You Know I Love A Good Koozie

What southern girl doesn't love a good koozie?

Keep one in your purse.

You never know when you might need one.

 

So when Miranda at Life in the Lowcountry told me she was hosting a give-a-way and it included koozies - heck yeah I jumped on that!

 

And these koozies are adorable!

 

 

 The koozies are from Pink House Press.

They have different designs and colors to match your taste.

 

All you have to do is follow Miranda here, and heart Pink House Press on Etsy.

Leave Miranda a comment saying you did, and you're in.

How easy is that?

 

Happy Koozie Winning!

In All Honesty - Inspiration from A Sweet Georgia Peach

I read a blog yesterday that was incredibly eye opening.

I was immediately drawn in by her pure honesty and openness. 

She was brave and courageous for sharing her struggle.

And in all honesty, I really related.

 I met (kinda) Kerri over at A Sweet Georgia Peach in college.

We had the same dream of becoming a teacher.

We had many classes together.

But never actually spoke to one another.

Somehow, in this crazy blog world, one blog led to another, and I eventually stumbled upon Kerri's. 

I realized I knew her from college, and again realized that  I loved reading what she had to say in her "corner" of the blog world, as Kerri says.

Kerri took an unknown break from the blog world for a little bit.

For unknown reasons to her readers.

Truly, I figured she was really busy with school. 

(I know I'm about dying for Thanksgiving Break and it's not even October.)

So as I read through her post yesterday, I thought a lot to myself and a sense of surprise overtook.

Her reasons for taking a break were not what I expected.

She openly shared her feelings about not feeling good enough.

And since I entered the blog world, I can honestly say I've had the same feelings.

Looking at all the trendy outfits. Buying expensive bags and shoes.

Having babies. Getting married. Buying houses.

And yes, I'm about to say this...

Reading about girl's amazing relationship with God that seems to never fail them. 

Reading those things makes me feel inadequate at times.

Yeah, I know I have nice things.

I know I'm very blessed.

But sometimes, it doesn't feel good enough.

Jealousy? Maybe sometimes.

Insecurities? You bet. 

Of course, God plays a huge part in my life.

But sometimes their relationship seems much more powerful than mine.

Personal issues that I need to work on, obviously.

Kerri said all the same things that I've already felt.

But the difference between Kerri and I, was that Kerri was brave enough to admit it.

It took Kerri's post to push me to share my struggles with my readers.

(Even if I only have a handful of followers.)

So with that being said, I vow to be more open and honest regarding my struggles in life.

I don't ever want to come across as one of those girls who has everything, and nothing goes wrong. Because that's unrealistic.

My goal is to be relatable, like Kerri was for me.

Those are the blogs that I find the most interest in.

Not the perfect lives, perfect outfits, perfect everything blogs.

Because I'm not perfect.

I owe a HUGE thank you to Kerri.

Thank you for being brave, honest and relatable.

You were very inspirational.

I can only hope I can be the same for somebody else. 

Weekend Shenanigans: Through Instagram

After a pretty long and rough week, it was nice to have such a fun weekend.

Friday night we headed to Paul and Ashley's house for Paul's birthday party.

Ashley planned a surprise party for him, inviting all his friends and family.

It was Cody's job to keep Paul busy while Ashley got everything together. 

She did a great job with food for everybody, especially those dang chicken and cheese nachos.

[I've been craving them ever since.]

Bonfire, games and a liquor piñata for the birthday boy.

 

Saturday, Cody and I had headed to Suzi and Tyger's house for a party.

Suzi and Tyger adopted our sweet little flower girl, Elizabeth Grace, almost three years ago.

I love seeing her, and thinking just how adorable she'll be walking down the isle.

Sunday, Cody was at the Falcons game on the field as a "ball boy."

What does a ball boy do?

Keeps a ball in play at all time.

His dad has done it for a few years, and Cody always gets to when one of the regular guys can't make it.

So since I was left with Hank and Maci, I was able to plan some lessons and grade some papers.

And if you thought you sucked at spelling, try being a second grader.

I'll leave you with this attempt of the word, "sheep."

Life is tough in second grade.

Link up with Sami y'all.

Life in Second Grade

Here's what's going on in second grade thus far.

1) I have been tying shoes like crazy.

Question:

Why send your child to school with three foot long shoelaces if they can't tie your shoes?

Answer:

To torture me.

2) It's cold season.

In the summer.

Last month, my class won best attendance for the month.

In the handful of days we've had together in September, three to four kids have been absent daily. Sure, a smaller class size is nice.

But my boxes of tissues are paying the price.

3) We're getting a new second grade teacher.

I am NOT okay with this.

They're trying to lower our class sizes.

(I have 26)

I have grown to love my kids.

I really don't want to lose any of them, or their shoelaces.

4) I'm so far behind.

I'm way behind in grading papers, organizing my classroom, completing lesson plans, finishing my evaluation, my bulletin board, etc.

And I typically stay until 5-6 PM every day.

What is going on.

5) Yesterday was September 11th.

My kids thought that meant it was Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Day and my favorite, Groundhog's Day.

Very hard for me to grasp the concept  that these kids were born post 9/11.

6) Girl brought caterpillar to school in a jar in light of learning about life cycles.

It died.

Didn't have the heart to tell them.

7)  Got asked what makes a boy different from a girl.

Eyelashes. Long hair. Skirts.

That's it.