2006 in Review

I got this from Melodee at DML - thanks Melodee!!!

2006 In Review

JANUARY
1. Did you have a new year's resolution this year?: Yes, a few - mainly to stress less and get organized.
2. Who kissed you at midnight?: Pat, of course!!
3. Did it snow where you live?: No - not in Florida! :(
5. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop?: No - but maybe one day!!!

FEBRUARY
1. Who was your valentine?: again - Pat, of course!
2. What did your valentine get you?: flowers and a card
3. When you were little, did you buy valentines for your whole class?: Yes - I still do as a teacher!

MARCH
1. Are you Irish? By marriage I guess! :)
2. Did you wear green on St. Patty's Day?: Yes I did - I didn't want to get pinched!
3. What did you do for St. Patty's Day?: Mindy and I went out to an Irish Bar with friends and had a GREAT time!!!

APRIL
1. Do you like the rain?: if I'm in the right mood for it!
2. Did you play an April Fool's joke on anyone this year?: yes, Mindy and I tried to play one on our students - but they totally didn't get it!
3. Did you get tons of candy on Easter?: No, not really - just some jelly beans and reese's eggs!

MAY
1. What's your favorite kind of flower?: gerbra daisy
2. Do you like the spring? yes!
3. Finish the phrase: "April showers bring...": Well, the typical answer is "May Flowers", but here April Showers bring mosquitos!
4. What would you think of as a spring color?: lavender

JUNE
1. What year did you graduate from school?: 1999 - high school, 2003 - college

JULY
1. What did you do on the 4th of July? Pat and I had just signed all of the papers for our new house and we worked in the house, bought a grill, and had our first bar-b-que in our new townhouse!!!
2. Did you go on any vacations during this month?: I think we went to Lake Placid with Pat's family.

AUGUST
1. Did you do anything special to end off your summer?: spent like everyday in the pool with Devanny and Mindy - just enjoying our summer vacation! We also had a fun house-warming tiki party in August!!!
2: What was your favorite summer memory of '06?: our Southern Carribbean Cruise in June
3. Did you go swimming a lot in the summer?: yes!
4. Did you go to the beach a lot?: for photo shoots - yes, but just to go - not enough!

SEPTEMBER
1. Did you attend school/college in '06?: yes, I took a class at Nova Southeastern University for my ESOL endorsement!
2. Who is/was your favorite teacher?: oooh, that's hard - I think my favorite teacher of all time ever was my Social Studies Education teacher in college! She made me LOVE to teach history!
3. Did you like fall better than summer?: YES!!!

OCTOBER
1. What was your favorite Halloween costume ever?: when I was like 8, I was an alien! I had a green unitard on and green body paint from head to toe with a silver wig and silver antenne - it was so much fun!
2. What's your favorite candy?: Reese Peanut Butter Cups!
3. What did you dress up like this year? I wore a halloween t-shirt, cat ears, and a feather boa as a cat tail! :)

NOVEMBER
1. Whose house did you go to for Thanksgiving?: my in-laws! :)
2. Do you like stuffing?: yes, we had 3 different types of stuffing this year!
3. What are you thankful for?: my family, friends, and the many blessings in my life!

DECEMBER
1. Do you celebrate Christmas?: yes - love Christmas!
2. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe?: yes, Pat bought mistletoe in high school and kissed me under it.
3. What do you want this year for Christmas?: Just to be with family and have a good time!
4. What's the best present you ever got for Christmas?: Pat got me a sweet Tiffany's necklace this year - I love it!
5 Do you like cold weather?: yes!
6. How would you rate your year on a scale of 1-10?: 8 - overall a good year, but there were some rough moments as well - I'm really looking forward to 2007!!!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Years Eve tonight and an amazing 2007!!!

Thankful...

There are so many things I am thankful for right now. I know this post is a bit late (seasonly), but I still wanted to write it anyway. I recently started (haven't yet completed) a gratitude jounal. The wonderful gals over at DML were doing this and Mo was giving us the topics to create pages about. I have to say, that this made me think of all the things in my life that I have to be grateful for. While I was working on my journal, I came across this quote that really made me think:

"Just think of how happy you would be if you lost everything you had right now and got it back again" ~unknown

But wow, that really makes you think. I am so grateful for everything in my life - the good and the bad, because without the bad, we wouldn't know the good and wouldn't be able to appreciate it. So, at the close of this Thanksgiving season, I'd just like to leave you with that quote....

And here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving celebration at my in-laws...

Back from Tallahassee...

Things can finally get back to normal after the past 3 weekends of craziness! We just got back from a really wonderful weekend in Tallahassee. We got to visit with good friends, watch the NOLES beat up on Virginia, and enjoy some beautiful fall weather! I've got plenty more pics and details to post later, but for now, here are a few of my favorite pics from the weekend!

Lottie and Nathan

We met Lottie and Nathan about 4 years ago... we were still living in Tallahassee. I was working at Buck Lake Elementary teaching 2nd grade. Lottie was also a new teacher - teaching 4th grade. Right away, I knew that Lottie and I would hit it off. She is this sweet southern girl with a great big smile and in my heart I knew she was meant to be one of my friends. As luck would have it, we had the same lunch schedule that year... so we got to get to know each other over lunch each day. Then we decided to pair our classes up to be "book buddies" - which meant more time we got to spend together. Eventually we were hanging out on the weekends and trying to make plans to get together with our husbands because we knew they would hit it off as well.

Once the four of us finally got together things just "clicked". Our friendship with Lottie and Nathan is an easy one. I adore Lottie and Pat and Nathan are great buddies! It all works so perfectly. As you can imagine, we were devastated when we had to move down to West Palm Beach and leave our new friends behind. That was 3 years ago and I am happy to say that we are still great friends. We all get together about 2 or 3 times each year... not nearly enough but we make it work.

This past weekend, Lottie and Nathan and their son Corbin met up with us at the lake house in Lake Placid, FL. We spent the weekend on the lake - laughing, swimming, and just being together. We had a fabulous time and the best part is that we get to see them again in 2 weeks when Pat and I go to Tallahassee for a football game!

I took MANY pictures this weekend, but here is one of my favorites of our good friends, Lottie and Nathan, and their son Corbin. Once I get through the rest, I'll post more of our lake adventures...

I *love* fall...

I love fall... it is absolutely my favorite season! The colors, the weather, school, football, everything about fall just makes me feel alive and happy. Unfortunately, in Florida, we don't really get an autumn... I *know* that at some point in my life I am destined to live in a place that has seasons...

Today I made it over to the local pumpkin patch at the Methodist Church. I talked Mindy and Devanny into going with me so I could snap some pics. This is one of my favorite pics from the day. I came home with some cute smaller pumpkins. I'll wait till Pat goes with me until we pick out our pumpkin to carve!

I am so excited about Halloween this year becauase we finally live in a community with trick-or-treaters!!! We get to decorate and buy candy and do the whole halloween thing! It should be a blast! I can't wait for us to carve our pumpkin and decorate! Isn't halloween so much fun? :)

Scrapbook Heaven

I just got this info from the owner of Scrapbook Heaven (an online-scrapbooking store where I'm on the DT)... just wanted to pass this along to my scrappin' buddies...

We are having a Sassafras Lass Contest!!!

Details: Your submission must include at least 75% Sassafras Lass products. The layouts will need to be posted to the Sassafras Lass contest board in our gallery no later than Midnight October 31, 2006. Our DT will be judging the submissions starting November 1 and winners will be announced no later than November 3. Good luck and happy scrapping!

Prizes: 1st place will receive the package sponsored by Sassafras Lass, $50.00 gift certificate from our online store. 2nd place will receive one of our Featured Monthly kits from Scrapbook Heaven.

Schwarz Family Photo Shoot... and random stuff...

Well... for starters, two weeks ago I had the honor of shooting my friend Kara's kids. They are so gorgeous and cooperative and wonderful! I had so much fun with them! I wanted to post a few of my favorites on my blog... I'm working on getting word out about my photography down here in South Florida... mainly via friends and family and customers.





















As far as "Random Other Stuff"... I am excited and proud of myself because today I joined a gym! It's about time I get off my lazy butt and go and workout after school, instead of watching ABC Family for 3 hours a night.... yes, I am a TOTAL tv junkie!!! Although, I do have to admit, I am so excited about the fact that they put the show Everwood in the nightly line-up (6pm)... because I love that show and I didn't get into it when it first started... so now I get to go back and watch the first few seasons! :)

Anyway, that's all I'm excited about now... I have another photo shoot of an 8-month old this weekend, so I am pumped for that! Pat and I are also going to a high-school football game on Friday (his boss' son's game) and I'm taking pics there too, so that should be fun!

Happy Day everyone! :)

"Back in the Day"...

So lately... Mindy and I have been living "back in the day"... you know the "day" I'm talking about... the college-days. We've been thinking that we are still young and hip enough to go out on the weekends, have some drinks, dance, sing, act silly, etc.... and still be able to be rested for the next work week. (what are we thinking???)

It's pretty funny actually, considering that we didn't even know each other "back in the day"... maybe that's why we feel the need to go live it up. Regardless, we are having a good time!

This weekend we are taking a weekend off... we need a break from the maddness! So, in honor of the two of us living "back in the day", I am posting a picture from one of our recent evenings out!

Who knows when we'll get this out of our system.. I honestly think though it's because we feel like we got cheated out of this during our college years because we didn't know each other then.... I do know though, that if we had known each other "back in the day"... it would have been crazy and fun!!!

Mindy is one fun chica and we always have a good time together! I love ya Mindy!!! :)

We *heart* America!

Here it is.... our fun 2nd grade hallway project! This is the first time I have done this project with my students and I am so thrilled with how it turned out! For my readers who are not teachers, you may or may not appreciate this as much... but let me tell you... this was a LOT of work!

First, we all talked about reasons we are glad we live in America. This was at the culmination of a unit on immigration and American Symbols. My students brainstormed a bunch of pretty good reasons!

Next, we did a vocabulary lesson on synonyms. We used a thesaurus to think of synonyms for the word "happy". We came up with some GREAT synonyms (ecstatic, joyful, tickled, elated, etc.)

Then, each kid wrote on an index card "I am (synonym for happy) to live in America because..." and they wrote their reason.

Finally, we had each student create a self portrait. We used multi-cultural construction paper, yarn, felt, pipe cleaners, ribbon, etc. Mindy and I helped with the self-portraits, giving ideas and helping them with the technicalties.

Overall, I am so thrilled with how they turned out! I will definitely do this project again next year!














(Mindy and I) :)

Bad Blogger...

I'm sorry... I've been such a bad blogger this month... I am so overwhelmed with school and everything that I have neglected this... Oh well... at least I don't have that many readers to disappoint! :) I'll do a post this weekend with pics from a really fun project I did with my kids at school!

That's it - Just wanted to let ya'll know I'm still alive (to the few readers who may still visit me here)... :)

Happy Day,
Kristi

How Sweet it is...

To beat the Hurricanes in MIAMI!!!!! What a game!!!!! My beloved Seminoles are off to a great start, let's hope the rest of the season is as sweet as our first win was! Go Noles!!!

Boredom....

So, can I tell you how much I loathe hurricanes/tropical storms? We have been out of school for the past 2 days for NOTHING! It barely rained here! And now, we will have to make up those days - yuck!!! There goes our first early release day and our first teacher work day! Boo! Anyway, the media just hypes these things up and makes everyone get panicked and then it causes us to have to sit home for two days when we could be working! I am at the point too where I am pretty bored - I'm definitely ready to go back to work tomorrow!

Oh well, nothing I can do now. At least I got to scrap a bit... I finished some assignments for Scrapjazz for the first of the month and also got to scrap a bit for myself! Yay!

Here's my favorite layout that I created during my "tropical storm break":

Card Parties

Yay, I am so excited for my card party tomorrow night! You see, about once a month a bunch of my local card-making buddies get together for a card party. Before hand we decide on a theme and each person makes a card and brings supplies for everyone else to duplicate that card. So, when you leave, you have like 10 different cards! We always have a blast - hanging out, gossiping, enjoying tasty beverages and delicious snacks! Everyone brings a dish to share as well. Last month, my sister Susan joined us for our card party when she was in town - it was great to be able to share this with her!

Here's my card for tomorrow's party - the theme is birthday cards:

-The Rooster-

"The Rooster" - as my friends Laura and Rick call it, "will never let you down!"

Since I started drinking wine a few years back, my wine tastes have indeed evolved. I used to only prefer white wines - Chardonnay or a nice Pinot Grigio. While, I still enjoy these wines, I have recently been introduced to a whole new world of red wine choices.

I have to say that my most favorite variety is Pinot Noir. And, my most favorite brand that I've sampled thus far is Rex Goliath "The Rooster". Now, this is not an extravagent wine by any means (it runs about $9 a bottle), but it is quite tasty!

So, for all of you wine-drinkers out there... what is your favorite? I may need to give it a whirl, so I can continue my evolution in wine consumption!

Oh, and if you try out "The Rooster", let me know what you think of it!

Cheers!

Back to School...

Oh my, how can it possibly be "Back to School" time again... Didn't we just get out for summer vacation? For the past week, Mindy and I have been HARD at work preparing our classroom for this coming school year. Today, I am happy to report, we finally finished (for the most part). I think we've created a warm and friendly atmosphere, it's home to us for the next 10 months!

Here are a few shots of our new room...

So.... would you want to spend 2nd grade with us????

**** A few of you have asked how Mindy and I share a classroom - we co-teach or team-teach. Basically we have 2 classes of kids put into one classroom. So, for example, in the past we've had 36 kids (18 each) but we all reside in one room. Mindy and I teach everything together all day long. Usually one of us will lead a lesson and the other will walk around and help kids or pull a small group, etc. It works out really well for us and we absolutely love this style of teaching!

what a day...

So, today was my first *official* day back to school (pre-planning)... Of course I was excited and anxious and ready to get back into a routine... Just like any other year. Anyway, this morning I woke up early (too early if you ask me), did my hair all cute, put on make up and a fun outfit (complete with a fun new necklace from target). Then I ran downstairs to put on my sandals, grab a diet coke and be outside in time for Mindy to pick me up. Thankfully I was ready in time and we left for school.

Fast forward 2 hours... I've walked all over the place, said hello to everyone, chatted it up with collegues, etc. I'm standing with Mindy talking to a few other teachers and one of them mentions, "Kristi... do you know that you are wearing two different shoes?" I'm like "HUH???"... Of course I then looked down at my mis-matched sandals and realized how silly I looked. It wasn't long before the rest of the faculty knew too... as my assistant principal then called me up for the "best dressed award of the day"... so, yes, I started out the school year as the ditzy blonde girl who can't match her shoes...

Regardless, it's good to be back... now I just need to pay attention to my shoes, as much as I pay attention to my hair and accessories! :) Oh, what a way to start off the school year!

Luau Fun...

If you are looking for a recipe for fun all you need is about 15 friends, lots of sangria and yummy drinks, some fun tropical lei necklaces, and a place to party... Yesterday we had a Luau - themed housewarming party and it was a blast (if I do say so myself!)... My sister and her boyfriend came as well as some of our best friends that we've made while living down here in West Palm Beach. This was the perfect end to summer - relaxing with good friends, good drinks, and good laughs!

Here are a few of the photo highlights from the party!

YUM-O!

So last weekend I was flipping through my Rachel Ray Everyday magazine and I discovered a recipe for the most delicious salsa EVER! I just had to make it for my parents who were coming over for dinner on Saturday! It was a huge hit!














Here's the recipe for Roasted Tomato Corn Salsa (if you'd like to try it):

1. First, you have to roast the tomatoes....
16 ripe plum tomatoes
EVOO
minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
a sprinkle of thyme (or about a Tbsp fresh thyme)

- Cut tomatoes length wise, gently squeeze or scoop out the seeds. Put tomatoes skin side down in a baking dish. Drizzle the tops with EVOO, add some minced garlic (about 1 clove) and the thyme. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, turn up the temp to 400, bake 20 min more to let the tomatoes carmalize a bit, then turn the oven off and leave the tomatoes in for an additional 10 min. Take them out, let them cool, then chop them up!

2. Now, to make the salsa... you need:
2 ears corn
1 poblano pepper
the rest of the garlic
1 medium onion chopped
1/4 cup tightly packed cilantro
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
the juice of one lime
salt and pepper

-First, cut the pepper lengthwise, seed and stem it. Put the pepper skin side down in a skillet over med to med-high heat. Put the 2 ears of corn in the skillet too. Keep the pepper and corn on for about 10 min to brown the skin a bit and make the corn golden brown (you will have to turn it as you go).
- Cut the kernels off the cob, add to the tomatoes, discard the black portion of the pepper skin and chop the pepper and add it to the mixture.
- Chop the onion and cilantro - add the onion, garlic, cilantro, pepper, lime juice, and a dash of salt and pepper to the mixture.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try it - trust me, it's delish! It will keep for 4-5 days in your fridge!

A new venture...

So, I've decided to take a chance, and see if I can turn my photography interest into a new side business. This is something I really enjoy doing and right now I am just happy to do it and if I can make a little money to support my crafty habits, then I am thrilled. My potential clients are mainly children and families who want casual portraits. I want to shoot outside, in fun, natural settings. Who knows where this will take me, but for now I am having fun with it!

If you want to check out my new website - let me know what you think... it's not completely finished, I'm still working on a few aspects of it. **Thanks to Nicole, who helped me with the wording on a few of the pages** And mad props to my good friend Christy who made the site for me!

www.kmanganphoto.com

Making Progress...

So... we've been in the new place for a week and a few days... here's where we are at now:

We had to buy a new couch and chair since our old sectional didn't fit! So, we found this great leather couch and chair/ottoman from City Furniture. It's a distressed looking leather which I love - it kinda looks like a worn in leather jacket... and it's really comfy! So, I am happy we found something we liked that fits in the space!














Yesterday Pat and I hung all of these framed photos of our family in the living room. I love having them all in one place, although I want to add more frames and pictures eventually. I ordered all of the prints in black and white and found some wood frames at Target - I'm happy with how it turned out - we didn't have anything like this before!









We also found some patio furniture for our porch! We figured we needed to go ahead and find something since most places are getting rid of their patio furniture for back to school items - you'd think in Florida they would have patio sets year round, but unfortunately that's not how it is! So, we found this little table and 4 chairs at Lowe's... it fits nicely on the patio!














So, that is what we have accomplished so far - still lots to go... I need to hang shelves in the scrapbook room along with some framed pictures, etc. I also haven't done a thing yet in the guest bedroom or the bathrooms. Anyway, just wanted to update! I wish I had more exciting things to write about! :(

All moved in...

After a completely hectic weekend - we are officially moved in!!! Yay, we are now Jupiter residents! We still have a ton of stuff to do before this place is neat and organized, but hey, it's the summer - so I have nothing but time! We did have one unfortunate event with the move - our sectional doesn't fit in our living room - yikes! Soooo... we will be furniture shopping this week. Anyway, I'll have pics and more later on... just wanted to update everyone that we are finally moved in!

He's Kind of a Big Deal...

"Just so you know... I'm kind of a big deal"... haha! I just LOVE this t-shirt I bought for Pat with this classic line from the movie Anchorman... one of Pat's all-time favorite movies to quote lines from! I found this beauty online from SnorgTees - a pretty cool website! Well, I just had to order it for Pat because I knew he'd get a kick out of it! Like most guys, he loves quoting lines from movies with his brothers and other guy friends... so this is just the icing on the cake for him! Ha! Love it! And yes sweetheart.... you are kind of a big deal! :)

My Best Friend...

Have you ever met someone who you just instantly clicked with? Someone who you just knew you were meant to be friends with? Well, for me... that's Mindy. Without a doubt, I know that the reason we moved to West Palm Beach 2 years ago, was so I could meet Mindy and start my friendship with her. I can't believe I've only known her for 2 years, because it seems like I've known her forever!

Here's a few pics that my ultra-talented sister snapped of us this past weekend...

Scrapjazz Upload Day

Yay! It's the first of the month - you know that that means - upload day at Scrapjazz! Here are my layouts for July:











The thechnique was index prints - very fun! Our product was Sakura glue pens and foiling technique... if you look closely at the "she" and "turtle encounter" layouts, you can see shiny dots aroudn the circles and flowers that I added - it's a really cool technique, but it doesn't scan well.

If you haven't yet... get on over to Scrapjazz and check out the gallery - it's full of inspiration!

*moving*

We are officially on the move! I am so excited about our new townhouse in Jupiter. Not only is it totally cute with lots of space, but it's down the street and around the corner from my best friend!!!!! Could it get any better??? So, as we prepare for our move to Jupiter, FL... we are in box city! I have taken on the chore of packing all of the odds and ends around the house - not a fun job! I am almost done and once we close on Monday, we can start moving these boxes over to the new place! We won't officially be moved in until the middle of July though.



















One of the things I am most excited about is the fact that I will have my very own scrapspace! No longer will I be sharing my scrapspace with the guest room/office... I will have a room all to my own!!! (well, at least until a few kiddos come along)... but for now... it's all my own!!! That is the first room I plan on decorating. I've had fun looking at paint chips, and organization, etc. I love this Behr Website because allows you to play with different color combinations and it shows you them on the walls, etc. Right now I am thinking a periwinkle blueish/purpleish color for the walls - not too dark though, with white trim. It will be a change for me, but I think it will work! I also am thinking about these yummy crown-molding ledges from Pottery Barn in white! I think they would look cute in there!

So anyway, I'm off for more packing!! :)

Charlie!

Yay! We've adopted another kitty! Here is our new fur baby Charlie! He is super sweet, very playful and he LOVES to be around people!!! Emma and Connor are not super fond of him yet, but I have a feeling they will warm up to him eventually!

-Cruise Review-

Well, we had an amazing time our our trip! We got to see some of the Carribbean’s finest islands in all of their natural beauty! I am so glad we chose this itinerary because I absolutely LOVED all of the ports we visited!!! Here are a few highlights of our trip:

San Juan – We went to the fort – El Morro – before we boarded our ship. We walked around and admired the amazing views from the very top of the fort! We also walked around the old cobblestone streets of Old San Juan.



St. Thomas/St. John – We took a ferry over to St. John Island to go to Trunk Bay National Park. What a gorgeous, unspoiled paradise! We went snorkeling and hung out on the white sandy beaches! Later on that afternoon we took a cable car ride to the top of a peak in St. Thomas called “Paradise Point”. We saw a stunning view of the harbor below and enjoyed some tasty drinks in the bar at Paradise Point!



Dominica – They call this the Nature Island and it is!!! We hiked through the rainforests of Dominica to the Emerald Pool and Trafalgar Falls. This is such a lush, tropical environment filled with all kinds of interesting plants and gorgeous waterfalls! Pat jumped into the Emerald Pool and swam in the 60 degree water! This was a gorgeous island!!!



Barbados – Here we did an excursion that took us snorkeling with the sea turtles – how neat was that!!!!! We were swimming amongst these gorgeous, peaceful creatures. We were able to touch them and swim with them, it was incredible! I loved this!!!!



Aruba – This would have to be one of our favorite ports! Did you know that Aruba is a desert island??? It is! There are like cactus’ everywhere! We took a tour and saw almost all of this small island. Then we hung out at Carlos and Charlies in the afternoon before heading back to the ship!



All in all, we had a fabulous time!!!! I can’t wait to take another cruise!!!