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.

Weekend Recap + Frozen Breakfast Burritos

Another weekend come & gone & the Sunday night blues have set in.

Friday night I got to hang out with my friend's new puppy, a King Charles Cavalier, named Pearl! Pearl is just 10 weeks old & just the cutest. But no "puppy fever" over here. That was fun to do just once.

Saturday I made a trip to the Gift For Teaching warehouse that is offered to Title I teachers in Central Florida. We are allowed to go once a month to stock up on classroom supplies for free. I got a ton of black folders donated by a lawyer's office to make privacy folders for my students.

I saved over $300 this trip! Such a blessing to have this for support.

Saturday was cleaning day & Sunday was crafting day!

I had planned on doing a little decorating for Thanksgiving, I had actually started a craft project using burlap & white pumpkins (I started it a few weeks ago) & haven't had time to finish. I decided just to pack it all up. Project will be waiting for me next year!

After Halloween I usually take down anything holiday specific and leave up the pumpkins and leaves. I am not one of those people to decorate for Christmas early, sorry I'm not sorry, those pilgrims and indians deserve their holiday fair & square. I will though pull out the Christmas decorations next week since I am spending Thanksgiving with my parents in New Symrna Beach & have Monday & Tuesday off from school. 

There may be bags & bags of new decorations in my car waiting to come inside!

Sunday the hubs had to work & I surprisingly woke up semi-early & had the desire to go for a run. Those are few & far between & with my second half marathon just 3 short months away I needed to take advantage of it. It was a absolutely beautiful morning & another reminder of how much I love our neighborhood & living in Central Florida…I believe it was snowing back in Missouri today?

I was able to do 2.6 miles. I ran the first mile at a 10:20 pace, which isn't too bad, & kept a 13 minute mile for the second at a walk/run pace.

I played my Half Marathon playlist while I was running & it was a happy reminder/painful awakening that I was struggling to do 2.6 miles compared to the 13.1 I was doing just 6 months ago.

I worked on two projects on Sunday. I think my run inspired me to finally frame my Nike Women's Half Marathon memorabilia from last spring. It is such a great reminder of all the support I received from everyone while I was raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The second project is also running involved, but not completed yet. Stay tuned!

And finally the breakfast burritos! 

My coworker & I are determined to get healthy & more gym visits so I made us breakfast burritos that we can keep in the freezer & thaw in the morning at work. I am awful at eating breakfast in the morning, I think it has more to do with how early I have to get up & leave. My stomach just doesn't want to eat food at 6:45am & my body doesn't want to get up early enough to make anything. I ate much better when I was working an office job & didn't have to be there until 9am, & was able to make breakfast & eat at my desk.

Hopefully this will help! Took about 30 minutes of prep, 30 minutes to cook & 30 minutes to package. Makes about 15

I watched Addams Family Values while I cooked. 

(I believe it qualifies as a Thanksgiving film)

I had to make two separate batches because my coworker can't have peppers. Her's had mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes. Mine had everything.

Ingredients:

2 small containers of Egg Beaters (16 oz)

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

Baby Bell Mushrooms

1 tomato

spinach

Chicken Sausage (I wanted turkey but couldn't find what I wanted)

Skim Milk

Low Fat Cheese

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Dice peppers, mushrooms, and chicken sausage. Cook on a skillet until sausage is cooked and veggies are soft. Mix both containers of Egg Beaters with 1/2 cup of milk. Add egg mix to the skillet, let cook for 20-30 seconds (I let it go too long & got a little burnt. Keep mixing until it looks like scrambled eggs. Put into a bowl & take to the counter. Dish one big spoonful onto a tortilla & wrap. If you are like me & don't know how to wrap the perfect burrito, just google it, very helpful. Wrap in plastic wrap, put them in a gallon bag & place in the freezer! Excited to try them out in the morning.

I'll leave with you with some Monday morning inspiration.

Good night dolls!

Ombre' Bridal Shower

I threw one of best and oldest friends a bridal shower for her upcoming wedding. I'm not huge on "theme" parties, but I LOVED the look of a pink ombre' shower, so my planning and crafting began!

Invitation from etsy shop digibuddha Paperie

Both of those projects are very simple to make. The floral "R"just needs fake flowers cut at the stems, cardboard letter with the front cut out, green floral blocks, and hot glue as needed. The fabric garland was even easier, except I bought way to much fabric. I purchased 1/2 a yard of each color and cut 1 inch by 24 inch strips. I had a whole bag left over. So I suggest half that amount.

And everyone LOVES a Mimosa bar! This was a huge hit for obvious reasons. I also added a signature cocktail, Blushing Bride, which is just adding Peach Schnapps and grenadine to champagne. I'm glad I only bought one bottle of Schnapps because that went fast, and we may have had a few tipsy shower guests.

And my favorite new bridal shower game..FIND THE GROOM! I printed off a generic groom clip art and took scissors to my fabulous trash magazines!

Each guest gets an envelope with a "groom" in it and who ever finds the actual groom gets a prize. It's easy, doesn't put anyone on the spot, and it's just plan fun!

A Week at the Spa

A few weeks ago I taught enjoyed a week at the Spa with a few of students at my school. Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to plan out a really fun week with eight girls and we enjoyed facials, manicures, pedicures, mediation, yoga, and a few crafts. 

Every day was a new "spa-perience" This would such a fun party-theme idea!

Here's what our week looked like:

Monday-MEDITATION DAY:  Morning yoga and stretching. I found a few yoga videos from re-sale stores (just make sure you test them out before) I did Gentle Yoga for the first three days until my students started falling asleep and saying they were bored...so I busted out Yoga Pulse. After that they didn't fall asleep anymore.

 Spa Water:

Ingredients:

2 liters water (about 8 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 medium cucumber peeled and thinly sliced

1 medium lemon thinly sliced

12 small spearmint leaves

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together in a pitcher

Refrigerate overnight

Strain water

Enjoy over ice cubes

Add mint sprig for garnish (optional)

Recipe found here

The girls were indifferent about the taste..I on the other hand LOVED it. So I had no problem drinking their water all week. I plan on always having a pitcher of this in my house from now on.

Spa Flip Flops

I purchased an assortment of different sized flip flops from the Dollar Store and a package of Room Essentials white hand towels from Target here. The only other materials you need are scissors and a hot glue gun.

Cut the towel into thin strips

Continue to wrap around the shoe until it's covered. Hot glue on both ends.

Tie towel strips into a pretty bow and glue to the front.

Seriously, so simple and cheap! You barely need any of the hand towel to cover the flop, I think each girl used three strips. $5.00 for towel pack & $8.00 for 8 flip flops: $13 of cuteness!

Tuesday-MANICURE: We started the morning off with another yoga session and stretching. 

We then began our manicures!

First we made a Citrus Salt Body Scrub

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sea salt 
1/2 cup sweet almond oil 
(can substitute light olive oil or vegetable oil)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

In a medium dry bowl, combine all ingredients making sure to not let any water touch them as it will dissolve the salt. Pour mixture into an airtight container and store in a cool dry place.

Recipe found here

This was a BIG HIT! I have made a lemon sugar scrub before using essential oil extracts instead of the zest and I have to say using zest makes it 100% times better! The smells were fantastic! And so much cheaper than purchasing the oils.

We then soaked our hands in water and I used my very old Mary Kay Satin Feet/Hands cleansing gel and buffer scrub. We gave hand massages and then the girls painted each others nails. Myself and my assistant helped paint flowers and polka dots.

WEDNESDAY-PEDICURE DAY: Another yoga and stretching session.

I filled up large tupperware containers with warm water and added lavender bath salts to each. I also brought in my Foot Massager from our wedding registry and I knew that would be a favorite! I popped in some relaxing nature CDs and for an hour we soaked our feet and rotated into the foot massager. We ALMOST made it the whole hour with a spill.....hence the word ALMOST. After, we painted each others toe nails.

While the girls did a pedicure I made a homemade lotion. I let the girls measure out the ingredients, but it involves melting and staying by the stove, so it became a "teacher" project.  I can't seem to find the recipe I used..and I'm honestly not even sure if it worked.

THURSDAY-FACIAL DAY: After yoga and stretching we crafted sleep masks. I purchased colored foam, glitter glue, pom-poms, and ribbon. I created a template and the girls did the decorating. 

Cucumber Mint Mask:

1/4 cup cucumber, shredded with skin

1/4 cup minced, fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup aloe (I could not find this)

4 drops lavender essential oil

3 drops chamomile essential oil (I skipped this part)

1. Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until reaching smooth consistency

2. Remove, cover, and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes

3. Apply to clean, damp skin, and leave on for 15-20 minutes

4. Rinse thoroughly with cool water

Recipe found here

Now, this didn't turn out looking likeI thought it would. It was more liquid-like and chunks of cucumber..but if I say it's looks good, the kids have no idea. So we covered our face in wet chunks of cucumber and mint.

FRIDAY-FINAL DAY: Our last yoga session, I made them do Yoga Dance, they were most definitely not falling asleep after that. We made Sprite & Gummy Bear popsicles (which need more than two hours to freeze..my bad) and homemade candles

What you’ll need:
- Soy wax flakes -Hobby Lobby
- Wick -Hobby Lobby
- Containers. I purchased Tea Light holders b/c they were $1 each
- Pitcher with spout
- Fragrance oil (I offered orange or lavender)
- Popsicle stick

Melt soy wax flakes in a double boiler, add in your favorite scents and dye. Once flakes have completely melted, set your pot away to cool down for a few seconds. In the meantime, warm up your glass containers using a blow-dryer for a minute. This will help the wax cool more evenly! Pour wax into containers, thread wick with Popsicle stick and let it cool for a few hours until solid. Cut wick about 1/4 inch long.

Recipe found here

It's opportunities like teaching this camp (& getting paid for it) that I have to pinch myself with how lucky I am and hard it will be to leave my job. I'm teaching a DIY craft class in a couple weeks and I'll make sure to do a post of what I have the kids do.

Thanks to all the blogs and websites that helped me put together such a fun week!