Nominations (and more about me than anyone wants to know)!

Thanks to the awesome bloggers who (re)nominated me for the Liebster Award!  :)  I know I've been nominated in the past, but I thought I'd at least answer their fun questions!  Plus, it's a good reason to write a post since I've been so MIA lately.  :)

First thanks goes out to Sent From My iPad (great blog name, huh?)!
Here are her questions and my answers:

1. How long have you been blogging?  I started blogging personally when I moved to NYC back in 2002!  I started my classroom blog in April 2009, and I started this teaching blog in September 2011.
2. Why did you start a blog?  I started THIS particular blog because of all the amazing teaching blogs I had discovered.  It amazed me that I had never thought to use a blog that way before--to share ideas with fellow teachers.  Brilliant!
3. How did you come up with your blog name?  From the whole "Keep Calm and _____ On" phrase.  :)
4. What is your guilty pleasure?  Trashy tv.  My husband HATES all the shows I watch.  The only shows we watch together are Always Sunny, The League, and Louis.  I love the Vampire Diaries, reality tv, Parenthood, Modern Family...I could go on and on.
5. What is your "can't live without" teacher item? Smartboard and my Papermate Flair pens.  :)
6. Are your a morning person or night owl?  NIGHT OWL, big time.  It's a bit of a problem.
7. What is the funniest thing a kid has ever said in class or that you've overheard?  Me: "You look pretty in your make-up."  Student: "My dad says I look like a hooker."
8. If you had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of ever what would it be?  Chips and queso or nachos
9. What is your favorite iPad app? OR website?   Ooh, that's a hard one!  I LOVE Pinterest for discovering new ideas/blogs.  I love Educreations and Fotobabble for the iPad.  User-friendly for the kids!
10. How long have you been teaching?  This is my 6th year.
11. If you weren't teaching what would you be doing?  Performing musical theater, I hope.  :)

2nd Thank You goes out to Flamingos and Butterflies!  Here are her questions and my answers:

1. What grade do you teach, and how long have you been teaching?  I teach 2nd.  This is my 6th year teaching--3 in 3rd and 3 in 2nd.  :)
2. Where are you currently teaching?  Suburb of Dallas
3. If you were not a teacher, what would be your dream job?  Being a musical theater performer or a writer or professional blogger
4. What is your favorite adult book?  Just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and it was AMAZING.
5. What is your favorite kid book?  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Wayside School books, and Skippyjon Jones books.  
6. If you could meet any author, who would it be and why?  Anne Lamott.  She's just cool.  And has the most creative way of saying things.
7. Why did you start blogging?  To record my experiences in New York.  (personal blogging)
8. How did you come up with the name for your blog?  From the whole "Keep Calm and..." craze
9. If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?  To fly!  Obvious reasons, right?  It would be AWESOME!
10. Are you an early bird or night owl?  complete night owl!
11. As you sit here blog hopping and answering questions from a random stranger, (just kidding) what are you thinking in the back of your mind you should really be doing right now?  Getting ready for bed.  :)

3rd and final Thank You goes out to Beach Lovin' Teach, who is obviously a kindred spirit of mine, what with the beach thing!  :)  

1. How long have you been blogging?  Personally since 2002!  As a teacher since 2009.  :)
2. What is your favorite type of music?  I like LOTS.  I'm not a big fan of country or rap.  I love musicals, relaxing stuff, singer stuff, vocal jazz, choral, some opera, some classical, some of the  top 20 stuff, a lot of the Indie stuff.  :)  I was a music major, so I could write a dissertation.
3. Where would you go on your dream vacation?  Back to the Virgin Islands, probably!  Maybe Hawaii.
4. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?  spending time with my hubs and baby boy, reading blogs, reading, watching tv
5. Do you have any siblings?  3 half siblings; I am the baby and somewhat of an only child, since I was the only kid by the time I was 10 years old.
6. What's your favorite type of dessert?  chocolate cream pie.  yellow cake w/chocolate frosting.  i like chocolate pie and candy, but I don't like chocolate cake much.  or chocolate ice cream.  ??
7. What would you do if you won a million dollars?  Invest some, buy a bigger house, put some away for baby boy's college, give some to funding for childhood cancer and for the Backpack Buddies program.
8. What is your favorite color?  Blue, Teal
9. Coffee or tea?  usually coffee with cream/suger --or iced tea with lots of lemon
10. What is the last book you read?  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I'm almost done with The Birth Order Book, which has been really eye-opening.  
11. What is your most embarrassing moment teaching?  Probably the time one of my students said, "Mrs. Cockrell, will you please pull up your pants?  I can see your bottom."  LOL.  OR last year's formal observation when I went to pull up the Smart Notebook activity I created to realize I had emailed myself the WRONG file.  FUN!  Teaching is all about flexibility, right??

Thanks again, lovely ladies, and happy December!  :)