. If it’s one we all three agree upon, I’ll put a three in the corner. And that's when I knew it was going to be good! I cannot wait to see her reaction (hint #47). I color coded the document for y'all! I am in purple. The red head is in red. The blonde is in blue (because she's a Kappa). And all three of us are in green... because that's our favorite color! Here are some of my favs!

What I love about Mom

1. I love your laugh.

2. I love hearing stories about your college pranks/boyfriends.

4. I love it when you call me FBBG… cause I am. (that's first born baby girl blogworld)

5. I’m humbled by your desire to serve others first.

6. I love remembering the time we went New York with the Chapmans.

7. I’m thankful I got your red hair.

9. I hope to be as considerate as you one day.

10. I am so thankful that we all love musicals.

11. I love how you never judge me for my weird tangents.

13. When I was little I loved to watch you produce magic in the kitchen.

14. If I had to describe you in one word, it’d be Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. (remember that one real long answer the red head and I came up with... this was it!)

15. I’d love it if we could camp together soon. (the red head and I agreed)

16. If you were a dance, you’d be the Signature arm Dance. (this is a mom thing, but it's pretty great!)

18. You have the prettiest calves. (but really, my mom's calves are awesome)

21. You are is so kind. You are is so smart. You are is so important.

22. If you were a scent, you’d be leather aka the horse barn.

24. Sometimes your ability to find the positives amazes me.

25. It makes me laugh to think how you defend yourself from tickle fights. (she goes with the flail all about approach)

26. I’d be lost without your guidance.

27. I love that you taught me how to respect others.

28. You make the best banana pudding ever.

29. I love how good you are at your middle school cheers.

30. When we are apart, it makes me happy to think about Heidi.

33. I love your taste in old, classic movies.

35. If you wanted to, you could easily beat me in a spelling competition.

37. I love that Brighton perfume you used to wear.

38. I admire your dedication to share the gospel at the Olympics.

39. You deserve the supermom award.

41. I love that you love my husband.

42. I love to play SkipBo with you.

43. I still can’t believe you fall asleep so quickly in your chair.

44. I love it when you laugh like a hyena.

45. I love how you have such strong faith.

47. It makes me smile when you cry when you are happy.

48. I love to sing for you.

49. Nobody else can handle the three of us like you.

50. Thank you for being a Godly example.

I love you, mom.

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!!!

Why We Work...

Today I'm linking up with Bonnie and Taylor to do a "Why We Work..." I think most people are doing their significant other... however I decided to take it a little different direction!

Three girls in a household doesn't always work. Let's be real, two girls in a household doesn't always work. I consider it one of my life's greatest blessings that my sisters and I work. Were the same person, but totally different. 

We have the same nose, but completely different hair color. We've heard as many "milk man" statements as you can imagine.... But just look at our nose. Exact same. 

We have the same snort, but completely different laughs. The red head does this giggle thing. The blonde makes weird faces, and I think I'm just loud. 

We have the same mind. I found out this week that the blonde and I have the same password. And it's not our dog's name. Or our old address. Or anything I would expect someone else to come up with.... Yet my blonde did!! 

Still on the same mind thing.. the red head and I have been collaborating to make mom something for the Hallmark holiday. What'd we do? Came up with the same longest word ever for an answer! I thought she had just seen mine until she told me she thought of it on her own! And I said.. Nope! We thought of it! States apart. Same mind. 

We work because sometimes we still dress alike... even though our mom's not dressing us exactly alike anymore. We'll show up in the same color shirt with the same scarf (that maybe our mom got us.. so maybe she does still dress us). 

We have the same tattoo, but it looks completely different on each of our skin. The red head is obviously the pale foot, the blonde is the foot with vitiligo, and my foot is obviously the foot model perfect summer tan foot.

We work because we're sisters. We had our fair share of arguments growing up, but now we're older and we love each other. And sometimes I'm convinced that no one in this entire world understands us but us. And sometimes I feel sad for people who aren't as close to their siblings as us, because I do not know what I would do without them. 

We work because we're us. 

Duck Banquet

Duck Banquet was a stunning success.... except for the fact that Duck Dude and I never took a picture. Cool, right? But we got there, and he was off and working... while I was off and having myself a good time! I got to see so many people, while spending time with his family and my mom! It was the first time my mom got experience what Duck Dude actually does. I think it's safe to say she enjoyed herself! 

However, we didn't win won thing. Nothing in the silent auction, nothing in the live auction, and nothing with the raffle tickets. Bummer. But there's always next year!

Duck Dude has already told me it brought in over double the money they brought in last year! The venue was phenomenal, the food was fantastic, and the people were excited about ducks! 

How many of you had no idea that duck banquets existed? If you ever get a chance to go, GO! It's all about people having a good time and raising money for something they are passionate about! The weekend was definitely successful!! 

I like this one, because you can really see the background of the place!

We did take a picture once we got home!! Cheers to a magnificent night!! Cannot wait until next year!