Serious Question

This is your chance to be 100% completely honest. I bought this long top/dress a couple months ago & have put it on several times. However, I've never left the house in it & I need your opinion - I mean am I just too old for this style? Is it that I haven't worn leggings since I was 8? Should I try the thing with jeans? Do I give it up all together? You be the judge.

Pose #1

Side view...

So...what's the verdict???

25 Random Facts

In honor of the 'snow' day, I'm finally gonna do this one! 1. I have the best husband in the whole world. 2. Lucy, our golden retriever, is pretty much our first born at this point & ridiculously spoiled. 3. Speaking of spoiled, I'm the most spoiled wife on the planet (well, next to Jana;) 4. I used to hate reading until I taught it 2 years ago, now I'm an addict. 5. I love kids books & young adult books & will read the same book 2-3 times in a row if I really love it. 6. I get to lead the children's worship service on Sundays & it's one of my favorite parts of the week. 7. I met John in the TCU drumline. 8. I love musicals. 9. If I go to a musical performance (symphony, musicals, etc.) I almost always tear up when the music starts. 10. Sarah once made me question the reliability of my deodorant (which wasn't as bad as the time she made me smell her vomit hair). 11. Wednesdays are my marathon days & I don't usually get home until around 10:45pm, but they are always awesome 'cause my church family rocks! 12. We just got a new comforter & I've spent pretty much the last week in my bed 'cause it's so darn comfy (well, and the being sick thing...) 13. I love teaching 5th graders because of their 'sassy attitudes' - that's the nice way to put it. 14. Ever since Kindergarten I've wanted red-headed children (ask my mom) & John likes to joke that it's the real reason I married him. 15. I have approached strangers to tell them I love their kid's red hair (I'm pretty sure that one couple never visited our church again...) 16. Scrapbooking stresses me out...even though I like it. I probably finish about 1 page a year. 17. I've prayed for twins at 30 since my sophomore year in college...yes I am crazy. 18. Seinfeld is distracting me from coming up with more random facts... 19. I don't eat at Wendy's b/c last time I was there, John smashed a roach on our table. Sick. 20. I'm left handed. 21. Heights freak me out to the point where I get nervous standing next to the railing on the second floor of the mall, yet I don't mind things like rock climbing & rollercoasters. 22. I love post-its (and pretty much all office supplies). 23. I LOVE the beach & the best vacation ever was the cruise John & I took around Hawaii. 24. My sister called me the other day to tell me she was leaving John C. Reilly's house - cause she's cool like that!! 25. I can spread my toes out really far.

Let me sum up...

This week has been kinda like a roller coaster - not a big one, but maybe like a mini mine train or something - the kind that just keeps dragging you along, shaking you up occasionally as you go. First of all I took full advantage of last weekend being a long weekend. It was fabulous & I even got somewhat caught up on work stuff. Tuesday - I watched the inauguration with my 5th graders. My favorite comments: "Hey! George Bush's daughters are hot! You think they'd go out with me?" "Who is that lady in the crazy hat???" (I can't really argue with that one though, that was one big bow, Aretha!) Also, when they were introducing the former presidents, I asked the kids why they skipped the 40th & if they knew who he was. They agreed it was Martin Luther King... After school I had a meeting to plan a presentation for the school board in February. I am really excited about presenting, despite the nightmares I had that night about not being prepared or just making a fool of myself. Wednesday & Thursday - I had more meetings, but got a lot of tedious paperwork out of the way. My kiddos are definitely rebelling to the lack of structure over the last few weeks due to testing, my being out at meetings, and other random changes in the schedule. A lot of discipline issues are starting to pop up again, so hopefully next week we can get back in the groove. Friday - I survived. My kids hurt my feelings (although they don't know that) 'cause they were being so rude all morning. We all pulled it back together and had a productive afternoon, & I left after school to go to the doctor. The Dr. gave me a prescription for antibiotics, but then told me it might be a virus, so I should wait a couple days to see if it gets better on its own. Seriously?? I don't like making decisions when I'm sick - I just want someone to tell me what to do...time to call my Mommy. Today I'm hanging out in bed with my mountain of Kleenex, Lucy (she's great company when you're sick!) & the laptop. John's working all day w/ church meetings all morning & rehearsals all afternoon/evening. I'm praying for a miraculous healing & the ability to sing at church tomorrow, even though I can't talk today. So, we shall see!

Shoes

So I wrote most of this post weeks ago, & am just now getting around to finishing it! Someday I'm gonna get back to regular postings!

I feel the need to preface this post with the fact that I don't often buy new shoes. Maybe once or twice a year I'll find a pair I really love & take them home with me. In fact I still wear 1 pair of shoes I've had since 10th grade (I'm waiting for Stacy & Clinton to come rip them off my feet).

It all started with a little after Christmas sale at Kohl's. I found these great skechers & snatched them up. Although they were available in brown, grey, & black, they only had brown in my size, so that's what I got. I love them & I've worn them almost every day since then (even when they didn't exactly match my outfit - gasp!!)

Well, for the last 4 days I've been in Los Angeles with my sister, Amy, seeing the sites & just having fun. Today we happened to run across a Skecher's store which led to a shoe-buying saga of epic proportions. It began with the whole 'buy one, get one half off' sale. John is seriously against this type of marketing & typically talks me out of falling into the trap of buying 2 pairs instead of just one. But today his logic was foiled due to the presence of my sister (that's what sisters are for, right?) We decided we would work together to take advantage of the sale by each buying a pair of shoes, thus sharing the discount.

The only problem with our plan was I couldn't decide which pair I wanted. After much contemplation, I went with a more practical pair of black sketchers over some flashier silver & navy ones. We finally checked out, but that was only the beginning.

In the end, after visiting 3 Skecher stores, with 4 of us looking at & trying out countless paris of shoes...here is the result:

Yeah, I mentioned 4 people checking out shoes, but they're all mine & Amy's. Sorry Mindy & John. You lose.