Ten on Tuesday, It's been awhile.

Sharing ten random facts about myself because a) it's fun and b) I have nothing better to share.

Enjoy ;) 

1. Would you rather give up pedicures or flat/curling irons?

You would have to pry my hot styling tools from my cold, dead hands.  I can paint my own toes, thank you very much.  

2. Does your middle name have a family meaning?

Indeed it does. It's my Momma's first name :) 

3. Do you like to sneeze?

I don't hate it.  

4. Do you think kids should need to learn cursive?

Yes. Simply because it is easier for them! I write in cursive primarily to save myself time.  The less you have to take the pen off the paper the less time you waste! 

Also, because I think it is embarrassing for my sixth graders when I write a note to them they cannot decipher it unless I translate into "print."  It must be a shameful feeling to feel temporarily illiterate, no? 

5. When you go to the beach for the day, what do you take?

My beach chair, two towels, tanning lotion, a book, sunglasses, and water. And I am a happy girl.   

6. Which decade had the best music?

I want to say anything else besides the 90s because I know how talented artists from other decades were .... but I just can't deny my love for LaBouche, Whitney Houston and NSYNC! ;) 

7. Are you a good hand-shaker?

I'm sure my shake is fine, but my hands only run on two temperatures.  Disgustingly hot and deathly cold. No one wants to shake the extremity of a sweat machine nor vampire. 

8. Do you have a go-to meal for when you are at a restaurant and you can’t decide?

Some sort of salad with grilled chicken. 

9. Do you have slippers?

Yes! And a robe. And yes, I wear them constantly. 

10. Are you easily grossed out?

Not per say.  At least not by the typical things that one might be grossed out.  For instance, pimples? I could watch videos of them being popped all day.  Dead, flaky skin? One of my top favorite things to peel.  However, mayonnaise? I could barf just thinking about it.  

Recent Happenings

Once again I have found myself absent from the blog world.  I almost typed, "from the world of writing," but that is not true at all.  In fact, all I have been doing in the past week since I last blogged is writing. I have written lesson plans, countless emails, job applications, scholarship profiles, and most begrudgingly, a seemingly endless term paper on student teaching.  

However, the end is near and soon enough I'll be free of writing papers, but I'm not even so sure I'll be grateful for that once I enter the "real world." 

But that's for another post. 
 Here's a quick glimpse into what I've been doing between all the non-blog writing:

Took the Sixth Graders on a tour of the University of Maryland.

Enjoyed an outdoor happy hour with my bestest friends.

Took the Sixth Graders on an "African Journey" at the Baltimore Zoo.  

Two more weeks of Interning and then it's graduation time.  Between now and then I will cram in a 12 hour Relay for Life, some more fun trips with the Sixth Graders and hopefully many more happy hours with my best friends.

Until next time.

Breakfast Sensation

I woke up this morning with two very different breakfast-related cravings.  Some may see this as a major edible dilemma, but I think this is exactly the type of problem that occurs right before great things are made.  Like peanut butter and jelly.  And fried pickles.  And spinach smoothies. And chocolate covered... anything.  The union of two unlike things are oftentimes innovations to be marveled, especially in the kitchen.

Oatmeal or Eggs?  That was the question.

I hate making decisions.  So I chose both.  I put a 1/4 cup of oats and milk in one bowl.  I cracked one egg and one egg white in another.  Together, they were unified in the frying pan.

  5 minutes, a dash of cinnamon, a teaspoon of honey, and a sliced banana later I had a delectable, healthy, and filling meal that I shall call "French Toast Eggs." Because that was was it tasted like:  French toast, minus the toast.  Plus a whole lot of nutrients.  And I wasn't even hungry before lunch.  That in itself was a miracle.

And there you have it.  My impromptu breakfast sensation that has had my mouth watering long since my second cup of coffee.  A breakfast so good, I felt inclined to share it with the public. Happy eating. 

A Very Glitz Easter

Indeed, my arts and crafts motto.  

Also, apparently my Easter motto:

Egg Dying Day #1 at Loverboy's 

Gold Eggs, anyone? 

Egg Dying Day #2 at my Momma's

By the way, my eggs were never hidden. Things this beautiful need to be visible at all times ;)

Loverboy got a Glitter-Egg in his basket too :) 

Now the question is, how long until the next holiday I can get a little glitter-happy??

Mommom

She was called "Mommom" I think as a parallel to "Poppop." Coincidentally, only "Pop" stuck for my grandfather, but "Mommom" was never anything else to her seven grandchildren.  And fittingly so.  Pop pronounced it as "Mom" repeated: "Mom-Mom," but we always say it more like "Mummum" - I think it's more endearing that way.  

Now that I'm thinking about it though... "Mom-Mom" carries the perfect connotation for my grandmother; she was an amazing mom to four daughters, but she was double that to a generation of seven more.  

In the few short elementary years that I knew her I loved her more than most.  I don't remember much from before the first grade, but this I know.  She must have been a massively significant part of my early childhood with the way the few memories I have of her seem to make appearances constantly. 

 I remember her blue night gown. 

Her tiny smile and the huge way it lit up a room. 

 The way my mother and aunts sought her advice for everything and more. 

The sweet smell of her chair - it was right next to Pop's, offset from the TV, but still the best seat in the house. 

The wig she resented.

 The cancer that required it. 

 How beautiful she was in spite of it all.  

I was too young to know it at the time, but I'm certain she was the glue that held her family together.  

Actually, I think she still is.

When she passed, each of her daughters received a piece of her lily plant.  To this day, it blooms only when we need her most.  Aunt Doe's bloomed the night before her wedding last month. Ours? Our plant has two full blooms and one blossom on its way. The past month has been beyond stressful, and our beautiful flower is definitely an indicator of that fact.  Stress and sadness is part of life, and I know that. But knowing we have an angel looking out for us puts me slightly more at ease. 

I don't always put my faith in 'Guardian Angels' but it's small beauties like these that remind me we're not alone.  A presence in an absence truly is a beautiful thing.  I'll never stop missing my grandparents but I don't think they want me to.  

(un)productivity

I do my best cleaning when I have the most homework. Actually, the more homework I have the more unrelated things I find to do in general, however, cleaning typically takes precedence.  

Oh a nine page reflection on academic language due Monday? 

I'll get to it right after I scrub the kitchen floor. On my hands and knees. Oh, and then I'll bleach it.  

A take home test due tomorrow? 

That will get finished after I dust every square inch of my bedroom.  

20 lesson plans due before Spring Break ends? 

Hold on let me just go vacuum the room I barely live in, wash and dry the dishes, take the garbage out and fold my sister's laundry.  

It's amazing the things I do in the name of procrastination. 

BRB I think I see some crumbs on the counter; better go take care of that before I continue blogging and begin to start my work.  

Happy (un)productive Tuesday, lovebugs! 
PS: I totally just wrote "Tuesday" instead of Wednesday up there.  Just goes to show you how quickly this break is passing, and how little I am actually getting done.  Can I call a time out please?

It's OK Thursday - a preface to Spring Break.

On this Thursday before my spring break from elementary school officially begins,  I proclaim that it is absolutely OK that I did not plan a single lesson last night.  It is OK that I came home from class, made dinner, and sat in front of the television watching American Idol with a glass of wine instead of doing anything even moderately productive.  Typically, this is not OK. However, today my students have their 3rd art class of the year for an hour this morning, followed by a half an hour of P.E., followed by another hour of  a “Sock Hop” (their quarterly school-wide book log event), finally to be followed by lunch, recess, and an Easter craft before dismissal.  Life is good in sixth grade today.

It is also OK that as a student teacher, I didn’t have spring break with the rest of the University. Initially I thought this was the opposite of OK.  I thought that I would be depressed and lonely and bored for the entirety of the seven days that the rest of campus was partying and sunning in Punta Cana.  Much to my surprise, it was peaceful and productive on campus while everyone else was off participating in college recess debauchery.  Now, I have a full ten days off before Easter and I could not be more ready for it.  E-town, New Jersey may not be as thrilling or warm as Mexico but I am excited to relax nonetheless. 

Another reason it is OK that I didn’t go on spring break yet? I had two people in the past two weeks ask me where I went for spring break because my I "look tan."  To these people I responded with pleasure that I indeed stayed in sunny College Park.  To myself, I silently thanked Mother Nature for unseasonably warm March weather during which I was able to drive with my top down and run for miles outside.  Let’s just hope the weather holds out this afternoon for a three and a half hour drive in the convertible and another opportunity at bronzing!

Additionally, it is OK that last week I discovered that my life is very heavily dependent on peanut butter.  If Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter wasn’t single handedly keeping me alive in my state of poor college girl status, it would be a majorly unhealthy and border-line dangerous addiction.   

One last thing. It's questionable whether or not it was OK that during a game of "two truths and a lie," one of my students admitted, "My mom's name is Julisa, I like violence and cheese, and I hate hexagons." I'm not entirely sure which is the lie. Also, I'm debating how much concern to express.  

Coming to you from College Park, wishing I was in Savannah like this time last year, Happy Spring Break, Ya'll.