Loving these new tunes...

Been listening to both of these a lot lately. 

They have a very soothing groove, and I need that right now.

Things have been insane, and it's been a hard week.  

I have one last assignment to alter, and then I'm done for the semester. I'll catch everyone up on my life then. 

For now, I'm just going to keep jamming to these songs. 

And staying positive and happy, because things are finally looking up. =)

♥

Oops...

Let's face it, people.

I'm sure you were all taking bets on how long it would be before I missed a day. 

3 days.

I intended to blog, but crashed on the couch during the 11 PM news and woke up when my husband got home at 1AM.

Oh well. 

A double posting today, then.

Yesterday, I was thankful for...

Misty.

I got to chat with my good friend last night after way to long.

Our lives are pretty hectic, so it was really nice.  

We have been friends for several years, 

and even though she lives in Chicago now, 

I still consider her very close.

We share many interests, and always have awesome and interesting conversations.

I am looking forward to seeing her again (whenever that may be)

and I am so excited for her little man to get here in February! =D

And today, I'm thankful for...

Music.

The Civil Wars concert is finally here!

I'm so pumped, I've had my tickets since August.  

Music is a very important part of my life, and I'm thankful for that.

It's truly been a summer of music for us. 

We saw Amos Lee, 

Ray Lamontagne, 

and now the Civil Wars.

Three of my all-time favorites.

Man, i love Music.

♥

Mail that makes me happy...

Civil Wars Tickets and Mother Earth News Magazine.

Heck. Yes.

♥

Sweet Summer Nights...

Had such an amazing time at the Ray Concert.

We got a late start, because I had to work, so we grabbed some Panera (yum!) and walked to White River, stopping at the government building to scarf our food.

 White River is such a wonderful venue, there really wasn't a bad seat. They also provided chairs, which I thought was really cool.

And, we couldn't have asked for a better, more beautiful night for a concert.

 I was so excited that The Secret Sisters opened for them!

I love them, and they are so wonderful live.

 Jamie is not really a fan, but he stuck it out for me. 

 hahaha, he loves me. 

Then Brandi Carlile came out.

And she. was. awesome. 

I am totally going to get her CD. 

And then the wonderful Ray came out.

He was such a great performer, and incredibly gracious as well.

After the concert we went to Steak and Shake with some of Jamie's friends from work who were also at the concert. 

It was an incredibly fun night, and I would love to see him again.

♥

This weekend...

Had a garage sale this weekend. 

It was kind of a surprise, all of the sudden, on wednesday, a sign went up for "Community garage sale, this saturday!"

Oh hey, thanks for the notice!

So we threw some stuff together.  

We were even hauling stuff out of the attic the day of the sale.

I didn't have high hopes for the sale.

But, I was wrong. 

we actually made $50!!!

We are going to use it as mad money, and save it for when we want to do something on a whim.

Which makes me super excited. 

On a sad note, yesterday, I lost one of my favorite earrings.

and not just lost it. 

It quite literally fell out of my ear as I bent over to pick something off of the floor...

and it fell into the toilet.

Yep. Seriously. 

I tried to get it (the water was clean)

But it was gone. 

way gone. 

I am super, super bummed about this. 

These were some of my favorites.

I wear them all the time.

Ugh. 

Just my luck.

Good news, however, is that we are going to see 

Ray Lamontagne

tomorrow night!!

It's going to be an awesome time, even though I have to work the whole morning. (long, complicated work story.)

Looking forward to spending a night with husband, listening to some great music!

♥

new musical love...

The Civil Wars.

Just bought their album "Barton Hollow."

It's fabulous.

And wonderful.

And enchanting.

Not to mention that they just might be the cutest little married couple on the face of the earth.

Love it.

♥

Don't believe everything you read...

I am a lover and firm believer in home remedies for things.  One pretty big trend of late is creating serums to improve your hair. 

This is an article I read in a magazine a few weeks ago.

Here is the exact little blurb...

"Need some volume? Lifeless strands got you down? in a bowl, mix one egg yolk, a half cup of honey, two tablespoons of olive oil, and two small, ripe avocados. Apply the concoction to the entire head and leave on for one to two hours, until hard. Shampoo and condition as usual. "This is a miracle cure," notes Goddard-Clark. "And for extra-bouncy, nonfrizzy curls, Drew Barrymore taught me to blot ringlets dry with paper towels." 

I thought this was pretty cool. I love such things. And I have quite possibly, the finest, limpest, wimpiest hair in the world. I have to use a ton of product to get any sort of volume.

So, last night I decided to try this!

I went out and bought honey and avocados specifically for it.  

First off, do you know how hard it is to "mix" an avocado? They are not liquid. At all. The best I could do was little pea-sized chunks.

Second, it was quite possibly the worst smell ever.  You know how pumpkin guts smell when you take them out? Imagine that smell, only this concoction smelled like a pumpkin that had sat out in the sun for a week. In other words, rotten.

So, when I had mixed it to the best of my ability, (and created an AWEFUL mess in my kitchen) I took it to the bathroom to put it in my hair.  

Then all of the little avocado pieces began to fall out of my hair. It was raining pea-sized avocado in my bathroom. So, I decided I had to keep it contained somehow. 

This was the only way I could think of.

I felt like the kids in "Signs." No aliens were going to read THIS mind.

So once I had that, I had to go clean up the mess in the bathroom. Which, I found out when I got in there that I didn't actually have to clean up the floor, because Minnie had graciously done that for me. What a good little helper. So, I got all of the avocado mess off the counter and out of the sink, and went about my business.

About an hour later, I decided I couldn't stand the tinfoil anymore, and had to go wash it out.

This is what my hair looked like at this point.

Eww. 

So, I get into the shower. And with little avocado pieces raining down around my feet, I start to wash it. And then I wash it again. And then I was it a fourth time. After that, it FINALLY started to feel like hair again, and not a grease ball. So I conditioned, and let it dry.

So, after all of that trouble, this stuff totally made my hair...

Oh. Wait. 

It did nothing. 

That's right. 

I did all that crap, made a huge mess, wasted money, and my hair is as flat and lame as ever. 

Lesson learned.

In other news, Jamie and i have been having WAY to many arguments about the house being clean. It sucks to have to deal with such things when you work as much as we do, but it's a part of life. So, we are officially going back to a chore chart. 

After many emails back and fourth, and several revisions, here is the final product.

I even laminated it at school today, so that we could write on it with dry erase markers and then wipe it off, so we don't have to print new ones every month.  Awesome.

There are four things per day, and when you complete something, you initial. This takes the burden of having assigned things each day, and we can help each other out and pick up the slack. 

Lets hope it works.

Got my tickets for Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs!

Woohoo! July 14th! So excited!

Oh, and I'll leave you with a video of my dog being a lunatic. 

This happened randomly the other night.

She's such a goober.  I love her.

♥

Things that make my heart happy.

Even with all of the really awful stuff mentioned in my last post that has been happening, I have been really thankful that it is spring break.  

It has giving me a great chance to relax, have a little fun, and deal with things a little more calmly. 

Here are some things that have really helped me, and made me smile again.

Getting to go to church.

Eating out with my love. It's killing my calorie counting, but it's oh so worth it.

Going to concerts. Amos Lee was so great.

Planning to go to concerts. Ray Lamontagne, here we come! July 14th!

Planning our summer getaways. Chicago and the Carolinas, we're headed your way. 

Getting to sleep in. This has been wonderful.

Getting to just hang out with my friends. Can't wait for Saturday!

Finding out that my friend Emily will live 5 houses down from me this next year. Awesome!

Shopping. Always good.

And, taking a risk and making a change, that totally payed off!

Love my new haircut!

Let's just hope that the week continues to be good. 

I need it.

And here's hoping that I can get all of this stuff figured out, with a little help from upstairs.

♥

I believe in the power of Love.

What a weekend.

I'll start with the good. 

Last night we went to the Amos Lee concert.

It. was. great!

I Love Amos Lee. His music is very soothing to me. 

And I love my husband even more, and being with him, while listening to that music,

was so, so good for my soul.

Unfortunately, the cold that I have been fighting to avoid for almost two weeks came on in full force. So, I was very busy feeling like crap and blowing my nose during the show, but it was still awesome. That cold has not subsided, so needless to say I still feel like crap.

But my world has also been rocked in a major way.

To make a very long story short, my class portion of the semester is a separate grade from my student teaching portion of the semester, and while my student teaching is going amazingly, (not sure if that is a real word, but oh well) and I have an awesome grade, my professor has told me that she doesn't feel I have done well enough to currently pass the class portion, due to one bad paper and two papers that were not turned in on time (only one of which was my responsibility).  With only four weeks left to fix it. And unfortunately she's not being very proactive about helping me fix it. 

So, there is a good chance I may have to retake this semester. 

I cried all day Thursday and all day Friday.

This completely turns my life upside down, and pushes off all of the plans I had. 

And on top of that, I have never failed at anything. Ever. And especially not at something related to the one thing I feel I'm meant to do. 

I feel like such a loser, and really stupid. 

I know I shouldn't, because I know that I am capable, and this is just a setback, and I really am meant to be a teacher. 

But this is very hard on me, not just because of all the work I've done, but because my self-confidence has received a huge blow.

I told Jamie I just want to quit. And there is a part of me that does. 

He won't let me. And I know there would be a long line of people behind him to kick my butt if I did.

I'm just not sure what to do now.

How do you rebuild confidence after something like this?

If you know, please share it with me. 

Because I'm going to need some help.

I'll leave you with an Amos Lee song that I love, and that lifts my heart when I hear it.
It's been helping.

I just wish my seat had been this close. =)

♥

Here we go, Ladies and Gentlemen..

Here. We. Go.

I started full-time student teaching today. 

I will be working full time at the store AND full time student teaching for the next two weeks.

Insane. 

I will say though, that I love being in the classroom full time. 

Love it. 

It just reminds me that this is where I'm supposed to be. Even with all of the challenges I face in that school, it's where I'm supposed to be.

So, this past weekend was sort of Jamie and I's last hurrah, and it was great.

Saturday morning we got up and made pancakes, yum! And then we both went to work until midnight. 

When I got home, he said, "We should go out." 

To which i readily replied "Yeah!"

I don't think he expected that, but he followed through. 

So, we went to Claddagh's, Howl at the Moon, and then Steak and Shake.

It was so fun.

But, we didn't get home until 4 AM.

So, needless to say, we slept in on Sunday.

I was feeling a little under the weather, anyway. 

After I crawled out of bed and took some Tylenol, 

we took a bike ride!

We put on earmuffs, gloves, and coats, and rode around our edition and the edition across the street.  

It was great, but also reminded me of just how out of shape I am.

And that is REALLY out of shape.

Yikes.

Then, Sunday night, I watched one of our pre-streets, called "Get Low"

Pre-streets are movies that are at the store before they go on the shelves. 

It's a lovely little perk of working at Family Video.

"Get Low," however, was one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I love small, independent titles, and this was a great one. 

Seriously, it was absolutely wonderful. I was really, really impressed, and I would recommend it to all.

And, I'm really excited, because there were TWO previews of movies that I think look awesome!

I have also found a new musical love. 

Dum da da dum!

Florence + the Machine.

They are awesome.

I bought their CD "Lungs" and it is awesome. I just love her voice. 

This is the video from their most famous release "Dog Days are Over."

Just a warning, the video is VERY eccentric, so please don't let that turn you off of the song. 

Because it's awesome.

And there's some good news around here!

Minnie's ears are finally getting better!

The white little spots on the tips of her ears are where the sores were. They have scabbed over and healed, which makes me a really, really happy woman. 

She's pretty happy too, I can tell. 

Well, I'm off to do the last little bit of homework I have before biggest loser. 

♥

The REAL Oh happy day...

I watched the movie Secretariat all day at work today. (If you haven't seen it, check it out, it is a surprisingly awesome movie.)

Most of the day I was doing work and not paying attention to it. 

But...

twice during the movie, a song comes on.

And even though I wasn't paying attention before, it caused me to stop, and listen. 

And every time, it gave me chills. 

And a big smile.

It is "O happy day" by the Edwin Hawkins singers, from all the way back in 1969. 

And it is extremely uplifting.

I hope any of my friends who are going through a rough patch (you know who you are) =) will listen, and hopefully enjoy it as much as I do.

Make sure you listen all the way through, as it changed a couple of times throughout.

Enjoy.

♥

"Windows are rolled down.."

Sorry to have neglected you, friends. 

This is how I know my life is too busy: I have been trying to find time to blog since Thursday. And it's Sunday. Seriously.

I'm going to regret this tomorrow, I can already tell, because I have to work 8-6. But, I need my me time, and this appears to be the only time I can get it. 

As Jamie says "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

Hahaha, that reassures me on the nights when I only get 4 hours of sleep. Not. 

You all remember my post about the amazing, awesome, wonderful ice storm right?

Well, that wonderful storm got me an entire week off of school. A WHOLE WEEK. 

It was amazing.

This is what I did for those three days. 

By the end of my three days, I was starting to feel kind of lazy, so I did the dishes and some laundry. And then I watched more movies. 

I guess I am just a person who needs my down time.

It was awesome.

I also got to spend those mornings with Jamie, which was wonderful. He didn't have class either. We slept in, and cuddled, and then made breakfast, and then hungout. We haven't done that practically since summer.

I will say that by being out of school, there were some problems caused at work, because even though the schools were shut down, they expected people to brave the weather and come in even though they weren't scheduled. It created a mess, but hopefully the worst is over. Hopefully.

Then yesterday, I worked until 4, and then we picked up Natalie and took her shopping at the mall.  She bought some hats at Hot Topic, and we just hung out. It was nice to spend time with her, and she needs all of the support and positive influencing that she can get right now. 

Then we went out to dinner with my whole immediate family (which is amazing in itself, because we all work ridiculous schedules) to congratulate my little sister and her new fiance. We took Nat along, and I think she enjoyed it. She spent the night with us last night, and we took her to church this morning with us, which is definitely good for her. 

I also found out that my friend CJ is coming home for a whole month on April 9th!!! I am so excited about this, I can't wait to see him. 

He has been one of my best friends for many years (this is a picture of us in high school) and I am so excited to get to actually see him in person, instead of through skype. He has lived in Pensacola for the last year because he's in the Navy, and at the end of the month, he'll be transfered to North Carolina for three years.

And, more good news, we are going to see Amos Lee in concert at the end of March!! 

I bought our tickets and his new CD last night! I now have all four, and I love them all.

I haven't been to a concert in a while, I am really excited about this one. 

If you are interested in hearing his first release from the new album,

Click Here.

I love it.

So hopefully, with all of these positives, and after a refreshing week, I can survive this next one.

Hopefully.

♥ 

I'll be there....

Listening to "I'll be there" by the Jackson 5.

Oh little Michael, what happened to you?

Love this song.

Got up and made Jamie and I pancakes this morning. 

It was so nice, we never get to do stuff like that anymore. 

Then we did homework.

I am really proud of myself, I got a lot done.

Then when he got back from class, I made us lunch.  

Lemon Chicken, 1/2 a baked potato, italian bread, and a spinach and strawberry salad.

It was great.

Oh, here's my dilemma of the day.
How do you tell your mother-in-law that she has the wrong date for your birthday?
I got a happy birthday phone call this morning, and a message saying she had a present for me.
My birthday isn't for another 5 days.
So, how do I tell her that without sounding totally ungrateful? Because I really do appreciate the thought, and that she took the time to call me and everything.
I am considering taking the cowards way out and letting her think that today is my birthday for the rest of my life.

Now that Jamie is at work, I am finishing off my meal with the best dessert in the whole wide world!

Turtle Trails Dairy-free ice cream.

It is unbelievably delicious.

And has a ridiculously small amount of calories compared to regular ice cream.

Yum.

I had a really horrible day at school yesterday.

To make a long story short,

Our classroom teacher vetoed our lesson plan on forensic footprint/shoeprint analysis that I spent 3 hours and $20 creating 10 minutes before we were supposed to teach it, because she typed "footprint analysis" into Google, and it brought up stuff that could possibly lead to evolution.

Seriously.

So, my group and my instructor stood up for me, and said that they thought that was ridiculous, it had nothing to do with that, and I got so frustrated and upset that I started crying.

It really, really sucked.

So, Emily, Amanda and I went out to the Japanese steakhouse in Avon to make ourselves feel better, and then came back to my house and drank wine. 

It was a really great ending to a really horrible day.

So blessed to have those girls in my life.

Have a busy day tomorrow! 

Working 9-3, and then to Matt and Emily's wedding at 4:30!

Super excited that they are getting married tomorrow, I love those two.

They are going to do great things for God together.

Then, Jamie and I are going to The Melting Pot that night, to celebrate my birthday!!

So super excited about that.

The Melting Pot is my absolute favorite.

Well, have to go get ready for work soon, I work 4-11, and then have a meeting at midnight (yuck.)

But, I wanted to mention one more thing:

Today would have been my dad's 50th birthday.

I've been kind of bummed about it all week, but I'm really doing okay today.

Been thinking about all of the good times.

And listening to a lot of Beach Boys. They always make me think about him and smile.

Happy birthday, daddy.

Daddy holding me in my strawberry bikini when I was 1. One of my favorite pictures.

Wish you were here so we could celebrate it.

Miss you.

I love you.

♥

Does that make me Crazy?

Having a rough week.

Inside of a rough month.

And unfortunately, I know for a fact that it is going to get tougher later this week.

Which is why I am trying to cherish today.

Today has been good.

Really good.

Not stressful, more....Easy.

Almost forgot what that felt like.

To just have one day where it didn't feel like something was crashing down around me.

It's been nice.

So, I have been music browsing to continue my relaxing evening.

I love the song "Crazy" by Gnarles Barkley.

If you're unfamiliar with it, you can hear it HERE.

I also love Ray Lamontagne.

Love. Love. Love.

He is SO soulful, he can touch my heart in an instant.

Well, I found this tonight in my music hopping.

It. Is. Glorious.

Unfortunately, I can't find it to purchase ANYWHERE, so YouTube will have to do for now.

It's such a glorious song, and hearing Ray Lamontagne's gorgeous voice singing it just gives me chills.

Love it.

That reminded me of a really cool cover band that a friend introduced me to at Ball State.

It is by a band called "Me First and the Gimme Gimmes."

I had forgotten just how much I loved this cover until I heard it again.

So, I started clicking on some others by the gimme gimmes.

Turns out, they have 4 CD's, and they are all punk rock covers of famous songs.

They are ALL amazing.

For example....

"I'll be there" by the Jackson 5

"Leaving on a jet plane"

"Sweet Caroline"

and from their county album (yes I said country,)

"Jolene" by Dolly Parton.

These guys are awesome. 

I have so much respect for their creativity and talents.

Going to try and do some homework, chill out, drink some tea, hang out with my lovely dog, my precious cat, and wait for my amazing and wonderful husband to come home.

Love him.

And I'm so thankful that i have him.

♥

Need new tunes....

I'm quickly becoming a Mumford and Sons fan.

Love this song.

Adding this to my list of wanted CD's that can be found here. 

Definitely using my personal budget next week to get at lest one of the four CD's I want.
Excited for new music.
Not excited for the 2 papers I must now go write.
lame.
♥

Love this song..

"I am a honeybee

shut out from the colony

and they won't let me in.

So I left the hive

They took away all my stripes 

and broke off both my wings.

So I'll find another tree,

and make the wind my friend.

I'll just sing with the birds,

They'll tell me secrets of the world.

But my darling honeybee

stuck where he doesn't want to be.

Oh, my darling honeybee,

I'll come save you even if it means

I'll have to face the queen.

So I'll come prepared, 

my new friends say they will help me

get my loved one back.

They say it isn't right,

the bees have control of your mind,

but I choose not to believe that.

So we'll meet in the darkness of the night,

and I promise I will be there on time.

We'll be guided by my new friend, the butterflies,

They'll bring us back to our own little hive.

Oh my other honeybee,

no longer stuck where he doesn't want to be.

Oh my darling honeybee,

I have saved you, and now that you're with me,

we can make our own honey."

This song is "Honeybee" and is by the lovely

Check her out.

♥

weekend in a nutshell...

Had a really nice weekend.

Definitely not wanting it to end. 

Thursday I went out with my friend Emily from class and her roommate Karin.  

We went to my favorite, Howl at the Moon!

We had a really good time, even though we left pretty early because we are all lame and had to work in the morning. 

Friday night I was supposed to go see Trampled by Turtles, 

but...

Amanda ended up spending the day with her mom instead, so I had no one to go with,

and, to be honest, I really needed a night to just stay home.

So, that's what I did. 

I hung out.

and it was glorious.

I'm sad I missed them, but oh well.

Saturday was our family reunion on the Blankenship side,

and Michael, Ben, and Carrie came up!

They are my family that live in South Carolina, and they only come up once a year for the reunion.

They are so fun, and Jamie and I are talking about taking a trip down there to see them,

maybe this summer.

Then we went to the Eric Johnson and Andy McKee concert.

 I thought Eric was boring, but Andy rocked.

He is one of Jamie's favorites.

Today, after work, we went and had dinner with my parents.

and of course, 

Dexter.

Oh my goodness, how I love that dog.

He is literally like a spoiled kid brother.

Excited to see Misty this week!
We are having a tea date, as usual, and i am sure we will swap plenty of crappy customer stories, as well.

Been missing my husband a lot, again.

This weekend was great though, there were a lot of nights where we got to go to bed at the same time, and just talk. We don't get that very much right now.

I love him.

Staying positive, and loving my (busy) life.

♥