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I really enjoy finishing things. The bottom of the box of cereal is my absolute favorite part, love those crumbs. But I also get super excited to open a new box, and start anew. Dorky, yes, but I really really enjoy the simple things in life.
That's why I'm super excited that I just finished my first two classes. The end was glorious, and now I'm excited for my next classes that start in two weeks. Goodbye to Basic School Counseling & Child and Adolescent Development.....and hello to Issues in School Counseling & Community/Family/School Collaboration!
(In other exciting news....my friend Sarah informed me of a cereal special at Ralphs...and I bought 5 boxes of family sized Honey Bunches of Oats w/ Almonds for $1.88 per box!.....that means 5 wonderful times of starting and finishing boxes :)
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
livin' the dream...again!
Today I did something I've always dreamed of. I woke up at 4:45am, my friend Sarah picked me up at 5:00am, and we headed to Newport Beach to run/rollerblade on the beach! Ever since I was a little girl, playing with my favorite red headed California beach skater barbie, I've wanted to rollerskate on the beach. Yes, this was before rollerblades came out. I loved that barbie, and always wished I could do the things I "made" her do, as I had her skate along with me in my basement to Mariah Carey. My experience today wasn't exactly like my redheaded barbie....no killer bod with the bikini, and no surfer Ken. But... it was still a phenominal experience, and I did look pretty cute with my pink sweatpants and ponytail :)
We rollerbladed (me)/ran (Sarah) for 3 hours, seeing some pretty amazing things. We of course got to the beach when it was still very dark, and found great free parking. We then found our way to the boardwalk, and immediately heard the waves crashing. The high tide was wonderful to watch, the waves were huge and so loud it sounded like thunder. The stars were beautiful, and the moon was our only light as we started out. As we went on our first pier, the sun was starting to come out, and we were able to watch the beautiful sun rise. We went past many fishermen, surfers, and kayakers. It was such a gorgeous morning. We then got to the Balboa area, and took the ferry to the Balboa Island. We went around the island, and found a stand that sold Balboa bars, and enjoyed the great ice cream treat at 8am :). We talked to many people, saw a garage sale, people walking their dogs, and old men sitting around and talking. We found our way back to the car, and were home by 9:30am! It was so much fun to be on rollerblades again, I had missed it. And, I rollerbladed for 3 hours, and only fell once. Pretty good for being rusty!
I had a great week of Subbing. Monday and Tuesday I was with Jr. High LD classes, Wednesday I was with 5 different classrooms as a rotating sub, Thursday I was with the most fantastic sixth graders, and Friday I was with Jr. High Home Ec & Science. Who knew I would ever teach these classes? Home Ec took me back to the good ol' days at Flambeau's Home Ec room, with Mrs. Dicus, the sewing machines, kitchens. Even the smell of the room was the same as that at Flambeau's. It really did make me reminise about my experience in Jr. High & High School as I watched the same "Sew Cool" video three times (the video was ironically made in Wisconsin, a low-budget Home Ec video about sewing, complete with Packer material!). I've had a lot of cool "Is this really my life right now" experiences. Who would have ever thought I'd have the opportunity to teach P.E., Home Ec, Pre-algebra, and more. I just have to say how funny it is with the whole P.E. teaching....it was my absolute worst classes during my whole childhood/adolescence. I didn't understand the games then, and I still don't understand them. But in my defense, California dodgeball is completely different from Wisconsin dodgeball. Last Friday I was with a Jr. High P.E. class, it was so hot outside and we played soccer. In the first 2 classes, there were many many complaints, and I understood because I WAS that kid. So in the last 2 classes I taught, I told them if they were too cool for dodgeball, they could play duck duck goose on the other side of the field. It was PERFECT, because the kids that were really into soccer were able to play without the kids standing/sitting on the field complaining, and the kids that would normally just stand/sit on the field were at least moving a little with duck duck goose. So it was a win-win-win situation for all :) I've also had so many great conversations with the kids, about icebergs, politics, and counting to ten in different languages. So, my life and job is pretty fun right now.
Thursday night Lena, Priscilla, Sarah and Kristen met for our Ladies night. And then last night Sarah, Scot, Priscilla and I met for our Wide Awake book club, and celebration of Priscilla's birthday! I just need to say once again how blessed I am with community here. I've met such genuine, sincere, and loving people.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Sarah, Scot, and Priscilla with the yummy birthday brownies!
Priscilla, me & Sarah!
We rollerbladed (me)/ran (Sarah) for 3 hours, seeing some pretty amazing things. We of course got to the beach when it was still very dark, and found great free parking. We then found our way to the boardwalk, and immediately heard the waves crashing. The high tide was wonderful to watch, the waves were huge and so loud it sounded like thunder. The stars were beautiful, and the moon was our only light as we started out. As we went on our first pier, the sun was starting to come out, and we were able to watch the beautiful sun rise. We went past many fishermen, surfers, and kayakers. It was such a gorgeous morning. We then got to the Balboa area, and took the ferry to the Balboa Island. We went around the island, and found a stand that sold Balboa bars, and enjoyed the great ice cream treat at 8am :). We talked to many people, saw a garage sale, people walking their dogs, and old men sitting around and talking. We found our way back to the car, and were home by 9:30am! It was so much fun to be on rollerblades again, I had missed it. And, I rollerbladed for 3 hours, and only fell once. Pretty good for being rusty!
I had a great week of Subbing. Monday and Tuesday I was with Jr. High LD classes, Wednesday I was with 5 different classrooms as a rotating sub, Thursday I was with the most fantastic sixth graders, and Friday I was with Jr. High Home Ec & Science. Who knew I would ever teach these classes? Home Ec took me back to the good ol' days at Flambeau's Home Ec room, with Mrs. Dicus, the sewing machines, kitchens. Even the smell of the room was the same as that at Flambeau's. It really did make me reminise about my experience in Jr. High & High School as I watched the same "Sew Cool" video three times (the video was ironically made in Wisconsin, a low-budget Home Ec video about sewing, complete with Packer material!). I've had a lot of cool "Is this really my life right now" experiences. Who would have ever thought I'd have the opportunity to teach P.E., Home Ec, Pre-algebra, and more. I just have to say how funny it is with the whole P.E. teaching....it was my absolute worst classes during my whole childhood/adolescence. I didn't understand the games then, and I still don't understand them. But in my defense, California dodgeball is completely different from Wisconsin dodgeball. Last Friday I was with a Jr. High P.E. class, it was so hot outside and we played soccer. In the first 2 classes, there were many many complaints, and I understood because I WAS that kid. So in the last 2 classes I taught, I told them if they were too cool for dodgeball, they could play duck duck goose on the other side of the field. It was PERFECT, because the kids that were really into soccer were able to play without the kids standing/sitting on the field complaining, and the kids that would normally just stand/sit on the field were at least moving a little with duck duck goose. So it was a win-win-win situation for all :) I've also had so many great conversations with the kids, about icebergs, politics, and counting to ten in different languages. So, my life and job is pretty fun right now.
Thursday night Lena, Priscilla, Sarah and Kristen met for our Ladies night. And then last night Sarah, Scot, Priscilla and I met for our Wide Awake book club, and celebration of Priscilla's birthday! I just need to say once again how blessed I am with community here. I've met such genuine, sincere, and loving people.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Priscilla, Kristen, Sarah & Lena
Sarah, Scot, and Priscilla with the yummy birthday brownies!
Priscilla, me & Sarah!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
oh goodness....
things i hear as a substitute:
- "Ms. B, did your nose ring hurt?"
- "Ms. B, you are so pretty, you should be on Next Top Model"
- "Ms. B, I like your eyes"
- "Ms. B, are you going to teach here forever?"
- "Ms. B, why do you say 'about' like that?"
- "Ms. B, do you like USC or UCLA?"
- "Ms. B, are you a virgin?" (asked by Archangel....yes, that is his name)
- "Ms. B, is it true that if you have sex, your acne goes away?" (asked by Felipe, a preteen with acne)
- "You have a NOSE RING? You're the first teacher I've ever seen with that! There is a God!" (said Friday by an 8th grade girl)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
recently....
things i am a fan of:
- white peaches
- my view of the mountains on a clear day
- mail. e, voice, or letter :)
- mixed cd gifts from friends
- frozen yoguart
- psych, the oc, and dancing with the stars
- intentionality
- pandora radio stations: dave barnes, rosie thomas, & jaymay
- disneyland
- new blog backgrounds
- traffic jams (it takes me 1 whole hour to drive 18 miles in the am)
- the broken homes my students come from, and only having 1 day with them
- shorter days
- ants
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
livin' the dream!
So the most AMAZING and MAGICAL thing happened tonight. At 8:16pm my year changed. At Disney, if you have a day pass, when you are leaving you can upgrade for a season pass for extra charge. SO....if you are lucky to find someone with a day pass leaving the park, you can take their ticket, and upgrade to a full season pass. Tonight, Colleen and Danny found someone for me that gave their ticket to them, so I was able to get a full season pass for $65. Colleen called, I was already in my "lounge" clothes and mode, but Erin & I got in the car and ventured to Disneyland at 8:30pm! When we got there we found 2 more people leaving that gave us their tickets, so Erin, Lena and I were all able to get season passes to Disney. A whole YEAR of fun! We met up with Colleen and Danny and went on Indiana Jones and Space Mountain, had some pineapple frozen yoguart, and jumped around and acted silly. We were ridiculously excited for these tickets. This means that any night we can spontaneously go to Disneyland! Here are some pictures of our late night adventure:
You can see my wonderful outfit here....who wears sweatpants and yellow flip flops to Disney?
"Family photo"
Woohoo for Minnie & Mickey!
New "family photo" when Lena joined us!
First picture after we got our Disney picture IDs!
You can see my wonderful outfit here....who wears sweatpants and yellow flip flops to Disney?
"Family photo"
Woohoo for Minnie & Mickey!
New "family photo" when Lena joined us!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
soul cravings
I finally finished Erwin McManus's book Soul Cravings, just in time for starting his new one, Wide Awake, for the sermon series and book club. I love that I'm part of the Mosaic community, its such an exciting time here.
In Soul Cravings, Erwin explores exactly what the title says, what the soul craves. He says "Your soul craves truth, beauty, wonder, love. Your soul craves to dream, to imagine, and even simply to understand. Your soul craves to connect, to commune, to create. When you cannot see the possibility of these things, when you give up on them, when you are no longer changed by the pursuit of what seem to be ideals outside your reach, you starve your soul and you lose yourself. God has placed cravings within your soul that will drive you insane or drive you to him". Through this book, I've been able to get more of a glimpse of how God made us, for intimacy, for meaning. Our souls long to know the love God created us in, and created us for. Our souls long to be in community with others, to share our lives.
One thing that really struck me from this book is how if we are not connected to our source, being God, we will truly die. We cannot live without Him, and if we live a life in connection to Him, our souls will be fully alive. Until we know we were created with a purpose and for a purpose, wewill never be satisfied with the life we have. God is with us on this journey, He wants to take us where we cannot go alone, to become what we cannot be alone.
Another thing Erwin speaks about is the importance of hope in our lives. When we don't have hope, we feel powerless to change anything, but when we have hope, we are able to see the beauty and potential of every circumstance. He says, "hope empowers us to pursue our dreams, dreams are the art form of hope, they paint a picture of the life we desire". He also says, "God never intended for us to live hopeless lives. When we treat the future as something that happens to us, we become passive, apathetic, and even paralyzed. When we embrace our unique place in creation, when we believe that God has created us to create, it begins to change everything for us. It not only empowers us to live, but it holds us responsible for life. Not only our lives, but the lives of everyone we could affect for good."
Our sermon today was the introduction for Wide Awake. The pastor talked about our dreams, and how it affects not only ourselves. If we choose not to live with hope, live our God-given dreams, we not only affect ourselves, but everyone around us. Every one of us has been called to something unique, and if we move away from that dream or call, the people around us suffer. We talked about Jonah, how he ran away from the plan God had for him, and he didn't just affect him, but those on the boat he was on. Jonah was sleep walking through life, and God didn't punish him, but woke him up and pulled him back to the life and dream God had for him.
It was a wonderful and busy week. I started subbing on Wednesday, had Thursday off, and subbed again on Friday. Wednesday I had a second grade class, they had so much energy! Friday I had a sixth grade class, I really enjoyed being with those kids. Friday night we had our Wide Awake book club. It was great to have that community. Saturday was a chill day, then Erin, Lena and I went to the Hotel Cafe Tour to see Meiko, Jaymay, Erin McCarley, Priscilla Ahn, Laura Jansen, and Holly Conlan. It was 3 hours of amazing music, they were all such talented artists.
I'm looking forward to this week, looking forward to recognizing my unique dreams and soul cravings :) Its an exciting place to be in!
In Soul Cravings, Erwin explores exactly what the title says, what the soul craves. He says "Your soul craves truth, beauty, wonder, love. Your soul craves to dream, to imagine, and even simply to understand. Your soul craves to connect, to commune, to create. When you cannot see the possibility of these things, when you give up on them, when you are no longer changed by the pursuit of what seem to be ideals outside your reach, you starve your soul and you lose yourself. God has placed cravings within your soul that will drive you insane or drive you to him". Through this book, I've been able to get more of a glimpse of how God made us, for intimacy, for meaning. Our souls long to know the love God created us in, and created us for. Our souls long to be in community with others, to share our lives.
One thing that really struck me from this book is how if we are not connected to our source, being God, we will truly die. We cannot live without Him, and if we live a life in connection to Him, our souls will be fully alive. Until we know we were created with a purpose and for a purpose, wewill never be satisfied with the life we have. God is with us on this journey, He wants to take us where we cannot go alone, to become what we cannot be alone.
Another thing Erwin speaks about is the importance of hope in our lives. When we don't have hope, we feel powerless to change anything, but when we have hope, we are able to see the beauty and potential of every circumstance. He says, "hope empowers us to pursue our dreams, dreams are the art form of hope, they paint a picture of the life we desire". He also says, "God never intended for us to live hopeless lives. When we treat the future as something that happens to us, we become passive, apathetic, and even paralyzed. When we embrace our unique place in creation, when we believe that God has created us to create, it begins to change everything for us. It not only empowers us to live, but it holds us responsible for life. Not only our lives, but the lives of everyone we could affect for good."
Our sermon today was the introduction for Wide Awake. The pastor talked about our dreams, and how it affects not only ourselves. If we choose not to live with hope, live our God-given dreams, we not only affect ourselves, but everyone around us. Every one of us has been called to something unique, and if we move away from that dream or call, the people around us suffer. We talked about Jonah, how he ran away from the plan God had for him, and he didn't just affect him, but those on the boat he was on. Jonah was sleep walking through life, and God didn't punish him, but woke him up and pulled him back to the life and dream God had for him.
It was a wonderful and busy week. I started subbing on Wednesday, had Thursday off, and subbed again on Friday. Wednesday I had a second grade class, they had so much energy! Friday I had a sixth grade class, I really enjoyed being with those kids. Friday night we had our Wide Awake book club. It was great to have that community. Saturday was a chill day, then Erin, Lena and I went to the Hotel Cafe Tour to see Meiko, Jaymay, Erin McCarley, Priscilla Ahn, Laura Jansen, and Holly Conlan. It was 3 hours of amazing music, they were all such talented artists.
I'm looking forward to this week, looking forward to recognizing my unique dreams and soul cravings :) Its an exciting place to be in!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
just call me ms. b
Its official, I'm a substitute teacher! I got my ID picture badge today, and have my first "assignment" with a second grade class tomorrow! The adventure begins....
being a tourist!
Yesterday Colleen, Danny & I were able to be tourists in our new city! We went to the Hollywood sign, to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (with Gerard Butler, Comic Natasha Leggero and
Katy Perry), to Hollywood Blvd, to Beverly Hills, Bel Air (Got to see the Fresh Prince house!), and to the UCLA campus to eat. It was a great adventure! Here are some pictures:
Katy Perry), to Hollywood Blvd, to Beverly Hills, Bel Air (Got to see the Fresh Prince house!), and to the UCLA campus to eat. It was a great adventure! Here are some pictures:
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