An Ode to Coffee

{I think technically an "ode" is a poem. However, I'm not feeling very poetic at the moment, seeing as how it is almost time for my weekly Sunday siesta.}

Happy National Coffee Day! Who knew, right? And if you are reading this after today, 9/29, just consider it National Coffee Week and go treat yourself with some yummy coffee drinks or coffee-flavored things.

I didn't start drinking coffee until college. Growing up, my dad made coffee every morning before he left for the day and I always woke up to the scent of it. Because of this, I have always loved the smell of all-things-coffee.

Ty has been a committed coffee drinker for a long time - like, total addict. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing, I am not sure. He justifies it by mentioning all of the other terrible habits that people take part in {smoking, drinking, eating crappy foods, etc.} and claims that it is a "natural" drink since it is just beans and water. Buuuuut, even a good thing can turn bad when done in excess {i.e. needing a gi-GANTIC thermos just for the morning commute to work // or making 7 k-cups in one day - which is also quite costly.}

^^ Ty's thermos looked exactly like this one. When he used to work at O'Reilly he would fill this up in the morning with an entire pot and it would be gone by the time he arrived at work.

When I first started drinking coffee, I went for the "girly" coffee drinks. White chocolate mochas. Caramel Frapps. Turtle Lattes. I still think these are all delicious, but when my calorie count in my coffee drink equals three pieces of cake, my waistline begins to have a problem.

Then I discovered the best flavor of all. . . HAZEL-to-the-NUT, yo. 

^^ I am officially obsessed. Coffee + hazelnut flavor + just a little cream/sugar? You've got yourself a winner.

This summer I discovered a great coffee drink for hot, summery days: iced coffee with hazelnut! I would brew one k-cup {light roast - like a breakfast blend} + a cup of ice + about 1/2 cup of skim milk + a dash of hazelnut. Delish! A great alternative to a hot cup of coffee in the morning.

If I don't make coffee at home and I want some on my way to work, I usually go to Mickey D's for a cup of joe. I really like the taste of their coffee. Their hazelnut iced coffee is great; it may even beat my DIY recipe I do at home. Aaand if I'm feeling like a calorie splurge, their caramel frappe is so yummy! It is almost like a dessert!!

^^ The whole McCafe menu is pretty McStinkin' good.

Another personal favorite is coffee-flavored ice cream! I can't drive past a Braum's without stopping and getting a scoop of their Cappuccino Chunky Chocolate Frozen Yogurt {it's a mouth-full to say so Ty loooooves when he gets to order it for me in the drive through}. If you haven't tried it and you like all of those words stop and get a scoop the next time you drive by. You won't be sorry! Best part? It's sugar-free but does not taste like it. :)

^^ Best coffee-flavored fro-yo ever.

and it's sugar-free.

and cheap.

Happy Coffee Day!

District Honor Choir Auditions '13

{I apologize if some of you reading this aren't super thrilled to know what's going on in the Buffalo Choir world... It's really just a way for me to document and remember each major experience along the way!}

Yesterday was District Honor Choir audition day for my students at Kickapoo HS in Springfield. Any audition or contest-type of event like this stresses me out because I feel so helpless regarding the outcome and I know that there will be disappointment experienced by some of my students. I have to just remind myself that I have done my best to prepare them for their auditions and then leave the rest up to them to perform their best!

I cannot say this enough: I have an awesome group of kiddos. I love each and every one of them - all 49 members. For this day of auditions, I had 21 students audition for a spot in our district's honor choir.

^^ Kiddos who rode the bus.

^^ Stragglers who had to take the ACT and come down to meet us at Kickapoo later in the day. {Yes Gabe and Austin match... goofs.} These are three of my seniors who I do not want to think about graduating... maybe I can find a way to make them flunk this year. :)

This year's stats:

44 schools from our district were represented.

21 Buffalo students auditioned.

12 students made the honor choir!

1 student {Austin, pictured above} made top 25 of his section

& can audition in November for All-State!

Last year's stats:

{I can't remember how many auditioned exactly... not as many as this year.}

Only 4 students made the honor choir.

Synopsis: We've tripled our representation in the choir for this year!!

:)

After getting back to Buffalo and dropping the students off at the school, the fam came to meet me and go out to dinner! Our original plan was to head to Conway, MO to the Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival but after some research, we discovered that was $20.00/person to attend and we would only be able to go for a couple of hours. So that plan got the ixnay.

So the Maple Street Grill it was!

^^ Strange. If you haven't seen the mustard face, look again.

^^ The more normal side of the table. Well, except for the guy in the middle.

It was a gorgeous Fall Saturday and a successful day of auditions for my students!

A Helpful "How-To:" Rolling A Sleeve

During the summer, I remember reading a post on Pinterest Told Me To {a fabulous fashion blog written by Erika's friend, Sheaffer} about a cute way to roll a sleeve! Talk about important information. I remember attempting it that day after I read the post, but that was back in the hot summer days when long-sleeves and button-ups weren't anywhere on my radar... If you know me, you know that summer weather ain't really my thang... I think the sleeve-roll attempt lasted about 45 seconds before I was back in a tank top and had that shirt off and put back into my fall/winter closet.

Fast forward to last Saturday, a cool, 77 degree, September day, and I was ready to wear my long-sleeve chambray to Springfield for a quick shopping trip! With a couple of attempts, I felt like I had achieved a similar look to the one that Sheaffer featured on her blog this summer. {Success!}

^^Everyone wants their button-ups to look this j-crew-esque. I needed it to look as effortless as this girl's but I quickly realized that it took a bit of effort to get this look... I suppose this is true with most "effortless"looks. 

So here's a tutorial:

And the final product....

^^ This chick has mastered the sleeve-roll. {Although the denim-on-denim and complete buttoned-up look is kind of throwing me off right now. Not sure I'm THAT in love with denim.}

So. Here is my OOTD {outfit of the day, for all you non-modern-day-acronymers}:

Let me take this moment to remind you, after you've spent 4 minutes of your life reading this post, that it's the little things in our lives that truly matter. 

Like a proper sleeve-roll. Consider giving this a try the next time you wear a button-up.

;)

A Spirited Spirit Week & Homecoming 2013

This past week at school was our spirit week for Homecoming. It was a craaaaaay-zee {emphasis on the cray-cray} week. My students were a tad on the hyper side each day in class.

Each spirit day in Mixed Chorus, we take a picture of all of the students that participated. Here's what we ended up with.

The days were as follows:

^^ Monday was mascot Monday! Apparently there weren't too many of my 50 choir students who actually remembered to wear their shirt.

{Sorry for the duplicate insta pic - I know I blogged this already.}

^^ Tuesday was snapbacks & tattoos. I had no clue what a snapback was.

So no participation on my part.

I, at first, thought that these were snapbacks:

{Actually, these are tearaway pants. But they have snaps. Lots of them. Go with me here....}

But then found out that THIS is a snapback:

{I thought these were called "Trucker Hats?" Or old-men-with-big-heads hats? Maybe they still are called that by everyone over the age of 18.}

^^Wacky/Tacky Wednesday. Everyday is wacky with this crew and I'm not quite sure what the requirements were to be in the pic. I should have just forced the whole class to get in the shot.

^^Twinkie Thursday. It's possible that I took this day too literally.
#twinning

^^Bison Pride Friday! Here's the whole group. Don't tell them this yet, but I already love this year's group of students so much. It has been such a wonderful start to the year and my new students in choir are really doing a great job so far! I'm excited for what lies ahead this year.

{Aaaaaaaand this is what happens when you leave your phone unattended after group photos are taken. And there were plenty more left for me to enjoy... I have a sneaky feeling that these will show up again at some point for payback.}

On Friday afternoon, things got a little slow in my classes as many of my students were out preparing for the assembly and parade later that day. I may or may not have realized on this day that Bloglovin' is not blocked on the school's network..... :) #productiveteacher

It was another fun spirit week in bison land.

Our New Wreath {Go Hogs!}

Since about March I have been greeted by this wreath on our front door. {You would think I wouldn't use the front door very often as we have a garage... But let me remind you of my husband's "hobby/somewhat profession": woodworking. Our garage is a sawdust factory and it is generally easier to avoid the sawdust/nails/wood/tools and just enter through the front. :) Rant over.}

I like this spring-y wreath, but it was just time for a change for Fall!

I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to do for a new wreath. I bought the ribbon and letters at Hobby Lobby last weekend when we were in Springfield. I then bought the wire wreath and burlap when I was at Walmart the next day and set out on my first wreath-making adventure!!

Supplies:

1. Wire Wreath

2. Cute ribbon

3. Lace (if desired)

4. Floral Wire

5. Lettering or other decorations

Not knowing if my first step - attaching the burlap - was even going to be a success or not, {I was basically experimenting at first!} I didn't take any pictures of that step. However, look below at the 4-panel picture of the chevron ribbon and you'll see how I bunched the burlap in little bundles and then attached with the floral wire!

It's really simple; make one complete bow and then make another bow so you have four loops. Last, twist the wire around the middle and use the extra wire to attach to the wire wreath form.

I then attached the letters and football using hot glue {my secret weapon! duh!} and THIS is how she turned out....

Better than I had even imagined!

Fast forward to Monday, after I had completed by Razorback Wreath on Sunday afternoon, and I was back in "hog mode." This time was for our first spirit day of the week at school - Mascot Monday! As a teacher, I have learned to appreciate any and all excuses to wear something comfortable. So spirit day apparel is a given! Plus, in addition to dressing down a bit, I got to rep my Hogs. I was definitely out-numbered by the many Mizzou fans {and even LSU fans - there was one girl in my first hour class with an LSU t-shirt - what the heck? In Buffalo?} that were showing their team pride as well.

Stay tuned for more spirit week pictures to come!

A File Cabinet DIY

Yesterday was my ideal kind of Saturday. We slept in, ate breakfast, and didn't have any plans. I don't know how long it has been since we had a free weekend and I was thankful for it!

After much careful thought and consideration on what we would spend our time doing for the day, we remembered that Ty had purchased this used file cabinet in Springfield at a thrift store and it needed a little t/l/c. He has been working on setting up a home office and has needed a file cabinet to store some of his super important documents.... {Like fantasy football draft records? I'm not positive.}

It was a great find; he found it at the Habitat for Humanity store and only paid $15.00 for the thing because the lock was locked and there was no key with it. So, not only did he get this for $15, he also now had an excuse to break into something with his high-powered man tools!!!

He successfully removed the lock and wah-la! {We even got three bonus hanging file folders. Score.}

So here is what we're working with before the updates took place:

{Uggg-uh-leee.}

Being the expert spray-painter that I am, I was nominated by my better half to be the one to do the painting. I used a can of Krylon oil-rubbed-bronze paint that we already had {see below}. I removed the hardware on the drawers, washed it down to remove any dust or other unknown substances and got to spraying paint...

After several extremely hot minutes in the garage...

and {a little while later} a few minutes to re-install the hardware on the drawers...

here is the finished product:

I had to catch Ty, as he was already hauling it inside to his office when I stopped him so I could take a pic! What a difference!! The best part? We saw some new ones at Staples this exact size for ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS. Whaaaaat?! That's nuts.

The drawer labels: "important." & "not important." ;)

I hope you had a fun and happy Saturday, too.