Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Beginning of Fall Playlist

Here is my Beginning of Fall playlist...

Oxford Comma- Vampire Weekend
Home- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Fallin For You- Dierks Bentley
Man of a Thousand Faces- Regina Spektor
Landslide- Dixie Chicks
Undertaker- M.Ward
The House That Built Me- Miranda Lambert
Wagon Wheel- Old Crow Medicine Show
Miss Magnolia- Matt Costa
One Fine Day- Natalie Merchant

Enjoying anything by Laura Marling these days too.

Delightful (and random!) little songs.

TGIF (Thank God It's Fall!)

Fall has finally come to settle in Nashville!

On Monday, I woke up in a terribly good mood which was to get even better when I checked the weather. Sunny, high 72. I decided it was time to celebrate fall! I pulled out my brown vest, a crisp white shirt, gold earrings from India, my favorite jeans (to school on a Monday!), my brown wedge shoes (have to dress up a little!), and a purple scarf. I listened to Snow Patrol on the way to school and felt even more autumn-ish when some leaves fell from the trees as I pulled away from my house. I decided to stop by Starbucks to pick up a chai (my favorite fall drink!) and when pulling up to the window found out it had been paid for. In the evening, I went to Bible study and was warmed when I saw so many others in fall attire. So many scarfs and light sweaters. After study, Renee and I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some little pumpkins. I chose a slightly big-little orange pumpkin and little white pumpkin for my mantle. We went back to her house and watched a fall episode of Gilmore Girls. The evening ended with making grilled cheese sandwiches for Justin and me.

It was a good-for-the-soul, celebrate Fall day!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Another Fill-In Friday

1. In the story of my life, the actor that would play me would be Meg Ryan. She is adorable.

2. If I could change one thing about the world it would be the lack respect people show others.

3. Yesterday ended with a nice Vespa ride and an episode of The Mentalist. So thankful for quiet nights at home.

4. My favorite comfort food is cream cheese mixed with salsa and served with Wheat Thins. Easy comfort fix. (Warning: do not use full block of cream cheese as you will be tempted to eat the whole thing...)

5. My new favorite blog find is GOOP. GOOP is a blog that Gwyneth Paltrow writes. She has great tips on things on going, making, seeing, doing, getting, and being. I look forward to seeing her weekly emails as well.

6. My favorite breakfast food is Pete's Breakfast Torta at Fido's. $4.99 worth of egg, veggie sausage, cheese, peppers, salsa, and sour cream deliciousness. (With a cup of coffee of course!)

Link up your Friday Fill-In-The Blanks here.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Loans for Supplies?!?!

Today while flipping through a teaching magazine, I stumbled across a full page ad for a credit union. The ad was pleasing to the eye and simple. After reading though, I found it to be a little sad. To entice teachers to get a loan, they used "Low rate loans for supplies, certifications and continuing education."

When I was teaching I had to dig into my pocketbook many times to get what I needed for lessons. We only get $200 for supplies a year. Think about getting something for a class of 28 on $200. It is hard to do. While I don't think anybody goes into teaching for the money, I don't think many people realize just how much of their own money they can spend on supplies for the classroom. Now it is attractive to get a loan to cover those costs... Sad day, my friends.

I did love this little quote I found this morning...

“Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.” –Garrison Keillor

Fill-In Friday #3

1. When I get a day to myself I like to read books and then often find some way to make it not a day to myself. Busy-ness syndrome.

2. High school was a wonderful experience. I went to a small and challenging public school. I had great friends (The Angel Buddies). I made good grades. I also credit my cultural awareness to some of the classes I took with Mr. Fleming and Mrs. Jones. It definitely made me a better person.

3. A little dream I have is to get my doctorate. I say it is a little dream because it comes and goes and there is not a lot of passion with it (as one can tell by my masters program work).

4. A big dream I have is to have my own bed and breakfast, The Silver Elephant. One day.

5. If I could drive any car my pick would be a working one. Mine has had issues all week.

6. A time that I felt really and truly beautiful was when I walked into my classroom one day and my students clapped and said I looked pretty. Apparently jeans and a hoodie are glamorous in China. Hmmm....

7. Tomorrow I will be spending the day celebrating the marriage of my friends- Roan and Shawna. Outdoor ceremony, pig roast, dancing, and friends sound like the perfect Saturday.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Swagger Wagon

At one point in my life I wanted 12 kids. Seriously. If I had that many kids I would invest in a Swagger Wagon ( or maybe a couple!)

Friday, September 10, 2010

Filling In

Another Fill-In-The-Blank-Friday courtesy of The Little Things We Do

1. The strangest thing I've ever eaten is octopus legs. The texture made me want to... well, you know.

2. I wouldn't be caught dead in skinny jeans with ugg boots. I could and have rant and rave about this for a long time. I don't know why I hate that trend so much, but I do. With a passion. Ugg.

3. When I am 75 I will hopefully look back on life with no regrets.


4. If I had to be named after a place I would want to be named Savannah (as in the beautiful city of Savannah, GA).

5. My name is "Elizabeth"- as in John the Baptist's mother and some classy ladies in my family, and "Lauren"- I guess because my parents just liked the name?

6. My all time favorite photo is the Yichang Christmas picture.


7. If I could afford it I would be sitting in the mountains today.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Day Not To Be Forgotten


Do you ever have days you just don't want to forget? This was one of those.

Family Vacation 2010: Gatlinburg

A couple of months ago, my parents called to invite/inform me of the Great Family Vacation of 2010. We would be going to Gatlinburg, TN for one week. It was the first big family vacation that I have been on in nine years!

Having two parents, six children, four significant others, and two grandchildren all in one place for a period of a week could make for pure torture, I am happy to say it was the BEST vacation ever. Really.

We took a old time family portrait, made good use of the indoor waterpark at our condo, had a goofy golf challenge, celebrated Jakson's 2nd birthday, go-carted, played games, hot-tubbed, strolled through Gatlinburg, made a crazy amount of U-turns in Pigeon Forge, visited the Christmas store, and caught up on life. I was blessed to be able to spend some quality time with Caitlin and Cameron while they picked out Cameron's wedding band. Justin and I had a day to ourselves on which we got to see a black bear!

Sadly, we had to leave on Wednesday night in order for me to get back to work. I ended up taking Wednesday off and I am so thankful I did. There are not many times that the whole family gets to be together and I am so thankful that this one was so special.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Hiatus Over

A little hiatus from blogging, but I think I am back!

A few little updates...

The flea update. I used a total of 19 bombs, three house saltings, three house sprays and two visits by the Orkin man. The fleas finally disappeared long enough for me to return to sleeping in my house. I still find a couple every now and then, but I keep spraying. I will give it a good spray before I leave for vacation tomorrow.

Socrates is living in Arkansas. Justin and I took him to stay with Justin's mom. Soc adores Renee and it seemed to be a good fit. It was a very tearful goodbye on my part, but I knew he would get more attention than I could give him. (Good thing since I have been staying much, much later than I ever thought.) I miss Soc sticking his nose up on my bed and sitting on my feet.Gingersnap, the stray that I took in, has also found a home courtesy of EAST C.A.N.

The new job has not been exactly all I dreamed of. In fact, I spent much of the first two weeks in tears and stressed to the max. It is starting to get better. The biggest cause of my stress has been the Free and Reduced Lunch forms. To get Title I funds, the school uses these forms. They are very particular about what all needs to be filled out. Because we are sitting at 980 students (the largest elementary school in Metro!), it has taken me a lot of time to go over each form to make sure they have been filled out correctly. If they are not correct, then I have to mark it and send it back home with the students to be done over again. Once the form is finally filled out correctly then they are sent to the central office to be approved and entered. Sadly, after all of my hard work, all of our lunch forms were sent back! (insert explicative here.) Apparently, whoever (not me!) put the forms together, did so on the wrong type of paper where they cannot be scanned in. So the process had to be done over again. Sigh. With all of that, I am just now getting to work on the family calendar which is the reason I took this job. September is filled with all kinds of testing. October though will be my month. ;)

I have started another Bible study on Monday nights. I joined a Beth Moore's Breaking Free study at Fellowship. It focuses on breaking free of the things that have strongholds in our lives (insecurity, fear, addictions, etc.). I have been struggling with insecurity in pretty much every aspect of my life lately so I think this study will be a good fit. I have already found encouragement in my daily readings.

I will be going for my next doctor's appointment next Thursday. Please keep that in your prayers. It has already been a source of sleepless nights.

I am happy to report that I am going on FAMILY VACATION tomorrow! I am beyond excited!!! Dad and Mama have a timeshare in Gatlinburg that all (6) of us kids plus significant others (and children), parents, and one house helper get to use. Old Time family portrait, goofy golf tournament, Jakson's birthday party, water park and lots of games are on the schedule. Of course, we will be visiting the amazing Christmas Store! Justin and I will leave right after school tomorrow to meet up with everybody there. We will come back on Tuesday night. I have not been on family vacation in about 7-8 years. Keep us in your prayers because there tends to be a little drama and with all of being in the same quarters for several days... But it is going to be great! I am so stinkin' excited!!!!

I need to pack, make dinner, and finish up some work, but I am happy to be blogging again.