My First Love :)

I met my first love on my first birthday.

It was love at first sight.

We were together all of the time.

I lost him a few times and got very upset. I usually found him again, except for once.

He gave great hugs.

That's because my first love was my stuffed animal teddy bear named, "Snuggles."

This is what he looks like all nice and new (which I never recall my Snuggles being...)


I got Snuggles on my first birthday from my aunt Laurie. Snuggles is a Gund teddy bear that is actually named "Snuffles." I'm not sure if I was incapable of saying the sound of "f", or if perhaps my parents liked Snuggles better, but I actually like the name change.

Snuggles slept with me every night. I brought him everywhere when I was little, and continued to bring him on trips and sleep with him every night for the rest of our time together. I never recall being ashamed of Snuggles at all, and anyone who was friends with me back then was fully aware of his importance in my life.

In my house there were lots of Snuggles...


That's not really my picture, but it could have been. My mom had a pink Snuggles. My dad "had" a dark brown one (pretty sure it wasn't really is, but I was told it was his haha). Caroline and Jake even had them and Jake actually slept with his for awhile until he got a giant polar bear stuffed animal named "Beary" that sort of took over. Caroline was more into her doll named "Baby" but I'm pretty sure she had her own Snuggles too. But THE Snuggles was my Snuggles.

There are a couple of noteworthy stories about my first love, Snuggles. The first was the day that I lost Snuggles at Marshalls (at least I think it was Marshalls). I had to be 3 or 4 years old and I was, as usual, carrying Snuggles around with me. Somehow I managed to lose him. Of course like any melodramatic toddler I was VERY upset and we HAD to find Snuggles before I could leave. FINALLY, after a long period of searching, I found Snuggles on one of the shelves like he was for sale. Yikes! Close call.

My Snuggles also did not look much like the ones above. He had much less stuffing because he had to be washed often. At one point my mom had to sew him because stuffing was coming out of him. He was much more "loved." In fact, it was not uncommon for my mom to have to sneak him out of my arms while I was sleeping so she could wash him. I really did not want him to be washed. Not sure what my deal was...

In fifth grade we studied immigration in my class. One day we had to bring a bag to school as though we were coming to the United States from another country. My teacher replicated the whole "Ellis Island" experience with us. I brought Snuggles in my bag and he was TAKEN AWAY!!! I remember, even as rational 5th grader that I was (ahem), being angry that Snuggles was being taken away at all! I remember thinking I would NOT come to the US.

However, my life with Snuggles came to a sad end on Columbus Day weekend of freshman year of college. I know, it's kind of a cliche... going to college and deciding you need to "see what else is out there."
Sadly, I brought Snuggles to visit my friend Sarah at UConn (clearly you didn't understand when I said I brought him on EVERY trip). Somehow he must have fallen out of my backpack and I didn't realize until I got home. Sarah looked around but never found him :( And that was how the story ends.

Or begins, because now I have this love instead...


...and his stuffed dog that I get to sleep with :)

I am seriously considering buying a new Snuggles though. It's the 30th anniversary :)

She's From Boston- Day 2

WAHOOOOOOO! That is the sound of me being SO excited that parent/teacher conferences are over! (for a few months anyway). I had 9 today so it was a long day but I am just happy that I can think about something else for awhile.

So let's think about my blog name :) It's not that awesome of a story really. I debated a lot about names. Finally, I decided on lyrics from Kenny Chesney's song, "She's From Boston."
You can see the lyrics here, but basically the song is about a girl who was from Boston, but moved to "the islands" (probably St. John since that's Kenny Chesney's favorite place). Basically she ditched the crazy competitive world of Boston, moved to the Carribean and now works at a jewelry store. Sweet.
Though I can't see myself moving life to the islands, I was known as the "Boston Girl" when I was in Australia. This was mainly because my sometimes borderline psycho Red Sox addiction. What can I say, the Sox were in the middle of ending a 86 year "curse" while I was there, so even 6 am did not seem too early to watch a game. Also did I mention I did not have my own TV so I had to go downstairs and watch the games in the common room at 6 am?
Okay, I may have also posted Go Red Sox signs all over the door of my dorm room.


Some of the signs may have migrated to the common room...

There may have been homemade shirts involved...


I may have also dressed as a "Reversed Curse" for Halloween...

Just when you think I couldn't have become more ridiculous...




Good times :)
So when it came time to pick a blog name, the line in the song, "She wears a Red Sox cap..." just seemed to make sense. A year in a half later I'm not sick of it (which is big for me) and it seems to apply regardless of what I decide to write about, so I think I made a good choice.
Have you ever moved away from home and been known as the (insert home city/town) girl/guy? If you have a blog, where did you get your name?

30 Days of Bloggin- Day 1

So maybe I can't be quite as cool as Caroline and start a new blog, but I can steal her awesome font :)

I'm not going to lie, I find it cool that the San Francisco Giants won the World Series since Eric and I saw them play at their awesome stadium at the beginning of our honeymoon:

I mean sure, I'd rather the Sox win, but the Giants were a happy second for me. Plus I'm all about the underdog and the Giants had never won in SF.
Like my sis, I've been kind of exploring blogs that talk about things other than healthy living lately. Not for any particular good reason other than I'm kind of sick of reading about oatmeal and running, though I do love them both. Today I found Heather's blog and she is doing a cool challenge. Basically, she blogs every day for 30 days about different topics each day. I'm not promising I'll blog about every single topic, but I'd like to start just to get back in the habit of daily blogging :) At the very least it will force me to do something fun at night rather than pretending I am a first year teacher again! Here is the list of posts in case you would like to join me in the challenge.
Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

Day 3-Your first love

Day 4-Your parents

Day 5-Your siblings

Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 7-Favorite movies

Day 8-A place you've traveled to

Day 9-A picture of your friends

Day 10-Something you're afraid of

Day 11-Favorite tv shows

Day 12-What you believe

Day 13-Goals

Day 14-A picture you love

Day 15-Bible verse

Day 16-Dream house

Day 17-Something you're looking forward to

Day 18-Something you regret

Day 19-Something you miss

Day 20-Nicknames

Day 21-Picture of yourself

Day 22-Favorite city

Day 23-Favorite vacation

Day 24-Something you've learned

Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

Day 26-Picture of your family

Day 27-Pets

Day 28-Something that stresses you out

Day 29-3 Wishes

Day 30-a picture

Today is Day 1: Introduce, Recent Picture, 15 Interesting Facts.
Hopefully the facts will introduce me pretty well, but if you want to know more visit my About page :)

Facts:
1. I am terrible at having strong political views because I nearly always can see all the sides to an issue- so one person will talk to me and I'll think I agree with them, but then someone else will show me the other side and I'll be like SHOOT, good point!
2. However, even with #1 being the case, there are certain things I have very strong opinions about. I can't stand intolerance. I try to understand the other side that not everyone was raised in an open-minded world, but in the end I just get annoyed that anyone would want another person to be unhappy just so that they would feel more "comfortable." Everyone should be an organ donor. Parents should be required to take a class before having kids and possibly pass a psych test- haha.
3. I am currently obsessed with popcorn. Specifically air popped on my stove with a little bit of olive oil and salt.
4. I am a Kindergarten teacher. Including this year, I've taught 101 kids over the course of 5 years (not including all those awesome kids I had in student teaching and at camps, many of whom I still remember). All of them have made me smile. Most of them have made me laugh, some more than others. Most of them have annoyed/made me angry, some more than others :) But I generally try to appreciate them because my life would be a lot less fun without them (also a lot less stressful). Okay fine, I internally appreciate them while complaining about them a lot, sorry kiddos.
5. I frequently pretend I live in the town that borders mine.
6. I tend to like things more if they are pink.
7. I am married to a tall man who likes to wear shorts in January.
8. I have a small obsession with planning trips. I can easily waste away hours planning a trip I will never take.
9. I legally have 4 names- my first name, my given middle name, my maiden name, my new last name. I refuse to give up any of them to the point where I had to put my two middle names together as one word on my license. I am being very stubborn about changing my last name at work.
10. I love music, especially country music. I used to be kind of unique for liking country, but now a lot of people do even in Boston :) So many songs remind me of so many memories. I also have a wide knowledge of kindergarten music. When I sing them at home too much, Eric makes up his own versions and makes a lot of fun of me, which I deserve.
11. I am NOT a detail person.
12. I've been told I'm good at "school" (as in being the student). This is because I'm pretty awesome at BS. I can easily have a full discussion about a reading I've skimmed 2 minutes before class. I have written papers on subjects I know next-to-nothing about. I'm also a hard worker, but I give lots of credit to the BS.
13. Speaking of school, I got in trouble more than once for letting others "cheat" off me. Most notably in the epic e-mail subject "you know you love me" sent to Tiff and then mistakenly forwarded to her teacher. Oops! Good thing her dad was the department head and even though he pretended to be mad at us, I think he secretly thought it was pretty hilarious himself.
14. I am currently on a mission to have more fun and stress less. I think I've been on this mission since the day I started teaching.
15. This post just took me an insanely long time... I guess that speaks to how easily I'm distracted, or how hard it is for me to come up with "interesting" facts about myself.
I promise Day 2 will be shorter :)
Tell me one interesting fact about you. And, do the blog challenge with me... you know you want to!

You're Up and You're Down

I'm not going to lie to you, I've had a weird weekend...

On Friday night I indulged in a delicious new-to-me restaurant called L'Andana , including some of my favorites...

lobster

and apple crisp...

I might have told Eric there is nothing in the world I love more than apple crisp. Oops.

Saturday began with some BC tailgating...

BC Football watching...

While tailgating, I learned that Katie became an aunt! Her brother and his wife had a little baby girl. Yay!

Next on the plate, I finally showed my grandmother the scrapbook that Caroline made me of wedding pictures and then headed to a 6 month memorial mass for my former student who passed away last year, N.

The mass was sad, but it was nice to see all of N.'s family and friends (many of whom were also my students). Since N. was an organ donor who saved 6 people, the priest read letters from the recipients and their families thanking N. and his family. Seriously, if you are not an organ donor now, BECOME ONE. If an 9 year old can save 6 lives, what could you do?

After mass we wrote letters to N., attached them to balloons and sent them into the sky.

The kids loved it. I kinda loved it too.

Obviously the mood I was in after this did not scream pink hair and sequin dress, but that is where my night lead...

In case it's not clear- cuz it's probably not, I am Katy Perry... not because I particularly like her (though she's fine) but because I wanted an excuse to wear a sequin dress and a pink wig. My friend Sarah had a housewarming/Halloween party and I had a lot of fun catching up with her and my other high school (and elementary school/middle school) best bud Susanne who just finally moved back to Boston after 8 years away, yay!

Eric and I had to divide and conquer last night because his best friend had a Halloween Party too. I don't even have a picture of our costumes together because Eric left for his party before I got home from N.'s mass. Oh well, you don't need any pictures of Eric in a kilt, do you?

So Saturday was CLEARLY all over the place. Today was less crazy obviously, but I did learn that my friend Tiff's dog had a seizure last night and really isn't doing well, so if praying is your thing... please help :) You remember this guy right?

So, to summarize, this weekend I: ate yummy food, went to a BC game, learned Katie is an aunt, showed my Nana my wedding scrapbook, went to a memorial service, dressed up as Katy Perry, learned sad news about Tiff's dog and now I'm giving out candy to a lot of Mario's, an Oreo cookie, Cinderella, a Christmas tree and a ton of other unidentified kiddos. Good thing a Katy Perry song describes my weekend so well. That's no coincidence kids.

Tell me your BEST Halloween costume as a kid. Also, tell me some good news. Anything good, I'll take :)

Adventures in Weeknight Fun

Good morning! I am so happy it's Saturday. This week was long and very busy. I would say I'm looking forward to a nice weekend of relaxation, but that would be a lie because today is most likely going to be busier than most of my days this week were... however it's (mostly) with fun things so I won't complain. Besides there is something more calming about a morning with some couch sitting, oatmeal eating and blog blogging.

One cool thing I got to do this week is to go to Shecky's Girl's Night Out with my lovely sister. It's hard to describe, but basically it's sort of an indoor "market" where small businesses (I think mainly small?) can show off their jewelry, clothes, purses, shoes etc and you can buy them... while being served free drinks (which I did not enjoy because I was sick and it was a weeknight, but still- a good idea if you want people to buy things haha). You guys probably know I'm not a huge shopper (well except for purse-shopping haha)- and I've recently learned that if I buy myself clothes very infrequently, I'll still have plenty because Caroline will decide she no longer likes perfectly great clothes that I can take over. The joys of having a sister. Anyway, I wasn't at Shecky's because I'm a huge shopper- I was there because my bestest friend Katie was one of the "vendors"!

You may remember Katie's beautiful necklaces from my wedding...

or Katie's wedding... hi Cristina!

Katie started making these beautiful necklaces using crystal and freshwater pearls a few years ago and started an etsy business called The Perfect Strand to sell them :) I highly recommend checking them out, they are a great present for yourself or someone else- and they photograph awesome for wedding pictures.

Here was the gorgeous set up at Shecky's...

That's my beautiful cousin in my wedding :) The photo is taken by my very talented aspiring photographer friend. I also have extra motivation to help her become a professional photographer since she promised to be my classroom assistant if she makes enough money to quit teaching... wahoo!

Katie in action:

Look at that official "vendor" pass!

Caroline and I enjoyed our goody bags a little too much... how about some pink heart glasses?

Caroline also snapped some photos of other "booths" at the event, so you could see what it was all about...

Overall it was pretty cool. Katie never fails to amaze me :)

Have you ever been to an event like this? I never even knew they existed!

Time to get moving on my crazy day!

Poopsicle

Eric and I say "poopsicle" when something sucks.

It sucks that Ecto erased my post and my typical "copy and paste" method did not work because I had a minor computer crash in the process.

Oh well. I'm not writing it again, but I will re-post my running questions because I want some answers :)

1. Why do I have trouble breathing/my throat hurts when its cold out and I run? Is this something that will go away if I just keep at it? It's been happening to me since I was little (legit have memories of the "mile run" in elementary school) but I haven't tried to really fun in the cold more than once or twice a winter, since it's annoying haha.

2. I know most training plans have 4-5 running sessions per week. Do you think it's totally crazy to think that I could increase distance while only running twice a week? My knee seems to like a 2 day a week plan way better than 3, but I'd like to be able to work up to 5-6 miles... no more than that. Thoughts?

That's all from me. This week is going to tough so I'll try to check in when I can!

Slowing Down