courtney rebecca

Guys, if I had to pick one book, one movie, one pop culture phenomenon to only love forever... it would be Harry Potter. I am absolutely crazy over Harry Potter. The books wrapped up three years ago (weird that it's been that long), but the last two movies are coming out soon. The first part comes out in November and the second part comes out next July. I CANNOT WAIT! Today I saw a "literal" parody of the newest trailer. Now, I've watched the trailer dozens of times (and I might've cried while watching it... more than once). But this parody just made me laugh! It's the real trailer, just with funny words over it. Okay, I suck at explaining, but you should watch it. First is the real (most epic EVER) trailer, then the parody. Enjoy!

I'm having a weird day, which makes me feel even more glad I started this blog. Here's what is good today: I get to fly to Abilene for 35 hours in August to see my sister in a play. My parents are paying for my flight. So awesome. I played Lego Harry Potter for several hours this morning. It is SO MUCH FUN. I finally mailed some DVDs to my sister's boyfriend AND I remembered to send a baby gift to my friends B&S. I'm being a good friend today. I only had to wait a few minutes & pay $4 to send all the stuff. Good deal. I had an ice cream cone from McDonald's and it was SO GOOD. Perfect for a hot day. I'm still on summer break, so when I'm having a weird day, it's completely appropriate and acceptable for me to get back in bed, snuggle with my dog, and watch TV for the rest of the day.

There are so many good things happening right now, that I could just burst. Happiness is wonderful, isn't it? I hope and pray that when times aren't so good, that I can still return to my happy little place on the Internet and remember that there are times for happiness and times for sadness. Let's do a bullet-point list, shall we? My new principal is fabulous. I love her, and I am so excited to work for her in August. This week I went to lunch with my new principal and just got to know her a little bit. She's a wonderful woman and seems genuinely interested in her teachers' lives and their well-being. This is so opposite of some of my previous employers so I'm excited about a boss that will get stuff done and be direct, without being rude or belittling. I've been supervising open gym this week up at my old school. I was nervous about it, because I wasn't sure how my kids would react to me leaving. They're sad of course, but they have been so sweet a...

Today is my husband's birthday!! In the list of good things about my life, he is right up there at the top. He is absolutely my favourite person in the world, and I am so thankful for him. He is a wonderful husband and is always so supportive and loving to me. Jason is 25 today, and this is his sixth birthday we've celebrated together. (The first one was two months late, but it counts. That's another story.) I look forward to celebrating many more! Me and my dearest at one of my sister's plays when we still lived in Abilene.

I love gifs. And I think I may have just figured out how to put them on my blog. YES! NPH, I love you.

Today I took care of my teaching license. An awesome thing that has happened in the last couple of months is that I got a new job! I'm going to be a K-6 Librarian at a great elementary school. This has been a dream of mine FOREVER, and I'm super excited to finally get to do it. Scared too, but that comes with any big change. I used to be a high school Math teacher, so this is a HUGE change. Today I took my final step toward officially becoming a "Teacher Librarian" (what they call school librarians here) by adding an endorsement to my current teaching license. It's just paperwork at this point, but it feels so good to be official! I'm a Librarian. ;) This picture is from my grad school graduation celebration in May. My awesome t-shirt was a graduation gift from a librarian friend from my church in Texas. Thanks Beth!

I'm taking a cake decorating class this month at Michael's. I had my second class last night, and we decorated our first cake! I'll be the first to say that I kinda suck at it right now. But I'm still proud of my first effort! The top of it. And I tried to do a border and I think it turned out cute! After we cut into it. It's raspberry filling inside. The cake & filling tasted good, but the icing was straight up NASTY. For class we make "buttercream" but it's made out of Crisco. Great for decorating... horrible to eat. I can't wait to make my own real buttercream & cream cheese icing!

I have recently discovered that I love hiking, in part because I've been participating in a hiking club with some old co-workers this summer. Today we went on a hike at the top of Mount Evans, by Echo Lake. It was super long! We hiked 7-8 miles and were out just about all day. So the good? Enjoying nature Spending time with friends Exercise in a non-boring way Having fun! Echo Lake on Mount Evans (photo credit: Trip Advisor )

Spain just won the World Cup! Alas, I was rooting for the Netherlands. But I've been to Spain! So I'm excited for them too. The view from the Alhambra in Granada.

This little dog makes me smile just about every day.

I've always been a complainer. I have the tendency to veer quickly to the negative side of things. People that have known me for a long time (particularly my family) know this about me. Others... may not realize it (I hope). Because I try to hide it. I complain or be negative about things at home or in various online outlets for frustration. But all this negativity is just silly. Yes, my natural tendency is to be pessimistic. Yes, things really do suck sometimes. But it's all in how you deal with a situation. I've used my blogs in the past to vent or rant or generally record events. Most of those blogs have been private or friends-locked, because who wants to read that crap? So this is my first true open blog. I'm giving up the negativity, at least in this small Internet space, and embracing optimism. There's too much in life to be thankful for and rejoice in to not share it. Will anyone read this? Doubtful. But it's time for me to put some good feelings out int...