Airport Date

Last night, after dinner, I asked Andrew what time he wanted to leave for the airport to pick up his mom (who was flying in from TX).  It was about 3 hours before she was scheduled to arrive.  He suggested we leave right at that moment and have an airport date at the airport Dunkin Donuts.  So, the highlight of my night was a date at the airport Dunkin Donuts.

Decaf latte and hot chocolate.  I think they go well together.

A boy and his mama.

Enjoy this holiday with your families my friends.
~Angela

The Power of Positive Thinking

I am a believer in the power of positive thinking.  Are you?  I believe that the more positive your thoughts, the more positive your life.  I look at my thoughts/life kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy: What I think about an event/subject/person/job will most likely become my reality.  For example, August of last year I allowed negativity to take over my life.  It held on for 8 full months.  I sound myself complaining and finding excuses for not being happy on a regular basis.  I felt like I was failing at my job.  Why can't I reach these kids?  I had to reset my thinking, which is exactly what I did over the summer.  I moved to a different state, a different job, a different everything.  This experience could've been a breaking moment for me.  I've never been this far away from my family, my home, or the South.  These are the thoughts that could've taken over:

1. It will be REALLY cold.  I hate being cold.
2. It will be REALLY dangerous to drive in the snow.
3. It will be REALLY expensive to maintain our style of living.
4. Everyone will be REALLY mean.
5. Everyone will HATE my southern drawl.
6. I will not survive without my family being within a day of driving.
7. Everyone drinks Pepsi...boo!
8. I will miss all of my friends, and I will not be able to make new ones.

That's just a start.

Instead of allowing these ideas to become my reality, this is what happened:

1. It is REALLY cold...but put on a coat, scarf, gloves, and a hat and you're perfectly fine!
2. Yes, driving in the snow is dangerous, but everyone goes slow so it's ok.  Oh yeah, and I LOVE SNOW!
3. It is really expensive to live like we did in GA, so we just don't.  And it's fine.
4. I've yet to meet a mean person.
5. People like my southern drawl.  My students think I'm a cowgirl.  I'm way cool.
6. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  And Skype helps.
7. Most restaurants serve Pepsi, but I should really drink more water anyway.
8. I do miss my friends, but I've made some great friends here too...and one of them has a really warm fireplace (re: #1)

What are your thoughts on positive thinking?  Does it really make a difference?  How has it changed your life?

~Angela

Weak Blogger Organizes Thanksgiving

I just realized that I haven't posted since August 30th.  I mean, I knew it had been awhile...but almost 3 months?  Wow!  I suppose our life here in NY has been quite busy. 

I have been working on prepping for Thanksgiving for about a month now.  By "prepping" I mean creating and modifying a menu, cleaning and decorating our house, and the most recent activity has been buying the groceries.  I am proud to say that I was able to get it all done in two trips!  I am only cooking for three, but you would think my whole family is coming.  My kitchen counters are now perfectly organized with each dish/pan that I will be using.  I lined all of them up according to the time that I will be using them and put the recipe with each one.  If the recipe includes non-perishable ingredients, those are also with the dish/pan (a trick I learned from my mama).

An example...

My mother-in-love will be here tomorrow...let the Southern Thanksgiving begin!

Speaking of Southern Thanksgiving, my NY friends think it's weird that we cook vegetables in bacon drippings.  I think they might feel differently if they tried my Southern Fried Corn...

~Angela

I'm Back!

Wow!  I know it's been a long time since I've posted, but my life has been crazy!  Since the last time I posted, Andrew and I have packed up our life in Georgia and moved 947 miles north to upstate New York.  We've lived here for about 20 days now and we love it!  The weather is great (for now), and there are a ton of outdoor activities to do.  We've made a few friends from the running club, bought Andrew's books, and visited his campus.  We are in the process of making a video of our life in Albany so all of you can see where we live, but for now I thought I'd just update you on how we're doing.  Right now, Andrew is just gearing up for the start of his classes and research job next week.  I've been working on getting a job for this year.  I have secured my name on 19 different substitute lists, so I'm sure I'll have no shortage of work!  Also, I'm busy training for a half marathon that I am running in October.  We've purchased plane tickets to visit Georgia in December for the holidays.  The funny thing is, we only bought one way tickets because the particular day we wanted to fly to Atlanta was on sale, but the day we wanted to return was not.  We're waiting for the departing day to go on sale to buy the other tickets.  Anyway, I'll have a post coming up about DIY Mercury Glass.  Stay tuned!

~Angela

My Place

Next week I will be heading to one of my favorite places on Earth: My in-laws' cabin in the mountains.  It is also one of the places I'm going to miss most when we move to New York.

Ya know those places you can go where the world doesn't matter?  Where everything in your world is perfect and your worries seem to disappear?  The Cabin, (it's actual name is Hide 'n Seek, but Andrew and I just call it The Cabin), is my place.  My place where nothing matters but the time I am spending with my family.

Where is your place?

~Angela

Andrew's Birthday: Photo Diary Edition

                                      

Simply Amazing

Happy Birthday to the most amazing man I know, my husband.  Thanks for letting me shine 364 days out of the year...today is your day.  Everyday is an adventure with you and I am so excited to see what lies ahead! 

Andrew with his parents on our wedding day 6/16/2007

See what I mean about adventure?

Where's Andrew?  This picture is from one of our most infamous adventures...you can read about it here!

~Angela

Memorial Day Weekend and Cooking

Over Memorial Day weekend, our family headed to the beach to spend some quality time relaxing.  Here's what it looked like:

Citrus tree outside of our condo.

Craig fishing in the lagoon outside the condo.

Family photo time!

Me doing what I do best.

Another angle of me doing what I do best.

Mom.

Grandma and Andrew.

It was fairly crowded!

2 dozen raw oysters.  Yummy?

Beauty.

The Gibsons.

Mom and Me.

Now that we are back home, I am in full on summer cooking mode, which is interfering with my motivation to pack!  Today, I am making this:

This pasta is a staple in our house in the summer.  Tomatoes, basil, and garlic are 3 of Andrew's favorite ingredients! (Photo courtesy of Ina Garten)

I'll also be tackling the Pioneer Woman's Pulled Pork:

Photo courtesy of Ree Drummond.

Then...I will pack.

~Angela

It's Been Awhile

Goodness gracious it's been a long time since my last post!!  So much has been going on outside of blogland.  The end of the school year is actually here which brings lots of things like field day, talent show, and report cards.  It also means that summer is upon us so my weekends are taken up with traveling around to different trail runs.  I'm posting a few photos of me and a few of my teammates from field day.  I think they really show who we are as teachers...I'm going to miss these girls!

Mrs. Gibson, Ms. Leverett, and Ms. Meyer competing in the sack race.

Mrs. Gibson and one of her students competing in the 3-legged race.

Mother's Day weekend was fabulous.  I competed in a duathlon with my father-in-law.  We have competed in all 3 in the series as a team.  He bikes, I run...until this last race.  I ran the first leg and sprained my ankle right at mile 1.  I finished the final 1.8 miles of that leg and thought for sure I would be able to run the 2.8 again for the 3rd leg after my FIL biked his 8 mile leg.  I'm going to give that idea a big fat NOPE.  As soon as I stopped, I absolutely could not walk on it without pain.  I've sprained my ankle before, but this time was different.  I didn't think much of it, I just thought it was a bad sprain.  The pain had not lessened by Sunday night so I decided to go see my doctor on Monday morning.  What'ya know?  I fractured my 5th metatarsal.  No running for 3 weeks.  Good thing it is hotter than Hades here in Athens, so swimming is a perfectly viable option to keep up my cardiovascular fitness.  Anyhoo...back to my duathlon story.  Since my FIL so AWESOMELY ran the last 2.8 for me, we finished 2nd in series points!  Here's a photo to prove it!

My FIL and I took home 2nd.  My stepMIL and BIL took home 3rd! 

My ankle right after I finished the first leg.

 

On the way home from the race...pretty soon my entire foot was swollen.  Pretty huh?

 Saturday night we took my mom and stepdad out for dinner and we had a nice quiet night at home watching the Braves.

Life is about to get pretty hectic around here with our upcoming move, so I am enjoying these quiet moments every once in awhile when they come around.  Next weekend we are off to Cartersville to catch up with some extended family members.  Can't wait!