Winding Down...

Well, this is it. My last night of summer. This one statement holds so many emotions. In less than 10 hours I will get to meet my new students and hug my old ones. I will have the privilege of working alongside my staff to create a supportive and welcoming learning environment for the families of B.C.S. I will get to sharpen my first pencils of the year, write out the day's schedule on the white board, and walk down hallways filled with anticipation and excitement. But....

Although I am extremely excited to start the new year, I am also a little bit sad that my days of freedom and creativity are ending. This summer has been such a blessing, and a big part of me is sorry to see it go. I am SO thankful for the time I had to slow down, finish projects, connect with friends, and spend time at home. So, as a tribute to moving on, to going back to work and a schedule, I wanted to take time to reflect on what I loved most about my summer and praise God for the time He gave me to rest.

Things I loved and will miss...

• sleeping in
• reading and tanning in the sunshine
• eating breakfast and doing my quiet time at the same time, for as long as I wanted
• running with Taylor and cuddling with Toby
• visiting and spending good time with friends
• picking fruit and canning for the first time
• shopping garage sales the whole summer
• finishing so many projects
• seeing family
• spending quality time with Taylor on the East Coast
• meeting and photographing new brides and grooms
• hiking the Tatoosh Ridge with friends

Thank you God for such a glorious summer!

The Art of Working the System

I absolutely love a good deal...I would say that finding a good deal gives me more of an adrenaline rush than finishing a race. Now finding a FREE deal- we're talking about heart attack quantities of adrenaline. Check out this picture. Every bag of cheese you see here was FREE NINETY NINE! You too can score this deal! Here's how to do it-

1. Click here to download two of these $5 off coupons
2. Go to Albertson's and purchase 5 bags or bricks of 8 oz cheese at 2 for $4- I'm not sure when this deal expires...
3. Use the coupon when you purchase the cheese to get $5 off $10 of cheese
4. Now, Albertson's has a killer deal going right now where if you purchase 5 Kraft products you will get a $5 off your next purchase coupon after paying.
5. Go back and "purchase" 5 more bags or bricks of cheese, use the $5 Kraft coupon and also use the Albertson's $5 coupon to pay $0 for this round of cheese.
6. After purchasing this time around you will get another $5 Albertson's coupon which is free money on your next visit, basically rendering all this cheese FREE!
7. This is a LOT of cheese! I'm throwing it all in the freezer to use for recipes later this winter. It should freeze OK (I know people who do this and the cheese defrosts just fine), but if it doesn't it's OK because most of my recipes will involve melting the cheese anyways.

I found this deal on http://www.couponconnectionsnw.com -they do all the work to help you save big money!