I'm Exhausted!

Who knew that wrangling 20 Kindergarten kids all day long would wear someone out so quickly? I think I probably say this every year and even question sometime why I teach 5 year olds because this is hard work! I fell asleep Monday night with my glasses on and a book in my hand and that was at 9:00! I remember thinking I better stop reading so I can watch RHONJ and the next thing I knew, I was waking up to Maggie jumping on the bed around 11:30. I know it's going to take some time getting back into the swing of things but wow!
School has been going as well as can be expected for the first couple days. We are SLOWLY learning how to walk in a line, how to line up, how to stay in our seat, how to raise our hand when we need something and that the teacher's name is not teacher! I predict in about 2 weeks, I will have almost forgotten what the training process feels like and then I can repeat this same blog post again next year! Ha! Let's hope it takes less than 2 weeks to get everything in place though!

It's Dinner Time!

So school is back in session which means two things. 1. I will be spending lots of afternoons preparing for my group of students which means I will be getting home late and 2. I need delicious dinners that take a short amount of time to prepare. Luckily, Lisa introduced me to Salsa Chicken this summer. It is the easiest thing to make and is so good! I'm sharing the recipe with you all.

Salsa Chicken
1 package frozen chicken breasts
1 jar of salsa
1 packet of taco seasoning

Put all ingredients (all 3 of them!) in a crockpot on low and let simmer all day. Shred the chicken (you can do this with a fork because the meat is so tender) and enjoy on tortillas with taco fixings! Yummy!

They Will Be Looking

A couple of years ago, my principal sent this poem to the staff and it really hit me hard. I actually ended up emailing it to many people that influenced me throughout my life. As I greet my new students this morning, I read the poem again to remind me that they will be looking.

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN’T LOOKING
By Mary Rita Schilke Korzan

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you displayed my first report, and I wanted to do another.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you fed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you gave me a sticker, and I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you put your arm around me, and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt--but that it’s all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you smiled, and it made me want to look that pretty too.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you cared, and I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking--I looked...and wanted to say thanks for all those things you did when you thought I wasn’t looking.

It's Tax Free!

I spent the entire Saturday (9:00AM to 5:30PM) at school getting ready to meet my students Monday morning! I THINK I have everything done that I can do at this point. Tom called me and wanted to see if I wanted to go on the great shoe hunt that evening and I said yes of course, who wouldn't want to go shopping when their husband is actually asking them to go? So I got home and showered quickly and we were off to Northpark. The mall stayed open until 10 so I got to do lots more than I originally thought. I ended up with a couple of pairs of shoes that will do, they aren't what I was wanting but I think they will be okay.



We then headed on our way out which happened to take up right through Macy's. I wanted to stop and look for a necklace that I had seen earlier in the summer so I also breezed through the clothing section INC. Tom spotted a shirt that he said would look good on me and then I saw a few more things and before we knew it, I was in a fitting room with a huge pile of stuff!




I also got a couple things when Lisa and I went out shopping last week at Anthropologie.

This top is so cute on and has the most delicate details.

These pants are a linen blend and yes, wrinkle a lot but are so comfortable I ordered another pair!

It wouldn't be back to school without my back to school gift that Tom has gotten me every year since we have been together. This year is no different as I got a new scarf for my purse! I love it!

Ketchikan, Alaska

We made our final stop in Alaska in Ketchikan. We didn't plan any excursions since we were only going to be there a short time. We did tour the city on our own (shop!) and visit some local places. We were close to a little shopping center or harbor like area where you could see the salmon jumping out of the water every couple of seconds! I thought Tom was going to go and buy a fishing pole right then! I tried to add a video- hopefully this will work!

There were also amazing flowers in Ketchikan like these beauties. I think they are called bleeding hearts. My only upsetting moment was that my big camera died on me within the first few minutes we were there. I had to bust out my backup camera that isn't so great. However, it didn't die until after I got a picture with an old friend of mine!

Skagway, Alaska

Next stop, Skagway! Skagway was by far my favorite stop next to dog sledding in Juneau of course. I loved the little small town atmosphere that Skagway encompassed. Several times we mentioned that it was like we were on a movie set or in Disney. The town felt so home like and I truly fell in love. We went to a couple of shops before we set off on our train ride through Skagway and into Canada to enjoy the beauty and hopefully get some awesome photos. A couple of the stores that were on my must see list were Sarah Palin's store and Sugar Mama's. Sugar Mama's has cool vintage toys and cupcakes- yummy! Sarah Palin's store has well...Sarah Palin!

A quick stop for Starbuck's treats!

Then Tom and I set off for the White Pass train ride. I'm not going to bore you all with the hundreds of pictures of mountain scenes that I snapped photos of!


Then we met Mark and Jane and headed to get some dinner at this cute little restaurant. We had fish and chips for the second day because Alaskan fish and chips is made with yummy halibut!

I really could move to Alaska and from the research that I did, they need teachers!

Onward to Juneau, Alaska!

We made our first stop in Alaska in Juneau. The scenary was absolutely gorgeous! We had an awesome stateroom on the ship with a huge balcony! We spent tons of time on the balcony because the scenary was so breathtaking. The following pictures are right upon arrival in Juneau.



I was so excited to be in Juneau because this was where my dream of dogsledding was about to come true! The first step was to get suited up for our helicopter ride to Mendenhall Glacier. We were told to dress warm as it was incredibly cold on the glacier itself. Just a side note, it was 105 degrees in Dallas on this particular day and I had on multiple layers of clothing, my ugg boots, hat and gloves!



We then were given a safety briefing for the helicopter ride and then we were off.



A view from above.



Then as we got closer, our pilot, Nate, pointed out the camp. Those tiny dots are all the dogs at the camp! They look like ants from so far away.

We touched down and jumped out and Tom decided to have a little snowball fight!

Check out just half of the dogs at camp!

I immediately connected with this sweetie pie- Rascal!


This is our team for the day!

We had a few minutes to meet the pack and then we were off!


I had so much fun and even got to drive the sled for a little bit! I talked to the mushers and found out that the main guy that ran Alaska Icefield Expeditions, is from Signal Mountain! I felt like I was chatting with an old friend as we talked about all things Tennessee!
We also got to meet some of the new puppies that were a few weeks old. How cute are these little guys?

Dogsledding and helicopter riding now top my list for the most unbelievable experiences I have ever had. I will definitely take on this adventure again one day if I ever get the chance. I won't ever forget how excited I was on that day!

Seattle, Vacation Day 1

We started our journey to Alaska on Friday, July 30 with our first stop in Seattle. I was totally in love with Seattle! We had awesome weather and I had on jeans and a short sleeve shirt when I got there and ended up with a jacket by the early evening! I couldn't say that if I had been in Dallas where temperatures held steady in the 100's the entire week we were gone! We got to visit some really cool shops and finally made it to Pike's Place Market.




We had lunch at Lowell's Seafood right in the middle of the market and across the street from where the Real World Seattle house was! I thought it was super cool!
Then we made our way to the original Starbuck's!

We then headed off to the Underground Seattle tour which was pretty neat. I learned alot about Seattle's history that I didn't know previously so it was a good educational experience. Finally, we headed back to the hotel to shower up and make our way to dinner and do some more exploring, err, shopping! I got to visit H&M for the very first time! Pure heaven that place! We finally called it a night since the next morning, we would be boarding our boat for beautiful Alaska!