Five Happy Thoughts on Thursday

This is a new blog carnival to come out of MannLand5. I love it because it focuses on the joyous and cheerful side of things which is wonderful to do even as we enter the Triduum. I was going to do a quick takes post anyway of some of these things so I might as well do it here and share the love with everyone else participating. The idea is to list 5 things that this week have made you happy, grateful, joyful, elated or appreciative. I think you should give it a try too.

1. Thursday mornings at school are my favorite because a group of kids with a guitar, a drum and songsheets meet out in the hall before school and sing praise and worship music. Their voices waft down the hallways and I can hum along in my classroom while I'm setting up for the day.

2. We turned off the tv on Sunday and are leaving it off until Easter. We wanted a quiet, semi-unplugged (hello, I'm still on the comp) Holy Week and it's been everything we had hoped for. We've had lots of time in the evenings for walks, bike rides, good conversation etc and I feel much more fulfilled that I would if my DVR were empty.

3. My sweet, sweet husband surprised me with an Icee the other day because I had been frustrated at school. It really hit the spot!

4. I've been on a roll with the April Fools pranks! I never was one to pull them before but this year it's been really fun for me. I fooled Brian, my mom, all my classes. Lets see who else I can get before the day is over. I was going to trick you guys into thinking I was shutting down my blog but the fear that no one would care much prevented it! haha. I'd love to hear about your pranks.

5. This weekend represents the pinnacle of my faith! Today we celebrate the suffering servant and institution of the Eucharist, tomorrow will be the day my savior dies for me and Sunday I know he will rise again as I will on the last day. If that doesn't make one happy, elated, joyful, grateful and appreciative, I don't know what does!!

I am so uncool

Do you ever walk around all confident thinking you look great only to glance in a mirror and find out it's all gone awry and you're a mess? That's me today. I'm wearing my cute tan and white seersucker dress with a Jacki Cardi on top and a funky belt on the outside of my sweater like all the mannequins do. My hair is doing what I asked it to, my shoes are current. I'm making a point to really tailor today's lesson about job applications and resumes to the kids and show them I know how it is to be applying for a first job and to colleges. But today these high schoolers are my mirror and as it turns out I'm not coming across at all like I thought I was.

Kid 1: Are you a mom?
I'm thinking that's a reasonable question and respond that no I don't have any kids yet.
Kid 1: Oh, cuz you seem really momish.

Kid 2: You remind me of someone.
Oh yeah? Who do I remind you of?
Kid 2: Mary Poppins. I don't really know what it is but you seem like Mary Poppins a lot.
Kid 3: Oh yeah I totally see that too, but it's ok because I like that movie.
Seriously? What about me says Mary Poppins to you?
Kid 4: I can't figure it out, but it's definitely there.

Couldn't someone, someday say I remind them of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Zooey Deschanel, Julianne Hough, anybody but a mom and Mary Poppins? Geez! I guess there's no sense filling my head with silly ideas like that.
No, Erin, you are not cute and put together, you are not cool.

Spring Mantel

I've been waiting to post a picture of our mantel all decorated for Spring and now seems like as good of time as any. It's changed just a little bit because I've added a couple of specifically Easter items, but this is probably how it will stay until May or so. The framed item is Galatians 5:22-23 that I bought the PDF for from here .

Do yall remember how uncrafty I told you I was? Well this Y is about the level of project I can actually accomplish. And it's ok if the back looks like that. I have quite a bit of that fabric left over and am trying to figure out something I can do with it to carry it throughout our living room a bit. Linking up to this party:

Wedding Wednesday-Centerpieces

Before my wedding I had started to collect milk glass and I knew I wanted to gather up enough pieces to make centerpieces at my wedding. Most of it I got off of ebay and some from this famous wedding blogger that she had used at her own wedding. I wanted lush, frilly, English garden style flowers and that's exactly what I got! My flowers are my favorite part of my wedding, besides the getting married to my love part. This was my inspiration picture that I showed to my super-awesome floral designer, Erin McLarty of Eden's Echo. She did an awesome job recreating it with the flowers that could survive Texas in July. She blogged about my wedding here. I went to the studio where she was working and we had a trial that came out like this.Gorgeous right? I'm talking about the flowers of course, not me. I look like a mess! The plan was to have three different types of centerpieces one would be a single large arrangement with several votive candles surrounding it. The second would be a cluster of three smaller arrangements in varying heights with fewer votives. And the third would be a big heap of flowers in kind of a ring around a pillar candle. I used navy overlays from a different vendor and the mirror circles that came with the hotel. Following are a few shots that show the centerpieces in action. While we mingle and such.I wish I had more clear pictures of the flowers like this one because they really were stunning and exactly what I hoped for. Also appearing in the tablescapes are the table numbers on cards I bought on clearance from Boatman Geller and had my maid of honor write the table numbers on in her calligraphy.

This is one of the mound with candle examples.
And this one is the cluster example.




I love those Bells of Ireland shining there! That what the altar flowers were mostly except that they didn't make it to the altar and instead we had all those carnations and daisies provided by the church you've seen in all of my other wedding pictures.

It looks like my guests were enjoying themselves, no? What do you think about my centerpieces?

And the Winner is...

Carrie

from Mizell Mayhem!

Congratulations to you! I hope you love your new bowls and cookbook!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered! There were 27 contestants who all asked excellent questions. I'll be working on the answers for a post coming soon. After making a list of everyone who entered I had my trusty husband (who's an auditor, so you know he follows the rules) use Random.org to pick. Lucky number 22 is the winner. I had fun with my first giveaway but you can sure it won't be the last. And I just want to say again how happy I am to have each of my readers. I look forward to getting to know all of you better.

I've emailed Carrie and I'll be sending that package out as soon as possible.

Top 2 Tuesdays - Truly Random Facts

In order that these top 2 random facts about myself could truly be random, I went ahead and made a list of 20 random facts then used the random number generator to pick out two. Here's what I ended up with:

5. My childhood lovey was a Pink Panther stuffed animal named Pinky.
My uncle gave him to me before I was born (I think) but he only became my favorite when I lost Pooky my clown. He has a really weak neck and despite several "surgeries" where my mom restuffed it and stitched him back up, his head hangs down. My friends would shake it or throw him and I was super defensive of him. I still love Pinky but he says at home with my parents.

12. I don't have an iPod.
My first MP3 player was given to me by a good friend but it wasn't an iPod. It wore out and I got an iPod nano but I never used it. This Fall I sold it in our garage sale. I want an iPhone but probably will never get another iPod.


So there you have it! If you're a new visitor from Top 2 Tuesdays please enter my giveaway. It ends today when I get home from school and do the "drawing." I'll announce the winner tonight! Good luck to all who entered.

Giveaway reminder!

Tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway for a set of 3 Liberty of London prep bowls and Peace Meals cookbook from the Junior League of Houston! If you haven't left a comment on that post yet, go do it now! If you have, tell a friend or sit back, cross your fingers and hope for the best! I look forward to announcing the winner on Wednesday!