Monday, December 19, 2011
Twins!
One day my student and I wore matching shirts. I was way more excited about it than he was. Bahaha!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
The Edmonds come for a visit
Whoa. It's been a long time since I updated this thing. Prepare for an explosion of posts. I'm allllmost done with school (1.5 days!) so I am able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The craziness that is my life is soon to be over. Hallelujah!
My parents came for a visit back in the middle of November. We had a blast showing them around the North Shore and then exploring in the city. Because of their amazing generosity, we were able to stay with them at their hotel in the city. I wish I had pictures of the hotel because it was totally awesome. We stayed at the Liberty Hotel. It was a jail that has been transformed into a unique, boutique hotel in Beacon Hill. Check it out.
They came in on Thursday afternoon, picked me up from school, and then headed to their hotel to check in. They stayed at the Inn at Castle Hill in Ipswich. It was a beautiful place, right on the water.
My parents came for a visit back in the middle of November. We had a blast showing them around the North Shore and then exploring in the city. Because of their amazing generosity, we were able to stay with them at their hotel in the city. I wish I had pictures of the hotel because it was totally awesome. We stayed at the Liberty Hotel. It was a jail that has been transformed into a unique, boutique hotel in Beacon Hill. Check it out.
This is the lobby. Awesome.
The Inn...isn't it cute?
Then we got some mussels in the best red sauce you could ever imagine as an appetizer and headed back to our apartment to show them around. After that we went to eat lobster "in the rough" (my dad's only request for the whole weekend) at Woodman's. It was great.
My cute parents!
The next day we walked around Gloucester (a fishing town nearby) and then headed into Boston.
In the city we had a great dinner at 75 Chestnut. If you're looking for a nice place to eat in Boston that's not too touristy, this place was amazing. We toured around Beacon Hill, shopped on Newbury Street, did the Skywalk at the Prudential Building (one of my favorite things to do!). Annnd to top it all off, the leaves were changing and were beautiful!
It is my secret dream to live in one of these basement apartments in Beacon Hill. Look how tiny that door is!
On our last night we ate dinner in the North End at a great Italian place called Pomodoro's (thanks for the recommendation Kelly!). It was the tiniest little place, but the food was so good. It was so dark that I couldn't take any pictures or I would've blinded everyone else in the restaurant (all 8 people) with my flash....so I took this pic of my food with my phone. It's the best I could get.
Thanks again for coming to visit Mom and Daddy! We loved having y'all here and we so appreciate you taking the time to come visit our world for a bit. We love you!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Handmade Holidays!
Hi friends! Sorry the blog posting has been cut to a minimum. My two jobs aren't leaving much extra time for blogging...booo. BUT, things are good around here these days.
Right now Curt and I are...
- sitting on the couch, listening to an amazing fall mix (I'm tempted to share it here via spotify, but not sure if people would be interested in that....let me know!)
- doing work on our computers (well, Curt is doing work. I am procrastinating...hence the blog post).
- drinking hot chocolate
- awaiting the 2nd (sort of) snowfall of the season. We are supposed to get something like 6-8 inches....to give you an idea of how NOT ready I am for snow, I will be finally putting away my summer clothes and getting out my winter clothes as soon as I finish this blog post. See ya later, flip flops!
Anyway, last year I posted about some homemade crafting I did for Christmas gifts. You can find that post here. This year, I wanted to share the awesome blog where I got most of my ideas. They post 30 days of craft gifts (this year they are also including recipes, giveaways, etc.) and it's so fun to visit each day. Just click the picture below. I hope you enjoy it!
Right now Curt and I are...
- sitting on the couch, listening to an amazing fall mix (I'm tempted to share it here via spotify, but not sure if people would be interested in that....let me know!)
- doing work on our computers (well, Curt is doing work. I am procrastinating...hence the blog post).
- drinking hot chocolate
- awaiting the 2nd (sort of) snowfall of the season. We are supposed to get something like 6-8 inches....to give you an idea of how NOT ready I am for snow, I will be finally putting away my summer clothes and getting out my winter clothes as soon as I finish this blog post. See ya later, flip flops!
Anyway, last year I posted about some homemade crafting I did for Christmas gifts. You can find that post here. This year, I wanted to share the awesome blog where I got most of my ideas. They post 30 days of craft gifts (this year they are also including recipes, giveaways, etc.) and it's so fun to visit each day. Just click the picture below. I hope you enjoy it!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
at home date night
Things have been pretty busy around here. It's really nice to have a long weekend with no major plans. It has also been unseasonably warm (yay!) and we actually got to go to the beach yesterday!
Since we've been so busy, Curt and I haven't spent a whole lot of one-on-one time together. Sooooo we decided that tonight we would have an "at home" date night! We do these often because, let's be honest...we're on a pretty tight budget. I know that's probably hard to believe with me being a teacher and Curt being in school. No worries though, he's sure to make plenty of money once he gets a job as a pastor.....bahahaha!
But seriously, we have kind of enjoyed living our simple life and coming up with new ways to have fun with very little money. Hence, the "at home" date night. Here are our rules:
1. Plan out the dinner ahead of time. The dinner must have an appetizer, main course, and dessert. It also must be very tasty....but with minimal "hands-on" time.
2. Set the table all fancy-like (cloth napkins, real silverware, and candles....shhhh don't tell b/c we're really not supposed to have candles in our apt).
3. Play some fancy music. Usually we open up the old record player and put on some jazz or classical...yeahhh, settin' the mood!
4. Enjoy our meal together and pretend that we are at a really fancy restaurant.
5. Don't do the dishes until tomorrow (gasp! for those of you that know me this is a hard one, but it's part of the deal).
I think that's all the rules. Obviously, they are not hard and fast, but we do try to stick to them. The best part: when you're super full and you just want to flop on your couch....you actually get to! No paying the bill, no tipping, no driving home. It's awesome.
For tonight's at home date, I made chicken piccata/marsala. I'm not really sure what the difference is between the two....I should probably look that up. Anyway, I used a combination of this recipe and this recipe. And let me tell you....it was delicious!! Now, I'm not one to toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT!!! I have always struggled with cooking meat, especially chicken. It's always either overcooked or undercooked. Always. But not tonight. Somehow I managed to perfectly cook it so that it literally melted in your mouth. And the sauce...ohhhh the sauce. It was like the perfect marriage of butter and lemon and capers and brown bits from the bottom of the pan and white wine and heavy cream. Heaven, I tell you.
Soooo what are your favorite date nights?
yes, those are horses on the beach (only in New England!)
Since we've been so busy, Curt and I haven't spent a whole lot of one-on-one time together. Sooooo we decided that tonight we would have an "at home" date night! We do these often because, let's be honest...we're on a pretty tight budget. I know that's probably hard to believe with me being a teacher and Curt being in school. No worries though, he's sure to make plenty of money once he gets a job as a pastor.....bahahaha!
But seriously, we have kind of enjoyed living our simple life and coming up with new ways to have fun with very little money. Hence, the "at home" date night. Here are our rules:
1. Plan out the dinner ahead of time. The dinner must have an appetizer, main course, and dessert. It also must be very tasty....but with minimal "hands-on" time.
2. Set the table all fancy-like (cloth napkins, real silverware, and candles....shhhh don't tell b/c we're really not supposed to have candles in our apt).
3. Play some fancy music. Usually we open up the old record player and put on some jazz or classical...yeahhh, settin' the mood!
4. Enjoy our meal together and pretend that we are at a really fancy restaurant.
5. Don't do the dishes until tomorrow (gasp! for those of you that know me this is a hard one, but it's part of the deal).
I think that's all the rules. Obviously, they are not hard and fast, but we do try to stick to them. The best part: when you're super full and you just want to flop on your couch....you actually get to! No paying the bill, no tipping, no driving home. It's awesome.
For tonight's at home date, I made chicken piccata/marsala. I'm not really sure what the difference is between the two....I should probably look that up. Anyway, I used a combination of this recipe and this recipe. And let me tell you....it was delicious!! Now, I'm not one to toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT!!! I have always struggled with cooking meat, especially chicken. It's always either overcooked or undercooked. Always. But not tonight. Somehow I managed to perfectly cook it so that it literally melted in your mouth. And the sauce...ohhhh the sauce. It was like the perfect marriage of butter and lemon and capers and brown bits from the bottom of the pan and white wine and heavy cream. Heaven, I tell you.
Soooo what are your favorite date nights?
Friday, September 16, 2011
Friday
Aaahhhhh.....love Fridays.
I'm really enjoying my new jobs. The weeks fly by and I laugh a lot. However, when Friday rolls around the only word that can accurately describe me is exhausted. So I am so happy to come home and relax a little. Here's my plan for tonight...
Hang out with this guy...
Make and eat lots of this...
Do a little browsing here...
Make this for dinner...
Aaaand watch the premiere of this show that I DVR'd this week...
What's your plan tonight?
I'm really enjoying my new jobs. The weeks fly by and I laugh a lot. However, when Friday rolls around the only word that can accurately describe me is exhausted. So I am so happy to come home and relax a little. Here's my plan for tonight...
Hang out with this guy...
Make and eat lots of this...
Do a little browsing here...
Make this for dinner...
Aaaand watch the premiere of this show that I DVR'd this week...
What's your plan tonight?
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Big news!
Sorry for the delay in our big news! And sorry also that our big news is not that big news. It's job news!
I got a teaching job! Yay! I'll be teaching Pre-K at North Shore Christian School in the nearby town of Lynn. I've been talking with this private school since about March and we thought that I'd be teaching 1st grade. But due to low enrollment the 1st grade job became unavailable, so they offered me the Pre-K job. This classroom is known as a "satellite" and is completely separated from the main school. The classroom is located in a church and the space is shared with the Sunday School at the church. To be honest, when I first saw the room I almost turned around and walked away from the job. It was dirty and messy and I had a hard time seeing the potential, not to mention that I was wary about being separated from the main school. When I got home Curt talked some sense into me and reminded me that this preschool is really a ministry to the city of Lynn. These children are getting an opportunity to go to preschool that they may not have had otherwise. That sold me....and it's amazing what a little organizing and elbow grease will do to a classroom. I was even more encouraged when a mom decided to keep her child at my site instead of transferring her to the main campus after she saw the change in the classroom.
Around the same time I accepted the teaching job, my church approached me about working part-time in their Children's Ministry. Our church recently started up a new site slightly west of downtown Boston, in the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. They were in need of someone to head up their children's ministry at the new site. The job sounded like such a great fit, and after some prayer and thinking, I accepted that job also. So now I have two jobs!
In retrospect, it was probably not the wisest idea to start two new jobs at pretty much the exact same time....but I'm so happy with both jobs. It will definitely be a lot of work, but I'm just so excited to be doing something that I actually want to do. It's already been a bit overwhelming, but I'm thankful that I have an amazing aid and am just taking it one day at a time.
Here are some before and after pictures of my classroom...
I got a teaching job! Yay! I'll be teaching Pre-K at North Shore Christian School in the nearby town of Lynn. I've been talking with this private school since about March and we thought that I'd be teaching 1st grade. But due to low enrollment the 1st grade job became unavailable, so they offered me the Pre-K job. This classroom is known as a "satellite" and is completely separated from the main school. The classroom is located in a church and the space is shared with the Sunday School at the church. To be honest, when I first saw the room I almost turned around and walked away from the job. It was dirty and messy and I had a hard time seeing the potential, not to mention that I was wary about being separated from the main school. When I got home Curt talked some sense into me and reminded me that this preschool is really a ministry to the city of Lynn. These children are getting an opportunity to go to preschool that they may not have had otherwise. That sold me....and it's amazing what a little organizing and elbow grease will do to a classroom. I was even more encouraged when a mom decided to keep her child at my site instead of transferring her to the main campus after she saw the change in the classroom.
Around the same time I accepted the teaching job, my church approached me about working part-time in their Children's Ministry. Our church recently started up a new site slightly west of downtown Boston, in the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. They were in need of someone to head up their children's ministry at the new site. The job sounded like such a great fit, and after some prayer and thinking, I accepted that job also. So now I have two jobs!
In retrospect, it was probably not the wisest idea to start two new jobs at pretty much the exact same time....but I'm so happy with both jobs. It will definitely be a lot of work, but I'm just so excited to be doing something that I actually want to do. It's already been a bit overwhelming, but I'm thankful that I have an amazing aid and am just taking it one day at a time.
Here are some before and after pictures of my classroom...
Before: view from door
After
Before: view from back of the classroom
After view 1
After view 2
Before: nap time room
After
Aaahhh organized supplies....nothing better!
Come by and visit us sometime!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
1 year! (part 2)
Y'all. I've got some news to share...but I wanted to finish this post first. So you'll have to wait.
If you missed part 1, you can catch it here.
We kept on celebrating our anniversary all the way up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was absolutely beautiful. We found a great deal on a sweet little inn and had a nice, romancy time.
We heard about a place nearby where you can take a gondola ride up to the top of a mountain and hike around. It was a clear, beautiful day...couldn't have been more perfect! I hadn't been on a gondola ride since I went to Switzerland in high school. The mountain was quite a bit smaller, but otherwise it was just as awesome.
We were sad to leave, but hope to go back and camp with some friends once the leaves start changing. For those of you in this area, definitely plan a trip! It's beautiful!
If you missed part 1, you can catch it here.
We kept on celebrating our anniversary all the way up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was absolutely beautiful. We found a great deal on a sweet little inn and had a nice, romancy time.
road trip!
Our room
A little hiking before dinner...
Our view from dinner
Anything with onion rings, mashed potatoes, and gravy...count me in!
Curt's dinner....duck I think?
Curt's dessert...really yummy sorbet
Our wedding cake made the trip up from Virginia. Surprisingly, it was really yummy! I never got to have any on our wedding day so I don't really have anything to compare it to...
The inn where we stayed
We heard about a place nearby where you can take a gondola ride up to the top of a mountain and hike around. It was a clear, beautiful day...couldn't have been more perfect! I hadn't been on a gondola ride since I went to Switzerland in high school. The mountain was quite a bit smaller, but otherwise it was just as awesome.
View from the gondola...going up the mountain
View of Mt. Washington from the top
Ummm is this the Sound of Music or what??
Gondola!
We were sad to leave, but hope to go back and camp with some friends once the leaves start changing. For those of you in this area, definitely plan a trip! It's beautiful!
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