DeChristmasing/End of Break :(

I really loved decorating the house this year. It was fun and I did most of it over Thanksgiving weekend. I really don't like taking it all down. I had good intentions of working on it yesterday, but we really just lounged around yesterday. I am sad that my break is just about over... today is the last real day of break. I had so many things that I wanted to get done over break and many other things that I *need* to get done. So I am trying to cram it all in today!

The decorations are all down except for the lights on the tree. That is Chris' department and he will do that when he gets home tonight or tomorrow. He is at an all day swim practice today so I have the house all to myself. :-) It's been good that he has had practice and private lessons. This has given us the right blend of together and alone time over break. We even had some bonus time thanks to snow before break started.

One of my Christmas gifts was a small point and shoot camera that I can keep with me at all times. I love my Digital SLR, but it is just too large to carry around. I have wanted to document some of the day to day parts of my life, and this camera will help. I am hoping to participate in Project 365, where each participant takes at least a photo a day. We'll see! So far I am at 100% for 2009.

Off to get some more cleaning done. Can't believe I actually have to go back to work in a few days!

Happy New Year... One Little Word

Happy New Year! We had a wonderful evening with our friends closing out 2008 and welcoming 2009. It is amazing how hopeful a new year can be... full of possibilities and new challenges.

I have been a long time fan of a woman who is considered one of the icons in the scrapbooking world, Ali Edwards. I have been inspired by not only her creativity and scrapbooking style, but also by the way she chooses to live her life. A few years ago she challenged her blog readers to choose one little word to focus on for an entire year. This one little word is your guiding philosophy for the coming year. You can read more about it on her blog here.

Last year I chose a word but didn't do much with it. This year I was really inspired to choose a word that truly would be my guiding force for the year. After much thought and reflection yesterday, I chose my word...


Grace has many different definitions according to the dictionary. All of them fit as to how I want to lead my life in 2009 (and beyond.) Here is the dictionary definition:

grace

Noun

1. elegance and beauty of movement, form, or expression

2. a pleasing or charming quality: architecture with few redeeming graces

3. courtesy or decency: at least she had the grace to laugh

4. a delay granted for the completion of a task or payment of a debt: another year's grace

5. Christian theol the free and unmerited favour of God shown towards humankind

6. a short prayer of thanks for a meal

Another poster on Ali's blog chose grace and commented on the definition from another source, Style Statement: Live by Your Own Design by Danielle LaPorte & Carrie McCarthy. I really liked the quote that she gave from the book:

Graceful is poised and dignified and, at her best, is a giving, generous spirit who seeks to impart kindness and dignity. Love is her fuel; goodwill is her motivation and guide. Graceful prefers meaning and substance but will practice courtesy and compassion rather than forcing her views about a situation. Graceful has a sense of fit and propriety, a craving for balance and good form and proportion. She adores harmony and material and immaterial luxury—from finery to leisure. Rooted in feminine power, Graceful has a quiet and steady confidence. She endeavors to make everything special in the most considerate and ultimately charming ways, and she tends to make it all look effortless.

This really sums up how I want to live my life. I want to be more graceful (and with my recent falls on ice, this is a literal goal as well as figurative!) I want to be a better friend and teacher who listens and provides compassion to all those around me. I want to work in improving my confidence and get it "all together"

I am hoping to write more about this word in the coming year. For now I am going to create some kind of art to hang up here in my studio that is a constant reminder. I am also planning to order one of these so that my word is always close to my heart.

So my challenge... choose one little word for yourself. What will YOUR word be? How will you bring this word to life in the coming year?

Happy Birthday Bridget!

I have lots of thoughts about the election... but will share those in another post.  I wanted to share a creative project I did... something that I haven't done in a LONG time.  Wednesday was my good friend Bridget's birthday.  She shares my passion and love of office supplies.  We wanted to create something special for her birthday.  After trying to come up with something for weeks, I suddenly came up with the idea to create a cake out of office supplies... you know, like the diaper cakes made for baby showers...

So I wandered around Office Max until I could come up with some kind of an idea.  Came home and played with my goodies... I must admit I kept a few pens for myself.  I just couldn't resist!  :-)


I am pretty happy with the end result!

The bottom layer is post-its, rolled up into circles.  The top "layers" are made from pens and mechanical pencils.  Decorations include correction tapes and erasers.  Bridget is a math teacher, so the erasers and pencils are very appropriate.  She loves bright colors and purple... so this was a perfect combo.  I got an extra cake box from the bakery and placed it in the box to add to the overall effect.  She was thrilled with it... makes it all worth while!

Happy Birthday Megan!

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Megan!

Megan and I met through work- We both taught at CSMS until last year. Megan got her dream job at a new school and left us. I miss seeing her every day. She is a good soul and is my voice of reason. We've tried to talk at least once a week since school started. Today is her birthday and a few of us sent her a cookie boquet shaped liked birds... this is only funny if you know that she is terrified of birds. :-) Hopefully she will get a laugh and think of us all today.

Week in My life...

So I was all excited to be starting the Week in my Life project that Ali Edwards is running on her blog. She taught the class at CKU back when I went, but I chose another album track. I always wanted to do it, so when she had it posted on her blog this week I jumped on board. I haven't been taking many photos lately, and I haven't felt very creative. I needed a boost. I know that I NEED to take the creative time- especially when I don't seem to have the time. It keeps me grounded and makes my spirit happy.

So I got my camera all set for Monday so I could capture my day in photos. I charged up the battery and put in the memory card. The memory card acting a little funny at first (wasn't recognized by the camera) but then it was fine. I went on my merry way taking lots of photos. Last night I was just too plain lazy to come upstairs so I didn't "dump" the memory card last night. This morning I was running late, but I remembered to grab my camera and took photos on my drive in and throughout the day just as I did yesterday. I was so proud of myself.

I finished my homework for class tomorrow and decided to dump the photos onto my IMac. Put the card into the card reader....... AND MY MAC FROZE! It has NEVER EVER EVER done that. :( Had to reboot. So I put the card back in and everything appears to be fine.... until I realize that photos are MISSING... like 50 or more photos! Of all of the photos I took yesterday, only SIX made it on my computer. I could scream. From today, there are tons missing too. They aren't even all in order... it is a few here and there. I AM SO MAD! I was so proud of myself and now I don't have the photos I wanted. So what do I do? Do I try again tomorrow? Do I scrap the whole project? Is this a sign that I have too much on my plate right now to even consider this? I really feel that this will be good for me- it will let me see my life from the outside and reflect on what is going on right now.

Ok, whining over. Here are some of my favorites that did make it onto my computer...

These are the books/notes that I should be reading right now


My darling Patches.. whining to go out for the 100th time tonight. She has recently found some spunk and has found her naughty side. While I am happy to see her active, she is making me a little nuts with everything she is getting into. But then I remember that my days with her are numbered... she will be 13 in December!
Then there is this face.... how can you not let him walk all over you? Wait, it's me that he walks all over! Yes, they still have on their 4th of July collars... it's too early for the Halloween ones and by the time I was ready to switch them, I decided to just wait a few more weeks and put them in the Halloween ones.

Ok, I will try again tomorrow. I have a different memory card in the camera now and am charging up the battery. Maybe my camera is finally starting to go wacky... it is an original Digital Rebel from 2002 and I have been drooling over the smaller, more advanced versions... A girl can dream, right?

Off to do some reading... maybe I should have some idea about the content for class tomorrow!

Wordle

This is addicting... but look at the pretty things you can create!

Tagged

One of my closest friends from High School and I have reconnected courtesy of email and blogger. She just had the cutest little man in the world... who also happens to be named Christopher. Anyway, she "tagged" me on her blog.

10 years ago: August 1998
I was getting ready for my second year of teaching at Antioch Lower Grade School (now Antioch Elementary.... Lower Grade is a rotten name for a school, isn't it) I had a year under my belt and thought I knew it all! I think Chris was still working at Hastings YMCA, but I don't remember. We had one dog- Patches and one cat- Simba We aren't even thinking about having kids yet!

5 years ago: August 2003:
Getting ready for another school year... this time at Carl Sandburg where I have been since. Who knew I would fall in love with the middle school age group? I am so grateful I stumbled on this job in 2001. I work with amazing people and have made so many close friends. Chris was working at Leaning Tower YMCA in Niles. Long commute and things were starting to get ugly with the Metro YMCA association. We lived in our current house. Still only one dog and one cat! We were deep in infertility treatments. We were healing and going strong into another treatment cycle.

5 months ago: March 2
Hmmm... in the middle of ISAT testing I think. Chris was a the peak of his winter swim season and I had yearbook deadlines. I was preparing to run my first (and ONLY) 8k. We now have TWO dogs and a cat. Chris is coaching full time for Warren Blue Devil Swim Club and LOVES it. We've been on a "break" from infertility treatments for a year or two. We are healing from the failed adoption in October still.

5 things on my to do list for today:
1. Vacuum again. (Can I saran wrap the dogs to keep the shedding down?!)
2. Finish cleaning my studio
3. Spend some time with my friend Megan playing in my studio
4. Get the dogs out for some exercise if it stays nice and not too hot
5. Stalk the ISI Swimming Results page to track how Chris' kids are doing at the State Champs

5 bad habits:
1. leaving my shoes all over the house
2. eating anything chocolate
3. spending too much time on the computer doing NOTHING
4. watching train wreck TV
5. leaving shampoo bubbles all over the shower (Chris HATES that!)

5 places I've lived:
1. Round Lake Beach, IL
2. Houston, TX
3. Crystal Lake, IL
4. Bloomington/Normal, IL
5. Antioch, IL

5 things people don't know about me:
1. I am not a fan of birds. I am not really afraid, but I don' t care for them AT ALL
2. I once almost got into a bar fight with a little person (!)
3. I am a tad claustrophobic
4. I wanted to be a pediatrician or an interior designer when I grew up (can you say opposites!)
5. I can't watch scary movies... they give me nightmares. (My students make so much fun of me!)

5 people I tag:
I don't think I have 5 readers! LOL
1. Gloria
2. Kellie
3. Beverly
4. ???
5. ????