30 Day Blog Challenge: 5 Favorite Songs

Okay this one is definitely a tough one. I like a lot of different music and my favorite songs come and go. Here are my current five favorites:

1) Sarah Blaine--Never Get To Heaven
2) The Script--Hall of Fame
3) Pharrell Williams--Happy
4) Taylor Swift--Shake it Off
5) Jason Mraz--I Won't Give Up

30 Day Blog Challenge: What are you afraid of

I have to be honest there isn't very much I'm afraid of. I don't really like the obvious bees, mice, and spiders but at the same time when facing these things I tend to be fine. I was the only one of my roommates when I had roommates that had no qualms about setting a mouse trap and then and disposing of the mouse. I just walk away from bees and other annoying insects. Spiders I will catch and put outside if possible. I don't really have phobias of these "scary" animals. The main thing that I would have to say I'm afraid of is being older and feeling like I didn't do what I needed to in life. If you know me personally you may be surprised that this would be a fear of mine, but it is definitely a reality. You never know where life will lead you and I just don't want to regret anything when I am older reflecting back on my life. What are you afraid of? Comment on my blog to share...

30 Day Blog Challenge: Proudest Moment

This one is a tough one as well as there are several moments throughout my life so far that I have been proud of myself. At this moment, I would have to pick my college graduation as my proudest moment. It was a long five years and to come out graduating Magna Cum Laude with my undergrad degree and a Masters in Teaching was such a big accomplishment and just gave me such a huge feeling of success. Sometimes It doesn't feel like I should have graduated college already (even though we're coming up on three years out...so crazy). I had an amazing experience at VCU and I wouldn't trade it in for anything different. I may not have begun at VCU, but third time was the charm and at least I didn't miss any semesters in between transfers from Longwood University to John Tyler Community College to VCU. I definitely made some memories that will last a lifetime from my three years with my roommates, to my time with Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, to VCU Basketball games (Final Four season forward). I met some great people and sometimes I miss it all like crazy even though another part of me is happy to have moved on into "adult" life. 

30 Day Blog Challenge: Dream Job

DREAM JOB

Hello all! At this point, it is hard for me to find the time to keep this updated, so I am updating as I can with this 30 Day Blog Challenge. Hopefully, I will be able to start posting more often. The next topic for this challenge is my dream job. I am one of those people that has been saying since I was in second grade that I would be a teacher when I grew up. Come high school and deciding what I wanted to go to college for, I still wanted to be a teacher. I ended up deciding on the Elementary age level because I knew that I loved working with children and I felt I could be most successful at the Elementary level, plus I could not decide on just one subject to teach and Elementary lets you teach it all! I therefore went to college and graduated Magna Cum Laude with my Masters in Teaching for Elementary Education. One of my student teaching experiences was with a center based gifted class (i.e. a homogeneous class of identified gifted students). I loved that experience and decided to add a certification in gifted education to my teaching license. I am still working on that endorsement. I have taught fourth grade and while I enjoyed those jobs, I am enjoying my job as a preschool teacher more. I love seeing young minds develop. As for the gifted endorsement, I'm not sure where that will lead me, but I am willing to continue on life's journey. On another note, I also love my direct selling businesses and the network marketing opportunity. I love teaching, but I love my businesses as well and would love for one or all of them to be successful (in particular my Avon business since I give most of my focus to that one as that is the one I've been doing the longest). So to sum it up, my dream job is one that I can enjoy myself in, one that I don't dread going to every morning, and one where I feel I am successful and making a difference. My current job as a preschool teacher allows me to do all of those things. Ultimately in 40 years when I'm nearing retirement age, I will consider a dream job one that allows me to live financially secure and retire feeling comfortable about the fact that I will be leaving the work force (at least the traditional work force). 

30-Day Blog Challenge: Favorite Quote

This one is such a tough topic for me because I LOVE so many different quotes. It is really tough for me to just pick one. I think I'm going to have to go with this one from the writers of Grey's Anatomy:

Merideth Grey:"Did you say it? 'I love you. I don't ever want to live without you. You changed my life.' Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it, but every now and then, look around; Drink it in 'cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow." 

This was from a season finale a few years ago, but it has stuck with me. For me it's not just about love. It's about life in general. You don't want to have regrets in life. You don't want to take things for granted. This has really applied to my life in the last couple of years. I've always been a goal setter and I try to work towards meeting those goals. I also try to take time to take a look at what is happening and reflect on it. Make sure you're living the life you want to live and that you don't have any regrets.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 2: 20 Facts About You

Day two of this 30 Day Blog Challenge is to share 20 Facts about You so here are 20 facts about me.

1. My birthday is April 14
2. I grew up in central Virginia and still live in that area.
3. I went to three different colleges my first three semesters of school.
4. I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, Magna Cum Laude, with a Masters in Teaching for Early and Elementary Education.
5. I am currently a Preschool teacher
6. I teach Sunday school every Sunday to the Nursery Infant to two year old class at a local church.
7. I am currently pursuing an endorsement in Gifted Education to add to my current teaching license.
8. I have been an Avon ind. Sales representative for three years and am still one.
9. I just recently became a Kitcheneez Consultant.
10. I also just recently became a Jewelry in Candles Representative.
11. I have a cat that lives with my parents.
12. I have a younger brother.
13. I have two fish and a snail at my apartment.
14. I have a family dog, A chocolate lab named Kodiak.
15. I love reading.
16. Some of my favorite television shows are Grey's Anatomy, Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, The Originals, Hell's Kitchen, Masterchef, and Bones.
17. I enjoy playing The Sims from time to time. (I currently have The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 as well as The Sims Medieval). 
18. I still have my copy of The Sims 2 and it's expansions. I started playing The Sims with the original, but I have since donated my original copies to Goodwill.
19. I also like playing the Nancy Drew computer games.
20. My favorite color is red. 

First 30-Day Blog Challenge: Day 1: Why Amanda's Alcove?

I found a 30-Day Blog Challenge on a Facebook page I follow. I've decided to start it and this is the first post. This challenge starts with your Blog Name. I decided to discuss why I chose the title that I did for this blog. I chose Amanda's Alcove because I wanted something different so I decided to think of synonyms for corner and alcove came up and I decided that would work perfect. I also wanted something that would work for a variety of blog posts, and I felt going with the corner/alcove idea would work well for that. This blog will be for multiple purposes. I look forward to connecting with you. Thanks for reading!