11 in 2011: Favorite Girls' Night out Events

While at Meredith I had MANY "girls' night outs." On Girls' Night Out, my friends and I like to....

- pose silly for pictures (this is the classic "first grade photo")

- smile awkwardly at the camera because we are afraid of awkward guys....

- dress up and have photo shoots....

- have awesome dance parties....

One of our other favorite things to do is to go and see an 80's tribute band called The Breakfast Club. They're awesome. Check them out if you get a chance.

What are your favorite Girls' Night Out events?

* sorry for the tiny pictures, blogger wouldnt let me make them any bigger for some reason?!

Project 52: Black and White

For the first week of project 52, I am going to cheat. *Gasp* Week 1 and I am already cheating?!

Since I dont want to have to play catch-up on my posts, I am going to post some black and whites that I already have taken and I will actually take NEW pictures for week 2 of project 52. Sound good? Good.

The following three pictures are my most favorite black and white pictures that I think I have ever taken. I took them with a manual Minolta camera that is ancient and developed them in a photography course I took a few years ago.

With this last picture, I love the dramatic difference between the light and the shadows.

What do you think?!

Project 52- sounds delightful!

So I have recently started following a ton of new blogs due to the "11 in 2011" blog thingy that I am doing and I love it! It has opened my eyes to all sorts of new posts and ideas for my blog to hopefully spice things up on this here blog of mine and really get the ball rolling!

If you recall, one of my hopes/goals for 2011 is to work on my photography skills more. Several of the new people I am following are doing this cool thing called Project 52. Project 52 is basically where you post a photo a week (for 52 weeks, aka the year) that you took that you think personifies a certain pre-set category. I'm in!

Here are the categories!

Week 1 - Black & White
Week 2 - Food
Week 3 - Self Portrait
Week 4 - Reflection
Week 5 - Ennui
Week 6 - Red
Week 7 - Time
Week 8 - Pink
Week 9 - Patterns
Week 10 - Morning
Week 11 - Round
Week 12 - Hands
Week 13 - Shine
Week 14 - Envy
Week 15 - Soft
Week 16 - Perspective
Week 17 - Love
Week 18 - Start
Week 19 - Free
Week 20 - Texture
Week 21 - Toys
Week 22 - Downtown
Week 23 - Summer
Week 24 - Heat
Week 25 - Fantasy
Week 26 - Water
Week 27 - Shadows
Week 28 - Light
Week 29 - Night
Week 30 - Macro
Week 31 - Nature
Week 32 - Clothes
Week 33 - Green
Week 34 - Map
Week 35 - Laughter
Week 36 - Child(ren)
Week 37 - Yellow
Week 38 - Candy
Week 39 - Pets
Week 40 - Never Ending
Week 41 - Sports
Week 42 - Books
Week 43 - Blue
Week 44 - Letter of the Alphabet
Week 45 - Innocence
Week 46 - Most Important Thing in Life
Week 47 - Heaps
Week 48 - Family
Week 49 - Favorite Spot
Week 50 - Metal
Week 51 - Three
Week 52 - Fun

Stay tuned for my project 52 posts!!!

* I found this list on several of the blogs that I follow, but the one I *think* it originated from Jes over at Bleu Dress & Dress Blues

11 in 2011: Favorite Things to Do on a Cold Winter Day

I dont really get a lot of COLD winter days since I live in Eastern NC, but I do enjoy it when they do come around!

I am not much of a hot drink kind of girl, I have always drank my coffee/tea/whatever as tepid, not hot- so that is not one of my favorite activities. HOWEVER, I can say that I do enjoy other traditional cold winter's day activities!

* Cuddling up with a soft blanket and taking a NAP
* Reading a good book (snuggled up in a soft blanket)

* Wearing FUZZY socks, oversized sweaters, and scarves.

* TV/Movie marathons

* Crafting!

* (and more recently) playing with Meredith in the snow. That dog loves snow!

What are your favorite cold winter day activities?

11 in 2011: Favorite Healthy Snacks

1. One of my favorite healthy snacks is hummus. You can eat hummus with pretty much anything, my favorite snack is to eat it with carrots (but you can eat it with any vegetables or even those delicious pita chips!)

2. A very simple snack, but cheese and crackers is always a good, healthy snack. It would be best if the crackers were multigrain. I prefer sharp cheddar cheese!

4. Tostito's Multigrain chips and salsa! YUM!

4. Very classic, very simple- apples! I love to bite into a good apple, but this snack has only recently become a favorite of mine.

I am really looking forward to reading other people's responses to this post because I am always looking for something healthy to snack on!

More on the tonsillectomy

I thought that my tonsillectomy recovery was going to be a-typical. I read a LOT of horror stories prior to having this procedure done about how horrible the recovery was going to be, etc. The frist three days of my recovery were a breeze. Sure, my throat hurt a little and I was very tired due to the pain medications that I was on, but it wasnt unbearable. Yesterday, I was in some pain... and today, I am in even more pain. My scabs have started to come off, which is a good thing, it means that my throat is healing, but it hurts horribly bad! So today has been pretty painful, and I hope this is about the worst of it.

To top it off, Meredith was very needy last night. I dont know if she was not feeling well herself, she was worried about me, or what, but I could not get her to settle down! Something you should know about Meredith is that she LOVES to go to bed. If it is past her bedtime and I am still awake, she will not stop harassing me until I am in bed with the lights out. She will groan, get in my way, or whatever else she can until I am settled in bed and she can curl up on her bed. However, last night she would not go to sleep! She kept sitting near my bed, resting her head next to me, and waking me up! It was like she was keeping guard over me or something, which is very cute, but it was very annoying when all I wanted to do was sleep!!!

So let's hope for a night full of rest tonight and some relief from my painful throat issues!

11 in 2011: Favorite Memory of 2010

Favorite Memory of 2010

Perhaps one of the most bittersweet days of my life, one of my fondest memories of 2010 was the day that I graduated from Meredith College. I loved my time at Meredith, all of the traditions I experienced and the memories that were formed there, and I was sad to see my time there come to an end.

11 in 2011: Best Organization Tips

I have a sick obssession where I LOVE to organize things, so this topic really caught my eye! My BEST organization tip, which sounds a little weird, is micro-manage!

For example, the books on my book shelf are divided into several categories:
- American Lit
- British Lit
- World Lit
- Contemporary Lit
- Children's Lit
- Teaching Books
- Teaching of English Books
- etc

Then, each shelf is alphabetized by author's last name. A bit obsessive? Maybe.

My files on my computer are also micro-managed, into folders, but even more micro-managed than my book shelves.

For example, I have one large "Teaching Materials" file. That file is then divided into the following folders: assessment, class beginnings, epics, grammar, lesson planning, lit activities, lit elements, miscellaneous, novels, plays, poetry, short stories, student resources, and writing. Each of those folders have folders inside of them (and some of those folders have even more folders inside of them) so that I can pinpoint my materials at a moment's notice.

This is pretty much my most valuable tip when it comes to organization, because it is the tip that I live by when I organize anything. All of my stuff is organized in this way!!!

11 in 2011: Places you Hope to Go This Year

This post was a little difficult because I don't really have any long-term plans other than finishing my Master's program and (hopefully) getting a job. I would like to take a few vacations this year, but I dont have any places in mind specifically yet. One place that I would really like to go, that I have been wanting to go to for a few years now, is the mountains during the fall. Its been several years since I have been to the mountains, and I dont necessarily have a specific destination picked out, but I would still like to go. Stay tuned to see if there are any surprise places I end up in 2011!

Tonsillectomy recovery

I had my tonsillectomy on Monday and I was pretty nervous going into it. I have never had any sort of procedure/surgery before and I didn't really know what to expect. My Mom took me in and my Grandma was there prior to and during the procedure to keep my Mom company.
All I remember was being taken into the operating room and being told to take 2.5 breaths of the anesthesia. I took 2.5 more breaths and thought "well that didn't work out..." and that was it until I was in the recovery room! I was in the recovery room for a little over an hour and then sent home.
I actually havent felt as bad and run down as I thought that I would. Monday night I managed to eat some ramen for dinner, but slept for most of the afternoon. Monday night wasn't very fun because I woke up every 1-1.5 hours to hydrate or pop some medicine in me. Yesterday I felt very nauseous and lightheaded all day long. I took several naps and just tried to rest as much as possible. Last night I didn't wake up quite as often as I had on Monday night. I just hope to continue getting better! My tonsils look pretty disgusting I am not going to lie, but overall it hasn't been as bad as I had feared! I will keep updating on my progress until I am all better :)

11 in 2011: Best Leftover Recipe

While I LOVE to cook, I haven't had much time to spread my wings as a Chef yet. Last year, I lived in an apartment with a roommate, but we didn't really eat dinner together so I cooked mainly for myself. Cooking for one is a lot different than cooking for more than one! This year, I am living with my Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle in order to finish my Master's program and I dont really have time to cook dinner.

So, while this technically doesn't count as a recipe, one of my favorite things to do with "left-overs" is make fried rice out of left-over rice. Whenever we have plain rice left over from the night before, I like to heat it up in a cast-iron pan on the stove, throw in a little onion flakes, soy sauce, butter, and hot sauce, and viola!

11 in 2011: Favorite Work-Out Tips

I just recently tried to make exercise a regular part of my life. I tried a few times throughout my time in college to go to the gym, but I really started to "get into it" in August with the Couch to 5k program. I didn't actually COMPLETE the Couch to 5k program due to illness, school, and other unforseen circumstances, but I really did enjoy doing what I DID do of the program!

At the beginning of December, my family joined SNAP Fitness and I LOVE my gym membership! I love the flexibility of a membership at Snap and how I can go where I want, when I want!

Without further ado, here are my favorite work out tips:

* Keep it hydrated!!!!- I have found that keeping myself hydrated is the key to a good workout. If I dont have the proper amount of hydration, I find it really hard to get through the workout and keep myself motivated.

* Keep it fun (fun playlists all the way!)- I am always searching for fun songs and playlists to work out to. If I have the right music, I will definitely last longer!

* Keep it social- since my whole family joined Snap, we like to get together to work out. Whether it is the accountability or a little bit of a sense of competition, keeping it social really helps!

* Have a goal!- One of the reasons I really enjoyed the Couch to 5k program was because it had an attainable end goal. I do plan to re-start the Couch to 5k program on the treadmill at the gym to prep for warmer weather and being able to run outside again!

11 in 2011: Favorite Holiday Memory

Favorite Holiday Memory

(please forgive my bangs in this picture!)

This topic is sort of hard to write about just because I just LOVE the holidays. I love shopping for other people, I love baking, I love the smells, I love being with family, and I love all of our family traditions.

So, I guess my favorite holiday memory would have to be any of the many memories of Christmas pasts. Every Christmas morning, my family wakes up (fairly early) to exchange presents and have a big home-made breakfast made by my Dad. This Christmas was no exception, my sister and I decided to spend the night on Christmas Eve despite the fact that neither of us live "at home" any more. This year also had the added addition of two furry friends, my beloved Mere Bear and my parent's dog Penny. Meredith and Penny get along wonderfully :)

Every Christmas my Dad makes a couple of batches of home made egg nog, we always eat Christmas dinner at my Grandma's, and we always ask what ever happens to those pictures we take every year?

I think this year was a little more special just because Cassandra and I dont live with my parents and we made the effort to keep our Christmas traditions in tact. I also loved having my Mere Bear to spoil a little this Christmas season!

So I found a fun "blog carnival" type of thing to do...

It's called '11 in 2011' and so I am going to go ahead and catch up!

Day 1: New Year's Resolutions

SInce I already did a similar post to this, I will make this brief. I dont really DO New Year's Resolutions, but I do like to start out the year with goals, hopes, aspirations, and the like.

For 2011, I hope that:
* my internship is successful and I complete my Master's In Teaching Successfully
* I find a full time job for the 2011- 2012 school year
* I find time to read more for pleasure
* I develop my photography skills more
* I spend some more time with my dog and get healthier

What are your resolutions?

It's not too late to link up!

What a way to start the new year!

Happy 2011!

I am excited to start what is sure to be a fantastic year; however, it isnt going to start out so fantastic. Last night I had to babysit so there were no fun bringing in the new year festivities for me and Monday I am having surgery! Monday I am having my tonsils taken out and I have heard a LOT of horror stories about adults having a hard time recovering from this. I am pretty nervous because the TYPICAL recovery period is 7-10 days with some people reporting trouble eating/talking/etc for several weeks. I have done a ton of research though and I think I have found some good tips on how to help along the recovery process. I went to the store yesterday and got completely prepared for post-op with children's tylenol (liquid), pudding, applesauce, apple juice, gatorade, popsicles, chicken broth, beef broth, jello, ramen noodles, and gum. Apparently I am going to have to wake up every hour to hydrate my throat and keep a humidifier on while I am sleeping so the area doesnt dry out. I have heard the key to this thing is to shoot for about 100 oz of water a day and just keep the wounds moist so the scabs are thin.

But on the bright side, 2011 will bring:
* a new internship with a wonderful mentor teacher.
* the completion of my masters
* a new (big girl) job (hopefully)
... and endless possibilities.

I have a few hopes for the new year, not necessarily new resolutions, but things I hope to accomplish
* get healthier (more fit)- hoping to get on the road to losing at least 40 lbs
* read more (for pleasure)
* develop my photography skills more
and there are some other, more personal things I will be working on as well.

Hope the new year brings you great joy and happiness!