Where I Need To Be

I saw this on pinterest recently and repinned it. I thought "this is so true about my job."

api.ning.com via meredith on pinterest

Yeah, I'm right where God wants me.

This school year has been really different than last year, and it's going to continue to change. Starting this week I won't be working in the same classroom I've been in for the past year and a half. A student moved to another county and I had to say goodbye on Friday, so this classroom doesn't need me anymore. I'm glad I already know all the students I'll be working with and I can say I am already very fond of them.  I've been in and out of their classrooms throughout this year and while I'll miss my current students I am excited to work with these new ones. Thursday was the perfect example. I was walking in the hall and I saw a student from one of the classes I've been helping. He gave me the biggest hug, which is funny cause I really haven't worked with him that much. I was on my way to the pre-K special ed class and when I walked in a little girl says "Hi Mrs. Jenny I've missed you!" Ahhh, it was great. I really was having a hard time with the transition of moving out of my current classroom. But like that quote says, I've ended up where I need to be. I know it's true of the children I'll be working with for the rest of this school year as well as why I'm in special ed and not art.

I wish I knew all the answers, but I see how God is guiding me and showing me piece by piece. In some sense I haven't gone where I intended to go (teaching art) but I have ended up where I needed to be (special ed).

Betty White and Betty White

So a reader/friend of mine recently told me that I should write a post about why I love Betty White, the actress, as well as more about Betty White, my cat. (She also gave me some other ideas but these two were my faves.) So here I go...........

My love for Betty White began when I started to love The Golden Girls. I was in college (I know, I was so cool right?) But it was when I was really struggling with anxiety, and the humor of this show somehow helped me through that tough time.

I have always loved how much advocacy work Betty White does for animals. So when we got married and knew we wanted to get a kitten we were thinking of names. Clarke jokingly said "if we named her Betty she would be Betty White!" Although it was kinda silly I liked this idea because of all the volunteer work Betty White has done for animals, it seemed fit to name ours after her.

I love my Betty! Since it has gotten colder at nights she has been sleeping with us. Not at our feet, but right by my head. I don't know why she loves that spot, but she does.

I don't really have anything new to write about her. In March she will be three years old! I can't believe we have had her that long! (It will be 3 years in July.) She has defenitley become apart of our little family, and I can't imagine not having her!

ski weekend

This past weekend we went to West Virginia for a ski retreat with the young adults ministry of our church. Overall we had a great time!

We went snow tubing Saturday morning, then skied the rest of the day. We got so lucky because it was suppose to rain all day Saturday, but it didn't. It was super foggy, which wasn't ideal but we were just so happy it didn't rain! I also think this is the first time I went skiing and didn't "wipe out". I was tempted to try a black diamond because a lot of the blues seemed easy, but I didn't.

Sunday morning we had worship together and continued the series we've been talking about at our weekly bible studies. It was really great, and really spoke to things that I've been experiencing lately. It was just one of those times when you really feel God speaking to you. I came back so refreshed spiritually.

I know I have said this before but I am so thankful for the friendships I've made through my church. Love my church family!

respect the distance

When I started marathon training every new distance was a huge deal. Even just one more mile called for a celebration. Then somewhere along the way the shorter distances started to not be a big deal, especially if they were under 12 miles. Ya know, a little 8 mile run in the middle of the week, no big deal. I started to crave distance.

After the marathon I knew my body needed a break. I still ran, but def. not at the same distances I was before. But I still thought a 10k was no big deal, until the Turkey Trot. That's when I started to really understand what GBA means when she says "respect the distance". I ran way too much in the days before this race, didn't carb up, and it wasn't a good race for me.

The more I run the more I learn about respecting the distance. At the marathon expo I signed up for The Rock N' Roll Half Marathon in D.C. I thought the 13.1 distance race would be enough to keep me motivated to run but would be a nice break as well. I also thought I needed a time goal as well.

So as I train for this race and The Monument Avenue 10k with PRs in mind I understand even more about respecting the distance. For example I ran 3.1 miles in 29 minutes 17 seconds the other day, which is a great time for me. Honest confession: I was sore the next day! What? After only 3 miles? I ran fast for me, and even though it was only 3 miles my body still needed to ajust.

I am learning about respecting the distance. From a 5k to marathon, each distance has it's own challenges. The shorter the distance the faster I want to go. At a longer distance I can get into my grove of what's comfortable to me and just go. (I hope someday I can start to shave minutes off my marathon time, but for my first that is where I was.)

I am learning that a fast 3 miles can feel like a slow 10 afterwards. Who knew? Mostly I am happy that my training hasn't stopped post marathon. I'm so excited about this half in D.C. and the Monument Avenue 10k, both races where I will be respecting the distance from now on.  

Holiday Outtakes

Since I have nothing to blog about and my mother-in-law recently gave me some pictures from the holidays I thought I would post!

Me and mom on Thanksgiving.

Me and Clarke on Thanksgiving.

Last one of Thanksgiving. Me and Melanie!

Showing off the pumpkin pie I made on Christmas eve.

Girls on New Years! This one is from a friend, not my mother-in-law.

The holidays always go by so fast, thankful for good pictures to remember them by!

How Pinteresting

Today I am linking up over at The Vintage Apple for Pinterest Wednesdays! Oh, how I love Pinterest...maybe too much? But I digress............

Right now I am loving these pins.............

Love this redo of the keep calm posters.

uploaded by user via katherine on pinterest

Always love a good cat picture!

we heart it via madline on pinterest

I know Easter is still far away, but isn't this a cute/cheap idea?

MixMingleGlow via Briana on pinterest

I have loved Tim Tebow since he played for Florida. Always will!!

gq via southernmommas on pinterest

This is sooooo true!

uploaded by user via megan on pinterest

What are you loving on Pinterest? Join The Vintage Apple!

Bathroom Redo: Part 3

After we installed the vanity all we had left to do was put up our new shower curtain rod, hang up some stuff and put everything back in place. (We finished painting after we took out the old vanity.) Here's the after picture:

We got the picture of the Guggenheim Museum when we went to New York City back in 2007, and I never framed it. I finally did and I love the way it looks in this room. I also love our new faucet!

But my favorite part about this room is our new vanity.

I went to Anthropologie to get these fun knobs for the new cabinet. Love them as well.

I also love the paint color. It took me forever to decide on it. It's actually the same color as the tan stripes in our den. I decided it would flow with the rest of our house and it's a great neutral color for a smaller space.

Overall I love (as if you couldn't already tell from this post) our new master bath!

Bathroom Redo: Part 2

The day after we took out the old vanity and painted the bathroom we were ready to install the new vanity. Of course one more trip to Lowe's was needed to get some other little things once we got it up into the space. Good thing there's one right by our house!

So thankful for my father-in-law for helping us out this day as well!

We were lucky that the plumbing fit with this new cabinet. If it was any more to the right it would have been in the way of the drawers and not worked.

Finally after the new cabinet was in Clarke took caulk and put it all around the edges of the cabinet.

And put the counter on top. TaDa!

I LOVE our new master bath! It was so worth those 2 vacation days and the money we put into it. This new vanity is so nice, clean and contemporary.

Up next: a look at the whole bathroom!

Bathroom Redo: Part 1

So remember in this post I said we were so busy? Well, it's because we were redoing our master bathroom! Clarke had a couple vacation days left and I was on winter break so we decided to tackle this project. We have had plans to do this since we bought the house and I can say I am so happy it's finally done.

I'm going to break it up into several posts because I took so many pictures. So here goes!

This is it before. This picture doesn't do it justice to how bad it was. That vanity really needed to be replaced. It wasn't taken care of and was just in bad shape. Here's a close up of the nasty faucet!

No matter how hard I cleaned I couldn't get those stains out! I hated this faucet!

Our main thing we wanted to do was rip out this vanity and replace it with a new one. (Including new counter and faucet.) We also painted, this room desperately needed a new coat of fresh paint.

Of course Betty had to check it out as we were getting ready to start. This picture shows how bad it was inside. Yuck!

Our first step was to go to Lowe's to buy everything. We picked up this vanity, a new counter, faucet and some other things we needed. Here it is when we got it all home.

Starting to take it all apart!

We took a chisel and hammer and unattached the counter from the cabinet. It took awhile, and a lot of banging but we finally got it off. Clarke had to undo the plumbing, I don't really know anything about how he did it. I had started to prep for painting.

His dad came over to help at this point. When they were taking apart the cabinet something in the pipe broke, and it needed a new part. Water was gushing everywhere! Clarke had to go under the house and turn the water off to the entire house. (we had already turned it off to this pipe) Luckily it was just a part that broke and not the entire water supply, so we didn't have to call a plumber.

We knew we didn't want to save anything so we just tore into it.

This is what we found when we took the bottom off. I thought the old flooring would be there. I never really loved the laminate in this bathroom, but never disliked it. After seeing this I love our flooring, it's so much better!

We finally took a saw to get the last part off.

After a big cleaning demolition is complete! As you can also see we painted as well. I thought it would be easier to paint without the vanity there.

 

 

Up next: Putting in the new vanity.

Welcome 2012!

Welcome 2012!! I just know your going to be a great year!

Looking forward to many great times with family and friends, a nice anniversary trip and hopefully some PRs!

 We had a great time last night with 2 other couples. We went down to Carytown to watch the ball rise over the Byrd Theater, which was fun but it was really crowded. I'm glad I got to experience this because I feel like it's a big deal here in Richmond for New Year's. But honestly my favorite part of the night was just hanging out at a friend's house before, playing an intense game of Apples to Apples and eating yummy food. Although we did stop by Wawa on the way home and got a late night snack, I haven't done that in forever! My camera ran out of batteries, so I don't have any pictures of us.

Tomorrow I go back to school after a nice 2 week break. It always goes by so fast but honestly I'm ready to go back. I miss my kids and I need to get back on a routine.

Happy New Year!!
photo source