Re-adjustment and Friends

Can I just be honest and say that this first week back after Spring Break was hard getting back into the routine? It's amazing how one week off from the normal routine can get you so comfortable....and then when it's time for reality again, it's difficult to adjust. I'm think I'm re-adjusted though...11 weeks 'til summer!

It was nice getting together this week with friends as part of my re-adjustment process. {Maybe I'm being dramatic calling this a "re-adjustment process", but I'm still going to call it that.} It gave me something to look forward to, as I had to re-train myself that Monday-Friday, I should be: waking up at 6:15 (which by the way, thanks to the time change, is BEFORE the sun comes up. I'm not fond of this.), being to work by 7:45, using my bag of useless tricks to keep 20 fifth graders from talking all day long, grading papers, contacting parents, dealing with numerous parent/school/part-of-my-job issues, writing lesson plans, and of course, teaching. After 5 days of this, I am keenly aware of reality. (I really do need to say that I do enjoy being a teacher. This week, truthfully, there was a lot of "extra" stuff going on with parents/students/meetings that it just felt like a lot, in addition to teaching 7 hours of the day. It's just a big contrast to the relaxation experienced last week. I digress.)

So...on to the friends! {Now that I have given you every detail of my melo-dramatic "re-adjustment process."}

Tuesday, Dayna and I met Lauren and Whitney in Lake Wales at Manny's for our monthly dinner tradition! Our service was so fast and done in under an hour, and we were disappointed it went by so quickly! Whitney kindly opened her home up to us afterward so that we could continue hanging out and catching up.

A blurry pic of Lauren and I

Lauren and Whit

Whit, Lauren and me (always the shortest, even with a heel on my shoe!)

Whit and Dayna (please don't be jealous of my creativity of the pictures I took at the restuarant that are all the same)

Friday, Dayna and I had plans to attend "Beauty Week" at Clinique. We were shopping there not long ago, and the woman who helped us was so kind and friendly and she said she'd do our make-up for Beauty Week and give us a free product for coming! So we showed up with no make-up and fresh cleaned faces, ready for a makeover!

No make-up

Made over!

We should have taken some close-ups of our "mid-dramatic" eyes as the consultant called them, but this is the best we got. It was fun and Dayna and I both liked our finished product. So then we bought some of it! Of course.

Then afterward, we headed to TGI Friday's to meet Jessica and Audra for dinner. This was our first time to hear the official story of Jessica's proposal story! She's getting married in August!

She received a gorgeous engagement ring!

The first of the four to get hitched! :)

It was a FUN night with these girls. Dayna and Jessica talked much of the night in accents that had Audra and I laughing for a while. I think Dayna and Jessica know what they'll be doing in this year's school talent show. Haha. I'm not feeling too well now, and plan to rest up this weekend before another crazy week begins!

Happy Friday and Weekend!

Spring Break 2012

Today is the last day of my Spring Break which is very sad. It's been so nice to just relax and not work on school work or feel the pressure to grade papers! That will all resume again Sunday evening. I'm thankful for the time off though and always look forward to being back into a routine. It won't be too long before summer is here anyway. :)

I have been at my parents' since Monday and am heading back tonight. My budget only allowed me to stay local this Spring Break. Sadness. I know, I know...most people would die to be close to a beach for Spring Break and I happen to have been raised in the town with the beach voted #1 in the USA, Siesta Key!! (But, I would still love to travel to a wintery destination for Spring Break again!)


On Tuesday, my mom and I went to get pedicures, as is our usual tradition when I come for a visit. It's always relaxing!

I also spent a lot of time hanging out with Jack and Jilly. Since I don't live with dogs, I am fascinated over everything these dogs do while I'm at my mom and dad's. They're just funny to me. And precious!

Whenever Jack is outside, if he's going to be out there for a little while, he finds himself a sunny spot and just basks in the sun. I love it!

I went to the beach on Wednesday with my mom and sister, Korinne. My aunt and two cousins came, and then my friends Dayna and Audra also drove from Lakeland to join us. It was a beautiful day and I got a beatiful suntan wicked sunburn. I did wear sunscreen and had actually reappiled it a few times throughout the day, but it was 15 SPF so I guess it wasn't strong enough to protect my untanned/pale/white skin on the inaugural suntan day of 2012. :/

...we got our toes in the water, toes in the sand...not a worry in the world...


Dayna, me, Audra


TCBY ice cream after the beach!

Later that night, a party of 14 of us went out to eat at Red Elephant to support a fundraiser for my sister's school. It was so good as it always is! I think we all had a good time!

Thursday morning, my mom and I met my Aunt Diane for brunch at a place called the Sea Star Cafe. I had an omelette and it was delicious!

Thursday night, my sister, Keleigh, and I had planned to get our make-up done at MAC just for fun and then she was going to take me to dinner at the restaurant where she works. She works at The Old Salty Dog out on Longboat Key, FL. It was a fun, girly evening!


Today I met up with a family I used to nanny for during the summer of '09, my last summer before my final internship. I loved working for this family and getting to know them and I had the opportunity to meet their newest addition today, little Sophia! We went to lunch in downtown Sarasota at Cafe Epicure. Yum!

That about wraps up the highlights of my Spring Break. One thing is for sure- it's time to put the jeans away and bring out all of the shorts, because it's hot! I'm hoping to be back in the sun again tomorrow, this time with stronger SPF sunscreen!

The Weekend

On Friday, my mom, dad, and sister visited me at work! They had a doctor's appointment for my sister in Tampa and then were headed to Orlando, so they made a pit stop in Lakeland to visit me and meet my class! My dad wanted a picture of me at my desk. {I think he's proud of his firstborn.} :)

(We're allowed to wear jeans to work on Fridays with our staff shirt. In case you were wondering?!)

Friday night, my family and I participated in the ALS Walk in downtown Orlando. (ALS=Lou Gehrig's disease.) In the six years since my grandma's passing, I've only been able to attend 2 of the walks, but it's something I'm glad to be able to do in my grandma's honor. It was so sad seeing people at the walk who are suffering with the disease.

It was rainy and dark and so the pictures I took didn't come out well.

Did you know grass could rest? Haha. I have been teaching my 5th graders about personification recently, I ought to use this picture as an example! :)

All done! We love you and miss you, "Mamie!"

Afterward, we were headed back to my aunt and uncle's house for pizza. Korinne and I chose to have dessert first from our favorite place to visit when we're in Orlando: Jeremiah's Italian Ice! Korinne is in heaven!

It felt amazing to sleep in on Saturday! Last weekend I tutored on Saturday morning and then with church on Sunday, there was no sleeping in. Oh, and did I mention this was the first day of SPRING BREAK?! That automatically makes the weekend better! Later on, Dayna and I went out to dinner at Abuelo's.

Here I am, at 25 years old, playing with my food. I'm actually just enthralled with how tiny the jalepeno is! If you know me, you know I have a fascination with anything miniature in size.

And on a Saturday night, after dinner, what else is there to do but go shopping?? Ha. We went to the bookstore and then to the mall. While I was in JCPenny's restroom, I noticed this little wall addition.

I have never seen these before. Are these new? I guess it's how you keep your child contained while you use the restroom. My question is, any child small enough to fit in that seat- wouldn't you have them in a stroller in the mall of all places?

I saw this comforter set in JCPenney and I like it a lot. It's a 7 piece set for $100. Not a bad deal. I am considering it, but then when I got home and noticed all of the things in my bedroom that coordinate with my green and brown colored comforter, I thought this could turn into a very expensive project. It's not like I really need to re-do my room, but it's just fun. I'll keep thinkin' about it...

Today was a lazy Sunday, but I did go to church and do laundry. It was the rest of the afternoon and evening that was lazy. I'm bummed that on the day we set the clocks an hour ahead- the weather was gloomy and nasty so we didn't even get to experience having the sun for an extra hour. That better change soon, Sun, because it's Spring Break for this girl! :)

Sketchy Much?

Take one look at the picture above and you immediately begin to make inferences of how this van is related to my post title, Sketchy Much?

Well you see, that's the exact question I asked when I walked out to my car Wednesday morning to go to work. Prior to walking downstairs, my roommate, Dayna called (she had just left) and told me that "Uncle Frank's van" was out in the parking lot and to be sure I got a good laugh out of it. You might be asking, "Who is Uncle Frank?" It's this fictional character name Dayna uses from time to time when referring to strange men. We've all seen our share of Uncle Franks, correct!?

So as I walked to my car, right away I saw it.

Then I laughed out loud. Twice. Vans like this just make me laugh because I think of all the joke photos of vans like these with captions that read something like: 'Free Candy' or 'Free Puppies.' Sketchy. MUCH.

{I promise there is a point to this post. This also happens to be the most exciting thing I have to blog about right now.}

Anyway. So that same evening, we saw the van backing into its parking spot. I guess I should mention that we'd never seen this van before, so that automatically raised some questions. The van was back. I went to church and came back a few hours later. I noticed that the van's shades/curtains were closed. The van was not running. The little vent on the van's rooftop was propped open, and there was a stool sitting right outside the passenger-side door. As I walked by, I could see light shining from a TV through the curtains. Someone's campin' out in their van in the parking lot of where I live.

Sketchy.

That's when I knew I would be calling our apartment complex office today to report a creep-mobile suspicious vehicle. As I walked out this morning, I snapped the two pictures just in case I needed proof. Haha. The woman I spoke with said they'd look into it and that if I see the van again, to call the police. It doesn't appear that "Uncle Frank" was out to harm anyone, but you never know in this world. You just really don't. I haven't seen this beauty of a van yet tonight, so hopefully the van found a new place, more appropriate for van camping.

And that's my excitement for the week. BUT- tomorrow at 3:30 will begin a new, level of excitement- SPRING BREAK!!! I plan to be taking pictures throughout the week to write some new fun posts. I know I've been a bad blogger as of late.