Ericas Ed-Ventures

Primary Education Ideas

Georgia On My Mind

I cannot stop thinking about my awesome bloggy meet-up last weekend in Georgia.  It was so AMAZING!!!

How did I end up in Georgia, you might be thinking?  Well, I had been trying to meet up with my first blog/teacher friends, Anna Brantley of Crazy for First and Cheryl Saoud of Primary Graffiti since the beginning of the school year.  Anna and I started blogging around the same time and we just seemed to hit it off in the digital world right away.  We even talked on the phone.  She has the sweetest southern accent! Cheryl was one of my first followers.  I could always count on her for a supportive comment.  She and I have a lot in common, so we also hit it off right away and we also ended up talking on the phone.  Cheryl and I are the same age and we both have two small dogs and two cats.

Cheryl is from Florida and was heading to Atlanta with her husband to see the UFC fights.  She knew Anna and the awe-inspiring, Deanna Jump were both from Georgia.  She also knew I was willing to travel.  The weekend worked for all of us and I booked my flight from NY to Atlanta.

This was my awesome welcome at the Atlanta airport!  How cute is Cheryl?!

After the airport Cheryl, her husband, and I checked out the amazing aquarium in Atlanta.  I took these photos with Instagram, my new favorite App!  At the aquarium, Cheryl and I discovered that one of us was pronouncing our sweet friend, Rachelle Smith‘s name wrong.  I i-messaged her (we are iphone friends like that) and found out that it is pronounced Ru-Shell, not Ray-chell.  Ooops, my bad.  By the way, my last name is pronounced Bor-er.  
I saw this beluga whale as a calf at the NY Aquarium in Coney Island when I was a little girl.  Now she is 18 and expecting a calf of her own and lives at the Georgia Aquarium.
That evening Anna and Deanna arrived!  I am not going to lie, I was so nervous about meeting Deanna Jump.  Deanna was my inspiration to start a blog.  Deanna and I knew each other through the TpT forums, emails, and such, but still, to me Deanna was a celebrity.  I even asked her if she got stopped by fans.  She said “No, haha it never happens.”  But wouldn’t you know, the next day, she got stopped by a fan!  Anyway, Deanna is a blast!  She is so down to Earth and so darn cute and young looking in person.  We hit it off and were laughing away.  Once Anna arrived, it was a big old gab and laugh session for the four of us, that lasted through dinner and back!  We were up past midnight talking and talking.  Finally, we realized how late it was and we went to bed.  Anna and I shared a hotel room, so we stayed up a bit more chatting and making Amanda, Michelle, and especially, Rachelle jealous by posting on facebook.  Anna wanted to take a picture of us in our pajamas; I would have let her except that I had already taken my make-up off.  I am no natural beauty and did not want to scare “y’all.”
The next day, Cheryl arranged for  Hope King from Second Grade Shenanigans, Ashley Nichols from The Polka Dot Patch, Jenaya Shaw from The Lesson Plan Diva, and Dana from 3rd Grade Gridiron to meet us at our hotel.  All of these ladies are stunning and FABULOUS!   I was so excited to meet them.
We rode together to The Cheesecake Factory in style!! 
Limo fun!
We had even more fun at lunch.  Can you believe this was my first time at The CheeseCake Factory?  I was impressed with their book-like menu.  I even splurged and had a slice of red velvet cheese cake…so worth it!!!
Us gals!
 Deanna, me, & Anna
 Jenaya, Dana, Cheryl, & Hope
 Anna and Ashley
With my roomie, Anna!
Me and Deanna Jump
Yes, she is holding money!  (Haha, it is to tip the limo driver.)
Check out some of the cute swag we exchanged (nosy cat not included)!  The adorable note paper set and labels are by the very talented Kacey of Doodle Bugs Paper and Doodle Bugs Teaching.  I am thinking that these would make great end of the year class parent gifts.  Thank you Kacey!  I wish you could have been there, too.  
I had a blast and I cannot wait for the next time we meet in person, again.  Teachers are just awesome people, don’t you agree?

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Comments

  2. awww! thanks for the shout out. I TOTALLY was jealous the entire weekend for not being there with y'all! I hate that I could not work out the travel details!

    I told Cheryl after it was over that I feel like I would not have fit in with you stylish girls :o) I am also majorily SHY .. however, i truly hope to make the next meet up!

    :o) Kacey
    Doodle Bugs Teaching
    Doodle Bugs Paper

    • You are welcome! Haha, you would have fit in. My social anxiety kicked in a bit and I was messing up my words, but I got over it quickly. The ladies were all so welcoming.

    • OMG we are going to get kicked out of restaurants! My mom invited all you ladies to stay in her house…haha. Mine is so small. Summers are so much fun here on Long Island.

  5. What a wonderful get together of awesome bloggers! I enjoy each blog you listed….. as I get my mind wrapped around the fact that I am retiring at the end of this year, I am so happy to found the world of teacher's blogs last year! The sharing and kind words/deeds among each of you is amazing. Thank you for the fantastic blog you have,Erica!!
    Karen

  9. LOVE reading each of your weekend recaps! How beautiful was the Georgia Aquarium? That is on my list of places to see (that, and the Ron Clark Academy). And as for a Long Island blogger meet up (even though I don't blog about my class/ideas) I would LOVE to join in on the fun.

    Enjoy your week!
    🙂 ERIN

  10. I had a blast hanging out with you and the ladies, Erica!!! You were one of the first people to follow my blog…so I was awestruck to meet you! 🙂 Thanks for making the trip down!

    Dana

  11. So nice to see you found such a great group of bloggers. I did a program out here at the Rock Hall and I had that same level of anxiety at first but by the last day we were all so sad to part. It was so much fun — I hope in a less hectic summer I will get to do it again.

    • Ru-Shell!!! We never would have went to sleep if you were there!! I am so mad that I have to miss out on Vegas because of Italy. Would it be crazy for me to fly from Italy to Vegas? Hahah Love ya, too!

  14. wow! So many people who love teaching in one place! sigh, SOOOOOOOO lucky! I am very happy for you all! There's a lovely place called Florida that would welcome you all! 🙂

  18. Like I've said on other's posts…I am insanely jealous! It looks like you guys had such a great time!!!

    Jodi
    fun-in-first.blogspot.com

  19. So, so, SO jealous!!! I'm a North Georgia gal (about an hour north of Atlanta). I'm new to the blogging world and this makes me want to join in such fun. How fabulous to have this type of communication for teachers who typically have been cut off from all except children! My, my, the times have changed since I started teaching 23 years ago!

    Looks like you had a wonderful time!!!

    Cynthia
    2nd Grade Pad

  22. Ha! Too funny! That looked like such a fun group. I already feel like I know you guys because I have been stalking blogs for awhile and decided to start one! I would love if you could come follow!

    totallyterrificteachingtools.blogspot.com

  23. That sounds awesome! I follow pretty much all ya'lls blogs…all the way from, Bangkok, Thailand! (I teach first grade at an international school.) Ya'll are so inspirational and your meetup sounds like a ton of fun!

    • Thailand! That is so cool. I wish I had taught somewhere else before I began teaching in NY. My friend from college used to teach high school at the international school there and before that in Trinidad. I visited him in Trinidad and it was awesome.