Tuesday, July 5, 2016

My Year of New!

This past year has definitely been the year of "new" in my life. I bought my first house in September. It has been an exciting adventure! I have loved every second of putting together a new home. Choosing all of the new furniture and decorations has been a lot of fun! I had a clear vision for each room, except my home office. I avoided even going into the room, and it eventually became a dumping ground for every random thing I had. Movies, craft supplies, things I bought for school use... It all ended up on the floor in this poor room. Until, inspiration struck. A couple of weeks ago I decided how I wanted to design my home office. I blew up my Pinterest board with ideas. After a successful trip to IKEA (and the new Portillo's restaurant in Tampa) I had all of the "stuff" I needed to finally put this room together. I am still waiting for just the right storage bins, but I painted and put together all of my new shelves. This once neglected room has quickly become my go to space. I can honestly say that I have spent more time in this room in the past week than I had for the entire preceding 10 months that I have lived in this house!

 Adding to my year of new, at the end of May I finally met my new little love! I am now the proud mother of a 5 month old Shih Tzu named Oliver. He has certainly spiced things up around here. I love that I have the whole summer to bond with him and really get to know him. He is a real character!! He loves to play fetch and has mastered the whole "sit, shake, roll-over" routine. His favorite toy is a little squeaky Lambchop stuffed animal.

Look at this sweet face.  I love him so much!
Yes, he has a shark bed.  No, he isn't as thrilled about it as I am!
 I figured, since I now have an office that I love, it was time to update my blog and get started again. I am so excited about this upcoming school year! I am returning to a classroom that I spent 3 years in. I am going to be teaching 4th grade again. 2nd grade was fun, and I thought that was what I wanted to teach, but I soon realized that I love working with kids a little older. So, back I go!