3 Month Countdown! 2 Freebies!

Hello there. Just coming out of hiding for a bit to say, "Happy Spring Break" to all of our fellow spring breakers. You know who you are! Brittany and I have *NEVER* been so ready for a break! This break is going to be filled with wedding planning though because today marks the 3 month countdown until the BIG day. Where has the time gone? We've had a long engagement, but these last few months have gone by way too fast and I'm finding myself getting more and more behind in planning process. Hopefully, I can use this little break to play catch up on everything non school related. Must.Not.Procrastinate.

Meeting with our wedding planner
and photographer! (Thanks Mom for the
finger in the photo).

Rob and I have been busy making some final decisions, which for me are VERY difficult. I may be the most indecisive person in the word. SERIOUSLY. I don't enjoy making decisions, AT ALL.

Here's a little recap:

Shopping for centerpieces 

Tux Fitting

Meeting with the Priest.

Filling out all the paperwork
at the St. Christopher's. 

They were all delicious!

Cake Tasting!

Also, we've been busy making packets to go along with our reading series! Here is not one, but TWO freebies for our fabulous followers! We have been such blogging slackers lately so we figured it would only be fair if we gave a little extra today!

...and freebie #2

Finally, some exciting news to share… my future sister-in-law, Leah started a blog!!! I have been encouraging her to start one because not only is she a wonderful writer but she also is a fitness guru with lots of great things to share. I just know her blog is going to reach a lot of people and I am already a huge fan. She's witty and real and I hope you enjoy reading her blog as much as I do! Please stop by and check it out.  I need to get her set up with a blog designer stat because the only thing lacking in her blog is a cute design!

The Misadventures Of An Undomestic Goddess

I promise, Leah will not disappoint!

Finding a Balance!

Hi friends! Hope everyone is having a better day than we are. It's been a real doozy. Brittany said to me "I feel like I take one step forward and ten steps back." I know this isn't exactly her quote, but today it really should be. Do you ever have those kinda days in the classroom? When you think, "Wait?!?! I did teach this, right?" Yeah… that was today.

I absolutely hate days when you feel defeated! The kind of day when you're not sure if ANYTHING was accomplished. Ugh! We're just teaching so much… and so fast this year. I feel like I should time my "brain breaks" to be less than a minute because we just don't have the time to dance around. I try and remind myself that they are six-year-olds and they need to move but the pressure of what we need to cover is totally overwhelming!

The more intense the curriculum becomes the less time I have to really get to know my students. I've always taken that relationship very seriously. I know it makes me a better teacher. But this year we just don't have time to chat. I rarely get to ask my students questions and inquire about their interests. I want them to feel that they have a teacher that really cares, but we're more focused on balancing equations than balancing any type of relationship between home and school. The whole thing makes me sad. It also makes me wonder if there in something more I can do to fit it in. If you have the answers… please tell me your secrets! I do lunch bunch on Fridays and take in all the chat time I can during dismissal, but with 22 kiddos it's just not happening! It's nice to know that I'm not alone though. At least I know Brittany feels the same way… I bet a few of our fabulous followers understand, too!

Here's to another day! No back stepping tomorrow!

TOTALLY NEW TOPIC starts now…

After a not so cheerful little blog post I want to change the subject and the tone to something FABULOUS! Ever since Britt and I started reading blogs years ago, we have adored a fellow blogger called Pink Lou Lou. She's witty, fashionable and just plain adorable! What's not to love? She's not a teacher (everyone has a flaw) but she has many of our same interests, the most important one being SHOPPING!

Well PinkLouLou loves loves loves this website called Jane.com. Have you been to it? GET OFF THIS BLOG AND GO NOW!!! No… seriously, this blog will be here but the amazing deals on Jane.com will not. Don't delay because these items go fast. Fashionistas… I'm obsessed! The deals are A----MAY-----ZING!!! How did I know about this sooner??? I mean, think of all of the deals I've missed. You need to check it each day because there is new steals everyday for all ages!

Here are some of my new faves:

$6.99 Watch Blow Out!

$9.99 Chevron Watches

7 different painting stencil designs! $6.99

Not sure I can pull these off but I really want to try!!
Multi Print Leggings $10.99

Super soft microfiber kitchen towels $5.50

Chevron Scarves $10.99
I LOVE CHEVRON!!

We met, we married, we live sign $5.50

So go check it out! You won't regret it!!! These frugal girls are OBSESSED!!!

Did someone say SALE?

Where has the time gone! We simply can't believe it's already mid September! Brittany celebrated her 29th bday anniversary this week and we celebrated with a little cheesecake at school. Since she's getting MARRIED next month we kept it low key! We have so many wedding festivities coming up so Brittany insisted we don't "over do" her birthday. She is buying herself a new car this year, though! She's earned it! Updates to come on that! She's trying to be frugal and shop around so at this moment her driveway is not sporting any new wheels. Speaking of frugal... have you all hit up all of the back to school sales? School supplies are DIRT CHEAP right now. I bought a class set of binders for 16 cents each at Target yesterday! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Frugal: (adj.) prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful

As for school, well it's been an adventure! We have come a long way in just one short month and it feels so good to say, "I think we'll get there." If you asked me last week if we would reach our end of the year learning goals I would probably have not been so optimistic. Things are looking up!

This week has had it's ups and downs but nothing a little shopping can't fix! Found a great deal online and wanted to share it with all of you... if you like H&M this is a great bargain and who doesn't love a bargain?

Confessions of a Shopaholic...

My name is Melissa and I am a shop-aholic! Seriously, I could go on the show Confessions of a Shopaholic. I should only go in stores where everything is full price because maybe then I'd practice self control. (Brittany will read this post tomorrow and COMPLETELY agree). She knows about my addiction and she still loves me. Frugal friends are the best!

I was just about to fall asleep when I decided to just take a quick minute to check facebook (never a good idea)! Wouldn't want to miss an important birthday! Well, While doing a quick scan (ahem... 45 minutes) on FB before calling it a night I noticed that one of our favorite bloggers Cara, from The First Grade Parade had posted a reminder that the BIG sale on TPT ends tonight. Plus she was offering an additional 10% off tonight!!! Any who, $75 later, I'm now heading to bed just a little more poor and A LOT less tired! Besides, how can I sleep when all I want to do is checkout all of my new fabulous purchases! I just love a good sale... I admit I wasn't incredibly FRUGAL this evening, but at least everything was 30% off in the end!

Make sure you stop by TPT tonight before midnight! I'm off to print my new purchases sleep!

Spring Breaking and it feels so good!!!

It's Friday and that means Spring Break is comin' to a quick close! SLOW DOWN!! At least we have the weekend to kick back and relax. We both took off from our second job to enjoy the last weekend of Spring Break with family and friends. Brittany is going to a wedding today and I'm heading home with my sister who is still in college at FSU (shhhhh... Brittany's rivals)! She came down yesterday and today we're dragging my fiance down to Stuart, Florida to celebrate Easter with my family. Love my hometown! It's so quaint and beautiful and everything about it is wonderful. Of course growing up there, it seemed boring and small, but visiting now I realize how lucky I was to grow up so close to the ocean! Maybe we'll fit some beach time in! **Fingers Crossed***

Let's recap on our spring break so far...

We have done soooo much shopping! We had a lot of catching up to do! We literally shopped til' we dropped. All of our great deals have still yet to be put away!

On Monday we went to lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant Ayuttaya Thai. Yum! The pad thai there is to die for!

Silly girls!! Kelly and Brittany were having a little too much fun at our favorite place!

After a delicious lunch we headed over to Ulta to stock up on some girl stuff! We all need it, right ladies!

I bought this exact item for only $9.00
It's amazing! So happy I got this great deal!

Finally, we went to Panera for some acai berry ice tea and girl time. It was such a great day!

Tea Time

On Tuesday, we were still ready for some more shopping! We took our frugal selves over to Gainesville for a T.J.Maxx/HomeGoods all-in-ONE store! Four hours later... we had done some major damage! After our long TJ Maxx trip we headed to the mall! We got to shop with our favorite little guy. How cute is Landon, Kelly's son?!?! He's too adorable! We love his company!

HomeGoods and T.J.Maxx in ONE store!!!!! Hooray!

Brittany found some great deals!

They had some great stuff!
Check out these
Red Neck Wine Glasses!

Best Friend Necklaces!
Are we too old??

My favorite shopping buddy, Landon! We were having a dance party in the backseat! 

Brittany and I wanted to learn how to do a "smokey eye" so we had a professional at Sephora show us! Getting your makeup done is so much fun and a real "eye opener"... pun-totally-intended! haha!

Ta-Da!

She's going to kill me for adding these close-ups...
but it looked so good!

Finally, we finished off another successful day of shopping with Ballyhoo's! It's was not only fun, but also delicious! I can't wait to go back!

Gator spotting!

Dinner With the Girls!

 We finished off our week of fun with a beach day yesterday! We backed up some snacks and suntan lotion and headed to Daytona Beach for a girls day! The weather was perfect! 

Laying Out with the girls!

Homemade wheelchair??
Random?!?!

Spring break is such a tease... now we're ready for summer! Two more months folks! We can do it! Happy Easter everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend with family and friends!

ABC got it right... CELEBRATE EACH DAY!!!