I'm back!

It has been over six months since the last time I blogged. Life just got really busy. This time around, I am more committed to the blog. I started it to document my life...for me and friends and family since I live so far away. Looking back at the past 6 months, I am so sad I didn't make the time to blog since so much has happened. Let's recap.
In July, I was officially hired to teach first grade in a fantastic school. I am extremely lucky to teach there. The kids,parents,and administration are amazing.

At the end of July, I flew home for one of my besties, Betsy's Bacholorette Party. It seems like forever ago.

August 1st was the first day back for teachers. The kids came the following week. School was crazy in the beginning and sometimes still is, but things have definitely settled down. In fact, we only have 72 more days left until summer vacation!!

September was a busy month...relaxing on the weekends with Marc and watching lots of football.
In October, Marc and I flew to Jackson Hole,Wyoming to celebrate Betsy and Eric's wedding. The flight out there was quite memorable but when we finally got there, it made it all worth it.

In November, Marc took to me Rome,Italy. It was the most amazing trip I've ever been on. Everything there has a story. It has so much history. Oh and the food was delicious too!

In December, we picked up our puppy Mack. The little man makes me smile. He's the sweetest boy. He has added so much joy to my life. He also has taken away sleep as well as the ability to leave paper out,anywhere,but that's another story.

We also went home for the holidays,which is always so fun.

This past month, I decided to start working out again. Not only did I give up blogging, I also gave up working out. I purchased a living social deal in July for personal training sessions. ($20 for 10 sessions= best deal ever) Well the deal expired this month so I figured why not. I train with the owner of a small gym 2 miles away from my house. It's a long day of teaching,sometimes meetings, walking Mack 2 miles, and then working out but I guess deep down I really do enjoy it once I get there.

That's leaves me to today. I have been reading other blogs for awhile now, trying to get a feel for what I would like to post. I really enjoy recipes, new products, random thoughts and days events so those are the things I'll be posting here. I hope my 9 followers are glad to see that I am back : )

My Birthday!

I turned 28 yesterday!  I had a fantastic day.  Here's how it went down.

*Woke up and relaxed around the apartment for awhile

 *Opened my present from Marc

*Went to Massage Envy for an hour massage

*Opened my present to myself that happened to come in the mail

Leaf necklace from Etsy.com.  Love this site!! 

Went to The Oceanaire for my birthday dinner

Walked to the W Hotel and had a few drinks

The W Hotel's little river was right at our feet

My handsome guy



Jason Biggs from American Pie



A few weeks ago Marc and I saw Tara Ried too.  The cast of American Pie is staying a block away from our apartment at the W while they film the reunion movie.  Needless to say, I will be returning to the W to see who I can see!



Settled in Atlanta

I've been in Atlanta for a little over a week now.  I am finally settled and feel like I am on summer vacation. I feel like I finally have a routine or just free time to do as I please.  Take today for example...woke up, went to Borders and to Whole Foods or as  http://fitnessista.com/ would say, Whole Paycheck.  Spent $93! Yikes!  I don't even know what I bought for $93! I did pick up these lovely gems.

I love fresh flowers!  They were only $9.99.  I love how all the colors compliment each other. Fresh flowers make me smile : )  This picture was taken using the FREE Instagram iphone app.  I love it.  Makes taking pictures more fun!


After Whole Foods, I went to Old Navy.  Old Navy is usually a hit or miss kind of store for me.  Today it was a HIT!   Most of the clothes were on the clearance rack (yay). I mostly bought clothes for the new school year. I also went to Marshalls, which was a miss.


Afterward all that running around, I was starved so I ate lunch and headed to the pool.  I am STILL reading Gone with the Wind.  I have about 700 pages left (OMG).  The book is excellent and I feel like I am finally finding time to sit down and read a significant amount of pages at once.


I also found time to do 35 minutes of cardio at the gym and cook a yummy dinner.  Last night, I made a balsamic roasted pork loin, which was delicious. ( I had a teeny tiny bit)  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/balsamic-roasted-pork-loin/detail.aspx   For tonight's dinner, I reheated left over pork loin and made a spinach salad for Marc.  I had grilled veggies, a Sunshine burger, and some of the salad. 
The salad consisted of:  spinach
                                    sunflower seeds
                                    yellow and red tomatoes
                                    goat cheese crumbles
                                    red onion
                                    balsamic dressing

Very good!

Well that's a wrap.  I'm exhausted and off to bed shortly. 

Goodbye HFES

On Monday I said goodbye to HFES.  It was very emotional.  It doesn't seem real that I won't be going back there in August. 

Then

Now

To celebrate the end of the school year, I rented a boat on Lake Norman.  We had a blast.  I am so sad to leave them behind.  I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to work with. 

10 Reasons Why I Love Summer Vacation

Reasons listed in no particular order:

Reason #1:  I wake up when I want.  No alarm clock! Yesterday my body was still in work mode and I woke up 6.  I refused to get up and did fall back to sleep until 7.  Today I woke up at 10!  Much, much, better.

Reason #2:  I can eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks when I feel like it.  Breakfast at 7, lunch at 10:30, and dinner at 6 sucked. 

Reason #3:  I can pee any time I feel like it!  Only teachers understand how wonderful this really is....

Reason #4  I don't have to decide what I want to eat for lunch the day before. Take yesterday for example, I didn't want anything I had in my apartment so I actually went and picked something up, on a Monday!  It's the little things....

Reason #5:  I have as long as I want to eat (not 25 minutes which by the time I dropped my students off in the cafeteria, got my lunch, and walked back to the first grade hall, I usually had about 15.  This is why I now eat so quickly.)

Reason #6:  I get to run all my errands, clean, and do my laundry on the weekdays! 

Reason #7:  I can go to the gym whenever I want.  Yesterday, I went at 9:30. 

Reason #8:  I get to relax and enjoy every little minute of my day. 

Reason #9:  I don't have to carry my planner around in my purse anymore because I am FREE to do whatever, whenever!

Reason #10: I get to soak up the sun everyday for as long as would like.

Life. Is. Good.

Alanta job hunt

I have been extremely busy and haven't had much time to blog.  Last Friday,  I left for Atlanta to spend Memorial Day weekend there and to go on 3 interviews.  Marc and I were really productive but also found some time to relax. 

Some of the Atlanta skyline

We bought some stuff for the apartment and picked out paint colors for the whole place.  (so stressful as I have commitment issues) 

New from TARGET!

We also got in lots of sun and ate some delicious food at our favorite restaurants as well as food we cooked up. 

Team MC...yes that is what we call us

 The weekend was nice and long as I didn't have my first and second interview on Wednesday and my third on Thursday.  Interviews are so stressful especially when your career is riding on it.  I interviewed with 3 fantastic schools and heard unofficial word from two principals that once the hiring freeze lifts I will be contacted and to not do a thing until I talk to them. (That's a good sign in my book!!) I would be lucky to teach at any of the schools  so now I just need that freeze to go away.  OMG I almost forgot!  I ate a burger over the weekend as well.  It was absolutely delicious however I don't see myself digging into meat again anytime soon.  I really do enjoy being a vegetarian but it was good to move past my little craving. 

Oh so yummy

I flew back late Thursday night and had field day on Friday.  It wasn't as hot as I thought it would be, especially because we were outside in the morning.  After school, I went straight to the airport to pick up my mama.  We went to our favorite restaurant Dolce on Friday night.  On Saturday, we did some shopping and had margaritas and Mexican at 1900.  The weekend was very low key and that's exactly what we wanted.  The best thing about having a mom that is also your best friend is that we can sit and talk for hours, watch tv, read, or sit outside and watch the world go by and feel so calm and content.  On Sunday, I brought my mom to the airport and went straight to the pool to work on my tan.  It was a cool 93 degrees and needless to say I was in the pool alot more than usual.  That brings me to what I am currently reading.  I just finished The Adults (thoroughly enjoyed although slightly strange).  I finished it while in Atlanta so I picked up The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson.  It was mentioned in a magazine I was reading recently and had a good review.  I read about 30 pages so far and it's just okay which is why I picked up Gone with the Wind at Barnes and Noble over the weekend.  My mom and I were talking about it (takes place in GA) and she said she loved the movie so I decided to read the book first before watching the movie.  The book is 1,448 pages. (Um, WOW) I am 38 pages in and I'm hooked.  I am also reading (more like glancing) through the book called The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno.  It is really reader friendly with lots of pictures and info on the clean food diet principals, recipes, and a 2 week meal plan.  I am planning on making the Very Berry Blaster protein shake for breakfast tomorrow.  I am hoping to find some new recipes to make for Marc and I that are healthy and yummy.  I will post pictures and recipes as I make them. 

Well that's my week recap.  I'm off to the gym.   

Shannon's shower!

Yesterday, we celebrated Shannon with a shower!  I had a great time but couldn't help but feel alittle sad.  I am truly going to miss these girls when I move (in 1 month and 5 days, OMG).  Here are some pics from the celebration!

Obviously something is wrong here. 

Okay rest of pictures will be on facebook.