Meet the Shaneyfelts

tips and advice

Four Things About Me!

I saw this on Emily’s blog not too long ago and I thought it was a neat way to learn a little more about a blogger….which I love!  Feel free to copy and paste and do on your own blog!


Four Names People Call Me (Other Than My Real Name):
B (or Miss B)
Super Sis
Little S
Sister

Four Jobs I’ve Had:
Babysitter
Barista (which was awful because I hated coffee and couldn’t make a drink if it was a special request)
Employee at the Rec Center at The University of Alabama
Teacher

Four Movies I’ve Watched More Than Once:
When Harry Met Sally
You’ve Got Mail
Pretty Woman
Dances With Wolves

Four Authors I’d Recommend:
Harper Lee
Rick Bragg
J.K. Rowling
Mary Kay Andrews

Four Places I’ve Lived:
Alabama!!

Four Places I’ve Visited:
California–from San Fran to Orange County
Jamaica
Savannah, GA
Tampa

Four Things I’d Rather Not Eat:
BANANAS
Sushi
Oysters
Seafood

Four Favorite Foods:
Pizza
Chicken fingers
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cake
**I don’t eat all of this…I only wish I did ha!

Four TV Shows I Watch:
Greys
Scandal
Real Housewives of BH/OC/NJ
Kardashians

Four Things I’m Looking Forward To This Year:
GRADUATING WITH MY MASTERS
Summer
Vacation
Having my life back

Four Things I’m Always Saying:
What did I just say?  (This would be to my students haha)
Dustin, check your blood.
I’m so obsessed
Mr. Felt

Sense of Sarah: Working out When You’re Busy

Working out is not something that I enjoy, but it is something that I really enjoy the way it makes me feel.  I blogged about my weight loss journey back in 2014 (which feels like forever ago!) and so if you followed me back then, you know that working out is something I have to do to maintain my weight.

Because grad school literally takes up all of my free time (but the end is near!), I’ve had to adjust my work outs to fit my schedule.  I don’t work out as near as much as I want to, but it works for this season of life that I am in.

This is what I do now:

On Tuesdays/Thursdays I…

Wake up at 4:20 AM.
Jillian Michaels BodyShred class at gym–5:00-5:45 AM

This was taken after Rachel and I survived a brutal class one morning.

On Saturdays I have a few options…

-Go to the gym sometime that morning to complete this workout:

This was in one of my Shape magazines and I change up the weight part every now and then.  You can customize it to fit you!  I keep the 5 minute jog and running for .25miles unchanged.

-Go to the stadium to run bleachers and run laps around the track for 30-35 minutes

-Run in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods for 2-3 miles

This will change once I graduate from grad school, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices.  I don’t enjoy getting up early those two mornings during the week, but I also don’t have time after school is over because I come home and do grad school work (plus cook dinner or any other obligation I might have)–I just don’t have time in the afternoons during this time in my life.  

Hopefully this has encouraged you to find some sort of time to work out!  You may be busy, but your health never needs to be neglected!

Book Club Thursday

It’s here!  It’s here!  I have been waiting (not so patiently) for this link up.  This link up was born out of a shared love of reading between Victoria and I.  I am SO excited to get some great book recommendations and make my reading list for 2016.  Trust me, once I graduate from grad school in May, I will be reading all summer long!

First I want to recap the books I read in December 2015….all two of them.  I had big plans on reading a lot since I had a month long break from grad school, but instead I watched a million Christmas movies.



I saw this movie preview when I saw Mockingjay Part 2 and it looked interesting.  Then I had a student read the book one day while in class.  She let me borrow it once she finished it and once I started reading it, I could not put it down!  It’s a thick book, but the action is so suspenseful that you really won’t be able to stop reading it once you start.  If you like books like The Hunger Games, Divergent (even though that one wasn’t my fav), or anything that has a dystopian society, you will want to read this!

And this leads me into the second book I read in December…the sequel!



Again, so entertaining and suspenseful.  The only bad part?  It ended and I have to wait until May for the third book to come out.


Below are a few of the books I enjoyed reading during 2015….
(click on each title to read more)

This book is based on a true story of the last woman who was sentenced to death in Iceland.  It sounded so boring and not my typical book, but since it was part of my book club, I read it and I’m so glad I did.  I really felt bad for the main character and it was sad knowing it was a true story.

I loved that this book was told from two different life stories.  Both stories started from the same bar and it showed us, the reader, what the main character’s life would be like if she left the bar in two different ways.  Very interesting and I liked it!  It also had two different love stories, so yeah..I liked it!

Multiple life stories are intertwined with the story of how wine is made.  The main character shows up at her parents’ vineyard in her wedding dress after seeing her fiancé with another woman.  Read the book to find out what happens!

I loved Eight Hundred Grapes so much that I bought this book right after reading the first.  The main characters long-term relationship ends and she marries another guy after knowing him a very short time.  Then guy #1 shows back up and she questions her new marriage.  I thought I was going to be mad reading this book but it turned out exactly how I wanted it to!

This is a young adult lit book about kids from the 80s.  Two unlikely kids fall in love for the first time in their life.  This isn’t a fairytale ending because unfortunately, it’s real life for some kids.  I wish I could read this with my students but language and mature content prevents me from doing that.

This book was suspenseful in that I really could not figure out what was going on!  Dustin read this book and liked it–and Dustin does not read haha!   I’m not into legal thrillers, but this book was SO good!  (Another book club pick)

Like the rest of America, I’m obsessed with the royal family.  I read this and dreamed about what it would be like if I never met Dustin and instead married William or Harry.  (Since you’re reading this Dustin, know that I am so glad I married you and I wouldn’t wish for anything to be different!)

This was another book club pick and another book I wish I could read with my students.  Read this and it will keep you guessing the whole time.