caramel macchiato popsicles {it had to be done}

I'm on summer vacation and am slowly losing my mind! I'm trying to stay as busy as I can, but there's only so much prep work I can do for next school year without feeling overwhelmed. Ugh, such a paradox!

Anywho, in my summer spare time, I have been on facebook, twitter, pinterest, and repeat. I've been painting my nails, trying to find delicious healthy meal options, getting teaching inspiraion, and motivating myself to get in shape. Someone had pinned a picture of Starbucks Frappacino cupcakes then I saw a picture of chocolate chip cookie dough popsicles. Well, that got the wheels in my brain turning, and I decided that someone needed to make Caramel Macchiato popsicles. I scoured the internet trying to find a recipe or something that I could follow so I could make my brainstorm. No such luck! {sad girl.}

So, yesterday, I was out with my mom having girl time, and there was a Starbucks near us. I decided that I wanted a Caramel Macchiato...having been thinking all about them the day before! Not only did I buy one for myself, but I bought a Venti to take home and make into popsicles. Maybe you saw my tweet yesterday?

Well, the husband {mr. grapejuice} had one this morning and said they were a success!!! {insert squeal here} And, now that I've been a good girl today and have made good healthy choices, I'm going to treat myself to one as well! {yummmm}

Seize the Summer!

I have big plans for myself this summer, and I figured I'd post about them on the first official day of summer - TODAY! 

1. As a teacher, I take the summer to review how the past year went and what I can do in the upcoming year to make it better. So, I'll be doing that as well as getting everything ready for my classroom too! {my teaching blog} Even though this pretty much explains me {and every other teacher} to a T!

2. My in-laws visited a week and a half ago, and, obviously, I had to clean my house. Now, my goal is to "keep" it clean. To help with that, I found a great cleaning calendar {here} that I have posted in my kitchen. I want to get a cute frame and hang it on the wall, but this'll do in the meantime. I also bought an iRobot yesterday!!! If you don't have one of these, you are completely missing out. It's completely awesome because I can vacuum and clean somewhere else at the same time. Total score!!

3. I want to get my body healthy and in shape! This means lots of fresh food and plenty of exercise. I'm very comfortable with how I look, and I've pretty much accepted it {except on "girl" days, as I call them, when I feel completely disgusting - you know what I mean}. Mainly, I just want to get the jiggle under control and prepare myself for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February 2013. {check out my "princess training" tab above!}

 4. I am going to go on vacation to the beach come hell or high water!!! I want to sit/lay on the beach and drink yummy drinks with girl talk and chick lit books. Anybody want to come with?!

5. Last year, my parents put in a pool at their place. So, I'll obviously be there a lot too getting my tan on! I cannot tell you the last time I had a legit tan...probably because I NEVER have! When I went on my cruise this past March, I got a little bit of color and, by going outside for recess nearly the rest of the school year, I managed to maintain it. Now, I've got some great color and am not see through anymore!!!

{sources :: pinterest, mrs. orman's classroom, ebay, pinterest, ebay}

Adventures in Babysitting

If you follow me on twitter or are my friend on facebook, you probably noticed a lot of cuteness going on! Well, my sister's babysitter was out of town on vacation, and, since I'm a teacher and off on summer vacation, she asked me to watch Olivia.

Of course, I said yes!! It was a total no brainer. Spend time with a cute kid? Duh!

I just wanted to post some pictures of all the things we did last week. I'm sure you've seen 'em all by now, but, I wanted to get back into the habit of blogging so I'm starting here! She's a cutie patootie, in my humble opinion, but I might be a little biased since we're related!

 

{she put on her rainboots and watched the world outside as it rained}

 {Olivia and I}

{please excuse my nasty cough and severely ugly face at the end}

{chillin' in Olive Garden waiting for our lunch}

 

{she found a pair of my reading glasses}

 

{munching on some oreos}

 {she refused to let me leave nearly every day}

 {my sister and the little one}

 

{playing with her new toy at McD's}

 

{gettin' her drink on}

 

{eating popcorn with a spoon}

 

{"cleaning" the house}

My sister blogs all about her adventures with Liv if you want to check it out! {Liv.Laugh.Love.} And, how can you say no to such a sweet girl!

A Tourist

{warning :: picture heavy post}

Last week, I become a tourist in my own town.

The inlaws came for a visit and wanted to do some touristy things around town.

So, on Friday, we went to The Grand Ole Opry and did the backstage tour. I'd never done it before, and I've lived in the Nashville area since I was 7! I'm not a big country music fan, but I did enjoy getting to go backstage and on stage! I mostly loved going on stage; it's my favorite place to be in the whole world!! {That's another post for another day though.}

After our tour backstage, we went to The Opryland Hotel. This is a place I've been numerous times. The inlaws have visited too, but they saw it right before the Flood of 2010. So, we ventured over there for drinks and dinner. We ate at the Jack Daniel's restaurant, which was soooooo delicious! I had the ham sliders. I can still taste the cheddar biscuits. YUM!!!

Then, on Saturday, we visited The Hermitage, which is the home of President Andrew Jackson. I'd visited here before and "performed" here too. When I was in 4th grade, the school that I attended {and teach at now} partners with the historic home to let the kids be Junior Docents. We got to dress up in period clothes and stand by an appointed spot on the tour. We then told the visitors all about the spot they were at. I think I told people all about the slave quarters. I remember it being a lot of fun!

 

After visiting The Hermitage, we headed over to my parents' place to hang out at the pool. It was a perfect day to chill and enjoy drinks. We had all planned on going downtown but didn't feel like fighting all the CMA Fest traffic. Instead, we hung out at the pool for the rest of the day.

We didn't do much on Sunday. The boys went golfing, and the girls hung out at the house. {My MIL had homework to do.}

It was a great weekend, and I really enjoyed being a tourist in my own town. Do you do that with your friends and family? I'm always reluctant to at first, but I always enjoy it in the end!

Shoe-la-la

It's been forEVER since I've written anything!
My life kind of got out of hand.
School was a little overwhelming.
Then, my house became a hoarder's dream.
It was embarrassing.
So, I cleaned it!
In the process of cleaning, I found out that I have a problem.
A...shoe problem!

This is just one "pile"of shoes that I own.
Here are the rest.

 {I have one shoe hanger for my closet door}

{I have another shoe hanger in my closet .}

{And, then, there's the floor!!!}

I always thought that a girl couldn't have too many shoes. I also figured that I didn't have that many shoes. Apparently, I was seriously wrong! I haven't managed to go through them all and count them, but...it's a lot! I'm thinking that I might need to part with some that I haven't worn in awhile. There are just so many memories attached to them!

Do you have as many shoes as I do? How do you organize them?