What's Up Wednesday-May

What's Up Wednesday

I'm linking up with Mix and Match Mama, Larson Lingo, and Pinterest told me to for What's up Wednesday (last Wednesday of the month) and the last question this month is "What is your favorite thing to grill in June?"

What we're eating this week.... This week we have tried to be better and resourceful. So far we have had a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken on salad with goat cheese and strawberries, and today we made egg, chicken and cheese burritos. The reason for the burritos was really that it was pouring outside and neither of us wanted to go to the store so we made do with what we had at home. Tomorrow night I am having my team from work over for a potluck dinner to celebrate the end of the school year! woo hoo for summer! 

What I'm reminiscing about....My last year of teaching for who knows how long. I am moving on to something different next year so I am reminiscing about what the past four years have meant to me. This is the time of year for reflection. This group of students were by far the hardest group I've taught so far academically. Their behavior was fine but boy did they need some help this year! They taught me a lot about my patience and how to be different in my thinking of what was best for their instruction. I am looking forward to next year but I am going to miss the interaction with the kids all day.

What I'm loving.... I'm loving that my life is finally starting to slow down a little bit. We don't have another wedding until August and the month of June is looking to be a little quieter than it has been. We still have a lot of showers, bachelorette/bachelor parties, and such but maybe it's because I won't be working that I think my life is slowing down. 

What we've been up to... Two weekends ago my tennis team made it to the City Finals and we WON! Tennis is one of my favorite things that I do! I've made some great friends over the years through tennis and look forward to every match! 

 This past weekend we went to Lake Sinclair with friends. It was a wonderfully relaxing and beautiful weekend. We enjoyed some sunshine and good company. Usually every Memorial weekend we go to Ben's lake house. There were between 10-13 of us and 3-5 dogs all weekend. It was a busy house but it worked out great! Everyone was on their own for food so I'll just say an enormous decent amount of hot dogs, burgers, and pizzas were consumed over the weekend. That's what happens where there are only a few girls there and the boys take over the planning. I was too tired from the last week of school to argue or plan. 

(Swimming is Cooper's happy dance) 

(Of course once we got home I had to go visit this cutie!)

What I'm dreading... Cleaning out my garage, extra bedroom, and linen closet this summer. I like to organize but these are three big tasks that are going to take me awhile and I would rather be laying by the pool. 

What I'm working on... Figuring out what exactly my job will entail next year. In the past two weeks I have been thrown for a few loops at work. Two weeks ago we found out that we are projected to be over 1000 students next year which means we have been allotted the money to hire another AP and Counselor to assist the current ones we have (the reason my job was created was because we weren't projected to be over 1000....happy I've signed my contract and they can't take my job away now...but that worries me for what state I'll be in for a job this time next year) and just last week my Principal announced he will be leaving this summer to move to California. I have worked for Harvey for 3 years now and was looking forward to the stability of working in a new role under a leader I already knew. This really gives me anxiety. The fear of the unknown but hopefully the community goes in the right direction to find his replacement. We shall see what the future holds. 

What I'm excited about... I am really excited about SUMMER break. My best friend, Ansley, and I have already started our list of summer fun things to accomplish this summer. I am looking forward to play dates with my mom friends and their munchkins, babysitting my nephew when my sister goes back to work, date nights with my husband, not being exhausted at 9pm every night, reading by the pool, and so much more! 

What I'm watching/reading... I am still reading Carry On, Warrior by Glennon (blogger at Momastery). I am really enjoying reading her book. She is funny and real which I appreciate. She talks about the great things and the unglamorous things about being a mom. It's light-hearted and an easy read when I'm getting ready for bed each night. I am currently not watching anything right now which I know comes as a shock. I was so far engrossed in Parenthood for so long that I figured it was probably time for Netflix and myself to take a little bit of a breather. 

What I'm listening to... I have been playing on repeat "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon and "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa. These have been stuck in my head and I can't stop playing them. 

What I'm wearing... Lots of yoga pants and t-shirts. Nothing exciting in this department other than I have finally found for the first time in YEARS some white linen pants that I love and aren't see through (yay!) from Old Navy!

What I'm doing this weekend... Babysitting my nephew while we watch Tommy, Bonnie, and Brett play their first mixed doubles match of the Summer season. I am totally fine with not playing if it means getting to hang with little man. We are also celebrating our FIRST ANNIVERSARY on Sunday! I can't believe it was a year ago that we got married. This year has been so wonderful and flown by. We are going to celebrate by going to one of the Dahlonega wineries for brunch and wine tasting. I will blog about this later! 

What I'm looking forward to next month... As I stated earlier all the things I am excited about that come with Summer break being here. The biggest thing I am looking forward to next month is going away to the beach with my family for the week of June 29-July 4th to celebrate my Nana's 80th birthday. It is a week full of my favorite people in my favorite place. It doesn't get much better than that! We are going to North Litchfield Beach in South Carolina where my parents will be building a house in the years to come. We love it there!

(these people and this place!)

What else is new.... I have finally finished updating the curtains in the dining room. I bought curtains off Joss and Main which weren't long enough so I bought cheap curtains from Target, cut them up, and added them to the bottom of the curtains to make them touch the floor. I am really getting the hang of the sewing and I am so happy with how they turned out! 

What is my favorite thing to grill in June... I love anything on the Big Green Egg but I do love a good pizza grilled on the pizza stone. Publix has the best dough already made for you to use and throwing all kinds of veggies on it! 

Weekend recap

This weekend was nice because it was filled with family, friends and sports. Friday night we had family dinner to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday with my family. It was a great night to sit on the porch and grill out. My parents made skewers and baked potatoes for dinner. I made strawberry bruschetta with a goat cheese spread as an appetizer and nana bought a chocolate cake from La Madeline for dessert. We watched the Hawks win to end the night. I didn't take a single picture! 

Saturday was a fun day! Tommy played in a "baseketball" tournament at Blackburn Park. It was pretty entertaining to watch. It's basketball with baseball rules. Basically it's a drinking game where boys shoot with one hand and have a beer in the other. There were 27 teams of four. Tommy and his buddies had two teams. I saw a bunch of guys from college I hadn't seen in years. It was a beautiful day to be outside and I was able to bring Cooper with me too! We had a great time and grabbed Los Bravos for dinner on our way home. I of course fell asleep instantly after tommy put a movie on. I should never spend money on movies because I always fall asleep! 

Today I got up early to get my stuff together for our tennis City Finals match. My team is in level C-1 and we made it to the finals. We played at Windward Club in Alpharetta. I played line 3 with Sarah Jackson and we played really well together to take a win! The team won overall and so we became City Champs! We will be moving up into the B levels next season which is exciting! We had a lot of fun and everyone played really well! This tennis team has been so much fun to be a part of for the past few years. This is our first championship for our girls team. Our Mixed doubles team has won before as well. Looking forward to next season!

After tennis we rushed home for me to shower to head to our friends house for the Burford baby shower! Frank and Wendy are friends we met through our mutual friends, the Hartmans. The Burfords are having a little boy in September. Looking forward to meeting the little one!

(Mommy-to-be, Wendy)

(Aren't these cookies just adorable!)

Now it's time for a relaxing night at home before taking on the always-exhausting last week of school. There are only five days left of school which is crazy! This year has flown by! Looking forward to summer break. The students are tired, the parents are tired and the teachers are just burnt out.

(A lot of this is happening tonight) 

Friday Favorites

Linking up with Narci, Andrea and Erika today! 

1. Piko Shirts

I've been loving these shirts lately and they are having a 40% sale off their already reasonably priced items (promo code FINALSALE) and so I ordered myself some fun summer colors! 

2. Supper Club

I didn't remember to take any pictures but Kyle Hartman hosted supper club for this month and it was delicious! She made spinach/feta/turkey burgers, roasted potatoes, and brownies for dessert. It was fantastic but the company was better! I have so enjoyed our suppers each month for the past six months and look forward to it every month. This week was fun because we got to hear about Christy's sister's wedding, Elizabeth's trip to New York and exciting happenings in everyone's lives. 

3. Dinner with Alex

My friend, Alex, moved down from New York in December and I have so enjoyed having her back in town. Sometimes life throws you some curve balls and so she and I went to dinner on Tuesday to just catch up and work through some of those curveballs. She works for Bold American and La Tavola is one of their restaurants so we decided to go there and take advantage of her awesome discount. Man the food was fantastic! We were stuffed by the end of dinner. I would HIGHLY recommend going here and on a nice night especially so you can sit on the back patio. It's located in Virginia Highlands which is always a fun area to go out in. 

4. Nephews

My brother-in-laws birthday was on Mother's Day so Tommy and I offered to babysit one night this week so they could go out on a date. Wednesday night we were on baby duty! Collier was a doll for us and made it a pretty easy night of babysitting! We always enjoy getting to spend some time with him and get our snuggles in. When we got there he was asleep in his swing and when he woke up he was mesmerized by Tommy cooking dinner. It was adorable! After we I put him to bed, Tommy asked me SO many questions about babies. This is definitely new territory for him and me so I don't know why he thinks I know ANY of the answers! 

(poor little buddy gets his 2 month shots today. Praying for him and his momma that they survive. My sister is not good with needles and blood but hopefully she's fine when it's for him and not for her!)

5. Soaking up my last days teaching

So as many of you know, I am no longer going to be teaching next year. I will be at my school but not in the classroom so I only have a few days left teaching (for now. You never know what will happen in the coming years). The month of May is HARD at school. The kids are tired, the teachers are tired, and everyone is looking forward to summer. I am trying my best to keep patience and soak it in. Today is Field day which is always a fun day for the kids but exhausting for the teachers. Thank goodness the weather has held off and it's nice and cool/overcast for the day. Two of my students performed in the school Talent Show last night so I came back to school to watch them. It was so cute and I'm so proud of them for getting up to perform! 

Happy Friday! To say I'm looking forward to the weekend is an understatement! 

Mother's Day Weekend

This past weekend I was on my own because of the school Carnival being Friday night I wasn't able to join Tommy and his parents for a trip to visit Beth in Charleston.

Friday: School Carnival. It was a great turnout and the kids seemed to have an awesome time. It was HOT outside and so the Firemen decided to spray from the truck which was a HUGE hit! 

Saturday: I slept in! I enjoyed my coffee and breakfast in peace and quiet at home. Then I ran to the mall to make some returns before meeting my best friend, Ansley, at Chastain Park for a walk and lunch at Zoe's Kitchen. It was just what I needed! After my walk, I ran a few more errands to Target and Home Depot. I bought new curtain rods for the dining room and flowers for the yard. Soon I will show the updates I'm making to the dining room! I came home and made the dessert for our tennis semi-finals. I decided I would try the Watermelon Cupcakes from the blog Mix and Match Mama. After the cupcakes were out of the oven, I headed to my parents for dinner with my family (minus the Willi's). After dinner, I rushed back to monogram a few items for my friend Sarah that she needed for some graduation gifts for her sister-in-law! Phew what a busy day!!!!

Sunday MOTHER'S DAY!: I woke up early to get ready for brunch with my family. We went to my mom's favorite, J Chrisophers. It was delicious as usual! Then I went back to my parents to hang out for a bit before running home to change for my tennis match. I played with Katie Booher and we kicked butt winning 6-1, 6-1 fairly quickly so we got to enjoy watching the rest of the matches from the shade. It was again HOT outside! Our team won enough lines to carry us through to City Finals next weekend. Hoping to come away with another win and City Champ plate! The cupcakes were a huge hit! They were all gone from the tennis match. Sunday night Tommy and Cooper made their way home from Charleston and we enjoyed dinner and just hanging out for a low-key end to the weekend. 

(My little sister, Claire, nana, mom and me)

We missed having Bonnie, Brett, and Collier around for Mother's Day/ Brett's birthday but I know they so enjoyed getting to celebrate their nephew's first birthday, Bonnie's first Mother's Day, and Brett's birthday with his family up in Ohio! 

(Bonnie sent this of him all dressed up for Mother's Day)

I put these images up on Instagram yesterday as a way of celebrating my mom and Bonnie. I am so thankful for the unconditional love and support my mom has given me my whole life. I know I have given her a hard time in the past but she is my best friend now. I can't imagine not living close by and being able to grab a quick lunch or go for a walk by the river when I'm off school. She is such an inspiration to me having raised four kids while across an ocean from her family. I don't know how she does it all!

And to my sister, Bonnie, I have been amazed watching you transform into such a wonderful mother over the past two months. Collier is just perfect and you have really got everything under control. I am amazed and hope my first two months look as easy as you've made it seem! I am so thankful for your friendship and how much of a role model you are to me. I can't imagine living farther from you. We are so lucky to have you right around the corner. Thankful for the random texts I get each day and being able to rely on you always for a good laugh or support. I hope you had the best First Mother's Day! Love you so much!

Have another busy week ahead at both school and outside of school. Looking forward to Supper Club tonight! 

Have a fabulous week! 

Stelling Wedding Shower

One of Tommy's oldest friends, Drew, is marrying a good friend of mine from college, Caroline. Their wedding is August 8th and so this weekend along with five other couples we threw them a couples shower! We did a seasons theme for their gifts but then at the actual event we did a fiesta theme for decor and food/drink. The Kreisses were so kind to host the event at their beautiful home. They had the perfect backyard for it and the weather was wonderful this weekend! Here are some pictures from the event!

(Aren't these the cutest cookies!) 

(Moe's catered)

It was a great night with great friends celebrating a wonderful couple! We are looking forward to their wedding and seeing what God has in store for their marriage.