I tried...

With all good intentions, I set out on the Thankful November challenge.

I mapped out what I'd share each day.  Then life happened...and I really shared maybe half of what I planned to.

So, here's the rest:

Day 13: Kids. I am thankful for my niece, nephews, and friends' kids. I'd love to have my own some day.  In the mean time, thanks friends and family for procreating and letting me snuggle your kiddos. I will still pass on the diaper changing offers.

Day 14: Snack sized treats. Especially when I can get them on sale after Halloween.  

Day 15: Harry Potter universe and specifically the house of Ravenclaw.  It's a part of my childhood. I embrace my sass. 

Day 16:  My in-laws. They're generous and loving. I appreciate them.

Day 17: Younique make up. It covers my imperfections and lasts ALL day.

Day 19: Dr. Teal's Bubble Bath. It creates great foam bubbles and the large bottles are only $5.  Plus they're available at Target.

Day 20: The dollar spot at Target.  Okay, it's more like the $3 spot, but still. I found these cute cards for my students:

Day 21: Okay, Target in general.  I do my grocery shopping there. A bulk of my teacher wardrobe comes from there. I find most of our house decor from there. It's my happy place.

Day 22: Mr. Sketch Markers.  These are my go to markers for making anchor charts. I don't share them with students. I'm not ashamed of this choice.

Day 23: Candles.  Specifically the {DW} brand I've found recently at Marshalls & TJ Maxx. They are extremely fragrant and the scent lasts the entire duration of the candle.  Sometimes some candle brands are fragrant for the first or second use, but then lose their scent.  Not these!  They come in pretty jars and have pineapple scented ones.

Day 24: My students.  Fifth grade was wonderful, but I'm really loving third grade.  There are less students, which means I can better reach each of their individual needs.  They are still little kids and with that comes a sweet innocence.  They all believe in Santa. They believe they can be anything they want. They aren't jaded or hormonal and still love learning.

Day 25: Best friends.

Day 26: Craft time.  Especially when other people are paying for the materials.

Day 27: Sunshine Committee.  I am in charge of showers (baby & wedding ones) at work. I get to decorate and make things pretty.

Day 28: Naps.

Day 29: Girls Nights. Sometimes we get dressed up and go out dancing. Sometimes we go to dinner and a movie. Sometimes we paint and drink wine.  Sometimes we make gingerbread houses:

Day 30:  Second chances.  I didn't do so well with following through on the November challenge.  Luckily December started and with it, Elf on the Shelf (for the classroom).

After all this time?

20 years.

That's how long I've loved the boy who lived.  

This wasn't just a book series.  

This wasn't just eight movies.

This was my childhood.

I have first editions of all the books.  I begged to go to midnight releases to get my hands on new books, then ignore the rest of the world for the weekend.  I would re-read the books each summer in anticipation for the new releases. I saw movies on opening day, in costume.  I own more than one Ravenclaw sweater.  A gallery wrapped portrait of the Maurader's Map hangs in our den and the Hogwarts crest is proudly displayed on the couch pillows.  Those three stars in the always image above? They are also tattooed on my wrist.  Part of our honeymoon was spent at Harry Potter World at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida (pictures to come!).  The love is there and it's not fading any time soon.
  
This book series turned me from a reluctant and apathetic reader into who I am today.  But my story is not unique; hundreds of thousands of fans feel the same.  For that, I am forever grateful.  

So let's all raise our wands to Harry Potter, the boy who lived.

Thankful and Grateful

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 Day in the Life Of...

Ten days in and I'm finally having a chance to catch my breath and join the {Blogtember} conversation.

If you're new here, hi and welcome!

I'm in the midst of the beginning of the year chaos that always happens when I have three dozen ten year olds in my cozy classroom.  (Okay, there's only thirty five, but close enough!)

I'm also in the middle of wedding planning, so my blog is a combination of education and life experiences.

Today's challenge is a simple one:

Saturday, Sept. 10: A day in your life! Take us through it 

with you by sharing a photo each hour of the day.

 Thank goodness it's a weekend because I need a break!  (The beginning of the year is rough y'all!)

8:18 am:

B's off golfing and the house is quiet.  I have the gentle hum of a fan next to me, the puppy snoozing on the floor, and our two cats are curled up on the bathroom floor, enjoying the sunlight.  

I got to sleep in this morning.  My alarm(s) go off starting around five during the week, so sleeping in until eight was a treat this morning.  I enjoyed the last of the blueberry mini muffins for breakfast and tried to enter grades, but the server is having difficulties.  Darn, I guess that work will have to wait until Monday!

The rest of the day consists of relaxing, most likely a nap, going to finalize wedding flowers with our florist, the grocery store, and a nice dinner date.  My brother and his lovely girlfriend got me a gift card for my birthday to the Cheesecake Factory, so hooray for date night!

Tomorrow we're doing our first painting class (a "design and wine" one with mimosas) where B and I are painting Harry Potter inspired wine glasses:

(At least that's the goal of what they'll look like!)

We're also taking a friend dinner tomorrow because she had major surgery yesterday and feeding herself and her kids should be the last of her concerns during recovery.  The meal train was organized by Sunshine committee at work (where I'm co-chair) and it's just another reason I love where I work.  We look out for one another and it's such a welcoming, caring, and loving environment.

Our weekend will end with me yelling loudly at the refs during Sunday night football when my Cardinals take on the Patriots.  I'm hoping for an injury-free game and a Cardinals win!

How are you spending your day/weekend?

Muggle to Mrs

Every time I begin this post, I falter.  I am humbled and in awe of the outpouring of love I received from my friends and family.

In short, I had the perfect bridal shower.

Let's take a peek:

The Heart Wreath

 
I made this for a fellow bride's shower and kept it for my own.  This beauty was on the front door to alert guests that they'd arrived.  

The heart frame and burlap are from Joann's.  The veil is from Hobby Lobby and attached with safety pins.  Coupons were used for all parts of the craft project. 

Decor

Marlene knows my love for Harry Potter and made me this sign for the shower.  I'm 99% sure my bachelorette party will include the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (in California), so this is perfect.
 

Leah, one of my bridesmaids, had a graphic designer friend make these labels (more shown later).  She had guests write their replies on cute tags, which she's then using in my bridal shower scrapbook. I'm super excited to see what she creates!

This is one of the S signs that I painted for our gallery wall.  We also incorporated it into round 2 of our engagement pictures (read about that store {here}). I should be getting those pictures back any day now!

I originally made this soon to be sign for our engagement shower (which was nearly a year ago) and this was the perfect opportunity to reuse it!  The banner is from Target and I added the letters myself (printed them, cut them out, and glued them on).  The font is swagger and available at dafont.com.

Of all the wedding related things, B is very, very adamant about there being absolutely no mason jars at our November wedding.

Is this a strange thing to be so passionate about?

Yes, of course it is.  But it's also his day and I respect his wishes, however strange they may be.

However, that meant I could use them at my shower and he didn't get a say.  My bridesmaids and I used some mason jars that I had laying around the house (because that's what happens when you're a crafty teacher) and used chevron burlap and lace to tie on bows (not pictured).  

My maids picked up flowers and decorated the tables with flowers (and chocolate candies).

A & B Sign

Much like the mason jars, he's very against an abundant amount of polka dots and glitter at the wedding.  Granted, there will be some (because it's my day too!), but this was the perfect opportunity to get to decorate how I wanted.

The letters were from the craft store and already painted white.  Using tacky glue, glitter, and the end of an eraser,

I created perfect polka dots. 
 
Champagne Tower

I randomly found pink plastic champagne flutes in my party supply tub so it was the perfect opportunity to spoil my bridesmaids (the ones who could be there).

Yes, we had too many champagne flutes but now I have some for the next party we host!

Best Wishes

Leah surprised me with these low key activities.  Guests wrote us well wishes and they'll be in our scrapbook.

Food

There was a lot of it and apparently we were too busy eating to snap pictures.  But the set up was cute! (Plates and tins from Target, burlap polka dot runner from Hobby Lobby.)
 
Gifts

While she couldn't be there in person, my bestie found the most perfect gift.  It's a ring bearer box that is a stack of letters from Hogwarts.  I'm choking back tears (above).

She also sent a necklace for me to use as my something borrowed and something blue.

I was incredibly spoiled by my friends and family.  Thank you all!

({Card box} was made for our wedding, but this seemed like a great opportunity to use it again!)


Games

In addition to the don't say ring game (below), I found these bridal themed scratchers at Target.  They came in packs of 20 with 4 cards being the winners.  I don't love gambling, but B and his family do so it was a cute nod to them.  Plus, it's Vegas!

Prizes

One of my bridesmaids, Kyla, put together these adorable gift bags as prizes.  Inside were homemade sugar scrubs, scented with her favorite DoTerra essential oils.  I even snagged one and love it!

Kiss the Miss Goodbye

I did this for a (former) friend and it went over quite well, so it was a must have at my own shower.  While not every guest "signed" it, we did use lip sample wands and cheap lipstick to avoid cooties.  We got an 8x10 picture frame with a large mat and tada! I'll frame a picture from the bridal shower to complete the project.

What wasn't shown?  Elsa, one of our flower girls, was helping everyone put on their lipstick.  It was precious.

Love is Sweet

What would a party be without favors?  Mini Twix bars were stuffed inside these burlap bags.  Fortunately (or unfortunately), not everyone took one, so I have left overs!  I printed the "love is sweet please take a treat" sign and framed it, but then found this premade one for a few dollars at TJ Maxx.  It totally fit our rustic/lace/vintage theme!

Surprises...

Olivia married her lovely hubby a few months ago.  It was a beautiful ceremony and I caught part of the bouquet (it came apart during the toss).  So, I sneakily crafted it into a shatter-proof ornament and gave it to her at the shower (because I hadn't seen her since her own wedding).

Tears were shed.  It was a happy moment.  Nothing but love between gal pals. 

(I used a shatter proof Christmas ornament for the leaves.  I also added a decorative metal wire that said "love" in cursive as well as scrabble tiles with their initials and wedding date.  While the cost of the materials was low, the gift was treasured and that's what matters.)

Of course, none of this would be possible without my loving friends and family.

Marlene, our officiant and one of my closest friends.  She's been insanely patient with me as I avoid writing my vows and procrastinating on the music selection.  She is also the mastermind behind my magical Muggle to Mrs sign.

Leah, bridesmaid and brother's girlfriend.  Not only did she come up from Arizona, but she took hundreds of pictures and is turning them into a scrapbook. 

Katie (left) and Kendall are two more of my bridesmaids.  Their impeccable taste and attention to detail brought all of my shower dreams into life.  More importantly, they nerd out with me about Harry Potter on a fairly regular basis.  I adore them both.  Elsa is also pictured and she's one of our two flower girls.

Elsa was sure to let everyone know that she's the flower girl and I'm a princess.  She did express her disappointment at not being able to meet (and practice with) Ravyn, the other flower girl.  I think she's more excited than I am! 

My mom came up for the shower and has been instrumental every step of the way.  I love you mom!

My future mom opened her home to host the shower.  She's a generous, loving, and kind woman. I'm blessed to be marrying into her family.

My second mom (my bestie's mom) drove up from Arizona for the shower.  This family has been my second home for years (decades?).  I appreciate them all!


Up next in terms of wedding planning?

1) Getting our marriage license sometime towards the end of September.  I'm fairly certain they're good for sixty days, but I need to double check.  I've heard filling out all the registration information online severely cuts down on wait time at the city offices.  I did have to clarify with B that he had to be there too.

2) Cake tasting!  This is on September's checklist as well.

3) Invites.  We're waiting for pictures back (any day now!) and have already designed the invitations, so it's simply a matter of ordering them (and stamps), then assembling and mailing.  I'm not stressed yet because we sent out save the dates and are asking for replies by October 1st, so there's still time.  

4) My next dress fitting is in the middle of September.  I also have to find a tailor who can alter the hem on my MOH's dress in 24 hours since her dress is here and she is on the East Coast.

5) Attend my work bridal shower (October?).

6) Bachelorette party! (October?!)

7) Finalize hotel rooms, flowers, and food.

84 days!