who let the dogs out?

That song is the worst song on the face of the planet. 

And now I hope it's stuck in your head for the rest of the afternoon.

As I write this post, Annie and Diego are recovering from their run and sweating all over the freshly mopped wood floors. I think she may have killed him- his breathing is in turbo mode as he lays in a puddle of drool with his tongue flopped all the way out. While I was considering going for a run, I think I'll wait for another two hours until the sun drops below the horizon. 

Also wanted to document the size of our neighbor's banana plant. This is one week's worth of growth-- pretty soon it will take over the entire side and provide my own patio with shade and a tropical feel. 

Speaking of "tropical feel," my heart is set on spring break and ultimately the summer where I'll magically shed some pounds and look fantastic in a bathing suit. I think about it all the time, now; usually I don't get this way until a little bit later in the school year...

*le sigh*

Sunday Funday

I think Sundays are my new favorite day. 

What could be better than spending a lovely morning at church followed by all-you-can-eat brunch, bottomless mimosas and a pitcher of margaritas with good company? 

Now I have the rest of the day and although it's BEAUTIFUL weather I must force myself to clean the house, do multiple loads of laundry, make a trip to Publix and grade/plan for the week. Could be the farthest thing from what I would actually want to be doing (playing at the beach!) but sometimes a girl's gotta man up and do what needs to be done around here.

Here goes nothin.'

Rugged Maniac

We ran hard through miles of soft, Florida sand. We shimmied over walls (maybe with a little help from Carlos.) We army-crawled through mud and barbed wire.

All while wearing mustaches!

Mine kind of melted off my face. 

All in a day's work. I'm exhausted and am going to bed at 9 PM sharp. 

Kind of made me want to do the Warrior Dash in GA again....

my life is back

February was the busiest month I've ever had as a teacher. My bathroom calendar has been mocking me for a while now. Tomorrow I can finally ERASE IT and start over!

Even though my wonderful kiddos won first place and will be competing at state in a month, it be minimal work from this point on. So, I can safely say,

WELCOME BACK, LIFE.

Let's celebrate the weekend with:

Bought for 19 cents apiece at CVS-- woo hoo!

Doing this race tomorrow! Wish me luck!

"Why don't we do this more often?" Kristin says to me over a Flavors burrito. 

"We should go to the beach every two weeks!" 

"No, we should go every DAY!"

i love my kristin. and my oliver

This is my angry face. 

i was angry because i was running.

and it was hard and my legs felt like jello. 

or like i was a googly clown running. and annie

was far ahead of me with Diego.

but at least i ran. 

Wyldlife is where it's at.

ohhhhh Tuesdays. Le sigh.

...and then a much deserved break!

What I love most about my relationship with Mike is our adventurous spirit. I feel closest to him when we are in the woods checking out new trails, climbing trees, and getting as close as we possibly can to the wildlife:

This guy's big brother almost took Mike out when he rode his bike a little close.

We've never been to Jekyll Island before and decided it was about time to go. We found a lovely hotel for the night (camping was too much work this weekend-- I wanted minimal effort and cleanup!) loaded up the bikes and took off.  With 20 miles of biking trails there's a lot to see and plenty of relaxing to be had. 

Jekyll Island has a rich history that I was too lazy to read about, but with enough glancing at signs outside of ruins and old plantation homes I learned that families such as the Rockefellers and J.P. Morgan used to stay at the club as party island.

400 year old trees! Sweet. 

Mike found a rope swing in the middle of the woods...

And that night I consumed shrimp and grits, squash casserole, jalapeno corn bread, and green beans. MMMMMMMm

Lovely. 

WIN!!

After MONTHS of 

script writing

practicing

hot gluing

sewing

painting

cleaning up messes

all-day Saturday meetings

WE DID IT!

Sure, it's not about the win

but they DESERVE it!

We're going to DISNEY!

And now for another month to do it again at STATE!

Week 5 I believe?

Ashley & I have been getting up before school & working out 2-3 times a week since the new year started. Most of the times we run, but on the rest of the days we do pilates or yoga. It's been awesome-- I feel like I'm ridiculously busy/exhausted after school, so at least doing it in the morning makes sure I'm at least doing something during the week. Once OM ends this weekend I feel like I'll have my life back. The Gate River Run is quickly approaching and although I was training pretty diligently, I fell off the bandwagon once February hit. It's only 9 miles so I'll be okay but still; I sign up for races so I have a reason to go for long runs. It's no good if I'm not training!

Anyways, I'm thankful for Ashley & her willingness to come over to work out and keep me accountable- I couldn't do it without her! And I just bought a new yoga DVD; hope it comes soon and is the best thing since sliced bread.

 Every morning when I rise 

I'm able to function 

solely because of God's grace;

His love gives me life and sets me free-

free from this world and its lies

its "you're not skinny enough"

or "pretty enough"

or a "good enough wife"

or a "good enough teacher"

Faith in Christ gives me a 

purpose in this life to love others

with every fiber of my being

and strength to make it through each day.

He gives me hope

for this life 

for our world

and a passion to find

joy in everything I do

Recipe for Sunday Funday:

First, you start with church. 

Then, add bottomless mimosas, good company, and maybe a rose or two.

Mix in a little Extreme Bocce, but be sure to sift out the bees. The more extreme the terrain, the better. Watch out for the gators.

Finish strong with a yearly trip to Costco. 

Thank you, Grigor Grigorian for the use of your membership card. It was much appreciated.

And that, my friends, concludes Sunday Funday.

  

weekend recap

Technically these pictures were taken on Friday, but for a-picture-a-day's sake, we'll say we stayed out so late that it ran into Saturday.

(I LOVE it when I accidently close my eyes- best. pictures. ever. Annie's face is pretty epic, too)

Saturday also included accompanying the kiddos for solo & ensemble, which always makes my heart happy. I'm so thankful that Mom & Dad forced me to stick with piano and that music is so engrained in the fiber of my being. Walking those high school halls this weekend made me appreciate the teachers who challenged us to work towards solo & ensemble, to try out for All State, and to pursue music in college. One even predicted my own future in education, (which at the time I vehemently pushed out of my mind as a career path...)

Although not being accepted into the music education at UF (twice) was at the time tough, spending time with our band director preparing the kids for competition was a CLEAR indicator that God's plan was NOT for me to be a music teacher. I can't spend more than an hour with them squeaking their clarinets without wanting to rip my eyes out of my face.

Good call, God. And bless Charlie for instilling the love of music into the next generation. 

Part III-- The Proposal

It was a long time comin'. Poor Mike had to put up with me questioning when the ring was coming for months. So when the fall came around we had both graduated with our undergrad and had just started our grad programs. We knew that a marriage proposal was imminent and felt God preparing our hearts for a life spent together. We also knew we wanted to wait until we were finished with grad school (or at least almost finished) for a wedding.

The weekend before my birthday Mike surprised me and told me to pack for the weekend. And I knew what was comin' and was soooo excited! We ended up driving to Tampa where he took me out on a hot date for dinner & we stayed overnight. I was promptly woken up early for an adventure:

A balloon ride! I thought, "SWEET! Getting proposed to while the sun is coming up on a balloon is AWESOME!"

It was amazing! But there was no proposal, which confused me. 

We spent the rest of the day in Clearwater at the beach (and I thought, okay, maybe proposed to on the beach is cool, too...) but no ring.

On the way home I was pretty disappointed. I thought FOR SURE he was going to propose while we were down there and honestly spent a little time sulking in the car. Then I realized how much of an idiot I was being, that he had planned this wonderfully amazing trip and I need to not be so lame by being disappointed. I remember praying for God to calm my heart and for me to be satisfied with Him and His perfect timing, not my own. 

We pulled into Gainesville & were on our way back to my house when Mike randomly turned down a street that leads on campus. I looked at him, confused, then instantly knew what was going on. He pulled into the parking lot for the chapel that's on the lake and got out of the car. If you know what chapel I'm talking about, you know that just the way it looks screams 'romantic,' but it also happened to be the place where we first dropped the L bomb to each other in our sophomore year. I saw Annie and Enrique sprint towards the bushes as I followed him to where a picnic with fondue & wine was set up.

I was all smiles as we sat and nervously nibbled on the picnic foods he had set up; he looked at me and said, "Can we stand up?" 

So we did stand up. And then he got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him.

And I said yes of course. 

it's a love story.... second installment

So, best friends in high school & inseparable during our freshman year. "Inseparable" meaning walking to classes together, eating all meals in the dining hall together, football games, church functions, mattress slip-n-slide down the halls of the dorm, family dinners, slumber parties, etc. Maybe a little kissing here and there. We were seriously together all the time (Amy will vouch for that.) But nothing serious yet.... and I was still kinda dating other boys.

So over Christmas break I was dating this guy from church but when Mike and I went home to Melbourne, we *might have been hanging out in the hot tub and we *might have kissed again.

That's when I realized that my feelings for him were changing from best friends to something more-

We made it "official" that spring.

The next four years were filled with... well... pretty much awesomeness.

 My college years dating Mike couldn't have been more amazing. He was (and still is) my best friend. He knows me better than anyone on the face of the planet. God has blessed me with a man who loves Jesus, adventure, spending quality time together, and life in general. 

He works hard to support me & fills me with joy!

^19-21I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, 

   the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.

I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— 

   the feeling of hitting the bottom.

But there's one other thing I remember, 

   and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

 ^22-24God's loyal love couldn't have run out, 

   his merciful love couldn't have dried up.

They're created new every morning. 

   How great your faithfulness!

I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). 

   He's all I've got left.

 ^25-27God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, 

   to the woman who diligently seeks.

It's a good thing to quietly hope, 

   quietly hope for help from God.

It's a good thing when you're young 

   to stick it out through the hard times.

 ^28-30When life is heavy and hard to take, 

   go off by yourself. Enter the silence.

Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: 

   Wait for hope to appear.

Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. 

   The "worst" is never the worst.

 ^31-33Why? Because the Master won't ever 

   walk out and fail to return.

If he works severely, he also works tenderly. 

   His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.

Lamentations 3 (The Message)

fun website

While trying to decide how I want my 7th graders to present their independent novels, I tested out this lovely website which is a fun way to create word clouds. You can type in your own words, or choose the lazy way like I did and link your blog's URL. I'm glad that Mike's name showed up the biggest (which means he's talked about the most) and was surprised that 'monkey' and 'domestic' made the cut. 

Exciting thing of the day?

 Ever since my mom told us a story about her sock monkey named Jocko (said with a French accent, like Schock-oh,) I've been obsessed. Annie made me a sock monkey for Christmas in high school. I even have a tiny one that sat on the dashboard of my first car, who now resides in my classroom. Mike got me the PJs for Christmas, which I refused to put with the rest of the holiday PJs back in the attic because I want to wear them forever. 

And now my ensemble is complete:

The slippers I coveted over Christmas were half-off at Target! Win!

Superbowl Sunday

... I only watch it for the food....

Plus, a bonus picture--- this is where D gets to sleep when Daddy's not home, right on Dad's pillow. . Took this picture at 3 am when I woke up wondering why I was falling off the bed.

Weekend Update

So a couple weekends ago Lynn brought me her road bike to borrow for a while until I save up for my own. Yesterday we went on our first ride and I was pretty nervous for a myriad of reasons... It was wet outside, I didn't know if I'd be dirt slow and hold everyone up, I was hesitant to ride down 13 in the bike lane because of all the crazy truck drivers, and I was afraid of clipping my shoes into the pedals and not being able to get them out (thus falling into oncoming traffic and getting run over.) I was kind of a mess. But I sucked it up and went anyways, thinking that at least if I get run over like an armadillo I'll be partying up in heaven with Jesus a little sooner than planned. Mike planned for us to ride to the park & back that we found last month. I think he thought it would be a warm-up ride (like 15 miles.)

I didn't say anything because I didn't want to contradict him, but I was pretty sure it was farther than that..

30 miles later we were tired, sore, and cold... but it was worth it. And no one spilled into oncoming traffic, so that's a plus.

We celebrated our workout with fried shrimp and beer from O'Steens. 

These are my favorite shoes. 

But I can't wear them to work, because I think they're slippers. Sometimes I wear them anyways. I asked Kristin if I could wear them today and she didn't respond in time. 

Oh, and it was also Annie's first day of school! Hooray!!