One Extra Degree

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Acknowledgements!

Does anyone else feel like they are the only person in the world who missed out on the Vegas meet-up!?  I am SO bummed that I missed out on meeting some of my bloggy BFFs in real life, and I am equally disappointed that I didn’t have the opportunity to make new gal pals.  It looked like SO MUCH FUN!  Anyway, since we’re on the topic of friendship, I guess the purpose of this post is to count my blessings. 

We are all so fortunate to teach NOW.  We have access to so many ideas and materials with the click of a mouse.  I’m entering my seventh year of teaching this year, so I am not necessarily an expert, but I know that I would have done back-flips for a collaborative culture like this when I had my first third grade classroom. Blogging has truly transformed by teaching, and it’s given me an outlet to share my favorite hobby with all of you too!  I am so thankful for all of the friendships I have made in the past TWO YEARS.  Holy moly!  I can’t wait to see where this blogging journey takes me… and I can’t wait to make even more friendships and connections along the way.  By the way, you’ll be happy to know that I bit the bullet, and I finally used Kristen’s tutorial to embed threaded comments into my posts.  Now I can respond to everyone, and I am SO excited!  {It’s so easy!  If you want to know how to do it, make sure you click on the link to check it out!}

In other news, I am not very good at keeping up with blog awards, and I am SO SORRY!  It means a lot to me that other bloggers would take the time to acknowledge my little slice of cyberspace.  My life has been whack-a-doodle for two years.  I’ve been going through one BIG change after another, so I really appreciate your patience, and I appreciate the fact that you keep coming back to read by blog.  🙂  My hubs and I are getting ready to celebrate our two-year anniversary at the end of the month, so between getting married, buying a new home, trying to sell our other home, switching jobs, and grad school, you can basically get the picture.  LOTS of changes.  The good thing is… change can be really wonderful and exciting!  I am so thankful for every single moment.
Versatile Blogger: Include 7 random facts about yourself:

1.  I met my hubster in college in 2005.  We met at a party next to a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush.  No lie.  We dated briefly… then we went our separate ways.  Well, except for the geology class we took together,  and except for the fact that he dated a girl in my dorm during my senior year, so I saw him all of the time.  A few years after graduation, I went back to visit friends and cheer at homecoming for a special alumni shindig.  We bumped into each other, he ditched his friends to hang out with me, and the rest is history, as they say. 🙂

2.  I really like volunteering!  These days, most of my involvement is with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival, although this year, I had to take some time off to catch my breath.  I plan on jumping back in next year! 🙂  

3. I am obsessed with HGTV and everything home decor.  I am also a self-proclaimed Maxx-inista and Kirklands fan.  I am allergic to buying anything that’s full price.  🙂  Ha!  I guess you could say that my decorating style is “chic for cheap”!  Now that we have our forever home, it’s been a lot of fun pulling in lots of personal touches.  I can’t wait to make this house feel more like home over the next several years!  Thank you, Pinterest!
4.  I grew up with shelties, but I have fallen head over heels for my golden retriever, Loralei.  She is my favorite dog… ever.  I just LOVE her, and I don’t think I’ll ever stray away from this breed.  She is the biggest sweetheart, and she’s sooooo obedient!  Look at that face! 🙂
 
5.  I am a Cleveland Browns fan.  I have faith that SOMEDAY the team will turn around.  I just want to see them to go the Super Bowl before I die.  I’m adding that to the Bucket List.  The beautiful girl in this picture is my little sister, Jess.  🙂  We have fun together.  Clearly.

6.  I am probably Taylor Swift’s biggest, oldest fan.  Don’t judge.  🙂  My girlfriends crack up over this, but I seriously just adore her.  She’s such a great role model, and she’s so talented.  I LOVE singing her songs too.  SO fun! Last year, the love of my life surprised me with tickets to her concert in Cleveland!  It was amazing!!! 🙂
7.  I am slowly becoming domesticated.  Besides my love of decorating, I have discovered that I actually enjoy gardening, and I love cooking!  It’s so much fun trying out new recipes on Pinterest and cooking/baking blogs, but sometimes family recipes are the best.  🙂  This is my grandmother’s squash casserole recipe… with small adaptations from my mom… and some of my own! 🙂
5. Nominate 15 other blogs for the award…. 
{I’m
breaking the rules and directing you to click on my Blogger profile to
check out the oodles of blogs I follow.  Literally, I am pretty sure I
passed up 1,000 a year ago.  No joke!   
I
want to share the love, and I honestly feel bad narrowing my list down
to 15 blogs.  I don’t think I could do it if I tried without feeling
like a big jerk.  🙂  Please forgive me!!!!

 

I
want to take a moment to acknowledge the fabulous ladies who have
nominated this little blog for the Versatile Blogger award:  Sweet Sarah
from Permanently Primary, Vicky from Keep Calm & Imagine,  Katie from I Want to be a Super Teacher,   Jessica from My Different Worlds, and Stephanie from  Maestra Bilingüe.  Thanks, ladies!

Lara from Organized Teaching Addict, Miss Johnson from How to Dress Like a Teacher,  Megan from Newman’s Third Grade , Amber from Sweet Kinders, Molly from Psyched to be in Second,  Rhonda from Classroom Fun, Michelle from Smitten with First, Kristie from Learning with Mrs. Chavis, and Rene from A Passion for Primary were sweet enough to give my blog the One Lovely Blog award.  Thanks for thinking of me! 🙂

I hope I caught everybody!  If I missed you, just let me know.  I’ll add you to the list! 🙂 Now that you know seven useless & random facts about me, please leave a comment letting me know ONE random fact about you!!!! Let’s have fun with this!!!! 🙂

Comments

  1. Teaching Little Miracles says

    Congrats on your awards! Hmmm…one random fact about myself. You'd think I'd remember some since I just did this not long ago for the award too.

    Okay, I'm married to my high school–or technically–middle school sweetheart since we "dated" for about a month then. Ha ha! Young love…we're celebrating 16 years this year.

    Crystal
    Teaching Little Miracles

    Reply

  2. LYNDSEY says

    LOVE THIS post! I am so bad on keeping up with the blog awards. This is such a nice way to say "thank you." 🙂

    I love Taylor Swift too. I didn't really love her *that* much until I saw her documentary (yes, I'm that lame!). You and your sister are adorable.

    I'm so happy you're interested in doing a book study with me. You have some amazing ideas on your blog already! Thanks, sweet girl. I will be e-mailing you soon.

    By the way, that's too funny that your husband grew up in Waldorf. My mom taught at Westlake High School and both my brother and sister went to school there. Where did your husband go? What a seriously SMALL WORLD! When you posted about going to Captain Billy's, I was like "Wait a second! I know that place." Crazy! 🙂

    Lyndsey

    Reply

  3. Jenny Mutchler says

    Hi Amanda! Looking forward to seeing you at school soon. Confession: Reading blog posts is as much fun as going shopping! I blame my new addiction on you. 🙂 Thank you for introducing me to such exceptional teachers, ideas, and products.

    Reply

  4. Miss Kindergarten says

    I love, love, love this post and getting to learn more about you! I love the story about you and hubby! Too cute! I'm also tho thad that I couldn't make it to the Vegas party!! I wish we could all just hang out with each other whenever we wanted to!!

    Reply

  6. Rikki says

    It was fun learning more about you. I think posts like this help the reader get a feel for you who are. That dish looks delicious. I would love the recipe!
    ஐRikki
    The Hive

    Reply

    • amanda.nickerson84@gmail.com says

      Thanks for the support! Hahahahaha! 🙂 Someday… maybe. I am going to watch the Saints play at the Hall of Fame game next month. I saw them five years ago too when Reggie Bush was still playing! I'll cheer them on for you!!!

      Reply

  11. Eileen Griffin says

    Hmmm… a random fact. I have one, I was a principal for two years and realized how much I missed being in the classroom so, just like that, I left administration and headed back to the classroom and I have never regretted my decision. I love having my very own group of kiddos and being a part of their world. It is amazing!

    Reply

  12. Andi says

    I love the cute clip-art you added to your first picture! I want to do that to one of mine and leave it on my husband's computer as his wallpaper. Ha! Also, I love Saturdays where I can veg out and which HGTV all day long. Your golden is beautiful. My friend has two goldens and she says she'll never get any other type of breed. Alrighty, one random fact about me is that I can't ride a bike. It's true!! My parents don't even want me to go near them, I'm that bad. It's pretty pathetic.
    ~Andi

    Reply

    • amanda.nickerson84@gmail.com says

      Thanks, Andi! You should totally create a fun picture for your hubby's computer! 😉 Thanks for sharing your fun fact!!! My husband and I went on a bike ride today. We made it six miles before we literally were drenched by a freak rain storm. (We are having an "extreme drought" and today was the first day in MONTHS that we had anything more than a light drizzle for two minutes.) I looked like a wet mop. 🙂

      Reply

  13. Lee Ann says

    I love it! We have a lot in common. I live in Ohio(Cedar Point area). My husband and I love HGTV; however, we don't have cable(thrifty),so we watch episodes online. My husband and oldest daughter LOVE the Browns, and my youngest LOVES Taylor Swift. I LOVE your blog(and TJMaxx), and I plan on using many of your great ideas; I'm working with 3rd grade Title I students this year.

    Reply

  14. Sarah Shu says

    Love that I found a link to your blog on Pinterest (my obsession)! I'm usually on the art ed blogs, but love reading teacher blogs in general – it's so great that you are writing this one. The more information shared in education, the better. I cracked up at your #7 about becoming more domesticated… I'm still trying on that one (Pinterest and the internet in general really help me so I can at least fake like I know what I'm doing). 🙂

    Reply

    • Sarah Shu says

      Fingers crossed – I "think" so. MM called me in June and July about the room change and details on that. Officially, they tell me in August… but MM already asked me to wait until Aug. 1 to go in (he knows how I am) to give them time to cut out carpet, etc.
      My site is mostly just "sarah as artist" stuff. I used to have a blog for moms interested in local arts events for their kids, but it was too much for me (I was social media admin for a bunch of stuff at work). Now I just "pin" everything – which works well for me since I'm so very visual.

      Reply

  15. Jennifer says

    I loved reading your random facts and seeing your pictures! It is fun to get to know the bloggers I love reading a little better. I have been sitting here trying to think of a random fact and can't! I went away with my husband for the weekend and think my brain is still on vacation mode! 🙂

    Delighted in Second

    Reply

  16. Traci says

    I'm bummed I wasn't able to go to Vegas either. 🙁
    LOVE the pic of you and your husband. Congrats on 2 years. I married my high school sweetheart, too. This October we'll have been together 30!! years (married for 24).

    Reply

  18. Anonymous says

    Congrats on the award!
    Random fact…I went to a small town high school with my husband and we didn't know each other at all. We worked in the same school store, had similar circles of friends, and I even had the biggest crush on his best friend! He was the best man at our wedding. The summer of the second year of University we met back home at the town bar and his first words to me were "Who the hell are you!" Aaaahhh love at first sight! HA HA
    12 years married one adorable 6 year old!

    Michelle

    Reply

  21. Sarah Paul says

    I know what you mean- I get so jealous every time I see pictures of some fun blogger meet-ups! One of these days hopefully I'll get to one. 🙂 I love your story about you and your husband. Very sweet! I'm so glad you posted about getting the threaded comments because it put me on track. Now I finally got the threaded comments too!
    Sarah
    Sarah's First Grade Snippets

    Reply

    • amanda.nickerson84@gmail.com says

      I am so glad that you were able to get the threaded comments too! It is way easier than I thought it would be to do it. If I had known that, I would have taken time to do it sooner. Obviously, I am addicted to replying to comments now. Just what I needed. Another Internet addiction! Ha!

      Reply

  22. Rachelle says

    You are soooo cute!!!!!!! Loved seeing all of these pics and I am in love with your mantle decorations!!! I guess we can still be friends even though I really dislike Taylor Swift. HAHAHAH 🙂 Love ya, Amanda!!!

    Reply

  23. Nancy says

    One random fact, hmmmm…How about I was a cheerleader in college also (you were at Marietta – or so it looks from the picture & I was at Bluffton)…many years ago! Met my hubby there & today we celebrate 35 years of marriage! Ate at 5 Guys and Fries in Montrose to celebrate – yum! I guess that would be 3 random facts…oops. 🙁
    Nancy
    Looking forward to the Hall of Fame parade in a couple of weeks!

    Reply

    • amanda.nickerson84@gmail.com says

      Hi Nancy! Yes, I cheered at Marietta! 🙂 Bluffton is so similar. I loved the small school experience! Congratulations on 35 years of marriage! That's amazing. 🙂 Now that you've mentioned 5 Guys… I may have to convince my husband to go to the strip for dinner. I love their fries! So good!!! I'm looking forward to the parade too! We're going to take my in-laws for their first Hall of Fame experience! 🙂

      Reply

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