Friday...YAY!!

It's Friday, YA'LL!!  Whoop!!  Whoop!!

All in all, not a terribly long week!!  I'm glad I had those three days last week at work to ease into to the New Year with the students.  This week they were back to their old tricks!!  HA!!  I'm trying my best to keep up with my Friday Fives and embracing my word of the year...POSITIVITY by finding the good in each day!!  Here's a bit of what I loved this week!


{ONE}
I was so happy to find the #52TeacherSnaps Challenge with @mrsedgarsclass on Instagram. I was a bit behind, but can easily catch up since it just a pic a week!  Instagram is my favorite social media platform these days.  I'm finding Facebook is getting way to political for me and since I've never really been all that into twitter...I've let it go!!  Insta is a much more positive community (for me!) and I love connecting with teachers on there and getting great ideas!

{TWO}
Another thing I'm loving this week....I'm not longer spending 13 hours a day at school.  I've officially gave up two WHOLE days of After Care!! #happydance!  To celebrate I went for margaritas with a friend!  Because I can do that now!!  Margarita Mondays...I'm gonna make it a thing!! But maybe kidding because I'm not making as much money now!  LOL

{THREE}
I'm going to try my best to document all the books I read this year on the blog!  I am on book two of 2019.  The first, It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover was recommended to be by Christy.  I loved it.  I stared it at the end of December and finished it late last week.  So It counts for this year.  I am currently reading The Address by Fiona Davis and enjyoing it very much!!  I am close to finishing it!  I have so many books on my TBR list, thanks to this weeks TBB Asks.  Check out all the links {here}to add to your list too!  And head {here} to read my post!!

{FOUR}
This past weekend a cool new brewery opened up in my town, so naturally I had to go check it out.  You guys it was so cool.  Everything is exposed see you can see them brewing and the vibe was just really chill.  And best part of all...it only takes three minutes to walk there!  HA!!  To be open one day and already have eleven beers on the board is pretty awesome!  Will be returning for sure!! Future Regular!!!

{FIVE}
Last but not least, I'm over at The Blended Blog today!  I'm so grateful that I can contribute to our community.  I just love those girls so much.  We have fun, we empower one another and we have dance parties and drink wine together?  Is there anything better??  I think not  We have some fun stuff planned for the blog, so head on over there and give us a follow so you don't miss a thing!

Linking up with Erika and Tif today, too!!

TBB ASKS!!: January

I think absolutely perfect that January is TBB Asks: Keep Me Entertained Edition!  Because what better way to survive this long, cold month??

1. Book you've read multiple times?
Is it weird that I haven't read books for myself multiple times??  Only class novels with my classes!

2. Favorite Book of All Time?
Wonder!!  I think EVERY HUMAN should read it.  The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell is a super, super close second!!

3. Favorite TV to Binge?
Sex and the City and The Office...those two never get old!!

4. Favorite New-ish TV Show?
I'm really enjoying A Million Little Things these days...

5. Favorite Movie of All Time?
Oh so hard!!  LOL...Love Actually? I've seen Clueless and Speed the most tho...


6. Movie You are Looking Forward to Watching?
Very rarely do I go to the movies, but I really want to see The Upside with Bryan Cranston, Julia Roberts and Kevin Hart.

7. First Concert?
Debbie Gibson!  I was 7. We sat in the third row of Radio City Music Hall. I met her years and years and years later and totally fan-girled out!!

8. Ultimate Concert?
Brue Springsteen, Adele and Michael Buble are all on my concert Bucket List!!  And I've seen *NSYNC twice in concert but never JT solo so here's definitely up there too!!

9. Favorite Artist?
Kenny Chesney!  This summer I saw my TENTH Kenny Show!!  For me...KENNY IS SUMMER!!

10.  How do you listen?
 All of the above!!  But recently got Amazon Music so more often that than anything else these days.

TBB Asks is always a good way to kick off a dreaded Monday!!  Make it a great one!! 

Linking up over at The Blended Blog today!

Friday Five

It's the first Friday of a brand new year!  Sometimes it's so hard to believe that it's 2019!  Where do the years go??  Geeeezzzz....

I thought I'd pick back up with the Friday Fives/Favorites/Loves this year.  I'm hoping that I am able to blog more consistently this year.  Here's where I'm starting...

Some favorites from the week that was....of maybe the last few weeks, since it's been forever and a day since I posted!

{ONE}

Dad's 70 Today!!

Please send some love, good thoughts and prayers to my dad as he turns 70 years young today!!  We'll all be celebrating him as a family tomorrow and I can't wait!

{TWO}

The Holidays and Christmas Break

I've been back to work for three days now, but I'm still dreaming about the holidays and the Christmas Break.  I really had a great time! Thanks to some cancelled got some relaxing in (thanks to a pesky cold that had me on the couch a few days!), spent time with family and friends, and had a ton of fun!
Oh and I'm still relishing in the fact that all my nieces and nephews loved my gift and are still talking about it! I gave hem all cash...but I "made it rain" singles all over the living room and they had to find the ones with their initials on them!  It was entertaining!
I'm just always a little sad when it all comes to a close!  But bring on my winter hibernation!



{THREE}
NO Clothes Challenge
Have you heard what Abbie's doing this year? She has a Sister Clothing Challenge for 2019 that pledges to buy ANY CLOTHES ALL YEAR!!  Read all about it{here}
EKKKKKKKK....I probably could do it, seeing as my closets are busting at the seams and I *may* have taken full advantage of the after Chrsitmas sales, but man that's hard! LOL  I am sure that I NEED to SAVE money this year, so I'm going to not buy any thing for three months, and if I make it three, extend it to 6 and so on!  That actually brings me to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale!  HA!!

{FOUR}
My Happy Planner

I've made the switch...to The Happy Planner!!  I decided to save some money and after realizing I didn't really even look at my planner as much I had in the past, I thought a Happy Planner was the right fit for me. I am loving planning with it.  I love all the stickers available and have really customized it for me.  The pages can come out which is a really fun feature for a lefty like me!  There are less "notes" pages in the back than my EC planner had, but I can purchase add-on pages and I really like that at the beginning of each month is a "CURRENTLY" page.  I may take that outta the planner and transfer it to the blog!


{FIVE}
My one word for the Year: Positivity

Read about why I chose this word here!

What are you loving as we begin the new year?  I love to hear all about them in the comments below!  Have a great weekend friends...and thanks for stopping by!!

Linking up with the girls of The Blended Blog today!  And don't forget to join us for TBB Asks on Monday!  Grab the graphic and play along!!

Linking up with Andrea and Tif too!

Leaving Negativity Behind....

Happy New Year Friends!  I hope everyone has had the best holidays filled with family, friends and fun!!

Giving the #oneword thing a try again this year! 

The One Word movement is essential choosing one word to guide you through the year rather than a whole list of resolutions that never really get tackled!   It's a way to live with more intention rather then with a timeline.  (this is my own takeaway and interpretation!)

I chose positivity as my word for the year.

A lot of people would already say I'm a pretty positive, upbeat person...which as a whole is probably true.

But a lot of times I verbalize negativity, let negative thoughts creep in, or allow negative people get the best of me!!

I'm not doing that anymore!

2019 is going to be the year I think positive and give negativity the boot!

I'm going to have FUN!

Is every day going to be perfect? Absolutely not! But they'll be a positive in everyday...and I'll find it!!! And if I find myself face to face with a person being negative...I hope I can be a positive influence for them!!

What's your word for 2019? Let me know in the comments below!

Here's to fresh starts and positive vibes!!

All Things Christmas!

Happy Monday Friends!!

I can't really take for serious that Christmas will actually be here next week!!  Eeeeekkk...I'm so excited!!!  Not that I'm not ready, I totally am, it's just crazy how fast this year has gone!!

Since I'm in full on Christmas mode, I'm joining The Blended Blog for the All Things Christmas Link-up.  Later this week I'll be sharing my Christmas Decor, so today it's all about the Christmas Entertainment...movies, music and books!  (I think I added the books but I'm a fan of Christmas books sooo....)


I am totally THAT GIRL that's been watching ALL THE HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES since the day they began airing on October 26th!!  It really has been that long!!
I know they are super cheesy and uber predictable but I just can't help myself!! This year there are more than ever!! My all-time favorite Hallmark Christmas movie they never replay enough.  It was called Finding Christmas and the leading man, JT Hodges, is a country music singer in the movie and in real life!!

Hallmark

Also, something of note....not only is there one Channel for  Christmas Movies, there's two!!  Hallmark Movies and Mysteries has some great movies, too!  Check out Hearts of Christmas....it's  my fave HMM movie!!

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries

Finding Christmas is very much like one of my most favorite Christmas movies, The Holiday.  I just love Jack Black and Jude Law in that one!!  And how cute is Arthur?!? I've seen The Holiday so many times and I could never tire of it.

Another favorite Christmas movie is Love Actually.  Actually, it's one of my all-time top 5 favorite movies! I have a Christmas morning tradition of wrapping all my gifts while watching Love Actually and drinking mimosas!  #solitarylifeatitsfinest

As you can probably tell, I'm more of a TV watcher this time of year! So in my house it's more TV then music during the holidays, but I do have a bunch of Christmas songs I love.  When I was a classroom teacher, every year for Christmas, I'd give my class a homemade Christmas CD of songs that I burned as a gift.  It was always a hit with my students and their families.  I like mixing the traditional with the more modern.  To hear some of my favorites and ones I included on my CD, head to my Christmas Playlist on You Tube here!!

Over the years, I've gotten into reading Christmas books. A co-worker gave me a Christmas book as a gift one year and I've loved it so much, I started reading that author's books.  Anything by Richard Paul Evans reads like a favorite Hallmark movie.   One of my favorite Christmas books ever is entitled The 13th Gift.  I read it years ago as an Advanced Readers Copy and just saw it on a fellow bloggers list, so I'm thinking I'll pull it our again this year myself.  It's based on a true story!
I blogged a little bit about it here!

Over the weekend  I finished reading One Day in December by Josie Silver.  I really enjoyed it.  It was maybe a bit longer than it needed to be but overall a good read!  Recommend!!


What are you reading, listening to or watching that I may be missing??  Let me know in the comments below!!


Have a great week!  See you back here for a Christmas Home Tour Tomorrow!!

Merry and Bright!

Wednesday!!  Whoop! Whoop!!  Luckily this week seems to be flying by!  With so many holiday things on the horizon, it's all coming quick!  Decided to jump on with my TBB Besties today and share a fashion post.  Today's prompt is all things Merry and Bright- to share an outfit that makes you happy and brings you joy!  Do pajamas count?  Just kidding!  I'll be sharing those next week!

Today's look has been on repeat ever since I got this hat.  I get lots of reactions to this hat and got the biggest reaction to this outfit as a whole, not too long ago!  And that just made me really giddy (and still does!) so this outfit just makes me happy.  It's not holiday-ish but that's ok!

I was hesitant about this hat at first, but now I wear it all the time and love it...haters be damned!!


Sharing this sweater too, just because...my students really liked it!  HA!  I've totally become that teacher that dresses for the holidays!  Eeeekkkk!!  But the kids love it and notice!!  This look was a hit with them.  And that made me happy.  These days it's been increasingly hard to find the happy in what I do quite honestly...so I'm gonna take it and run with it!   I have a holiday gingerbread making event to go to on Thursday and I think I may wear this!! And this sweater was like a $3.99 bargain at LOFT after Christmas last year!! So if that isn't a testament to save some of your money for those after Christmas sales...I don't know what is!!

Hope you are wearing something today that makes you smile too!  Have a Happy Wednesday!!

TBB Asks!

December already!  What?!?  As much as I am sad to see this year coming to an end, I am excited for all the Christmas festivities I have on tap.  Joining my TBB Girls for the first of the month fun, TBB Asks!  This month, it's got a holiday twist!  Obvi!!  So much fun!  Join us!!

1. Candy Canes?  I can take 'em or leave 'em really!!

2.  Christmas Morning early riser or sleep in?  I am old...I no longer sleep in, EVER!!

3.  Black Friday Shopping?   YES...but only online.  I am not a fan or crowds.  My sister and I shopped in our pjs all day, drinking persecco and eating leftovers!

4. Christmas tree up in November?  YES!  My mom and I have our tradition of putting up my tree together.  For the past few years we've done it the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

5. A Pinterest Christmas?  NAH!

6. Christmas Glam or Ugly Sweater?  There is a time and place for it ALL!!

7.  Stucking Stuffers...Wrapped or Unwrapped?  Well my mama's the only one who still gives me stocking stuffers these days and for as long as I've lived, she been wrapping them!  I like it!

8.  Traditional or Modern Christmas Songs?  I like a mix of both!  Love  Frank Sinatra singing about those J-I-N-G-L-E Bells??  My FAVE!  And who doesn't love a lil *NSYNC Merry Christmas Happy Holidays or Britney's My Only Wish this Year?!?  LOL

9.  Fruitcake?  Actually I've never had it...and don't ever intend to.

10.  Is your Christmas Shopping done?  For the most part, YES.  The only gift I have to get is my Secret Santa.  But we haven't put together our lists yet.  I do a Secret Santa with my sisters and brother-in-laws.  We pick names then put together a list with three gifts we want and send it to everyone. Then our secret santa can choose what to get us.  So it's something we want but still a surprise because we don't know what they'll choose!

11. Snow in December?  There can be.  We've actually had our first heavy snowfall on November 15th, so I'm fairly certain that there will be more snow this month.

12.  Classic Show: Charlie Brown or Rudolph?  As a child we watched all the Christmas Shows.  These days, give me ALL THE HALLMARK CHRISTMAS  MOVIES!!  (I'm actually really liking the ones on Lifetime too this year...LOL)

Heading over to The Blended Blog to link up my TBB Asks now, you should too!! Or let me know your answers to the questions in the comments below!!

Ho-Ho-Happy Holidays!!