Thursday, Friday, HAPPY DAYS, Saturday- What a day!

The end of this week and this weekend were both bittersweet. One one hand I had a great weekend with friends and on the other I found out that I will be unemployed at the end of this upcoming week. Luckily, tomorrow I am going to Conroe to have my subsitute teaching orientation so hopefully I will be able to sub as often as possible. I am also going tomorrow to submit a few applications at some retail places in the mall as well as a few child care facilities since that's what I've been doing all summer. Being unemployed is going to be super weird because I literally haven't been unemployed since I was 14 or 15. I have held at least one job for the past 10 years - crazy huh? Anyway, the weekend was a mix of fun and bad news, but here's the good stuff!

Thursday night, I went to happy hour at Baker's Street with a few of the girls and we had a blast catching up. Since our Bunko group has pretty much dissolved, I don't see those girls often enough. I finally met the elusive Stephanie Perez (she moved to Nacogdoches around the same time I started going to Bunko) and she was super sweet! Okay for this next part I need to give you a little backstory - when we went to Lake Conroe a weekend or two ago our friend Eric was part of the group. For some reason while we were riding around in the boat I decided that he would be a perfect match for Kelli and proceeded to tell him this. You know me - "matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match!" Anyway so I told him all about Kelli and he seemed interested. I told Kelli about him and she seemed interested, but the thing I didn't think about was - how was I going to get them to meet? Well fate worked this one out for me because while we were at Baker's St. in walks Eric! He had an appointment with his financial advisor, but ended up coming to our table for the rest of the night to hang out. He and Kelli seemed to be hitting it off so I invited him to come kayaking with us on Saturday (yesterday) and he was all about it! YAY! Not only would he get to hang out with Kelli and get to know her, but we would now have a guy to help us load and unload the kayaks! That my friends is a WIN WIN situation! I left fairly early because I have to get my beauty rest, but apparently Eric stayed up there and walked our group of girls to their cars - how gentlemanly!

Eric and Kelli and I

The girls!

On Friday I came to school with my bathing suit on - super ready for Splash day! Maggie and Gena had talked me into allowing the kids to dunk me in the dunking booth for our last Splash Day celebration! The kids had a blast dunking me and were chanting "DUNK MS. SARAH! DUNK MS. SARAH!" - sooo funny! Unfortunately the dunking booth that the rental company gave us was really crummy and broke after two or three dunks. That was a bummer, but we quickly distracted the kiddos with snow cones and all was right in the world. Here are a few pics from Splash Day!







Friday night Casey and I went to Mario's Mexican Restaurant and I did something that I haven't done in a month - I ate carbs! Not too many, but I did have several tortilla chips and one regular tortilla for my fajita. It was delicious but I was regretting it the next day. I promptly went back to full Atkin's mode Saturday! Speaking of Saturday- mine ROCKED!

Casey and I got up at around 7:30 on Saturday morning and started getting stuff done around the house. We had let the lawn grow for 3 weeks so it took Casey like 3 hours to mow - ouch! While he was mowing I went on a bike ride and let's just say - I had forgotten how hard biking is and what a good workout it is! Even though I'm up to running 2 miles straight, I couldn't even pedal for 1 mile straight and my legs were BURNING! I biked for about 30 minutes and called it quits because I had bigger and better things to move on to- KAYAKING! Since I knew Casey was going out of town on Saturday around lunch time I had arranged to borrow Chris and Jessica's kayak so Kelli could take her first venture out in a kayak. Luckily we had run into Eric so he was there to guide us around the lake and help us with loading and unloading. We spent a leisurely 2 hours floating around in Lake Woodlands and checking things out. I surprisingly didn't even get sunburned! After we got back to the shore we ate lunch at Northshore park and I stupidly fed one of the ducks and had an army of other ducks descend upon our picnic table. We were able to shoo them away, but those little guys are persistent to say the least! Although Kelli was hesitant about kayaking at first she got the hang of it and was leading us for most of the day - we had so much fun!

Kelli paddling away and Eric taking a break

Kelli and I

You give a guy a camera and he takes pictures of his feet? Typical - lol.

Kelli paddling over by the waterway apartments

Saturday night was a ton of fun - Adriane, Kelli (and her Chihuahua Jackson!), Jessica, and I had a good ol' fashioned Slumber Party at my house! The girls came over and I made enchiladas and we sat around snacking on delicious HEB queso and then later - cupcakes with super cute ocean inspired rings attached to them! What can I say - I work at a preschool and I take whatever leftover pastries that are offered to me. We had over 100 extra cupcakes after Splash Day celebration! After dinner we sat out on the back porch and watched the dogs go crazy chasing each other - let's just say they slept like babies that night! We finally came inside and rented "17 Again" - yes that's correct, the one with Zac Efron - lol. It was cute, but SUPER cheesy - what should I have expected though right? After that we all spread out on the ginormous bed we made using the couch and our air mattress - it was a sweet sleeping arrangement because there was plenty of room for all of us to stretch out AND the dogs got to snuggle with us too!

Our sweet bed/fort setup!

Our awesome friendship rings that we got from the cupcakes!

Saturday night was super fun - we are definitely going ot start doing that on a regular basis!

Well I gotta go now - Casey is installing more memory on my computer- yay!!

Yay for college friends!

This weekend one of my best friends from college came in from Chicago. PATRICK!! I have known Patrick since my senior year in high school (16 years old) and we were best friends all through college. We were perpetual neighbors- everytime one of us moved, the other moved too. We lived two doors down from each other at Pecan Park Apts in Nacogdoches, then we both moved into our fraternity/sorority houses, then back to Pecan Park. Patrick has been like a big brother to me for years so it was definitely nice seeing him. We realized we hadn't seen each other in 2 years! Patrick is currently living in Chicago and working on his Ph.D. in Mathematics- he will soon be Dr. Sugrue - crazy!!

Friday night Patrick & Janette (another friend from college who picked Patrick up from the airport) got to our house at around 9:30 and we hung out for a few minutes before heading out to Fox & Hound to meet up with one of Casey's best friends & room mate from college - Craig Falloure. Craig is currently in the Army and living in the Dallas area so we definitely don't get to see him as often as we like. I just found out he is dating an awesome girl that I met a few months ago - her name is Lauren and she went to SFA too and is best friends with Mary Surkein. We ended up talking so much and having so much fun that we didn't take any pictures together! I couldn't believe it - I DIDN'T take pictures! Here's one picture I took of Patrick before completely forgetting my camera existed:

The class said "I'm a Texan" - so fitting. Can't wait for you to move back here Dr. Sugrue!

Saturday morning we woke up and I made breakfast and we hung out around the house and on the patio until around 1:00 when Patrick and his sister Megan headed downtown to check into their hotel. They got to go to the Green Day concert - I was so jealous! My iPhone died on Friday night some time so I had to take it up to the mall to get it fixed. I found out that the sim card on iPhones really doesn't store any information so they sent me home to back up my phone before bringing it back. Saturday night I wasn't feeling too well so we ended up not going out with Craig and Lauren again as originally planned. :( On Sunday we got up and hung out for a while before going to the mall to exchange my iPhone and some stuff that Casey had bought on Saturday that didn't fit. We've decided that Dillards and Macy's are our new favorite stores, because they are constantly having sales. Why pay full price at expensive stores like Banana Republic (which I still love) when you can go to Dillards and they ALWAYS have 50% off sales. That's my mini-rant for the day. Today is Hawaiian day at TWYLA so I am decked out in my hula skirt and lei headband. I love theme days! Pictures to come - if I remember!!

Weight Loss Week 3, Happy Birthday to me, and more!

Birthday Flowers from Grayson and his mom- thanks guys!

Holy geez I can't believe it's only been a week since I last blogged- so much has happened! Last Wednesday was my birthday and although I didn't really have a very good day that day (except my kids all made me cards and one of them sent me flowers to work - so cute!), last weekend was amazing! On Friday I got off 2 hours early and headed up to Longview to hang with the fam and of course to see my beautiful cousin Jen and my adorable God daughter Abby. On Friday night Daddy and I went shopping for a while and then out to eat for my birthday at Red Lobster (we always go there because Casey doesn't eat seafood so that's the only time I get it!) and had a nice time hanging out and talking about everything that is going on in our lives right now. Being on the Atkin's diet has really changed my outlook on food and being healthy and I kind of feel like I've drank the Atkin's "kool-aid". I love talking to people about it and this weekend Daddy and my mom decided to do it and try to get healthy. It's such an easy diet because you can eat as much as you want as long as it's the right thing. My parents and my biggest problem with food is that we are always hungry or we just eat out of habit or boredom. With this diet we can still do that AND lose weight- it's perfect! Getting over not having carbs or sugar has been pretty tough for us, but it's so worth it. After eating and talking Daddy and I went to Wal Mart to get him stocked up on Atkin's approved food. On Saturday Daddy and I got up early and I made eggs and bacon for breakfast. We then went on a quest to find a suit for me to wear to my interview this week (oh yeah I forgot to mention that! I have an interview at Cy-Fair ISD on Wednesday, July 29th! YAY!!). So we went to Dillards, but before we went in I decided to peruse the sidewalk shoe sale. Boy am I glad I did! I found an ADORABLE pair of Coach wedge sneakers type shoes AND a pair of Cole Haan flats that are perfect for teaching BOTH FOR $9.99!! They were both originally $160-$175 each so that's over $300 in shoes for $20.00! That kind of thing NEVER happens to me! Aren't they cute??

After the initial excitement of finding awesome shoes IN MY SIZE for cheap we went on to find a suit. After trying on several not-so-great looking suits we finally settled on a grey Gianni Bini pant suit. It looks really great on and I'm super excited about my interview! Keep me in your prayers please!

Saturday afternoon Mom and I went shopping for my birthday gift - a new pair of running shoes. After getting my new iPhone I really wanted a pair of the Nike Plus shoes that have the thing in the bottom that tracks your workouts and runs. We found a really cute pair at Kohl's and I loooove them. My Pumas were getting a little worn out, plus Zach got a hold of them and chewed up the back quite a bit. I haven't gotten the chip to put in them yet, but that's the next step. At least they are comfortable!

Saturday evening Mr. Paul and Mom took me out to eat for my birthday at this AMAZING steakhouse out in the middle of nowhere- Avinger, Tx. It's called Five D Steakhouse and if you ever get a chance to eat there I highly recommend it. The steak was great and the restaurant was so cute! Apparently people drive from all around to eat there and I can see why - it was awesome! Here's me and Mom at the steakhouse:



After eating Mom and I headed to Kyle and Serina's wedding at The Reserve in Longview where my cousin Jen was a bridesmaid and my God daughter Abby was a flower girl. It was a very nice wedding but BOY was it hot! They apparently didn't open the place up early to turn the AC on so it was sweltering inside and out before and during the wedding and during most of the reception. Jen and Abby looked adorable as usual (except for those cowboy boots you had to wear Jen!) and the reception was fun. I cheated a little on the diet by having a tiny piece of grooms cake but it was DEFINITELY worth it! It was some variation of Black Forest cake and it was delicious! After the reception Jen and I and a bunch of people I hadn't seen since I was 12 years old went to McCann Street Grill to hang out. I found out that vodka has no carbs so my new drink of choice is a vodka w/ water. Not the most delicious thing, but at least it's healthy. Here are some pics from the wedding:

Kyle and his bride Serina

The beautiful Jen
Me and Abby in her flower girl tutu

On Sunday I got up and made Daddy breakfast and Mom came over early to join us. After that Mom and I went to get Jen and my Aunt Karen their birthday gifts and headed out to Meme and Papaw's to celebrate. It's so nice to get to go out there because before I went to college Jen and I were there on a weekly basis. Here's a picture of me and Meme and Papaw at the wedding:



After the party I headed home and so far this week has been pretty great! Monday was Superhero day so I put on some tights and a red tshirt and taped an "i" to the front of the shirt and I was "Mrs. Incredible" or "Elastigirl" not sure which one because I've never seen the movie, but it was better than wearing my Wonder Woman costume and getting weird looks at the library and other places I had to run errands to on my lunch break. Here's a picture of me and Maggie who dressed up as Violet, Lexie and Andrew who were Batman and Batgirl, and a group picture of all of us at Main Even bowling:



Yesterday I spent the entire evening working on my teaching portfolio and I think it looks pretty great. A big thank you goes out to Jennifer Mawer and Katie Freed for helping me so much with this! Also thanks to Daddy and Mom, to my friends at TWYLA for supporting me through all of this and of course thanks to Casey for supporting me through everything this past year. Love you all!

Okay and now for the weight loss:

I am feeling fantastic and have been getting up and running almost every morning at 5:30 or earlier. Riley has been coming with me and is really enjoying it (not to mention losing a pound or two himself!). I have lost about 8 inches overall and 5 lbs. Here are my measurements and pics:

Bust: 33"
Stomach: 32 1/2"
Waist: 26 1/4"
Hips: 37 1/4"
Right Thigh: 21 1/2"
Right Calf: 12 3/4"
Left Thigh: 21"
Left Calf: 12 1/2"
Right Upper Arm: 10"
Left Upper Arm: 10"

Weight: 122 lbs


Needless to say I am showing lots of improvement in endurance, overall shape, and feeling a lot better. Yay for getting in shape and having an interview this week!

Work and an update on the diet

So I started Atkins on Wednesday and yesterday I had full on symptoms of ketosis (the state you need to be in to lose weight) I feel a lot lighter and have already started losing some mass (possibly water weight but hey I'll take it!). I decided I'm going to follow it as close as I can but that I'm not going to miss out on things like having a tiny slice of birthday cake (or half a cupcake today for Lexie's birthday!) but I won't be drinking for a few weeks - not that I drink much to begin with but I'm completely cutting out the glass of wine I have with dinner sometimes and absolutely no beer. I figure it's only three weeks and I can totally handle doing without something for that long. Yesterday I was super fatigued and really irritable, but today I'm much less irritable and not as fatigued. Today is the 9th birthday of one of my kids- Lexie - so I've been letting her do some stuff that the other students aren't doing and one of the things she asked if she could do was go to the workroom and do math with me. Isn't that weird? I hated math when I was her age, but I of course said yes so here I am in the workroom listening to Lexie and Lindsay solve multiplication problems! Good times. Anyway I just thought I would write a little update! More later!

P.Y.T. - Pretty Young Thing

Well this has been quite the eventful week. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Billy Mays all died this week? CRAZY! So this past week and weekend have been quite busy (as usual) but definitely fun! On Thursday of last week TWYLA took my class and I to the Astros-Royals game at Minute Maid Park and we had a blast! Seriously, could I have a more fun job? I get to go on field trips weekly and my kids are fantastic and hilarious. What more could a girl ask for in her first "teaching" job? A lot of the students in my class had never been to an Astros game before so it was a great experience. Mr. Dan (my boss and the owner of TWYLA) made sure that we had great seats and even bought everyone popcorn. I took a few of my older girls to the gift shops to shop a little and it was really neat getting to show them around the ball park. Here are some pictures from the game!







On Friday Casey and I went on a date night out to eat and finally got to use some of the gift cards from Christmas (yes Christmas!) at Saltgrass Steakhouse. Thanks Daddy for those gift cards! Saltgrass was really good - probably the best steak I've ever had at that restaurant and Casey thought the same thing. After dinner we went over to Chris and Jessica's to hang out and played the new edition of "Scene It". We always have such a great time with Chris and Jess and are very thankful to have them in our life.

On Saturday morning we got an email saying that Zach has some potential new people (aka - being adopted) and as much as I have been wanting him to find a good home, I was really upset and sad to think about him not being around anymore. The people that are thinking about adopting him are from Pearland and are coming to meet him this Thursday. I was really upset and Casey could tell so he sent me to go get a pedicure with Kelli to try and help me relax. Do I have the best boyfriend ever or what? :) Casey went to play golf with Chris on Saturday morning after we found out about Zach and so I went to get my pedicure and to get lunch with Kelli as well. After that I went home and vegged for a while before getting ready to go downtown for Katie Mayes' Bachelorette party.

So later on Saturday I headed over to Jennifer Mawer's apartment to get ready to go out. We went to Willowbrook Mall (Ohhhh I miss that mall sooo much!) to look for outfits to wear that night and then got ready to go. Carl (Mawer's fiance) was nice enough to drive us down to the Omni hotel that night (and picked us up!) so that we wouldn't have to find a DD- how awesome is that? I'm telling you my friends and I have the best boyfriends, fiances, and husbands ever! This was the beginning of a very crazy and fun night. First we hung out at the Omni hotel where Katie had a suite for her Bach. party. We had champagne and wine and watched Katie open the mountain of gifts people brought her before we headed out in our PINK limo to go to LaBare. If you have never been to La Bare I would highly recommend ONLY going if you are prepared to laugh your butt off. This was hilarious!! Not exactly my scene, but it was very funny watching these men try to be sexy. Enough about that! After La Bare we went back to the Omni to go to the club that was in the basement of the hotel. We had a blast dancing all night (mostly to Michael Jackson and Britney Spears) and doing fun "bachelorette" party things. At some point in the night we had the entire club belting out P.Y.T. by Michael Jackson, so that was pretty hilarious. Here are a few pictures from that night....

Our pink limo :)

I loooooooove this picture! Katie Mayes and Jennifer Mawer dancing!

Most of the group in from of the hotel!

Today my class went to see "Up" at the Tinseltown Movie Theater in The Woodlands and I have to say that although this movie was adorable - it was also super sad! I cried about 4 times which isn't unusual for me to do during movies, but a kid's movie?? Other than that I highly recommend it! Also - it was the first 3D movie I'd ever seen so that was cool too.

The rest of this week should be pretty relaxed. We are going to try to go to church tomorrow night and then the people who are adopting Zach are going to come meet him on Thursday night and then it's the weekend! Thank goodness we have Friday off!

That's all I have to report as of right now - Happy Independence Day week everyone!

Confirmation :)

For a "laid back" week and weekend it has felt like a long and busy one! This week was "Food & Healthy Eating" week at TWYLA which was right up my alley so me and the kids had a blast! On Tuesday they went to the Young Chef's Academy in Alden Bridge (The Woodlands) where they made a Denver omelette and cheesy muffins that tasted like the biscuits at Red Lobster - yum! Although the kids weren't huge fans of either of these dishes, they had a blast making them. On Thursday I had them make a delicious fruit salad with all fresh ingredients and boy did they have fun! I didn't want them using knives so I just had them use their play-doh toys and that worked perfectly. I'm learning that you have to improvise quite a bit as a teacher but it's cool having to figure out creative ways to do things. Here are some pictures from this week!



This weekend Casey and I intentionally made little to no plans because we've been so busy that we really haven't had time to spend with eachother and just relax at home. On Friday we went over to Casey's sister Shannon and her husband Andy's house to have dinner with them, Andy's sister, and Casey's parents. We had a great time grilling, hanging out on their newly built screened in porch and enjoying good food and good conversation. Andy's sister Rebecca lives in Oregon and is a musician- what a cool life! Casey is obsessed with getting to see Oregon because that's where The Goonies was filmed so we might have to take a trip up there sometime in the next couple of years. On Saturday we ran some errands and cleaned around the house during the day and then went for a late swim around 8 at the neighborhood pool. I've been trying to swim more often because it's a great workout and a lot easier on the joints than running. GEEZ I sound like an old lady, but I guess all the sports and stuff I did as a kid are really affecting me now. Oh well!

Today my dad came in town for Father's Day and also to go to church with us. Today was "New Member Sunday" and also the day I officially became a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. I was confirmed during the 11 o'clock service and got take communion with Casey and his family for the first time- what a great day! After church we came back to the house and grilled some hamburgers and hung out and now my dad and I are hanging out on the couch and napping intermittently.

This week I am going to start a new diet and work out regime - pray for me to have some self control when it comes to eating sweets and snacking at work and also to get my butt in gear and lose the extra 10 lbs I've put on this past year and a half.

More later - hope everyone has a great week!

Hot Child in the City

Okay so it's not even technically summer and boy is it H-O-T in Houston, TX. The preschool I work at had to install a misting system on the playground because the kids couldn't even make it 15 minute without getting overheated! The kids (and the teachers) all love the misting system and it's not nearly as messy as I thought it would be.

This morning my work friend Nikki and I went to the Tx Gulf Coast Teacher Job Fair and to be honest, I was a little let down. There were probably 1000 people there and I am so glad we got there 30 minutes early because it was a mad house. I literally ran in my heels down to the floor so that I could be the first person to talk to the Conroe ISD reps. I was first in line, but they weren't doing on site interviews so it was pretty unsuccessful. My next stop was Klein ISD and I was one of 5-6 people who got interviews. Glad I'm an early bird! The interview went pretty well but I doubt I will get that job. The principal just didn't seem comfortable with the fact that my ACP course ends the week before school starts. Hopefully the thank you email I sent her will make her think twice! I was glad I got to talk to my two top schools first because the rest of the time I spent standing in lines and not really getting face time with anyone. I stood in line for 30 minutes to talk to Tomball ISD and was third in line to interview but by the time it was my turn the principal decided he wasn't going to interview anymore people because the line was 30 people long- so that was a bust. I didn't even get a chance to talk to Spring ISD or Cy-Fair because the lines were literally an hour or so long, so Nikki and I just loaded up and went back to work.

I only had nine kids today so that was pretty fun. We didn't do much in the way of academic work except for French (which the students INSISTED on) so we did some arts and crafts and hung out for most of the day. I'm starting to really get attached to these kids - they are so much fun! Tomorrow we go to Young Chef's Academy for our field trip and that should be super fun - I will post pictures and tell you all about it later this week.

In other news - Kelli's birthday party extravaganza was a blast this weekend! On Friday night Jessica and I got to the hotel and we hung out a little while before going to Goose's Acre for dinner and then we went out to Crush and Baker's Street later that night. We had a blast and we had the perfect group of girls - no drama, no annoying catfights, just good conversation and tons of fun. We all got a little tipsy so it was nice that we could all walk back to the hotel and nobody had to drive (Good call Kelli's mom!). The next morning we were all a little hungover so we slept in and then went to get brunch/lunch at the Hubbell and Hudson Bistro. It was really good and we had a fun time hanging out and embarrassing Kelli. Kasey and Nichole spotted a hot waiter and the manager overheard us talking about him so he went and got a few of the good looking waiters to sing Happy Birthday to Kelli and bring her some kind of delicious apple tart with ice cream. YUM! After that we just hung out at the pool for a while and then we all went home. What a fun night!

Kelli with her "Birthday Cake" shot - 1st of many!

The whole group at Crush in the rooftop cabana

Girls in the elevator on our way up to the room

The singing waiters at Hubbell and Hudson

More updates later this week!

Being sick stinks!

So I have been horribly ill since Monday morning and I am still fighting it off. Apparenlty the first time you work around kids most people get really sick. I am one of those people. I have had the following symptoms: Sneezing, stuffy nose, running nose, coughing, hacking, wheezing, daily sinus headaches, disgusting drainage, and achy soreness all over. Oh and I'm pretty much deaf. The kids have to get right up next to me or else I can't hear them. Good times. Luckily I haven't had a fever so I assume it's just a sinus infection and not contagious to the kids. **UPDATE: Casey is now sick and I the funny thing is I have the same symptoms as SWINE FLU! Luckily Swine Flu is just the flu, so I'm sure I'll be better in a few days - let's just hope Casey feels better too!**

On Tuesday we got to go on our very first field trip - I will post pictures when I get home. We went to King's Orchard in Plantersville, TX (right next to the Renaissance Faire!) and got to pick blackberries, blueberries, and a couple of strawberries that were leftover from strawberry season. The kids had a blast and so did I and we picked a TOOOOOON of berries. Funny kid story: On the way up to the orchard one of the kids saw a sign at a Jack in the Box that said "Chicken Club". He started laughing hysterically and told all the kids to look at the sign. He was heartbroken when I told him that a Chicken Club was a sandwich and not an actual club for chickens. HAHAHAHAHA! I love working with kids!! Oh and yesterday we had barbeque sandwiches for lunch and one of the kids starting calling it a Barbe-Joe (like Sloppy Joe)- kids are hilarous. On the bus ride home from the orchard 2 of the kids spilled their buckets of berries so that was unpleasant, but we got everything worked out.

Here are some pics from the field trip!

Some of the berries I picked - YUM!!

My kiddos trying to pick strawberries- they were a bit out of season so it was definitely a hunt!

My class - 6-9 year olds.

Me and Zachary on the bus - he refused to smile so I tickled him. I love this picture!

Today is Kelli Flanagan's birthday - so HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLI!!! Hopefully I will be better before tomorrow night because we are all going out. YAY!!!

More later - gotta go teach the kids some French!!