A Christmas Carol

Grant and I joined his family to go see A Christmas Carol put on by Theatre in the Park of Raleigh It was awesome! Being somewhat "new" to Raleigh (read: not having lived here all my life) I had never seen Ira David Wood III's take on this traditional story. We definitely laughed a lot!

Guitar

Big news!

Grant is teaching me how to play the guitar. Now, I haven't shared this with many friends so I'm telling you all to keep me accountable. Instead of watching one Design Inc on HGTV (shout out to Sarah Richardson...she is amazing) in the evenings, I'm going to challenge myself to learn another chord...or practice the ones that need it! So far, I've attempted A, E, and B. I can play-ish a good old worship song from middle school: Light the Fire! Who remembers it?!




Speaking of music, my dear friend, Caroline, who is equally obsessed with Amy Grant as much as I am, is ENGAGED! Best wishes to a beautiful bride!

Celebration

Much like the day we were married, the summer temperatures soared into the low 100's. Ridiculous! Grant and I made a unanimous decision to stay indoors! We spent a week celebrating with friends and family and enjoyed several concerts together. I dubbed this week Music Mania -- it was awesome!

So I had typed all the details, added the links, videos, pictures...and then it just all disappeared. Oh, technology. Boo!

Here's the breakdown:

Friday - The Craig Thompson Band and Blue Dogs at Lincoln Theatre

Wednesday - Josh Ritter at Cat's Cradle

Thursday - Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith at Koka Booth Amphitheatre

I'm heading back out to school to get everything ready for the beginning of another great year!

Quick shout out to our wonderful family and friends who helped us celebrate with concerts, pampering, and my wonderful husband who treats me a like a queen!

Distraction

Okay -- who all out there has been sucked into the lovely, resourceful land of Pinterest?

I can't stop!

Yikes! Eye Candy!

One year ago...

We walked down the aisle as husband and wife!

Happy anniversary Grant! I love you.

Country Road

Grant and I ventured to West Virginia a few weekends ago with my nana and poppy. We had a GREAT time visiting with family friends at their cabin and enjoying God's gorgeous creation. The pastures, muddy trails, river, cool mornings, and stubborn cows made for a great long weekend. Here are some pictures of our weekend!









We did have to leave Sawyer at the kennel for the first time -- I have to admit, I shed a few tears when I had to say goodbye. Let me tell you...he was a HAPPY and tired puppy when we returned. See for yourself!

Project!

A while back I posted about recovering the chairs in our dining room. Grant helped me pick out a fabric from a local fabric outlet store and we went to town. I ended up having one yard of fabric left over...and that evening I also saw this post by Jenny of the Little Green Notebook for a pelmet tutorial so I started scheming. After Grant got home from work that next evening, we ventured to Michael's and purchased foam core boards. They were on sale so we only spent about $3.00 that evening!

I did take pictures along the way as I worked on the pelmet boxes for each window. Please let me know if you want to see those and know of all the steps involved! I give my husband all the credit for helping me hang those things...light (because I used foam core) but still tricky to adhere.



Please excuse the Droid picture...I was too excited to wait for Grant to snap a clear shot.

The pelmets add more character to our dining room; I'm in love! We had guests here for the weekend and they couldn't believe I made them. Me either!

Summer Reading...

I've got a few titles for you! Since I have more free time now, I have been reading for at least an hour before bed or in the afternoons.

I read Water for Elephants last week and thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction novel. There are parts that are slightly "racy" and I've been more apprehensive about recommending it to others for that reason. The writer makes the 1930s setting quite realistic; sometimes I think that I was born in the wrong era. I LOVE the flashiness of the 20s and 30s! The main character in this story is an elderly man who is full of humor and even flaws, which makes him easy to relate to. I certainly enjoyed the circus train setting and the descriptive plot, as the performers, menagerie, and roustabouts become so vivid!

I'm about half way through reading Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls. I read her older novel The Glass Castle back in 2005. I was very excited to begin this new story about her true life account of her grandmother, Lily Casey. This book has already brought me to tears and it makes me want to travel out west!

What are you reading this summer?

Next on the list is The Paris Wife.

Monday Musings

1. Recovering the dining room chairs tonight! Will post pictures of the before and after, have no fear. I wanted to do something like this:


(image from styleathome.com)

But was vetoed by Grant...and he has always been very supportive in my interior choices so I knew I better compromise. Haha!
We ended up going with a floral piece that has fun colors and is slightly less bold!

2. I've loved having more time free to experiment with recipes and I found two new ones that I tried last week. They were a huge hit with the family!

Pulled Pork



Found this recipe from a college friend:
Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies
They were AH-mazing!

3. Missing my students but I received a letter from one little gal yesterday! It absolutely made my day.

Celebration!

This is my 100th blogpost! When I started this blog, I had a LOT more free time and interest in writing. I would have predicted that I would hit my one hundredth post long before now! Between a new job, husband, new house, and new city, I'm good if I can sift through my Google Reader! Anyway, happy celebration -- two reasons to celebrate: pup's first birthday and my 100th post!

Here is a blogpost written by my students:
Mrs. Linderman got a new puppy in January and his name is Sawyer. He will turn one on April 23rd!

Here are our ideas for how Sawyer should celebrate his first birthday:

From Paxton, age 8 (almost 9!),
For Sawyer's 1st birthday, you should give him a treadmill and tie a bone to the handles so he will chase it and even, maybe, get a tv fro him to watch sports or something. That's how I would celebrate his birthday.

From Sarah Curtis, age 8,
For Sawyer's birthday, I would buy him a birthday hate, a huge bone, and dog cake. Then, put the birthday hat on him and give him a huge iece of dog cake and put the huge bone on top! That is how I would celebrate Sawyer's birthday!

From Anna, age 8,
You should get cookies for Sawyer's b-day but you have to get the type of cookies for dogs, or you can get a medium size bone. But for the party, invite just two dogs so it won't get too crazy!

From Tanner, age 8,
If I could attend Sawyer's first birthday, I would...
First, I would have to think of a theme...maybe Super Sawyer or Sir Sawyer the Great. Then, you woul dhave to buy all of the goodies for Super Sawyer like a cape, a piñata, or a sculpture or a Sawyer mobile! That is what I would do for Sawyer's birthday.

From Mrs. Linderman: We'll be celebrating at the beach; hopefully he'll get into the ocean this time! Maybe he can wear a birthday hat too... :)

Student...like teacher.

One of our friends decided to do a reading group all on his own! And this was during Free Choice Centers... haha!

They love Diary of a Wimpy Kid...

He's such a leader!

My week...

Here's my week in numbers...ready?

10 - Number of times I wanted to have a Diet Coke today (I gave it up for Lent)

9 - Number of times I shouted at the referees during the UNC vs. Duke game. I still say GO Heels! PS -- I watched the games while wearing my NC State sweatshirt. I have a strong disdain for Duke and I'm married to a Tar Heel.

8 - Number of times I've thought about writing a blog post but got distracted by something more pressing :(

7 - Number of chicken wings I consumed during Grant's birthday party. SPICY!

6 - Number of days before Grant's official birthday...no gift purchased...yikes. Ideas anyone?

5 - Number of days before one of my most special friends get hitched to her sweetheart! I love you RLE!

4 - Number of prescription medicine bottles I've got in my purse right now...no fun!

3 - Number of times I've visited Urgent Care this week

2 - Number of times Sawyer has had an accident inside our house

1- Number of kidney stones I've passed. Thank God it was only one.

Technology

We've been busy in second grade this year! One of my obsessions this year is creating lessons that involve using Smart Board technology. Unfortunately, I will not receive a Smart Board until next year (hopefully and prayerfully!). Here is a video of my students when I told them that we would be using the classroom next door for their SMART BOARD! (Apologies for the poor quality!)

Lucy

One of my students, Lucy, told her mother yesterday that she "might need to go to Mrs. Linderman's house so she can practice doing hair so when she gets a baby girl she will know how to fix her hair"...


Hilarious. I love seven year olds. She reminded me yesterday that February 1st is her birthday eve.

Our new obsession!

We've added a member to our family! (No, not a baby...)

Meet Sawyer!



He will be nine months old tomorrow! Sawyer is a yellow labrador mix -- he was rescued at twelve weeks by another family outside of Raleigh. We are so blessed to have found this pup who needed to be rehomed.



So far, he has been very well behaved! He loves his rope toys (which I have banned from our home because of all the strings he leaves behind after a chewing session!), tennis balls, and plastic Kongs filled with peanut butter.



He loves to lick but thankfully doesn't slobber much; he's a king at using his sniffer and always obeys to not follow me upstairs with his shedding yellow/white fur coat. Sawyer's a winner!

Guest room!

We have finally put together our guest room! Grant and I have enjoyed finding thrift store or great deals and making them work for our house. It was GREAT to have a break from school to use days to search for deals and plan out our room and guest bath. I cannot wait for more friends to visit!




Brittany and Andrew stayed with us, as our first overnight guests!