Jitters.

Yes, I have the jitters. I always have "first day jitters" no matter how many years I have been teaching, I always get nervous on the first day of school. And to make matters worse, we have not one day that we consider first day, but we have TWO "first day's" because since we do part time at our school, my Monday/Wednesday/Friday class is different from my Tuesday/Thursday class. I do have one child who is full time and comes every day...and he was with me during the summer so that makes it somewhat easier...but other than that, I have the jitters for sure! I know that I am a good teacher, its just that initial meeting of the parents and their keiki that makes me nervous because for the most part these kids have never been in a childcare environment and the parents could be first timers and it makes them more nervous...which makes me nervous, but I can't really show it. But I know that everything will be good. :)

But I did finish my classroom! I still have places that I was not able to organize, but my class is ready for first day!

I had put the cots out to make sure that there was enough space for napping without the children being too close to each other. That is very important to me! I want the children to sleep, not play with each other...but there is my classroom! I am not sure that I am feeling black paper any longer though! I know that either during Christmas or just next year I am going with white bulletin paper. But it does look nice and I am happy with it. :)

I did down size my window garden though. I have 5 pineapples, an avocado tree and a Jade succulent plant with a few nests up for display. I love the pineapple plants! I love the smell of pineapple and the kids love it to! :)

When I got home, I got the notification that one of my postcards made it to its destination and so I was able to send another one out.

In all caps this young lady hinted that she loved turtles so I decided to send her a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle. I hope that she likes it! :) This postcard was sent to New Jersey...so another fellow USA postcrosser. :)

Here is a picture at what my desk looks like right now...

Yep, I am busy trying to do lesson planning for this month and writing down and typing up everything that I need to do before the first day of school tomorrow! So that is what I am going to do right now. :)

Pray for me and the little kids that walk through my door tomorrow!

About me.

Today my friend Ashley tagged me in this thing on instagram...and she told me that since she tagged me, I had to do it myself. I know that I didn't have to...but I thought that it would be fun. So basically,  you have to take a selfie of yourself, and then post it on your instagram. On the inscription below, you have to write 20 random facts about yourself. I'm not a big fan of taking selfies of myself...and so instead of writing the facts on the bottom...I placed the facts over my picture...but you can still see me. :) 

Stars&Stripes.

Did my nails in time for 4th of July....and guess who asked me to do my nails in this design? My brother-in-law! He asked me to do my nails like this and this is the first time he asked me to do a design and so I did it...and I have to say that they are nothing like I thought that I wanted my nails to be...but they turned out rather cute. :) And very patriotic. :)

Summer Fun.

Classroom Changes.

These past few weeks have been extremely tough. Nothing that I can't get through...but still tough and pretty stressful. I guess it's good that I have made it a conscious effort to exercise every day; to run as much as I can. And it does help a lot. I have only been running for three days, and I honestly thought that it would take longer for me to get in the hang of running again, but I'm glad that it hasn't. I am so blessed to live here in Hawai'i and that makes running a lot easier because it's such a beautiful place to run...the view is soooo amazing.

My classroom is getting there. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the changes that I've done with it. I think that it's going to be good. The theme that I am going for is bugs. At first I was going to do caterpillars and butterflies...but then while I was making the huge caterpillar for my wall decoration, my lil keikis were telling me that they also wanted ladybugs, bees, and ants...oh and I can't forget the flowers for the bees. *laughs* So I have decided to just make a bunch a insects and ginormous flowers for my decorations. And it's going....slowly, but surely.

As for the layout of my room, I'm more happier with it. I was pretty upset when I had to switch rooms with out any notice...and I wasn't able to plan out how I wanted my room to be, but since then I have rearranged a few times and how it is now, I think I am now satisfied with it. My kids seem to like it as well...and I am loving all the new things that I am getting in my room. I just now need to transfer all my teacher stuff from my teacher cabinet to my room. Right now, JessiLynn and I have an understanding that we will just walk into each other's room and get what we need. We both have been frustrated with how things panned out...but then she's an amazing person and we both got this.

I just can't wait until we get our infant and toddler program up and running. It's been a hard thing to do, especially since I didn't know that it was going to fall a lot on me. I didn't ask for it, but then at least I know how to start one up now. It's a slow process...but it's getting there.

Well, I need to go to sleep, I feel myself dragging right now, but I just wanted to say...yay! I've been keeping my goal and running everyday! Hopefully I can keep it up! :)

http://www.lovethispic.com/image/30066/dont-quit

Sunday

Such a relaxing weekend I had this weekend. It didn't go as planned, but it went even better then what I thought. It rained all weekend...but guess what?! I saw my best friend. It's been a long time since I was able to see her. I'm sad because I didn't get to talk to her as long as I wanted to. And there were things that I wanted to talk to her about. I know that I can just call her on the phone, but then it's not the same. I miss her. She leaves on Friday, so hopefully I can see her again before she leaves.

I miss home....er...California. I live here now. My home now is Hawai'i. And I have no regrets. But every so often it's good to hear from my childhood home...it's part of what made me...and California will always be a part of me. But being here in Hawai'i is now my present. My now.

I am glad that Ginger -bear is here now. I miss having a dog in my life. A pet really...I wish that I can get a dog...but now is not a good time. But it's good to have Ginger-bear back. I do have to say that I miss Jack Jack a lot...but Ginger-bear is good. 

I love my family. I love have I have my sister and brother here. I love how Neal and Amanda are in my life and are my family. I love the people that I've met here. But I am glad that I have my Ginger-bear with me. 

"Don't make a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life."-anonymous

Fruits.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week...but tomorrow is officially Teacher Appreciation Day. Not because I am a teacher, but I really think that teachers are under appreciated for all they do. From experience and also from what I see from my teacher friends... we do work so hard because we love what we do. I think to be in this field, you definitely have to want to be in this field...the pay is seriously junk...but the kids love makes it up.

I would be lying if I said that money doesn't matter...because in this world, money does play a big role in society...and there are so many other fields out there that you can go into that will pay you more...but I make by, just barely, but I stay in this field because I adore and love my keikis. And that being said, Nicole (she is going to take over the director position at the end of this month) made a list of suggestions and reminders to the parents to appreciate their teachers. At first I was like WHAT?! You can't send that out...but she said that technically we as teachers aren't sending them out...but her as a director is sending it out because she appreciates US and she wants us to know it. So that makes sense. :)

But this is the list that she  hung in my classroom.

So, as you can see today was fruit day...and so some of my keiki brought me fruit...and just watching them come up to me with the fruit with a huge smile on their faces just totally made my day! I am so blessed to be able to work with this amazing age of kids. I love the two year olds. I simple love this age. I would say that this is my favorite age. My second favorite age would be the older 3's...but it's the two year olds that hold my heart. I love them.

Here are some of the fruit that I got. I was joking with Ashley and Jess that we will get lots of fruit that we can use in our afternoon smoothies! *laughs* And I did use a banana that I got as part of my smoothie for the day...:)

Lil' Elijah's gift of banana and chocolate dip made me smile. He had decorated with stickers! So cute! And so ono! :)

Well, I have been getting hassled that never show what my classroom looks like...so I was going to take picture of my classroom before I took down our projects for the month of April. I still haven't been able to take anything down...so hopefully I'll be able to take more picture tomorrow when my keikis are not in the classroom...when I whip out my camera...they LOVE pictures...they wanted me to take picture of them! Yep, they are definitely NOT camera...but I also will NEVER post pictures up of my keiki...I can't really understand how other people can, I'm not saying that they can't...it's their decision...but for me, I will never. Unless it's of my own family.

But yes, I love "my" keikis. They appreciate me. I appreciate them. They are amazing.

"Always smile back at little children. To ignore them is to destroy their belief that the world is good."-anonymous

Ocean Wishes.

One of the good things about going to school online, on your own pace....is that if I want to do something random...like paint my nails...I still can. I usually type a lot of my homework...and I have already learned and mastered the art of careful typing with wet nails...and so I decided to paint my nails and between each layer read. Because that is what I'll be doing anyways...reading...might as well do something to prevent me from being bored...and anyways, I decided to do one of the easiest designs.

I've done galaxy nails several time and that's what I did here...I basically used the method I use to do my galaxy nails...except with different blues and greens...coz lately I've been feeling super stressed and whenever I'm stressed, the ocean always has a way to make me forget my chaoticness for awhile...I have this thing where whenever I'm super stressed out, I would say that I wish that I were a mermaid so that I can just swim away and disappear. *laughs*

And that is where "Ocean Wishes" come from...well these are the colors that I used.

I absolutely love this polish...I used this as my first layer (after my base coat of course!) and I was thinking that if ever I could only paint my nails one color...this would be the color. It's so beautiful looking and it looked really nice on my nails on it's own.

I got to use the new nail polish that I got from my Birchbox last month! Yay! It's not as shimmery as I thought that it would be...but it applies well! I think that if ever I were to use this as a first layer color...it wouldn't need a second coat...I like that. :)

I adore this blue glitter...and even though you can't really see it in my pictures...it's the small details that is in my nails...because I just sponge dabbed it on parts of my nail. And the effect is amazing.

It was really hard to capture the details on my nails...it looks like only one color...but it's not...as you can see from the colors that I used, I used 5 different colors. I actually used a sharpie to add the waves/seaweed...(btw, if ever you want to try that, I suggest spraying hairspray on your nails before applying your clear coat because the ink will smear if you don't...and that's not good.)

Yeah, you would have to see it in person to see the 3D-like affect that all the colors created. I used a sponge to dab on the other colors on my nails...

"Some people come into your life and you just know you will never be able to replace them if they left."-anonymous

Elephant Pillows.

So here I am studying the night away when I hear the front door open...then I hear my brother and Amanda come down stairs and tell me..."We got you something!" I love presents! *laughs* And as impatient as I may see...I also love surprises! I might hackle you until kingdom come to find out what it is...but I love happy surprises...:) So, this was a happy surprise as well as a welcome break from my continuous studying. :)

My brother's company supported a local fundraiser for the Maryknoll school in honor of this one lady who has given a lot to the community. I think that is what he was telling me. So basically, the lady that they were honoring, her sister is my brother's co-worker and so my brother's company supported the employee for the sister. If that made any sense...but yeah, I think that that was really nice of them.

Amanda said that it was a really nice affair and her looked really nice to...so totally dressed up and looked smashing. :) My brother is one lucky guy...she is an amazing person...hope she can be my sister soon! *laughs*

Well, anyways, they said that there was this silent auction...and they bid on some things...but they said that when they saw the elephant pillows, they KNEW that I would LOVE it...so they placed their bid...and guess what?! They got it...and they are absolutely right! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pillows!

They came home rather late...so I had a hard time keeping it down...coz yes, I do squeal...and I am also known to scream if I am excited or something makes me happy...and this definitely made me happy. I know that my neighbors were sleeping already and I didn't want to wake them up...but look at the them! They are SOOO cute!

As the little sign says they are hand printed by one of the clubs at the school. I think that that is a genius idea...make the kids make things to auction off. Because I really think I love them even more knowing that they were made...and I have the only of cute pillows like this in the whole entire world! *laughs* And I am all for handmade presents and arts&crafts. So I totally approve...and absolutely LOVE! :)

Aren't they SO cute?! I think so. I love them. And they are so soft feeling too! They are a bit small, but that's okay...because I still love them. :)

I think that they make an excellent addition to the pillows that I have already on my couch. So, many thanks to my awesome brother and his amazing girlfriend who got me these CUTE CUTE CUTE pillows. All for a good cause to. :)

"If you have the power to make someone happy, do it. The world needs more of that."-anonymous

Stand in the Rain.

I was tired of looking at ugly nails...so I took the time to make my nails pretty again. :) It's been raining a lot lately...and although there was no thunder or lightning...I miss it. I decided to make some lightning on my nails. I used the same technique that I use when I do galaxy nails...

I absolutely love how they turned out! I really love the nail polish pen! It really made the lightning easy to do...and I love it! :)

"Stand in the rain, stand your ground, stand up when it's all crashing down."-SuperChick

Falling.

It's about time that I paint my nails again! Well, when I asked my lil friend Bella what she wanted me to paint my nails...she said that she wanted Purple and Red...so here is what I came up with!

I'm not the biggest fan of the color purple...I'm not saying that it's a "bad" color...just that I won't choose it as my first choice...but you know what?! I like how my nails turned out...so there you go!

"Trust that when the answer is no, there's a better yes down the road."-anonymous

Day off.

I am so happy that I had this day off. I really needed. I'm still going strong even though it's late! I still have so much to do! But I was able to get a lot of things done that I wanted to get done. I feel like my "To Do" list is NEVER ENDING! But I am so happy that I was able to cross out a lot of the things that I wanted done!

I just turned in an essay that I had been working on. It feels good to be able to do that. Two more projects to do before I go on to the Psychology part of my schooling. I am kind of excited for that since I am very much interested in Psychology. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I think that I would go in to Psychology. I think, maybe if ever I have time I will take some classes on Psychology only because I am so interested in the subject. :)

I told myself not to be distracted too much with the things around my house as I was doing things to cross off my "to do" list. I think that I did a pretty good job at it too! I noticed that I did get restless a lot though because a lot of the things that I needed to do was inside...but I was able to take a short break outside in my backyard.

My neighbors hibiscus flower was peeking over my fence, and it so made me smile. I love flowers...obviously! *laughs*...but pink is my favorite color...and this pop of pink made my day. I just said a small prayer thanking God for making flowers because they really do make me smile and make my day. 

The last thing that I want to do before I go to sleep...well...two things are take a shower and finish with my lesson planning for my keikis for this coming up month. Hopefully, I'll be able to sleep "early" tonight! I know that I'll be waking up early to pack to go to my sister straight after working at the Passion Roots studio! It's going to be a long day...but it's all good. I got this!

Yay for days off! :) Goodnight and sweetdreams for now! Oh and before I forget, a big shout out to my girl, Shilhi! Happy birthday, gurl...I love you so much...and I am so glad that you are in my life. You planted the love for flowers in my heart...and for that I will eternally be grateful to you. Hope you were spoiled all day today! :) *hugs*

"Dear God, if today I lose my hope please remind me that your plans are better than my dreams..."-anonymous

Chicken.

Oh mandope, do I have a story to tell you!

Well, I went to hula class early this morning. I love my hula class...it's a lot harder than I thought that it would be...but whats a little challenge...practice makes perfect, right?! I think that it's hard because I am the only who had not taken hula during highschool...AND I don't speak Hawai'ian...and so it sounds all the same, but I'm doing it...and I hopefully I'll get. I love watching hula because it's so beautiful...and I want to be able to do it to.

Well, I usually go there with my friend, Jessica...she is the one who told me about the classes...so I am so thankful for her. But we meet up with her sister who goes there to work for her teacher and also sometimes she dances...she danced today. She's pretty good too! But Jess just catches a ride with her sister, so I go home alone...and here is where my story officially begins.

I get in my car and take off...no biggie right?! WRONG! So I get to my first stop light and I have to make a right...so I make a right and from the back of my car I hear this *thud*...and automatically look in my review mirror...WTF was that?! I had just gotten an organizer tote thing to put all my liquid bottles (you know like my car oil, window fluid thingy, and all that other good stuff) and other car stuff in....so I thought that it tipped over somehow...it wasn't even a sharp turn though. But I just brushed the sound off because I didn't want to freak myself out.

The next turn though, I guess one of the bottles did fall out somehow because all I can assume was that it rolled and all of a sudden the back of my car explodes in violent squawks and frantic movement...and I seriously freak out and thought that there was someone in the trunk of my car and they woke up or something and...and...and...I don't know...I just know that SOMETHING was in the back of my car...and I just need to stay calm of else I might get in a car accident.

I tried my hardest to control my breathing since I was so freaked out. I was trying so hard not to look at my rear view mirror so that I won't freak out. But every time whatever it was started making sounds I would freak out again.

And then....

...I looked glanced in my rearview mirror...and...

...a head pop up and eyes stared back at me.

I FREAKED OUT!

Somehow a chicken...a FUCKING CHICKEN made their way inside my car. I have a Chevy Tracker...and it has a soft top, and there is a TINY slit in the back...and when I say TINY...I mean really TINY and slight slit...and I guess somehow the chicken got there.

When I finally parked in my parking stall I called my housemate, Amanda...and she came outside...calmed me down and we opened up my trunk together...and meet the chicken who nearly caused me to have a car accident....

Do you see her?! She is waking towards my neighbors house...oh my gosh...! It's not a small chicken either!

Check out that mama!! It's lucky that Hawai'i has chickens running around...because there was NO WAY that I was going to drive back to Windward Community College (where my classes are held) and bring Ms. Chicken back...oh no...that chicken now resides here in Kailua.

And that, my dear friends, is my chicken story. :)

"Life is too short to worry about stupid things. Have fun. Fall in love. Regret nothing and don't let people bring you down."--anonymous

Fun stuff.

Today was a good day. I like good days. All my keikis came in today...and we all had a good day. It's been kind of chilly lately so my lil ones all wanted hugs and cuddles throughout the day...and I think that I am a very affectionate kind of person, but I really do not like to coddle my keikis all the time...but don't get me wrong, I LOVE hugs and cuddles with my keikis...I just don't want them to be held all the time. But today I really did enjoy all the hugs...I love working with 2 year olds...they love just randomly coming up to you to give you hugs; this age is just so much fun...and yes, I just love them. I am so blessed to have this job...

Well, when I got to school this morning I knew that my director was not going to be in today because she had a day long conference meeting that she had to go to...but I guess before I got there she stopped by the school because I saw that my order from Thirty-One Gifts was waiting for me in my classroom...so that was a pleasant surprise. :) And then, when I got home, noticed that I finally got my passes to the Honolulu Zoo! Yay! I love animals and I so enjoy going to the zoo and/or the aquarium...especially to the aquarium...although swimming in the ocean is SO much better...minus the sharks and eels though! *laughs*

I have this unhealthy obsession for Thirty-one things! I'm so serious...I really recommend their bags and accessories. The bags are very well made and very sturdy...and their accessories are super cute and I can tell that they will last for a long time. I actually love getting things from here for presents...because at least for the ladies, who can ever have too much bags/totes/organizers/accessories?! Maybe one of these days I'll write a blog post on all the Thirty-one things that I have so that you can decide if you would like to buy something from there...maybe, maybe not. :)

I wanted you to see, or at least estimate the size of this Large Utility Tote...and as I was looking around my room that Bath and Body Works lotion in Bali Mango (oh my goodness, that lotion is SOOOO yummy smelling!!) caught my eye...so it's there so that you can kind of see how large the bag is.

I have actually bought several of these totes, and it's weird to say that I don't own a single one of them! I had bought the them as "just because" presents for my friends and family...and they absolutely love them! I got my sister two of them...and she uses it for EVERYTHING! She brings it with her when she goes grocery shopping...because it's really hugs and it can carry a lot...she also uses it for when they go to the beach and just for everything. It's a very useful tote to have....so I decided that I will buy myself one. I had a super hard time trying to decide which print that I wanted...but I am so glad that I got this print...I love it!

February's promo was that if you spent $35, then you would get the Zip-Top Organizing Tote for only $10...it's originally $35...so I think that that was a pretty good promo.

So, I decided that since I did spend $35 on the Large Utility Tote, I was going to get myself this Zip-Top Organizing Tote. I love the fact that this has a zip-top...I really like that. I already have an Organizing Tote. But the zip-top part is new...so the one that I have originally is an open top one...but don't get me wrong, I still love it...and I use it nearly everyday since it is the bag that I bring to school with all my things. I love it, it holds so much...I tend to bring a lot of things around with me! *laughs* (Random fact: My bro-in-law likes to say that I always need to bring a "suitcase"where I go...*laughs*) But it is a very useful bag to me. I am not sure what I'll use this particular bag for...but I know that I'll find some use for it. Or, I might just give it away...but we shall see. :)

I know that I've mentioned this before...but I love getting things in the mail...(excluding bills and junk mail, or course!) And today, this was my surprise when I got home!

My membership card to the Honolulu Zoo! I went to the zoo, I want to say 2 weeks ago...and I saw that the day pass was nearly 1/2 the price of a membership card...so I might as well get the membership! There was different membership types...and I got the one for two adults and a child under 18 years old. There was no option for only one adult with a child...so I just added my brother on my card so that he can use it when he wants. And of course, DollGirl is the one who I had in mind when I go to the zoo. I actually gone several times, and I didn't think that it was going to be a reoccurring thing...which is why I just got the membership now. So I am really excited for that...now I can take DollGirl on a slow day just to enjoy a day at the zoo...plus there is a playground there that she loves to play in...but I would have to say that my favorite place in the whole zoo is the elephant...of course, since I love elephants! And they have this amazing gazebo that you can sit and inside just watch the two elephants that they have...they are so cute...I love elephants!

But that, my dear friends, were my surprises that made me smile today...but come on now, I smile everyday...who wouldn't?! I work two jobs that make me smile all the time! :) Keikis and weddings and flowers...wow, I'm so blessed. :) And I hope and pray that I never take that for granted.

"It may seem like the hardest thing to do, but you have to forget about the person who forgot about you."-anonymous