Back to School

WOW- it's almost August! Time to start sharpening pencils & get ready for fall. Not that my intention was to turn this in to a fashion blog but who can NOT think about back to school shopping when you're a girl?! So First thing's first. I don't think I want to cut my hair anymore. Maybe that was just a summer thing but I think I want to just put some dark brown streaks in it & give my hair a good trim. Too bad that's going to be expensive but luckily I got another job to pay for it! Yep, I'm teaching a class for UVU! It's a community photography class & it'll give me an extra 50 bucks a month that Evan wants me to spend on me. Cute huh? I'd really like some back to school clothes though too so I don't know... Here's some things I love/want/but don't necessarily NEED- ok ya, maybe they're kind of a need. I gotta be in the hip/in style teacher so that my students will want to go to europe with me. RANDOM- I forgot to mention (speaking of old students)- Evan & I went to church & one of my old students is on his mission in our ward! He just got transferred out here- WEIRDNESS- I AM OLD_ OLD _ OLD!

Ok- back to back to school clothing...

Because I'm an art teacher & can get away with this...

ZELDA SKINNY LEG JEAN - RAW DISTRESS

and something for working out

SEXY YOGA SHORT from Express--- I think I haven't tried them on but they look SUPER comfy. & the Yoga pants look awesome too since I guess inevitably it WILL get cold again in Utah. Sigh...

And that's all that's really on my mind right now. I'm not sure what to put with the skinny jeans besides a white t-shirt & scarf because I HATE the vest/ HUGE shirt that makes you look fat look.

I sure wish Stacy & Clinton from "What Not to Wear" would magically show up at my doorstep but they're not doing a show in Utah anytime soon. Lame. And I've been looking at fashion blogs but some of the stuff just isn't practical & the rest is too immodest. The only one I really like is http://www.thestylediet.com/.

Anyway- I just want something different but not totally outrageous & of course, I still want to feel pretty & in style. Maybe I'll chill out once I get home. People in Utah care less. I remember my old photography teacher was always dressed so classy though & it made me respect her more because I knew she cared about stuff.

Randomness

So lately I have been up to random things- of course! I've made some new friends, been on some excellent trips but I've also had a lot of learning opportunities. Although there are things I hate about the internet there are many things to be grateful for too. For one- google reader. This is an awesome new feature that makes it really easy to keep track of all y'all. Instead of having to go to each blog & trying to remember your addresses- google reader allows me to automatically see if you've posted anything new! It's kind of like an email reminder. Very cool. And since this feature is so cool I decided to go blog searching. So now the second good thing about the internet...

Blogs! What an awesome resource! I have found so many photography & art blogs to teach me how to better form my craft- but I've also found some fashion blogs that I now frequent. Looking at these helps me with the newest fashions so I can still be hot for my husband! Especially because I HATE the newest fashions! These fashion blogs allow me to peruse fashions without spending hours wasting my time looking in stores for something that I would actually wear. I didn't like the 80s or the 90s for their AWFUL fashions so why would anyone bring them back? Although- I must admit, as mentioned in a previous blog, Evan made - yes MADE- me try on some skinny jeans. I thought I would hate them. My mom usd to wear these & Stacy & Clinton on "What Not to Wear" said they make you look like an icecream cone- although now I'm sure they're selling them by saying how fabulous they make you look. One down side to skinny jeans- you need to be skinny to wear them. I've seen to many girls out here that are 15+ lbs over weight & they should not be in skinnys. Not to offend anyone though because I think I can barely pass to wear them- it's time to go running & back on a diet- difficult to do when you're on a permanent vacation. Anyway- I digress- Blogs are awesome.

Something else I love- PLaylist.com. Here you can generate your own playlist with music from around the world! Freaking awesome! You don't have to buy music anymore because you're not stealing- you're streaming music off of the internet! It's like radio only no adds & you get to choose what you listen to and when. The only bad thing is that sometimes the songs are no longer posted on websites so you have to update it once in awhile. I think I've had to update mine like twice in the last year so it's no biggie.

Facebook is a love/hate relationship. Love it to keep up with your friends. Hate it because it's addicting. Enough said.

Travel deals! Evan and I are going to Puerto Rico thanks to the fabulous internet! We figured out it's only cost a couple of extra hundred (ok I know that sounds like a lot but for a week long beach vacation in the Carribbean it's not bad at all) bucks. I'm totally stoked! We leave Aug 8th & come home the 15th.

Anywho. There's my grateful list for the day as far as internet things go. I'm very excited to come home- see everyone - go camping/hiking & good old bbq's!

Boring

Hi

I'm pretty boring lately. I've been busy with curriculum

(ALMOST DONE WITH TERM 1 AND THAT"S ALL I"M DOING DANGIT! I"M FREAKING SICK OF THIS, I DON"T FEEL LIKE I"VE HAD A BREAK AT ALL AND I"M ALREADY STRESSING ABOUT SCHOOL STARTING!)

but today I made myself go outside for a bit. I jogged to the gym! Hurray! And I plan to do some grocery shopping later too- see I'm very exciting.

But- on the weekends we do fun things so check out my other blog http://simplifiedtravel.blogspot.com

last weekend we went to Gettysburg& Harper's Ferry & I plan to post on it soon. I'm also hoping that Evan will want to go walk the canals tonight so I can get some great shots there.

Blogs

So I've noticed that the really oober popular blogs all focus on one thing and one thing only. Whether it's fashion, art or technology (or travel! :) simplifiedtravel.blogspot.com) this is what people want to read. So sorry family and friends but I will continue to add posts about random stuff that's on my mind and random activities that we are up to. :)

Speaking of fashion blogs I was looking at a couple and since when is looking like a bag lady "cool" or "hhhhip" (in the words of Stewie and his Coolwhhip). I know an actual bag lady who dresses like this. She lives down the street. I will even try to take a photo of her. Don't get me wrong. I am all about (newly converted) the skinny jeans and th sexy scarf look, I'd even take a larger shirt with the skinny jeans (it jut looks better that way) but make it fit you. The shoes are also horrible.





This looks more refined and MUCH more classy, minus the ginormous shopping bag of course :)

See? I'm not totally against the new 90's/80's look that's now in style. All I ask is that they do it with some class! I'd love to copy this outfit on the left with Zelda Skinnys from Express and this Hollister shirt but the shirt is 50 bucks!!! Ridiculous! But ohhh so comfy and ADORABLE.





















Unlike Kristin Stewart's outfit. I'm pretty sure we used to make fun of kids who dressed like this. As much as I love Kristin Stewart DON'T copy this please! It doesn't look good AT ALLLLL!






On another good note I get my running shoes today! Hurray! I can finally work on my goal of being super fit as soon as possible. My current runing shoes have served me well but I bought them my sophomore year of highschool so they are falling apart to the extreme- even to the point where I don't feel safe running in them anymore. The bad news is that running shoes are 100 bucks if you want the good kind (wrong kind of shoe = very bad injuries now and expensive surgeries later in life) so Evan wasn't too keen on the idea of buying me new ones. We were all ready to spend 65 bucks- which was a very good deal- and then we waited just ine more week and found something similar for 30!!!! yes that's 30 bucks for New Balance stability shoes in my exact size! Hurray Amazon & hurray for my elf sized feet! :) 6 2AA (narrow). Anyway- we're going for a run tonight & I CAN NOT WAIT! Of course Evan will have to because I"m probably so out of shape he'll have to stop alot & get really annoyed with me ;)--- hehe, just teasing honey! We all know you're very patient and nice :) that's why I married you! Ok enough blogging for the day- I've got to go to work on my curriculum now. Sigh.... Hey when I get my site up it's going to be awesome! www.simplifiedart.com and it'll be up by August 20th- right hon? ;)

What have I been doing?

Hey remember if you want to check out what trips we're up to check out my travel blog http://simplifiedtravel.blogspot.com

So-
Since no one will hire someone for only two months and since I am a terrible liar and would feel too guilty telling someone that I wanted to work there for a really long time I have been keeping very busy with touring DC, taking care of Evan :), cooking pita bread weekly, reading good books, and working on my curriculum on the days that Evan doesn't need the computer. Today is such a day. I really SHOULDN'T work on it since I don't get paid for my many many many hours but I think by doing it NOW I will be much less stressed out during the school year... hopefully! Evan's also going to help me set up my website for my classes http://www.simplifiedart.com For all of my art ed friends you can see my calendars, demo videos, powerpoints, and any handout for my students. I actually have spent about half of my time researching curriculum of other teachers and "stealing" their best ideas for projects, etc. So, hopefully I've got a rocking year planned out for my students! Something else I'm really excited about is my classroom management plan. I don't really have problems with classroom management. Most students (I think) respect me, they're quiet when I need them to be and they have fun in my class. But last year I had a VERY difficult class that took longer to settle down. So I have a new plan. I'm going to divide my classes up into houses like on Harry Potter! I am even buying glass jars & different colored marbles. Each time the WHOLE CLASS is on time, they get points. If the WHOLE class is quiet while I'm lecturing and makes comments, they get points, if they keep the room spik and span they get more points.... etc. Disruptive behavior or irresponsibility loses points. The winning house gets a pizza party at the end of the semester... Or icecream depending on my classroom budget. Most students don't care about their grades- I know! SAD- but they DO care what other people think of them so I think this will put the right kind of pressure on them to do well in my classes. Anyway I'm excited about it. Well I had better get started oon my curriculum. It's not everyday I've got a computer! Don't forget to check out our trips on my travel blog. I'll be posting new trips soon :)