Happy Friday!

The calendar says it's this teacher's summer vacation but it doesn't feel like it with the two professional development days and preparing for summer school.

Since I was so excited about school ending last week, I forgot about some of the other cool stuff that happened - so I though I would shared some additional fun from the past two weeks.

1. Uh, have you ever Zorbed? It's basically a human-sized hamster ball. What you see up there in the big picture is what I saw when I walked my very eager students out to field day last week. I have to say the parents who thought this one up made about every 6th grader's dream come true on the last day of school with renting not one, but two of those puppies. And let me tell ya, they are a workout!

2. New easy dinner alert: Grilled Pesto Shrimp Skewers. Or say to hell with the skewers and just put the shrimp in the oven to bake for about 8 minutes.

3. I finally qualified for an Influenster Vox Box! Free samples always make for a great mail day. I'll be sharing what I got soon.

4. Kick off to summer mani in "Cabana Boy".

5. Even though, I semi-whined about my summer spending habits on Wednesday, I feel on top of my budget game. When you get paid two month's worth of salary at once, I feel as though it is necessary to know where your money is going. One less thing to worry about this summer!

Bonus: My Sleep Number bed is being delivered on Wednesday! I can't wait to finally sleep on it and share all about it. I keep hearing such great things from my friends who already have one.

This weekend I'm putting the final touches on my summer school lesson plans, having a patio dinner with a sorority sister and fellow teacher, and a Card's game on Saturday night. Hopefully the rain can stay away so we can have some fun!

Have a great weekend!

What is it about summer that makes me want to spend money with reckless abandon?

Is it because I have oodles of time to online window shop? Or possibly because my crazy school district pays me 5 paychecks at one time, which makes feel like I'm rich?

The world may never know but Mr. Postman is going to be delivering some fun to my doorstep over the next week or so.

My new purchases included a new GHD Flat Iron.

Folica.com

 
My Sedu straightener shorted out a couple of months of go and I've been roughing it with a small travel size straightener since then. The plates are literally a 1/2 inch and pulls out my hair. After looking at pictures of my hair from my cousin's wedding last week in which I felt my hair looked a little "fluffy", I decided, no more!

I got an alert that Folica was offering 25% off through Wednesday, so I pulled the trigger and invested in a new flat iron. I use the word "invested" when I want to justify than I'm not crazy for spending $130 on a tool that makes my already straight hair - straighter. Also, I used Ebates and received an additional 5% cash back.

$185 flat iron - 25% off coupon + 5% cash back = slightly less panicked Sara.

Then I took my online shopping self to the mall. Normally I show great restraint in shopping but on Saturday I was in a buying mood. I proceeded to Victoria's Secret and took advantage of their 7 for $26 panty deal and bought the cutest little Cardinal's outfit which my sister assured me was not in the least bit "skanky".

Victoria's Secret

The picture doesn't show the navy bandeau I bought to go underneath the tank.

When I showed the outfit to the boyfriend, he looked at me and replied, "I don't get it."

Not quite sure what there is "to get" but the jury is still out on if I will actually wear this ensemble to the game on Saturday or not.

While checking out at VS, the sales girl sprayed my bag with one of their body sprays. Normally I detest this practice because I am somewhat sensitive to smells but much to my surprise, I love the scent. So I went home and ordered it online as well as another bra. Oops. At least I got free shipping and 2% cash back from Ebates.

I continued my spending spree yesterday when I decided I needed a new nail polish color. Off to Walgreens to purchase my favorite Sensationail gel nail polish.


 "Cabana Boy" -  a great orange-y red to kick off summer. Thankfully, I had a $1 off coupon and found another $2 off coupon in store.

As I re-read this, I realize it may not be the money burning a hole in my pocket but the fact that I feel like I'm getting "deals" on everything. Congratulations marketing department of every store in America...you're doing a great job!

What about you? Has the shopping bug bit you recently? Or are you forever a window shopper?

Well, it's here.

Friday.

The first day of Summer Vacation 2012.

Thank goodness.


I've learned over the past couple of years, non-teachers really don't like when teachers gloat about having the summers off so I've tried to keep a low profile this year and not celebrate on Facebook. Buuuuuuttttt, on here I'm going to shout it from the rooftops:

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER! YIPPEE!

Now I really shouldn't celebrate too much, considering I'm at work today. Aaand I work Wednesday and Thursday next week. And summer school starts on June 3rd. But it will be nice to have a few days without setting the alarm for 6am.

On to my top 5 of the week.

1. Finished my 5th year of teaching.

2. Lost another 1.6 pounds this week. So far I've shed 11.6 pounds in four weeks with Weight Watchers. Feeling pretty good!

3.I only had to make lunch once this week thanks to it being provided by school four out of five days. That's an extra 10 minutes of sleep in the morning.

4. In a "more-to-come-later" post - I have been given an awesome opportunity to review a Sleep Number bed. Can't wait for it to arrive in about a week or two. Still can't believe it!

5. Did I mention it's summer vacation?

Hope your week was spectacular and your Memorial Day weekend is even better!

At the end of every school year, I survey my students.

I always say it is so they can help me become a better teacher (and it does) but I'm beginning to think that it does more harm to my self-esteem than good.

Despite the fact that almost all the comments I received were fantastic:
"You helped me understand so much this year."
"I will miss you."
"You encouraged me to do my best."

There's that small percentage of comments that just cut me like a knife.
"You didn't respect me and I felt like you picked on me for no reason."
"Stop repeating yourself and treating us like we're stupid."
"You knew I struggled on my assessments and did nothing to help me."
"Your class was a waste of time."

And while I know exactly which student made each comment and could rebut each of the comments above, they make me feel awful. For a student to leave my classroom not feeling respected by me just hurts so bad. No way around it.


The only thing I can say now is I will try my best to be better. I will make every effort (not that I didn't try before) to control my attitude so I don't seem so exasperated with my students.

So ready for summer break.

What a great weekend!

I celebrated the end of school a little early with a few adult beverages at the Cardinal's game Friday night with Chris.

Mi familia

Never has Friday looked so good after a dreadful week. It might be hard to find 5 things to actually celebrate. Let's see here...

1. 14 actual school days left. And I actually have plans done.

2. Lost five pounds last week but it was because I didn't drink one Dr. Pepper. I might be going through withdrawals right now. Hoping I dropped a few more pounds when I step on the scale Sunday.

3. Tried some fantastic lemon-cucumber-mint water, so refreshing!



4. Cardinal's game with Emily.



5. I've put together at least 3 cute "new" outfits with the addition of a denim jacket to my wardrobe. I never thought I was a jean jacket kinda lady but I think I've proved myself wrong.


Alright, well that wasn't so hard. Looking forward to my cousin's bachelorette party this weekend, we are hitting up Fast Eddie's or the wineries and then a bar crawl on Main Street St. Charles.

How was your week? Hopefully better than mine!