Tucson Day Trip

I love taking day trips! Here in Arizona we have so many wonderful places to visit. I have only been to Tucson once and it was just to accompany George when he worked a night shift. So we got there around 10:00 pm, I slept in the hotel room while he worked, and then we left the following morning. Needless to say there wasn't much seeing of the sights!

There are so many things to do in Tucson so it was hard to narrow down what we wanted to do.  There are still so many things I want to see so we will have to do another trip soon.

The first thing we did was go to Biosphere 2.

It was AMAZING!  The Biosphere was part of a project in the 90's where scientists lived and researched for a few years inside of this air sealed bubble with different ecosystems. It includes 4 different ecosystems for research - the rainforest, the savanna, the ocean, and the fog desert. It was so cool to be able to experience these different climates and it was like we traveled all around the world in less than an hour.

The other really cool part was just to see the engineering genius that went behind this - between the cooling and heated water to control climate to the "lungs" of the Biosphere to control pressure, it all was so interesting.

After our Biosphere adventure we were starving and needed some food. Thank goodness for Yelp we found this random place to eat lunch. It was called Wings and Rice and you guys - it is seriously good. Whoever thought of the crazy combination between hot wings and fried rice was a food genius!  Seriously unhealthy, but I like to think I burned a lot of calories at our Biosphere wondrousness.

After lunch, we headed to the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures. Seriously, that's its name. It was full of alllllllll miniature things.  I don't think you can quite grasp this. So many many many dollhouses. It was a little overwhelming and got old after a while, but that didn't mean I couldn't take many pictures for your viewing pleasure. :)  Get ready for photo overload...

I think it was about at this point that my husband turned to me and said "I just can't look at another miniature thing, Heather."  Since he was such a good sport about the whole thing we left promptly after that. It's just hard to believe that these are all dollhouses. I wish they were adult sized! I'd be fancy schmancy. 

Have you ever visited Tucson? What are some other must sees for our next trip there?

Monday Made It - Adorable Bell Work Templates

It's the first Monday Made It for the summer!  I had a little bit of "teacher's block" with this one, but I dug up some old goodies and revamped them.

Whether or not you teach a grade level that has bell work, you can use these cute power point slides as part of your morning message or morning work.  I usually had my students answer two questions at the beginning of the class. They usually reviewed previous information or had them apply the information. Sometimes I would throw in personal reflection questions to support our behavior program, Capturing Kids' Hearts.

All you have to do is download the slides! None of them are PDF so you can easily just insert a text box to adjust them to fit your needs. Here's an example of how I used one.

I hope you are able to use some of these! To download just click the picture. Enjoy!  See a template for these beauties towards the bottom.

Science themed bell work or morning message template

Generic template for morning or switching classes - forms are just anything to turn in but like I said before, change it if it doesn't suit your needs!

Another one you can use for switching classes if needed.

Insert text on the white label.

Love this one - it's definitely my favorite and made for a math classroom. Word to the wise, if you don't have LD Shelly Script font downloaded the cute cursive won't show up. You can download it here.

Bright and cheery!

Here's a template that I photocopied for my students at the beginning of every week. All I would do then was duplicate the slide and add in my new questions and click save at the end so by the end I had a whole quarter of bell works saved up for the following year. Super easy and efficient!  Because I taught two classes but did so three days in a row (science for three days, social studies for three days, repeat) that is why I have the subject line.  I have uploaded it to Google Docs as a Microsoft Word document so you can edit it to suit your needs. :)  Click the picture below to download.

Remember to link up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics to show off your Monday Made It!

Currently June

I didn't even know it was June 1st!  It came so quickly!

I always love Farley's Currently designs - every month they just get cuter and cuter.

LISTENING:
Yikes! This show is so creepy! My husband has it on and I am not really watching it but there has definitely been some visuals/screams/creepy noises that have caused me to look up every now and then. I'm totally going to have nightmares tonight!


LOVING:
My husband and I have a new plan going right now - if I cook, he cleans, if he cooks, I clean. We will see how long it lasts but tonight he cleaned! ;)


THINKING:
I think French macarons are so beautiful.

I have heard they are pretty difficult to make, but would still love to try. Have any of you made them and have a really great recipe?


WANTING:
I usually am not someone who desires a beach vacation - usually I like city vacations. Lately, I have been craving just being whisked away to a remote beach. No cell phones, no internet; just me, my husband, a beach, and a good book.


NEEDING:
I am doing curriculum writing for the next two weeks and have an early start time of 8:00 AM which after sleeping in for a week I need to definitely set an alarm!

SUMMER BUCKET LIST:
1.  I have the fabric, I have a sewing machine - I might as well make it when I have the time.
2.  I want to make these honeycomb shelves for my dining room. I just love them!
3.  I want to lose weight - just really any weight. I don't want to put a specific number on it, I just want to be healthy and feel healthy.

Don't forget to link up with Farley's Currently!

A Gift As Good As Gold

My friend who I have taught with a few years ago got a placement as an Assistant Principal at a different school. We are so proud of her because there were over 100 applicants and ONE spot open. We definitely needed to do something to celebrate and that's where this golden idea came in. I can't take full credit for this gift idea because my friend Cindy also helped dream up this little beauty.  Get it, get it?? Because we are the old friends, we are the gold... Haha, it might be cheesy but we love it!

We bought the box at Target on clearance and then I just cut out some letters using my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine and modge-podged them on there.

The pictures really don't do it justice.

On the inside it is like a gold bonanza! We saw these adorable gold office supplies by Nate Berkus at Target. It was perfect! Can you just imagine the disciplinary matrixes she can staple together with that fabulous golden stapler? It really is a sight to behold.

All wrapped up with a pretty sparkly bow and ready for gifting.

So cute - I kind of want to keep it for myself but that might be rude.... right?  ;)

Five for Friday

Yay for summer break! I am kind of sad that a week has already gone by in a flash! Hopefully the rest of the summer will go by really slowly. I know, yeah right...

Here were my top 5 from my first week of summer!

1.  I know I technically already blogged about this, but I am so so so glad that I repainted this desk.  It makes the room look so much brighter and happier.  I have been meaning to do it forever and finally got it done on Sunday. Happy dance!

2.  My vegetable spiralizer came yesterday and I am so excited to use it! Do any of you all have one of these? I would love some good recipes to use if you have any!

3.  I had ordered these little cuties a long time ago and they came in this week also (geez, it sounds like I shop a lot).  My husband is a big Star Wars fan so this is really the only way that I can sneak in a little embroidery into the house. They are so itty bitty!

4.  Tomorrow we are going to Tucson for the day and I am really excited! I have only been once before.  There's a few things on my to do list but I don't want to ruin it since I will most likely blog about it sometime next week.

5.  Tonight I have a dinner with some friends celebrating one of our own who got an Assistant Principal placement recently. We are so excited for her and there was some stiff competition! We made her the cutest little present and I will share more about it tomorrow, but here's a little sneak peek. :)

I hope you all had a marvelous week and if you aren't out of school yet then hopefully you will be soon!  Be sure to link up to Doodle Bugs Teaching to share your top 5 from the week.

"Hello" Yarn Bubble

I have a TON of mustard yellow yarn leftover from the wedding. I could probably knit you and everyone else in your family a sweater with how much yarn I have secretly stowed away.  Because of that, many of my crafts are *shocker* made from yellow yarn!

I saw this pin on Pinterest not too long ago and knew that I had to replicate it. It's got the perfect combination of color and quirkiness that fits right into my home. Except, I am not going to put a picture of the original because hers is way better and you won't want to read my post anymore.

The original creator of the "hello" bubble, used stretchy fabric for hers which would probably have been a way better idea because yarn took FOREVER. It was a nice little mindless task while listening to music so if you have an hour to kill, go for it.

It's really cute because you can put it practically anywhere. I tried several different places until I was happy with where it settled.

Nope, not here. It doesn't stand out enough against the paint color.

Nada. The hello isn't even pointing at the deer. That's just silly. Plus we all know that deer don't say hello.

Cacti can't say hello!

Ah, here we go, I kind of like it here. It adds a nice center focal point to the mirror.

I liked it in the center of the mirror because the mirror is just a little too classy as is; it needs a cheesiness factor much like everything else in my home! I can't get a good picture in its new home, so enjoy the fuzziness that is my masterpiece.  I'll probably move it tomorrow.

Don't forget to read the tutorial on how to make this bad boy. And just remember; don't be like me, don't use yarn.

Desk Makeover and a Surprise!

Oopsies on the countdown! I should've known better than to do a blogging extravaganza during the last week of school. I always forget how much there is to do until you are in the midst of it year after year. To celebrate being on summer break, I decided to do a little desk makeover that I have been wanting to do for a really really REALLY long time!

This desk (we'll name her Penelope) has been in my family for years. My parents gave her to us to have in our home a little before we got married. I used this secretary's desk when I was younger to do my homework on and she has definitely been loved by our family.  Unfortunately, because she has been in so many moves, she has definitely seen better days. I don't know if you can see very well, but the legs are especially scuffed up.  Penelope had some serious nicks and scrapes and even thought I loved the beautiful stained wood, it was a little beyond repair.

Here is the makeover...

Ahhh - there we go, that's better.  I know I am not the first person on the planet to paint a piece of furniture, so it hardly seems blog worthy however I feel like it is such a transformation that I had to share. To be honest, this bad boy was quite a labor of love.

We had to...

1.  Sand it.
2.  Sand it again.
3. Wipe it down.
4. Dang it, sand it again.
5. Prime it - it turns into a gross pink because of the stain. George suggests we keep it that way... we move on quickly after that suggestion.
6. Paint it.
7. Paint it again.
8. Paint it for a 3rd time.  Let it dry for a day.
9. Put on the knobs and move it into its special place admiring your handiwork. What? The drawers don't open and close with ease anymore because of the paint? Eh, deal with that another day.

I got the knobs from World Market and they make the desk fancy.

The color is called Icy Mint in Valspar's Paint and Primer in One (semi-gloss) from Lowe's.

The color makes me happy and totally transforms the room.

In other news and slightly random - I'm on the cover of a magazine! Bet you didn't know you were reading a cover girl's blog post! It's kind of silly, but that doesn't mean I can't pretend to be a celebrity. So weird though, no one has offered to give me freebies - I even had to buy my own dang magazine! Haha!

NBD.