Happy Anniversary!

My hubby and I had the most wonderful weekend. In honor of our first anniversary, we spent the entire weekend in Fort Worth posted up in a hotel downtown.... We treated ourselves to much-needed massages, did a little shopping, ate at the yummiest restaurant for lunch, and went to one of our favorites for dinner. And even though we agreed to not spend much money on presents for one another (and instead, be able to spend more on our weekend), my sweet husband got me a necklace that looks al ot like this:

I haven't taken a pic of the real thing and this is the closest pic I can find. I love it. And I love my husband. Here's to 50+ more year. :)

Loving on Fall

I FINALLY got my house all ready for Fall! So what if it was 100 degrees today?!

Here are some of my fall favorites: Bath and Body Works candles are a must. My absolute favorite is Leaves. It is DELISH.

I love all things owl. My classroom is decorated in owls... I have found most of my little decorative owls at Marshalls. They have the best stuff, and it's cheap too!

I am SO lucky to have a mom that has such a knack at decorating... She made me a couple of fall wreaths that are beautiful!! I will take pics of them later to share!

I have several sets of decorative pumpkins. Love love love them. These are from Pottery Barn. I don't have them, but aren't they stinkin' cute?! I have found most of my pumpkins also at Marshalls. Best. Store. Ever.

And while these jars are hardly "fall," they are my newest purchase. My mom and I went to my Mother-in-law's best friends' store, Simply Everything, on Saturday and I couldn't not by these! Aren't they precious?! I put rice, beans and pasta in them. LOVE!

Just a side note, if you go to the Simply Everything website, you can see a few of our wedding pics, which brings me to my MOST favorite thing about Fall:

Our first anniversary is this Sunday, the 18th. I can't believe it's already been a year! My husband says he has something planned for the weekend, so I guess we'll see!

Happy FALL!

When the World Stopped Turning

Today, our pastor preached the most amazing sermon I've heard in my 26 1/2 years. He quoted Max Lucado by saying "Bin Laden wanted to bring America to its knees, and he did. He just didn't anticipate Who we would turn to when we got there." Incredible and true. Instead of America being pushed apart, we were pulled together.

I read another friend's account of her church today... Her preacher said "People want to know why God let 9/11 happen. They always want to blame Him, not satan. But consider this: the media hardly ever mentions Easter or Christmas. Today you'll hear God's name mentioned in almost every sentence. Church attendance across the nation will spike. Public prayer will take place in cities everywhere. The thousands that sacrificed their lives that day sparked millions to seek Him."

Today is the anniversary of the most horrific event imaginable... But the good news is- Our God promises hope. The good guys will win.

Tell Me Something Good

Friday, I had a horrible, no good, awful, cruddy cruddy day. I had my first altercation with a child. I tried to be reasonable, I tried to be compassionate, I tried to be empathetic. I failed. I could not reach an understanding with this child and he basically shut down on me. I had to make him leave my classroom. I try so hard to build strong, positive relationships with my kiddos, so the inability to level with the child (only two weeks into school) was a kick right to the gut. It ruined my day.

Friday afternoon, when I was walking out of the building, I ran across a coworker. Instead of asking "How was your day?" like most people do, she said "Tell me something good about your day."

My first thought was "Something GOOD?! Lady, you don't even want to hear about my day!" However, she forced me to think. She forced me to, in the midst of dark clouds, look for something bright. I will admit, I sat there for a minute, totally puzzled. I did come up with something positive... And that's how my day ended.

It's not how your day starts-- The anger, yelling, crying, disappointments, etc. It's more about how your day ends. I appreciate my coworker more than she knows. She challenged me. Lord knows I needed to be challenged.