sorry for my lack of posts this week.... i am SO tired. and sleeping quite a bit.

how about One Tree Hill this week-- most important part was the previews where it showed SKANKY NANNY TRIES TO SEDUCE NATHAN. it has to be skanky nanny's fault. because I love Nathan and he would never betray me OR Haley. I love Nathan. in case you forgot.

i'll be back soon. i have much to tell you! get excited!!

just in case

you forgot how cute the Neph is :)\

Post Secret

I think maybe I am out of the loop.

I just found out about PostSecret.

Have you all known about this all along and not told me?

It's this social experiment where people create a post card to tell a secret that noone else knows. And then mail it to this address in Maryland. It's so cool. I'm trying to think of a good one to send. And how I'm going to decorate it.

There's a blog where you can go read the different post cards-- and there are entire books devoted to these post cards!

SO cool. I love secrets!

I am going to have to read these books!

Here's the address if you want to play!
13345 Copper Ridge Rd
Germantown, Maryland 20874

the day The Bear died

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Paul "Bear" Bryant. In case you live under a rock, he coached at the University of Alabama for 25 years, winning six national titles (61, 64, 65, 73, 78, and 79) and thirteen SEC championships. He also coached at Texas A&M and Kentucky-- but no one really remembers or cares.

He was called "Bear" for a simple reason-- he wrestled a bear. And won. That is badass.

He played football for Alabama. And he was even more badass because he played against University of Tennessee with a broken leg. You read that right. Broken leg. That is so kickass.

His death came 28 days after his last game as a coach.

He finished with 323 wins. That's been passed by Joe Paterno at Penn State and by Bobby Bowden at FSU-- but, neither one of them have been thrust upon the throne of college football like Coach Bryant.

As a girl raised in an Alabama home, I was taught to know and believe in the Bear. He was the best. National champion coach Gene Stallings said it best: "Alabama fans love Bryant; they tolerate the rest of us." He has been the epitome of a hero my entire life.

He was famous for wearing a Houndstooth hat on the sidelines-- and today houndstooth holds a special place in the hearts of most Alabama girls like me.

I love Coach Bryant. And he died a few weeks after my 2nd birthday. 250,000 people paid their respects after he died-- his funeral filled 3 churches and lined the streets of Tuscaloosa.

He's remembered. He's honored. He's worshipped. He's the best coach ever.

"He wasn't just a coach," former USC coach John McKay said. "He was the coach."

Nick Saban may be the current coach at Alabama, but Bear Bryant is always going to be my coach.

EVERYone loves musicals!!

Well, maybe not- but you should! I do! Love Love Love them.
They may be my favorite thing.
Ever.

Moving on... sort of!

My wee Irish friend over at Shenanigans had this fun little list of her fav sing-along-musical songs. Quite the fun little list! So, I'll make one of my own!!

~~~
10. You Can't Stop the Beat- Hairspray

9. Masquerade- Phantom of the Opera

8. Wouldn't it be Lovely?- My Fair Lady

7. On My Own- Les Miserables

6. Jolly Holiday- Mary Poppins

5. I am Sixteen- Sound of Music

4. Ladies Choice- Hairspray

3. Sandra Dee- Grease

2. As Long As You're Mine- Wicked

1. Seasons of Love- Rent

~~~

By the way, this took me FOREVER to narrow down the list! I am a musical nerd.

Meg Cabot

Not sure if you read, but if you do, you should read everything that Meg Cabot has written. Well, except for maybe her weird/sci-fi stuff, unless, of course, you're into that sort of thing.

BUT.

I love her books. They are super.

She wrote The Princess Diaries series-- which is great. I know it's "YA", but I don't care. They're super. Big fan-- she writes characters that are hilarious and in absurd situations, but are some how believable.

There are some randoms I like-- Teen Idol (YA), Boy Next Door, All American Girl-- All stellar.

However, my current favorite of hers is the Heather Wells series--- Size 12 Isn't Fat, Size 14 Ins't Fat Either, and Big Boned. They are AWESOME. So funny. A little mystery, a little romance, a little washed-up pop star. LOVES it!

I could link you to places to buy these books, but surely you're savvy enough to type in the words amazon.com and go search for them. I did link to Meg Cabot's website, so that was nice of me :)

Or even better, get your booty off of the couch and go to Barnes and Noble. Trust me on this one, it'll be good for you :)

Eli Manning

My super cute boyfriend, Eli Manning, is going to the Super Bowl! He led his team to an overtime victory over Brett Favre's Green Bay Packers. Go Giants!!
I am SO proud.




**A side note- I do not actually cheer for teams in the NFL, but individuals only. Eli Manning is one of those individuals. It helps if you played in the SEC. Or if you're super cute.

27 Dresses!

Oh my word- saw 27 Dresses tonight! It's SO good!! You're gonna love it! Get excited!! Go see it!!

Basic rundown-- Jane (Katherine Heigl) is a super sweet girl who grew up loving weddings, and as an adult has been a bridesmaid TWENTY SEVEN times. Then a super cute boy wants to do an article about her, and so they hang out. And she hates him. But so on and so forth.... standard romantic comedy story line. BUT- another plot is that Jane is in love with her super cute boss- but her perfect sister comes home and "steals" him away from her. So, that's good too!

BUT. One more time, in case you haven't heard me before-- GO SEE IT!!!

bargain shoes!

So, I went to Target yesterday to get a paint brush-- and while I was there in the shoe section.

AND found a super bargain!

Got both of these for $20- TOTAL!!

Wore the snake skin pair today-- can't wait to wear the CRIMSON pair to an Alabama football game this fall!!

being broken

This is one of my favorite pictures of myself. Not because it's good. (because honestly, I look quite rough) But it was moments after I experienced a major breakthrough in my life.

I was in Sighisoara, Romania- the summer after my sophomore year of college. I went because I wanted to. But while I was there, I realized that my life is not my own. I am bought with a high price. And God gets to determine how my days are spent.

I've wanted to be a teacher my whole life. Almost literally- since 4th grade. Applied to college w/ a middle grades major and graduated w/ that degree.

But, it was in Sighisoara that I realized that I may not always do that.

God may have other things in store for me.

And Sighisoara was the place that I could go.

Years later, I still have a major heart to serve in other countries- Romania is always close to my heart, but I've also spent time in China and my heart breaks for the country.

People always ask me if I'll be back- and I know I will.

And what's more.

My heart is there now.

I have a crush

on these shoes.

of course we had school

Good grief. I told all of my kids that yesterday. And yet, they roll in this morning all "OH MY WORD! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE HAVE SCHOOL TODAY".
Middle schoolers.
Good grief.

ice cold below zero

It's snowing here in Atlanta!!
And I am annoyed.

I was watching the news earlier-- and, NO LIE, they were talking about the weather for about 25 minutes. Kept going "back outside" to check on the SAME SNOW. It's not sticking. It's not accumulating. It's not below freezing here. It's cold. And it's snowing. It's not much to write home about.

Atlantan's prepare for this:

But get this:

And that'll only be one suburb far far away from where I live.

I mean, yeah, I'm excited. But honestly, calm down before all of your excitement creates heat and melts the snow before they cancel school tomorrow.

Here's my actual PET PEEVE OF LIFE:

When preparing to be snowed in and without power (in Atlanta? puh-lease!), WHY IN THE WORLD would you buy milk, bread, and eggs!??!?!?!?!

Seriously? If the power goes out, the fridge will turn off and the milk will go bad. What do you want eggs for? And if you have an electric stove and the power goes out, you'll just have eggs that you can't eat. And why in the world do you want just bread? I mean, buy some peanut butter or something!

There is no reason why there should be NO eggs, milk, and bread just because it may snow.

Buy some Spaghetti-O's and granola bars. Things that don't go bad- and that don't need electricity to prepare. And some Diet Coke. That's for me. I'm an addict.

And maybe some Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. Because they're delicious.

unique unity

I was blogbrowsing today at Habitually Chic and saw pics from some posh-a-licious restaurant in New York called Bobo. And the restaurant is so funly decorated, but my favorite thing was that they took all of these different chairs and covered them with the same fabric. Love that the chairs are each different, but the fabric brings them together. Unique Unity. Briliiant.

elephantastic

I love elephants. I think they're so cute. I keep deciding that I will collect them. Then I buy AN elephant. Then I'm done collecting until I see the next ADORABLE elephant thing.

Precious.

This is made by the chicky over at While She Naps. Check it out. Can't even handle how adorable.

This white one above and the black and white one below are both from Target's World Bazaar. (A word I love because of it's double-a's).

I love them. Especially the black and white one-- my bed room NEEDS it.

who doesn't love organizing?!?!

Tonight I went to an class for 20-somethings. It was so fun. We learned about being organized. And I'm a pretty organized person, but I learned some cool stuff. And the before and after pics were amazing. If you are interested, you should contact my friend Kelly. She has an organizing company-- Organized by Kelly! Check it out!!

celebrity(?) spotting in Kennesaw!!

Last night I went to dinner at Carrabba's with my mom, sister-in-law, her sister, and the neph. It was delicious.

But who cares.

About 15 minutes after we sat down, my sister-in-law (Jessica) leaned forward across the table with extreme urgency and said "COHUTTA'S OVER THERE!"

That's right. From the Real World. No, he wasn't with KellyAnn. But he was with some girl and another couple. But they weren't lovey or anything, so it could have been a friend.

My immediate reaction was to grab my phone and text all 3 of my roomies. We all freaked out. It was great!!

We took stalker pictures. I'll post them asap.

Settle for this one for now....

i want to live HERE

this may be the cutest apartment I've ever seen.

got my red soles now i'm gonna turn it on

What is it about Christian Louboutin's red soled shoes that are so hot? Just seeing them makes me feel all sassy and whatnot. I really want some. Guess I gotta go rob that bank...

shoe in the door

Door stops are not cute things. Seriously, who even thinks about them?! But, today I ran across the cutest doorstop I've ever seen. Love it!!

You should go check it out at wishingfish.com

only a little embarassed

In case you didn't know, a moment of epic proportions came upon us tonight.

Season five of One Tree Hill premiered. Two hours of incredibleness.

It was so good. If you haven't watched it for the past 4 years, don't start now because you'll think I am very very lame. And maybe I am, but I still love this show.

And I love Nathan Scott.

He was douche at the beginning, but then we figured out it was for a good reason. And then he redeemed himself by the end of the second hour.

Is it sad that this was THE highlight of my day?

I'm only a little embarassed.

my not-so-secret- crush

So, I have a crush on Ron Clark.

I guess there's a chance you don't know who he is, but everyone in my profession is hip to the Ron Clark scene. He's an awesome teacher who taught in a small North Carolina town, but then he moved to New York to teach in Harlem. Then he won Disney's Teacher of the Year- for the country.

Now he has opened a school in Atlanta called the Ron Clark Academy. I got to go visit this fall. And it was amazing. I learned so much and love putting it into practice in my own classroom.

Kids are coming back tomorrow- and I want to be EXCITED about them coming back because of all the awesome things I'm gonna teach them! I want to be crazy like Ron Clark.

Here's our fun picture from my visit :)


love it.

Monogramtastic

So, I've created a business of sorts. I make framed monograms. They're super cute-- they've been the best Christmas presents this year. I've done all sorts of them-- messed around with frames and backgrounds, and even the fonts.

They are for sale if you're interested-- they're only $20 plus shipping. Leave a comment if you're interested!!

My little nephew Brody is 6 months old-- actually almost 7, but whatev-- he's precious. Probably one of the happiest babies I've ever known. Love him.