My Little Humble Abode

I'm pretty set here at my apartment. All the boxes are finally all out and it feels nice to come home and relax. Well, home in the sense that this is home for the next year. So far, I like it down here. I don't like the constant heat and humidity, but hey that's what the south is all about- eh?

Now onto pictures.

This is what it looks like right now. Teacher binder stuff everywhere.

This was when my desk area was 'clean'. lol

The view from the kitchen area

My galley kitchen. Cute but small.

View from the living room.

My bedroom. Typical square room. My bed and TV are the only things in there. 

The view from the corner of my room.

My absolutely favorite part of my apartment. My walk-in closet!

I'm not sure how I ever lived WITH OUT one!!

My bathroom when I was still unpacking. It's your typical bathroom. Except, I don't like the water pressure from the shower head. It's too light or soft. Whatever you wanna call it. I'll have to clean it or something. 

More of my kitchen. I realized with all the cooking I've done lately, in my next apartment or house I need MORE counter space. This one has barely any. And my disposal is starting to stink. Any ideas why?? 

More kitchen... you get the idea. lol

Another pic of my desk space.

More pictures of my FINALLY finished classroom to come soon!! I'm so excited to be done with it. All I red to do is put the dolche words up on my Word Wall and put down the name tags on the tables. I don't have my class list yet, so I haven't done that.

And Saturday, after a long day (7 hours- yes on a SATURDAY) in my classroom, I had to reward myself with a little frozen yogurt. It was delicious and definitely worth it!

The aftermath of my frozen yogurt. Whoever decided to put a frozen yogurt shop 2 miles from my house, on my way to and from work is an evil person. Only if they knew my weakness for this stuff. Umph!

Well, bedtime. Got an 8 am staff development meeting tomorrow. And then Thursday I'm headed back to Chicago for Th8Boy's big 2-5!! 

Hope ya'll are having a great week!

Day 1, 2 and 3 in the Classroom

This week I started off with 3 days of professional development seminars. Two of them were very informative and the last one was blah! Anyways, I got to go into my classroom Thursday afternoon and start cleaning this mess!
Day 1: (Thursday afternoon)

95% of the items/furniture/"stuff" in this picture was the teacher that was in there previously. She was in there (I was told) for like 12 years. She retired. 

As you can see, I do have a projector, which is brand new! 

I did manage to put some color on the boards. This classroom was so dull when I started, I needed to see some pizazz!! 

 Day 2: (All day Friday)

Friday I came at 8 am and didn't leave until about 6 pm. I started cleaning out all the cabinets and moving textbooks around so I can free up a bookcase. I also had to clean out her desk because I'm getting rid of mine because I won't ever be in it. The only times I think I would be in it is before and after school. I am moving a trapezoid tables over there which will be my 'desk' as well as my guided reading and small group table.

 Day 3: (Today-Saturday)


I don't have pictures from today. I'll make sure to take some Monday morning before I start working so I can see my progress.

When I came home I made my learning targets. I found the cheap dollar store picture frame/scrapbook paper idea from Pinterest of course!

ADVICE PLEASE: I have a few blank board space and I'm not sure what to put on them. Any suggestions? I have a Learning Target board, attendance board, a 'Welcome to 1st grade' board and word wall. What am I missing??

Well, I'm off to watch the Olympics and I'm looking forward to some quality sleep tonight, considering I've woken up at 6:30 the last 6 days in a row! I guess I should get use to it because my school schedule starts in about 8 days---yikes!!

More pictures to come of my apartment in an upcoming post!

WILW & Pinteresting Wednesday

{These quite possible are my favorite blog hops! I haven't done them in awhile and today is the perfect day to participate}

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm so loving my first grade team this year. I just met them on Monday and I can already tell it's going to be a great year full of teamwork and tons of laughs.

(One of the teachers on my team made all of us 'new teachers' this. Isn't it cute?)

I'm also loving all the back to school sales lately. It's one of my favorite things to do.

I'm LOVING that I got gas down here for $3.01. Can you believe it? $3.01!!!

I'm loving the new ABC show NY Med. So much better than Grey's I think and it's real! If you can deal with shots, blood and gory stuff, watch it!!

I'm, of course, loving The Boy. I'm not sure why, but we've been doing great lately and even talking on the phone sometimes. (This is huge because he's not a big talking on the phone type of guy). I do miss him though, so that part I'm not loving. 

I'm loving the new recipes I've found lately on Pinterest. (I'll post some)

I'm loving that I can get into my classroom and get to work! This is what just ONE of my cabinets look like... (someone wanna come help me?)

Pinteresting Time:

Source: a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net via Krystal on Pinterest

Source: loveveggiesandyoga.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Healthy no-bake chocolate chip cook dough bites! -yes please!

Source: someecards.com via Kristen on Pinterest

This is so me and my pooch!

Source: someecards.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Hahahah I lolled when I read this because the Boy does not get Pinterest, but yet LOVES his xbox games. I should say this to him next time. :)

Source: livinglaughingandloving.com via Kristen on Pinterest

I made these. They were decent. I had to add a little pasta to it though.

Source: lifeingraceblog.com via Kristen on Pinterest

I'm making this for our get back to school BBQ with our school faculty. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Source: peasandcrayons.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Just put these ingredients on my shopping list. I'll let you know this one as well, once I eat it :)

Last, but definitely not least...

Source: kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

I've been looking for a great caprese combo. BAM! I think I found it!

That is all! Hope everyone has as great of a Wednesday as I am! :)

Love/Hate Relationship with Aldis

Today was my first trip to Aldis. I had heard good things about them and their prices, so I drove 12 minutes to find the closest one to me. I got there and tried to pull out the shopping cart only to find out that it wouldn't come out. It was attached to all of the other shopping carts by a chain. WTF???

A lil' asian lady next to me was rummaging through her purse and grinned at me and said, "You need a quarter to get it off." Hmmm....ok?? So, I found a quarter in my purse and was successful in putting it in the slot and receiving my cart.

I head through the doors to be disappointed with how small it was. I see ALDI commercials and ADS and the store looks so much bigger. Oh well. I went up and down the aisle as I crossed things off my list.

I was probably in there for about 45 minutes. I get up to the cashier and unload my items. I probably got around 20 items; everything from rice to meat. I go to slid my credit card (I use my credit card to build up my credit and then transfer my funds from my debit account to my credit right away) and she tells me it's been denied. Hmmm.... last time I checked credit cards don't get denied, unless of course your in debt or something.

I procede to tell her that it's a credit card and she explains, "Oh sorry, we don't take credit." ARGH!! "OK, well then I guess I'll just pay in cash" Which luckily I had enough. As I'm counting my money to hand to her she asks if I can bring my cart around so she can set my items in my cart. Well, of course you can, thank you for doing that for me.

Well, what she didn't mention was that she wasn't going to be putting them in bags OR boxes. So every single item of mine (cans of soups, tat or tots, pork chops, you get the picture) was just rolling around in my cart.

Well now I'm pissed!! I head out to my car with my items bumping all over the place and place them all into my trunk with no organizing whatsoever. I did manage to get home, but the fact that I live on the 2nd floor of an apartment building did not come in handy when I had no bags or boxes.

I'm not sure I'll return to Aldi, but on the brighter side, I did get some good deals. Did I save a lot of money? Probably not, but oh, well. At least I tried, right??

Home Sweet Home

I'm here. In Tennessee. Moved in. and still alive....

This is how my apartment looked as we were moving boxes and furniture in.

Got the essentials set up first; couch, tv center and tv.

Dining room and part of the kitchen. (excuse the junk everywhere!)

The last couple of days I've been running so many errands. Since Tuesday I've been to, Wal-mart, Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Kroger, the Dollar Store and the gas station. Phewy! And I'm sure it will not be my last time to any of those either.

Now, this is where I need HELP!!! BADLY! 

I'm not very decorating savvy, and I envy those who can make any space look like a million bucks.!

This is my entertainment unit. It's big, bulky and very useful. However, since I dont have a DVD player or cable box (and I still have cable- smiley face), I don't know what to do with the extra space on the shelves. Any ideas?? Also, see the huge blank space to the right of it? It's about a 4 ft black wall from the stand to my front door. What can I put there???

Also, I have so many pictures frames, but I can't put holes in the wall, what can I use to hang all my pictures? 

Same blank wall space problem above my couch!! I need help!

Of course I've been looking on Pinterest like crazy, but it's hard when you can put holes in the wall. Ugh! 

The night before I left, my parents took my boyfriend, best friend, her boyfriend and I out to dinner. I love them!!

 I miss them already. 

I hope everyone stays cool on this wonderful Thursday! Any style suggestions? I'll take any and all. :)

Weekends, weddings and boxes

This weekend was much needed and I had so much fun.

First, one of my good girlfriends got engaged this past week! I'm so happy for her and her NEW fiancé!!

Next, The Boy and I went to a Cubs themed wedding Saturday night and it was so much fun!!

 

(Cute Cubs cake!)

Today, I'm finishing up with all the packing I have to do. The trailer is getting full and my room that I've lived in for 23 years is empty!! :(  (I keep telling myself that this is only the beginning!)

And then, tomorrow, I leave and travel to my new home (for at least a year) and experience new things. I'm excited but also nervous! I'll take pictures of my new place and my new classroom ASAP!

This is the way my room looks now...

And hopefully in a couple weeks I can show you the after pictures! 

I'm so excited for this new journey! I'll be back to the blogging world as soon as I get internet in my apartment. I hope everyone stays cool these next couple of days.

The Boy and I at our friends wedding

8 days left

(warning- this is a completely random post- I like random though) :)

Until I move to Tennessee.

I've been packing up most of my stuff the past few days. I have also been tightening my facebook and twitter accounts so I'm not noticeable when someone types in my full name onto Google. I think I'm just going to disable my facebook account when I move. It'll be easier to handle and I much prefer twitter and pinterest anyways these days! :)

As I was securing my fb profile and security settings I notices I had some quotes that I have (unknowingly) kept up there for years. I deleted them...even though I do LOVE my quotes. I feel like I can find any quote pertaining to my life and it fits perfectly. I wanted to save these last 3 on here because I do love them and wanted to keep them for myself. :)


*Sometimes you love, learn, and
move on. And thats okay.
whoever said "what you don't know can't hurt you"
was a complete and total moron.
cause for most people i know.. not knowing
is the worst feeling in the world.
-- grey's anatomy

"take chances. take a lot of them. because honestly, no matter where you end up & with who, it always ends up just the way it should be. your mistakes make you who you are. you learn & grow with each choice you make. everything is worth it. say how you feel always. be you & be ok with it."

(I love this quote right now- especially because I am taking a huge chance with moving down to TN with my career and relationships)

*Here are some numbers for you. In 1 year you'll know about 95% of the people you know now , In 5 years you'll know about 25% of the people you'll know now,In 15 years you'll know about 5% of the people you know now ,And in 60 years when all of us are coming 2 our death, we will know less than 1% of the people we know now, leaving us alone. And yes I know that is very sad to realize , when you die you may only have 1 friend left, but when you die you will remember 100% of the experiences you had , 100% of those crazy times 100% of those hookups 100% of the fights and 100% of the times that you spent chillin wit your homies. That is why you'll crack a smile before you die, because you remebered the time that kid threw that thing through that girls dad's painting, or that amazin dance party or intense backyard football game or the time you friends had your back in a fight...that's happiness.

I also have been going crazy shopping for my classroom!! Like I've been the target dollar spot at least 3 times these past 2 weeks. I also scored GREAT deals at the DOLLAR STORE! ---who knew?? I got all of this stuff (Shapes for a bulletin board, 2 bulletin board boarders and 2 cut out letters) for a whopping $5.16!!! JACK POT! I suggest anyone to go look at their dollar store near the coloring books section and check it out. They had tons of stuff and I'm hoping a dollar store in TN will have the same things!

...And onto some of my new pins lately

Source: lifessimplemeasures.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Source: classroomfreebies.com via Charity on Pinterest

(For my classroom directions)

Source: 3rd-grade-thoughts.blogspot.com via Toia on Pinterest

(I should do this for my classroom)

Source: teachinghappilyeverafter.blogspot.com via Barbara on Pinterest

Source: easylunchboxes.smugmug.com via Sean on Pinterest

Hope everyone is enjoying their Monday! Toodles!