Christmas Recap & Burlap Wreath Crafting

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.... I most certainly did! My 3 favorite things from the holiday would have to be...

                                           1.  Wearing matching PJs with my husband

2. My needle point Lilly stocking

3. Monogrammed car mats! One of my favorite gifts

 Something that I absolutely LOVE about time off from work is the time it gives me to do lots of craft projects :) Tonight, I tackled a project that has been on my list for a while- the burlap loop wreath!

This project requires just a few materials and is pretty simple to complete. There are many tutorials out there that explain how to do this better than I probably could.. so I wont even go into detail.

As I made it I watched my new favorite show, Courtney Loves Dallas! I love pretty much every show on Bravo... but especially this one. Courtney is super fun and fashionable... and a blogger!

                                 
                                                                      (source)

Till next time dolls!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I've been a bad blogger the past two months! But now that school is (finally) out for Christmas I have a little time to blog. Life has been pretty low key lately.. Just preparing for Christmas and enjoying the season all the while! 

                              Obligatory tree photo

                      One of my favorite ornaments!

Besides finals, the past couple weeks I have been swamped filling orders from my etsy shop! Not that I'm complaining though- the extra money has allowed me to gift a little bigger this year :). 

I am hoping to post a couple of times a week throughout break, as well as read some books and enjoy time with family and friends!

Blessings to all!

Empire State of Mind!

Later this week I will be hopping on a plane headed for none other than the Big Apple! I have never been before and I seriosuly cannot wait! It will be a girls trip with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law and we are hitting up all the hot spots. And the cherry on top is that the weather is supposed to be AMAZING! Which makes all the difference since we will be out sight seeing for 90% of the time.

I will take lots of pics while I'm there! Any advice on what to see/do or where to eat?

Teacher Talk- Dressin' to the 9's (most days...)

Today I am linking up with Nicole and Jamie to talk about one of my favorite things... teaching clothes! I love shopping and picking out outfits... looking nice when I go to work just puts me in a better mood. Not to toot my own horn, but I received the "best dressed" superlative from the students last year! :) But then there are days that I push snooze a few dozen times, throw on some pants and a cardigan and hope for the best!

So here a few outfits that I remembered to take pictures of...

Dress- Target, Necklace- J. Crew

Sweater- J Crew, Necklace- Groopdealz

Dress- Target, Necklace- JCrew

Shirt- JCrew, Necklace- Charming Charlies

And then I have my everyday watch/bracelet combo

Michael Kors watch, Blessings bracelet

Monogram ring- etsy, Bracelet- JCrew

Can you tell that I love statement necklaces? I plan a lot of my outfits around them. 

Thats all for tonight, loves! 

Retail Therapy

Hey loves! I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I've been under the weather this weekend and my husband has been out of town for a week, so needless to say I've been a bit gloomy :( The solution? Shopping!

 

This little beaut is a Phillip Lim from Target. Its big enough to fit my iPad and planner on those days that I don't need to bring my laptop home. Also a great fall and winter purse!

 

These awesome tumblers. It wont be long until they have a monogram!

 

 

Speaking of monograms... check out my store on Etsy! (Shameless plug!)

 

And I couldn't pass up these cute straws!

 

My shopping trip didn't last very long... I was pooped after just about an hour of shopping, thanks to my cold. Tomorrow my mission is to get a new hair curling wand that is bigger than my current one.

Later gators :)

Fall Makes Me Think Of....

1. Reading a good book on the porch. Speaking of which, I need a new book to read. Any suggestions???

2. The next season of Homeland... one of my faves!

3. These Tory Burch boots... but ouch that price tag hurts!

I love summer... but when the weather starts to turn chilly I get so excited for all the great things fall brings!

Weekend Ramblings

It's a beautiful weekend here in the STL! I've been a bad blogger lately since work (school) has started back up... but my life hasn't been terribly exciting lately either :) This weekend is pretty low key with school work, house work, and the Cardinals game on Sunday. My bestie Jess & her bf Logan are meeting us downtown for it... I can't wait! She lives in Columbia, so I don't get to see her too much.

                                              Jess and me on my wedding day!

Working in a high school 'clues me in' to things that I would be otherwise unaware of. The most recent hot topic in my class right now is the undeniable demise of Miss Miley Cyrus. I saw the VMAs and her unfortunate dancing... but her newest video for "Wrecking Ball" tops that. Yikes. Its one of those things that you can't unsee.... watch if you dare!

                                                                source


Well, its back to grading tests for me. Hope y'all are having a nice weekend!

Another one in the books!

Another summer that is! I spent this past weekend at the lake with my husband and his family. It was a great way to end an amazing summer!

As sad as I am that the summer is ending... I really love fall :) I can't wait for sweater weather and to get my first pumpkin spiced latte of the season! 

After we got home I went grocery shopping, did some laundry and made my lunch for tomorrow.. feeling productive and ready to take on this short week!

Hope you had a lovely holiday weekend!

Teacher Talk- Week One!

I have to say, I am so pumped for this link up series! A huge 'thanks' goes out to Jamie and Nicole for setting this up! If there's one thing I miss from college it's having the support of my friends and fellow teachers as we went through student teaching, so I'm hopeful that this group of teacher-bloggers will give me a similar experience :)

 

                                    Secondary Science Education Group... my support team!

This first week is all about who I am as a teacher. I teach in a Catholic high school in a suburb of St. Louis, MO. This year is my third year, and I currently teach Environmental Science and Biology. I love love love the school I'm at... and I love teaching science!! But the best part of my job is the kids. They amaze me everyday and keep life "real".

                                            My partner teacher... aka my bestie!

                                            They call us the 'bio buds' :)

 My faith is really important to me, so it is awesome to be able to work and love Jesus at the same time! I am so blessed to have this amazing place to work.. where He is always the first priority.

It's always been hard for me to explain "why I teach". Teaching has always been a part of me... its always been what I wanted to do. And I cannot give enough credit to the amazing teachers I've had along the way, as they've totally solidified this decision.

I hope that gives you a little "snapshot" of who I am as a teacher... I can't wait to read about all the other awesome teachers doing this link up!

Happy!

Well, I made it through the first week of school! It's funny... all of last week I was dead tired and honestly wasn't loving work like usual. My husband kept reminding me that it would pass... and I'm happy to say that it did! Its only Monday... but I am feeling better about everything this week! Love being happy :) I even went to the gym tonight!

This past weekend was my hubby's birthday! We spent the weekend celebrating at the Lake of the Ozarks... boating, swimming and eating birthday cake!

I am a granola bar ADDICT! I drive 30 minutes to work in the morning so it's the perfect breakfast to eat in the car. Sometimes its hard to find a granola bar that has low sugar, high protein, high fiber... and still tastes good. Ladies... I present you KIND bars! Sooo yummy and only 5 g of sugar!

 

Lastly... I am so excited for tomorrow's link up! I can't wait to get to know my partner and read the other teachers' blogs!

I Love a Sale!!

Today was the first day of Lilly Pulitzer's Endless Summer Sale!! I love me some Lilly, but I honestly cringe at the prices sometimes. So I was super happy to get two adorable dresses for half of what they would normally cost!

                                          

                                                                 Carmine Dress

                                              

                                                                     Fleur Dress

Its a good day, ladies! Did you partake in this great sale?

          

TGITW! (Thank God It's The Weekend!)

It's official... school has started! The first week of my third year of teaching is in the books, and boy am I whipped! Its obvious my body was used to doing pretty much nothing in the summer, and then WHAM a full day of high schoolers happens. Overall I'm really looking forward to this year.. I have four classes of upperclassmen and two of lowerclassmen. I keep forgetting to take pictures of my classroom.. stay tuned, its pretty cute :).

Speaking of cute... this is my newest creation.

 I bought the dress from Gap Outlet and used heat transfer vinyl to monogram it. Pretty easy and super adorable!

Anywho, this weekend my 'to do' list is about a mile long... but I'm still looking forward to sleeping in past 5:30! (Yes... I have to get up at 5:30 during school year... blah!)

Tonight we're having enchiladas... my husband's absolute fave! You can find the recipe here.

Hope you all have a great weekend!