Thursday, February 14, 2019

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Do you have special plans for today or tonight?  This year it is just a normal Thursday for me.  I have to work and run kids around and figure out dinner.  I may do something fun for takeout.  We don’t really do gifts for our kids.  Some years I do some favorite candy at dinner for everyone, but that’s about it.  My husband and I exchange small gifts some years.  This year, I just want to go out with him over the weekend because it’s been a few weeks. 

But, today, I thought I would talk about things in life I’m loving right now.  I like to practice gratitude every day and try to look for the positive.  

Little back story:

I’m a wife, mom to 16 year old identical twin boys who are juniors in high school, dog mom, high school Spanish teacher.

-Hearing my theater son singing in the shower – belting out songs from Annie the musical that he will be in this spring

-watching my sons change the trash without being asked and do general chores around the house that need to be done without being asked

-staying light out until 6:30 – really makes a difference when driving home from activities

-my sweet dog getting up when I do – 5 am during the week and 6-7 am on weekends. We have our routine together and he is such a sweet companion

Part of my Valentine’s decor is this portrait.  Why didn’t I put them in red?  It’s so hard to believe they used to be this small.  

-my Valentines minimal decor and getting excited to switch out to St. Patrick’s Day in a few days

-my public library website: every time I get a book rec I put in a request and each week one comes up ready for me to pick up.  I can’t even imagine how much money this has saved me (and given me more money for clothing, shoes, and accessories!), and how many hours of pleasure I have gotten from reading

-one of my sons becoming so adventurous with food – ordered salmon and split eggplant parmesan with me lately

-my husband getting over his cold. When the mom is sick nothing changes but when the dad is sick – watch out! Lol!

-looking at all the spring clothes and shoes in stores and online and checking out new styles.  I want all the white tops and blouses and put in an order from Nordstrom.com with the last of my gift card

-catching a glimpse of daffodils peeking out through the ground while walking Ernie this week

How will you celebrate today?  What have you been loving? What has made you happy?

Thanks for reading!

Amy

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Hey y’all!  We are halfway through the week!  Actually, I am over halfway because I am off Friday!  It is a flexible professional development day and I worked it over the summer to have it off.  Students are also off on Monday while we do Parent Teacher Conferences.  They have a four day weekend and I have a three day weekend!  

Here is my new Anthropologie Anatola tunic.  It is a rust color and I have already worn it twice.  It is a little big but I’m hoping to shrink it slightly in the dryer.  They didn’t have one size down but that might have been too small anyway.  It was $22 on sale and it is soooo soft.  I only have a couple of pieces from Anthro.  It is usually too expensive but I love their style.  I try to look for Anthro-like pieces at other shops.  

Here is the bag I bought on a whim last week when it popped up in my social media.  The middle is just screen printed and I thought it would be embroidered.  Oh well, I still like it.  It is really big and could be a weekender bag or a pool or boat bag.  It was around $30 from Copper Fox – a company I had never heard of.  

I tried to wear a dress last week but I was a bit self conscious with bare white legs.  I am struggling with what to wear.  It is super hot in my classroom.  

Forgive the hair below.  What can I say?  It’s been raining here for 40 days and 40 nights!  I decided to wear fun leggings with a short dress and I changed the boots to flats when I got hot.  

Friday spirit day.  The vest has my school logo and I’m wearing grey fake Hue legging jeans or jeggings.  I love the brand Hue.  These are my consignment Seychelles booties for $16 that I got a couple of weeks ago.  I was patient in waiting on grey booties and they appeared!  Haha!

I was too hot in my pink “burberry”!  It came off and I looked bad all day long.  Oh well.  

Happy hump day!  What have you been wearing, buying, or coveting?  

Amy 

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Have you always wanted to be a part of a book club?  Make 2019 your year!  You may have to be the one to organize it, but it will be worth it – trust me!  It really holds you accountable to read more which I think is a goal of many people.  It also sometimes gets you reading genres you might not have read on your own.  You may also make some new friends.  Really, you have nothing to lose!

I am currently in my second book club.  The first ran its course after about 4 years together, which I thought was pretty good.  It lost and gained a few members and by the end we were down to about 4 people and we just let it fade out, but it was a lot of fun.  We read a lot of books!  One of our most memorable nights was when we sat in one of the members’ tree house (seriously – her husband built it and it had a table and seating for 8!) and discussed Fifty Shades of Grey with themed foods – garlic knots, playroom punch, laters baby taters.  Haha!  

My second book club had its first year in 2018 and it was pretty successful!

Here is how we organized ours:

-We decided to do Thursday nights at 6:30 and rotate houses.   If it was your month you would pick the book and be the hostess.  

-We sent out 9 months of Thursday dates via email and everyone picked a month and went ahead and gave their book title.  This worked much better than waiting until the month before for each person to pick their book like my first book club did. Many people like to order their books from Amazon in advance or request from the library.

-We did February, March, April, May, June, July, October, and November of 2018.  We skipped August and December because they were so busy with school starting and Christmas.  

-Eight months worked out perfectly because we had 8 members to start, but you could also do 4 people hosting twice each.

-As the year went on, we had a couple of people drop out.  We just cancelled those months or talked about the books at the following months’ meeting.  

-Don’t get your feelings hurt if you ask someone and they say no.  Some people are at a busy season in their lives and some people just aren’t readers.  I had a couple of gals say no and that was fine.

-Who do you ask?  You can ask neighbors, co-workers, people from church, friends, friends of friends that you know like to read.  My current group ranges in age from early 40s to mid 50s and has married and divorced women.  I have a friend who is in a different book club with her friends and her mom and some of her mom’s friends!  I think a variety of ages can give a variety of perspectives.  

-Don’t get your feelings hurt if someone drops out.  They may just not be able to honor the time commitment and it’s not personal.  

-After everyone has picked their month and their book selection, people just need to start reading!

-A week before each meeting, someone should email or text a reminder and a request for a RSVP so that the host can plan for table seating, plates, napkins, glasses, etc.

-The host usually makes an appetizer and provides some wine for our group.  Everyone else brings an appetizer and a bottle of wine or a drink of their choice.  We decided to keep it simple and everyone loves an appetizer meal.  You can bring store bought and that is totally fine.  Sometimes the host does a dessert, too,  

-Our rule is that we talk about the book, including the ending even if some haven’t finished or even started the book.  We still encourage everyone to come even if it was a bad month of reading for them.  To be honest, there was only one month where every single person read the whole book and it was the first month and it was my pick!  Lol!  (Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us – it was a pretty quick read and a good one to get us started)

-We don’t just talk about the book, of course!  We have talked about all kinds of things and had lots of laughs.  I tend to be the one to steer us back to the book or to make sure that our conversation at least involves the book in part.  It’s the teacher in me!

So, do you want to start a book club this year?  

For 2019 our dates are:  2/28, 3/21, 4/25, 5/23, 6/27, 7/25, 9/26, and 10/24.  We do the last Thursday of the month or close to the last if a holiday is involved.  We may add just a dinner out in November but November got cancelled last year.  

Here are some authors and book suggestions if your group needs them:

Colleen Hoover, Elizabeth Berg, Lianne Moriarity, Elin Hildebrand

The Last Mrs. Parrish

Verity

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine

All We Ever Wanted 

Happy book clubbing!  Let me know if you are already in a book club or plan to start one!

Amy

*Full disclosure:  I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and I have only had one person respond to my book club email for this year.  The one that responded was a no.  So, I will send one more request but I may not have a book club for this year, sadly.  

Monday, February 11, 2019

How was your weekend?  I’m linking up with Heather, Lindsay, and Tanya  here for Hello Monday!  Here is how my weekend went…

Friday after school, our Spanish club attempted to make this below.  It’s called an arepa and they are common in Colombia and Venezuela.  It is like a corn meal cake that after cooking, you slice open and stuff with various things.  We just did beans and cheese and they turned out really good!  

It is super easy and you only need this below, salt and water.  

After that, two other Spanish teachers and I were thirsty!  I swung by to pick up my Kroger online order and then met them for this below!  

Friday night dinner was chicken and noodles at home.  It was good comfort food for a cold night.  

Saturday morning I had to drop a son off at theater and get some medicine for my husband. I also returned my pretty pink earrings and my multi color sweater from Versona that I bought a week ago on my snow day.   I decided it was too short and boxy.  

I did some window shopping at the mall and I bought the Anthropologie Anatola tunic in a rust color on sale for $22 and wore it Saturday night. 

I picked son up and made lunch for everyone and did my nails.  Can you tell I want spring?  

Saturday night I took son to theater for his second performance and my two friends were working a dance at their girls’ school so we met for dinner before they went.  Two of us enjoyed red wine and one a cranberry vodka.  

I tried something new to me – eggplant casserole atop spicy lentils.  It was really good.  My husband didn’t have an appetite but my other son requested I bring him food home and he chose the salmon.  He loved it.  He is getting to be quite a foodie.  The other one – not so much.  

This is the play my son is doing.  We saw him perform Thursday night.  It continues on next weekend so we may go watch him one more time.  There are ten 10 minute plays.  

And, Sunday was an afternoon performance of his play.  We dropped him off at call time and took our other son to a record shop.  He has a record player and loves music.  

It’s hard to believe this week is already Valentine’s Day.  We haven’t made any plans yet.  We have a busy week in store, so I’m not sure what we will be able to do.   How about you?  

Hope you have a good Monday!

Amy 

Friday, February 8, 2019

Hello Friday!  This week kicked my butt!  With a five day week and activities every evening after school I do know why!  I’m linking up with Andrea et al for Friday Favorites here!  

Being in a movie scene!  Read about it here!  

This book is really cute!  I love Claire Cook.  A girl is the personal assistant for her famous brother and she uses his fame to go on a version of “Dancing with the Stars”!  It’s well written so that I don’t find it too cheesy but it’s light enough for what I need right now in my life.  

I love Prince (R.I.P.) and Purple Rain.  I even have a cocktail called Purple Rain.  The Easter candy is already out and look what I saw!  No, I didn’t buy it yet!  

I ordered these from Amazon and they seem like good quality for under $15.  They are not just sunglasses – but sunglasses readers!  Reading in the sun last Sunday made me realize I need these.  Do you need readers yet?  I’m only at a 1.5 and I only need them with my contacts in but not with my contacts out.  I’m so high maintenance, aren’t I?  

I’m starting to think spring and this bag just spoke to me.  I had never heard of an online shop called The Copper Fox but I ordered this for around $30 for spring.  I don’t have anything like it and I don’t have many purses anymore.  I will let you know about the quality when it arrives.  

What were your favorites this week?  Any fun weekend plans?  We have lots of theater plans this weekend.  I would like to squeeze in a movie, but not sure that will happen.  

Thanks for reading and happy weekending!  

Amy 

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Something pretty crazy and cool happened to me this past Monday.  

Apparently there are lots of movies being made in my city and state due to it being a desirable place in regards to tax breaks?  About two weeks ago, I filled out an online form for my theater son and me to be extras in a movie.  I said I was available on Sunday.  Well, this past Sunday I got an email asking if I would be available Monday and sadly, I had to say that I wasn’t available until after school. But, my son had a four hour rehearsal and wasn’t available.  

So, they told me I could come after school and they told me what to wear – winter clothing that looked fairly nice and not to wear black, red, white, or anything busy and to bring two changes of clothing.  Hello –  that is basically my wardrobe.  So, I found a few things and went down to the location after school.  

They were doing all of the staging at a hotel across the street from the shoot.  

The shoot was at a custom bakery that I assume they had rented out.  They must have also hired them to bake cookies.  

I was picked to be one of six people to sit at tables and pretend to eat cookies – well, we could actually eat them.  And, I had to pretend to drink coffee from an empty cup!  

I don’t want to show too much, so this is the fake cookie shop counter!  

The scene I was in and the only one I got to see was of a finance executive and her friend coming in to the shop and needing cookies because of stress.  The exec never took vacations and was giving her all to her job.  

Apparently she was going to inherit a cabin that was also left to the hunky handyman that cared for the cabin.  What does this sound like?  You guessed it!  Hallmark!  Or, it could be Lifetime!  

So, I will let you know if I hear anything.  I probably won’t even make it in the actual movie because they didn’t really shoot in my direction.  

But, it was a super fun experience and I’m glad I took the opportunity even after a long day at school!

Thanks for reading!

Amy 

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

I’m a little low on photos this week due to two days out of school last week!  Here is Tuesday’s outfit!  All of a sudden our heating system is so intense and I’m having to wear more springy outfits, I think.  

This was Friday when it was February first so I broke out my Valentine’s leggings!

Monday I forgot to take my photo, but here is what I wore.  

Here is yesterday.  

Which is your favorite?  What did you wear?  Check out yesterday’s post on February outfits here!  

Thanks for reading!

Amy 

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Raise your hand if you are so tired of your winter clothes by now!  I know I am, but winter is not quite over yet, even though the groundhog did not see his shadow, thankfully.

The spring clothing is starting to appear in stores and I’m making a wish list and a list of spring holes in my closet, but until then…

I want you to go to your closet and pull out anything that is pink or red.  

Pull out any pink or red accessories, too.  

Give new life to those Christmas red tops you wore all through December.  

I recently did this exercise and couldn’t believe how much I had.  

Hopefully this will help you pull together some fun outfits for this month!

Anything black with red earrings works!

Black shirt with pink vest works! This cute heart scarf works with this red vest! 

Any blanket scarf with pink or red works – I have this bright pink sweater that looks good with mine.

And, of course any buffalo plaid works – also, I have my pink “burberry”.  

Thanks for reading and hope I gave you a few ideas!  

Amy 

Monday, February 4, 2019

How was your weekend?  Mine was good and I guess I didn’t really need it that badly after being off Wednesday and Thursday and a 2 hour delay Friday!  Hope I’m ready for a full 5 day week!  Are you?  How was your weekend?  

I’m linking up today with Lindsay, Heather, and Tanya.  Check out other posts right here!  

This guy left on Thursday morning so we missed him this weekend.  This is what he was doing and I’m happy he had a chance to get away!  

Thursday afternoon I had the pleasure of a happy hour with my old work friend V.  She agreed to meet during the 2 hours I have to kill while waiting for my son to have his theater class.  It takes some planning, but I like taking advantage of those moments to fill my cup (literally and figuratively!)

I had the “No Sleep Til Brooklyn”.  I don’t even know what was in it – just liked the Beastie Boy reference!  You know you are singing it now, too, if you are close to my age-lol!

And we had the guac!

Friday we went to school but the kids had a two hour delay.  Friday night was a theater rehearsal so other son and I tried a restaurant near the theatre called Ciao.  We really liked it and plan to take the whole family back!  

We shared ceasar salad, eggplant parm and breadsticks.  

We took cannoli to go for my other son.  

Saturday morning the boys had an ACT workshop and I took myself shopping to a boutique called 50Lou that I’ve been wanting to check out.  They have all locally made goods.  I will definitely go back for gifts!  

I also checked out a new biscuit place.  

I read this book this weekend and it was cute but rated R.  

I met two gals for the UK game later that afternoon – my sis-in-law J and my friend H. 

All I had was this water.  Just joking! 

We had chips and queso and pickle chips!

Theater son had a four hour rehearsal on Sunday afternoon and this guy takes after his mom.  He pulled out a beach chair and read in the sun.  Notice the snow shovels to the right of the photo.  Yes, Wednesday it was 7 degrees and yesterday it was in the high 60s!  Crazy!  

I started this book.  Claire Cook has written some really cute books and some have been made into movies.  One example is “Must Love Dogs”.  

I put a roast and vegetables in the oven and then picked up my son and came home and my hub was home!  We missed him but we’re glad he had fun.  

And, that was my weekend.  Looking forward to reading about yours!  We have lots of warm temps and rain this week before it gets cold again.

Thanks for reading!

Amy