Back to life...back to reality.....

Actually, my first week back has been very nice. Monday was a little on the slow side and I was tired but overall its been a good experience. I must be basking in the glow of today's lessons with my students because I am in a really good mood. We did a review (nothing exciting) for their test tomorrow but we mixed it up with a little competitive jeopardy where they rotated. I think they actually had fun!

What's new with the Streets you ask? Well, I will tell you. We returned giddy from our trip to Lubbock last weekend with five houses as frontrunners to be our next home. It was a fun experience to look for our first home, although it is kind of weird to open closets of homes where people still live. You can see some interesting stuff in there! We saw Colton's family Saturday for Colton's dad and nanny's birthday. It was an all around good time.

We are headed back to LBK this weekend to see those five houses plus two more new ones to try and begin really narrowing down the ones we like. I am excited. I will also attempt to make some good connections at the job fair I am going to so I don't have a home but no job. :)

Our P90X experience began this week. (We hit a speed bump last week with me being on spring break so we decided to scratch our first week and begin again.) We have been getting up in the mornings at 5:45 to do the workouts. Yuck. I wish I could be like my mom who is skinny as a rail and can eat as many Oreos as she wants. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Here's to hoping this sunshine sticks around!

XOXO,
Devin

Spring Break Euphoria

Did I mention I LOVE spring break? Okay...I just love breaks in general because it means I can do whatever I want whenever I want. Sleep in? Check. Make breakfast? Check. Pedicure? Check. And the list goes on. Let me tell you last Friday when the bell rang after 7th period I may have beat Usain Bolt's 100m time on the sprint to my car! A smile was plastered across my face and I was overflowing with joy. Freedom...aagh!

My break has been just what the doctor ordered. A little Tech-TCU baseball action followed by dinner at the Mellow Mushroom with our friends Luke and Leslie who came to visit us from San Angelo,  Greenville on Saturday for the St. Patty's parade and party, R&R on Sunday (after the quick jaunt to Dallas...see below), a visit with my dad on Monday and a pedicure, shopping Tuesday for my friend Lizzy and Susanna's wedding showers, and lunch yesterday with Lizzy in Dallas at Kona grill. Today is actually the first day I have not gotten up and gotten dressed immediately. I am still in my pajamas as we speak. :)

So...to reference my quick trip to Dallas from above...apparently I must have felt from somewhere deep within that I could not move on to the next stage in my adult life until I completed a step from college/post college years that many people go through. I had somehow managed to avoid this fate until Saturday. I lost my cell phone. In my rational thinking, I thought it would be a good idea to take my phone out of my pocket and set it on the ledge in the restroom on Greenville so the phone did not drop into the toilet. Note to self....next time you employ this bright tactic remember to pick up said cell phone. Lucky for me, the young lady who went after me grabbed the phone and turned it in to the counter. A very generous and kind hearted man picked it up and called my good friend Vanessa but she could not hear him. So, the case of Devin's missing phone began. The saga continued through Saturday up to Sunday morning, when above mentioned man called my husband and told him the phone was in good hands, he had made only calls to a "Vanessa" and to him. He promised to meet us after he got off work training for his new job at the Angry Dog in Dallas, which is how I found myself driving back to Dallas with hubs Sunday afternoon. End of story-my beautiful purple flip phone (no I do not have a blackberry or Iphone) was returned to me unharmed. Colton may tell this story a little differently if you ask him.

My fun laden spring break will culminate with a trip to Lubbock this weekend to begin our house hunt. To put it modestly, I am SUPER excited. We are lined up to see about 10-12 homes. It is also my father in law's birthday so we will celebrate with a birthday dinner Saturday night. Woohoo.

A last thought before I part to pack and prep for Lubbock...I am anxiously awaiting the release of New Moon and The Blind Side Dvds this weekend. Yes....I like Twilight. Yes...I am 26 years old. No, I do not care if it was meant for teens. Oh..and the Blind Side is one of the most inspiring movies I have seen in awhile. It ranks right up there with Dangerous Minds and Freedom Writers. And I love Sandra Bullock.

XOXO,
Devin

Spring break...where art thou?

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, while I will enjoy my journey through the light (aka spring break), it will only bring me to yet another tunnel. This tunnel will be much longer considering we have no breaks again until school lets out for summer. Alas, the life of the poor teacher. I know others probably become frustrated when they hear teachers complain about their schedule and lack of breaks when needed but to them I say "Ha! You try dealing with 120 14-15 years old and a smattering of 18 year olds!" I do truly love my job and I would not have any other career (okay okay...I could defintely be paid to travel around the world to "investigate" what is fun to do in exotic locales or to own my own bakery). Spring just brings many obstacles to the average teacher's path: TAKS tests, spring fever, and senioritis that has become magnified times ten. Let's just say each day brings new joys and challenges. What can I say...life always stays interesting for teachers.

To add to the chaos I call life, Colton and I desperately need to begin our house search. Oh..and a job for me would be nice. We are planning to head to Lubbock in two weekends on the last few days of my spring break. Organizer that I am, I made Colton sit with me this afternoon and make a list of things to do and not to do while searching for a house. On this list, I added specifications we will be looking for in a home (for example-lots of storage space) and then I forced him to make a list of the houses we have found online that we would like to see. He constantly tells me he thinks I am a little OCD with all my organizing and specifics about the ways things must be. I just tell him I like to know where things are/what we are doing. :)

My 101 in 1001 list has been on the backburner lately and I feel like I need to get back on the tasks. It's so easy to place it on the bottom of my to-do list but I really want to accomplish these things for myself so more attention must be paid.

I finished my good friend Lizzy's shower invites. I will try to post pics later. They turned out very cute and I even printed them myself, thankyouverymuch! I will be working on her shower and bacherlorette stuff over spring break.

Since I did not update last week, Colton and I have found a new restaurant in Fort Worth we like. Its called the Mellow Mushroom and they serve pizza, beer, and wine. Its delicious pizza and I have a feeling its going to become one of our regular dinner spots on Friday evenings. Usually, Friday is our date night and we have spent the last two at the Mellow Mushroom. Move on over Cheers....you have nothing on the MM. We also spent last Sunday at the Fort Worth Zoo. It was one of the first truly nice days of spring so we decided to head to the zoo and then to the new Cooper's barbecue for lunch. We had a fun time looking at the lions, tigers, and bears....and monkeys and zebras and giraffes....... but, to our disappointment, the reptile section was closed. We will have to wait until the new museum dedicated to all things cold blooded opens. Coopers was good, too, and for me to say that is saying something. Normally, I am not a lover of barbecue but Coopers has a variety of food offerings for all palates. Colton ordered so much food he had to take some home and eat leftoevers!

Spring is showing signs of life and summer is on its way. Tomorrow, we will begin our 90 day love-hate relationship with P90X. We have yet to do it the complete 90 days so we shall see.

XOXO,
Devin