Tell Me More Linky....with Mrs. Lemons!

How fun is her name?!?!? Mrs. Lemons over at Step Into Second Grade is hosting a really fun linky party. I an not one to pass up a good linky party (or any party for that matter)...so here goes. Play along by grabbing her button below for your blog then tell us more about yourself....don't forget to go back ad link up your post on her blog!

1. I am excruciatingly shy, especially around people I do not know. People that know me would never guess this...but I actually get a stomach ache when I know I am going to be in a situation where I have to meet new people. I am often mistaken for snobbish/stuck up as a result, but I promise I am not.

2. I love to bake and used to own my own cake design business before I became a teacher. I did mostly wedding cakes and birthday cakes but also did cookies and cupcakes.  I still make them on occasion for friends...here is a picture of a wedding cake I recently did for one of my friends.

3. I love, LoVe, LOVE the Olympics, and my favorite Olympic sport is swimming. I swam competitively from age 9 until age 16. I never aspired to be an Olympic swimmer (not motivated enough /too selfish with my time)..but I still love the sport. Here is a picture of Dara Torres...I admire her a lot and was very sad she didn't make the 2012 team. But i will be cheering on Missy Franklin Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte!!!

4. I am a HUGE Virginia Tech fan, even though I did not go to college there.  I went to schools for undergrad and grad school that did not have football teams, but I love college football. I had friends that went to VT and dated a guy that graduated from there, so I just adopted VT and love watching VT football.

5. I am a book addict...I admit it..I love books. I cannot go into a store without searching for books. I buy them at bookstores, online, at yard sales, at Walmart, if a place sells books, I buy them!! I have books everywhere in my house, classroom, in my purse, in the car.  I am never without a book...and now that I have my new iPad, with the Kindle app, I am starting to amass e-books by the dozens!

6. I met my husband at a Christmas party and we were engaged 4 months later at the Hard Rock Hotel  in Las Vegas. We have been married almost 12 years and Las Vegas holds special memories for us both. My nephew is getting married there in a few weeks and I am a little sad that my husband will not be able to make the trip to Vegas with our son and I for the wedding due to work commitments. However, we are already planning a trip out there, just the two of us, for next year. 

7. I love to travel...surprising because I spent 2 years as a software trainer and practically lived out of a suitcase for those 2 years. I have quite a list of places I want to visit and fortunately, they are places both my husband and son want to visit as well. One of my "dream" trips is to take my 11 year old son on a road trip up the east coast from Washington, DC to Maine, visiting Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston along the way (and of course hitting as any ballparks as we can along the way).

8. I am also a HUGE Boston Red Sox fan, even though I have never lived in Boston, Massachusetts or even New England. Can I tell you how excited I was when we moved to Greenville, SC 5 years ago and I found out that the minor league team here, the Greenville Drive, is the Class A affiliate of the Red Sox!!

9. I love teaching and I love my classroom but I really would like to work more in instructional technology, teaching teachers how to integrate it in their classrooms throughout their lessons. I am preparing to start a Master's program in January for educational technology. I also recently completed the training to be one of the iPad trainers for our school district. I am hoping this will lead to more opportunities to do technology training for other teachers in our district.

10. Last but not least...I have an addiction to the website PicMonkey.  Now that I have discovered it, I am constantly taking pictures and embellishing them with all the cool tools PicMonkey has.  There really is no limit to the silliness I will create with it!

Well that's a little more about me!  Now tell me more about YOU!