Painting with a Twist

I have discovered a wonderful new place for Girls' Night Out - Painting with a Twist! One of my coworkers has been wanting to go now for several weeks and this past Friday was the perfect time. What's great about this place is that you don't have to be an artist - I am by no means an artist. You sit at a long table with your canvas and painting supplies and follow along with the instructor. Since Fall is here, we chose to go the night they were painting "Colors of Autumn". I will say that mine does not look exactly like the instructors, but that's ok. Really, out of the 30ish people there, no 2 paintings were the same. Below is a picture of my final "Color of Autumn". Again, I have never really considered myself to be a great artist, but I am pretty darn proud of myself. We are definitely planning to go back around Christmas time.

Maybe I've found my true calling....probably not!

Us girls with our paintings. Everyone's look great! I highly recommend you try this place out at least once. It's a chain so there's one in NLR and in Fayetteville.

On a different note, I found this at Kroger today...

Oh yeah!!! The countdown has been on for the past several months. I can't wait to see Breaking Dawn - this magazine just made the anticipation even higher! I am planning to start rereading the series before November 18th. Team Edward all the way!

I hope everyone has a great week! I'm hoping that mine goes by quickly :-)

1st Annual Branson Trip

I must say that I have some of the BEST co-workers ever!!! It is truly a blessing to have found a school where each and every teacher is outstanding! I am so grateful that I have found some amazing friends in my co-workers (and 1 sister of a co-worker). Since I've been dubbed the official "Crestwood Event Planner", I planned for an all girl getaway to Branson at the beginning of December. What a great idea it was! We had so much fun on the very much needed vacation. It was so much fun getting to know these girls even better, and out of the school setting. Here are a few pics from our Girls' Weekend.......enjoy!

After sleeping in and shopping at Tanger, we ate lunch/dinner at Joe's Crab Shack...yum! Crestwood 4th Grade teachers. I absolutely love working with these girls!

4th grade teachers with one of the 3rd grade teachers, Lindsay. Our classrooms are across the hall from each other, so we visit each other frequently throughout the day.

With Lindsay, 3rd grade teacher, and her sister, Natalie. We first met Natalie at Race for the Cure and she immediately fit into our group! She will be joining us on our next Girls' Weekend!!

The Quiet Cottage where we stayed in Hollister. This house was located in a new, nice, and quiet subdivision. We loved it!!! It was nice to be away from the Branson strip and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Sabra and I shared the master bedroom....the king bed had a feather mattress - SO comfortable!

Kitchen - where I made chocolate gravy for everyone...yum!

View from the living room of the upstairs.

Our next Girls' Weekend location - Hot Springs. We plan on enjoying the races and hot spas! We're also talking about going to NYC next Christmas since so many of us have not been.

Save the TaTas

Today I celebrated a wonderful cause...finding a cure for breast cancer. I walked in the 5k with our team from Crestwood - Sisters for Slattery. One of our teachers was diagnosed this summer, so we walked to honor and support her! It's crazy how many people I know that have been diagnosed in the past 5-6 years. It seems like it's becoming more and more common. I walk to honor all the women who have lost their battle with breast cancer, those who have survived (including my mom, granny, & Judy Wingfield), and those who will be diagnosed. The following pictures are from an amazing race with amazing friends:

The "Sisters for Slattery" team! We're ready to go!!!

With Sharon, Grace, and Lindsay before the race...love them!

The crowd headed through the starting line...amazing!!

Little Rock firemen handing out beads

Towards the end of the race, I ran into my family while they were passing out beads...My mom finally wore her survivor shirt! She's a strong survivor...I love you mom!!!

Weekend Review

Things are CRAZY right now! I feel like I'm finally getting into the groove of school, and yet there are still a TON of things that need to be done. I'm starting to wonder what my year will look like once I start National Board stuff??? I will definitely need a lot of prayers. This past weekend took my mind off of everything that I still need to do at school & all the stresses and "to-do's" to come.

First, on Friday night I got together with several co-workers for a CAbi party. It's like a Premiere Jewelry party, but with clothes!!! My wonderful co-worker, Brandy, hosted one last year and I fell in love with the clothes. Brandy hosted it again this year at her new house...it was beautiful! While the clothes are not the cheapest, I still couldn't resist :-) I bought the "Ballerina Skirt" which is a super soft silver skirt that can also be worn as a dress. I will definitely be wearing it as a dress!!! My second purchase was a pair of amazingly comfortable black pants (the "Cozy Pant"). I can't wait to get them!!! I'm also hopping that the super cute ruffle cardigan I put my name on to get 50% off works out!!!!

My co-workers that went to the CAbi party. The hostess, Brandy, is the one with cereal all over her. This was not at the party...this was taken at our school's Halloween carnival a few years ago. I love my co-workers!

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon with one of my besties, Laura, at War Memorial for the Razorback game! This was the first Hog game that I'd been to since I graduated 3 years ago...so sad! After paying $20 to park right next to University on the golf course, and walking FOREVER in the sweltering heat, Laura and I enjoyed running into old friends & people watching! We sat on the 50 yard line to watch the Hogs defeat ULM!!! We only managed to take one picture, and it was after we had been sweating for a good 5 hours.

I am so excited that I got to spend so much time with Laura because she has to go back to Colorado on Friday :-( Arkansas is ready for you and Phillip to come back!

After such a great weekend, it's been hard to get back into the groove of school. Maybe I'll be there by Friday :-) I hope everyone else had a great weekend, and that this coming weekend will be even better!

just because

I haven't really had much to talk about lately since I've been busy getting my classroom ready for the new school year...which is going fabulously!!! There's really not one thing I can talk about, so here are a few things that I'm looking forward to before the end of the year....

1. Seeing my 3 best friends all together for the 1st time in a year. We haven't all been together since Laura's wedding last August, so I can't wait to hang out with them again!!!!

2. Hog football season!!! I haven't been to a game since I graduated, but I will be going to the first Little Rock game with Laura...so excited!!!

3. Having a great 1st semester at school. So far, things are going smoothly, and I have a great group of kiddos. I just hope it keeps getting better!

4. Starting the National Board process. This is something I've been mulling over for months, and I finally get to start this fall. It's going to be a stressful year, but the payoff in the end will be worth it.

5. Joining a community group through Fellowship. Mike and I have been looking forward to plugging in to the group that the Lord leads us to so we can meet new friends, and grow spiritually. We should be finding out in the next few weeks which one we'll be in!!!

6. COLD WEATHER!!! I HATE hot weather. I'm so looking forward to the fall/winter weather...bring on the snow! I love being able to snuggle under a blanket, next to a fire, drinking hot chocolate...CAN'T WAIT!

7. Thanksgiving...of course! I love Thanksgiving food..everything about it! While I'm counting calories now, you can bet that I won't be on Thanksgiving :-)

8. Last, but not least, Christmas! I love this whole time of year. It's the time we celebrate our Savior's birth...there's just a feeling of happiness in the air that I love.

This list probably doesn't interest many of you, but it's all I've got right now.

An Ode to Friends

My all-time favorite show would have to be Friends. It's the one show that can make me laugh out loud no matter how many times I've seen the episode. I've been asked several time who my favorite character is, but it's way too hard to choose! One of my favorite things about the show is that you can relate any quote, character, or action to a real-life circumstance. I don't know how many times I've quoted the show or make the infamous gesture Ross made up to "give the finger" to her parents...hahahaha!!! While watching a few episodes tonight, I started thinking about my best friends - Katie, Laura, and Lena. These girls have been there for more for as long as I can remember. They are truly like sisters to me! Even though we all live miles away from each other, we still make time to catch up. I have WAY too many memories with them to list them, but a few include Sunday School with Mrs. Karen, spending the night at Katie's and dancing to NKOTB, church camp, visiting Katie in Dallas, and all of our weddings and births (only from Lena). I thank the precious Lord for blessing me with such wonderful, Godly friends that I will have for a lifetime. I pray that my children have the same blessing. I love you girls!

With Katie at Chili's while visiting with Mrs. Karen who was in from Milan, Italy! I can't wait for Katie to move back to Arkansas with her hubby and puppy :-)

One of the many times Laura visited me in Fayetteville. Please come back from Denver really soon with your hubby and chubby puppy!!!!!

Lena and I at TCBY (I think)...the momma of the group :-) Can't wait to have my own kids so we can have play dates with Elias and Ada!

Enjoying the first baby of the group...Elias!

Supporting me during my wedding festivities...love you girls!!!!

Lately...

Things have been going wonderfully in the Fleisher household over the past week! First, the dreaded Benchmark is OVER!!! It made for a long 4 days of walking around the room for hours on end making sure all the students were on task. Needless to say, my feet were killing me last week. Not only am I thrilled that testing is over, but I know my students are as well. Poor things get so stressed over this test because they know it determines placement in the future. There are just so many rules that have to be followed, that it adds TOO MUCH stress on top of the stress that is naturally there with any test. For example, I had to cover every single thing in my room that had words on it...not fun! My room did not feel like the fun classroom atmosphere that it normally is. Here are some pictures...

As you can see, I had to cover all of the book shelves and bulletin boards. The students even have to cover the part of their desks where they keep their books...ridiculous!

Not a fun looking room :-(

Since testing is over, things have been stress-free. Mike and I started the Discover Life class at Fellowship in Little Rock. The class allows us to learn more about the church, and will lead us into a community group...which have been wanting to be a part of for a long time now. We were both excited to get started. We met in a large group first, then broke up into smaller groups based on where we live. The people in our group were extremely nice and seemed like we could easily connect with all of them. We are looking forward to seeing where the Lord will lead us and what community group we will end up in. We are so excited to meet new christian friends from our area that we can grow with.

Another highlight of this past week...my best friend, Lena, had her 2nd child. Ada Campbell Priest was born April 19th at 1:24 pm in Conway. She is the first granddaughter out of 6 grandchildren. I think it's fair to say that she will be spoiled! She looks a lot like her older brother, Elias, but has more of Lena's features...mainly the dark, curly hair! She is one beautiful little girl! She has been blessed with a wonderful family and will be loved by many!

Lena and baby Ada...so sweet!

A close-up of baby Ada...Happy Birthday!

Finally, my other best friend, Laura, is in town from Colorado!!! I haven't seen her since Christmas and I have missed her so much. While she and her husband came in due to a death in the family, I am very happy to see her and play! She is such a precious friend and I can't wait to hang out as much as possible before she has to go back to Denver.

Baby Shower

It's that time in life when a lot of my friends are either starting or continuing to grown their families. My friend, Randi, is getting ready to have her 2nd daughter...Ella Grace! I was SO excited to go to her shower! I got to catch up with Randi and Kelli, both some of my best friends from college. Randi's shower was at Mimi's Cafe in Little Rock....YUMMY! It was so great hanging out with old friends, and meeting some new ones. Here are a few pictures of Randi opening gifts....

This is the adorable outfit that I got for little Ella.

A monogrammed diaper bag....SO cute!

Adorable mesh tutu for baby Ella. One of the girls at the shower made it herself! She also made one for Randi's older daughter, Maci. I'm going to try my hand at creating a skirt for another friend that is having a little girl.

Checking out a cute outfit....she thought the flower on the bottom was hilarious!