day twelve: Takeya Water Bottle (Costco)
This is my new favorite:
It keeps my water cold all day long. More importantly, the ice doesn't melt all day. As a teacher in a rather warm climate, that's super important.
These water bottles are at Costco in a 2 pack for under thirty bucks. The hubbers snatched the navy one, but I'm fine with shiny silver. My student teacher said she'd vinyl my name on the side (which is great because several of my teacher friends have the same one).
eleven: My husband
A year in, that still feels weird to say.
He makes every day better. He's not perfect, but neither am I. He's my favorite person to tackle all of life's adventures with, whether it's navigating the grocery store right before a holiday, tackling home improvement projects, or frantically finishing a show on Netflix before it goes off line, I'm grateful for my rock.
He helps me laugh at things and not take everything so seriously. He's truly the opposite of me in so many important (balancing) ways, but at the end of the day, we agree on what matters.
He doesn't complete me. I am complete as a person. Instead, he compliments me and challenges me to be the best version of myself. He comforts me when I need it, encourages me always, and lets me know (politely) when he thinks I'm wrong (on the rare occasion it happens).
I'm thankful for a friend's birthday party that brought us together. I'm thankful for the relationship we've built together over the past (almost) five years. I'm thankful we got through the first year of marriage! I'm thankful that the adventure continues and the best is yet to come.
ten: my pets (and by default, adoption rescues)
After I earned my masters degree, I adopted my two cats (Chloe and Crookshanks). I went in for one (Chloe) after seeing her picture on adoption websites, but after seeing her curled up with her sister, I couldn't leave one behind.
So, I adopted both. This is my greatest buy one, get one for half price deal ever. (It was $150 for one or $200 for both to cover vet bills, fostering, vaccines, and a donation to the no kill animal shelter.)
(I adopted the cats from Happy Home Animal Sanctuary, one of the Petsmart charity shelters.)
Flash forward several years and I found myself purchasing a home with my (now) husband. Now that we had a yard, we wanted to expand our family by four paws. We were looking at one puppy in California, but couldn't justify the drive when there were so many adoptable pets here. We decided to adopt over the summer so I could be home to supervise the cats and puppy interactions as well as crate train.
We looked online, found a baby girl mutt that we wanted to meet, and headed out to Petsmart one Saturday morning. It was love at first sight and we left with our new pup (Waffles) that day.
While they cause me great headaches some days, I couldn't imagine life without my three fur babies. I am thankful not only for the opportunity to own pets, but that adoption rescues were an option. #adoptdon'tshop
nine: cardigans.
It might seem silly, but I am super grateful for cardigans. They turn any top into teacher appropriate attire and add an extra layer of coziness. I can toss one over a plain shirt and jeans, but look instantly dressed up...or at least, dressier.
I don't like full coats (which is good because I live in a warm climate where they aren't necessary), but cardigans are just enough coverage for my arms on chilly mornings.
Target's Merona brand is my favorite, but since there are retirement rumors (say it isn't so!), I've got to find a new inexpensive brand to love. Lularoe has a long cardigan with pockets, but I refuse to pay full price ($70) for one. I've snagged a long gray one, but for half off (because that's more budget friendly).
However, I can't just buy Lularoe, so any suggestions blogging world?
eight: grade level teams
In teaching, there is simply never enough time to accomplish everything. This is the sad, unfortunate reality. However, grade level teams can make things better and for them, I am thankful.
This year, my work wife Ms. H and I are planning reading for the grade level. Not everyone uses our plans or copies, but that's okay. Two other teachers plan/copy math while 2 more tackle writing. It's nice to share the work load and bounce ideas off one another.
I'm also thankful that my work wife understands that unfortunately, sometimes this planning needs to happen outside of contract hours. Tomorrow, on the day before Thanksgiving, we have a lunch date at Panera to crank out the next few weeks worth of reading plans.
Beyond having other people to plan with and share the copying fun, it's nice to have a team where we can share ideas and strategies. We are within a few days of each other in terms of plans, so it's nice to be able to give one another a heads up about what math lessons the kids struggle with or share strategies that really seemed to click for students.
As an added bonus, 4 of the 7 third grade teachers are in my pod, which means help is literally right next door. I am thankful for grade level teams.
seven: raspberry green tea lemonades
I'm trying to reduce my soda addiction and drink more water. However, I fully admit I have a weakness for Starbucks' raspberry green tea lemonades.
I discovered this gem by accident when the barista told me they were out of peach flavoring, thus rendering my staple peach green tea lemonade impossible. Not just out for the day, but that Starbucks had stopped carrying peach syrup. (I since learned that this is not true, thank goodness!) He offered to swap in raspberry flavoring and ya know what, it was even better than my go to PGTL.
This by no means can be an every day indulgence, but when I do find myself with a Starbucks gift card, this is my new favorite drink. (Unless it's December, in which case, I'm a sucker for peppermint hot chocolate!)
six: Rick Riordan
While no author will ever replace J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan is coming in at a close second. Not only have his books been on the NY Times Best Seller List for the past nine years (yes, years), they are highly engaging for my students. As an adult, I find humor in his writing style and despite not being the target demographic, still enjoy the stories.
He tends to publish two books a year (May and October), so I'm savoring this one:
It will be a few months before I can get my hands on the next one.
