How to Stay Motivated to Work Out

I. am. guilty.  :(  I confess, I'd rather do anything else but workout.  I've started a small workout group with some friends to keep the motivation up.  We try to workout together a few days a week.  The days that we can't meet up to do our T-25 workout, we text one another in order to have some accountability.  I will be completely honest with you: I skipped my workout on Monday and Tuesday last week.  I had both days off, and I guess I was really giving myself the days off. The problem is, I felt like this week was a wash.  Since I didn't give it my "all," I don't think I got the full benefit out of the workout for the rest of the week.

I got thinking...I need to collect ideas and tips in order to stay motivated.  This post is dedicated to staying fit and active because I want to...not just because it's the right thing to do.  I hope this post helps you, too!

If all else fails....

...because if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is!! Thank you, Ryan Gossling! :) 

High Five for Friday

Time has been flying!  I'm sure I keep saying that, but I can't believe that we're already looking at March!  This week was a great one.  Dawn and I are participating in the "High Five for Friday," inspired by theLauren Elizabeth blog. Here are my top moments from the past 7 days!

1. I had Monday and Tuesday off for President's weekend.  Thankfully, when it snowed on Monday night, I had off on Tuesday so we didn't lose another snow day!

2. My boyfriend and I went out for his birthday dinner with a bunch of friends on Saturday night.  It was so nice to get out and laugh and enjoy time with new friends.  It definitely helps when your significant other has an awesome group of friends. xo

3. I met my boyfriend's family for the first time tonight.  Talk about being blessed.  He has one incredible family.  (I should have known...he's pretty amazing.  The people who raised him should be amazing, too!)  I even met his two nephews who I ended up falling in love with.  They are two respectful boys. How could you turn down a game of hide and seek to a three year old who calls you Miss Amanda?

4. I ate lunch with six girls from my class today for a reward that they earned.  I forgot how nice it is to actually sit with the kids outside of instructional time and have a chat with them.  These girls were so much fun, and they even lucked out with having a homemade brownie after they were finished with lunch!

5. I found a bunch of frames at the Christmas Tree Shop this week to go along with my Origami Owl party set-up this weekend.  I'm hosting my first party on Saturday night at my place, and I'm so excited to begin this new adventure!

High Five for Friday: Hey Dad, You're Awesome!

Amanda and I particpate in the link party, High Five for Fridays, from Lauren Elizabeth's blog. Head on over to Lauren Elizabeth for more "High Five for Fridays." We're taking part in this fun reflection each week and hopefully you will too!


1. Having a week off from school for winter break and getting a lot accomplished around here. Even though I'm leaving a few items on my to-do list, I feel happy about what did get checked off...a lot of organization stuff, and old projects and new projects that were finally completed.

2. Finally getting back to a good book. I preach to my students about reading every day and I often feel guilty when I do this because I don't always keep up my own with reading. Practice what you preach, girl! This week, I made sure to get back to the books. I purchased James Patterson's First Love. It was so good. I highly recommend it. It shared similarities with The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Another amazing read.

3. Beautiful weather on Thursday. I was finally able to leave the house in a long sleeve shirt without a big winter coat on. It felt so good! The sun was shining and it was warm and gorgeous outside! It was the complete opposite to the awful weather we've experienced over the past few weeks. The snow and ice still covered the ground- a reminder that winter is still here, but I felt optimistic knowing that spring is right around the corner. I heard that this weekend is supposed to be beautiful, too.

4. Fun hairstyles... my first sock bun! I've been inspired by other bloggers to have fun with my hair. It's at a great length to try different styles. It's also naturally thick, curly, and wavy, which makes it easier to have these styles stay and not fall apart easily. The sock bun was a lot of fun - who knew socks could be so much fun when styling your hair!?

5. Receiving special cards in the mail. I finally checked my mail yesterday. I'm so bad at this. I live in an apartment community and our mailboxes are not attached to our building. My mom called the other day and asked if I received my dad's valentine card. My heart sank. I felt so bad. Of course I didn't receive it because I never check my mail. Epic fail. Just like Amanda, my dad always had a special valentine card and gift waiting for my sister and I each year. Of course, this year would be no different. He wrote such a sweet message inside. I know I'll always be his little girl. I love you, dad!

MUST HAVE APP: GrooveBook!!

Amanda and I are taking part in another link party tonight... THE Pin It Party Pinterest Linkup. We found this link party through the Creative Geekery blog and are excited to take part in this each Thursday. 

A huge chunk of my time this week has been spent organizing photos from this whole past year. I have photos on different cameras, phones, computers, and in emails that friends and family sent me. I know that you're probably in shock... Dawn, the photo extraordinaire, doesn't have her #$!@ together. Sigh.

I spoke with my sister today and she said that she's been trying to do the same. We were both explaining how time consuming it can be and decided that we need to start fresh with a new system for doing this. We also said how sad it is that most pictures never get printed anymore, and they're stored on computers, or other devices for too long. (Amanda mentioned this in one of her posts, too!)

My first solution to printing more photos and keeping up-to-date with organizing is: GrooveBook. GrooveBook is an app that prints up to 100 of your phone photos and creates a 4.5 x 6.5 photo book and mails it to you monthly. GENIUS IDEA!

So many of my honeymoon photos were taken on my iPhone. Who really digs out their digital camera anymore? In just a few clicks, I can have all of those photos printed and loaded into a little book for me. Each photo is perforated for easy removal... they're the perfect size for your refrigerator and for switching out your picture frames. You can choose up to 100 photos to include in the photo book. The other awesome feature? You can choose how many of each photo you want to include in the book. Do you like one photo the most and want to give it to your friends and family? Choose to have that one printed/included in the book more than once!

I would imagine that this is the best feature for new mom's... snapping away on your iPhone, catching the latest milestone on-the-go... and now you can upload them, print the book, and have it sent to you for just $2.99. No more fiddling with the computer, uploading them to another site for printing, GrooveBook answers all those prayers. If it sounds like I'm selling this app, I am! I think it's absolutely amazing!

GrooveBook is a subscription service- they bill you monthly ($2.99) for your photo book. That fee also includes shipping! See the photo below for what your monthly fee includes. Having money come out of your account each  month might sound annoying, but it seems like they'll easily cancel the service if it's not working for you. Check out the frequently asked questions here. I love that it's a quick reminder to upload the photos that you took that month and get them printed! Display them around the house, put them in a photo or memory box, give them to family/friends... get your photos out there!

I'm interested to hear if you use GrooveBook. How's it going for you? I can't wait to start using this app!

Building A Classroom Library

This post is a combination of a throwback Thursday and my best advice to grow a classroom library! The photos I've included in this post are from my very first classroom.  I began my classroom teaching career as a second grade teacher, and I was fortunate to have a beautiful classroom and an amazing group of students!  For this post, I am going to focus on how to build a classroom library.  

Look at how fresh and clean that carpet is!!!

When I started teaching, I attended the Scholastic Warehouse Fairs.  If you live close to one of their warehouses, you have to check it out.  They have tons of books on sale in their warehouse.  It's like going to one giant book fair!  You get a shopping cart, and walk through, tossing books into your cart.  Beware: You can, and will, spend hundreds of dollars on your first trip there!

I also used E-Bay to find books.  If you search "children's book lot" in the search area of the website, you'll find books sold in groupings for reasonable prices.  

Another way to find books is to scope out library book sales.  You can get boxes of books for super cheap. They're second hand, but who cares?  Your students will love them just the same as your brand new books.  Another suggestion is to let your class parents know that you're collecting books.  When they go through their libraries at home, they'll donate old books to you!

Finally, Scholastic Bonus Points from the Scholastic Reading Club.  This is the greatest idea for classroom teachers.  Whenever your students order from the Scholastic Reading Club each month, you earn points.  Let your points accumulate, and once you have a good amount, order new books for your classroom each month.  When the book box arrives in my classroom my students cheer.  There's only one problem: We're running out of room on our shelves!  

Today, Dawn and I are joining in on the Link Party: Creative Geekery Pin It Party

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Did you ever really listen to what the children around you are saying?  If you have been too busy to heat what they have to say, maybe you should slow down a little bit.  I don't have any children of my own, but I work with 25 third graders every day.  One thing I can tell you, if you need an honest answer, just ask a third grader.  They haven't quite learned what a "filter" is, and they don't usually learn until it's too late that maybe they should have used a better choice of words.

Regardless, their innocence is something that is lost as they gain more time on this Earth.  Children begin to learn what is socially acceptable, and life has a way of diminishing the innocence. I have been loving Soul Pancake's latest series: Little Kids, Big Questions.  Today I'm posting their video about beauty.  Kids will honestly tell you what they think is beautiful/attractive, and how someone is beautiful.  I find joy in watching these kids giggle and laugh as they discuss topics that matter to all of us.  I hope you enjoy their video tonight.  I hope it brings a smile to your face.

 

DIY Chair Restoration

Don't throw it away! Learn the secrets to making old stuff look new again!

From Estate Sale to Gorgeous...

I purchased an old desk chair at an estate sale this past weekend for ten dollars. I was on the search for something inexpensive that I could restore and re-purpose. A good 'ol DIY project was calling my name!

The chair was in great condition and really only needed a coat of paint to give it a snappy new look! I sanded it down as best as I could, washed it clean with a damp cloth, and began painting. I chose white paint to go along with the theme of my new desk area. I applied a few coats, which dried rather quickly.

   

I'm thinking about reupholstering the cushion and have found ideas on Pinterest, but I'm not entirely sure that I'll do it. I'm kind of liking the black and white look, for now.

I'm in the process of transforming my desk area and I'll be blogging about it soon!

Photo Book Lover

Photo Book from My Publisher

"Create photo books" has been at the top of my to-do list since school started in September... and I still haven't been able to cross it off the list. :( There are quite a few events that we've experienced over the past year that should be documented in a photo book and I'm dying to get started. School is out for winter break, which means more projects get accomplished, which means photo books are being ordered this week!

I've always used Shutterfly for my photo book projects and I'm ready to step outside of that comfort zone. There are so many amazing websites to create photo books with and it's really hard to choose one to help you create your masterpiece. I did a lot of researching, read a lot of reviews, and narrowed it down to these 5 websites to try out:

1. My Publisher

2. Artifact Uprising

3. Blurb

4. Mpix

5. Snapfish

I'm in the process of creating photo books on these sites. I'll be blogging about the process (use of templates and ease of use), print quality, speed of service (delivery), and other benefits (discounts). If you've used these websites for photo books before, I'd love to hear from you! If you have a favorite that isn't mentioned, I'd also love to hear from you! Check back for my updates soon! :-)

Miracle in a Jar: Coconut Oil

Over the weekend, my boyfriend prepared one incredible meal for Valentine's Day.  It was probably one of the best meals that I've had in a really long time.  As he was telling me how he prepared the meal, he mentioned coconut oil.  He cooks with being healthy in mind, and I have been seeing so many different posts on Facebook and on Pinterest about coconut oil.  I was determined to do some research!! 

One of the things I read was that it makes an incredible face wash.  Who would have known?  My plan is to use coconut oil for 7 days straight to wash my face.  I'll let you know how it goes!  In the mean time, I wanted to share some of my research with you.  It sounds like this is incredible stuff!

Great Uses for Coconut Oil

1. Moisturizer: Each morning while you're getting ready, smooth some on your face to hydrate your skin instead of your usual moisturizer.

2. Goo gone: Mix some coconut oil with some baking soda to remove anything sticky.

3. Improve thyroid function and digestion, as well as curing migraines: eat one spoonful per day to see amazing results!

4. Bee Stings and Bug Bites: smooth some coconut oil on for relief.

5. Freshen your dog's breath! Add some coconut oil to your dog's water every day for better smelling puppy kisses!

6. Rough heels and Cuticles: Smooth some on the heels of your feet and onto your cuticles to smooth your skin.

7. Cleaning your shower: Wipe your shower with coconut oil. Then spray with white vinegar and wipe down. 

8. Toast: Smooth on coconut oil on your toast instead of butter

9. Smoothies: Adding a teaspoon to your daily smoothie will increase your energy. (I'm trying this tomorrow, too!)

10. Body Scrub: Mix together sugar and coconut oil to make a body scrub.

11. Makeup Removal: At the end of a long day, remove your makeup with coconut oil.  An added bonus that it also encourages the growth of hair, so you will have long beautiful eyelashes!!

12. Diaper Rash Cream: Smooth some coconut oil on your baby's bottom for a natural, soothing diaper rash cream. 

13. Static Hair: Lightly smooth some on your fingers, and slide over your hair to reduce static-y hair.

14. Increase Breast Milk Supply: Breast feeding mothers who consume 3-4 tablespoons per day will increase their milk supply for their babies.

15. Indigestion: Mix coconut oil with ginger tea to sooth your stomach from indigestion.

16. Hair Growth Stimulation: Rub onto your scalp to encourage hair growth.

17. Arthritis: Due to the anti-inflammatory properties of coconut oil, rubbing it on sore joints will reduce the effects of arthritis.

18. Lice: Mix coconut oil with apple cider vinegar to treat lice.  

19. Yeast: By consuming coconut oil, you can kill excess yeast in your gut.

20. Boost metabolism: Consuming coconut oil daily will boost your metabolism.

21. Cold sores: Coconut oil helps to heal cold sores naturally.

22. Bug repellent: Rub some coconut oil on your arms and legs when venturing outside to keep the bugs away!

23. Eyelash Conditioner: As I said above, rubbing coconut oil on your eyelashes will condition them!

24. Lip balm: Smooth some coconut oil onto your lips to make them soft and smooth!

25. Shaving cream: Mix coconut oil and water together for a smooth, great smelling shave.

I hope some of these tips will inspire you to pick up a jar of coconut oil the next time you're at the supermarket.  I picked mine up at Trader Joe's for $4.99 for a 16 oz. jar.  

If you use coconut oil for any other uses or the ones listed above, please leave your comments below! I'm sure many people will find your advice helpful!

Taking a Journey into the Past

Have you ever wondered what life was like "way back when?"  This past weekend, my boyfriend and I got talking about our grandparents, especially his, and the journeys that they took through their lives.  Which really had me thinking and wondering.  Have you ever gone through that big box of old photos?  Each one tells a story!  The one thing that makes me sad about digital photography is that we delete all the bad photos.  When I was little, we would snap away.  Whatever photos you took would be developed, and you were stuck with them.  In the photos where maybe I was making a goofy grin, someone super special was in the background, caught in that moment.  Time passes, and before you know it, that person lives on in your heart, and just by seeing that captured moment can warm your heart.

Meet Mary Virginia, my grandma.  This little girl with sparkle in her eyes, and a big toothy grin was an incredible lady in my eyes.  What did this little girl see in life?  What did her childhood bedroom look like? What did she like to play?  All these questions go through my head as I look at this picture.  I'm guessing she was about 8 years old, just the age of the third graders in my class.  She looked very happy, and perhaps because she's my grandmother I am biased, but I think she was a beautiful little girl.

Fast forward, about twenty years or so.  That little 9 year old girl grew up into a sophisticated woman.  I'd imagine that my grandmother is about thirty in this photo, the same age that I am today.  She had two, if not three children at this point.  She was a homemaker, and made sure she raised her children right.  What was her life like at this point?  I wonder what she'd talk about with her closest friends.  She still has that same sparkle in her eye here, just the same that she had when she was just 8 or 9 years old.  I wish I could just have had a glimpse into life at that time.  I wonder if what I picture in my head is at all accurate.

Finally, here she is as I remember her, a happy, mature woman.  We'd call her the "Queen Mother" because she just held everything together.  This was the last birthday she celebrated in her house on Long Island before moving closer to everyone.  I remember how she would sit in this chair and visit with my parents in the den whenever we'd go over to visit.  I remember how she'd put out tons of cookies and snacks out after we ate lunch.  She'd always have ice cream for dessert, and would always have those tiny, crunchy sprinkles for mine.  She'd dance in the kitchen, and feed her little canary bird, Mr. Peepers. These are all good memories I'm so lucky to have.

It's hard sometimes to look back at photos like this, because I miss my grandmother so badly.  She was an incredible lady.  I was pretty lucky to know her for 22 years.  She has left an imprint on my heart, and I will always remember her for the wonderful woman she was, and where she came from.  If you look closely, she never lost that sparkle in her eyes.

You should go dig through those photos yourself, and find some good ones of the people in your life who you love.  Each picture has a story to tell.  Oh! And don't be so quick to delete those bad photos. You may wish you had those moments one day.  

10,000 Hidden Things to be Happy about in One Photo

 

 

 

The inspiration for this post tonight comes from Kelle Hampton. Amanda introduced me to her blog four years ago, and I've been following her ever since. She's one of the six blogs that we rated "Blogs We Love" on our sidebar to the right, Enjoying the Small Things. If you haven't visited her blog yet, you should click over now and ignore the rest of my post. She's that good, that inspiring, and you'll feel like you're a part of her family immediately.

I follow Kelle on Instagram and saw this post today:

As soon as I saw the caption, I knew I wanted to take part in the question she posed. Being the photo fanatic that I am, there are thousands of photos that leave footprints on my heart in numerous ways. Naturally, because my wedding was only six months ago, I gravitated towards sifting through that file first. So many photos came to mind and as I searched, it got harder and harder to narrow it down. I decided to choose this one though:

This photo is definitely stuffed with 10,000 hidden things: 10,000 things to be happy about all in one picture. You're probably thinking, that's so odd. Of all photos taken on her wedding day, why that one?! Here's 10 reasons why:

-My two aunts, Aunt Aliza and Aunt Rene, who I absolutely adore and still look up to, have their arms wrapped around me for a quick photo opp.
-Being that this photo was taken from behind, one can easily notice how tightly we're holding onto each other.
-I can still feel how that felt. Generations of love.
-My dress. The dress I've been waiting to wear for months. The corset and beading.
-The reactions, smiles, and silhouettes of everyone else in the background.
-The smells of delicious foods at our cocktail hour.
-The muffled voices and hum of excitement from people that I love the most.
-Music playing, glasses clinking, and forks scraping plates.
-Pretty gold chairs and stations of food.
-Everyone dressed up, looking their best, and wearing their favorite dancing shoes.
-Exchanging hugs, kisses on cheeks, and whispers of "you look gorgeous!" around the room.

I get chills writing about these details.

What a powerful activity...
slow down,
take in each detail,
enjoy,
soak up happiness.

I challenge you to do this one day. Take a look at your photos... any of them. Notice the 10,000 hidden things to be happy about in that one photo. If you try it, let me know. I'd love to hear from you!

Crumbs Cupcakes!!!

Over the weekend, we had a celebration for my boyfriend's birthday <3. (by the way....he's my boyfriend now!!)  My friend Jill and I wanted to make sure his birthday was as special as we could make it, so I baked cookies and picked up cupcakes from Crumbs on Friday.  Our celebration on Saturday began with a delicious hibachi dinner, and then a celebration after.  

I've never had a Crumbs cupcake until this weekend, and WOW was I impressed.  These cupcakes were moist and tasty.  I picked up their 12 pack of cupcakes that are perfect for a gathering with friends.  Everyone chose their own special flavor, and the room went quiet.  You know what that means...they were so good!

If you've never had a Crumbs Cupcake, you NEED to pick one up the next time you pass one of their shops.  I'm completely hooked!!

Everything in this post is my opinion.  I wasn't compensated in any way for this blog post.  I just think Crumbs are awesome!

A Classroom Bridal Shower Gift: Bouquet of Paper Flowers

Amanda and I are so excited to participate in a blogging "link party" hosted by Fry Sauce & Grits. We love that this BE.YOU.TIFUL link party focuses on beauty, fashion, inspiration, health, and design... a perfect fit for us!

 

The lifestyle post that I'll be linking to tonight is about my classroom bridal shower! SO FUN!

As our school year dwindled down last year, my partner teacher, Lauren, and all fifty of our students threw me a huge surprise bridal shower in the classroom. It was such a special memory and one that I will never, ever forget. Of course there were treats, cards, scrapbooks, and gifts, but the one thing that I treasured most of all was the tall bouquet of paper flowers that my students and colleagues made me.

Teaching is such a huge part of my life and I wanted to include at least a tiny part of it into my ceremony/reception... I just didn't know exactly how I wanted to do this. As soon as I saw the tall bouquet of flowers at my classroom bridal shower, my heart melted and I just knew that was it! It needed to be included in my ceremony, cocktail hour, or reception.

Each student wrote "words of wisdom" about marriage on a paper flower. Then, three students' flowers were glued together to make a 3D version. Lauren hot-glued bamboo sticks onto each, positioned them into a large glass vase with stones at the bottom, and voila... a gorgeous and meaningful bouquet of flowers! How special is that?! What a beautiful way to send me off into married life!

Some of my students wrote very funny things (see below about the farting), while some researched very profound statements. I was mesmerized throughout the entire bridal shower and brought them home reeling in excitement as I shared with family and friends.  

 

 

 

Knowing that this would be on display at the wedding, I cut up extra flowers for guests to write on, too. These were the  most hilarious things to read after the wedding. I kept those flowers in a  wedding scrapbook!

 

 

 

 

A few from our reception:

Gotta love my brother-in-law! ;-)

 



This gorgeous paper bouquet display would be a great addition to any celebration! Consider trying this at your next event! Bridal shower, baby shower, anniversary party, or wedding! Leave me a comment below if you have any questions about how-to details! :-)