Monday, January 31, 2011

Day 356



This was an early morning for sure. I was in my car by 6am driving to get my car all fixed up. Thanks to my friend for picking me up for school. You rock! Today at school was pretty normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. Tonight was so great. I went to dinner with a group of people from school to see Cinda... a girl I used to teach with/my unofficial mentor. It was SOOOOO amazing to see her. We all picked up right where we left off. She lives in Indiana now so it was pretty awesome being with her. I am confident in saying that I have made some of the closest/REAL friendships with people at work. It's truly a blessing!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Day 355



Took Lauren home. Took a long, much needed nap. Graded papers and entered them (took about 2 hours--phewww). Went to step with Scott :(. Don't get me wrong, he's great and all... but he's no Josh. For my followers who actually pay attention, this is the same guy that makes up nicknames for his attendees. Last time (a few months ago) he called me "Woodstock" because I was wearing an obnoxious tie dyed shirt. When he is not saying what steps to do, he is calling people out. Today I was wearing an "I <3 LA" shirt. Needless to say, my name today was "LA". For some reason, he was constantly referring to me. "You go LA!" "Did you learn those moves in LA?" Haha... he is an oober huge nut. He calls his Sunday classes "Banana Sundaes". One person each week brings a banana for each person in the class. Pretty cute idea. I only go to his class on Sundays due to my schedule so pretty much I luck out each time. I do have to tell ya this. You know the song " Like a G6"? He likes to think it says "Like a Cheese Stick". Haha... I was cracking up. Very entertaining, but he will not grasp my step heart. My step heart belongs to someone else.... someone in a higher position :( Went to Kroger to grab some essentials. Got some $2.99 gas and filled up my empty tank. Got some delish Panera.... tried the new Thai chicken salad! Emptied my car out because it's getting its first professional interior cleaning! YAYYAYYAY. Made banana pudding for Laura and I! It's bedtime officially. Night~

Apologize for not posting yesterday... check it out below! I was a busy bee!

PS-10 days till 365!!!! Almost a whole year of blogging~eeeek.

Day 354



Saturday's post:

Woke up at 7:30 (yes, on a Saturday). Got the spicy chicken biscuit and orange juice (best ever) from Chick Fil A. Met my cheerleaders and the boys basketball players at Milton to ride the bus to Alpharetta. I was in charge of ALL of them. Crazy, huh? Played 1st game and won. Rode bus back to Milton. Went to Zaxby's to pick up lunch for my family. Went to parent's house. Took a nap. Went for a 45 min walk around our neighborhood. Beautiful day! Drove back to Milton. Covered the freshman basketball game for one of my friends that coaches cheerleading. Stayed for the following game (this is now game 3!) because it was my girls. We won again... amazing. Drove quickly to babysit. Babysat for 3 hours. While babysitting, kept getting calls and texts to come out on the town. Yup, I went. After the longest day ever, I was a trooper and lasted all night. Long, but great day!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Day 353



School. Coached. Taco Mac. Sleep.

Verrrrrrrryyyy long day tomorrow.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Day 352



Today was interesting.

-Student went home for a heart murmur (I cried like a baby to our clinic nurse because it scared me so bad)
-Two students bumped heads while playing tag... not pretty.
-During math recovery test, I am sitting with a small group while the rest of the class is taking it by themselves. I am watching a student solve a problem when all of a sudden I am tapped by a little finger. I look up and a student is jumping up & down and covering his mouth. When all of a sudden... 3...2...1 yup... don't worry! He made it.... but barely! TO THE SINK! ALL OVER THE SINK! I know exactly what he ate for lunch and what color his milk was. I about lost it myself... thank goodness I kept my cool.

I dedicate my post to Ms. Smith in the clinic. She was my saving grace today! Oh yeah, and Terri for being so prompt with my emergency button calls (yes, plural)!


Tonight was fun! The roomies and I went to eat at Coast in Buckhead. It was delish! I got the crabcake sandwich and mac & cheese. Laura was so excited to try my mac & cheese that she dropped it in my water. Naturally, I took a picture of it for my blog :) Just made brownies AKA ate the batter for our HOUSE OF STYLE (what, what!) munchies session tomorrow!

Can't imagine what tomorrow might bring!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Day 351



I don't know why I felt this way, but I was livin' on the edge today. I took risks in more ways than one.

1) I told someone they were "weird" to their face (in a joking way of course--they know I heart them tons!).
2) I confessed to Dr. P that I do have a "cheer bone" in my body where I can go from 0 to 60 quickly, but it's quite rare that it happens.
3) My secret is out about me stepping down from coaching cheerleading due to a meeting tonight. When parents & cheerleaders asked me why, I simply replied, "I need to just be a teacher". That was SOOOO hard for me to do because I care about coaching so much. Those of you that know my hives I get when I'm happy, sad, excited, flustered, mad, anxious, etc.? Imagine that times 500. However, I need to move on so I can further my education eventually and focus more on teaching. As Dr. P says, I need to strive for "perfection".
4) When I went to Publix to get a sub, I got the extra hot chicken tender sub when normally I get the mild. That's a huge risk in itself.

I'm trying to make myself sound bad to the bone, but let's face it. I'm a HUGE softy! Take tonight for instance.... I wept like a huuuuuggggggeeeee baby when I watched those sad, sad, sad stories on American Idol. Ahhh, it was a sob fest with my roommate Laura. I have so much to be thankful for! :)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Day 350



School. Realized I lost phone. Meeting. Cheerleading. Lexus. Home. Found phone (phew). Bed asleep by 8:15.

Night

Monday, January 24, 2011

Day 349




Pretty solid Monday. I discovered quite a few things...

--I discovered I had one child get a 100 on the difficult math test.
--I also discovered some did not know it that well.
--I discovered I have a college student that will start observing me on Wednesday when I thought she was starting in March. I will greet her with a kind heart :)
--I discovered that Josh really is gone and that someone has already taken over his class. I'm a sad little girl. I need therapy. (jk... or am I?)
--I discovered my cheerleading season is going to be longer than I thought.
--I discovered there was question as to what day of school it is. I do calendar math each school day so I am sticking to what I think... in my room it's day 90 :).
--I discovered I am a chef in the making. Brother and dad requested the leftovers tonight. My mom, the woman who would give her right arm for anyone, let them have it instead of her. What a sweet mama!
--I discovered (after I gave it a chance) I love the song "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri.

Overall, Monday was pretty good. Now it's time for Tuesday.... school, meetings, cheerleading, and boot camp. Bring it :)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Day 348



Graded papers all morning, entered grades in gradebook, then headed to Marietta. I immediately went to get my nails redone then headed to the grocery store. I must have been completely tired and out of it when I was headed to Kroger because as I was pulling up I saw a woman walking out with her dog. I thought to myself, "Since when are dogs allowed in a grocery store?" I was very confused by this as I began to park. I got out of my car and started walking into what I thought was Kroger. I looked up at the sign and it was a pet store next to Kroger. Oh em gee. I simply walked back to my car and drove to Kroger...as I giggled to myself for my ridiculousness. Haha :) When I FINALLY arrived to Kroger, I got all my ingredients for my meal I was preparing tonight for my family. I made baked enchilada casserole with rice, guac, and chips. It was my anniversary gift to my parents along with something else I got them from San Fran. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Bring on the week full of teaching, meetings, cheerleading, and babysitting :)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Day 347







Last night exhausted me... I slept till 2:00pm. What the? I know it. Lazy girl. When I woke up, I realized Lindsey was here. I got super excited because I haven't seen her since Friday. Yes, I know... only a day, but for realz... I missed her. We talked for about 30 minutes on our couch catching up on all things. I really don't know what I would do without her? She is one of my best friends. She has made the transition from living at home to having roommates again so easy and relaxed. She understands me and listens to me. She gives me advice with cheerleading, school, friends, boys, etc. And I do the same for her. I know a lot of people were thinking our apartment would explode when we decided to live together because we are with each other all of the time & we're involved in the same things. Well my friends... I prove you WRONG!! I dedicate this post to Linds... love you :)

Tonight... night out on the town with some of my very best friends. Good Saturday!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Day 346



Happy 27th anniversary to my mommy and daddy :)

pic: taken a few years back... super cheesy pic... if you knew them, you would know! haha. It's definitely adorable though. I will get an updated one on Sunday when I can see them to celebrate!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Day 345



Hmmm.... as I reflect on today, I am not happy with my overall performance. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was crabby all day long. My patience was soooo short. I feel guilty and pretty darn bad about it. Luckily, I redeemed myself and snapped out of my uncommon behavior when I got home to my roomies. It was my turn to make din din, which was baked chicken parm, pasta, & salad. I also brought back a present for them from Napa, which we opened at din din... a much needed gift--that's all I'm saying :). I hope I am pleasant to be around tomorrow... I'm waking up on the right (literally) side tomorrow because the left was pretty lame and did me no good.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Day 344



Favorite part of the day? Writing block. Can't normally say this because I always feel so pulled to help everyone at once. It's really my problem and I need new strategies to fix it. However, today... I did what all teachers know is the hardest thing to do... let go. Let go of control and let the kids run the show. The kids were making "boring" sentences into "super" sentences. We worked on this yesterday and I continued it today. I find myself worried about mechanics when really I need to worry about main ideas in their writing. I realized I had a small handful that were not even understanding the directions. SO... I pulled them to the back to explain the assignment/do examples. Before doing this, I made sure everyone knew that I was busy. I told them to "read to the wall", read to a buddy, use their "Words I Use When I Write" books, etc. The one rule was... they were not allowed to come over to me to ask questions until I stood up to walk around the room. I probably sat with the handful of students for 10 or so minutes really diving into the idea of the assignment. I would often look up and see what I call a beautiful classroom... independent kids. Kids were reading to the wall. Kids had spelling books out. Kids were in my classroom library looking up words they wanted to use in their sentences. Kids were doing the buddy system of "I'll read to you and you read to me". When I was finished with my group, I didn't even have time to stand up!!!! Kids were running (yes, I know it's dangerous, but it's true--THEY RAN TO ME!) to me to show me their new and improved sentences. Kids that I didn't think knew what "helium" was were using it in their writing. Kids used two adjectives in front of nouns and remembered to add the comma. Kids made sure to not run-on their sentences (3 sentences were now separate and not 1!). Best part of all? I noticed that we went 1 minute over writing block and I said, "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I just noticed we are supposed to be outside for recess. Turn in your papers and we'll continue this tomorrow." I heard about 24 "NOOOOOOO!!!"s.... they wanted to stay INSIDE to finish them. As much joy as I felt, I decided that these bundles of joy needed outside/energy release time. Outside at recess was a hoot--kids were coming up to me and telling me what their sentences said and how they thought of new things to add for tomorrow. Overall, I'd say WOW to writing block. It felt prettttttyyy awesome. Such a teacher moment right there. Lesson learned? Step back and not worry as much about mechanics. Let the kids do more on their own and step in if needed. Wow. Just wow.

After school, I went to babysitting. Lea was fabulous as always. I'm so lucky to have such a great family to help out. Something happened tonight that I can't say for various reasons, but I will tell you it's a change about to occur in my life and I think (I hope!) it will make me happy/I won't regret my decision. I'll expand more when I know I'm allowed to speak of it :)

Good night everyone! 11:20=bedtime like hardcore.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Day 343



First day back from San Fran/a super long icy break.... surprisingly, today at school was great. The kids jumped right into the routines and didn't skip a beat. I was proud of them! Received a super nice email about my teaching that melted my heart so much I had to share it with someone who has influenced me :). Coached cheerleading. Glad to see the girls... this group too... they jumped right back in and didn't skip a beat. I think everyone (whether they will admit it or not) was glad to be back and in their normal routines. Tonight Linds and I went to Chick-fil-A for dinner. I can always count on her for some spontaneous fun! Hehe. I'm in charge of the next math unit for my grade level so the rest of my night consists of pulling things together for that and most importantly.... doing laundry aka my favorite thing ever (HUGEEEEE amounts of sarcasm there).

See you when I see you!! PS-Don't forget to check out my blog for the entire time I missed. I posted pics that gives you a taste of what it was like... enjoy :)

Day 342



Monday in San Fran:

Cleaned up Yoly's apartment (this included deflating the air mattress--thanks to Bianca), brunch at a delish place where I had the best apple juice of my life (really, sooooo good!), airport, home by 11 thanks to my fabulous roommate Lindsey

Day 341




Sunday in San Fran:

Rode on the Golden Gate, toured Napa, had a FABULOUS lunch in Napa, hung out in East Bay

Day 340






Saturday in San Fran:

Farmer's Market--got a falafel (sp?), visited the Full House house used in the tv show, saw the Painted Ladies houses, cookout in Crissy Field, got the best view of water & Golden Gate, dinner @ a great restaurant that had phenomenal ham&cheese

Day 339





FRIDAY of San Fran:

Pier 23 for lunch, Alcatraz, The Stinking Rose for dinner, out in North Beach to see old friends from high school

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Public announcement

Yes I know. I am on vacay, but I just received the saddest email of my life from a girl I workout with. Just wanted to publicly announce why I'll be depressed and no longer in shape...


The most depressing moment of my life happened this morning. I went to
step class and at the end of class Josh made an announcement that he
is moving on. This morning was his last class. He was offered the
operations manager position for la fitness. He says he can not hold
this position and teach.

I left class and thought I have to tell Michelle as I was being
ridiculously sad with his announcement

Big massive tears for a Saturday morning!
Courtney

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Day 338



Leaving for San Fran today. I don't anticipate to have much internet access, but if I do, I'll definitely post for y'all! Expect a slide show when I come back :)

Day 337



Sorry for not posting yesterday. I literally forgot. My bad. Laura and I walked to the mall and Target. I did quite a bit of damage. Being locked up for a few days makes me want to spend money. I got things needed for my Cali trip, which I suppose is okay :). Ottie was such a protector for us all yesterday... he stands up on the window and acts all big and bad when people walk by like he's the man of the house, which technically I guess he is :)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Day 336




Pretty simple day... woke up, cleaned, worked out, attempted Target with LJ... then got sent back because it closed 5 minutes earlier, made dinner with LJ & Laura, played Scramble with L here and there, watched a movie & um... stuff (hence the late post). ;) Overall, fab day. School is out again tomorrow... the mall better be open. That's all I gotta say!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Day 335







Happy Snow Day!! Woke up and made a delish breakfast with Laura. Met up with my friends Jackie and Katie. All four of us walked in the winter wonderland to Starbucks. We got there at 1:20 and they were closing at 1:30. Phhhheeeeww!! Came home, wrote some emails to the cheerleaders, figured out what all of us were supposed to do for SIOP (thanks L), then procrastinated. I procrastinated all day long for my SIOP homework. It's hard to do work on your day off. It got to the point that I literally had to take all of my textbooks, lap top, etc. out of my room and into Lindsey's room (she's not here). I locked myself away from Laura (huge distraction) and things we have in our kitchen (muahaha). I made it juuussssstttt in time for the BCS Bowl!! Yayyyyyyy.

Gotta run so I can watch the rest of the game!! Auburn is winning right now!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Day 334



Babysat Ottie last night so I had morning potty duty. Woke up at 8 to help the little guy. Went back to sleep. Woke up around 10:30 to see Linds was back. Went to brunch at West Egg with Linds and Rebecca (commonly known as "Rebes"). It was PHENOMENAL! I have been wanting to go there for a while... if you go I recommend the lattes, fried green tomato sandwich, grits, or... my favorite... the fried egg sandwich--holy freaking cow. For realz peeps.... this sandwich was the jam. Thanks to Rebes for giving me a bite. I now have an obsession with it. Linds dropped me off at the mall to meet Lauren. Shopped with Lauren for a few hours. Lauren dropped me off at my place then I went shopping by myself. What do I have to show for my day of shopping? 1 lousy shirt. LAME!!! I need clothes for San Fran and Napa. I suppose my extremely full closet could help me out, but it's just so fun to have something new! Came home and ate dinner. Laura just made cookies and we're about to watch a movie.

Pic? My favorite word I have created in Words with Friends thus far. "Ditz". I just find that so hilarious and amazing. We can all be a ditz at some point or another... some more than others maybe? I embrace my "ditzy-ness" when I encounter it :)

Yay for snow, school closings, San Fran & Napa this week with my loves, and a 2 day work week :)

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Day 333




Step with Josh from 8:30-9:45. Noah's 2nd birthday party. Babysat. Tirrrreeeddddd.

Meghan!! Look what I found!! Here's Noah from his party today and then I found a picture of myself when I was little in the same type of car :).

Friday, January 7, 2011

Day 332



School. Learned about "Scramble". Coached. Sat in traffic for 1 hour and 36 minutes from Milton to my place. It normally takes 30 minutes. Played my first game of "Scramble" and realized I need practice. Got dinner with Linds. Went to her friend's house to hang out. Bedtime to wake up early for step class... much needed. Night

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Day 331




Okay... it's not Friday yet, but it's close. yay. tgTif (thank God tomorrow is Friday!)

I am obsessed with this story.... I'm sure most of you have heard about the homeless man discovered for his radio voice? I just love this. It shows that we need to give EVERYONE a chance no matter who they are or what they have done in their past. So touching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cl_fMxQCTw

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Day 330



Welp, first day back is complete. My throat hurts and I am tired. My voice and energy level were not prepared for this, but we're back in the swing of things... ready or not. Tonight is going to be short.... I can barely stay awake after a day of school, working out, and doing SIOP homework. Talk to you tomorrow!

Pic? Didn't have one so I thought I'd show you all this... can't remember if I posted this, but I think it's cute. This is mom giving iPhone 101 class to grandmommy at her house. I love how far she has come. A few years ago when mom was setting up her email account... she showed grandmommy how to enter her username and password. Grandmommy said, "Okay, so how do you know how many dots to put for the password?" LOVE it! Now she is an iPhone user. I miss both of them so much!! Along with dad and brudder. Can it be another break soon so I can see my family?


Check out my new title of my blog... so long twenty ten.... hello twenty ELEVEN!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Day 329



One of those days... Night y'all

Monday, January 3, 2011

Day 328




Holy productive day.... it went something like this....

1) Woke up at 11:00am

2) Introduced Lindsey to an amazing youtube video: baby dancing to "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + The Machine (aka my favorite song at the moment!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnBau6fL8S8

3) Deposited some checks

4) Went to Lexus to get some spots removed... while I was waiting I read about diabetes (1 story book and 1 chapter book) and read a book on reading blocks (I feel enlightened). When the guy came to tell me my car was ready, he brought me to his office to tell me the price. I liked the price so much I accidentally hugged the service man... oops!

5) School Box to buy my pointers that were magically taken from my room? Such a mystery.

6) Wal-Mart to buy fly swatters for a center.... no one in the store knew where they would be... rushing to step so I didn't have time to search myself

7) Kroger to buy something

8) Step with Josh---oh thank you!!!!!! I've realized that all that goes on during break needs to stop. Working out showed! Everyone in class tonight (including the Diva himself) was dying... so much we ended 10 minutes early then went to abs when normally we step the full hour. Crazy! I'll be attending classes all week.

9) Target to get fly swatters.... Target informs me that fly swatters are seasonal. What the?? Um... guess you learn something new each day. So what did I do instead? Killed it in the $1 sections and the office/school section. I need to be cut off from school supplies. Like, for reals.

10) Delicious salad and clementine for dinner.

11) Blog (currently)

12) Send an email to all the cheerleaders about uniforms and say welcome back :)

13) Dream about the spicy chicken biscuit that I will eat in the am!!!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Day 327



Napped. Cleaned out the ENTIRE refrigerator. Unloaded the dishwasher. Scrubbed all the shelves in the fridge. Checked dates on food and tossed stuff out. Swept the floor. Did 2 loads of laundry. Cleaned things I shouldn't have to clean, but I did because a mess irks me even if it isn't mine. Needless to say, I smell like cleaning products and it has given me a headache.

About to go to Trader Joe's grocery to buy food. Pumped I have one more day to relax tomorrow--- even if I do have to sit at Lexus to get my car scratches fixed and the podiatrist to find out if I need surgery (my feet are ridiculous).

Have a fabulous night everyone!!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Day 326





HAPPPPPPPPYYYYYY NEWWWWW YEARRRRRRR!!!!!!!! Today is 1-1-11. Pretty cool! These pics are from last night. We went to the "Downtown Countdown" at the Hyatt. Overall, great time.

If I had to pick a New Year's resolution it would probably be to not worry as much about things. It's going to be difficult due to my personality, but we'll give it a shot!