A-Z Of Teacher Me!

Hi everybody! I'm linking up with Ash from The Polished Teacher for her first ever linky party titled "A-Z Of Teacher Me!"

Here's the rules for this linky:

1. Add the A-Z of Teacher Me image linking back to the post on Ash's blog.

2. Add her button linking back to her blog.

3. Follow Farley's rule of 3 to share the love (comment on 2 before, 1 after).

4. Share as little or as much as you want.

5. Have fun and meet friends!

So, here goes!

A: App

Instagram! Jumped on the bandwagon a little late but it's the perfect way to document day to day things via pictures. Love it.

B: Book Character

I love little Skippyjon. He's one funny character!

C: Clip Art

The following ladies are my go-to gals for clipart. Of course I have more that I use, but these are the main 5!

 

    

From top to bottom (and left to right)

Ashley, Nikki, Mel, Corinna, and Tanja

Five FANTASTIC artists.

D: Dollar Spot Find

OH golly... I go to that dollar spot TOO often. But, my fav dollar spot find is probably the stickers. I'm a sticker hoarder so that's my fav!

E: Essential to Start Day

My phone. It's not a normal day if I don't check my e-mails first thing in the morning - makes the day go smoother!

F: Font

Probably ABCTeacher, KG Skinny Latte, KG Call Me Maybe, and any Hello fonts!

G: Game

Tag or hide and seek. Can never get too old for any of those games!

H: Holiday

Christmas. It's my favorite time of the entire year. The decorations, the celebrations, the family gatherings, the food... I love it all!

I: Ice Cream

Cookie dough. With caramel. Extra caramel!!

J: Jewelry Piece

My promise ring and my sentiment ring that Cody has the other half to. And my two bracelets. You will never see me without these 4 pieces of jewelry on UNLESS I am doing the dishes or working out. Then you might see me without them! I also love my Pandora bracelet, but don't wear it as often!

K: Kid-ism

Oh man.. I don't have any! I love reading them though... :)

L: Location to Travel

New Jersey will always hold my heart. We went back before Jersey Shore became the show and the huge tourism came about. Love Wildwood! Those long beautiful beaches.. ahh so perfect!

M: Management Technique

Get something out, put it away! Not so much a HUGE management technique, but it gets the job done and keeps things organized!!

N: Nail Polish

Oh man... probably OPI or Essie.

O: Open House Idea

I haven't had an open house yet, so I don't have very many ideas! But, I would love to put little apples on the door for parents to take to help our classroom out - supplies we might need, ideas for holiday parties, etc!

P: Pinterest Find

HAHA if you know me, you know I'm a Pinterest addict. If they had AA for Pinterest, I'd be in it... you can find all my pins here, but my all time FAVORITE pins are probably the ones on my funny board... see below:

Q: Quote

"You is kind. You is smart. You is important." - Abilene from The Help

R: Read-Aloud

Love Miss Madeline! I grew up on her and I love reading her to my kiddos!

S: School Supply

Sharpies!!! Post-it Notes!!! Paperclips!! School supply hoarder right here!

T: TPT/TN Product

Impossible. I love TPT sooo much that my wish list is up to 400 products and my sellers followed is up to 744!! Wild child, I am!

U: Un-official Hobby

Scrapbooking, stamping, and making wreaths. Love my craft time - hence my need for my craft room! I also pin on Pinterest... that's a hobby, right?

V: Video Brain Break

Ohh man... there's too many, but probably the Penguin Dance by Jack Hartmann!

W: Way to Spend a Day

Lounging around watching TV, crafting, and blogging! 

X: X-tra Special Blogs

I honestly cannot list this... there are SOOO many bloggers out there that I love that I will not be able to list, but rather say that I love y'all! :)

Y: Yummy Dessert

Brownies or cookie cake! Ahhh sooo delicious and making me crave right now!

Z: Zoo Animal

Elephant, hands down!

Widdle baby elephant <3

Head on over to Ash's blog by clicking the button below or the picture at the top to link up, too!

Have a good night, y'all!

ABCs of Miss V. & 5 for Five Linky

Hi everybody! I hope you've been enjoying my guest bloggers these past few days. They're all amazing women and I truly believe they have even more amazing blogs and talents. But, I'm back now! :)

I'm going to start something on my blog that I've seen this going around on other blogs. Of course, I'm going to put my own spin on it to make this different. It's called the ABCs of Miss V.

Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (blog schedule permitting), I'm going to post about myself according to the alphabet. So, starting on Tuesday, I'm going to be posting something about me in relation to the letter A. On Wednesday, I'll do the letter B. Thursday, letter C. Allllll the way until I've reached letter Z. I hope that you'll follow along and that each letter will let you know something about me as a person, blogger, daughter, girlfriend, friend, crafter, teacher, student, and so forth.

Question time! Have you ever visited Jenn at Party of One? Or Jessica at Fantastically Average? Yes? You rock. No? You're complete missing out. These two gals got together and decided they wanted to do something called 5 for Five. What it is is you make FIVE goals that you want to accomplish for the next 5 days. I think this a GREAT way to hold myself accountable and to get myself to accomplish FIVE goals weekly. How cool, right?! Make sure you link up for the FIRST ever 5 for Five linky at Jenn & Jessica's blog THIS MONDAY, October 15th!

PS. Don't forget to check the giveaway page often - any giveaways I'm entering in OR giving something away in are on there... you won't want to miss any!

Have a good night, y'all!

Saturday Challenge

I'm linking up this Saturday with the Saturday Challenge at Artsy Anthropology. Click the picture below to head to the post & link up, too!

Today I challenge you to...

1. Say something nice about 2 different people that you've met through blogging, shop ownership, etc.

2. Do something nice for a complete stranger, doesn't have to be big or expensive.

3. Say something good about yourself.

4. Be thankful for something.

5. Do something that scares you, that you've been putting off, or that you normally wouldn't do because other people think it's "not like you."

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED :)

1. Say something nice about 2 different people that you've met through blogging, shop ownership, etc.
So, I met Brian not too long ago. I've been following him for a while on Facebook and his blog, Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings, but recently just got to know him. Brian is probably one of the hardest working, nicest, caring man I have ever met. It's almost like he doesn't do anything for HIMSELF, but rather, for others as long as they end with a smile on their face. I suggest you get to know him.. he's the best! Another person I've met is Kate. Her and I hit it off as soon as we started following one another! To go along with that, she's also an Ohioan like myself AND we've got much more in common than just that. Kate is honest, caring, and sweet, just like Brian, and she'll also help you out anytime you need to - a drop-everything-and-help kind of girl! She has a blog, too; EduKate & Inspire. She actually just started her TPT store not too long ago and has come up with some AMAZING products - I hope that you'll check her out, as well!

2. Do something nice for a complete stranger, doesn't have to be big or expensive.
I try to do something nice for someone each and every day. Today, I was in Hobby Lobby and saw a mother trying to carry paper, push her cart, and carry her sleeping toddler, all in one step. I offered to hold her papers while she readjusted herself to get more comfortable so she could shop. The smile on her face was unbelievable, that a complete stranger would take notice that she was uncomfortable and offered to help. Not only did it make her happy, but it made me happy being able to help someone in such a little, but big, way!

3. Say something good about yourself.
This is hard for me. I hate complimenting my own self in fear of sounding arrogant. But, I believe that I have grown through my years at college into a beautiful, young woman. I feel that I have a great head on my shoulders and that I can do anything I put my mind to - that's a big deal to me!

4. Be thankful for something.
I am thankful for old friends. I have recently reconnected with a few old friends and I am SO happy that I did. These two women and I were best friends all through elementary and middle school, up through the beginning of high school until some falling outs. BUT, nonetheless, I'm happy that I chose to contact them and have dinner - it was probably the best night I have had in a VERY long time.

5. Do something that scares you, that you've been putting off, or that you normally wouldn't do because other people think it's "not like you."
Something that I've been putting off... eating healthy and exercising. I have NEVER really worked out in my life, so I am incredibly out of shape. I keep saying, "I'm going to work out. I'm going to work out. I'm going to work out." but it never happens - I'm just too lazy and have NO motivation. BUT, I have finally found something that I can do, walk. Granted, it's not going to make a huge difference off the bat, but I've got to start somewhere. I also love sweets waaaaaaaay too much, so I need to ween myself off them, slowly but surely. I think someone should come up with some healthy foods that taste like candy... it would be perfect <3 Anyway, I vow to start working out and eating healthier to become a better me & be more comfortable in my skin!

Your turn - go accept the Saturday Challenge!

Have a good night, y'all!

Tell Me More Linky! & GIVEAWAY!

I'm late but linking up at Amy's blog, Step Into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons! She's having a linky where you get to talk about yourself! Who does NOT like talking about themselves? I've learned a lot about my bloggy friends, so I'd love to tell you more about myself! :)

The ABC's of Me!

A - Age: 22

B - Bed size: Currently (at home) a Full... but my own bed is a Queen.. like me! :)

C - Car: I drive a pretty Kia Sorento. It's my second baby besides the boy below!

D - Dogs or Cats?: I can't choose! I love my baby boy, but I also love pups, too!

This was the second day I had him - king of the house, obv.

E - Essential to start your day: Milk. I ALWAYS have a glass of milk with breakfast, which I always eat each and every day.

F - Family: My family is made up of Momma, my sister, Samantha, and Jeff. Of course, I've got extended family, but this is my immediate family that I could def never do without. I've also got my second family, Nancy, Kyle (Bubba), Zach, Adam, & Bill - and then my aunts Julie & Lisa, and my Grandma and Nana. Then I've also got cousins and uncles and so forth :) I'm a HUUUUUUUGE family girl!

Momma & I in Arizona

Samantha & I in Arizona

The one & only Jeff

G - Gold or silver: silver. But I do love white gold!

H - Height: I'm 5'2". I have not grown in YEARS. Hello, shorty!

I - Ice cream flavor: I love anything with caramel. Dulche de Leche is amaaaazing but I also love Butterscotch or Peanut Butter malts from UDF :)

J - Job title: Student! I don't have a job just yet...

K - Kiddos: I don't have any.. but I'd love 3! All boys, please!

L - Live: A little suburb outside of Dayton, Ohio.

M - May: My birthday month! I was born on May 3rd - I share a birthday with Bing Crosby!

N -  Nickname: I don't have one beyond SarBear... but I haven't heard that in forever!

O - October: The month I met that fabulous boyfriend named Cody in 2007.

Cody & I going to my sorority formal 2011 - handsome man!

P - Pet peeves: When people don't have manners (please, thank you, excuse me, etc) - Lying - Being rude to me when I'm as nice as can be to you.

Q - Quote from a movie: "Where were you takin' him, Mike?" "To the bus. It was time for him to go home." My fav movie, The Blindside :)

R - Righty or lefty: I'm a righty.

S - Sorority: I'm a Pi Beta Phi for life!

Bid Day 2011 with my littles, Melanie and Molly

Bid Day 2011 with the girls

Big Little reveal - Melly and I :)

T - TV shows: I'm guilty of liking a lot of things - Pretty Little Liars, Bunheads, Baby Daddy, Spongebob, Army Wives, GCB

U - Underwear: Victoria's Secret is a secret for a reason! :)

V - Vegetables you dislike: This list would be a WHOLE lot easier if it were vegetables I LIKED. I only eat carrots, corn, and mashed potatoes (which doesn't really count)... otherwise I HATE vegetables.

W - Wardrobe?: I'm all into my running shorts (even though I don't run... ironic) and white t-shirts. It's my daily wear anymore!

X - X-rays you've had: I had X-rays done of my spine and my teeth. I used to have scoliosis but I don't anymore - I used to dance for 11 years so that corrected it for me!

Y - Yummy food: I am SUCH a little kid at heart - I love chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, and any kind of pasta with Alfredo sauce or cheese or butter.

Z - Zoo animal: I absolutely LOOOOOOOOOVE elephants. And manatees. And turtles. Those are my three favorite zoo animals - I can't choose just one.

Anddddd that's me! :)

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway! It ends on Tuesday (July 31) at 12:01 AM! Enter before it goes away!

Have a good Saturday, y'all!

Vistaprint Groupon & linky & GIVEAWAY!

There's a groupon out there for $80.00 worth of Vistaprint product for ONLY $20.00! I received it in an e-mail from Pennyless teacher, and hopped right on! I'm passing it on to my bloggy friends - it does end up expiring October 31st (oh my gosh.. Halloween is approaching so fast!) - click here to get this fabulous deal!

LINKY PARTY

I'm linking up with Mrs. Castro at Mrs. Castro's Class for her "Totally Terrific Teacher Tools @ Home" linky party! This linky party is to give an idea of what we use, as teachers, at home - we all know there are some great tools that are kept at home :) click the picture below to link up!

1.) My Cricut personal cutting machine. I would DIE without my Cricut! Momma got it for me for Christmas a few years ago and I am super happy she did. I've used it from making board games for a course in college to making the ice cream cone math you see on Pinterest for my students in 2nd grade during my internship! I cannot wait to have my own classroom so I can come up with all sorts of things to make.

2.) Scotch Thermal Laminator. I absolutely love my laminator. I haven't used it much because I don't have my own classroom yet, but I did use it to laminate my awards for the seniors in my sorority as parting gifts. I also used it to laminate clock numbers (:00, :05, :10, etc.) for my classroom during internship, but we didn't end up using them so I have them safe and sound. I cannot wait to be able to use the laminator more often!

 3.) 31 Gifts Large Utility Tote. Man, this bag is a blessing in disguise. Right now, it's sitting in my room with tons of stuff in it - my teaching job notebook, clothes, clothes drawer dividers, papers, and other 31 Gifts products sitting inside... why am I telling you all this? Because this bag can hold a TON of stuff.. and it's not even heavy! I absolutely love 31 and all their personalization aspects.

4.) Notepads. I am a notepad hoarder. I live and thrive on lists. If I didn't make lists, I'd lose my mind. Specifically, I love the lists/notepads that are in the One Spot at Target (aka $1.00 spot!). They have the cutest notepads, which makes making lists all that more fun!

5.) Last but not least.. I absolutely am obsessed with post it notes. This obsession goes beyond my hoarding with notepads. I am not kidding... I have probably thousands of post it notes, and I use them constantly! I put them on my storage bins, in my car, on my wallet to remind myself of something, on the computer screen, anywhere! Post it notes are portable which I absolutely love, too! My name is Sara, and I am a notepad/post it note hoarder.

Those are my teacher tools at home - stop by Mrs. Castro's blog and link up!

The giveaways page has been updated - there are some AWESOME giveaways going on - one for a Silhouette Cameo and many others for some great gift cards or TPT resources!

My giveaway is still going on - it goes until midnight on the 31st. Enter while you can - you don't want to miss out on these great prizes!! (Click the picture below to be linked to the giveaway)

Have a good evening, y'all!

sunday share..

Since I've joined the bloggy world, I've won TWO giveaways!! Ahhhh, I am so excited!! I won the giveaway at Rebecca's blog titled The Teacher's Chatterbox and the giveaway at Jackie's blog titled Third Grade's A Charm! They are both AMAZING women and have great blogs - make sure to check them out!

Beyond that - it's been a lazy Sunday! I didn't do much today but more homework (ahhh...) and shop at Target (dangerous!). Tomorrow starts week 2 of my SUPER SUMMER SCHEDULE! I cannot wait to see what this week brings me.

I'm calling today "Sunday Share." Below are just a few pictures of my typical life. I just wanted to throw some pictures out there to let y'all get a glimpse into the life of Sara (or Miss V)!

This is one of the gardens my mother has in the backyard. This one is a representation of my father, who passed away when I was 19 in 2010. Him and my mother are my two best friends, so it was definitely a hard moment to go through in life. But, I know he's looking down and watching me!

This is the baby outside. He does NOT know how to leave plants alone, which is also my other "baby." My mother loves, loves, LOVES gardening, so I decided I wanted to pick a plant out for myself and I've kept it ever since then.

I've become obsessed with anchors with Cody, my boyfriend, being in the Coast Guard. Normally, anchors stand for the Navy, but they can also stand for the Coast Guard! This is a keychain I bought and I absolutely love it.

Cody and I went to Busch Gardens when I was down there in early June. We were able to feed giraffes! This is one of the giraffes that we fed.. well, the only one we fed, and she was a doll. Very needy!

I was driving home not too long ago and came across this on the side of the highway. I've always wanted to go up into a hot air balloon, so it was really cool to see this so close to me!

Socks has adopted this box as his new home. When he's not sleeping on my lap, playing fetch with his soft balls, he's hiding in here from me!

This was me as a little girl - boy, was I cute or what?! Who am I kidding.. I'm still cute!! I loved being outside when I was little, but now, not so much... have to work on that one.

 

A couple of my sorority sisters and I went out on a senior outing as seniors at UC and we went to a place called Paint by the Glass. You do a painting of your choice while you have a few glasses of wine. It was sooo much fun and as you can see, I'm a little kid at heart, SO I decided to paint a picture of the ocean! It's typically meant for children to paint, but I loved it so I just had to do it. The picture below is the finished project :]

On the last few days of my internship, I made a few gifts for my mentor teacher. I got this idea off Pinterest here. I absolutely love the way it turned out that I believe I'll be making one for when I become a real teacher in my own classroom!!

If I am outside, I love to be by the pool. This is a picture of the veranda outside Cody's pool when he lived in Florida. This just shows how gorgeous the weather was there, and how pretty the complex was.

Again, here's the baby. Obviously, I'm obsessed with him, too. I'm one happy momma! As I am typing this, by the way, he is cuddled up to my right arm to the point where I am only able to type with my left hand! Talk about Momma's boy!

To go along with my love of being by the pool... I love being by the beach that much more. Over Spring Break, I had Cody take me to the beach in Clearwater to watch the sunset. I LOVE sunsets and we met his sister and her boyfriend there, too. We were walking along the beach and Cody found this heart made from shells! How adorable, right?

 If you know me, you know I have two tattoos. I have one tattoo on my front left hip that says "Live Laugh Love" - I also have another one on my right shoulder blade. This one says "Strength & Courage" - these are both of the two quotes that I live by daily. I believe that if you employ all of those emotion words, you will be incredibly happy. Anyway... I believe I'll be getting this flower as a tattoo on my left shoulder blade with my daddy's initials on one of the petals. I think this is an absolutely gorgeous flower and I adore the color.

Finally, this is half of my sorority family. The woman on the far left is Jennifer. She's my grand little. In the middle, that's my little Melanie. Of course, on the end, is me. I don't know where the other half was at, but these girls mean the world to me. They are amazing women, so bright, fun, and caring. I hope that we stay close as a family, even though I've graduated! Love you girls :]

And well, that's me! I'll be back tomorrow with my Make It Monday! See ya then!

Have a good night, y'all!