just 9 days!

don't worry he's not eating them!

dear students: it was so nice having our last day together at the amusement park the other day! it was nice to be able to spend some time with you guys outside of class. see you in a few months. dear home: i will see you in 9 day. 9 DAYS!  i'm so excited i will probably be constantly humming to myself for the next week so don't mind me. dear paris: thank you for finally helping me to put up our new tree! and for bringing me sushi last night... you're the best. and i'm gonna miss you. dear new followers: thank you! this week i hit 200 followers and i was so excited! i honestly love having people come back every day to read my blog and i appreciate every single one of you.


 

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

last week we went to paris's sister's house to help her decorate her christmas tree. i really love going to her house because those are usually the time when paris's whole immediate family (his parents and four sisters) get together to eat and have some good laughs.

so we helped decorate a christmas tree and hang up some other christmas decorations and it got me so excited for december! his sister even gave us her old tree and decorations so that we can put it in our apartment and have our very own first tree together. so nice!

we have yet to find the time to sit down and put the tree up together but i'm hoping within the next few days.

i'm so excited that december is almost here and i'm definitely ready for a full month of christmas decorations, songs, and celebrations :)

my christmas wishlist

 i still can't believe that it is that time again for all of the holidays to come around. thanksgiving has already passed and next up is: christmas!

i thought i would make a little wishlist because i know that all of my lovely readers are dying to know what i want for christmas .. and because you know .. santa is surely one of those readers.

 1. the watch, i've already posted about. the project is almost funded but needs a little more help so you guys should really go check it out!

2. i want a crock pot. pinterest has just been too seductive this year for me to not have a crock pot.

3. i recently bought a new camera that is patiently at home waiting for me and i have been looking for a camera bag that can do double duty as an every day purse. i found this one by dre hartmann that i love but it is a little bit pricey! anyone have any good camera bag recommendations?

4. i am always on the lookout for some new stud earrings and these would be the perfect addition to my collection.

5. and finally, like i said here i need a way to organize all of my jewelry.  my mom found this on etsy and i think it would be perfect! you know for my ever growing collection of jewels...

and there you have it! well i could always find a few more things to add but... i'll take care of some of the shopping myself ;)

a tico thanksgiving

saturday night we finally celebrated thanksgiving. one of my coworkers who is from the states organized a lovely dinner with some of her old usa coworkers from her last job here in costa rica. it was a mix of about 10 people from the usa and 5 tico boyfriends/husbands and paris's sister. there was a 17 pounds turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce, apple crisp, and pumpkin pie! after everyone was completely stuffed we all went around saying what we were thankful for, mostly being able to have a lovely little dinner with new friends in our home away from home. all in all it was a great success :)

* sorry for such poor quality photos but in just two weeks i'll be using my brand new camera!

thanksgiving on a saturday

well rocco thought he'd dress up as a snowman for you guys today, although he's sure he wouldn't like the snow not even one bit.

even though thanksgiving was on thursday, its not a holiday here! so everyone had to work then and yesterday. but today (saturday) we are having a thanksgiving dinner with one of my coworkers and some of her other usa friends. i'm excited! even though i dont know them, getting together with a bunch of people who do know what thanksgiving is about will be a nice little treat.

i hope everyone got some nice black friday shopping in yesterday! i know i did and now i'm almost all done with my christmas shopping :) hallelujah.

tales of a past thanksgiving

thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. and today marks my third (third already???) thanksgiving outside of the united states. since last year i foolishly didn't take any pictures of my first "costa rican thanksgiving" (a semi bust) i thought i would share some pictures from my first thanksgiving away from home when i was in spain! i keep thinking that i was in spain last year when it turns out it has already been longer than a year since i got back!

so here is a bit of a photo over-load of some pictures during a spanish thanksgiving with lots of good food and friends all wrapped up in my little spanish apartment! man, do i miss that place...

i hope everyone has a lovely lovely thanksgiving .. i will be thinking of all the food everyone is preparing and eating without me ;)

i think i'll start a watch collection

i'm not usually a watch wearing person. the main reason being: i don't have any watches. well i have one, but the battery died months again and i just never got it fixed. well good news for me, i recently found this blog through some blog hopping a few weeks ago and immediately fell in love. last week one of the sisters posted about her watch company, feral watches and i said: i want one. or two. the creator of feral watches, meg is coming out with a new line for her watches and is trying to get the project started here. she needs to get a certain amount of funding because she can have her watches made for the masses! i already pledged because this watch has permanently caught my eye.  

if you love it as much as i do then go check out the rest of her new line here and pick out which one you like... but seriously do it so i can start my watch collection. ;)

final final exams

gifts for my students exempt from their exams

i keep mentioning that i've finished my first year of teaching.

well i havent technically finished yet. today is the last final exam for my students, so my last official day in the classroom. after grading said exams and calculating final grades i think then my work is done. and then i get to have a meeting about my classes and curriculum for next year. ALREADY! i'm not 100% sure about my classes for next year but if everything goes the way i am hoping then i will be one happy second-year teacher.

new teacher no more

friday was my first end of the year teacher party. i still can't believe that i am coming to the end of my first year of teaching. sometimes i think it's a joke and that i'm not actually a legit teacher .. like last year when i worked 12 hours a week as a language assistant speaking about 5 english words a class....but then i remember i still have final exams to grade and final grades to calculate and i remember that oh yeah i am a real teacher.

so friday was our school's christmas celebration. i attended mass in the morning (yes, mass) and then watched a darling little performance from the youngin's.

the teachers then all hopped on a really nice chartered bus for an hour up to poas, costa rica where one of the volcanoes is located. we got off at the restaurant fredo fresas. i think it is always interesting to see your co-workers outside of the work environment, especially the ones that you don't usually work with. maybe it was the fact that we are all excited for the school year to be over and maybe it was the fact that some people had some drinks but i would say we were by far the loudest group around. our waiter then made a joke to try about taking away points from our grade if we weren't quiet. good one .... not.

after lunch we took a little stroll through the hummingbird garden where all the hummingbirds magically escaped my camera lens and then headed back home.

so this happened

MVI 9891 from Britta on Vimeo.

this happened on friday right after a really lovely christmas and holiday presentation. the performance was a mix of the nutcracker and the polar express that was really well done. and then all of a sudden the kiddies jumped into this dance for the finale. it was pretty cute.

am i on vacation yet?

dear self: please. do. not. get. sick. my throat has been in that iffy stage all week so lets get better instead of getting worse. dear end of the year teacher party: i am excited for you today, let's hope you're fun. dear december 9th: are you here yet? dear students: please please please pass all of your exams! not only will you pass the trimester but it will make my life way easier. so please. dear alias: how did i forget how great of a show you were? i have watched the very first four episodes this week and i'm hooked again. good thing i'm on vacation soon so i'll have plentyyy of time for you.

20 wishes

source

the girls over here have started this lovely idea that i just couldn't help but take part in. 20 wishes.

one year to complete 20 wishes that you have. that you want to complete.

not those "wishes" that you make when new years roles around that haunt you for a few weeks and then you slowly start caring less and less. no not those wishes.

the things that you want to do because you like them and because they interest you.

the fun things.

so here are my 20 wishes

- learn to take pictures with my new camera

- run a 5k race again (its been a few years!)

- go on a weekend trip with my girlfriends

- reach 500 followers on my blog

- travel to la fortuna, costa rica

- re-paint/re-do the bathroom in my apartment

- read at least one new book a month

- teach rocco some fun tricks

- take a trip to panama

- make a real thanksgiving dinner for paris

- send snail mail letters to my friends at home

- learn how to cook more easy but yummy meals

- buy some new boots (it's about time)

- go to a family member/friend's wedding (this one is happening!)

- pay off my smallest student loan

- find some paintings/prints to decorate the house

- go to a vineyard

- complete a DIY project from pinterest

- learn how to properly do my own makeup

- make some fun crafts with my students

what would you wish for?

whispers in the dark

last year when i was in spain my dad introduced me to mumford and sons. i know they have gotten really big and popular since then but their album was still always one of my go to albums. as many of you probably know, their second album Babel came out a few weeks ago and it is currently the only thing i have been playing on my itunes. more specifically this song.

it's one of those songs where the lyrics can have a different meaning to whoever is listening to them. and of course a song that gets your feet moving. if you haven't already heard it i recommend you give it a listen!

turning of the seasons

the seasons have been turning slightly here in costa rica. of course, nothing like summer turning into fall at home with red and orange leaves everywhere. more like excruciatingly hot days turning into much more tolerable afternoons.

so on saturday we decided to spend the day outside enjoying warm and breezy afternoon and it was one of the best ideas we have had in a while. we headed up to the family's second property and let rocco run free. boy did he love it. and so did i :)

i love spending time outside and for whatever reason i dont get to do it here enough. probably because the sun usually fries my skin in about 10 minutes. so here's to cooler days for a few more weeks.

what did everyone else do this weekend?

dear costa rica,

dear blog: i took a few days off. this week has been extra busy with extra work and to be honest, i didn't have anything to write! i figured it would be better to not post anything and try to get some of those creative juices flowing. hopefully i'll be back and going strong next week. dear final exams: i had to make 6 of you this week in two days and that was not fun. glad i don't have to do that again until next year! dear major highway bridge: you collapsed. and now the county is in a crisis state because you have caused traffic backups on literally every other road in the area. at least i get two days off of work because of it! dear costa rica: maybe you should think about making some more roads so you don't have to cancel school when something like this happens. dear long weekend: you came out of nowhere! what should we do?? oh and dear boyfriend: i'm sorry you're sick! please get better soon it's no fun when you are sick.

happy weekending!

only a few weeks left

my weekend mostly consisted of me and this little guy and my computer. with just 1.5 weeks left of classes and then 1.5 weeks of exams and then another week or so of teacher stuff, my school year is coming to an end! so this weekend i spent my time making lesson plans and quizzes and grading final projects. and now i'm left to make final exams and figure out final grades!

i'm hoping this week i can really get motivated to just finish everything so that next weekend i don't have to worry about it all. and then i can spend even more time with my little man doing this: 

happy monday!

lucky brand accessories

i'm a big fan of lucky brand jewelry, maybe even more so than the clothes. and i have been trying really hard this year to save all my pennies so that i can continue to pay off my loans and hopefully buy myself and my family some nice christmas gifts this year!

and then lucky brand says that they are having a sale on all of their jewelry. so naturally i took a little peek and decided i wanted to buy all of their jewelry.

since i obviously can't do that i thought i would show you some of my favorite pieces

stacked rings 
hoop earrings
stone earrings  
peace bracelet  

confession: i treated myself to the hoop earrings!
go enjoy that that sale on their accessories, it ends on wednesday!

*this is not a sponsored post i just love lucky brand jewelry  

dear me,

dear friday: so.glad.you.are.here. even though this week flew by, it was a tiring one. i'm ready to sleep in on saturday. dear school: only a few more weeks, but man you really know how to pile all that work on at the last minute! dear bank account: i'm sorry. dear christmas presents: i'm starting to think about you now and so far i'm at a loss for pretty much everyone! any signs of what people want would be greatly appreciated. dear me: woo! you won the inpink giveaway from running on happiness! now all i have to decide is what to get... any suggestions?? i'm really liking these earrings.

happy weekending! xo