Time to say goodbye

Well today is the day that we leave Florida. As sad as I am to leave I am also looking forward to getting back to Maryland and wrapping up the school year. We have so many fun things planned for the kids that I am excited about. It's been a good year and I feel like I have grown as a person and as a teacher because of it. Before I left Florida I had to get a picture of my beautiful matron of honor bouquet. Jaime's bouquet was white Calla lilies, the bridesmaids bouquets were purple Calla lilies, and mine was a mix of both..it was stunningly beautiful!

Paradise

The exhaustion from the fun filled wedding weekend finally wore off around 3:00 so we went for a boat ride. I miss boating, beaching it, and swimming and so much now that I am away for it. As we were on the boat on this beautiful day we saw a whole family of dolphins, seeing them never gets old. I had so much fun with my family on the boat. It's times like these that I miss the most.....I miss being surrounded by wonderful family and amazing friends..maybe one day I can have that again. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Here comes the bride

Today is a very special day. A day that one of my best friend's marries the love of her life. I am so honored to be standing by her side as her matron of honor. A few excerpts from my speech...

Separately, you are two special, remarkable people, but together you are complete. As you sit side by side through this roller coaster of life, remember to scream from the peaks, hold hands through the dips, laugh through the loop the loops, and enjoy every twist and turn. My greatest wish for the two of you is that through the years, your love for each other will deepen and grow.

Please raise your glasses while I toast my best friend and her spectacular husband:
Take each day and cherish your time together. Love one another and stand together. Take time to talk to one another. Put your love and your family first; your job and your hobbies second. May your love be like the wind, strong enough to move the clouds, soft enough to never hurt, but always never ending. So here's to love, laughter, and happily ever after. Cheers!


Although I didn't take a single picture at the wedding...I wanted to so badly but I just knew the day would be too crazy to worry about babysitting my camera all day so I wasn't able to....my husband got a few and I will be posting those once I get his camera and upload them.

It was an amazingly beautiful and perfect day.

I couldn't be happier for both Jaime and Matt. This picture was taken by me at her first dress fitting. I am in the background in my teal bridesmaid dress and her mom was in the corner..two of Jaime's biggest fans!

Toes!

In preparation for Jaime's wedding Jaime, Lauren, Joann, and myself went to get our nails done. I chose hot-alicious OPI pink for my piggies :) We had so much fun...love my girly days!

Sunday Funday?? Not today! :)

Today was a crazy day but we got so much done. We are leaving Thursday night for Jaime's wedding so we needed to run a bunch of errands and clean the house. I have such a hard time keeping the house cleaned...I am always so mad at myself for letting it get so messy and then I am always kicking myself on Sunday for it. I have so much respect for my mom who kept the house spotless, even with two kids running around. I keep telling Matt that if I keep working when I have kids we are going to have to consider getting a housekeeper because I can't even keep up with cleaning up after the two of us..let alone any additions to our family. Today we went to Jos. A. Bank to get Matt some suits (he really cleans up well) and then went to PetCo to get Abby some special treats. They have this great cookie bar/bakery where you can choose which treats you want and you can make your own baggie filled with them. Matt picked out the letter shaped treats and spelled out, Abby! She is so spoiled and loved :). Then we headed to Trader Joe's..it was crazy there, as usual. I am finally done cleaning the downstairs..now I have to tackle the upstairs but I figured I deserved a break. I think the break is now over...tata for now :)

Friday Night Fun

My rough Friday turned into a great night thanks to some amazing friends. I wasn't exactly in the mood to go out and be social but that ended up being exactly what I needed. I forgot my camera as I was running out the door which I am really bummed about because I could have gotten a few shots of the gang and our wonderful Swirlie Drinks *frozen margarita swirled with frozen sangria*. 8 of us went to Uncle Julio's and had great mexican food and even greater drinks! I had to borrow a picture off of Google images for this blog! Then we went to this weird bar where the band was just terrible...nonetheless, it ended up being a really fun night with great friends and my wonderful husband. Laughter really is the best medicine!!!

End of the year craziness

I wish I had a picture to capture my day...but I don't. The end of the school year is approaching and the 5th graders are starting to get a bit crazy, they are ready to move on to middle school...for sure.

On that note my picture today will be something that has nothing to do with work... but all to do with family...one of my most favorite things in life!

Although I didn't take this picture...and I am too exhausted to pick up my camera...I just love this shot. This is a shot of my family plus my cousin Derek and my Uncle Keith. It was so nice to catch up with everyone and enjoy ice cold margaritas on the Potomac River. I look forward to doing something like this again in the near future...maybe next year..you guys game???

Kids at Work

Missing you...

I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes

Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. ~Charles M. Schulz


 
Two great quotes from two great comics! I miss my friends and family SOOOO much I could cry....what I do have is the many great memories that we have in my heart and some great photos to prove it. Love and miss you all.
 

Dog Lover!

Treat a dog like a dog and that's exactly what you'll get. Treat a dog as part of the family and you'll get a friend for life!

Carnival Fun!

Great day at the Carnival today. When I got done working my booth, the Moon Bounce, I had a chance to get a few pictures of the kids running around. You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for this wonderful event. The kids all seemed to have such a blast. It's so much fun seeing them in their element..running around and being children...we don't get to see that enough in the classroom with everything we have to get done!

Hustle and Bustle

I really enjoy this picture because I really think it captures the hustle and bustle of living in "the big city" of DC! If you look at each person closely you can see a million different things going on. You have to stop and wonder, what is it that they are thinking about? When I walk on M Street my thoughts are always the same...shopping, cupcakes, and "watch out!"....people and cars are everywhere!!!!!!!

Fire!

I thought this picture was appropriate today for a variety of reasons. First of all, it is a really cool firetruck...the biggest one I've ever seen. I also think it's perfect because I worked out with a trainer today at Washington Sports Club and he literally killed me....I can't move at all...so I might be calling 911 later ;) and maybe this cool firetruck will show up to save me? HAHA..

M Street

Georgetown is just beautiful. I love walking around M Street and catching pictures of the many beautiful buildings!

cupcakes!

As I have said before....cupcakes are very trendy here in DC. While all of the visitors were in town we had to hit up Baked and Wired....it was absolutely delicious, as always!

DC reunion

I spent the weekend with my wonderful family. People traveled from all over New York, Minnesota, Florida, and Nigeria for my cousin's graduation. We had a blast making some great memories. We spent the weekend walking around DC and eating way too much food. I am so glad that everyone was able to come and I hope that everyone had as much fun as I did. A special thanks goes out to my Aunt and Uncle for hosting everything...they're the best! These are pictures from the gigantic adirondack chair in Georgetown!

Day 35

This past weekend I spent in Atlantic City for Jaime's Bachelorette Party. We had a blast and we stayed at the Borgata, which was just beautiful.