Let's Get Reacquainted!

Where has the time gone?! Seriously. 
1. 8 weeks left of school. Whattt?
2. Entering the double digit countdown until Evan and I get married.
3. It's April. Tomorrow.

This year has been a weird one. It's gone by so fast yet so slow at the same time. It's been really difficult being so far away from Wisconsin and I am still struggling with it every day. One of the other first grade teachers (she's a brand new teacher just like me) moved here from Texas so she's experiencing similar feelings of hardships. It's nice to have someone to talk about it since she's going through the same things I am. Yet I can't believe that my first year of teaching will be over in 8 weeks. My first set of babies are almost ready for second grade! And then I'll start over with some new babies! Ahhhh!

Latoya from Flying into First Grade has posted another linky that is one of my favorites since it lets us learn more about other teachers. And since I am so nosy, it's just perfect!! 

Although there are some tough questions this time around...

Favorite Place to Shop

I have two:

Store #1 - Kohl's.

Can't go wrong with Kohl's. And here's why:

1. Big selection.

Need some shoes? Kohl's has some! 

Need a new shower curtain? Kohl's has some!

Need a new bread maker? Kohl's has some!

Need any form of clothing? Kohl's has some.

Basically, Kohl's has about 95% of what I need/want. Minus groceries.

2. Cute clothes. I used to not like Kohl's as much when I was younger and in middle school. But now, there are so many designer collections at Kohl's that are great as the Kohl's brands have really stepped it up in terms of style.

3. Sales/Coupons. I love a good sale and I hate to pay full price for anything. At Kohl's, pretty sure 99% of the store is on sale plus they hand out coupons like there's no tomorrow. My dad always jokes about the time that the store will have to pay him at checkout since we save so much money.

#2 - Old Navy

This year in particular I have really started to love Old Navy. Now they tend to be a bit pricier than I prefer, but they sometimes have amazing sales! Plus they also sometimes give out those spend $25, get $10 off. I actually have one of those to spend this week! Plus I love their dresses. 

Favorite TV Show
Yikes. I watch a lot of TV - honestly, it's one of the few things that actually helps me unwind. Especially the drama-filled shows since the characters' lives are usually far more complicated than mine. 

#1 - Body of Proof.

I'll be honest. When this show first came out, I didn't give it the time of day. Why you may ask? Because Dana Delany had just left Desperate Housewives as Catherine, the crazy woman obsessed with Mike Delfino, who was obviously meant to be with Susan. I didn't watch it until I was home with my parents one evening. They watched it so I watched it too and ended up loving it. It's kind of like Bones or CSI but with more drama.

#2 Speaking of Bones...

Evan tried to get me into Bones about a year ago on Netflix, but I hated it and kept falling asleep during it. But once I was actually able to stay awake during it, I ended up really liking it. Now that Bones and Booth are together, it's a bit less tension-y, but I am a few episodes behind so I'll have to see where tension comes next.

#3 - Degrassi

Now many of you might not know this show because 1. it's filmed in Canada and 2. it's meant for teens. But I love it. I've been watching it since I was in middle school and still love it now as much as I did then. It takes place at a high school called Degrassi and follows the lives of high schoolers dealing with high school problems, both big (like pregnancy, suicide, eating disorders( and small (like relationship drama and fights between friends). I think I will continue to watch it until the day it is canceled for good. 

Honorable Mentions - 

1. Glee. It would have been my top three, but my love of Glee is based on what songs they sing. If they sing songs that I don't like/know, then I don't like it.

2. House Hunters. I love House Hunters except when the people are whiny and/or annoying. Like when people moving abroad complain that the homes don't have/look like the ones in America. Newsflash - if you want an American home, then stay in America!

3. New Girl - I want to be Jess. The end. 

Favorite Sweet Treat
I love sweet things, but I feel that I am kind of picky about what sweet things I actually love. For example, cake. I love a good cake. But my favorite cake is sheet cake from the grocery store. Something about the moistness of the cake and sugary-ness of the frosting. But it has to be white or yellow. The only good chocolate cake is the kind that is super chocolately like this one...

The Great Wall of Chocolate from PF Changs.

Favorite Food
Another tough one...
It honestly changes. I love pizza because there is so much variety. You can have a normal one with pepperoni. Or you could have a BBQ chicken one. Or a garlic chicken one. Or one with pesto. Or a macaroni and cheese one (For real!). If you are ever in the Madison, Wisconsin area, you must go to Ian's Pizza. They have such unique and delicious pizza flavors here such as my fav, Mac and Cheese. They also have other ones such as Chicken Alfredo, Buffalo Chicken, Steak and Fries, Gyro, and Spinach Artichoke - just to name a few!!

Favorite Restaurant
Seriously, all these topics are super hard for me. I love different restaurants for certain foods. Like I love Jimmy John's for their tuna subs, a local place about a block from my apartment called Gallo Blanco for their breakfast foods, another local place called Mary Coyle's for their ice cream and 50s style food, Culver's for their ability to remind me of home, Melting Pot for a special occassion, and Applebee's for their buffalo wings. Which makes it difficult whenever Evan and I want to go out for food since I am usually little to no help since I never know what I want.

Your turn! Go link up! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Already got a bit of Sunday Night Blues but we have off on Friday. It's our "Mid-Quarter Break" aka the quarter just started and district got the day wrong since in the past, we've had Good Friday off. Oh well, I won't argue with a day off :)

Let's Get Acquainted!

This is the first time I am linking up with Latonya at Flying into First Grade. 
I just love learning about other teachers and learning about their lives.
But that just could be that I am nosy. 

It is about nouns. My favorite person, place, thing, and animal.

Favorite Person: My wonderful fiancé Evan. 

He brings out the best in me. I can be a bit high strung, a bit emotional, a bit irrational, a bit impractical, and a bit a impatient. But he really grounds me and brings back to Earth on so many occasions. He can always make me laugh and we have such wonderful times together. And we are almost approaching double digit days until our wedding day. Yikesssss.

Place: It's a tie!
For nostalgic reasons, I have to pick Milwaukee. Moving away has made me realize that home is where your heart is and my heart is in Milwaukee. 

But my favorite city in the entire world is Paris. It just never gets old, and if I spoke French, I would love to live there for a bit.

Thing: Hmmm, tough one. I like a lot of things, but I'm not sure what my favorite thing would be. So I'll just list a few of my favorite things: Tivo (because I always fall asleep during my shows), good food, cozy homes, and my thrift store Fossil purse.

On the day I went thrifting with my sissy Melissa, I told her that I was hoping to find a brown cross body bag from Fossil. I had been looking at them for awhile but they are kind of pricey so I was hoping to find one at a thrift store. She looked at me like I was crazy, but low and behold, there it was! Pretty ironic, yes? 

Animal: I love my sweet dog Marlee. She can be annoying at times - like when she eats random things. To date, she has eaten Legos, socks, a towel, twist ties, paint chips, housing insulation, paper, and I'm sure other things that I don't even want to know. But just look at how adorable she is!!

Your turn! Go link up!

Crazy Days

Am I lucky or what? Every day when I pick up my kids from recess, I am showered with these little yellow flowers. 

I definitely feel loved when I get handfulls of flowers from my little darlings.

But today was definitely a crazy kind of day.

Like get me outta here crazy.

For starters, I got a new students today. A sweet little girl who seems to fit right in to the group. 

But that was just oh so exciting because it's been about a month since we've gotten a new friend. 

And let me tell - you'd think they won the lottery. And it only got crazier from there. 

Because it was school picture day.

And that means free dress day.

And no one bothered to tell me that half of my hair was bunched into my scarf and the other half was free-flowing. So I look like I have an awkward asymmetrical hair cut. 

Luckily, school ends at 1:15 on Thursdays (instead of 2:30) for professional development. But since report cards are due on Monday, we had a teacher work day.

Oh my, such a wonderful thing. I got heaps of things done! And I didn't even talk to anyone (that much).

And tomorrow is Friday! Thank goodness. Even though I just got back from Spring Break, I feel like it never existed.

Currently

Yay March! Spring Break Month-My Birthday Month-Spring Month! I love March. And since it is the beginning of March, that means it's time for Currently!

So since it's basically never winter not a real winter doesn't get cold here, Evan and I have been able to keep our door open letting in fresh air from outside. And we get to hear birds chirping outside at all times of the year (well I'm assuming so at least since I haven't been here a year. Maybe when it's 64732842378 degrees out, they don't chirp?)

Spring Break Is. So. Close. Like in a week close. And I'm going to Wisconsin! Yay!! But, state testing is between me and my break. Dragsville USA. I hate state testing. Which brings me to my needing part. My district tests my poor babies on two state tests. AIMS and Galileo. AIMS is for reading fluency and Galileo is for everything. For AIMS, they are tested three times a year, and since my kiddos are young, it goes pretty quick. I think the older kids have to do it for like 2 weeks but my kids just have a day of it. For Galileo, they are tested five times a year. FIVE! Each time takes a whole week plus we are required to do a week of test prep aka practice tests and questions the week before. Which equals to 9 weeks of wasted instruction time! (The first test is like the second week of school so no test prep). NINE!!! And people are on our cases about cramming things into our 15 minute breakfast time? I think not. So annoying. I feel like Arizona's rank in education would improve if they let teachers teach instead of test. Soapbox over now.

In other news, since it is March, that means Shamrock Shakes are back! Yummy minty goodness that is so good only because it's for limited time every year. I always get sucked in though. 

My like is loopholes. Which is kinda random, but I love beating the system. Especially when that system has silly rules. 

My love is laughter since it can fix pretty much anything. It can fix a sad day, an awkward situation, an angry moment, etc. etc. etc. I love laughing. 

And my hatred is lettuce. I remember being in highschool, and reading magazines with 602 Dating Tip from Guys, and there would always be a tip about not ordering salad since guys like it when girls eat real food. And I always thought to myself that that would never be a problem since salads are yuck. Except a casear salad. I like those. 

This week's agenda = state testing for four days and then a who knows day for Friday. Probably some St Patrick's Day things, some centers, some catch up on my own 736 classroom assessments I have to do. Go link up at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade!