Wednesday Wonders v.5

Wednesday Wonders is back! (Predictably.) Hope you all had a great Wednesday and your Thursdays will be even better! Here's to spending the rest of the night with my Kindle + and tall glass of ice water.

1. Beacause... HAHA! [But, boo, steak.]

2. Love her. My little sister, my mini me. <3

3. Okay, I have decided, Guillermo NEEDS a kitten brother.

4. Got this in the mail today! Completes my collection, finally! 

Guess how much I paid for it on Amazon? Yup, $1. 

5. Have you met Nick? P.s. I <3 HK.

6. Because this word is not used enough. 

7. This is what rainy days should look like. 

8. I got Nick this rose two years ago on our first

 Valentine's Day and this is what came of it. 

9. My dad made roasted pumpkin seeds the other night - YUM!

10. I NEED THIS. SO pretty. 

Can I get a minute, please?!

Have you ever had the kind of day where you want to start scribbling in a journal right when you wake up and can't shake that flustered feeling? Have you had one of those days where anything and everything annoys you? And then you get to school for an 8 hour day with kids who have been taking standardized tests all week and don't want to listen/do any work for you whatsoever? Well. Today was THAT day for me. As you know, I have five bells of 11th grade english, straight through until lunch, then plan bell, then after school plan until 2:30. By the time lunch came around, I had a splitting headache and NO patience left. I gave FOUR Wednesday night schools today, totally skipping over detentions and warnings. I rarely give these... I mean rarely.

Apparently, Holly was feeling the same way because when I was walking towards the door to pick up a veggie sandwich from Subway, she told me to stay and that she would take me out to lunch. At first I though I was in trouble, but it turned out she needed a break, too. It was nice to get out of the building for thirty minutes!

Also, I finally finished Shopaholic and Baby today and began reading Mini Shopaholic! I am so excited and I have read 5% of the book on my Kindle already and it's so good! I am drinking it up. Sometimes, I get so discouraged about reading, but lately it has been such an escape for me. I snapped this picture quickly with my phone, today, during plan bell. (Yes, that IS the too-expensive Vera bag I said I wouldn't buy here, but I couldn't help myself! And I have promised myself [and Nick, for accountability purposes] that I won't have anymore splurges until I have to shop for Christmas presents!

Another awesome realization of the day? I have only SEVEN weeks of student teaching left! Yesterday, I applied for my teaching license, and I am SO excited. I have been working so hard for this for four and a half years and it's finally paying off!! Plus? Holly told me last week that I won't be teaching for the last two weeks of my placement because I have to spend that time catching students up on the work I assigned before I leave. I KNOW I shouldn't be excited about not teaching, but, really? This is exhausting, and I am doing it for free. I can't wait for the break. This will also allow me to observe some other awesome teachers in the building!

Today, amidst all of the chaos in every single one of my bells today, I got a phone calle from the manager of some gift shops in hospitals in Clifton for an interview! They are looking for someone who only needs a few hours, and I know they aren't open late. Since I have been hurting for cash lately, I have been applying to places left and right and I am SO relieved that it is paying off. I don't know what I'll do about FamVid, yet. Probably keep them for a while! Then, after school, I called PetsMart where they are looking for a bather in the grooming dept. I have been wanting to work at PetsMart for a while now because working with animals has been my backup plan for a while since the little worry that teaching might not work out entered my mind. They gave me an interview! So, tomorrow, after school I have two interviews right in a row! Wish me luck :)

Also, even though I want to look like that girl while drinking a nice, ice cold Coke, I have set this little goal for myself - no soda for a whole month. This is a short term goal I have set in the hopes of kicking the habit altogether, eventually. I know that my kidneys (oh, boy, have I been having a sore lower back lately) and my skin will thank me so much. Granted I only drink diet soda (regular usually makes me feel sick from all the sugar!) and usually only when I am out to eat, I still want to try to completely cut it out of my diet. So far, I have made it to day 4!

Basically, this is the longest nonsense post, ever, and I apologize. Hello; ramble much? Sorry, folks.

xoxo S

P.s. I have already started my Christmas list. :)

Welcome!

I just wanted to stop in to say a late Welcome! to all my new readers and followers! 

I have seen a lot of new faces and words around here and I love it! Thanks for stopping by :) 

Love,

Stephanie

**image via weheartit

Bloggin' Ladies: Suburban Sweetheart

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means. It's time for this week's Bloggin' Lady. Her name is Kate and she is one of the amazing women that I have met since I began my [public] blogging journey wayyyyy back in August of 2010. Please read her hilarious, quirky, and fun writing, and enjoy her as much as I do. <3

Name+Age+Site
I'm Kate, 26 years old, & I blog at SuburbanSweetheart.com.

What is something interesting about you?
I fancy myself a little bit quirky, but don't we all? Here's a bit about me: I've never had chicken pox. I have a difficult time swallowing carrots, so I sometimes chew them like they're gum (gross, I know). A psychic once told me the spirit of a young girl protects me. I always cheat at Monopoly & miniature golf. I used to have a recurring nightmare of a tadpole in a swimming pool that morphed into a whale. I'm the queen of pseudo-surreptitious iPhone photography.

Why did you begin blogging?
I moved to Washington, D.C., for my first post-collegiate job in August 2007. I quickly discovered that I was going to have a lot of stories to tell - about everything from (incorrectly) thinking I'd been carjacked to receiving death threatson the Metro - so I created Suburban Sweetheart as a means of communicating those crazy stories to my friends & family back in Ohio. It's changed a lot since then, but the basis is the same - stories & sass!

How long have you been blogging?
I started my blog on August 24, 2007, when I was living in Silver Spring, MD. I can't believe it's been three years; my blogoversary totally passed my by this summer without my noticing! I love reading through old entries that I almost forget writing. I completely chronicled my life in D.C., a time in my life that came to a close just last month, so it's nice to have everything on record for the sake of reminiscing.

Who is your inspiration for writing?
I don't think I can identify a "who" behind my writing, or even really a "why." I write because I love it. I write because it keeps me sane. I write because it's the one thing I'm good at it. I write because I have to.

Where do you get your ideas?
I'm inspired by all kinds of things, but I most often write about wacky life occurrences - things I see or do, things that happen to me, things I notice & think are funny. Occasionally, I get serious & write more honestly about other aspects of my life, like my dad's cancer or my ex-boyfriend's suicide, & I'm thankful to find that my blog readers like me just as much when I'm being serious.

Do you have any advice that you want to share with fellow lady bloggers?
One of my social media role models, @micah, once wrote - & I can't find the post - that blogging should never feel forced. @micah is a dude blogger, not a lady blogger, but this advice applies to pretty much anyone who's maintaining a blog. Evaluate why you write & what you want to write about. Are you writing every day because you feel like you have to? Or because you legitimately want to? And even if you want to, are you writing things your readers will want to read? If you blog for happiness, not for some pre-determined vision of success, you'll find yourself much more comfortable with your online space.

What is one thing you are looking forward to most in your future (blog or otherwise)?
My blog is in a funny place right now. I moved from D.C. back to my hometown at the end of September & am currently living with my mom while I look for a new job. Akron, Ohio, doesn't provide the same wealth of wacky stories that D.C. did, so I'm struggling to figure out what to write about & what direction my blog should take. I'm nervous, but I'm looking forward to seeing where we go from here - & I hope some of you will follow along with me!

Thanks for reading this week's feature! I hope you stop by Suburban Sweetheart and give Kate your blog lovin'. xoxo S

Books = omg.

At school this week, the kids are taking the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) and I am left with only a few students each bell, and my Kindle. This is what most of today looked like :

[Sidenote: I am starting The Crucible with the kids on Wednesday and I cannot wait. My favorite part about teaching literature? The background notes I give before each new book or work. I love to research and learn more about what I am teaching, and it makes me feel so smart to tell the kids + especially when they answer questions!!] 

So. Here are my books of interested lately!! I know I did a book post a while back and these don't exactly match up - but I have an explanation for that. Ever since school started I have lost most of my motivation to read. Until recently! I have been reading like crazy the past two weeks, and have almost finished the Shopaholic series, like promised, ages ago. I am on the fifth book:

and am eagerly anticipating ordering the sixth and newest book via my Kindle and Whispernet! There are two covers that I found for this book. The first one matches all of the other books that I have in this series, and others by Sophie Kinsella/Madeline Wickham, but the second one? I think it's super cute.

[Disclaimer: I do have a brain, guys. I do read interesting, though provoking, deep literature. On occasion. But sometimes a girl just needs to be obsessed with British Chick Lit. Am I right?]

This is the book that we assigned to the kids today for their long independent portfolio piece. Granted, it's an 8th grade level book, and they are 11th graders, it is still about one of my favorite subjects to learn about: the Holocaust. I know this is morbid, and you would probably agree with Holly about me, but I am just fascinated by the hope that is involved in stories about the Holocaust. The survivors, the victims, and what they leave behind. It's so through provoking and intoxicating. 

This book is, apparently, pretty graphic. I know I have learned about the Holocaust and know basics, but not enough to introduce the book sufficiently to class, so Holly did that part today. She also read a few excerpts from the book and omg. It really sounds like a fantastic (although, not very uplifting) read. My understanding is that this author has written a sequel to this book called Dawn. 

I also have been wanted to read this book by Lauren Weisberger. If you didn't know, she is the author of The Devil Wears Prada, which is another of my favorite books, I have read it a few times, and love the movie just as much. 

That's it for my book post, tonight :) I hope you guys found something interesting to read! xoxo Stephanie