Love Loving my Job

This week is a week that has been full of work, school, and more work, and school,
but I am loving it all! 

I have been able to be in my room all week so it has been nice to know where and what I will be doing everyday. This week Donna (my co-teacher) has been out for medical reasons so I have been in the room with Hailey and it was fun. She went to school for baking and pastry so we had a lot of ideas we talked about. We also were able to talk about what our favorite things to bake are and what our different school experiences were like. We had a great week, but I am very excited to get into a routine with having Donna back and learning how to work together. It is so cool because Donna and I live 3 miles from each other and this last week I went over and just had dinner and talked with her. It has been awesome getting to know her outside of work and it is so nice to know that there is someone close if I need them. She is so sweet and we are alike in many ways and I know we will make a great teaching team.

 My CDA class started on Monday and we started with the safety section and will be working on it until February 20th. I was put into the fast track group so it is a pretty good amount of work that is due, but so far I have kept up just fine. I do a section a night and it seems to have been working :) This a a cover page I made and then the other one is a page that goes on the front of my binder, I was pretty proud of them! I used bright horizons clip art and was excited to show my director and she loved them both. 

                                                

This is just my orientation and safe section so I am thinking that by the time a year is over I will have quite the binder!!

At this new center they do not have set hours that you work so you never know your shifts for the week until the Friday before the following week. This week I had several early mornings, but with the sunrises it did not make it so hard! My classroom has huge windows and I also get to see the sunset every evening as well and I love it! I can say that I don't care for the cold at all, but they do have nice sunrises and sunsets here.

I feel like since moving to where it is colder my body has had a really hard time adjusting. I am thinking my vitamin D is super low and I know that my iron has been low as well. I have felt very week and low on energy so I am trying to be more aware of little things I can do to help it. I started these last few days with making a spinach smoothie before work and I have already felt the difference. Some days I am still tired, but hey everyone gets tired! ;P

It was national chocolate cake day and so at work they had cake pops out for us teachers. They were super moist and hit the spot! It is the little things like this that make us teachers feel appreciated and make us want to keep working as hard as we do! 

On Friday night I went to Donnas and we went to this local sub place. I got a stake and cheese sub and it was SO good! I love subway, as you know by now, but have never even thought to try stake and cheese. This was a huge sub and man, it was so good! When I got back home I wanted chocolate so I finished this AMAZING chocolate that Owen's mom gave me when I left VA. She said it was her favorite and now I know why! It was super creamy and the hazelnuts where the perfect crunch! 

Today I had a "stay at home day" and it was so needed! I watched a church service, got a good amout of school done, washed my car (because it was above freezing), got to have a two hour chat with Lolo and then I will finish off the day with watching "Worst Cooks" while folding my clothes. My conversation with Lolo was so sweet and I am so thankful for her and our friendship! We miss each other very much yet have been so good with making sure we keep the other one updated. I am praying and hoping I can see her again sometimes soon, but I know that the Lord will allow us to do that in His perfect timing. She is always there for me and really understands me so well. She puts me in my place when I need it, but also she is there to catch  and encourage me when I need it. I think we will always be friends no matter where we are distant wise! I am very excited to see what the Lord has for her as she goes through many changes here in the next couple months! 

I am ready for this week and I think we have a pajama day at school this week....and that always makes for a fun day ;) Have a great first week in February... start it off on the right foot! 

With a Pinch of Love, 

Lil'Chef

Back in the Game!

I'm I was sitting on the bench a week and a half ago and I am so happy to say.... I am back in the game!!! Being a teacher has been a part of me that I never really knew would become such a passion of mine. I love my job and I could not imagine doing anything else. I am myself in the classroom and I have the best time with my little ones!

I got a call on Wednesday night that I was cleared to work and also go to the staff meeting that night. So I went to the meeting and it was a fun to get to meat everyone and it was also a very productive meeting! I was very excited to get into work on Thursday and get right to training. On Friday I got to leave at 4:00pm to go to Kristin's house and then go with her to see Dad, Mom and Wes! This is my  "excited to be going home today" selfie :) 

From here to Kristin's house was two hours and then to my parents it was another two. It was perfect because it broke up the trip and gave Kristin and I time to just talk and catch up. We had a wonderful and relaxing time over the weekend and it just reminded me of why I moved up here. I LOVE being close enough that I can just go home on weekends. The weekend was just perfect in every way, relaxing yet we had a lot of fun just being together. 

While we were there my sister wanted to make this chip bean dip, and I waned to make this dessert. I did not even get to take a picture of the dip because it was gone so quick! We don't like making things like this at home because we are the only ones and we would eat it all or is would go bad so this way we could share :) This is a dessert recipe Jenn gave me when I went to visit GA for thanksgiving and I was craving it. It is like a crumb cookie bottom (with pecans), a cream cheese mixture, chocolate pudding, and then topped with cool whip! It was delicious!! 

Shylee decided since Mom was at the market she would sit on Wes's lap while we watched the football game. Wes and I got time to play games together at night, and eat a lot of candy :/ Yes, he is such a bad influence for me, but I love my little brother to pieces!

When I got back on Monday afternoon I had some work to do. I was very grateful that the snow was fluffy and because I had shoveled before and found a broom that helped I actually enjoyed shoveling this time. It was nice to get some fresh air and a workout in! I am slowly getting use to it all and I am so thankful this year has been way lighter snow wise then last year so i can get use to it all! 

After i was done shoveling I made some dinner and I had this moose for dessert! These are my Mom's favorite and she put them in our stalkings this year. I had saved it for the perfect night and Monday night was that night. 

I rather work later in the morning that way I can get up, workout, eat a good breakfast, shower, and then head to work, but I have already had to work some early mornings. When I do go in later though I miss the beautiful sunrise, so one morning I had to pull over to get a picture. This is a house that I pass everyday and it is my favorite!  I love the color, the location, and the view.....maybe someday it will be for sale for $100....I can keep dreaming right?!

Friday night after work I wanted to go shopping because I so did not feel like going anywhere Saturday and I had no food. I got the essentials and to keep myself for buying things I don't need I give myself a "fun dollar". This chocolate milk was SO calling my name and it was $1.39, and it so hit the spot. When I got home I poured in into this glass jar my mom gave me. I am in love with them  (she gave me two) and use one every day for water. 

This was a wrap that my boss got me for a lunch meeting, but a parent of mine also brought us pizza so I saved the warp for dinner and it was so yummy! I got my dinner all ready and sat and watched a TV show. It was a perfect way to end my first full week of work!

This was my Saturday night dinner because I was cold and wanted something warm! I am not a soup person, but living where it is so cold it is slowly growing on me. As I am writing this I am realizing that I take so many pictures of food, guess it proves I love food :P 

Today I had a great time at a church that I visited and then I got good amount of school work done. I took a break from it to watch the football game and prep my meals for the week. I did 5 bowls and I am just not sure why the other one did not make the cut. I put some sautéed chicken on top of the split peas and lentils and it makes for an amazing hot lunch at work. I also have yogurt and fruit that I have packed with it as well. 

I am so ready for another work week, last week it felt so good to be back in the classrooms. I was a floater for all three infant rooms and this week I am just in my room so I am very excited. I like my kids already and the parents have been really sweet and fun to get to know. I have been blessed with the best co-teacher I could ask for and I know we will make a great team. She took off this week because of health reasons so this week will be different, but I am hoping next week we can start getting into a good routine.

Have a wonderful week!

With a Pinch of Love, 

Lil'Chef

Warming the Bench

Seems like just a couple posts ago that I had been sitting on the bench waiting to get into the job game, and here I am again.....waiting! You think I would learn how to be patient, but it is still really hard. I learned so much the first time that it is easier, yet waiting always has days where I just want to be busy with work. 

I left my parents house on Monday afternoon and headed to the house I am sitting in MA for three months. It is a huge blessing because I am able to look around at apartments and just get to know my way around before picking somewhere to live. My car needed her oil changed so I set up an appointment at a Pep Boys on my way down and it worked out perfectly. There was a Dunkin' right near it so after I dropped my car off I walked over and used my birthday drink cupon to get a caramel macchiato.

When I got to the house this is how my living room looked from moving all my stuff in and it drove me crazy. On Tuesday I cleaned and Organized most of the day and it felt so good that I knew where all my stuff was.

This week I went on a walk/run around the subdivision and I did not like the cold at all. The struggle up north for runners is real! Your cold when you leave the house and then your body gets warm so you take layers off but then as your cooling down you start to freeze because now your sweaty also :/. I am not a fan! 

Thursday it hit me that I moved and was not just up to visit for Christmas. I knew that a lot of that feeling was coming because I did not know a single person near me so I was pretty lonely. I pulled out the letters and the book that my old center gave me and it helped me remember the super fun times I had there. It was so encouraging reading the notes that parents had given me and got me excited to meet the new parents I will get to meet.

Because I have not had any income lately I have have had to be carful with spending money (yeah, sounds familiar) and I have gotten good at it :) This was after I worked out and as you can tell I was craving protein.

Friday morning my new director called me and invited me to their holiday party and I was so very excited. I was so ready to meet my new coworkers and being to be able to meet then outside of work was even better. It was so much fun and I felt like I fit right in with the other teachers. I can't wait to be a small part of this awesome team. I know that I will learn a lot from these amazing ladies I get the opportunity to work along side.

They had it at a local Mexican restaurant and the food was delicious! They had this AMAZING guacamole that I ate so much of I only ate one of my tacos. I got shrimp tacos with guacamole in them, topped with a fresh coleslaw, and served with Spanish rice. They were very yummy as well!

A rainy Sunday was had today, yet I have never been more excited for rain in my life. I am so thankful that it was not snow....because I don't have to shovel the rain :P 

Because I have been inside today I wanted to make a yummy dinner :) I had an egg omelet with baked mozzarella cheese sticks! I have tried them once before and they so did not work so I wanted to give it another shot. They were good, but still not the same as fried ones that you can order at a restaurant. Now I can say I have tried them twice and I don't think I will try a third :) 

I am hoping and praying that my background check comes back tomorrow so I am cleared to start on Tuesday! I know it will take time to settle in here, and I am ready to get that underway! Have a wonderful week, and I will talk to you all again next week!

With a Pinch of Love,
Lil'Chef

New Chapter-New Lessons

So, I’m trying something different this post. I have been wanting to write this all down for a while, but have not had the time to sit and write it. For some reason, I’m getting a little bit of inspiration to just write. No quotes, no pictures, just words on a blank sheet of paper.

I’ll admit; I’ve never been a writer....mist people that blog know just how to say things...me, not so much! In high school my Mom had to nag and nag for me to just write a one page paper. I have never really enjoyed writing until I started blogging. I am not the best, but it has been a place where I can write all my thoughts down and it has even helped me work trough things. I’ve never been a person that’s totally comfortable writing about myself or about the things I’ve been through. Maybe it’s because I’m not totally comfortable with myself or maybe it’s because I have a really hard time just letting go and learning how to trust people. I feel like people can get really frustrated with me because I have a really hard time letting people find out who I really am. I always want to have the tuff skin and be the one who is always there to help someone up when they fall. Sometimes, I feel like if I give everything away- my thoughts, my fears, my feelings- that once that person decides to leave (which they always do at one point or another), I won’t have anything left to myself. I love my best friends, and I have no earthly idea what I would do without them, but sometimes I truly am confused myself and just can't find the words. 

I’ve learned a lot this last year- who I am, who I want to be, what I want out of life, what my deepest fears are, what makes me so happy, and who I am in Christ. There are still a ton of things that I have yet to learn, and for me, life is constantly showing me that I don’t know everything. I’m still learning and with all the moving I have done it has really shown me where my priorities are and where they need to be. I’m still learning how to be a better person, how to be a better friend, how to be a better sister, how to be a better daughter, how to be a better teacher, and every time I realize I am not perfect-  and far from it. It frustrates me when people think I’m perfect or that I try to act like I’m "perfect/holy" because I don’t smoke or drink. People always ask why I’m not the typical 22 year old that goes out and drinks and seamlessly flirts with guys, but the thing is I’m not trying to be perfect. I feel like people won’t respect you unless you have respect for yourself. People should love you for your heart, not because of what you look like or the things that you’ve done. One shouldn’t have to get drunk or smoke or have a boyfriend just so people will like you. If you show people your heart and how much you genuinely care about them, people will like you for you. And if they don’t, well you don't have control of that. I can't base who I am off of what others feel or say. I think that one of the biggest things that I’ve learned this year is that there’s so much to people than meets the eye, people are so much bolder and so much more beautiful than they give themselves credit for. Just remember, that sometimes, the way you think about a person, isn’t the way they actually are. 

My Amazing Family

I can't say how blessed I am with the family that the Lord has given me. In these last few months I have heard about so many broken and hurting families and it breaks my heart! I talked to a friend on the phone the other day that said that her and her dad no longer have a relationship, and I can't imagine not being able to talk or go to a Dad or Mom for advice. I am not saying that my family is perfect and we have not had our seasons of storms, but we have always pulled through.

We always have each others backs.

We celebrate our victories.

We talk about our dreams, and encourage each other to reach towards those dreams.

We help each other to stay positive when life gets rough. 

We laugh.

We cry.

We push each other outside of our comfort zones to help each other grow.

We watch chopped/worstcooks “together” but in separate houses and some of us in different states and call it a girls’ night so that we can feel like we are hanging out together.

We remind ourselves that everything happens for a reason when life doesn’t go as planned and that it will all work out in the end.

Most of all We support and love each other unconditionally.  

Being closer to family is why I moved, I am so excited to start this new journey called life with them closer to my side. I am ready for the visits or even if it is just meeting up for coffee or doughnuts. This Christmas season was one I won't forget! It was simple yet what mattered was the focus and not getting caught up in the busyness that the season can bring. We spent time together as a family, and thats what will be remembered...not all that we got or did, but just that we were together.

I feel like that kinda was scattered allover the place, but I knew I wanted to share all of that. This is a blog and I will never know who this challenges or make a difference, but I know for me this has been a growing year and I am so ready to see what 2016 has for me. I hope you can continue to come on this crazy ride with me...so what do you say? 

Get you seat belts on because it will be a crazy ride! 

With a Pinch of Love,

Lil'Chef

Blessed with Family

It has felt so good having this week with family...both emediate and extended.

Wes and I have spent several late nights playing his Xbox that he got for Christmas over this break, but that's what breaks are for right? Late nights and late mornings :) One night was the first snow fall of the season and it started at like 12:30am so we went out and just had to enjoy it.

Tuesday was a day that we all needed to just relax and not do much at all. We all slept in and then after everyone was up and had breakfast/lunch we pulled out our gingerbread house making stuff. We set up the big table and watched moves and had a great time making our houses. I was sad because I did not think we would be able to get to making them this year, but Kristin went and bought all the stuff to make them before she came down for Christmas. 

This was my house

Hope's house

Wes's house (and his girlfriend come over and helped)

Kristin's barn

Mom's house

Wednesday my Daddy bought us all tickets for a hockey game! We met up with Zach (in MA) and some of his kids and got to watch it together. I had a lot of fun and really got into the game, it ended up being a really close game and pretty intense at the end. Out team ended up losing but we all had a great time! After the game we went to Zachs house for the night because for New Years Eve we were all heading to my Uncle Stevens for the traditional New Years Eve party.

For our New Years Eve party we play games, eat lots of food, and this year we even had a photo booth! This is with my Dad's side of the family and it is always been a time where we all get to catch up. I think it is so cool because every year there are friends of the family that join that just add and mix in very well.

Me and two of my three beautiful sisters <3

Fun with the photo booth....this is my Dad's mom, sisters, and one of his two brothers.

My Grandma and all the grandkids and great grandkids that were there. 

We always have Ice Cream Sundays and I did not hold back this year. I had chocolate ice cream with gummy bears, peanuts, oreos, hot fudge, then topped with whipped cream. It was delicious!!! 

New Years Day we go to my Dad's sisters house to have lunch, watch the hockey game, play pool, watch a movie, and just talk. For lunch her husband does a huge ham and he assigns us all sides to bring.  It is always so delicious and after this point we are all in a food coma and want to take a nap. 

After eating all this food we were headed back to VT and talk about a very interesting road trip back. We were all tired and ready for a good nights sleep. I seemed to laugh at everything that was said, my sister was sore from shoveling snow the day before, and we added an hour to our trip by going a different way because of traffic.

 On Saturday Mom, Kristin, Hope and I went shopping...yeah bad idea to send four girls shopping! We all came home with lighter wallets and more stuff to pack. :P It was so much fun to all be able to shop together again, I just kept telling myself to remember times like those because they don't happen all the time.

My Mom also went grocery shopping and bought some really "fun" things for all of us. She got me a little mini watermelon and I am planning on eating it today. She is so sweet and always spoils us when we come to visit.

Hope left early this morning to head back to NC, Kristin left this morning to head back to her place, and I will be leaving tomorrow to head to MA. With every leaving we all asked mom to make her amazing homemade pizza! It was so yummy and exactly what we all wanted.

What an amazing week and I got to finish it with watching football with my Dad, going to the farm with Wes and Shylee, and 'helping" my Mom with dinner. Tomorrow I am MA bound to start getting use to my new home and hopefully starting my job on the 12th. What a perfect break this has been and I am so glad that I will be closer to family. I know I shared a good amount of what I have done through pictures, but there are so many more little moments that I just enjoyed.

About to grab some ice cream and watch "Worst Cooks in America" with the family. Have a great first week in 2016, make this year a great one one day at a time.

With a Pinch of Love,
Lil'Chef