Wednesday LOVE FEST!

Hey Ya'll! I'm linking up with Jamie for WILW and Michelle with Oh, How Pinteresting today. This is my last week of summer freedom. (I hate to admit it, but I'm excited to meet my new kiddos and for my sweet camping theme classroom!) I'm sad that I won't get to play house wife and do whatever I want during the days, but I gotta make the money somehow and so blessed to be able to have a job that I LOVE! God really did make me exactly for this job. Being a teacher is really tough sometimes but the payoff is so rewarding and fulfilling! *Stepping down from my soap box*

On to the good stuff!

I'm really loving my:

Source: wireless.att.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

I absolutely love my iphone and all its capabilities. Some of my favorite apps are:

Source: phonearena.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Instagram: Awesome photo editing/sharing app.

Source: itunes.apple.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Pinterest app: DUH...

Source: itunes.apple.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

EZ Budget app: made by my hubby. I love it because it helps me know how much money we have left for groceries without me having to ask my husband when I'm at the store.

Nike training club app: I love being able to use my own music but have video and examples of the workouts I'm suppose to be doing.

Source: itunes.apple.com via Kathy on Pinterest

RunKeeper app: I LOVE THIS APP FOR MY RUNS! I think I've even talked myself out of wanting a garmin (for now) because I've fallen in love with this app. I feel like (even though garmins are the hype) hearing someone coach me in my ear would be more beneficial that looking down at a watch every few seconds.

I look at and love all kinds of other apps, but I won't bore you.

I'm LOVING my book that I'm reading right now:

Source: goodreads.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

I'm LOVING last week of summer pool days with great friends!

I'm LOVING that I went to the dentist today (seeing that I haven't been in two years..YIKES) and came out without any cavities and the dentist and hygienist both said I have beautiful teeth :) Thanks mom and dad for the thousands of dollars you spent on my braces :)

I'm LOVING that hubby and I are going with his family to Cincinnati tomorrow to go see Paul McCartney in concert at the Reds stadium!!! SO EXCITED!

I'm LOVING my sweet hubby, family and friends!

For my pinterest addiction: 

This week I'm going to be sharing with you pins from my "Living in a Dream House" Board!

You can find more of my pins here:

 

Source: poshtots.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

This is AWESOME! I would love to have one of these sweet play sets for myself..err.. my future kids!

Source: nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Hello awesome Tree house! There are several on this board and I won't bore you with all of them! I've always wanted a tree house (the inner child is coming out)

Source: teenangster.net via Tiffany on Pinterest

Oh how wonderful this would be to read on, take naps on, etc...

Source: pool-swimming.us via Tiffany on Pinterest

Hello GORGEOUS POOL!

Source: front-porch-ideas-and-more.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

I love this porch!

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Yes Please!

Source: myhomeideas.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Love fire pits!

Hope Ya'll had a great Wednesday! I did my 30 min run this morning, went to the pool with some teacher friends, worked on my classroom.

Back to School Giveaways!!!

Hey Ya'll! Since we are almost back in school and I really want to win some awesome giveaways, I'm going to be sharing some that I've entered! I'm sharing the love...

Hope, over at Second Grade Shenanigans, is having a great giveaway.

I'm doing a camping theme this year, so this would be AWESOME to win!



Here is another great giveaway! You get 6 units/activities from other teacher's TpT stores!

If you visit this giveaway and enter to win, tell them that I sent you over to enter and if I win, so do you and vice versa!!



Jenn is also having an AWESOME bags giveaway! Click on her button above to check out her giveaway. Here's a little preview:

So go on and check out these 3 awesome giveaways!

Let's hear it for a great weekend!

Happy Monday, Ya'll! Sadly, this is my last Monday of freedom. I go back to school a week from today and kiddies come a week from Thursday. I spent lots of time in my classroom today and accomplished a little. Can't wait to show you my camping theme this year! I went to the gym afterwards and ran 4 miles today. I was suppose to do 5 this weekend, but other plans got in the way..yikes! Can't skip anymore long weekend runs. I did my 30 minute interval run and then walk/ran for the rest of the mileage. Came home, went to my pool for 45 minutes. Made dinner and now catching up on blogs and finally posting about the weekend!

Friday- We went to our friends house for a cookout. It was great times and good food!

Saturday- We (me, Heather, Emily and Lindsey) got up and left my house at 5:30 am bound for ATLANTA! We made it in 4 1/2 hours with 3 stops. First stop:

We got there around 11 and (with eating lunch there, spinach cheese crepes are AMAZING!) left around 2:15ish. I got some cute things but Lindsey was the one who bought the most! Her and her hubby are redoing a spare bedroom into a toy room and she lucked out with some great finds! Here's my loot:

A organizer box- $1.99, 3 silicone shape ice cube trays for making crayons-$1.99 a piece, storage clips- $1.99, a tea ball for loose leaf tea/spices-$1.99, Step stool for my classroom water fountain-$3.99. All under 20 bucks!

Our next stop was H&M- Emily scored some great finds and I got a set of 12 earring studs-$5.95!

Next was Trader Joe's for some 2 buck chuck!

Then we met up with one of my best childhood friends who lives in Atlanta, Katie, and we ate at Tin Lizzy's. A very yummy taco/Mexican place!

After dinner, before we were headed back to Nashville, we went to a mall for cupcakes! Lenox cupcakes, that is. They were yummy!!

We got home around 10 that night. It was a long day but a fun girls trip! (Lindsey has some more pictures on her camera that I hope to get soon, so when I do, I'll post some more :)

Sunday- Church was great and Sunday School was wonderful as well. We dropped off the bookshelf cubby system to Lindsey and Jared's house that she bought on Saturday, headed home napped, went to this sweet boy's birthday party

and then Derek is starting to teach me how to drive our standard miata! I did pretty well last night. We've had the car for 2 years, it's about time I learned how to drive it.

Hope you had a great Monday!

Recipe Friday!

I've been a total slacker...I promise to get better at posting these!

This post is not only a Friday's Recipes post but a cooking with Heather and Tiffany Post as well. This is WAY over due but we cooked together all week in June on our vacation! It was a blast! Here are some of the yummy things we ate on vacation at the cabin!

Baked Ziti

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
• 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.                                                                                             The best dessert EVER. Inspiration: Pinterest!

Cookie Dough
Oreos
Brownie Mix

Directions: Mix brownie mixture according to box. 1st layer: cookie dough. 2nd layer: Oreos. 3rd layer: brownie batter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (check, if done...you know what to do, if not, give it about 5 more minutes)

Oven Baked Blueberry Strawberry French Toast
 Ingredients:
2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 c. Sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Large Eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
10 slices of french bread (we improvised)
2 c. blueberries (we used strawberries)
Maple syrup, for serving

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F, and lightly grease a 9x13 in baking dish
Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl, with a stand mixer on medium speed, until well blended. (We just had to do it by hand because there wasn't one in the cabin.)
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the milk, and mix well.
Arrange the bread in the prepared baking dish, and spread the blueberries (strawberries) on top of the bread. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the bread. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before baking (or cover pan and place it in the refrigerator overnight, that's what we did). Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown.

This was interesting. I think we needed to cook ours a little longer but it's definitely worth making again!

We made lots of other things like, chicken fried rice, chicken quesadillas, hot dogs and burgers, steak, potatoes and sauteed onions and peppers and of course S'MORES!


Happy FRIDAY!!!

Our Master Bedroom

The long wait is over, my friends! I come to you with our before and after pictures. (Well at least what we've done so far.)

This is what it looked like before I lived here. Derek's Master Bedroom. The queen sized bed that was terrible for our first few months of marriage. (He slept in the middle before we were married, therefore there was a big slope which we both would fall into every night.)

Then we got a king sized memory foam bed. No box springs, just the mattress. We were hoping to get a platform bed. Well I don't have any pics of that because we slept on the floor for well over a year. We wanted to save for the bed and we had other things that we needed more. 

Well we got our bed this spring. FINALLY! (After begging for a long time) 

AND what you've all be waiting for.....

Our queen size duvet cover works great without the comforter in it for our bed. I love the blue wall and my new curtains. We use to just have an ugly white roll room darkening shade. Now it looks more like a nice bedroom!

What is still left to be done: Hang wedding pictures above the bed (need frames and to print 8x10's), Lamps (have the lamp shades), need a chest of drawers and night stands, would like to put a full length mirror to the right of the window on the wall and some wall art on the wall left of the bed that you can't see. But for now, I'm totally content and happy!

Happy Thursday...I'm off to a follow up at my doc for my face (getting much better), working on a school standards project with best teacher friend :), and then off to the dermatologist so they can fix my poor broken out face!