It’s Monday!  And we will finally be home in Denver tonight (thank you, Jesus!)!  I am going to make my best effort to make these Funday blogs a tradition on my blog.  These will be days when I share all the things I am currently loving!

*PS. If you missed my post about Portland, Maine you can check it out here (just click the picture. Dude, it took me so long to figure this out, really gotta work on my tech skills):

So without further ado let’s get the party started!

*Back-to-school classroom planning*

As much as I do not want summer to end, I am actually excited for back-to-school this year (That is not a lie, I actually am!).  I can’t wait to catch up with my coworkers and hear all about their summers!  Also, if you know me well, you know how much I love planning out my classroom and back-to-school activities!  There is so much that goes into planning a classroom and it is definitely not all about cute decor!  The most important thing is setting up the room in a way that is going to give your students the best learning environment to ensure they have a successful year!  With that being said I love cute things so I really enjoying planning out the best learning environment for my students with that cuteness factor included!

*Face Masks*

Pampering myself is becoming quite the norm and I am loving it!  My current favorite way to do it is with face masks.  I love how my skin looks and feels afterward.  I also love all the benefits they have for your skin (minimizing pores, absorbing excess oil, evening out skin tone, etc.).  I love, love, love my Beautycounter balancing + charcoal and brightening + vitamin c masks! (*disclaimer – I do sale Beautycounter products but I WOULD NOT suggest anything on here that I did not actually believe in!!)  They are amazing!

*This Kate Spade watch!*

I love all things Kate Spade (I miss having an outlet store close by :()!  This watch was my “you finally made it through this school year in one piece” present to myself.  I know that may seem ridiculous but there were seriously many, many times last year that I was not sure I was going to make it! (But I did, thanks to a little [A LOT] of help from my friends!)  I love this watch because it goes with everything!  I can dress it up, dress it down, (dress it left, dress it right?!? No? not good? My apologies).

*Weddings*

I have always loved weddings.  (My childhood dream job was to be a wedding planner).  Our Massachusetts friends’ wedding did not disappoint!  With a beautiful bride, handsome groom, awesome decor, amazing food, and an epic dance party (seriously, that dance floor was on fire all night long!) you really can’t go wrong!

This goes with the last one. But seeing these folks was quite the joyful experience (especially after their 24 hour journey to get to the wedding)! We missed you Special K!  Our friend that got married was in our Masters’ program with us and it had been WAY too long since we had seen him and his now wife!

***Not making the things I’m loving list is these shoes!  I fully expected them to be on here.  I mean look at them they a A-DOR-A-BLE! BUT they are not COM-FORT-A-BLE! AT ALL! Not even a little.  Not even when you sit down.  The only time these beauties were comfortable was when they were not on my feet (preferably, at least 10 feet away).  Like, I seriously think I’m gonna lose a toenail from these bad boys! Sorry Nine West there were great in theory not in execution!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Monday!!  Next post will be from Denver and I canNOT tell you how excited I am about that!

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What are you loving?  I would love to hear all about it!!

Look who’s back, back again.  I’m back, tell a friend!

I apologize for my long hiatus from the blog.  Life got overwhelming at the end of the school year and I just couldn’t keep up.  But I’m back and ready to roll!

I am writing this post from the ever so beautiful Swan’s Island, Maine.  El Jefe’s family has been coming here for like a million years and I have had the pleasure of coming out and spending time with them for the past 3 years. It was quite the long adventure getting here this year but totally worth the hassle!  We also got to spend a week with my family in KY before heading here.  You never get to old for time with you mommy and daddy!

For the past 3 years, this island has been a place for us to wind down and relax before summer is over and school starts (I know, I know teacher friends I need to shut my mouth and not speak of such things).  This summer has been a short one (as I taught summer school and have been traveling to see family and friends for the rest of it).  I can NOT believe the school year is just a few weeks away. Anyways, back on topic… This trip has been exactly what I needed and I am reminded of how thankful I am to get to come to an amazing place like this each summer!

Fun fact of this trip… I discovered the family journal from the Hilltop house (the nickname for his family’s house here) and it has some gloriously, hilarious entries from young El Jefe that follow his journey into becoming a “man” on the island!  Priceless!  I’m just a little bummed I am just now discovering it!

Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that I am back on the blog so keep an eye out for new posts on a regular basis!!  I will leave you with a few of the things I learned about myself this summer:

1. I am awful at remembering to take pictures to document my adventures. (I will work on that). Like I didn’t take any pictures from back home in KY (YO Madre!  Help a girl and text me those pool pics….ok, ok! I’ll say the magic words… Pretty please!)
2. Puzzles are my jam! (ok, I may have already known this but I need to buy some for home!) BIG thanks to El Jefe’s folks for always providing amazing puzzles (along with a fabulous puzzle pedestal)!
3. I’m not sure I am ever going to leave Denver if only for the fact that the humidity is basically nonexistent and the bugs are minimal! The humidity in KY can only be described as disgusting!  Here in Maine the bugs have been outrageous (SOOOO may bug bites)!  I very much enjoyed my time in both places but I’m ready to be back in a non-humid, non-buggy environment!
4. I get extremely emotional when talking about my job and I cry a lot about it! (OK, OK, Coworkers! I admit that I may have already known this or at least you all did!) Super big apologies to El Jefe’s fam bam for my emotional cry session at the dinner table (No, Brooks and Howe I am not kidding, it happened and I am sure you all will never let me live it down. I wouldn’t have it any other way!)

Next stop before our journey back home is Portland, Maine to celebrate our 3 year anniversary (I know I can’t believe I have tolerated you for that long either El Jefe)!  Then on to Massachusetts for John and Jen’s wedding! More on my summer adventures later!  I just wanted to pop in super quick and let you all know that I’m back in action on the blog!

Hi ya’ll!  Sorry for being MIA for the last couple of weeks.  My computer decided to bite the dust!  Also, its February and all my teacher friends know that is one of the hardest months of the school year (spring break is too far away)! Needless to say I am pretty pumped that we are headed into March this week.

Anywho, I have been dying to tell you all about the brewery tour my friends and I went on a few weekends ago.   This little brewery adventure came about because we slacked on getting tickets to a beer festival and they sold out.   So my wonderful roomie, Special K, wasn’t going to let that keep us from having a fantastic weekend! She organized a fabulous tour of some of the breweries in the RiNo neighborhood (River North).  The day started out with beautiful weather then turned a little chilly but that did not keep us down!

We started at Mockery Brewing to enjoy our first couple of beers.  I really enjoyed this place!  We sat out of the patio (this was when the day was still warm) and had a great time chirping El Jefe (sorry I’m not sorry)! I had a DU Hast Weiss – Smoked Wheat Ale (Beer score = 16 [guest post from El Jefe explaining this coming soon]).  It was superb!   Mockery Brewing I will be back!

Once we finished up our beers we decided to head to the next Brewery, Black Shirt Brewing Co. Special K told us it was close by…. Let’s just say the walk there included a super creepy factory (“Our friend of a friend who we are now better friends with” [Sorry CPA dude] was convinced we were going to be chopped up into tiny little pieces [slightly dramatic]) and a bird poop bridge.  Like seriously I’m pretty sure that it is where every bird in Denver goes to do their business.  But you will be glad to know that we survived (barely! Ok I’m a little bit of a drama queen [Special K would definitely agree with this]) and we made it to Black Shirt Brewery Co.  This was a cool little place.  At this point in the day the weather started to get a little chilly but the cold can’t stop us!  The girls and I shared a flight of 6 different beers.  We enjoyed them, although I did not pay attention to how I put the flight down so I’m not sure we ever figured out which beers we were actually tasting (oops! My bad!).  There was only one of the 6 that I did not thoroughly enjoy (of course I’m not sure of the name, sorry).

Next on the list was Beryl’s Beer Co. There is some construction in the area so this also ended up being a tricky walk but once again we made it (Special K’s navigation skills = B-, but we still love her!).  The beer I got was amazing!  It was called Jingle Beans.  It is a pear coffee stout.  I am not usually a dark beer lover but I will definitely get this beer again.  We  played horse race (a card game) and even drew a crowd. El Jefe served as the race announcer and he did a fabulous job (there is video evidence and I really want to share but I will refrain because I am a nice girlfriend)!

For our final stop we made our way to C Squared Ciders.  This place is awesome!  They have Mario Cart on an original Nintendo system, life size beer pong (trash cans and kickballs), large connect 4, and a lot more.  I had a ginger cider and it was fabulous!  I wish we would have spent a little more time here but it was late and we were all super tired (plus D.P. Dough was calling our names, and you DO NOT ignore D.P Dough when it is calling your name, you just DON’T DO IT! You hear me Man Bun?! YOU JUST DON’T Ignore D.P. Dough).

If you love craft beers and ciders then you should definitely add Denver to your Bucket List.  There are almost as many breweries as there are dispensaries (not really, but there are a ton of amazing breweries).

*When picking beer do not just go by the name.  I learned this lesson the hard way. You are welcome!*

Hasta Luego Amigos!

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What is your favorite brewery?

Happy Sunday everyone!

I thought it would be fun to share some things that I am currently loving. One thing that will not be making this list is my new deodorant because it absolutely does not work (Sorry to the girls next to me in Barre3 class today)!

* Brewery Tours

Yesterday, my friends and I decided to go on our own little brewery tour.  Big thanks to Special K for organizing the whole adventure! (And I won’t mention that little part where you lead us past a creepy factory and into a bird poop tunnel.)  I will write a full post on this later this week but we went to several different breweries in Denver and had an absolute blast!  One of my favorite parts of Denver is all the craft beer and unique breweries.

* This Kate Spade phone case

All things Kate Spade are my favorite and I really miss living so close to an outlet store.  At least my mom keeps me  updated on my collection! Momma Bear really is the best!

* Surprise V-day packages from the rentals

My mom is the best about sending packages to make me feel like I’m not so far away!  She wraps them up super cute and they always contain the best little surprises.  She also sends my class gifts for all the holidays and special events.  She is pretty much the best! (Rentals stands for parents for those of you didn’t catch that :))

* My new Sewing Machine

Thank you tax refund for letting me treat myself to this beauty!  I have already made an envelope clutch and I have big plans for this bad boy!  I went with the electronic model because that is what I have been learning on.  Also, big shout out to Claudia at Sew You Studio for giving the confidence and skills to try something new!

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What are some things that you are currently loving?  I would love to try some new things out!

Any book suggestions?

There I go carrying on again.  Did you see what I did there? Clever, huh? Well maybe only I think so but that has never stopped me before.

Ok, I apologize, let’s get to this blog business.  I’m new here in case you couldn’t tell.  Starting a blog has been something I have wanted to do for a while and I finally decided to put on my big girl panties (oh, some people think that is a gross word, sorry?) and go for it.  I have wanted to do this for several reasons. One: for FUN! Two: As a way to express myself crazy self. Three: To keep in touch, reconnect, or just plain connect with people. And along the way I hope to become a better writer, photographer, adventurer, and who knows what else!

I think I am committing one of the cardinal sins of blogging by not having a clear plan or path for my blog before I start but what the heck, let’s do this thing!  It’s this new thing I’m trying, I think it’s referred to as going with the flow.  There will definitely be plenty of posting about teaching, my relationship (sorry, El Jefe [translation: The Boss], p.s. this is the nickname he picked for himself, *insert eyeroll*), friends (Oh, hey ya’ll!), fun times, and fitness (let’s be honest probably gonna be more about the fun times).

If you are wondering where my blog name came from (and you haven’t check out my “About Me” page),  it is a combo of my name (you probably got that all by yourself, go you!) and the common phrase “carry on”.  This a phrase with several different meanings depending on how you use it.  It is also something that I feel is super fitting for my life in all meanings of the phrase.  Like right now I am carrying on and on, as in I’m rambling.  I do that a lot.  Sorry in advance (or sorry, I’m not sorry?). Or I carry on to make it through my battle with depression and anxiety.  Or I am carrying on with the fun times (no, dad, you did not read that, I am perfect and I never make poor choices ;)).

Anywhooo, I hope you will join me as I keep on “keri-ing on”.  And maybe even stick around? Come on you know you want too!