7 days down, 173 to go

Yup, I'm pretty sure I'm terrible at blogging.. 

As soon as school started it seemed anything outside of lesson planning has fallen by the way side. 

Bye Bye Social Life!! Ughh..

I should at least make time to blog about my first few days right?! Well I will fill you in on my first 7 days in kindergarten.

I'm not going to lie to you..and I won't sit here and say that it has been a cake walk and everything has been absolutely perfect.. because it hasn't. I feel like everything around me is going a million miles per hour and I'm standing still.. 

I have no idea where the day goes, when its 2:45 and time to dismiss. I wonder.. "Ohh no did I even cover what I was supposed to?"My confidence is just kinda shot. I guess I had this "crazy" expectation that I would just walk in and everything including my kid's behavior would just fall into place. I seemed to have forgotten that for many kindergarteners it is their very first time in a school setting. 

I'm really hoping that once I get organized and have some lesson plans done ahead of time I will feel better. My plan is to keep a positive attitude and to bust my tail to make sure I'm doing everything I need to for my little babies to be the best they can be. 

Feel free to share any first year advice with me…not gonna lie, I definitely need it!! :)

Off to plan for the upcoming week! Thank GOD for Labor Day!! Whew! 

It's getting there...

Just thought I would share how it looks so far! It's definitely looks a lot better than it did.

Meet the Teacher is tomorrow night, and my awesome Mom is coming up all day tomorrow to help put on the finishing touches. I think our little "cottage"(Sarah suggested we call it that) is gonna be perfect for me and my 16 little buddies!

Back to School Madness

Hi friends! Sorry I have been so MIA lately! I've been bombarded with meetings, trainings, and loads of shopping trips.

Prepping for your first year surely isn't easy work. I have to admit the meetings have been brutal…from 8am to 3pm almost for a week straight was so draining. I'm sure I gained something from all of those "break-out" sessions, I just haven't figured it out yet. 

In other news, I finally got to see my classroom!!! When I first heard the news, I will admit I was a little disappointed in my room assignment--A portable. It took a good talking to from my Mama and she let me know there are a lot of positives to being in an "unconventional classroom". {I've been trying to think of fancier names for it.. portable just sounds so blasé}

I got to actually spend a little time in it yesterday with my girlfriend Sarah and gahh what a difference a second pair of eyes made! She totally helped me see loads of potential and even helped me figure out the organization and flow of my room.

Thank the Lord my Mama and Daddy come tomorrow to help me out! They're driving up to spend the day and really assess what my needs are for the room. Then my Mama will be back next Monday before my parents come to put the finishing touches on.

Ok so I'm going to share some pictures…. remember to think HAPPY THOUGHTS!! Thats what I keep doing!! :) 

This is before moving the furniture around!

 Getting things kinda figured out here… I can definitely see the potential now!

I already asked if I could paint the terrible wood panelling but they said No, so I just have to make the best of it! I think with a little TLC it might be pretty dang cute! I will keep y'all updated!

If y'all have ANY advice on how to spruce up a sad little room.. please please let me know!! 

Snazzy New Blog!!

I just wanted to give a big thank you to Erin Blecki for working so hard on my blog design! 

She did an absolutely perfect job of creating something that is unique to me and my style.

If y'all are at all interested in working with someone who is absolutely precious and so personable check out her website

Creating & Teaching

In other news, I've been a little slack the last few weeks. J and I got back from PCB on Sunday afternoon. We had nice 10 days of sand and loads of sun! I am successfully a little more tan now! Finally! Also, I had a chance to meet with one of my team members this week and got to talk about all the things I need to do before my little babies arrive! That definitely put my mind at ease…kinda. Now I'm just searching for all of the supplies I need for my room. I found a great website with pretty good prices.

MPM School Supplies

I am still on the hunt for containers though! I've been watching prices at The Container Store on some different cute tubs/baskets. If y'all know of another place to get containers or bins at a good price, pleaseee let me know!! :)

My project that I'm starting this weekend is my word wall! Because my school is an "HET" school there are some restrictions on classroom decor. So for my classroom I wanted to Burlap, navy and green. Nothing too over the top but still with a little charm! I found this digital paper package on Etsy the other day and I'm obsessed with it!

How precious is that?! I will post my word wall once I finish with it.

Y'all please check out "Great Graphics" on Etsy.
 Great Graphics

 Beth has been absolutely awesome in answering my questions about using digital paper! The prices are fabulous too!! 

Seeing the Silver Lining

I know you've probably heard the statement, "there's always a silver lining..". Well today I've been looking for it!

Today was going to be absolutely perfect! I woke up not too early but early enough to be productive. I took the dogs out and realized the weather was so perfect for a picnic. It was sunny but had a little breeze so we could take the puppies with us and they wouldn't be too hot! After a few errands around town, aka Target, we got ready for our outing.

I packed us fresh fruit, some of J's fav Chicken Wing Dip and sammies from our favorite deli! Josh picked the spot, a park across town that he's played disc golf at a few times. The place was deserted. I think I saw like 2 people the whole time we were there. So we park on this little hill and walk maybe 30yards down to a shady spot and set up our picnic. The dogs were in heaven especially Charlie because I convinced J to let him off his leash.

After our yummie lunch we decide to drive over to the dog park area so the dogs could really run and play. Walking up to my car, I told J to be careful because there was a lot of glass on one side of the car. At this point I'm thinking, "Did he seriously park right here, there is obviously a broken bottle, what was he thinking!" Well friends it was no bottle, it was my window!!

We were literally gone for no longer than 20mins and we come back to my car window smashed all over and of course my missing purse! I immediately burst into tears, feeling so stupid for leaving it in the first place {just for the record I did attempt to hide it under the back seat}. Epic Fail. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before and I was kinda just stunned.

J went into "White Knight" mode, calling the police and getting the pups away from glass danger. He took me home then went and cleaned all the glass out of my car and got all my stuff out. Which was loads of books, puppets, and other stuff my mom had given me for my classroom. He even taped up my poor little window, since I can't get the glass man out until Tuesday.

So where is this "Silver Lining" I speak of?? Well first off I got to see J do work in a less than perfect situation, he passed with flying colors. Secondly, I can finally get that custom monogrammed debit card I've been eyeing. And last but definitely not least, because my sweet sweet boyfriend felt so terrible about choosing the picnic spot, he's getting me a new purse!

Even though today kinda stunk, it's ended up ok. J and I are sitting rooftop, waiting for our yummy chicken wings to cook, and watching the sun set on Columbia.

So remember friends, hide your purse (realll good) and there is always Silver Lining. Today mine was a loving man, a good view and some yummy food!

Healthy Habits

So I decided this summer while I have an easy care-free schedule I am going to get into a steady little workout routine.

 So far so good! My good girlfriend and I have been working out everyday, almost everyday for the last week. I even got new kicks to keep me interested, I have issues with getting bored with the gym. 

So because of my "gym-ADD" we have come up with a good little plan that works for us. I'm not sure if any of y'all have heard about "Tone It Up" videos, but I'm obsessed!

These two absolutely adorable girls do beach workouts that we can easily do in my living room while Bella & Charlie look at us like we're lunatics!

My goal is to keep up this routine all summer so once school starts it will just be a natural part of my day! My goal for my first year of teaching is to have perfect attendance! So I figure I need a healthy body to accomplish that!

Wish me luck!!

Here goes nothing...

With my first year of teaching approaching I decided I would join the fabulous world of teacher blogs. I have spent countless hours on so many of the precious blogs out there and since I'm officially teaching this year I figured, "Why not?"

I'm a girl who loves living in the South, born and raised in a small town outside of Charleston, SC. I love big front porches, the smell of saltwater and anything with a monogram. 

I come from a family of educators, so I suppose I was born with a love of the classroom. I am absolutely over the moon about teaching KINDERGARTEN next year! Yay!

J and I tailgating at a Carolina football game! We love our Gamecocks!

Charlie is our Valley Bulldog (boxer&bulldog mixed) and is cute as a button! 

Bella is the princess of the house! Our little Yorkie-Poo.

I hope this blog will help me stay sane during my first year of teaching! Juggling a boyfriend, two puppies, and about 23-5 year olds should be exciting!

So here goes nothing!!