O.K. So Mike bought me an IPOD shuffle just to be a nice boy that he is and I have totally loved it!

Since I am listening to it even as I speak, I’m going to play a quick game with mine. I’m going to shuffle and list some songs I have and what they remind me of. Yes. I am a dork.

“Bubbly Toes” by Jack Johnson. (My summer at BYU in 2005. Sitting on my bed reading Children’s Literature books and listening to this song.)

“I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain. (Two things. Working at Hogi Yogi with Adam Carley one of my best friends and partner in crime in high school and it also reminds me of Cinderella Story. Hehe. Cheesy movie.)

“Find Yourself” by Brad Paisley. (From the movie Cars. I loved that movie when it came out. It reminds me of this really sad car ride back from Salt Lake City with Brittany when both of us where crying our eyes out about things. )

“Lean Like A Cholo” by I can’t remember. (I laugh so hard when this song comes on because it reminds me of Michelle. There is a lyric that says ‘Dang! I like you, I like you, but I really want her’. So messed up. Michelle says it was my song after a terrible incident at a party where a guy only talked to her so he could talk to me. Very messed up but she was a good sport.)

“Summer Love” by Justin Timberlake. (Walking downtown in the fashion district of LA with Lindsey where either they played Beyonce or Justin EVERYWHERE!)

“Forever” by Chris Brown. (Great workout song but also reminds me of So You Think You Can Dance.)

“Love Story” by Taylor Swift. (Makes me think of Mike.)

“On My Mind” by Kalai. (When I roomed with Christy Bello and Jeantiel Jackson, who is Gladys Knight’s granddaughter. We went to Gladys Knight’s house and listened to him in concert in her backyard. Very cool.)

“Fighter” by Christina Aguilera. (My friend Felicia and I took a hip hop class with our teacher Al Money and he used this as our warm up song every week. I was a hip hop star! Haha. Not.)

“Feels Like Today” by Rascal Flatts. (Driving to Utah in my car with the windows open blasting this song and singing at the top of my lungs! Its deep if you listen to it.)

“Ride With Me” by Nelly. (My friend Kaycee and I would listen to this on the way to the Las Vegas Hilton to DDR with the Asian boys. We would kick their butts too. I lost so much weight that summer!)

“Semi-Charmed” by Third Eye Blind. (I saw these guys at the Delta Center in Salt Lake. Very fun concert. Also reminds me of my many trips to Provo.)

“Everything” by Michael Buble. (Michelle and Brittany love him. Makes me think of them when we all lived together. So fun. )

“Party Like A Rock Star” (The summer when I party hopped a lot. I thought I was so cool. Haha.)

“Shattered” by O.A.R. (I love this song right now. Reminds me of now!)

“I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. (Jason Mraz reminds me of when I worked at Disney in 2003 and I would listen to his CD ‘Waiting for My Rocket to Come’ nonstop as I drove the back roads of Disney trying to make it to the employee bus on time. I loved living down there. Disney and beaches all wrapped up in one summer. I was in heaven.)

“Time of Your Life” by Green Day. (My graduation song in high school. Just like everyone else.)

Yes, I am random and like random music. I’ll spare you more.

I flew down to Las Cruces for Thanksgiving Weekend to see Mike. It had been since Halloween since I had seen him so I was very excited! I did get a little homesick though. 😦 It was my first Thanksgiving without the family, but I still had a lot of fun. We hung out with family, bought a 52 inch flat screen tv, and played Wii! Here are some random pictures from the weekend.

I was sad to pack up the pumpkin from Halloween.
Mike was checking out my new decoration, the Christmas tree!

Pecan Pie at Thanksgiving Dinner!

I decorated the mantle too!

He doesn’t look too thrilled about the tree!

Brad and Christa at the kids table..hehe..

Mike trying on his suit. FYI I have NEVER seen the boy in a suit.

O.K. We got stuck at the kids table too…Haha…

The dining room decor….I wanted to show my sister. 🙂

I was sitting in the parking lot of Ulta trying to talk myself into going in and buying an amazing curling iron when I finally talked myself out of it so I could save a little money.

Then I got to thinking on actual things I have bought that I think have SAVED me money or I consider something absolutely great to invest in. So here are a few things I thought of.

I put Subway first on my list. Whoever came up with the idea for five dollar foot longs is genius. I go to Subway twice a week for a great meal and I even keep the calories down!
Every day for lunch I have a lean pocket. If you buy it in bulk, it’s so cheap!
Liesl got me started on Zip and Steam. This just saves a lot of time and you can totally reuse them!
I have been trying to find a really good concealer for a long time and since I can’t afford Bare Minerals, I have concluded that Tru Blend is a good investment if you are cheap. It rubs in easily and it doesn’t even look like you are wearing it, but it will cover up those dang zits!
Even though it was a stretch to buy one, I really think a Sonicare is a great investment. Since I have started using it, my dentist visits have been less stressful and it works so well!
Crystal Lite Fruit Punch rocks and I drink it every day. Go to Walmart. They are cheap there.
And last but not least, my favorite investment is my Chi. This bad boy works so fast. I went through three flat irons til I bought this and it has been a miracle!
Now I just need a good curling iron!

I find it funny that I finally get school spirit six years after I graduated from my school. I had cheap tickets too as a student and now I have to pay the regular price!

Anyway, yesterday Britt and I went to the opening game of the UNLV basketball season. It was intense but a great game all in one. My left leg is still throbbing from Brittany beating and squeezing it and I kept coughing the whole night from all the screaming I did. I love those games!!!

Woohoo! Go REBELS! 1-0!

I’m not posting this to brag, I promise! But when I get these forms in my mailbox each month, they crack me up! Every month the students have to nominate a teacher they want to win Staff Member of the Month and why. I love the reasons they give cause it makes me think about what I am doing every day when I walk around the classroom. Here’s what they put this month:

“I love the way she talks. She reminds me of Natasha Bedingfield.”

“She is nice and gentle.” (Gentle? Haha!)

“Because we do labs.” (Thats all they put. Nothing else.)

“Her creative drawing.” (They are mocking me because I draw stick horses on the board.)

“Ms. Bray is nice and I love science. And she’s pretty too. I love her teaching skills. I want to be a teacher when I grow up because of her.” (I’m giving her an A! 🙂 )

“When we have questions she listens and answers. Even if she doesn’t know the answer she will work hard to get the answer. “

“She is not afraid to have fun. She is always talking in a non-loud tone.”

“She has great discipline steps. She is fun, cool, and funny. She likes to be random. I am glad I have her fourth period and I can’t wait for the pizza party. Go Ms. Bray! Go Ms. Bray!”

“She always makes things clear by creating mental images.”

“She always has contests for us to enter and makes classwork seem really fun. For instance she makes weird noises like “Ew!” and “Gross!” She always keeps us interested.”

“I enjoy being in her class because she is so random. We talk a lot but we still get our work done even if we do get off topic. Ms. Bray is cool and I am not saying it just to get on her good side in fact I am not even kissing up to her. She’s just really cool. I nominated her last time but she didn’t even win which really stinked. I can’t believe it. But still its cool and I hope she wins this time.”

“She teaches us science very quickly. She relates to us very easily. She lets us understand science in a unique way. I’ve learned so much already.”

“She donates time to go to the store and getting things for our class. She also gives us the inside scoop on everything and she will get anything for the class to have fun.”

“I always look forward to going to science. She is a very kind and caring person who I know everyone likes to be around. Ms. Bray is the best science teacher I could ask for!”

“She even bought some class pets. Ms. Bray is always in a happy mood no matter what goes on. I’m sure she likes to teach science a lot. She is one of the best teachers at this school.”

“She smiles at you with warmth in her eyes. She gives you the best answers when problems are the worst. She gives out the best prizes when you do something good. I don’t know about you, but Ms. Bray is the best science teacher I’ve had in my life.”

“She also teaches us to be mature about things. She teaches us in a way we understand.”

“She is very hyper and she may run into something but she makes us laugh. She is very nice and does creative experiments. She makes hilarious jokes and loves to watch Brainpop. She runs crazily around to make our class great. Ms. Bray is the best teacher in the world!”

“She knows how to make learning fun. From making body systems out of play dough to weighing items on scales.”

This is why I teach! 🙂

I flew down to Las Cruces for Nevada Day Weekend and Halloween this year. Even though this was the first year in a LONG time that I haven’t dressed up, we still had fun celebrating Halloween.

Mike had requested that I cook for him since I haven’t cooked for him before (and he still proposed…brave boy!). No pressure or anything, but I ended up cooking for part of the family too. I made Mahogany Chicken, a recipe my sister gave me. It turned out pretty good. I really want a grill now!

I guess Mike is a huge fan of egg nog. He had made a request to get some at the store since it only comes out seasonally. This was his first egg nog this year. He likes it mixed with Sprite. Weird huh? I tried it though and it actually wasn’t that bad.

And of course I had to get some decorations. I love pumpkins! Mike was making fun of me because I wanted to decorate. So to get back at him for making fun of me,I snuck a pumpkin in and placed it just right so that when he woke up from his nap, it would be staring him right in the face! Hehe. (See my halloween cups and straws too!)

Matt, Kandi, Christa, and Brad came over to watch “scary movies”. We ended up renting 1408, which was kind of creepy! There were screams, mostly from the boys. 🙂 And we had some ice cream and watched Tremors afterwards. So not scary!

Overall (even though I didn’t get to dress up and party too hard) it was a really fun night!

I got tagged by Nina..so I have to post this! 🙂

The Rules for playing TAG:

*Link to the person who tagged you
*Post the rules on your blog
*Write six random things about yourself
*Tag six-ish people at the end of your post
*Let each person know he/she has been tagged
*Let the tagger know when your entry is up

1) I danced in Indian Pow Wows when I was little. My mom thought it would be cool to “culture” us with our heritage and we basically hung out with some Indian tribe in South Florida. I got ribbons for placing in “fancy dancing”.

2) Body pump is my favorite class ever. Three years ago I went to it and fell in love. It’s a weight lifting class thats set to music and pretty much keeps me motivated to work out.

3) I think I have a form of OCD. I make my kids in my classroom put all the books on the corners neatly before they can leave and if one book is out of place, I have to go fix it before the next class comes in.

4) I worked at Walt Disney World when I was 23 years old. I worked in the Magic Kingdom in Food and Beverage and loved it because I got free entrance to all of the parks. I love Florida too so it was nice to get away for the summer and play!

5) I have a tradition of leaving new things at Mikes (soon to be MY) house. Every time I visit him I have to change at least one thing. It’s become a game for Mike I think..haha. Poor boy. I do it to see how long until he notices.

6) I have a collection of stuffed animal Disney dolls and Disney movies. I am such a cheese ball but those things meant so much to me as a kid that I couldn’t get rid of them!

Ok..I tag Brittany, Kellie, Christa, Jen, and Liesl!

I love Britt. Not only does she have a blood curtling scream that makes me pee my pants every time she does it, or the fact that I’ve had many stories involving me laughing my butt off, or maybe its because she really likes Halloween and she basically goes all out every year decorating or making sure she has a great costume. I mean just a few weeks ago before I moved out, I opened my door and lo and behold a pair of candy corn socks were waiting for me (which I ended up wearing them to school that day). In the spirit of things, she had a Halloween dinner last night that was great as usual. The main course: Halloweenies and my favorite, pumpkin cookies for dessert.

Thanks Britt and others for the dinner! Good times!

Brittany and I were talking at FHE about when our best Halloween was and for some reason for both of us, the story of when we went to Utah popped in our heads. I don’t know if it was because it was the most random weekend ever, but it sure was one of the most memorable weekends.

I found a few pictures from that weekend so I had to post it in honor of Brittany and the Halloween weekend of FUN!

It all started with a drive up to Provo, where we decided to stop in Beaver, Utah. Bad mistake. We didn’t know that when you pull in the gas stations there that workers immediately walk up to you and try to wash your windows. Was I supposed to tip them? If so, how much? Let’s just say in all the awkwardness the guy got 5 bucks. Way too much for his own good. Meanwhile, Brittany leans over and got honked at for her bootilicious self. Haha. This picture was taken to remind us not to stop in Beaver on the way up to Provo ever again:

The night we got there consisted of party hopping. We ended up at some mansion in Salt Lake City which had a movie theatre and humongous back yard. Loved it. This was taken in the kitchen where I downed pizza and root beer:

We decided we weren’t done yet. So, we drove around Provo looking for some fun and were up to no good. Until…we came across we thought was a youth dance, but later found out it was a YSA dance where every single person had a costume on except us. We were dancing on the floor and realized everyone was moving away from us out of embarrassment. This was taken at their random Monsters Inc. board they had:

We then decided to leave the awkwardness and go to another party we spotted across from my old apartments at the Belmont (when I lived up there for the summer). The rooms were packed wall to wall. Brittany was grabbing butts, people were dancing on tables, people were breaking tables they were dancing on..it was a good time.

And then when driving home, I hopped out of the car to get a picture with the random person walking down the street as Strongbad:

And pretty much the rest of the night was spent at Christa’s apartment getting harrassed by people across the way that left a pumpkin with a huge knife stuck in it on the doorstep and then decided to chase us with a real chainsaw. At that point, I peed my pants.

Good times. Good times. This was for you Britt.

I need a costume. Pronto. Usually by now I have an idea of what I want to be, but I slacked this year. In the past, I usually wear two or three costumes for Halloween because of all the parties. They range from homemade to changing previous years costumes. Last year I was Cleopatra and the Bride of Frankenstein. The year before I was a scarecrow and something else that I can’t seem to remember at the moment. I’ve been Cinderella, a pirate, a cat, and a maid.

SO anyway, here are my ideas. I am on a tight budget, so I am trying to go more towards the homemade, but here are the options.

I was an angel when I was six and seven and wanted to know if I could pull it off at twenty eight. Haha.

We have our indian outfits when we used to dance at Indian pow-wows…it’s cheap and easy.

Pretty much this was the only cheap costume that was modest. I wonder why.

I have a Cinderella outfit…should I switch over to Snow White?