Life Lately

It’s been a year since I started this blog and I am still figuring out which direction I am headed with it. I have bursts of blogging motivation and then I have periods where I am just not feeling it. And then there is the whole time commitment. Especially if I am doing an informative post-the research takes time! Sometimes I feel silly, and other times I remind myself that I started this blog for me-not for anyone else. Anyways, life has been fairly busy lately: substitute teaching at three different schools, waitressing nights and weekends, along with some fun stuff! Today marks the first day of my ‘Spring Break’ according to the school schedule, despite the less than spring like weather. Hopefully it will warm up soon!

The Main Attraction

The Birthday Bash: Last week was my brother’s birthday and his spring break from college. I was so pumped to see him, even if it was only for a couple of days. We had lots to catch up on! Our family tradition for birthdays is that we get to choose what we’d like to have for dinner and dessert. Chicken fajitas and dense chocolate cake!

Yes Please!

Last week my Mom and I took a day to go shopping and out for lunch. It was a much-needed day! I always forget how exhausting shopping is though! I hadn’t been to Target in ages and was needing to get my fix. I have been wanting to buy some things to make my apartment a little more ‘home-y’. And lunch at Panera is always a win!

Perfect for a Gloomy Day: Vegetable Soup plus a Grilled Ham and Cheese!

Signs of Spring: I am finally starting to crave my giant salads again. During the winter I crave warm comfort food, so salads have taken a backseat for a bit, but my love for a huge plate of veggies is slowly coming back! Must be a sign of Spring!

One Benefit of Waitressing: The Salad Bar!

Another sign of Spring? The Gerbera daisies that my Mom surprised me with at work! I was so excited when she showed up with these beauties!

Happy Spring!

School Stories: I have decided that the worst area to substitute teach for is band or music. Ugh. This is mostly because I am not musically inclined in the least bit. I have also come to the conclusion that allowing 30 middle school students to have musical instruments should be questioned. Most of them use them as noise makers, not music makers! Plus, the last time that I subbed for a band teacher the room was a disaster. And check out part of the plans that she left me:

Check Period 4!

Um, clean up your room? No thank you. I couldn’t believe that this request was part of the teacher’s plans. I had never subbed for that teacher before so how was I supposed to know what to do with the piles of paper and random instrument pieces laying everywhere? Messy classrooms are a pet peeve of mine, can you tell?!

The other day I subbed in a Kindergarten classroom and first thing in the morning one little boy gave me this to ‘save and eat after my lunch.’

No Portion Control Needed!

A single jellybean! How sweet of him! I thought this was incredibly amusing, but I didn’t eat the jellybean-too many questions concerning its whereabouts!

Even though I am still working at my waitressing job over Spring Break, I am looking forward to having some more down time. I am also hoping that the sun will begin to make more of an appearance so I can get some good runs in!

Are you going anywhere for Spring Break?

Decisions.

Its no secret that I have trouble making decisions. Usually, it is the small things, like what to have when eating at a restaurant, or whether I should buy something. Larger decisions usually involve thinking on it for a few days (or weeks), talking it through with others, and then finally deciding. I thought I was getting better at not over-thinking and over-analyzing things, but lately I have been having trouble deciding even the smallest of things: which birthday card to choose, what to plan for my lunches through the week, which size shirt to buy, whether I should buy things that aren’t absolutely ‘necessary.’ And the list goes on. I have decided that this probably means that I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with my schedule and to-do list.

Ironically, the smaller the decision, the greater stress it causes. The decisions to be a nanny for the summer, run a cross country trail race, register for a half marathon all came fairly easily to me. Maybe because I am always up for a challenge and trying new things? Or maybe because they involve things that I am passionate about.

In the grand scheme of things, these decisions that I am stressing over are tiny. I probably won’t remember them in a week, much less a year. I have been learning how to make decisions or choices for my entire life. As a teacher, I give students choices. They have a choice to participate with the class or do their classwork during recess. Most of the time, my students make the right choice. I rarely see students agonizing over small choices like what to have for lunch or which game to play at recess. They follow their instincts and do what they want to do rather than analyzing the consequences or other options. The result: kids experience little to no stress when compared to adults!

I need to remind myself to follow my instincts-the first choice is usually the best choice! The worst decisions are the decisions that you don’t make. Rather than allowing the fear of making the wrong choice to take over, I’d rather jump in feet first. No matter the choice, there’s bound to be some learning and discovery along the way!

Source

Do you ever get overwhelmed by choices or decisions?

Saint Patrick’s Day: My Week of Green

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!! I hope that you are wearing green! I don’t have many traditions or memories associated with Saint Patrick’s Day, but I love an excuse to eat green food all day long (not that I have trouble with this during any other time!). One of the only memories that I have of Saint Patrick’s Day festivities is from primary school when our class came back from lunch and the entire classroom was turned upside down and the water in the toilet bowl was tainted green. My entire class was in hysterics (imagine 22 6-year old children!) when my teacher claimed that a leprechaun had been the culprit.

Breakfast of Leprechauns: Eggs, broccoli, pork sausage, and sauerkraut!

I started out my Saint Patrick’s Day with a green and yellow breakfast (sounds appetizing doesn’t it?!). I have had a thing for sauerkraut lately and it is supposed to be really great for your digestive system. I happened to find a jar with just cabbage and salt on the ingredient list and knew I had to get it! Although I am not participating in a Saint Patrick’s day run, I did make sure to wear green during my solo run this morning!

My favorite green Under Armour shirt!

Some other green things in my life lately include my snazzy new vacuum cleaner. I know you’re jealous! Confession time: I have always slightly enjoyed vacuuming. It was always sort of my job when I lived at home and I didn’t mind. Even now, it seems weird that my mom has to vacuum the house and I am not there to help. Take that as you will! And now that I have a bright green vacuum cleaner, I am going to enjoy vacuuming even more! Okay, now that my ode to my vacuum cleaner is over…

Beautiful right?!

Another thing I kind of love? Furniture shopping browsing. Playing musical couches and imagining all of the different possibilities without spending any money? So much fun! Actually, I am sort of looking to buy a recliner. One of those huge, comfy chairs that you don’t want to ever get out of. I am not sure why-I am not exactly a sit and watch television kind of girl, but I love the idea of having a recliner. And my couch needs some company! My Dad and I went to a local furniture store to check out some of their Saint Patrick’s Day deals. I didn’t find anything that I couldn’t live without, but it was fun to try all of the chairs out!

Recliner Heaven!

I had another meeting for Girls on the Run to go over final details and pick up our supplies. Each coach received an awesome tote bag to haul all of our goodies around in. We were also able to purchase some cute t-shirts and I can’t wait to represent! Our team is slowly filling up and we will be beginning practice in a week!

I also got my hair cut this week. I always feel so much better after a hair cut. This time was no different. I was in desperate need of a trim! My hairdresser gave me a tutorial on how to put my hair up in a poof. I have tried since then, but I think I need a little more practice! I feel like I am the only person in the world who is not capable of creating this hair phenomenon.

Awkward self photo, but you get the idea!

And finally, my words of green wisdom:

I can’t remember where I found this, but it has been my motto for this week. I have a tendency to dwell and over think on things, and this week seems to be especially rough. So this quote was perfect for me! I even have it on my phone as my lock screen in order to serve as a reminder to just breathe and let things go.

Do you have any Saint Patrick’s Day traditions?

Did you participate in a Saint Patrick’s Day race/run?