Merry Christmas to all!

What I'm loving as of lately...

It's been so long since I've blogged! Sometimes it's just hard to have the time or brain power to write anything worthy of reading!

I'm going old school today, and just sharing random things I've been loving! 

So the CMAs were on a month ago, and ever since seeing this performance, I pretty much listen to this song whenever I can! JT can do no wrong! He could totally cross over to country and have success in my opinion! 

I've been loving...

 This little outfit I wore out the other night for our "date night." Dress is from anthro, purse too! Boots are Dolce Vita. 

I am loving...

this little sweet pea is 8 months old now! Where has the time gone? 

I am loving...

how my 8th grader's tacky christmas sweaters turned out! I took a screen shot from all of them that I uploaded on Artsonia! 

I am loving...

Adele's new album (I mean who isn't?!) It's fantastic. The first time I listened to it, I was like, "Eh it's okay." But then I listened to it again and again and again. 

And there you have it! :) 

Things to remember...

November is a month of gratitude and giving thanks, but sometimes I think we the human race forgets this golden rule in life....

Art Room Happenings for the 2015 year thus far..

This is probably the least amount I've never not shared via blog of all my amazing students work! I have two excuses! The first being I share just about everything on instagram and the second being, I didn't have any supplies at my "new" school that I started at in September so it was a rough start "winging" it with projects to teach!

Here's a glimpse in a few things we accomplished!

Happy Fall!

Hubs and I drove up to flagstaff to escape the 90 degree heat yesterday. It was just a day trip but just what we needed to see the leaves and feel the cooler temps that Flagstaff has to offer! 

We had intended to hike around a place called Lockett Meadow, but it was so packed they only let in 50 cars to park instead of the usual 100 and we just didn't want to waste our day sitting in a car waiting for hikers to come back to their cars for us to be able to park. So we scratched that idea, and decided to go and check out the Arizona Snowbowl. 

Behind every happy couple lies to people who have fought hard to overcome all obstacles and all interference to be that way. Why? Because it's what they wanted. If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don't expose it to the elements. You don't make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by.

Soap & Glory

So I'm a little ticked off that my one and only body lotion I use religiously, is no longer being carried at Sephora due to "low product sales." (That's what the sales girl told me.) I thought my tounge was going to hit the floor as I stared at the girl in shock. Back in Arizona, they couldn't keep this lotion in stock fast enough and now they are saying it wasn't selling? What the?!?

Thank you Amazon, I seem to find just about everything on there these days. So long as they don't ever discontinue this lotion, I don't mind buying it via Amazon! :) Prime = Free 2 day ship which is something Sephora never offered unless you spent over 100 dollars. (COME ON what a joke!) 

When you don't watch one season of the Bachelorette...

last season of The Bachelorette featuring Kaityn B. was the first time I've not watched a whole season of the show. When I had learned that she slept with people on the show and it was heavily discussed, and they brought back the douchebag Nick from a previous season, I just immediately became uninterested. 

Skipping this whole season lead to me asking this important question last night:

Who are these guys? Lot of newbies who I didn't recognize because they were all from this past season of the Bachelorette!

So starting from the top there is a guy named Jared who a lot of girls think is is totally fine (um no) haha

then someone named JJ and Tanner and Jonathan. 

Apparently you miss all of this when you skip a season! 

As for the ladies....

I am team Tenley all the way. She's always been a favorite of mine. Why Jake picked Vienna over her I'm not sure any of America will ever understand!

I also am happy to see Carly from Chris Soule's season, although I wish someone would help the poor girl with her dang eyebrows. They were so dark and colored wrong it was all I could stare at when looking at her last night on TV! haha 

Anyone else tune in? 

Remembering Leslie..

"Most ppl are naive to the unfairness of the world and how fragile life is. we are here today, but nobody is guaranteed anything beyond that."

I just wanted to take a minute and share how devastated I am with the passing of sweet Leslie over at A Blonde Ambition. She was one of the first bloggers I ever really became friends with back when blogging was just taking flight of course in 2009. :)

We shared hair secrets and she gave great make up and tutorials on her hair styling.

She has 2 amazing baby girls who are never going to get to know their mother. For those of you that even still read blogs, or are wondering what happened to Leslie, she was born with a heart defect and had surgery when was was 1 year old. She never had a problem (remission so to speak) all these years later, until the birth of her second daughter. She rapidly went downhill from there, as she was unable to blog as much as she used to. My heart breaks for her sweet husband who is now alone and responsible for raising their daughters on his own.

I think dave matthews band has always said it best in two step (famous song if you haven't heard of it)

"Celebrate we will, because life is short but sweet for certain." -DMB

Her husband has set up a Go Fund me account for their baby girls futures....if you can or chose to contribute anything..

RIP Leslie. Your warmth and sweetness will ever so be missed.

As Leslie would say,

Be BLESSED lovelies.

Summer Reads

I cannot say enough good things about Kristin Hannah's new book "The Nightingale." It was one of the best page turners I've read in a long while. I love when that happens--when a book just sucks you in and you can't stop reading it! This was a 400 page book that I read in 2 days, which I was able to crank out mainly because on the second day I was on 3 hour airplane ride to Colorado so I had no distractions! 

I loved Kristin Hannah's Firefly lane and Night road. Highly recommend those books by her as well. 

And if you are having any more doubts about this book, it's also listed on amazons top 2015 books of the year! What's the book about? You can always read the synopsis on Goodreads or Amazon, but to sum it up, it's about 2 french sisters during WWII and all that they go through when the germans attack and invade France. I couldn't put the book down. So good! You won't be disappointed!

A book I didn't like which many are reading now...

A Girl on the train 

SKIP IT. Some are comparing it to Gone Girl. Eh NOT EVEN CLOSE. I was really quite annoyed with the main character. The book was slow moving till the very end. 

You want a thriller, read anything by Chevy Stevens or Gillian Flynn. This book wasn't even comparable to the other authors mentioned above. 

I am just about finished with Harper Lee's new novel "Go Set a Watchman." 

I'm on the fence about this book too. To Kill A Mockingbird is such a classic (obviously since it's a required reading in just about every public school I know of!) It's just hard for me to grasp the concept of why now, why would the author decide to release this book all these years later. There will be great debate, now and for years to come, if the book should have been published. And many will say "No." I'll let you all decide.

Wedding Weekend/Family Get together

I don't see my parents all but maybe once a year. Last time I saw them it was November of last year for Thanksgiving. I had a cousin getting married in the same state they reside in, so a trip was in order! 

Colorado is one beautiful state. God's country is what I think and feel every time I am there. 

Can I also say although the Denver airport is big, it's probably one of my least favorite airports? Very confusing with all the book your ticket here then go down through security and take trams here and to pick up your bag you still have to go down more stairs. Oy vey! 

This is the view from my parent's backyard! Breathtaking! 

A view of the aisle the theme was very country :) I loved it! Lots of Mason jars!

I am one of 14 Grandkids, and now my grandfather has 3 great grand kids! Here's most of our crazy crew (4 grandkids couldn't make it) Plus the bride and her 2 brothers aren't in the photo either. 

My Stepmom loves to host, she made just about everything for our get together. It's definitely not summer without some fresh watermelon!

A view of the backyard, just another angle. 

Bros & Sis. Me & my brother. My cousin and her brother. :) 

This net got lots of use. We had a very competitive game of badminton and volleyball!

Lots of beverages (this was just the beer selection) 

Bow tie pasta salad and fruit salad.

My contribution was my famous cheesecake stuffed strawberries! Yum! 

If you are from Ohio then you know what dessert these are! :) 

The beautiful bride and groom!

And there you have it! What I've been up to as of lately! 

My number ones

Music plays such a big part in our lives--whether you are old or young it still finds a way to touch our souls. 

I can remember what albums really moved me from my early teen years, to high school, to then college. These artists that I am about to share are what I feel the epitome of a talented group of individuals and or music groups. They are real game changers of the music we listen to today. 

I'll start with Elementary school. If there is any one artist I listened to over and over, and knew every single word to all of her songs, it was Janet miss Jackson if your nasty. I listened to her cassette tape to the point where some of her songs sounded worn out from me fast forwarding/rewinding it so much! It's the one album that I can still listen to over and over at the gym or in the car and not get sick of hearing her tracks. 

All seven of RN‘s commercial singles – “Miss You Much,” “Rhythm Nation,” “Escapade,” “Alright,” “Come Back to Me,” “Black Cat,” and “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” – hit the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, even breaking the record previously set by brother Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Her record still hasn’t been broken! So for me, what Janet Album is her best? Why Rhythm Nation of course!

I'll move right into Madonna. I spent a lot of my 5th and 6th grade years rocking to Madonna's Immaculate Collection (also on cassette tape!) Who knew that Like a prayer would be the ultimate bar song years later when I was older! Madonna was way more sexual with her music and videos than Janet was initially, but she she still made great music. The Immaculate Collection is still one of my favorite Albums of hers. 

Moving on into High School. When I think of high school, I only think majority of one group, and that's Dave Matthews Band.  How influential were they? A song from one of their albums was our "theme" to our senior year prom! I kid you not! I own all their albums on CD, and had a really tough time picking which one I thought was the best since they are all so dang good. But if I had to pick one that I feel is a step above and means the most, it would be under the table and dreaming. 

In college the artist named John Mayer rolled around and the acoustic guitar was all the rage with music. He's had several albums out since my college days, and Battle Studies, in my opinion, is his best work. 

If you had to pick your all time top 4 best musical albums you have ever heard in your life, what would you pick? What molded or shaped you growing up in the music sense? 

Other Honorable mentions that I listened to quite a bit as well..

Elvis Presley (all his songs not just one album)

Brian McKnight

Christina Aguilera 

The Backstreet Boys

Bush 

Reba McEntire

Michael Jackson 

Garth Brooks

So where did this entire blog post stem from you ask? Honestly I was at the gym, getting my cardio sweat sesh in and Janet came on my play list and my heart was pumping. I felt like I could push through anything listening to her sing Rhythm Nation! And that my friends is what made me really think, what were my all time favorite singers/music groups that to me, I felt were the best of the best in my childhood, and paved the way for a lot of musical artists who try to live up to them today.