Valentine's Day

I've got a really lovely valentine. His name is Joel and I like him so much that I have decided to keep him.


Joel and I spent Valentine's dinner at home. We each cooked two courses and decided to spend only $15 on each other's gifts. Having such a low price point ended up being harder than I thought. I found a cute khaki polo hat on clearance and a Brooks Brothers tie so I ended up doing pretty well.

Joel made me a book, "Ten reasons I wouldn't want to spend Valentine's Day With Anyone Else" (Can you see why I'm keeping him). There's ten reasons (obviously) with a picture on each page that goes along with the reason...example ----> 10. you make me laugh, a picture of us laughing. The book is stinkin' adorable and is worth so much more than fifteen dollars.



As far as dinner went Joel had the first 2 courses. He made a smoked salmon spread that was divine and a clam bisque soup. By the time my courses were up, I was already getting full. Everything we made was so delicious I don't think we could have had ordered a better meal. We didn't want each other to know what we were making until it was served which made the meal that much more fun.

I made this beauty:



I bought a dough mix that you add water too so you can form it how you want. I thought the crust was delish. The toppings are a crumbled turkey sausage, feta cheese, and thin tomato slices with a tomato basil sauce. Really easy, and really good.

For dessert we had choclate fondue:


We had such a great valentine's night just enjoying each other's company and conversation. Today we had brunch and just hung around. It's so fun to laugh and play with someone you truly love and care about. Thanks for a great weekend Joely.

Be Mine

Valentine's Day Party in the first grade, is not as much fun when you are the teacher. The kids were sugar crazed all day. I did get lots of yummy chocolates and fruit roll ups as apologies for their insanity so all is forgiven.

For my valentine's date with Joel, things are a tad calmer. We are celebrating on Saturday. The same day that I have 12 hours of licensing exams. Not ideal. Doubly not ideal because we are cooking our own dinner. A few weeks back we decided that we would make an appetizer, 2 small entrees, and a dessert item. We picked out of a hat which items we'll cook and I picked a dessert and an entree. I can't tell you what I'm cooking up (Sorry Joel) but it's not too tricky so I should be able to cook it up while I set up our dining room, shower, and prepare for a celebration. Yea, maybe that won't be as easy as I was hoping....

No school on Monday makes me a realllllly happy camper (thank you Presidents!). It is especially appreciated because I received a job interview!!!!!! and need to go buy a suit for the big round 1 screener next Friday.

Overall, I think a holiday that celebrates love and chocolate isn't half bad.

I hope you are enjoying the love that is surely all around you.
xoxo

checked in

I found this pillow at Darby's great blog

Okay, so I didn't get a snow day, but that's okay. I woke up with a little bounce in my step. Last night, I took the entire night to myself, bunkered down on the couch and finished Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. An adorable, unconventional love story and it was a perfect snowy, cozy, curl up kind of couch read.

And if you happen to be a fan of Emily Giffin as well, she has this little beauty on its way. Hits shelves May 11th, right in time for my May 8th birthday!

Ho-Hum.

I'm just sort of out of it. I can't drag myself to the gym because, well...it is simply too snowy. That is my excuse this week. That dang snow, keeping me from my workout.
So, instead of going to the gym I have been constantly snacking on twizzlers, puppy chow, m&ms, and anything else I can get my paws on.

I think I need a........

Superbowl Sunday

Who will come out victorious???

vs.

I'm rootin' for the colts...and Kendra.

RTI meetings

RTI meeting, in place: now.

What's an RTI meeting? It stands for response to intervention. In the classroom we set up interventions for individual students who need more assistance. Well, I'm home, and I'm calling an emergency RTI meeting on myself.

It's time for some interventions. My interventions that I will be putting in place for the next thirty days are as follows (with picture, since I think a post without a picture is like a wine glass without wine)

1.Yoga - I've done yoga on and off for the past 4 or 5 years. Maybe once every month. I've tried all different kinds, Bikram, Vinyasa, Hatha, I even think I took a pre-natal yoga class on accident. But, this time it's different. This time I'm going to go to yoga for the mental benefits, not the physical gains. I'm going to go to yoga to spend an hour of my time silencing my mind, stretching my body, learning breathing techniques, and relaxing. My goal is to go to 3 weekend classes in the next 4 weeks.

*That's me in the white-tee doin' some downward dog

2. Journal - Another thing I do all the time. I have always written down what I eat, and the calories next to it, and I have this blog. But rarely do I have a self-reflective journal where I just vent. My goal is to write in my journal almost everyday for the next 30 days.

3. Church - I simply don't go to church enough. I have excuses for it, but I need to get my butt there. I love church. I love the way it makes you feel re-energized, humble, and thankful. I am not in love with my church. I find the messages a bit traditional, and the service meets the needs of an older crowd. I've wanted to try other churchs but haven't gotten around to it. My goal, is to attend church at least once (Hey, I gotta be realistic....) in the next month.



4. Secret - Have you read "The Secret"? Are you busy right now? Okay, well then head out to Borders and go pick it up. It's not hokey-pokey. It's not magic. It's down right common sense. It's all about sending out positive energy in order to get positive things back into your life. My goal is to re-read it and practice it!


5. Affirmations - Since all of my goofy (which is a really nice way of putting it) negative thoughts are in my head, the only way to get them to leave is to replace them with something more positive. My goal is to say my positive affirmations every single day, to believe them and feel them.

grammys

The good. The bad. The ugly.

My favorites (The good.)

On the fence with this one, a pony-tail may have made this cuter.

The bad:


The ugly:

*photos from justjared.com

The low down

Tonight, ladies and ladies...I'm going see this funny gal

I need a few good laughs tonight. I have really, really bad anxiety which has been all over me this week. Lots of tears, and anxiety attacks, so I'm off to the doc on Monday to have him help a girl out! Hopefully tonight will put some extra bounce in my step. Hope you are in a lighter state than me!And if you are, - send calming thoughts some my way! Have a great weekend!

outfits

Saturday night in chicago:

Citizen's Jeans
Jcrew Blazer
Gap Tank
Brown S.Weitzman boots

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Inspiration

Reality

Reality

Crazy day. No time for importing pics. Hang with me, I'll be back tomorrow. And I picked the LiLo grandpa sweater as an inspiration. It was snowy and cold, and I as able to make it work. Have a great night. Hugs -T

Monday's Attempt

So, How did I do??

Kristen Bell

moi

Nordstroms Sweater
Ralph Lauren Button Down
F21 Belt
Sevens Jeans
London Sole black ballet flats

Tomorrow's inspiration outfit is...

I'm to indecisive to choose right now, so check in tomorrow to find out which inspiration outfit I choose!

not enough time

I'm blaming over-time for the saints/vikings game. I'm gonna try and find a good inspiration outfit for tomorrow, and then I'll do the rest of the week.

Happy Monday!

Friday Night Blogging

Dang. Life as a working girl 'aint all you think it's gonna be. I'm up at 5:45, work from 7:30-4:30, try and drag my *hiney buns (as we lovingly refer to it in class) to the gym, and am asleep before 11.

So here's a week in review of the outfits.
I already posted my 1st day, here is w.th.f

Michael Kors Jumper
Calvin Klien tights
Steve madden shoes
Ann Taylor tee

Stuart Weitzman boots
Ann Taylor Cords
Ann Taylor sweater

Ann Taylor blouse
Jcrew belt
Banana Republic pants
Cole Haan shoes that I borrowed from my mom last minute ;)

I'm having trouble pulling together a lot of different outfits, so I think on Sunday I'm going to find 5 inspiration outfits, and try and match them. I'll show you the inspiration pics on Sunday and you can judge to see how well I match up!

What I really want to do...

As I was sitting at my computer for 1 hour longer than I had allowed myself, I tried to come up with something to write about. Finally it hit me, let me show you what I really want to do tonight.

For starters I want a bottle of really good, Lewis Napa bottle of Syrah
and have it in this...
have this perfect work outfit folded, and ready for tomorrow
and then snuggle up in here



watching-Chicago edition

and enjoying these zero-calorie treats

with these packed full of our clothes



so Joel and I are ready to enjoy our weekend vacation to the Four Seasons in Hawaii



yes, that sounds like exactly what I want to do.

Quite the day!

So many exciting things happened today. I started student teaching in a 1st/2nd classroom AND I received that little present above from Mrs.In Training. The students are cute as can be. Our schedule is great because we have a super busy morning but by lunch at 12:30, its basically over. The staff is awesome, and I'm so excited to be teaching! It's a great profession, and even more so love that I'm in my slippers at 4:30. Hope your having an equally great day.

P.S. Rumor around school was the winner of The Bachelor. *It pretty much ruined my day. DM me on twitter, don't want to ruin the season for everybody...I mean...all 9 of you ;)

**Notice the dust inside the T's...I think it's Q-tip time! Don't judge!!

This was my 1st day outfit

Top: Ann Taylor
Pants: J.crew
Shoes: Red Patent Tory Burch revas