In the past few weeks, we've:
1) Confirmed our {engagement shoot}
2) Finalized our photobooth logo:
(As an added bonus, this matches our wedding website and mimics the bistro lighting in the venue)
3) Confirmed our {photographer}
4) Set up meetings with the photobooth vendor, florist, and photographer (all for spring break so a few of my teacher friends can accompany)
5) Received our thank you cards
6) Ordered our custom cake topper
7) Extended our stay at the hotel (I'm checking in Thursday and we're staying Saturday night too) and began the process of reserving a block of rooms for guests
8) Set the date for my bridal shower (end of July), picked out invitations, and confirmed with my future MIL (it's at her house). B and his boys are going to go get fitted and have lunch that day, which is adorable.
9) Purchased some of the outfits for our engagement pictures. I think I've decided on the outfits and have been using {this} as a guide:
Up next?
Setting up cake tastings (B's very excited to help with this task!), hair trials (end of May), and trying to find shoes.
I must say, having never done this before, I'm very much enjoying the year and a half engagement. I don't feel rushed. I don't feel pressured. Everything is coming together naturally and without stress.
Spring fever has hit early this year and we are all most definitely ready for a break.
To celebrate making it 3/4 of the way through the school year, I'm pleased to share with you my readers that I'll be having a flash sale at my {TpT store} from March 18th through the 21st. Everything will be 20% off!
Happy Leap Year!
To celebrate this special day, hop on over to my {TpT store} to snag 15% off on Monday, February 29th!
In yet another wedding related post (sorry fellow teacher friends), I thought I'd share an update on my latest crafting adventure for my November wedding.
As I've shared before, I'm not a huge fan of the traditional guest book. I wanted something we could look at often and enjoy. So I found this on pinterest:
And snagged these at the craft store (yes, I couponed. Not ashamed!)
For months, they've sat in the guest bedroom in the pile of wedding stuff. I picked up paint colors, but was waiting for the inspiration to strike.
Yesterday I received rough feedback from a sub, so I came home dissatisfied with my job. So I took the night off from teaching and enjoyed some wine:
(I'm not sure which lovely friend gifted me that wine glass...but thank you! It was perfect for the occasion!)
And decided that crafting was more important than grading, so I painted the S signs:
We have two because one will be the guest book and one we'll use in pictures.
I stained them today to make them more rustic/aged. I felt the gold was too brass, so I wanted to tone it down. The original brown shade I bought looked too shiny when I tested it, so I used some old cabinet stain from an old home make over project (read about that {here}).
I stained the first, doing more of a swirling, circular stain:
(Second still unstained)
While the second had more of a traditional wood grain look:
Now I don't know which I like more. I asked the all mighty facebook world and the answers are split pretty evenly. I'll seal them both tomorrow with a protective clear coat. The (craft) struggle is real.
I think it will come down to holding them both up against the wall and seeing which looks better. I think we can all agree that the staining technique makes it look better!
(On a side note, I saw someone selling stained ones on Etsy for $30 each! The total cost was maybe $10 and not very time consuming...perhaps that I need to hop aboard the Etsy train when my life calms down a bit...I mean all I really want in life is to drink wine, read books, and craft things...but I think that would get boring very quickly and I'd end up hating my passions.)
Fifth grade is hard. Three dozen students is hard. Escalating behaviors because of puberty and the full moon is hard. Field trips to the local middle school are hard.
Life was hard this week. (Let's be real, month!)
Today my poor guest teacher left three pages of notes about their poor behavior choices. Yes, pages. I'm mortified. I'm finding myself angry at my students most of the time and it's turning me into the type of teacher I don't want to be. That's devastating, but this group is rough. This is my third rough year in a row, which doesn't help. I can't, and won't, keep living with these daily frustrations.
I've been thinking a lot about my next steps professionally.
I don't see myself being in fifth grade forever. I'm not quite sure what I want to do next.
The good news is I have some options:
1) I'm considering the two year process of National Board Certification.
B wants to eventually relocate to Colorado since he's been in Las Vegas his entire life, so it will be nice to have that to follow me. There's an informational meeting in a few weeks at school and a cohort will be formed, so I won't even go through the entire process alone. It will be time consuming, but it will also open lots of doors in the future.
2) I'm considering primary. Under twenty kids, that like me most of the time, seems like heaven after this week. It won't be a piece of cake (because teaching never is), but I think second grade seems great. They aren't learning to be in school for the first time, the educational gaps won't be as large as they are in fifth grade, there are smaller class sizes, and there's no high stakes testing, so I'd be free to do more STEM and creative activities. I shared my intent with my principal today, so it's free to share out with the general public.
3) I'm also considering getting an endorsement in "blended learning", which means I'd be licensed to teach online school. We're considering this for when we have kids (definitely a few years down the road).
So many choices. I want to pursue different venues to keep my options open. I definitely don't see spending my entire teaching career in the classroom.
Our engagement pictures are scheduled! Sunday, April 17th...at dusk.
My dear friend {Amy} will be taking our pictures in April. She was one of the first people who heard about my first date with B over three years ago, so now it comes full circle and she gets to be with us to capture this special time for us.
In an attempt to keep this
wedding thing as authentic as possible, we opted for a fun and quirky
location for our engagement shoot.
We're taking our pictures at {Nelson's Landing}, which is a ghost town in Nevada. It's been featured on Ghost Adventures and has some old buildings, a crashed airplane, and lots of gorgeous desert scenery!
Amy has done shots there before (her images are below) and I love them!
Now...to contain my excitement until then!
Unfortunately, it's felt like the latter part of this statement for most of this month...
The spring break countdown has begun!
