tonight and tomorrow and friday

my bff found this blog on pinterest (which i'm avoiding on purpose. internet, don't tempt me.) i don't use my crockpot as much as i imagined, since it automatically goes to "warm," and leaving food on warm while i'm busy being a teacher (about 6:30 to 4:30pm) actually ends up with burnt dinner. SO. i do have a few classics that i make, but they tend to be on weekends.

report card conferences start tomorrow. can't decide how i feel about them. i'm not really nervous. i'm excited about conversations with some parents. i'm not thrilled about meeting with a few.
 
on friday, to celebrate the conferences being over, we're going to get our christmas tree. i'm totally jazzed about this. about a month ago i got white lights while they were still in stock. [side note: last year around this time white lights were nowhere to be found. joel kindly offered some blue lights he had in the basement. my newly-wed self struggled silently for a good long while before quietly thanking him and putting on the blue lights. it actually turned out cute and will be a special memory in my heart forever. first.married.christmas. success.]

 

here's what the living room looks like tonight, with the addition of a few handmade christmas gifts from momma. and with an updated arrangement of a nativity set we got as a shower gift. i like it on the mantle a lot.  

2 quick things

there are 2 blog posts you should all read:

1. my friend rachel and her husband are having an auction. it started yesterday and their are some AMAZING things!! all the $ goes towards adopting their little Ethiopian.

2. this recipe looks delicious. i may try it. next week, though, because my meals are already planned for this week. and the ingredients are purchased. so it'll wait.

somebody make these!

oh goodness. i may try to make this.

and probably this advent calendar (with things to do together!). 


someday.

because for goodness sake, i don't have time right now.

lately...

since my last post i've celebrated our first anniversary, driven to rhode island & back for thanksgiving, graded a hundred million essays/tests/journals, written report card comments, checked attendance for 21 students for 3 months, and opened christmas presents from one side of the family. what a (wonderful!) whirlwind.

and now, in no particular order, a few photos from life lately.

 (joel drew this on my hand on sunday, november 20th. who cares? oh, yeah, it's our anniversary, duh.)

 (nelson family christmas)

 (it was on zoom. oh well.)

 (cliff walking in newport)

 (my rad brother)

 (merry christmas to meeeeeee! new hand-made white pillows from momma!)

 (this book is a total throw-back to my younger years. i'm reading it to my students next)

(if i can't eat dinner till 8pm, i better have a little snack)

this will be random

first item of business: my blog friend rachel and her husband are in the early stages of adopting a baby. they're doing an online auction to raise money for the process. check out their blog and stay tuned for more details.

second: i'm completely swamped with work right now. it's two weeks from report cards and things are just insane. plus, grad school is winding down. tonight i got news that i did an assignment wrong a few weeks ago. i'm going to try to make up the points, but it was a frustrating class nonetheless.

third: on sunday joel and i will celebrate one (successful, amazing, joyful) year of marriage. this has to be a post in itself because i am utterly overwhelmed with love for him and gratitude to God for the gift of this marriage. gosh.

fourth: a funny snippet from my week... on wednesday i gave the kids 2 minutes to talk to their friends, hoping that it would cut down on the constant chatter that happens when i teach. one boy came over and this is what was said:
me: A, you are running out of time to talk to your friends.
A: i wanna talk to you.
me: oh, okay. did you watch the new girl last night?
A: yes!! it was good.
me: what happened?
A: well, jessie. well, jess... was having this date. and she was nervous about cooking the turkey. and...  [i can't remember the rest of what he said because i was simultaneously monitoring the other 20 hooligans in my classroom]
<2 what a darling!

best veterans day ever

 dad took a 4-hour bus ride (each way!) to meet me in NYC for the day

 we took the ferry to staten island and got a relative close-up of the statue of liberty...

 (she's in the background behind me, but you can't really tell.)

 while crossing the brooklyn bridge, we saw a bunch of wedding photos being taken.  

it was 11/11/11, after all.

 the wind was chilly. dad had his laptop in a backpack (heavy!). my legs hurt the next day.

but it was awesome.

 i got my wish of checking out brooklyn bridge park, which i've seen on a couple of my regular blog reads.

 THANKS, daddio, for a great day of adventure! i love you!

winter yumminess

i just stumbled across this post for making your own hot chocolate (on a stick!). so awesome.