12.29.2010

My Christmas Loot!

I'm not sure how I'll muster up the strength to leave my robe and cozy bed to go back to school in a week's time. I have gotten way too comfortable waking up around 9am and then lazily curling up with a book and some breakfast in bed. Oh the joys of being a teacher with some time off.

Anyway, Mason and I had a lovely Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we went to the Candlelight service at Marvin Methodist Church in Tyler and then afterwards over to my Aunt's house for some appetizers and wine.
{Mason, me, my brother Connor}
Being that currently there are no small children in my family, (my youngest cousin is 14) we took our time waking up, which is nice, but makes it not feel quite like Christmas morning. We did not even put out cookies for Santa this year. Sad. We quickly made up for this, however, with the excitement of opening up tons of presents.
Here are a few of my favorite gifts that I received:
1.) Hot pink and white houndstooth print scarf - Sample House (from Mom)
2.) Grey tee with sequined embellished sleeves - Gap (from Mom)
3.) Laura Bush book with book light (from my sister Claire)
4.) Champagne flutes - Crate & Barrel (Mason's mom gave me 4, my brother Connor gave me 2)
5.) Cookbook stand - Stein Mart (from Mom)
6.) Pink house shoes - Old Navy (from Santa/Mom)
7.) Gianni Binni metallic clutch - Dillard's (from Mom)
8.) White ski headband (from Mom)
9.) Tory Burch flats - Tory Burch (from Mason)

And that is only some of the fun stuff that I got this Christmas. I am a very lucky girl and am thankful to have such a generous and thoughtful family.

What was your favorite gift this Christmas?

12.23.2010

Merry Christmas!

I have so enjoyed my winter break thus far! Sleeping in late, working out, shopping, baking cookies, naps, falalala... I even finished reading the book "The Help" that I started back in August but just got around to finishing! It is soo good by the way. I also attempted to make Peppermint Bark. That was a disaster... I do not have the knack for melting chocolate apparently. I'll stick to baking.

So today, I'm packing up Santa's sleigh and heading down to Tyler with my mom to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with the fam! Then on Christmas Day, Mason and I will drive to Houston to celebrate with his brother and parents!
Don't you just love the holidays!?

Anyway, hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year! But, I'll prob post again before that because hopefully, I'll have some news to share, maybe, possibly, fingers crossed! ;)

12.12.2010

Dashing through December

Oh my stars! Christmas is less than TWO weeks away!?!? Where did the time go? This little elf really needs to get it in gear if I'm going to make this a December to remember...

Here's what has been keeping me busy so far this month...

A fun holiday weekend out on the town with friends:
Winning 3rd Place in the Door Decorating contest at school!!!
We drew "Deck the Halls" as the theme for our door! :) I thought the roaring fire and the stockings hung by the chimney (with care) were a nice touch! ;) Here are some of Santa's little helpers (my 4th period class):
This weekend we attended Mason's company Christmas party at the Gaylord Texan Hotel and got to go to the Charlie Brown ICE exhibit!
The entire exhibit is carved out of ice and they give everyone stylish parkas to wear to keep warm - since the average temperature is about 8 degrees!!! Burrr!
They also have ice slides! Here is Mason going down one!
I have also been doing a little holiday shopping here and there at the malls mainly (gasp!). If you know me you know I HATE going to the mall during Christmas, especially on Saturdays, but since I don't have time during the week, I have had to bite the bullet and just go for it. Surprisingly it has not been as awful as I had imagined. Here is a pic of my sister Claire and I before journeying out to the Galleria yesterday.
As you can see there has been plenty keeping me busy this month! Only one more week left at school until I have two weeks off for Christmas break... hallelujah!

And the thing that is really helping me pass the time.....

... visions of sparkly diamonds dancing in my head! ;)

11.30.2010

My Secret Santa Sucks...

So at school this year, I decided to participate in our little Secret Santa gift exchange at school. If you chose to take part then you had to fill out a little fact sheet about yourself detailing all of your faves (fav snack, candle scent, things on your wish list, etc), and then draw someone's name to give gifts to. For the first two weeks you are supposed to leave little gifts for your S.S. every couple of days and then on the last day you reveal yourself and exchange a $15-$20 gift.
Many people told me not to participate due to some not so good gift-givers lurking in the halls. But I am, by nature, a participator. So I signed up.

Today my Secret Santa had this little joy delivered to my classroom:
That would be a floral, heart shaped matching ribbon necklace and earring set. Wow.

I laughed so hard I was in tears. I mean was this a practical joke? I hope so. God forbid someone actually think that this is fashionable or that I would actually consider wearing this? Geeeeezzzz! Stick to the list people!! It was filled out in detail for a reason! I'd have been happier with a Diet Dr. Pepper and some M&Ms! Can't wait to see what other fabulous gifts I have in store! I'll keep you posted! ;)

Sorry I sound like a Scrooge. Just thought this was too funny not to share! Bah Humbug! ;)

Thankful...

Hey bloggies! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did! A very MUCH needed 5 day weekend. It was rough going back to school this week with the tease of Christmas break dangling just 3 weeks away! But I'm back in the routine. Only 13 more days to go! Yippee!

Thanksgiving was a great time! Last year, Mason and I were in NYC celebrating Thanksgiving.
This year though, we were lucky enough to spend time with both of our families. First we headed out to Weatherford to visit Mason's entire family... seriously like 40 people were there
including these two cuties! :)
After we had stuffed ourselves silly, we went for seconds at my mom's house and had some more turkey!

It was a good time and I'm thankful that we were able to split our time with both families.
But once we got home, I wasted no time packing up my fall decor! I had my Christmas decorations unpacked and positioned by Thanksgiving night! I just love having the Christmas tree up! It makes the house so much prettier! ;)
I can't believe There are only 25 more days til' Christmas! Better get to shopping! Yikes!

Here's to hoping that this holiday season will be the most special one yet! :)

11.18.2010

Mason Turns 27!

Happy Belated to this boy
...who celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday!!
Well, not belated on my part, just a belated blog shout-out. I'm not that bad of a girlfriend! ;)
So happy to celebrate another milestone together!
Love you Mase!

PS: A big Happy Birthday to Cameron too! (Mason's twin brother!) ;)

11.08.2010

Rushing the Holidays

Don't you just hate that?

I don't! Well I used to, but for some reason this year I am like a giddy little kid waiting for Christmas to come! Could it have something to do with having a lengthy Christmas break right on the horizons? Perhaps. All I know is that I've caught the Christmas spirit early this year!

Look at my most recent purchases:
I even bought a red, ruffled coat for the season as well! I don't know what has come over me! I've also already purchased Christmas cards and gift bags for presents for my fellow teachers. And you better believe as soon as I take my last bite of turkey this Thanksgiving, I'll be busting
out the tinsel and stockings and decking the halls! ;)

Adding to my holiday craze, I am a member of the "Doo-Dah" committee at work (we do all the fun, social stuff for the teachers) and today we were planning events for every day in December! I am in charge of the "Ugly Christmas Sweater" contest! Easy, I'm already a pro at that! ;)
*sigh* I just love the holidays! Wishing these next two weeks would hurry on by so we can get to the good stuff! Anyone else have Christmas fever yet!?!

11.07.2010

Someday I'll Look Back at This and Laugh

Um, yeah.... so car troubles continue to plague me. I found a staple in one of my back tires, after realizing it was a little low. Well since I never have time to get things done, Mason and I both had just been filling it up with air in hopes of getting it patched when the weekend came. Ha, that kind of planning only works for normal people. Not me. Instead, I always draw the "worst case scenario" stick.

Let's rewind back to Friday afternoon, 11:14AM.

I had just dropped my kids off at lunch and had 30 minutes before I had to pick them up again. Well, since I never have time (plus I'm too lazy) to get to the grocery store, I had nothing for lunch... and no cash with which to buy some cafeteria food (darn). So I decided to run down the street QUICKLY to get Subway. Well upon arriving to my car, my tire was very low. Bordering flat. So I thought to myself, well, I'll just fill up my tire with some more air at the gas station right next to Subway. I even asked a fellow teacher who was outside if he thought I could drive on the tire. He said I should be fine as long as I drive slow. So since I'm such the adventurous, risk-taker, I climbed aboard and started my trek to the gas station. I tried to ignore the horrid sounds of my low-tire grinding against the pavement.

I reach my destination, climb out of my car and catch a nice whiff of burnt rubber!!! My tire is torn to shreds, ruined, can transport me no longer! It is now 11:20AM, I have to pick my kids up from lunch in 24 minutes and I am stuck at the gas station down the street.

So, I panic, call Mason and give him the play by play of how my life is over and my car will never drive again... oh and I'll probably be fired for leaving school and not picking my kids up on time. He agrees to leave work and help his damsel in distress.

Next step, call my school and try and get a ride back (first though, I had to google my school, because I didn't have the number in my phone - always prepared). I call the front office in tears and ask the front desk lady if she can find anyone to come pick me up from the gas station. She says not to worry, help is on the way.

It is now 11:34AM, and guess who got recruited to pick me up!?!?! MY FREAKING PRINCIPAL!!!! I mean seriously!?! Out of everyone in the whole school she asked my awkward, by-the-book, cheesy principal! Where were the other teacher's, custodians, kids with learner's permits, ANYONE!? I start bawling. Talk about the longest ride of my life. He was very nice about it while I, on the other hand, was absolutely mortified. I mean, I'm sure my principal was like, " hmm, Ms. C really knows how to keep it together in times of crisis." Um, yeah, fail.

So, it's 11:44AM (time to pick up the kiddos) and I'm still a wreck - I don't know why... I mean it really wasn't a big deal. I think I was just pissed about having another tire issue within two weeks of the last and just stressed (my Asst. Principal, Principal and Superintendent all stopped by my room to observe me earlier that morning -NO BIG DEAL). Anyway, I was in no condition to pick up my kids just yet, so I asked another teacher to pick them up, take them to the restroom and back to class while I composed myself. I, of course, had to walk past my class in the process. When I finally got it together and went back to the classroom my kids were very concerned asking if I had been fired. Ha! Good one kids. ;)

Anyway, Mason came to my rescue, took off the shredded tire, bought me a new one and returned my car to school in good shape. What would we do without men? ;)

Oh, first year of teaching memories. Another one for the books!

11.01.2010

November 2010

Made it! I am now safely on the other side of October, my hell month! I only have one more GT training class to go to and only a few more online assignments to submit and I am done! I will have my life back! I'm not sure what I will do with all of my free time... Read books, take up knitting, become a faithful blogger again!? Things are looking up! ;) Anyway, so let's see what's going to be awesome about November...

Nov. '10
Excited about:
  • Thanksgiving! Duh! ;)

  • Having lost a little bit of weight with zero working out. (Although now that I have made this public I will instantly gain 10 pounds).
  • Going to Lafayette/Baton Rouge with Mason again for an LSU game with some friends who live down there.
  • Getting 5 days off in a row for Turkey Day (Only 3 more weeks to go!!)
  • Daylight Savings Time! It is depressing when it is still pitch black when I arrive at school!
  • Decorating for Christmas at the end of the month! Is it too early to listen to Christmas music?
Dreading:
  • The rest of the UT football season (and the Cowboys)...we suck this year! :(
Things to celebrate this month:
  • Mason (and Cameron's) 27th birthday! My oh my!
  • Turkey Day!
Jamming out to:
  • Fav new song right now.... "Like a G6" - Far East Movement
Watching:
  • Same shows as October, but um did you SEE the Glee - Rocky Horror Picture Show episode! LOVE!!!
Reading:
  • Still no time for pleasure reading. *sigh* One day....
So that is the low down scoop for this month! Hope you all have a fabulous day-after Halloween! Happy November! :)

10.31.2010

Hall-o-Weekend!

Happy Halloween friends!
I hope you all have had a spooky weekend! Mason and I kept it pretty low key this weekend. I'm talking reallllyyyy. low. key. Half of our friends went to New Orleans this weekend for VooDoo Fest. The other half of our friends went to the Ghostland Observatory concert in Dallas - which was sold out by the time we jumped on the bandwagon. Thus, for the first time in 9 years, we did not dress up, we did not get all boozy at a bar, we did not get in a fight with a girl and lose our cell phones... we just sat at home and watched scary movies, like mature adults. Ok, maybe not mature. Mason got scared by some ghost tv show we were watching and refused to open the bedroom door to see why one of our lights in the living room was still on when he thought he turned it off! I'm glad I have him around to help with ghost patrol! ;)

Anyway, so we spent our afternoon carving a pumpkin!

Our masterpiece, except for the fact that our kitty is evil and is missing half of it's tail.
So we were doing a little drinking and carving... we had to do SOMETHING crazy this weekend! ;)

Anyway, after the pumpkin was carved and dinner was cooked, we baked some Halloween cookies and chowed down on the candy that was left over from the Trick or Treaters!
We had a lot leftover, since ZERO kids came to our door! RUDE! Oh well, more Kit Kat's for me...

There was also lots and lots of Vampire Cabernet involved as well!
All in all a pretty successful holiday and I don't even have a hangover to whine about! My very first grown-up Halloween! Let's hope it's another 9 years before it happens again... I kid, I kid! ;)

10.24.2010

No Rest for the Weary

This month has been just AWFUL! No more car drama, or any drama of any kind, really. Just totally worn out and drained by all of the teacher training sessions I have had to go to this month!

.....Gifted & Talented
.....Teaching English Language Learners
.....Keys to Quality Teaching
..... How To Have Two Margaritas/Chardonnays and Still Look Great at 6:30AM (hmm...so maybe that wasn't a training, but I have already mastered this skill ;)

I literally have trainings lasting until 7:30 or 8pm nearly every school night (I even had one all day on Saturday) <----RUDE! So usually, I get out of school, head straight to the training and then head home to plan some stuff for the next day or grade papers! I have ZERO personal time! :( This will get better though I know. Next week is my last week of awful trainings (oh and did I mention that nearly each training session has a project or homework assignment that goes along with it)..fun! I am soooo ready to take my first year "training wheels" off!

Don't get me wrong though, I do love my job! There just isn't enough time in the week to really do it perfectly or fit in everything I would want to do! Oh well, could be worse! Here is a pic of
me in action with some of my kiddos from my social studies class
we were in the library working on a Middle Eastern Scavenger Hunt!

Our whole 6th grade is going to the Dallas Museum of Art on Tuesday for a field trip! Ahh, might be scary! I'll report back to let you know how it goes! Hope you had a restful weekend, I sure didn't! Maybe one of these days... ;)

10.11.2010

Just Another Manic Monday

So today started out pretty well...not even very Monday-ish for a Monday! We were testing for the first half of school, then another teacher took over my tutoring session so I had ample time to get everything I needed to do done. So I journeyed home, and then the REAL fun began!

I got all the way home in my car, which is a TOTAL piece, by the way. I now listen to the Ticket (sports radio) because it is the only station my janky car can pick up these days, now that my iPOD charger is stuck forever inside my cassette player. YES MY CAR STILL HAS A CASSETTE PLAYER!

Anywho.... so I get all the way home and go to park in front of my casa, like I always do, because I'm lazy like that! I usually get great parking (a perk of a teacher's schedule), but not today! Every mexicano in town had their hoopty (ahem...not that I'm one to talk) lining the streets, because they are repainting our condo complex. So, pissed off, I U-turn to go park myself in the back in gated parking. I get to the gate, click my gate opener and nothing. No open saysame! My gate opener batteries are dead. Mega pissed off now, I U-turn back to the front and have to inconveniently back up into a spot down the street. POP!!!!! WHOOOOOSH!
That my friends is the sound of my tire hitting some metal wire protruding from the sidewalk and then the subsequent air rushing out of my tire. AWESOMEEEEE!! FML. Seriously?!??! SERIOUSLY!!! RED ALERT PISSED OFF!

So I go to call Mason and he knew exactly what I was talking about because he has been eyeing that piece of metal for years now thinking to himself, "man that would suck if someone popped their tire on this"...grrrreat!

So I know it sounds like I was Mexican bashing earlier, but I wasn't... me gusto todos los mexicanos! Especially because my MISA came to save the day ( my "Mexican In Shining Armor"). :) A painter from down the street helped me remove my car from the wire, jacked my car up and then was going to attach my spare tire. I mean it was the least he could do since he stole my parking spot and all. But guess what? You need a secret key to get the tire off the back of the car. A key I don't have!!! WHYYYYYYY MEEEE!? So the friendly latino wasted his time helping a cute, automobile-challenged blonde with a shitty car!

Anyway, Mason did the rest of the damage control when he got home and $108.25 later my car is as good as new. Ha, not really, but it'll drive.

So anyway, it's going to be a McDonald's for dinner, 2 (maybe 3) glasses of wine, Gossip Girl kinda night! Somebody's got a case of the Mondays!

10.04.2010

October 2010

Remember me? You probably don't. I have become a stranger to the blog world. BUT this weekend I had people coming out of the woodworks to tell me that I am slacking and that it makes them sad to have to sit in their cubicles without the enjoyment of being entertained daily by my ever-so deep ramblings. So, I'm back, by popular demand ;).... and I have SOOO much to catch you up on, it'll prob take a few posts, so I am going to start out slow with a little October preview. Patience people.

OCTOBER 2010

Excited about:
  • The cool crisp fall weather that looks like it is here to stay!!
  • My once-yearly official evaluation by my principal that happened last week that I did really well on! Phew! Glad it's over!
  • Having out my fall decorations! Halloween is one of my fav Holidays to decorate for (besides Christmas obv.)!
  • I had today off, because it was Fair Day for my kiddos! A MUCH needed day off!
  • Going to the State Fair of Texas next week with Mason! I didn't go today because I didn't want to run into any students on my day off!
  • Horror movies on TV this month! I loooove scary movies! :)

Dreading:
  • All the one million training's I am going to have to go to this month. I signed up for all my Gifted & Talented and ELL training's this month so I could just get them over with but that means having a class to attend after school several times a week and lots of online homework and lessons to submit! Blah! Can't wait for my first year to be OVER! ;)
  • The rest of the UT Football season! Not off to a good start with 2 losses already! Booo!
  • The fact that I have had a cold for over 3 weeks and it shows no signs of ever leaving!!! Or at least my disgusting cough seems to be here to stay! :(

Loving:
  • Butternut Squash soup! The "Newflower Market" grocery store by my house has the most delicioys BNS soup ever! I crave it every day and usually go buy some about every other day! :)

  • Pop-Chips (Salt & Pepper flavor) - a new semi-guilt free snack that I have been indulging in!
  • That it smelled like Christmas when I walked outside after a training tonight! :)

Things to Celebrate this Month:
  • Halloween! Duh! Best Holiday ever!!! :) No plans or costumes yet though... better get crackin' on that!
  • Columbus Day?

Reading:
  • No time for pleasure reading... I am having to do TWO book studies right now. One for our school and one for an online G&T training. Blah! School Overload!! I haven't even been keeping up with my US Weekly magazines. Sad.

Watching:
  • Gossip Girl
  • Glee
  • 90210
  • Grey's
  • All Housewives shows.... Desperate, Real H. of DC, etc. (except not Atlanta, that cast sucks)
  • Teen Mom
  • Mad Men
  • I really don't have time for all these shows, but I make it work somehow! ;)

Jamming out to:
  • Currently nothing. My radio in my car has been broken for awhile so I was using my iPOD connector thingy that connects to my iPOD via a cassette tape wire device. Well it got stuck the other day so know all of my driving is in silence and I know none of the new jams. Sad.
Ok, so I know I have lots of catching up still to do, but it was a start! I'll write more soon!! TTYL! :)

9.13.2010

XOXO

Can I tell you how happy I am that Gossip Girl is back! I forgot how much I missed it over the summer!! And I also forgot all about how SCANDOLOUS the season ended! Dan & Georgina have a baby?? Chuck and Jenny!??! Followed by Chuck being stabbed in Amsterdam! OMFG indeed.

Anyway, so now that the gang is back, we can be stylishly amused by the latest in GG fashion! After all, there really is only one question to ask.

Are you a Serena....

or a Blair?
I think I lean more towards Blair's style myself! Oh to live a day in either of their closets... *sigh* a girl can dream!

XOXO!