10 things i L.O.V.E about fall

(In no particular order)

1. Scarves - I love scarves and am that girl that tries to pull them off even in summer. So when it gets colder and all of the super cute scarves come out I get so excited!

2. Crunchy Colorful Leaves - Even in high school as I walked home from school I would go out of my way to step on any and every leaf…years later that still has not changed. And I love the vibrant colors the leaves turn into and the flipping scientific process that is behind it and how God created that to happen...seriously, how could you not be in awe of that. (Yes I am a bit of a geek I know)

3. THANKSGIVING - No explanation needed

4. Pumpkins – From the carving and decorating that can start in October to how every food item involves the flavor from pumpkin muffins to seasonal pumpkin beer.

5. Weather - It gets colder, windier, even rainier and it is the perfect weather for fire, tea, and layering/bundling up in comfy clothes. Sweaters, jackets, boots, etc. Perfect hood weather also, I love any clothing item with a good hood and pockets.

6. No Shave November - it gets colder, therefore I get to wear pants/tights more often, don’t have to be such a stickler in the shaving legs department, great time saver :)

7. Smells - Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and other delicious spices sneak there way into foods and desserts and make the home smell amazing! Not to mention the great candle scents that are released during this season.

8. TV Shows – They start up again and start to really wheel you in before they take their extended break for the holiday season. Example, Grey’s is so intense right now and am already going through withdrawals just because it’s not on tonight.

9. Fall Back – Gaining an extra hour of sleep for Daylight Savings, what is not to like about this!

10. And of course that this is just one more step before Christmas time :)

A Shout Out for Teachers

Alright, sorry about the lack of entries, I have actually been pretty busy the last week. Growing up, I had quite the number friends with teachers as parents. And now as I have grown up I have friends that are teachers as well. I have always had a huge respect for teachers because they do so much. Being in a classroom with 30 children for 7 hours a day, then having the time to stay after and grade papers, sort through assignments, create the lesson plan for the next day, and decorate the classroom with the students beautiful artwork. This week I got a small glimpse of what that like would be like.

My close friend’s mom has been a teacher at an elementary school for as long as I can remember. She has taught different grades and has seemed to love everyone. Since I have so much time on my hands now, due to the lack of unemployment :), she asked if I could come and help in her classroom. She had me hang up so artwork and just get the class ready for the parent teacher conferences she had coming up. I was not expecting much and was hoping to be able to help her get things done quickly, but it took longer than I expected.

She asked me to put together this project for the classroom, a way to display the students writing throughout the year. A simple, type up these short bios on the students, cut and paste those onto this paper, glue bio and picture onto another paper, then laminate. I really thought it wouldn’t take me TOO long. Then I started. Going at my own sweet pace, realizing I have only completed like 2 in 20 minutes. That times 30 students, then laminating and cutting them all…needed to speed my pace up! I realized that my perfectionist pace of, “is this completely straight, lets measure the exact distance so it’s equal, oh should I redo the cutting job of this,” was not going to work for 30 students. In the classroom you have to work fast and realize its ok if everything is not perfectly perfect. Believe it or not that was some of the hardest work I have done recently and felt silly that I was tired after, but it is a lot!

So just wanted to write a shout out for all the teachers out there, props to them!! Way to educate all the future minds of America and take the step further to encourage and be there for those minds also. And to take the time out of their already crazy busy schedule to spend time to create space to display the beautiful work of their students, so that the students learn to take pride in their work and themselves. Thanks so much for all you do!!

Red Cup Day!!

today is a day i look forward to each year, red cup day. In case some don't know, it's the day that starbucks releases their holiday cups, those beautiful red cups. Now i have had conversations with my mom and brother today trying to explain why this day is so great, and they still dont get it (fools) so i thought i would explain it more. Part of this is because i love christmas time. It is my favorite time of the year. (only 54 more days to go :) ) Now some people get upset at this because they think, "what about thanksgiving, you can't just skip over thanksgiving, it's a holiday too". But i am not, i LOVE thanksgiving also. I mean i am all about any holiday that involves eating a ridiculous amount of food. These things are all factors to this wonderful season! But the release of this cup is the start of my holiday countdown. Its going to get colder, more of those beautiful colored leaves will drop, trees will become bare and soon it will be winter. And its great that Thanksgiving falls in the middle of that and Christmas is the big finale at the end! So anyways, the holiday countdown has begun :)

oh! also, halloween was yesterday. normally i am not the biggest halloween fan only because i like the 5 year old kid version of the holiday. give me pumpkin patches, carved pumpkins, and candy and i am satisfied. I am not a fan of the scary movies, haunted houses, or any of that...my little heart just can't take it. :) So this year i took my best friend and her boyfriend to a pumpkin patch! She was born in Ukraine and came to the states when she was 5 and growing up she never went because her family didn't celebrate this american holiday, therefor until Sunday she had never been! So we went got some pumpkins and then carved them. Then put out the pumpkins on display for the 12 trick-or-treaters we had. Mom and I bought all this candy because our house is pretty busy usually. This year it was not. So I have left over candy that probably will last until next halloween. :) here are some pictures from the weekend!! 

Irene and Jason looking threw of the rows of pumpkins!!

Left to Right: Irene's pumpkin which is a girl and boy dragon looking at each other inside a heart (pretty ambitious for her second pumpkin carving ever, but looks pretty good close up), Jason's which was cleaned out on the inside but he never got around to carving it, then mine, a little owl!

A close up of my owl. His name was milburn :)

My mom's wiener dog. Therefore when I saw this costume I could not resist :)

And Bandit, the trusty town sheriff!!

i think the pictures really add a lot to the description of events :) thanks guys and don't forget to go get a red cup soon!!