Well rested Wednesday!

Hump day is just about over! I was excited about this day from the start. I let myself sleep until 6 today...instead of 4:45! Yeah! And I knew that tonight was going to be mine and Matty's night to cook dinner, watch tv, and play scrabble! And to my advantage it rained...I love the cozy feeling our house gets in a thunderstorm!

Let me tell you what we had...chicken and corn bread casserole. Comfort food at its finest. Yum! I'll have to share the recipie in another post...b/c it's a funny story how I've been getting new ideas lately!


Now, don't get me wrong, I love staying busy...like our Junior League meeting last night and dinner with the grad girls on Thurs....but there is just something about a simple night in with my sweet little family.

I also, finally have energy again! After a week and a half of school! Today when I got home, I was able to cook, scrub the kitchen, dust, and work on just a little bit of school stuff. My feet don't hurt and I am not crawling to the bed. I was starting to get worried :) Hopefully next week I'll be able to start hitting the Y after school again.

One more thing:
I am PRAYING that I don't get sick...guess who has sick babies in her classroom? Guess what they have? That's right...you guessed it. The SWINE FLU! It's going around our school like CrAzY!!!!
A little photo shoot that we had after my JSL meeting last night. Do you see Blakely in the back seat? :) I was extremely tired last night and I think I was delirious while we were taking pics! I was in a silly mood!

Gloriana and Productivity!

Love, love, love this Gloriana cd and especially the lyrics to this song! You know I clean to country so I gotta start immediately!

Matt is out golfing with his buddies...dinner is in the croc pot. Now, I've got approximately 2 hours of cleaning and 2 hours to work on school stuff. Ready, set, GO!

Do you think you know a lot about me?

Favorite Color: Why is this so hard for me? In clothes I LOVE white, black, gray, mustard yellow, and turquoise right now. In houses I love warm colors: browns, reds, yellows, and some greens. However, I am a sucker for anything in pink and green.

Favorite Car: mine -- tahoe. I think it will be the next car I get too...of course I could want a change by then.

Favorite Movie: My favorite movies change like the wind. I always go back to a few of my classic favs. Right now I LOVED The Proposal. I loves Sandra Bullock's character....how reserved and driven she was.

Favorite Hobby: Reading

Favorite Song/Singer: Casting Crowns, Hillsong, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Gretchen Wilson....of course there are lots, lots more.

Favorite Book/Author: Karen Kingsbury and Mary Kay Andrews
Favorite School Subject: Anatomy and Physiology in high school or any Education class in college.

Favorite Vacay Destination: I love the mountains and the beach.

Favorite Food: Roast and vegetables....I get mama to make it every time I go home.

Favorite Restaurant: Bone Fish Grill or PF Changs.
Favorite Animal: Golden Retrievers. I love most dogs in general.

Favorite Store: So hard to choose! Clothes: Gap, Old Navy, Ann Taylor, J. Crew, and Talbots. (the 1st 2 are more in my price range right now...since I'm on a budget) House: Hobby Lobby, Limelight, and Fireballs. Everyday: Target, CVS, Loli's, Loli and the Bean. I also love Victoria's Secret and Dillards.

Favorite Celebrity: Tori Spelling or Reese Witherspoon

Favorite Childhood Friend: Laren! I will never look at a pool without thinking about her.

Favorite Childhood Memory: Riding our bikes down trails back in the creek. And the rope swing in the creek behind our house. Me, Lindsey, and Kristy. Also forming clubs from the books that we would read. Oh yeah, spending the days at the CC with the Kinards and learning everything that I could from all the tennis instructors and lifegaurds :) And Cheerleading camps!

Favorite Baby Name: We have several names picked out. We really love classic names. But also like a few trendy names. Whichever way we go...they will match.

Favorite Person in my Life: I love everyone in my life. I really cherish my family and close friends.

Favorite Possession: I really like my laptop. Internet, work, iTunes, and pictures. My wedding band is another one of my favorite possessions. I love that Matty picked it out and what it symbolizes.

Favorite Fast Food Restaurant: Chick-fil-a! Diet Dr. Pepper!

Favorite Comedian: Chelsea Handler

Favorite Holiday: Probably Christmas...I love that time of year. But I also LOVE all holidays in general. I love a reason to celebrate and decorate.

Favorite Number: 4
Favorite Hard Candy: I don't really have one. Maybe something cinnamon.

Favorite Month: I've always loved October and February and June, not sure why.

Favorite Flower: Hydrangeas, Roses, and Tulips.

Favorite Ice Cream: Brides Cake and Anniversary Cake...BlueBell

Favorite Smell: Dillards..I love the mixture of expensive perfume, make-up, and leather. I also am obsessed with Yankee's Pumpkin Pie candles...I burn them all year long.

Favorite Drink: Diet Coke, Sonic Vanilla Diet Coke, or Root Beer in a bottle.

Favorite Cartoon Character: I don't have one.

Favorite Kind of Pants: Dressy crop pants.

Have Any Pets? BLAKELY

Have Any Children? Just a golden and 22 kindergarten babies.

Smoke? No.

Drink? I'll have a coctail with friends every now and then.

Exercise? I walk all the time at Cherokee Lake. But I'm going to start going back to the Y consistently now that I won't spend most of my afternoons driving to Valdosta.

Like to Cook? Only if I have time. I like to cook with Matty and with Blakely laying on the kitchen floor loving that we're cooking as a family :)

Play An Instrument? I used to play the piano. Somehow, I forgot everything I learned.

Dance? Danced until I was 16. I quit to play more sports. Dance at Fancy Dancer was my life and I have the best memories from it and I loved my dance teacher...but I was there 3 nights a week until late at night and it got to be too much with school, sports, and homework. I still miss it, and tear up when I watch my old dance videos, but it was the right thing to do. Tennis and swimming became my loves.

Write? I love to blog. And I model writing everyday when I teach Writer's Workshop.

Ski? Never. It's Matty's dream to take me.

Do You Wish You Lived Somewhere Else? Sometimes I get sick of living in such a small town where everyone knows everything about you. But I usually love it and couldn't see us anywhere else...definitely not in a big city.

Enjoy spending time with your mother? It is just about one of my favorite things to do :)

Sleep with a fan on? Nope, the fan in our bedroom doesn't work.

Want to get married? Been married 3 years and counting.

Have you laughed until you cried? Yes. All the time!

Met someone who changed you? I think growing up has changed me in so many ways. I'm sure people have influenced certain changes...that's for sure.

What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping.

Name something you CANNOT wait for? Our very own house so we can expand our family. And Fall Break!

What are you listening to right now? Gloriana

Last time you saw your father? Last week when I graduated with my Master's!!! He love it! Today is actually his birthday!

Most visited webpage? Facebook or my school e-mail account

Do people think you're weird? I don't think..but who knows and who cares :)

Are any of your friends mad at you? I hope not.

What's one new thing you'd like to try? Sewing and Scrapbooking...I just have to find a little extra time.

Are you a bully? No.

Do you type fast? Super fast.

Do you get mad easily? No, but I don't have patience.

Who's your best friend? I have lots of best friends.

What's the longest relationship you've been in? 7 years...with my hubby!

Maybe I should...go to Publix.

I love...older women. I realize this sounds weird..but I just click with women in their 30's.

Do you like getting hyper? What? I guess it can be fun :)

I don't understand...a lot of things.

I've lost respect for..._____________________________.

I get annoyed when...I don't meet my own expectations.
Are you neat or sloppy? Neat. Unless I'm really stressed, then everything around me begins to look like a tornado hit it.

Do you have medical problems? No. Not that I know of.

Have you dated someone older than you? Yes.

How much older? 1 year.

First surgery: I've never had surgery.

First piercing: My ears when i was 5....after watching E.T. and a few false attempts.

First best friend: Laren Herman in Boca.

First sport you joined: Gymnastics

First pet: Ginger Helen Jane...our family dog.

First vacation: Maybe Marco Island or the Keys.

First concert: Gavin DeGraw and Ashlee Simpson!

First crush: I don't remember.

First car: 1996 Honda Accord: My dream car at the time :)

If your house was on fire, the first thing you'd grab...Blakely, pictures and videos.

First thing you notice when you look in the mirror: My hair that needs cut oh so badly.

Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla

Big Mac or Whopper? A plain cheeseburger.

Coke or Pepsi: Coke.

Beer or Wine: Wine.

Coffee or Tea: Coffee.

Summer or Winter: Both.

cats or dogs: Dogs.

Boxers or Briefs: Boxers.

rain or shine: Rain..well maybe both.

Morning or Night: Both...it depends.

Silver or Gold: Silver

Sunset or Sunrise: Both. I like seeing the sunrise when I'm in my classroom. But I love the time of night that happens at sunset.

Oldest, middle, youngest or only child: I'm the oldest.

Indoor or Outdoors: Depends on the weather.

Got a Speeding Ticket: Twice.

Failed A Class: No.

Screened Your Phone Calls: I don't like to talk on the phone. Half of the time I can't find my phone and my voicemail is always all the way full.

Cried During A Movie: Most movies :)

Had Your Heart Broken?: Yes.

Had a good feeling about something: Always!

Pulled an all-nighter: College!

Guess who flies into Atlanta today????

My brother William Joseph is coming home!!! He's been in Missouri all summer teaching golf at Kanakuk! I'm ready for him to be back in Valdosta...my parents and his girlfriend, Miranda, are picking him up this evening. It's been a trying summer for my family and having him away just added to it all...so I decided to do a little tribute to my little brother :)
There are some pictures of me and him, but mostly ones of him and Miranda!

Monograms and Bows

Picture this! Monograms and bows everywhere....our colors were champagne and pink with hints of green tied in. And it was a pefect summer night in Georgia. June 24, 2006 to be exact! The night I became Mrs. Matthew Michael Whelan!

I LOVED our wedding reception. Maybe because I was finally over all of my "happy" and "so thankful this day is finally here" tears, or maybe just because I loved seeing all of our family friends and my good friends. We had a smaller wedding with a sit down meal at our country club. I had a blast. The only thing I would change now...over 3 years later...is I would have had koozies with our monogram on them for guests to take (I guess there will always be new trends). :)


Arriving at the Country Club...after our ceremony at my church.


Our Centerpieces!


Bride's cake


Golf Balls that were in and around Matt's doughnut cake groom's cake.




My bridesmaids


Taking a swing!


Driving our golf balls with our names and wedding date on them onto the course!

There was a little bit of dancing...









Our two oldest friends watching our first dance. This picture is priceless to me. It shows true friendship :)

We ending the night with a sparklers and a golf cart ride! My cousins decorated my brothers golf cart :)





I can't believe I carried around my make-up bag like I did...but I guess it was my best friend that day...haha!

There are so many more pics I could put up...but there you go a peek into our wedding reception.

We spent the night of our wedding in downtown Savannah, Georgia. Then drove to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where we boarded a ferry and honeymooned on a private island...PERFECT seclusion!


We just arrived!

A few pictures of where we stayed...the Melrose. I spent some late afternoon reading on the yellow porch in a rocking chair while Matt hit golf balls into the ocean.





Waiting on my new husband to get ready :)


Loving coctail hour on the island!


We even played croquet!


You can only get around the island by bike, boat, or golf cart. So we drove the golf cart to a local restuarant called Marshside Mama's. You had to go on this little path through the woods and marsh. Scary and Exciting....this picture describes it because we were literally flying though the dark with just the South Carolina Moonlight guiding us.


Can't you just feel the moonshine??

Wow! This has to be my longest post ever. I want to join in on all Kelly's tours from now on. What a nice trip down memory lane :)

My perfect Friday :)

I ended a great first week back at school! I'm thankful for a God that gives me strength and pushes me forward, when I truly believe that I can't take one more step. This afternoon, I spent some quality time with the teachers on my wing planning out our week:) Then listened to the rain pelt the tin roof at school until I got home and listened to the thunder in our cozy living room in my pj's! I love rain and thunderstorms (moderate ones)!

I decided not to drive to Quitman to eat with some of my fellow teacher friends and instead spent the night in, eating Jonah's fish and grits with Matty and watching the movie Obsessed with Blakley by my side! That is my idea of a perfect Friday night. I am exhausted now but am looking forward to watching What Not to Wear and Say Yes to the Dress in bed...and sleeping in!


Shrimp and Grits from Jonah's. I was so tired I only took two bites, but seriously...come visit us and we will take you here...AMAZING!

My eyes are burning as I type this, but I have missed blogging. I have been going nonstop for at least 2 weeks now. I still need to post pictures of graduation! It was so fun and I'll always cherish the memories from the weekend with my family. But, I'll worry about that tomorrow! Bedtime for me now!

Ready for a slow down!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Well, school started back. I have a full class of 22 students. 16 boys and 6 girls. So far it's going great! I'm just ready to be on a routine and get into some standards! This is my second year in the same school and grade and that makes it easier...but I'm still waking up super early and staying at school too late. I'm ready for things to slow down a bit. And I'm really ready to have some family time. My Nanny Jane is in a rehab and it just seems like things just keep happening to her....so sad. I miss her so much...and pray that she gets stronger and more like herself soon. If you read this, please pray for her!