What's Up Wednesday: May 2017!

It's the end of May?!
What? What?
I can't believe May has come and gone, but this girl isn't complaining.
School is officially out, and I'm enjoying the joys of summer!
Today I'm rounding out the month with What's Up Wednesday.




At the end of each month Mel, Shay and Sheaffer share 

What's Up Wednesday!!!
We answer a series of questions and one extra one special to that month.
This month we're answering...
What's your favorite vacation spot?

What we're eating this week:

Perhaps some tacos or taco salads.

Leftover pulled pork and chicken on the grill. 

Fresh berries

and Mix and Match Mama's banana pudding.

What I'm reminiscing about:

The end of the school year!
I hate the beginning and end of everything, but I have think back to years past and how quickly time is flying.
This concludes my 5th year of teaching!
FIVE years!
Wow! I sometimes still feel like I started yesterday!

I would be amiss to forget reminiscing getting married!

Just a couple weeks until our 1 year anniversary.
I'm so excited to return to our destination wedding venue!

What I'm loving:

The end of the school year?!
Summer sunshine, planting flowers, working in the garden, lounging by the pool, reading books. going on vacations, sleeping in...
I think the list could go on and on!

What we've been up to:

I've been deep cleaning our porches and car port.
A couple nights ago I started planting flowers, and we are on a two week wedding run!

What I'm dreading:

At this moment I can't say I'm dreading much!

What I'm working on:

Last week I was in the process of tearing down and rearranging my classroom.

It's been a disaster zone.
Not only was I tearing everything down, but I was working on a new and easier setup for my room.

I'm also consistently praying about a part time job that I can do along with teaching.
I'm great at teaching and preaching to my students about taking risks and following their dreams, but sometimes I have a hard time listening to my own advice.
I've been doing a lot of research and hope to make a decision soon!

What I'm excited about:

Summer!
I feel like I've repeated it too much already!

What I'm watching/reading:

I'm watching absolutely nothing right now, but I just finished the first two books of the Divergent series, and I've got a stack of books to start reading come next week!

Yesterday I was at the pool reading this

via

What I'm listening to:

The chirping of birds outside.
So long to the giggles of teenagers excited that summer break is just days away!

What I'm wearing:

One day it's in the 30's in the morning...

And others it's near 70...

I've been wearing lots of cardigans!

Love these new cute earrings!

 Hooray for the last week of school!

I just realized that my watch is starting to lose time. 

Going to need to make a stop at the jewelers for a new battery soon.

What I'm doing this weekend:

Well last weekend one of my best friend's from grade school got married.
We went back to the winery for wedding #2 at this venue!

This weekend we are packing and prepping for our vacation.

What I'm looking forward to next month:

As I've already said a return to our wedding venue and another cruise!
Let's not forget the start of summer and sweet glorious pool days!

What else is new:

Have I mentioned SUMMER?!

What is your favorite vacations spot:

My favorite spot reminds me of being a kid.

I can't say that I love the water as much at this place as I do other places, but I would have to choose Myrtle Beach. 

I feel like 75% of Ohioans go to Myrtle Beach.

You pull into a parking lot and see nearly all Ohio license plates.

I vividly remember our trips to the beach as a kid. 

I love those memories and enjoy going back from time to time because I get a whole new sense of Deja vu. 

Now, I've only been to Siesta Key one time, but man did I love how clear the water was. 

I'd love to go back because the beaches weren't crowded, and I could see through the water. 

Any beach spot is a fun spot for me!

Enjoy your last Wednesday of May!!
Today I'm venturing to the eye doctors and running some errands.

Pots/Planters

Okay ladies, today I'm in need of your suggestions. 

I'm on the search for some new pots and planters. 

Last year we just moved into our house together, and there were plenty of things to do, so I used the same clay pots that my grandma used on her front porch when she lived here. 

I'd like to get something a little more modern and in a different color. 

Pots and planters can be super expensive.

I don't want to spend a fortune on new pots, but I want them to look nice. 

Here are a few that I've found recently that I like.

Kobo Plastic Pot Planter

Valencia Composite Pot Planter

Round Zinc Pot

I think I would like them to be black or off black. 

I plan to purchase two of them for each side of our step up to our front porch.

I was thinking of something a little bit taller, so that I can plant plants that overflow out of them.

I've been looking at Wayfair, Target and Lowe's. 

Where do you shop for your pots?

Let me know your thoughts on the three pots above. 

It's so hard to make a decision when I haven't seen the pots in person. 

I'll keep my eye out for some more throughout the week. 

I hope by Friday that I've either ordered new ones or found some at the store. 

Friday Favorites: Gel Polish, Advancement Courses, Baby Coyote!

Happy Almost Summer!
It's my last day!!
Yesterday was the students' last day and today we teachers get to pack up and prepare for a big summer's nap!

As always, I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea. 

We're sharing our favorites from the week.

Grab their graphic and linkup with your favorites from the week, too.

Gel Polish

On Monday I shared all about Gel Polish. 

I enjoy going to get my nails done, but I love to do them myself. 

CND Shellac is my favorite brand. 

I recently ordered some new colors online. 

They arrived yesterday! 

It's hard to choose nail colors online, but I was very pleased with my choices.
Some of them even had shimmer, and I hadn't expected that!
Shimmer makes everything better!

To read all about doing your own gel manicures, click here. 

Linkups

On Tuesday I liked up with Andrea from Momfessionals for a little Show and Tell!

We shared our best and worst vacations.

The countdown is on until we return to our BEST vacation spot. 

Marathon, Florida is a beautiful, relaxed spot in the Keys!

To read all about our first trip there and some highlights of our trip, click here.

Advancement Courses

I'm in the process of taking some online professional development courses.

We get little pamphlets from Advancement Courses from time to time. 

Luckily in the early winter one of my co-workers made the comment that some of the classes looked interesting. 

I pulled the pamphlet out of the recycling bin and found two that I wanted to take. 

Recently I just finished the poverty course. 

I'm currently still working on a class about reaching gifted students. 

If you're a teacher and looking for relatively easy and cheap graduate classes, go to Advancement Courses. 

Right now they are having a 15% off sale until June 2.

These courses are the cheapest that I've found. 

I plan to add one more to my to-do list over the summer. 

Here are the list of courses I have marked that I'd like to complete at some time:

1. Building Meaningful Partnerships: Connecting Schools, Families and Communities
2. Essential Teaching Practices for the 21st Century Teacher
3. Achieving a Work-Life Balance in Teaching
4. The Teenage Brain: How it Works
5. Integrating Common Core Literacy Across Subjects
6. Read Out! Building Students' Literacy and Love of Reading Through Read Alouds
7. Writing Well or Good Writing? An Educator's Guide to Teaching Grammar
8. Sustained Silent Reading

What are your top three choices?

I teach 8th grade language arts, so I'm trying to pick classes that relate somewhat to that. 

Weddings

Last weekend we celebrated a friend's wedding at a local winery. 

Look how cute their favor was...

A wine glass with an airplane. 

The husband is a pilot in his spare time, and they love to take trips flying here and there.

How cute is their little tie on...

Baby Coyote

This is NOT one of my favorites from the week, but I had to mention it. 

On Monday I got a text from my husband saying he found a dog. 

With a quick glance at the picture I could tell it was NOT a dog.
 I confirmed it with my coworker to make sure I wasn't going crazy!

Lying alongside the road this little guy was found. 

Of course my husband would put him in the back of his work truck and bring him home. 

Thankfully he quickly found someone to take the coyote pup and nurse him back to health. 

Summer vacation has started!!
It's hard to believe that another year has passed.
Year number 5 is under my belt, and wow does it make me feel old!
I hope you enjoy this long weekend, and maybe it's even the start of summer for you too!
Have a great day!!!

Show and Tell: Travelogues

It's another Tuesday and another Show and Tell!

Today we're talking about our best and worst trips. 

I love traveling, so any place I get to go, I typically really enjoy. 

With that being said, today I'm sharing one of my favorite trips. 

Our Wedding in Marathon, Florida

I had never been to Marathon before our wedding. 

I actually hadn't even heard of it. 

Alex and I decided we wanted to have a beach wedding. 

I really envisioned a wedding beside blue water, so I got to researching where had blue water and stumbled upon Marathon. 

It was a simple computerized sketch online that drew me in. 

It was actually the very FIRST venue that I saw online. 

The venue was scheduled to open by January 2016, so the grounds weren't even finished for me to see exactly what it would look like.

We decided to live on the edge and book our venue. 

After researching A LOT online we found everything that we wanted. 

My mom, aunt and I fly out on a Wednesday morning. 

At the same time my dad and uncle left by car. 

They would drive my wedding dress over 1,000 miles to Marathon in ONE day!

We raced to the Hyatt Place. 

We loved the Courtyard (our wedding venue) and everyone was so courteous to us leading up to the big day, but there was a bit of a price gap, and since they were literally right next door we decided to stay at the Hyatt Place for the weekend. 

This place included spacious rooms, a continental breakfast and two pools. 

On top of that it had a restaurant, bar, pier and lighthouse out back. 

This was Pool #1 right outside of the hotel. 

This is where we hosted our after-rehearsal poolside get together. 

We ordered pizza, had drinks and passed out our welcome bags here. 

This is pool #2. 

The picture is looking out from the bar onto the pool and towards the lighthouse. 

It even had an outdoor chessboard. 

Alex arrived with friends on Thursday night. 

Well, by the time they got to the hotel it was more like 1 or 2 or 3 a.m.

We were outside playing chess, and it was HOT!

Like nearly 90 degrees when we should have been sleeping but instead were sweating to death outside. 

If you visit Marathon there are a couple of places that we really loved. 

One place was the Sunset Grille and Raw Bar. 

You can sit inside or outside. 

It's right on the ocean and even has a pool. 

The atmosphere is light and fun. 

You can ride in on your boat or by car and you get to see the 7 mile bridge while eating. 

Another place that Alex and the crew loved was the public beach-Sombrero Beach. 

There are so many beaches, but they had a great time swimming and playing football while I twiddled my thumbs so as to not get a sunburn and ruin our pictures!

The venue- Courtyard Marriott Marathon was amazing to us!

We were the first couple to get married, and they worked themselves to death. 

This is a look at the hotel from the front. 

This is the pool area. 

This is where we got married!

I hadn't ever been to the Keys before, so if you have the chance to go, I would. 

While I loved our wedding, I can't say I loved Key West itself. 

I'm not much of a drinker; I'd rather lounge by the beach or pool.

So, the time I had the least fun was while we were in Key West itself.

I will say they do have the biggest and best Key Lime Pie. 

Try some while you're there!

 But I love adventures and enjoying new cities, so the whole trip was a blast!

Traveling has been on my agenda for a year and a half.
My plan after obtaining my master's was to travel travel!
Now it's a bit hard since I'm a teacher, but I make the most of my summers.
So excited to read everyone's favorite trips and get some ideas for years to come!