Spirit Week!

Last week at work was Spirit Week a.k.a the best week of the year. Not only does that mean it's the week before Halloween, but it also means you get to dress up in super silly/fun outfits everyday to work (and see your cute students dress up too).

Monday. Pajama Day. Yes. I wore leopard footies to work. And yes, I had an irrational fear I would get pulled over on the way to/from work (why? I don't know).  But all I could imagine was the cop walking up to my car and I would have to get out in all my leopard footie pajamaness. Yes, this is the way my mind works sometimes. Luckilyyyyyyy, that didn't happen.  And I relished all day in those jams.

Tuesday. Decade Day. Kindergarten was the 80's. Can you tell?! I don't know how hair survived that decade. My hair was a knotty hot mess that night after all the teasing & hair spray.

Wednesday. Mismatch Day.  Funny story. This was not the original outfit I planned to wear. Erik informed me that my outfit matched too much. You would think mismatching would be super easy. But nooooooo. I was almost late to work that day, after everything I tried on "matched too much" according to Erik.  So, this was the best I could do.  Still trying to decide if this was even mis-matchy enough.

Thursday. Sports Day. Somehow no pictures of me exist on this day.  But just imagine me decked out in my Yankees gear. ;)

Aaaaaaaand drumroll please.....

Friday! Character Day!! I got to dress up as my absolute favorite character, Pete the Cat! My students love Pete just as much as I do. And got a kick out of seeing me dressed up as him.  I was a cat one year for Halloween, so I used the ears & tail from that costume, and made my own red shoes.

It's alllllll good.

A Pumpkin Carving Success Story

I am pleased to announce, that after YEARS of failed pumpkin carvings, I finally had some success! I think I owe this all to my electric pumpkin carver. (just kidding that thing sucked. oh & not kidding that I really bought one thinking it would solve all my problems. I mean it was only $3.99 at Alberstson's!)

Anyways. We went to the Pumpkin "Patch" Sunday (it wasn't really a patch like the one we went to last year, but still fun, nonetheless!) with Erik's brother & his girlfriend.  After petting some donkeys, playing some beanbag toss, and taking a hayride out to pick out our pumpkins, we picked up some pumpkin beers & electric pumpkin carvers and got to work!

Side note: in case you read my last post, we were supposed to carve pumpkins Wednesday, but got super busy & decided to postpone pumpkin carving til the weekend. SO. Those pumpkins still remain uncarved. (And are calling out to me they want to be painted!!)

And taaaaaaaa daaaaaaaaa! Here are the finished beauts! Mine is the bat, which might not seem like much, until you remember this.

Erik's brother, Kyle, made the jack o' lantern on the right, Erik did the Dracula & Olivia (Kyle's gf) made the unicorn!

And of course, there were pumpkin seeds. I baked ours with olive oil, garlic salt, and cayenne pepper. Man, is it a biatch to clean/prepare/wait patiently while those things cook, but oh it is so worth it!

Happy Halloween Week!

Flashback Monday

In lieu of Throwback Thursday, I thought I'd post a "Flashback Monday." I know that has absolutely no ring to it.  But I've been fighting a cold since Friday and the congestion & lack of wine is really starting to get to me. But in between downing tea & Vitamin C, it occurred to me I should share again the amateur moves Halloween brings out of me.

Here are the pumpkins we picked out this year.  Not sure what I'm gonna do with this bad boy...but I'm thinking based on my pumpkin carving record, instead of carving-maybe paint?! But then there aren't any pumpkin seeds to roast! Luckily I have until Wednesday to get my act to together (and kick this cold's booty).  Stay tuned for what I hope is my first successful pumpkin carving in 3 years! :)

Oh & as far as the Halloween candy goes, we've I've already finished the first bag. (Thought I could save enough to hand out to Trick or Treaters even though I bought it an entire month & a half before Halloween. HA! Amateur.)

Fall Food

Now that it's finally starting to cool off around these parts (& by cool off I mean it's FREEZING. Highs in the low 80s! Literally every morning I walk outside expecting to see my breath, but no such luck yet. Hey, I'm from AZ where it's a bajillion degrees in the spring, summer, fall, winter, so cut me some slack!) But I digress, now that it's finally "cooling off" it's finally starting to feel like Fall, which means Fall Food! 

One of my favorite foods is soup. And awhile ago I discovered Hamburger Soup and it was an insta fave! Simple, delicious, perfection.

1 tbsp evoo

1/2 a medium yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef

Salt & pepper to taste
1 can condensed tomato soup + plus 1 can water
2-14 oz. cans beef broth
1 can of sweet yellow corn
1 cup cooked macaroni (my personal fave to use is shells)

Heat evoo in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion & garlic. Sauté until the onions are just soft. Add ground beef & season with salt & pepper.

While all that is cookin, add the beef broth, tomato soup & water to a large pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer. In another pot, cook pasta to package directions.

When the meat is done, add to soup mixture. Mix in corn and pasta and simmer for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

A Day in the Life

I do Weekend Recaps a lot on the blog, but I thought it would be fun to do a Weekday Edition to switch things up.  This particular weekday happened to be a Wednesday (which is my favorite weekday, unless you count Friday, and you'll see why at the end ;))

5:15-5:25AM 

WAKE UP. 

I wake up at this time if I need to wash my hair. (As you can see from the inspiring notes I leave myself on my alarms).  I probably don't really need to wake up at this ungodly hour but I'm also really slow in the wee hours of the morning.

I don't know what time it is now.

But I'm done showering, and it's time for coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee and makeup! (Side note: Erik wakes up about half hour after me and by then I'm on my second cup of coffee and he always laughs is insanely jealous of how much energy I have. But hey! I need to keep up with 19 5-year-olds...gotta be prepared!)

Rimmel Fix & Perfect Face Primer.  I discovered this (and the Revlon ColorStay 24 hr Foundation) over at Hello Newlywed Life. And hello! My life has been changed.  If you have oily skin, these 2 (inexpensive) products are little miracles. After being at work all day & never reapplying any powder or blotting, I get home and my face has no slick spots. Zero. None. NADA! So thank you, Megan!

Revlon Photoready Powder.  I brush this all over my face after applying my foundation to set it and give it even more of a shine free, "luminous" finish.

Sonia Kashuk Concealer & Illuminating Bronzer. I recently discovered this concealer and it has quickly become one of my faves.  Blends easily to cover any blemishes and/or under eye circles.  I use a little bit of the illuminating bronzer over my Nars Casino Bronzer to give my cheeks and bridge of my nose a bit of an extra glow.

MAC Divine Desire.  My all time favorite blush is Nars Orgasm but I am all out and this blush was a gift, so I thought I'd try it out before buying more of my fave, and it's not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Benefit They're Real Mascara. Perfect mascara for giving you long, thick lashes, without having to apply mass amounts of coats.

Maybelinne Age Rewind Brightener/Illuminator. After applying my foundation, I swipe this under my eyes and it really brightens that area up!

Milani Shadow Eyez. I dot this in the inner corner of each eye, just for that last bit of extra brightness.

7:00AM

Ready to go!

Grab some breakfast (& more coffee) on the way out!

My favorite breakfast is oatmeal with a little EVOO & sea salt.  It's quick, easy, delicious, and I'm not starving again an hour after I eat. 

7:20AM

Arrive at work and prepare for the day.

8:00AM

Morning Work.  I always have the kids come in and work on some type of Morning Work worksheet.  It varies depending on what we have recently been learning.  And Wednesday, it was a Color by Sum, doubles fact practice.

9:15AM

Snack time! That means snack time for Ms. Rienzo, too :)

As the day progressed on, I started to fail on the photo front. Shocking! But refer back to the first picture of our Objective Board to be reminded of all the fun things we learned this day.  Next time, I promise to be better with the pictures!

9:30AM

Back to those Doubles Facts, baby!

Okay, and here we are skipping to 1:30PM

The kids go to their special (art, on Wednesdays).  And I enjoy 50 minutes of a quiet classroom -- entering grades, putting together Homework Folders, making copies, wishing I had more coffee.

 4:30PM

Workout & Bethenny time!

Erik gets home from work around 5:30PM and I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Wednesday is one of my favorite weekdays. And no, it's not because I can go around asking people WHAT DAY IS IT TODAY?! (HUMP DAY!) although, that doesn't hurt.  It's because a few months ago, Erik & I decided we would try to do something extra fun every Wednesday.  It could be cooking a nice dinner together, watching a movie, going to trivia night, etc.  A couple times, we have purchased Groupons and used them on Wednesday, and that's exactly what we did on this particular Wednesday.  I got a Groupon for a place called Brush & Bottle.  It's a painting class, where you can bring your own wine to drink while you paint. Can you say awesome?! We had so much fun and our paintings didn't turn out half bad ;)