Rocks, Pebbles, Sand

I haven't blogged in over 3 months. But, while I haven't blogged in over 3 months, I also haven't really done any decorating projects, exercised, or even cleaned my house for that matter. Teaching is hard. Being a new teacher is hard. Teaching, grading, lesson planning, eating, sleeping, and watching some TV (because I don't have the energy to do anything else) has been my life since August.

I've decided, though, to take back some of my old life. I know that this first year teaching is going to be hard with long hours and lots of stress, but I have to leave a little room in there for myself too. There's a story I heard recently that I've really taken to heart:

A teacher places a glass jar on her table and faces her students. “This is your life,” she says. “It is yours to fill with whatever you wish.”
The teacher takes a bag of rocks and carefully places them one by one in the jar until it is full. “These rocks are the big important things in your life that you will be the most proud of at the end of your days.”
The teacher then scoops out several handfuls of pebbles from a second bag and lets them fall into the jar, shaking the jar slightly so the pebbles fall into and fill the space between the rocks. “These are the secondary things in your life that gives it meaning, but perhaps are not ‘your life’s work’.
The teacher then takes a third bag containing sand and pours it into the jar, filling the space between the pebbles. “Finally, the sand is the little stuff that fills our days, like watching TV or playing games.”
The teacher looks out over her students and asks, “Can you see what would happen if I started with the sand or the pebbles?”

With this story in mind, I've decided to prioritize my own life . . .

Rocks

• Teaching. duh. It pays the bills and is what I've always wanted to do. Plus, I kinda like it : )
• Family. We're not starting a family, I just need to be more attentive to my family.
• Friends. I need to be better about seeing and talking to them.
•  Health. I need to start eating healthier and working out.

Pebbles

• Decorating. I have not done any home decorating in months and that's just plain sad. Granted, I won't be able to do as much decorating as before because time (and money) is more scarce, but it does make me happy so I need to start doing more of it. Next post, some of the ideas that have been floating around my head . . . 
• Reading. I read all of the time for work, but I miss reading for me.
• Cleaning. Yes, cleaning is a "pebble" for me. I'm one of those people that needs a clean, and organized, space.

 Sand

• TV, Facebook, Pinterest, and, yes, this blog. I'm going to try my darndest to keep up and share my projects and life with you but it can't be a top priority. Especially with how lengthy my posts get ; )

So, what do you think?

Good news, bad news . . .

Let's be honest, the last month or so I've been an MIA blogger. Honestly, I just don't have the time, or the energy. This teaching job I have for the summer not only has a strange schedule but has also been completely exhausting. Plus, on the days that I do have off there's a list of things I need to do, like . . . starting to build my curriculum for the REAL teaching position I've landed for this upcoming school year!! Yes, I'm happy to announce that I've achieved the biggest goal I set for myself in 2012! I'm very very excited, however, I have a lot of work ahead of me planning a year's worth of lessons, researching, reading, etc.! (Any tips from veteran teachers out there?)

(my first classroom!)

 Anyway, this recent development has forced me to make some choices in how to use my free time (and this is where the bad news comes in) . . . You see, I can either spend my free time (1) writing and blogging about our lives and my home projects, or I can spend my time (2) putting together a kick-butt school year for my future students. While I love love love sharing our lives and my home projects with all of you on this blog, I think I need to focus more of my efforts on making kick-butt lesson plans. Educating our future and all, right?

So, that's why I've decided to take a hiatus from blogging for this summer, or at least until I get a better handle on my schedule and work load. I'm a little bummed by this decision, because I have a whole list of draft posts that I had planned on sharing at some point, but I just haven't been able to find the time and energy to actually finish them up. I'm not leaving blogging for forever, just for a little bit. While I know I could've just stopped blogging for the summer and left it at that, I did want to let you all know about my good news (yay!!) and also give you an update on our Washington life right now. And, right now, our life is busy. ; ) I hope you all understand!

If you want to stay up-to-date with our regular lives until I resume blogging you can follow me on Instagram (kristinhroberts), Pinterest, and Twitter (I promise to start tweeting more!!). I'd love to keep hearing from everyone and can't wait until I have the time to jump back on the blog and share all of the fun places and things we do!

3 Years!

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet (as much as I can at least), but I just want to give a shout out to my wonderful husband, Chris! Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary, and while we didn't do anything "special," he still happened to remind me of just how lucky I am to have nabbed him.

See, for the last four days I've been training for my new job and by yesterday evening I was absolutely exhausted. We went to dinner after my training day was over and I know that I was the worst date ever. Not only was I a hot mess with a wrinkled dress, stretched out sweater, blistered feet, and generally just sweaty, but I'm sure I was also the worst conversationalist. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I just mumbled how tired I was over and over again. But, Chris was his usual amazing-self anyway. He actually talked to me about his work day (usually it's just me blabbering away), he carried my heavy bag of books, and then made me homemade brownies and watched So You Think You Can Dance with me when we got home. Definitely not the most glamorous anniversary, and not even remotely close to an exciting day, but Chris didn't care and neither did I.

I actually loved the ordinary-ness of our anniversary because it's really all of the little things that Chris does that makes me feel special and loved, not fancy dinners or presents (although those are still nice sometimes!). Yesterday, Chris took care of me, his zombified-wife, just like he always does and reminded me yet again of what an amazing guy I've decided to spend the rest of my life with!

Now don't worry, we're going to do some fun stuff this weekend to celebrate our anniversary, but no matter what we do this weekend, even if we get rained out of our plans and spend the weekend on the couch, it'll be perfect enough for me!

Mid-Week Mumblings

Why do I keep thinking today is Friday? Seriously, I keep thinking it's Friday and have to remind myself that, no, it's only Thursday. One more day in my work week, not one more hour. Ergh.

Chris and I have had a fairly boring last couple of weeks since the Half Marathon and I'm in between house projects (for the first time in a while!) so I figured I'd share what's been on my mind lately instead of boring you with a description of me falling asleep while watching television or Chris doing homework, because that's literally what we've been doing. We lead an exciting life, no?

Anyway, here are my mid-week mumblings, since it's still kinda mid-week (darn you, Thursday!):

• I lied, Chris and I haven't been completely boring lately. Last weekend we actually had a "date night" where I was able to persuade Chris to go see The Hunger Games with me (eeks!!) and take me to P.F. Chang's, which for some reason I've been craving. First, The Hunger Games was AWESOME! Loved every minute of it.I'm also kinda loving on The Hunger Games inspired pins on Pinterest . . . here are two of my favorites: 

 

• Oh, and in between the movie and dinner I caved on one of my 2012 goals - I bought some clothes. BUT, it was the first time I bought clothes since 2011, so that my friends, is awesome! Chris and I walked into a Banana Republic and I couldn't resist snagging a Mad Men collection skirt and two tops, especially since they were already on sale AND had an additional 20% off. Score!

 

• I'm experiencing a curtain-crisis. See, I want (we need) curtains in our living room and master bedroom, but I just can't seem to figure out what I want to do. I recently bought some plain white Ikea curtains but I want to do something to spice them up a bit. I'm thinking of stenciling them, or adding some kind of colored fabric to the sides and/or bottom of them, or adding some fringe. Who knows, I just know I need to do something because right now they are a boring, and wrinkly, mess.  To Pinterest for some inspiration, I guess . . . .

• I love breakfast food. I mean, LOVE breakfast food. I think that Brunch is an awesome thing, but Chris could careless. I also think that Brinner (breakfast for dinner) is perfectly acceptable, but Chris thinks that it, along with the word Brinner, is "stupid." So, last Sunday I met a new friend at Acadiana for a New Orleans-style brunch, and boy was it yummmy. Acadiana has a pre fixe 3-course brunch with $1 mimosas. That's right, $1 mimosas. (If anything pairs perfectly with breakfast, it's a mimosa!) I had a banana fosters and pecan french toast, eggs benedict (mmmmm), and beignets. I have to go back asap, who wants to go?!

 

• When we first moved into our house we wanted to decorate our master bedroom first, so that we had one "finished" room. Well, now, it's probably one of the most disheveled rooms (besides our office, which is literally just piles of stuff with two bookcases and a desk and computer), and I really want to make it nice for real this time. I want to paint the walls darker, finally decorate some shelves we have, and do something with the boring, white curtains. And, of course, Pinterest has been giving me some inspiration, I just need to decide if I'm leaning towards bold and dramatic, or serene and quiet . . . 

 

• Like I mentioned last week, Chris and I "gardened" last weekend too, if that's what you call it. It was more like me yelling at the ivy and weed barrier fabric and Chris trying to avoid me. But, we got new mulch down and grass seed, flowers, and herbs planted. Now, we just have to wait and see how they all work out . . . (I'll post some pictures once there is more to look at!) 

•  Lastly, this weekend Chris' family is coming in town (yay!!), so if this post is too rambling for you, next week I should have something more exciting to write about. I'm hoping we finally check out a DC site that's on my "to do" list out here! (Can you guess which one it is?!) 

Have a great weekend ya'll, even if it is only Thursday!