Monday, July 30, 2012

Monday Made It/Wedding Planning/Other Assorted Stuff

So...I have a problem.

I'm super excited about being able to get back into my room and being able to start decorating and putting the room back together, but when I actually get there...

I don't feel like working anymore.

Ok, so that probably has a lot to do with the fact that it was 88 in my classroom today, but still. I have so much to get done. And it's not that I'm really crunched for time yet, so my motivation is a bit lacking.

I know, I know, I make no sense.

So I've been keeping pretty busy with wedding planning and setting up my classroom. The wedding is almost planned, I just have to order the bouquets, pick a flower girl dress, convince the guys to finally go get fitted for tuxes, and start putting the decorations together for the reception (though they have been ordered).

Wedding planning tip:
Flowers are INSANELY expensive. I mean, seriously, $175 for a relatively ugly fresh bouquet?! You ARE kidding, right?! They die! And wilt! But, I seriously have a thing against fake flowers. I know, it's petty, but I just don't like 'em.

Solution: Bouquets of DRIED flowers. Genius, right?! They don't wilt, they don't need water, and they can't die because they're already dead! Oh, and did I mention that I can get all 5 of the bridesmaid bouquets and mine for less than it would cost me to get ONE fresh bouquet?! I call that, my friends, a wedding planning win.

Go team.

I'm going to attempt to finish this post quickly so I can actually claim a Monday Made It (for once)! I never make it in on time. Sigh.

So. Teri and I have been trying to figure out a way to handle school supplies this year. We've tried having the kids keep them at their desks, we've tried collecting them and only handing out the supplies when they're needed, and without fail, the supplies mysteriously vanish into thin air. Mass chaos ensues.

We've both decided to try supply boxes this year. Each student will have a plastic shoebox sized tub with his or her number on it to keep supplies in. But, the supply boxes will be stored on a shelf and will only be gotten out when we actually NEED the supplies. So there shouldn't be crayons, scissors, markers, glue, or any other distractions in their desks. And, in theory, they shouldn't "disappear."

Well you know me, I can't have boring labels or ugly tubs.

Duh.

Lucky for me, Target had the shoebox tubs on sale last week, so I got 30 of them for less than $30. And, they're that awesome hot red to match my crate seats. And that's what I call a school supply win.

So I set to work Sunday afternoon on some awesome labels for my boxes. And then, I laminated them using my handy dandy new laminator (thank you credit card points for making that a totally free purchase).

Pretty cute, right?

They look really wrinkly in the picture, but I promise they aren't.

I wouldn't be able to handle that.

At all.

So I used some glue dots (which are pretty much my favorite thing EVER) and stuck those puppies to my glorious boxes.

And they look pretty darn awesome.


Not that I'm even remotely biased or anything.

Oh, and I posted the labels on my TpT store. And they're free for a few more days. Just so you know.

And I may have also posted some pretty awesome PBIS expectation posters. Which are also free right now.

In other news, I lost my desk today. I swear it was there a couple weeks ago. Sigh.


It'll show up eventually.

I've gotten most of my bulletin boards covered/bordered, but I GROSSLY overbought my border.

You see, I recall using 5 packs of border when I covered my back board two years ago. And I planned on covering it and the board at the front of the room that is identical in size. And I still wanted to have some for the hallway board. So you can imagine how excited I was to find a listing on Amazon for 16 packs of zebra border for $42!

Then I started covering my boards.

After I finished the first one, the one that I SWEAR used 5 packs two years ago, I had only used 2 packs and about 3 strips from a third pack.

Oops.

So now I have this INSANE surplus of zebra print border. ...Anyone want to buy it off of me? Sigh.

I must say, even though they have nothing on them yet, the boards look AWESOME.

But my room is still a mess, so I'll show you those later.

Ummm...what else was I going to tell you?

Oh!

I finally gave in and decided to create a Facebook page since I haven't really had the time to commit to big posts lately. So Will Grade for Coffee is now on Facebook. You should probably like it.

I also got approval from my principal today to start doing the Daily 5 this year. Super excited!

Now I just have to find time to finish reading the book. Oops.

Did I mention that Matt and I had our engagement shoot this weekend? The fabulous Alida Duff Sullivan is our official engagement/wedding photographer and was awesome enough to give us a sneak peek at some of the shots! We were SO lucky that it was only in the upper 80s on Saturday (isn't is sad that the upper 80s seem cool now?), so we weren't all sweaty and gross. Definitely awesome.

So on that note, I will leave you will our awesome sneak peek!








Tuesday, July 24, 2012

It's. So. HOT!

Alright guys, I'm off to work in my classroom. Without air conditioning. And it's 9:30 and already 90...with a heat index of 108. This should be fun, right?

In the meantime, I (finally) finished up a new resource which I'll share with you later today. Technically, it's listed in TpT already, but of course I chose to upload files during their down time last night, so the details are all there, but the files aren't. Whoops. I'll be taking care of that little snafu this afternoon.

Also, I've been thinking about starting a Will Grade for Coffee Facebook page to help fill in all of the gaps between blog posts. Thoughts?

With that, I'm pretty sure the paint touch ups that I had to do to finish up my zebra chair are probably dry by now (the only advantage of this heat), so I should probably go reattach the seat and get to work before working in my classroom becomes an incident similar to my one and only hot yoga class. Wish me luck (and if I haven't resurfaced by this afternoon, I may be passed out in a corner of my classroom, sprawled out in a puddle of sweat. You people with air conditioning have it so good. Sigh.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Wedding planning and a magical Volkswagon

Hey guys! I know I've been MIA for awhile now and I must say, I miss you guys! I have so much to share with you, but with all this wedding planning, I have been BEYOND busy!

We've gotten a TON accomplished, and I got approval from HR to take the week off after our wedding so we can take our honeymoon, which is AWESOME! I've got my wedding dress, and I'd love to tell you all about it, but Matthew has been SUPER nosy, and I can't risk it. (I've even had to change the pass code on my phone so he can't sneak a peek at the pictures!)

We have gotten SO much done in just over two weeks! I have a dress, we've ordered bridesmaid dresses, we have a ceremony and reception site, have a deposit down for ceremony chairs, decided on a caterer and a photographer, lined up a DJ, ordered Matt's wedding band, reordered Matt's wedding band (since it was 105 when he was sized and his fingers were swollen-didn't think that one through), decided on decor and favors, decided fresh flowers are WAY too expensive, decided dried flowers are brilliant, adopted an awesome maid of honor who already had my bachelorette party an a wedding shower planned, finished the guest list ordered invitations and RSVP cards, tasted a sample cake, decided on processional, recessional, and first dance songs...yup, we've been busy.

Oh-I did get in a little fender bender following some bridesmaid shopping Saturday-another lady and I backed into each other in a parking lot. Didn't do ANY damage to her car...my poor Jetta didn't fare quite as well as the SUV. My poor baby...

I was pretty bummed out about this-especially since we had had such a great day shopping.

And, Matt and I decided that we weren't going to get her (yes, my car is a her) fixed until after the wedding since we're trying to save money.

This kind of killed me inside. I hated the idea of my pretty little car having to drive around with a dent in her bumper.

Well, God must have been simply testing my resolve, because when I went to show my dad the damage the next morning, well, I'll let the picture speak for itself.

Do you see the dent?

You don't?!

That's because it magically vanished overnight! No joke. When I got home Saturday night-giant dent. When I went outside Sunday morning-no dent. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! There are still a few scratches, but heck, I can handle a few scratches as opposed to a giant dent! HUGE RELIEF!

Oh! And the bridesmaid dresses that we decided on?

Super cute, right?!

With these flowers?

And maybe a turquoise necklace?

My girls are going to look good!

By the way-fastest bridesmaid dress trip ever! We had everyone in their size, approved the dress, and orders placed within 20 minutes.

It. Was. Awesome.

I'm being beckoned by Matthew, so I should go for now.

But tomorrow-tomorrow I'm getting back in my classroom! I'm SUPER excited!!!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Holy moly-we're really doing this!

Well, it's official-the wedding is set for October 7th! Eeek!

I tried on my first wedding dresses today! Crazy!

And I may have found it. Maybe. Were going to another place tomorrow, but I did put a deposit to hold a dress that I tried on today-it wasn't what I thought I wanted, but Matt's cousin picked it out and I loved it!

We're going to check out another store tomorrow to see if they have anything similar (because the place we went to today didn't have anything else like it), because my sister liked it, but just wasn't sure that it was THE dress.

Wish us luck!

In other news, we're trying to find a honeymoon destination. We're thinking something tropical, possibly all inclusive, and fairly reasonable flights.

Ideas?

We've been looking on Groupon and LivingSocial, but the airfare is killing us!

Oh, and did you catch my guest blog post over at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher? (I'd link up, but my phone wont let me!) Amber was cool enough to let me guest blog today-head over there to hear about all of the wedding planning that we've done in the last week and you can pick up a freebie that you might have missed the first time I offered it!