Show and Tell Tuesday - Reverse Bucket List

When I was coming up with the list of prompts for Show and Tell Tuesday I immediately thought of a bucket list - but decided to put a twist on it by making it a "reverse bucket list". 

I'm sure lots of us have traditional bucket lists where we keep track of things that we'd like to do and places we'd like to see.  A reverse bucket list is where you write down all of the things you've already accomplished.  Sounds easy, right?

I thought that this post would come together really quickly, but when I sat down to write it I realized that it was going to be more of a challenge than I thought.  Making a list of things that you hope to do  or dream about accomplishing is easy but I found the reverse list to be more of a challenge requiring a whole lot of reflection.  I found myself writing and re-writing... thinking that some of my accomplishments (or what I consider accomplishments) weren't "big" or special or exciting enough.  I had to not think about what other people might think (which can be HARD for me!) and just write down the things that were special to me and made me proud.

So here we go... 

Show and Tell Tuesday - Best Day Ever

I feel like I'm going to share today and y'all are going to think I'm super boring :)  We're showing and telling about our

Show and Tell Tuesday - Home Tour

Happy Tuesday, friends!  It's Show and Tell Tuesday - Home Tours day and I love this day!  I adore seeing people's style reflected in their decor and can't wait to go through all the posts!  I've shared various rooms throughout this past year (we moved in last May) but think it will be nice to have a post with everything in one place!

Come on in!!!

Show and Tell Tuesday - The Struggle is Real

Today we're sharing things we struggle with and I thought I'd share a little bit about some of the struggles that I find myself dealing with as a working mom.

- Working Mom Guilt -

Most days I feel 100% assured that being a full-time working mom is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.  I love my career, adore my co-workers, feel passionate about teaching my subject well and feel privileged getting to pour into the lives of teens... and then I get behind on laundry, forget to bring the snack for the Valentine's party or can't volunteer in the library "like so-and-so's mom" and I feel completely defeated and inadequate.  When my kid has to sit in the nurse's office with a fever while I wait for my sub or when I am completely and totally drained by 4:00 and KNOW I don't have the patience left that I should.  When I miss watching my kid walk across the stage and accept his award because I was proctoring an exam or when I'm grading papers during "family movie night"... the guilt creeps in and can occasionally reduce me to tears.

Show and Tell Tuesday - Travelogue Edition

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I had something different planned for today... and then exam week happened and I ran out of time - so I'm going to share my "favorite vacation" post from last year with a few "worst vacation moments" at the end :)

Show and Tell Tuesday - Memory Lane

When I started working on this post I quickly realized a couple of things...

1) The 90's were awesome

2) Most of what I remember falls into the categories of toys, snacks/candy, school supplies and TV/books

3) The 90's were awesome.  Yes.  I listed that twice :)

Show and Tell Tuesday - Grown-Up Parties

I'm going to be honest here and confess that when I picked this topic it was because "grownup parties" aren't something that I've done a lot of and I really wanted to see all of your ideas :)

Show and Tell Tuesday - PROM Edition

Today is going to be so much FUN!!! I love a good Prom throwback and can't wait to see all of yours!  I went to three Proms in high school... my Sophomore, Junior and Senior years.  And all three years I went with Dave :)

  For some reason I couldn't easily find pictures from Sophomore prom (they're loose photos in a BIG box and I had about zero minutes to search through that this weekend!) but here are some fun ones from Junior year (Dave's Senior prom)

I had tanned myself into "scary status", but Dave worked at a tanning salon (seriously.... his aunt and uncle owned one!) and so it was kind of par for the course.  In hindsight I wouldn't change my hair or dress or anything like that - but wish I had known a little bit more about how bad the tanning bed was for me!  My dress had these little chiffon tails (anyone else sport this style in 2001?) and loved my hair ;)  We took my dad's BMW and thought we were hot stuff. 

Show and Tell Tuesday - Favorite Pictures Edition

I had the HARDEST time putting this post together mainly because 1) I couldn't narrow it down to 5 and 2) I had so much fun walking down memory lane and looking through pictures that I got sidetracked multiple times :)  

- Aviators -

I snapped this picture of Luke at the pool in the summer of 2010 and it may be my favorite picture ever.  He and I had the BEST time that summer.  He was two, it was just me and him and we spent all day every day at the pool. We ate Reese's Pieces, had fabulous tans and took naps together in the afternoon.  It was glorious and such a sweet time.

Show and Tell Tuesday - Embarrassing Moments

I am so excited about today! I've shared a few of these moments before and (thankfully) haven't had any majorly embarrassing moments since the last time I shared (2 years ago) so I'm sharing some of my best ones.  

I am so excited to read through all of your posts tonight and LAUGH!

Show and Tell Tuesday - Kids Parties

Happy Tuesday, Friends!  Today's Show and Tell Tuesday topic is Kids Parties!  I love a good party and today I'm going back through my archives to show y'all the bday parties and other parties I've thrown for my kids over the years...

Show and Tell Tuesday - Your Loves

Happy HAPPY Valentine's Day, friends!!!

I've always loved Valentine's Day and an extra excuse to tell the people that I love how much I love them and the candy ain't bad either :)   I'm helping out in both boys class parties today, they're BEYOND excited to pass out their Pokemon treats and I'm just hoping that nobody does anything super awkward in middle school.  hahaha  

Show and Tell Tuesday - 2017

Happy Tuesday, Friends!  I am so excited about this post! I thought long and hard about fun topics for this year's Show and Tell Tuesday series and I think we're going to have a lot of fun showing and telling this year.  Some are new and some are old favorites - but the intention is the same every other week... take the topic and RUN with it! ;)  

PS - I'm REALLY hoping this graphic is sized okay for everyone's screens!!!  It's large on mine - but I can see it all... if some of it is cut off try right clicking and saving it and then viewing it.  If you need me to email it to you I totally can!

Fun, right?!?!  If you want to link up any (or all!) of the weeks all you need to do is grab the graphic below, link back to me and then add your specific post to the link-up at the bottom of the post. 

I'm so looking forward to reading all of your posts this year!

Show and Tell Tuesday - Advice for Your High School Self

Hey, Friends!  I hope that all of my y'all who had kids go back to school yesterday had a wonderful first day.

In the spirit of back-to-school, we're sharing advice for our high school selves and so here I go...

Girl, STOP wearing those Doc Marten sandals!!!  STOP!  Take your $130 of hard-earned babysitting cash, buy a pair of Old Navy flip flops and put that money away for the day coming up when you're going to want to trade in your curling iron for a really good straightener.

GO!  To the movie, to the game to the party.  To the concert, to the meeting, to the class.  JUST GO!  You may not know anyone and you may feel totally out of place, but you also may end up meeting great people and having a fantastic time.  And if not... what did you miss out on???  Nothing.  That's what.

Get your hiney OUT of that tanning bed!!!  I know you want to look cute for Prom, but trust me!  

Also, enjoy those daily frosties from Wendy's while your metabolism is still ridiculously high.

Last, people may not like you - and that's okay!  STOP trying to convince them.  Because now you're being fake - which isn't a cute look.  OWN who you are and run with it.  The people who love you love YOU!

Now print this off and tape it up in your locker next to your Dave Matthews Band sticker...

Sidenote: This quote MAY be hanging up on my bulletin board now.  People pleasing is a HARD habit to break, y'all ;)  

Happy Tuesday!!!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Show and Tell Tuesday - Reintroductions

Happy Tuesday, Friends!

I'm not going to lie - yesterday morning was ROUGH.  ROUGH!!!  Mason laid on our bathroom floor crying and saying, "why? whyyyyyyyyyyy" repeatedly and complained repeatedly that his pants weren't stretchy enough.  I feel your pain, sweet boy.

Thankfully everyone was in great spirits when I picked them up and we had some sweet family time last night which was awesome.  

Today for Show and Tell Tuesday the prompt is to "reintroduce" yourself and share any resolutions you have for 2016.

So here's a brief history for y'all...

I was born in North York, Ontario (Canada) and lived there until the summer between 1st and 2nd grade.  My dad worked in the telecom industry and he took a short term assignment in Raleigh, North Carolina that ended up being six years long.  ;)   When I think back on our time in NC I think about LOTS of time spent at church - we were part of an awesome church and were super involved in all kinds of activities there.  Service opportunities, musicals, youth group, festivals, camp, etc.  My brother Mark and I spent our time building forts and exploring outside and I LOVED my school.  I attended a year round magnet school and started playing the trombone.

In between 7th and 8th grades my dad took a new position in Richardson, Texas and, despite my best efforts, we were leaving my beloved Raleigh.  The summer of 1997 was AWFUL! I was moody and lonely and missing all things NC.  Once school started in August I got plugged in with the band program at school, made a great group of friends and things started looking up.

High school plugged along and during Fall of my sophomore year I met a super cute drummer and the rest is history :)  

I attended The University of Texas at Dallas on a full academic scholarship and took a crazy amount of hours (while working close to full time doing marketing and advertising for a local bank) in hopes of getting my undergrad and MBA over the course of 8 semesters (what my scholarship covered). hahaha  My original plan was pre-med, but after an epiphany moment I decided to rethink my path and ended up graduating early with my undergrad in Business Administration and part of my MBA complete.  Dave and I were engaged and I was suffering from some academic burnout (probably from taking 18+ hours of classes for 3 years straight).  I decided to "just" work for a while until I figured out what I felt I was being called to do and continued my job at the bank as well as tutoring middle schoolers in math and working weekends at a sweet shop on our town's square. 

Dave and I got married in December of 2005 and in the Spring of 2006 I was offered a teaching position at McKinney Christian Academy.  Their Algebra teacher was leaving and the Headmaster at the time had heard I was tutoring and told me that he thought I'd be great.  I resigned from my position at the bank, enrolled in an alternative certification program and stepped into my first very own classroom.  That first year I found my passion and couldn't imagine doing anything other than teaching.  I poured myself into my role and spent hours and hours lesson planning, attending school events and took on the position of student government sponsor, planning all middle and high school social events for the entire year.  

In July of 2007 we found out we were pregnant with Luke and our lives were forever changed when he was born in April of 2008.  

 

My mom retired to watch Luke and I continued teaching.  August of 2010 we were blessed to find out we were having another sweet baby and, after months of crazy swelling, Mason West arrived in April of 2011.  

 

With two little boys I scaled back on my Student Government role at school, focusing only on Middle School which turned out to be the best decision ever.  In August of 2012 (are you seeing a pattern here???) we received the surprise of lifetime during the first weeks of school when we found out I was pregnant again - on the same day that ALL of our baby items were shoved into my van ready to be dropped off at a local consignment sale.  hahaha  That Fall we were excited to welcome a third baby boy and then, several weeks later, were surprised AGAIN when we found out that Griffin Henry was actually Griffin JOY!  

  

Our precious girl arrived in April of 2013 and the rest is history.

I started blogging in 2008 right before Luke was born as a way of keeping our extended families informed and involved in our journey into parenthood.  All of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. are in Canada and blogging was my way of sharing pictures, stories and details with them.  Since then I've so enjoyed sharing craft ideas, recipes, mom life, party ideas and everything in between along with anecdotes about our daily lives.

So, on to the second part of the post.  New Years Resolutions. 

I always promise myself I'll be more organized, go to bed earlier and read more - and, despite my best intentions, those rarely happen :)  I read this post on Hands Free Mama a few weeks ago and I wept.  WEPT.  In the article she talks about the best gifts she's ever given, and they're poignant and honest and rang true with me on multiple levels.  I was struggling to write this post and then, yesterday afternoon I pulled out my phone, checked her site and read her  "Vow To Soften" that she just posted.  It was everything that I had been trying to write but couldn't and so I decided I'd share her words in the hope that they speak to you as much as they did to me.  I've put the parts that ring especially true to me in bold.

My Vow to Soften

I’ve had enough of my hard edges.
I’m tired of straining my voice.
I’d like to loosen up and laugh a little more,
Be a positive rather than a negative.

I’d like to feel the upward curve of my lips.
I’d like to surrender control of things in which I have no control.
I’d like to let things unfold in their own time, in their own way.
I’d like to participate joyfully in this fleeting life.

I’d like to be softer
towards him,
towards her,
towards me.

Thus, 2016 shall be the year of my softening.
And this is my vow:

I vow to listen to opinions – I don’t always have to be right.
I don’t always have to agree or have the last word.

I vow to hand over the hairbrush, the pile of laundry, the school project,
the task before us. “How would you do it?” I will ask.
I vow to step aside and respect a new approach.
Success might be difficult to see at first; I vow to keep looking.

I vow to be more accepting of quirks and mannerisms.
I vow to be more accepting of tastes and styles unlike my own.

I vow to remember he is in the process of becoming; she is in the process of finding her way.
And they are more apt to do it if I stop telling them how.

I vow to regard “weaknesses” as hidden strengths.
Inner gifts can be nurtured when I stop plotting ways to alter, change, and “improve”.

I vow to greet my family and myself with a loving smile, no matter what happened yesterday.
Grudge holding only hurts us all.

I vow to pause before correcting.
I shall take a moment to consider if the mistake even needs to mentioned at all.

I vow to stop nitpicking until it bleeds.

I vow to demand less and inquire more.

I vow to listen
Consider
and expand my thinking.

I vow to be a voice of encouragement in a demeaning world.

I vow to be a silver lining spotter in my family’s little world.

I vow to be softer today than I was yesterday—a softer voice, a softer posture, a softer touch, a softer thought, a softer timetable.

I vow to be softer towards the imperfect human being inside me and beside me.

By being softer, I can hear more, learn more, feel more, and love more.
At last I will fully see.

I will see his colors.
I will see her colors.
I will see my colors
Perhaps for the very first time.

The colors might take my breath away
Bring me to tears
and offer long-awaited peace.

I shall soften in order to illuminate the colors of the soul.

I shall soften so the human being within me and beside me can shine.

Happy 2016, Friends!!!  Here's to being softer this year!

Link up below and reintroduce yourselves ;)

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Show and Tell Tuesday: When I Grow Up

When I created the Show and Tell List I was SUPER excited about this topic because I love seeing what people thought they'd be doing as an adult versus what they ended up actually doing as a career.  I actually blogged about this back in November of last year, so if it sounds familiar that's probably why.  But hang in there because there's new content at the end of the post :)

When I was in Elementary and Middle School I ALWAYS wanted to be a vet.  I even applied to the NC State Vet Camp and almost made it.  I didn't and I was CRUSHED! hahaha  I'm pretty sure that my parents even humored me and took me to several open houses at the vet school and I "just knew" that's what I was going to be. 

I hunter jumped horses and read all the Saddle Club and Thoroughbred books and wanted to be a veterinarian who lived on a horse farm.  I wanted Great Pyrenees dogs and barn cats and the whole shebang. :)

In High School, I decided that I still wanted to do medicine, but with people instead.  I set my sights on going to med school and explored that option through my High School's Clinical Rotation program where I earned by CNA license (Certified Nursing Assistant) by working in a nursing home for a semester and then had opportunities to shadow doctors in our local ER, volunteer in a free clinic and spend time shadowing several pediatricians.  I sat in on several surgeries and got to get a feel for the medical field.

I searched through albums for a pic of me in my scrubs, but I couldn't find one.  WHAT ON EARTH did we do before cell phone cameras?!?!?!    BUUUUUUUUUT I'm pretty sure the pic below was taken when we went out to celebrate me getting my CNA. :)  Holy braces, batman!

In college I majored in business with intentions of going to medical school and becoming a pediatrician.  I went to UTD on an academic scholarship that covered 8 semesters and I was determined to get my undergrad and at least half of my MBA in that amount of time.  Yes, people.  That's right.  I was crazy.  I took an insane amount of hours and worked crazy hard. I consulted academic advisors, but somehow overlooked consulting God ;)  After an almost-tragic white water rafting accident (that's a post for another day... but long story short I flew off the raft, got sucked into a rapid and was underwater for several minutes) I started listening more to God's plan and less to my own.

Throughout college I had been tutoring kids in Math (because I totally had time for that!), and while I was working on my MBA and working in Marketing and Advertising for a bank, I was approached about teaching.  Dave and I had only been married for a few months, but we prayed a lot about it and I decided to go out on a limb and try it - who knew (well, we know who knew) that I would find my absolute passion!  

You can read more about my road to becoming a teacher as well as my philosophy on education on this Teacher Tuesday post.

One thing that never changed from age 4 all the way to today - is that I wanted to be a mom.  SOOOOOOOOO thankful that I'm able to live out that dream!

So that's my story :)

Me in my classroom - before starting my first year of teaching - 9 years ago! :)

I don't talk about Dave's job very often, but he's the Service Director for a country club - and his story is similar to mine in that he ended up somewhere completely different than where he thought he'd be as well.  From a really young age, Dave wanted to be a police officer and he wanted to do that all the way into college.  He started working at Stonebridge as a bus boy/waiter his freshman year of college, while working on a criminal justice degree, and ended up finding his passion in an unlikely place.  Dave looooooves to serve.  I know that sounds weird, but he enjoys taking care of people and really excelled in the industry and decided to switch his major to business and pursue food service long term.  Being a manager at a country club is a FAR CRY from police work, and I think that there are days he would probably like to arrest some people :), but his job suits his personality well and is a great fit for our family life.

Since I've been teaching for several years now, I'm getting to see some of my former students "grow up" and have real jobs and it's been fun to see them become exactly what I thought they'd be or something completely unexpected. 

Dave and I often sit and wonder what our kids are going to end up being when they "grow up" and so I thought I'd record them talking about it themselves!!! (and yes, these videos are different than they were in November) 

Mason has said he wants to be in the food business for at least a year.  Chef, cooker man, griller guy - it's always food related.  I think he gets it from his daddy :)  Despite him always talking about working in food service, I think his expressive facial expressions and flair for the dramatic would be well suited as an actor.  Plus... we've caught him watching himself cry and make other faces in the mirror :)



If I had to place a bet on Luke's future career 100% I would put it on engineering.  He is analytical, logical and creative.  He has a mind for how things work and is inquisitive about the mechanics behind everything.  Whatever Luke ends up doing it will be done 1000% and will be done well.

I don't have a video of Griffin, but if we had to predict now what she'll be when she grows up, it would definitely be something where she got to boss people around OR a job where she gets to clean and organize.  She LOVES to wipe down the table and is a stickler for having things in their place.

So, back to you!  Are you in the profession that you planned on?  A completely different one than what you thought?  How has life turned out differently than your elementary, middle or high school self thought it would?


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Show and Tell Tuesday: Favorite Vacations

Before we can get started today with sharing about our favorite vacations, I have a SUPER exciting giveaway for y'all!  Here's a hint...

EEEEEK!!!!  It's a SET of matching monogrammed converse for you and your mini!  OR if you don't have a mini then it's a pair of monogrammed converse AND a tote bag!  How awesome is that?!?!

Crystal from CrystalFaye sent a set to Griffin and I and she and I are both LOVING them!  Everything is better with a monogram, right?!?!?! :)

If you can't wait until the drawing ends, be sure to use the code MOMFESSIONAL15 FOR 15% off of your order!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am so excited about today!  I loooooooooooove looking at other people's vacation photos and getting to experience a little bit of the world vicariously through their travels. I'm not someone who has a lot of "wanderlust"... I'm not constantly planning the next trip or getaway.  Dave and I traveled before we had kids and it's something we're looking forward to doing more as a family as our kids get older.

My #1 Vacation of ALL TIME is when Dave and I traveled to the Canadian Rockies in the summer of 2006.  We flew in to Calgary, Alberta and rented a car and then drove a loop through Banff and Edmonton.  We stayed a different city every night and had so much fun.  

We went in the summer and the scenery/wildlife was amazing.  I'm definitely a "cool weather" girl and LOVE crispness in the air so this trip was perfection. 

This was pre-iPhones for us, and our car didn't have navigation - so it was just us and a paper foldout map.  We got into probably the BIGGEST fight of our entire marriage (we don't really argue, so this was a big deal) over directions and driving and I believe a map was thrown out of the window because "why even have a map if you know where you're going without looking at it". :)  After ending up at the opposite end of where we were supposed to be (and actually ending up on someone's private farm), we had to call a truce and laugh about it :)

We sort of had a plan going into the trip (as in I had reservations along our "route"), but on the daily we kind of just winged it and asked locals and employees of wherever we were staying that night what we should go and see/do.

We stayed in different cabins every night and still laugh about one that was COMPLETELY not what we had expected and was completely lopsided.  As in, we had to put our heads at the foot of our bed because otherwise the blood all rushed to our brains and we had to bail out the shower because the water all pooled at one end instead of going down the drain. ;)

We saw glaciers where I was convinced I was going to fall into a crevice and had a sweet little boy ask me if I was a movie star (I think it was the big sunnies that did it)...

... and we took a "two-hour" trail ride up a mountain that turned into a 5-6 hour affair after getting caught in a crazy downpour and having our horses refuse to go down the mountain because it was too slippery. The trail company actually sent another guide up the mountain (I guess the horses will go up, but not down if it's really slick) with camping gear in case we had to spend the night.  

... and we stayed in a one room cabin (like... the clawfoot tub and kitchen area was next to the bed without a wall) on a sweet elderly couple's property with no phone or cable and we were pretty convinced we were going to end up as the storyline for a Law and Order episode :)

I'm originally from Canada (I lived there until 1992 when we moved to North Carolina and I totally consider myself American.... except for the fact that I'm actually a permanent resident who can't vote), and it was fun to get to introduce Dave to some of my Canadian favorites along the way (Swiss Chalet, Tim Hortons and SHREDDIES! The best cereal there ever was.  Any time I go to Canada I bring an extra bag so I can bring home Shreddies, malt bread (this is more of a Dutch thing than a Canadian thing), Smarties (they're like M&Ms, only better) and REAL maple sugar candy :)

sidenote: let's talk about how "fashion forward" I was in my gaucho pants.  I loved me some gauchos!!!  I'm pretty sure I didn't wear jeans at all in 2006.

I blogged HERE about another one of our favorite trips - this one was to The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia.  The Homestead was built in 1766 and holds some MAJOR history (including more than half of the US President playing a round of golf there!) and it is absolutely picturesque.  

The grounds are AMAZING and the resort itself is unbelievable...

I was pregnant with Mason and Dave played lots of golf while I either rode in the cart and drank hot cocoa while reading OR I hung out in our room and took baths and made it downstairs for tea service in the grand lobby.  Seriously.  We spent TONS of great quality time together and (being pregnant) we ended up foregoing MANY a meal at the five-star resort and ended up going back and back and back to a hole-in-the-wall pizza place for some of the best pizza I've ever had.  We even celebrated a football victory with the local team one night :)

I mentioned the Homestead a few weeks ago in a post and a super sweet reader of mine clicked over and read the original post where I mentioned how Dave and I saw this house every time we entered or exited the resort and how I SWOONED over it the whole trip.  The perfectly manicured lawn, the leaves, the porch, the smoke coming out of the chimney.... it's all perfection.  Well, it turns out that this sweet reader of mine GREW UP IN THAT HOUSE!!!  How crazy is that?!?!?!

"This may seem crazy, but I read your Homestead post this morning - and this was my house! My parents built it when we moved to that town in 1995. We lived there until 2012 when I graduated college! So crazy. I was casually reading along with your blog this morning and couldn't believe I saw this picture pop up! I promise we used to have crazier stalkers than you - people would come up to our door with questions and asking to take pictures and even make my parents cash buying offers right on the spot! My dad's resort group oversaw The Homestead. We moved to that middle of nowhere town right before I started kindergarten and I wouldn't have wanted to grow up any other way. I'm now in Orlando and my parents have retired in Sarasota on the beach. 

That home is SO special to me... I sledded down the front yard with my sister and my friends every winter, learned how to ride a bike in the driveway, shot hoops with my dad every night after dinner... the list goes on and on. It was definitely my parents dream house and we were so blessed to be able to build it there."

Isn't that just BEYOND cool?!?!?!  Thank you so much for reaching out, Alexia!!

There were other vacations I really wanted to share with you, including a couple of beach vacays, but I am MUCH more of a cool weather girl so those won out. We did stay in a really cool resort in Jamaica for our honeymoon...

... but believe it or not I don't have that many pictures because most of our days were spent like this :)

Maybe on another day.

So link up, and show and tell us about your favorite vacation(s)!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

PS - Thank you so much Crystal for providing G and I with the Converse and for giving away two pairs!  LOVE YOU, SWEET FRIEND!!!