What I'm Loving Wednesday and My Very First Guest Post!

I am so excited today because I am doing my very first guest post over at Busy as a Honey Bee.  Simone is off exploring the wilderness of Alaska, so I am the pseudo-Simone today!  It's all about silly traditions ...check it out!  Then come back here and finish reading this WILW post...it's all about Disney today!

Oh good you're back!  As some of you might remember, I am leaving for Orlando/ Disney World on Friday morning! Yes!  I haven't been to Disney since I was fifteen, so I am getting really excited to get in touch with my inner-Minnie! 

So let's link up with Jamie @ This Kind of Love and What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle @ The Vintage Apple and Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday! 

 

Here is what I am loving on my Wednesday before vacation:

I am loving that my cold that I mentioned earlier in the week is almost gone!  Emergen-C and Mucinex can work wonders!  I think I can definitely get rid of it by Friday.

I am loving that I will have my toes in the sand (and hopefully and drink in hand) by noon on Friday.  We don't get our house until Saturday evening, so we are spending a day in Daytona!

Source: maliamaui.tumblr.com via Malia on Pinterest

Source: wanelo.com via Elyse on Pinterest

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I pretty much need this floatie! ^^^^ LOVE LOVE LOVE

I am loving that I am going to see all of the princesses!!!  The last time I went (age 15), I feel like I was "too cool" to truly embrace the presence of the princesses.  This time, I am not going to waste these precious moments.  You think I should dress like them?  A different princess for each day perhaps?

Source: Uploaded by user via Elyse on Pinterest

Too much? I'll probably just stick to my Nike shorts and tank tops. 

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I am loving all the mickey mouse shaped food...Look! It matches my float!

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Source: Uploaded by user via Sabrina on Pinterest

I am lovin' me some Disney quotes!

Source: notquitesusie.com via Elyse on Pinterest

Source: indulgy.com via Elyse on Pinterest

Pooh Bear makes my heart melt a little.

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Source: iheartdisneyquotes.tumblr.com via Elyse on Pinterest

:-( Love Lilo and Stitch

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Source: weheartit.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

And as always, I am loving my life with a cherry on top!

Happy Wednesday!

Giardiniera Extraordinaire

I was trying to think of what to do with all of my yummy banana and jalapeno peppers that talked about in this post  I had way more than what I could put on a pizza or use in a pasta salad, so I decided to make some wonderful, pickle-y goodness called giardiniera. 

For those of your who do not know what this is, it is a sweet, tangy, and spicy mixture of a bunch of different crunchy vegetables.  You can put it on just about anything, including loaded tots at Bar Louie, which I talked about in a post sometime or another but I couldn't seem to locate where that was.... anyways. 

Giardiniera is also known has the hardest word to spell in the history of written language. 

Guardinera, gardiniera, jardinera, jar-din-ner...giardiniera

I have to google it every time I need to spell it. 

Giardiniera is italian, like this man.

Who I wish I had a recipe for, but I don't so I guess we'll just stick to this.  Back to my point.

My original recipe came from AllRecipes.com.  Do you ever go there?  I love that place. 

Ingredients

• 2 green bell peppers, diced
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 8 fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cauliflower florets
• 1/2 cup salt
• water to cover
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (5 ounce) jar pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Place into a bowl the green and red peppers, jalapenos, celery, carrots, onion, and cauliflower. Stir in salt, and fill with enough cold water to cover. Place plastic wrap or aluminum foil over the bowl, and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next day, drain salty water, and rinse vegetables. In a bowl, mix together garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and olives. Pour in vinegar and olive oil, and mix well. Combine with vegetable mixture, cover, and refrigerate for 2 days before using.

But of course I didn't really follow the recipe, so here is what I did:

Gathered my peppers from my little garden.

I used red pepper, green pepper, carrots, celery, and garlic.  I didn't use cauliflower, and I didn't have any onion.

Chop them all up!

Cover with water and 1/2 cup of salt and refrigerate for 24 hours.  This makes the veggies a little bit soft.  

After refrigerating for 24 hours, take it out and drain it.  Be sure to rinse them to so all of that salt gets off of there. 

Now it's time for the dressing. 

The ingredients I used for the dressing: (same measurements as the recipe above)

-oil

-vinegar

-oregano

-crushed red pepper (I used way more than it said, because I like it SPICY)

-black pepper

-palmful of minced onion (I added this because I didn't have any fresh onion)

-1 cup of sugar (I like my giardinera a little sweet to, so I added the sugar on my own)

-I did not add the olives because I'm not crazy about that briney, olive taste.

Mix all of that up and pour over the drained veggies.

Cover and refrigerate for 2 days before eating.

After two days, put it in a mason jar for safe keeping!

You will need way more than one mason jar, but I had already eaten a bunch of it before I put it in here...Oops!

Weekend Fun

How was every one's weekend?  Mine was GREAT!  And the best part is I only have 3 more days (not counting today of course) until our flight leaves for Orlando!  Yay for Disney World!  And the Olympics start this week!  It just can't get much better!  Except for I now have a random cold.  It came out of nowhere! Hopefully I can kick it before we leave!

Saturday night we went to this little restaurant called Knob Hill Tavern and ate dinner on the patio...It was so nice outside! 

Kelly's beer.

My Chardonnay.  Isn't it so pretty? 

Greek salad....so yummy!

I had the bourbon glazed salmon along with my salad.  It came with a baked potato and a roll. 

The salmon was soooo good!  One of the better grilled salmons I have ever had!  We will definitely be going back again before summer is over!

Yesterday I painted my coffee table an olive-ish green color, with a black chalkboard top!  It looks so good, and I can't believe it only took me 4 hours (including dry-time)!  I can't wait to share pics once I get my living put back together!

Have a great day! 

Friday Night-In

There is nothing better than a night-in after a long week!

Some ice-cold Moscato on an hot, hot day is exactly what I needed!

 Pizza on the grill... if you have never grilled pizza before, you are missing out!

This particular pizza has pesto as the sauce, sliced garden fresh tomatoes (not from my garden because my tomatoes didn't grow, remember?  But from someones garden nonetheless!), grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, and sun dried- tomatoes on top, all on a thin, whole-wheat crust!

I'm not kidding, if you have never cooked a pizza on the grill before, you have to try it!  It gets so crispy and a little smokey, and it's just so delicious!  Just make sure you cook it on low and on foil so the doesn't burn!

A night of LOST.  Yes, we are still watching this, and yes, we still have two more seasons to go!  Someday all the questions will be answered!....So mysterious. Ha

And last, but not least, an Edy's strawberry fruit bar, with my Moscato of course!  The bottle may or may not be gone by this time...... Whoops!  Have you had Edy's fruit bars?  They are so yummy on a steamy day, and only 80 calories! I've had the pineapple ones the coconut ones too.  They are also very tasty!! 

Have a GREAT weekend!

Giveway Winner!

And the winner is.....

Jen Ross at The Teacher's Cauldron!

Jen be on the lookout for an email from me!

A big thanks to everyone for participating!

I'm so happy to have 50, now 61 followers! Yay!

WILW and Oh So Pinteresting Wednesday!

It's that time again!  That time of the week to link up with Jamie @ This Kind of Love and What I'm Loving Wednesday and Michelle @ The Vintage Apple and Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday! 

Today I am absolutely loving all of my bloggy support  and bloggy hugs from my post yesterday!  You guys have no idea how much better it makes me feel!  It's especially nice to have support and advice from you guys because most of you are teachers and have been in my situation.  So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.  You guys are the best!  :-)

Source: inspireco.blogspot.com via Elyse on Pinterest

I am loving that next Friday I will be heading to Disney World!  Yahoooo!

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I can't wait to meet the princesses again!

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I am loving my Pinterest finds!

Source: jewlr.com via Elyse on Pinterest

To anyone who knows my boyfriend: please tell him I want this! Ha

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Love this dress!

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I always love a good nautical look!

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Summer squash pizza!  This would be tasty on the grill.

Source: rantingchef.com via Elyse on Pinterest

Baked Ziti with Summer veggies.  YUM!

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Homemade oatmeal pies? Yes please!

Source: google.com via Elyse on Pinterest

Woooweee!  I sure do like the Olympics! God Bless the USA!

I'll leave you with that ;-)

Happy Wednesday!

And don't forget to enter my giveaway!  It ends tomorrow!

Deja Vu

As some of you know (I tried not to talk about it too much this time so as not to jinx myself), I had a job interview for a third grade position at my school a couple of weeks ago, and I found out whether or not I got the job last night.  Read about my last job interview debacle {HERE}.

I did not.  (Hence the deja vu, and see the jinxing didn't even matter!)

I'm not going to lie, it really sucks, and I am not feeling to great about myself right now. 

It's that oh so familiar feeling of rejection that's overwhelming me. 

I know it's all a part of God's plan and blah blah blah.  I just want to know what that plan is already

Source: via Joanna on Pinterest

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I'm tired of men getting hired ahead of me (especially men who have not even worked there before.  This is second time this has happened in case you didn't know).

My principal told me I improved slightly from my last interview (slightly-another word I hate, just as much as the word average), but he thinks I need more experience in other grades (I have always worked with kindergarten).  Therefore, (not only did I not get the job, but also) I am being re-located to a different classroom with a different teacher in a different grade.  So I can get more experience. 

That is good I guess (see I am trying to be positive).  Don't get me wrong, I REALLY like all the teachers at my school wouldn't mind to work with any of them, I just REALLY liked where I was, and I always said that if I didn't get a full-time position I would be completely happy staying where I was.  WHERE I WAS.  See the key words?

I am especially having trouble because no one is telling me what I am doing wrong. How can I improve if I don't know what I am doing wrong? Even in my evaluation this year my principal told me he didn't have anything for me to improve on, and that he has loved all the work I have done and thinks that I did a "bang up" job. All he said was that we need to work on getting me hired! Fail. :-/

I am also worried that by the time I do get a full-time position, my spunk will be gone, the novelty will wear off, and I won't be as enthusiastic as I once was.  I don't want to turn into a bitter, resentful teacher (we all know the type).  Hopefully this doesn't really happen does it?  But it is one of my worries.  I want to love coming to school EVERY DAY. 

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I want to feel like this forever!

Soooo that it my rant.  I promise I won't rant about it anymore.

For now I am just going to remember this quote!

Source: Uploaded by user via Amanda on Pinterest

 

Only 3 More Days!

DON'T FORGET! 

There is only 3 more days to enter my 50 Follower Giveaway!

You could win a sign like this, that YOU design, and I will paint it for you and send it to your doorstep!

Go {HERE} to enter!

The giveaway ends Thursday!

P.S. I find out about my potential job tonight, so keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Carbs and Coffee

Why is it that every time I drink my morning coffee I am left with the feeling of wanting a donut?  Or breakfast pastry, slice of cake, cookie, even a PopTart would do.

Coffee and vanilla yogurt just doeesn't seem to cut it.

As I sit here and eat my boring breakfast you should go enter my giveaway {HERE}!

It ends a week from today!