Getting this place in shape!

For so long, I have been saying that I will just be happy if we could get the house "finished" as far as the decorating/organization goes. Well, slowly but surely, we have started to get some things accomplished.

1. Drapes-We got the drapes awhile ago, but they are still "new."
2. I replaced the metal circle "thing" above the fireplace with a painting that I LOVE. The candlestick and candles are a nice complimentary accessory. THANKS to Home Goods!!
3. The buffet lamps were a suggestion from my dad (as everything was) and they look wonderful!
4. I replaced the oddball knick knacks (aka JUNK) that were in my little cube shelves with more coordinating items.

So...I am starting to be happier with my house. Yay!!

My little cubes!
New "look" for the living room!
Cubes from farther away!

Back to school...back to blogging!

WOW! You would think that I would have more time to blog during the summer. What happened? Summer went so fast, but I hope to stay updated with my blogging once I get back into a routing. There is something to be said for routines.

As usual, I had many summer projects along the lines of decorating. I did not accomplish any of them...not even ONE!! Well, today was my last day off, and I was not about to say I didn't get to check even one thing off of my list. So.......

Off to Michael's I went to buy frames for my picture wall that I had been wanting to make ever since I saw Joi's at Nuestra Vida Dulce. She is a master of design! Check out her blog if you haven't.

Well, this is what I came up with, and for once, I am really happy with it!! I took one picture of the entire wall, then a few close ups of my favorite pictures. And YES, I took the photos myself! Yeah!

School starts tomorrow, so I am off to bed!!

Here is the wall...it's better in person!

A favorite picture I took looking out over Salzburg...gorgeous!

One of my favorites...the old library in Ephesus!

Oh Venice...so fabulous!

It's been so long...

One would think that I would have MORE time to update the blog during the summer...so what happened?? I don't know. The summer is flying by. It has already been fun, relaxing, exciting, and productive...hence the lack of blog posts.

Update:

1. I just returned from dance camp at Mizzou. It was fun but completely exhausting! I enjoyed watching some really amazing dancers though, and spending time with the FZN dancers. I will not be teaching or coaching at North next year, so this was a nice weekend.

2. Our garden is growing like crazy! We have LOADS of tomatoes and lots of other yummy stuff.

3. Rick saw another snake in our yard. I will not be going outside again. Ever.

4. We leave on Wednesday (yes, THIS Wednesday) for our big trip! We fly to Austria, run around there for a bit, ride an overnight train to Venice, board a cruise ship that will take us to Greece, Croatia, and Turkey, then we spend two days in Venice! AAAAHHHH!! I am completely excited.

Now it is time to unpack from dance camp and begin packing for our trip!!

Farmers Libbi and Rick

Ok, so I know that we aren't REAL farmers, but we decided to plant a garden this year. It is AMAZING!! I was extremely skeptical, but our garden is really growing. We planted tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and a whole row of fresh herbs. Here are some photos.

This is a photo of when we started to see some things pop up.

These are our first tomatoes!!


My basil is taking over! Lettuce is behind it.
This is the first lettuce I used from the garden! We had salads and they were great!

It is so cool to know that everything you are eating is super fresh and healthy!

Pride

Yes, I know that "pride goeth before a fall," but I am willing to risk it. Last weekend I was extremely proud. Yes, I was proud that I graduated with a Master's, but I was more proud of my "baby" sister Katie. She graduated with her Bachelors in Theater. Here are the details:

1. Katie graduated from Columbia College Chicago (a GREAT arts college)
2. Katie graduated with honors.
3. Katie graduated in 3 1/2 years! WOW!
4. Katie moved 5 hours from home at the age of 18, and is working her tail off to really make something of herself.

I am SO proud.

Many people who claim that they will have a career in theater never finish a college degree, and believe that jobs are just going to fall into their lap. Katie definitely does not love taking classes like I do, and this will be it for her (I think) as far as college goes, but she graduated, with honors, and has a degree in theater. She did what she loves.

I am SO proud.

Katie is going on tons of auditions while working other jobs to gain references and experiences. She doesn't ever take the attitude of, "Well, that's beneath me," and I really believe that she will be successful.

As a teacher, I always hope that I send students out of high school to follow their dreams. Not just to wait for their dreams to happen, but to MAKE them happen. I also hope to have "raised" students who are independent, responsible adults. I have had a few students like Katie, and it is wonderful to hear of their successes. So I know I am not the only one who is proud of her...

But did I mention: I am SO proud!!

Katie on the Jumbo Tron walking across the stage!
Outside!
Before the ceremony.
Getting ready...and excited!

from Chicago

I just wanted to post a quick update from The Windy City! We are here for Katie's graduation. Friday night I graduated with my Master's in Education, and Saturday morning we hopped on a plane to come here to see Katie graduate. Saturday we spent SIX (gorgeous) HOURS walking around this amazing city enjoying the weather and taking a million pictures. The pics. will come later...I promise!

After walking our legs off, we came home and got ready for a night of FUN eating dinner and bowling at The Lucky Strike. It was sooooooo cool. If you ever get the chance to bowl there, do it!

Now we are here getting ready for Katie's graduation. She graduates at 3:00 today and we fly home after that.

A whirlwind weekend indeed!

Rambling?

Preface: Rick is out of town. We are state testing at school. So...after hours of strict SILENCE, I am coming home to no one to talk to. I apologize if this is rambling, but this is my "talking" for the moment.

We have three full weeks of school left after this one. WOW. I cannot believe it. I knew that, especially learning of my new job next year, the year would go fast, but this is insane. I was, initially, excited beyond words to be moving to Zumwalt East High. And don't get me wrong, I am still incredibly excited. I know that I will be a better teacher for moving, and I will finally feel the freedom to teach in my own style, try new things, and do what good teachers do.

But now that the end of the year is finally near, I am forced to face the people who I will really miss. People have started saying things like, "We will really miss you," and "What will we do next year?" It's a huge honor to know people care, but it is really hard too.

I have the best students this year that I have ever had, and they also keep telling me how they will miss me. Some have even said, "But what will we do? We were going to have you our senior year for speech." All of my teacher friends can understand how that completely rips your heart out.

Again, I KNOW I have made the right decision, and I will be much happier because of it, but the next few weeks are going to be a challenge in "keeping it all together."

SO EXCITED!!!

I am SO excited for the Kona truck! What is a Kona truck, you ask? I will tell you! It is like an ice cream man only SO much better and not at all creepy. This Kona truck looks like a tiki bar. It is all painted, has cool lights, and the side is a bar with a window where you order. He drives around and plays steel drum music to give you the island feel. :-)

Last Friday, Rick and I heard the noise and looked outside. We both were not feeling well, so we didn't go get anything, but I did notice that this Kona truck sold shaved ice. WHAT??!! A truck that would basically bring tropical snow to my driveway??? I was excited.

So I have been listening and listening, and tonight, while I was drying dishes, I heard him! I grabbed money from Rick and ran outside like a 7 year old. I got my shaved ice, and it was great! You can even do your own flavors because they have them out of spouts on the side of the truck...super fun!

Here's the website for Kona, and here's hoping you have one in your neighborhood soon!

My project

I was inspired by Joi at Nuestra Vida Dulce to complete this "do it yourself" project. I saw the most adorable little indoor herb garden in the Crate and Barrel catalogue and wanted it SO badly. But it had WAY too hefty a price tag. All together, it was upwards of $75.00. Ouch! So I headed to Lowe's to do it myself. With pots, spray paint, herbs, and potting mix, I am pretty proud of what I created! I guess I really CAN do it myself!

This is what I started with: herbs, super cheap pots, spray paint, and my iced tea (very important!)


After the first coat of white paint!


An "up close" picture of my stenciling...

The finished product! Parsley, basil, and mint!
Total cost: approximately $35.00. Good for me!

WE DID IT!!

After the race!
Waiting in the car...
Getting ready to go!
Still at home...nice and dry.
Still at home...nice and dry

Today we ran our first 5K! I say first because there will definitely be more. This was the "Undy 5000" and it was called a "brief" run for colon cancer. The idea was that everyone would wear boxers...too bad it was freezing cold and raining. I still sported my boxers over my running pants and under my poncho.

Kind of on a whim several months ago, we decided to start really running and to run this particular 5K. Our goal was simple: to RUN the whole thing.

Guess what??? WE DID IT!! And...I came in 269th out of 534 people. Rick came in 243rd our of 534. We were both really proud of how well we did especially in the nasty weather.

Overall, it was a great experience, and we are trying to decide what to do next! Best of all, together, we raised $500 dollars for the Colon Cancer Alliance!

Sister Day!

Tomorrow I will pick Katie (my awesome sister) up from the airport at 1:00. I am SO excited to spend the day with her, have her at my house tomorrow night, and then spend another day together on Friday! We really don't see each other all that often...definitely not as much as I would like, so this will be a treat. There will be more to report later!

Day 1 Update

OK...after Day 1 of Spring Break, here is the update of what has been accomplished:

• watch Twilight tomorrow with Jamye "college style" in comfy clothes while eating nachos-This was amazing and super fun.
  
• run errands with Rick-did that yesterday
  
• complete our LAST week of training for the 5K next Saturday!We ran our first 3.1 miles on Saturday!! Now I am confident we can do it next Saturday!
  
• write 10 lessons for one graduate class (ok...that's ambitious)Brace yourself-I have 7 done!! I am even surprised.
  
• write a paper for another graduate class I have 5 pages done. Not too shabby.
  
• PLAN for school-um...yeah...
• take Lexie on LOTS of walks-Currently, she is sleeping because of all of her outside fun!
  
• get my haircut-happening on Wednesday!
  
• hang out with my uncle after he comes to town on Monday-heading out in a few minutes to meet the family!
  
• hang out with my sister after she comes to town on Thursday
• go to Jilly's Cupcakes-with Katie after she gets here
  
• watch as many episodes of "Ace of Cakes" as humanly possible-3 down.
  
• attend the second annual benefit put on by the Epilepsy Foundation of Southern Illinois with an entire table of some of our greatest friends who are willing to support a cause that is so important to me-Friday night!

So...I am quite proud of what has already been checked off of the list! 3 cheers for spring break!

Spring Has Sprung!

I made it! Spring break is finally here! We are off school next week and I could not be more excited to just be here at home, hopefully get some work done for graduate school, get ready for my next units to teach, and do all of the other various activities I have planned. Here is a rundown:

• watch Twilight tomorrow with Jamye "college style" in comfy clothes while eating nachos
• run errands with Rick
• complete our LAST week of training for the 5K next Saturday!
• write 10 lessons for one graduate class (ok...that's ambitious)
• write a paper for another graduate class
• PLAN for school
• take Lexie on LOTS of walks
• get my haircut
• hang out with my uncle after he comes to town on Monday
• hang out with my sister after she comes to town on Thursday
• go to Jilly's Cupcakes
• watch as many episodes of "Ace of Cakes" as humanly possible
• attend the second annual benefit put on by the Epilepsy Foundation of Southern Illinois with an entire table of some of our greatest friends who are willing to support a cause that is so important to me

I am excited for spring break...and for SPRING in general!

Happy Birthday to...

Lexie!

She was two years old today! Wow!

I will post pictures of her birthday celebration later as I am WAY too tired now.

Sickness and Old Wives Tales

This winter has been the worst for us since Rick and I have been together...at least in terms of being sick. We have been sick just about every weekend since the new year. This weekend though, really took the cake. Rick had the stomach flu and I had/have a terrible cold/low-chest cough/throat issue.

Since we (I hope) are now on the mend, I am now 100% trying to disinfect the house. I have been doing laundry all morning, lysol-ing everything, opening windows, etc. I think as a joke, Rick's mom mentioned that her grandma used to cut an onion and let it sit out claiming that it trapped the germs. At this point, I am desperate! I got an onion (because Rick's mom went to the store for us!) and have half upstairs and half downstairs. I am hopeful!!

Now the house smells of fresh air, lysol, and onion...strange, but I am going to trust this old wives tale!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope a Happy Valentine's Day was had by all! We had a nice, low key day and it was great. We test drove some cars today, ran some errands, went out to dinner, then came home and relaxed. We had agreed not to do gifts this year because it gets a little silly. Now that we have a house, things to save for, and a real life, the money can be put in more logical places! Well, after I worked for my dad last night, we realized that we had finally saved enough to purchase our new camera!!! WOO HOO!! So, while we didn't exchange gifts, we did get to buy our camera! It was awesome to have saved enough to pay in cash and actually OWN a big ticket item upon walking out of the store! I will post pictures taken with the new camera when I figure it out...

Suddenly old...

Wow. On Monday I stayed home sick from school. However, I had to take a paper to my teacher at Lindenwood because it was due that evening. So, I decided to just go after I picked up my medicine.

I got out of the car, walked to the main part of campus and suddenly felt older than I ever have...in my life. All of these college kids were moving from class to class, talking about the crazy fun they had over the weekend, looking forward to the next weekend, drinking Starbucks, and really, only having to worry about papers to write and laundry to do.

I came in with NO make up on, not at all dressed to impress, just in a hurry to get home (to my actual house I now pay for!), and I suddenly felt old. I missed the days when all I had to do was go to class, work a job, and do laundry.

Don't get me wrong, I love my life now and feel so lucky, but I have my moments. Monday afternoon at Lindenwood was one of those moments.

Jamye

Jamye is my friend from school. I remember meeting her after I started teaching at North High. I remember thinking that she was nice, but I never could have imagined what a wonderful person/friend she would turn out to be for me. Countless times, she has brightened my days at work, helped me put things in perspective, or commiserated with me when I just needed someone to share in my anger/sadness. It is extremely rare that you find someone like this. It is extremely rare that you find someone who is always willing and happy to go out of her way to help.

It was hard for me to move here to St. Charles, because I had to leave all of my friends in Edwardsville. Shortly after, Corey, my best friend from the time I was 14 moved to Phoenix. Rachel, my other best friend was "finding her way" as I was and she moved and was busy as well. It was scary for me to move to a place where, essentially, I had no friends. Now I feel that I would be sad to leave St. Charles because of the friends I have, namely, Jamye. She is a major reason why I will not be leaving North High. While all jobs have their faults, if you work with really extraordinary people, it's hard to justify leaving for small reasons.

On Friday I came to school sick, tired, expecting it to be a really rough day. On my desk I found the most beautiful vase of flowers with a note thanking me for being a really wonderful friend. Wow. I'm not the one delivering flowers. Needless to say, they were from Jamye.

I hope everyone who reads this has a "Jamye" in their own lives. Here's to amazing friends!

Small things...

I am sick. It just came today. I was fearing that it was coming, and here it is. I have the congestion, scratchy throat, stuffy nose, sneezing, and general tiredness that I hate. I will live, but it's just no fun.

However, my grandma Bette always says, "Thank goodness for small favors." I actually thought of this today. I pulled into the driveway and saw a package on the porch. I knew what it was. It was my Snuggie.

Yes, I wanted a Snuggie for my birthday and Rick ordered one. Make fun of them all you want, but it arrived on an evening when all I wanted to do was snuggle up.

So here I sit, typing on the computer, wrapped up nicely in my snuggie thanking goodness for small favors!

Snow Day #2!

How wonderful it was to get the "no school call" last night! I got to stay up late, not worry about waking up...it was great!

Lexie enjoyed playing outside today...for a brief time. She LOVES snow, but when it gets to be almost as tall as she is, she gets scared. I think I would too.

Also, strange story: Rick, being the wonderful husband he is, shoveled the driveway today before heading to work. Rick, being the weather obsessed person he is, also took a ruler out to measure how much snow we had. So, after measuring, he put the ruler on the rear bumper of his car. He backed out completely forgetting about the ruler. Well bloggers, he came home today (after driving on the highway mind you) and the ruler was still on the bumper!!! It was not frozen either. It blew my mind and I thought I would share that.

Taco Bake Snow Day!

My friend Joi had this recipe on her blog and it looked SO good, I knew I had to try it. It just so happened that today was a snow day so I had a lovely day to grade, lounge around, then leisurely fix dinner.

It was really yummy and easy to make. The recipe originally came from here, and was super easy. I even used whole wheat pasta, low fat cream cheese, and other low fat friends :-) and it was STILL mighty tasty. The other great news is that it makes a whole pan, so we will have a few more meals out of it.

Maybe I will eat it for lunch tomorrow while I am home AGAIN due to snow. :-)

Happy Wednesday!

Movies

I feel like there are so many movies I want to see!! I am even "behind" on DVD rentals...whew! Luckily we got two months of Netflix for Christmas. I just have to strategically plan the two months to be when we will be home, I will be finished coaching, and we will really make good use of our unlimited rentals! :-)

I would like to know what you all think of these movies. If you have seen any, would you leave me a note telling me whether it belongs at the top, middle, or bottom of the priority list?? Thank you!

Swing Vote-I know it's older, but I really wanted to see it.
Batman The Dark Night-yeah, we really never saw it. I know.
Bride Wars
Valkyrie
Frost/Nixon
Marley and Me-I LOVED the book
Benjamin Button
The one with Meryl Streep as a teacher...what's the title???

Chicago

Katie and me at my party. Yes, I am in my pajamas. It was my party.
Blowing out candles in my Skinny Cows.
me and the new Mr. and Mrs. Kohn!
The three of us at The Melting Pot for my birthday.
I got balloons!!!

Our reason for going to Chicago was to celebrate with my good friend Eric as he married his lovely fiance (now wife!) Becca. It just happened that the wedding was on my birthday so I got to spend my whole birthday weekend in Chicago! Who could complain about that??

I went with my two favorite people, Rick and Katie, to my favorite place, The Melting Pot. Then we headed to Howl at the Moon...it is an awesome piano bar in Chicago. We had a blast.

We ran around on Saturday during the day then did the wedding thing in the evening. When we got back to Katie's apartment she had a little party all set up with decorations, Skinny Cow ice creams, and gifts. It was one of the best birthdays...just because. It was great!