5 on Friday

Two posts in one day? And multiple days in a row?? This must be your lucky week...either that or you're starting to get sick of me. Let's hope it's option number 1 :)

Here's my 5 on Friday list...

{1}-Weekend Wedding

Tomorrow one of my really good friends, and my first blog-to-real-life friend, P!nky, is getting married. I'm SO excited for her (I even had a dream about it last night, and all of the excitement she must be experiencing being a day away from marital bliss) and can't wait to see her in her pretty dress! 

{2}-Weather/Sunroof

Holy moly it has been absolutely GORGEOUS in the DC area this week. LOW humidity, sunny skies, the perfect weather to drive with your sunroof open....I couldn't ask for anything better. Other than not being at work so that I could actually enjoy it. Or, having an office that had a window outside that I could open and enjoy the weather....but, I guess I'll just have to enjoy the brief exposure to it when I go in and out of the building, and after work. 

{3}-Support
Everyone's support and comments yesterday about my wedding drama were amazing. I love the blogging community because of how amazing you all are when it's needed (and sometimes even when it's not asked for, too!) The situation has been less than fun to deal with (downright stressful and annoying), but hearing your comments, and knowing that I'm not crazy for thinking/feeling the way I do about it, means a lot. So, thank you for the support! It means more to me than you know.

{4}-Cake

MG and I are in the process of finding our cake maker, and we have a tasting scheduled for Saturday morning. It's right before P!nky's wedding, so perhaps doing a tasting of cakes before I have to wear a dress wasn't the smartest idea, but at least I won't be hungry during the wedding (either that or I'll go into a sugar coma....let's hope not tho). I'm excited to eat cake and hope that they can give us a good price and yummy options for our wedding day!

{5}-Organization

Gotta stack and "hide" where I can...

My office is feeling SO much less cluttered and cramped than it did last year. I'm out in what you call a modular (so basically a really large trailer with about 10 classrooms, 3 offices and bathrooms) which means that I have no storage closets in my room. Everything is out on shelves for all to see, and last year I came into an office that I inherited a lot of "stuff." Having been here for a year, I know a little more what I need, what I don't and what's just junk, so I tossed a lot and it's feeling a lot more organized in here. And, I've gotten creative with storing and hiding things....

Overall, I'm feeling a lot more "put together" this year, and less cluttered. I'm excited for the kids to see the room, and to have less boxes and more room to work with! Go me!!

That's it for today. Hope you all have a good weekend! I'll be off eating cake (lots of it), dancing, and enjoying watching my friend marry her best friend :)

Noodles & Co. Pasta Fresca and Shrimp copycat recipe

I dunno about you, but I LOVE Noodles and Company. My two favorite dishes there are pesto cavatappi with parmesan crusted chicken and pasta fresca with shrimp. I've already figured out how to re-create the pesto cavatappi (haven't figured out the chicken part), so when I saw a copycat recipe on Pinterest for Pasta Fresca, I knew I had to try it!

This isn't 100% spot on, but it's pretty darn close!

What You Need:

-1 lb shrimp, thawed if frozen
-3/4 lb farfalle pasta
-2 tomatoes, diced
-2 handfuls of baby spinach
-2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon olive oil
-1/2 red onion, diced
-salt/pepper
-1/4 balsamic vinegar
-1/4 sweet white wine
-1/2 cup olive oil
-3 tsp minced garlic, divided (from jar)
-parmesan cheese

What You Do:

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain.

2. Make the fresca sauce by combining the 1/2 cup olive oil, white wine, balsamic vinegar, 2  teaspoons of minced garlic, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix until combined. (You will need to mix it again right before adding, as the oil and vinegar will separate).

3. In a medium skillet, heat the tablespoon of olive oil. Add 1 tsp garlic and heat until fragrant (about a minute). Add in the shrimp and cook through (about 4 minutes).

4. When the pasta is done cooking, heat the skillet and add in the 2 teaspoons of olive oil, farfalle pasta (cooked), tomatoes, red onion, spinach and salt and pepper.

5. Stir together until hot and well mixed. Add the shrimp and the fresca sauce. Mix to combine.

6. Top with parmesan cheese (shredded would be better than grated, but grated works, too).

You may need to add a bit more balsamic to the mix for that extra taste. I added some extra to ours.

It was really good! MG wolfed it down and enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Enjoy!

Blogtember: Advice

I'm linking up with Jenni for another edition of Blogtember

Thursday, September 5: Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered. 

I think the most important piece of advice that I've ever gotten is to try and put yourself in someone else's shoes before you get upset about something.

{via}

I've found that it's really easy to fly off the deep end when you're upset, BUT it's also almost as easy (and avoids a lot of anger and hurt feelings) to take a few and try to see where someone else is coming from and why they may have perceived something one way, while you perceived it another way. I think it's really helped me be able to take a step back and say "I think you thought this, but I really meant this" or whatever the situation may be. 

It helped people feel understood and heard. Which I think is the root of most issues and problems. People get upset when they don't feel like they're being understood by someone else. I know that for myself, when someone says "I understand why you felt that way"...my anger and upset emotions tend to fall away and then I'm really open to talking and fixing things, rather than just being focused on being mad.

I would hope that people who know me would describe me as compassionate and understanding. 

Wedding Drama: Update

I realized when looking back at some of my old posts, that I never filled you guys in on what happened after the wedding drama where MG's friends (we can use air quotes around "friends" now) asked us to change our wedding date, and then the girl in the relationship sent me an email basically telling me that I couldn't have the same colors, bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen attire, songs, invitations, etc that she had. Read about that here to refresh your memory.

As much as I want to put this behind me, I wanted to update you guys so that you're aware of what's been going on, because, let's be real, it is bat-sh*t crazy.

So, after their friend passed away, we decided to ignore the email and hoped that it would go away and not be brought up again. Well, the friend's funeral was that Saturday and on Monday morning I got this email from the girl:

"Just re-sending this to you, to ensure that you got it. Thanks. " and then she re-sent the email that she'd previously sent.

So, at that point we knew we had to deal with it. MG and I wrote up a response and sent it to her later that night. Here's what it said:

Hi {R},

  Neither of us responded to your email because it seemed inappropriate to talk about any of this when you guys were dealing with the loss of a friend. We were surprised to see your email last weekend, in general, and given what was going on. With any passing, it puts things into perspective and it has made us focus even more on what is really important in life, because you never know what can happen.

 If the things you mentioned in your email bother you, it's unfortunate, but our focus for our wedding is on the bonds we are bringing to our future marriage. We are excited to spend the rest of our lives together and to be married. That is what is truly important to us. Five years from now, what color our wedding was or your wedding was, isn't going to matter. So, I think it's best if we both focus on what is going to make this day special and memorable for us, and on the important stuff here, which is planning a future with our significant others that is going to be strong and lasting. Not the details of one day of the rest of our lives. We want your day to be exactly what you want it to be and how you’ve pictured it, and we know you want the same for us. So, no need to stress one another out with coordinating even more details (after all, there are already so many as it is with wedding planning, as you know). We will continue planning for our ideal wedding day, just as you guys are, and even if there are some similar features, both wedding days will be unique and special to us, our friends, and our families. :)

Jenn and {MG}

The next morning, I got this email back from her:

Hi Jenn,

Thanks for the response!  I didn't want there to be any tension while we plan our weddings, and like I said before, I am sure both of ourweddings will be beautiful and a lot of fun.  Good luck with everything. 

Hoping that would be the end of it (but knowing it wasn't likely), we dropped it. And then we found out that they were going around to different people in the group, telling them that we told them they dealt with their friends' death inappropriately, and various other lies about what the email said. In actuality, our email does NOT say anything about that. And in reality, we hadn't said a word about this to any of our mutual friends, we hadn't sought them out to tell our "side" (even though we wanted to). People have come to us to tell us how ridiculous they think it is, and to tell us what is being said about us.

Also, this girl, who "didn't want there to be any tension" now refuses to acknowledge me at social gatherings and leaves me off of emails to the group and invitations to things.  Basically, I'm being 'punished' for planning the wedding that I've always dreamed of. So much for no tension....

What I've realized through this whole thing is mainly that it must suck to be so unhappy, that someone else's happiness in some way threatens your own. Truly happy people are capable of being happy for someone else's happiness. Not to mention the fact that not only are they NOT happy for us, but are going out of their way to tell lies about us that attack our character. I would NEVER tell someone how they should/shouldn't respond or react to a death. It's not my place. THAT part bothers me the most....that they are telling people these things that are blatant lies about the people we are.  

So, as much as possible, we are trying to ignore and avoid them at all costs and every opportunity that we can, and if people ask us what happened, we tell them. Whenever that happens, the response has 100% been "it's ridiculous."

That's where we're at. I'd LOVE to hear your comments and thoughts! :)

WILW and Oh How Pinteresting

It's Wednesday, which means that it's time for...

assuming these link ups are actually up this week...

I'm loving that we're already at the half-way point for the week. Means we're closer to the weekend, but it also means I'm that much closer to needing to have a therapy schedule draft done for work. So, maybe I'm not loving that it's Wednesday after all lol

I'm loving our new tv stand in our living room. Our old one was MG's and it was metal and glass, BULKY and didn't really match the rest of our furniture. This new one is sleek, fits with the rest of our stuff, and opens up the room SO much. Love!

I'm loving looking at our wedding registry online. I'm kind of nervous for people to see it, too. We have some big ticket items on there, and I don't want people to be overwhelmed or feel pressure to HAVE to buy that stuff for us. But, it's really fun to picture getting these things over the course of the next 6-7 months!

I'm loving seeing all of my kiddos from last year. A lot of them run up and give me a hug, or purposely come out to my office (I'm not in the main building) just to say hi. One of the many things that I love about my job.

I'm loving that someone had the cajones to say to my "frenemy bride" that her email to me wasn't nice. Finally, someone said something! (Not that it's made any bit of difference in how "frenemy bride" has treated me, but it's nice to know someone saw our side of the situation).

I'm loving Post-it notes. If I had to pick one desk supply item, those would totally be it. I write so many notes to myself and other people on Post-its, I'd be lost without them. #dorkpartyofone

And, as always, I'm loving Pinterest. Here's what I've been pinning lately:

I need to find these pants this season!

I love extra storage!

Crockpot Apple Crumble dessert---YUM!

I love animals!

Amen!

this one just makes me laugh :)

  ......You know you want to....:)

Blogtember: 3 months off

I decided to participate in Blogtember with Jenni. I may miss a few here and there but I really liked the challenge in May and felt like I learned a lot about you all, so here goes!

Wednesday, September 4: If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do? (bonus points for fun photos from Pinterest, but don't forget to cite the source!)

I would absolutely LOVE to travel, especially to Greece, just to see all of the cool sights and the beaches, etc. Soak in the culture and surroundings, see history at Athens, etc. I'd love to then hit up Spain and see the sights there as well.

{1}/{2}/ {3}/{4}

And then, I would love to do a trip with Operation Smile. I'm not sure if they need Speech Therapists, but if they did, I would gladly help the kiddos who get cleft lips repaired, and try and help them become accustomed to their "new" mouth. It would be nice to do something that isn't associated with a school system, paperwork, and other stressors, and just do something that truly means the world to a kid.

{via}

That's about all I've got!

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Labor Day weekend is now officially over which means....

today is the first day of school for my county's kiddos! Right now it's getting ready for the influx of new students, new grades, etc.

Thankfully that's happening after a fun, productive, and somewhat relaxing long weekend!

MG and I had been planning to go up to Philly for the long weekend to see his family, but one of his friends was having her 30th birthday and we wanted to go and show support for her, so we nixed the Philly trip. Friday night we went to my favorite sushi place for dinner, stopped for some ice cream afterwards and enjoyed the weather outside before heading home to watch the Great Gatsby. I thought it was pretty bad...especially the beginning. I kept watching it and thinking that it was a joke. As the movie went on it was a bit better, but I liked the book better.

Saturday MG and I made an impromptu decision to buy a tv stand for our living room. The one MG had was given to him from his parents and was glass and metal, and MASSIVELY bulky. I'd been trying to persuade him to see the merits of a smaller tv stand (esp if we wall mount our tv which we're planning on doing eventually). It was on sale and Saturday was the last day of the sale, so we bought it! Neither of us had the energy to put it together tho haha.

That night we had a couple friend over for drinks and pizza before we went into Georgetown for the birthday celebrations. Upon arriving in Georgetown, I was immediately snubbed by "bridezilla"...no surprise there. And then continued on with our night. It was fun, but every time I'm around that group (when bridezilla is there), I just don't feel comfortable. And mixed with a little bit of alcohol, it's just never a good situation for me. So, we left relatively early.

Sunday we decided to finally get going on our registry. We headed to Macy's, heard their whole thing about our benefits, etc and received our scan gun! The packet of information we got, even came in our wedding colors (purple and silver)! Registering was a lot of fun, but MAN was it exhausting! It's kind of difficult to think about everything that you could possibly need/want all at one time. We added a lot of great things to our registry, though, so hopefully that goes well in the long run.

it doesn't look like much in the pic, but it's a nice piece

When we got home, MG decided to tackle building the tv stand. I helped in the beginning, but found myself much more useful adding things to our registry online :) MG did a great job building the new stand and then transferring everything to the new one. We put the old stand up on Craigslist and made almost half the money back that we'd spent on the new stand! Win! The new stand has opened up our living room SO much! I can't wait til the tv is mounted to the wall....the stand will be the perfect place to display our wedding photos! :)

That night, another couple friend asked us to go to the movies. We grabbed a drink and some wings with them beforehand, but when we got to the movie, there were no seats left other than the front row. So, we went to a nearby bar, had another drink and some more app's and talked and laughed. It was a nice end to the night.

And yesterday was spent doing our regular Sunday errands: groceries, etc. I had an oil change that ended up costing me more $$ than I thought because my brake pads needed to be replaced. Womp womp. The sad thing is, I'm pretty much used to bleeding money now. It stinks! We made arrangements for our engagement photo session, which Im really excited for, and we have a cake appointment set up, too! Gotta get those things checked off the list!! :)

And now, myself and the other teachers eagerly await our new school year of kiddos! Hope your short week is off to a good start!