Goofy Groundhogs

My kiddos made these today [and by kiddos I mean students] and I thought they were too cute and had to share them with you all :)




We were learning about Groundhog Day that is taking place on Thursday. Although the whole idea of Groundhog Day is quite ridiculous, these made pretty cute crafts!

Fired Up!

Last weekend, my sister, Jen, was in town from Atlanta. On a very rainy Saturday, us girls (my mom, Jen, Steph and Jess) thought it would be fun to go paint our own pottery. We went to a very cute place in downtown Asheville, where Justin actually took me on a date before. We each picked out our little piece of pottery, our colors and brushes and started to paint away.

While some of the above mentioned party (I will not name any names ;) were getting frustrated because they didn't know what to do, or bored because they finished in 10 minutes, I found my time painting very peaceful and relaxing.

In high school, I took 4 years of art. I would not consider myself an 'artist' by any means, but I would say that I am artistic. I like to paint, draw, mold clay and be creative. Since becoming a teacher, I have not had a whole lot of time to just sit down and create. I had so much fun on Saturday, just kicking back and letting my creative juices flow... and I am quite proud of what I made.

I decided to paint a tea pot. I have been wanting a girly-ish tea pot for some time now, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make it whatever I wanted. One of my favorite flowers is the hydrangea. In fact, it was my wedding flower, and the inspiration for the colors of my wedding. Whenever I see blue hydrangeas, I am reminded of that very special day in my life. Thankfully, I had a picture of a hydrangea on my phone, so I pulled up the picture and began to sketch away.

Sketching Phase

Painting Phase

Finished Product

And there is the finished product! I. LOVE. IT! It makes me so happy just looking at it and I can't wait to use it :) I had such a fun time hanging out with my mom and sisters and making something that I will cherish. Jen had an idea that every time I paint my own pottery now, I should make a tea cup and add to my collection. I like her idea :)

How Hoot :)

Ahhh!!!! I just realized that I have had my blog for one whole year (more than that now!) and I did not write a birthday post :( So sad.

As many as you know, my first grade classroom has an owl theme. I don't know if it is just because my eyes are more opened to finding owls or if there is an owl craze happening, but I now find owls EVERYWHERE! And it is not just me, my co-workers, parents, and even my own family members find owl stuff all over the place. Even though I like it for my classroom, I told them that I do not want owls creeping into my personal life. No owl decorations for the home, no owl earrings [err... I don't even have my ears pierced], no owl shirts. You get the picture.

Well my sister Jen, broke that rule this weekend. Apparently she found this little cutie a while ago, but forgot to give it to me. And although I have no use for it yet, one day it will get to be worn by a little cutie.


A couple weeks ago, one of my co-workers said that she couldn't resist and bought me these adorable notepads. As my kids were walking in the door, one of my students looked at this particular one and said, "It's you and Mr. Powlison!" I guess Justin and I look like two birds who are in love :)

All I have to say to these two items is, "How Hoot!"

Newest Addition

I would like to introduce you all to the newest member of our family/apartment!!

Justin and I have a brand new dining room table in our home!

When we got married 2 1/2 years ago, we had absolutely NO furniture. When I moved into our first apartment, all we had was a mattress and box spring on the floor. The day after we were married, we ordered our beautiful king-sized bed. As the months past, we would save up or use some of our wedding money to furnish our apartment. We got a couch about a month later. Then a large bookshelf to store Justin's massive collection of books that had been stacked in many piles on the floor. A few months later, we added on a coffee table and end tables. Lastly, we had a small Ikea table that was very wobbly and not very big. My sister, Jen, saw the Ikea table in Atlanta and bought it for us as one of her many wedding presents to us. With me starting Grad School shortly after we were married, she didn't like the idea of me not having a place to study and write all my papers. Thank you, Jen, for providing us with a table that we have enjoyed for the past couple years :)

After a while, it seemed like we had everything we needed, and stopped buying furniture. A few months ago (maybe like a year ago), I started feeling like we really needed to finish furnishing our apartment. I am kind of sick of having my clothes stashed away on the shelf behind my hanging clothes, and was wanting a dresser. I was sick of not having enough places of people to sit when we had visitors, thus forcing people to sit on the floor. And I was really sick of not having enough room to have more than 4 people eat dinner over, and even if we did have 4 people over, the table was way too small to even put food on the table!

Enter, new table!
For Christmas this year, Justin and I decided that we were only going to tell people who asked us what we wanted for Christmas, was money. We would take all the money we got and save it specifically to buying something for our home. Our family was extremely generous and we went furniture shopping the week after Christmas! At first, we went out looking for a dresser. But after much looking, and coming to the conclusion that I am way too picky about dressers and couldn't find one that I really liked, we decided to browse the store. We went downstairs and low and behold, there was a beautiful table. It was the dark espresso stain that I was wanting. It was modern and simple. It seated 6 people, with 6 chairs and came with a leaf to extend it to 8+ people! It was perfect AND on sale!! We decided to go ahead with the table and it was delivered today!

We had a nice dinner at it and I got so excited thinking about all the people we could invite over for dinner now :) I am so thankful that we have been able to slowly but surely furnish our apartment. I am thankful that we are able to save and use gifts on items that we really enjoy and make our apartment more homey. In a way, I think that getting furniture at different times allows you to really appreciate it!

So... who wants to come over first?!?

Oh... and what happened to our wobbly dining room table?
It is now in our living room corner, serving as Justin's 'desk!'

A huge THANK YOU to our families who made this possible :)

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

In an effort to update ya'll on our Christmas festivities, let me give you a glimpse of our Christmas tree this year. Our tree is currently still up. Going one month strong! I will probably be taking it down this weekend :( If I could, I would keep our tree up all year. I love having the twinkling lights on at night and looking at all the fun ornaments. Not to mention that the tree takes up a large void in our home (where a second couch should go but do not have one!) and makes it feel a lot more homey.

Every year, Justin and I take an evening to decorate our tree together. We play Christmas music, hang the lights, look over our ornaments and reminisce about the years that have passed and the different ornaments we got through the years. This year, my parents and sisters did not get a Christmas tree :( My parents moved to Asheville in August and are living in a 3 bedroom apartment that is pretty snug. Since they were still going up to Ohio for Christmas (for like a month!) they decided to not get a tree down here. Up in Ohio, my brother David and his wife are living in my parent's house and would be getting and decorating their own tree. When I found out my parents and sisters would not be decorating a tree this year, I thought it was so sad and unacceptable. Justin and I decided that it would be fun to invite them over to help us decorate our tree. Granted, the ornaments were not their special donut, soccer, and famous picture wreath ornaments, we thought that it would still be fun and a fun way to get in the Christmas mood.

My fam came over, we ordered in the best pizza in Asheville, and at home-made Olive Garden salad. I then convinced my dad to hang the lights :) I am kind of sexist and think that is the man's job! And since Justin didn't want to do it, we convinced my padre! Then it was time to decorate. Steph and Jess helped us hang all of our ornaments, very quickly!

Mom and Dad hanging the lights.

Justin and I straightening the lopsided tree.

Justin's 2011 ornament- an octopus (which became our tree topper)

My teaching ornaments!
Owl from Jen (I have an owl-themed classroom if you didn't know by now)
S'mores marshmallow snowman that says #1 teacher from Justin
Teacher ornament from my mom

I got my parent's an ornament to hang on the tree.
It is a snowman that says Asheville, NC on it!

After the tree was up and we had a few giggles, we relaxed by the twinkling lights and watched 'Little Women' (a Christmas movie in my mind), drank egg nog and ate Peppermint cupcakes.


Thanks mom, dad, Steph, and Jess for making our Christmas tree very memorable this year!

And here are a few of my new ornaments this year:

Wood Curl ornament (I've been wanting a wood curl wreath for a while but Justin isn't too fond of them, so this was a perfect find!)

Parent's Asheville ornament