Things I'm Loving Friday XIII

Well, it's my first Friday to officially once again call myself a Houston resident. It's bittersweet, and I'm so happy to be home, but it sure came quick! I might have cried on, I don't know, six separate occasions yesterday, so I think I'm good on the crying front for a while. They were happy and thankful tears, though, mixed with maybe just a few sad tears. Leaving yesterday is a blur, and all I really remember saying is, "I'm sorry, this is just really hard," but today is the start of a new chapter, and while I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm going to give it my all.

Anyway, I don't have anywhere to be until 5:00pm today, so I am going to try and get as much unloaded and organized as possible until that time. Real world, here I come!

But before we start in on that, let's continue with our weekly Things I'm Loving.

26 Foods You Should Learn to Cook in Your Twenties
I am in my twenties, and I genuinely enjoy cooking, so naturally this article attracted my attention. And though I am no food expert, I think this is a great article. All of these recipes are very practical, and I have already cooked almost all of them in my short cooking lifetime. Just kidding, but the two most important recipes found in this article? Guacamole and chocolate chip cookies. Know how to make those two things, and you will be the most popular person in the room.

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Sunrises
Both this week and last I have woken up in the 5 o'clock hour a couple of days a week in order to attend a 6am Pure Barre class. So not only am I getting in a great total-body workout before many people are even awake, but I get to see one of my favorite sights - the sunrise. While waking up that early every day just isn't plausible, I become far too exhausted to function properly, it is more than worth the early alarm clock every once in a while.

Toy Schnoodles
One of the perks to working at SRD was that Jessica, our registrar, regularly brought her toy schnoodle (a mix between a toy schnauzer and a toy poodle), Lulu, to work with her. All of the residents always stop on their way into the building and up to their rooms to pet her, because she brings some much-needed stress relief. Haven't you ever heard of puppy therapy? She is so well-behaved, and loves making new friends, as evidenced by this picture of her and Dylan.

Motivational Posters
I won't lie. One of the things that drew me to becoming a teacher was the excitement of school supplies and fun posters on the wall. And I'll let you in on another secret. I'm so looking forward to decorating my classroom. That being said, I used a Teacher Heaven gift card to my advantage and ordered quite a few motivational posters that I remember being in my teacher's classrooms in middle and high school (I act as if that was such a long time ago).

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Words
You guys have probably figured out by now that I am a lover of words. I love to write things down - journaling, letter writing, and I absolutely love a good quote. Going off one of Sarah's cute ideas, I typed out a few of my favorite motivational quotes using the American Typewriter font, printed them on brown bag-esque paper, and these will be ready to tack up on bulletin boards in both my classroom and my area of the coaches office. As I've mentioned before, my high school volleyball coach sent us notes before every district and playoff game, and I would love to take on that tradition and do the same for my team.

And I hope to be back sometime this weekend to fill you in on my first couple of days on the other side of the volleyball world. Wish me luck!