Friday Favorites

I spent the last two days at New Teacher Orientation being fed an abundance of information about the new district in which I would be teaching. Because I am not brand new to teaching, I was not required to attend the third day of NTO today. Instead, I took my time getting up and getting ready this morning. I went to Target and then to Office Depot to pick up a few things for my classroom--won't be the last trip, that's for sure! Once I found most of what I wanted, I headed to my classroom to work for a little while. I got quite a bit done today, but I still have lots to do next week during Staff Development. So, no pictures of the classroom today, but instead, I am going to share some of my current favorite things.

[one]

We have lived in our new house for a little over a month now, and we are finished decorating for the most part. My first room to completely finish, our dining room, ended up being my favorite.

I am already looking forward to breaking bread many times with many different people in this room. The mirror on the wall makes the space look double its actual size. You may remember this mirror makeover from here. We found these curtains at World Market. Matt didn't want us to buy curtains in our old apartment, because he knew it was very temporary, so I could not wait to get curtains in our new place! These have hints of sky blue that match our chairs. 

         

          

















I searched long and hard for the perfect metal chairs to go with my $20 table. I finally found the kind I was wanting at a great price from Cymax. They even shipped free (and super quick!). 

The picture on the left is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. It's our little mini-bar. It was the first piece of furniture Matt and I picked out together. We got it at an antique store while we were in Gruene for our first married Christmas. The picture in the middle is of the wall between our dining room and our kitchen. This chalk board was actually already there, and I have loved getting to write (and menu plan) on it. The picture on the right is another one of my favorite pieces. It is a butcher block that was given to me by my grandparents, and I vividly remember my grandmother using it in her kitchen when I was a child. 

Everything in our dining room has a story. Each piece brings back a fun memory. I LOVE our dining room! 

[two]

I am loving our new welcome mat! I threw out our old one before we moved, because it needed replacing. However, I couldn't find a welcome mat that I really liked. It was important to me because it is one of the first impressions of someone walking into your home, so I wanted it to actually serve the purpose of being welcoming. Well, I found one, and I am obsessed! I saw it online at Target, but shipping is not available and when I first saw it, you couldn't pick up at any of the stores nearest me. BUT, on my latest journey to Target, the welcome mat and I locked eyes. It was love at second sight! Do you love it as much as me?!? It's really okay if you don't... but HELLO, it's so stinkin' cute!!

[three]

I love watching The Today Show in the mornings, and because it's summer, I have been able to watch it more than just until 7:15am. It has been wonderful! They have these recipe segments, and one morning, they were talking all about zucchini. We have been really into zucchini lately (along with the rest of the world, apparently). They shared this recipe for Zucchini Boat Pizzas a couple of weeks ago, and I finally made it, and WOW-EE it's delicious!! I may have to share the recipe on a later post, because it is definitely one to try!

[four]

Last, but absolutely not least, my favorite thing right now is my sweet girl, Avery. While Matt has been at school, she has been there with me. We've gotten to spend lots of time together, and I know she will be just as sad as me to see me go back to work. 

Oh good grief, that face! How am I supposed to get anything done around here?! 

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hello, August!

How in the world is it already August? I feel like I was JUST locking up my classroom door for the last time before the summer started. Wasn't the 4th of July like yesterday?! Obviously not. So, hello August! While I am not quite ready to go back to school, I am definitely ready for routine. I thrive off of having a routine, a schedule. Because of this, I am SO EXCITED about a little something that came in the mail this week, BUT you'll have to wait until the end of this post to find out what it is ;) ...don't scroll down, silly! Patience...

The end of the summer brought us some fun events and activities. There has been LOTS of summer softball. Aside from being out on the field, there's nowhere else I'd rather be in the summertime than watching hubs play ball with my main gal.

We have also had the chance to enjoy some fun time with good friends. We went to see an outdoor play with a few of our favorites and our furry chicas.

                  

We've celebrated a few birthdays and had birthday parties for old(er) friends and new(er) ones :)

You can find these two lovely ladies at Caitlyn's Blog and Steph's Website and Blog--both with huge hearts for the Lord and oh so talented!

We got to witness two wonderful people promise to be together forever at their wedding, and unfortunately, I did not snap a picture of them, but snapped a few others.

Sorry ladies, he's taken!

We call this our #selfiesession

We still have a few more fun things planned, and we are going to soak up every minute. For now, I will leave you with my newest purchase... 

That's right, my 2014-2015 Erin Condren planner came in!!!!! EIGHTEEN months of organized awesomeness. They made a few changes for the '14-'15 planner that I really like am obsessed with. If you like keeping a paper calendar/agenda book, this is for you. It is worth the money spent, I promise. AND if you are a first-timer with Erin Condren, by using my referral code, you will receive $10 off of your first purchase! Just click the link above, and once you sign up, it will send you a code via e-mail to use toward your first purchase. Okay I'm finished. 

Enjoy your last few days of summer! Hope you are doing something fun to celebrate while you can!!!

Summer Lately

Last week, our church participated in Houston 1:8, an inner-city mission trip. One day, I hope we have the opportunity to travel to another country on a mission trip, but so often we think that the only "unreached" people are outside of the United States, not true. There are unreached people on the other side of the state, in the neighborhood over, down the street, and even next door. It was such a blessing to get to serve a group of unreached people in our own city. Matt and I, along with one of Matt's closest friends, were Recreation Leaders for the week, so we got to love on and play games with (and sweat with, see below) over one hundred kids. Being a middle school teacher, I am around kids all the time, but I loved getting to see how Matt interacted with the little ones and how attached to him they were. I pray that these children's lives were touched by their VBS leaders last week and that if nothing else, they will begin to wonder and ask questions and seek answers about our awesome God. I pray that they know how very loved they are.

After a fabulous week serving the Lord, I knew I had a fabulous reunion weekend planned with my roommates from college. With life evolving, we do not get to see each other as much as any of us would want, but even being apart for so long, it was as if no time had passed. We didn't have anyone take a really good, posed picture of all of us, but we managed to capture a few of the highlights from the weekend.

   

   

    

Even after staying up WAY TOO late the first night, a few of the girls woke up and did 21-Day Fix Pilates Fix with me (above, left). We were all sore the rest of the day! But, above (right) is a picture of what we did the rest of the day, so the soreness obviously did not bother us too much. It was so fun getting to catch up and talk endlessly about everything.

   

Still on cloud nine from all the fun we had. I love these girls with all my heart and am already looking forward to the next reunion!


Matt started his second season of Summer Softball--double headers. Thankfully, my parents came to support for the first game, but the second game, which was WAY past my bedtime, it was just the pup and me. She found entertainment in a soccer ball we found, but every time Matt got up to bat, it was as if she knew. She would jump up and watch him, just like her mamma. Such a little human!


   
















Hope you are enjoying your summer, too!

4th of July

As always, another holiday weekend at the bay did not disappoint. While I have time in the summer off, most of my family does not get to enjoy that luxury. But, this weekend, we did. The whole gang was there by Thursday evening, and we enjoyed 3+ days of sweet summer together. 

One of the highlights for me was definitely getting to spend some time working on a project with Matt. My parents had brought an old gate from their old house down to the bay a long time ago with the intention to use it in some way. But, almost two years later, and it was out by the trash, waiting to be picked up. I moved it from the trash and into their garage a few weeks ago, only to find that it was back by the trash. Thankfully, it still had not been picked up, so this was the weekend something had to be done, or it would be a goner. 

When the rest of the family went on an afternoon fishing trip, we stayed behind and got to work. In true 4th of July fashion, an American Flag. 

I had painted the entire fence white the day before, so that we had a blank canvas. First thing we did was use measuring tape to decide how thick the stripes should be. I wanted the stripes to be as authentic-looking as possible, since I knew the stars would be... less than authentic-looking. Once we decided on a thickness, we began placing painters' tape in place of where the white stripes would be. 

Above is a picture of what the flag looked like after it had been completely taped. Then, I started spray painting the red stripes. Once I was about three-fourths of the way finished, Matt sweetly asked if he could finish the red stripes. I had gotten so in my zone that I had forgotten that he was there to help. :) So, he finished up the red stripes.

Once we removed all of the tape (see above), we re-taped/covered what we needed to be covered in order to paint the blue section.

I wish I had taken a picture of this next step, but I got too excited and forgot. But, I took an Exacto knife and cut out a star shape in a piece of cardboard. Then, we used that as a stencil, and sprayed white paint into the stencil to create stars in various spots of the blue section. And then after letting it dry....

It makes me so happy to DIY with my sweet hubby. He is very creative and enjoys a good project, too. 

So, what else did we do this past weekend? Well, we hung out in the canal- floating, kayaking, paddle-boarding, AND Avery got a new life-jacket. Yes, she can swim, and actually maybe a little TOO much. Since my parents' house is on the canal, there is always a chance she could go in purposefully or accidentally and no one is right there to pull her out. Therefore, the life-vest. It calms my nerves, and she looks adorable in it! 

Don't you just want to hug her?

My mom always overdoes herself on food. She made this red (and blue) velvet cake. It was delicious! And look how pretty it was!

              

     

This is one of the reasons I am currently hosting a 5-Day Clean Eating Challenge group right now. I have over 20 people who have committed to eating clean this week, and today is just Day 1. Just look at all of those bright colors?

Don't worry if you missed this 5-Day Clean-Eating Challenge. I'll be doing it again in August. But if you are really interested in getting healthy and making a positive change for you and your family, 21-Day Fix is where it's at! Commit to 21 days with me!

Fitness + Nutrition + Accountability = Success.

We can do it together! Comment below or send me a message if you are interested in knowing more!

I just finished my first round of 21-Day Fix and drinking Shakeology and am LOVING how I feel. Today, I am still doing it, but I'm looking for people who want to join me in this journey!

I will leave you with one last picture from the weekend with my family.

I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July, as well! 

Happy Monday!

Edamame Quinoa Salad

Before we get to the recipe...

This past weekend was the first weekend of summer, and I got some much needed R&R. Matt was traveling through South America for work, so Avery and I had a date on Friday with the vet. We had been wanting to get her microchipped, even though she is an inside dog. But, inside dogs get out, too-- you really never know what could happen. And as you can probably tell from reading any one of my posts, Avery is a very important part of our little family of three. Anyway, since it was time for another round of shots/check-up for her, I added 'getting microchipped' to the list of things that we wanted to have done at that appointment. We have been to the vet's office a lot--I mean, as much as any other two and half year-old dog needs to have been to the vet, and every time, she has loved it! Except for this time. For some reason, she hated it! At one point, she literally jumped on my chair and tried to hide behind me. Poor thing!

         

         

Finally, though, she was microchipped. Officially! Now, if anything were to ever happen to her and she is lost/found by someone else, any vet's office or shelter will be able to contact us. Money VERY well spent if you ask me! She was still pretty apprehensive about the whole scenario, however. She hid and barked the whole time until we were out the door. 

Once all of that was over, I decided to pack up with Aves and head to the bay. It was the perfect recover-from-the-last-week-of-middle-school-before-summer weekend and the perfect start to summer. Saturday night was Galveston's monthly "Art Walk," where various galleries feature artists and stay open to the public later than normal. There were a few restaurants with live entertainment and some other fun things going on. We had never been, so we decided to check out a local restaurant (called Press Box) that we had never been to and then explored the Art Walk.

On our way back to Houston, my mom and I decided we wanted to try some new recipes that we had seen in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine, one of the many read while laying on the beach. Edamame Quinoa Salad. Is your mouth watering yet? It is the perfect mixture of a light side dish, but that is filling at the same time. It also screams summer because of the lime juice. Definitely a must-try! Here is the original recipe that I altered only slightly. I actually do not like cilantro. I realized it when I was in high school and ordered the BBQ Chicken Salad from CPK, which is delicious, but had a strange after taste that I could not stand... cilantro. So, there ya have it. Therefore, I opted out when making mine...

Edamame Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 T EVOO
- About 1/4 tsp Salt (or to taste)
- About 1/4 tsp Pepper (or to taste)
*Optional- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions:
-Cook quinoa according to package, and set aside.
-In a large bowl, combine edamame, corn, and tomatoes.
-Add in the cooled quinoa.
- Mix in lime juice and olive oil.
-Season to taste with salt and pepper.

**The only reason we used red quinoa was because they were out of white. While maybe not quite as easy on the eyes, it still tasted delicious!

Let me know if you have a chance to try it and what you think!