July - December 2016

My poor blog has been so neglected this year. Vacation mode has settled in for this Winter Break, and I am going to attempt to catch up on everything  I haven't recorded since the Denver trip. My writing may suffer due to the amount I need to catch up on, so bear with me please. 

One of the reasons I haven't blogged was because the next item I had on my list to blog was the Cruise! 7 days at sea was quite the daunting task and I never felt motivated to sit down and blog it. Sad because I love my vacation blogs, and so much time has passed since I went on that vacation, but here it goes. 

7 Day Cruise to Key West, Florida, and the Bahamas

I went on this Cruise with my Mom, Gran, Aunt Dori, and cousins Abby and Becca. We had an awesome time! I ate and drank like I was on vacation, and that was definitely fun. My mom and Gran shared a Balcony room, while Dori, Becca, Abby and I had an ocean view room. While we were at Sea we hung out by the pool, on the dock, and again, ate/drank. The Escargot was the most surprising thing I loved. Seriously, it was delicious. D, A, B, and I got suckered into doing some spa treatments as we were pulling out of Galveston and to start our vacation right. I got a bamboo massage and spent way too much money. Other highlights at sea including a comedy show, dancing one of the nights away, and ordering my fishbowl drink on a day specifically for day drinking. 

Our first stop was Key West, Florida. Our excursion was a bike tour of the island. We saw the southernmost point of the US, and were sweating profusely. The humidity was insane. Seriously, everyone had pit stains, back sweat, and no one cared. I wanted to jump in the ocean for some relief, but my Gran wouldn't let me due the cases of bacterial infection that had made the news recently. After walking around miserable with the heat and humidity, we had lunch at this place called, "The Smokin' Tuna." That was a delicious tuna sandwich, and the only reason I would ever consider getting off a boat in Key West again. I don't know how people live there..  

After another day at Sea we stopped at Freeport, Bahamas. Our excursion for this one was a kayak and nature tour. It was definitely the highlight of the whole trip for me. Abby and I kayaked 2 miles in beautiful nature, while Dori and Becca were tethered to one of the guides :). Once the kayaking was over we walked a nature trail with our guide that lead to beach where we got to eat a light lunch and take advantage of the Bahama views. Mom and Gran did a boat tour that my mom was not a fan of. 

Next day was Nassau, Bahamas. the excursion was a segway tour, and that was okay. We had some of the local Bahama beer (I can't remember the name), and then went on our own adventure to another beach. When you are on a boat for 5 days, you have to make time for the beach. The water was so clear I felt like I was in a pool. Someone dropped their pony tail holder in the water and you could see it at the bottom. 

We had 2 more days at sea and were finally back in Texas. It was nice to be unplugged for a little while, but 7 days is a long time to be on a cruise. I would recommend 5 for my next one. It was also a very pricey vacation. You can go in with a budget, but you end up spending way more than you could have ever anticipated. 

Changing Classrooms and Subjects for the 2016-2017 School Year

I had a couple of days to rest after getting home from the cruise, but as soon as my Principal started her contract day, we had to get crackin' on the Pod switch. After moving into the new school last year, 4th/5th grade was in Pod 3 and K/1 was in Pod 1. Pod 3 was close to EVERYTHING. Gym, cafeteria, playground, music, art, etc. etc. It just made sense for the kids so we moved. The only thing that was tricky was the puzzle of moving desks and furniture, and having to coordinate with the teacher(s) you were moving with. For example, I was moving into one 1st grade teacher's room, but a different first grade teacher was moving into my old room. It was  a big domino effect. We worked together and pulled off the big move, and I was able to reconfigure a classroom for teaching Reading, Writing, and Social Studies. 

After teaching Math for 4 years, to 3 classes a day, and doing summer school for 4 years, I was ready for a change. I was super excited to take on the new subject areas and grow as an educator. So far it has been really fun. I miss the math at times, but it is fun to collaborate with my partner teachers. We added a teacher to our team so we have two 2-way switches. It has been hard on me not having all of the students in the grade level, but I have still gotten to know so many of them. When we moved classrooms, we inherited larger rooms. It's a good thing too because this year I have a class of 26 and my partner has a class of 27. Although that is a very high number of students to have, I am blessed to work at this school, and my students are very, very sweet. On top of teaching a new subject, the other challenge I took on was having a student teacher. It really kept me on my toes as far as having to explain the "why" behind certain techniques/philosophies, and letting someone come into my classroom and learn from me and my students. 

Jackson Ryan Bentley

Another reason I probably never blogged was because I have been busy spending time with my 2nd nephew! I got to see him come into the world, and it has been a joy watching him grow these past 4 months. He is so cute and it will be lots of fun having him and Carson play together. I can't wait to do all the fun Auntie things! 

Orange Theory Fitness

If you are friends with me on facebook, you see me "checking-in" on facebook a lot at Orange Theory. I moved to an unlimited membership, and I try to go as often as possible. I'm obsessed and love the work-out it provides. I have taken a big step away from running outdoors, but have challenged my speed and strength with the treadmill and weights. In the whole year of 2016, I burned 57,000 calories in Orange Theory Classes. 

Washington D.C. with my Dad

I had my 3rd visit to D.C., but this trip was special because it was planned with my Dad in mind. He had never been before, and is a such a history/presidents buff. It was really neat to see his reactions to certain monuments and museums. A lot of the things we did I had seen before, but there were some new things for me that we sprinkled in there. We hit pretty much everything on our list: The Capitol, The White House (toured the inside), The Supreme Court, multiple smithsonian museums, monuments, etc. Lots of walking and taking the metro. We stayed at the St. Regis Hotel which was 2 blocks from the white house. It was really cool to walk outside and see it every morning. 

2016 Re-Cap

A lot of people keep saying that 2016 has been the worst year ever. There were definitely some positive things that came from 2016, as well as some negative things. Obviously, I think Trump being elected as our president was the worst thing to happen in 2016. I'm still shocked. I will be very upset on Inauguration day, but will endure the next four years of him as best I can. The second worst thing to happen in 2016 was my best friend moving to Denver. It is hard not being able to just hang-out, have dinner or work out with her anymore, but I am hopeful to get some plane tickets out there soon. 

The end of the year always calls for some deep reflection. I have some goals and adventures that I want to stick to this year, and I am anxious to see what 2017 will bring. 

Denver, CO

I don't think I've ever gone 3 months without blogging. Just goes to show how crazy life was after Spring Break. I had a great end-of-the-year with an awesome group of students, wrapped up the principal's internship, taught summer school, and my BFF Rachel moved in with me few weeks. 

While on the San Antonio trip, Rachel's husband John broke the news that he had applied for a job in Denver, CO. They broke it easy to me and said that he had a 75% chance of getting it and even if he got it they would have to weigh the pros and cons. a few weeks later when I was on my way to Seattle they called and told me he got the job. After exploring the city they decided to take the plunge and make the move. Rachel is a teacher and needed to finish out the year, and since they had to rent out their house, she got to come and move in with me for a few weeks! Although I was super upset to be losing another friend to a new city, we had some fun adventures in those few weeks, and I got a trip to Denver in the end!

Rachel had made the Denver Road trip in May to take her dogs out there. She said that after splitting the trip into 2 days, she thought the 750 mile drive could be done in one day. I was all for powering through and driving in shifts if needed. We got everything packed and together the night before, woke up at 5am and were pulling out of the gate at 5:28am! Other than a traffic slow-down in Denton, TX (of course), we made really good time all the way to Amarillo. We got to some construction stuff closer to the Texas/New Mexico border, and then had awful traffic once we got closer to Colorado. The trip ended up taking us 13.5 hours. 

We didn't have too many set plans for the following days. We took a full day recuperating from the road trip and just hanging out. Rachel and John's new neighborhood is in a really cute part of town where you can walk to shops and restaurants. It's called "the highlands," and the next day was a street fair. It was fun checking out the different crowd Denver has to offer, and we bought some cool stuff! 

The hi-light of the trip was White Water Rafting! It was so much fun! I was super nervous about it at first but am always up for an adventure! I would definitely do it again! Since we had made the drive out to Idaho springs, we drove an extra hour toward Vail to check out that cute little town. I have never been skiing and wonder if I could ever even stomach the cash to make that kind of an adventure happen. Skiing is expensive! 

John had to go back to work so Rachel and I had a few days to sleep in and just hang out. Our friend Heather came out on my last day in town and we had a yummy brunch at Denver Biscuit Company, explored downtown Denver, and then a fabulous dinner at Linger. We love food so that was a solid day. 

The next morning I had to say good-bye and catch my $35, non-stop flight back to Dallas. (Seriously still can't believe we got that deal). There were tears but I hope that Rachel and John make awesome memories in beautiful Colorado, and I will try and find more cheap flights to go out and visit them! 

Spring Break in Seattle/Vancouver

So as soon as I got off the plane from New Orleans, 4 days later I was departing for Seattle. I had to travel for 7 hours, getting in to Seattle around 11pm the first night, which felt like 1 am to me. Cynde was able to pick me up from the airport which eliminated a lot of stress of finding the train or getting an uber when I was unsure of where I was going. The first night was dedicated to a little bit of catching up, ewing and ahing at Cynde/Jake’s apartment, and setting up my space and the air mattress.

Saturday, March 5^th: Day 1

It was a beautiful first day waking up in Seattle! We slept in a little bit but got going at a decent hour. We went to a fancy schmancy Amazon building so the dogs could get in some dog park action… yes… in the Amazon building. Nice views from that dog park, and amazon is a legit company to work for. Brunch and drinks happened at the Local eatery. And then we went on a troll to check out South Lake Union. More drinks followed and we started to plan our evening and day trip to Canada.

That afternoon we packed up a bag of items to go to Bellingham, WA to stay the night at Cynde’s aunt’s house. Bellingham is about 30 minutes from the border, and broke up the drive to Canada. On our way we stopped at  a Lulu Lemon outlet where I spent some $$ on leggings and a new coat. Once in Bellingham, yummy Italian food happened and I passed out pretty quickly due to the busy day.

Sunday, March 6^th: Oh, Canada!!

We woke up pretty early to hit the road. This was my first time ever out of the country! I was so excited to put my new passport to use! The scenery in Canada was BEAUTFIUL. Once we got to Grouse Mountain, we realized that it was a popular ski destination, and we were not the most prepared. We checked in for our ziplining reservation, and they told us to check back 30 minutes before to see if they would have 5 lines open, 3 lines, or would have cancel and refund us. As we waited we checked out the cabin situation, explored a little bit, and had a drink. 3 lines were open on the snowy day and we were grateful that it wasn’t going to be a total loss. T

Ziplining was so fun and absolutely beautiful! We were dressed in workout gear and whatever coats we had. Thank goodness I purchased a coat from lulu lemon for this! My peacoat would have been a horrible coat to zipline in. (I don’t do winter very well) We had to walk back up the snowy mountain in our tennis shoes, while hanging on to our zipline gear. It was quite the trek.

After ziplining we headed to Granville Island where we had delicious cocktails at Liberty distillery. We then headed to the market there and indulged in some shopping, a little clam chowder pot pie, and took in the scenery. We hit the road to go back home to Seattle and got in pretty late that night. Another easy night to fall asleep after the crazy day.

Monday, March 7^th: Back to Seattle

Cynde took off on Monday to spend the day with me and show me around her new city. We had brunch, walked down to Puget sound and took in the Sculpture garden. We rode on the Great Wheel and took in more city views and views of the water. We explored Pike’s Place Market, saw the original starbucks, and did more shopping! I checked the gum wall off my list, as well as seeing the guys throw fish! So much walking ensued on this day! We had enough time to check out Kerry Park where the skyline view is BREATHTAKING. Jake got off work and we had dinner at Duke’s. More delicious clam chowder!

Tuesday, March 8^th:

Cynde had to go back to work, so I was on my own. I was able to get an Orange Theory work-out in at 8 am, and went back to shower and dress for the day. I purchased a City Pass which got me into 5 city attractions at a significantly lower price than paying for each event separately. On this day I went to the Chihuly Gardens, went to the top of Space Needle, and went to EPM. Chihuly was amazing, the Space needle was cool too, but I was pretty underwhelmed at the EPM. That whole day was a lot of walking and reading. Plus I was sore from working out in the morning.

We had a girls’ night in with some of Cynde’s friends and I drank way too much wine. #vacation

Wednesday, March 9^th:

I skipped out on working out on this day. I figured one day of working out on vacation was enough. I slept in and finished off my City Pass. I had a cruise tour situation, and a visit to the aquarium. Both were just alright and helped me kill some time. On the cruise the tour guide told me that there is a Chinese room in Smith Tower that has a special chair. The chair was given to the chinese room by a China empress and legend has it that whenever a woman sits in the chair, she’ll be married within the year. I was like, “omg… I have to go sit in this chair!” It was really rainy, so I took an uber to this building, just to find out that the Chinese room is closed until July! WHAT?! No chinese legend marriage for me I guess. (this gives me another excuse to visit in the summer).

For dinner that night we went to Paseo’s. A place I had seen on the Travel Channel as a great place to eat and it was. I am sad that I could only eat half of my sandwich and never finished the other half.

Cynde, Jake, and I chilled on my last night in. The night before of too much wine was fresh on my mind. We watched the Democratic debate and looked at our Vancouver pictures and GoPro footage of ziplining.

Thursday, March 10^th: The final day

Woke up at a decent hour to pack and get my last adventures checked off the list. I went back to the original starbucks when there was ZERO line and got some cool mugs. I had a yummo breakfast in Lowell’s in Pike’s Place on the top floor where I could over look the water. I did some more shopping in the market (like I needed it). I then started my trek to ANOTHER Starbucks. The Starbucks Reserve and Roastery. This place was SO COOL. I had heard that Seattle was full of Starbucks, but you don’t realize that there is literally one on every corner until you get there. I am pretty sure I passed 3 starbucks while in the airport going to my gate…

I went to see Cynde’s work and sit with her while she ate lunch until it was time for me to make my way to the airport. I am typing this as I sit on the plane headed back to Dallas. It was a delayed flight, but I am grateful to have a direct flight! It was such a great trip, but I am looking forward to getting home and back into routine! The countdown to summer begins!  

New Orleans Marathon Weekend

I’m typing this blog from a plane on my way to Seattle. I figured I better blog the Marathon trip before this one!

Kelly and I really did a crash course in Marathon training starting in December. We increased our mileage every week and went to Orange Theory Fitness twice a week. Our last long run before the marathon was the Saturday before, and we ran 20 miles. Kelly and I were able to do the 20 miles under 4 hours and felt really good about the progress we had made.

I was a little nervous about going straight from 20 miles one weekend to 26.2 miles the next weekend without a taper weekend in between, but I was glad we were able to train up to 20 miles.

Kelly and I caught an early flight on Saturday morning to New Orleans. It was a quick 55 minutes, which I definitely appreciated after experiencing the 10 hour drive 2 summers ago. Once we landed my mom and Aunt Joanne were ready to pick us up and take us to the Expo. We picked up our bibs, bought some merchandise, and walked around the expo.

It was still too early to check-in to our hotel, but we dropped our bags off and were starving. Our first NOLA meal was at Mother’s. Kelly and I shared the Famous Ferdi Po’boy, the Famous Ham dinner with Red beans and rice, potato salad, and French fries. And then Kelly proceeded to order Bread pudding (the best she’s ever had). This meal was AMAZING. To kill more time, we walked around the French Market and Bourbon Street.

We stayed at The Blake hotel, which was right outside the start line of the Marathon. Definitely worth paying for the convenience of that. We spent some time unpacking our race gear and made sure we didn’t forget anything. Watched a few Family Feud episodes while making plans for our time after marathon. We had 7:45pm Dinner reservations and an Italian place called Domenica. Carb-loaded on some pizza, pasta, bread and salad. We also downed a LOT of water during this time. We went to sleep nervous about the next morning!

Marathon time!

Kelly and I woke up around 5:30am to have a light breakfast and start drinking water. We had plenty of time, yet I still felt like I was getting ready up until the last minute. We walked out to our start corral and even though it was 45 degrees outside, it felt like 65 with the sun shining, and we hadn’t even started running! Since we were in Corral 16, it took about 45 minutes for us to finally START the marathon.

The first 10 miles were great. It was a big down and back through the Garden District. There were a LOT of runners at this event (23,000). Lots were walking and it was slowing us down at the beginning. I really started to feel the effects of the sun beating down on me around mile 4 and knew that was a really bad sign considering I still had 22 miles to go.

We were running downtown and I was feeling really good. We were still surrounded by lots of runners and kept our normal training pace. By the time we were approaching 12 miles, the sun was shining bright, we were no longer in the shade of the Garden District or downtown. I was starting to get really jealous of the half-marathoners that were splitting off to the finish line, and we still had 13 more to go!

Once the half-marathoners split off, there was significantly less runners. The rest of the course was a series of down-and-backs through New Orleans City Park. This was not a scenic part of the course… I was dying at mile 13 and started to walk a little bit. Definitely not something that ever happened in training, but the sun was KILLING me. Kelly and I walked/ran until mile 19 when we saw my mom and Joanne with oranges and water. I gave her permission to go on without me since I was slowing her down. At that point I didn’t care about the time and just wanted to finish it. I was really upset that I hit the wall so early, and I blame it on the dang sun! You should see the peeling action that is happening on my back right now.

I played a game with the sun and would run when it was behind a cloud, and would walk when it was beating down on me. I ended up finishing in 5 hours and 43 minutes. My first marathon was 4 hours 56 minutes, but I did a significant amount of walking towards the end.

Like I mentioned earlier, I got a gnarly sunburn on my back, a blister the size of another toe in between my big toe and “pointer toe” on my left foot, and I am pretty sure that I am going to lose my big toe nail on my right foot. What’ weird is that my knees and muscles were really aching this time around, but my toes/feet have been killer these past few days.

We got an awesome medal that had Jackson square Cathedral on it and mardi gras beads instead of a ribbon. We also got to take advantage of marathon finisher jacket. Awesome items for the cheap price we paid to run the marathon ($50).

We ate a tasty brunch at the Ruby Slipper. Cheesecake stuffed French Toast and some brisket eggs benedict situation. Kelly was always on board for sharing our food every meal.

The shower afterwards was heavenly, and Kelly pretty much fell asleep immediately. Our plan was to take a nap, and then hobble to bourbon for a Hurricane. I couldn’t sleep for whatever reason, so when she woke up I told her I was ready to rally whenever needed. While she was on the phone, I passed out, and then she did too! We woke up at 1:30 am and realized our Bourbon plan was shot. It was alright though, because we got to sleep more, and wake up early the next morning for a full day.

On Monday we woke up pretty early and packed our things so we could enjoy the city. We had already seen so much of it during the run, but were ready to take advantage of some touristy New Orleans things. Started the day eating beignets at Café du Monde, and then snagged an uber to our Ultimate Swamp Tour adventure. We had a 9:45am appointment, and this was supposed to take up about 2 hours of the day. Also it was important for us to find things that didn’t require a lot of walking. The swamp tour was so fun! We learned a lot, saw some wildlife, and got to hold an alligator! I would definitely recommend doing one if you’re looking for things to do during the day in NOLA.  No ubers were available in the area we were in , but luckily they provided a shuttle bus for $7.50 a person back to the city! SCORE.

We went to Pat O’Briens for the Hurricane and lunch. I had the best shrimp and grits EVER, with friend oysters as an appetizer. That Hurricane was delicious. I can’t believe I never had one when we came a few summers ago! We walked around bourbon some more, had some hand grenades, and people watched. The other things on our list to do closed at 3, so we got our palms read and made our way to the airport a little early. Even our Airport dinner was delicious. We got back to Dallas around 10pm. Definitely a fun trip!

San Antonio Get-Away

This weekend I went to San Antonio with some friends. Rachel was down there TMEA, and she extended her stay so that we could make a girls' trip out of it. 

We were a party of 5 this go around. Rachel drove her car to San Antonio on Wednesday, and on Friday night, Melissa, Anna, and I caught the Megabus, while Heather caught a one-way flight from Love Field to San Antonio. 

Megabus experience - it wasn't bad! We paid a little extra to leave on Friday, and to have reserved seats at a table. We had our friend Jose drop us off at the stop, we ate Jimmy Johns for dinner on the bus, and played skip bo. We got into San Antonio around 11:15 pm, and were a 0.3 mile walk from our hotel. 

For this trip we stayed at the beautiful and historic St. Anthony. The lobby was amazing, the room was super nice. Since we had all been to San Antonio before, this trip wasn't filled with constant activity and sights to see. It was nice to enjoy the hotel and room for a change. 

Although we got in very late Friday night, we had to make the most of our trip, and went out for a drink at Esquire Tavern. We got in for the night at 2:45am and were spent. We slept in until 9 am, and started to get ready for our 11am brunch reservations. The rest of the trip is basically a food tour. 

Brunch at the Southerleigh in the Pearl District was incredible. That whole are was stunning. I definitely need to go back there for a dinner one night. My favorite part of walking around this beautiful area was Hotel Emma. I HAVE to stay there at some point. So gorgeous! Our Brunch consisted of everyone eating off of each other's plates, and drinking mimosas, and ordering extra sides to share. It was for two meals so that's okay, right?! We capped off this adventure with ice cream from Lick. YUM. I had the Goat Cheese, Honey, & Thyme and Texas Sheet Cake. I may have to splurge on some pints from Whole Foods some day. 

We headed back to the hotel for some lounging around by the rooftop pool.. Yes in FEBRUARY. The weather was insanely gorgeous. We didn't have swimsuits but went out in work out attire. Before we hit the pool, we wanted to have a cocktail in hand. At the bar 2 very attractive men walked in, and then Rachel realized one of them was Tyrese Gibson. I'm sure you are unaware of who he is (I was) but Rachel freaked out about it. She told him he was handsome.. and we walked away. Don't worry... He's performing at the Grammys so you can look for him on TV tomorrow. 

After some cocktails by the pool we took our sweet time getting ready for dinner reservations. total girl time with Anna curling hair and Rachel doing make-up. We walked to the Grand Hyatt for a drink at the bar, and then to Dinner at Acenar. We filled up on chips/Queso/Salsa/Guac and an appetizer and could barely eat what we ordered. It was all too delicious. Capped off the night with some drinks at Swig. 

On Sunday we woke up around 8ish, showered and had some coffee on the balcony. We went to a place for breakfast that I had seen on the Travel Channel. Lulu's Bakery and Cafe is a little hole in the wall that was Rated #9 of Travel Channel's "101 Best Places to Chow Down" We ordered the famous 3 lb Cinnamon Roll to share, and a 16 oz Chicken Fried Steak. This was a delicious combo. We didn't even come close to finishing the cinnamon roll... but you better believe I brought the left overs home. We finished up our time in San Antonio walking around the shops in MarketPlace. 

We all rode back in Rachel's Car for a very eventful ride. We of course had to stop at the Czech stop for bakery goods... adding to the insane amount of calories I consumed this weekend. 

Love a good time with friends! and of course, good food! 

Things are getting crazzzyyyyyy

I figured I could get a quick blog in before things got REALLY crazy. My next 4-5 weekends are jam packed with activity, and the weekdays seem to be going that way as well.

In my 2016 New Year blog I mentioned that I needed get my act together for Marathon training and my friend Kelly and I have pretty much done a marathon training crash course. The first 4 weekends of the year we ran 10 miles, 13 miles, 15 miles, and 16 miles. Last weekend was supposed to be 9 miles, but I chose to enjoy snuggles with my nephew, and Kelly went on a trip to Nicaragua.

Tomorrow we will be running 18 miles, next weekend I will be in San Antonio (not running), the following weekend we will attempt 20 miles, and the weekend after that is the full marathon in New Orleans! Ready or not here we come! 

On weekdays I have been staying later after school helping out and doing anything I can to get some internship hours in. I'm even taking a few personal days this month to shadow my principal for a full day and assist our testing coordinator as we gear up for the STAAR tests. I finished my first month of Orange Theory Fitness and am loving it! I go twice a week, usually Tuesday and Thursday, and I think those weekday work outs have been the key to successful long runs on the weekends. It really helps me to have a workout scheduled on my calendar, and if I don't go I am essentially losing money. This past Thursday I wasn't feeling it at all, but I had to go! You never regret it once you're there. When Marathon training is over with, I am very interested in bumping up to an unlimited membership, and attending classes 4-5 times a week. 

It's go go go from now until my marathon in 3 weeks. I fly back from New Orleans on Monday night and then that Friday night I go back to the airport to fly to Seattle for 6 days! Part of the Seattle trip was to check out Vancouver and zipline Grouse Mountain. I have been putting off getting a passport for MONTHS. I actually had an appointment to get it over the summer, but I had to go to a training for school and canceled it! So grateful my mom helped me get the correct birth certificate and figured out that I could walk-in to this place in Carrollton, pay a bunch of money and get it expedited. Fingers crossed it comes in soon so I can stop stressing about it! 

The crazy months ahead will fly by, and I'm sad I won't get to see Carson! I was really happy to go up and visit him over MLK Jr. weekend. We took some cute selfies. Love that little guy!!!

Carson Scott Conn

Happy New Year!

It's time for that yearly update! I always enjoy reviewing the year before and looking forward to they year ahead. I have to say I slacked a bit on the blogging in 2015, but it's probably just because I was too busy getting things done and living life when I could! I was able to stick to one blog a month for the most part, but skipped out on December.

You can read my first post of 2015 here

I really love thinking back on writing that post last year, and realizing what all happened. I had lots of goals and plans last year, and even some fun surprises popped up! 

The two biggest changes/accomplishments have been: 

1. Moving from Christie Elementary and opening Norris Elementary 

2. Completing my Masters degree in Educational Leadership

Bonus item (that I can't take credit for): The addition to our family! Carson Scott Conn. I can not get enough of being his auntie! 

One of my resolutions last year was to try and do something fun every month. Here is the final count of traveling I did: 

January - Austin, TX

February - New York City 

March - Las Vegas 

April - San Francisco

May - Washington D.C. 

June - taught summer school :(

July - Memphis, TN

August - Las Vegas (again)

September/October - craziness of school starting

November - Boston, MA

December - Owasso, OK to meet the baby nephew! 

The running even list includes: 

- 3M Half-Marathon in Austin, TX (January)

- Hot Chocolate 15K (February)

- Dallas Rock-and-Roll Half-Marathon (March)

[Big hiatus from Running during the summer months and beginning of school]

-Turkey Trot 5K (November)

- Dallas Half-Marathon  (December) 

And of course, my focuses for 2016: 

1. Health (is this ever not my number 1?) 

It's clear that I had a LOT of fun in 2015, with a trip practically every month, took a big break from running/fitness in general, and the stress of opening a new school and finishing grad school lead me to drive through the fast food lane a LOT and to have wayyy too many dinners and drinks out with friends. I have a full marathon to do in February, so I have 2 months to seriously get my act together, when I should have HAD it together this whole time. I have an Orange Theory Fitness membership now and am hopeful to burn some major calories and build strength during the week, while getting those long runs in on the weekends. I also need to recommit to cooking at home, not going out so much, and making sure I get all my veggies in. 

2. Principal's Certification  

I am finished with grad school, but I have one more "class" to complete in order to qualify to take the Principal's Certification test. I'm an administrative intern for my Principal during the Spring Semester, and have to get 160 hours of "interning" in. I'll learn more details at my meeting later this month, but it doesn't seem to be slowing down any. Luckily, teaching math only had been a major blessing, and I have been able to focus on teaching as well as my studies and the logistics of opening a school. 

3. Continue with the Fun/Travels! 

Of course I have a few things lined up already! Luckily some of them were lined up a while ago, and I have already paid for the flights and even the hotel for one! Starting my year off right with a trip to Owasso to snuggle the nephew, February I'll be taking my first MegaBus Adventure, AND traveling to New Orleans for the Marathon (yikes), Spring Break will be a nice long vacay to Seattle, WA and Vancouver, CA, and this summer I'm going on my first ever Cruise to the Bahamas! The cruise is a little pricier than my usual trip, so I'll definitely be living that up. Depending on if we use our bad weather days, I may want to plan something for the 4 day memorial day weekend that also includes my birthday. 

I am looking forward to this new year, and can't wait to see what surprises are in store!