Lessons Learned '11

11 lessons learned in '11: 

1. Procrastination fuels productivity. 
2. Moving is expensive! 
3. The best of friends don't have to live on the same street, same city, or same state. 
4. Marriage does get better with time. 
5. Choose to forgive, choose to love. 
6. Always deescalate.
7. Take care of myself first in order to take care of others. 
8. "I can do anything, but I can't do everything."
9. My $35 Y membership may be the most important bill I pay. 
10. Being called into urban education is a blessing and a burden. 
11. The path less traveled is always the most rewarding. 


Hopes for '12 Looking ahead to the upcoming year, I hope to...
Work less 
Work out often 
Eat fresh 
take risks 
Pray frequently
Thank 
Love like Jesus 
Serve my husband 
Encourage 
Savor 
Travel 
Enjoy every moment in this phase of our life. 


Let's go 2012! It's going to be a great year!!!

For I know the plans I have for you. says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. jeremiah.twenty nine.eleven.

P interest L ove

If you don't know about Pinterest, oh you are missing out. It's like a virtual vision board with pictures or how to's of every facet of life.

pinterest.com

For this creative DIY girl at heart, it makes me super happy to browse for fun and new ideas for the home, teacher things, or sweet quotes.

My favorite part of Pinterest may be the clothes. Some brilliant person, not me, has created these mini clothing boards... Almost like paper dolls without the doll. such as...

It really has become the deciding factor in my daily wardrobe decisions. The biggest compliment my sweet husband can give me lately is "Is that a Pinterest outfit?" Why yes it is, thank you! It has forced me to use the clothes hanging in my closet to create fun, trendy outfits.

A few of my Pinterest inspired staples:
Red Toms
Skinny waist belt
Thick brown bow waist belt
Riding boots
A rainbow of cardigans
Skinny jeans & Wide leg jeans
Solid color dresses to be paired with colorful accessories
Chunky necklaces
Dainty gold monogram necklace
Scarves and more scarves
White button up dress shirt, paired with any of the above

all photos pulled from pinterest.com

The most valuable lesson Pinterest has taught me is instead of giving into the ever present media inspired encouragement to buy new things, I have just about any and everything I would need to make a cute outfit right in front of me. Does this mean my desire to shop has disappeared? Of course not! But I will be more mindful of when I do buy.

Signing off with powerful scripture-
You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes within. The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 
first Peter three four

broken stuff

Once August rolls around, I feel like I disappear into teacher world. 
The first week always brings me excitement, slight anxiety, and just enough nerves to make it come together.  After a lazy summer, I suddenly kick into high gear and surrender my life over to a classroom.  This year presented a larger barrier than I have had in the past.  Switching schools is a challenge in itself, I don't know where the copier is, I had to figure out where to park, what doors were open at 7 am (if any), or who and where to go when I need something.

This year also challenged my reliability on "stuff."  Half of our building is new, beautiful, Green even!  The other half is old and needs a face lift badly.  My classroom assignment landed me in the old part of the building.  Walking in, I saw mounds of furniture- broken desks, 6 filing cabinets, graffiti on chairs, you name it, it was in there.  I later find out my room was the dumping ground for broken things for the past few years.... great.  After our incredibly helpful custodian helped me rid my classroom of junk, I was left with white cinderblock walls in an awkward rectangular shape, a projector with no cables, 1 window, a few desks, 4 whiteboards that are not magnetic, and 1 bulletin board. No computers, no SmartBoard (gasp!).  I had become dependent on my interactive whiteboard for the last 3 years and now I do not have a computer in my room.  Needless to say, my idea of what teaching looked like was hit dead in the face. 

So after my pity party, and a few inspirational words from Dad, I was off and running to renovate this white space into a learning environment!  My Dad reaffirmed me that the best thing my students will have is ME.  Take away the pretty, techy things, and I am left.  I am the teacher to begin with, right?  So after 5 years, I started over.  I am having to rethink teaching in a new context for the sake of learning, not my comfort. 

A few classroom improvements:
- make a tree! my mom suggested using butcher paper to make something colorful on the walls.  I chose a tree (genre tree) and it inspired the rest of my week.
- paint the whiteboard trim, another teacher suggested this and it was a great idea! I chose yellow to brighten it up.
- curtain to bring more attention to my one window, thank you Mom
- Be a vulture! I began roaming the halls finding give aways and unwanted furniture that I could use... best find? an extra bulletin board that fell off the main hallway, sure I'll take it!
- Ask! I am not afraid to ask to borrow a drill, ask for extra chairs, computers, etc. 
- I get by with a little help from my friends- thanks to my super helpful husband and the Santoros, who just happen to be in town, I felt like I had an army of worker bees helping me lift and label.

**classroom pictures to come! I'm not quite finished yet :)

This is the very short version of my journey in becoming a teacher all over again.  I let the "broken stuff" get in my way of being a teacher.  Teaching starts during the classroom set up, even in the weeks leading up to school.  I had to get over myself to see beyond the stuff.  I learned how to advocate for myself and for my students.  I will ask for what I need, not just what I want.  There will be more challenges, but for now, I'll focus more on the process than the progress.

8 Surprises

During my time in Nashville, I've been pleasantly, and not so pleasantly, surprised:

1. There are LOTS of Alabama fans!!  I can wear my crimson with pride :)

2. There are not many north carolinians, I do wish there were more.  We met a couple who went to State and we were both so excited.  Since TN borders 7 states, there are people from everywhere.

3. Central time rocks!!  It's like your body still operates on Eastern time, just an hour later.  Getting up feels like sleeping in and you go to bed when you get tired.  The only problem would be TV, but the no cable solves that!

4. Either people here smoke more, or they are allowed to smoke in more public places... either way smokers are everywhere!  I try to dodge the smoke and steer clear. 

5.  Nashville is a typically safe place to live.  Again, this is in my short experience here, yet, overall I feel safer than I did in Charlotte...

6. It is not as humid! Nothing like NC, or alabama for that matter.  Even on its hottest days, Nashville has a breeze in the air.

7. My grad program is a perfect fit for me. I had this concern that it would either be completely over my head or I would be the only nerd who was very passionate about education.  Surprisingly, neither are true.  I am in class right now for 7 hours a day with a group who love people and have a true passion for education in urban schools.  We talk about topics and ideas that I have never known existed before.  I feel incredibly empowered and ready to start this next teaching experience with what I can tell will be lifelong friends. 

8. Everyone said it and it is true- we are in LOVE with this city! There are so many things to see and people to meet. (and GOOD food to eat!) We finding our niche slowly and enjoying every moment.

home sweet home

I've finally given in to the high demand for pictures of our cute home in Nashville!

I tried reeeeaaally hard to stick to a budget during this move, it's so hard when you have a cute house to decorate!  So, we only bought 4 things to add to what we already had to decorate our home. I'll label them below.

Enjoy :)

We love Sylvan Park!

Mom's idea to add the teal pillows turned out great, so I started pulling in lots of colors to add with the earth tones in our living room.

We used the blanket chest as a TV stand. 

Purchase #1: big bookshelf, thanks Dad for putting them together :) We needed the storage and it added some height to the room.

View of the front door, stairs to finished half bedroom.

I love this buffet table to fill some space on this stairwell wall.

Purchase #2: the table/chairs I blogged about before.

Kitchen- trying to brighten it up with my red!

Master BR, I used the sheer curtains I had in Charlotte and pulled them in a relaxed bow with brown ribbon.

Other side of our bedroom.

Purchase #3: smaller bookshelf.  The baskets help with the lack of storage space in the teeny closets and the shelves give us a place for more books and albums.

Guest room- this is room is very bland and simple for now.  I'd like to add some curtains with a fun print... I'll work on that in my spare time :)

Guest room 2- only a third of Sam's hat collection

Our 1 bathroom. Even though the bathroom is small, I really like the way it turned out!  Beware visitors, we have to share this space!

Purchase #4: Marshall's medium sized area rug, $20.  I spotted this a few weeks ago and thought it pulls some of those colors together.  I love the print.

Bogey's back yard.  I think she loves it even more than we do!  We absolutely love having a fenced in yard and appreciate the space coming from a townhome.

That's the grand tour!  We are moved in and ready for visitors! :)

one woman's trash is another's treasure

This weekend, my sweet parents came to visit us in Nashville!!  We had such a great time visiting with them.  We stayed busy around the city going to the farmer's market Saturday morning, trying out our new favorite local restaurants, hitting up Starbucks a few times, and getting some much needed projects done around our new home.  I'm lucky to have a very handy dad and crafty, creative mom! 

Our biggest project came unexpectedly! We decided to leave an older table in Charlotte and attempt to find an inexpensive used one on craigslist. I found someone who had posted a list of furniture that lived literally 3 blocks down. We checked it out, and ultimately bought, a solid cherry wood table with a leaf and 6 chairs. Of course it was loved and had minor scratches, but overall the table was a great find! The only problem was the upholstery, of course. This is what I brought home:

Just in case the picture does not do it justice: a teal/purple hued aztec striped upholstery... gag! 

We had 2 days to reuphoster 6 chairs.... Mom and I were up for the challenge.

Tools used:

Scotch guard

staple remover

staple gun

screw driver

 Step 1: Select new upholstery. I chose a textured striped beige upholstery from a local shop in Nashville Textile Fabric Store that just so happened to be 50% off this weekend- Score! I considered a more trendy stripe or print, but decided this would outlast my taste of colors and decorating for years to come.

Step 2: Spray the fabric with Scotch guard. Twice, we were advised to spray with scotch guard before the fabric is cut and fit and then repeat after.  I'm very glad we did this first.

Step 3: Unscrew each seat from the frame- a few spiders escaped!

Step 4: Remove the staples and the old fabric.  You can see the original upholstery- a gold floral... (which I might like better than the aztec teal!)

Step 5: Keep removing staples!  This was the longest part of the process since we faced 2 layers and a cushion underneath that was stuck to the wood. 

Step 6: Remove the wood seat from the previous fabric.  Thanks Mom for doing this part! Yuck!

Step 7: Cut the layers to fit each seat.  We used 2 layers of foam cushion, added a layer of muslin, then cut to fit each piece of upholstery.  We stapled all 4 sides first, then carefully placed the 4 corners.

The finished product!  Of corse it's not perfect or custom made, but it feels good to say I had a part in finishing our chairs!  I think we did a pretty good job at that.  I would have never attempted this on my own without my Mom's guidance, she is able to see a project and make it happen in a short amount of time. Would I do it again? Sure!  Only if Mom helps again! :)

Am I in Zumba??

I took for granted walking into the same gym for the last 3 years.  I forgot the feeling of walking into a building, not knowing a soul, clueless as to where the good cardio machines were, or where to find the cold water fountains. 

I realized this once I started visiting the local Ys around Nashville.  I've been to 2 now.  The first one is located downtown and looks like a resort or hotel.  Sure, it's nice and new and smells good, but I felt incredibly out of place.  I was expected to pay for a parking deck, which I despise to begin with, then take elevators up and over and around to walk aimlessly trying to find the elliptical machine.  I finally found the rows of machines of choice, each with full cable tv screens (Yes free cable!).  The windows overlook downtown Nashville, again spiffy, but I still felt uncomfortable!  Everywhere I looked was either body building man, marathon trainers, or contestants on Miss USA.  I worked out and practically kept running to my car that I couldn't find in the parking deck.

Luckily, my temp pass allows me to visit the different locations in the city.  The next Y I tried out yesterday was in the Green Hills area.  After wandering around, I found an older building and a newer addition.  I found my beloved outdoor pool and a great cardio area, with yes, more built in tv screens!  (I got in a few TLC episodes I so miss!) I liked this location much better, normal people with normal bodies and no parking deck.  Yet, the highlight of my day was my Zumba class.  Now, I attended zumba regularly in Charlotte and am used to abandoning my poise or any sort of class just to shake it, turn it, twist it.  However, this day was more than I ever expected. 

Our instructor started out with a mix of clubbing bump and grind and an altered version of latin dancing.  For a split second, I thought about walking out of the door to look at the schedule and make sure I was in zumba.  I look around and see 80 year old man who may not make it through the hour, then walks in 14 year old pig tailed girl who thinks she is featured on Save The Last Dance, who of course stands next to me.  In the back left was me, with the smirk on my face, laughing hysterically inside.  The instructor lady did not care about any traditional sense of dance or zumba... and I kindof liked it!  Surprisingly, I looked around and saw a random assortment of 40 people dancing and moving with every fiber in their bodies.  So, I joined.  I danced and pretended I could copy the clubbin bumpin jumpin moves going on up front.  Then, the soul train line formed.  Yes, the instructor said it was time to dance fo real.... 80 yr old man shook his thing and 14 year old crip walked, the worm even showed up.  No, I did not have a dance solo, not this time at least. 

I was definitely out of my comfort zone, but actually enjoyed it.  I would go back.  Why not?  I got a great work out and felt pretty good about it.  Zumba as I knew it is now tainted, but I'm okay with it. 

I sure do wish I had a video clip to add to this post... haha

life on a budget- without cable!

In effort to save money, we decided not to get cable here in Nashville. (Thanks Santoros for showing us it can be done!)  Instead, we opted for the ever attractive bunny ears! If they turn slightly to the right, you miss out on the local Nashville channel featuring Randy Travis wannabees.  Or when they get bumped left you will possibly get NBC & CBS clearly.  For some reason, our stubborn ears omit ABC, which features some of my favorite reality shows, such as The Bachelorette... all I have to say is thank goodness for online shows!

In the past week, instead of cable, we have watched:

- Lots of local news with places and people we are not familiar with.  They keep showing maps of tornado watches that could very well by outside our window but we have no idea!

- How Do You Know- a terrible Reese Witherspoon movie, I was very disappointed in my favorite actress!  We turned it off after 30 min, what a waste of the $2 bockbuster rental.

-Just Go With It- a typical Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston movie that we did stick with the entire time and laughed!  I actually liked this one and thought it was worth the $1 redbox.

- The Mechanic- thanks Sam for a gory, shoot em up, testosterone filled flick.  I had nightmares after this one!  These movies are like trainwrecks for me, I don't want to watch but don't want to miss something if I turn away! 

- Law & Order: NY, LA, DC, CLT... I think they have one for every crime filled city in America now.  We don't care, we watch them all!  I don't know how the writers of these shows do it, they still come up with riveting whodunnit plot lines that seem more original and creative than the last.

My friend Tiffany was then a single mom who worked full time and seemed to do it all.  I asked her how she got it all done.  Her response was "I don't watch TV."  In our generation, it's funny to me how TV has become the center of the living room, the topic of conversation, and an empty hole where our money has been thrown! 

Not that this box with lights is a bad thing, but maybe limiting the amount we watch might not be a bad thing either.

Walking our way around

If you know Sam and myself, you know we are not the most prompt, directionally inclined people.  In fact, I would describe us as fashionably tardy and directionally challenged, in a good way of course!  We would frequently get turned around in Charlotte after having both lived there for 5 years.  Upon our arrival in Nashville, getting turned around in circles was to be expected.  So far we've only had one directional turn around which was of course "at the fault of the GPS."  Still, we decide to explore and walk around until we discover the hidden finds in our neighborhood. 

A few of my favorite finds so far:

Star Bagel- walking distance, great breakfast and coffee, yes please!

Local Taco- small specialty tacos, again walking distance away

Starbucks at Vandy- spacious, lots of plugs and tables!

The greenway/ public golf course 3 blocks from our house

CrossPoint Church- we visited this church that is also very close and loved the environment and teaching! great way to start our weekend.

I love how pedestrian friendly this city is!  Despite the rain and frequent thunder showers, we have spent a lot of time outside in an attempt to become "locals."

For all our Charlotte friends, we are slowly unpacking and adapting well to our new city. 

Thank you again for helping us load up and supporting us through this process.  More to come friends!!

a city inside of a city

I had the privilege of visiting a community housed by a large population of refugee families.  Many of the younger kids that live here attend the school where I taught for years now.  It took me far too long to make my visit with my friend Scarlet and her ministry family, Serving Strangers.  The people of this ministry are incredibly generous and are impacing lives daily in order to bring glory to God. 

Walking into this community, you feel like you are walking into another country.  Yet, I felt very human, very American, wondering how they live without what I consider basic necessities.  Scarlet and her ministry offer supplies, support, and love to these families.  Today, I saw a glimpse of God's love that stretches over language and cultural barriers. 

I'm glad I don't have teenagers...

but when we do have teenagers, I hope they're like Jill's!

These boys were such great sports, they let me put them in awkward situations and take their picture.  Not too many 15 year olds will let that happen!  We got a few awesome shots just before the rain started.

Thank you Jill for sharing your boys for a quick 30 minutes!  I hope they didn't hate their lives too much. :)

 Landon posed himself for the Lifetouch photographer on his own.

 railroad tracks make for a great shot

 Cole, you had this coming!

this one has Cute written all over it. 

gap jeans ad

Being a Bridesmaid

No I have not had 27 dresses, only 2, but what fun dresses they were!

This past weekend was my second bridesmaid experience.  We spent the weekend in Asheville, NC among beautiful sunsets and great company.

 Leslie's tulips

 my beautiful college girlfriends

 beautiful Asheville sunset

 the beautiful bride before the wedding

the wedding party in front of a lovely local chapel



I've always been a sappy fan of weddings, but now they tend to be more nostalgic now that I am married.  I recall the morning of our wedding and the heightened emotions of walking down the aisle myself.  I am honored and blessed to be married to my groom.  I love the details and how a great wedding represents the bride and groom perfectly. 

 A few of my favorites from my bridesmaid days and some of our own special day. :)

 Lindsay's beautiful West Palm wedding

Lindsay's wedding party

it sure is fun to play princess for the day!



 Mr. & Mrs.

The happiest day of my life when I married my best friend!