Fruit of my Labor

Hello peeps!
The sneak preview on Tuesday was a SMASHING success. I'm pretty sure the whole county showed up to take a look at the latest and greatest school in our system. I also met some adorable future kindergartners that I am praying wind up on my class list. Tuesday evening definitely made me excited for the upcoming school year.

As promised, here are a few pictures of my new classroom:

I still have one more thing to put on the wall, my lily pad counting line to go under my lily pad number line. (Lots of lily pads, I know. But soooo cute.) I'm waiting on it to come in the mail. And, of course, as the year progresses, I'll have lots of student work to display and anchor charts that my class and I make together to hang on the walls.

So, there ya go, the fruit of my hard work from the last week. Hopefully, I won't have to move again for a good, long time.

Can I just mention really quickly my summer obsession?

I am, literally, obsessed with this show.
I believe that inside me, lives the soul of a dancer, but the outside me, is just a clumsy dancing fool. My favorite dancers this season are:

Melanie Moore
(How can you not love a fellow Georgia gal that rocks an adorable pixie cut???) She is hands down the best female dancer on this show. She's just UH-mazing. She got to dance with my love-uh, Pasha, last night. I was a little worried because it was the waltz and it's my least favorite ballroom dance, but it was STUNNING! She's going to be in the finale, I'm sure of it.

~and~

Marko Germar.
He's seriously the best male dancer of this season.
Also, he's from Guam! Who's from Guam!? I've never met a Guamanian. Love it!
And also? He's humble. Last night he kicked some major butt in a latin-dance-I-don't-know-the-name-of with the all-star Chelsea Hightower and the judges completely sang his praises and he left the stage with tears in his eyes! SO SWEET! I also think he'll be with Melanie in the finale.

Here they are doing a lyrical hip-hop routine as partners. The story of the dance is so sweet and I remember feeling a rush of emotion the night they performed it...



Well, that's all for today folks. I'm off to go do some dancing in my bedroom where no one can see me!

Xoxo, my loves.
~B

Truths for Mature Humans

Word.

Xoxo, my loves.
~B

Summer, summer, summer timeeeeeeee.....

...is quickly drawing to a close for me. And this is how I feel:

People think being a teacher is loaded with lots of perks. Like, for example,
two months off in the most sweltering of months where one can
sleep in late...

(I do this one really well!)

~OR~

getting to lounge by the pool while working on your tan...


(Oh, yeah...I forgot: I don't tan. I burn. REALLY bad. Ouch. )


Thank God for this:


And there's the perk of being generally stress-free after a chaotic year of educating America's youth.


And for most, that's all true. Except when the month of July rolls around and subconsciously or not, you begin the count down of how many days of sweet freedom you have left until you return to school. For me, the countdown began when I started to see all of the back-to-school supplies out in Wal-Mart.


A mixture of both excitment and dread hit me like a ton of bricks. (I'm pretty sure excitement won out.) Why? BECAUSE I'M MOVING TO A BRAND-SPANKING NEW SCHOOL!

And I get to teach my beloved Kindergarten again!!!

My beautiful, state-of-the-art new school is having a community preview this coming Tuesday and ,of course, I volunteered to have my room ready because I wanted to get that sucker DONE! So, for the past four days, I have been working tirelessly in my new classroom unpacking, organizing, moving furniture, hanging up posters and alphabets, etc. and it's about 80% done. I'm going to head over there in the next hour to slave away some more. When it's all finished, I'll take some pictures and post them up here so y'all can see the fruit of my labor!

I really am so excited to work at my new school. Everyone I've met feels the same and they're all just so nice! Now, I can't wait to meet all of my sweet little kindergarten friends!

(Did I mention we're having The Varsity truck at our Sneak Preview on Tuesday? I love that place!)

Well, I'm off, my friends!

XoXo, my loves!
~B

Eeek!

Yeah. Hmm. I kind of suck at blogging?
And my little bloggy plant is so dead and brown.
And when you have a dead plant...

You've got to throw it out.

And get something new and pretty and pink instead!
(And who doesn't LOVE hydrangeas!?!)


(I love, love, love them.)


So, people...


Shall we?






Xoxo, my loves.
-B

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Hello, y'all!
This is my first ever "WILW" post and I would like to dedicate this post to two amazing co-workers: Melissa W. for her strength in facing the unknown, and Jennifer S., for her inspiring display of true friendship and dedication.


What I'm Loving Wednesday...
This Wednesday just further proved why I'm in love with all of my co-workers. I happen to work at a school where all of the faculty and staff are truly a family. Today, I saw over 50 people and 700 students rally around one of our own 4th grade teachers, Melissa W. Melissa, along with her older sister, were both recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Melissa is an amazing teacher that truly loves her students and she's probably one of the nicest, most genuine people ever. If you ever need anything, have a question, or just want to chat, she's there. She also has the most adorable little son, Jackson, and I can tell that she's a fantastic mother because her son is the sweetest boy I've ever met. He's truly a reflection of his momma.

Her team member and best friend, Jennifer S., immediately went into action when the news got out that Melissa was diagnosed with breast cancer and started forming a plan for our school family to show support for Melissa. The plan was that on her last day with us (today), we'd all wear a pink t-shirt with the Super Man logo that had a "W" in the middle with the phrase "Ward off Cancer" (a play off her last name) above it. Her students would even wear pink to show their support for their teacher. We also wanted to raise money to by her a Kindle because she loves to read and didn't want to lug around tons of books to her chemo treatment. In true OHES fashion, we raised more than enough and were able to get her a nice PINK leather case, an amazon gift card, and a few other items for her. But yesterday, Jennifer took it a step further and had her hair stylist add a HOT PINK stripe in her hair.

Seeing that hot pink stripe in her blonde hair inspired a trend that took off like a wild fire in our school. Another teacher had a tube of temporary hot pink hair color and volunteered her services as an impromptu hair stylist this morning. Just about every faculty member got a streak of pink in their hair, including moi! The icing on the cake was when Mr. H, one of our three male teachers that just happens to be a little bald on top, decided that since he lacked the hair required for a pink stripe, he'd color his beard. The final product was simply amazing!

Melissa's husband was in on the action and persuaded her that Dr. G, our principal, had given him the okay to take her out to a nice breakfast and come in an hour late. This way, everyone would be in their pink shirts and she'd walk in to the surprise! This afternoon, we gathered for a "faculty meeting" and presented Melissa with her gifts and sweet words and well wishes were said. Afterward, we all joined hands and said a prayer for her surgery to go well tomorrow. I could truly feel the power of our prayer and the well-wishes in that room. If love could ever be tangible, it was this afternoon. It was all very emotional and I can promise you that there wasn't a dry eye in the place. With our watery eyes and sniffling noses, we all went out to the atrium and took a group shot. Pictured below, is my amazing work family! Melissa is in the center with a dark pink shirt and I'm behind her to the left. If you look closely, you can see all of our streaks of pink hair!


I would like to ask if you would please keep Melissa and her family in your thoughts and prayers. I know they are in mine!

Today has truly been an inspirational, bittersweet, and loving day. I got to witness a true display of friendship, a community of people coming together to support one of our own, and one woman's strength and bravery as she begins her journey in her fight against breast cancer. Melissa, please know that your OHES family will be with you every step of the way!

And, that my dear readers, is what I'm loving this Wednesday.


XOXO, my loves!
B

I love NBC Thursday Nights....

"Calzones are a terrible idea. They're pizza...just harder to eat!"
--Leslie Knope

Every episdoe of Parks and Rec that I watch, I become more convinced that Leslie Knope and I may share several of the same personality traits as well as at least a 1/4 of a brain.

Also, Ron Swanson in braids and a kimono with the middle of his mustache missing????
Yeeeeeee haaaaw!

Now, off to watch tonight's 30 Rock. Quotes of the night so far (and in the first 5 minutes to boot)....
Candaian bell hop: "And may I ask, what's so wrong aboot being from Canada?"
Jack: "If Canada is so nice and friendly, why does most of our meth come from YOUR Asian drug rings?"
Avery: "Are we not even making our own meth!?! What is happening to American manufacturing!?!?!"

HA!


{And yes, I realize I haven't updated in a million and one years. I will update soon...ish.}


XOXO, my loves!
B

I think my plants are a little parched...

Wowza. It feels like it's been ages since I've updated and to all of my nine followers (WOW! Nine people actually read my blog and follow it! I'm so honored. Thank you!), I sincerely apologize for the lack of action. This post is going to be a little "sprinkling" so to speak because this week has been super crazy and I'm fairly certain my brain is about to go on strike. So, without further ado, I'm going to post the most adorable thing I've seen in a very long time. My heart simply melts whenever I see this little pup.




That's all for tonight folks! I hope that you all soon get a dose of joy like little Iso...

XOXO, my loves!
B