It's Finally Over!

I freaking did it! I almost gave up multiple times and I'm honestly all blogged out. It was actually kind of fun and I feel a pretty good sense of accomplishment. I'm not really sure why, but I do.

Thanks for reading, commenting, and baring with me. I know it was kind of intense for those of you who read this too. Thanks. I appreciate it!

I'm taking the next week or so (probably more) off!

DWill

I bought this at the Jazz game last night....

My father has never been so proud.

I've never felt like such a sell out.

I look freakin' hot in it though. Duh.

I'm super excited about my new jersery. Can you tell?

AOTW- Ingrid Michaelson

Artist of the Week:

Ingrid Michaelson

I absolutely love Ingrid Michaelson. Her voice is beautiful and she usually plays the guitar or piano while she sings. She also throws the ukulele in as well which is fairly impressive. She has an acoustic-electric vibe which makes her slow songs uptempo enough that I'm never bored. I think she is beautiful but she just seems normal and real. I like that. I'm sure if we ever met she would totally want to be my friend. No doubt about it.

I think she is amazing on her own however she has some pretty sweet duets with some of my favorite artists including Joshua Radin, Jason Mraz, Sarah Bareilles, and Matthew Nathanson. Fantastical.

There are several songs by her that I put on repeat and listen to five times in a row before I move onto the next song. My favorite choices are The Way I Am, Keep Breathing, Be Okay, You and I (featuring Jason Mraz), Sky (with Joshua Radin).

Get to know Ingrid. You won't regret it!

I found a few clips of here that I really enjoyed. See for yourself:

Live: Breakable

Old Navy Commercial You may recognize her song from this commercial.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Funny

Turkey Jive!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Smelling Diaries - Part 3

The scratch and sniff concept is ridiculous to me. Scratching a sticker, paper, shirt, etc. to then have an aroma produced seems silly. I just don't really understand. Honestly, I never will.

People magazines Sexiest Man Alive issue came out this week. Of course I bought it. I appreciate a sexy man. Anyway, while I was reading I came across an article I never would have anticipated

The Sexy Scents article - Scratch and Sniff style

The deal is they chose some sexy men and fragrances that make them feel sexy. In order to get a whiff of their "sexy scents" you RUB THE CHEST on their picture. HILARIOUS! The whole concept cracks me up

However, the no smell issue made it so I couldn't even enjoy the article. I'm sure if any of you had read the reasons these men gave for there choices you would have nodded your head and thought, "Oh yes, that smells nice." When I read them I thought, "Why is the world would you want to smell like that."

So here is a quick breakdown of the men, their sexy scent, and my thoughts on the matter.

Chase Crawford: Freshly Cut Grass

"I grew up playing a lot of football and golf, and I mowed the lawn as well."

My thoughts: You want to smell like cut grass? You want a girl to cuddle up to you and smell the sweaty outdoorsness of cut grass. Cut grass, weird.

Michael Phelps: L'Homme YSL

"It's good stuff! I got it as a present. I just spray a little of it on my wrist and then on my neck."

My thoughts: First- Do you know how hard it is to find a clothed picture of this man? Practically impossible. In fact, I didn't really find one. Second- I can't say anything about his cologne choice because I know nothing about it. However I can say that I am thankful to Michael for explaining how he puts it on. I would have been so confused about the process of wearing a fragrance if it weren't for him. Wrist first then the neck... interesting.

Taye Diggs- Vanilla, Chocolate, Sandalwood and Musk

"It's part of my little regimen to apply essential oils."

My thoughts: That just sounds like a horrible combination. Vanilla and Chocolate probably mix fine. Sandalwood and Musk probably do alright together as well. However, sweet baking product and essential oils smell good together? I don't think so.

Chris Meloni: A Day at the Beach

"There's just some calming effect about the beach... It's that soft, coconutty, baked, warm sun smell. It's fresh, it's clean, it's natural."

My thoughts: That sounds nice. I wish I could smell that. The only one of these four men that I wish I could smell is this man who I do not find sexy at all. That's ironic.

Miss Sullivan’s Class Always Says The Darndest Things

Ready? If you've never read the first two installments of "The Darndest Things" check them out here and here.

Quick preface before we get into the juicy stuff! This year my classroom runs a little different because I am not a regular home room teacher. I teach reading and writing to second graders during the morning block and third graders during the afternoon block. I really love this teaching job and feel like it's the perfect fit for me.

It is very interesting to have two separate classes because they each have their own "class personality" and dynamic. My second graders are sweet, mild, timid and quiet. My third graders are loud, energetic, and humorous (they think so at least.) Even though they have very different personalities they both keep me entertained by their antics and attempts to entertain. Enjoy!

• During Red Ribbon Week we were have the "Just Say No" talk. I told my class about the decision I made when I was their age to never use drugs or other harmful substances. The following conversation followed:
  

  
  

  Boy: So when did you change your mind?
  

  Me: I didn't change my mind. I still lived by that decision to be drug and alchohol free.
  

  Boy: You said that drugs make people do crazy things they wouldn't usually do.
  

  Me: That's true.
  

  Boy: Well... (long pause) you do a lot of crazy thing that most people wouldn't do. You must do drugs.
  

It was clearly time to re-teach and clarify. Oh, and laugh my head off.

• Shy Girl: What do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?
  

  Me: I don't know, what?
  

  Shy Girl: elephino! heee heee.
  

  Me: (Through uncontrollable bursts of laughter) Do you get that joke?
  

  Shy Girl: No. It's funny though, right?
  

  Me: Yeah! It's a good one!
  

  
  

• There is one student in my class that's late almost every day. She came in one morning with a Starbucks coffee cup in hand. I was bewildered. When I asked her what she had in her hand she said, "Oh Miss S., this is just my morning pick me up! It jump starts me into my day!" I couldn't argue with that.
  

  
  

• One day this week while on outside recess duty a boy fell and came running up crying. When he got to me he blurted this out before I could say anything.
  

  "Miss Sullivan! I just fell down and my mom makes me wear these really really tight jeans because she says they look good on me! They're so tight that I can't get to the hurt part! Dang pants."
  

  
  

• For weekend news a boy shared this story:
  

  "We got to ride Trax this weekend! It was awesome and my mom lost my sisters and me! It was so cool! My older sister who is twelve, me, and my five year old sister got on the train. My mom was fixing her shoes and looked up to see the doors closing. She ran barefoot up to the train door right as it shut in her face! We were laughing really hard and then my sister got scared because we were all alone in Salt Lake. My mom caught up with us at the next stop though. She had to pay some guy $50 bucks to drive her to the next Trax stop to find us. It was the best!"
  

I would now like to end this post with the best story I have had in my three years teaching. This one seriously wins! If you watch The Office you will die of laughter, at least I did. If you don't watch The Office it will still be funny.

• There is a stapler in my classroom that the students broke a part off of. It will still staple papers and function however it won't stay closed on its own. It just bounces on top of the spring. One day I told my students to staple their assignment and turn it in to the basket. This is what happened:
  

  Boy 1: Miss S. that stapler is broken! We don't want to use it.
  

  Me: It will still staple your papers and anyway you guys are the ones who broke it so you just have to deal. (Sympathetic, I know.)
  

  Boy 2: But its thingy is broken and so it just bounces.
  

  Girl: (From the back of the room) That's what she said!
  

  Me: WHAT?!?!
  

  Girl: That's what she said. My dad says it all the time and my mom always laughs.
  

  Me: HAHAHAHAHA!
  

  I think I laughed for five minutes straight. I really couldn't get control of myself. Could that joke have been any more well placed? No! And she had no why it was so well played. My class joined right along laughing with me. They had no idea what was funny but it distracted me for a few minutes and that's all they care about. I just love them and their innocence!
  

  
  

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The giveaway is over and a winner has been chosen! I used random.org number generator to determine a winner. The number randomly chosen was nine. The ninth commenter was.... (drum roll)

PAGINA OTTO!!!

Congratulations Page! You are loving blue and brown right now and well the clutch is blue and brown! It was meant to be! We'll discuss specifics about you receiving the prize over e-mail. It'll be nice.

Thanks to all those that gobbled and wobbled. It was super entertaining to get all of the comments with you all sounding ridiculously awesome! I got a real kick out of it! We'll try this give away again at a later date (much later). Stay tuned for that.

Since Page the Great is the winner I thought it would be a good idea to write 5 random pieces of memory I have of Page. This should be good. (If you don't know Page this won't make much sense. Just warning you.)

1. When I first met Page, we lived across the hall from each other at Liberty Square! The glory days! It was Summer and I was hardcore chillaxin'. Page was dating Jonathan Brehms (I clearly have no clue how to spell his name)and as usual studying her brains out. I remember running into her apart at all hours of the day and night to tell her something awesome, sing the latest song, do the latest dance, etc. She was usually there studying with JB. She always humored me and laughed a lot at my jokes. She didn't realize then that I am like a stray puppy dog. If you feed it at all or show it any attention it keeps coming back. I kept coming back and well she never threw me out. That was good of you Page.

2. She tried relentlessly to teach me how to do a cartwheel. She only laughed a little, to my face at least. I still don't have any cartwheel game. She tried though.

3. The famous Arizona road trip. "Lindsi, which road do you take to get to Arizona? Do you know how long it might take? I'm gonna take Brittney's car and I'm leaving in ten minutes. Don't worry." I thought Kim and I would have a nervous breakdown. She lived. Barely.

4. When she came home from her mission to Chile she moved in with Brittney, Kim, and I. She took down "The Eagle" picture that Kim had lovingly given me for my birthday. She replaced it with some weird wooden sign that said "Cocina". I'm still sad about "The Eagle", it was obviously traumatic. I remember it vividly.

5. The roadie to DC for her wedding. There were many great crazy girl bonding moments that weekend! My favorite wedding picture out of any wedding picture in the history of the world came from that weekend.

This is serious runaway bride material.

Page, I'm so glad you won the contest! I'm also glad you're my friend!

A Quick Recap

I still hate Bella... maybe more even. So annoying.

Edward grew on me and by the end I was digging him.

Also, screaming women embarrass me. I don't get embarrassed often and rarely for something I did. I do however get embarrassed for others and last night I was.

Best part of the event was spending time with my mom. I love her.

To those saying they aren't sure they're gonna see Twilight because it will ruin the book blah, blah, blah. You'll see it. You have to. It might ruin the book a little too, but you will see it. I promise.

I'm a Conformist

I told myself I wouldn't. I said I didn't care and that I didn't need it. I promised myself I was bigger than it.

I caved.

I'm doing this in 20 minutes...

I only have one thing to say about this before I go. I hated Bella in the books. HATED, loathed, despised even. She bugged me so bad. Enough that I won't read book four. I bought it even but I am choosing not to. There are many reasons for my dislike but that's not important right now.

I'm wondering if the movie will change my feelings about her or engrave them deeper into my soul. Wow. That was the weirdest sentence ever. I expect I'll feel the same. We'll see.

AOTW- Scream and Shout

I am loving Artist of the Week! I have the AOTW picked out for the next 5 weeks! I get a serious thrill out of sharing my music obsessions. Sad life, eh?

This week I decided to switch it up a little bit.

I love to sing in the car. Not just sing but turn the volume as loud as bearable and just belt out the song. Most people wouldn't call it singing. Screeching. Screaming. Howling. Shrieking. You get it. I'm the person that everyone else is laughing at as they drive. The person dancing, singing, and who is oblivious to the fact that someone might be watching. Don't judge. You know you do it too!

There are thousands of amazing songs that I know all the words to and could listen to and sing over and over again. However, there are a few songs that are PERFECT scream and shout sing a long songs. Most of them are from the past few years.

The songs chosen aren't all fast and upbeat. The criteria I went off was songs that I can't help but turn up and sing when they come on. It doesn't matter how I am feeling or what I am doing. I just can't control myself. Some of these songs were way over played and I got sick of them for a while however I always come back to them. You might disagree with a few choices, but these are mine. Take it or leave it.

In no particular order- THE LIST:

• Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
• Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
• Life is a Highway - Rascal Flatts (This choice was not inspired by The Office but could this clip be any more perfect for this post? I didn't think so.)
• I Want It That Way - Backstreet Boys
• Love Song - Sara Bareilles
• Should've Said No - Taylor Swift
• Come Home Soon - Shedaisy
• My Wish - Rascal Flatts
• I Think About You- Collin Raye
• There's More to Me Than You - Jessica Andrews
• This Kiss - Faith Hill
• Can't Fight the Moonlight - Leanne Rimes
• Live Like You Were Dying - Tim McGraw
• Apologize - One Republic
• Waiting On the World to Change - John Mayer

Just so you don't think I'm a super time wasting nerd, which in all reality I am but I like to pretend I'm not. You should know that I've been creating this play list in my itunes library for over a year. I just chose the best ones from it. I would recommend making a play list specifically for screaming and shouting songs you love. It's super useful at all times. What did I miss? If you have a really good suggestion I might consider adding it to the play list. Might.

Putting links to videos for each of the songs did take forever however. It was a super time wasting thing so I hope you appreciate.