The Perfect Party Garland

Back in December one of my best friends hosted a bridal shower for one of her best friends.  The bridal shower was held in December and she used Christmas as the theme.

I was at her house after the shower and saw most of the decorations she made for the shower.  The decor that stood out the most for me was the garland.  She had made a fabric garland and put the brides future initials in front of the garland using some burlap.

I was obsessed the minute I saw it.  So obsessed that I immediately asked her how she made it and decided that I wanted to make one just like it for Ashley’s baby shower.

And that’s what I did.  And now I’m going to share it with all of you because it is SUPER easy and adorable and people will love it.  They’ll gush over it and obsess over it and demand to know how you made it.

You will need:
 – 7-10 different fabrics
– some type of rope……I used a semi thick burlap type of rope from Hobby Lobby
– gold glitter ribbon (or any color ribbon that goes with your color scheme)

Step One:  Choose your fabric.  So I knew I wanted to go with a white and pink theme for the shower,  typical “it’s a girl” colors. So I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out 7 different fabrics.  The key is for all the fabrics to be different.  Different shades of pink and completely different patterns.  I would also suggest waiting until your favorite fabric store (in my case Hobby Lobby) has a sale on fabric so that way you’re not spending an obscene amount of money on this project.  Once you’ve chosen your fabric you need to buy 1/2 of a yard of each.  You may need 3/4 of a yard depending on how long you want your garland to actually be.

When I got home I realized I wanted to add some of the fabric my roommate had bought a few months before.  I compared the yellow, green, and blue fabric to the ones I had already had and decided they would loon perfect and so I threw in those colors as well.  (Save for the green, that was ultimately left out)

Step Two: Cut all your fabric.  Now I am actually really lazy and when I started to realize that I was going to need a bunch of these strips of cloth I almost stopped making the garland.  

But then I realized there is a much easier way to do this then cutting every single strip with scissors.  So what you need to do is cut each piece of fabric into 1 inch strips.  And to avoid having to cut each of these 1 inch strips all you have to do is make a small cut at the end of the fabric and then literally rip it off.  It will come apart in one clean motion and be completely straight.  I ended up using my finger to measure the 1 inch and made about 25 cuts in each fabric, thus giving me right around 25 strips of each of my 10 pieces of fabric (which is about 250 strips total.)

Oh and your fabric will look frayed since your ripping it apart and not cutting it, but that is okay!  The frayed look is one of the things that makes this garland look so good.

Step Three:  Tie each strip to the rope alternating between each of your different fabrics.  Because I didn’t want to kill my back doing this, I went ahead and tied the rope to my fireplaces mantle.  This made it so much easier when tying each piece to the rope.  I even alternated between sides to make sure it was balanced correctly.  

(I probably should have taken pictures as I went but I forgot)

Leave about an inch of the fabric above the rope to give it that frayed look.  

Step Four: Add your glitter ribbon.  Once you have all of your fabric attached to your rope, then go in and add your glitter ribbon.  I used two full rolls of the gold glitter ribbon.  It added so much to the garland it’s not even funny.  I cute the ribbon the same length as the rest of the fabric and made sure to buy 1 inch ribbon to go with my 1 inch strips.

Step Five: Enjoy and let all your friend gush over how creative you are and how wonderful it looks.  See easy peasy.  I’m really glad I added the yellow and blue fabrics.  It helped bring out the different pink fabrics really nicely.  When I sent the final product to Ashtyn she said it reminded her of a Disney Princess.  Which was PERFECT because as we all know I’m obsessed with Disney and so is Ashley.

Seriously though y’all, this was the easiest thing in the world to make.  It was a tad time consuming.  It took me about an hour or two get it completely finished but it was so worth it in the end.  I was going to make my own initial burlap garland to go over it but I found the one you see in the picture at Hobby Lobby for 5 bucks and it had the cute chalk board hearts, so I was sold!

Best part is, this garland is going to be used again.  I’m going to send it to my friend Jordan so she can use it as her bridal shower in June! 🙂

What do you think?

Simply Chic and Pink Baby Shower

Saturday I co-hosted my best friends baby shower.  And it was absolutely wonderful!

Jenny and I decided we wanted to throw our best friend, Ashley a baby shower in El Paso in February back in September.  We had a blast planning it.  

It all started with the invitation.  Which we thought was the perfect mix of simple and cute. Ashley is having a girl and so we went with the traditional pink and white as out color theme.

We flew into El Paso on Thursday night and gave ourselves all day Friday and all morning Saturday into Saturday afternoon to get everything ready.

Now I could tell you everything, but it is so much more fun to show you! 

SO without further ado I give you, our Simply Chic and Pink Baby Shower we hosted for my best friend Ashley!

Jenny, Ashley and me.

We were bridesmaids in Ashley’s wedding and now she’s having a sweet baby girl!! 

Lacey Lynn Wright.

Our main table.

We served: Vegetable Cups with Ranch Dressing, Strawberries and Cream Cheese Dip, Grape and Goat Cheese w/ Pecan Bites, Caprese Bites, BLTs, Cucumber Salad sandwiches, and Chicken Salad on Croissant sandwiches. 

For dessert we served fruit tarts and delicious petit fours. 

For beverages we bought personalized water bottle labels and put them on water bottles as well as a delicious Sparkling Punch.

We added another little personal touch by putting everyone’s name on their glasses.

The Sparkling Punch had the following:

Pink Lemonade

White Cranberry Strawberry Juice 

Clubsoda

Mint

It was a huge hit and I highly recommend serving it at your next event.  All the ladies at the shower loved it.

We played 5 different baby shower games.  All of which were a blast! 

We played:

Guess the Baby Food

What Baby Thing is in the Bag?

Chocolate Diapers

How Many Jelly Beans Are There?

Bottle Chugging 

Pacifier Toss (only you have to “toss” the pacifier using your mouth. This was by far the funniest/most fun of the games!)

I made sure there were fresh flowers un as many places as possible.  But especially on our main table.  

We bought a pretty bouquet of roses and my personal favorite, hydrangeas.

I also bought a pretty spring bouquet for the front table.

Fresh flower are a MUST for any event.  A MUST!

I made a garland for the mantle, where we decided to place all the gifts people brought.  

My friend Ashtyn had made one for her friend’s bridal shower and she showed me how she did it.

Y’all it was the easiest garland to make and you can expect a full tutorial on how I did it tomorrow!

 I am personally obsessed with it! 🙂

We had nice little turnout for the shower, if I do say so myself.

Here is everyone playing one of the shower games.

Here are the 4 brave contestants in our Pacifier Toss!  

Even out Mom-to-Be played along.

I’m telling you it was the best game of the day.

As party favors we gave each guest a cute little duck sugar cookie.  

Jenny snuck out to the front patio area and moved everything around and changed the sign before the guests started leaving.

It was the perfect little touch to end a very lovely and fun baby shower!

 I absolutely loved our baby shower.  To me it was perfect.

And from the expression on Ashley’s face and the fact that she cried I think she did too.  I am so glad we got to do this for her.  She is going to be the best mom ever and I cannot wait to see her shine in that role.

I also cannot wait to meet Lacey! Which is what I will be doing the next time I head to El Paso.

Lacey Lynn,
We are so excited for you to be here.  I know your mom and I can’t wait to show you the magic that is Disney, the wonder that is Harry Potter and of course spoil you rotten!  You will be one of the most loved little girls in the whole world! And I cannot wait to be part of your life! 🙂
Love, Aunt Kac! 🙂

Best Weekend EVER!

Hi lovely friends,  I hope you had a fantastic weekend!

This weekend was one of the best I’ve had in a long time.  I got to head home to El Paso for the weekend and see my family and best friends.   I got to miss work on Friday, which is always nice!  Gotta love 3 day weekends. And my all time favorite day of the year happened, OSCAR NIGHT!

Here a fun little break down for you.

I traveled home to El Paso to throw my best friend in the entire world a baby shower.  She will be welcoming her very first sweet baby into the world at the end of March and I am so thrilled that I got to throw her a baby shower.  Jenny and I threw it together and it came out absolutely perfect if I do say so myself.

I plan to dedicate a whole post to the shower later this week so I’m not going to go into any details but I will show you this picture:

Yeah…..it was perfect.  I also got to see my parents this weekend which was great as usual.  I’ll be seeing them again in two weekend when they come to Houston for Spring break.

Sunday night was Oscar night!  My favorite time of the year.  I was just getting back into Houston when the show actually started, so I missed the first hour and a half.  Which was highly disappointing but thank god for DVR because I was able to catch up with the live version!

Here were a few of my favorite moments:

–Red Carpet looks. Since I missed the Red Carpet I had google all the gowns and here were some of my favorites!

As you can see there is a theme going on here.  I liked all the rose/neutral colored dresses, save for Reece Witherspoon and Dakota Johnson.  Jennifer Aniston’s was probably my favorite! (If you want to check out my dream Oscar Red Carpet look, click here, I did a whole post about it!)

–I loved that the awards were so spread out this year.  There was a different winner for most of the categories and I found that very refreshing since most years the same movie wins multiple categories.

–Lady Gaga’s tribute to The Sound of Music.  Ummmmm…..hello!  This was amazing.  I’ve never been a hug Lady Gaga fan but oh my goodness.  This was fantastic.  Loved every minute of it and watched it several times before I went to bed on my phone.

–The Oscar’s set.  I loved the way the stage was set for this years Oscars.  I thought it was absolutely gorgeous. I love the way deep red and gold look when paired together.

–Neil Patrick Harris.  Loved the intro this year.  Thought it was very well done.  His jokes were chuckle worthy and ok, but I’m sorry, nothing will EVER top Ellen’s epic selfie from last year.  Nothing.

–I learned about “seat-fillers”.  Totally want to fill that job next year.  Apparently they get paid $125 an hour to fill the seat of the actors/actresses who go up to accept and award or present an award or just take part in the show.  Sign me up.

–Boyhood didn’t win anything except for Best Supporting Actress.  Sorry but I thought that was a super boring movie that had a super boring plot.  I get that it was different because it used the same actors for 12 years.  But I was fighting to say awake and was glad I didn’t pay 9 bucks to see it in theaters.  And thus, is why I was glad it didn’t win anything major!

Overall I was very pleased with the show.  I know I’ve mentioned this about a hundred times but I just adore the Oscars.  The gowns, the hosts, the celebrities and the celebration of film.  I totally should have gone into the movie industry.

Well hope your weekend was a great!  Linking up once again with these two lovelies! 🙂

Let’s Go to the Movies!

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time at all you will know that I love movies.  I love everything about them and I will pretty much watch just about anything.  I also don’t listen to critics or movie reviews like at all.  Because I can pretty much guarantee that even if the reviews are terrible, I won’t hate it.

Unless the movie is Don Jon.  That movie was TERRIBLE, seriously I wanted to walk out of the theatre about 10 times but I paid 9 bucks to see it so I stayed.  (And people are saying 50 Shades is terrible….they clearly haven’t seen Don Jon.)

Anyway, the Spring/Summer always sees a petty good assortment of movies released.  And I thought it would be fun to share some of the films that I’m excited to see.  Plus the Oscars are this weekend and usually movies that are released in the spring/summer aren’t Oscars contenders so I feel like they could use a little bit of love.

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Cinderella

I know it feels like this story has been re-told a million times (because it has) but I am so excited to see this movie.  Anything with Rob Stark is a must see.

Get Hard

Here we have your typical comedy with Will Farrell and Kevin Hart.  It’s about a white guy who’s going to jail and he asks a black guy to help him get ready.  I think it’ll be silly but hilarious.

Woman in Gold

I’ve seen the preview for this several times and it looks amazing every time.  It’s about a woman who is trying to get a famous painting of her aunt back from the Austrian government after it was taken by the Nazis during WWII.  Sounds like a snooze fest but I have high hopes for the film.

The Longest Ride

Another Nicolas Sparks movie.  This is one I haven’t read but it has Clint Eastwood’s son and he is VERY attractive.  So I’m in.

The Age of Adeline

This looks very interesting.  It’s about a woman who somehow never ages.  Not sure how this happens exactly but it still looks really good.  (I did not explain that well at all, click the title of the movie and it’ll take you to the trailer!)

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Ever since I saw Captain America, I’ve been obsessed with all the Marvel movies.  So this is a must see for me.  I cannot wait to see what happens to the sexy group of super heros next.

Pitch Perfect 2

The first was hilarious and totally quotable and I’m hoping the sequel is just as Acca-awesome.

Aloha

I am sooooo excited to see this movie.  It’s by the same guy who directed Jerry McGuire and that movie is one of my favorites.  Plus is has Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone and is set in Hawaii. 

ENTOURAGE

The excitement I have for this movie needs no explanation.  And if you haven’t watched the TV series you are totally missing out and need to fix that immediately! 

Jurassic World

This has Chris Pratt who is married to Anna Farris who is my dopple-ganger.  So obviously I need to see my fake husband’s movie.  Plus I love a good action movie and I have a feeling this one will be quite actiony.

Inside Out

Sill Pixar movie that takes you inside our emotions.  I think it look cute and funny and plus it’s Disney.  So yeah.

Magic Mike XXL

No reason other than I want to see Channing Tatum and Matt Bomer dance on a stage shirtless.  And I don’t think I need another reason.  🙂

Ant-Man

Again, it’s Marvel.  And I love the Marvel movies.  I also really enjoy Paul Rudd so should be good.

Pan

Yet another movie that has been remade about 100 different times but it’s one of my favorite stories.  But I think this is going to be a very unique version of the movie.  So I will be seeing this as well.

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Well there ya have it.  Just a few of the movies I’m excited to see this spring/summer.  If you’re interested in seeing the trailers for any of them just click the title and it will take you right to them.

So, do any of them look of these movies catch your eye?  If so, which ones?

148 Days

In 148 days I will once again be strolling through the streets of London, England.  And I could not be more excited.

Until that time though I am on a very very VERY tight budget.  Seriously y’all, I know this is going to be one of the best trips of my entire life but until that time it is really breaking the bank.  

Thankfully, my roommate Jenny is coming too so we usually we can keep each other one track.  Well except for last night.  Here was our conversation:

Me: “Ok should I make a pasta dish, have a salad, make a sandwich or pretend like I’m in college and eat ramen noodles?”

Jenny: “Make a salad and eat pasta.”

Me: “Ok”

She then follows me into the kitchen and says, “You now I really want to go out to eat, I mean it is Fat Tuesday.”

Me: “But we’re saving money!!!”

Jenny: “True, but I really want it.”

Me: Ponders that statement for a moment, “Ok fine, lets go.”

So yeah. That happened.  (I also may have given into Sonic’s $1 hotdogs on President’s Day.)

Our trip has to be paid in full by May 8th.  So until then, I’ve been trying to come up with ways to keep myself occupied so I’m not tempted to spend money.

Here is what I’ve come up with:

-Movie/TV marathons at home.  The cable package we have comes with a ton of extra On Demand movies and TV Shows, plus Jenny has Amazon Prime.  So there are a ton of things we can watch.

-Go to the library.  I’ve had a library card in both major cities I’ve lived in, Orlando and Houston.  And they are lifesavers when you’re trying to save money.  Not only can you check out books from libraries but they usually have a pretty decent selection of movies too.  Plus there is nothing quite like browsing through the selves of a library.

-Cook at home.  Thank you Pinterest. 

-Clean house.  As strange as it sounds, keeping your house clean is a great way to spend no money.  Plus you’re in clean environment.

-Explore my neighborhood.  I haven’t done this personally but I’ve thought about it.  

-Blog. Obviously

-Find new blogs to read.  This is one of my favorite things to do.  And you can literally spend hours doing it.  FOR FREE!!! (Well unless you count paying for the internet, then I guess it’s not technically “free”)

-Pinterest.  Again pretty obvious.  I don’t know about y’all but this keeps me entertained for HOURS!

-Lay in bed all day long and be completely lazy.  Which is my personal favorite and is basically what I do most weekends.

It’s been a real struggle but again, it will be totally 100% worth it when I am strolling the streets of London, Paris, Amsterdam, Lucerne, Verona, Venice, and Rome! 🙂

Do y’all have any suggestions on ways to save money? Or fun things to do that don’t cost any money?  You’re input would be greatly appreciated! 

Weekend Update

As I type this I am watching the SNL 40 special so I figured a title that connected to that fact was appropriate!  (Lets be honest, I’m really only watching to see the N*SYNC reunion we all heard was gonna happen!)

So the weekend is over and it’s back to work.  Luckily, today is President’s Day and thus a student holiday.  Meaning while I still have to go to work, my little angels will not be present. WHOOP WHOOP! I only have a 3 day week though because I will be spending Friday getting everything prepped for my best friends baby shower!! YAY! So excited! 

I will definitely be giving a ton of details on that next.  So get excited.

For now though I’m going to give a little weekend update, because my weekend was actually eventful!  

So here’s are a couple highlights.

-Friday I got a few sweet Valentine’s from my students.  Chocolates and a super sweet card from one in particular.

-My incredibly sweet roommate, Jenny surprised me on Saturday morning with tulips, my favorite candy: Reece’s Minis, and a handmade Valentine’s card. 

-Two of my friends and I celebrated Galentine’s Day by seeing 50 Shades of Grey.  I know this movie/book has gotten A LOT of criticism and everything.  I’ve read the books myself and thing they are written horribly.  It was pretty hard to get through if only because the writing was so bad.  But to be completely honest I didn’t hate the story and so it’ll be no surprise when I say that I didn’t hate the movie.  Were there cheesy parts? Obviously.  But I’m a sucker for cheesy romance.  So yeah…didn’t hate it.  And I will most likely be seeing the sequels when those come out.  

-Saturday evening I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought all the crafty stuff I needed to make a super cute garland for Ashley’s baby shower this weekend.  I plan to do a small tutorial on how to make the garland in the coming weeks!

-Finished up The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau.  I really liked it and will be started the sequel before bed tonight.

-Sunday morning was spent catching up on Grey’s Anatomy.  It was incredibly sad and I cried a thousand tears per usual. 

-I also spent some quality snuggle time with my Sadie girl.  She has been in this mood where she constantly wants to be near me and I kinda love it.

-I may or may not have read an entire book on Sunday.  (Yes, aside from finishing The Testing) It was called American Duchess.  It was Downton Abbey-esqu and that is why I think I enjoyed it.  

-Rounded out the weekend with watching the SNL 40, thank goodness for DVR because now I have to watch Downton Abbey and the Walking Dead tomorrow.  (yes I have electric taste in TV shows.)

Well that’s about it.  Much more eventful than last weekend!  

Hope your weekend was as eventful, enjoyable, and relaxing as mine was! Linking up with these two lovely ladies!

PS. By the time I finished typing this last night, N*SYNC had still not performed and I was kinda made about it. 

Stuff My 8th Graders Say

It takes a very special type of person to teach middle school.

Most of the middle school teachers I talked to, before I became a middle school teacher myself was that they either loved it or hated it.  Take my parents for example, both teach middle school.  My mother, hates 8th graders and loves 7th graders.  My father, hates 7th graders and loves 8th graders.  I think I hate both.

I absolutely LOVED teaching high school.  I had a blast with my sophomores and juniors.  8th graders on the other hand.  Not so much.  I find myself very frustrated most of the time because they always want to touch each other and say terrible things to each other.  Which usually leads to either a physical fight or a verbal one.  And I really can’t stand it.  They also don’t know how to keep silent when I’m talking, which is very annoying.  I’m constantly having to ask them to be quiet.  GRRR So frustrating.

Now that’s not to say that there aren’t some occasions when they make me laugh or smile at the things they say.  Or smirk at them because they’ve said something super smart ass and I don’t know whether to laugh or scold.

So I have decided to share some of the things my students have said, either in conversation with me or just directly to me.  And you be the judge.

Female student: Ms., you always smell like cough drops.

Another female student: Awe, Ms. you look so pretty.  My grandmamma has a dress that looks just like that.

Do you have kids, Ms. Norris?
Not yet.
Don’t you want them?  Cuz if you do, you better hurry up, you’re not getting any younger.

Ms. Norris, do you like Starbucks?
Of course
Then how come you don’t bring that everyday instead of your own from home
Because I’m not a Rockefeller, that’s why.
Well when I have a job I’m gonna get Starbucks everyday, cuz I love it.
To which I laughed.

Male student (who is black) Ms. Norris, do you listen to music?
Obviously.
I bet you only listen to Michelle Branch huh?
No…..(said with a laugh) Why?
Just wondering.
Are your asking because of the movie White Chicks?
Yep. I am.
I love that movie.

(Here’s the scene from the movie, in case you have no idea what I’m talking about.)Ms. Norris.  Wearing your sunglasses on your head huh.  Do you think you look cool or something.

Oh and lets not forget about the times I’ve bent down/over to pick something up off the floor and one or more of my students makes a farting noise.  Gotta love those.

Most of them also are fascinated by my hair.  The color and the feel. It gets touched a lot.

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Well there you have it.  A glimpse into just a few of the things I get to hear pretty much every day.  I try to write them down as they get said because I have a terrible memory when it comes to conversations.  Plus, I feel like they make for interesting blog material.  Hopefully you do too! 🙂

Have a great Thursday pretties! 🙂

i am currently…….

I’m feeling in a “sharing” mood today.  And by “sharing” I mean I feel like sharing some of my “currently’s”.  Not as in I’m prepared to share the Ben and Jerry’s Salted Caramel ice cream that I ate last night. Sorry.  But if you like vanilla ice cream and caramel and blonde brownie bits…..then this is your kinda ice cream.

Currently I am……..

Feeling: Tiny little cat paws kneading my stomach.  Seriously as I type this Sadie is kneading her paws into my stomach.  Thankfully I clipped her nails recently otherwise it would hurt like hell.  Silly kitty.

Reading: Just finished up a fantastic read called The Husbands Secret by Liane Moriarty.  It was very very good.  Plan on doing a book review on it soon. So stay tuned.  I really want to read her newest book that’s out call Big Little Lies.  I’ve heard it’s amazing as well.  Anyone read either of these yet?

Drinking: Earl Grey Tea.  There is nothing better then a cup of tea before bed.  And I’ve recently become quite taken with Earl Grey, although I’m much more partial to Lady Earl Grey.  Sidenote: cannot WAIT to be sipping a cup of tea at Kensington Palace: The Orangery this July.  Yeah that’s happening while we’re in London and I am pretty excited about it.

Smelling:  The tea.  And my Lucky in Love Scentsy. And maybe just maybe the tiniest hint of cat litter that is drifting into my room from my closet.  #catladyproblems

Listening to:  Commercials and the dryer.  Our dryer is unnaturally loud.  Someone needs to invent a silent dryer.  Or at least a sound proof one.  Actually I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t already a thing and I just have no idea about it.

Watching:  Well I’m gonna tell you what I just finished watching rather than what I’m actually watching (The Holiday).  So I just finished watching This Boy’s Life, starring the one and only Leo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro (I totally almost spelled that Dinero, before I looked it up and found the real spelling.)  For Christmas Jenny helped me complete one of my goals in life, which is to own every single Leonardo DiCaprio movie there is.  I know own them all.  (Except that I can’t find my copy of The Great Gatsby even thought I know I own it.  It’s very frustrating actually.)

Anticipating:  The weekend!  On Saturday, some friends and I are making a day out of it and going to brunch and then to an early showing of 50 Shades of Grey.  So I’m gonna need the week to hurry the heck up and be over already.

Wishing for: SUMMER!!!! I am so ready to have absolutely nothing to do all day.  One of the perks of being a teacher.  Also a never ending supply of money.  That would be just lovely.

Loving:  Paper Mate felt tip pens (still). My iPad mini.  Sadie. Blogging. My new “Wet Brush” (it it seriously the best brush I’ve ever had.  It brushes right through my tangles and doesn’t pull/hurt my head at all).  Friends.  My latest shellac manicure.  Peanut butter.

****These are all from last night.  Blogging is virtually impossible to do at school when you’re a teacher.  Unless there’s a test day.  But even then you have to make sure these little angels (said with extreme sarcasm) aren’t cheating or anything. 

What are some of YOUR currently’s?  

#CommuterProblems

Monday, we meet again.  And I am not happy to see you.

Well hopefully you all had a fantastic weekend.  Mine was extremely relaxing, filled with a whole lotta nada.  Save for watching about 20 episodes of Entourage and catching up on the episodes I missed of the Walking Dead before it started up again last night.  Oh and a whole lot of this too……

Pretty uneventful.  Mostly because I’m trying my best to save money and the only way I feel like I can save money is to stay at home. But that’s for a post later this week.

Anyway, the weekend is over and that means it’s back to work.  And one of the worst things about going to work everyday (other than my terribly rude students) is my commute.

For those of you who have a commute to work, I know you know what I’m talking about.  I leave my house at 7:00am and I don’t pull into work until 8:00am.  Then it takes me yet another hour to get home everyday.  It is literally the worst thing in the world.  Thanks a lot Houston.  You suck.

Especially in the morning because I have an hour to dwell on the fact that I hate where I work and that I wish I could stay home and be a lady of leisure all day.

Luckily I have found ways to make the hour to and from work a little less awful and I’ve decided to share them with all of you.  In hopes that if you have a terribly long commute to work everyday you’ll be able to hate it a little less.

(This was taken during my commute.  Gotta love beautiful sunrise!)

1. Find a morning show you enjoy.   In college I listened to the Bobby Bones Show out of Austin, TX.  Since then Bobby Bones has moved to a Country radio station out of Nashville and he is syndicated all over the country……except in Houston.  So I found myself another morning show that I throughly enjoy listening to every morning.  It’s called the Roula and Ryan show.  Everyday they have a different segment that repeats every week.  Which I like because it helps me count down the days until the weekend.  For example, when they play a game called Radio Song Pop, I know it’s Wednesday or when they do Roses, I know it’s Thursday.  The routine is nice and helps the week go by faster.  Plus they’re pretty funny most of the time.

2. Listen to an Audiobook.  Why I didn’t think of this sooner I’ll never know.  But I listened to my first audiobook driving back to Houston over Christmas break.  It was the perfect thing. It helped keep me awake and aware the entire time and had me totally entertained.  I finished listening to the book on my commute to and from work.  It not only made my hour go by quickly but I didn’t have to wait till my next road trip to finish up my book!  I plan to download another one soon and use it for my commute to work.

3. Call up family and friends who live out of town. This is more of a suggestion for the drive from work in the afternoon.  Since most of the people I know don’t really have the time to chat first thing in the morning.  That hour on the way home though (around 4:30pm) is the perfect time to catch up with my Mom (who I usually talk to) and all my friends who live in other states.

4. Listen to Disney Music. Or any music that you don’t normally get to listen to.  The other day I was in the foulest mood imaginable after work.  Thank you 8th graders.  And I knew I needed to snap out of it before I got home.  So I popped in my Disney cd and jammed out to Colors of the Wind and I’ll Make A Man Out of You.  Thank you Pocahontas and Mulan.

5. Think.  I think about all kinda of things.  What I’m gonna make for dinner.  What I plan to do when I get home from work.  That I’m gonna be single for the rest of my life.  This blog post.  You name it….I’ve thought it as I’ve driven to and from work.  It’s a great time to think and let your mind wander.

Hopefully these are helpful suggestions, I know they’ve helped me out a ton to make me hate the fact that I have to drive to far to get to work.  My job will for sure be in a part of town where it takes me 25 minutes tops to get to and from work.

Alrighty lovelies, hope your Monday is full of butterflies and rainbows! 🙂

Confessional Friday

T.G.I.F

I for one am so very glad it’s Friday.  What am I saying, I’m always glad when it’s Friday.  Especially with my job.  I breathe a huge sigh of relief at 3:55pm every Friday and think to myself, “I MADE IT! Another week down!”  It’s a big accomplishment.

Alrighty, well today I decided to join in on a weekly link up.  I just love link ups. It’s a fantastic way to find some new blogs to read and Leslie’s link up is one of my favorites!  

I confess that I am insanely excited for the 50 Shades of Grey movie.  Two of my friends and I have made plans to have brunch, then see an afternoon showing.  I’ve read the books (which are written terribly) and am super interested to see the film adaptation.  

I confess the best skit in the history of skits happened on Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night.  That brilliant man gave us a Saved By the Bell reunion and it was EVERYTHING we dreamed it would be and so much more.  (this isn’t really a confession but still worth putting in this post.)

I confess I’m ready for Spring clothes.  My wardrobe isn’t really suited to winter weather.  So I’m gonna need Spring to hurry the heck up.  Thank god my roommate has zero problem sharing her clothes with me.  

I confess I’m obsessed with Paper Mate felt tip pens.  They are seriously the best pens in the entire world.  I’ve been using them just about everything.

I confess dry shampoo has become my best friend.  I used to be a habitual hair washer.  As in I swore I had to wash my hair everyday.  But y’all since I’ve started using dry shampoo I’ve gone at least 2 days with out washing my hair and it is heaven.  Getting to sleep that extra 30 minutes on non-hair washing days is totally worth it.

I confess it feels so good to be back to regular blogging.  I’ve missed it.

I confess I’m obsessed with baby pictures of my brother and me.  I’m sorry but we were adorable. And here is the proof.

Well those are my confessions…(that Usher song just flashed through my head as I typed that.) 

Have a great Friday! 🙂