Happy New Year!

Happy and Healthy New Year my friends!  I think this quote describes my life in general, and how I will approach 2012!  Good things are in store and I will work hard for them!  I am happy to say that I am not obsessed...just dedicated!




Mrs. Barnett : ) 

True Love.

Chili has truly found her place with us.  It has taken awhile, but I know she loves us!  I loved how she was laying on David the other day...(obviously not David's best angle, but I think he will forgive me)

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

Happy Birthday John!

John celebrated his birthday in December.  He is home from China and awaiting his next adventure.  It was nice to be able to spend his birthday and the holidays together.


Happy Birthday, Boy!

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

ABC Cookies

For the holidays this year, I made ABC gingerbread cookies.  ABC stood for "already been chewed".  The cookies were cut to look like they were missing their leg, arm, or head.  I found a great gingerbread recipe that used butterscotch pudding mix.  They tasted delicious!  I couldn't believe how hard it was to decorate them.  The perfectionist in me wasn't too happy.  I think it is time for me to take a cake decorating class!

Mrs. Barnett : )

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from The Barnetts!

A Race a Month - December

I have almost ran a race a month, except July, for a year!  Who knows, maybe I will keep it going?!


There were not too many races to choose from for December.  Most were only 5k and in random parts of the city.  The only race that really worked was called the Rudolph Ramble and was an 8k (5 miles).  I was supposed to run it last year but there was a snow storm!  Where is the snow this year anyway?  The race was ran on the lakeshore paths and was super crowded the first mile or so.  Overall, I had a good time though!

We had to take the picture at home because someone waited in the car for me to finish.  I wonder who that could be?

    370   690/1108  SARAH BARNETT               28  88/150    50:16.3 BUFFALO GROVE      IL 

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

I did it!

You may have remembered my post about my 21 day no junk food challenge.  I am happy to say that I made it the 21 days!!  Ya-hoo!  I avoided a lot of junk and now feel like I do not even really need that stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I am not giving up junk food forever and ever.  However, my challenge caused me to be much more conscious about what I put in my mouth!


Have you ever done a challenge and made it out feeling great?  Try it!


Mrs. Barnett : ) 

Staying Strong!

Source: merrismiles.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Holiday season is tough for me.  I seriously love everything that has sugar in it.  Therefore, when everyone has cookies and candies around, I am automatically sucked in with no will power.  Then, I always get mad at myself because I work out so hard and then eat junk.

This year, life is different!  I found this 21 day challenge on pinterest (YES, I am talking about it AGAIN!) and have taken control of my holiday life!  I started last Tuesday and have stood strong ever since.  It feels good!  It only goes to December 19th, but hopefully I will make some extra room in my pants to indulge over Christmas.  I have been passing up sweets just fine though, so maybe it will change me just a little bit for the better beyond the 21 days! (or maybe not... ;) )

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

My Girls.

Every morning, I am greeted by the sound of meows from my two cats.  They are always sitting in my bathroom, on top of the sink.  They yell at me to turn the faucet on, because they love drinking from the water.  Sometimes they drink together just fine, but it usually ends with Paige telling Chili to leave not so nicely.  Paige is definitely the diva amongst the two.  I took this video to show you what we see daily.  The first one is just the two drinking.  The second one is Paige pretending to be licking Chili, and then going in for a bite to her leg!

Enjoy!

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

A Race a Month - November - Part THREE!

November was truly the month for races.  While I was home for Thanksgiving, my Dad, Margaret, and I ran in the 30th and final annual Turkey Trot.  The course was 5 miles and I ran with my Dad the whole way.  We did it in 47 minutes!  I felt really good and love the place I'm in with my running right now.  Let's just hope the lovely snow that is in the future doesn't ruin that for me...

 My Dad and Margaret

 My Dad and I

The Silly Trophies

Mrs. Barnett : )

Two More Pinterest Finds...

The other weekend, David went to El Paso for work.  With him gone, I decided to try out two more of my pinterest finds!  The first was a simple dessert that I always wondered how you made it.  I knew David would like them, and they became an addicting snack!  I ended up throwing them out after a few days because David promised to take them to the office and never did.  I needed to stop eating them!  The second, was something that I did not think David would like.  It was a healthier version of enchiladas.  I made it and loved it!  When David came home, he tried it and ended up loving it also!  Ya-hoo, two points for me!


Mrs. Barnett : )

Source: chef-n-training.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: cleverlyinspired.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

A Race a Month - November - Part Two!

I went back to Indy for Veteran's Day weekend to get my hair done.  While there, I wanted to keep up my running momentum and found a small 10k to run.  It was NOTHING like the hot chocolate race and much much smaller.  It got me out for a longer run though, so it was perfect!  I even ended up getting 3rd place in my age group.  This qualified me for my very first racing award!!  However, I had no idea and didn't stay for the results. : (  There will be more though, right?!  I actually ended up going by myself, so did not get good pictures.  Please enjoy what I did get though!

Girls on the Run was there!

 SMALL crowd!

Self Portrait!

Your overall finish place was 118 and your age group finish place 
was 3.  Your time of 1:04:27.6 gave you a 10:24 pace per mile.


Mrs. Barnett : ) 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Pilgrim Barnett : ) 

Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Mrs. Barnett (teacher's dressed as 80's girls!) and her First Graders!  We know we are late, but hope you enjoyed the fun holiday!

Mrs. Barnett : )

Baking / Pinterest

I am currently obsessed with Pinterest.  When I say obsessed, I mean O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D.  If you are not on it, go get on it, NOW!

Anyways, I baked some s'mores bars this weekend from a recipe I found on there.  They were so so delicious, I think I had WAY too many. 

They were SO good, I had to share them with you!  You can find the recipe here...

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Mrs. Barnett : )

A Race a Month - November

This past weekend, my friend Lauren came to run my November race with me!  We did the Hot Chocolate 15k and had a total blast.

We started on Friday by going to the expo and having a fun dinner at Cosi.  The expo was pretty crazy and we decided to walk there, which was a little far!  We had fun at Cosi though and ordered s'mores for dessert!

Saturday morning was the race.  It was a little cold to start, but super sunny!  It ended up being one of the best races I have ran.  I felt great the whole way and never stopped to walk a little.  The 9.3 miles went by fast and I was super proud of myself when we finished.

After the race came the fun "chocolate" part.  First, when you ended you were able to scoop up as many Ghirardelli chocolates as you wanted!  Then, you walked over to tents where you could pick up chocolate fondue and hot chocolate.  I have never been the biggest fan of eating at races, but this was delicious!

After the race, we went to my favorite place, Sweet Tomatoes, for lunch.  Then, we saw 50/50 (really good!) and went to Kona Grill for dinner.  Yummy!

Thanks for a fun weekend, Miss Martz!

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

8608  1374/2324   5176/9067  SARAH BARNETT          66368 F 28 F2529 GLENVIEW        IL   31:34 1:03:02 1:34:30 10:09

Saving Money.

I haven't been so happy about my life this school year.  I want the year to pass by soo badly so that we can move on from this condo (not a fan of it!) and hopefully finally buy a home here.  I have to remind myself that where we are buying is outrageously pricedand that is a main reason for the delay.  However, I am so very ready to move on in life. 

Meanwhile, I have turned into a money-saving lady.  I never used coupons before this year, nor really even looked at prices when buying.  That has changed and I am much much more money-concious, which is a good thing!  I wanted to share with you some of my favorite new websites where I have found tips/tricks...

Learn Vest

Money Saving Mom

Financially Smitten

$5 Dinners

                   

Mrs. Barnett : )

David.

David played on a softball league this fall.  They only won one game, but that doesn't matter right?!

Mrs. Barnett : )

A Race a Month - October

It feels like it has been awhile since "a race a month" post!  My September race was at the beginning of the month, and the October race was at the end!  I was signed up for a half-marathon that I could not run because of an event.  Therefore, I searched and searched for a longer race.  Unfortunately, I did not have great luck!  I did find a random 9k (about 5.5 miles) that was an inaugural event through Title Nine women's clothing store.  I decided to go for it!  It ended up being a fun race along the lake shore paths.  It was in the Lincoln Park area, so I decided to walk to the zoo afterward.  David had to go play his softball game, so I took the stroll alone.  I had fun though!  Here's to another race down!

Below you will find my time (the pace is obviously super off...more like  9:45 a mile!) and some pictures!

231

Sarah Barnett

Buffalo Grove

337

52:13.85

5:48

Mrs. Barnett : )

Muuuuch Better.

Last week I had an A-W-F-U-L long run.  I was in Flossmoor and decided to run while David was at services.  It was a beautiful day and the high was in the 80's (which I knew was a little hotter than I was used to).  I planned on running by the temple just because I thought it would be fun.  I do not know the area too well, but wanted to not do my usual path that I take.  Everything started out on track and I was even getting into the "zone" quickly.  Until only about a half a mile in (I needed to do 6), I completely and totally wiped out.  I can not even remember the last time I fell down while doing anything.  I tripped on an uneven sidewalk that I was paying no attention to.  I totally skinned my knees, palms, and shoulder.  It was bleeding, and like that baby I can be, I started crying!  I had a moment where I wanted to turn around, but decided to see it through.  My cuts were stinging, it got way too hot (I didn't come prepared for that), and the road to the temple was an awful awful one to run on.  Needless to say, the 6 miles got done but left me feeling like I shouldn't have even done them.

Fast forward to this Saturday where 7 miles was the plan.  My cuts were healing and the weather was much more runner friendly.  I started out with the wind at my back and felt soo good (I wanted to write marvelous, but thought you would make fun of me!).  I had such a good three and a half mile start, that I was determined to make the run back just as good, even though the wind was now against me.  When I finished, I felt awesome and could have kept going.  It is nice that a week and can make such a difference and I have a long run to feel good about.

Source: miss-scarlet-red.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Mrs. Barnett : )

My Class.

Click the link below to see my First Graders using our new school iPads for the first time!!

iPads

Go Get This!

I love candles, but never end up burning them very often.  They usually end up gathering dust and I end up throwing them out.  Recently, David and I went to Bath and Body Works because I heard they had a new S'Mores candle.  Being a huge fan, I thought I had to have it.  Unfortunately, it did not smell so awesome.  I did find a GREAT candle though that is so perfect for fall.  It is called Marshmallow Fireside.  I have been burning the two candles I got (buy one, get one free!) like crazy and absolutely LOVE the way they smell.  Go get one!

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

Sick

I have been going a million miles a minute lately.  It was only a matter of time before I got sick!  I stayed home today from school with a cold.  I am not feeling completely horrible, but have parent-teacher conferences tomorrow.  With that looming, I knew that I needed to take a day because conferences can seriously take it out of you even more!

I am enjoying laying in my bed, drinking tea (I actually found some that I liked!), watching tv, and catching up on life at home.  I am also working on an entry for my submission to National Board Certification.  It is A LOT of work and hopefully worth it in the end.  The main problem is that I am lacking motivation to work on it in the middle of all the other craziness!

My break is officially up, must get back to work!

Mrs. Barnett : )

I love my job.

"When I grow up I want to be a Dad and I want to fall in love."

Mrs. Barnett : )

Do Not Worry...I am Alive!

 

My life has been nuts!  Sorry, there has been no time to blog.  My time has been taken up by 21 very sweet first graders, a crazy work out routine (you would think I would weigh 90 lbs by how much I am doing this junk) and getting home at 8 each night only to pack the lunch and workout bag for tomorrow.  I have some things to tell you about, and will try to find time this weekend to write!

Mrs. Barnett

A Race a Month - September

I am still going strong on my "race a month" goal!  I already have September's race done!  I came into Indy over Labor Day weekend.  We had a lot of fun planned, but one was running a quick 5k with my friend Lauren.  It was the inaugural event for the Indy Women's Half Marathon.  Lauren and I were shocked when we went to the race to find that we were among the "elite" athletes.  Let's just say, it did not look like these ladies were about to run any type of race!  None the less, we had fun running in this women only event.  Sadly, the only picture I took was with my first grade class take home stuffed animal, Skippyjon Jones.  Check out the medal...definitely the best 5k one I have ever received!

Mrs. Barnett : )

Chili.

I have to share a funny store about our cat, Chili, with you.

The other night, John and I were on the sofa watching TV.  Chili came out and sat properly in front of us like she usually does.  I kept looking at her thinking that something was off but could not put my finger on it.  Finally, it hit me that she was a different color!  She had gotten into the fireplace (where she loves to hang out) and somehow managed to get black dust (or, whatever is in the fireplace?!) all over her white fur.  John and I laughed the rest of the night about it.

Mrs. Barnett : )

Half Birthday.

My half birthday was on August 10.  Look what my sweet husband surprised me with!

Mrs. Barnett : )