12 in 12!

Hello, friends. I'm going to link up with Miss Kindergarten and A Teeny Tiny Teacher's awesome party today: hold your excitement, I beg you. I did this linky last year and I really enjoyed reading about everyone's year. And, to be honest, Kristen from A Teeny Tiny Teacher is maybe my favorite blogger ever! She's hilariously witty and sometimes she comments on my blog and it makes my entire week because she's a BIG. TIME. CELEBRITY. At least to me, she is. If you don't read her blog, you are missing out!!

 

Click here to join the party!

 

 

12. Favorite Movie You Watched

 

I'll say The Hunger Games. It was good. I'll be honest, it didn't leave this huge gaping hole in my heart when it was over. And, I don't know what's wrong with me... but, I wasn't as big a fan of the series as every other woman in America seems to be. But, like I said, it was fine. It was a fun night out with my friends and I'm sure I'll see all the other movies. I really need to go to the movies more!

 

11. Favorite TV Series

 

This was the year I discovered Friday Night Lights on Netflix. And then proceeded to watch the entire series in a month. And then watched it again immediately after. I was slightly obsessed this summer. It was a little unhealthy. But, it's soooooo good! I will never understand why that show wasn't promoted more and it makes me sad that it never found a big fan base because it's a REALLY GOOD show! I also really like Parenthood, which is interesting because both shows are written and produced by the same people! I like what I like, what can I say?

 

10. Favorite Restaurant

 

Hmmmm, I'll go with Cracker Barrel. I've never had a bad meal there, have you? It's familiar and it makes me happy and I do love some biscuits, guys. Plus they sell candy in the lobby. So, yeah. Cracker Barrel, it is.

 

9. Favorite New Thing You Tried

 

Oh, well, this little thing called TEACHING THIRD GRADE! Ha. Ya'll, I was soooo, sooo scared to move grades this year. Excited, but scared. And, I had told my principal that I was okay with moving so I knew that if I was miserable this year I could only blame myself. But, thankthelord, I LOVE third grade! Love it. It's stressful and hard and all that, believe me. But, I can 100% say I don't have 1 regret in moving grades.

 

8. Favorite Gift You Received

 

I got a Kindle Fire last Christmas. And, I loved it. Until it died. And, lazy me never got it fixed. But, for 4 short months, it was awesome. Really awesome. Finger crossed for an iPad this year :)

 

7. Favorite Thing You Pinned

 

Weird, I know. But I pinned this iPhone case and then actually bought it! I never do that, but I knew as soon as I saw it that it was the perfect case for me. Because we all know that's really important...

 

6. Favorite Blog Post

 

I made a blog post this summer about my love for Tim Riggins on Friday Night Lights. And, uh, um, the "research" I did was quite exstensive. I had to do a lot of google searching for images and all that. It was just glorious torturous, let me tell you. Here it is: Oh, Tim Riggins. And, just to warn you, if you're not a fan of Tim, you will be after reading this. At least, that was the goal :)

 

5. Favorite Accomplishment

 

 

I think maybe my favorite accomplishment is decorating my bedroom. That's a little pathetic, isn't it? But, I don't care. It took a lot of work!

 

4. Favorite Picture

 

This picture was taken the day I got my puppy Finley. She was TEENY TINY and weighed about a pound and a half. I love this pic because I want to always remember how sweet and little she was.

 

 

3. Favorite Memory

 

My brother and sister-in-law got married in September and that was a great memory. Fun times, friend. Fun times.

 

2. Goals for 2013

 

I'll be honest. I'm not the biggest goals fan. I have some goals for school (that revolve mostly around test scores). My personal goals are to keep my house clean and to keep myself out of drama.

 

1. One Little Word

 

My word for 2013 will be QUIET. I'm going to do my best to be quiet and listen. To be quiet and stay out of drama. To be quiet when I can't say something nice. I just want to be more quiet....

 

It was a great year and I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store!

 

 

Fa La La La La....

Today, I'm going to link up with this blog. Every week she does a "Sunday Social" where you have to answer questions about yourself. This week, it was all about Christmas... so, I decided tojoin right in!

 

1. What are your favorite holiday movies/tv specials?

 

Well, how much time do you have?

 

 Because, seriously, I could list them all day.

 

I love Christmas Vacation. Love it. It's the funniest, hands down. I haven't watched it yet this year... I need to get on that!

 

"Oh, Sparky!"

 

I also love Elf and Home Alone, because I'm still a kid (in my mind).

 

"Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

 

"AHHHHH!"

 

And, the Jim Carrey version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a MUST-SEE every year.

 

"7:00... dinner with me. I can't cancel that again!"

 

But, hands down, my most favorite is The Santa Clause. It's the movie I grew up with. I just love it.

 

Happy - that's what this picture makes me.

 

2. Do you do any volunteering during the holidays? If so, what?

 

This year, my family and I participated in Franktown Open Hearts Christmas. This is an organization that started out of my church and it's geared towards helping kids from low-income families throughout their middle school and high school years. Every Christmas, we have a big dinner and then they send all the kids out with families and we take them shopping for their families. We actually did this last night! It was so fun! The little boy we took was so shy and sweet... and, he really reminded me of some ofmy students.

 

 

I also do some Angel Tree stuff for kids in need at my school.

 

3. What's your favorite toy you recieved as a child?

 

Well, again, I can't pick just one. So, here are my top 3...

 

Oopsie Daisy doll

 

(I don't remember this thing looking so creepy as a kid. But, I do remember that it was practically impossible to hold, bigger than I was and it didn't fit in my doll stroller... but, I loved it because it crawled, fell down and cried. As if we needed more noise and chaos in our house...)

 

Little Miss Make-Up

 

(Again with the ever-so-creepy early 90's dolls. My cousins and I all got our own and this was a BIG DEAL FOR REAL! We sang a song and everything. I have it on tape. My grandmother can show you...)

 

Barbie Townhouse

 

(Ya'll, this thing had an elevator. An elevator!)

 

4. What was your must-have item in high school?

 

In middle school, it was all about the Timberlands. I begged. I pleaded. I promised. I offered. And, then I snooped. And I found them under the bed. And, I realized it was NO FUN to know what you were getting for Christmas. So, I never once snooped again, ha!

 

If I had to sum up middle school in one picture: this would be it.

 

In high school, I don't really remember one specific thing: mostly clothes and purses and Clinique make-up.

 

I wear make-up from Walgreens now. Just sayin...

 

5. What was the item you begged for and never got?

 

An American Girl doll. And, I'm still bitter.

 

Oh, Samantha. We would have been such great friends...

 

6. What are your Christmas Eve traditions?

 

Shop during the day, dinner at Steak N Shake, go look at christmas lights, watch a Christmas movie (or 6) before bed

 

I can't believe Christmas is 2 weeks away!

 

 

 

So, I Lied...

I said in my last post I wasn't going to blog again for a few days. But, I changed my mind. It's a rainy Sunday, the Olympics are on, the house is clean (ish) and the puppy's happily licking my toenails that I just painted. So, blogging it is! This post is going to be all over the place - fair warning! You can turn back now and I'll never know :)

1. I said before that the few days/weeks before the kids come to school are the most stressful for me. And, I can't overstate that. I realized it again this weekend! I was at my parents yesterday because they like to play with the dog, they cook me yummy dinner and it was the tax-free weekend so my mom and I had some shopping to do! When we got home, I took Finley upstairs with me and laid down "for a minute." Two hours later, my mom came in and got the dog so she could play with her. I slept for almost two more hours! Then, I slept in this morning until 10! I know, I should have gone to church. I just couldn't get it together. Then, this afternoon, Finley and I took another three hour nap! So ridiculous. It hasn't helped that I've been staying up all night watching the Olympics, either.

2. Finley is now sleeping in my bed. I just couldn't bare to listen to her cry in  her crate after she had spent 8 hours in there while I was at work. She's so much happier now, I have to say. She's a good sleeper, always has been, so it hasn't been a problem at all. In fact, it's been kind of nice :) She finds all kinds of places to get comfortable.

She especially likes to lay on my shoulder...

and my hip!

3. As I said, we did a little shopping yesterday. Not a lot because my mom was in the midst of a major cold/sore throat/ear infection. But, we did go a few places and find a few things. I got some fun new tennis shoes. (They're actually running shoes. But, the only time these ladies will be running is if I'm being chased by a large dog or a bee. And, even then, it will be more of a brisk jog.) I also got some cute little flats to wear to school. I have a bad toe (believe me, you don't want to hear the story) so I have to go for comfort when it comes to shoes. So, these were a good find. I also got two cute little dresses from Old Navy that will be perfect for school.

These will be perfect for exercising something!

4. I also got a few other little things. I found a super cute lunch box at Old Navy for one dollar! And, best part, it's leopard print - love. Then, we went in the Dollar Tree to get some stuff for my mom. I decided that was a great place to stock up on some candy for my treat box at school. Now, look, I know you guys are judging me. I know it's more popular right now to have reward menus and treausre slips and all that jazz. But, I kinda think it's okay for a kid to get a sucker every now and then. (I'm ducking. Go ahead and throw the tomatoes at me.) Plus, we have a reward menu that we use for whole group. And, I use tickets for the majority of my rewards. Oh, and I also got them some bookmarks  because they almost flipped out on Friday when I told them to put their books away. "How will we know what page we were on??" Third grade is so different from first, ha!

I want to face plant into that bag.

So cute they make me want to pick up a book. Slow clap for you, Dollar Tree.

5. Now for the beauty portion of this blog post. I realized this summer that my hair was kind of fried. It's gotten really long and I have to really go at it with a straightener to get it even half way presentable. Or, I have to kind of scrunch it. Either way takes a ton of products. I was having trouble rinsing it all out of my hair in the shower! So, one day, I looked down in the shower and saw Finley's shampoo... which is just Johnson's Baby Shampoo. And, gasp, I tried it. Ya'll, I've been using it in my hair ever since! My hair felt so much better and lighter and it all rinsed out much easier. Plus, it smells good!! I know it's weird, but I think it's been really good for my hair. There have to be less chemicals  in that stuff than in adult shampoo. Anyways, just wanted to share in case anybody else's hair was feeling  overprocessed, too.

Ahhh, my childhood.

6. And, now, some more pictures of the my cute little Finny. She's just the best thing ever and I can't get enough of her.

Getting her nightly belly rub :)

She loves to sleep here. She fits perfectly in that little spot.

Up late watching the men's Olympic gymnastics team basically self-implode. Fun times.

 

Love that sweet pup!

Well, that's all I've got. I'm going to go fix dinner (fish tacos, yum!!!) so that I can watch the Olympics tonight.  So excited about the gymnastics event finals! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Tell Me More, Tell Me More!

Today, I'm linking up to Step Into Second Grade's linky party. You're supposed to tell 10 things that other blogger's don't know about you. Like, 10 quirks or weird things about you. Sounds like fun, huh? So, here are mine...

1. Okay, here's my big one. I have totaled 3 cars in the last six years. Two of them were a week apart. And, to be fair, one wouldn't have been totaled but the car was only worth a thousand dollars. The other two... yeah, completely totaled. The one that hurt the most was my brand new Ford Focus that I bought myself. I had paid it off early about two weeks before I wrecked it. It still hurts to talk about it. But, in all seriousness, I'm so blessed that none of those wrecks resulted in any injury for myself or anyone else.

Ahhh, I miss her.

2. This isn't a big secret. But, my current obsession is Taylor Kitsch. He's the guy that played Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights. (You can read about my feelings for Tim Riggins right here.) I'm obsessed with his career because a) he's so hot b) he's a great actor and c) he's had the WORST summer of anybody I've ever seen. And, I'm just waiting for this guy to have a break-through hit and become a big star. He was the lead guy in John Carter (massive flop), Battleship (massive flop) and Savages (not a flop, but not a huge hit). And, the thing is... none of them flopped because of him! He's good in all three. Uhh, I can't talk about it. I get too upset.

Swoon.

3. When I wake up in the morning, I HAVE to check Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest before I get out of bed. It's not like I'm just dying for new information or anything... I just like to lay in bed for a few minutes before I get up and those three are as good as anything to look at.

I'm completely addicted.

4. My favorite drink EVER is Sparkling Grape Juice. I don't know why... but, I just love it. The problem is that I can only buy it every now and then because otherwise I'll drink the entire bottle in one day. Not in one sitting, of course, but still. It's a good thing I don't drink alcohol... I'd be a drunk.

Yum! Yum!

5. I constantly move all the time. Like, other people have noticed it and tease me about it. My former assistant principal (who was a good friend and I miss her!) always said I had adult ADD. But, really, I've always been like this. If I have keys in my hand, I'm jiggling them. If I'm holding something on a string, I'm whipping it. If I'm holding a pen, I click the lid over and over and over. I don't even notice I'm doing it.

This is me.

6. I don't usually buy toilet paper until I'm on the last roll. What can I say, I like living on the edge. I also will NOT use cheap toilet paper because it's thin and scratchy. Oh! And, I NEVER put the toilet paper on the roll. Maybe I'm just lazy...

This is how I roll.

(Another fun fact about me: I love puns!)

7. You know that new song, Whistle by Flo Rida? Yeah, it's terrible. We all know what that song's about and the lyrics all so cleverly blatantly try to hide it so it can be played on radio stations. Well, I know it's bad. I know what it's about. But, I can't get it out of my head. I've been walking around singing that song for DAYS. I blame the radio station for playing it every single time I get in my car.

Darn you, Flo Rida. Darn you.

8. When I go to the beach, I really just prefer the pool. Yes, I'm one of those people. I'll go down there some and lay out and I like going on walks on the beach. But, the ocean? You'll never see me frolicking about in the ocean. It's too big and I can't see what I'm stepping on and it's salty and.... I'm just not a big fan. I prefer to look at it from the pool. Oh, and don't even get me started on all the sand... so gross.

Here's where you'll find me...

9. This is a hard one for me to admit, but ya'll? I'm still on Team Teresa. You know Teresa, right? She's on the Real Housewives of New Jersey. And, look, I know the lady is crazy. I know that she causes inordinate amounts of drama wherever she goes. I know her husband is basically a troll living under a bridge. But, I just can't stand the other women on that show! Caroline is so opinionated and bossy and mean to her daughter. Jacqueline is a whiny baby and has no back bone. Kathy is okay, but really serves no purpose to the show. And, Melissa. I don't hate her like I used to. But, she annoys me. I just feel like she came on the show to steal Teresa's thunder and in a way, I can't blame Teresa for being defensive about that. And it's not like I'm actively rooting for Teresa... it's just that I can't bring myself to hate her as much as everybody else seems to. Plus, Teresa is funny. Did anybody else hear her refer to her friend as Hekyll and Jyde?

"Joe, I tolds you to go buy more ingredientses!"

10. When I go in a big store, I HAVE to start on one side and go down each aisle in order. You can ask my mom. Otherwise, I get nervous that I'm missing something. Now, I'm not talking about Target or Wal-Mart. I have no problem running in somewhere and getting what I need. I'm talking about those big stores like Old Time Pottery or Charming Charlie's where you just wander around and look. Fun Fact: I've never bought one thing at Charming Charlie's. I get too overwhelmed and end up putting everything down and walking out. It's too much.

Over. Whelmed.

Well, if you're still interested in being my friend, that'd be great :)

At least you know me a little better now....

Because I'm Bored...

This afternoon, it was rainy. The puppy was napping (she must be going through a growth spurt, because she napped all day!) and it was all nice and quiet in the house. So, I got on my computer and I started watching the movie Pearl Harbor. I know, kind of lame, but I love that movie. All throughout the movie, all I could think about was whether I liked Rafe or Danny better. Haha. It would literally change from scene to scene. I could never decide. So, a blog post began to form in my brain and this is the result.

Disclaimer: Now, please understand that I'm not claiming to be in love with all these guys... not by a long shot. I just thought it would be fun to decide which one I like best.

So, here we go...

1. Battle of the Pilots

It's only fair that they go first since they sparked this great debate.

 

Looks: This is tough. They're both infinitely hot. I think this movie was the peak of both of their looks, to be honest. But, if you forced me to choose, Rafe is hotter.

Personality: I'm going with Danny. Rafe is sometimes a little too cocky. And, Danny is just so lovable and sweet.

My Pick: Danny. I can't really explain why and I thought about it A LOT.

2. Battle of the Savages

Back in the 90's, these two brothers were kind of big. Fred Savage played Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years and his little brother Ben played Cory Matthews on Boy Meets World.

 

Looks: I always though Fred was cuter. Ben always had that curly afro haircut and Fred's smile is adorable.

Personality: I don't really know much about them personally. Character-wise, Ben played a funnier character and Kevin Arnold was kind of whiny... but, so was Cory Matthews.

My Pick: Fred. To me, Ben is Cory Matthews, who is a dork. So, nuff' said.

3. Battle of Texas

Come on, you know I had to! These are the two hotties of Friday Night Lights: Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen.

Looks: Matt is a cutie, but Tim Riggins is the hottest thing to walk the planet.

Personality: Matt is sweet and he's a really nice guy. Tim's a brooding bad boy with a big heart. They're both funny on the show. But, you guys know where my loyalty lies.

My Pick: Do you even have to ask? Texas Forever!!

4. Battle of the Pool

I'm kind of obsessed with the Olympics. And, especially these two guys: Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps.

Looks: Lochte, by far.

Personality: I don't know too much about Lochte personally. But, Michael Phelps appears to be a good guy who is pretty humble throughout all his success. I'll go with Phelps.

My Pick: Lochte. I'm just intrigued by him because he's the newer one. And, it's always fun to root for the underdog...

5. Battle of the Tools

Caroline Manzo from the Real Housewives of New Jersey has two sons that she thinks are God's gift to women. Albie is the older, wiser one and Chris is the goof ball.

Looks: Obviously, Albie is the more attractive brother. No contest.

Personality: Chris is supposed to be the funny one. The funny thing is, he isn't that funny. Unless you happen to like Adam Sandler wannabe's. So, Albie wins by default.

My Pick: Albie. But, they're both obnoxious.

6. Battle of the Wizards

I'm a big Harry Potter nerd fan. And, like with Rafe and Danny, I've always gone back and forth between which one is my favorite: Harry or Ron.

Looks: They both went through some seriously awkward phases through the course of the 8 Harry Potter movies. Remember their haircuts in Goblet of Fire? But, I think I'd have to go with Ron on this one. He's just adorable.

Personality: Hmmmm. Ron's obviously the comedic relief of the movies so he stands out. But, Harry is the heart and soul of it all. And, he's such a good person. I'm going with Harry.

My Pick: Harry. I guess it's from the books more than the movies, but Harry is my favorite character I've ever read. His life is so tragic and hopeful and interesting.

7. Battle of the Games

Peeta and Gale are the two main guys in The Hunger Games. And, everybody is always debating which one Katniss should be with. Here's where I stand:

 

Looks: I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I honestly think Peeta is cuter. Gale is just too perfect, you know what I mean?

Personality: Peeta. I just never felt like I really knew Gale as well as I knew Peeta. And, I love how vulnerable and sweet Peeta is.

My Pick: Peeta. Always has been, always will be.

8. Battle of the Princes

Everybody knows William and Harry, right?

 

Looks: Harry, hands down. William has a receeding hairline and looks just like his dad. Harry has the cutest smile ever.

Personality: Harry. He's the funny, light hearted one.

My Pick: Harry. And, it wasn't even a contest.

Well, there you have it. Those are my choices.

Let me know if you disagree with any of them :)