some little dears

i saw this print on pinterest and i loved it because i completely agree. 

hustlers > slackers

dear paris: birthday present .. taken care of! we're going to see pitbull! for those of you who know me know, this is more like a birthday present for me than for him. oh yeah. (p.s. pitbull is like .. my guilty pleasure of music .. generally i'm a ray lamontagne, the head and the heart kinda gal) dear exam week: early dismissals every day? i kinda like you. dear rocco: this week you have been my favorite right before bed, and right after you wake up. maybe it has something to do with the fact that you forget what biting is when you're so tired. dear ants: i really hate you. i dont know where you all come from and why you are so interested in running around this apartment but i wish you'd skedaddle.

history repeating itself.

in 2009 and 2010 i went down to Waveland, Mississippi and New Orleans, Lousiana on my college spring breaks to do volunteer work from hurricane Katrina. the first year i was a participant and the second year i was the team leader. those two weeks were definitely some of my favorite weeks from my whole college experience, although sometimes i feel a little bit guilty saying that.

i mean, the reason we went down there was because Katrina destroyed a lot of that area. more so, in our experience in Mississippi. and this was 4 and 5 years after the hurricane actually passed through.

so to see now, that hurricane Isaac is currently has the potential to do just as much damage, if not more makes me feel like smacking my head and saying, not again! it's like when you're younger and they teach you in history class that learning history is important so that we don't repeat our mistakes. well how can we tell mother nature, "okay we got it!! we don't need another devestating hurricane!" ?

i just can't help but think of all the houses and homes that haven't even recovered from Katrina. the families that didn't get the support they needed then and may have to go through the same thing now.

going down to volunteer was something that just warmed my heart. the amount of work that we did and the garbage we were pulling out of houses and off properties filled me up with a feeling of goodness, knowing i was really helping. i mean, we walked into walmart and a cashier woman just started crying because she knew that we were volunteers. 

it meant something. to them. and to us.

all of this news about Isaac has been reminding me of my experience with hurricanes and whatever comes from, i hope the response to the damage is fast and plentiful. whether it comes from the government or from volunteers. and if you have the opportunity to volunteer i would take it. it'll change your life and it'll change the lives of the people you are helping out.

and that's my blast from the past for the day.

typical.

we love going out to eat.

i think it's probably because neither one of us has mastered the art of cooking .... yet. i have plans for that though. maybe one day when i have a real kitchen

anyway, instead of cooking .. we go out! we're super lucky that there are some pretty cheap places to eat around us where we can spend around $6 each and leave bursting.

 during the week we go out at least once .. and last week we may have gone out, oh .. 4 times. it was just one of those weeks!

we went to a new (for us) place and i'd say it was a keeper! it has kind of a soda shop feel, something you would picture in an old coke advertisement. i got some chicken nachos and paris got buffalo wings (obviously) and we both agreed that we would go back.

all in all, week night date-nights are my favorite.

source


so i've been telling myself lately that it's okay ... 

to have a countdown going until the next long vacation at school (14.5 weeks!)

to wish i could do every tutorial/ make every recipe on my pinterest, but know i probably never will 

that i am seriously considering buying this within the year, even though i don't technically have the $$

 that i am constantly eating wanting mcdonald's mcflurries (currently m&m)

 to do a little less planning for school because i just need to relax a little more

that i haven't been on an exercise schedule in oh, months

and 

that i am so excited for grey's anatomy and revenge to come back!


yeah .. it's definitely okay.

when you're lonely for home

one of my all time favorite musicians once said, 

"when you're lonely for home, sometimes the home of a dear friend is a worthy substitute"

now, i read this from one of his blog posts years ago and it has always stuck with me. i tried to find the blog post he wrote it in but it seems that that blog no longer exists. so if you're reading this, andrew mcmahon (i'd die), i tried to credit you.

anyway, this sunday was a perfect example of why that quote has stayed with me. i don't always feel quite so at home in this country and quite often find myself missing home. however yesterday was one of those days where i felt right at home because of the company i was with. it was one of those days where paris's whole immediate family got together over lunch (and then another restaurant for coffee) and spent hours talking, story telling, advice giving, and of course, laughing.

and it felt like home.

oh friday

from one of the new restaurants we tried out this week

dear body: as of last night you weren't feeling too hot and i thought you might be getting sick. please don't! if you must get sick lets wait until i'm on vacation from school, okay? dear boyfriend: your birthday is coming up soon. sometimes you are so hard to shop for ..  what should i get you? also, we went out for dinner almost every night this week and i kind of don't hate it. dear student loans: you are so annoying! dear rocco: you have started to bite anything and everything. i bought you a nice play toy recently, so stop making a collection all of my socks! i already have about 7 unmatched pairs.

happy weekend, all!

lots of lips

i'm linking up today for current crush thursday and if you couldn't tell already, i'm currently crushing on...lipstick!

now, if you had asked me even just a year ago what color lipstick i liked to wear .. i would have said, "lipstick? what for?" i can even remember a time when i was out to dinner with paris's whole family and his sisters and mom all had their lips bright red. they told me to slap on some of their lipstick so we could take a picture. they just handed me the lipstick... no mirror... to put some on. i didnt even know how to apply it with a mirror, let alone without one!

i think thats when i started to notice peoples' lipstick choices a little more. and now i just can't get enough. i started slow with some tinted lip glosses, and then i finally took the plunge and bought some mac lipstick! not gonna lie, i was so nervous when the lady was helping me choose that i had no idea what i wanted and ended up getting a color that i wasn't really happy with.

but for my birthday i treated myself to two new lip colors: creme de la femme and see sheer, both by mac.

this one right here is creme de la femme and it has definitely become my "go-to" color. if i leave the house to go almost anywhere besides school .. i put it on! who knew that i would ever be a lipstick person??

are there any lipstick colors that you guys are crushing on lately?

source: 1/2/3/4/5/6

teaching isn't so easy on the eyes

when i was younger i was always that girl who would ask you to try on your glasses. for some reason i wanted eyeglasses so badly that i would always ask my friends if i could wear theirs for a few minutes. i had this thought in my head that if you wore glasses, you were cooler and maybe even smarter.

well fast-forward a decade or so and here i am today, with glasses! (clearly cooler and smarter) and you know what, it came just in time. in the past 6 months i have squinted more trying to read my students' tiny sometimes microscopic handwriting than even before.

that's why i was so excited to be contacted by GlassesUSA.com. they offer extremely affordable prescription eyeglasses (because we all know how costly they can be) and have a wide range of shapes, styles, and colors!

if i could try a different style than the glasses i have now, it would be something like the Muse Rex glasses. i tried them on with the virtual mirror feature that you can see right here.

 

GlassesUSA.com has graciously offered my readers some lovely discounts!

if you order glasses online you can get 15% off your entire order + FREE shipping on orders over $50 with the code: FS15

and 10% off and order of prescription glasses with the code: Blog10

i hope you enjoy!

*this is a sponsored post but all opinions are my own!

all work and no play

as a first year teacher, i feel like i am constantly taking a ton of work to do at home. no. i am constantly taking a ton of work to do at home because otherwise it won't get done.

when i was in college i learned how to really study and get my work done. i spent hours upon hours in the library at school, and i actually really enjoyed it. my roommate would joke with me that i was always with my boyfriend...the library.

but i have this thing, where if i know i have some work to get done, i feel like i can't enjoy myself. even if i know i am not going to get that work done today, i tell myself well today you can't go out to eat because you didn't finish your work. crazy? maybe.

but because of this thing, i often find myself telling paris that i'm just going to stay home and do my work while he goes out. bummer!

so in order to prepare for that feeling this weekend i spent a little extra time during the week to get as much as i could done. i still didn't finish (end of the trimester blues). but this weekend i told myself, no. no you will not stay home while everyone else is out enjoying their weekend.

so i did it. saturday i spent the whole afternoon at the pool with paris and his cousins and sisters and then the whole evening watching movies and eating pizza before we went out for the night. take that, you boring teacher work!

hopefully i will be able to keep it up and work like a mad lady during the week to finally be able to enjoy my weekends without worrying about what i haven't finished.

sweet 15

as i've mentioned many times before, paris has a huge family and we are always going to birthday parties and other family celebrations/gatherings.

this friday we went to one of his cousins 15th birthday party and here in costa rica the 15th birthday is like our sweet 16 birthdays. and as you can probably imagine, the last sweet 16 i went to was when i was 16.

however, this party was a blast, complete with a 25 minute drum/dancing session that i had never seen before. the group felt like a mixture of mardi gras/las vegas and it was intense.

and i can't forget the larger than life piñata at the end of the night.

it was a really good time and we danced the night away until the wee hours of the morning.

more weekend happenings to come tomorrow :)

a statement.

a statement... necklace!

ever since those bubble necklaces become popular .. you know which ones, j.crew and then cheerfully charmed, i have been looking for the perfect statement necklace to add to my jewelry collection.

well it just so happens that yesterday i was at the mall and then in one of my favorite accessory stores (misako) and i heard a little "britta! .. britta!" ... okay i didnt hear that, but i did turn around and see this necklace. and i said to myself, that was meant for me.

and with it being on sale and everything, i bought it! it really is perfect for me,

lots of colors, all of which i love and are already in my wardrobe.

don't you love when you can find just one little thing that will make your whole day feel a little bit brighter? this was one of those things :)

*sorry for the blurry pictures! there was no more natural light when my photographer got home

saturday morning pancakes

 originally

i have had such a hankering for pancakes lately that every time i see a new picture of then on pinterest, i pin it. they look so delicious! seriously, how can you resist?

the first one: apple cider pancakes with cinnamon sugar topping

lemon poppy seed pancakes with berries

lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry sauce (heaven?)

chocolate chip oatmeal pancakes

this is where i tell myself i need to get my domestic butt in gear and learn how to make all of these....we'll see when that happens.

but my dad used to make us pancakes every single saturday morning when my brother and i were little. it was my favorite thing! i just asked him to send me the recipe so that i can start slow and perfect the basic pancake before i move on to some more fancy ones.

i'll be sure to keep you guys updated on my pancake making!

plum paper designs

okay guys! as per a few requests, i am doing a little post about my new planner.

i love planners. in high school and college my planners and i were attached at the hip. and they couldn't be just any planner .. they had to be perfect .. with just enough space for every day of the week.

so last christmas before i came back to costa rica to start my job i was desperately looking for a planner .. of course with no luck (maybe i should stop being picky?)

anyway i was lucky enough to find plum paper designs. seriously lucky, you guys. and pretty much as soon as i saw it, i knew it was the one. 

as you can see above, every month has a full month spread and then is split up by week. with each day being split into three parts for morning, noon and night. so much space! and of course you can choose which month to start on, how many months there are in total and finally customize the cover that you want .. who doesn't love a little personal customization?

now i know what you guys are thinking: "uh hello, have you heard of erin condren life planners?" yes i have heard of them and think they are also fabulous. however (not to knock them) i also think they are slightly overwhelming .. and costly

plum paper design planners are a little bit more wallet friendly and that is just what this girl likes to hear. even though my mom gave it to me for my birthday .. thanks, mom!

so far it has been a hit with everyone that has seen it. one of my students told me she liked it so much that she was going to eat it when i'm not looking. and if that doesn't tell you something i dont know what to tell you.

so there you have it! go take a look at their shop.

*this is not a sponsored post and all opinions are my own!

how.cool.

okay, how cool is this? some people are too creative for their own good ;)

has anyone else seen this yet?

love at first site

we bought rocco a new chew toy. okay his only chew toy.

you see, he has been so content with chewing all of our socks and fingers that we just never bought him a proper chew toy. then this weekend as i was roaming the grocery store aisles i came across this little number and decided to try it out.

love at first site, people.

and thank goodness... for the sake of all of my fingers.

smitten with sunday

sometimes sunday is not my favorite day of the week. you know .. the day before...monday.

but then there are some sundays that make you rethink your opinion.

like those sundays when you only have a little bit of schoolwork to finish because you've already done the rest during the week. or those sundays when you tackle all of the laundry head so then you can go spend some time outside watching your boyfriend play soccer. and finally those sundays when you can spend the rest of the evening playing wii sports or watching batman begins.

those are the sundays that i love.

thank goodness its friday

volcan poas circa 2010

dear next two weeks: be kind to me. the end of the second trimester is coming up and that means lots of tests to make and grade, projects to grade, progress reports to send out, parents to meet with, etc. i swear i will get a little bit done every day, just don't pile up! dear eighth grade class: you guys are the bomb.com. i admit, that at the beginning of the year you got on my nerves a few times but now it just brightens my day when i get to be in your class. dear teriyaki experience: i love you. you have the cheapest sushi we have found (when its 2x1) and you have the equivalent to my favorite vegas role! i will be stopping by frequently. dear new readers: i believe i said this last week but again, welcome! i am so happy to have you here. i hope you enjoy!

a recipe for wonderful wednesday

when i was home i was most reminded of my mom's (and dad's) wonderful cooking. one recipe that especially caught my eye was her breaded chicken cutlets that she just has on hand pretty much all the time. they are quick and easy to make and i demanded she tell me how to do it.

this is what she said:

pound out some chicken breasts, dip them in egg, then in breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese, then fry.

thats.it.

i made a little salad with those three colorful ingredients up there and that has been my dinner for the past two days. pretty much next to no effort and really tasty.

does this even count as a recipe??

in other news, i am co-hosting the wonderful wednesday link-up today! i am really excited because i have been able to meet some really awesome bloggers through link-ups like this and now i get the chance to co-host! 

Welcome to Wonderful Wednesday. This link party is here to aid you in finding not only new awesome blogging friends but 

followers as well. Share the love, follow the rules, and meet new people!This link-party can be found here every Wednesday.

1- FOLLOW YOUR HOSTS VIA GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT

(the first links in link-up, marked host!)

2-LINK UP USING YOUR BLOGS URL

(please do not use a specific post)

3-FOLLOW OTHER BLOGGERS & COMMENT

(meet new people, make new friends)

4-GRAB THE BUTTON, ADD IT TO YOUR BLOG

(share the linky love, and button up below)

5-SHARE THE WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY NEWS

(tweet, facebook,  instagram & etc about link party)



IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HOSTING

(email at contact.little.petrie@gmail.com)

<a href="http://www.littlepetrie.com/search/label/Wonderful%20Wednesday"> <img src="http://i45.tinypic.com/wu1lxv.png" border="0" /></a>

rocco's modern life pt 2

  last week i got to spend a little extra time with rocco due to a holiday and then my students being on a field trip. he is such a little cutie pie i just couldnt get enough. here is what i experienced during our time together:

 just some resting, hanging out. a little nap time.

 still tired buddy? you can rest your head on my computer while i'm getting some work done. oh not too comfy? lets try hanging over my arm instead.

a little more nap time. you know, some extra snuggles with momma.

and then he's up for the day! .. you know around 4pm.

oh my little darling, you surely are a little cuddle bug.

rocco's modern life pt 1