Getting To Know You Sunday!

1. If you accidently knick a car in a parking lot..Do you leave a note or do you get the heck out of there?

Depends. If I left damage, I would absolutely leave a note. If I didn't, I'd just leave.

2. Love your body or plastic surgery?I'm pretty happy with my body, and the things I don't like exercise will fix. If my body got destroyed by having children and I needed a tummy tuck or something like that, I would absolutely do it. I'd also do it if I got disfigured in an accident.
3. What about your favorite blog(s) continues to drive you back?I like reading blogs from people who have stuff in common with me because I can relate. So that means a lot of newlywed blogs (although I guess I'm not really a newlywed anymore haha!) I also like reading blogs of women with younger kids, because that's where I'm hopefully headed! I've found such sweet girls from blogging and it's such a nice way to get support and ideas.
4. What percent of your blog is BS just to make your life seem more interesting than it really is?I don't BS on here. I do leave certain things out because I don't feel comfortable sharing it or it's not my business to share, but all the stuff on here about me is true.
5. If you had to give up one type of meat for the rest of your life, what would it be?The only meat I do eat is beef and chicken, so I'd give up ham or pork. I hate those :P
6. How often to you eat out?More often than we should! We were going out like 3-4 times per week, but that's calming down now that we're trying to drop a little weight and save more money.
7. Skinny jeans or boot cut jeans?Boot cut. My hips and butt are far too big for skinny jeans! I would look HUGE!
8. If you caught your spouse cheating would you forgive, divorce, or plan your kill?If my husband ever cheated on me, I'd have to divorce him. If I couldn't trust him, there's no point in staying married. We said vows that promised faithfulness in front of God and he couldn't uphold them, we'd be done.

House Tour- The Dining Room

I did a little house tour post on my living room here. I can't believe that was almost a year ago! Everything still looks the same except the decorations are seasonal, so go check if out if you haven't seen it! I decided after looking at the house tour on Faith's blog to continue showing you guys my house! Today you will see our dining room. It's not a big room, so there's not too much to see. We want to get a china hutch to display our wedding china as well as our cake topper, server, and knife, but I think that will have to wait until we get a bigger place. We can't seem to find a china hutch we like that's small enough to fit into this room. The furniture came from Macy's believe it or not. We originally got something from Raymour and Flanagan, but they sold it to us not realizing that they had already sold it to someone else! When we went to pick it up (it was the floor model, the last one left, and I guess they don't deliver those for you) it was gone and we were left very confused. They were very willing to work with us to get something else at a discounted rate, but we didn't really like anything else they had, so Jeff found this set at Macy's and I love it more than the one we originally wanted to buy!

The door on the left is a half bathroom. To the right is the kitchen. The bare wall on the right now had a picture of a big tree that changes seasons depending on the angle that you look at it. 

The light that Jeff installed and the pictures we have up. I'd also like to frame our wedding invitation and put that up somewhere as well. It's been over a year since the wedding, so let's see how long it takes me to get that done lol. The open door on the left leads to our basement aka Jeff's "Man-Cave."

A close-up of the centerpiece on the table. I have a different one for Christmas. I love these place mats because they are stain resistant!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my dining room! Maybe next I will do our master bedroom or the guest room. 

Pigtails

First, thank you all so much for your kind words on my TTC post. Your comments made me feel a lot better knowing that we aren't alone out there, and reminding me that God is in control. I'm feeling better and more hopeful about some things and I really just need to be patient at this point. It's hard, but I can do it!

On to a much more fun topic... pigtails! Positively Preppy In Pink did a post on the side braid and it got me thinking about pigtails. I wanted to get everyone's take on how old is too old to wear them? I will be 26 in December (OMG that's closer to 30 than 20... wow) and I still wear them. I wear them everyday when I work at summer camp, and I will wear them for a quick run to the grocery store, on vacation when it's really humid, or if we are going somewhere casual (Target, Subway, etc) if I don't feel like doing my hair. I don't know why I don't wear a ponytail, but I just love pigtails! I feel like once I'm a mom I will probably stop, but for now, I'm young and even though these make look even younger (moms at camp told me they thought I was 19 or 20) I think I can still get away with it for a few more years.

Here are a few pics of me with pigtails through the years.

The Bahamas last week.

Our honeymoon- I did pigtails almost every day.

Yankee play-off game last fall.

So what do you think? How old is too old for pigtails?

Cruise Recap- Part 2

So the last two days of the cruise were at sea. We spent the time having drinks (not me so much because alcohol makes me dizzy, and I didn't want to make my sea sick stuff worse) and eating lots of food.

Us with our favorite bar server Grace. She was from the Philippines and was so sweet and good to us!

We did a meet and greet thing from a message board group my husband joined earlier in the week (everyone was kind of weird, so we didn't make new friends), and got an invite from the ship's Captain to tour the bridge (the place where they control the ship). It was pretty cool and the Captain was awesome. He's from Greece and I know I could never do his job haha! Not many people get to tour the bridge and the Captain has to invite you, so it was pretty neat that we got to do it.

Martini tasting, which we did two times! I didn't really participate, but I did drink my MIL's white chocolate raspberry martini because she didn't want it. It was amazing!

Jeff and I at one of the outdoor bars. Notice my sea bands, they were very sexy and added a lot to each of my outfits haha. I even wore them on formal nights because I didn't want to risk getting sick.

Jeff and I got a little silly and did kaerokee in a private room with his sister. This picture and the next one are us singing our wedding song "From This Moment On"

I am a terrible singer and never would have done this if we weren't in a private room! My SIL joined us in the singing and I think this was probably the best night on the ship.

Coming back on Saturday wasn't as bad as expected. NCL makes the transition easy and we didn't have to wait too long for our luggage, the customs line wasn't bad, and we got a cab back to Grand Central very fast. The only obstacles getting home were dealing with luggage on the train since everyone and their mom also had luggage and decided to go home on the 11:07 train and sit in the same car as us. We were shocked at how crowded the train was since it was pretty early for a Saturday. We also missed our connecting train in Stamford to Glenbrook (totally my fault because I got off the wrong side of the train and took forever to get up the stairs with my suitcase), so we had to take a $13 cab ride home. I did lots of laundry and we're basically settled back in now. I go back to work on Monday and I cannot believe this summer is already over! Where does the time go?

Cruise Recap- Part 1

We had a wonderful time on the cruise! This cruise was on Norwegian Cruise Line, which I have never been on before (our last cruise was Royal Caribbean). We left from NYC last Saturday and came back this Saturday. We stopped at Port Canaveral, FL, Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas, and Nassau in the Bahamas. The first day I was pretty sea sick by evening time. I didn't throw up or anything, but I almost did a few times and spent most of the day in bed. I got sick one of the first days on our last cruise too. I think my body just needs a day or so to get used to the rocking of a boat. Thanks to Bonine and Sea Bands, I was fine the rest of the trip!

*Blogger changed their post formats and inserting pics and adding captions is getting super messed up. I will do the rest of the recap in a separate post that will hopefully not be so screwy.

Jeff and I on our balcony passing by the Statue of Liberty.

We also sailed under the Verrazano Bridge which was cool. I don't have many other pics from Saturday because I got sick and watched a bunch of TV in bed while everyone else had fun.

There was a huge chess and checker board on one of the decks. This is my SIL Amy and I making the pieces kiss.

Monday was Port Canaveral day. We went to the Kennedy Space Center which was OK. There were a lot of movies to watch both on the bus to each location and at the locations themselves. I got kind of bored with it, but there were a few things that were cool.  Here we are in front of the NASA sign and some space gadget. We also got to see the Saturn V rocket which was HUGE! That was probably the coolest part of the trip for me.

Tuesday was NCL's private beach Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. We did not bring a camera for this part because it would have gotten ruined. The beach was gorgeous but it was SO HOT! We didn't last more than 5 minutes out of the water. We stayed a couple hours and then went back to the ship (we had to take a tender to the beach). The shower I took after the beach was the best ever. I felt so sweaty and gross! Here's a pic of me on our balcony before we left for the beach.

How gorgeous is that water? It was awesome waking up to that!

Wednesday was Nassau, Bahamas. It was another incredibly hot day, so we went to the pirate museum. Afterwards, My MIL and SIL wanted to shop, and Jeff and I were too hot, so we went back to the ship and took a nap. We needed long naps after both Bahama days. The heat and humidity there really takes it out of you!

Two NCL ships. Ours was the Jewel on the left.

Atlantis

Getting To Know You Sunday!

Hi everyone!

The cruise recap post is coming, but first, it's time for Getting To Know You Sunday!


1. If you could host a Reality TV show, which one would it be?A lot of the reality shows I watch don't have a host! The only one that does is "Dancing With The Stars" so I will go with that one. I'd be a terrible host though because I'm shy.
2. Do you put your seatbelt on before or after you start the car?Before
3. Shave or hair removal cream?Shave. I have sensitive skin and creams would probably burn me.
4. What's your favorite feature in a house?I loooove high ceilings, French doors, neutral colors, granite countertops in kitchens, hardwood floors
5. What is your favorite "Fall" scent?Pumpkin! I love it so much can cannot wait to start burning my pumpkin scented candles!
6. What tv show are you looking forward to seeing the most this Fall??Modern Family!
7. Personal Shopper or Personal Chef?Personal chef! I can shop just fine on my own, but cooking is a challenge :)
8. What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of "Fall"?Pumpkins, apple cider, school

Home!

We are back from our cruise! We had a blast and a recap post with pictures will be up as soon as my husband uploads all the pics we took! :)

Teacher Week- Classroom Tour!

I actually did a tour of my classroom back in November, so go here to check it out! :)

I did just find out that I will be in the same classroom this coming school year, which makes me so happy! I love that room! :D

Teacher Week- Must-Haves

Today's theme for Teacher Week is must-haves. I am way too lazy to get pictures, but here's my list in no particular order:

1. Chalkboard or Comic Sans font. They're fun, but legible. Most of my worksheets are made with one of these fonts.

2. Post-It Notes. I like the heart or star ones. I am one of those people who needs to write everything down, so Post-Its are my best friend!

3. Desk calendar. Again, I need everything scheduled out for me in order to function and get all of the paperwork in that comes with teaching special ed.

4. An ActivBoard. I've never had to teach without one, and while I know I could do it, I don't want to ever try. For those who don't know, an ActivBoard is something you connect to your computer and you can show basically anything with it. I like to put up poorly punctuated/worded sentences up and have the kids come up and write in the corrections.

5. Sharpies! I love them.

6. A free period. I taught half of this past year without one and while it wasn't too bad, I did miss it at times and prefer to have one period off during the day.

7. Comfy clothes and flats. I'm on my feet all day, I need to be as comfortable as possible, but still look nice!

8. Teacher friends! Most of my friends both in and out of work are teachers and I love having people who understand how hard the job can be. It's important to have people to vent to and share those wonderful teacher moments with.

9. Vacation time. We do a lot of work and honestly, I don't think I could teach year round and I don't know if the kids could handle it too well either. It's nice having time off near Christmas, in March, and all summer.

Teacher Week

Abby is hosting Teacher Week over on her blog! As many of you know, I'm a teacher and I love it! I think teachers have one of the most important jobs in the world and they have the power to touch lives and make a difference.

10 Things About Me As A Teacher:

1. At the end of the month I am starting my 5th year of teaching. I cannot believe I've been at it for this long, but I am by no means an expert. I learn more and more every year and it really took me till my 4th year of teaching to really feel like I had the hang of it. I have only worked in one school, and it's the one I'm at now.

2. I teach middle school special ed. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I thought for sure it would be younger grades and general ed. My college made us do special ed as well, I had a middle school placement for it, and I absolutely loved it! It's such a fun age, but the attitude and hormones can be interesting to manage at times! I don't think I could ever teach the little ones now, even though I love them.

3. I have absolutely no desire to be a principal or any kind of administrator ever.

4. I firmly believe that every child can learn. The conventional methods don't always work, but every kid has the right and ability to learn something. It's our job as the teachers to figure out how to teach them.

5. I never imagined I'd wind up teaching in a private school, but I love it there. My school is a tight knit group of people and I've met some of my best friends there (my MOH and 2 of my bridesmaids are co-workers!) I'm lucky enough to work at a private school that has a fair amount of money and most teachers are spoiled and have an ActivBoard (I don't think I could ever teach without it now) and we're all provided most of the supplies we need.

6. One of the most rewarding moments in my career came this past year when a former student was walking with me and said, "Mrs. K, remember all that stuff you made us do for our research papers in study skills class and how I thought it was pointless? Well, I had to do it all the other day and I was able to do it by myself, so I guess you were right and that stuff is important." I was floored because this kid gave me a hard time and goofed off a lot in class. It's nice to know I got through to him!

7. Two of the biggest compliments from our admin was when the Director of Education asked me to take on an extra class (giving up my free) because she felt I could handle it. I was the first person she asked to fill this particular class and I was flattered, said yes, and enjoyed the class a lot. Also, she referred a mom to me because her son was struggling a lot in writing and she felt he would "benefit from my structured support and I would be great with him." I wasn't able to take the tutoring job (it was for this summer and I already signed on for camp) but she hinted that I'd have the kid this coming school year. This woman is an expert and I look up to her, so these were HUGE compliments from her.

8. Teachers do not make enough money. Yes we have awesome breaks and get a lot of time off, but we also bring a ton of work home with us and get very involved in our jobs. No one gets into teaching for the money, we do it because we love kids and seeing them learn and grow.

9. The vast majority of my childhood friends are now teachers. It's great having old friends to talk to about everything that leads to becoming a teacher and everything it takes to do well in this job.

10. I really and truly love my job most of the time. I do have bad days like everyone else, but overall, I love my school, I love my students, and I enjoy going to work every day.

Truffles

I entered a bake-off at my summer job and decided to make these truffles. They're pretty easy, but this recipe makes A LOT of dough for the truffles (I actually refrigerated some of the dough because I got tired of making truffles) and no matter what you do, this is a really messy recipe. I recommend taking off any wedding/engagement rings and wearing an apron while making these. The recipe is from my good friend Shannon.

Ingredients:

(1) 1 bag of Dark Chocolate melts (candy making chocolate, you can buy it at Party City or Michaels). I had to use semi sweet chocolate chips because the recipe had to be nut free for work and the baking chocolate was made in a factory with peanuts. It worked just fine.
(2) 1 pound packages of Oreos
(3) 8 oz of Cream Cheese

Directions:

(1) Let the cream cheese sit out a little so it is soft

(2) Dump all the Oreos into a ziploc bag, seal the bag and then smash the oreos into crumbs (I used a heavy coffee mug to do the smashing). Be careful because my bag ripped in a few spots, so my counter got a bit messy. I think maybe smashing less Oreos at a time would be a good idea. I stuck both packages in the bag at the same time.

(3) In a large bowl mix the Cream Cheese and Oreo Crumbs with an electric mixer until no white is visible. That takes a lot of arm work and a lot of time to thoroughly blend them together. It will look like it is impossible when you start out, but stick with it. My mixer wasn't big enough to handle all of it at once, so I had to scoop some out and add it in again later. This step was annoying, messy, and took forever, but it was worth it!

(4) When you are done mixing put the dough in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

(5) Melt the chocolate melts in the microwave stopping to stir every 30 seconds until they are all melted.

Once the dough is cold enough and chocolate is melted, create 1 inch round balls with the dough (I do it the same way I made balls out of play doh when I was younger, just roll it around in your hands.)  Then dunk the ball into the chocolate and spoon out onto a tray that is covered with Parchment Paper (the chocolate will not stick to the paper and will just peel off). Once they are dry (I popped mine into the fridge for awhile to speed this up) peel them off and put them in a tupperware container. You should keep them in the fridge.

These truffles are really rich and chocolately, but sooo good! My personal opinion is that you can't have more than 1 or maybe 2 at a time, but everyone I know that has tried these loves them! I'll be sure to let you all know if I win the bake-off this week! :)

Getting To Know You Sunday!

Hi everyone!

I love the questions for "Getting To Know You Sunday" this week so I decided to play along!






1. Do you think mustaches are sexy?
Not really, but there are some men that can pull them off.

2. What's the last concert you've been to?
Well technically I went to see the Beach Boys this past Thursday, but it was so packed that I didn't actually see them, but I did hear them! Other than that, I went to see Elton John 2 years ago this November. He needs to come back to the NYC/CT area so I can see him again because I love him!

3 What was your favorite 80's sitcom?
The Golden Girls! I own the series on DVD. All 4 of those women are so funny!

4. Were you named after anyone?
Nope. My mom just really liked the name Melissa. I was almost named Corrie, which is a good name, but I like Melissa a lot better.

5. When you buy new clothes, do you wash before wearing?
If it's a swimsuit, bra, or underwear I do, but if it's anything else, then no. When I have kids I will absolutely wash their clothes before they wear them though.

6. If you didn't blog, what would you do with your spare time?
Probably be on Facebook and Twitter, just like I am now! :) Hopefully I would read more books too!

7. What is your favorite department store?
Target or Nordstrom.

8. If you were to get Laser Hair Removal..where would you get it?
Everywhere that I usually shave! Shaving is the worst and it doesn't last long! I can't wax because my skin is super sensitive and I'm a baby when it comes to pain.

Weekend Recap

I cannot believe it's August! Everything goes by so fast, and I start teacher meetings and grad school at the end of the month!

We had a nice, calm weekend. On Friday, we ate our Cheesecake Factory leftovers from Thursday (we went mainly to try the new Reese's cheesecake, and it was amazing. Everyone needs to go try it now!) then we went to Crumbs for a cupcake, and to Border's to get my friend's 2 year old son a birthday gift. We wound up getting him a train with stackable blocks, a book about trucks, and a book about Thomas the Tank Engine, which he is obsessed with.

On Saturday, we went to visit my friend, her husband, and their son Logan. The gifts we got Friday were for Logan, and he loved them, especially the toy train! We hung out for several hours, had pizza for dinner, then went home. My friend is currently 7 months pregnant with a baby girl, due September 20th. I cannot wait to meet her new little one! Logan was tons of fun to play with and seeing my husband play with him makes me want a child even more than I already do! We'll see how long it takes, I'm already getting impatient and we haven't been trying long at all. I read some reassuring statistics about how long most people take to get pregnant, and maybe I will post them later this week if anyone is interested.

Jeff started feeling crappy last night, so we are laying low today. Jeff definitely has a cold, so he's been loading up on tea, vitamin C, and Cold-Eeze. Hopefully he feels better soon because we have plans to see The Beach Boys at Alive at 5 this Thursday. Alive at 5 is a summer concert series held in downtown Stamford. It's a lot of fun, but we haven't gone at all this year and Thursday is the last one already! Anyway, I've done a ton of laundry today, including sheets. Now that we got a new dryer (ours broke last Sunday) I enjoy laundry more because the dryer is quiet and dries the clothes a lot faster. I've also cooked this recipe for dinner the past 2 Sundays. Jeff liked it so much last week that he asked for it again. That is a rare thing, so I obliged him. The meals is easy, delicious, and I highly recommend it. I have a few more new meals planned for this week, and I will let you all know if any of them are successful. :)

Also, thanks to everyone who gave me recipe ideas for the Bake Off I entered! I decided on a to die for Oreo truffle recipe from my friend Shannon. I will be sure to post the recipe and let you know how I did at the Bake Off at the end of next week! :)