Two Years

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

-Emily Bronte

Happy Anniversary Cam. I love you.

The Daily Grind

Well because I know you've been on the edge of your seats wondering, I want you to know that I still have all of my teeth. Although I will tell you that last week at work was so stressful that there was a brief period where I thought I might grind all of my teeth away and end up in a loony bin just in time for Christmas! Even though things have gotten better at work this week, I'm noticing that this teeth grinding/jaw stiffening thing has become a habit for me. Now that I'm aware of it, I realize I'm doing it almost all the time. I'm also noticing I clench my hands too. I wonder if other people notice me doing this? I hope not...I don't want to appear stressed, even if I am. I've been told several times that I seem calm...that makes me laugh. If they only knew! It also made my Mother laugh when I told her because she knows the truth-lol! Let's just say I've been known to worry myself over every little old thing - big and small. It's my nature, but I'm trying to work on it. Back to the pressing issue of my teeth: I checked out night mouth guards at HEB the other day and decided it was not worth $15 to help a problem while I'm sleeping when it's occuring during the day. And really, what is more sexy than a woman sleeping with a night guard all up in her grill? Cam would be so happy - lol! I'm so thankful to have a nice break coming up to rest my mind and body and focus on the things that are most important in my life.

"Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble." George Washington

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
John 14:27

Adele

I'm in a major Adele phase right now. I think she is absolutely incredible. Do you know that she wrote her current hit "Someone Like You" while she was waiting for a bath to run?

Here's her singing one of my favorites. Flawless!



Also, if I ever get rich, I'm going to pay someone to fix my hair like that and put those fake lashes on me every single day. Even when I'm just sitting around in my pajamas. I just love that she sounds and looks like she could be from the 1950s or 60s, and yet she is so fitting for this day and age.

Christmas Time is Here...Happiness and Cheer

Cam & I snuggled up together this evening to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special on television. Poor Cam isn't feeling well, but nothing was going to stop us from watching one of our holiday favorites! I love Peanuts - I have the Christmas show soundtrack and last year, Cam gave me a DVD set with the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas specials! I just love that shows made in the 1960s and watched by kids from multiple generations still get shown every year to put kids in the holiday spirit.

This is my favorite part. So simple, classic, and true!




Merry Christmas! Let's close this post out with one of my favorite jams ever!

Bueller....Bueller...

Is anyone still out there? I've probably lost all two of my readers with my recent lack of blogging. But I'm back and better than ever (maybe?)! This post will be what my principal calls a "scroller". She warns us frequently to not send scroller emails, but it's been awhile, dear blog of mine, and I've got things to say!

We had a great Thanksgiving in Sugar Land! We got to spend lots of time with family and it was wonderful. There were around 25 people at Thanksgiving dinner at Cam's grandparents and it was so fun! I really love the big family get-togethers. We don't really have those in my family anymore and while I love quiet holidays with my family, it can be really fun to have everyone in the extended family all together at once! The food was delicious - I swear there was every possible side dish you could imagine. When we got back to Austin on Saturday, we spent the evening with my family and had some yummy leftovers! My mom's dressing is my favorite thing ever, and she froze a batch for me! To quote my Daddy, it was so good "it made me want to smack my mouth!"

We got to spend lots of time with our nephew Logan, who is turning 1 this week (how is that even possible?!). Jennifer and I kept him while everyone else went to the UT/A&M game and he is just such a sweetheart. He is walking everywhere now and into everything! So much fun!

Speaking of that little football game, I'm really proud of my Longhorns! We didn't have our best game, but both sides played their hearts out and showed what a great rivalry it is. I was really happy for Case McCoy and the rest of the team - Case's uniform at the end of that game was such a symbol of how hard he has worked all season. All that being said, I am happy UT and A&M are done playing each other for now. The one day a year it's hard to be a house divided is Thanksgiving! Cam and I don't really get into the rivalry thing as much as others do, but it is still stressful. Cam is a football fanatic and a die-hard Aggie fan. We try to support each other's team when they're not playing each other. It's just not as much fun cheering for your team when you know that your husband is going to be miserable if they win, and vice versa. Plus I have a problem with a football game on Thanksgiving! Cam was gone from about 3 in the afternoon until 3 in the morning and while I'm happy he got to go, I missed spending the whole day with my hubby. To me, Thansgiving is a day about family, and the game should be on Friday. Maybe it will be fun to start playing again in a few years, once absence has made the heart grow fonder between the two teams, but right now I think there's just too much bitterness. As a third-generation Longhorn, I get the tradition and rivalry, but that's just my two cents on the issue!
I am so glad my Christmas shopping is done! I think I subconciously did that in preparation for the madness of the three weeks of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas break. Work is bananas right now! There is just a lot of stress and pressure right now and not very much time. I cannot wait to have a break in a couple weeks! At the end of the last two weeks, I've come home from work and realized my jaw is so tense that it hurts! Without even realizing it, I am grinding my teeth and holding my jaw so tight all day at work due to stress! I've heard of people doing this at night when they're sleeping, and I know you can buy mouth guards to sleep in, but what about during the day?!?

My sister and Corey gave me a giftcard for a massage for my birthday and I had it today! It was so nice and relaxing, and very much-needed. Thanks y'all!

I'm making red velvet cake balls today! They are in the freezer right now. I can't wait to see how they turn out! I have really gotten into baking this year - it's creative, relaxing, and I enjoy it so much. I've perfected the art of the sugar cookie, which used to be really hard for me to make for some reason. I have a dream of having a little in-home bakery where I bake things and sell them to local restaurants while I raise my babies at home!

I hope you're having a great weekend! Whatever you're doing, make it merry! :)

'Twas the Thursday Before Thanksgiving...

-I'm so looking forward to Thanksgiving! It's such a special day and I love the meaning and history behind it. My birthday is the week before Turkey Day, so from then until Christmas, I'm pretty much in celebration mode. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

-Speaking of birthdays, Cam and I went to see Morrissey in concert this week for my birthday. It was a great show! Morrissey was awesome live and he is such a character. He's too cantankerous to play many of his hit songs live, but it was an amazing show nonetheless. Our friends Elena & Theo were sitting two rows ahead of us and we hung out with them before the concert, which was fun. I have to say that Bass Concert Hall is my favorite venue ever! Our seats were awesome and I just love it there. Doesn't hurt that it's on the campus of my alma mater either.

-Are you watching the new Beavis & Butthead? Probably not, but Cam and I are and it's amazing. I watched this show pretty religiously as a middle schooler. My Dad even took me to see the movie when it came out. Everything is exactly the same - they're still in high school, still wearing the same outfits, but now they watch current-day shows and music videos. As you can see, I'm super mature - ha!!

-I finished my Christmas shopping! I started Sunday before last and Cam & I finished last Sunday. I've never been done this early - usually I don't start until around Thanksgiving. It all started with a really good sale and then it was like I was on a mission to finish. It's a good thing too because this December is going to be crazy busy, so I'm glad to have my shopping taken care of!

-Cam & I booked a little anniversary getaway and we're so excited! We're going to stay at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort in Bastrop. It worked out pretty perfectly because we're going to a wedding in Houston the Saturday before Christmas, so on our way home that Sunday, we're going to stop in Bastrop and stay the night. It's supposed to be an amazing place, they were having a sale, and I love the idea of spending a little money to help the economy in a place that has been through so much in the last few months like Bastrop has.

Vent

Warning: This post is just me venting. It's not happy or positive or anything like that.

In the past two weeks the following things have happened at school:

Today I wore a cute outfit to work. I'm not one to brag, but this black and white jacket-dress is one of my favorite things ever, and it was finally cold enough to break out the black leggings and boots. I felt good! That was until a girl in one of my afternoon classes came up to me and told me I looked like Minnie Mouse. Just what every grown woman wants to hear, right?

Last week a kid I don't even have as a student walked up to me in the hall and got really close to my face (he has issues and is special needs, which is why I shouldn't even take this to heart, but whatevs). He told me I had something on my face. Naturally I put my hand up to my face to wipe whatever it was off, and then he told me that it looked like a pimple that was about to pop.

And the piece de resistance was when another teacher and I were talking to each other at the beginning of a class recently. This teacher is my work "bestie" and she is a year older than me. One of my rather clueless students (who is new and didn't know who this other teacher was) came up to us, looked at us for a second, and the proceeded to ask me if I was my friend's mother.

Seriously? Is this my life? Am I working in bizarro world? I know they're just kids, but after awhile it gets old. And the sad thing is they're probably trying to be cute/funny, but they should know better at this age.

And while we're at it, I've noticed another thing about this generation. Very few of them say thank you. For anything. Whether it's giving them a pencil or giving them an extra point they need to pass my class for the six weeks, gratitude is not in their lexicon. And it offends every bit of my Southern sensibilities.

Yes, I'm being super sensitive. I'll be better tomorrow - I promise. I just have to get this out. Is it the weekend yet?

Baby G

Come March, we will have a NIECE! Lizzie's ultrasound was Wednesday and it was such an amazing experience! They confirmed my suspicion that it was a girl and said she is perfectly healthy, which is wonderful in itself! Technology is really something - they counted all her finger and toes and checked out all her organs. It's incredible to me that they can do all of that at 19 weeks!

The fam had been leaning toward thinking it was a boy - everyone but me and Corey (and my Mom, who I don't think completely made up her mind one way or another) thought it was a boy. Of course we would all be happy either way, I just had a feeling it was a girl. I purposely wore pink on sonogram day and was happy to see that the sky was unusually pink that morning when I left the house. The ultrasound tech was awesome - we were talking about how active the baby was being and the tech said, "Yes, SHE is very active." Then, we cried. It was such a special experience and I'm so thankful to my sister and Corey for inviting me.

Doesn't she have the sweetest little profile? She is beautiful already!

Having our nephew Logan and our new niece in the world is so wonderful. There's something really special about watching your siblings become parents and your parents become grandparents. I can't even fathom what it will be like to have a baby of our own one day. Babies are such a blessing! Can't wait to meet Little Girl Granstrand next year. Her due date is the first day of Spring - isn't that neat and symbolic? When Cam and I were in New Orleans this summer, I had my palm read on Royale Street by a woman who happened to be named Elizabeth. She didn't have a set price like all the other readers around the city...she just took whatever you were willing to pay her. She told me that my sister would be having this baby - isn't that cool?

Tales from the Classroom

I have to write this down or I'll forget it...

Today was glorious. I showed a video and was able to get caught up on all the things I neglected last week while I was working at school until 9 pm several nights (I'm not kidding) grading projects. By the way, my personal hell is grading middle school projects. Just FYI.

Anyway, the video was an episode about the American Revolution from the History Channel series "America: The Story of Us". It's a modern look at historical events and it's really interesting. Part of the video is various well-known Americans offering commentary on history. The first VIP they feature is Colin Powell. He's talking about the Continental Army in the Revolution, blah blah blah. Cue one of my eighth graders:

"Did he fight in the Revolution?"

SERIOUSLY?!?

You mean the Revolution that happened over 200 years ago?

The one that happened before television was even a glimmer in anyone's eye?

I can't make this stuff up. This would be cute if this was a kindergartener, but this is a 14 year old...4 years from voting age. Usually when a kid asks a particularly ridiculous question like that, I try to be extra sweet to them, because the other kids will generally pile on and make them feel dumb. But all I could do was shake my head and say, "Sweetie, no".

To borrow my favorite of my Dad's expressions, some of these kids don't know their ass from their elbow.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Wednesday Randoms

Hello bloggy people! It has been far too long.

Today I got to do something fun and out of the regular routine. I went to a workshop on the Constitution in Waco. I got to hear four amazing professors lecture about different aspects of the writing and passage of the Constitution. It was so interesting and it made me miss college. I just think it is so fun to listen to someone really smart and well spoken talk about something that they (and I) are passionate about. It makes me feel refreshed to go back to school and teach the next unit, which just so happens to be about the Constitution. It really reminds me how much I love history and teaching it. If only I could just teach and not do the other 50% (maybe 70%...eek) of my job which has nothing to do with educating young citizens!

Last weekend we had a great time in Sugar Land! We went in for our friend Stacie's wedding and while we were there I got to attend a family friend Haley's bridal shower. Both events were really fun! It was also great to see the fam! We are definitely in a season of weddings and babies! Speaking of which, one week from today we get to find out what my sister's having! I am beyond excited, so I can only imagine how excited she and Corey are getting. Boy or girl, Baby G will be one beautiful and very loved little one.

American Horror Story is by far the most bizarre show I've ever seen. It's a new Fall show on FX starring Connie Britton (aka Tami Taylor from Friday Night Lights) and Dylan McDermott and one insanely haunted house. It breaks my heart that my television heroine Tami is having to live in such an awful house with such a nutso husband. Cam and I are totally weirded out by it but we can't seem to look away.

Speaking of television, I am riding high on the heels of a successful phone call with Time Warner Cable! If you've had the pleasure (sarcasm) of having Time Warner, you know this is a rarity. I've found the secret is calling at night. The people who work the phone then are much more calm and willing to deal. I called to cancel our home phone and HBO, and wound up being able to keep the phone AND save $40/month on our bill. Score!

This post is quite random, but that's life right now for me! I better run - I was at work 'til 9 last night and was driving to Waco before 7 this morning. I'm worn slap out! Have a fab week!

RIP Mr. Jobs

I'm really sad about Steve Jobs' passing. The first time I ever used a computer was in kindergarten. It was a gigantic Macintosh and I was fascinated. And now, like so many others, I can't imagine life without my trusty iPhone. Mr. Jobs was a visionary - he saw past what was in front of him and imagined things in a different way. In a world where everyone seems to work against themselves by constantly making things more complicated and convoluted, he worked to make things more simple and clear.

Some quotes from the man himself:

"That's been one of my mantras -- focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

Weekend Update

We had a nice weekend in East Texas with my family. It was a great family reunion! We had over 50 people there - a good turn out! The weather was glorious and I enjoyed getting to see everyone.

My mom has scheduled family pictures for the end of this month. My parents really want a family photo before the next generation arrives! The last time we had a family picture, it was a church directory picture when I was in high school, so it's time for an update. I'm very happy to have some new pictures of everyone, but I'm wishing I could have a full body transplant before picture day arrives. I either need to lose 30 pounds before the end of this month or find a strategic spot to stand behind someone else. The last two years have not been kind to my body (read: I'm really chubby) and I'm a bit nervous to preserve its current state for posterity. Maybe I'll just get my jaw wired shut like Tami on the Real World Los Angeles did back in the day...

I'm really looking forward to being home this weekend. We've traveled the last two weekends and will be traveling again next weekend for a wedding - whew! These are all fun events, but all this traveling makes for some very long work weeks! This weekend I'm going to sleep in my own bed for copious amounts of time and have a football extravaganza on Saturday. UT plays OU Saturday morning and A&M plays Tech that afternoon! HOOK 'EM HORNS!

Monday, Monday

Is it bad that most of my posts are named after the day of the week? I feel very uncreative when I do that, but my posts are generally very random, so a title that sums everything up just isn't usually possible.

We just spent a great weekend in Sugar Land with Cam's family. It was Cam's brother Brandon's 30th birthday (shout out to him, even though he would NEVER read this), so we got to celebrate with him. Friday night we went to an amazing dinner at a steakhouse called Taste of Texas. It was quite delicious and so fun to catch up with everyone! Saturday my mother-in-law Jennifer and I took care of my nephew Logan for the day while the rest of the family went to the Aggie football game. We had a lot of fun! He is so adorable and so good! 9 months is a really fun, interactive age! Sunday we had a little birthday celebration with family and then made the trek home.

The only damper on the weekend was some terrible football misfortune. Both of Cam's teams had heartbreaking losses and he was none too thrilled about it. Poor guy! He bounced back pretty quickly though and is no longer swearing off football. I'm hoping both his teams win next weekend to make up for this one!

Today may be Monday, but it just so happens to be my Tuesday! This is a four day week for me because we're going out of town on Friday to a family reunion in East Texas. I'm looking forward to seeing all my people and being in the peaceful Piney Woods. I'm also looking forward to having a day off. This school year is kicking my butt. I'm hoping things turn around for the better soon.

Next month I get to go to the gender sonogram for my new little nephew or niece! My sister and Corey get to have two other people there and they were nice enough to invite me and my mom. I am so excited and honored to be there and I can't wait to see the little baby bunny on the screen!

I'll close with this little gem...
Only my cat would do this to AN ANGEL while we were out of town. I'm praying this beheading was unintentional!

Have a great week!

Saturday Stuff

Happy weekend! I'm so thrilled it's here!

I decorated for Halloween last night! Yes, I know it's quite early but I can't help myself. I love Halloween! It's marks the beginning of the holiday season and the best time of year. One of my decorations is this pumpkin that lights up when you plug it in. When I went to sleep last night I left it plugged in because I love to see the orange glow coming from the living room!
Work exhaustion has really caught up with me lately. Working 10 hour days and having to work most weekends has worn me slap out! I like my job, but last year I remember liking it a whole lot more during the second semester than the first. The beginning is just hard and I find myself wondering if I'm insane to have picked such a crazy, stressful job. Just keepin' it real y'all! Football season is back in full swing! Yet another reason I love this time of year. The Longhorns pulled off a close win last weekend against BYU and while it wasn't a pretty game, I actually had hope for our season because of McCoy/Shipley 2.0. They are the real deal! Cam is heading out to his first Aggie game of the season this afternoon and couldn't be more excited! He loves football more than anyone I've ever met and loves getting to spend time with his family at the games!
When Cam and I get a house we want a dog. For a long time we've talked about getting a Corgi. They are so cute and a really good breed. Earlier this week we got to hang out and play with a Corgi, and it definitely confirmed our decision! Some friends of ours have a Corgi named Ein. They live in the same apartment complex as us, so we met up for a quick doggie playdate the other night. Ein was so cute, so fun, and so good! We can't wait to get one of our own!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Exciting News!

I am so excited to announce that Cam and I will have a new nephew or niece next year! My sister Elizabeth and her husband Corey are expecting their first baby next March! I am so ecstatic about this that I want to shout it from the rooftops! I am thrilled for my sister and Corey. They are going to be the most wonderful parents, and the Lil' Bun (as he/she is being called at the moment) is one very loved and blessed little baby. This is the first grandchild in my family, and getting to watch my parents become grandparents is really awesome. They are overjoyed and so happy to have a little one in the family, as we all are. Lizzie and Corey call each other "Bunny", hence the Lil' Bun nickname. I think it is quite fitting that Lil' Bun will be here right in time for Easter!

What's Going On...

Happy Thursday! And happy football! Cam just danced around the living room because he is so giddy that football is back. He is happily watching the Saints/Packers game and talking smack with his Fantasy Football foes via text!

The wedding weekend was fantastic! We got to spend so much time with a really great group of friends and I loved it. The wedding was beautiful and very fun. Dan & Katrina had the BEST first dance I've ever seen. They did an elaborately choreographed dance to a Frank Sinatra song. They practiced it for months and didn't tell anyone what they were planning! When we saw them a couple months back, I asked them what they were dancing to and they very casually said, "Oh we're just gonna dance to this Sinatra song", like it was no big deal. When it was time for them to dance, someone handed Dan a fedora-type hat and they started dancing like Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain! It was awesome!

As we drove to the wedding, we could see smoke in the distance and later smelled smoke in the air. As best I can tell, this was the beginning of the horrible fire in Bastrop. Luckily, the fire wasn't close to the wedding site. The next couple of days were pretty scary - there were multiple fires all over the area, the worst being in Bastrop. While the other fires are now contained or close to it, the Bastrop one is not. Over 1300 homes have been lost in the Bastrop fire, as well as several dozen others in the various fires around the area. It is so awful and I'm praying for all the people who have been affected. We need rain now. It's hard to believe that while there is flooding in the Northeast, the state of Texas is on fire and we can't get a drop of rain. To make matters worse, there are fires all over Northeast Texas too. One of the worst fires is in Cass County, where my Dad is from, and it has burned 7000 acres. Sometimes it really seems like it could be the End Times.

We had our own little fire scare on Tuesday afternoon. There was a fire near our complex, but luckily it was put out fairly quickly. Cam went home as soon as he heard and started getting stuff together just in case, but thankfully it didn't come to that. The night before I had made a list on my iPhone of the important stuff we would try to take if we ever had to evacuate. Of course, material items are just things and don't really matter. As long as Cam, Aurora, and I are okay, none of the "stuff" really matters, but it's still good to be prepared. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm trying to compare this situation to anything the people in Bastrop went through - we are very blessed this was so minor. It's just really nervewracking when you hear "fire" right now. Unfortunately I found out about the fire right before I had to teach a class. I was so freaked out and trying to formulate sentences was difficult, but I pushed through it. I didn't want to scare them by telling them about the fire since it was nearby and some of my students live in the same apartment complex (btw, how awkward it that?!?). This is one of the things I loathe about my job. If there's ever anything going on outside of work, I can't take a few minutes and just deal with it because I have thirty 14-year olds waiting on me. In my next life, I want a job where I can deal with my own stuff when it comes up and where I can go to the bathroom any darn time I please. On second thought, in my next life I don't want to work at all! ;)

Have a great weekend y'all!

A Tribute to Susie

If you watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, you are familiar with Susie Greene. If you don't watch Curb, you should...it's hilarious! There are reruns on regular cable all the time these days. In my eyes, the only thing more prolific that Susie's famous foulmouthed rants is her penchant for picking horrible clothes. Susie's wardrobe is epic. Epically bad. Everytime she shows up in an episode, I'm laughing at whatever she's wearing long before I laugh at any of the jokes.


There is just so MUCH going on with her outfits. Remember that fashion advice about looking in the mirror and removing one accessory before walking out the door? Susie missed that one...

So here's to you Susie. You can keep wearing those awful clothes as long as you keep Larry David in line. And if you see this post, please don't come yell at me!

School Daze

We are almost two weeks into the school year and I feel like I've almost got my routine down. Everything is going pretty well, but the beginning of the year is just insane...no way around that. I've memorized almost all of my students' names - all 130 of 'em (150 if we count my homeroom)! My classes are huge - most are 30 kids each, or close to it. They seem like nice kids! I think this year will have new challenges I didn't face last year, but I'm better equipped to deal with them now that I've taught for a year.

My feet are DYING! I've been coming home and soaking them in the tub every night. I would love a pedicure right about now!

Looking forward to a fun Labor Day weekend! Some good friends are getting married and all of Cam's friends from college and their wives are coming into town. Tomorrow night the bachelor/bachelorette parties are taking place and Sunday night is the wedding! We've been looking forward to this for a long time and are so happy for Dan and Katrina! We are the only people in the group who live here, so I must go clean my house now!!!!

Have a great long weekend!

Oh Happy Day

I've mentioned before on the blog that I hate talking about money, but I'm going to break my own rule because it's my blog and if I can't talk about it here, then where? Plus, this is a pretty big deal!
Cam and I paid off our credit card debt yesterday!!! This is something we've been working toward for a long time, and it has involved a ton of planning, hard work, and sacrifice for us, particularly this summer. I can't even begin to count how many times Cam and I've talked about this day and it's finally here. Now it's onwards and upwards - we are officially saving for a house! :)

Saturday Bliss

This morning Cam and I woke up pretty early and lazed around for several hours playing video games (him) and surfing the internet (me). Then we made cinnamon toast at 10:45 and we're now eating it happily. Going back to work reminds me how much I love weekends, Saturday mornings in particular. Saturday mornings are so full of promise and excitement, with the whole weekend in front of you just waiting to be enjoyed. Cam has been traveling a lot for work lately and I'm so glad he's home for good. We're going to a 1st birthday party for our friends' daughter this afternoon and looking forward to just getting to be together. So here's to the weekend - hope you're having a great one!

Wednesday Stuff

I'm a wee bit exhausted, so another list post it is!

- I started back to work on Monday. It's going well but I am mighty tired! My legs are so unbelievably sore from all the moving and running around like a crazy person. All the things I worried about in my previous post are working themselves out just fine and now I've moved on to other things...such is life, I suppose. My classroom is coming right along - I will post some pics when it's all ready. Wish I had thought to take some "before" pics - it will be a massive transformation by the time I finish. There is something so fun and satisfying about taking a space and making it your own!!!

- I have the best husband ever! Cam has been such a help to me! He helped me move all my classroom stuff out of my parent's house (shout out to my parents for letting me store it all there since we have no room!) and into my classroom in the 105 degree weather. He's also helped me get stuff ready for the classroom and has been so supportive of his stressed out wife. Poor guy wasn't even fed dinner until after 9pm last night!! Love that man of mine so much.

- This afternoon Cam walked in the room and started talking to me and all I could see was his hair! It looked exactly like Rick Perry's!! I guess it's because I've been seeing Perry on the news so much lately, but I couldn't help but notice the hair resemblence.


Hope you're having a great week!

Cruising for a Bruising

This is what happens when you move your living room furniture to work out on your Wii Fit and things don't get put back exactly where they were before. I guess I'm so used to the exact placement of the tightly packed furniture in our living room that moving something even a couple of centimeters can lead to disaster. And just ask my husband, I can be a real drama queen about injuries. I even show him my bruise every day so he can see what color it has morphed into. Isn't he the luckiest guy ever? ;)

P.S. I saw The Help last night and it was wonderful. The movie was very faithful to the book and the acting was superb! Hilly Holbrook will make your blood boil and Aibileen will make you cry, whether you've read the book or not. It was one of those movies where everyone in the theater clapped at the end! Love love love it.

Y'all have a great weekend!

Tuesday Randoms

- I'm enjoying my last week of summer before returning to work next Monday. My plans are to relax and fit in a couple more summertime lunches with friends. I'm trying very diligently not to be anxious about the new school year. I've already caught myself laying awake a couple of nights sweating all the small stuff. I'm not worrying about the obvious things like meeting my students or how the first day of school will go. Instead, I worry about all the minutiae. What will my new room be like? What if I get in there and there are no desks? How many bulletin boards will I have? When will I move all my stuff into my room? Because of all the madness last year, I lost my classroom and now have to move into another one on a different floor away from all the other 8th grade teachers. And my new room is a former special education classroom, so there's no telling what's going to be in there. Normally I could just go up to school and check it out, but our building is under construction and we have been forbidden from coming up there this week. But I'm trying not to stress about such things...they will all work themselves out and I am so lucky to have my job. After all, I told myself I would teach in a bathroom if I was able to get my job back, so this will all be fine.

- The Help comes out tomorrow and I am so excited!! Cam and my sister's husband both happen to be going out of town on Thursday, so a girls' movie night with my mom and some family friends is being planned for Thursday night as we speak. I can't wait to see this movie - I know it will never live up to the book (they rarely do), but the movie looks pretty good!

- It's hot outside, y'all. Really, really hot. So far Austin has had 55 days this year of temps over 100 degrees, and we are on track to break every record on the books this summer. And we haven't had a proper rain shower since September. The drought is getting pretty scary - fires are popping up all over the place, one last Friday was way too close to my parents' house for comfort. I'm praying for the many farmers who are dealing with this and all the people who have to work outside in this awful weather.

- Have you ever watched The Talk? It's a CBS daytime talk show a lot like The View, except sane. It's the one thing I've been consistently watching while I've been home this summer (except the Casey Anthony trial) and it is really good. It's just a panel of very different ladies who seem to legitimately like each other, which is refreshing. And this may sound weird, but one of the hosts, Julie Chen, has the most soothing voice ever. I want a recording of her voice to help me fall asleep when I'm laying awake worrying about desks and bulletin boards - ha!

That's all folks! Stay cool!

Wordless Wednesday

Matt Damon Takes a Cameraman to School

I saw this today and had to share it. Well done, Matt Damon! I do not always agree with him on political stuff, but he is right on about this one and seems like such a stand-up guy.



What bothers me the most about questions like the one this reporter (and many others in the media) asks is the presumption that all teachers have tenure. Most media news outlets are based in New York, a union state. In Texas and other right-to-work states, there is no such thing as a teacher union or tenure. And the notion of job security is laughable...what happened to me and thousands of other teachers in Texas this last year is proof of that. Teachers are subject to the same layoffs brought on by downturns in the economy as people in the private sector. I find it so incredibly irritating that everyone just assumes teachers have access to tenure. And if we're talking about unions, what about other unionized employees? Why aren't union guys who make tires or build cars treated with the same suspicion that educators are?

So there you have it. Probably the only time you will catch me ranting about anything slightly political on this blog, or in public for that matter. I was raised not to talk about politics or money in public...but I made a little exception for Matt. :)

Hello August

Is this really necessary? This forecast makes me want to cry.

Fun Weekend

We spent last weekend in Sugar Land, and had a great time! My in-laws were keeping our nephew, Logan, for the weekend while his parents were on an anniversary trip to Mexico. Logan is 7 months old and totally adorable!
I am terrible about taking pictures, so I don't have many from the weekend. These days I usually just use my iPhone. Everyone around us has really nice SLR cameras, so I pretty much leave the picture taking to them and leave my little point-and-shoot at home!
We had a great time. We played with Mr. Logan and caught up with Jennifer and Jamie, Cam's parents. I love my in-laws - they are wonderful and I'm so blessed to have them. They truly love me like I'm their own. One night while we were there, we went to Cam's aunt and uncle's house and had a big family dinner. Cam comes from a big family and I love it when everyone gets together - it's so much fun! Cam and I are very lucky - we sometimes hear people talk about spending time with family like it's an obligation and something to dread, and we just can't relate at all. We truly enjoy spending time with both sides of our family.
It was a fantastic weekend and we can't wait for the next one! I must add that Aurora was not happy at all about her parents helping take care of another baby. She made that clear by emptying my underwear drawer of its contents (again) and knocking over a lamp while we were gone!

Midweek Randoms

- We are officially in the doldrums of summer television. There is nothing on most of the time and I'm looking forward to my regular shows coming back in the Fall. In the meantime, Cam and I have found a few things to watch. The new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm just started on HBO and we are loving it. I've watched reruns of this show pretty casually, but now we're watching it religiously. It is so horribly awkward and funny. At least once an episode, I have to cover my eyes because I just can't take Larry David's lack of social skills! We are also looking forward to the last season of Entourage. At my mom's urging, I've also started watching Damages on Netflix. So far, it's really good. It sounds weird because it's not a horror show or anything, but it frightens me. When I get hooked on a show, I can usually watch one episode after another, but it's much too intense for that. I need a few hours between episodes of this one!

- Our apartment backs up to a really pretty wooded area, but there are a few apartments across from our balcony through the trees. It's usually pretty quiet, but tonight we were treated to the rantings of a mad woman on the phone on a balcony across the way. I don't know who she was talking to, but girlfriend was furious! She even threatened the homes and vehicles of the person she was talking to and each of their family members. Then she sealed it with a resounding, "Believe that!" Classy!!! Have I mentioned how much I just love living in an apartment?!? And even better, soon we will get to pay $200 more every month to witness these type of antics, thanks to a very hefty rent increase. But that's a whole different rant for another day...blah.

- I cleaned the whole house today! There's nothing better than a freshly cleaned house. I always say I'm going to break it up into small parts (bathroom one day, dust the next, etc.) but that never happens. I always wind up putting it off and then knocking it out all at once. It's always tough to start, but I actually enjoy it once I get going. It's therapeutic!

Hope this week is treating you well!

Farewell FNL

Friday night was the last episode of one of my favorite shows ever, Friday Night Lights. I was curious about how they would wrap everything up, and I have to say the writers did an excellent job of creating a really satisfying ending. It truly captured the mood of the best parts of the show. I am so sad to see it go! When we watched the first season, Cam would tease me because I'd end up sobbing at least once during every episode. It's just that touching, realistic, and raw. In some of the later seasons, the show got a little off course in my opinion, but even then it was better than 99% of everything else on TV. The finale really took me back to what the show was in the first couple seasons, and I loved it.

FNL has something for everyone. It really captures what life is like in Texas, what it's like to work with kids in the education field, what it's like to be a sports fan, and what real relationships are like. Plus it was filmed in my dear ol' hometown, Austin, Texas! And the core of the show, Eric and Tami Taylor have the most realistic marriage on TV, no doubt! They are both nominated for Emmys and they so deserve it. So farewell, Friday Night Lights...there will be a huge hole in my televion heart now!

"Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose"

The Duchess

Can we just talk a little bit about Kate?
And her coats?
And her boots?

And her dresses?

And that hair?

OH EM GEE.

There is little doubt that Kate's wedding and recent trip to North America firmly established her as a fashion icon on the world stage. I'd been following Kate's style before that, back when she was known as "Waity Katie", a nickname coined by the British Press because she had been "waiting" so long for William to propose. Gah, can you imagine the pressure on both of them? Poor kids.

I've always been fascinated by the Royal Family. I love the history of it all. My Mom was always a fan of Princess Diana, and my sister and I loved her too. Mom always says she and Diana had their babies together: Prince William and I were born a few months apart, as were Prince Harry and my sister Elizabeth. I remember waking up early to watch a royal wedding with my Mom when I was a wee lad (maybe it was Fergie's?) and we got up early to watch Diana's funeral years later. I had a huge crush on Prince William and remember wondering if he might possibly break protocol and marry an American girl living in Cental Texas. But alas, I found my own Prince Campbell and I think it's safe to say Wills definitely found the girl for him.
The Royal Wedding will definitely go down as a highlight of this year for me! I got really into it and watched all the coverage for weeks. My Mom, sister, and I had a wedding watching party and stayed up all night to watch everything happen live. It was so much fun! My cute Mama even had decorations and English food. After hours of waiting, when we finally got the first glimpse of Kate's dress, I literally squealed with glee. Not only was her dress beautiful, it was lace! I love lace - I think it is romantic and timeless, which is why I chose it for my own wedding dress.
I was so impressed with her dress selection as well as all the other wedding details. To say it was a gorgeous wedding would be a huge understatement. I could go on and on, but I'll stop. If I sound a wee bit obsessed, it's because I am. I've just been so impressed with Will and Kate and how they've handled the pressure and scrutiny with such grace. For royalty, they actually seem quite down to earth.
Maybe the tradition will continue and Kate and I will have our babies together? That would be awesome! Either way, I'm very much looking forward to whatever these two do in the future.

Strange Sleeper

Last night was another night of odd sleeping behavior for me. I am a weird sleeper - I talk in my sleep and have even been known to sleep walk. I sleep very deeply and Cam is a light sleeper so he usually wakes up during these antics and reports back to me the next day about them.

I've been staying up really late for the last couple weeks - I've slipped into a pretty lazy summer routine. Last night Cam had been asleep for awhile and I was playing on my laptop in bed with the TV on. When I finally laid down to go to bed, I kept the TV on for a bit - something about listening to news channel chatter helps me wind down, and I remember turning off the TV right before I feel asleep.

Cue to the morning: I wake up and realize that the TV is back on AND the clock radio is on at very low volume. Of course I have to ask Cam what happened because I have no memory of it. He tells me he woke up at 3 AM because I was talking in my sleep - he can't remember what I was saying. Then he heard a weird noise and was trying to figure out what it was. Hearing that sparked a memory - I do remember him talking about a noise and listening for it. Clearly I wasn't too concerned about it though, because I passed out again. Later on in the early morning I somehow managed to pick up not one, but two remotes to turn the TV back on and change the channel from FOX to MSNBC. And then to complete the crazy sleep cycle, I turned the radio on. What the heck? Do other people do this stuff, or is it just me? Remember those news stories a few years ago about people who would do crazy stuff in their sleep when they took Ambien? I remember seeing a video of one of those people in their dark kitchen devouring food in the dead of night completely asleep!!!! This is my worst fear - haha! I am doing this stuff without Ambien or any sleep meds! Bizarre.

Do you have any strange sleep habits?

Video Fun

Cam made a video about our cat Aurora (aka Binks) today. It is awesome and I smile each time I watch it! The music is from one of Cam's favorite video games. Enjoy!

Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Friday night I made dinner and we watched the next to the last episode of Friday Night Lights. I can't believe the show will be over next Friday - I think I'm going to need a box of tissues to get through it. Then we stayed up late finishing off a season of Entourage on HBO On Demand. Side note - we just got HBO and we are in love! It is so much better than Showtime!

Saturday morning Cam went and helped a friend move and I hung around the house. Then we went to the movies and saw "Midnight in Paris", which was great (see gushing blog post below)! Saturday night we met our friends Amy and Blair and their daughter Brooklyn for Mexican food. It was so fun! Brooklyn turned 1 in May and she is an absolute doll! We weren't able to make it to her birthday party so we finally got to give her a birthday gift and catch up. She is super friendly and reached out her arms for us to hold her immediately. She also gave Cam a baby staredown. I don't know what it is, but babies (particular baby girls) stare Cam down! It was a great night and so fun to catch up with friends!

Sunday afternoon we went to my parent's house and had dinner with my family. They cooked out steaks and we had twice baked potatoes - is was delicious! It even RAINED a couple drops! We actually went and stood outside in it like the rain-deprived people we are. It was a fun night, although the end was a bit nuts. My parents have the sweetest cat named Abby. She is fluffy and I love her to pieces. We've had her since I was in middle school. We were walking out to leave and Abby ran in the house from outside (she is a mostly indoor cat, but goes outside a little bit). She was acting strange and I looked down and thought she had a piece of string hanging out of her mouth, but then I realized it was drool. Poor Abby was literally foaming at the mouth and one of her eyes was squeezed shut. It smelled horrible outside and we immediately thought skunk. Mom and I went to work cleaning off her face and giving her cat eye drops. We were worried maybe she'd been bitten, but there was no sign of anything. I did some research online and started to think maybe she had tried to eat a frog, because apparently frogs give off some horrible smell that causes cats to react to it. Everything calmed down and Cam and I left a few minutes later. I would be lying if I said I wasn't in tears. It's very upsetting to see a childhood pet in that state, and Abby is older and has kidney problems, so anything else could really throw her for a loop. Luckily my Mom was already scheduled to take her into the vet to get her kidney levels checked so she was there first thing this morning. The vet could tell immediately she had been sprayed by a skunk, checked her over, and said she was okay. The foaming and eye trouble are a normal reaction to try to get the spray out of their bodies. She had a de-skunking bath at the vet this morning and is doing better. Poor thing! I hate seeing animals in pain.

Not counting the evil skunk, it was a good weekend! And if you made it to the end of this long, rambling post, God bless you!

Must See Summer Movie

Cam and I went to the movies today and saw one of the best flicks I've seen in a long while! It's a Woody Allen movie called "Midnight in Paris". It's set in Paris (duh!) and stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard. It was witty, clever, and nostalgic. Perfect for a nerdy history teacher who spends half her time imagining life in a different time! Owen Wilson was perfectly cast and so likeable! This is definitely the type of movie he should make in the future. Rachel McAdams did a great job - her character was absolutely horrid and I couldn't stand her! I am Rachel Mc's #1 fan so for her to make me dislike her was quite an acting feat! And Marion Cotillard was fantastic too. They talk about it in the movie and it's true: she has one of the most beautiful faces ever. Seriously makes me jealous! I want to come back looking like her next time around.

Run, don't walk, and see this movie if you haven't yet! You won't regret it. Besides, what else is there to do when it's this hot outside?

Vinegar to the Rescue

I have to share my latest housekeeping victory! We have these weird stains on two parts of our living room carpet. They've been there since right after we moved in. They aren't mud - we've never been able to figure out what caused them. Truth be known, it's probably just cheap apartment carpet. But they've hung around for nearly two years despite several attempts at getting them out. I asked our apartment complex if they could possibly clean our carpets since we've lived here awhile now (and have given them oodles of money), but they said they only do that when you re-sign your lease. Well, that would have been nice to know when we re-signed ours last year...but whatevs. We thought about renting one of those carpet cleaner machines at the grocery store, but that is a lot of effort to go to for rented apartment space! So I had resigned myself to having gross carpet until we move out, but giving up isn't really my style. I've heard people say that vinegar is a great cleaner, so I did a little research, bought a jug of vinegar for 1 whole dollar, and mixed up a little cleaning solution. And it worked! Stains were gone in about 10 minutes! Now our carpet looks so much better and my OCD tendencies have been relieved. It's really the small things that make me happy!

Crazy Cat Lady

Yes, I'm one of 'em. Aurora the cat is like a child to me and my husband Cam. She is such a dear and I've been getting to spend lots of time with her while I'm off this summer.

Then (just a few months old)
Now (3 1/2 years)
We call her Binks. I have discovered that she will sleep as late as I do and that she will follow us into the kitchen every single time we walk in there and beg like a dog for treats and/or beef jerky. She is pretty independent and can entertain herself when we're gone, but she does have her limits. This is my sock drawer after a weekend away.

The Help

I finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett last week. I know I'm a bit late getting on the bandwagon with this one, but it was such an amazing book! I always get sad at the end of a book, but this was different. I did not want to say goodbye to the beautiful characters in this story. The movie comes out on August 10th and I plan to be there with bells on! Until then I'll be dreaming of cooking lessons with Minny & Celia and evenings spent around Aibileen's kitchen table.

Where to Begin?

I've thought about starting a blog for a long time. I love reading blogs - it's one of my favorite hobbies! It's so fun to peek into people's lives and see how they spend their days, but starting a blog of my own is a whole different animal. It's intimidating to put yourself out there and wear your thoughts, your life, and your writing on your sleeve. But this summer I've found myself with more free time than I've had in years, and I decided, why not? So here goes nothing!