Archives for July, 2008
Posted on Jul 31, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Kevin and I will be heading out of town tomorrow to visit our married friends in Georgia. But before we do that we are going to make the big shopping trip that I have been gearing up for. I should note that Kevin is very involved and is going to try and help me choose stuff. He will be there to share his opinion and to keep me from buying items that I don’t need. The plan is to buy clothes that are only work-appropriate. Most of you that know me are probably thinking this is nothing new- I have always loved to go shopping. But this is the first time that I am really going with specific things in mind. I plan to buy “classic” pieces that will go with more than one thing in order to create an outfit, and avoid buying something that I don’t really need just because it’s cute. If you read one of my earlier posts, you will see that I have been inspired by the show “What Not to Wear”.
This trip will also be a lesson in budgeting and making the most of my money, which is probably why Kevin cares so much 
So I cleaned out my closet yesterday and made a list of specific items that I want to look for:
- Trouser Jeans- these are more like denim dress pants. They would be appropriate for my “casual Fridays” at work.
- Khaki Jacket- not a heavy coat, but a jacket that I can wear during the day over shirts.
- Pencil skirt- from what I am learning this is a must have in professional women’s wear.
- Dresses- either in the wrap style or with an empire waist.
- Shirts- these basically depend on what sort of bottoms I buy. But overall I need to avoid any heavy sweaters because I have plenty of those and it won’t be cold enough to wear those for a long time.
- Shoes- these will be the last things I buy, depending on the clothes I select. The rule of thumb on the show is basically this: if you wear more neutral colors up top then the shoes should be brighter colored in order to “pop”. But if you are already wearing bright colors then the shoes should be more neutral.
And there you have it, those are my goals. I have about 3-4 hours to shop and a set budget so off I go!
On a side note, we chose this weekend to go shopping because in Alabama, like many other states, we are having our tax-free holiday. The way Kevin has explained it to me we are only exempt from state taxes, not local. So if we are used to paying 9% here, with 4% being state, I may still end up paying 5% local. But a discount is a discount. You can read more about the financial aspect of the tax-free holiday on his blog.
Also I recently discovered that since I belong to one of the teacher unions here, I am able to get a few good discounts to certain stores. All I had to do was go online and print out the coupons. I got a $20 off coupon to New York and Co. which just happens to be my favorite store. Score!
Well I suppose it is time to start packing. Everyone have a great weekend!
Posted on Jul 30, 2008 under General, Maggie |
Hello readers! This is Kevin, the lucky guy that somehow got to marry the woman that has written everything else you’ve seen on Brown Thumb. Or as Paul Harvey puts it, “And now… the rest of the story.” That’s me.
It somehow seems strangely fitting that I would pen my first post to our personal blog in the wee hours of the morning. Maggie has been a bit sick today on the digestive side of things, so she is sleeping in her big crate in the living room. If we left her in here alone she would not only whine (and whine… and whine… and…), but she might really need to go outside sometime in the middle of the night.
End result? Yours truly sleeping on the couch making sure nothing too far out of the ordinary happens. I’m totally okay with it — our sofa is really, really comfortable.
I worked Monday, but am taking Tuesday through Friday off as sort of a “stay-cation”. Of course the dog would get sick during this week… but I suppose it is better than a normal work week. We can catch up on sleep later on in the day tomorrow… today… whatever.
As a final note, our brown-thumbness has struck again. But I’ll let my co-author tell you about that at a later date.
Posted on Jul 29, 2008 under Maggie |
Maggie completed her puupy class yesterday at Petsmart. She has learned a lot and made some good friends. Of course she also decided to be extra crazy that day. Let’s just say that patience is not one of her virtues and she did not like waiting for her turn and watching the other dogs do their tricks. Oh well, it was still a fun time.
So excited to leave the house, I had to stop her from taking the wheel
Here she is supposed to be “watching” but she is too distracted by the camera.
That’s better.
Shaking for her diploma, haha.
She was not a fan of the hat.
Our big, crazy girl.
Posted on Jul 27, 2008 under General |
Dear readers, I promise we have not fallen off the face of the planet it has just been a very busy couple of weeks! I have been teaching music camp in the mornings, gone to school in-service, had my parents in last weekend, and in any spare moment I have been trying to catch up on sleep. Oh how I will soon miss my daily naps! I have to start back to school on the 8th, but the good news is that after tomorrow Kevin will have the rest of the week off from work. I can’t wait to just spend all week with him. Here is what’s on the agenda: sleep, eat, play with the puppy, sleep, watch Kevin write his final paper for class, go shopping, sleep, visit our friends in GA, and did I mention sleep? Haha I only emphasize this because ever since we got Maggie, though we love her dearly, sleeping time has been much shorter in the mornings. We finally let her spend the night now outside the crate and on her floor bed but she wakes me up around 4:30. It’s pretty funny actually because you can tell she’s awake and you hear the little paws prance around to my side of the bed and suddenly a wet nose appears next to my face. Notice my face, not Kevin’s. She associates me with feeding and going to the bathroom. Oh well. We are going to be leaving her at a kennel this weekend when we go out of town to visit our Georgia friends. It will be the first time we’ve done this so I really hope it is a good experience for her. I can’t wait to have two whole mornings to sleep in! Although rest assured that I will naturally wake up around 5:30. Anyways, no new pictures to post at the moment but I’m sure I will get some funny ones tomorrow. Maggie is “graduating” from puppy class so I will share those pictures later. For now good night and sleep tight!
Posted on Jul 16, 2008 under Olympics |
Yesterday I taught my first session at the music camp I mentioned earlier. It’s actually an art camp and they just wanted to have a music part in the mornings to wake the kids up, haha. It was a lot of fun and I must say that managing a group of 10 kids instead of 25 is so much better! I also felt really good afterward because I was amazed at how much easier and more natural teaching feels now. Had I done something like this last summer, with practically no experience, I would have felt really nervous and been counting the minutes on the clock. But I was actually sad when our time was up and I just had so much fun! I am looking forward to my second year more and more each day.
The theme for this art camp was originally going to be “patriotism”, but they have also incorporated the Olympics this year. Students are learning about the Chinese culture and making things like lanterns and clay panda bears =) The songs I am teaching all have to do with America, but I am also planning to bring some of the things I brought back from my trip to Beijing in 2006. Little kids often have a hard time grasping the fact that other places in the world exist (especially in small town Alabama). So I am hoping that this will give them something tangible to help them learn about China.
All of this Olympic talk is getting me excited about August! I wasn’t really into the summer games until 2004; I guess that was the first time I was old enough to appreciate them. Now that we have DVR I will be able to watch my favorite events and still go to bed at a reasonable hour! My favorite sport is gymnastics, especially the floor routines. I think I could have been a gymnast in another life I also like watching the diving because that is something I could never do in a million years. And how they make practically no splash entering the water is beyond me!
I want to leave you with some photos that I took in 2006, when the Olympic site was just under construction. It looks so cool now!
The 2008 Olympics sign.
Billboard in the Olympic park.
This is a small statue version of the Bird’s Nest.
Here was the Bird’s Nest under construction two years ago.
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And here is the Bird’s Nest today: this is the venue where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held.
Even the little lanterns around the outside have the same design!
If you want to check out the official Beijing 2008 Olympics site click here.