Dirty Little Secrets

I love Diet Dr. Pepper, cupcakes, and pizza.

I don't go to the gym every day.

Sometimes I don't finish books.

I leave my laptop power cord and cell phone charger plugged in for days at a time.

I don't drink as much water as I should.

I do laundry and run the dishwasher too often.

I've left the house in sweatpants. More times than I can count. Without shame.

My iTunes includes Britney Spears' discography.

Get it off your chest - what are YOUR dirtiest secrets?

5 Reasons I Love My CamelBak Better Bottle

I've had all manner, shape, and size of reusable water bottle in my 26 years. I had a Nalgene in college that grew mold (and was probably full of BPA, the horrors!), too many glass Voss bottles to count, SubZero bottles, Evian bottles, recycled (and thoroughly washed) pickle jars... Seriously, I've had a LOT of water bottles.

my current collection

I've been pretty faithful to Klean Kanteen for a few years, but when I began student teaching in January, I needed something bigger and easier to drink out of - do you KNOW how embarrassing it is to completely miss your mouth when drinking in front of a room of 7th graders? ;) So after a bit of Internetting, I settled on the CamelBak Better Bottle. This decision may or may not have been influenced by the following picture of my queen, Leighton Meester, a.k.a. Blair Waldorf.

I have weighed the pros and cons of my Better Bottle and now present to you.. the Top 5 Reasons I Love My CamelBak Better Bottle.

1. The entire thing is completely dishwasher safe.
2. The bite valve & straw make it super fun. It also makes ice cold water tolerable for sensitive teeth!
3. I don't have to worry about denting my bottle (or the floor!) if I drop it. Dropping a metal water bottle sounds like the end of the world. Just ask my dogs.
4. I can see exactly how much water I've drank and how much is left.
5. I can drink from it while exercising! This is probably my #1 Klean Kanteen complaint; there are "sport" caps but they're.. weird and noisy.

I have to admit that I have a small obsession with reusable water bottles. My CamelBak is still new but I'm considering buying another Better Bottle in a different color or even the Groove, which has a built in filtration system. Oh boy.

Talk to me about water bottles! Do you use a reusable water bottle? If so, what kind?

Autumn Dreaming, part II

I have several dreams for the fall. I like to aim high.

1. Be gainfully employed. I really shouldn't complain, but I am so bored of sitting on the couch all day, watching Gilmore Girls, and playing the Sims. It's getting kind of depressing, guys. I need something to DO! I need money in my bank account!
2. Take full advantage of health insurance. This is an important part being gainfully employed, since I was denied private coverage. Health insurance means actually GETTING better instead of only FEELING better (more on this on Wednesday!).
3. Drop some lbs. Also related to health insurance. It's all connected! Get a job, get health insurance, get HEALTHY! I've been feeling badly for myself for being sick, which results in a lot of emotional eating - which I am working very hard to resist. Actually being sick is very discouraging when it comes to exercising - which I am also working on combating.
4. Own a J.Crew Schoolboy blazer. Yep. Totally frivolous. But hellooo, the Schoolboy blazer is totally iconic and timeless. Oh, the gold buttons.. the gold buttons!

What are you looking forward to in the autumn?

Full Disclosure

In order to be held accountable, I need to tell y'all what I'm giving up for Lent.  It's a serious list this year.. ready?

• Facebook
• Cheese
• Online shopping
• Soda

I'm having trouble deciding on my boundaries.  For example, is anything with carbonation considered soda?  Can I drink sparkling water?  Does cream cheese count as cheese?  And what are you giving up for Lent, anyway?

Welp, gotta get back to ignoring my blog so I can pretend to do work.

TiLT #17

♥ Adele ♥ my 3-hole punch (I'm not trying to be ambiguous.. I really love owning a 3-hole punch) ♥ Aubrey Organics GPB conditioner ♥ health insurance ♥ Fringe ♥ Prednisone (heaven-sent, etc.) ♥ Etsy ♥ early bedtimes ♥ Despicable Me ♥ memory foam ♥ Click (not vegan but absolutely delicious; any vegan suggestions?) ♥ cardigans ♥ reassurance ♥ felt tip pens ♥ Starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate (also not vegan) ♥ the feeling that you're good at something ♥ the upcoming anniversary of my birth ♥ getting mail ♥ Tumblr.. always Tumblr ♥ Post It flags ♥ lace & doilies ♥ Kelle Hampton's blog.. it makes me want a bb in the worst way (sorry Boyfriend) ♥ lip gloss ♥ PBS ♥

P.S. My 150th blog post will be coming up before I know it and I want to do a giveaway - what do you want to win!?

Friday Favorites

Think of this has a substitute for Things I Love Thursday. I would never be late or slack on my blogging duties, so this is definitely not a LATE Things I Love Thursday.

Okay, maybe it is.  But ANYWAY...

♥ Sleeping in.  To me, this means waking up anytime after 7a.m.  It's the little things.

♥ Vanilla Coke Zero.  I know, I know.. but soda is my vice!  Since I have coffee in the morning, I usually only drink caffeine free soda.. but sometimes I need a little oomph at lunch time!

♥ Amazon Prime. Seriously, what did I do before Prime? PAY for shipping? Wait around for my precious parcels to show up?  So 2008, y'all.

♥ Signs of spring. Higher lows and higher highs.  Ruffles and eyelets.  Brave flowers.

♥ Words with Friends. I'm probably the last one to realize that this game is finally available for Droid but hoolordy, am I obsessed! (And for an English B.A., embarrassingly bad!)

♥ February Break. I have gotten absolutely nothing done this week and I don't much care. It's been such a wonderful treat to relax with Boyfriend and Neko and not worry about my long-term objectives or ELA standards. (I will, of course, be eating my words when I'm scrambling to keep up with lessons next week. But oh well!)

What are you loving on today?

P.S. My teacher shoes arrived in New York on Tuesday, so expect a full report on Monday! ;)

Stream of Consciousness

I've been a baaaad blogger.  Not sure that I've been a much better teacher.  This has been one of those weeks when everyone is grumpy and out of sorts.  I yelled on Wednesday.  No.  Not yelled.  I YELLED.  Ugh. :(

I got my loan refund check and have been furiously buying more ~teaching~ clothes.  My Crocs arrived on Tuesday but they were way too big.  I ordered a full size smaller, as per the reviews, but it turns out I should have ordered TWO sizes smaller.  They felt pretty comfy, though.  I also bought some fly jewels at F21, boots at Old Navy, cute shirts from Loft, and finally finally finally found good khakis at Target.  I'm easy to please.

Here I am showing off my jewels (and looking skeptical of the second pair of earrings):

Leaf hinged bracelet.

I guess I like leaves..?

I'd return these if F21's return policy weren't so awful. Any takers?

Oh yeah, and I had straight hair for a minute.

Not sure when/why my tshirt became a turtleneck.

Student teaching has turned me into even more of a grandma than I was before: it's my bedtime.  Will finally post my What I Ate tomorrow.  In the meantime, I've gotta get my beauty sleep.

21 Days

Tomorrow is a new day. It takes just 21 days to start a new habit or break an old one. Tomorrow is Day 1.

Accents!

Self-explanatory.

http://www.vimeo.com/19415259 w=400&h=300

Here are the words and questions, in case you want to play along at home ;)
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

• What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
• What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
• What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
• What do you call gym shoes?
• What do you say to address a group of people?
• What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
• What do you call your grandparents?
• What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
• What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
• What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

In other news, please excuse my swollen face. Now go make your own accent video! :D

Vampires 101

What I've learned about vampires from TV, books, and movies:

1. Vampires are mostly dark haired and always fair skinned.
2. Vampires hate werewolves.
3. Vampire blood fixes everything.
4. When possible, vampires fall in love with humans.
5. A vampire in love with a human is likely to be: sickeningly sensitive & caring; a "vegetarian."
6. A human in love with a vampire must go through an annoying "but-you're-a-vampire" ordeal.
7. Vampires can control your mind by staring at you intently.

Just the facts, ma'am.
This post made possible by: Twilight, Stephenie Meyer, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, and Sookeh.

Friday WTF

I can't decide if I really love or kind of hate these.. "Boo Boo Bling" bandages from Sephora.  “Cover skin blemishes, scars, tattoos, and ugly boos with bling!"  Hmm.. what do you guys think?