Holy moly. This week has been CRAZY. I cannot even believe how much has been accomplished in the last 7 days. I need to do a little review, because I don't want to loose track of it all!
First, Cory and I are attending the same training: Critical Friends. Throughout this training we are learning various styles and protocols to use to facilitate useful and productive professional conversations. It may sound a little silly and you may be asking yourself, "if you're a professional aren't all conversations productive?" My long-story-short answer is: they are productive to a point. This training focuses specifically on how to get to the nuts and bolts of any conversation or topic regarding student achievement and proactive teaching. It's not as easy as it sounds because teaching is a deeply emotional and personal profession, so we are often guarded when talking about "our kids." Anyway--so Monday was sort of cool because I enjoyed the training, but also got to be with Cory all day!
We left training and headed straight to Verizon to take them up on a buy-one-get-one deal. Our cell phone contract was going to be up in May and we had already passed our eligibility date for a new plan/phone. Long story short, we both walked away with shiny LG Spectrum phones for pretty cheap! Hooray!
(my first Instagram photo... ever ;))
Cory and I had been pretty determined to see The Hunger Games, but for one reason or another, we just hadn't gotten to it yet. When we realized we would be out of Verizon before 4:30, we decided to catch the 4:35 showing and had the best time because we knew we would be off work on Tuesday for Maryland's primary election! Winning! I'm not sure if I'm going to blog my thoughts regarding The Hunger Games movie for the sheer fact that so much has already been said about it. I do think, however, I have a different perspective in mind that isn't floating around the blogosphere, so maybe I'll do it. Who knows.
All day Tuesday Cory and I did housework and took care of a lot of the small day-to-day errands. I took a break mid-afternoon and took myself out on a little voting-by-myself date. I went to my local voting place, placed my ballot for my selected local officials and then took myself out for fro-yo from Yogi Castle. Oh yeah--and Instagram became available to all Android users--awesome! Needless to say, I've been pretty busy with it ever since (follow me! LizMatheny is my username :))!
We finally went to work on Wednesday and I had a good time wrapping up Animal Farm and Fallen Angels with my students before break. Now I just have 60 research papers to grade... awesome. Anyway. I'm so happy to have the break right now. Without snow days I am so behind on my every-day school work. I usually take those days to catch up with grading and contacting parents and so forth--but alas, we only have 38 more days of school this year. I think I can make it ;).
I spent Thursday doing two things: hanging light fixtures with Cory in the morning and hanging out with my friend Melissa in the afternoon. Both things were actually a lot of fun and I felt fulfilled when I went to sleep at night. It's amazing how completing projects around the home and hanging out with good friends can provide you with the same sense of accomplishment, right? I guess it's all part of growing up!
Cory and I took our time waking up Friday morning and decided it was the perfect day to be productive. I finished my Steve Martin book I was reading and he put in a few hours at his laptop doing work. I had to decide which book I was going to pick up next--so I decided on the middle one below and it has pretty much rocked my world ever since, believe it or not!
Then we decided it was a good decision to head to Columbia to pick out a
snazzy new suit! He's the officiant in a wedding this weekend and I
wanted him to look his absolute best! I mean--wedding pictures don't
exactly disappear after a few weeks! So, we headed to Columbia because I
knew we would have lots of options. Of course, Cory found a perfect suit from Tommy Hilfiger (50% off! yay!) from Macy's.. which means we
could've just stayed in Frederick! ha! I took the opportunity to hit up
Forever 21 and buy a few new accessories and a springy travel bag. I
don't have a good weekender bag and have been needing one desperately; so, I picked up the teal striped bag below. The rest of the day was spent
hanging out and just loving on each other. We have been needing some
quality time, so we watched movies and hung out the rest of the night.
It was sublime. :)
I received some new findings in the mail and decided to try them out with crochet beads that I ordered from AllEarzJewelry. I love the concept, but not the end result. I need to work with my local jewelry maker extraordinaire and get a little help! (ahem... Chrissy...) :)
That brings us to this weekend which was full of Easter craziness. Big
family meals, early morning sunrise services on the Antietam National
Battlefield, lots of egg hunts for the littles, jelly beans for me, and
quality time with families I love so much. We were pretty fortunate to
have clear skies in our area, albeit a little chilly outdoors. We took
advantage and played outside as much as we possibly could to make sure
those kids would have all the sugar out of their system before they got
home. Sometime it's just nice to pretend to be a kid again, right?
So that's a look at my life throughout this past week. We usually aren't so busy, but this is one for the books. I had such a good week spending time with Cory and catching up on all the things we should be doing all the time--spending quality time in our house and with our families.
What has your life been like? Are you new to Instagram, too? If you've been posting your pics, put a link in the comments! I'm getting used to the app--so if you have any handy resources, please let me know! I want to learn more! :)
Have a great week, everyone!
xo,
