Time to Catch Up

Apparently,  I wasn't very good at writing during these last few months. I seem to have a little bit of time on my hands now. So, here's a few quick highlights to catch you up:

1. April 2nd-I finished my first half marathon in 2 hours 1 minute and 35 seconds. It was an awesome experience and I actually think I might have to try it again. 1 minute and 35 seconds? Come on!

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2. April-Mom and I visited Atlanta for a trip to see the open house of the LDS Temple in Sandy Springs. It was remarkably beautiful and a special trip. We also ate lunch at Mary Mac's Tea Room and took my first trip to IKEA.

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3. April 9th-Kevin and I went to the Zac Brown Band's Breaking Ground Tour at Clemson. They are probably one of my all time favorite bands.

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4. April 28th-For my birthday I had a wonderful breakfast with Kevin, lunch with Emily, plane trip and then dinner with my mom, aunt, and cousins in Orlando. I had a great weekend filled with love, laughter, food, shopping, more food, Disney World, and the ICU World Cheerleading Championship. Team USA took home the gold!

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5. May-Congratulations to my hardworking husband! Kevin finished school at the University of South Carolina Upstate and earned his degree in Communications. We celebrated with a dinner at his favorite restaurant: Outback Steakhouse.

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6. End of May-June-I began savoring each moment in class and making memories with my precious students. I invited both my parents to visit my classroom to meet these little ones who have made such a big impact on my life. I will never forget my first classroom! PES 514

Out with the Old in with the New

 new sofa and loveseat

 

So this past Thursday I was able to go to Rooms to Go and purchase our new sofa and love seat. As you can tell, I'm super excited about this! The set we currently have is approximately 25 years old (yes, older than us). Although they have some history, I think it's time we part. The new set should arrive on April 15th! Maybe we should plan a party to christen them? Ok...my house Friday, April 15th!

Over the past few weeks we have really enjoyed the spring weather. Stanley has been out and about on walks and to the park more in the past two weeks than he did all winter long. I have been running after school with Virgina and some teacher friends a lot and even started my summer tan! The big race is in less than one week. THIS SATURDAY will be my first half marathon! The weather isn't looking so great for this week, just pray it doesn't rain on Saturday! I wish the best for Tim, Craig, Troy, Melanie, Virginia, Kristin, and any others I know that will be running!

Well, 2011 is almost 1/4 of the way gone. I decided to go back and read my goals for twenty eleven and assess where I stand. So far, I've read one good book and about to finish the second (my goal is to read ten), I'm about to run my half marathon, and I've been blogging consistently. I have slacked on the American Sign Language goal. I hope to get more into that really soon, maybe even take some classes over the summer. I'd say that's pretty good 3 out of 4.

My spring break is one week away! I'm looking forward to some well deserved R and R and hope to get to visit my parents in Tennessee.

Middle School...here I come!

Sunday is quite possibly my favorite day of the week (when I'm not sick). I love that I get to sleep in, attend church, take naps and just be lazy! Some of my favorite Sunday activities include trying new crock pot recipes, watching movies or ballgames, baking, taking Stanley on walks, and visiting with family and friends. I often wish we could have more Sundays each week.

A lot of time has passed since I last wrote. I am currently fighting a minor sinus infection, which I typically have 3-4 times per year. Thankfully, this is a slow time of the school year and I'm not bogged down with a lot of work right now. Speaking of work, I have some big news to announce: my district has reassigned me to teach a "multicategorical" special education class at Riverside Middle School for the 2011-2012 school year. I was surprised when I heard the news, but now I'm excited for the new challenge and change. Middle school...here I come!

In other Conklin family news...Kevin just enjoyed his spring break by still attending his internship at WYFF News 4 and writing a paper for his senior seminar class. He was accepted to graduate school at the University of South Carolina, but isn't sure he is going to attend. He is hoping to be able to find a job after graduation in May. I bought a plane ticket to Orlando, Florida to join my family in watching my cousin Brianna compete in the ICU World Cheerleading Championships in April. Go team USA! I'm really looking forward to this trip to get away, spend time with family, and visit Florida. In the mean time, I am still logging miles while preparing for my half marathon on April 2nd. I've run 177 miles so far this year with my longest run being 11 miles in 1 hour and 49 minutes. The race and my spring break are just 3 weeks away.

47 Cent Pants and Homemade Chicken Wings

Sweet Sesame Teriyaki and Traditional Hot Wings

The beautiful South Carolina sunshine has finally arrived and this week was another busy week. We must have been doing something right this week because Friday was our lucky day. We went to Anderson for dinner and if anyone's from around here, you know Anderson only has like 5 restaurants so the wait time on weekends are usually ridiculous. We pulled up to Texas Roadhouse and got "rockstar" parking. Then, we went inside and had to fight the crowd to put our name in to get our buzzer. They said the wait time was going to be 10-15 minutes (short time for Anderson-good news right?!) and then immediately our buzzer went off. I thought maybe it was a mistake but our table was ready immediately (getting better) and so were the warm yeast rolls! Yummm! Our service was fast and great and afterward we decided to do some shopping. It was then that Kevin found $0.47 pants on the clearance rack at Old Navy (best!).

Clemson vs. UNC

Our lucky/happy streak rolled into Saturday when we got tickets to the Clemson v. UNC basketball game at Littlejohn. (Thanks Melissa!!!) The game was a close one and a lot of fun. After the game, Kevin and his dad installed our new kitchen faucet (it's been broken since last Sunday) and I went for my long run. 8 miles this week! Thanks to the nice weather I've been able to start training outside. The sunshine is suppose to continue all week...I can't wait! Today, Kevin and I took Stanley out for a walk by the lake and snapped some shots. It was extremely windy but we all still had a nice time. We also made our first batch of chicken wings. De-lish! Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and we decided to celebrate this coming weekend with a trip to Cherokee to try out the new Paula Deen's Kitchen. Can't wait for those gooey butter cakes! Gourmet fried chicken and mac 'n cheese here I come!

White Chocolate Lemon Streusel Bars

Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 can (14 oz)
Fresh Lemon Juice (1/2 cup)
White Chocolate Chips (2 cups or 12 oz pkg)
Butter, softened (2/3 cups)
Light Brown Sugar, 1 cup
All Purpose Flour 1 1/2 cups
Pecans, chopped 3/4 cup
Quick Oats 1 1/2 cups
Baking Powder 1 teaspoon
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Egg 1

 1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Lightly grease 13x9x2 in pan
3. Combine milk, lemon juice, and chocolate chips. Mix well.
4. Beat butter and sugar in mixer until blended well.
5. Stir together oats, flour, baking powder, salt and pecans.
6. Add to butter mixture and blend well.  Add egg and blend well.
7. Press egg/crumb mixture evenly over crumb mixture.
8. Save about a cup of the crumb mixture to sprinkle on top.
9. Spread lemon mixture evenly over crumb mixture.
10. Sprinkle saved crumb mixture over lemon mixture gently pressing down on crumbs.
11.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
12.  Cool completely then slice.

In the past few weeks I've been able to do a bit of baking! At the Twig's cooking class in January we got to taste these white chocolate lemon streusel bars and...I have since made 3 batches! Mmm Mmm! I love to bake and I'm always looking for new recipes. So please feel free to share!

Well, I can't believe February is already here! This has already been a very busy year. On Monday, we received a new student in our class. He is a very sweet, very young student -- 5 years old. Most of my students are around 9 to 11 years old. So as you can imagine, I've had to do a bit of adjusting! I've learned that it takes a lot more energy and attention to keep up with a 5 year old! It's been a really great experience. Speaking of ages...our niece Elise turned 3 years old on Thursday! (am I really old enough to have a 3 year old niece?!) Happy Birthday Elise! Her cake, presents, and decor were decked out in Disney Princesses and she went ice skating (like the Princesses On Ice show we viewed in December) for her birthday. I am so glad we've been able to spend some time with the Sammis family in the past few weeks. Soon they will all be leaving us to move up to VA. Natalie, Bryan, Elise and Carson will all be greatly missed! We love you and hope to visit you sometime this summer so go ahead and furnish the guest room. =)

Other than baking and visiting family, I've been able to keep up with my training for the big race and even visit with some old high school friends. We went to dinner and a show at the Peace Center. It was nice to get back together with friends and catch up on everyone's life. It's so weird to think we're at the point where it's no longer high school, sports, and prom, but grad school, careers, and husbands! Sometimes life just flies by and I've made a promise to try to slow down and remember how much I need a Girl's Night every once in a while. You should do the same!

Dr. Seuss and Winter Goose-Bumps

January is beginning to end rather quickly and it has been especially cold this year (goosebumps). So far this month I've had a lot to blog about, but I haven't made the time to do it. So here it goes: I had one week off of school because of snow, attended the Motor Trend car show, coached a young women's basketball game, reunited with my mom, Cassidy, and her mom, read most of Dr. Seuss' classics and cooked green eggs and ham at school, trained for a half marathon, attended a cooking class at Twigs, tried my first Zumba class, cheered on a student at his rec basketball game, attended a baby shower for Amy, and visited with Natalie, Elise, Carson and the rest of the Conklin family. Those are things that popped into my mind first, and I'm sure there was probably more. I have decided that I need a new (better) camera in order to be a more effective blogger (donations gratefully accepted). I wish I had captured images of some of these events.

Most of all lately, I have enjoyed getting back into the routine of things at home, especially spending time with Kevin. We are so fortunate at this time to have schedules that allow us to have time off together. We both eagerly await Friday nights when we can go on a date, Saturdays when we can sleep in late and Sundays when we can rest and relax together.

New Year-New Goals

Our 2010-2011 winter break was relaxing and rejuvenating. We spent Christmas Eve with the Conklin family at MiMi's Steakhouse (a favorite) in Greenville. The white Christmas split between the Christophers in Spartanburg and Conklins in Simpsonville. Time after Christmas with the Christophers in Knoxville. New Year's with the Conklins in Simpsonville and one day at home in Pendleton. Well it only felt like one day after all that traveling, but I think we really had a couple of days to ourselves. But seriously, we are truly happy we have family within driving distance to share these special times with.

The first full week back to school and back to real life was fun and rewarding. I forgot how much I love my precious children! They somehow seem to have come back from Christmas break full of energy, excitement and eager to learn. All of my students' scores increased on a standardized test. One of my wonderful classroom assistants was named Staff Person of the Month. And I helped a student complete his 6th grade science fair project. Wednesday night Mutual with the youth at church was awesome. For date night, Friday night with Kevin, we tried out a new burger joint in Anderson and on Saturday Emily, Courtney, and Annabelle came to visit!

We're already over a week into 2011. The new year seems like a good time to stop and reflect on the old and look forward to the new. I'm not sure I like making new year's resolutions as much as I like making goals. I need something concrete to work toward and I'm sharing these in hopes some of you may keep me accountable!

Some of my goals for this year include:

• journal through this blog
• read at least 10 good books (I'm a slow reader)
• run a half marathon (check out my DailyMile tracker gadget)
• master cooking new recipes (I am in love with Paula Deen) and
• learn as much American sign language as I can

some of my Christmas gifts

gotta love Paula Deen

Emeril stainless steel copper bottom cookware