Five on Friday!

This is my first Five on Friday! It is a link up created by the bloggers listed above! Any blogger can join. Basically, I blog about 5 random thoughts every Friday, shouldn't be too hard...

O N E

I really love my job.  I just ended the work week and it seemed to really drag on but at the end of the day I love my job.  It can be crazy sometimes (and I am NOT a morning person so I hate waking up early...) but it truly makes me so happy.  For example, one of my students came to school with a new hat her mom had knit for her.  I raved about it (it was REALLY cute) and two days later she brings me my very own! She made sure to tell me she told her mom to make it my favorite color purple! The hat is CUTE and I cannot wait to wear it.  I smile every time I think about my sweet students.

T W O

I hate our budget.  Kind of.  I love it because I feel like we are making an effort to save and better our future.  It is also so nice to know what money is coming out of our account and not see it slowly slip away because of mindless purchases (ahem, Target/Kohls shopping sprees....). That being said, I hate it.  My Kohl's card and red card are itching to be used on senseless items like another new sweater, socks (my guilty pleasure, no boring white for me!), and some of the amazingly cute home decor from Target.  I would love to log into Amazon and spend the $60.00 to preorder season 6 of True Blood because we are almost done with season 5 and how am I supposed to wait?  Our budget is good for us and it makes sense but sometimes.. I just want it gone! 

T H R E E

Is it time for my nephew to be here yet? I cannot wait until July!  Yes JULY- no sooner please (sorry Court!)  June is very busy and I will be out of the country/state for almost the whole month!  My camera is itching to retry some newborn photos and my arms are aching to hold a newborn infant! I cannot wait to meet my nephew and see what he is going to look like and who he is going to become! 

F O U R

I guess it is time to go back to the gym.  I am not in shape at all.  My muscles just are not there.. literally.. I truly don't think they exist.  I want to try my hand at running again.  I started the "Couch to 5k" program a while ago and was doing pretty well but fell away from it.  I would love to run (actually RUN) a 5k in the fall. I also want to just feel healthy and good about myself.  It is time to get back on track!  

F I V E

I love March.  March is just fun! March makes me happy.  Sean and I are both majorly Irish ( St. pattys Day anyone?!?).  We had our first date on St. Patrick's day in 2006.  We began dating on March 24, 2006 (almost 8 years ago!) and got married on March 22nd of last year.  March just reminds me of my amazing husband and how far we have come! I just really like March.  I also can't wait to order the top tier of our wedding cake for our anniversary! No frozen stuff for us! We get the real deal! =)

That's it for this Friday!  See you guys soon! =)

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was a good weekend with very little downtime! Shortly after coming home from work on Friday, I left to go to my younger brother's last basketball game.  We left right after to head to WI where we'd be spending the night at my sisters.

Saturday morning consisted of getting reading for my sister baby gender reveal party! We decorated and had everything ready to go! I had made the reveal cake on Thursday!  My sister had her ultrasound on Tuesday where the tech texted me from my BIL's phone and told me the gender( the text was then deleted).  I was literally (besides Sean) the ONLY one who knew the gender.  It was awesome and terrifying, I did not want to slip!! I made 3 round cakes (Funfetti, died the color of the gender) and  I stacked them on top of one another with colored frosting in between the layers.  I generously spread white frosting around the outside! I made an extra sheet cake with the colored frosting on top for after the reveal!

My sister set up a voting station.  After some eating and mingling, I read aloud peoples votes and we tallied them up.  The majority of the room thought GIRL (parents to be included) so imagine everyone's shock  when they cut into the cake and saw....

BLUE! I am going to have a NEPHEW!! I  bought a sweet onesie for him and cannot wait to meet the sweet little baby boy in July!!

Saturday night also happened to be our 11 month anniversary (not that we celebrate beyond saying, "Hey we have been married 11 months!" ).  It is crazy to think that this time last year I was over the moon excited to be getting married in 1 month.  Now, we have 11 months down already!  Although in some ways it feels like way longer, but in the best way possible!!

We left Saturday night to head home.  Once home I quickly got in my pjs and enjoyed some time on the couch watching Practical Magic. 

Sunday after church I spent some time with my little sister and then headed over to my SIL's to visit them and hang out with my precious nieces!  Later that night I went to watch Sean's basketball game (he plays in an intramural type league) and then off to bed!  Nothing too crazy but still eventful! 

Well, that was my weekend! We are already 2 days into the new week so here's to this coming weekend! =)

Here's what I have been up to lately..

Hello friends! Well, after quite a long hiatus I am back! I was by no means the best blogger ever but I really did enjoy it.  I think I stopped for a few reasons.  I read  A LOT of blogs and a lot of the blogs I read have thousands of followers, endorsements, designs they paid for, etc.  I think I became discouraged.  I did not know if anyone was even reading my blog or if I was even saying anything worthwhile.  Lately though I have realized that I will never be a "professional" blogger and I do not necessarily want to be.   It is okay if people don't read my blog because I think I do it more for me.  I love that it is something I will be able to look back on in the future.  I have tried journaling with a pen and paper multiple times but I am just no good at it! I have awful handwriting, my hand hurts (where I broke it in high school) after about 2 sentences, and I write so much slower then I type, so this is a great alternative!  I can't say that I will faithfully blog multiple times a week but I will try and be more consistent!

Instead of writing detailed blog posts on everything that has been going on, this will be a short "Here is what I have been up to lately..." post!  Honestly, I have not been up to "much" by other peoples standards.  My blog name describes my life.  I live a simple life of routine, some might call it boring but it is the life I enjoy.  So... without further ado, here is what I have been up to since my last post


August:

•  I began my 2nd year of teaching but my 1st year in 1st grade and I love it! My class is great and I feel like I could find a home in 1st grade!

• I also did my 2nd engagement "session."  My best friend is getting married in July and they wanted a baseball theme engagement shoot!  I am pretty happy with how they turned out and may be doing a bigger post on this in the future!

September:

• I became an aunt to another wonderful niece! My SIL welcomed her 2nd baby girl and she is just as precious as her older sister!  I love watching those two grow! 

•  I tried my hand at newborn photos.  They are MUCH harder then they seem! I have such respect for photographers!
  

• We celebrated my mom's birthday by visiting a pumpkin patch in Arthur, IL.  I love it there! We have been there once before.  It is in Amish country.  If you know me, you know that I have a major love and interest in the Amish! It is always wonderful to see the buggies passing by.

We also celebrated 6 months of marriage on this day! =)

October: We spent a weekend with my sister in WI.  We went to about 6 different haunted houses and had a blast!!

• We celebrated Halloween! I was a scarecrow!
  

November: 

• We celebrated my sister's 10th (What! 10th?!?!) birthday! We also celebrated our first married Thanksgiving!
  
  
• Since Thanksgiving was a bit later this year, we put our tree up a little early! Our first Christmas tree! It is fake, it is a hand me down and needed some TLC but we loved it!!  

December: 

• We decorated our home for Christmas! I would love to do a (late) post on my Christmas decorations! Christmas is by far my favorite holiday and I loved enjoying it in our home together! 
• We went to the annual Spagnoli Christmas Party.  That was a great day because.... I found out I was going to be an AUNT!! My sister announced that she was 10 weeks pregnant and due in July! Yay!!! I am so excited and that baby is already SO loved! 
• Sean and I hosted an ugly christmas sweater party where I did not take nearly enough pictures!! It was just close friends but was so fun!
  
• We celebrated my dad's birthday on Christmas Eve and enjoyed our first married Christmas Eve and Christmas day together!

  

  Christmas Eve- simple night spend with my family.  

  
  
  

  

  Christmas Morning: Don't mind the sleepy eyes! =)

  

  Love them!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  

  Christmas Day! We met at my parents house and exchanged gifts with immediate family then spend the day at my grandparent's home/

  
  
•  **** For some reason my camera has NOT been out much since December! I promise I will get back to it!! =)

January:

• Happy New Year! We enjoyed a quiet New Years at home.  We went out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend and then hung out at our home!  
• Hello 50 below and SNOW!!
• We celebrated MANY birthdays! Both my brothers, my grandma, 2 aunts, and both Sean and me had January Birthdays! Busy month!
• Sean and I went to the Bulls game! We have gone to quite a few in the past but haven't been in awhile and it was a blast even if it took us forever in the snow to get there!
• More snow!
• SICK! I stayed home from work for 2 days with the fle, felt better for about 4 days then got hit with an awful cold that lasted a good week and a half!

February:

• Here we are, all caught up! February has been full of cold and snow.  I miss color, I miss warmth, but I know it will be here soon enough!  I am finally feeling better! In the coming months I plan to utilize my camera way more! My sister's gender reveal party is next weekend.  Sean and I will be celebrating 1 full year of marriage and 8 amazing years of dating in March!  We have a wedding in April, June, and July! We are going to Mexico in June as well! Last year was amazing and full of change and I can only imagine how wonderful the rest of this year will be!  Thank you for bearing with me through this long catch-up post!   I hope you will continue to read!   My life may not be extravagant but I never thought it would be, I love my life just as it is, Simply McNamara! Talk to you guys soon!