Blog Hoppin'

There are two blogs that I check out daily and I would love to share them with you:

http://www.shullfamily.blogspot.com/

http://pinteresttoldmeto.blogspot.com/

You will fall in love with these as well!  Enjoy!

Classroom Blog

Okay, so I've really been slacking on my blog writing.  My sincerest apologies!  Life has officially gotten in the way!  What have I been up to?  Well, in the past nine months, I have moved to a new town, adjusted to a new house, a new school, a new grade level, I have completed my ProTeach, and started and finished my masters! YAHOO!  I've been just a tiny bit busy!  Well, now I'm enjoying summer vacation and pouring all my extra energy into improving my classroom and my teaching skills.  Part of improving parent communication and keeping parents constantly in the loop is my new and improved classroom website!  Check it out!  If you have any wonderful ideas, I'm all ears!  http://ssmith201.wordpress.com/

I'm going to try and continue to blog, but I can't promise anything since I'm officially on summer vacation. But I'll do my best!  Happy summer!!

Spring Has Sprung

Nothing makes me happier than when the dark winter slowly turns into a shiny, bright, happy spring!  My body desires longer days, warmer air, and just the sight of newly growing flowers.  We're getting closer and closer to those warm late spring days and I can't be happier!  Moving home has been such a rollercoaster ride for me.  City life was fun and exciting, but now it's great to slow down and enjoy once again the town that helped raise me.  Also, I'm so thankful to live in an area where rain is as rare as a four leaf clover!  It's amazing to me how just the weather affects my mood and motivation.  More than the city, I miss my old friends.  I wish so badly I could rally up all my favorite people from over the years and move them to my favorite hometown and we all could live here.  Wouldn't that be nice?  But overall, God's guidance in bringing me home has been nothing short of a complete blessing.  For now, I'll enjoy every moment, and secretly count down the days until summer!

Picture credit:  McGlinn's Public House

Couples That Multiply Together, Stay Together

Our beloved Bachelor has come to an end and we leave this season with tears in our eyes, happy thoughts for the new couple, and excitement for a possible TV wedding that will soon air!  Because this was our favorite bachelor, we decided to go big on our finale party this year!  We chowed down on yummy snacks, filled every commercial break with non-stop comments, and laughed more than we even knew was possible!  We decided to have themed snacks that fit some of our past bachelorettes, some sweet and endearing, some  pee your pants hysterical!

On the menu tonight was:

Mix and Match Popcorn

(In honor of Sean's wonderful sister Shay Shull)

Goat's Milk Cheese Dip

(In honor of Des.  Even if the goat drinking didn't win Sean's heart, it won Americas!  

So happy she's the new Bachelorette!)

Fifty Shades of Tortilla Chips

(In honor of the drunk Fifty Shades Girl that bought herself a one way ticket home the first night)

Abandon-mint Issues
(In honor of AshLee.  Enough said)

 

Tierrably Delicious Butter Bars

(In honor of Tierra and all tierrable things that came with her)

Uncontrollable Eyebrow-nies

(In honor of Tierra once again, who sucked our attention at the raise of an eyebrow)

Sparkle Cider

(In honor of Tierra..... again.... who wouldn't let anyone steal her sparkle)

I Love the Beef

(In honor of our wonderful Catherine!  So glad our local Seattle girl won Sean's heart!)

Six Pack Water

(In honor of our hunky Bachelor who's love for the Lord and hot bod made for an easy watching season)

We had such a great time!  Cheers to Sean and Catherine finding true love, cheers to reality television entertaining us every Monday for many weeks, and cheers to great friends and great memories!

 Until next time...

The Bachelor Finale

Tomorrow night, we're going all out and having a major girls night celebrating The Bachelor finale show.  It'll be a night filled with cozy PJ's, themed treats, and I'm sure, lots of giggles!  Stay tuned for pictures of our event!  

Running

At the start of the year, I started up my running schedule again to get my hiney in shape for another half marathon.  Two years ago, my New Year's resolution was just run a half marathon.  I trained, ran one, and completely fell in love with it.  This April, I will be running my 5th half marathon and have done lots of smaller races such as 5k, 15k, and warrior dashes.  As I get older, I have  missed my competitive athletic days and this is a way to fill that void.  The hardest part of these races is finding the time to train for them.  The morning runs aren't the hard part, it's the longer weekend runs that need longer than an hour that make it harder.  Training in the winter isn't always easy either.  I hate running when I'm cold so I run on a treadmill.  I have a treadmill in my basement and I owe a huge thank you to the HGTV channel for keeping me company while I run.  I leave my basement feeling exhausted from the run and inspired to change my entire house (thanks to Cousins on Call and Property Brothers).  With my recent move, I'm struggling to find running buddies.  I had a nice circle of friends on the west side that enjoyed running and needed to stick to a schedule and knock out the long runs, here on the east side, I've had a harder time finding people willing to go for the longer runs.

I recently had a conversation about shoes and the incredible benefits to finding the right pair.  When I started training for my first half marathon, I was running in Asics.  I used to think they felt great, but as soon as I got over 3 miles, I found my knees hurting, my hips hurting, and my overall posture not feeling like it should.  I was trying everything to help myself feel better (joint juice, other exercises, icing, stretching, etc.), but didn't realize that it wasn't me, it was the shoes!  Thanks to my wonderful mother's connections, I was able to get guidance from a Brooks representative and I was introduced to the Ghost shoe.  This shoe has completely changed my life.  I am now on my fourth pair of Brooks Ghost and fall more and more in love with them with every mile.  These shoes have transformed my running.  My body no longer hurts and my longer runs aren't hindered by a bad shoe.  If anyone is looking for an amazing shoe, I would definitely try them out.  Even if the Ghosts aren't the ones for you, try another style of Brooks.  I'm a firm believer that Brooks make a great shoe made to benefit the wearer and make your movement more smooth and enjoyable!  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up this relationship with running for many years to come!  If you're ever up to join me on the long runs, let me know!  Happy running!

(My current shoe - Brooks Ghost 5)

Bachelor Tuesday

For such a bummer show on Monday full of frustration and confusion, Tuesday started off with a bang.  Can I just say, Sean and Catherine rolling around in the snow during a blizzard was killing me!  Nothing says romance like a one-piece snowsuit right?



Of course, it's cute how giddy they are when they're together.  They act like kids are excited to spend time together.  But between the grandpa way Catherine was wearing her hat and Sean's "Mr. Heat Miser" snow hair, I just couldn't help but watch and cringe a bit.

                      

Okay ABC execs... I've told you once and I'll tell you again.... STOP MAKING SARAH DO TWO ARM TASKS!  The poor girl is now stuck rowing a canoe.  

"I just wanted a shark to come out of the lake and eat their boat," hee...........hee.........hee....... says Selma.  I'm not sure if she was choking or having a seizure during that laughing session.  For such a cute girl, she definitely just made herself look like a nursing home patient.

These dates are getting weirder and weirder.  "Hey ladies, grab your swimsuits and let's jump into freezing cold water and give Tierra more of a chance to act hurt and get all my attention."  I'm confused on if I'm watching The Bachelor or Survivor.  

And now comes the moment when Tierra throws herself down the stairs again!  Okay... maybe not stairs, but something new... hypothermia!  Definitely never thought I'd see that one on the Bachelor.  The girl is a complete professional when it comes to ways to get attention.  Meanwhile, Leslie hasn't unglued herself from Sean.  Like a toddler hanging off their parents.  

Now comes operation save Tierra!  Hurry!  Call the hospital!  Tierra's makeup is running!  Oh I mean, she's shivering because she just jumped into freezing cold water.  Quickly after making it back inside, Tierra quickly pulls herself out of her shaking patterns and says, "I'm missing spending time with him."  Dang it girl!  Your plan didn't work!  Quick, find some stairs and throw yourself down them!  That trick worked last time!

But don't worry, Sean gets sucked into her cloud of confusion and spends time with her.  Nothing's sexier than a girl in bed with an oxygen nasal cannula.  Yes Sean, at this point, I seriously think you're losing it.  

"If this is a class, she should teach it.  Watch your back everyone, this is a Tierra-ist."  Thank you Leslie for that clear and accurate description.  By pure miracle, Tierra suddenly feels good enough to head down to the party.  She walks in the door and there's a good minute of pure silence.  And to make it worse, Sean talks marriage with Tierra.  Sean used to be an insurance agent.... don't you think he should know a false claim when he sees one?  

ABC execs, hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.  No more "what can stubby do" events are going to happen on the Bachelor.  (At least for this season).  Sean sent sweet Sarah home even before the rose ceremony.  I do think it's nice of him to not drag her along, but this poor girl has been through enough shock moments and then you yank her out of the room with all the other girls and dump her and then make her go back in and face her competition?  Not so good.

Desiree gets to repel down the mountain with Sean and continually reminds him that it's steep.  Good thing Sean is there with extra oxygen to help her her along.  And don't worry, the romance didn't end there.  They played pretend papa bear and baby cub and climbed a tree.  Ahh... such a dream!  "I opened up about living my life in a tent, and here I am falling in love in a tee-pee."  All time best quote of their date!



Selma breaks away from her family and kisses Sean.  She's a disgrace to her culture and bringing out the "big guns" as she says, but I'm pretty sure she brought her sisters out as well for the win.

"Ladies, Sean, this is the final rose tonight, when you're ready."  The room was filled with the awkward stares once again.  You could hear women from all over yelling in their living rooms as Sean called out, "Tierra" and gave her the final rose.  Adios Daniella and Selma.  Sadly enough, Selma disrespects her family and still gets sent home.  Yes, oddly enough, a push-up bra and long desired kiss don't always find you a husband.

As the previews for next week show, it looks like Tierra-ist plays "stair fall" again and
sucks Sean in even more into her weird world.  Until then...