1st grade : Language Arts : Valentine's Day letter-writing activity.

My first graders are just about to finish a unit on letter-writing this week, so imagine my joy and surprise when I found this on Pinterest yesterday-

 

How adorable is that?! I shook my first at the heavens, saying, "WHY!? Why did I have to find this SO CLOSE TO VALENTINE'S DAY? And AFTER I wrote all of my lesson plans for the week! AND the week of my first observation!"

Then I stopped and looked over at my mascot for student teaching...

That's right, it's Gumby.

I have a printed picture of Gumby next to my desk at school. Next to it, I wrote the words, "Be FLEXIBLE! ...and cheerful!" And this has basically become my mantra over the last three weeks. Children are unpredictable. Schools are unpredictable. And life is unpredictable. So when the unpredictable happens, I remind myself, "I'm flexible!"

Basically, Gumby is going to be my mascot for the rest of my career. Or maybe I can switch it up to Elastigirl, to suit my Disney obsession a bit better.

So after viewing Gumby, I said, forget it. I can rewrite the lesson plans, no problem. We can squish the lesson on self-editing into one day instead of two. We can put final publishing off by one day for a fun Valentine's Day activity. Of course, it'd have to be the day before Valentine's Day (because Friday we actually have a field trip) and that's the day of my observation... but that's okay too. Plus, I'm a huge fan of incorporating things that the kids can actually handle and manipulate. The fact that it is candy and the kids get excited to eat it doesn't hurt either... so maybe it'd actually be better for my observation rather than boring old peer editing (which is what I originally had scheduled that day.)

I felt it might be unfair to the students to switch their schedule up on them suddenly, so I took a vote.

"Look, ya'll, I'm gonna be honest- I found this really cute thing on Pinterest last night that I think you might find fun," I told them. And then I showed them all the picture. I explained how this would change our original writing plans for the week. Then they voted. The Pinterest Valentines idea won unamimously.

So here I am tonight, editing this week's lesson plans to fit the activity while simultaneously writing lesson plans for the next week. Oh, and blogging, because the idea was too cute to ignore. I wish I typed lesson plans as quickly as I typed up this blog post. Wah.

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Getting back into the swing of things.

Oh my goodness, it's been a long time since I've updated the blog. Since the last update, we experienced our super beautiful and magical Disney vacation. I will eventually go back and update the blog with our day-by-day experiences and photos and all that fun stuff.

In the meantime, though, a big reason of why I haven't been around to update is because first of all, my laptop decided it did not want to charge anymore and so it was rendered useless until I found the problem and purchased a new charger. It literally just came in yesterday so this is my full day back with a completely functional laptop.

The second reason is because I AM OFFICIALLY STUDENT TEACHING! And man, I feel like I have no time at all. I'm always either at some sort of meeting or writing lesson plans or working or trying to sleep for once... and I'm glad Tristan and I took our big romantic vacation right before starting all this madness because we maybe talk fifteen minutes a day now, with a few texts in between. We went from seeing each other every day to once or twice a week. I miss him terribly.

But! Life at the school is great and my kiddos keep me entertained. I am loving being back in the first grade will all of my little ones (even the crazy little ones!) Being in the school every day is exhausting but I can't think of any other way I'd rather spend my days.

After today, I have eleven weeks to go. This week has gone by so quickly! And things have been madness with my health. After we got home from our trip, I got this terrible red eye. It just got worse and the kids started asking me what was wrong with it. I've been to the eye doctor twice and it still isn't any better. I started antibiotics yesterday that will hopefully clear it up. I really miss wearing my contacts.

There's so much I want to write about, both about the trip and about my adventures as a almost-teacher. I want to tell you all about our class gerbil, and the 100th day of school and I even want to write about the book fair where I picked up some goodies. I want to... but it'll have to wait until tonight or tomorrow. Because unfortunately I just got out of class for the day and now I'm headed straight to work. Life is busy!

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A view of my (very pink, very Disney) room.

My room looks like a five year old girl lives in it. But it's totally me and I really dig it, though it's on the small side and oh, right- it's in my parents house. Since I'm basically a nomad, I don't stay with my parents as often and honestly it just gives me the longing to stay at home for as long as possible. I tell my dad I'm gonna get married and still live here, lol.

Anyway, unlike other kids I knew when growing up, I didn't get a cool decorated room with any painted walls or themed sheets or anything. My room was stark white my whole life and super boring. So when I was about 19 years old and in college, I spent Spring Break redecorating my room. All I knew is that I wanted pink EVERYWHERE.

I got it. My room is so pink now that pink reflects off of everything in it. If you take pictures in this room, you get a distinct pink tint. You'll see what I mean in a minute.

Since it's two days till Disney and I'm mostly packed, I'm bored and out of blogging material. So alas, here is a view of my room.

The coolest view, because of that Ariel drawing alone.

So walk in and look to the left and you see the decorations on my wall above my television set. Notable: Wall decal, which I got 50 percent off at Hobby Lobby. And of course, the first thing everybody notices, the Ariel drawing.

I didn't do this. I could only wish I could be that talented. The drawing was done by my old best friend from high school. I actually had it rolled up for a long time before I finally bought a frame for it and put it up.

And to the right is my calendar, which I could not live without.

Take note of the tiny Mickey heads representing the Disney trip!

A Disney princess wall calendar, of course! I actually received this as a birthday present from a fellow cast member, and it is replacing my old wall calendar which was HUGE!!!! I needed a calendar that big in college because I would write all of my due dates and work schedule, etc. Those things take up a lot of room on a small square!

I'm gonna try using the small calendar because with student teaching, I don't think I'll have notes that are quite as extensive- and if I do, I still have my weekly planner that I carry with me. I might end up getting a large wall calendar again anyway just because I'm so used to having all the room to write!

Ramen and coke are recurring decorations on my night stand...

Aside from being obsessed with Disney and with pink, I also really love giraffes. On my night stand is a tiny giraffe I purchased at the San Diego Zoo. He hangs off of my lamp like a koala.

The giraffe sketch above my lamp is a sentimental piece- or rather, the frame is. When I was in middle school, I was a fan of drawing Japanese-style comic book chracters. My grandma asked me to draw a picture for her, so I did, and she framed it and hung it in her house. When my grandma passed away when I was 18, I took the frame and photo from her house.

However, I felt weird about displaying the art inside because it's kind of an embarrassing piece now, you know? So instead I drew a picture of a giraffe randomly and put that picture in front of the one I drew my grandma. It makes me feel better, because in a way, I still have that art and my grandma's frame hanging in my room, just with a slightly more acceptable piece inside. It says "hello giraffe" on it. I think it's cute.

My sheets are usually pink but my aunt will be staying in my bedroom so my mom wanted her to have "new" sheets during her visit instead.

This is where I usually am. Sitting in bed while on my laptop. Rascal is in his usual spot, too. Little sucker.

Random Homecoming mum hanging off of my curtain. I don't have the heart to put it away even though I've been graduated from high school for almost four years.

The bookshelf with awkward-sized spaces!

The top shelf is my Disney movie collection. It's small but that's because I started from scratch. My parents didn't keep any of my kiddie movies and I didn't start collecting until I started working for the Company and became familiar with the Disney vault system. I don't want to collect every single Disney movie, just my favorites.

A few college textbooks go on the second shelf, obscured by a Mickey Mouse painting my best friend painted for me. She even has a little hidden Mickey in the black part!

I have two giraffes on this bookcase, can you find them?

I AM OBSESSED!!!!!

On to my next obsession... Bath and Body Works! This little basket was given to me by Tristan for Valentine's Day, and it's adorable. Luckily, it's also huge so it holds my crazy in one place.

This basket is 95 percent Bath and Body Works. My favorites currently are Winter Candy Apple, Vanilla Bean Noel and Beautiful Day. I usually try to have a new signature scent every season, but those are my go-to favorites. I also have a crap load of Bath and Body Works shower gels, but that's stored in another room.

Wow, I have a lot of obsessions.

Nail polish. I think in a single year I went from owning about eight nail polishes to like, forty. This year I got really invested in doing my nails and doing simple nail art. My mom says I have enough polishes to open a salon, but I don't think I have much compared to some.

My favorite brand is Wet n Wild Megalast. I love their big, wide brush and only wish for more colors to come out!

And now all my Disney things get crammed into one area.

Couple of notable things: Light-up glass Mickey Mouse figurine that my mom bought me "just because." Tinkerbell and Cinderella Castle photo holder that displays a picture of my sister and I on the PeopleMover back in the day. Tristan's vinylmation he hasn't picked up yet. Day of the Dead Jack and Sally figurines I got at ComicCon. Glut Vinylmation from Little Mermaid series.

PRINCESSES!!!!!!!

Little Mermaid musical figurine that plays "Under the Sea" from Disney world. Designer Belle mug from the Disney Store circa 2011. Beauty and Belle pop vinyls, a Christmas present from my brother. Belle musical figurine from the Disney Store circa 2010. Gaston vinyl from Beauty and the Beast series. Japanese "it's a small world" Animator doll. Original Belle animator doll. Hallmark's 101 Dalmations snowglobe. Art of Ariel mug from the Disney Store circa 2013. Designer villain Cruella deVil from Disney Store circa 2012.

Those teacups are actually shot glasses. Classy shot glasses.

On top of my bureau is a temporary set-up. My mom made me put all of my plush away since my aunt is coming to visit (maybe stuffed animals freak her out? I dunno.) so for the time being I have this blue parasol that my grandmother bought me, a Cinderella carriage mug with art by Mary Blair from the Disney Store circa 2012, "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" wall hanging given to me as a birthday present from my sister (from an Etsy shop) and of course my cute little teacup shot glasses.

Usually on this surface is my Duffy display, with Duffy backdrop, giant white teddy bear, large core Duffy, medium core Duffy, medium core Shellie May (my holy grail of sorts) and mini-beanie Duffy bear.

My other plush usually hangs out on top of my mirror but those have been banished too. Those include limited edition Genie, marshmallow-scented Mickey Mouse dressed up as a yellow bunny, Pikachu in Mickey ears, a pink sock monkey and yet another giraffe. :)

Wow, that was a lot of typing. I just happen to have a lot of free time while I'm sitting around awaiting the trip. Soon enough...

Back to creating the itinerary! Thanks for reading!

-Mari

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Welcome to 2014!

2014 is finally here! I'm not sure if I'm more excited for Disney or more scared of the new year ahead of me. If it were any other year, I'd probably be fine but 2014 is a BIG year. I've got a semester of student teaching ahead of me, followed by testing for my certification, followed by graduating college and looking into getting my first teaching job (and hopefully, actually teaching in my own classroom!) It's a lot of change looking to happen in just one year. I'm really anxious about it.

But for the time being, something more exciting is on the horizon... DISNEY!!! Starting the year off with a Disney vacation is only the best way to start any year!

The last picture of 2013.

We spent the New Year at Tristan's aunt house with his cousins. My family doesn't do fireworks because they're technically illegal. It's too dry here so there's a ban on fireworks within city limits. As a result, I'm scared of them and the dangers they pose lol. Tristan's family is too bad to listen to any laws (and his uncle is a cop so what the hell) so they go big with the fireworks. Here is me experimenting with a sparkler, which is as far as I'm willing to go with any type of firework. I'm a pansy like that. I do like sparklers though they scare me a bit.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We kicked off 2014 with a little adventure of our own. Walking out of his aunt's house and ready to come home, we opened the front door and there was a little kitty. Tristan's uncle sneered at it and said it had been hanging around for a few days and he was sick of it. So I did what any normal person would do and plucked it off the street and brought it home.

He was a really, really cute and really sweet brown tabby around five months old. I love cats (and animals of any kind, really) so he would have been mine if I had the time, resources, space and money to keep him. Not to mention he had an eye infection so he really needed to be treated. Since all the shelters were closed on New Years, I had to wait until January 2nd to turn him in, which I did resentfully. I really loved that little kitty for the 24 hours he was mine.

We named him Meeko Mousekawitz. He enjoyed lounging in sinks and playing with shoes.

I hope he gets the treatment he needed and I really hope someone loving adopts him. I've been watching him on the adoption page in the hopes that I'll know when someone chooses him... just to give me peace, I suppose. The agency didn't even use a cute picture of him. Boo!

Did you know you can foster kitties? I might do that in retirement. Tristan and I already agreed that we won't get any pets, but it's hard to resist KITTIES!

Back to 2014. I have some pretty simple resolutions for the year...

2014 resolutions.

• Graduate.
• Pass certification tests.
• Get a teaching job.
• Start looking into finding an apartment at the end of the year.

Anyway, we are FOUR days away from our trip. We are driving up to Austin on Monday, where we will a) leave our car and b) stay with friends overnight. These friends will take us to the airport bright and early the next morning. It's about $100 cheaper to fly out of Austin than it is San Antonio so thank god for that.

The weather in Orlando also looks good right now with the exception of the day we fly in. Hopefully it just gets hotter. And hopefully there's not a lot of rain, which is in the forecast currently... And hopefully our stop in Atlanta doesn't give us any trouble as it is COLD there right now (well, cold for me. Sigh.)

-Mari

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I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22.

I feel like I never want to be older than 22. It just seems like the perfect age. Maybe 23 or 24 would be okay, too, but I guess I'll know for sure when I get to that.

Anyway, I had a great birthday! Lots of little things went totally NOT according to plan (!!!!) but what can you do? It was still festive and all my friends came and life was wonderful.

Hopefully it doesn't come off as braggy to say that I got a lot of WONDERFUL presents. Seriously, I have the best friends ever- and they all know me so well.

Tristan, the love of my life, got me these pearl earrings from James Avery. I told you I love pearls!

They're soooo beautiful and I wasn't expecting them at all! My love has good taste. Plus, it continues the tradition! If you recall, I mentioned in a previous blog post that Tristan got me this ring last Christmas...

What a beauty!

Considering that he's going to Pick a Pearl for me at Epcot in a week or so, pretty soon I'll have a complete pearl jewelry collection... all from him! How romantic.

Now that Christmas, my mom's birthday and my birthday are over, it's really time to start getting excited about 2014... namely our Disney trip! Tristan purchased a set of Disney puzzles for us to do. The set came with eight puzzles, and my birthday was the ninth day until our trip. He wants us to do a puzzle every night as a countdown. He's so cute!

I mentioned (I think) that we got a ton of Disney gift cards for our trip. It's giving us more flexibility to spend and Tristan loves his food. He wanted to do another special meal. The one thing we didn't have planned was a character meal, so we booked...

OHANA!

Ohana! I have been here once before, but Tristan has not. We had to narrow down our options. For us, it was between Crystal Palace, Ohana or 1900 Park Fare. Crystal Palace would have been much preferred but there were no available reservations short notice.

So it came down to Ohana or 1900 Park Fare. We considered characters, time and the kind of buffet we wanted to experience. Ultimately it came down to Ohana because it would be earlier, giving us more time to eat and relax before park opening. We also prefer to see Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch over the 1900 Park Fare characters (who, IMO, are more easily found in the parks) and like the idea of having food brought to us, as opposed to potentially missing characters while we are up getting food.

I am really excited about this! My time at Ohana was very memorable and I think Tristan will have a great time too. Nothing says Disney like a character meal so I'm very happy we got to fit this one into our food budget- with the help of our friends and family, of course!

I've been eyeballing the 10-day forecast for Disney pretty religiously. Currently we have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday weather. All we need is Friday and we'd be set!

Those lows are a little sketchy...

I was really crossing my fingers for 70s weather. Thursday looks GREAT to me! I really want to wear dresses and that can't be done comfortably with weather that is too chilly so this is awesome. It's definitely cooler here in San Antonio (though not by much... high 50s mostly) and I've been wearing dresses with tights comfortably so I think we will be A-OK.

I can't wait!

-Mari

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Merry Christmas to you (and to us!)

We had a wonderful Christmas here! Even better, Tristan and I took the whole weekend off because of my birthday (which is on Sunday) so we will be able to be together for our 10th day until Disney, which is tomorrow.

Us on Christmas. I can't wait to take these kinds of mushy photos in front of the castle.

Between the two of us, we rounded up (literally) hundreds of dollars in Disney gift cards. We are fortunate and blessed to have so many who love us! Because of this, we are going to Disney with lots more flexibility to spend and we are so grateful for that!

P.S. Notice the shirt Tristan is wearing in the above photo? That's his "Duffy Bear" shirt! :)

My family knows that I'm Disney obsessed and I received so many beautiful Disney gifts for Christmas, including...

1. Disney Store "it's a small world" Animator Doll - Japan
2. Minnie Mouse ornament
3. Mickey and Minnie salt and pepper shakers (ceramic with magnets in their noses so that they kiss when they face each other! Sooo cute.)
4. Mickey collectible figurine 
5. Minnie Mouse pen and matching cupcake-styled stand for my desk
6. Disney World notepad
7. Mini Duffy!

Making use of my adorable stocking.

As far as non-Disney items, I lovingly received some other big ticket items...

1.  A Bluetooth speaker for my phone (convenient!)
2. Cognac boots (LOVE!!!!! I want to take them to Disney!)

One of my favorite gifts was this beauty, which was on my Christmas list...

This is actually from the parks, made to commemorate New Fantasyland. I am in love with it, absolutely in love. It is so much more beautiful in real life than in the photos, and even has gold threads (which I love particularly in Belle's dress.) It's a must have for any diehard Beauty and the Beast fan.

Tristan and I promised no Christmas gifts to each other, but since I bought him a stocking this year I slipped a little something inside. He likes Vinylmation and requested one from the Villains series. I felt worried about picking one out and having it be one he hated, so I grabbed a brand new tray and stared at it until I determined which was the best. Then I asked a co-worker to choose one also, and she happened to pick the exact same one I had! I told her, "This is a good sign!" So come Christmas Eve, Tristan opened the box and...

IT WAS THE CHASER! Is that good luck, or what?! I was soooo excited for him (and for myself, since I picked it... hahaha.)

And because I'm a shopaholic and I work in a mall, it was hard to stay away from the semi-annual sales that took place after Christmas. Because I'm obsessed, I went to Bath and Body Works and caved a little.

Their shower gels were on sale for $3 each! I mean, COME ON. I had to stock up on this stuff. It was the second day of the sale, so sadly there weren't many options available... I grabbed the very last Pink Chiffon and Cranberry Twinkle. These scents are all new to me as my favorites were sold out- I'm especially sad about missing out on the Winter Candy Apple shower gel, which is what I really wanted. :( (I did grab the last body mist, though... I wonder when they restock?)

So far, I've only used two and I love them both! Vanilla Bean Noel (how have I not smelled this stuff before?!) and Cranberry Twinkle. These two are from the Holiday Traditions line, so sadly I won't be able to grab more once I run out. At least until next Christmas!

And that's the last three days for me. Today was my mother's birthday, so we celebrated by shopping, eating and seeing Saving Mr. Banks. We are so Disney, aren't we?

Goodnight!

-Mari

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16 days til Disney... and Christmas is approaching!

Wow! I had about a minute to breathe after finals before I started working like a madwoman! The mall has been BUSY! It's to be expected, of course, but I still have no idea why so many people wait until the absolute last minute to Christmas shop. Is it the sales? Or are we a nation of procrastinators?

40% off at the Disney Store! There's my shameless promotion.

 All of my Christmas shopping is done, but it's tough resisting the urge to continue buying things on sale considering that I work at a mall. Just last night I purchased these his and hers stockings for Tristan and I. We promised each other no Christmas gifts to save money for our trip, so they'll be for next year (but I did sneak a little something something in there.) I've always wanted to get us Disney stockings.

The weekend before Christmas is always absolutely atrocious. I'm thankful that even though I work today, it's for a floor move so I don't actually have to interact with any hordes of people and I don't work at all Christmas Eve, which is in my mind the absolute worst day to work. Plus, all the hours don't hurt when I've got a big vacation coming up, amirite?

On the bright side, my manager bought me this adorable little ornament for my tree as a token of appreciation for my slave labor. Jk. Belle is my absolute favorite and I'm in love with the tiny details!

It's been so busy at both Disney and Starbucks that Tristan and I hadn't seen each other much for the last few days. So this morning we went to breakfast and mini golf.

My mom and dad used to go mini golfing at this particular place when they were teenagers and young adults, and they went again recently. (Side note: Today they're celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.) My mom bought my sister and I two gift cards to go on mini golf dates, so Tristan and I utilized ours today to have a nice date and save some cash at the same time.

Pink and blue is kind of a theme with us.

It was a fun time. Tristan is absurdly good at every sport he tries, while I have self-diagnosed Dyspraxia and have no grace, hand-eye coordination, little strength and horrible aim. Basically, I have no gross motor skills and I suck at every sport in the entire world. So he beat me, as usual, and I pouted. My goal is to one day beat him at some sport. Doesn't matter what.

Tomorrow is 15 days until Disney. It's coming way too fast, and to think I still have to get through Christmas and my birthday first? This is gonna be a fun month...

-Mari

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