What a Weekend!

After a terribly long week at work, some down time was much needed this weekend. I didn't get much though, because there was way more fun stuff to do!

My sweet boyfriend came down this weekend for a visit. Little did he know, he was coming down for a fun surprise! A few months ago, Carson mentioned that one of his favorite comedians was coming to Charlotte and he really wanted to go. However, the tickets ended up being kind of expensive, so we decided we'd skip it. After a few days, I knew he was disappointed to miss it, so I decided to buy the tickets anyway and surprise him. I ended up buying a third, too, so my brother could join us and they could bond some :)

(This is one of those situations where in any other part of my life, with any other guy, I would have been like "HECK NO I'm not buying those tickets! Isn't he supposed to be the one surprising me?" But this was so fun. I think it was just as much- if not more- fun for me to have this fun secret and surprise him.)

It was so hard to keep the secret from him! Friday night we went to dinner with my friend Jillian and her fiancé, Paul. We had a great time laughing and eating awesome food at Pinky's in Charlotte. 

Definitely one of my favorite pictures of us!

On Saturday afternoon we headed to the park for a picnic with one of my best friends, Kristen, and her fiancé/one of my other best friends, Madison. I hid the tickets for the show in Carson's sandwich. (Not IN his sandwich, but around the wrapper). I was so excited for him to open it. 

He was very surprised and so happy we were going to see his favorite comedian. He immediately texted a few of his friends to tell them we'd be there. 

The three of us headed to dinner where I saw long lost friend, Linda, then we were off to the show!

On our way!

The show was fabulous! We were all laughing so hard, and we ran into so many people we knew. I loved sitting in between my two best boys knowing they were happy and having fun. 

It's always hard saying goodbye, but it's only a few more weeks until he's back in Charlotte- for Jillian and Paul's wedding!

Now the weekend is winding down and I'm preparing myself for this next week of work. Next weekend I'll be heading off to Raleigh for one of Kristen's bridal showers! What a fun stage of life :)

Have a great week, everyone!

Back by Popular Demand!

Just kidding. I wrote a facebook status about possibly starting my blog back and got 12 likes. That was enough for me! Here I am, friends. Back in action. I love my little piece of internet, and I hope I can finally get back to blogging. Most of you know me. I'm going to pretend you don't. Let's begin.

______________________________________

Hi! My name is Melissa.

I'm 23 and I have 25 babies.

Two of which are my fur babies. Lily and Wesley. Lily is my 16 year old best friend. Wesley just turned 1 and is a hoot.

Lily and Wes.

The other twenty-three? They're a bunch of wild fourth graders. This is my first year teaching and I'm loving every second of it (said no teacher ever). Seriously though, sometimes I get choked up at how much I love my job. Sometimes I cry because it's so hard. Usually I'm working or sleeping. More on this later.

My Classroom!
(At the beginning of the year when everything was empty)

My love :)

Here is my boyfriend, Carson. You'll probably get to read lots about him. We've been dating for about a year, and in that year my ideas about men, dating, relationships, marriage, etc have changed so much. I'll probably write a lot about that because it's the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night wanting to write. He's amazing though. We definitely have a mutual weirdness.

The last time I used my camera, to shoot this beautiful wedding.

 Let's see. What else is there to say? I pretend to play ukulele. Music is very fun for me. I have a huge passion for photography, though I haven't picked up my camera since about two weeks before I started my job as a teacher, oy. In the meantime I enjoy taking pretty pictures with my iPhone.

Well. I got a post out. Let's see if I can keep this up. Thanks for joining :)


Mel.

Back to Blogging?

Hello sweet Blogging World!

It is I! Melissa! Have you missed me?

...well, I've missed you.

There are a lot of things I miss about blogging. I miss the relationships, I miss sharing my heart, my thoughts, and pictures.

My life is going through some big changes. I feel like it needs to get recorded somewhere. So here it is. What do you guys think? Should I keep it here, at Perfect Peace, where I've been blogging for nearly four years? Should I move on to a new fresh blog as I move into a new phase of life?

Moments

I have moments all the time. I know the word "moment" means something similar to "minute." But to me it's more than that. I don't have another word to describe what I mean, so I'm going to continue calling it a "moment."

I have moments all the time. Do you know what I mean?

Moments when you look at where you are and think "This is what I've always wanted."

I have these kinds of moments when I'm walking from one room to another in my apartment and remember being a little girl pretending to live in a college apartment with her best friend. That's my reality now. And sometimes it still feels like I'm that little girl playing pretend.

I have these kinds of moment when I walk into my school and one of my students gives me a big hug. Being a teacher has always been my dream. Always. And now I'm so close I can touch it. It's scary and nostalgic and exhilarating.

Moments when you think, "How could I ever be this lucky?"

I have these moments when I'm with my friends or family. When everyone is happy and laughing and I take a second to look around and watch their faces and listen to what they have to say. My heart feels like it's about to explode from happiness and I can't help but smile.

I have these moments where I'm curled up in bed after a long, happy day and my kitty curls up next to me and falls asleep.

Moments when my heart aches for the future.

These come on all the time. I could catch a glimpse of my friend's engagement ring. Or read a blog about a new baby. Even just being in my own head for too long can leave me with big ol' heart pains. I think, "I could do it so well! I could be such a good wife, such a good mother." But I know that every second I am forced to wait for those things, I am becoming a more understanding and loving wife, and a more compassionate and patient mother.


My moments are mostly good. Sometimes they make me want to cry. Mostly they just make me thankful for where I am, who I am, and who I have.

Sunday Social

Hi there! Look whose blogging!

I know it's been forever. I keep telling myself to blog but in all honesty, there's better things I should be doing in my free time. That sounds bad, but it's true. I'm student teaching this semester and writing lesson plans and doing homework should be at the top of the list (and usually is). And although I really do want to write a post all about my experience in teaching so far, today I wanted to post a quick blog.

My friend Kara introduced me through her blog to the Sunday Social blog hop that Ashley hosts. It's a super cute and quick weekly 6 questions. So, without further adieu, here are my answers!

1. If you were stuck on an island what are the two material items you'd want to have?
A journal (or more depending on how long I'd be there) and my ukulele!

If you can't tell I'm in a peace and quiet alone time kind of mood :)

2. What are the two TV shows you'd watch over and over?
 How I Met Your Mother for sure! I love that show so much! But who doesn't? And I don't know about the second one. Maybe Arrested Development or something silly like Teen Mom.

3. If your house was on fire, what are the two things you'd grab other than family, pets, etc?
I have a box full of special things. I'd definitely grab that. And probably something material like my computer or something.

4. What are your two favorite articles of clothing?
My mustard cardigan from Urban Outfitters that I wear way too often. I think I've gone two weeks without wearing it and I'm so proud of myself! I'd wear it everyday if I could.

And my olive rockstar jeans from Old Navy!

5. What two movies that you saw in the past year would you recommend to us?
Hmmm. I looove movies. I want to say Tangled but I'm pretty sure it's been more than a year on that one. Let's go with Pitch Perfect since that's the hot movie right now. And it's hilarious and wonderful. And The Perks of Being a Wallflower was absolutely amazing!

6. What are your two guilty pleasures?
I always have a hard time defining "guilty pleasures." Does "Putting pajamas on within the first five minutes of walking into my apartment" count? Buying fresh flowers every so often? Tuesday night TV? Making fruit snack part of my weekly shopping list? I really don't know.

Well, thanks for sticking around for that! I'm sorry there's not pictures or anything, I really do have to get back to work ;) I promise I'll post about Student Teaching and all that soon!