Honeymoon Re-Cap

Arrived back on the mainland from our honeymoon late Thursday night and have been busy catching up with friends and family this past weekend.  My husband and I had had such a great time relaxing in the Virgin Islands for our honeymoon.  When we were deciding where to go for our honeymoon we were torn.  We love to travel (we have traveled all around Asia in the past and a little bit of Europe) and I have been yearning to go to another country.  We were set on Europe, but monetarily it just was not in the budget this year after paying for most of our wedding.  Hawaii maybe?  But again, it was adding up to be super expensive and just as much as Europe.  Both places we would be zipping around wanting to see everything.  So we decided to go somewhere we knew we could relax and have a good time.  We have been going to the Virgin Islands just about every few years or so and we love it.  We have been to many places there so we wouldn't feel like we would have to rush around here and there.  They also have snorkeling right from the beaches.  It also fit in our budget!  We stayed half the trip in St. John (I posted a little about it in my previous post) and the last half in St. Thomas.   Here is a little picture re-cap from our honeymoon :)

We stayed at a little B&B called "Two Sandals by the Sea Inn"  while on St.Thomas.  The owner, Helen, made delicious baked goods each morning served with fresh yogurt and a hard boiled egg.  Fresh coffee and juices as well :)

Entrance to our B&B.  We love the rustic feel!

Hanging at the beach for the day.  Playing with my iPhone camera apps hehe.

More fun with my iPhone camera on the beach.

We took a boat charter tour to the BVI one day.  It was one of my favorite days while in the islands!  We visited the "Baths" in Virgin Gorda, Marina Cay for lunch, Diamond Reef for snorkeling, and Jost Van Dyke for fun and relaxation.  If you're ever in the Virgin Islands, I recommend this tour for sure!

In the end we had a great time!  Made new friends while we were there and came back with a nice tan :)  I also made a really cute and easy memory jar to remember our honeymoon.

While in the islands I saved some sand and shells to bring home.  I put them in an antique blue mason jar we had used at our wedding.  Then I put a picture from our honeymoon inside.  It's so cute and rustic.  The pic is our feet on a hammock while we were in St. John.  What I love is you can change out the pic whenever you want too.

So now I have been home for a few days and was able to use the time to catch up with friends and family.   I also realized over the weekend that I have only 3 more weeks before schools starts!!  Crazy how fast this summer goes.  Headed to the beach for a few days tomorrow, but will share some more school stuff I've been getting into later this week on the blog.  ~Cara Lee

Quick Hello and a Cool Product

Hello from the U.S. Virgin Islands! Still on my honeymoon for a few more days but, before you call me crazy for blogging, I finally have a good wi-fi connection and its rainy here today. So, I decided to check in and give a little update.

We started our honeymoon in St.John. Did some snorkeling and hung out on the  local beaches. One beach we visited was Maho Bay. Just a few yards in the water we were able to see sea turtles, sting rays, nurse sharks, and a barracuda!

Another day in St.John we visited Salt Pond bay. It had stormed the previous day so snorkeling was not great the day we went, but we hiked about a quarter mile to Drunk Bay. It's a beach covered with rocks and washed up coral. People make sculptures out of the coral and rock that is around.

Now we are in St.Thomas and I'llblog about the rest of our honeymoon when we get back :)

But before I go, I wanted to see if anyone has used this product before:

Apparently you can safely adhere a whiteboard surface to the wall and they have a variety of sizes. 

I found out about this product because LivingSocial has a deal right now. So I decided to buy it because I have a large chalkboard in my room. How cool would it be to turn part of it into a white board?! I'll definitely post a little review when I receive it and put it up in my classroom. If you think you may be interested check out the deal HERE.

Ok well I must go back to honeymooning. Enjoying our last few days here, trying to make the best out of a rainy day on an island. Maybe we will go to happy hour ;) Until Next time ~Cara Lee

Ps: I am using the blogger app on my phone to write this post so I apologize if my posts look funny. Also, I can't seem to comment or reply to posts from my phone so I'll have to do it when I get home.

Monday Made It

Been so excited to post about my Ikea whiteboard easel makeover.  Last week I found  it at a thrift store for only $6!!  Plus I got 20% off I just remembered :)

It retails for $15 brand new (hey every buck counts right?!).   It had quite a bit of marker stains on the wood making it not so pretty. The white board was fine with some small scratches you could hardly see. On the back is a chalkboard as well which I won't really use.  I couldn't wait to get home and fix it up.  Here is my basic tutorial...

That's my husband in pic #3 fixing up my tape job... He's a perfectionist!

 

I love this color I found at Home Depot.  Matches my new classroom accent colors :)

Isn't it soooo cute?! This would be a cute idea not only in the classroom, but for families with kids. I could totally imagine this whiteboard in their room or playroom to match the decor and use as a creative outlet.  I personally cannot wait to put it right next to my rocking chair in my classroom.

Linking up with 4th Grade Frolics 'Monday Made It'.  Hope everyone has a wonderful week... In less than 24 hrs I will be headed to the airport with my husband and we finally will be going on our honeymoon.  Won't be posting much this week but will be checking in :) Happy Monday!! ~Cara Lee

Weekend Re-cap

Here is a little peek into the highlights of my weekend.  It's been pretty busy and I've had a lot to get done before we head off to our belated honeymoon on Tuesday.  I managed to fit in some fun things though :)

Friday - celebrated our 11th anniversary of being together by going to sushi happy hour, then going to the Oriole's game and grabbing a crab mac 'n cheese dog.  As you get to know me... my husband (weird to say since we have only been officially married for less than 2 months) and I are foodies :)

Saturday - Celebrated my friend Nicole's birthday with her and her fam.  It was so nice of them to include us.  They said not to bring anything... but as you get to know me, I do LOVE to bake.  So I made a simple cookie cake.  Move over Mrs. Fields!!

Sunday - My husband and I ran a near by trail and we ran a new record for us!  I'm not a natural runner but have always been athletic.  I'm excited for my first color run in September for my birthday weekend!! 

Well that was pretty much my weekend.  I really do love summer!!  Can't wait to post my "Monday Made It" project tomorrow :)  ~Cara Lee

PS: I have to brag a little... I just created my own buttons (see left hand side) and linked them!!  WooHoo... it's the little things that make me happy ;-)  Please feel free to follow me on: BlogLovin, TpT, and Pinterest.

Thrifty Thursday

This summer I have been trying to relax, but I just cannot sit still.  If I'm not at at home surfing TpT or Pinterest for classroom ideas, I'm out shopping and thinking about "ohhh this would go great in my classroom!"  I guess I'm still on that new teacher "high"?  I hope it lasts though.  I hear about the teacher burn out rate and it's quite astonishing.  I love reading all the teacher blogs and other teacher's experiences out there.  It really is building this internet community out there for all of us teachers and it's helping me to stay on track and keep the motivation to do a profession I love.

Well, as  I was saying in the beginning of this post, I do love shopping around for my classroom.  I do my best to find good deals (as do most teachers out there).  One place I LOVE to frequent is the thrift store.  Goodwill is ok, but if you can find a store like Unique Thrift Store or Value Village, then you've hit a gold mine!  I found at least 95% of my classroom library books at thrift stores as well as furnishings.  This week I spent $9 on two purchases for my classroom this year:

 

Now wait til you see what I did with that ugly looking IKEA white board!!  I'll be posting my little project for Monday Made It :)

In the meantime... one other place I often hit up for deals is Craigslist.  I'm always weary, because you never know who's out there, but you can find some good thrifty deals.  First, there is a list of yard sales.  Last year I did a lot of yard saling, but did not find as much things as I thought I would.  It's definitely hit or miss.  I tend to find more luck with people posting adds.  Here are two items I got on Craigslist last year:

That rocking chair glider is soooo comfy!  I can't tell you how many teachers stop by to just sit in my chair some days haha.  The bistro white board was great this year, but had some flaws.  I love the amount of writing space, but it was not magnetic.  It would drive me crazy if I needed to stick something to the board to display.  I always had to have tape or sticky gum around.  I did put a magnetic strip along the bottom, but it kept falling off all year.  So I am excited about my new IKEA white board which is magnetic.  Can't wait to post it's make over on Monday.

Hope you enjoyed my thrifty finds this week :)  ~Cara Lee