{dear friend}

work and weekend.

April 6, 2013

I haven’t been around here much lately, I know. Turns out April is busy in the best kind of way.

I hope you’re all well, and that April {so far} has been good to you, too.

My days have looked a little like this lately:

School
Time with Zan
Netflix/Reading
Sleep
REPEAT

First grade is taking over the bulk of my energy and I’m loving it. I’ve been in those moods after school where I stay on for hours getting things done, and the whole time I’m there I’m enjoying myself. I always like what I do, but winter drags me down sometimes and the list of things to do piles on with little to no motivation to keep the momentum going. Papers collect, stuff gets pushed to the way-side, and my mind jumps from thing to thing without a lot of effort to just be.

These days it’s different. These days I’m letting myself be completely immersed in my classroom and it feels wonderful. I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with the sun being out longer and vacation being just around the corner, but still. Open House is next week, too, and that always gets my teacher-mode going into super-drive. Perfectionism at it’s best.

The days are going by fast and time with the littles is making me happy. I know these kids so well by now. I know what makes them tick, and they know how to make me laugh. We have so much fun for those 6 hours a day we’re together. I adore it.

This weekend is all about the nothing, the everything, the whatever I so choose.

{And cheering on Syracuse, definitely that, too.}

Life’s kind of like a roller coaster right now from week to weekend, but I love roller coasters so I’m just enjoying the ride.

21 Comments · Filed Under: life, teaching ·

easter weekend 2013.

April 2, 2013

Here we have it! My Easter weekend in the great state of New York!

Our weekend was filled with everything I love. We made it to Syracuse late Friday night and filled our weekend the best way I know how. We went out with friends and enjoyed the sunshine and early signs of spring. We cheered for our team with all our Orangemen might. We spent time with family, got dressed up for Church, and continued favorite traditions for one of my very favorite holidays of the year.

Here are some pictures for the viewing!

And if the picture of my dad wasn’t explanation enough, our beloved Syracuse basketball team is going to the NCAA FINAL FOUR!

Pretty exciting around these parts, considering my sister and I were born into this kingdom of Orange love…

Heeeyooooooo.

What a good one. Through and through.

24 Comments · Filed Under: family, holiday, life ·

goal five: read 25 books

March 27, 2013

I think this goal is one of my very favorites.

For me, it’s the most satisfying, most productive, most enjoyable thing of all the things on my list. Because for me, reading is magic– there is magic in the stories, in the best ones at least, just waiting to be opened and connected with, and for this very reason, I keep reading.

I keep reading and reading and reading.

I can’t remember the exact point in which I became a reader. A real reader. The kind of reader that feels the magic. But I do know that it was some point after I graduated college. Crazy, right? It seems hard to believe that it took me nearly 21 years to become a real reader, but it’s the truth. If I had to pick a time and a place, I think it would be on those long T rides to and from work that I first started to believe in the power of books, to see the beauty in the stories.

Besides being a reader of books, I also happen to be a collector of them. I get that from my mother, and for this I am grateful. But being a collector means there are many books in my home that I haven’t even turned the pages of yet. They are waiting patiently on my shelves to be taken down and opened up. Those books up there in the photograph are a few from the unread pile in the collection. They are first up on my “to-read” list so I can place them into the read pile once and for all. As for the others, I’m going to pick them up as they come– choosing ones friends’ recommend, and even those that speak to me from the shelves of local bookstores. I’m not going worry too much about which ones I end up choosing in the end— as long as I read, I’ll be satisfied. {Also, audio books count, too, just to clarify. Books are books!}

My 2013 book list {COMPLETE. 37 books. BOOM.}:

~~The Night Circus~~

~~The Time Traveler’s Wife~~

~~Stargirl~~

~~The Giver~~

~~The Hobbit~~

~~The Light Between Oceans~~

~~Where’d You Go Bernadette~~

~~The Witch of Blackbird Pond~~

~~The Tiger Rising~~

~~Tuck Everlasting~~

~~The One and Only Ivan~~

~~Divergent~~

~~Insurgent~~

~~The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society~~

~~The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks~~

~~I Feel Bad About My Neck- And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman~~

~~Beautiful Ruins~~

~~Wild~~

~~If I Stay~~

~~The Rules of Inheritance~~

~~Matched~~

~~The Art of Fielding~~

~~The Handmaid’s Tale~~

~~Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls~~

~~Anansi Boys~~

~~The Storyteller~~

~~Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants~~

~~The Second Summer of the Sisterhood~~

~~Girls in Pants~~

~~Forever in Blue~~

~~Sisterhood Everlasting~~

~~A Thousand Mornings~~

Tiny Beautiful Things // Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar {ALMOST FINISHED!}

And I know I’ve asked before, but if you have any favorites you think I should know about, send them my way, please and thank you. I’m always interested in hearing what you love.

All the books, my friends. All the glorious books.

P.S. I made a favorite list once {and updated it recently}. You can take a look at it here.

34 Comments · Filed Under: books ·

for the love of instagram // printstagram giveaway!

March 20, 2013

Do you instagram?

Well that’s a silly question.

OF COURSE YOU DO.

I guess the real question should be: do you do anything with your instagrams? For the longest time I never did anything with mine. They would sit on my phone and become forgotten about {or deleted} over time. More recently I decided to post them to my blog in my snapshots series, which I like doing a lot, but still, after awhile they just become lost in the post shuffle.

Until now!

A few weeks ago I ordered some of my favorite prints from Printstagram and I am SUPER glad I did. The quality is amazing {thick paper, matte finish, excellent photo/color quality}, and I’m happy to finally have them {IN MY HANDS! ON MY WALLS!} to enjoy in my home. There are lots of different products to choose from for the keeping {framed prints, posters, mini-books!}, but I went with the classic squares. So much to looks back on, SO MUCH GOODNESS. I also ordered two books of mini stickers. Because, why not? Long gone are the lost memories.

{Well, they were never really lost, but you know what I mean.}

Anyways, lucky you!

Social Print Studio is giving one of my readers a $50 gift code credit to Printstagram {THAT’S AMAZING}.

See below for entry details!