Press Rewind

I told myself that I would blog more this summer & sadly, I lied. But maybe this post will make up for it, because I'm bringing back the 90s (& some 00's - since we all know the 90s didn't end until 03 haha)

I wanted to do a fun post, and a post some people would be interested in, but if you weren't born in the 90s then this post may not be for you, sorry.

We all remember (& honestly still listen to) bands like Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Christina, etc. but there were other bands/singers out there that we loved just as much & have almost forgot about. So here are 25 songs that we were OBSESSED with back in the day, but have completely forgot existed. ENJOY :)


1. 5ive - When the Lights Go Out



2.  B*Witched - C'est La Vie


3. All-4-One - I Can Love You Like That


4. Dream Street - Sugar Rush


5. All Saints - Never Ever


6. Nobody's Angel - I Can't Help Myself



7. No Authority - Can I Get Your Number



8. Westlife - Swear it All Over


9. Samantha Mumba - Always Come Back To Your Love



10.  3rd Faze - Go Slow


11. Jennifer Page - Crush


12.  M2M - Mirror Mirror


13. Real McCoy - Another Night

Couldn't choose just one Real McCoy song, hahaha.

14. Real McCoy - Automatic Lover



15. A*Teens - Upside Down (Bouncing off the ceilings)



16. Hoku - How Do I Feel (The Burrito Song)



17. Vitamin C - Smile


18. Christina Aguilera & Ricky Martin - Nobody Wants To Be Lonely


19. Jump 5 - All I Can Do


20. 3LW - Playas Gon' Play


21. La Bouche - Be My Lover
>


22. Christina Milian - From AM to PM


23. Mandy Moore - Candy


24. Jordan Knight - Give It To You


25. Freaknasty - Da' Dip

 

 

 

diy valentine's day idea!

So as a newly married woman (since August), this will be mine & Jonathan's first Valentine's day living together & as a married couple. Therefore I really wanted to do something special for him. Something different. I've seen TONS of ideas on Pinterest, and I really wanted to try something better than the 14 days of treats, because my husband is not a big candy person. So small gifts such as sweets does not always work for him. So I stumbled across a post on someone's blog, I wish I had saved the link so I could share it, but I didn't, but the post showed you how to make your own scratch cards - so that's what I decided to do for my husband.
14 days of scratch cards!

What you'll need:
Any paint color
Dish soap
Index cards (I would recommend something stronger though such as card stock, but these work as well)
Paint brush
White crayon

How-to:
First I created my image on my computer using PhotoShop, but you don't have to do that. You can simply use marker, pen, or whatever you wish.
I tried to make each card different, so here's your opportunity to be creative as possible!

Here is an example of what my cards looked like after I printed them on my computer.
If you choose to do that then all you do is create the text & hearts however you wish on your computer, then print using the index card option, and it prints your image right on the card.
Then I hand wrote his prizes in the hearts such as:
Foot rub
Back rub
Dinner & movie
Pack of beer
Shoulder massage
Redbox movie
New shoes
Dinner
Etc.

Next:
Use a white crayon & color over whatever you want to be scratchable. I forgot this step a couple times & had to re-do some cards, so this step is very crucial for the scratch card to actually work.
Then, you want to mix equal amounts of paint & any kind of dish soap on a plate. I used Ajax & I used Acrylic paint from Wal-mart.
Then just mix your paint & soap together & paint over what you colored with the white crayon.
You'll more than likely have to do several coats. I believe if you were using a stronger form of paper like cardstock, you wouldn't have to do so many coats, but index cards were all I had, and they still work the same.
Let them dry completely & then you have your own home-made scratch card!
I can't wait for my husband to get home from work so I can give him his first card, he's going to love this idea!


















































Let me know if you decide to do the same for your man & how it works!
Also let me know if you have any questions at all :)

my brother is super talented.

about 2 years ago my brother got the chance to travel to Atlanta & audition for The Voice. Unfortunately, he did not qualify to compete on the show. Everyday my brother still tries to achieve his dream, and I am so proud of him. So I just wanted to share his talent with you all :) oh & he writes his own songs. All of these songs in these videos he wrote by himself!
Enjoy!

if he doesn't cry when i walk down the aisle, i'm doing it again.

 "If he doesn't cry when I walk down the aisle, I'm doing it again"

So I have been slacking on the updates. I really don't know what I was thinking when I decided to get a blog because when school is in session, I really have NO time to keep up with this. But I figured this summer I will be able to update more, and some on the weekends - like today.

So I have decided to dedicate this post to my husband. Sometimes I don't give him enough credit for the things that he has done in my life, and how truly amazing he really is.

We met back in 2007 & have been dating ever since.
This was our first picture we ever took together & it was taken the night of our first date & the night we "officially" became a couple:





Jonathan is my best friend, he always has been. We've been together since we were 16 years old; technically I had just turned 17 but who's counting.
Jonathan & I went through a lot together, but we always overcame it. always. We were there for each other no matter what, and when he popped the question on December 25, 2012, I was so speechless I forgot to say yes at first. I was crying so hard, and then it hit me - he just proposed to me! YES! YES! YES! of course! I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else.

Jonathan cried too, and that's what made it so special.

So I wanted to share some photos of him on our wedding day. No one really pays attention to the groom on the big day because it's supposed to be "all about the bride" but I wanted as many pictures of Jonathan as possible, and my photographer did just that for me. I felt that the day was as much his as it was mine, and his face was better to photograph than mine. Words cannot express the emotions that were going through his head, but these photos captured them pretty well.

 And these were his face as he first saw me start walking down the aisle. These mean the absolute most to me & I think these are the most powerful photos ever:

 Yes he cried. & when he cried, so did every single person in the audience, as well as me. I was fine until I seen him, and he was crying & then I lost it:

I wanted nothing more than to marry a man who loved me, & God blessed me so when he gave me Jonathan. These photos show so much love (&nerves) on his face, and I love this man more than anything, more than words can describe.

He's my better half.

 & if you have a better half, give him a kiss & show him how much you love him too!

Why you should not become a teacher.

 “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”

So it's been a few days since I last posted, I have been slacking lately. Well to be honest, work started back today so I have been busy preparing myself to start school back.  So that's what I've decided to make this post about; my job.
So maybe you're going through a stage in your life where you aren't sure what you want to do and you're possibly considering teaching.
Here's my story and why I chose my job, & why you shouldn't, but before you assume negative - keep reading :)

All of my life I knew from day one that I wanted to teach. From the time I was old enough to teach my barbies, baby dolls, and younger brother, I was doing exactly that. I would make my brother do the workbook pages from my workbook that the teachers would say we weren't going to do. Marshall absolutely hated playing school, but I loved playing teacher!
In high school I thought about the reality of teaching, and the fact that there really wasn't that much money in it. So I set my goals higher. I wanted to make a lot of money and I didn't care how much school I had to have in order to get there. So when it was time to start preparing for colleges I decided that I wanted to go into being an orthodontist. Nowhere in our area offered such a major and when I looked into other schools, my mom realized we couldn't afford to send me out of state, so I was really bummed.
I then received loads of scholarships and financial aid from UVa-Wise that I never, not one time, had to pay a dime for my degree. I went into UVa knowing that my heart was in teaching, but I just did not know what exactly. So English was my first choice, it took me 3 years before I fully decided that Special Education was where my heart was at. I was required to take a special education course in order to get a teaching license and when I had to do my field experience for that course, I FELL IN LOVE. After I finished my field experience, I went straight into advising and changed my major and I have never felt more confident about my decision in my life.
I was absolutely blessed beyond measures when I was hired at the same school I interned at, and every single day I wake up excited to go to work. I mean, working at Little Caesars for 5 years really did stink, literally, and I could NOT wait to get out of that place. Therefore, my new job is the most amazing blessing that has ever happened to me.
I want to spend the rest of my life as a teacher.
I want to encourage other people to have a passion for school as much as I do.
There is just something so special about what I do, and there is nothing that irritates me more than people who do not take teaching seriously. So if you're thinking about becoming a teacher, I have some small advice:
Reasons why you should NOT become a teacher:
1. Do not become a teacher because you want every weekend off.
2. Do not become a teacher because you only want to work 8-5.
3. Do not become a teacher because you don't want to work on snow days.
4. Do not become a teacher because you need a summer vacation.
5. Do not become a teacher because you want to coach a sport.
6. Do not become a teacher because the college classes were easier than science.
7. Do not become a teacher because of state benefits.
8. Do not become a teacher because "you only work half the year."
9. Do not become a teacher because you like being in control.
10. Do not become a teacher because it's "easy money"

When you're teaching, you do NOT get every weekend, holiday, snow day, summer break off. You never stop working. The students you meet in your classroom stay in your mind 24/7, and you are constantly planning your next lesson, idea, how to improve this, increase this score, etc. The teaching never ends, regardless of what you think. You don't leave your classroom at 5:00 everyday, some days you're in that school until dark because your lesson did not go as well as you thought and tomorrow you get to teach it all over again. The point is, on paper sure teaching looks "easy" but ask ANY teacher you know, and we will all tell you the same answer: it's not.
Teaching is all about passion.
If you're going to be a teacher, do it because that's where your heart belongs, NOT because you want summer/winter off. Do it because you want to improve someone's life, NOT because you want to coach a sport. Do it because you want to watch others achieve, NOT because you work 8-5 & are off on weekends - because TRUST ME, there is so much more to teaching that what you think, and yes you may get all that time off but you NEVER stop working.
Therefore if you're only wanting to become a teacher for the "so-called benefits" then save us all, especially students, the trouble of having to deal with you as a teacher, because you're not only going to fail yourself, but the people around you as well.

I hope this post does not offend anyone, but nothing rubs me the wrong way more than someone who is teaching because of the reasons above. I can name countless people who are in teaching because that's where their heart belongs and that's where they belong, and people such as them are what makes school the most wonderful place there ever was. But I can promise you, that as you were reading those reasons several teacher's faces were coming to your mind, and you did not remember those teachers because they were your favorite.

In conclusion: Kids won't always remember the things that you taught them, but they will remember you.

top 10 goals

So in my last post, I said that I had not made any new year's resolutions for myself and truthfully, I still haven't. What I have done however, is made a list of the top 10 things (in my opinion) that I find to be the most important things to do in the year 2014, in order to make myself (& yourself) happier. You don't have to agree with my opinion, but I think these are really good goals to set for yourself. Let me know what you think! :)

01. Clean out your Facebook. Seriously. Take some time to go through your friends list and delete some of those people who really don't need to be on there. (if they still don't have a profile photo that should be an automatic deletion!) Oh and delete those old horrid pictures, I promise someday you will be older and more mature and you will regret those photos.. I'll admit, I still need to do this one.

02.  Read more. I cannot stress the importance of reading. If you have children, read to them. If you have siblings, read to them. Read to yourself, read to your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend. Just read! If reading isn't for you, try starting out with something you're interested in such as a magazine, and then work your way to books. Reading is good for your soul, as cliche as it may sound. So read, read, read!

03. Take pride in yourself. Sometimes I understand how hard this is for people to do, and I get that we have way too much on our platters to worry about than ourselves, but I feel that taking time out of our stressful and hectic days to pamper ourselves is much needed and appreciated in the long run. Some things you could do would be to go get a pedicure, randomly. It doesn't have to happen every month, but every now and then treat yourself to a pedicure or manicure. You could even wake up 5 minutes earlier and add a little extra eyeshadow, or tease your hair just a little bigger. When you're nice to yourself, you feel better and more confident, and I promise, confidence shines.

04. Listen to music. It actually doesn't even have to be your favorite, but just something you like or really enjoy listening to. Make yourself a cd of songs that just make you happy in general, and try to listen to it on your way to work or school or whenever you're driving, & it's okay if you catch yourself belting out a few high pitches here and there, singing is beautiful! (Note: You can use youtube converter to download pretty much any music on the internet)

05. Compliment your better half. If you don't have a significant other, you can just skip this step, but for those who do, seriously let them know how much you appreciate them. Try to make room in your day to compliment them as much as possible. I once took a college course on how our brain functions and works properly and in order for a person to feel good about themselves and happy, they need to hear a total of at least 12 compliments a day. I know that sounds like a lot, but when you think of simple compliments such as "thanks so much for doing this today, I really appreciate that" or "I really like your shirt," or "you smell good" etc. Those compliments go a long way. I wake up everyday and make sure to automatically tell my husband that I love him. It not only makes them feel good, but it makes them want to compliment you more as well, and it improves your relationship by so much. When you're too busy being thankful for them, then you don't have as much time to argue or pick fights with them. 

06. Stay healthy. This is a very broad type of goal to set for yourself and it can mean several different things such as making sure to wash your hands more often, take more vitamins, exercising more, or eating better. I know this is also a hard goal to set for yourself seeing as we are such busy people, we don't have time to eat right or exercise everyday & I think that's okay, but let's try a little harder! Cut your take out to weekends only, or one day a week if at all possible. If you go to school try packing your lunch instead of buying it out. Exercise: This is my downfall as well, but sometimes you just have to be head strong and convince yourself to do it. Start small:
10 sit-ups
5 crunches
4 push-ups
8 mountain climbers
15 squats
I promise you that doing something this simple will still make your abs and legs burn, and if you start off small you can increase the amount that you do each day (This came from the 30-day fitness challenge for 2014 - I have already started & I love it)

07. Put your phone down. It's okay to check facebook/twitter/instagram everyday, I mean we're all guilty of it, but how about not as much? Instead of checking your phone every hour, try every 3-5 hours. You'll be surprised of the other things you'll get done when you aren't occupied in the internet.

08. Monitor your money. I love my January 2014 edition of Cosmopolitan and they explain our money situation perfectly. 50/20/30. Use 50% of your money to what's important; bills, car, house, etc. Use 20% for savings, you never know when you'll have a flat tire that can't be patched and you have no other option than to buy a new one & we all know how expensive those dang things can be. Last use 30% for yourself! 30%, yes, that's quite a bit too. That means you can buy those gorgeous leggings and not feel guilty about it. Managing your money is so important. Know how much you have, sit down and write it all out. Write down how much you make in a month and where it all goes. If you haven't already signed up through your bank online - DO IT NOW! My online bank account is a life saver; I can look online and see every purchase that I've made, almost ever. So get on that and get to figuring out your finances.

09. Sleep more. Almost impossible, I know. Start setting yourself a bedtime, and a time to get up. Even on your off days, still set your alarm. It's good to get your body in a ritual. You don't have to set it for the same early time, but don't oversleep. Sleeping too much can be just as rough on your body as not enough sleep. Weird, I know, but it's true.

and last...
10. Smile more. Smiling not only makes you happier, but everyone else around you happy as well. Smiles are contagious. This could mean a number of things, such as apologizing to someone who you need to apologize to, or forgiving someone in your past that you need to forgive, or letting go of those nagging demons that have been following you around the past couple years. When you have finally decided that you are ready to be happy, then start smiling. You will feel a difference in your body, mind, and soul in no time.

I've changed a few times since then.

"I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then."

•  It is already 2 days into the new year and I have only set one resolution for myself: finish my novel that I started writing. Everyday I start working on it and then I change my mind about it and get irritated and upset and quit. I only have 2 chapters completed, and I really can't wait to finish it. Maybe soon I'll post a draft online for everyone to read.. or maybe not, I'm kind of a big chicken about critics. But I've always dreamed of writing a novel and I know I have the ability to do so, I just don't know exactly how good it will turn out. This is my ultimate inspiration & I view it everyday to motivate me:
  
  
•  Next on my list of random topics today:
  My NYE! Which was spent with my husband and his two best friends:
  
  I read on my iPad while they played xbox one all night. They did however take a small intermission to watch the ball drop on tv, so Jonathan could give me a new year's kiss, and then we went outside and shot guns, so typical of us. 
•  My husband and I did spend our first day of the new year together coyote hunting. It was a little too windy and we didn't see anything. I was disappointed, we wanted to bring in the new year with a bang, literally.
• So in the past three days I have read 2 different Ellen Hopkins novels, and I have found myself utterly disgusted by them. Yes, they are intriguing and once you start reading them you have to finish them, but I really don't know how I used to sit and read her kind of novels whenever I was younger. Maybe when you're immature you don't take things as seriously or something I am not that sure. Yet, I realized that I wasted a total of $25 on two books that just made me question the world that we live in, rather than inspire me in some way.
• I was browsing around on Pinterest this morning only to discover this delicious looking recipe for crock pot roast: 
  http://pinningwithmrspennington.blogspot.com/2013/09/crockpot-roast.html
  I am planning on cooking this tomorrow while my husband is at work and surprising him with it whenever he gets home. Our only problem is I need to go to the grocery store and yet we are under a winter storm warning, but that's the good thing about my mountain man that I married - he just loves snow & driving in it. So I asked him about an hour ago to take me to the store and he said he would later, which I know he is just waiting for the snow to fall & then out the door we will go. I like driving around in the snow too, but sometimes it can be dangerous & a bit scary.
• Last on my list of random topics; medicine advice?
  I have had a chronic cough now for well around 3 months or so. I've been to the doctor twice. The first time they prescribed me allergy pills, cough pearls, and steroids. I took those for a month and still didn't improve. So I had a chest x-ray which came back normal, so signs of asthma or pneumonia, so they put me on doxycycline. Since I have been taking this wretched pill, I have been sick 3 times. The doctors told me to take it on an empty stomach and I got sick twice, then I take it with food for several days and then last night it made me sick all over again, and the worse part is that my cough is still not getting any better. I would just really like to return to school next week without this stupid, irritating cough. But it seems as if I may just be out of luck :(
  
  Sorry for just a random post, I just felt like since I didn't update in a couple days this was much needed.