Away from home...again

I know, I know...I just got home from Missouri on Tuesday morning, and now I'm off to New Teacher orientation this week in Grand Rapids. Hopefully i'll be able to update DURING my travels this time since i'll be in a hotel instead of an RV, like we were last week.

I just thought about the fact that I will have spent time in 5 different states this month alone...that ties the amount that I had been to in my entire life.

Just last year, I took my first trip off of the East Coast, when I went to Las Vegas to get drunk and gamble babysit. Before that, I had traveled to Florida when I was in the 9th grade and we took a family trip to Disney World. Outside of that, I had never traveled outside of North Carolina, South Carolina, or Virginia. Then I went to DC in 2007/2008 (and back again this April), but that's still not going very far.

This month alone I will have spent time in four new states:

Missouri

Illinois

New Jersey

Michigan

So that now takes the number of states that I have visited to a whopping measly 9, if you include North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Nevada.

Last year when I got home from Vegas, I realized that there was more out there than the good 'ole south. Growing up, we never had money to do any big traveling, but I loved going to the beach for vacation. I guess I was naive. Don't get me wrong, I still love being able to travel only 2 hours to get to the beach. However, I now realize that there is much much more out there for me to discover. I'm really excited about the opportunity that I have been given with my new company and I am going to embrace the chance to travel alone for the first time! :)

Toodles!

Fill In The Blank...

Alright, friends. I'm playing along with Lauren again today and doing a fill in the blank Friday :)

[photo credit from Jessica's blog]

1.   My favorite color is 

pink

 Hands down. It's ridiculous the absurd amount of pink that is in my life.

2.  My travel destination of choice is

the beach. 

There's something magical about waking up to the salty air and the smell of the ocean.

3.  My favorite  food is

I don't have a favorite. 

It changes from week to week.

I'm a fatty not picky. 

Right now it's popcorn and/or frozen yogurt.

Weird.

4.  My happy place is   

the public library. 

If I ever run away, that's where you'll find me.

Probably not a good idea for me to reveal that, if I don't want to be found.

Don't judge me. I'm a nerd. I like books.

5.  My favorite saying is    

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend it's whole life believing that it is stupid"--Albert Einstein

Pretty smart, dude.

6. My dirty little secret is 

I could spend hours upon hours in Barnes and Noble.    

In fact, I've done that twice in the last week

...rather than doing productive things.

7.  Something friends might say about me is that I

hmm...I don't know. 

They probably think that I'm weird.

But I'm okay with that.

Good News!

I can now officially announce the great news...I just accepted an offer to teach 3rd grade at a charter school in Raleigh! I am so incredibly excited to take on this new and exciting opportunity and to start my first full year of teaching! I get to go to Grand Rapids, MI for training next week and have to wait until the next week to start setting up my room; school starts on August 18.

I'm so excited to meet my new babies and guide them through their third grade year :)

Life. Is. Good.

My first adventure to the midwest

Last Friday, I hopped on a plane with boyfriend and his brother and headed to Missouri for a long weekend. We arrived in St Louis on Friday afternoon, where his dad picked us up from the airport. From there, we went to pick up the RV that we were staying in (it was in Illinois). After picking up the RV, we headed back to Missouri to go to Sam's club. To my surprise, they sell liquor in Sam's club!! We don't have anything that neat here in good 'ol NC. We then met up with his grandparents and headed to our final destination, the RV campground.

The weekend was full of time with family, extreme heat, a birthday party, swimming, Harry Potter 3 with boyfriend, Captain America, and lots of sweating. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend...even if I didn't get to take a real shower and wore NO makeup all weekend. Shocking, I know.

On Monday, boyfriend's brother had a flight early early in the morning, so boyfriend and I headed into Saint Louis with his dad to visit the arch. I've never been there, so it was really cool to explore downtown and get to visit the arch. In the visitor's center I got my mom and sissy a prize (a tradition when I go out of town), we watched a movie on Lewis and Clark, and visited the museum of Westward Expansion. It was pretty fun, but I was very ready to come home. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:40, so we decided to have a late lunch before going to the airport...and that's when it came.

*vrrrrrrrrr*...boyfriend's phone rings. He ignores it. *vrrrrrrrrrrrr*. Boyfriend's phone rings again. Answers the phone. Thinks that it might be the airport. SURPRISE, your fight has been delayed until 8:15. CRAP! Get in the car and head to the airport anyway. Arrive at the airport. Find out flight has been cancelled. Panic ensues. Try to find another flight. End up flying with another carrier through Chicago. Flight doesn't leave until 8:00. Wait in airport. Wait some more. Consider walking. Fly to Chicago. Arrive in Chicago and run to connecting flight. Fly to RDU. Flight lands at 12:30am, 4 hours after originally scheduled. Arrive home at 1am. SLEEP. Boyfriend has to work Tuesday.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was our ridiculous route back to NC on Monday night. Now I shall share some pictures from our adventure.

Exciting, right? =)

Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Here's what I'm loving today

I'm loving that I'm back home from Missouri, where I get to take a real shower!

I'm loving that everything is falling into place right now (more on that later)

I'm loving that the extreme heat seems to have finally disappeared, although it's still in the 90's.

I'm loving that the skirt I just bought two weeks ago is falling off of me because I've been losing weight!

and as always...

I'm loving that amazing boyfriend of mine

link up with us and tell what you're loving today :)

Updates...

LOTS and LOTS to update you on...but it will have to be later tonight because I'm headed out for a meeting here in about an hour. I'm just excited for some opportunities that we have been given. I feel truly, truly blessed to be exactly where I need to be right now in my life. A year ago I had no clue that this is where I would be today...but I'm loving every single moment of every single day and I'm thankful for every single person in my life.

Day 4 and a long weekend

Finished day 4 of Couch to 5k today...I also started week 2. I'm running for 90 seconds and then walking for 2 minutes. Here are my stats:

Day 5:

Total Workout Time: 30 minutes

Calories Burned: 190

Total Miles: 1.97

We leave today to go to Missouri for a long weekend...I get to meet boyfriend's grandparents! I'm pretty excited. Our flight leaves in a few hours and I won't be taking my laptop. Hopefully I'll have a bunch of pictures to update you with when we come home Monday!

Toodles and love.

Where I come from, rain is a good thing!

Let me preface this by saying the heat has been unbearable this week.

It hit 100 today.

It's going to be 101 tomorrow;

102 Friday and Saturday.

Our air conditioning decided to rebel today and it has been 80 degrees inside all day...then I decided to turn the stove on and cook dinner. At it's highest I believe it nearly burst into flames got to 83 inside the house. 


Thankfully, it's finally raining here! Random storms have been popping up all over the radar all day, but none around here. I was watching Jeopardy about 15 minutes ago and heard the first clap of thunder...and then the wind started blowing and I knew we weren't in Kansas anymore we were preparing for a storm! Hallelujah. 

That is all.

What I'm loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Here's what I'm loving today...

I'm loving that I got to spend the day at the pool with my sister, my cousin, and two of our friends yesterday.

I'm loving that it's almost Friday...I still look forward to the weekends even though I'm not working because boyfriend still has to work during the week!

I'm loving that I've lost some weight while I've been working out this last week.

I'm loving that we leave for Missouri on Friday and I get to meet boyfriend's grandparents!

and as always,

I'm loving that sweet boy of mine to the moon and back.

link up and let us know what you're loving today =]

Confession: I skipped working out today. But for a legit reason! I've got a headache from hell, and, well...I won't go into details.

Couch to 5k: Days 2 and 3

Oh, Monday...I woke up to the realization that not only is today Monday, but it's a workout day, too! Double whammy. I was ultra tired, but I managed to get out of bed and carry on with my routine. I didn't post day 2 on Saturday, but i DID do it. Promise. I'm actually pretty proud of myself! Here are my stats from both day 2 (Saturday) and day 3 (today).

Day 2:

total workout time: 30 minutes 

(couldn't figure out if total workout time was supposed to be 25 or 30 minutes, so I cranked it up to 30 minutes)

Calories burned: 181

Total Distance: 1.88 miles

Day 3:

Total Workout Time: 30 minutes

Calories burned: 188

Total Distance: 2.0 miles

Today I have a lunch date with boyfriend, and I'm planning to go get some resumes printed and pass them out to schools...I feel like applying to jobs online isn't getting me very far. I do have an interview tomorrow, so I'll prepare tonight and hopefully shine tomorrow! Hopefully we'll get to see Harry Potter [eeeek] this week, and we leave to go out of town for a few days on Friday.

Time to go shower...I hate to be sweaty.

Comfort Food

Today, I found out that I didn't get a job that I interviewed for. Womp womp. Tonight, ironically enough, I had planned to cook chicken pot pie for dinner. I don't know, maybe it was because I knew in the back of my mind that I didn't get the job. Maybe it was the good Lord trying to tell me not to worry. I can imagine him and my granny standing up in heaven right now, looking down on me and thinking Don't worry your little head, child. Everything will be fine. In fact, I have another interview lined up for next week. Perhaps this first interview process was just His way of preparing me for this next one, which might just be the perfect one. He needed me to see that it was nothing to worry about; nothing to stress over.

Anyway...this post was supposed to be about my yummy dinner that I cooked! Chicken Pot Pie has always been one of my favorites, and it's definitely a comfort food for me.

 It was my first attempt. I was very weary at first because I didn't think I was quite up to trying something so difficult, but it turned out to be a lot easier than it looked...maybe I'm becoming a domestic goddess after all!

[insert clever name here] Chicken Pot Pie

I originally stumbled upon this little beauty of a recipe. Since I've recently discovered my inner housewive and have starting to get more bold in the kitchen [i.e putting my own spin on recipes and not following exact directions], I figured I'd start there and let it go wherever it ended up. 

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 package of refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
• 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed/shredded
• 1 cup carrots, chopped (I used fresh ones)
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup  frozen green peas
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/3 cup milk

Directions (I always measure out and combine my ingredients during prepping; maybe it's because I'm OCD still a newbie):

• Place pie crust a round pie dish (glass is recommended, but I used a cheap aluminum on because we don't own a glass pie dish).
  *Disclaimer: Follow the directions on the box, otherwise you'll be sorry.
• Cut up chicken, celery, carrots, and onions. In a saucepan, add all of these plus the green peas. Add water and a splash of chicken broth to cover the ingredients, and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and put to the side.
• Combine flour, salt, black pepper, and celery seed in a small bowl.
• Combine milk and chicken broth in a medium sized bowl.
• In the same saucepan, cook onions and butter until the onions are soft and you can see through them translucent. When onions are soft and translucent, slowly add flour mixture and milk mixture. Be aware of clumping. Simmer on medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
• Place the chicken&vegetables in the bottom pie crust. It should come to the top of the rim.
• Pour hot liquid over chicken&vegetables. 
• Place top pie crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape. We don't want any exploding pies.
• Optional: place pie dish in larger dish to catch any spillage [another newbie trick...]
• Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
• Let cool for 15 minutes before serving
• Enjoy! 

Boyfriend even commented that it was the best chicken pot pie he had ever had. He might just be stroking my ego since I'm feeling a little bit like Alexander this evening, but I thought it was pretty yummy too. 

Fill in the blank Friday...

I'm playing along with Lauren and participating in Fill in the blank Friday today...I feel a good day coming on!

1. I am a (morning, evening, middle of the day person)...

morning person! 

During the school year I'm in bed no later than 10pm [nobody likes a grumpy teacher] and during the summer it doesn't change much; i'm a creature of habit!

2. My favorite Pandora stations are

gLee

Michael Buble

Jason Mraz

Taylor Swift

Lil Wayne

3. 3 of my "must have" songs for a road trip playlist are:

"I swear" (John Michael Montgomery)--our song

"Toes" (Zach Brown Band)--if we road trip it's usually to the beach!

"Don't Stop Believin" (Journey OR gLee cast)

4. My favorite pattern is

anything zebra or giraffe print or polka dots

5. My favorite perfume is

I don't wear perfume but I love boyfriend's Burberry or Armani cologne and I'm a sucker for his Old Spice deodorant.

6. Rules are

...necessary to keep the children in a classroom from staging a coup. 

7. My most overused phrase or punctuation is

oh! oh! This one is easy.

... [i love ellipses] & haha

[and i use the two together a lot]

Couch to 5k

I know, I know. I keep hemming and hawing about exercising...i'll be motivated one day and not motivated the next. Ugh. But today I started a new program called couch to 5k. It's supposed to prep you to run  3 miles (a 5k) in just two months! Boyfriend started a few days before I did, but we're both doing it now. If you enjoy running (like I do) and want an easy way to start working out, go here to check it out!

Here are the highlights from my first day:

Total workout time: 25 minutes

Calories burned: 143

Distance walked/ran: 1.46 miles

It doesn't matter how fast or slow you walk or run, it's all based on time and/or distance. Today my goal was to do a 5 minute warm up walking, then alternate running for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds for a total of 20 minutes, and then I finished with a 5 minute cool down. I was able to push through, and I feel great. I'm hoping to alternate days...which means my next day is Saturday! Ick. But I think I can do it! Good luck.

Tired...

Why am I so freaking tired today? I haven't done anything...maybe that's the problem. I think I might go hop on the treadmill!

Back to Reality?

[spotting a dolphin on our way home from Wrightsville]

  Is it really Monday? Is our vacation really over? Darnit. I guess it is.

We headed to the beach last Saturday to spend the week with my family. My aunt and uncle always throw a huge party on the 4th of July, so we were happy to help out and attend the party this year! Our one year anniversary was also this week. We had a blast...I'll leave you with some of my favorite highlights from the week...and a plethora of pictures! We succeeded in drinking too much, eating too much, and having lots and lots of fun. Probably my favorite vacation in a long, long time.

[the tent before it was all decorated]

*shopping in Wilmington and eating at Mellow Mushroom

*decorating 180 cupcakes for the party with Lauren

*the annual parade...it was the biggest yet!!!

*the party on the 4th. Great food, great friends, and karaoke. 

*eating lots of yummy food....i swear I gained at least 3lbs.

*going out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate our anniversary♥

*[boyfriend] getting funky tan lines from laying out on the back porch

*taking the boat to Wrightsville for lunch and shopping...and seeing a dolphin on the way back!

*putting together a giant 1,000 piece puzzle on a rainy day

*walking three miles to the coffee shop and getting funky tan lines

*constantly being social playing "Words with Friends" on our phones/the iPad

[180 cupcakes...two people]

[Happy Fourth of July!]

[...my sister, my friend♥]

[boy, you make me smile♥]

[pool tournament]

[the beginning of year two]

[rainy day puzzle]

On Vacation!

I may have forgotten to mention--we're on vacation for the week so I'll be posting an update about the week after we get home tomorrow! :)