{Sunday Social}

Good morning, everyone!! I am currently inhaling my coffee as I blog and watch Lily sleep passed out on the couch. As if that is her clue to say "Nah mom, I don't need a walk." I tried my first baking experience from a pin last night on Pinterest and took pictures on my phone during each step! That is going to be a blog post later this week but for now, it is Sunday Social time!

{1} What is your ideal way to relax?

My ideal way to relax is to stay in my pajamas and be in bed with either a glass of wine or a Diet Coke and watching TV. Sometimes I don't even need a drink. I just like that mental escape from reality!

{2} Where is your favorite place to be?

With friends or family, having a good time.

{3} Who do you consider your biggest role model?

Definitely my mother. I remember having to write an essay about your role model or the woman you admired most in French 4AP in high school. My teacher called the house because the story made her cry and she wanted me to share it with my mom. I really admire my mother for raising 5 kids on her own, one who has a disability when my father died unexpectedly.She is so selfless and giving towards others. If I can be half of the mother that she has been to me, I will be satisfied in life.

{4} What does your life look like in three years?

Dear Lord, I will be 30! Did I just say that? I hope by that point I have a full-time teaching job, living on my own and possibly engaged/married. We shall see!

{5} If you could go back and change one decision, what would it be?

I am pretty satisfied with the choices I have made. Maybe it would have been to have traveled more when I was studying abroad.

{6} What is your biggest accomplishment in life thus far?

Getting my Bachelor's and Master's degrees no matter the obstacles that were thrown in my direction. I may not have my own classroom right now but I sure will get there! Things will happen when I least expect it and this is the mantra I plan on following. 

Link up with Ashley & Neely today! 

Sunday Social - All About 3's!

This week's theme on Sunday Social with Ashley & Neely is all about 3's!

{1} What are the top 3 things you can't go a day without?

I would have to say checking social media (I really want to try to do a social media free weekend), COFFEE, and talking to friends.

{2} What are three things that scare you the most?

Needles, clowns, guns

{3} What are three places you want to see before you kick the bucket?

France, Italy and Hawaii!

{4} What are three movies you will always love?

Now & Then, Beauty & The Beast (my ultimate #1 disney movie) and The Good Girl

{5} What are your 3 favorite current songs?

"Cop Car" ~ Keith Urban

"All of Me" ~ John Legend

"Human" ~ Christina Perri

I don't want to grow up!

Okay, seriously, I was right when I said everything after you turn 21 goes downhill. Ha! Maybe it is the pessimistic side of me coming out (oh, I must be feeling better....and I am, thank goodness!). But this adult stuff is somewhat of a big pain in my BUTT at times.

I turned 27 in November. When I turned 26 in 2012, I lost my health insurance that I was covered under thanks to my mom's job at the end of the month of my birthday (November). Conveniently, I developed bronchitis three weeks later and spent $160 between a walk in and medications. That would be my luck. Ever since then, I really haven't gone to the doctor for anything. The only thing that I have to take care of because it is probably the worst part about me is my eyes. If I don't wear contacts or glasses, I am super super blind so it is necessary.

When they passed ObamaCare (and I know everyone has DIFFERENT views on this)/the Affordable Care Act, I thought I would be able to get somewhat of a manageable plan. So you know, I wouldn't have to sell my kidney on the side of the road or anything to pay for it. I did the enrollment in December on the NY Healthcare Marketplace and chose a catastrophic plan with Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. It had my doctors (plus), it was the cheapest (another plus). I figured I would stick with that until I find a permanent job/have more permanent benefits.

So, explain to me why I STILL haven't been able to make a payment to them THREE MONTHS after?! According to this, it says if you enrolled in coverage effective January 1, 2014, you should have received your invoice and when you make a payment, you're covered. Shortly after that, you'll get your ID cards. Um, I have received NOTHING. Yep, nothing at all. And when I try going on the Blue Cross Blue Shield Website to "shop" their plans, it gives me the same price the marketplace gives me but no link/spot to pay. I go through the mail every day so I would have noticed if they sent me something. And nothing in my email.

I guess I will be spending my evening tomorrow on the phone with both Empire & the health care marketplace to figure out how I can make the payment. I need something!!! This just frustrates me and proves nothing is ever easy as an adult. This, along with my taxes, are things I need to tackle. I have no idea why I keep putting my taxes off. It's not like I have a gazillion papers like my mom does! What's a good online, FREE tax website to use to file?

Wish me luck that I come out of this with some sort of coverage! Otherwise I'll be selling my kidney to pay for it. Kidding....of course. 

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

How did I spend this day celebrating my heritage? Well, sick of course! One of the teachers I co-teach with sent an email yesterday saying she has the flu and she is going to be out 5-7. Awesome. She told me on Friday she thought she had the flu. Then why were you at school?!

I got up this morning and felt so sick. It's pretty weird considering I felt fine when I went to bed the night before and really didn't eat anything out of the ordinary. I was debating whether or not to go in for the whole day or take a half day. By this point, I had already missed the deadline for putting in for a sub on AESOP. I made it through 3 classes and by 5th period, I felt worse then I did when I woke up.

During my lunch period, I went to the main office and filled out the form for when you have to leave early. One teacher who I work with first period was there and goes "Oh dear god" when she saw me because apparently I looked that bad. I started crying because I felt super crappy so my boss just told me to go home. God bless her for having a heart because otherwise, I am sure I would have tossed my cookies all over the main office otherwise. I came home and slept from 12pm-3:30pm. It was so needed.

I still don't feel 100% so I took tomorrow off. Why is it that I feel guilty for taking a sick day? That's a big problem. I plan on going to sleep soon (I took a shower before and was just watching TV) and sleeping in. Hopefully by staying home tomorrow from school and tutoring (because I knew I couldnt do that) will help me feel better! Because this is certainly how I feel right now (okay, maybe I am being a tad over dramatic)

 

The only bright side is I am not working at the restaurant until Friday so hopefully I feel better by then. I am REALLY hoping that this isn't the flu. 

{Sunday Social}

It is another week of Sunday Social with the lovely Ashley & Neely. Link up with these ladies today!

{1} How much time do you spend on social media a day?....be honest.

When I am at school, I am only usually on it during my off periods/lunch. If it is a slow night at work, I am usually on it when I am in the kitchen. Probably too much but it is addicting!!

{2} How long were you reading blogs before you started your own?

Probably about a week or two. I remember I had surgery and I couldn't work so I somehow discovered blogs. It unrolled from there and then I decided "I should start one!" because it would be a good therapy outlet.

{3} What is your favorite kind of cupcake?

Chocolate, funfetti or red velvet!! This question is making my mouth water.

{4} Do you eat fast food? If so, what is your favorite?

I am trying not to eat it a lot but last night I had a craving for McDonalds so I had it. I wish we had a Chick-Fil-A in  New York. They are so good!

{5} What is the most random thing someone would find in your purse?

Probably my wine key for the restaurant I work in.

{6} What is the weirdest TV show you watch?

Probably Here Comes Honey Boo Boo!

{Five on Friday}

Happy Friday! All I can say is thank god it is the weekend. What a week.

1. Frozen comes out on DVD on Tuesday and I may be more excited than your average 6 year old. It's okay. I preordered the DVD on Amazon and can't wait for it to ship! I am adding it to my Disney collection in addition to all the other Disney DVDs I have bought in the past few weeks (Lilo & Stitch, Dumbo, Pocahantas, Pocahantas II, Fox & The Hound, Fox & The Hound II (it was a double back), Snow White, The Princess and the Frog, Sleeping Beauty, Toy Story 2 & 3...etc). I may have a problem, ha!

2. Two weeks ago I wrote about the horrible experience I had at Ruby Tuesday's. Never want to go there again. I have never formally wrote in a complaint to a restaurant but this time, I did. I wrote a complaint, the district manager called me and apologized. He said he was completely embarassed and is requiring the staff of that restaurant to be retrained. Plus, he sent me a $20 coupon to try another location to see if I had a better experience. I will give it a whirl just because I am surprised they actually responded,

3. Girl Scout cookies are here!! I can't help that I ordered a bunch of Thin Mints & Tag-a-longs from my niece. Thank goodness I didn't give those up for Lent.

4. Who else is happy that The Bachelor with Juan Pablo is over? ES OKAY! I am so excited it is over. In all actuality, I had been looking forward to it. Bringing a Latin flavor to the show. But I am super excited that Andi is the next Bachelorette!

5. The group of people I work with at school. It's like a family. When someone is having a bad day (like me this week), everyone tries to make that person cheer up. When I get my own fulltime teaching job (if that ever happens) I will greatly miss them. For now, I cherish each day & the memories we share.

{Sunday Social - Favorite Pinterest Pins!}

Link up with Ashley & Neely.

This week's questions are all about Pinterest!! I am seriously addicted to Pinterest. I have the app on my phone and my iPad. When I am bored, it is what I browse on the web. I have found so many things for my future classroom on there!

I wish I knew how to link the pins from Pinterest in my blog post so I don't have to do it the old fashioned way. 

1. What is your favorite outfit pin?

Except the heels...I feel more comfortable in flats.

2. What is your favorite food pin? 

 My mouth waters just looking at it. I haven't made this one yet!

3. What is your favorite wedding pin?

Okay, this is kinda impossible for me so I am going to list my top 5!Ha ha!

This may be my all-time favorite pin. I want my future husband to look like this as I walk down the aisle towards him. 

I would be the person that does this at their wedding. Got to have a little fun!

I am getting a shot like this with my girlfriends. This is so us. 

I like this idea to show how you know all the bridesmaids.

Love this...a picture of each other reading their wedding day messages. 

4. What is your favorite DIY/craft pin?

I actually haven't tried any of the DIY projects on Pinterest. However, the one that interests me the most:

I need something like this in my room. It would make wearing my jewelry so much easier!

5. What is your favorite quote/verse/lyric pin?

I just pinned this the other day. I truly find it inspiring. 

6. Share one more random pin you love.

Happy Sunday! 

#TeacherProbs

This morning before I left for work, I came across this fantastic post on BuzzFeed, 24 Painfully Accurate Teacher Hashtags. I had myself a GOOD laugh. Why? I could TOTALLY relate to  EVERY single one of them!!!

As a teacher that works in the junior high setting, most people think I am nuts. I don't really think I would have the patience to deal with the same kids ALL day versus 5-6 different groups of kids 40 minutes a week for 5 days. I love the junior high age!! Even when they make me want to rip my hair out.

Some of my favorites from the post:

#LessonPlan.

All the formats I have learned to write a lesson plan in are USELESS now. 

#MovieDay.

Aka NAP time for teachers. This is actually a WIN WIN for everyone!! Kids love movies. Teachers love when they're quiet.

#BathroomBreak.

Thankfully, I work in a classroom where there is another teacher. So if I can't go on a free period, I can always run out!

Here are my favorites that are totally teacher moments:

#Weekend!! 

Come 2:10 on Fridays, I don't know you.

#FirstDayBack

After a long weekend/vacation!!

#IDidn'tGetThat

Omg I see this on a daily basis...you explain something and the kids turn to their neighbor and make this face...like I am talking Japanese.

The face that I make when I end up repeating myself 20 times in one period. Or the face I wanna make sometimes when I am asked questions like "Do we write this in Spanish?!" (in Spanish class)

What are your favorites?! 

{Weekend wrapup}

I am so happy February is DONE and OVER with. I will even be HAPPIER when all this snow is done and over with. I am SO over the winter weather. Don't get me wrong...snow days are great to catch up on sleep and all. But the bitter coldness that lingers is not fun. We were suppose to have another storm last night/into today (which had me worrying about my interview...more on that later) but when I woke up this morning, it was a light dusting. Lies, weatherman! I should consider being a meteorologist if teaching doesn't work out. What other profession can you lie and get away with it plus still be paid?!

This weekend was nothing special of sorts, aside from it being Oscars weekend. I had a horrible experience at Ruby Tuesday's (which you can read about it here) and work was so slow on Friday night. To top it off, the takeout guy did not even call on Saturday night (he had to go to a funeral for someone in his squad) to say he wouldn't make it in. So I got pulled from sereating pizplus they were going to give me two tables. I literally ran around for 2 hours between taking care of my tables in my original section and doing takeout. In theory, it was a good idea but I got so frustrated I just gave up my section. My manager said he would financially compensate me for doing it, which I will believe it when I see it. I feel like I always get the shaft because no one else is always asked to do something like this. Plus if next Saturday is busy, I am going to be mad because I have to host. While my paycheck is going to be higher, I will lose out on pay. Hopefully the week after that I get a serving shift on Saturday night and make decent money. I was just so annoyed I went home and ate a bag of Sour Cream & Onion chips and drank an Angry Orchard.

Sunday, I found out some bad news about two of my teachers from work. One of them, the ASL teacher, got into a snow boarding accident and had to have spinal cord surgery. So horrible! She's going okay from the text update I got from my boss but still its bad. And then, the high school French teacher's father-in-law passed away suddenly yesterday morning. I feel bad for her because he is her main child-care provider and the grandparent the kids are closest to.

Last night I enjoyed watching the Oscars. Ellen DeGeneres was a great choice for a host! She cracks me up. My favorite parts? Everyone eating pizza and Ellen dressed up as the fairy godmother from The Wizard of Oz. Oh, and the selfie that crashed twitter!!

 

I love how she had Brad Pitt pass out the pizza.

 

And of course, the photo that broke Twitter!

 

Now it is time to go get ready for my interview. I have an interview for a leave replacement for a middle school Spanish position...my ideal grade level I want to teach!! It was originally suppose to be at 11:30 but then they asked if I could come in at 2:30 because the principal was going to be in a meeting and wouldn't be out by 11:30. Fingers crossed. I hate even saying anything about interviews because I don't want to get my hopes up but I am tired of going on them and nothing coming about. 

{Sunday Social}

Link up with the lovely hosts Ashley & Neely here.

This week it is about flashbacks to middle school and high school!!

{1} What was your biggest middle school fashion mistake?

Hmm...maybe falling into the Pac Sun craze. And probably bell bottom jeans..ha ha!

{2} Who were your best friends in high school? Pics?

April and I have been best friends since middle school. It's also her birthday today! Happy Birthday to my best friend! 

(Us on Senior Cut day...we were such babies and my hair is SO long!)

{3} What was a typical weekend like for you in high school?

In my junior/senior years of high school, I worked at Rite Aid as a cashier. If I wasn't there, I would be hanging out with my friends or doing homework. Such a nerd, ha ha!

{4} Did you have any boyfriends/girlfriends? Tell us about that.

Nope, I never dated in high school. Infact, I did not have my first boyfriend until AFTER I graduated from college. I had a lot of crushes in high school though.

{5} Did you have any secret codes with your friends? Spill your secrets!

We had certain nicknames for people. I believe in middle school we even had a club called W.H.A.C. for someone we didn't like. Now I realize how mean that was! Haha!

{6} If you could relive one day/moment/experience from middle school or high school, what would it be?

Hmm...maybe some of field trips we had like the 7th grade one to Boston (love that city!!) or senior prom. I had a lot of fun at prom just dancing the night away. 

Why I NEVER want to eat at a Ruby Tuesday's again

As someone who has worked in customer service for awhile (cashier at Rite-Aid in high school & two years of college and 5 years of two different restaurants), I have respect for servers. I get we all have bad days (been there, done that). Especially when the kitchen messes up an order or you forget to put in something on a table. But I had the WORST experience EVER yesterday  at Ruby Tuesday's.

My chairperson/Assistant principal's birthday is today and one of the other teachers was the day before Valentine's Day, which ended up being a snow day. With all the snow days we had and the February vacation, we ended up going out to a Ruby Tuesday's yesterday. I had to be at work at 5:15 and went with the intention of having a drink & small appetizer.

I got to the restaurant at 3 and told them we would be a party of ten. They set up two tables and had to wait for another table to get up before we could push it with the other two. Okay, not a problem. I sat and waited for others to come. When two more co-workers showed up, it was about 3:15. The three of us stood at the front for a good ten minutes waiting to be sat (the other table had gotten up) before someone came over to us. We finally sat down and more people showed up. Around 3:30 I had ordered my drink (there was at least 7 or 8 of us now) and a few minutes later my food.

I had told the waitress that I had to leave by 4:30 because I had to be at work (the way I go can be pretty much busy with traffic and I didn't want to be late). My friend Georgia also had to leave early so we were splitting a check and paying cash. So finally everyone shows up (we were waiting on one teacher Cheryl who was doing errands) and the waitress gets her drink order & food. 4:15 comes around and the food STILL hasn't come. Someone else's appetizer at the table came out which I thought I was weird. 4:20 rolls around and we asked where the food was. This is where I got pissed off.

The waitress told us that as a "courtesy" to the rest of the party, she waited until the last person was there to put in the food so it would all come out together and said that we had told her we wanted it as an entree, not an appetizer. What the hell? I would like to know WHY she chose not to ASK us if we wanted the food before Cheryl got there or not. I am 99.9% sure Cheryl would not have cared. Georgia was getting pissed (as was I) because there is NO REASON why we should have had to wait almost 45 minutes for APPETIZERS.

The waitress was a bit snotty and said she'll go to the kitchen to have the food pushed out quicker. I'm getting angry because I was hungry and waiting AND now was going to be rushed eating. They bring the food out and they brought me a chicken tenders dinner with fries...NOT what I ordered. I had ordered South Western Buffalo Chicken Tenders appetizer. So by the time they go back in and bring it out, I can't stay anymore because I am going to be late so I have to take it to go. I felt horrible that I had to leave early because I enjoy hanging out with my coworkers but I was so aggravated at the situation. Since Georgia and I were splitting the bill, she told me to just give her $10 since she owed me $8 for Girl Scout cookies. I rushed to work and pretty much wolfed my food down because I was starving. I was texting everyone because I felt bad leaving early and Georgia told me that they didn't even take anything off the bill for the inconvenience and she left the waitress an 18 cent tip because she didn't feel like waiting for change.

I was just so irritated by the whole experience. There was no one there to greet you, you had to wait 15 minutes to even be seated and then 45 minutes for a freaking appetizer? Give me a break! I was so aggravated that when I got home from work, I went on the Ruby Tuesday's website and wrote in a NASTY complaint. I hope they get it and contact me. I am never going to a Ruby Tuesday's again. The waitress was so rude and it was just a rotten experience.