Let the Birthday Dinners Begin!

My birthday is December 6. I will be turning - gulp - THIRTY! This day was NEVER supposed to come...it's all downhill from here! hehe

Luckily I have a great bunch of friends and family who celebrate all month long with me! On Thanksgiving my parents surprised me with gifts, which was awesome! Then, on Friday we met up with some friends at Buffalo Wild Wings for wings and beers. Dusty and her family gave me a beautiful hand-crafted necklace from her home studio. Click HERE to check out more of her beautiful pieces. After dinner, Corey and I went to Best Buy to pick out my new iPod! Of course I had to get the orange one - DUH! I have played with it all weekend!

Saturday night, Corey's parents came to Murfreesboro to take us to dinner for my birthday. We went to Five Senses. If you have never been, I HIGHLY suggest you go for your next "special event." It is pretty pricey, but delicious! We started with the always yummy cheese & olive platter, then unique salads using local lettuces, and for the main course I had filet with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions and mushrooms, for dessert Corey and I had an upside-down pear cake and coffee. That was the best dinner I have had yet from Five Senses. We have been 3 times now and it's totally worth the money! To top off the evening, Corey's parents gave me a check to help out with paying for the iPod and a beautiful necklace and earrings set. His brother's family gave me iTunes gift cards, so I've been racking up the music all weekend! My new favorite is the "Single Ladies" song by Beyonce. I've been going around the house all weekend singing, "...if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it!" It's my new jam! ha!

Corey also got me some cheddar and caramel mix popcorn from Garrett Popcorn in Chicago. This is THE BEST popcorn you will ever douse with saliva! Trust...

I am looking forward to seeing what my students do for my birthday. Each year they all try to out-do each other with pictures and homeade gifts. They are too funny!

It's supposed to snow some this week, so bring it on! That will be a lovely pre-birthday gift as well! I'll keep you updated on what happens on my actual birthday! Should be good times...

Have a lovely week!

Thanksgiving Dinner

On Thursday, my mom made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner - or lunch - or whatever you want to call it. We ate around 2:00. We had all the usual goodies: stuffing, turkey, ham, escalloped corn, sweet potato casserole, green beans, gravy, pies, cake, you name it! I took a few pictures of the family just hanging out waiting to eat...or sneaking a bite.

It was nice to see my parents and my grandpa. Corey and I trade off years for Thanksgiving and Christmas on the actual day with our families. This year is my year and it's always more special to see my family on the actual holiday. We stayed with them from Wednesday to Friday. We enjoyed our extended vacation away from school!

Monthly Dinner Menu: December

This month is going to be crazy with all we have to do for school (my birthday, programs, Corey's grad school, parties, etc...) so the menu is a little less planned, but we'll still eat! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas - or whatever you celebrate - and a happy New Year! I'm ready for summer!
(Please click on the menu to enlarge)

New Toy!

Yeah, I know...I'm a bad blogger. My mother has already chastized me!

Anyway, my birthday is coming up soon, and this week while I was home for Thanksgiving, my parents and grandpa decided to surprise me with birthday gifts! That's always a plus! My parents gave me some cute orange bracelets, a snowman t-shirt and my new favorite orange toy: a FLIP! This one is mine! And, I also recieved a snazzy little carrying case with it!

I'll post more about Turkey Day later, but I wanted to share my first video experience with you! This is a video of my mom and my grandpa right after Thanksgiving dinner. My grandpa is TOO stinkin' cute!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Monthly Dinner Menu: November

Happy Thanksgiving!

Feel Sorry for ME!

I am sick. I have strep throat. I'm sure one of my twenty-two darling dears in 4th grade gave it to me. They are so generous like that!!! They are REALLY good at sharing!

I did go to work the day I was pretty sure I had it and then confirmed it with a strep test at the dr.'s office last night. Luckily, today I was scheduled for a meeting at the county office, so I didn't have to actually teach. I got to sit on my butt all day, after sleeping in, taking my time getting ready and even had time to take a long relaxing lunch! AND the best part was getting home by 3:00! That NEVER happens! So, I guess being sick this time had it's rewards.

I know I've been a bad blogger, but I really don't care. I have been SOOOOOOOOOOOOO extremely busy with school that I just don't have time. And, nothing exciting has happened in my life - other than buying a new refrigerator - that I didn't want to bore you with mundane life. You're welcome :-)

On a side note, my friend is having a Murder Mystery party at her house this weekend for Halloween and I couldn't be more excited about going. I'm playing the part of the Maid of Honor in this wedding catastrophe! Perhaps I can get some awesome pictures and actually blog about that!!

What about you? Do any of you have any exciting Halloween plans? What are you or your kids dressing up as?

Monthly Dinner Menu: October

Say It Isn't So!

Can I just say that I (along with the rest of the world) am SHOCKED that Clay Gaykin, oops I mean Aiken is G-A-Y! And by shocked I mean how the hell have you lived on planet Earth and NOT known he was gay?!

Ladies, the Claymates must die now - he's strictly dickly. Let the record show...

Monthly Dinner Menu

Adopt a Classroom!

MINE!!!

Today, I joined Adopt a Classroom, which is a website where donors can "adopt" my classroom by donating money to my account. I have already received a donation from my generous in-laws, but was hoping by posting this on my blog a reader might take pity on my poor classroom and adopt me! I would love to use the donations for technology, general classroom supplies (i.e. folders, paper, markers, pencils, etc...),books, teaching aids and whatnot.

My school is considered Title I, which basically means that over 50% of the students are on free or reduced lunch. I teach in a low-income area of Rutherford County where parents often cannot afford to send their children with the basic school supplies needed for the year. In turn, I spend money out of my own pocket to cover those needed supplies. I'm not trying to pull out a sob story, but every little bit helps and would be tremendously appreciated!


If you are interested in adopting my classroom, please click on the icon below and it will take you to my homepage. Thanks a bunch!!

Monthly Dinner Menu: August

Better late than never!

I have been to Hell...

I just wanted to let you all know that I have been to Hell. Actually, I have been to Hell twice this week.

One visit involves a 96 degree day and an un-air conditioned wedding and reception.

The other involves a Chinese Buffet restaurant (and if you know me you KNOW I hate Chinese food AND buffets), a karaoke performance, and school inservice.

It's going to take me a while to get the story just where I want it and provide you with video, yes, video from the occasion and all the fitting details. So, you'll have to be patient and wait for my creation. Trust me...it's worth it...

Meet Jackson!

My bestie, Clarissa and her family just welcomed Jackson Garrett home last week. I was lucky enough to go visit him, so I wanted to post a couple of pics! He is such a good baby and he has a wonderful family to call his own! I'm glad his mommy is doing better and she can hopefully get some rest!

Clarissa's dog, Jazzy, was not content with a photo of just Jackson and me. She had to get in on the action, too!

Corey's Birthday

Corey's birthday was July 24. As most of you know, we went to Pigeon Forge for part of his gift. His celebration lasted a whole week!

The Saturday before the big day, his parents and brother, sister-in-law, and neice came to town to eat dinner at The Five Senses. We had a wonderful and tasty dinner and drank a LOT of wine!! After dinner, Corey went to Best Buy to get his Zune. He has wanted one for a while, so that's been his new toy. I also got him a new pair of earphones since he broke his old ones. Good job...

When we came back from DollyWood on Corey's actual birthday, we stopped by my parents house and all went to dinner at Gondola. Corey loves their pizza! He and my dad always get the House Special and a pitcher of beer. They are drunk buddies! Hehe!

On the Saturday after his birthday, we went to dinner at Fuji Japanese Steakhouse.
We had a good time with our friends Ken & Becca, Phil & Dusty, and Shad and Marsha. After dinner, we came back for cake and ice cream!

I'm glad the festivities are over - they have worn me out! Now let's get to planning MY birthday!! Hahah!

Here are some pics from the "friend" dinner:

Dolly Wood

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting the fabulous photos from DollyWood. I'm such a bad blogger. Sorry!

We had a wonderful time in Pigeon Forge! Corey had a great birthday (which I will post about, too) and we will have good memories for a long time! Especially about how freaking soaked we got riding the "Slidewinder," which we DO NOT recommend. We seriously almost flipped twice!! Too bad we didn't get any great pictures of us looking like drowned rats! Ha!!

Anyway, here are some of the better photos we had from our trip. Apparently, Photobucket is being a piece of crap lately and will NOT upload my pics or do a slideshow. So, you get the myspace version instead. It does not let me arrange anything, so you'll just have to use your imagination and if you have questions, just ask me...

Pigeon Forge

Corey and I made it to Pigeon Forge today to begin our vacation. We got here at about 1:00 and checked into our hotel. Of course, the room we had reserved wasn't available because the air conditioner was broken. So, Corey demanded we be compensated and they "upped" our room to a suite with a jacuzzi and fireplace. Now, when I say it's a suite, I mean it's the same size room as any other, they just crammed a bunch of extra crap in here with a big tub and a hole in the wall with some logs in it. However, we have a fridge, so I'm ok with that.

We ate lunch at a place called the Flying Horse. It was pretty good, but expensive. We both enjoyed our meals. After lunch, we went to the outlet mall and I hit up the Coach Outlet where I found only ONE orange mini-wallet on sale, so of course I had to get it! I also may or may not have done some Christmas shopping...

We went up to Gatlinburg and it was BUSY! We didn't even get out of the car. Just drove the strip up and down and tried not to run over anybody. We've both been there before, so we really didn't feel like we were missing anything by not walking the strip. On the way back, we got stuck in dead-stop traffic and then a giant rain storm! It took us an hour to get down the mountain, which should have only taken about 5 - 10 minutes, all due to about 6 orange cones and a lane closure. BOO!

We came back to the hotel and had a couple of flashes of power outages. I'm glad we weren't in the elevator!

We decided to brave the hurricane like weather and head to a local brewery for dinner. Corey got a pizza and I had a calzone. They were both pretty tasty. By the time we left the rains had stopped and we were able to walk around in the little prominade mall area outside the restaurant. Corey found a fudge shoppe and decided to get a little bit of peanut butter fudge. I had the teeniest-tiniest piece and that will probably be all I have...I'm not a fudge fan.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to go to DollyWood and the weather is supposed to be pretty rainy. So, if you have any pull with the weather "Gods" please ask them to take pity on us tomorrow...

Welcome Baby Jackson!

My bestie, Clarissa and her hubby, Jason had their second child today. A son named Jackson Garrett. He was over 9 POUNDS! Geez! I can't wait to meet him! He's going to have a wonderful family to come home to! And I'm sure his big sister Caraline will be very helpful to her mommy!

Congrats to Clarissa and the fam!


On another note, my friend Katie also had her twins today. From what I hear, they each weighed in at over 6 pounds. Congrats to Katie and her hubby - their dream has finally come true!!!

Jack Daniel's

On Monday, Corey and I FINALLY made it to the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. We have been trying to take this day trip for years! Literally! I bet we've planned to go at least seven or eight times in the last nine years and something always came up. We were glad to finally be able to make it down there!

There was a wonderful aroma as soon as we stepped on the grounds; almost "yeast-y" if you will. And the further we got on the tour, the more intense and "Jack Like" it became!

The scenery was just too beautiful to describe and everything was centered around the spring that gives Jack's whisky that smooth and unique taste!

The tour was absolutely FREE and was WAY more interesting than many of the tours we've paid for and taken in the past! If you ever get a chance to go - do!!! However, don't expect to taste any of Jack's tasty treat becasue Lynchburg is a D-R-Y town! The only tasting you get is lemonaide at the end of the tour! However, you can buy a bottle of Jack and take it home.

Enjoy the slideshow below. You'll need to move your mouse over the pictures to get them to stop so you can read the captions.

Monthly Dinner Menu: July

I would love it if you have any great recipes you'd like to share! Maybe I'll add them to August's menu...

I've Been Tagged!

Here are the rules:
a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog.
e. Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are the 6 things about ME:
1. I am organized in every aspect of my life. Like, obsessed and anal. My closet is in color order from light to dark. My cabinets at school have tubs with labels on them and I enjoy scheduling things.
2. My food cannot touch! I HATE it when my green beans touch my mashed potatoes, in which case I will create a barrier and not eat the green bean or small row of mashed potatoes because they are now tainted.
3. I am obsessed with the color orange! I feel like it represents me. It is loud and obnoxious, which is just about what I am. I have orange things all over my house and even my cell phone and car are orange - yet, I am NOT a UT fan. I hate when people make that assumption...
4. I get irritated when people take liberties. I understand that most people are just trying to help in certain situations, but for the most part, if I wanted it that way, I would have done it! This especially applies to substitute teachers and students! lol
5. I CANNOT stand worms or ants or anything that is slightly similar (i.e. snakes, termites, etc...) the thought of going outside to stand in the yard and *possibly* having an ant crawl on my foot terrifies me! AND, I HATE the way it smells after it rains a lot and the worms come out. I promise you I can smell them!
6. I love my job. Most of the time. Everybody has their ups and downs, but I honestly don't know what else I was meant to do! Please remind me that I said this when it's the middle of August and I'm talking about how much I hate school - especially starting a new year!!!!

That's it! Now I tag:
Clarissa
Katie
Dustin
Stacey
Michelle
Alyson
Oh, and Dusty tagged me...