12 in '12

As the year is coming to a close and the holiday break starts on Saturday (just one more day of school!),  I am going to share some of my favorite things from 2012 and link up with Miss Kindergarten and A Teeny Tiny Teacher.

12. Favorite movie you watched:  Hunger Games, The Avengers, Battleship, Bourne Legacy, Pitch Perfect, The Hobbit

I just couldn't narrow it down to ONE.  The one movie that was a surprise was Pitch Perfect.  I am an action movie gal but I had fun watching Pitch Perfect and love the soundtrack, which I listen to all the time.  I chose The Hobbit even though I haven't been able to see it yet.  The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was fantastic and I am sure the Hobbit will be just as great.

11. Favorite TV series:  Sons of Anarchy, Justified

I continue the action packed theme with Sons of Anarchy and Justified.  Neither show is for the faint of heart, especially Sons of Anarchy.  There were some episodes this season that I had to close my eyes.  The story line is fabulous though.  Justified is starting back up in January (the 8th to be exact) and I can't wait!

10. Favorite restaurant:  Buckley's

If you are ever in Memphis and want a fantabulous steak, you need to go to Buckley's.  There is always a wait but it is so worth it.  The BEST steak EVER!

9. Favorite new thing you tried:  Paint Party

During Thanksgiving break, my husband and I went to visit his sister and we all went to our first ever Paint Party.  It was fun!  An instructor walks you through creating the painting of the night.  Each night there is a different painting.  The night we went, we were supposed to make Christmas flower paintings (poinsettias).  Well, you can tell they are flowers but you wouldn't know they were supposed to poinsettias without me telling you.  I want to go back and do it again.

 

This one is mine.

 

This one is my husband's painting.

 

8. Favorite gift you got:  Pandora necklace with rings on pillow bead and Adipose stress toy

My husband and I have already exchanged Christmas gifts because our anniversary is this month also, so we combined the two.  I love Pandora beads and have a couple of bracelets.  My husband knows how much I love them, so he gave me a necklace to add beads to and a new bead.  The new bead is a pillow with a two wedding rings on it.  I love it!  It was perfect.  And to feed my Doctor Who addiction, he got me a adipose stress toy (picture below) that proudly sits on my desk at school for when I need to a little stress relief.  He is almost too cute to squeeze though. (I know, nerd, I have come to terms with it).  

 

7. Favorite thing you pinned:  Narrowed it down to my top three most recent

I have a slight obsession with Doctor Who, so I devoted an entire Pinterest board to the show.  It took me a long time but I finally fell in love with the last companions' story (Amy and Rory Pond).  This is one of recent favorite pins.

If you can't tell from my first pin, I will tell you that I am a total geek (have another board devoted to geekdom) and love everything about this next pin.  I love Star Wars, LOTR, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter and this pin combined them all into one.

This last pin is school related and something my third graders and I just did this week.  We are studying the layers of the earth, so we created an edible version.  They LOVED it!

6. Favorite blog post:  Crafting Sentences

My favorite blog post that I have written this year was on writing a complete sentence.  Last school year I was working with a first grade class.  One of the things they were struggling with was turning their prewriting into complete sentences, so we used my crafting sentences graphic organizer to get them going.

5. Best accomplishment:  Making the decision to adopt

I haven't been able to talk about this because I haven't been ready for a long time, but I finally have come to terms with not being able to have children.  After two years and two miscarriages, my husband and I have decided that there are plenty of children in the world who need a loving home.  So we are in the beginning stages of looking into what we need to do to make that happen.

4 and 3. Favorite picture and Favorite memory:  Paint Party

From left to right:  sister-in-law, beautiful niece, husband, mother-in-law, me (this may be the first picture I have ever posted of myself on my blog...I hate taking pictures).

2. Goal for 2013:  

My goal matches my OLW: I want to balance my school life and my personal life.  Mu husband is very understanding, but I want to build a family and have time for that family.

1. One Little Word: BALANCE

My word last year was connect.  I tried to make the connections I had with family and friends stronger.  This year, I want to work on balancing work and the rest of my life.  There doesn't seem to much time for the rest of my life because of how busy and time consuming school life is.  If I want to adopt a child, I know that I am going to have to do better about the balance.  School cannot consume my life.