V-Day, Flowers and An Antelope...

I think I am just now coming down off the annual sugar-high from Valentine's....  OH.MY.WORD....  Something about Valentine's Day gets children RILED UP like no other.  They get more excited about Valentine's Day than Christmas, their own birthday and just about any other holiday.   Last Friday, some teachers limited their student's candy intake to one or two pieces and sent the rest of it home to enjoy....

But not this teacher!  IT was pretty much a free-for-all the last 30 minutes of school.  Hey - They were going home to Mom and Dad!  Sorry parents.....

WILD....  BUT - it is so fun to watch their enthusiastic, sweet faces pass out there v-day cards, tattoos, suckers, and the one and only, the most BELOVED candy by the kids - The ever-so-popular FUN DIP. 

I mean who would think the trifecta of blue, red, and green granular powder served handily with a hard, sugary stick to lap up the "crazy crack" would bring such complete bliss and utter perfection to a 9 year old's life???

Kid Crack....

This week has been Teacher Appreciation Week at my elementary school.  What fun!

Full of breakfasts and lunches for us teachers, along with handmade cards, sweet treats and flowers from our students.  Today some kids brought individual flowers for me.  I put them all together!  They were so excited to help me arrange the loot into the vases, dump in the flower food, and add a penny... (Yes, I read on Pinterest recently that you should throw a penny into a vase full of flowers.....)  The theory: The copper can act as a natural antibacterial agent.  Ok - whatever that means, but worth a try!

Beautiful

Last but not least, by favorite thing about this week (other than a week off of grad. school) - My new, favorite book...

OH.MY - This book has completely consumed me.  I.Adore.It and cannot put it down!  Nearly done with it.  

It is both a touching and hilarious look at the ups & downs of being married to someone who is both your best friend and your polar opposite! Wise and hilarious comments on the joys, tears, and everything in between about marriage and life in general.  I love that she incorporates her faith into the book leaving no doubt that's the most important part of her marriage...  

Girls - Run now and go get this BOOK!  

Cannot believe it is Wednesday already.  

7 days left for us lucky Louisianans until Mardi Gras Break.  

Yep, my fellow Texans - Teachers in South Louisiana get BOTH a Mardi Gras week long break and Spring Break in April... 

Can I get an AMEN?!

Have a wonderful rest of the week.

Love,


~H

Some Randoms...

This past week and weekend were pretty much low key...  Which was nice!  Worked on grad school, went to a Rodan and Fields party, and enjoyed a late lunch on a patio Sunday!  Gorgeous weather in south LA.

So with that -  Let's chat some random things...

1.  I cannot get enough of Law and Order: SVU.  I could watch this show all day EVERY DAY.  There was a marathon on the USA network Sunday, and (we) might have watched 4 back-to-back episodes.  I like the new episodes on Wednesday nights, but my favorite are the old ones with Christopher Meloni aka Det. Stabler.  AND who doesn't want to be Det. Olivia Benson.  I DO!  LOVE Mariska Hargitay~ Gorgeous, smart and one tough chick!

2.  Yes, I'll admit I watch "Courtney Loves Dallas" on Bravo.  Silly, not so "real", and (rather stupid as my husband would say - but so is his Madden football video game - So we are EVEN:) but it's fun to watch and see some of our old stomping grounds (restaurants, bars, etc..) in our favorite city!  Her bff, Tory Gonzales, has a jewlery line, and I sure did buy a birthday gift: 

To Heather - From Heather.  I love it!  

Someone in our household thinks it is too big and obnoxious, and said I can only wear it when he is not around - kidding I am sure...but hey - everything is bigger in Texas, right?

Love it!  

http://www.allthewire.com/products/everything-s-bigger-in

3.  Where have I been?  I just discovered Netflix.  WHAT you might ask?!?!  Yes I guess we have been living under a rock. We love it.... Brad loves him some Breaking Bad (could not get into it - sorry), but I am OBSESSED with Parenthood, absolutely obsessed.  

Kelly, from Kelly's Korner, blogged about this the other day.  I just started Season Two.  What a great show!  And seriously, who would not want to be a Braverman?

4.  I love a product.  If you could see in my cabinet in my bathroom, it is quite embarrassing.  Every Bath and Body scented lotion/bubble bath/shower gel/spray, etc. you can imagine.  Definitely need to do some spring cleaning under there.  My mom gave me the best body citrus scrub for Christmas from a dermatologist in Amarillo!  It is great. So refreshing and light.  I will keep buying this when this one is empty...  I don't know Dr. Elaine personally, but her products are great.  So if you are ever in Amarillo, Texas or want to check them out online....

https://skintreatment.com/skin-care/body-skin-care-and-hair-care/body-skin-care-exfoliants

5.  I am loving Instagram these days.  It just the pictures that I mostly love about Facebook, not the daily invites to play Farmville and Candy Crush, political rants and all the other nonsense.  Ugh....  Instagram is great.  Very private, easy to use and just a way to see pictures of your friends (or celebrities that you may or may not secretly stalk!)

Very pointless blog entry I know...

Have a great Valentine's Week Everyone!  

KIDS love this week for some reason.  Give them a cheap Valentine's card and a Dum Dum sucker, and you think they would have won a million bucks!  It's that easy people...

Have a great week!

Love~

H

29th Birthday...

What a fabulous birthday weekend it was!  The fact that it was a 2-day work week made it all THAT MUCH BETTER...  I could do two day weeks every week.

Back to the birthday!  What great co-workers, students, friends and husband I have.  Totally blessed.

Beautiful flowers from the hubs.  

I do have a strange love affair with skunks.  Yes, I am weird, but I love the way they smell.  I do. (No, I have never been sprayed by one.  I might have a change of heart if that were to happen).  My students know about my crazy love affair due to the fact I have quite an extensive skunk stuffed animal collection in my classroom from students throughout the years.  

 But this card takes the cake....

   

 My co-workers brought me TWO king cakes for my birthday.  So the teachers ate devoured one and my kids scarfed down the other one.  Yep, we got the babies!

So the past two years teaching in Dallas, my co-workers gave me the same, yes the EXACT same birthday card two years a row...  It was funny last year at my birthday lunch when I opened the card and about DIED.  Stephanie, Margaret and Rita had picked out the exact same card for my birthday again.

Well this year was no different.  My co-worker Cali picked the card out and FOLKS - it was the EXACT same birthday card as the previous two.  I about fell out of my chair at school!  I told them the story that now it had been three years in a row that I had received the exact same card.  We all laughed about it and wondered what the odds were of THAT!

Well then, I got a card in my box at school Friday afternoon from my Mom.  (Yes -it came to school?:)....  I opened it up, and LOW AND BEHOLD....  It was the SAME CARD.......  Now this was just INSANE!!!!!  Three different groups of people/Mom and the same card.

Well, here are the cards!  The other two identical cards are stuffed in a box in storage somewhere....  

Hmm?  Are they trying to tell me something? 

Saturday, Brad and I headed into the city for a fun night away to celebrate.  Obviously, since we are rather new Louisianans, we love going into the city and exploring. 

Our favorite place to stay on St. Charles... Hotel Indigo.

It was our first time really exploring Magazine Street!  Such cool clothing and home interior shops.    

 

Because a one-legged horse/man wearing gold-sequined daisy dukes with a crime scene taped scarf is normal.  Love it!

Surprises from the husband...

Fun pre-dinner drinks!  This place is FABULOUS.  Wine Institute of New Orleans.  120+ bottles of wine, taste what you would like, all by using a fun pink card you stick in the machine as you go.  You pay by the ounce...  From $1.00 an ounce all the way to $22.00 an ounce!  

Unfortunately, you hand them your debit/credit card BEFORE sampling.  Dangerous place!

 Yummy dinner at Emeril's!  (Any restaurant that gives you THREE different types of bread; a sourdough roll, a piece of foccacia, and a corn bread muffin before dinner, is my kind of place!)  It was amazing... Service, food, atmosphere, etc.

Marathoners the next morning heading down St. Charles!  Our friend Tim was in town running the marathon, but we must have missed him.  He was too fast!  I guess we caught the tail end.  These were the walkers.

 Yummy brunch at Coquette before heading back to reality. 

What a fun, fun weekend away celebrating my first birthday as a married girl.  Thank you babe!:)

After all the INDULGING this weekend, Brad started low-carb today.  (And I always seem to get roped into doing it.)  He is the TOTAL carb-natzi....  I once got an eye-roll for reaching for a after-dinner peppermint.  He is hard core.  Brutal...

As I sit here eating cherry tomatoes, I can tell they obviously have "carbs",  because I am getting the "look" from the Natzi....  

IT'S not like I am shoving a Krispy Kreme down my throat.

Oh this is going to be fun.  Can already tell.  Hope there are still two Wainscott's alive by Friday...

Have a great week everyone-

Love,

~H