My new classroom (and other stuff)!

Here are some pictures of my new classroom for this year. It is huge and has sooooo much storage space! I am pretty excited to have a Smartboard this year.

I will update the blog when my classroom is put together and colorful. Right now it is drab and boring :-(

On another note, last night I participated in a TweetChat (through Twitter) with Really Good Stuff, a teacher supply store. The topic was stress relief for teachers, but we definitely went off on other discussions about our classrooms and things that make us laugh (a stress reliever). Also, throughout the chat, the mediator would ask questions and if we were a certain number answer, we would win a prize. Last night, I won the first prize of the night! I am not sure what the prize is, but I will find out next week some time. Really Good Stuff holds these TweetChats every 2 weeks, so if you have a Twitter account and are a teacher, sign up for a TweetChat at www.tweetchat.com and join the #teachchat every other Wednesday at 9pm.

Fun Website

Here is a fun website that puts the words you input into a cloud shape. You can change the font, colors, and layout. It's fun for spelling words, vocabulary, poetry, or just playing around. Check out Wordle (click on the word)!

2 year Anniversary

How quickly 2 year flies by! Yesterday, August 8th, Richie and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary. We headed to IHOP for breakfast and then went up to the Blue Back Square in West Hartford, as well as the Meriden mall. It was a nice, quiet, low key day.

This weekend, we will be celebrating with friends and family and having a picnic at our house. Here are some pictures to remember the big day, 2 years ago.

Sprite Island Yacht Club

Yesterday, Richie and I spent the day with Barbara and Frank, a friend of mine from work and her husband. We had plans to go sailing, but the weather was supposed to turn stormy, so we didn't take a chance getting caught out in the storm.

Instead, we visited the SoNo Arts Festival that was going on in Norwalk. There were many vendors and local artists displaying and selling their work. It was a great atmosphere with many exciting things to look at and purchase.

After the Arts festival, we headed out to Sprite Island Yacht Club, which our friends belong to. SIYC is actually an island which is part of the 8 Norwalk Islands that I didn't even know existed! The island was quiet and relaxing, with many things that you could do. They have a private beach, kayaks, a club house, picnic tables, and charcoal grills to cook on. We brought food and drink for lunch and sat at one of the picnic tables looking out at the water. It was a wonderful day and we can't wait to do it again!

Walking to the dock to get the shuttle boat over the the island...

Sprite Island...
Some of the grounds...
The dock to catch the shuttle boat back to the mainland...

Zumba

I heard about the Zumba sensation from several friends and family and it always seemed like something I would enjoy. One day I headed to Amazing Dance and Fitness in Waterbury to sign my sister-in-law up for a Master's class she wanted to take. I sat a watched the class that was in there and I immediately wanted to join in.

Since then, my mom and I have been going to Zumba class there once a week. At first, it kicked my butt big time! It still kicks my butt, but not as bad! It combines Latin and International music and dance routines to let you "Ditch the workout, and Join the Party!" If you like to dance, this is definitely the workout for you.

West Hartford- Blue Black Square

Yesterday, I ventured up to West Hartford with my aunt to Blue Black Square (click on the underlined words to get to the website). It's a shopping center that has many stores and restaurants and feels kind of like a small NYC. We started out at Crate and Barrel because I needed to get a bamboo sushi mat. Yes, I am going to attempt to make sushi at home. Will it be a success? I'll let you know.

Next, we visited Charming Charlie, which is a "fashion accessory boutique" that has a lot of fun, costume jewelry, clothing, and pocketbooks. My sister and I first went into this store when we went to Georgia to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins in May. It quickly became my favorite store, but I had no clue that there was one up north. Surprise!

We visited several other stores, but ended our day at White House Black Market. Richie and I are going to a wedding Labor Day weekend for a friend of his at work. It's a big, fancy, night wedding so of course, I need a new dress. I found that most amazing dress at WHBM. It's a black strapless taffeta dress with a slight sweetheart neckline. I put it on and fell in love with it...but it has a bit of a steep pricetag. I think I'll wait a see if it goes on sale or I get a coupon or something like that.

Overall, it was a nice day out with my aunt. We don't get to go out too often together, so it was nice to do so.

Dog Park

The dog park in Southington is a big, fenced in, old baseball field where I can take the dogs and know that they are going to run around and not run away! They enjoy going to play with other dogs, but often like to sniff out the field together. On Tuesday (8/2), I took Riley and Lulu and at first we ended up being the only ones there! That was short lived though. Shortly, several dogs showed up, one which was another puggle named Riley...and she was a girl! My Riley ran over to sniff her out (I swear they know when another dog like them is around) and I stood and chatted with her owner. Shortly after that, a couple of yellow labs showed up, which Riley and Lulu are partial to (bc I think they think it's Colby!).

Time flew, and we ended up being there for an hour. Their tongues were hanging and they were dragging so we decided to call it a morning and head home. If you ever need a good place to bring your dog for some socialization, Southington Dog Park on Mill Street is a great place to go. Southington Dog Park Website

It's official!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official! I finally having my Special Education certification! It's been a long journey, taking many classes at Fairfield U...then thinking I was done with classes...just to find out that one final class is needed to complete my coursework. That is all behind me now and I am officially a Special Educator...

Riley pic

Riley is super excited that football season is back in full swing! LOL :-)

Now if only the Giants could get their act together and sign some of their free agents!

Misquamicut Beach

This past weekend, Richie and went to Westerly, RI to Misquamicut Beach. The weather was great, the water was refreshing (a cool 73 degrees), and it ended up being a great day!

After the beach, we went to have dinner at a place called Two Little Fish. It is in an old Burger King building on the main road that leads out of RI. The food was amazing! On the menu was all fresh seafood. Richie got fried shrimp (1/2 lb.) w/fries and coleslaw and I got the RI chowder w/ a side of fries. I hope to definitely go back again!