Ashley's Ponytail

I realize that this might seem like a very odd thing to blog about, but isn't that the point of a blog? To just talk about whatever you want?! So today it is going to be my hair!

I got the title for this blog from this really cute children's book called "Stephanie's Ponytail". The book is about how much Stephanie loved her ponytail, but she didn't love the fact that her classmates were copying her. Every day she would wear her hair to school a different way and the next day the whole class (even the teacher) would have copied her creative ponytail style. Well, I got the idea to blog about this as I was running tonight and for the first time in YEARS I felt my ponytail swinging! It was such a strange feeling, but let me just say... I LOVE MY PONYTAIL! I thought it would be fun to take a little trip through my many hairstyles over the last couple of years. Now if you want to copy my hairstyles, that is fine with me. Unlike Stephanie, I will not be upset, but you should probably go ahead and make friends with your hairdresser because I can never make up my mind about my style. Until now at least...

This is probably the longest (and "blondest", if that is a word) that my hair has ever been...

And then it turned into this wonderful long curly look...(do you sense the sarcasm here?!)

 And then I got bored with the long look, so it went to this short look.

And then I got bored with the blonde and it went to a brownish redish color...

 And for those of you that call yourself my friend...YOU ARE WRONG FOR THAT. Why did nobody tell me that my hair looked like it was on FIRE?! Thank you mother for trying and eventually talking me out of this!

And this brings us to the longest most grueling part of the story...the growing out process. I have successfully gone from that spectacular style (HA!) in the above picture to a much different color with a longer style in less than a year. I have wanted to cut it SO many times, but thank you Emma (my fab hairdresser) for not allowing me to! I am just like Stephanie! I love my ponytail! :)  For now....but I do have a hair appointment tomorrow. Who knows what will happen when I get in that chair!?

I Believe...

The idea for this post came from one of my blog gal friends, Sally. She has done this several times and I always thought it was so neat! Now that I have a blog of my own, I thought I would give it a whirl...(Check out Sally's blog...http://exploitsofamilitarymama.com) 


Here they are..
**Just a disclaimer...these are in no certain order, with the exception of God being on top, of course.**


I BELIEVE...


in God.


that family is one of the strongest bonds there is. 
No matter how mad I am at them or what we may have done to hurt each other, I know that they will always ALWAYS be there for me.


that having a sister is an irreplaceable relationship.


that you shouldn't underestimate the power of girlfriends. They can't replace a sister, but they can come pretty darn close.


in flowers. Nothing says I love you like a vase of flowers. Even if they are handpicked. Sometimes the "recess flowers" from my kids are better than any flowers that could ever be bought.

I BELIEVE...


in strong coffee and white wine.


that sometimes you have to sing into your hairbrush and dance in front of a mirror. 


that cleaning house can only be done to really loud music. 


in driving with the windows down.


I BELIEVE...


that it is ok to still sleep with your baby blanket.


a bubble bath and a good book is the best way to end a long day.


Dave Matthews is the most talented musician I've ever heard.


I BELIEVE...


that being a 27 year old daddy's girl is normal.


that needing your mom at 27 is just as normal.


that I'm a princess...(I'm really only kidding, but if you know me, you know that I do often refer to myself as a princess. This may be the result of being a 27 year old daddy's girl. But if I'm the princess, that makes my mama the queen and I've never heard complaints from her in that department.)


I BELIEVE...


that children are our future.


that I was BORN to be a teacher.


that no matter how much I love my job or "my kids", it is ok to watch the news religiously at the threat of snow. Nobody loves a snow day like I do! (Unless your name is Betsy Thompson and you have 4 seasons of Grey's Anatomy on hand.)


I BELIEVE...


mountains can be healing.


so can oceans.


it's ok to say your are sorry.


and sometimes you can say your are sorry and still stand your ground.


I BELIEVE...


in a sad movie just because you are in the mood to cry.


crying is healthy.


I BELIEVE...


relationships can be mended.


some aren't meant to be.


new ones are sometimes worth the wait.


I BELIEVE...


Funfetti cupcakes make me a much nicer person.


laughing until you cry and your stomach hurts is healthy.


in sleep.


And on that note, I am off to bed. Please share what you believe in this week...

Thursday is ALMOST THERE!

Wow! I can't believe I have almost made it through the first week back. I am EXHAUSTED, and I don't remember ever putting this much work into a back to school year, ever. It is 10:16 and literally the ONLY thing I have done today that didn't have anything to do with school is shower. I got up, made it to school early (for me). I am NOT a morning gal, so for me to be there by 7:15 is a miracle! We had an AWESOME second day, so all of the hard work is worth it. If you want to hear all about that, check my school blog. msclemmerskids.blogspot.com  It should be up sometime over the weekend! After school, I decided to stay and get some work done. One of my teacher friends and I were going to meet some of our kids at Sonic for eat out night, so it really wasn't worth going home! We got to Sonic right at 6 and I ate dinner with 4 of my new kiddos! SUPER SWEET! It was so much fun!

I came home and jumped into my cozy PJ's and I JUST finished doing school work. I am really excited about day 3 and all of the fun things that are planned! :) Stay tuned for that update over the weekend too. For now, I am super pumped that I get to wear jeans to work tomorrow, and that it is finally time to hit the hay! Phew!

By the way, if you haven't heard my Friday song, you don't understand the title of this post. A few of you lucky ones may just know my special Friday song. If you don't, then I'll be GLAD to sing it to you sometime! :) Friday is my favorite day!

"Eat, Drink, and be 'Ready'"

Well if you know me, you know I am a huge Dave Matthews Band fan! :) ...like to the point of having the "fire dancer" tattoo! So the title for this post is taken from one of my favorite DMB songs, Tripping Billies!

 It has been  crazy few days. Meet the teacher was Friday night, so last week was spent frantically getting my classroom ready, as in literally haven't left school before 6pm any day last week. But come Friday afternoon, I left to come home early and get ready to go back Friday evening to meet my kiddos, and it felt like it was finally "READY".

My weekend was spent Relaxing with a "big R." I mean I "foreal" did nothing! (unless you think watching endless episodes of Reba counts as doing something.) Come Monday, I was anxious to get to work because I still felt like I had so much to get done. However, I was car-less, so I had to wait on  my Deddy to pick me up to go get my snazzy rental. And let me just say, my Deddy is the best. I mean he carried my market tote and polka dot 31 lunch box across the parking lot of the Fountain Inn Bi-lo to help me load up my rental. How awesome is he?! Even the rental car man suppressed his chuckle as he saw my dad approaching with arm loads of hot pink polka dots. So I was a tad later getting to work on Monday than I wanted, but all was well. Monday and Tuesday were spent doing last minute things in my classroom before Wednesday.

So now we are caught up to the present. Let's start with EAT. Even though I was a little cranky (and possibly picked a fight...anyone ever done that when super stressed topped off with PMS?!), David and I went to the grocery store together. Isn't that romantical!? We decided on the fail safe spaghetti for the meal "we" (HE) would cook to get my tummy ready for an early bed time. That sweet man cooked my dinner, (served it up on my plate and everything!) Love him! So my tummy is full with yummy spaghetti with an oatmeal cream pie dessert. Thanks, honey!

That leaves us with DRINK! Need I say more?! Haha, just kidding. Use your imagination here people. It is the night before the first day of school. I always get nervous and have butterflies. I haven't slept well in weeks. It was wine or Nyquil. I chose the wine!

...and BE READY. I feel almost ready. I could have stayed at school all night long and not felt completely ready, but I think I am as ready as I will ever be. Morning work is already out on the tables, pencils are sharpened, room is organized, plans are done, etc. I am sure 9,030,929,940,328 things will pop up tomorrow that I didn't think of yet, but they pay me the big bucks to think on my feel, right? (cue crickets). Oh, they don't pay me the big bucks to think of everything that could go wrong, ward it off, prepare for it, have a plan B, C, D, E, and Z, and do it all with a smile on my face?!?? Oh! Well then...

I suppose I should go pretend to sleep now. I am sure that instead of actually sleeping, I will get all cozy in my PJ's, settle in with my favorite book, and then toss and turn all night long. The start of the school year always makes me SO nervous.

I am so ready to have my kids all to myself tomorrow. Meet the teacher is always so crazy that I don't really get to spend any time with them. Tomorrow is the day that I will start getting to know these little people that mean so much to me. They will become like my family. We will laugh together, cry together (yes, if you know me you know I do that so well), share stories, and LEARN together. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a journey for me as well as for the children. When I first started teaching, I thought it was all I would ever want to do. More than once I hit the point where I just thought I couldn't do it any more. Long story short, teaching isn't an easy job. Life isn't an easy job either. And when both get really hard at the same time it is super difficult not to just lay down and cry. BUT the good news is God puts people in our lives when we need them. My dearest friend Betsy was the first of many people that encouraged me not to quit. Not to quit teaching and not to quit loving life. Betsy was one of the first people to show me that my hardened heart could still teach and it could still love.  I am so thankful God has put Betsy, as well as students, parents and other teachers in my path to teach me that teaching and loving it is what I am born to do. And for the many people that have been with me over this 5 year journey I call teaching, and this 27 year journey I call life, thank you. You have not let me stop smiling, even with both of these jobs were almost too much to bear. As my mama always said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Bring in on. I am ready! Happy 2011-2012 school year!

The beauty of an empty trunk...

I'm sure this is a strange post, but here goes anyway...

Has anyone else in blog world every felt that sense of accomplishment of a fresh smelling clean house, a folded/put away load of laundry, or a newly mowed lawn? Well I got that sense of accomplishment today when I popped open the empty trunk to my rental vehicle. (Which is a BRIGHT RED Camry might I add. Remember when I said that maybe I would get something sassy? Well the rental man hit the nail on the head!) So if you know me, you know that I LIVE out of my car. Well I FINALLY cleaned out every part of my car for it to go to the body shop, and it felt GREAT! It is the one thing in my life I do not try to organize. So I guess the purpose of this post is to update you on my recent accomplishments (in addition to cleaning out my car!)

I've finally FINALLY finally finished my classroom. It is perfectly complete with all of the touches that I wanted it to have. I have put blood, sweat and tears into my room this year, but it is officially FINISHED! (Complete with potted tropical trees adorned with Panda's climbing out of them.) I had a really rough school year (due to my personal life) last year, so I made a pact with myself to make my classroom somewhere that I could enjoy being this year. And I think I've done it. I put the finishing touches on it this morning. (Pictures to follow.)

My house is coming together (Yay!). It's been a long time coming, but I think I am finally getting vinyl siding. Now I just have to make a color choice. Opening the floor to suggestions.

I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I get things done around here, so 5 loads of laundry later, I feel like I did something! 

I've been SO so SO busy and have stayed at school LATE late LATE every night last week, so that is why my blogs have been slacking off. AND I just burned the green beans because I was blogging and cutting out things I laminated, so I suppose it is time for me to go take care of that. But until next time, cheers to empty trunks everywhere!

DESSERTS

Wow! I can't even begin to describe how BUSY today was. Being my first day back I am EXHAUSTED and it is already passed my self-designated bedtime. (I'm already not doing well with that this year!) So my blog tonight will be short and sweet...

We had a wonderful inservice today and I just wanted to share with you a thought that I hope will stick with me this year...Stressed spelled backwards is Desserts...and even when you go through hard things (stress) in life, there will always be dessert somewhere in it. Though it may be hard for us to see at the time, and we may never be able to look back on our hard and stressful times and see the good, I firmly believe God puts the good there for us. It's all a matter of perspective and how we choose to see things. So with that being said, let me give you a rundown on my first day back.

STRESS:
My Keurig breaks on  my way out the door as I am making my coffee this morning. Now if you truly know me, you know this is BAD. I mean I have literally had kids in my class shush each other when I come in sans coffee cup. B.A.D.
DESSERT:
I was up in time to go by Dunkin Doughnuts. LOVE. And the Keurig people were so nice on the phone. I already have another in the mail and I got to demolish the old one and send back the broken parts...fun?! I think so!

STRESS:
Long, LONG, Long meeting in which I really learned a lot, but it was VERY hard to focus with my mounding to do list.
DESSERT:
Wonderful inservice! Learned so much that I think will help me be a much better and less stressed teacher this year.

STRESS:
Waiting on rosters and state debit cards before I can finish some things in my classroom.
DESSERT:
Maybe my sister will get to come help me tomorrow, and I wouldn't have thought to ask her if I wasn't so stressed. And I am super excited about my roster. I can't tell you who is in my class yet, but I have a great feeling about this year!

STRESS:
Insurance men who don't do what they say they are going to! (For those of you who don't know this, we got into a wreck on the way home from the beach. Craziest thing I have ever seen. EVER. Luckily everyone was ok, and I am not having to pay a dime to get my car fixed, BUT I still wish the insurance man wasn't a poop.
DESSERT:
We have a wonderful friend that owns a body shop that is going to fix my car. So hassle free! He was so quick to get a quote and have it all taken care of and I am SO THANKFUL! AND maybe, just maybe I'll get a really sporty hip rental car.

So with all this said, remember that stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Always take time to look for the dessert in your stressful moments. And as my wise mother, lovingly known to many as CC says, It is what it is, but it will become what you make it.

One last BIG DESSERT! I am blessed with the sweetest boyfriend EVER! I was so stressed about my day and I came home looking quite frazzled. So my sweet man loads me up in the car, takes me to Chick-Fil-A (a fav for me), a little shopping at Knickerbockers, AND a trip to Yogurt Mountain. Love him!   So all in all, a little stress in my day wasn't anything that a little dessert couldn't fix!

Well I promised a summer reflection, so here it is! :) I haven't had a summer like this in a LONG time...ok, I haven't EVER had a summer like this.  I didn't take a single teaching workshop, participate in a graduate school class, or work much at  all this summer. (I can't say I didn't work, because I did a few dance camps at the Y, but they were more fun than work!) It has been the most fabulously relaxing summer of my life. I must say, I was feeling the teacher burn out. BUT I have been working in my classroom for a couple of weeks now and I am more excited than ever to go back. I feel armed with fresh ideas and ready to meet my sweet little darlings. I did take some pictures of my classroom today, but you will just have to wait for those because this post is all about my super summer. So kick back with your beverage of choice (mine as of now is a Margarita!) and relax with me as I reflect on my favorite moments of summer! :)

So this wasn't really this summer, but I'm counting it anyway! My sweet little family of 3 traveled to Newberry to see the 4th and had so much fun at Poor Richards! Love!

All of these pictures were taken on the porch of my beloved Craig Street house! Betsy's boyfriend came to spend the weekend and this was our last weekend as the Craig Street gang of four! Such a fun gathering! 

I don't have any pictures of our beach trip with my family because my mama took them all. Check those out on Facebook! 

All of these pictures were taken on the beautiful Kiawah Island. David so rarely gets to take time off work, but we spend a whole week together! It was so much fun. We stayed the first part of the week with his mom and dad in a condo on Kiawah. As you can tell. we rode bikes (and that phrase "It's just like riding a bike" Yea, thats a LIE! I almost wrecked multiple times), soaked in the sun, visited the Ocean Course, and yes, even did the joggling board.

Then we headed off to spend some time in Myrtle Beach with David's brother Matty and his wife Brantley. SO. MUCH. FUN! Matty qualified for the Carolina Amateur Golf Tournament, so you can imagine that while the boys were golfing, the girls were shopping! :) We stayed in a hotel right at Broadway at the beach so when the boys were finished golfing we would wine and dine with the best of them!

 Matty and I were brave and rode the swings. 

 Matty and the caddy, David.

 Some much needed girl time took place that week!

LOVE

This last pictures was from the week of Under the Sea Dance Camp that I taught with my fabulous mother at the YMCA. We had 6 kiddos and every moment was so much fun. Here we are singing baby shark! 

So I am off to cook some dinner, try to relax and get some sleep before the first day of school, and hey, maybe I'll even blog some pictures of my classroom! 

Love ya, Mean it!

Craft or Clean?

Today was a BUSY Monday! I began the day by sleeping in. I had planned to go to bed at a decent hour and get up at a decent hour each day this week to prepare for going back to school, but that didn't happen. I just simply couldn't turn my brain off last night, which is SUPER annoying. But hey, at least it lead to some cutesy projects for me to work on today! So needless to say, at 2:20 am, I was STILL AWAKE. UGH! So...I slept in on this hot Monday morning.

When I woke up, I just couldn't get motivated to clean this nasty house. So first things first, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby. Love. That. Place. I made my purchases and returned home to make myself clean. I figured if I used crafting as an incentive to clean it would at least make me clean faster! :) So with the house clean, now let me share with you my projects!

My friend Kristen Gault's blog gave me the idea for this cute wreath for my classroom door. Check her way cute blog out. She is one of the people that inspired me to want to begin into the world of blogging. http://www.blessyourheartsc.blogspot.com/

So for those of you that are interested, this was WAY easy! I used a foam wreath (looking back, I wish I had used a quilting hoop like I did for my second one so that the pieces of material were longer and more frilly looking.) I just tied strips of fabric (it took about a yard and a half) around it the foam wreath and then attached the other pieces. The bow is 3 yards of sheer ribbon, and the other pieces I bought for 99 cents at Hobby Lobby. I had to paint the number one, but it was very simple. I plan to write my name on the apple and first grade on the number one, but my paint pens are at school. I made a Halloween wreath too, because my plan is to change them with the seasons. I'll wait to share that one because my paint is at school and I haven't finished the little details!

My next project idea came from my sweet friend Betsy. She saw this on Pinterest. I can't really get into Pinterest because it overwhelms me.  I just don't even know where to look, but maybe one day I'll be able to look into it! For now, I just count on people like Betsy and Kristen to find the cute ideas for me. But anyway, Betsy shared this idea with me so I made some Smartie Pants. I'll fill it with Smartie candies and let my kiddos get them out. 

I'm really new at this blogging thing so any advice on how to change the direction of the picture would be much appreciated! :)

So the Smartie Pants are very easy too. Just buy some toddler jeans (mind were $1.25 at Goodwill), and sew them up just above the bottom hem. This allows you to stuff them full of Smarties. Then I just bought my ribbon and used a hot glue gun to attach all of the fun add-ons. They were so easy that I ended up making a pair for my friend Brantley, too!  These were a blast to make and I have a feeling I will be making some more for my teacher friends very soon. (That does include you Little Bets!) 

So my house is clean and my crafting is finished (for today at least!) Tomorrow I plan to go to school and laminate some things and do a few last minute things in my classroom before we kick off the year Wednesday morning. I also plan to do a summer reflection blog with pictures of some of my favorite moments...so stay tuned.

Love ya, Mean it!

Let the countdown begin...

Those of you who know me well know that I LOVE to anticipate things! :) If you have been in my classroom before any holiday, you have seen the paper chain that we make that counts down the days. You know, the cheesy kind where you rip off a link each day? Many of you think that I do this for the kids  because they love it. You would be correct, but I selfishly do this because I love it as much or more than they do! So what are we counting down to?!? Back to school of course!! I go back to work this Wednesday after the most relaxing summer ever. What have I done with my last weekend of freedom? Read on and find out...

If you read Friday's blog post, you know that I was kind of in a funk. This is rare for me and I don't get that way often, but I was just blah. Let me now take a commercial break and tell you how much I love my sweet man! David came home from a long, HOT workday and went off to do what he does best...thats right...golf. So when he came home from the golf course, I just expected a leisurely dinner  at home because I knew he would be exhausted...but I was wrong. That sweet guy knew just what I needed to get out of my funk! So he tells me to hurry up and get dressed we are going out. Well I love to go out and have a good time, so I was thrilled. My favorite little hangout in Simpsonville closed, so we tried out a new place called Sherby's. (The only bad thing about Sherby's is that you can smoke inside...ewww). So I threw my wet hair up, put on enough makeup to get by in the dark, and tossed on what would probably look to many like a bathing suit cover up. I mean it is Simpsonville people...I really didn't think I would see anyone that I needed to look my best for. WRONG! I had totally forgotten that the Tipping/Cox wedding weekend was this weekend so Sherby's was like a 10 year high school reunion one year too early! Oops! So needless to say I wore my best dress and all of my make up to the wedding the following evening! haha!

Saturday, I went shopping with Brantley to purchase some back to school items on tax free weekend. SO fun! Love some good girl time! We had a yummy lunch, came back to Fountain Inn to explore the Main Street shops, and then swapped teaching ideas! Needless to say we both love what we do! :) We also talked about taking sewing classes and making curtains, but that's for another post! Then it was time to get ready for the wedding, and by get ready I mean really get ready! haha! Not going to make that mistake twice in one weekend. So the wedding was a BLAST! It was so much fun to see everyone and I even got my sweet man out on the dance floor.

Today I have done NOTHING! I am just now getting ready to sit down and cut out some things for my classroom and start on the mountains of laundry that are piling up all over my house. I've set out some chicken to grill tonight and plan to take it EASY at home. One of my favorite things to do!

Tomorrow's agenda is to clean this grody house so that I can start the school year off right. I also need to "Goodwill" some items. I'm in the market for a tall table lamp and a coat rack to paint up for my classroom. That may have to wait until one afternoon mid-week because cleaning my house might just take all day! Enjoy your Sunday evening everyone! Two days and counting...

Love ya, mean it!

It is what it is, but it will become what you make it...

Well, hello world! I never thought I would be much of a blogger, but maybe I am. My inspiration for this blog came from my bestest friend of all time.  A little background on this rocking girlfriend of mine...She and I became friends because I truly believe God knew we needed each other. Betsy, a PC student (several years after me) was placed in my classroom to student teach. I was so reluctant to host a student teacher because for those of you who don't know me, I am a control freak! I was terrified to let anyone else take over my precious kiddos. So I prayed and prayed that God would bless me with someone who would work hard and do things like I would want them to be done. So then He sent my mini-me to Plain that semester. Betsy and I became instant buds, and then best buds, and then roommates and now two best friends just trying to keep up with each other's busy life living an hour apart. So Betsy started her blog this week and I have just LOVED reading it. I feel like she is my roommate again and I am getting to hear her daily stories while we cook dinner, pack lunches (Bets would often pack my lunch because this is the task I HATE the most) and iron our school clothes for the next day. (Well I iron...if you know Bets her iron is the dryer...) So I thought maybe I would give this blogging thing a whirl and see how it goes for me! So if you want to keep up with Miss Elizabeth Leigh, or my dear Betsy as I know her, check out her blog. It is pretty awesome. LOVE YOU CHERYL! http://www.elizleigh.blogspot.com/

So, here we just a little less than a week before going back to school. I am finished with my classroom and anxious to go back so I can find out who my new kiddos will be this year.  I will post some pictures when I am able to get into the school to take some. School is closed on Fridays, David is working, Mom and Becca are out of town, so that left me with a lazy day at home to myself! Yay!

I have been in a little bit of a funk for several reasons.  Although I am SO excited about going back to school,  starting dance and getting into a routine, I am just not sure I am ready. I haven't ever really had a summer where I wasn't working, going to graduate school or busy with some other life task, so this summer I promised myself I would ENJOY IT! And I have. So ready or not I guess it is over. I think I have also been in a little bit of a funk because my two best gals are already gone or getting ready to be gone. Betsy has moved back to Union to teach and my Seester is about to start her senior year at Newberry College, so her weeks here in the "Inn" are numbered.  I won't say much about the last reason that I am in a funk, but let me just say that Mean People Suck! So I was sitting around by myself today wondering what I can do to get out of my funk. Typically I would clean my house, but I am saving that task for the last minute before I go back to school so it can be fresh and clean for the new year. Other times I would go for a run, but in the 100 degree heat + humidity, yeah right. So I decided to have a pamper myself and do only what I want kind of day. It began by having some morning TV time on the couch. I then moved myself to the bubble bath and I am now having my little mini version of a spa day! I bought some new Bert's Bees products, which I am totally obsessed with, cozied up in my bath robe and (EEK!) stepped into the world of self tanners. I have NEVER been a self tanner, but my bronze from the beach trip is beginning to fade and I felt like my skin looked dull so I am giving it a shot. (Today is a day of first for me...blogging, self tanners, resisting the urge to clean...what next?!) So if you see me any time in the next week covered from head to toe and it is 100 degrees, you will know why! So hopefully my funk is nothing that a little dark chocolate and some self pampering can't fix.

So you've read all of this and you are wondering why I decided to title this post "It is what it is, but it will become what you make it..." Well, those are words of wisdom from my dear mama.  She gave my sister and I a copy of these words on a neat plaque for Christmas and they have  become our words to live by. So when I called CC (thats what we call my sweet mama) today to tell her that mean people suck and shed a few tears on the phone, she didn't even have to remind me that I just needed to make the best of it. I looked over from where I sat and saw these words. If there is anything that I have learned in the last year it has been how to make the best of a situation. So self pampering and dark chocolate here I come.

Love ya, mean it!