A List Of Things I've Been Doing Lately

It occurred to me the other day when I woke up from my super casual two hour nap after school the other day that I have a blog.
That blog is this blog and I also simultaneously realized that I hadn't posted in that blog for about three weeks.
Which also just by chance happens to be the amount of time that I've been in school.

Juuuuust a coincidence. Right?

While I could be all "Blah blah blah OMG TEACHING IS JUST SO SUPER HARD AND BUSY LET ME GIVE YOU MY SCHEDULE FOR THE LAST WEEK TO JUSTIFY WHY I'VE BEEN GONE." I feel like that is pointless and you could find it elsewhere.
Like any teaching blog you follow.
Or this blog right here. Go ahead, see any post I have on teaching it's probably of the above flavor. (That's right, I'm not above calling myself out.)

So instead I'm going to give everyone a general overview of things I've been doing lately in my favorite way: list form.

Sweating

The weather is still hanging out between 70 and 80 degrees. When you're in a classroom that's on the second floor with 30 year-old carpeting you have a recipe for some pit stains.
As far as my teacher clothing goes, I have 3 outfits that are comfortable in that sort of weather. And only one that I'd actually want to wear. So I've been rotating a few t-shirts in with my one pair of capri's and dress pants into my outfits and then just dabbing myself with tissues the rest of the time.
Needless to say, I'm ready for the fall weather to set in so I can start wearing what most of my wardrobe consists of: COMFY SWEATERS!

Yoga

I haven't been going to classes, but a couple of days a week (when I can peel myself out of bed at 5 am) I've been ordering the hour video on our demand channel. On the mornings that I do yoga before I head to school I literally feel like nothing can shake me. And let's face it I feel a little less guilty about not working out if I get home and am too tired to move.

Telling Jokes

At some point over the summer I forgot how hilarious I am.
I also forgot how hilariously lame I come off to 7th graders, especially when I'm intentionally making  horrible jokes on purpose to set their standards low.

Channeling My Inner Camp Counselor

Because we have 7th graders this year that we will have next year as well, my team and I have been really focusing on team building for the first two weeks of school. This means that we were doing a lot of name games, problem solving, and cooperative challenges.
So for the past three weeks I've been switching back and forth from being a super professional 7th grade teacher to my old camp counselor days. All 8 years of running games and creating activities at summer camp for 8 years really paid off, and was kind of a blast.

Become My Mother, My Father, And Every Other Adult Who Put Me In My Place

When you get a group of students that you know you're going to have for two years, you have to put your foot down right from the get-go. That will cause a lot less heartache down the road. It makes me giggle a little when I hear myself use phrases and get after students for things that people used to get after me for. The circle of life goes on.
But don't worry, I haven't gotten to the point where I've had to use, "Because I said so," yet....

Being Useless When I Get Home

*Insert joke about my husband doing all of the housework because I catch narcolepsy when I walk into the apartment.*
I'll be used to being back at work again soon right?

Eating Fresher, And Cleaner

I've been finding cleaner recipes for dinners and lunches.
We've been getting our produce, hummus, and even some meat from our local farmer's market.
Not only do I feel better about buying local, but I feel better because I'm eating good food.
Oh and it's been super yummy.
THANKS PINTEREST.

Keeping Up With Family

The weekends have been family get togethers, sleep overs at parent's houses, and trying to make it to XC meets and soccer games. Sometimes successfully, and sometimes not so much. The weekends have been full, and that's been just fine.

Sleeping. Lots of Sleeping. 

Naps. Going to bed early. Sleeping in late.
If I'm not in the middle of a cup of coffee or in the middle of a lesson plan you can probably find me dozing off with some drool leaking from the corner of my mouth.

Figuring Out HOW I Want To Reach My Fitness Goals

I have fitness goals. This summer I wasn't that great at motivating myself. I have found my motivation, but am finding that with school starting and just my preferences changing, the way I've always gone about fitness just isn't working for me anymore. So I'm exploring changes I can make to my workout routine to get myself out of this workout-rut.

Painting My Nails

If I don't paint my nails I tend to chew them, which is gross.
But if they chip then my new nervous habit and picking the polish off.
Soooo I've been doing a lot of painting and retouching.
This week it's light purple and glitter on the the ring fingers.
(But if you followed me on Twitter you'd already know that!

Answering Nervous Questions About How School Is Going

Last year if you asked me how my school year was going I would get this crazy look in my eyes, tell you it was alright, and then look like I was about to cry.

I learned a lot from my students last year. I think I got a lot of really great skills and I would like to think I made some difference for some students. I also got my first taste of teaching Humanities and integrating language arts and social studies. I developed a curriculum and learned what I liked and what I didn't like about how I taught it.
BUT GOD WAS LAST YEAR HARD.
So when people ask me how my year is going so far, I can tell they're a little nervous about what sort of reaction they're going to get from me. I think they're pleasantly surprised when I smile and say, "Actually, really well!"

Becoming A Real Person At Home

For those of you whom aren't regulars here, my husband is most likely going up for sainthood within the year. Since I started teaching he picks up a lot of the slack on the home-front.
This especially went for last year (please see above category) when I could barely keep my head above water at school.
During the summer it was much easier to do my part, but alas summer is over.
But this school year, I'm anticipating a the year to be a little less exhausting and trying my darndest to not only be a real person at school, but also a real person at home that cooks dinner at least 3 times a week.
I know, I know, it's a lofty goal, but I think I can make it!

Pretending I'm Organized

I am not the most organized person in the world.
Actually let me rephrase that.
I'm not an organized person.

BUT

I have organized my desk drawers at school for the first time in my life.
I have organized my jewlery, make-up, hair elastics, and hair clips all onto rings and into zip up bags and lotions.
I have organized all of my student information and important lists for school into a binder.
I am not expecting any of this to last long.
But it sure does feel nice to pretend!

Forcing Myself To Read

This sounds like I hate reading.
I love reading.
But often find myself saying, "Man I wish I had time to read during the school year. I feel like I can only enjoy a book during the summer!"
Which in a way is true. I go to work, come home, eat dinner, and more often than not do some more work.
But, I also watch television.
I also read blogs, and check facebook, and pin away to my heart's content.
So realistically, could I read more? Yes. I just have to force myself. So I've downloaded a couple new books to the kindle and am ready to cut some other stuff out so I can enjoy a few good books.

That, in a little nutshell is what I've been up to.
Time for me to read some of my favorite blogs, because that is something that I have NOT been up to and need to do.
Stay fabulous this week!

What I'm Loving Wednesday/Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday

It's Wednesday...

You can find these link ups here and here.

 Here's What I'm Loving This Wednesday...

I'm loving... that I've officially made it to the beach more times than I did last year...and counting! I'm feeling relaxed and fairly tan!

I'm loving... that I'm working a double today. Okay, not the fact that I'm working a double. But whenever I start to feel bad for myself about working a double I try and remember that I'm doing it to make some extra money. For extra expenses this summer, bills, and all of that shopping I've been doing lately. I do like the extra money. So yeah, let me sugar coat it for myself and say that I'm loving it as a remind that if I wasn't working I would not be ready for the end of the summer!

I'm loving... that the olympics start this weekend. When those start up I am a serious couch potato, cheering on the good old USA in sports that I otherwise probably wouldn't be super interested watching on TV. Can not wait!

I'm loving...how sweet and thoughtful my husband is. Yesterday after he left for work I woke up these.

Nothing special. Just a note and some fresh cut flowers from the back yard. But it's the little things that remind me why I decided to hang out with this guy for a really long time. It's the little things that make our marriage go round.

I'm loving... that I've been finding some awesome deals on clothing. My back to school shopping is almost finished. (Just need to find a nice pair of casual khakis that come in long. Leave a comment if you have a pair you can't live without.) Here are my most recent deals and steals.

At a Van Huesen outlet I got this sweater whose original price was $82. I got it for $25!

And this scarf whose original price was $30. I got it for $8!

Add a comment

There's no photo, but yesterday I got another cardigan from Maurices.
Now they're having this super awesome sale where if you just try on a pair of jeans you get $5 off.  So, the sweater was already in clearance, and I tried on a pair of jeans because this girl ain't stupid. What did I end up paying?
Original price was: $35. I paid $2.50. 
I walked out feeling like I stole the sweater from them!


I'm also loving the shirts I have arriving in the mail today from American Eagle!

I'm loving... leftovers. Healthy leftovers that is.
When you work at a frozen custard stand all summer it's hard not to snack on junk food and the frozen custard itself ALL THE TIME. Unfortunately, I've gained the 5 pounds  I lost at the end of the school year back. Maybe even plus some. BLERG!
On the other hand,  the hubby and I have been trying to make healthy dinners all summer that are filling and low fat. So how do I solve my insane munching problem at work to match up my goals at home? Yummy leftovers of course! Today for lunch I'm having some delicious Taboulleh that we made last night! Thanks pinterest for the idea!

Speaking of Pinterest...

Oh, How Pinteresting...

Before I share my favorite pins, yesterday I wrote a post that is the first in a series of a few called "Pins Awkwardly In Real Life".  All of the posts are going to be about me trying out pins that I have done in real life, for better or for worse! My first post in the series is on a recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna. Check out the post here!

Okay onto my recent favorite pins!

Some food:

A recipe for breakfast cookies. I've made them twice, they are both yummy and hearty.

Stuffed pork loin. Have not tried, but just looking at the photo makes my mouth water!

Some teaching pins since the school year is indeed just around the corner

This teacher has classroom decoration tips and organization ideas. I could sift through this for ages because my classroom needs to get itself organized this fall!

Rubric ideas for journaling.

And a few words that inspired me to move on and be positive about what could be ahead at a time last week that I was feeling a little down.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Thanks for stopping by today. If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest you can find me right here.

Happy Wednesday, and stay fabulous!

Pins Awkwardly In Real Life: #1. Butternut Squash Lasagna

I think my original motivation to join pinterest  was because it seemed like a secret club. This super secret internet club that only girls who could cook and craft had been invited to.
It was all super creative people everywhere could rave about.
"OMG DO YOU HAVE PINTEREST I SAW THIS AWESOME IDEA ON PINTEREST YOU JUST NEED TO GET AN INVITE TO PINTEREST IT'S JUST SO WONDERFUL SO MANY IDEAS I DON'T KNOW HOW I DID ANYTHING BEFORE PINTEREST."

Okay, maybe this is an exaggeration.

Either way, I  somehow finagled an invitation from my bloggie friend Jess at You Are My Color. 
I logged on the first time, and from there on I was addicted. I kept logging on at an exponential rate, finding people to follow. Finding fancy foods to make. Finding clothes I could never afford. Finding complicated crafts to make my life a better place. Finding funny ecards that must have been made specifically for me.
I pinned, pinned,  and pinned some more. And after I'd had it for a while I sat and looked at it and went, Hmmm. So what do I do now?

And then it hit me, I kept pinning this stuff because I was sick of eating the same things every night. I was tired of looking at the same stuff around my apartment.

Thus begins my series of posts that I am going to call "Pins In Real Life".
I have tried some of my pins in real life, and here I am going to show you how they worked out.

There are plenty of bloggers out there that put their pins into practice all the time.
There is one woman whose blog is called "Pintester". Her entire blog is dedicated to trying out pins. Most of the time to some pretty humorous results. Definitely check her out.

So I mean this series  I am starting is obviously nothing new. But I figured there are so many pins out there,  I might as well pitch in for the greater good and try some pins out.

I have probably 7-8 pins that I've actually tried. Some are more complicated than others. Most of them are food. Most of them I have documented.

Today I will start off with one of the first pins that I tried, and probably one of the more complicated.
I present to you:

 Butternut Squash Lasagna: Awkwardly In Real Life

So I decided to make this at a time that I wanted to make something for dinner that I could just heat up for lunch at school the next day. I felt as though just regular lasagna was tiresome. I was too good for that now that I had found Pinterest. So I picked out the sophisticated butternut squash lasagna recipe and went out for supplies.

What it is supposed to look like when done.

Here is the original pin.

The pin linked back to the website Design Sponge. A  refined blog that focuses on design, meals, drinks, and parties among other things. The specific post was written by Kristina Gill and the featured lasagna recipe was developed by a man named Brian Malarky. He is apparently a big deal.

Check out the original post with all of the professional photos that make the lasagna look like a piece of art here.

I should've known when I saw the blogger's write-up about her passion for butternut squash, and then the biography of the executive chef to whom we credit the recipe that this was not your ordinary lasagna for ordinary people. It is an extraordinary lasagna made by extraordinary people who have a clue as to what they're doing with food.
Which is not me.

The instructions are also quite detailed. Red flag? Oh no not for me. I am the pinterest queen. If I can pin then I must be able to do.

Ingredients

1 or 2  Large Butternut squash – Peeled, cored and sliced thin 1/4  inch
10 to 14  Pasta Sheets – Cooked
1 handful  Spinach
6 cloves  Garlic
1 bunch  Italian Parsley
1 stick Butter (114g)
¼ Cup  Flour
3 ½ Cups Whole Milk
3 Cups  Shredded Mozzarella
½ Cup  Parmesan
10 each  Sage Leaves – Sliced Thin
1 each Lemon – Zest
Salt and Pepper and Olive Oil

Make the Lasagna

Pre-heat oven to 375F

You will need a 13x9x2 baking dish (a regular glass one or any type of casserole will do)

Drizzle the sheet tray with olive oil and place the slices of butternut squash on it, season with salt and pepper, repeat another layer until all the butternut is layered.  Cover with foil and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes until the squash is cooked yet still firm enough to break apart.

While that is working start on your roux:  ½ stick of butter in the pot and melt until almost browned, whisk in the flour and continue to cook for about 30 seconds, slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, Add the garlic and continue to cook at a medium heat until mixture thickens.   Transfer the mixture to the blender and blend in the Spinach/parsley.  Season with salt and Pepper.

Rub the Baking dish with a little butter and begin the layers:  Cream Sauce, pasta, Mozza, Parma, butternut – Repeat.  Make sure the top layer has cheese on top.  Cover with Foil and Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 15 or until the top is crispy golden brown.  Let rest for 10 minutes before serving

Like most of my cooking adventures, Dave was helping out in the kitchen. Just making sure I didn't burn the house down. 

-We started off by preheating the oven and chopping up the butternut squash. It was difficult. It was much harder than we had expected it to be. 
- We layered and drizzled the butternut squash and put it in the oven for 10 minutes.

 We took it out and it didn't seem like it was all the way cooked.  But hey, what did we know about buttersquash? It had already been in the oven for the maximum of 10 minutes and we didn't want to over cook it. I think if it had been sliced a little thinner then our buttersquash might have been a little more like the recipe. But this ended up being the least of our worries.

While the buttersquash was in the oven we melted the butter in the pot.

 This is the place where I pause and tell you that everything was about to go wrong. In this section of the recipe the cook makes a roux. For those of you who aren't french or an iron chef, a roux is a white sauce. Sauce is sauce, which should be easy right?

WRONG.

If you read above you'll notice that there is no directions as to what heat your pan should be on to make the roux. I guessed, and just set it at mid-heat between 5-6. Mid-heat feels safe when I'm making grilled cheeses, soups, and cooking chicken.

But if you learn anything from this tutorial, mid-heat is not good for making a roux. You should only use low-heat. But like I said, we did not use low-heat.

So we whipped in the flour vigorously. We whipped it even more vigorously when we realized it was sticking to the bottom of the pan. Then we added in the milk. We whipped and stirred and whipped.

We added in the garlic. Not cloves of garlic like the recipe asked for, just some chopped up garlic in a jar. It was already in the fridge so why not? Saaaaame thing.

Meanwhile the spinach and parsley waited patiently in the blender for the roux. We used dried parsley.

But the roux started to smell. Burnt. Very burnt. We continued to stir and stir hoping it would make it better, but we couldn't take it off the heat until the "mixture had thickened".

We took it off the heat and it didn't smell promising. We contemplated what to do next since we'd used all of our milk. The only choice at this point since our lasagna noodles were already boiling was to go on. Linus sat on a stool watching, and I'm sure secretly judging like cats tend to do.

After poring the mixture into the blender we discovered the status on the bottom on the pot.

It was bad. Really bad. ( PS The residue actually didn't come off no matter how much we scrubbed and soaked. But we saved the pot. How? Boiling vinegar! This idea, was of course found on pinterest. And it's totally fine now!)

I sampled the roux, and it tasted like carbon.Ick. But I was optimistic and let the process go on. Somewhere through the rest of the baking process the other flavors would overcome right?

So we blended.
It was finally time to start making the lasagna.
Now please take a look at the photo below featuring what the final product should look like from the original recipe. Take extra notice of the roux in between the layers.

The roux is mostly white, with specs of green spinach and parsley throughout.

Now here is our roux after blending.

Yup, that's green. Toooootally green. I think that after the roux was burnt, the consistency was changed and it reacted with the spinach and parsley different than it was supposed to.

And again, hungry and desperate for dinner we continued to make the lasagna. No turning back now!
The squash was layered with the mozzarella, noodles and roux. We didn't have enough mozzarella or Parmesan so we added in the sandwich provolone that we had in the fridge.

 I don't know if there's an appropriate caption for what is happening in this photo.

But once we had everything on it we almost forgot that it was probably going to taste like eating old ashes from a fire. Almost. There was that lingering burnt smell that made it hard to forget.

We put it in the oven for the appropriate amount of time (or until the cheese on top was melted. I forget) and then had this semi-appetizing looking gem.

We let it cool, cut it up and bravely took our first bites.

Oh man.

Verdict? Well I coughed for a few seconds after swallowing and Dave just spit it out.
We both took a few more bites because we were that hungry. And then we gave up and made sandwiches instead. There was no amount of lemon juice that was going to cover that mess up.

Whoooommppp whooooommmmppp.

We actually want to try this recipe again.  Underneath the taste of ashes and charcoal I could tell it could've been good. Here are my tips for you if you want to eat classy lasagna and not have it taste like death in your mouth.

1. DON'T RUIN THE ROUX. Be patient and cook it on low heat. It doesn't say that on the recipe but after further research, that's one of those basic things that I was supposed to know already since I'm adult. 

2. Slice up the buttersquash pretty thin, or else it's not going to cook the way you want it, and it will be took thick to eat. And buy two buttersquash. One wasn't quite enough to cover all of the layers.

3. Always have extra ingredients. If we had just two cups of milk we could've made the recipe over again and not put my gag reflex into practice.

So there it is, Butternut Squash Awkwardly In Real Life.

To all of my fellow pinners out there, be brave and get going on those pins in real life.
I'm excited to some more pinning and doing adventures with you in the future. I promise not all of them were as awkward of a fail as this one.
Until then, make sure you follow me on pinterest.

Also, if you've tried a pin in real life or have a pin that you'd like to try then leave a link to the pin in my comments.
Have you even written a post about it? Even better, leave a link to that post in the comments. I'd love to see what other bloggers and pinners are doing out there in real life instead of just on the computer.
Until then, stay fab!

One Of My Favorite Summer Traditions

One of my favorite parts about summer are the traditions. Places you always go. People you always get together with. Food you always eat.  There seem to be certain things you  just have to do in order for it to feel like summer.

I have tons of summer traditions, because I am indeed a girl of the summer.

A somewhat recent one for me as far as my summer traditions go, is what we call "Family Camping".  Ever since the summer after college, I go camping with Dave, Bruin, and four of my close friends(oh and another dog). Three of them are our good friends from college, and the other is one of my best friends from high school, (who just so happens to be dating one of the friends from college. Isn't the way life works out just wonderful?) She actually has her own blog focused on design and coastal living. You can check her out here.
This summer was our fourth trip, and we decided to keep it a little more laid back than usual. No big hiking or climbing trips "scheduled". We brought our bathing suits, fly fishing poles, dogs, and a lot of wood and food to use around the fire.
After a tough week, and knowing there was going to be some stress in the week ahead, this trip was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Also, I was too busy relaxing to take out my "real camera" at all over the weekend. The following photos are brought to you by Mr. iPhone.

I traveled up in a totally packed Subaru with all of the girls and Bruin. I feel like my friend Rach in the passenger seat and my iphone properly captured the ride up for my main man and I.

Just getting some cuddles in.

We showed up to Mt. Blue State Park (one of my favorite and the boys were already there, setting up camp. We unpacked and of course set up all of our camp chairs to settle in around the fire for fire grilled pizza. (Hubby found that idea on pinterest! It was delicious and easy!)

It is important to note, that this was I think the first year in which everyone had a camping chair, we all brought extra tinfoil, each fire was started in probably 2 minutes, and there was enough bug spray for both nights. This might sound insignificant to most, but for me it was representative of the fact that I think our little family of friends are finally kind of adults!

We sat around the fire until the wee hours of the night. Bruin found a spot around the fire for himself, but then we reminded him that he is a dog and made him sit on the ground.

We stayed up late, chatted about life and who would survive the longest stranded on an island.
We went to bed late happy and relaxed.

You'd do the same if you were trapped in the body of a dog.

We woke up late, and did some more lounging around the campfire eating breakfast sandwiches.
We then headed to the park's beach on the lake. The girls lounged on the beach, swam, and gossiped. The boys threw toys for the dogs at the boat dock. We all reconvened for lunch at a private spot on the lake with a picnic table and place for us to swim.

Did I mention the lake is surrounded by mountains? Maine is beautiful.

One our companions decided to take a swim out to a rock in the middle of the lake, and made friends with some other man out that was just chilling on the rock.

And then he got spoken to by the lifeguard who paddled out from the main beach. Because apparently swimming to rocks is an issue.

Delinquents.

We made our way back to the campsite after swimming and tanning all day for some kabobs and napping.

Just delish.

Bruin was so tired that he forgot he was a person and passed out on the ground for a good part of the night.

After dinner we decided to take our lazy-campfire-smelling-buts to go fly fishing. I've only been a few times before, but it's one that the group enjoys. Plus I have a pink fly fishing vest. Sooo...

And guess what? I CAUGHT MY FIRST FISH! EVER!
(Sorry there are no photos, I was too busy fishing like a boss)

Not to mention, it was also on my first cast. What can I say, I'm super fly. (Pun intended.)
Now, it was only a white perch. But I didn't care it was my first fish. I grabbed it, got cut a little by his sharp scales, and let him loose.

Because there wasn't too much going on in the river we headed back to the lake. Waders and all.
We waded out in the dark and noticed as we got our rods ready that there were probably hundreds of mayflies swarming on top of all of us.

I made a couple of casts and then got another white perch. The fish were jumping EVERYWHERE. We were catching fish like crazy. It got so dark that we needed to break out the headlamps, but we kept going. There were so many hungry fish that at one point I put my rod down to untangle a bit of line, and with my fly just floating on top of the water a few feet away I caught another fish. Just out of control.

By the end of the night I had caught 8 white perch. I was super proud of myself. And I was glad to get practice reeling in and releasing so many smaller fish. So when I hit the big time next trip I'll totally be able to catch that bass/whale shark.
And did I mention that I looked great in my pink vest?

We headed back to camp, made s'mores, and reveled in the amount of fish that we had caught that night.

The next morning, we took our time got up and packed up camp.

While Family Camping is one of my newer summer traditions, it is by far one of my favorites. Nothing beats good friends and good times in good weather.

Have an awesome week and stay fab!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

This Link Up never fails to make me feel better about life.

1. Yoga. It is love.

I have been taking free yoga classes as mentioned here.  I officially feel taller and bendy-er twice a week.

I love it! Such a great break from the gym.

I may not be all that great at it, especially the balancing poses.

But no matter.

It feels MAGICAL.

via

And since it's so obnoxiously hot, it's kind of like that fancy sauna yoga where you sweat and loose water weight.

2.  I'm loving breakfast on the porch in my P.J.'s with my husband, dog, and a little bit of a breeze.

3. I am loving good customer service.

Thank goodness my windshield cracked.

Let me explain.

In my birthday post I mentioned that my windshield got a little dingaling.  I sent it off to the glass place to get it replaced, which was quoted to be about 240 bucks. Fine.

Well, they couldn't get it done in the two hours that they promise customers due to backups. They called, asked if hey could hold it another day and apologized PROFUSELY.

And when I picked it up? They gave me a discount. I paid $195!

Also, my wedding pictures came in. We got the package where we got all of the pictures on a CD to do what we wanted. When we got them, about 100 of the pictures were tinted and shifted.

UM WHAT?

I called the our photo company, and after being connected a few times, I got someone who apologized and promised to send another new CD.

They think it had to do with the burning process. Another one is in the mail, and if that one has something wrong it'll be on the way!

So good customer service? Not always likely, but awesome when you get it.

4. I'm loving the fact that I found both of these shirts for $6 dollars on the clearance rack at American Eagle. 

I have this one in coral.

And I have this one in green with a blue stripe in the middle.

Absolutely perfect shirts for summer!

5. All of my followers! I can't believe I'm up to 30 already! Thank you for deciding I'm important enough to read and for all of your comment love!

6. And the last but certainly not least thing that I am loving is my new Nikon d5000 that I received as a gift from my whole family. It is so much fun! I'm still learning, but with some practice and some learning I think I'll get the hang of it!

I'm still on the fence between camera bags, I'll make the decision soon I'm sure!

(Those of you who haven't weighed in on your opinion PRETTY PLEASE leave a comment on this post or the original post on your thoughts. Thanks!)

I've had a few "photo shoots" and will be sharing those pictures soon!

Happy Wednesday!

<3

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Let's get our loving on...

 Join the linkup here with Jamie.

1. I am loving that today I went to my first yoga class. And it was FREE!

via

A counselor that works at our school decided to have a private practice and create her own yoga school as her new profession. So as she starts getting her business off the ground she is offering classes for FREE to teachers at the school during the summer.

I LOVE FREE THINGS. So I went with one of my favorite coworkers.

And man did it feel good. It was a nice to have a different kind of workout then just the normal fast paced go to the gym, go fast on cardio, lift big weights etc.

I was sweating, breathing hard, lengthening, straining muscles, and then relaxation.

I know I'm about 10 years behind on this yoga bandwagon, but I know they have to let me on. All of those yoga people are just so happy they'll let me on.

So Tuesday and Wednesday mornings you'll know where to find me. :)

2. I'm loving the lunch I ate after with my friend/coworker who is just fabulous and braved class with me. 

We ate at a local pub, out on their deck, by the kind-of sketchy river that looks pretty if you look at the right angle.

Just don't tip your toes in.

You might grow an extra one or fish out the thing from the blue lagoon.

3. I may or may not have birthday gifts that I sent myself coming my way very soon. Something I love.

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I recently noticed that I don't have many tops that are nice t-shirts for hanging out in that don't have the name of a sports team printed on front, or a mustard stain.

Both shirts are from Maurice's. Happy early Birthday to me!

And Happy Wednesday to all of you!