I was introduced to Play Like a Pirate by the author at ASCD in March, bought the book on site, finished it within a week, loaned it out to friends, implemented new ideas, and promptly forgot about actually finishing/publishing this blog post. Oops!
We'll blame it on teacher brain...
At ASCD, the title of the presentation immediately caught my eye:
And by far, it was one of the best sessions I attended. Immediately my wish list for graphic novels grew and I started a donors choose project shortly after.
After this magical 1 hour session ended (and my frantic tweeting paid off because I won a free Teach Like a Pirate shirt), I wandered down to meet Quinn and Dave (Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate).
We chatted, I followed them on twitter, and I won't lie, I had some fan-girl moments when they retweeted or replied to me.
Since then, I've shared lots of ideas with fellow teachers. I wasn't necessarily asked, I just couldn't contain my excitement about the ideas and how I wanted to implement them in my classroom. I was really eager to share my plans to make teaching fun again (what a novel concept!).
I'm not really sorry about my over-zealous attitude toward the awesomeness that happened in my classroom (or that's going to happen next year). In all honesty, I'd rather be surrounded by equally passionate weirdos who are innovative, creative, and honest. Those are my people. That is my tribe.
As I wallow at the fact that winter break is quickly coming to a close, I must pause to reflect on all that I've accomplished in these two weeks off.
1. I started and finished a novel (The Only Thing Worse than Witches).
It's one of the novels for this year's Battle of the Books competition and was a cute, if somewhat predictable story. I made a novel guide, chronological order sort, and bundle (both products) for purchase on TpT, which you can snag {here}.
I even started a second novel, The Hammer of Thor. My goal for this novel is the end of January.
2. I dealt with adult matters. I changed my name with the DMV, bank, and insurance. I got new credit cards and a new driver's license. I started an address book and sent out Christmas cards (and letters) in a timely manner. I paid HOA dues and the mortgage payment ahead of schedule. I went to the vet with the furballs several times.
3. I started planning a baby shower. One of my dear friends and bridesmaids is due in early April. It's her first and a boy, so there's a lot of excitement. We had lunch to discuss games, themes, invites, etc. We had a second meal with another friend to continue discussing logistics and planning the event (for early March). Some days I have more fun party planning and crafting than I do teaching...but oh well.
4. I shopped and saved like a pro! With six baby showers between now and June, plus five weddings in the upcoming year, we've got a lot of expenses. Luckily I was able to find some great deals so I can not only be fiscally responsible, but spoil friends in the mean time! I'm quite fortunate that my grade level splits the cost of work shower gifts, so it's only $5(ish) a person. I've got a gift wrapped and ready for January's baby shower and another bridal shower in April.
5. I enjoyed family time. B and I celebrated Christmas early with his parents and grandma on the 19th. His mom loved her ornaments. One I made from filling a plastic (unbreakable) ornament with flower petals from my wedding bouquet. The other I purchased from {Etsy} with all the family members' names on the outside.
(Image from seller's shop, not my actual purchase)
His dad got a balls themed golf gift (naturally) and we got his grandma a Starbucks gift card. We also got his brother and sister in law a restaurant gift card. Our niece and nephews each got a stuffed toy, a nonfiction book (the teacher in me couldn't resist!) and a craft project to do together.
We then snuck down to Arizona for a few days to celebrate with my mom, brother, and brother's girlfriend. I got to have some best friend time because her trip overlapped with mine, spent time in pajamas, bought new tires (yay unexpected adulting!), enjoyed a new restaurant, and went on a day trip to Goldfield Ghost Town.
6. I got caught up on grading and ahead on lesson plans. This wasn't done in one sitting and was most definitely aided by Panera. But still, I'll go back to work on Tuesday feeling mostly prepared for the week ahead.
7. I attended a funeral. A former coworker unexpectedly lost her son and an entire group of us went to be supportive. 2016 certainly claimed a lot of good people. This wasn't a pleasant or enjoyable task, but it was necessary (and heartbreaking).
8. I cleaned. I took down Christmas decorations, moved furniture around to make space for our new bedroom set, cleaned out teaching materials, went through craft stuff, went through clothes, made donations of unwanted items, and did lots of laundry. My loving husband hung our new Batman shelf so I could display our wedding cake topper, toasting flutes, and some of the flowers.
(As an added bonus, that shelf came painted black and was on sale!)
9. I set new years resolutions and began to type about each one. I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging, but no promises on it being an every day situation.
10. I enjoyed some down time. I had shopping time and breakfast dates with friends. I fought this one for couch space on a daily basis.
I watched Netflix, snuggled the pets, did a puzzle with the hubby, watched movies, took bubble baths, enjoyed scented candles, admired our Christmas tree, and napped. I often neglect to prioritize self-care, which is something I vow to work on in 2017.
While I'm not quite ready to return to work (because really, who is?), I am proud of my winter break accomplishments. There was a healthy balance of work and play.
Up next? Four days of three dozen ten year olds, then an eagerly awaited weekend.
I'm a tad behind on #ThankfulNovember, so let's play catch up. I slept in and had a nap today, so forgive me in advance for the long post (and wedding day teasers)!
To recap, I've already expressed appreciation for good substitute teachers, personal days, Amazon shopping deals, early voting opportunities, daylight savings time, sleep, field trips, chaperones, crafty friends, good friends, and DIY projects.
I've got a good dozen other days to catalog, so here goes nothing:
(As a side note, I give shout outs to some products and people below. I was not paid for my opinions, I just give them freely whether or not I'm asked. These are not paid endorsements.)
1) My hair dresser and friend Chelsea. Not only did she create my gorgeous wedding updo, but she gave into my desires and hacked off six inches a week later. She's amazingly reasonable and if you're in the Las Vegas area, go visit her at {The Salon at Lakeside}. They even have groupons available!
2) My wedding coordinator, Lyndsey. I'm not quite done processing the wedding and the frustrating parts, but she was amazing from start to finish. Again, if you're in Las Vegas and looking for an event space, {Wedgewood at Stallion Mountain} was simply amazing.
3) The school district. It's rare for me to praise CCSD considering the shenanigans that have been pulled, but the adjusted contract means I have the entire week of Thanksgiving off. Hallelujah!
4) Etsy sellers. There are many things I'm quite crafty at. Printing thank you cards, etching glass beer mugs, coffee mugs, and making custom stamps are not in that category.
We ordered our bridal shower thank yous, bridal party thank yous, wedding thank you cards, and other stationary from {MarryGrams}.
Our groomsmen gifts were etched beer mugs from {BlackRockEngraving}. He was amazingly helpful and from my hometown, which was a fun bonus. I thanked him (Ben) on his Facebook business page and he responded immediately, inquiring about the wedding and reminding me to tell my momma if she wants to open an Etsy shop (to sell her quilts), he'll help her. What a stand up guy!
Look how great those mugs look (I assume they were full at one point):
We thanked our make up gurus with these cute mugs from {All That Glitter}. These mugs were packed full of chocolate and a Sephora gift card, because that's the way to their hearts.
Lastly, our awesome self-inking stamp from {Pretty Sweet Party} has been such a blessing as I'm doing all our wedding thank you cards. Ours looks like this:
But ya know, with our info on it.
I am a firm believer in supporting small businesses which is why I'm so thankful to these Etsy shops for providing what I needed for my wedding. It feels nice to support Ben (BlackRock) or Leslie (All That Glitter) rather than some mega corporation.
5) Small businesses. I have 3 ({Jamberry}, {Younique}, and {Teachers Pay Teachers}). Together, they help subsidize the insultingly low paycheck I get for teaching three dozen ten year olds each day.
As a thank you to my loyal readers and followers, everything will be at least 20% off in my TpT sale from Black Friday until Cyber Monday.
Happy shopping!
6) I'm thankful that so many of our friends and family members were able to celebrate with us at our wedding a few weeks ago. It was awesome to be surrounded by the people who made us who we are and share our vows in front of friends and family.
7) I'm thankful that we got to spend time with my family after the wedding. My mom and aunts hosted a brunch the Saturday after the wedding and then we all went out to dinner. They did tourist-y things in between while I napped. It was nice to get to squeeze in some extra bonding time because we don't see them often enough!
8) I'm thankful for close friends, both literally and figuratively. Our power went out on Friday morning, impacting nearly 15,000 residents in our neighborhood. Luckily Mrs. H wasn't impacted and let me come over and get ready for work because the flashlight feature on my cellphone simply wasn't cutting it.
9) I'm thankful for my students. Not only were they (mostly) well behaved for their substitute teacher, but I walked back in last Wednesday to this:
Cue all the awws. One of my students also got me a glittery Batman mug and chocolate. She definitely knows the way to my heart!
10) I'm also thankful for the new store {Boxed Lunch} and it's amazing assortment of all sorts of fandom things I didn't know I needed (like my new Ravenclaw sweater). However, they donate food to kids with each purchase, so I don't really feel bad about my impulse shopping. Plus it was buy one item, get something else 30% off...which is how we ended up with vanilla mango beard oil for B. He is quite excited about it.
11) Obama and Biden memes.
I'm not ready to accept what's happening politically in our country. Tears were shed. I'm #stillwithher. However, these are giving me some hope in the time of darkness...especially when they're Harry Potter themed.
12) I'm grateful that our teacher gradebook is online. I graded seven different assignments today (thirty five of each). I also watched six episodes of Gilmore Girls, took a nap, and walked the pup because balance is important. I'm grateful that I could enter all these grades at home and it's one less thing to deal with next Monday morning.
13) I'm thankful for opportunities. With the Read by 3 state grant, I sold my preps to work on professional development and mentor new teachers (and various other tasks). It's been an adjustment period for sure, but I'm really loving mentoring and working with new teachers. We unfortunately had one resign due to personal reasons and I wish her the best on her next adventure, but I'm choosing to look at the positives. I get to sit in on interviews tomorrow to hire a new teacher. I've never done that before and I think it's kind of nifty! I'm optimistic we'll find someone to fit into our school community (meaning they must love potlucks, because we do those often!)
I'm thankful that tomorrow I get to sleep in, have a grading party at Panera planned (with gift cards, so I'm not spending money), and visit the post office to drop off our wedding thank you cards and my dress to be cleaned/preserved.
What are you thankful for?
A few days ago, I realized I was getting married in exactly 2 months, so I snapped this gem:
(I'd also just done my nails, so it was an excellent chance to show off this new fall gel color.)
In exactly 55 days (according to the Knot), I'll be getting married.
So dear readers, welcome to the final count down.
It's seems as if everything is falling into place and I'm not really stressing (which is the goal). This long engagement (a year and a half) thing is the way to go! I haven't felt pressured or stressed to make any quick decisions.
Without further ado, wedding updates:
My hair
I'm doing my second hair trial today. I'm 95% sure I know the style I want to go with (full updo) to go with my dress (strapless sweetheart neckline), but I'm having my stylist try a long curly style today just to be sure.
I vetoed a veil (it was like an itchy mosquito net), but am having a sparkling headband instead.
The flowers
We've paid the deposit (which was half of the cost) and finalized everything. I'm having my bouquet and a toss bouquet because I want to keep my flowers (and craft something with them). My mom is getting a wrist corsage, whereas his mom and grandma wanted pin on ones. The corsages will match, but not be identical which is fine by me. I don't want a pin on to ruin my mom's dress!
The groomsmen, ushers, ring bearer, and his dad are all getting boutonnieres. The center pieces will be low (so people can still talk at the tables) and there will be balls of hydrangeas lining the aisle.
Flowers weren't super high on my priorities list, so we went with what was in season to lessen the cost. We also kept it to roses and hydrangeas (with touches of baby's breath) to minimize costs. I wanted an elegant, traditional look with our flowers without being ridiculous (cough Kardashians cough). I also don't care what wedding trends say, there are no feathers in our floral arrangements.
The invites
After a bit of a timing issue, our invites arrived.
We had engagement pictures redone because none of them fit with the desired invitations. An engagement shoot was already included in our package, so we took more in a completely different location (Lee Canyon at Mount Charleston, right outside of Las Vegas).
I googled how to assemble them and tackled the task with B. I assembled and stuffed, he sealed, stamped, and put on our address stamp. I printed addresses on sticky labels to expedite the process, but I also picked a pretty cursive font that looks quite close to my hand writing.
Because the invites have already gone out, I can now share the front of them:
This dancing and dip one is my absolute favorite from our (second) engagement shoot.
We've already got some of our reply cards back,
and as a wedding tip to fellow brides, number the back:
This number corresponds with the excel document I have with addresses and wedding information. That way if guests forget to put their names, I can easily see who it is and avoid making awkward phone calls. Plus most guests won't even look at the back of the reply card. #weddinghack
I did take a short cut and not mail my coworkers' invites (because there are ten or so of them that are invited). I did stamp the reply envelope (because that's what Martha Stewart's wedding etiquette post instructed me to do), but we saved a bit by hand delivering those.
The Guestbook
He changed his mind from the large painted S's that I stained to a more traditional guest book. He wanted one with pictures (from our second engagement shoot), then seemed surprised when it arrived and had pictures in it. (Oh B!)
He did help pick the design, but only after I narrowed down his choices to my favorite three. We had our guestbook made on Shutterfly and because I had a coupon (I LOVE coupons), the 20 full color paged hard back guest book was under ten dollars. That's half the cost of a generic, picture free one at a craft store. I'll call that another wedding win.
(If you're in need of a wedding photo book, Shutterfly is currently offering a free 8x8 one with the code FREEBOOK4U by 9/18/16. I'd also highly recommend following Shutterfly on Facebook or social media because they have awesome deals like this all the time. I don't think I've paid full price for anything but prints, and even then I was able to snag free shipping or other deals.)
The garter
It's here thanks to one of my wonderful bridesmaids. It's got some blue in it (keeping with tradition) but it's also Batman themed. Technically, Batgirl, but still in the Gotham family. I'm super excited!
Hotels
I booked the wedding suite for the night before (so I can have a bestie sleep over before the girls get ready) and extended our stay for an additional night (because I didn't want to wake up the morning after our wedding and rush to leave). I also booked the men a suite to get ready in (because 8 men were not getting ready at our house, where the animals live.)
Guests, we've got a block of rooms at the Eastside Cannery and Sam's Town with a discounted rate. Please book before 10/10. Locals, please consider taking advantage of this as well because we have an open bar.
The dress
My second dress fitting is tomorrow afternoon (after a work planning session in the morning). I need to start wearing my shoes around more to finish breaking them in, but I purposefully went for a low heel for maximum comfort.
The cake
This one isn't technically done yet, but our cake tasting is next Sunday afternoon (both our teams have early football games). I'm bringing the cake topper and we're fairly positive we're doing a small cake to cut (and for pictures), then serving assorted cupcakes. Perhaps it's the frosting to cake ratio, but I just like cupcakes more than cake. Plus that way we're able to give a few options...and easily transport home the left overs.
The dancing
My brother and I selected our song and had the opportunity to practice over Labor Day weekend.
It's choreographed and playful, but not creepy and super romantic because that would be incestuous.
B and I also practiced our first dance.
He refrained from dropping me (but did threaten it). He also has some ideas about what he wants his mother son dance song to be (and it's no longer Tupac...we carefully moved away from that option). No final decisions made there because I'd like him and his mom to talk about it together.
Up next?
We're ordering groomsmen gifts this weekend. We're supporting a small business by going the Etsy route (as opposed to a store in the mall) and the quality seems higher.
Next Friday some of my maids are coming over to help finalize the wedding favors, help with music selections, assemble props, and help with the wording of the ceremony. Since our dear friend is our officiant, we want our ceremony to be a reflection of us. Will it be serious? Yes. Will it be super religious with scripture readings? No. Will there be silly comments about my inability to put lids all the way back on containers and his love of Madden? Probably. Will there be a Harry Potter reference? Always.
Next month we're applying for a loan (because we can't pay for our wedding in full before it occurs) and getting our marriage license. I did have to clarify to B that yes, he had to be there in person to apply for the marriage license with me (to prove he exists).
I've got another details appointment next week, have music due to the DJ by the 11th of October, and still have to figure out a location for the rehearsal dinner. We got another recommendation of a family owned Mexican restaurant (not a chain) that's close to the venue, so I want to check it out first.
I've had quite a few people ask what I'll do after the wedding with all of my time.
The answer is simple: Enjoy being married and continue to celebrate life and other friends' major milestones. Oh, and take more naps.
Several friends have little babies on the way. Other weddings are on the way. His aunt and uncle's 40th anniversary is on the way. Graduations are on the way.
Life won't end because my wedding is over.
