Mondays Aren't So Bad (when you don' t have to work)!

I enjoyed lunch and a movie with my mom today.  When I was working part-time at the school and the Loft, I often had week days off when I could do this exact thing with my mom.  It was great--we saw so many movies together.  Now that I'm teaching full time, it is definitely a bit harder to have this time with my mom.  Because I'm off this week, we took full advantage and went and saw:

This movie is up for some Oscars and won a few Golden Globes.  It's based on the true story of King George VI and his speech impediment of stuttering.  It was a bit long at times but overall pretty good.  It definitely had a feel good ending to it.  I'm sure my speech therapist best friend would enjoy it! :)

After the movie, we went to T.J. Maxx for a return and I ended up with these two fun items:

 A yummy Yankee Candle for only $7!

And some fabulous red flats!  These are Nine West that were compared at $70 but I got them for $35.  So cute but I still need to figure out (or go out and buy) something to wear with them!

I do love me some T.J.Maxx!

And speaking of shoes, I found these cuties on www.endless.com.  I'm just not sure I can justify the $89 price tag!

My Weekend

I had a fun weekend filled with pre-wedding festivities for my sister, 

including a shower thrown by me and Lisa. 

Kicking off the party with some mimosas before the guests arrive.

The spread.  Mmmm!

My gift to her!  I got this idea from my friend Ashley.  Two Junior League cookbooks wrapped in a kitchen towel and stuffed with collapsible measuring cups from her registry.

I was pretty proud of my creation! :)

The hostesses with the bride.

I was also lucky enough to get to spend two days of the weekend getting to hold this precious baby girl (Lisa's neice)!

Ella Elizabeth and me

With big brother Thomas.

I'm super thankful for the week off school this week.  I don't have many plans with the exception of lunch/movie with mom tomorrow and getting some choreography created for my dancers.  

My sister has one more bridal shower next Saturday and then my mom is planning a special surprise birthday dinner for my dad that night.  He's got a big birthday coming up on March 1st!

Hope y'all have a great start to your week!

Fire!

I'm still in shock of a fire that destroyed half a building (12 units) in our apartment complex on Friday night. 

 

Andy and I went to bed early the night of the fire since we were getting up for the Marietta Mardi Gras 5K.  I want to say we were in bed by 10:30 on Friday night.  I heard sirens while we were in bed but didn't think much of it.  They sounded close...but not that close.  We woke up, went to our race, went out for brunch with some new friends, and came back to our apartment.

 Andy's mom called just after noon and said that her friend had seen on the news that there had been a fire in an apartment complex in Vinings and thought it might be our's.  Remembering the sirens the night before, Andy and I took our dog, Spot for a walk to investigate.

After going all the way to the back of our complex without seeing anything suspicious, we went up one last hill and holy moly!!!  We saw the damage.  It was unreal.  And scary.  Everyone got out just fine, no one was hurt but homes were lost.  My heart and prayers go out to the families that lost their "homes" due to the fire.  I cannot even imagine.  The news on Saturday night said that the fire started on a first level balcony but they were still investigating the reason for the start of the fire.  Regardless, I'm still pretty freaked out.  This tragedy is a little too close for comfort.  I hope and pray that  nothing like this ever happens to us and our home!

CDs I'm Loving!

I got 2 new CDs a couple of weeks ago (yes, you heard that correctly...I do not have an iPod connector in my car...and both of my iPods have died).  I have been loving belting out to them in my car!  I'm sure I give my fellow drivers sitting in traffic a real laugh when they look over and see me jamming!  The first is:

Yes, that's no ordinary version but the special deluxe edition from Target!  Bonus acoustic tracks!  I know I'm probably a bit late on purchasing this CD but it's still pretty fabulous.  I know some may not care too much for this gal but I do love how her lyrics seem (or maybe are?) so real!  My favorite song on the CD right now is "Mine."  I just love how the lyrics turn from her point of view to his at the end of the song.  Ah, so sweet.

You said I remember how we felt sitting by the water
And every time I look at you, it's like the first time
I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter
She is the best thing that's ever been mine

And the second CD in my player right now is:

This CD has some awesome songs on it!  I'm a bit ashamed to admit I already owne 2 or 3 Glee CDs before this purchase.  And also a little more ashamed that I am so looking forward to the Justin Beiber episode of Glee tonight!  My favorites on this CD are:  "Forget You" (Gwenyth Paltrow), "Tennage Dream,"  and "Lucky."  I could go on and on...there are some good ones on here!

So how about you?  What's your favorite CD or song that's fabulous for jammin' in the car while belting at the top of your lungs?

Valentine's Day Gifts

Andy and I have laid low today this Valentine's Day night but we did give some each other some pretty fabulous gifts if I do say so myself!!

I was excited to give Andy his Valentine's Day present as I have had it for a few weeks now.  It's rare that I have a gift that that long without ruining the surprise and giving it early!  I made him a love book on this fabulous website called Love Book Online.  I got this idea from Lisa as she made her husband one for Christmas.  Basically the website has a database of reasons why you may love someone.  Every page can be personalized with something that you love about the person.  You can choose from the templates they have, add texts or pictures to their templates, or make your own.  I had fun making it and I think Andy enjoyed looking through it this evening.  He even asked if he could keep it on our coffee table so he can look through it again and again!  I'm sure it will be fun to look back at throughout the years. Hard to believe this is the 9th Valentine's Day we are spending together as a couple.  Here's one of my favorites from the book:

 

As for my gift from Andy, I asked told him yesterday that I wanted the Michael Jackson Experience Wii game for Valentine's Day after hearing how great it was from a few friends.  I know, I know such a romantic gift, huh?  Well, when I got home today, a card and some candy awaited me.  No big deal, I had almost forgotten that I had asked for the game.  Then, I asked where he went for the card and candy.  Target.  Hmm, strange since Target really isn't on his way home from work at all.  Here's how our conversation went:  "Ohh, did you get me the MJ game since you went to Target?"  "Nah, they were sold out."  "Oh, well then did you go look at Walmart?"  "Nope, you have plenty of Wii games!"  Andy proceeded to get up to look through the few Wii games we have.  And low and behold, he pulls out the MJ game!  Wahooo!  I love it when he surprises me!

So I've been spending my Valentine's Day evening playing the game--which by the way is totally AWESOME!  I did have to cut my dancing session short as we had to turn on Jeopardy to watch"Watson" the computer take on Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter...but I'll save my opinions on Watson for another post!

Ballethnic Dance Co.

Sorry I've been behind a bit on my blogging!  Things have been pretty busy in my world recently.  The end of last week brought some exciting things for my students at school that I'm excited to share with you!. 

On Thursday, I scheduled members from the locally-based African American Dance Company, Ballethnic to come do a workshop with my 7th and 8th grade dancers to help celebrate Black History Month.  It was nice and refreshing to have some other professional dancers in the dance room.  Sometimes teaching in the public school setting (instead of a private dance studio), can get a bit lonely in what you are doing since no one is a part of the "ballet world."  As much as you try to explain to other teachers and administrators, I don't think they will ever truly understands what you are doing with your students since they're all basically academic (expect the fine arts/PE department) educators. 

The Ballethnic dancers seemed impressed with the dance program at my school and the facility we have.  It reminded me just how lucky I am to be where I am at.  It also reaffirmed the fact that the ballet world is a truly a small world as we exchanged stories of who we knew and who we have danced with in the past before and after the workshop with the students.

Although my students seemed somewhat timid at first (I mean there were unfamiliar professionals in the room--including two men with African drums!), once they got started, I think they really enjoyed the class they gave.  I was so excited to hear one of the dancers explaining to my students that ballet is the basis of all dance as they warmed up.  Thank you!  Maybe now they will believe me after hearing it from somebody else and quit groaning when I tell them "We are doing ballet today!"  The live drumming was awesome and I loved the African choreography they taught the kids at the end of the class period.

Hopefully my students are inspired and energized!  And hopefully I will have the opportunity to bring in more dancers to give my students the opportunity to work with someone other than your's truly.  I'm sure they get sick and tired of having me as their only dance teacher every single day, all 3 years of their middle school career!

Oh yea, and the bonus for me in this whole experience is that my administrative evaluator is cousins or something with one of the co-founders of Ballethnic.  This lady was one of the dancers that came to do the workshop at our school.  Anyways, my administrator came in to my room and watched the whole first class.  She seemed so very excited to have them at our school.  She also decided to do my 2nd observation of the year while they were conducting the workshop.  Score!  We'll see what she says when we have our post-observation meeting this week--but I'm guessing it will be all positive! :)

Gettin' some culture!

Andy and I went to the local Cobb Symphony Orchestra Jazz Concert with some friends last night at the Strand.  I'm still amazed at the restoration of this historic theater on the Marietta Square.  It's just beautiful inside and the venue also tempts me to organize some sort of fine arts performance there for the students at my school.  The jazz performance was awesome!  I think Andy may be inspired to pick up his guitar again and call up his old friend that he used to play in the middle and high school jazz band with for a "jam session"!  I do love it when he picks up that guitar! :)

This coming weekend, I got Andy and me half-price tickets via goldstar.com to see Atlanta Ballet's Sleeping Beauty.  Score!  I love the classic story ballets and am excited to see their "new" version.

And to balance out the culture in our lives, the following weekend, we'll be going to a NASCAR race....just kidding! :)

Boy or Girl?

I'm not pregnant or even trying to get pregnant yet, but I think I've made a decision tonight for my future pregnancy.

I've decided that we are not going to find out the sex of our baby when the time comes.

My decision was made today as Lisa's oldest sister just had her third baby.  She already has 2 precious boys and decided not to find out the gender of the baby until she delivered.  Well, I think everybody (including me) was convinced that this third baby was a boy as well.  I even remember Lisa telling me that she would be shocked if it was a girl!  Well, me too.  And I was indeed shocked and so excited when I got the text today that the baby had arrived and it was a beautiful baby GIRL!

Now I am inspired to keep our baby's gender a surprise for his/her birthday.  Let me tell you, Andy has always expressed an interest in being surprised from the get-go.  Yes, I've always thought it would be special to find out whether my baby was a boy or girl after hours of labor but was hesitant as I didn't think I'd be able to stand to wait that long if I had the opportunity to go ahead and find out before hand!  Of course, it'd also be nice to know for planning purposes....but I guess I don't really classify myself as a huge, huge planner by any means so maybe that part of the issue would be alright?!?  I mean you can always accent a neutral room with blue or pink, right?  

As Lisa's big sister says....keeping the baby's sex a surprise until it's born is truly the only thing in life that can be kept a complete secret to all until D-Day!

So, for the time being, this is my/our decision.  We'll see if I change my mind when I've actually got a bun in the oven!  Haha!

So how about y'all?  If you are planning on or already do have children, will/did you keep it a surprise?  Why or why not?