2008 Highlights

2008 has been a wonderful year! Here are some of the highlights from this year...

We had our reception in January for our Jamaican wedding!

We moved into our FIRST new house in March!

Our roomie/friend, SH, movied in at the end of May.

We got our new puppy, Truman, in June!

then  now

A couple of my friends from college got married over the summer.

   

Girls weekend during the summer!

Celebrated our first wedding anniversary in December!

So...all in all it was a great year. I am sure there is more, but these are the main highlights that I am TRULY glad happened. Have a wonderful New Year! Ring in 2009 safely and happily!

"But my breath fogged up the glass, so I drew a new face and I laughed..." Jason Mraz

Mr. S. got our gym membership temporarily worked out for us to go as guests for the next 7 days until they get the trade worked out with his company. He called me and told me early this afternoon that if I wanted to go that I could....so I pulled on my sweats and tennis shoes, grabbed my new iPod, and out the door I went. I went and did 3 miles...wow! I haven't been in about a month...and 3 miles! Goodness! I can't wait to go tomorrow!

New Year's Eve get together here at our house tomorrow night. We usually have our friends over, I make tons of different dips, and we play board games and Wii. Turns out to be a great night...oh, and drinks! Yum! I can't wait to have everyone over tomorrow night!

Speaking of which, I need to get the house cleaned up....why does the house never stay clean? Serisouly, I just cleaned it Monday. MONDAY! Really....I need it to stay clean. 

I found a great site to take care of all the books I read. It is called http://www.goodreads.com. It is free, you can write reviews, and read other people's reviews. It's pretty awesome!

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." - George Orwell

A few of us went to see Marley and Me over the weekend. I had been very excited about this movie because I read the adult version of the book over the summer and I had just read the teen version to my students before Christmas break. I was so excited to hear that there was a movie coming out based on the book. Now, if you have read the book and you want to go see the movie, go in with an open mind. A lot of things are different in the movie from what is in the book. With that said, the movie is not bad. I really enjoyed it, but it was hard to stop reverting back to the book and picking out what they had left out or changed. Take tissues...it is a tear-jerker. Mr. S. said he had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't cry. Aw.

We had our final Christmas dinner for the season at his parents' house yesterday. His mom makes this awesome tortellini soup...it is SOO good. Mm...and she sent some home with us. Yum! It was a good time to stop by there and have Christmas. Truman went and behaved himself, which was so nice. But he ate a rawhide bone all day and his tummy is a little upset today.

I have decided not to make my resolution for next year to be to lose weight, but to be healthier. I have to start eating better because I think that it might help me feel better. I have been feeling icky...so I think it will help.

So....Tyra is on TV. Is it just me or does it look like she had a nose job? Maybe it's the makeup. Oh, and the Kardashian sisters...annoying. Their voices grate on my nerves.

Have a wonderful day!

Jingle all the way...

How I love Christmas! I woke up at 5:30am...that's how I am, I get REAL excited for Christmas. Mr. S. does not appreciate me scaring the crap out of him, however...and our roomie may wish that I would go away, but this is her third Christmas with me so she knows how this works. I LOVE getting up early on Christmas. I like to see the faces of the people I bought fun things for and have a great morning together.

Mr. S. loved his new Wii game and wrench set. Yay! And our roomie, Ms. H., loved her fleece blanket I made, Toy Story 1 and 2, and the earmuffs. All in all, good day.

Ms. H. bought me this super cute vest from Old Navy and a Wii game called My Sims. She also stuffed a Scentportable from Bath and Body Works in my stocking. Oh, and a muffin tin!

Mr. S. did good this year. New purple iPod and Puma tennis shoes. Awesome!

So, it was a good Christmas. We haven't celebrated with our actual families on Christmas Day for a couple of years now. It really eliminates some stress on the actual day. I am sure that once Christmas is on a weekend, that will change and we will make the drive home. But when it is during the week, we are at our house. Our friends come over in the evening and we have dinner, drink a little, and play games. It's a pretty good time.

Now it is time to clean my kitchen and nap!

Tis the Season

Truman is back. We went and picked him up this morning from the boarding place we left him at. He had a great time! When we left there was a white envelope in his bag, and when I opened it there was a Thank You card inside. Puzzled, I opened it and out fell a picture of Truman running in the outside area they have! In the note they thanked us for choosing their place and said that Truman was a sweet dog. Very cool!

The weekend was great! Mr. S.'s parents have rescheduled their Christmas, so we actually had the weekend to ourselves without the dog. I laid around the house and didn't have to take the dog out, get up early...all the fun stuff you do with a dog. Then we went to my mom's Sunday. It was a pretty good time. Mr. S. and I got some fun house stuff. My mom made me a cookbook scrapbook of favorite family recipes. It is so NEAT! Then I received some shelves with awesome baskets. It does not have all of these baskets in it. It is all open and then the baskets I got are striped.

Also, I received a $50 gift card to my favorite clothing store, a Sodoku book, and a wooden Sodoku board.

Those are some of the good things that I got! Mr. S. and I will have Christmas together on Christmas Day...so I am really excited about that. I am going to enjoy the rest of my break and read book 3 and 4 of Twilight. I am currently in the middle of book 3....I LOVE THEM! I think I am going to get back at reading and smell the yummy chicken I am cooking for dinner!

Sleight bells ring...

Good morning! Right now I am curled up with my cat on the couch and her kitty motor is super loud. Let me explain why she is in a good mood. There is no dog here right now. He has been out of the house since 4:30 last night. When there is no dog for that amount of time, her kitty motor gets l0uder. And for those of you unfamiliar with "kitty motor", I mean her purr.

Truman is at a boarding place that is supposed to be pretty nice. We thought we had to leave last night for Mr. S.'s parents' house, but his mom rescheduled our Christmas. Well, this place is so hard to get your dog into that we went ahead and kept our reservation. That means I got to sleep past 4:30am! YAY! Now, sleeping in still meant like 7am, BUT I got to lay in bed until 8:30. *sigh* I do miss that big yellow goon though.

Christmas break is upon me. Yesterday was a crazy day of caroling in the gym and Christmas parties. Now....break for 2 weeks. Weee!

**side thought** Why are there so many weird McDonald's Chicken McNugget ads? They weird me out.

When the Weather Outside is Frightful...

Our anniversary has come and gone. Thanks to everyone for the anniversary wishes! Mr. S. got me these gorgeous amethyst earrings (I will post pics later!) and we went to the Christmas program. The program was so good! Well, minus the preschooler that had a breakdown. One of the teachers told him to scoot back so he wouldn't fall off the stage. Instead he just collapsed into a ball on the stage and stayed there though 1.5 songs and until his dad came and got him. Awesome. Haha!

It's cold here. Very very cold. So cold, my car would not start yesterday morning. I had to wake Mr. S. out of his dead sleep and have him come and jump start my car. Later in the day, he tells me he was still pretty much asleep this whole time. Nice. No wonder my car started smoking at one point due to the jumpers being on wrong. Goodness.

Me: Um, sparks, fire, smoke...there's stuff coming from my car.

Mr. S.: Hmmm, oh, OH! S**t!

Me: *rolling eyes*

Yep, awesome.

For all of you that are freezing like me, stay warm! For those of you not freezing, well, unkind thoughts your way! Haha! Just kidding!

Just another love story

It is our ONE YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY today! Yes, we survived year one! 

1 year ago today we were sleeping in Jamaica getting ready for t

The big day. Then we woke up, ate breakfast, I went to get my hair and make-up done, Mr. S. went for a run (what a guy-thing!), he was picked up at 1:00 and I was picked up at 1:15 (so I could get dressed without him seeing me), and we married at 1:30 on the beach. It was beautiful. The picture above the exact place we got married. Breathtaking.

This was from our wedding dinner that night...yes, they celebrate Christmas!

I must fill you in on the story of Mr. and Mrs. S. We have actually been a couple for almost 9 years. Yes, 9 years. We went to high school together and that is how we met. Funny story. We had compatibility tests as a fundraiser for our Student Council and you could pay $1 to see who matched up with you. Everyone did it because it was funny to see who you matched up with. I got mine back and saw this Mr. S. at the top of mine. I knew who he was because he played sports and I was a cheerleader. Later on I found out that I was at the top of his list. Weird, huh? We met because his mom was my cheerleading coach and we started talking. Things just fell into place after that. Sure, we had our bumps in the road. We took a couple of breaks so that we could grow as people at a few rough points, but life always brought us back to each other.

I must say, there is no one that understands me, makes me laugh, kisses me, hugs me, smiles at 

me the way that he does.

...and tonight we must spend our anniversary at my school Christmas program. Awesome, huh?

Cool website alert!

www.wordle.net

Type in your blog URL and hit create. It will pop up the words you use on your page and it makes the frequently used words BIG and the others are smaller. Then you can change the colors and fonts. It is SO fun! I had my students do it today because you can type words in or paste articles into it. Very cool!

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Author Unknown

I am done with New Moon, book 2 of the Twilight Saga. Wow...wow...wow. I do not currently have book 3 at my fingertips, but I NEED it. Now.

Wrist update...it hurts. Badly. I scheduled an appointment for Wednesday. So much for waiting for break, huh? It's pretty painful. I have a brace...a clunky, ugly brace. We'll see what happens.

Our principal is back from maternity leave...life is back to normal again! I felt bad because she walked in in tears yesterday. She was sobbing, "I was okay until I got in the parking lot." Aw...poor Mrs. C. 

Gotta get ready for work. Good day!

Twilight Obsession

I have been intensely preoccupied with Twilight this weekend. Seriously. I started reading and could not stop. I finished the first book and I am about a quarter of the way through the second one. I am not going to lie, I was a little skeptical of these books when I started reading. I am not really into vampire books, but....this was totally different. The Edward Cullen phenomenon? I totally get it. He is so...wow. Perfect...yet frustrating. What a great read!

My wrist is still pretty jacked up. It is painful to type, flex, twist, move my wrist. It is on the ulnar side (pinky-side) right where that pokey little bone is. I have not felt this much pain in my wrist ever...it clicks when I move it from side to side. I think that it is tendonitis...I am going to brace it until I can go to the dr. at Christmas break. Bah.

Great weekend...last night was a girls' night out at the piano bar. What a GREAT time! Mr. S. dropped us off there and came back later to pick us up so we all could partake in the drinking. Yay! Good night! What a great husband! Only 4 more days until our one year anniversary!

I must get back to the town of Forks and see what is happening with Bella....thanks for the new obsession.

TGIF

Things that make this Friday even better...

1. Half a day - Yep, that means all the students will be filtering out of the school at 12:12, not 2:50. YAY! I didn't have as much to plan for today and I always feel more relaxed.

2. Christmas faculty dinner - Catered dinner in. Yep. YUM!

3. Back massages - This would be part of our stress-management in-service. They bring in massage therapists that will do a 10-minute back massage for us. It is the best 10 minutes I could have at school!

4. There are 6 days until Mr. S. and I will celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary! Wow! However, we will be celebrating it at the Christmas program for our school instead of at a romantic dinner.

5. It's time for the weekend! That means I will be able to curl up with Twilight finally!

Christmas Survey

Thanks to WanderingDC for the post idea today!

1.
Wrapping paper or gift bags? I love wrapping paper like there is no tomorrow. Now, if I am short on time or it is a really awkward present, I sometimes use a bag. There is just more fun in ripping the paper off!

2.
Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, so I don't have to vacuum every single day!

3.
When do you put up the tree? Usually it is on Thanksgiving night or the day after.

4.
When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day.

5.
Do you like Egg Nog? I'm not really sure...it has been awhile since I have had it.

6.
Favorite gift received as a child? I got one of those Playschool Stoves with a yellow telephone. Goodness, that was a good day! (I was like 3.)

7.
Hardest person to buy for? Really, everyone I shop for is pretty easy. It can be my step-dad though, but not this year!

8.
Easiest person to buy for? My husband. He likes anything, really.

9.
Do you have a nativity scene? Nope.

10.
Mail or email Christmas cards? MAIL! I love Christmas cards in the mail...they are SO much better than bills!

11.
Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A cheese plate and knives that matched with a hideous Christmas decoration...Mr. S.'s grandparents buy everything on sale and put it in our bags. Usually, it is stuff none of us want...but I love 'em!

12.
Favorite Christmas Movie? ELF!!

13.
When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually it is like 3 weeks before Christmas...but I need to get on it this year!

14.
Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably *hangs head in shame* Not because it was bad, but because someone else would appreciate it more than I.

15.
Favorite thing to eat at Christmas and favorite Christmas dessert? My mom makes homemade cheesecake...mmm. My mother-in-law makes tortellini soup...yum yum yum.

16.
Lights on the tree? I prefer clear, but this year I had to have multi. *sad face*

17.
Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells

18.
Travel at Christmas or stay home? We visit our parents the weekend before usually and then have Christmas day at our house by ourselves or with a couple of friends.

19.
Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Comet, Blitzen, Donner, Vixen, Rudolph, Cupid...that's all I've got....but I know there are more.

20.
Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21.
Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Open on Christmas, but I am not opposed to one on Christmas Eve!

22.
Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People that over-decorate their houses...you know what I mean. There is THAT house that you drive by and shake your head because they're at it again. Over-decorating. *shudders*

23.
Favorite ornament theme or color? I like it different all the time...my favorite ornament is the one that we brought home from Jamaica after we got married last year!

24.
Handmade ornaments or store bought? Store-bought

25.
What do you want for Christmas this year? Whatever...I'm not picky. We are actually getting each other something small because we want to redo our floors.

Now it's YOUR turn to answer these questions..especially if you couldn't think of a post for today

Tuesday = take it easy day

Sick day = lay on the couch curled up in my pjs with books. Books and Diet Pepsi. I should be drinking water, but the Diet Pepsi helps my headache.

Phone call from my grade partner = hearing that my kids were monsters today. She said she can't really blame them because the sub had NO control and was a little out of it. Neat. I can't wait to see what she wrote on the comments on my plans tomorrow. Might be a day for an apology letter to be written by my students. Good thing we are learning how to write a friendly letter this week! Haha!

Watching Oprah's show on polygamists = a sick feeling in my stomach for people that live in this against their will.

Tomorrow = a day where I will either be at 100% or fake it like a rockstar. Yep.

Are you sure it's Monday?

Are you sure it's Monday? Really? You are sure. Hmmm...I would like another opinion.

Welp, it is back to work today. Of course it is freezing outside, snow is STILL falling (with little accumulation), and it is super windy. I hate having to put on thin dress pants and then trek out in the cold weather to go to work. Grrr....

It was such a great 4.5 days off though. I don't think it could have been any better. We went to Mr. S.'s parents' house for Thanksgiving day. We ended up going to a movie with our friends on Friday. We went and watched 4 Christmases, you know, to get everyone in the spirit of the season. It was a cute and funny movie. I liked it! We have a super close group of friends and we had a potluck Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. It was so good! Then Sunday my mom and step-dad came up for a college basketball game. See, good weekend.

Now it is back to runny noses, overly-energetic kids, indoor recesses, grading homework, and limited bathroom breaks...but I wouldn't have it any other way.