First Week of My Junior Year

This week went by in a flash.  But man am I glad it’s over!  I hate first days of classes.  I like a schedule and the first day is just too unknown for me.  Yes, I do realize that the unknown is a part of life…but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. ;)  I am taking 6 classes this year have 2 classes that have yet to meet, so I am ready to just be done with the classes of reflections on the syllabus.

For the most part though I am excited for the classes I have this semester.  I think some will be a challenge, but obviously that comes with the territory.  One of the classes I a most excited for is my children’s literature class.    

Sorry the picture is poor quality...I took it with my phone.

Anyway...what a wonderful class.  Part of the class is to read 30 children's books and do a written report on them.  So that is my homework for the weekend, to begin reading children's books. :)  Oh how I LOVE being an education major.

While I'm thinking about it...I wanted to share with you guys about a bag I recently purchased.  My roommate Tracy introduced me to the company Sari Bari, an organization in which the proceeds support women who were a part of the sex trade.  The women actually make the bags themselves, each one is handcrafted, and then the money helps to support the women and pay them so they can support their family and avoid the sex trafficking.  You should check it out!  Not only do they have bags but they also have scarves and jewelry.  Their stock changes so check back if they are out of what you want. 

My gorgeous bag!

  Well back to school thoughts.  I am so glad to have made it through the first week (even if it was only three days).  Tonight our school had the Block Party which was a blast.  They had a mechanical bull (I did not ride it...could you imagine the many ways I would hurt myself), inflatable slides and races, delicious food, dancing, and more.

The best friend and Me

The Sarah's

Tracy and Me

The Old Nazarene girls :)

Stephanie andMe

I was absolutely terrified to race.

The boy that was 10 years younger ended up beating us.

Rachel, Tracy, April, Sarah, Me, and Stephanie :)  I LOVE these girls!

After the Block Party these wonderful ladies and I played 12 rounds of UNO.  I won't comment on who won...let's just say it wasn't me. 

Until later,

Junior Year Beginnings!

This post is long overdue...but today is the perfect day to share how our apartment looks this year.  I am living in the same apartment as I did last year and am loving it!  This year I have three wonderful roommates, Stephanie, Sarah T., and Tracy. :)  We have already stayed up way too late talking and watching movies.  I anticipate many wonderful memories with these fabulous roommates.  The past few days have been filled with running errands, picking up new ID cards, filling out paperwork, various meetings, so on and so forth.  Today is the first day I haven't had anything to do so I am enjoying the downtime and preparing myself for the craziness that will begin tomorrow with classes.  Well I am sure I could bore you with more details of how move-in went (especially considering I overslept) but instead let's just go straight to the pictures.

Our door decorations--so perfect. I imagine the daycare kids would love these.

The kitchen dining area

Giant corkboard calendar

Kitchen

It took my lovely roommate Sarah hours to put up the paper on the cabinets...but they look so cute.

We made tissue paper flowers for the walls.

Living room

Reading nook (although we are currently missing books)

A great reminder as we walk out the door

Steph and I's beds

I have bottom bunk this year :)

We used a new set-up for beds this year and we LOVE it! So much more space!

We even have a little chair that can be used for reading in the bedroom.

The flowers we made for the living room.

My desk

I may have brought lots of crafting supplies with me :)

The closet I share with Stephanie

We each have a name tag on the bedroom door.

Our extremely organized storage closet!

   Hope you like it! Let me know what you think. :)

Am I done packing yet???

The answer to the question in my title is, NO!  I am not done packing yet....and I am starting to feel as though the packing will never end.  I usually don’t mind packing for school but for some reason this year I am finding it completely annoying and stressful.  I am not sure why this year seems so much more stressful than in years past.  I’m not sure if it’s my lack of motivation, the fact that figuring out how and when all of my stuff will get there has been a complete nightmare, or maybe just that I have WAY too many things to take. 

Anyway, today I spent a great portion of the day running errands and trying to get some things together.  I spent the morning going to the bank and running to the store to pick up odds and ends.  I keep thinking of things I need as I pack and have been running out to the store off and on to buy them.  It would probably be more efficient if I made a list and went to the store for everything at once., but oh well.  I’m usually a pretty organized person, however lately….

But I digress…after running errands this morning I did some quick packing and then met up with a friend for lunch.  On the way home I was stuck in traffic and found myself on the highway for an hour and a half.  Luckily my lovely roommate Stephanie called and kept me occupied.  Apparently a semi truck caught on fire.  When I drove by it looked awful and was still stuck on the side of the road when I drove by 7 hours later.

This evening my mom and I went out to dinner and did some more shopping.  I needed new sheets for my bed at school,, but literally everywhere we went the stores were out of the twin xl sheets in the color I needed.  Finally we just decided to buy twin sheets, because apparently if you buy jersey fit they will stretch?!  Hopefully it will work.  J

Well I probably should have skipped blogging today and kept packing.  But I decided I needed a chips and salsa break...which then turned into a blogging break and will probably now become a Pinterest break.  I think the time away has put packing into perspective….now I’m thinking the rest can wait until tomorrow. ;)

Sorry this blog is a tad boring...there is only so much to say about a day of packing and shopping.

Until next time,

Creativity

This summer I have spent a ton of time on Pinterest looking up classroom ideas, crafts, and more.  I’ve always looked at the worksheets teachers create and wondered how they make their sheets look so creative.  I’ve also been reading a lot of teacher blogs and have been completely inspired by their ideas and craftiness.  One of my fears in becoming a teacher was that I would never be able to be as creative as the ones I have had in the past and the ones I follow in blogs today.  I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to use a Cricut, make cute crafts, or design a blog.  I am not a very creative person, (I blame my kindergarten teacher who told me the mouse I colored shouldn’t have been red.)  Anyway, this summer a goal of mine was to prove to myself that I could be creative and crafty.  While I would not say that creativity necessarily comes to me naturally, I did prove to myself that with some research and dedication I will be able to create all the cute projects many teachers do today.  This summer I taught myself how to find free fonts on the Internet (I feel like this should have been something I realized years ago but apparently I am a little behind), how to use my Cricut to make decorations, how to complete various craft projects and see the potential in ordinary items.

This long explanation leads into how I spent my time today.  Today I spent many hours trying to improve my blog.  I searched for a better background and spent quite a while trying to design a better header.  I’m hoping that by improving my blog I will be more inclined to write more often.  But…I’ve said that before, haven’t I?

Well to recap the past few days….there really isn’t much to say.  I have been in a bit of a funk.  I haven’t had much to do and have just lounged around the house watching tv and reading.  I’m hoping to become a bit more motivated after writing this blog.  I should probably go do some laundry so I can finally start packing my clothing.  Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive as well.

Let me know what you think of the new design.

Love,

A Celebration of Life

The past few days have been a reminder of how precious our time on Earth is, and how important it is to celebrate the life we have now, and the life we will have one day in Heaven.  My roommate and best friend, Stephanie, called me on Thursday to inform me that her father had passed away.  As the news spread of his death among our friends, it became evident that all of us had every intention of being at the visitation and/or the funeral depending on each person's different circumstnaces.  With that in mind, our roommate Sarah came Sunday to attend the visitation and stayed overnight at my house to go to the funeral this morning.  We also met up with Tracy and some band members at the visitation.  Kayla's roommate, and our friend, Ali also came and stayed with Kayla so she was able to attend both the visitation and funeral.  It was amazing to see how many people came to support Stephanie, but also to show their respect to a wonderful husband, son, brother, father, etc.  Kayla, Ali, Sarah, and I all drove to the visitation together on Sunday evening.  We were surprised by the length of the line, but were so happy that several people were able to show their respect and condolences. 

We were at the visitation for around 2 hours and then decided to head over to Olive Garden to grab some dinner.  Oh how I love the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl.  While on a diet, however, it becomes a little harder.  Overall, though, I was happy with what I ate and decided to just bring my second bowl home.  The poor waitress at Olive Garden though.  We hadn't seen each other in a while and had many stories to share.  We laughed hysterically and changed our minds a million times, but had a wonderful dinner together.  After dinner the four of us came back to my house and played card games for a while until finally we couldn't stay awake any longer.  

This morning we woke up early and went to the funeral.  The service was beautiful.  The pastor did a wonderful job of celebrating Stephanie's father's  life, allowing each person to know how much he would be missed, while also being reminded of the peace and happiness he is now enjoying in Heaven.  I was so proud of Stephanie for her strength and courage throughout it all.  I know that these days have been hard, and that no doubt she will have harder days to come, but I admire the strength she showed throughout it all.

Following the funeral we grabbed lunch at the local Mexican restaurant and then went to a park for the afternoon.  We played some more card games while sprawled out on blankets.  The time we spent was so relaxing. The weather was beautiful and made for a perfect afternoon.  We even climbed the hill and some even enjoyed rolling down.

Ali rolling down the hill. Not quite as easy as it looked.

At the top :)

"The Sarah's" as we like to introduce ourselves

Kayla wanted to roll down after seeing Ali

 

I wish we would have gotten together under better circumstances, but I did have a wonderful time spending a couple of days with these guys.  We jammed out to Veggie Tales, laughed so hard we couldn't breathe, and became even more excited for the year ahead.

Love,

Sarah <3

Rain, Rain, Rain

It finally rained today! Rainy days are perfect to lounge around and relax…which is precisely what I did.  I woke up not feeling well so it was perfect timing to just enjoy a day off.  I spent the day watching the Big Bang Theory and doing crafts all day.  I know, I know….I keep saying that the next craft I do will be my last….but I just cannot seem to stop.  Maybe I need to give up Pinterest, although the dollar aisle at Target is also a large part of my problem.  I'm dying to share the projects I have been working on.

As much as I try, I am not smart enough to figure out how to flip this picture.  But I found these cardboard letters at Target and some cheap string at Wal-Mart and made these for my apartment.

I found a deal at Target in which I could buy 2 frames for a low price.  I turned one frame in a dry erase board and another into a magnetic board.  They are just the perfect size for my desk.

I've really been getting into using my Circut lately too. My roommates and I are making a giant cork board for our kitchen wall.  I made the dates yesterday and am going to work on the months tomorrow, once I make a (quick) trip to Michaels.

 I also made decorative pushpins by attaching cute buttons.  They were too small to take a picture that would show how cute they look.  Once the whole calendar is put together I will post a picture.  Well, as I said today was a laid back day.  I have watched what seems like a million episodes of Big Bang Theory. I literally keep laughing out loud.  :)  I plan to spend the rest of evening reading blogs and continuing to lounge around.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling better and ready to tackle some errands.

Night,

Sarah <3