Work it.

Colorado will tell you whether or not you’re in shape. Straight up.

Also, skinny ≠ in shape. Just to clarify.

I can balance easily on skate blades, which is definitely part of athleticism. But I think my lungs need to catch up. The air up here is so thin and when I went on a run today I just couldn’t feel satisfied anytime I took a breath. A couple of years ago my lungs were in excellent shape; in marching band we were constantly doing breathing exercises, including ones where we had to take in all the air we could, hold it, and then take in more sips of air on top of that. They told us the point of it was to tear our lungs a little so they could become capable of holding more air. Not sure if that was true, but it felt like it!

So I’ll be working on it.  The Manitou Incline is beckoning!

Statistics show…

So yet another milestone in my life. My first year of teaching.

Not only am I the youngest teacher in the whole school, I am also the least experienced. Not sure how that makes me feel.

During our new teacher training for the district, they showed us a line graph explaining our emotions about teaching from right now on through the future. Apparently, this point in our lives is the most excited we’ll ever be about teaching. This is the peak. From this point on, we face reality, and the graph shows a significant line drop. The honeymoon stage will be over, and things will get really tough. The graph shows that it’ll eventually get better, but it will not be nearly as high as right now.

On one hand, it’s nice to know that people who have gone before us can explain what we should expect. But also, it was kind of a downer looking at that graph. Really? That’s what we have to look forward to? How hard is this going to be??

As always, I’m trying to enjoy my life right where I’m at. So I guess I could explain that as “relishing the calm before the storm.” I don’t know what lies ahead, but I know I’ve got lots of support at my school, a great roommate, and lots of friends a phone call away.

So bring on the unknown. Maybe I can defy the odds, but if not, I know I’ll be making a difference.

Creativity.

I am so thankful I have a  job that requires creativity. Oh boy, can I deliver. After years of wearing oversized forest-green polos and standing in front of a cash register, it’s a little unreal that I actually get paid to do the things that I love. Not that my summer jobs during college had to be dull…my cousin and I still found ways to spice things up.

I guess business must have been slow…

Coloring on the job.

Are those Lion King decorations on the cash register? Your eyes don’t lie.

That was “work” for us. All $7.25-an-hour of it.

Now everything’s amped up—a bigger salary, more responsibility (and consequently more stress), but also more fun. This summer I’ve had quite a few opportunities to exercise my right-brainedness.

The kids calculated the area of their hand by counting whole and half squares. I think it turned out well!

This week we made our own farms in a glove. Each finger section of the plastic glove has different seeds with a wet cotton ball, and then the glove is tied shut to keep the moisture in. They look pretty crazy hanging up in the window here. I wonder which seeds will sprout first???

Going along with the plant theme, the kids got to make the crayon leaf art that never gets old. I loved doing this as a kid.

In preparation for this upcoming school year, I decided to add cuteness to some of my essential classroom items. Presenting mod-podged clothespins…

And here’s a sort of refurbished lamp. Look at all the kindergarten cuteness.

All I can say is that it’s a win-win situation when I get to be creative and encourage kids to be creative, too!

Distressed. But not really.

I’ve never considered myself to be a crafty person when it comes to furniture. I’ve never really considered furniture, actually, until now that I’m moving and most of mine is too big to move! What’s in my bedroom in my parents’ house is just a random mis-matched dresser, bookcase, and shelves. I’m beginning to think about what I want to have in a house someday, and in an apartment for the near future.

I found a dresser at a thrift store the other day. It’s a small size, and will travel nicely the almost-600 miles I’ll be driving to my new home!

Here is the before picture…

And here it is after I got done with it.

I learned how to distress a dresser…pretty simple, actually. Just rough it up with sandpaper, paint it whatever color you want, and then rough it up with more sandpaper once the paint is dry. I changed the knobs and they’re actually distressed wood, too, painted green (at Hobby Lobby for two bucks a piece). I think it’s cute.

Even though my dresser is distressed, I’m really not. I’m actually pretty excited to move, to live in a place permanently, since the last few years I’ve lived in the dorms at school, in the dorms in Florida, in someone else’s apartment for two months, and at my parents’ house while student teaching. I feel like I practically live in my car sometimes, because I bring so much stuff back and forth so frequently. I’ll be farther away from everyone I know, but it’ll be nice to try something new!

Tribute.

I don’t know about you, but I could list about a million reasons to love Regina Spektor. I narrowed them down to 10:


1 She’s Russian.
2 I think she could sing any words in any language and it would sound beautiful.
3 Regina is random.
4 She’s modest.
5 Her lyrics are poetic, not empty phrases sung over and over.
6 She was trained in classical piano, but also says artists like the Beatles influenced her sound.
7 She uses beat boxing and glottal stops.
8 Her songs are ones that are within my range, even though I will never come close to sounding like her.
9 She’s talented in songwriting, singing, and playing the piano.
10 Just when you think you figure out what a song is about, you realize there’s more to it.




So I leave you with the newest Regina. Looking for random? She never fails to deliver.




And if you are looking for Russian, here you go.

click click.

I just love Instagram. It’s so fun to play around with, to feel like a professional with those little snapshots. It challenges me to look at life a little closer and find the things that make it so full. Sometimes it seems like life flits away…I want to remember it, but sometimes writing words takes too much time. Pictures solve that problem! This little blog lets me look back and remember.

Maybe someday I’ll get one of those really expensive cameras that make everyday life look extra beautiful. For now, I’ll use good old, free Instragram!

Enjoying.

Right now, I'm really tired.

My second week of teaching summer school is in the books, and I am ready for bed. It's only 6:30.

I took a short little snooze while sitting upright on the couch about an hour ago. Pathetic, right? This lack of energy makes me so much more thankful for the 3-day-weekends we get this summer. The kids need a break and I think I do, too.

Life is just so full right now. It usually is. But there are so many things to do, to think about, to plan for, that mind seems stretched in every direction. There's the internet bill, which was a surprising $177- it took me about 2 weeks and at least a handful of phone calls to finally get it fixed. They corrected it: only $13.29. I'd say it was definitely worth the effort to get it changed! Or then there's my out-of-state teaching license, which will cost me roughly $230 by the time I'm finished with everything. You'd think that $110 test I took last February would count for something, right? Right, Colorado? But just like Chuck Testa says...NOPE. So tomorrow I've gotta take an almost-identical-but-differently-coded test for another $110. No big deal. I just graduated from college. I've got bags of money lying around!

But really, besides me and my bank account being exhausted, life is really good. I got to see my family last weekend. That makes for some good times, especially when we go out to eat. It's always an adventure, that's for sure. I can say before last Saturday never in my life had I given my phone number to a random waiter at Texas Roadhouse...

And although I deposited my first ever all-grown-up bills in the mail WITHOUT stamps, it really was a beautiful 2.5-mile walk to the post office. Who cares if the bills will come right back to me? At least I get mail, right?! I got to enjoy the lazy atmosphere of summer. Walking through sprinklers rather than avoiding them, hollyhocks growing taller than the chipping window panes they stand in front of, an old guy dozing on his front porch, bras hanging on the line, gardens showing their promise, trampolines, hammocks, and bicycles strewn across the lawn. Taking time to enjoy right where I'm at.

P.S.- These pictures are from the last couple of weeks. I’m gonna try to take a picture (or two) a day this week as a challenge. We’ll see what I come up with!