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.