Five for Friday

Does it count if I started this post when it was technically still Friday {11:59pm et}

I am currently sitting on the couch, much past when I should have gone to bed, watching the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles one; you know, the good one.

It has been a very busy week & that's perfect for a link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching weekly Five for Friday.

I got the whole week off from school, a much needed break, & needed to prepare for my parents coming into town from St. Louis for Thanksgiving. They weren't staying with us, but I wanted to use the weekend & three days to get all my Christmas decorations up.

Holy Christmas decor inventory.

 Plus this FABULOUS find from an antique shop. You know that look/move you do when you find a $1 on the ground…I did that when I spotted the moose mug.

You serious, Clark?

No wall goes untouched in our apartment. The catch 22 about living in Central Florida is that we can't really get out of the state easily, but with the exception of the panhandle, we can get almost anywhere easily IN Florida. Our goal while we live here is to make the most of it & visit as many places as we can.

I purchased this 1920 map of Florida from Etsy shop WorkBox, printed it as an 18x24 & glued it to a canvas. Every where that Brandon & I have visited together gets a little pin in it. Still many places to visit!

I found the painting from Hobby Lobby.

Like I said earlier, my parents weren't staying with us in Orlando. We rented a condo in New Symrna Beach. We had a nice, low key Thanksgiving dinner, hubs was able to be off work for the evening to join, & we enjoyed the sunset & ocean view. B & I made the journey to Wal-Mart {ugh} & snagged a voucher to order the 50" TV. Black Friday just isn't the same anymore. Running through Target at 4am 4 years ago when we literally snagged our current 40" was so much more fun.

The weather has been really chilly the last two weeks, I feel sorry for my parents who were hoping for some hot weather. But anything is better than current Missouri weather.

And I have enjoyed getting to wear my "Wellies" & leggings!

Has anyone else had anxiety to go back to work on Monday? I had a legit anxiety attack this morning just thinking about my email {that I refuse to check till Sunday evening--at the earliest}

I really am not ready yet. But the positive side of it is that Thanksgiving was later this year, which means Christmas will come faster!

Princess Half Marathon is coming up in a very short 3 months & I am no where near ready. So what better way to celebrate the day after stuffing yourself than signing up for a 5k? 

As of my last running attempt I was only able to go a mile before I had to walk. Pretty embarrassing for someone who plans on running a half soon.

Another reason I love living in Florida, perfect running outside weather. Now..where is that motivation?

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving break with your family & friends.

Five for Friday: Classroom Design Take 2

If you looked at my Pinterest board BEFORE I got engaged/married, you would see a lot of differences to what my actual wedding ending up being.

What I thought I wanted/envisioned ended up changing completely once it was actually here & new ideas popped up every where {thanks to all the wonderful and new things on Pinterest}.

So, where am I going with this…well in 3 weeks, before even entering my classroom I have already changed my mind on my classroom theme/design…thank YOU Pinterest.

I originally thought I wanted black with BRIGHT NEON colors! 

Thank goodness I didn't do any purchasing, because I completely changed my mind once again:

Here is my new direction, my Lilly Pulitzer inspired colored scheme. 

It was the bottom left Pin that set my wheels in motion and I immediately went to JoAnn's to stock up on supplies for my "About Me" Board for Meet the Teacher Night {final product coming Made it Monday}

I think it was the bright, cool colors with a bit of pattern mixed in that I just loved. It feels calm and refreshing. And I think it will be a little easier focusing on a few key colors, instead of a rainbow color pallet. 

Can't wait for it all to come together in the end!

Here's the links to my Pinspiration:

1. Paisley Pop Classroom

2. The Inspired Apple

3. The Wild Rumpus

 On Wednesday, I was able to see my classroom and the school again. I was so lucky, because two other 4th grade teachers were there organizing their rooms and I got to meet them and able to get a lot of my questions answered. I FEEL so much better and my anxiety about the new year has gone way down.
Now starts the two week countdown to the first day of school!
And I was totally that girl taking pics of all the new stuff with my name on it!

Just around the corner is my one year anniversary of being a FLORIDIAN! It has been such a fun first year living here. I most definitely did not miss the cold weather of Missouri, especially after the winter they had last year. There are things I do miss, like season changes {especially Fall}, and of course our family and friends being close. But the opportunities we can have here by living in Florida make up for it. 

This year I want to do more outdoor activities, first being Stand Up Paddle Boarding. I wish the boards weren't so freakin expensive; I would have had my own yesterday. 

But for now, I made a reservation to have a 90 minute lesson tomorrow at the lake by our place through Kindred Boards or find Groupon deals.

Found these adorable resources for my new room theme that have already been added to my TPT cart!

TPT Word Wall

TPT Room Labels

Sneak Peek into my room! Can't wait to get my hands in there and get it 4th grade ready!

Cheers and happy Friday friends!

I will keep asking for help until those pin buttons disappear, how the poo can I get those things off my blog. HELP me blog masters!

5 for Friday (ehhh Saturday)

 I'm a little behind again for my 5 for Friday, so it's 5 for the day after Friday.

During the summer it rains almost every day in Florida (I say almost because it hasn't rained for two days & I'm doing a little sun dance)

The rain comes in big & usually lasts only a few hours, but it comes in fast & hard & then it's gone. It really puts a damper on outdoor activities, but when it's over it leaves a pretty amazing going away present:

Double rainbow & no filter used. The sky was on fire that evening.

My Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner came in the mail this week! In the past, I have had her Life Planner & Life Wedding Planner & loved them both. They were especially great for the 2012-2013 year when I was teaching, in grad school, & planning a wedding. I'm hoping I can use the TLP to its full potential this year. I love that it's personalized. I may have been "Mrs. Alexander" for a year now, but I still get a little smitten to be a Mrs. 

And I just loved the sand dollars, thought it would be perfect for Florida.

Like I mentioned in Made It Monday, I had my first HR meeting this week with the district. I didn't learn as much as I hoped, it was just an hour of pushing as much paperwork at us as possible, followed by ANOTHER round of fingerprinting (my 4th in a year--you'd think they would've found a way to simplify this, but I guess if I'm paying it doesn't matter) & another round of drug testing. The drug testing requirement is new to me, drug testing is not required in the midwest. 

Hopefully my results get processed quickly so I can finally get into my classroom and meet with my team. I'm getting anxious to want to get more figured out and get the piles of classroom things that are building up in my apartment out of here.

Today I needed some ME time. I'm bad about doing things for myself (like pedis or getting my hair done). Usually, those things come every few months (maybe even a year..) I have a hard time spending money on things like that.

Brandon, the hubs, got home from a 28 hour shift around 11:30 am & has been sleeping most of the day. Doctor's wife & still new Floridian has it's lonely times. Thankful for our new apartment location, I only had to walk downstairs to the nail salon to get my toes touched by OPI's Short Story.

 I had to dig for this last one, but in connection to #4, I've been feeling a little lonely these days & missing my Missouri friends & family a lot lately. I haven't seen a lot of friends since Christmas break & we've seen both sides of our family on & off for random/short visits since then. But I'm very excited because we have a few weddings coming up in the fall that we are able to go back & be apart of. One of Brandon's best friends (& our Best Man) is getting married Labor Day weekend in St. Louis (B is the best man for him) and we are both flying back for. Another one of Brandon's good friends is getting married two weeks later (B's a groomsmen) in Dallas--as of now I can't go, but I'm staying hopefully it'll work out. And finally, I am flying back to St. Louis in November for a sorority sister's wedding. Lots of friend & family time in the next few months & here's to more SW Rapid Rewards!

Cheers to a new week!