Winter Whirlwind

Wow! Where has the time gone? This month has just kinda escaped me. Between planning and running an assembly, work, decorating our house, projects, and the first two dinners we've had at our house, time has pretty much escaped me. In fact, I cannot believe that tomorrow will be Christmas. Every year, I try to savor the days leading up to Christmas, and this year I feel that I have done a much better job than last year. I am so excited to see my love ones open up their gifts.

For now, I'll play catch up with some cute birthday pictures. Here's how I spent my b-day on the first of December this year:


Can your birthday get any better than having it here? I had an absolute blast, and my husband surprised me by buying us season passes this year as our Christmas gifts. I couldn't think of a better present.

The next day, I went back to work to see that my kids had planned a surprise party for me complete with streamers and posters of Edward Cullen:




And to top it off, my hubby had a surprise party for me at our favorite wine store which hadn't even re-opened yet (they had been undergoing some revisions) that weekend! Overall, it was one of the best birthdays I'd had in years!

Grateful

I'm up in the high desert in California, sitting with my family and enjoying a few moments of quiet before we start preparing Thanksgiving dinner. I just wanted to take the time to thank all of the readers who stop by my little blog and post comments. When I am sitting stressed out at work, thinking I have taken too much on, your comments always make me smile. I am also grateful for:
- A husband who is so incredibly supportive and helpful
- A new house to start building my family in
- Family and friends who always cheer me up and make me smile
- My new espresso machine which I will use to make my very own caramel macchiatos
- My students this year, whose Bill of Rights videos have made me laugh tears of joy
- The Peppermint Mocha creamer I will be adding to my coffee Saturday morning
- And all of you bloggers whose post inspire and make me smile

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of yummy foods and laughter.

Where's the Love?

Whoa, Hanson flashback there. So my ASB students took one of our video cameras with them to the movie theater this weekend when they went and saw New Moon together. They wanted to interview people before and after the show. While together, they went to one of those build-a-bear workshops and got me this bear:

Complete with New Moon-esque t-shirt. It says, "We love you Mrs. Charron," and then all of their names.

So in gratitude, I decided to make them a little treat. Take a little of this:

Add some candy corn, and you get this:

I just about died when they said, "We don't want to eat them; they're too cute!"

Shopping Moratorium- Fin

Well, I didn't quite make it to my promise to not purchase any new clothing for three months. I ended up buying a few items at J Crew on Veteran's Day with a gift certificate I had, and then that spurred me to order two more things online with a 20% off coupon. And then things really ended when I went to the Coach outlet and bought this bag:

Funny thing is, I might end up returning this bag. Though I had a coupon for 20% off at the Coach Outlet, I ended up paying as much as I wanted for this bag which is up on Ebay right now:

I've wanted the second bag for a much longer time, but now I can't make up my mind. I think the first bag is a bit more timeless and will last through the seasons longer. But I LOVE the hardware on the second bag. What do you think?

Happy Happy, JOy JOy

Hey all,

I have been meaning to post a little update about my brand new home, but with all of the work we have been doing to it, and work itself, I've only had the energy to keep up reading all of your lovely blogs. So here is me posing in front of the house the day we got the keys:


It seems so different already since those two huge cypress trees are gone now (the hubby wanted to chop those down immediately). We were fortunate to buy a home that was completely remodeled inside, so we didn't have to do any interior work. We have painted the master bedroom and living room already though (I will post pics this weekend). It's so odd, pulling up every day when I come home from work...it still feels like a dream.

I have major plans for this weekend: finishing up a bookcase, re-painting a lingerie stand, working on a frame for our chalkboard...and having some of this:

Our Tobin James wine shipment arrived, and it could not have come at a better time. The hubby and I consider ourselves to be wine snobs somewhat, and Tobin is one of our favorites. They are usually solid wines to rely upon and are so reasonably priced. In fact, Nick proposed at the Tobin vineyard up in Paso Robles. In our latest shipment, there is a 2007 Silver Reserve Syrah that I cannot wait to crack open! Here is to tomorrow being Friday!

All Hallows Eve

I tried to be a little original and dressed up as Rosalie from Twilight. Most of my female students loved my costume. My male students thought I had swine flu.

One of Those Days

Today officially sucked. I have been exhausted all week with work, grading, running off every day after school to get stuff for our Halloween dance, and unpacking, and some of my students were just so mean.

I teach U.S. history, which granted, I understand some students do not find interesting at all, but I try to make fun for them. Instead of doing outlines, timelines, and storyboards like some teachers, I come up with my own questions for every chapter. And I do tons of simulations, videotape the students performing skits, and have lots of pair or group activities.

Well, while studying Shay's Rebellion today, two of my really good students commented on how boring it was to pretend to write a newspaper article about the event. Now, I tried not to get emotional, but honestly, my feelings were really hurt. I try so hard and work so hard to make the subject entertaining or my students and to have them say that made me question why I put forth so much effort.

To top it all off, I had to go back to our apartment today to pick up parts of our desk, and I ended up ripping two holes in my leather car seats.

And tomorrow, I get to stay at school until 7:30 because of our Halloween dance. Weekend, where are you??