The week started with a good hair day
Then I was showered with gifts from my students and coworkers. My mom cooked a delicious Valentines dinner that evening.
I spent my Friday night chaperoning a middle school Valentines dance
Then I went to my students’ track meet and tried on a Snuggie for the first time!
From the looks of it, my students were my valentines this year. I’m thankful for them.
For some reason, I was just a little happier than usual this week. My students were on their Ps and Qs this week. It made my heart smile.
People have been talking about Dave Ramsey’s envelope system, so I thought I’d give it a try. I made a small budget for my three highest areas of spending (clothes, food, and miscellaneous), appropriated cash for each category, and put them in their respective envelopes . Once the cash is gone, I stop spending. It’s crazy how this tangible budget has made me double triple quadruple think all my purchases. It’s making me more disciplined and I like it, as frustrating as it may be at times.
This was my last style before I took out the twists. It was also the first ponytail I’d done with this hair. It was surprisingly heavy.
Me and my teacher-friend! Glad to have her around.
#ThrowbackThursday Same shirt, 6 months later. It’s crazy how I’m always reinventing myself. I’ve loved myself in all stages.
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Over the weekend, I decided to be social and went to Skyzone with some friends. I had a blast.
Skyzone was pretty cheap ($13 for 60 minutes). We started in the main trampoline section. I have come to the conclusion that I might have missed some essential Trampoline 101 lesson during my childhood. The kiddos made the flips look effortless, but the minute I landed my floppy over-the-shoulder flip, I realized the perfect flip is the result of courage, flexibility, and pure athleticism. I was missing 2 out of 3…heck, all 3.
I somehow got peer pressured into playing 4 asthma-inducing rounds of dodgeball. I don’t even have asthma and I felt like asking for a pump. It was a lot of fun; I was the last (wo)man standing in dodgeball twice (despite the fact that I can’t throw to save my life, I can dodge like Leo in the Matrix).
We ended our fun at the foam area where I did a dive into a pool of blue foam. It was nice watching people’s techniques, or lack thereof. The latter was more entertaining to watch.
When I got to school on Monday, a student told me he saw me at Skyzone. I sincerely hope he didn’t see me during my fail flips.
February is just around the corner, so I thought I’d share this adorable animation with you all. I love that Disney/Pixar have the ability to tell a love story with no words at all.
Enjoy!
At our house, we have a scrapbook resolution tradition that we do on New Years Eve. We make a poster of what we want for the upcoming year. I love this tradition. Here’s my poster. See if you can decipher some of my desires for 2013. I’ll tell you a few of them.
This year, I will be turning 24 and I know that God is going to show out in a mighty way. I have a few things that I desire to accomplish before the year is over. Note I didn’t mention resolutions. For some reason, my mind, body, and soul go out of their way to spite my resolutions so I’m going to call them desires instead.
1. Get into an Out-of-State Graduate program
2. Get more organized
3. Establish my style which I call “Professoriate”
– Professoriate style is quirky, eclectic, and includes tortoise-shell glasses, blazers, cardigans, and loafers.
4. Come to terms with my vertical disinclination (and stop pretending to be 5’5)
5. Get my smile & joy back
6. Experiment more with my hair
7. Learn to do more things with my hands (sew w/ a machine, build, design…)
8. Sky dive for my 24th birthday (I won’t be stopped this year!)
9. Be on stage more (The Voice?)
10. MS150?? (BIGGEST CHALLENGE)
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On a side note, for the sake of my readers and instagram followers I hope I can find an alternative to those sophomoric mirror picture. I hope someone loves me enough to start taking them for me ;)
Hey y’all it’s been a while! We have some catching up to do, don’t we? Let’s start with some things that have been taking up my time.
I have been event planning or hosting quite a bit lately. Here is event #1: our first inaugural Ugly Sweater Party
We had the party at church and decorated the room with wreath, lights, and Christmas decor. We even had a photo wall, which was really just a wall covered with Christmas wrapping paper and a paper Christmas tree. The paper props were from the dollar section at Walmart and my bestie Jessica provided the festive headbands and oversized glasses from The Dollar Store. My sister Dee (of “DeeKoDee tales“) took the vibrant pictures.
We played an ongoing Truth or Dare card game (once again Walmart dollar section for the win!).
We sang karaoke. We ate.
We had an Ugly Sweater fashion show and competition
Here are some shots from the photo wall:
I had always wanted to attend an Ugly Sweater Party and I was glad Dee and I were able to host one. Special thanks to my sisters Dee & Ineye, as well as my bestie Jessica for helping set-up. Thanks to our church, Braeswood Church, and the Singles’ Department, for sponsoring. I appreciate I was stoked to have Bunmi and all our wonderful guests there. I hope we can do this again sometime :)
Life has been a little busy but I’ve had time to snap some pictures. Enjoy!
1. Limo ride with @MalibuMara (of MalibuMara.com) to #GirlsNightOut at Bebe’s in the Galleria.
2. Pipe cleaner curls
3. Me & Bunmi at Bebe’s #GirlsNightOut event. Blazer was on sale at F-21.
4. Dressing up at work, Lenithia’s a school girl and I’m a French/British stewardess
5. Trying out a new style, a pompadour for short hair, thanks to Fauryn78‘s tutorial! The snazzy yellow blazer was a gift from Lenithia. It’s one of my favorite pieces in my closet.
6. Outfit for church. The pants were thrifted and only about $4! Yesss!
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A couple weeks ago, I got the opportunity to attend the 42nd Annual Legislative Conference hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation with a group of Teach for America staff and Corps members. I learned so much about being a leader and what I need to do to empower the community in which I’m teaching.
I learned a lot. Here’s a page of my notes:
When I wasn’t in session, I was enjoying the city. D.C. is so beautiful. The weather was so agreeable that I walked almost everywhere. The bus system was not the easiest to navigate (which one to get on) but the ride was pleasant. The taxis were a little pricey.
I walked by buildings and houses fit for movies
I ate breakfast at The Brown Bag
I went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
I saw beautiful sites
I saw the cutest play, for free for Saturday Mornings at the National Theatre
I went to a farmer’s market, saw a play, visited the zoo, and had frozen yogurt in ONE day!
I got to see a friend from the summer, Tyler.
I spent time with my brother and some family members
I saw the Awakening statue
I’ve decided that I LOVE D.C. The weather was great; The people were nice; The sights were awesome. As I walked through the farmer’s market, I was struck by the thought This could be my life. The bicycles, the organically grown food, the layered clothes, and mini Coopers. I could definitely see myself living in D.C. one day.
Somehow I managed to make it to 23 years of age without ever having set foot in a circus, or zoo for that matter (but that’s a different story). I recently was given some tickets to go to see Cirque du Soleil.
It was a great show. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, in wonder and amazement like a child. I covered my eyes when I thought the tightropper was going to fall. I was hypnotized by the rhythm of the six simultaneous hula hoops circling the gymnast’s body. And I was charmed by the romance of the unicyclist and his flexible companion. It was crazy, funny, and it ruined me for all other circuses. I loved it!
Tobs & I (cue: “Reunited and it feels so goood”). Hooray for mirror pictures!
The gymnasts were so talented. I briefly wondered if they were overqualified for Olympic gymnastics.
Watch this video of 19 year old contortionist/hula hooper Elena Lev perform in Cirque du Soleil Alegria.
Great show. I highly recommend it!
World Trade Center memorial grounds
Hook ’em Horns with the Charging Bull at Wall Street
So as we were walking along the streets in Brooklyn and we bumped into these cool cats. I recognized Suzy (African Creature), Noddy (Super Noddy), and Ira (#IRANATION) from Tumblr. They were super chill and very down to earth. Maybe we’ll bump into them again. 
It was a great day, thanks to BukkyB and her friend Melvin for being our tour guides. So it turns out Melvin is part of a Nigerian boy band called A’won Boyz. He had been chilling and goofing around with us all day. It wasn’t until the end of the night that we figured out how famous he was.
I’ll end this post with a peek at their hype Azonto music video:
Photo credit: BukkyB
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