Movin'

Moving to Tumblr.  Sorry blogger.  New Blog

Chicago

Bon Voyage bro!  My brother is heading to Chicago on Wednesday.  I have been enjoying the blossoming of spring, and meanwhile, my brother is heading back in time to winter.  It snowed today in Chicago!  3 inches!  I am excited to visit him in June, and to taste some of Chicago's famous pizza!

Spring Break

Two more days of work and then its SPRING BREAK!  My students need a break more than I do.  The whole school seems very rambunctious.  Ahh...but what to do over the break?  Relax?  Demo work on our kitchen?  A never-ending to-do list?  Hmmm... so I think the best recipe for the break is a little of everything.  But most of all, lots of yoga, healthy foods, family, and friends!  :)

Right now

"The present moment is all you ever have" ~ Eckhart Tolle

yogi lab

Rainbeau Workshop

Checking out Rainbeau Mars website yesterday, I stumbled upon a workshop she is leading in NY at the Strala yoga studio.  I have never been to a yoga workshop, but this would be an amazing one to first drop in on.  I immediately called my brother, since he is the one that introduced me to Rainbeau Mars lineup of yoga DVDs.  As a sidenote, he has confessed to me his love for her.  Alas, he did not answer his phone, as I believe he was venturing to Beer Fest in AC.  I next dialed my dad, and he says he would like to go, but will give me a definite answer today.  Considering that I would like to go to Kripalu in August to see either Rainbeau or Deepak Chopra, I figured going to this workshop on May 7th in NY would help me decide between the two in August.  So I signed up.  Even if I am going alone, I think it will be an amazing experience.  Check it out here.

On the flip side...

Friday was a complete turn around from Thursday at work.  Amen!  My day started with a phone call from the vice principal, telling me that my lunch duty partner was out sick, but that he would take over lunch duty for me to see what was going on with the students.  Yes!  Extra prep time for me.  Then, a teacher calls to ask me to get time out work for one of my students.  The student received a referral from his homeroom teacher.  I love this student, but he has a behavior form that I fill out each day for him, so you can only imagine.  Score again!  My afternoon class would be peaceful.  Next, the technology teacher helped us out with Glogster, and everything ran much smoother.  Lastly, during my afternoon class, a student went home early.  With two less students, though I love them dearly, the quietness and calmness of the class was measurable.

Today, I logged on to facebook and saw that the OC Surf Cafe is having a special on peanut butter and banana stuffed french toast.  Yummy!  On my way now...

A day from....

Today was perhaps the most stressful day of the year.  It begins with a meeting about test prep for our students.  For the next month we are basically going to drill and kill.  Fun, fun, fun!  The rest of the morning was pretty good.  Then lunch duty hits.  Second graders-About 200 of them!  One other teacher and myself are responsible for their well-being in there.  There is this rule when its time to throw out their trash that they need to bequiet.  I and the other teacher were tired of telling them to bequiet, since its pretty impossible, so we decided- let them talk!  Well, the talking has turned into yelling and almost mass chaos.  Today on the mic I warned the little rascals that they needed to whisper to each other or it would be quiet time again starting tomorrow.  They did not listen and were so loud, I had to yell on the mic for them to hear any directions.  I HATE YELLING!  I am totally not a yeller.  I left lunch duty very, very stressed.

I must have looked the part too, as a teacher in the hall asked, "Did you just come from lunch duty?"

Laughing, I respond, "Yes, can you tell?"

This lead to a conversation about how stressful this duty is, as the teacher who stopped me also has lunch duty with 5th grade.  I was so fired up I emailed the vice principal about this ridiculous dilemma.  He's coming tomorrow to talk to the students, but I already forewarned him in the email that when he speaks to the students, all will be well.  As soon as he leaves, all hell will break loose.

Ahhh....and then a teacher that I have combined my class with, and myself, decided to try Glogster with our students.  There is an edu. version.  We thought it was a cool way to integrate technology into language arts.  After finishing a historical fiction unit, the students get to create a poster that is filled with text, graphics, video, and sound.  Basically, a book report in the 21st century.  Well, can you guess what happened?  Everything imaginable with the laptops!  Unable to log on, dead battery, unable to log on to the website, sllllooowww to upload anything, etc., etc., etc.  It's so frustrating when technology goes awry.

So, the afternoon continued in the manner of the previous situations.  At least I went to the gym to de-stress.  I feel a little better.  I have surrendered to the emotion.  Almost.

Too cute...

Travel

Tim is hitting up Indonesia in September for a 2 week surf trip on a boat with 7 others guys.  Amazing opportunity for him!  And with his lavish trip planned, I have decided for my 30th birthday, which is in the summer of 2012, I will be traveling to Australia with my girlfriends!  Hooray!  Tim had no response when I filled him in on my future adventure, except the fact that he wants to travel there too.  He literally cannot say anything about a 30th birthday trip to Australia with the girls because of his equally ridiculous trip to Indo.  Gotta love equality in relationships!  Cheers to Australia.

Paid to Live

My new favorite tee- Path of Enlightenment

Created by Paid to Live.

La mia famiglia

My nonna is traveling back to Italy on Monday.  My family and I are going to visit her today.  My dad says it may be the last time I see her.  Health wise she has not been doing so well.  I'm amazed that she is even traveling back to Abuzzi, Italy. I'm guessing she wants to be where she's lived all of her life.  When Tim and I traveled to Italy in 2007, we ventured to Rome, Florence, Venice, and Pisa.  I had wanted to visit my nonna's town in Abruzzi then, but we didn't.  In the future I hope to travel back, which I should since I threw the coin in the Trevi fountain :)  I hope to also travel with my Italian speaking dad and siblings.  But for today I will enjoy spending time with la mia famiglia.  Pics of nonna later to come.

Wheel pose

So I did it!  Well...its getting there anyway.  A best friend, Rachel, joined me for yoga today.  It was an awesome class; good for beginners, but lots of options for more practiced yogis.  And when our instructor told us at the end, after warming up to it, to go into bridge or wheel, I actually got my head off the floor.  I was so excited.  I wanted to yell, "Hey, look at me!" because it was the first time I had ever gotten to where I did in wheel pose.  And it felt so easy to get there.  I still have a long ways to go.  But after a good chat and strawberry banana smoothie from Yiannis cafe with Rachel, I raced home to show my husband my new move.  And told him to snap a pic.  :)

It's getting there.  Moments like these I remember why I practice every day.

Japan Images

Before and after satellite images of Japan.  Crazy.  Part 1.  Part 2.  Move your cursor over the pictures to view the before and after.

Appreciate today

My best friend, Toni, was in Tokyo, Japan when the earthquakes/tsunami occurred.  Can you imagine?  I can't at all!  I knew she was on her way to China, traveling with St. Joseph University MBA students.  But I did not realize she was also hitting Japan until the day of the tsunami.

The week before I was modeling a lesson for my students, making a connection for them about change in my life.  Change- how I used to talk to and see my best friend all of the time, now I rarely speak to her or see her.  She lives in State College, PA.  The distance really is an excuse.  My students looked at me in awe, asking, "You haven't talked to her since Christmas?!  You haven't seen her since...September?!"

Wow, I had thought to myself.  Yes to both.  It's pretty pathetic.  The phone makes things simple.  All it takes is to press some numbers on my cell.  And yes, we have occasionally played phone tag.  But eventually someone, or both, give up.

As cliche as it is, appreciate today.  You do not know who will be here tomorrow.

So glad Toni is safe.

Check out her return home video.

Toms

With some time to spare before 5pm yoga class, I headed to Asbury Ave. and went in 7th street surf shop.  I discovered Toms!  Have you heard about them?  Maybe you have, and this is deja vu with the jeggings-Everyone knew about jeggings except me.  Or maybe it was just anyone under 28 knew about them.

Back to the Toms.  They are super comfy, cute, come in multiple colors, inexpensive, and are sold as flats and wedges.  Best of all I can sport them at work.  A cool aspect surrounding the shoe is that for every pair bought, the company donates a pair of shoes to a child in need.  Check out the site.  At the surf shop they were only $44.  I think I may be heading back to pick up some more Toms in some more shades.

Rainbow...

farts.  Ha.  This is what Tim, my husband, calls the rainbows I see often in the sky and get excited about.  Rainbow farts!  I saw one today and took it as a sign.  I stayed after work late to work on report cards and narratives.  A fellow teacher entered my classroom, and we started a discussion that really has no end:  the units of study that Lucy Calkins invented.  Argh is all I have to say.

Anyway, the discussion that has no end, eventually ended as I was packing up my things because I had to get going.  Slow flow yoga was 30 minutes away.  And I so needed it today.

I was about five minutes behind schedule, behind the time I intended to leave.  Needless to say, a few events occurred that had me thinking, of course this is happening as I am running late.  For instance, the bridge was closed, so I had to take a longer route.

Thinking to myself whether I should just stop at my dad's house, which is on the way to yoga class, or bust in late, once I started hitting all green lights on Atlantic Avenue, I thought I had a shot of not being too late.  Btw-Making all the lights on Atlantic Ave was a first!

Then, I looked up at the horizon, and saw the rainbow!  In the middle of everything, it was beautiful.  I felt at that moment that I would make it to class.

So I went.  And it was a relaxing 89 minutes,  as I was only 1 minute late.

Here is a picture of the rainbow "farts" that I usually see.

This is the best picture I can find.  Tim calls them rainbow farts because I always see 1/4 of a rainbow in the sky.  He tells me they are not rainbows!  Ha.  I really do get excited when I see them too.

Co-inky-dink

Coincidences occur in all of our lives.  I have had some enter my life lately.  One being meeting a lady at the gym that has worked in my school district.  She allowed me to sign up for the gym at the resident rate, even though I let her know the truth (I cannot lie anymore; it's all I did in my teen years) about living outside the city.  The odd thing was that she said she has worked at the gym for 15 years.  I have not noticed her one single time there.  But on the morning of signing myself and my husband up for the gym, I struck up the conversation with her, asking her if she worked at my school, which lead to this major discount that I appreciate a lot.

It's funny how being more aware can allow aspects of your daily life to fall in your favor.

Continuing forward

The beginning of this week was a little rough.  Yesterday, Friday, was the best day of the week.  I was focused on teaching, and did not worry about the common demands put on us teachers from outside the classroom (new curriculum, test prep, etc.).  I found myself laughing with my students, grabbing their undivided attention, and observing their accomplishments compared to September (writing and reading for long periods of time).  I was proud of them and proud to be their teacher, a teacher.

With my daily yoga and meditation practice, I can observe this sense of calmness and stillness that I carry with me throughout my work day.  With about 5 full weeks in of this daily practice, I cannot even imagine the future benefits.

At the end of my day yesterday, my younger brother called to check in on me.  I once said to my family that my brother-in-law was like the older brother I never had.  I have often thought of the comment, and take it back fully.  My younger brother is the older brother I have always had.  He has this ability to listen and give sound advice with ease.  His words resonate with me, and have been more powerful than he may realize, offering positive actions to take place when I most needed them.  I look up to him, and so do my two sisters I believe.

Mike & Riss

Guardians of Being

After yoga on Friday, I ventured into the library.  I found this book Guardians of Being by Eckhart Tolle with illustrations by Patrick McDonnell (creator of Mutts, my favorite comic!).  Love it.

Karma

I've been practicing Chopra's 21 day meditation challenge.  On day 10 of the challenge, yesterday, the meditation challenge was letting go about non-nurturing thoughts and habits.  Karma is talked about, and it is relative to positive energy, which is a topic I have been reading about.

When reading, I understood that this karma or positive energy is around, but to allow it into our individual world, we need to create/see it.  We need to take opportunities when they are there.

I have been more open in my surroundings.  Today, I feel that I especially have a positive energy or good karma with me, because it is within me.  It has been a day where before I would have brushed as a day where everything is going right.  The difference is that now, I see that things are going right because of my choices.  There is a positive and a negative in every action.  When something is negative, it is up to us to see the positive in it, or to allow the negative to go through us.  Not get stuck within and turn into a grievance.

The little positives that have been adding up in my day, making me smile each moment and between the moments:
1) My alarm went off @6am.  I was happy to rise for the day.
2) I accomplished Rainbeau Mars Dawn for Beauty Yoga DVD.
3) I meditated and felt more stillness than I have, which came more quickly than ever.
4) I spoke to a paralegal that works for our fertility lawyer.
5) I spoke to my substitute who has been covering for me @work and she reassured me that everything is great.
6) I met with my therapist and realized I had met my goal.
7) I spoke to (and enjoyed) a complete stranger in a doctor's office and learned something new.
8) I smiled while waiting in traffic realizing it was out of my control.
9) I received get well cards from all 10 of my students.  Every single one made me smile.
10) I emailed the staff at my school and let them know everything that has been going on health wise.

“You are your deepest desire;

as is your desire so is your will;

as is your will so is your deed;

as is your deed so is your destiny.”

Winter Weather

For the last month, I've written down 10 things I'm grateful for each morning.  Today I glanced outside my dining room windows and noticed dense fog, a saturated ground, and water droplets from the "Nor'easter" that dispersed our area the night before.  I decided in that moment that I was grateful for the fog, and the rain.  Often I dismiss rainy days as dreary and miserable, but today I was able to find beauty in the mist and water that surrounded the nature outside my windows.

Amazingly, while the rest of the northeast dealt with 20 inches of snow, which I also would have welcomed, around 3:00 pm the sun peaked out behind the clouds and it was gorgeous!  The weather temperature read 53 degrees and I grabbed my dog, Star, and took her for a beautiful walk.  She was actually panting at the end of it.

I am grateful for fog, and the rain.  I am especially grateful when the sun peaks out.

A life changing event...

What brings you down will bring you up....eventually...and much, much higher than you ever were before.

A hysterectomy @27 years old because of a cancerous fibroid, and a rare kind of cancer at that (leiomyosarcoma).  It all happened very quickly.  Today I am cancer free, still getting monitored, but I feel in my heart and body that it will not return.

I went to a dark place though before I started to head toward the light.  Today I have found yoga and meditation, along with eating more healthy, reading inspirational books, and being in the now to bring me forward, perhaps one day reaching enlightenment?  :)

Positives are happening all around us.  Including have a couple of great people come forward to become our surrogate.  The plan for now is for the magic to happen a year from the present.