Summertime!

I don't know how it happens, but somehow - even though I'm working less, summer always ends up so busy! So here's the scoop on what I've been up to in short in the past few months, largely in pictures ;)


-In April, we took a weekend hiking / cabin trip with some friends down to Hocking Hills. Beautiful weather that weekend and we always enjoy hiking in that area.  On our way back we hit up a little winery for some tasting :)

We also went to my dear friends' wedding n Virginia that month. SO happy for the couple and SO good to see my friends in that area! We had a great time :)

In early May I went to Pittsburgh to run the 5k and the Half Marathon (the "Steel Challenge"!)  I spent a lot of time with some awesome friends from around the country and ran the half with a very good local friend/running buddy! I'm still so proud of her for finishing the half and hopefully we can do another one together in the future :)

May also brought a trifecta of insanity: The end of the semester, moving, and planning a surprise party/surprise scrapbook for my in-law's 40th wedding anniversary! Everything went really well (and the party was particularly awesome, and they were indeed surprised!), but it was a lot of work. We're still not done with the unpacking part of the move (fortunately, we only moved upstairs in our duplex, so for anyone wondering why you don't have a new address for us - that's because it's still the same!)

This is the chaos of my car at the end of the semester...  The joys of teaching in 4 different locations!

Paperwork, potlucks, and presents from students :)

Conway is still not sure how he feels about these stairs....

In June I was off of my regular job, but I taught a 4 week seminar for a super awesome program that  does professor-let literature seminars at different work sites across the country.  The program is based in Cleveland and I feel very lucky to be a part of it! My group that I've now worked with twice is small, but mighty and they were already talking about what book they want to read next time I work with them :)    June also featured a visit from my parents and it was really great to see them! And, finally, J and I went to our church's big national conference in June.  I spent most of my time volunteering on the green team (helping educate about recycling and compost practices at the conference, and making sure everything is in the proper place) and attending workshops about interfaith partnerships and immigration issues.  I wish I could remember some of the more profound things I learned there, but I suppose that's what happens when you wait a month to blog about something. 

June was unfortunately not all fun and games. We also lost a dear friend, who passed away suddenly at the age of 31. We were glad that we were able to go to his memorial service, but I think we're still processing things a little bit.  Hold your loved ones close, because you never know when they could be gone....

July has been pretty good to us. We spent the Fourth of July weekend at J's parents' lake house and
watched fireworks there.  I'm now back teaching summer classes, and even that is half over now!  I'm also involved in starting up a new teacher mentoring program at work, which is both exciting and intimidating. But  I think it will be quite helpful for our new teachers and I wish there had been something similar when I started!

  I also recently attended the Thirty-One National Conference in Columbus. It was great to reconnect with my teach AND to get a chance to see the new fall products and prints.  Trust me, you are going to LOVE them!

Our conference goodies!

I love Thirty-One's partnership with Girls on the Run!

A few miscellaneous things that don't really fit anywhere else. We've had a few fun trips to the ballpark and are hoping to go back again this weekend. I love watching baseball on a beautiful day in the summer!

We've also enjoyed some great concerts in the past few months, including Cleveland Orchestra's "The Firebird", The Dustbowl Revival at Music Box Supper Club for my birthday, and Old Crow Medicine Show and Brandi Carlisle.  Plus my own concert with the summer band I play in!

I've also been enjoying time both in my own garden and taking advantage of my membership to the local botanical gardens!  First, some pictures of my garden so far this year (from the past few months):

Seedlings

Ready to be planted outside

Strawberries!

Our community garden plot a few weeks ago

Some of my indoor tea garden

And some pictures from the local botanical gardens

Not flowers, but how happy do these cute service pups in training make you!?

And my new sewing room is finally mostly set up, so I've reacquainted myself with my sewing machine and have been working on a few small projects. I have a pretty big pile of projects I'd like to do and am looking forward to tackling those!

And, finally, one last plug for the fundraiser I'm doing that will end on Friday (July 29!). It is for the Parents Advisory Network (PAN), a group in the Philadelphia area that supports NICU families. I will be donating thermal totes for them to give to NICU families, but I need your help! You can sponsor a tote for $15! We've had 40 donated so far, and PAN said if we can get to 50,  they can gift them to the NICU families in all THREE of the hospitals they support! These thermal totes can be used by NICU mothers to transport breast milk to the hospital.  You can sign up to donate here and I will contact you with payment details :)  Big HUGE thanks to everyone who has donated so far. 


Whew! Hope everyone is having a great summer so far and my apologies for the long (and long overdue!) post!

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year, everyone! The end of the year went by so quickly! Lots of good things - traveling and time with family, mostly :)

Here's a "quick" recap!

November:

I went to Philadelphia for a conference. I was only there about a day and a half, but it was very nice. I tried to split my time between conference going and self care. Including time with my dear friend who lives there, lots of good food, some nice long walks, and a trip (or two) to Uniqlo ;)

For Thanksgiving, we did potlucks in all my classes. We also made class cookbooks for each class, which is an awesome project that I highly recommend!

The next weekend I went to New York for Thanksgiving! Love getting to see my extended family. We ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, ate tons of good food, and then took advantage of the beautiful weather the next day and went to a park. :) Also enjoyed going shopping with my cousin and aunts! (Are you sensing a theme here??)

Riding a dinosaur at the park. As you do. 

Beautiful weather for November in New York!

It was also the start of the "busy season" for Thirty-One. I did a lot of vendor events and had a great time!

December:

I finished up the semester in the middle of December. We had more potlucks. It was good. I made my Cranberry Bliss Bars. They are still magic

I used some of my free time after the semester was over to catch up on my craft queue :) Especially holiday crafts! (But there's still so many more projects on the list!)

Hair ties

Festive leggings/pants

Boot cuffs

We had a great Christmas. I was very fortunate to get to spend a lot of time with my awesome in-laws and nephews. I enjoyed shopping with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, taking our nephews to the zoo, going to church on Christmas eve, and opening presents with my in-laws on Christmas Day.  I then drove to Virginia to spend time with my parents and brother, which was also great. (And also involved lots of good food and shopping with my mom ;) )   J came to visit for a few days (after a not-so-fun-and-exciting adventure getting there!). We decorated Christmas cookies together with my mom.

Cookies!

Conway and one of his new toys :)

For New Year's  Eve I had my usual party, which was small, but awesome. I love getting to see this group of friends and (now) getting to watch their kids grow up. On New Year's Day I ran my usual 5K and then J, Conway, and I headed back to Cleveland!

New Year's Day 5K

January:

We started off January with a fancy wedding with J's family. I loved getting all dressed up and we had a great time!

Since then, I've started my online teaching for the semester and have been doing new student registration sessions for my "real" job. Another week and a half before I go back to my regular teaching schedule. I'm trying to be productive and cross a few more things both off of my "should do" list and my "want to do" list. We'll see what actually happens...  Wish me luck!


Hope everyone is having a great year so far!

This is what happens when you start teaching extra classes...

Remember when I promised to post more frequently? Well, the week after I did that I found out one of the other teachers was leaving our program and they couldn't hire a replacement before the end of the semester. So here I am teaching an extra two classes a week! Her students are awesome and it's a lot of fun, but needless to say, it hasn't left me with a lot of free time!  and now I'm trying to remember where we left things here :)



Biggest and most important thing: My half marathon! I finished! I didn't get sick! I was 15 seconds away from beating a secret time goal!  (My real goal was to just finish the race, but who doesn't have some secret amazing thing they want?) All super good things. And if my GPS watch hadn't died at mile 7, I think I could've easily beaten the aforementioned secret time goal. Side note: GPS was fully charged that morning. Lately it's been lasting about 3 miles before the battery dies. A new one is NUMBER ONE on my Christmas List - (Hear that, mom or J? ;))   I've been running less since then, but there are two spring half marathons in my future, so the break from running longer distances can't last too long!

Other happenings:

We went to a young adult church retreat a few weeks ago. The topic was nostalgia/Back to The Future (because it was October 2015 and how could you not have that as your theme??) My biggest takeaway? "Live life like you're creating moments to be nostalgic for in the future." Love it!

Also in October, I went to my first TESOL Conference (our state chapter). It was great. I really enjoyed it, learned a lot, and picked up some great materials for my classes. It was very rejuvenating in the middle of a crazy busy semester. And a good reminder of how much I love what I do. :)

Free books and a tote bag! What more could a teacher ask for??

Last week was Mr. Conway's birthday! Hard to believe our little guy is 5 years old! I'm using this as an excuse to post more pictures of him, but really - who needs an excuse for Conway pictures??



  

I'm really enjoying this time of year. It's football season. J and I went to a great Halloween Party. I did some very fun Halloween activities in my classes (including pumpkin carving with my highest level group).  We also cut out paper snowflakes (because following multi-step written directions is one of our benchmarks to meet! Who said it had to be boring?)   I'm really looking forward to our Thanksgiving parties and to visiting my family for Thanksgiving itself.  I've started making my holiday shopping list (though have only purchased one little tiny stocking stuffer!) And it doesn't hurt that we've had unseasonably beautiful weather (though there is a chance of snow tonight..)  We even did some work clearing out our garden bed and planting garlic this past week. Note: After New Year's Day, my love of this season is officially over! Then it's just cold, dark and snowy ;)

30 pumpkins = a pumpkin patch in the trunk of my car!

The finished products!

Cowboys and Indians! Get it?? 

Snowflakes in the classroom

   Speaking of holiday shopping - I've been quite busy with Thirty-One! I've had two vendor events so far and have one more vendor event and a holiday open house :) Today is also my Thirty-One anniversary! Hard to believe it's been a year since I started this adventure. It's been fun and I'm excited to see what the next year brings.

Hope all my lovely readers are doing well and I hope to update again soon! (But, realistically, we'll see what happens ;) )

And one last picture - the vase and flowers J bought me just because :) He's the best!