I don't have much to blog about so I thought I'd try to make you laugh... :) Merry Christmas!!!

a celebrity sighting

A few weeks ago I got an email from New York & Company about a special event at their store. Carson Kressley was going to be touring 5 cities nationwide and hosting a fashion show at their stores. Well, one of his stops happened to be at the mall I shop at about 10 minutes away. So I rsvp’ed for my friend Sarah and I to attend last week. We got there early, stood in line for a while, then took our seats. In each chair was a bag with a red purse in it, which just happens to be my favorite color.

Then Carson came out and hosted the fashion show. He showed how to mix and match a bunch of different pieces.

We were only about 5 rows back from the end of the runway.

He was actually pretty funny. I was afraid he was going to be annoying like on TV, but he wasn't.

the model that could use a little sun :)

the confident model that liked having her hair in her face

and the model that could pass for J Lo's twin

I loved this red jacket she was wearing! If only I had some fancy parties to attend, then I would know some perfect outfits for them! :)

After the style show part was over, he held a question-and-answer session with the audience.

After it was all over, he came out and autographed pictures.

It was a fun night. Unfortunately my camera died on Halloween so I had to rely on Sarah's picture-taking skills. The same thing happened the next night at the Stars game. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good camera...not too expensive, a good zoom, not too heavy so I can carry it in my purse, etc. I'm thinking maybe if I wait until the big sales after Thanksgiving, maybe I can find a good deal. But until then, I'm going crazy without one! :)

it's worth it

This week I had one of those memorable moments in teaching. This year I'm responsible for a small group of special ed fifth graders. They're not severely handicapped or anything, they've been diagnosed with some sort of learning disability. I've really clicked well with one of them in particular. I'm in her reading and math class everyday and she's in my Read Right group. Unfortunately she's had some rough times at home in the past.

A couple of times when I've been working with her I've caught her looking at me and smiling. Once I jokingly asked her why she was looking at me and not the book we were reading and she said, "you're nice." Well this week she looked at me and said, "I wish you were my mom." I asked her why and she said, "because you're nice and I would like it at your house." I told her I didn't have any kids at my house and she said, "that's ok, I could be your first one." Talk about trying not to tear up! Believe me, if I could take her home and rescue her from her homelife, I would. Moments like that make teaching worth it. (Then there are moments like yesterday where you have to spend the whole freakin day at school for the carnival that make it not so worth it.) :)

Not much else to blog about. I got to spend some time with Jill today. We went to "Canton in the City" in Colleyville. I think we should stick to the Canton in Canton from now on. :) Then we enjoyed the weather while sitting outside at Starbucks.

Here are some pics from Halloween. My friends and I got together to hand out candy to trick or treaters. Being a witch was not at the top of my list of things to dress up as, but I didn't think Wilma Flintstone would fit in here... :)

For 4 years I taught next door to my good friend Brenda. I soon became like a daughter to her and her husband George. I've babysat their grandchildren, taken trips with them, house-sat, etc. Yesterday was George's 60th birthday. Who knew turning 60 could be quite so much fun!

October fun

October is always such a busy month. Here are some things I’ve been up to lately.

C O W B O Y S . . .

My friends Brenda and George invited Lisa, Karen, and me to the game. We don’t get together very often anymore, so it was fun to see each other. And the Cowboys beat the Bengals!

They had all of the previous Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders there for a reunion. Here they are performing at halftime.

some of the players praying on the star after the game

P U M P K I N S . . .

Koby had some friends over to carve pumpkins this past weekend. I can’t remember the last time I did that. I bought a kit at Kroger’s and used one of the patterns in there. I thought they turned out really cute!

mine is the 3rd one

R Y A N J A M E S . . .
Last night I talked Kristi into going with me to Fort Worth to see one of my favorite Texas country guys perform. There wasn’t a very big crowd, I guess since it was Sunday night. But I’m off for Columbus/Fair Day today so I figured I could handle staying up late. :) I’m sure Kristi wouldn’t admit to liking the music, but I think she had fun.

Here are Ryan James and his friend Wes Nickson singing

Kristi was dying to meet them afterwards (ha ha)

Ryan even gave us each a CD for free!

Thanks for going with me, KrisTee! You know you had fun!!! ;)

this might make you hungry

I've been spending some time in the kitchen lately. Yesterday I made these Symphony brownies a teacher at work told me about. You layer half the brownie mix into the pan. Then put a layer of Symphony bars that have toffee chips and almonds. Yum!

Then pour in the rest of the brownie mix.

They were a big success at Bunco last night!

mmmm, the gooey middle

I also recently made this pesto pizza. I got the recipe from my favorite website The Pioneer Woman. Here's a link to all of her recipes. I love how she puts pictures and is very detailed so even I can do it. :) http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/category/all-pw-recipes/

I just used the 49 cent Wal-Mart brand of pizza crust that you add water to. Then you pour pesto sauce on the crust and can add a little salt if you want.

Then you layer Roma tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese on top.

You can sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top too...you might as well! There's no such thing as too much cheese, right?

And voila, you have a new twist on pizza!

Last week I attempted this sandwich. It's sort of like a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. It was ok, but the meat turned out a little tough. I didn't get a picture of mine so this is hers:

I wonder what I should try next.

a new school year

Day 2 is done and I have blisters on my feet. :( I knew better than to wear new sandals on a day that would involve tons of walking around the school. And now I know the rest of the week, no matter which shoes I pick out to wear, they're all going to rub my blisters. ugh! Oh well, life goes on.

Here's the bulletin board I put up in the hall outside my room. The other 2 teachers that shared my room with me last year moved to other rooms so it's just me and a teacher's aide who's also going to do Read Right with me. It's been fun decorating and reorganizing. I even found popcorn border. :)

I've been working the lunch shift from 10:30-12:30. Those sweet little kindergarteners look like they'd be so much fun to teach but I don't think I have enough patience for them. :) But sometimes it's tempting. It would be neat to watch them experience all of their "firsts" of school. Just watching them go through the lunch line and carry their tray to the table was pretty funny. They'd be looking in one direction and their tray was going the other direction. Some of them look too little to be at school yet. I can only imagine their moms feel, Michelle. ;)

Last Friday night I went to the Cowboys game against the Texans. I told Karen's little boy that where we were going had a hole in the roof. He didn't believe me until we got there. See the hole? :)

He was quite the entertainment. It was his first Cowboys game and he had a blast! Here he is using the binoculars backwards trying to find his hand.

This is the mascot Rowdy.

Brenda came down to visit us during halftime.

Karen and I after the game. Can you tell we were hot?! There wasn't much of a breeze inside the stadium.

Ok, gotta go get ready for Day 3. Goodnight!

Pat Green concert

Some friends and I went to New Braunfels to float the river recently. Mike's brother and sister-in-law live there and are the ones we stay with when we go. They are teachers but this summer they've been earning some extra money by working at this place that has concerts on the weekends. Well, this time when we were there, Pat Green was performing. Here's the first view we have of Pat singing... we're at the back of the crowd and having fun.

Then Jeff took us backstage and this is how we enjoyed the rest of the evening...up close and personal with the band. :) It was really neat. Pat's wife and kids and mom and brother were there too. We were just a few feet away from the band.

here's the hot fiddle player :)

Most of my pictures ended up being blurry because they were moving around so much.

Here's Pat singing to his daughter

his mom was beaming the whole time

his wife taking their kids to the tour bus for the night

me and Melissa

Cory Morrow and Django Walker stopped by to play a song with them

And here's a little video from the concert...