10.10.2010

let me tell you about my drive to work


I have a 45 minute drive to work that I love.
Yes, I hate having to get up at 5am but I need that time before work, to put in the simplest form, to wake up. 

On my drive to work, a few things happen...

I leave my apartment at approximately 6:30am (sometimes earlier, sometimes later). At about 6:35am, my dad calls me. I'm usually merging on to 280 at this time into the rush of morning traffic. After a short chat, I either start drinking my coffee or I have a touch of road rage... usually caused by people not using their blinkers, slamming on breaks, or just driving like insane people. Nothing major.

After I make it through malfunction junction, I am speeding up I-65 to the Mt. Olive Road exit. Depending on the time I leave, I could possibly get behind one bus that picks up three girls and then has another stop for a little girl that waits with her mom and dog at the next stop sign. The bus turns off shortly.

From there to my school, I have the chance to get behind one more bus that picks up students from a run down grocery store that the parents drive to and wait for the bus.... why don't they just drive the extra 3 miles to the school? That confuses me. But the bus turns left and I keep going to school.

The whole time I'm on Mt. Olive Road (10 miles), I pass 9 churches, cows, horses, miniature ponies, goats, and many stray dogs.

My favorite part is reading the church signs... one of my favorites has been "Gophers are the devil's postman." I have no idea what that means. 


9.09.2010

big boy birthday


it's boomy's first birthday!

and it was a circus!


and he was the ringleader





there were presents


and cake.


yum?


and party animals


and clowns!

happy birthday to my favorite nephew!

8.29.2010

last weekend

after a super long week at school, greg and i decided to meet in auburn for a 24 hour vacation. it is not quite halfway but pretty convenient for both of us. we didn't do any planning but after calling everyone we knew in the area, bed and breakfasts, and hotels... we finally found room in the inn: the hilton garden inn.

we bot arrived late afternoon/early evening on saturday and went to dinner at one of my fav's, amsterdam cafe! we elected to sit outside (we didn't want to wait for a loud table in the crowded inside). outside was quiet... and hot. and there was one fan on the whole porch. greg tried to convince the waiter to move it after a selfish family moved the only fan to point only on them. 

after din din we went to visit one of greg's good buddies that interestingly enough lives in my old apartment (next door to greg's old apartment). it was surreal.

on sunday we went to brunch at hamilton's and greg got a massive omelet. he's crazy about his protein. then we went to the prize of opelika, angels flea market and antique mall. it opens at 1 on sundays. we got there a little early bc we had nothing else to do. apparently, people plan their sundays around the opening of angels. when we pulled up, there was a line of eager people at the door. greg and i marveled at the sight and estimated the number of smokers in the bunch. 
we tried to hit the whole store but it is nearly impossible in the time frame we gave ourselves, an hour and a half. but greg did score some super vinyl records and i got some metal birds. it is one of our auburn pastimes. 



i love my barry manilow!
overall, it was a short but fun weekend. felt very vacationy. greg and i hadn't seen each other in three weeks so any time together was worth it. the whole weekend we talked about how much we love auburn and how it was the perfect location for our 24 vacation.

oh, i forgot to mention that a lady walked in on me in the bathroom at starbucks. i could see everyone ordering in line... that's how wide open she opened the door. when she finally closed the door and i composed myself again... i walked out and told her to "watch out... apparently the door doesn't lock."

8.16.2010

lessons i've learned in school... this week.


1. 5am comes really early.

2. 8th graders don't think i'm funny.

3. apparently rulers are the new slinky. attention parents: don't spend money on gaming systems, buy a $1.99 ruler!

4. 5th graders are kindergarteners in disguise.

5. it's not a good sign when a parent gives you every contact number, email, or address they have. or when they say "he's being tested."

6. read vitamin labels before taking them at night... especially the kind with caffeine.

7. reading bad spelling can make you a bad speller.

8. saying something once is not enough, twice is not enough, thrice... still not enough.

9. hide yo wife, hide yo kids, and hide yo husband....

8.15.2010

it only took me a month

what up, y'all!

i had to take a month long hiatus. sorry!
but this is what I have done in the last month...

moved
threw a baby shower
went to a couple of weddings
a lot of meetings
early mornings, late nights
wrote lesson plans for 9 grades
started school!!!

here are the afters of my classroom transformation... my mother still has the before pictures.

view to the door from my desk

from my desk to the front
another wall
view from the door and yes the whole room was that yellow
bulletin board that im really proud of :)
kiln "room"

ahhhhh!

i'm still weirded out that i am the teacher. what? i felt like i was "playing school" on wednesday. i haven't given any spankings yet... just a couple of "talking to-s."

and you can see my classroom blog at cornerartk8.blogspot.com

ok, so i'll try to be better about posting now that i'm getting things under control... but thanks for your patience! ha

7.14.2010

mid-week jam :: wonder-ous


thanks to greg, i have a lot of stevie wonder on my ipod... and i love it.
this is one of my faves.

can't you see eddie murphy or jamie foxx playing stevie in a movie?
have one of them already done it?
i haven't googled it yet.

7.12.2010

weekend scenes :: nothing special

i really didn't do anything this weekend but sit on my computer and stalk a few blogs. 
but...
my sister is planning a circus themed bday party for my nephew. 

ive never been to the circus but i would love to join one.
so here are some of my circus etsy picks:










see you next time when the show comes around!



7.09.2010

happy friday


happy friday, y'all!
this video is from the other night.
a group of us played catch phrase.
if you can't tell, shundale was the best player.
she really got into the game.


7.08.2010

weekend scenes :: trip home

i went home for the fourth of july.
the fourth of july is one of my favorite holidays.
i love fireworks. i love being outside. i love america.

my sister, brother in-law, and nephew came home too.
unfortunately, the weather wasn't always cooperative. 
we played by the pool when we got the chance.

now feast your eyes on a bunch of pictures of boom boom:

he loves to swing.

he loves to eat.

fruit salad. 

he loves tiny b.

he loves his car.

he and uncle geg make the same faces...


he loves to fly!

he loves us!

boom!

6.30.2010

mid-week jam :: rip mj


i totally forgot last week was the one year anniversary of michael jackson's death!
so in honor... this is my favorite mj song.
you know, the late michael and i have a few similarities (besides wanting to make a change).
my initials are mj (mollie joy) and my auburn email was a total dedication to the king of pop:
blackmj

now go start with the man in the mirror!

6.29.2010

t.m.i. tuesday :: cornicopia


tip:
floss your teeth! they don't get better with age!

joke:
what did the fish say when it swam into a wall?
dam!

fact:
alexander hamilton was first on the $5 bill (he's on the $10 now).


i am moving sometime this week or next week or whenever, but i have done some serious purging and organizing of stuff....
i went through my closet and drawers.
i went through ALL of my magazines and pulled out the pages i wanted to save (except for martha stewart's, i kept the whole mag).
then i put the pages in page protectors and organized them by categories.
i organized all my folders on my computer.
i organized all my internet bookmarks.
i went through all of my school work and threw away more than half!
went through my random pictures and put them in a box.
went through all of my cards (birthday, graduation, thank yous) and put them in a box.
yeah, ive been busy.

k, bye.

6.28.2010

weekend scenes :: party trick


this weekend... i laid by the pool. got a tad bit burnt.
i purged a lot of my belongings... 
and learned how to make that amazing heart out of money.
i feel accomplished.

sunny and i went to mama jo and papa jack's for dinner on sunday. 
sunny played pretty sweet with my two younger (6 and 2 year old) cousins.
sunny doesn't often see people under 5 feet.
therefore, she doesn't know how to act.
but she made me pretty proud. she only made the 2 year old cry once.
yay, sunny!

she's had a lot of exposure to the little people lately... tina brought her niece over last week to help me make a pie and sunny barked her little face off.... for 2 hours straight... 2 days in a row.

baby steps.

6.22.2010

t.m.i. tuesday :: story time


here are a few stories i heard this weekend that i thought were worth sharing...

"who's your daddy?"
my friend wade works at the sheraton in downtown birmingham. she is a catering sales manager. if you wanted to have an event at the hotel... she is the girl that would answer your questions. she was telling me that she has had some interesting inquiries for events. wade said that she answered the phone and a lady wanted to know about having her event at the hotel. wade asked what type of event she was thinking (usually, birthdays, weddings, showers, etc). the lady responded with "a baby daddy revealing party." wade said, "ok, and how do you see this event unfolding." basically, the lady said there would be 5 guys (potential baby daddies) on stage with spot lights that could be turned on and off to reveal the daddy. long story short... this event did not take place. i wonder who the daddy was? 


"night terrors"
greg and i were having a discussion on snoring (a certain friend's husband is a snore-er). greg and i both said we had relatives that could one up this husband on the snore meter. mine is my grandmother who has to have a separate hotel room any time we travel... there is some story about me getting real upset with her when i was little while staying at a hotel. anyway, greg said, no that his uncle owen was the best snore-er. why?, i ask. uncle o screams between snores. (i wish i had video of greg doing the impression, it was awesome). greg continues to tell me that uncle o has night terrors and ran through a wall when he was in high school while asleep. also, he spent time in bolivia and the group he was with moved his cot outside while he was sleeping because of his snoring/screaming. greg won.


"i like to have fun?"
wade recently got married to robert. wade and robert frequent a gym down the road from where they live in birmingham. wade noticed that another couple was often there at the same time working out. wade also noticed that she frequently made eye contact with both parties of the other couple and mentioned it to robert. one day wade and robert were leaving the gym when the other couple approached... the woman initiated the conversation with the usual "hello, how are yall?" "fine, good, " say robert and wade. then the woman says, "do yall like to have fun?" wade said "yeah, we like to have fun. there are a lot of places to go out. we like to go out and do stuff." then the woman said, "that's good but do yall really like to have fun?" robert catching on says, "no. no we don't." and led wade out the door. hmmm...


"a bad episode of cops"
an acquaintance of mine is a cop in carrollton, ga. i ran into him (chris) at the wedding this weekend and asked if he had any fun stories from being a cop. he said that he and his new partner were chasing a bad guy and the guy got out of his car on foot and ran into the woods. he tells me that when that happens, the cops are supposed to stop where they are and send out the dog. another cop had the dog and that this a new dog that hasn't been out in the field much. the dog's handler is getting the dog all psyched up to catch the bad guy. the dog is all antsy and ready to go. chris's partner is weary of dogs and is kind of getting freaked out while the dog is getting psyched up. the partner takes a few quick steps away and the dog locks in on him. when the handler lets the dog go, the dog attacks the partner (the partner also ran). chris says the dog jumps on the partner and he freaks out screaming "get him off of me! get him off of me!" and everyone just laughs. they get the dog off and the partner wasn't hurt. just had a lot of drool on his vest. a few moments later, they hear a whistle from the woods. it was the bad guy... he surrendered because he didn't want to get attacked by the dog! 

6.21.2010

weekend scenes :: introducing the kents

and another friend gets married...
this time it was kati lanier and will kent.
i met kati our sophomore year at auburn.
we both made cheerleading and pretty much became instant friends.
i met will shortly after.
they started dating a little bit and then kind of dwindled off...
he dated another girl (we had to pretend not to like him or her).
but i wont forget the time we went to chili's and will saw kati (he was with his gf) and he stopped by our table and never took his eyes off of her (not even to speak to me and collier!).
a few months later, kati and will became an item during the summer we have dubbed... the summer of love, 2007 (wade and robert also started dating).

crazy enough, will and kati grew up a few short miles from each other and never knew it until they met at a football game in auburn. and that is where they fell in love, got engaged, and married!


the day begins!


i modeled the bridesmaid dress a la lady gaga.


the rest of the bridesmaids...


and kati with her sister, jami!


here are my new best friends, the flower girls. 


they wanted to take a picture of me with my camera...


but couldn't quite get me in the picture.


my sweet greg made it!


dream come true: photo booth!!!


we had a really good time in auburn. kati's family knows how to plan a wedding... they've had a lot of practice this year (jami got married in october!). 

greg and i hadn't seen each other in 3 weeks so we decided to hang out in auburn on sunday before i had to go back to the birm. 


i hope you had a great weekend!