Hello! Well, we are right back into the swing of things 'round these parts. John just got back from his annual business trip to Tennessee and I just completed my first full week of school.

I'm still enjoying my kids and my coworkers, and I'm really feeling like a contributing member of the 7th grade team. We had Back to School night on Thursday and we had a great turnout. My partner teacher, who teaches Language Arts and Social Studies, and I presented together, which was nice to have that support. Students have recently been separated into their math classes and I'm glad we're getting into teaching and learning. I have high hopes for science, too, and hope the kids enjoy doing it this year.

In other news, this weekend has some things to look forward to. John is at work right now catching up from being gone, but tonight we've got a hot date to Cirque du Soleil at the Tacoma Dome. Tomorrow we're planning on Doin' The Puyallup fair with my sister and her boyfriend, and John's sister and her husband.

Also, while John was gone all of the furniture was delivered for our living room. We still need to get nightstands, lamps, and a full-length mirror, but we're getting there. Pictures to come when we assemble everything. Here's what we got:

I also got 2 72" white floating shelves to put under the high windows in our dining room. I'd like to put vintage plates, wine bottles, picture frames, John's mason jars, etc... and change it out for the seasons.

Very exciting and lots to look forward to! We are so thankful for where we're at right now.

So I downloaded a trial version of the Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 5. Man is it cool. Also hard to figure out at times, but I'm really getting the hang of it. Too bad it's like $600 to buy. Oh well, I think I'm going to get a cheaper, probably less cool version eventually. Anyway, I'm ready to reveal my best ever design board, both aesthetically and technologically. Here it is with a product breakdown below:

Silver Lamp Bases - Walmart $25
Lamp Shades - Amazon.com $20
Pintuck Duvet Cover in Sea Spray - West Elm $120
White Windows Headboard - West Elm $300
Polished Chrome and Glass Side Tables - CB2 $120
Creme Shag Rug - Home Depot $120
White Picture Frames - Ikea $20
Custom Sentimental Pictures (see below) - Cost of printing (0.13 each)
Space Needle Metal Sculpture - Chiasso, $28
Flower Candle Holders - Z Gallerie $6.50
White Leaning Mirror - Ikea $99
Drum Lamp - Amazon.com $111
Vases - Online (haven't found the right ones yet)
Creme Accent Chair - Target $130
Dresser - Refinished by Yours Truly 2009 - Free
Total = ~$1600 (my dad MAY make the nightstands... we'll see!)

Isn't it awesome how well I can crop things with Photoshop!??! It's so much sleeker and easier to visualize. A lot of this stuff, especially the paint color, was taken from the original MB design board made by Michelle (see earlier post).


So the other cool thing I am doing with Paintshop is editing the sentimental pictures I'd like to frame to make them a little fancier and professional looking. I'd like to frame a picture of where we met, a picture of where we got engaged, and a picture from our wedding. Here's what I've done so far:

I need to take a new picture of the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA so I can edit it similarly (because I am anal they all need to be black and white with a pop of color). That's where we got engaged (read about it HERE).
I'm pretty stoked about this program and hope to come up with some more project ideas (like a new banner for my blog!) before my trial runs out!!!

Today I went to the Scrapbook Expo with my Mom and Sister and it was pretty inspiring - some very cute ideas for crafts. And it was nice to have some girlie family time. Then I met up with some of the science teachers from Sylvester and we (they) brainstormed up some pretty progressive grading ideas, as well as some very unique science notebooking strategies. These are very intelligent (and lovely, humorous) people. My hope is that I can ease my way into the curriculum at my new school, then slowly rock the boat with these mind-boggling approaches. I am excited to go into my 2nd year of teaching with a much more confident view of my teaching abilities and how I want to teach my students. Very exciting! Related: My classroom is really getting there, thanks to the school die-cut machine and some fabric - can't wait to post pictures. It is SO organized and colorful. Label Makers are as great as I had imagined them to be!