New Year, New Blog Design, and a Linky!

Can you believe another year has gone, and by gone I mean FLOWN by?!? 2012 brought its share of heartaches and challenges, but as the new year approaches, I am ready for whatever comes my way!

I have to say that I am absolutely loving my new blog design!!!! Megan over at A Bird in Hand Blog Design  did such a FABULOUS job!!! You like?!? She was such a breeze to work with and FAST!!! If you are thinking about changing up your blog, or like me, beginning a brand-new design, do it!!! You will not be sorry!! Check out her work. She is amazing!

Thank you so much, Megan, for your incredible work!!!! I apologize for the blurry picture! It's the best I could do at the moment!

I started this blog as a way for me to document the happenings in my classroom. I have to admit that I do not have the best memory, and when I say to myself, "Oh, I'll remember this next year," you can be sure- I forget!!! Having this blog to look back on has been amazing for me! I love to scroll through and remember the things we did in our classroom AND it will prevent me from forgetting the things I want to remember!!

I say all of this because when it comes to linky parties, I always get excited at the chance. But then, I remember that I have only been blogging for a few months, and I really don't have that many crazy exciting things to share. However, the second point of me creating this blog was to push myself to go above and beyond what I might normally do - find creative ideas and try them- and my main source of inspiration is.... you guessed it! Other blogs!! So, with this new year, I am going to try something completely new and link up! Yikes!!

Thank you, Jen from The Teacher's Cauldron for starting this linky, and thanks to Stephanie over at Third Grade Thoughts for inspiring me to join!!

This linky is all about resolutions. To keep it brief, because I could go on forever with resolutions (lol) I'm going to share one for blogging, a personal one, and one for my classroom.

To begin, my BLOGGING resolution this year is to simply do more of it!!! I am a beginner blogger and I love the experience of blog world and everything that comes with it! Writing, reading, sharing, etc! I want to do my part in contributing as much as I can!!

My PERSONAL resolution is to have more discipline. I know that seems very vague, but I need discipline in so many areas of life it's ridiculous!! I need it when it comes to being more healthy, working LESS, relaxing MORE, etc. I, like most teachers out there, have a tendency to work myself to the bone and forget to take care of myself in the process. So, if you know me personally, I'm going to need a few kicks in the pants over the next few months!!!

And even though this is not a part of the linky requirements, I'm going to add in a resolution for my classroom. My resolution for my CLASSROOM is to create more meaningful experiences for my kiddos. I want my kids to walk away from third grade and have memories that will last them a lifetime and the knowledge that hopefully stuck with them, too! Creating those experiences is not easy, and requires work, but my kiddos deserve the best from me! Thanks to all the wonderful teachers who are so graciously willing to share their ideas on their own blogs, I feel like I already have created a few good memories this year. Now to keep that up for the rest of the year!!!

That's it! Three resolutions! Let's see if I can find the discipline to work on those (as I sit here eating M&M's...)!!

If you would like to participate in the linky, head on over and link up!!!!

I hope that all of you have a truly wonderful New Year. Take some time to reflect on 2012, the happy, the sad, and all the in between. Challenge yourself and your students to set goals and then keep yourself disciplined to stick with them (or find a really good friend who doesn't mind being a relentless coach to help you out- and throw away your junk food)!!

 Enjoy this break and spend time with your loved ones!!

Happy New Year!!!