A New favorite book

Recently I finished a book that I've had a while, but never really looked at to read.  It is The Season by Sarah MacLean.

I absolutely LOVED it and want to reread and reread it again and again.  I read it in two days, which should tell you something.  I have decided that Historical Fiction is a new favorite genre, especially when it involves a little romance, and maybe a little suspense too!  This book is set in the 1800's during the time of Napoleon, and happens to have a Jane Austen like romance story in it - Emma to be exact.  It also involves a murder plot.  A true page turner!  It is about three girls who grow up in very wealthy families of the times.  Alexandra (Alex), the main character is the daughter of a Duke, and as such, her mother plans for a very advantageous marriage.  She and her two best friends have recently turned seventeen, which means they will be "coming out".  I never realized what a "Season" was, but it seems like the time when all the new available girls come out to prance around eligible bachelors to try to catch a mate.  There a many balls that Alex and her friends are "forced" to attend.  They are not the typical girls of the time in that they have no interest in marriage.  They have a mind of their own.  They are smart, love to read - Jane Austen's books are actually mentioned by them.  They also love to discuss politics.  These are not admirable traits of the times.  Women are not supposed to have a mind of their own.  So in this story the three girls endure ball after ball and end up chasing a murder plot they happen to overhear.  The romance makes it all the better.  I have been watching Pride and Prejudice since and searching for other comparable books.

I think if it weren't for the whole women not having a mind of their own thing, I could so live in the 1800's in London.

Obnoxious Designer Bags

So there's this yahoo story today all about designer bags, and how all of the sudden it isn't fashionable to "appear superficial".  I'm just amazed that this is a "new" trend to dull down the GIANT logos on designer bags like the obnoxious C's on Coach bags, and the LVs on the Louis Vuitton bags.  I've always been a absolutely disgusted by these bags.  Eric always wants to buy me one just to get me something nice, and I threaten him that if he does, I will take it straight back.  I like a bag that is fashionable yet doesn't try to make a statement like "I've got money, that's why I have this bag".  In all honestly I would rather not have a designer bag to remove all doubt.  A bag should serve a purpose.  Not make a statement.

In reality I've noticed that people who actually have the money and the class chose a less obnoxious bag.  A lot of women I've seen carrying bag with giant logos just want people to think they have money.    Hopefully this article will do away with all of the obnoxious superficiality of large logo bags:

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/are-designer-logos-shrinking-2177080/

I Collect Coffee Mugs

It's been a while since my last post - partly because I've been busy and kinda forgot I had a blog, and partly because whenever I remembered I needed to update, nothing came to mind...until today.  Nothing exciting or inspiring, just a little reminiscing on my part.  I was making my coffee  this morning, and my new post idea came to me as I was contemplating over which mug to use today.

I realized that most people probably just reach in the cabinet and pull out any mug without think about it.  They probably have about 8 of the exact same coffee mugs that they probably registered for and that match their dishes.  I, on the other hand chose not to register for matching mugs.  I collect mugs...not just mugs I see in a store.  My mugs all have a story to go with them.  I like the thought of having visitors over and serving them coffee in my special mugs.  Then I can tell them the story that goes with the mug they are enjoying their coffe out of.  Having a story to go with the mug makes the enjoyment of drinking coffee so much richer.

So today, I decided to pull out my beloved mugs and share them with you.

This mug is my most recent purchase.  At the end of May we took our Fourth Graders on a field trip to Austin, TX.  We toured the History museum, watched The Spirit of Texas Movie, ate lunch on the capitol grounds, and then Toured the capitol.  I couldn't resist picking up a Mug in the capitol gift shop to remember the trip by!  Isn't it cute??  Incidently, this is the mug I chose to drink my coffee out of this morning.:)

Speaking of my Fourth graders, this special group of mugs are all gifts from them!  I can even tell you which child gave me which one and when (I write it in Sharpie underneath).  The tall one with hearts was a Valentines gift.  The one with my name on it was an end of the year gift last year.  The pink one - Valentines last year.  The two identical Starbucks mugs are from two different students for Teacher Appreciation this year, and the Black Starbucks was a Christmas gift.  That one, one of the other Starbucks mugs, the Pink one, and the one with my name are all from the same girl. They all know I love coffee and collect coffee mugs.  These are very special to me. :)

Sometimes Eric brings me back a mug  whenever he goes somewhere on business or whatever.  This one he brought back for me when he went to Chicago for work.  It is HUGE, and I haven't used it for coffee - he has, but it is also great for soup! I love this one too. :)

This Starbucks mug was also a gift from Eric when he had to go to Seattle for work...lucky guy got to go to the Pike Place Market - the first Starbucks.  But he brought me something back to make me feel like I'd been there too! :)

  When Eric was interning for Ernst &Young when we were just dating, he got to go to Disney World at the end of the internship.  I've NEVER been to Disney World, so I was very jealous.  Sweet guy brought me back a mug.  Definitely one of my favorites.  This one I give to my most special guests who come visit.                                                                              

My first time to visit Eric's family in Houston when we were dating, Eric took me to Kemah.  We walked around the boardwalk, ate dinner at Landry's and I had to stop in a little shop to get a souvenir, which is now my FAVORITE mug of all.  Sweet memories. :)

When Eric and I got engaged, we registered in several places including the Hallmark store in Searcy.  When you register there, they make you feel so special.  You get you own little table with your engagement picture and wedding date, and some of the items you registered for so that people can see it when they walk in.  Another thing they did was give us this precious red heart shaped mugs just for registering with them!  I had to put a little coffee in them so you could see the shape!  So cute!

Because I love coffee so much, part of our favors at  our wedding were these black mugs with our names on them that guests could fill with candy - from our candy bar, and take with them to remember out big day!  This is also a VERY SPECIAL mug to me.

On our one year anniversary, Eric and I went to San Antonio, and stayed in a hotel on the River-walk.  It was so nice to get away and celebrate our anniversary together.  We hung out on the River walk and had drinks, and we also went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum.  Later we walked over to the Alamo and toured that as well, and of course, I couldn't resist stopping by the gift shop to pick up a mug to remember the trip by.  There were several different mugs to choose from, but I liked the antique look of this one.  Second favorite mug. :)

Ok, now a few from my college days.  When I was a Junior, we had a Retreat - a coffee house retreat actually, headed up by my best friend Bonnie - fellow coffee enthusiast.  There were several different varieties of coffee there, and colorful mugs to drink out of and keep.  This is a unique mug that I took from that retreat.  Super cute.

These mugs I bought as a High School Senior actually.  I have four of them.  Two red, two white.  I used them in my dorm room all throughout college.  I actually thought I was going to one day decorate my kitchen in Cherries and go back to Kohl's and get the rest of the dishes that match these!  Haha, well things change, but I still love these mugs.  They were my firsts! ;)

My sweet sister gave me a gift when I was in college.  My favorite movie is You've Got Mail.  In that movie, there are 3 of my favorites: Books, Coffee, and Fall!  Hannah combined those into a gift for me!  Sweet sister.  I got a children's book about October by Eve Bunting - great author, and super cute book.  She also gave me this cute Fall mug, which is my favorite every fall!  Super special mug.

When my sweet friend Bonnie went to HUG (Harding University in Greece), she was greatly missed, but met her sweet husband there, so it was definitely worth it!! She, knowing my love for coffee, brought me back this GORGEOUS mug from Greece!  Well and an adorable Egyptian Ring! :)  I love this mug because it's different, from a foreign country, and was a gift from a very dear friend!

When Bonnie got Married in Destin, FL, Eric and I went to Fudpuckers while there.  I picked up this mug there to remember it, but it kinds ruined in the dishwasher.  The paint kinda rubbed off, and I don't use it just for fear it will ruin more.  It's just a sweet memory. :)

I love my coffee mugs, and I know one day I will have to have one whole cabinet just to keep them all!  I am sure Eric would love that!  So, if your ever visiting a special place, and feel like bringing me back a souvenir, walk away from the T-Shirts and keychains and towards the commemorative mugs.  And if you ever come visit and sit down for coffee with me, be prepared for a story on your mug and you enjoy your coffee! :)

Christmas Gifts

This was a great Christmas. I am so blessed. Christmas started out at Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's. I got my WONDERFUL coffee maker, and now I drink coffee at home everyday. It's so yummy! It's the Cuisinart grind and brew. Very loud, but fresh ground coffee is definitely the best.

Today was the first day back to school, college shirt day, so I got to wear my awesome new Harding sweatshirt from Megan and Joel!! I LOVE it!

My gift from Eric was really Brinkley, but I also got to order a pair of Reebok Easytones! They won't come in for several weeks, and I can't wait! I customized them to my school shirt colors.

Other gifts included:

New Moon Soundtrack, which is amazing.

Jillian Michaels Wii game

Lots of clothes and Jewelry. My favorite is my clock necklace from urban outfitters. Super cute.

Probably my favorite gift was The Night Before Christmas recordable book from my mom. She recorded herself reading it, which is priceless, especially for when I was missing my family on Christmas. It's such a neat gift. Next Christmas will be with my family. first time since we got married. Can't wait.

Two New Favorites

Eric and I had been wanting to try out this new restaurant in the Pearland towncenter for the longest time, and recently, since we've been on vacation, we ventured out on a date to Mongo - The Mongolian Fire Pit. If you have not had a chance to try it, you must. It's one of those places where you fill your bowl with all the vegetables, meats, and spices that you want, and the cooks cook it for you and bring it out. I wasn't sure what to put in mine to make it good, but I guess I did a good job, because it was TO DIE FOR!! MMMM. So yummy!

Afterwards, we walked down to the new Yogurt place at Pearland towncenter - Swirl. I have gotten to where I LOVE frozen yogurt, and Swirl is awesome. You get to fill your own cup up with whatever flavor(s) you want and add all the toppings you want, because they charge you by the ounce. This is just perfect since I never finish what they give me, and I always want more toppings! It was so yummy and the perfect end to a holiday date with my sweet Eric - who only went there because he knew how much I love yogurt! If you are ever at Pearland towncenter around lunch or dinner, check out Mongo, and go ahead and top it of with Swirl. You won't regret it!

Gingerbread Tradition

Why have I not blogged on my break about the holidays? There are so many things, I've decided to blog them separately.

This has been a relaxing Christmas break! Much needed. It started off with a little scare though. Eric and I were enjoying a relaxing day with Brinkley. I was loving taking him outside and letting him play around for as long as he wanted. This was also the day that the Ramirez/Kirksey girls build Gingerbread houses and watch Elf. I was just about to get ready for that, when I noticed Brinkley running around the apartment like crazy and rubbing his face on the carpet. I picked him up, and immediately noticed that his entire face was red and swollen. His eyes were almost swollen shut. I was so scared, I started pacing back and forth with him while Eric searched online for the closest Pet Emergency hospital. Somehow amidst the chaos, I remembered the Children's Benadryl and syringe that the Vet had given us a while back. We squirted that down his throat and Eric called the Vet. Apparently we did the right thing, and they told us to bring him in only if the swelling didn't go down.

It seemed like forever to me, but eventually it did. I was so worried the entire night though, and almost took him with me to Megan's for Gingerbread houses. I got the first taste of what it would feel like to be a mom - and I didn't like it.

Gingerbread house construction easily took my mind off of Brinkley. I love that this family has such a cool tradition between the girls! It was a blast, and our houses turned out much better than last year! I actually took mine home and left it up throughout the holidays! Here are a few pictures of the fun event!

Brinkley

“Joe Fox: Brinkley is my dog. He loves the streets of New York as much as I do. Although he likes to eat bits of pizza and bagels off the sidewalk and I prefer to buy them.”

I am disappointed in myself that I have not blogged at all about my sweet baby Brinkley. He has been such a great companion especially since Eric's been gone a lot lately. Brinkley is a White Mali-Poo, and is the sweetest, smartest puppy I've been around. In the beginning, Eric and I were a little frustrated not knowing how to train a puppy. We went out and bought training books, we researched everything he was doing online, and we really didn't have to wait long at all before our "training" kicked in. I read online that poodles are supposedly very smart, and well behaved. Brinkley must have gotten a lot of the poodle gene in him. At about 10 weeks Brinkley had learned to sit. Maybe a week later, he learned "stay". He was walking to the door to use the bathroom probably after being with us 3 weeks. Now he rarely goes inside, and he just recently started sleeping in the bed with me.

Eric was in Colorado the last 2 weeks, so I was so thankful to have my sweet buddy Brinkley - we often call him "Buddy"  now too, so I guess he has 2 names - Buddy when we're loving on him, and Brinkley when we're being serious. He answers to both. He's that cool. I let him sleep in the bed with me, and he did so well. He's so sweet. He would nuzzle up under my chin and cuddle with me.

When Eric came home he was so excited - he didn't know what to do! Eric left this morning to go take a test, and Brinkley was sleeping on the couch with me. The minute he heard Eric's keys, he jumped up and started going crazy - so crazy that he jumped off the couch - for the first time ever. We were shocked. Guess he was afraid Eric was gonna go and leave him again! :)

We went shopping later on today, and tried one more thing with him - leaving him alone in the apartment - not locked up in the bathroom. We came back 3 hours later and he was still just laying by the door - pretty sure he never moved. SUCH A GOOD PUPPY!! WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH. He's our baby. People make fun of us for letting him sleep with us, but he's our baby. How could we not?

Good News Week

This week went by so fast. It was a pretty busy week. Monday my principal had someone come in to observe me for her doctoral hours, Tuesday was my PDAS observation , Wednesday was crazy, Thursday another lady came to observe, and we had a faculty meeting after, and FINALLY IT'S FRIDAY! !

My PDAS observation went so incredibly well!! I planned a lesson on Monitoring Comprehension - Inferring the meaning of unknown words. I modeled with an article, and then had them read a separate article and practice. While they were doing independent reading, my principal came up to me with her jaw dropped and said "Ok, you are doing our next in service on Reading. Wow! You get so much done in so little time! Your transitions are perfect, and your kids are so engaged! I need to video your room." Last year my PDAS didn't go quite so well, so this was such a good feeling!! She came in on Thursday and gave me her new Flip Video to video my organization in my room. I felt really weird doing it, so I stayed late until everyone was gone! It was a good week, but I am ready for the weekend!

Eric and I have been on a saving money kick this week. We really wanted to be able to buy a house by the end of the year. I was telling some of the teachers about it in the teacher's lounge, and one of them mentioned Dave Ramsey. I'd never heard of him before, but she was going on and on about how several people she knows have gotten completely out of debt using his system. Another teacher walked in and heard us talking and couldn't resist but to sit down and tell me how much Dave Ramsey changed her life and how his book is her financial bible. She's the sweetest little old lady - like a grandma. After we talked for a while, I was conviced I needed to check it out. I told her I was so thankful she came in when she did, and she said - "It was God!" She said she would check in with me and see how I was doing from time to time. So sweet! When I got back to my room I already had an e-mail from her with all sorts of info.

So a teacher on my team let me borrow the book, and Eric and I have already set up a Snowball budget from his system to pay off our debt. It was embarrassing how much debt we have - mainly from Student Loans. We won't be able to get in a house by the end of the year, but we figured out if we stick to it, we'll have our debt paid off sooner than we thought!! I am so thankful I heard about Dave Ramsey ! We'll see how well we stick to it. So far so good.

And now a whole weekend to give Brinkley all the attention he deserves!! He's my baby!! :)

Fourth Fun

This past weekend was full of fun. We started off the weekend at Cristen's family's house in The Woodlands. The big surprise of the night was that MEGAN GOT ENGAGED! Yay! Kevin is a great guy and we are excited for the two of them.

We ate some good hamburgers and hotdogs, and then we were off to the Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands for the Fourth of July Concert there (that actually took place on the third). It was awesome. I've never been out there, but it's a really neat place. We all got little lawn chairs (provided by the Pavilion) and sat on the hill. The Houston Symphony Orchestra played a lot of patriotic songs, but the REAL show was "The Cactus Cuties". This is a group of 4 little girls ages 8-14, and they have AMAZING harmony, and really strong voices for their ages. They were so good. I had heard them before at the Rockets game, where they sang the National Anthem, so I was pumped when I heard they were singing at the Pavilion. They reminded me of Me and my cousins when we were younger and used to just sit around singing in harmony.

The grand finale of the show was a song - that I don't know the name of - that included the shooting off of cannons at the top of the hill. It was awesome. I love America.

The next day, July 4th, Eric and I got up and headed to Dallas in the morning to see my family, and of course sweet baby Turner, my handsome 5 month old nephew whom I ABSOLUTELY ADORE (name that movie Hannah!)!!

I fell in love with him again. He has the sweetest smile that makes you melt, and you can't help but smile when he's around! Most babies, it takes a lot to get them to smile - tickling, wiggling funny toys in front of their face, etc. Turner - all you gotta do is smile at him. He already has such a sweet personality. He's really strong too - and really likes to stand up and see the world. Laying down is just no fun. Grab his hands, and he'll stand up on his feet. He's so close to rolling over, and I am willing to bet he will withing the next week. My favorite part of being with Turner? READING! I was so excited to find out that he LOVES it! At one point, he was gettin a little fussy, and I put a book in front of him, and he was instantly quiet - took it away, immediately fussy. It was cute. I read a few of the books to him that I bought him when he was born, and it was so much fun! His little noises he would make were so sweet, and he was so smiley. He also knows how to hold a book, and LOVES to hold it, and in fact I had to hold the book pretty far out so he couldn't grab it - he's so strong, I'd have to pry it out of his hands!

He's so sweet, and he's gonna be such a smart boy!

At Ms. Jackye's for the 4th of July - Look at Turner's sweet smile!

Turner and Eric;

Turner and Mom - I love this picture

It was a fun weekend, and I can't wait to see him again! --- Oh, and my family. :)

Now That it's Summer

It's officially Summertime for me! Here we are on July 1st, the final day of summer school! Driving home today, I was in such a good mood thinking of all the possibilities that summer holds - what'll I do first??

Summer ignites my senses. The smells of summer bring a smile to my face.

Now that it’s Summer

I’ll be Sleepin in,

waking up to the sound of Lawn Mowers.

Stroll out of the bedroom to watch “I Love Lucy” in the mornings

With a cup of coffee of course.

Getting dressed for an early morning run,

all the while dodging the sprinklers along the way.

Summer afternoons are spent being lazy,

Lounging out by the pool with a good book,

(mmm, the smell of sunscreen!)

All while getting a nice tan,

Or off to a Baseball game,

Tank top, flip flops, and sunglasses.

I’ll get to spend all day planning out the evening meal,

And scratch those plans at the last minute,

The smell of others grilling is too tempting!

So fire up the grill, Hamburgers and Hot Dogs,

Fresh tomatoes on top please!

Chill the watermelon for later,

Or maybe fresh strawberries and crème!

Wash it all down with a cold glass of Lemonade

And relax and enjoy the still warm evenings,

Fireflies wink goodnight, we’ll start again tomorrow!