Photo Story Friday

My friend Pam told me about Photo Story Friday a REALLY long time ago. But I am just now figuring out how it works and how to play so here we go!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I posted this photo earlier but it just makes me smile each time I look at it. I love sunflowers and I love taking pictures of them and this one just came out beautifully!These photos just make me think of Tuscany and how beautiful the simplicity in nature can be!

Thanks Pam!

What a Way to Spend a Friday Night...

I really do think I need to get a life! I talked to my landlord today about moving into my new apartment. I offered to clean it and paint the walls in exchange for some help on the rent. Since my landlord HATES cleaning apartments and he doesn't want me to move out since I 'have always been a good tenant' (his words not mine)- he agreed. I think he got the good end of the deal on this one! The guy that just moved out was not one who took care of his place very well I guess you could say. This is supposed to be a non smoking building but he ALWAYS smoked in there, he is from India so he only knew how to cook cury, and he was always burning incense. So needless to say, the whole apartment stinks- REALLY badly. I opened all the windows today and the door and within 10 minutes the entire building smelled like that apartment. The blinds, which were brand new and white when he moved in, are now nasty yellow from tobacco stains. Luckily he broke them so my landlord will have to replace them. I started cleaning the kitchen tonight. I spent about 2 hours just wiping down the walls and the stove. Ya, I'm so not excited to start on the bathroom! Hopefully tomorrow I can get the majority of it done and maybe some of the painting... the carpets are getting cleaned next Friday then I can move in after that! Yay! It will be nice to finally have a place of my own again. A place where I have room to put my stuff and not have to worry about being over taken by metal sculptures and who knows what else! Don't get me wrong, I love my roommate- probably the best roommate I have ever had- but I am ready to spread out a bit and not be confined to one room!

I have survived!

My first week as a teacher has officially ended. After school got out today we had meetings for about 2 hours... all new stuff... People would ask how I was doing and all I could say was "My brain hurts!!!" Over all, it has been a great week. I have learned a lot of what to do and more importantly, what not to do! I have already started the list of things to do differently next year. I have a few students who are definately going to give me a run for the money. I have already had to send them to the "Behavior Nazi" as I call her. She is the one in charge of detention and all that good stuff. She is amazing! Pretty hardcore and the kids are terrified of her. My mission this weekend is to think of something to help these choice students in my class.

For the most part all of my classes are great. It is fun to see the students eager to learn... granted not all of them are but I am doing my best to make it interesting and challenging for each of them... which is so much harder than you would think!

I am so grateful I have such amazing co-workers who work together and are more than willing to help out in anyway they can. It has been a real relief and life saver. There is so much to do it is amazing! My brain just never stops. It is constantly going about 100 miles an hour, thinking of ideas things I should have done that I didn't, how I can change things next year or even tomorrow, thinking what can I do to better manage my classroom, how in the world can I make 40 desks fit in my room and still have room to move....- in the car, in the shower, when I'm eating, even when I am sleeping- it's ridiculous! I think I need a life!

I think one of the best things about teaching is that every day is a new day. Hell, when you are a secondary ed teacher every hour is a new hour! It makes it nice because one class can be terrible and the next can cheer you right back up.

So, over the weekend I get to continue working and preparing for the up coming week. Hopefully I can think of a good idea to help with managing my class... before it gets completely out of control (one class in particular... most of them are great!) So it is definately going to be a full weekend!

Head Spinning, Watch For Falling Debris!

It's only hump day and my head is spinning so fast I don't know up from down at this point. There is always so much to do and not enough time to do it! I am beginning to find that I am one of the very first people to school and the last to leave... Do I really have that much to do?!?! I don't want to be stuck at home doing all my work and stressing myself out too much so I try to do as much as I can while I am there.

I am really excited because today I figured out a game plan for my advisory class. An Olympics theme that focuses on major themes found in the games- respect for self and others, hard work, team work, racism, tolerance, and the list goes on and on.... It should be fun. Thanks for your help Ramon! Hopefully it works like I picture it in my head... ok ya, probably won't but we are gonna try anyway!!!

Tagged by Kaija :)

5 Things....
5 things on my to do list
Really, only 5?!?!?

1. Clean out Bellina's cage
2. Go over my lesson plans for tomorrow
3. Finish up lesson plans for the rest of the week (which is actually about 6 things on my to do list alone!!!)
4. Clean up my mess in the kitchen
5. Check with my landlord about moving / check out places to move as an alternative... (ya, don't ask... I'm a little bitter about this one at the moment)

5 Bad habits I have

1. picking scabs
2. not relaxing
3. spending money... though i have gotten better!
   
4. speeding
5. procrastinating (hence the reason I am filling this out right now!)

5 Places I have lived

1. Clinton, UT
2. Salt Lake City, UT
3. Venice, Italy
4. Torino, Italy
5. Siena, Italy

5 Jobs I have had

1. Checker at the grocery store
2. Rehab aide/OT aide
3. Surgical Tech
4. PBX Operator
5. Hotel reservationist

5 Things people might not know about me
This one is always hard for me!

1. I broke my arm in 2nd grade running away from a boy
2. When I went to jr. high for the first time I had a lot of my teachers tell me what I was like as a baby and how I liked to watch the fish(my dad used to work at the jr. high)
3. I was practically vegetarian until I was 23!
4. My dream car is a Harley Davidson
5. I am a Grey's Anatomy junkie
   

I tag anyone who reads this!!!!

I have a little catching up to do!

A few weeks ago my friend Veronica invited me to be a "groupie" with her at a little party thing that her boyfriend was playing at. Her boyfriend is in a Samba band and they were playing a t a local community garden salsa tasting party in Rose Park. Since it was Friday night and I had no plans I thought I would tag along. It turned out to be a lot of fun. There were so many different types of salsa to taste it was great! The Samba band did pretty well. It was fun to watch them because they were all into it and having a great time. I, of course, had my camera in tow and had fun taking video and pictures. I was really impressed with a few of the photos I was able to capture. I love these shots and so I thought I would share them with you!
This top one is my FAVORITE. I think it is one of the best ones I have taken in a long time. It makes me want to run out and take pictures like crazy!

I love the color of this red flower!

And this one is just pretty.

Here is a little video of the Samba band!


After the Samba and Salsa party we headed up in the Avenues to a birthday party for some rich lawyer guy that Veronica's boyfriend knows. It was crazy. I felt like I was in the movies at one of the parties where all the rich Hollywood people go to. Tons of food, servers, open bar... NUTS! And not to mention the view. GORGEOUS! I could definately handle a view like that- over looking the entire valley. How would it be?! All in all it was a fun night.

Back to School

Well, I have survived! Yay! I figured I would, it was just a matter of how well. And I think I did pretty well. My classes are HUGE- but then again, I am teaching in Utah where the motto is "stack 'em deep and teach 'em cheap". Most of my classes seem like they will be a lot of fun. As long as the chosen few decide to behave that is (lol)!

Many of you have been anxiously awaiting new pics from my classroom. Ya know, the ones where it actually looks like it could be a classroom!?!?!? Well, here they are! Thanks Darc for reminding me to take them before I left school today!These are just a few different views of my room. I'm stuck arranging the desks in straight rows because it is the only way to fit all 40 desks in there! In the bottom picture you can kind of see that I moved all the file cabinets and cabinets over to the same wall. It's amazing how much room there is just from moving them all to the same wall!

My desk area. I moved it to the other side of the room because of where all the computer hook ups are. It works nicely because I can also block access to my closet!

This corner looks pretty bare- it will one day be the "French corner" the French teacher that is in my room 1 class/day wanted that part of the room to do whatever with... I'm excited to see what she does with it!

And of course, since there is a "French corner" I had to prove the superiority of Italy with my Italian corner :) lol... I also did it for my class that I teach Italian to!

So I may have survived 1st day #1 (the school is on an A day- B day schedule), 1st day #2 is tomorrow. Hopefully it goes of without a hitch too! It should be a fun year!

Ok, so today wasn't my first day teaching but it was my first day working at the school. It was a pretty good day over all. A lot of information was thrown at me; most of which went right over my head.. You can only give a new person so much info before it all starts getting mixed up! I met a lot of the other teachers all of whom seem to be really great. I'm excited to have the chance to work with such a great bunch of teachers! I really think I will learn a lot from them. What is even better, they all are so supportive. I can't even tell you how many of them came up to me and told me where their room was and that I could send any problem children their way!

Really the only frustrating part of the day was finding out that I have to set up my own computer and I still don't have logins for the computer or even an email! So it will be nice once I get all those and of course, figure out how to use them all!

I am Softball!

As I was reading the latest posts on my friend's blogs tonight (trying to kill some time at work of course) I ran across this quiz on Kaija's blog and thought it would be interesting to see what sport I turned out to be! This is one quiz that couldn't have been more accurate. Softball is the sport for me... always has been, always will be!

I have very fond memories of playing softball every summer as a kid. It was the time of year I looked forward to most. I even remember playing catch with myself (throwing the ball on the roof and waiting for it to roll back down) in the rain... I was pretty hard core.. I loved it. It was my outlet- and sometimes still is... I even remember throwing a fit because they wouldn't let me play baseball with the boys. I wanted to play baseball so badly it was ridiculous! I remember dreaming of being the first woman to play in the majors... until that dream was shattered by someone else that is...

I loved it also because it was Grama B's favorite sport and I always looked forward to going to Arizona for spring training and her visits to Utah and playing catch at the park with Grama and Grampa and my cousins. That right there made my favorite sport that much more special to me!

You Are Softball

While you do like competing, you like cooperating even more. You find working with a group to be much more invigorating than going solo. You are a true team player. You like contributing to the win!

What Olympic Sport Are You?

They ain't gonna burn 'lanta!

Ramon ran across this question that had been posted on yahoo questions about the Russian invasion of Georgia. Yahoo deleted it but it had been saved in google... so you can still get to it... I thought it was pretty funny. Here is the link.
http://64.233.169.104/search?hl=en&q=cache%3Aanswers.yahoo.com%2Fquestion%2Findex%3Fqid%3D20080808091149AA3VGTk&btnG=Google+Search

the comments make it even better!

And they wonder why American's have the reputation of being dumb! Seriously!

I think I've lost my mind!

Ok, so maybe not my mind.... but I did lose my wallet the other day. I am so mad! I have turned my house and my car upside down looking for it... and it is nowhere to be found. I have no clue what I did with it... I'm pretty sure I didn't leave it anywhere... chances are it was in a bag and I started adding garbage and didn't realize it- and threw it in the trash... I am so mad because I had my debit card and my driver's license in it... and luckily less than $20 in cash. I was smart enough to cancel my debit card right away- which also meant my other credit card was canceled as well because they are linked to the same account.... and now, I have to go spend the day at the DMV tomorrow. I have been procrastinating it all week. I hate going there... the lines are always so long and the closest one to me is either in Rose Park (what a lovely neighborhood... not!) or West Valley (not much better than Rose Park!). Oh the joys.... I swear. I am the most forgetful 28 year old I know. Half the time I can't find my keys... which reminds me- I need to make copies of a few keys before I really lose them! HAhahahah...

Fun with packing peanuts

I got a package in the mail today and I thought it would be fun to let Bellina play in the box with the packing peanuts... at first she wasn't quite sure what to think but after a while, she began to explore and have fun...



I have tried numerous times to get a good photo of my little 'missy moo' (one of her numerous nicknames)- she is just too quick and loves to play. But finally, I was able to get a few...

Bellina is quite the climber... in case you can't see her, she is ontop of the black storage container...

Making it my own!

Today I finally made it out to Magna to get the keys to my classroom. Yay! I was there by 9am because I wanted to have as much time as possible to get things cleaned out... The previous teacher left a TON of junk in the room so I had to go through and decide what was what and trash what was left... which was most of it. It took pretty much all day but I was able to sift through all of the leftovers and organize the desks the way I would like them... it is pretty cramped when you add 42 desks into 1 classroom! I also arranged my desk area how I like it... (kind of...) so, next time it is decorating and deciding where to put stuff. I'm excited I got as far as I did. It is starting to feel like MY classroom. It will be even better once I get some decorations up!

Here are a few pics- since I know some of you have been dying to see some! (Mom)

Here's what I had to start with... desks all in rows, a messy closet, and junk in all the cupboards.... (all the papers on one of the desks was thrown in the closet)

I moved the desks and piled all the junk by the door... ( I hope the custodians take it to the trash for me because I have no clue where I would even take it!)

Here is the closet after I got it cleaned out and started putting my stuff in... still not very organized.. but it will get there! It is nice to not have it all stuffed into my bedroom anymore!

This is all the JUNK the other teacher left for me to take care of... all the stuff on the floor AND the stuff on the shelf above ! Ya, tons of JUNK!And all of these poster things too... It's all gotta go!I couldn't leave without putting up a few things that just scream Erica!
The cute teachers blocks Mom gave me... (thanks Mom, love 'em!)

And of course, something Italy! (Notice the scarf hanging on the bulletin board!)

And one of the posters we got at the supply store..
That's about as far as we got today... hopefully we... meaning me, myself and I, can get a lot more done tomorrow...

Tagged... again

I was reading my cousin Kevin and his wife Melissa's blog and noticed that she tagged anyone willing.... and considering I am bored at work, and so tired I can't really think straight... I thought I would give it a shot... I think I may have done this one in the past but I think it's been a while...

3 Joys
1. Kaden and Kyson (my nephews)
2. photography
3. teaching

3 Fears
1. ducks
2. failure
3. the unknown


3 Goals
1. create a budget and stick to it- (yeah, that's not going to be fun but much needed!)
2. Plan, plan and more planning- for school that is!
3. Not lose my sanity... though I think I am very close to losing it...

3 Obsessions
1. Italy
2. blogging, facebook and myspace
3. work... I am always working at the hospital or school stuff...

3 Facts About Me
1. Never been stung by a bee
2. I have never had a bloody nose
3. I have a gym membership that I rarely use... .I think I need to change that- maybe one of these days when I'm not working myself to death!

I tag Ramon, Karen and anyone else who like me is bored enough (or inspired enough) to do it!

So Much to Do.... So Little Time!!!

That dreaded first day of school is rapidly approaching... and I'm scared out of my mind yet thrilled to death. But the more I think about it the more I realize how much I still have to do! AAAHHH!!! (As I scream silently to myself!) Lessons to plan, a classroom to decorate, training with the district, oh and work- guess I gotta pay the bills somehow!

Yesterday I was finally able to make it out to Magna to check out the school, my classroom and finally meet the principal. Being the nutcase that I am, I got off work at 7am went home showered and changed clothes and headed out there. It was so nice to finally put a face with a name! I really think I am going to like it at Brockbank. So far everyone I have met is wonderful.

I'm so happy to have a classroom now. Now it is time to decorate and make it mine! It is going to need a lot of work- the teacher who was there before left it kinda messy but that is A-OK- gives me something to do (as if I don't have enough to do already! lol!!). The only question is when... I seem to have something going on almost everyday- and I'm picking up all the hours I can at the hospital to make up for the month that I don't get paid.... so I guess we will just see what I can do with what time I've got! I'm getting more and more excited as it gets closer (and more and more scared) but it will be great!

I will try and post a few pics one of these days soon... when I'm not at work so I can actually load the photos! Hope you all are doing well!

Top 100 Books

Top 100 Books

I got this from my cousin Erin's blog. Apparently these are the top 100 books ever published (according to some British woman). She said most people have only read 6 of them! So I thought I would give it a shot and see how many I have read!

1. Read through the list and mark the books you've read in bold.
2. Italicize any you started, but didn't finish.
3. Color the ones you loved in green.
4. Publish the list on your blog!

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
3. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
4. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
5. Life of PI - Yann Martel
6. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
7. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
8. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
9. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
11. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
12. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
13. His Dark Materials (trilogy) - Philip Pullman
14. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
15. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
16. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
17. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
18. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
19. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
20. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
21. Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
22. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
23. Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
24. Animal Farm - George Orwell
25. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
26. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
27. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
28. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
29. Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
30. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
31. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
32. Complete Works of Shakespeare
33. Ulysses - James Joyce
34. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
35. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
36. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
37. The Bible
38. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
39. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
40. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
41. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
42. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
45. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
46. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
47. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
48. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
49. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
50. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
51. Little Women - Louisa M. Alcott
52. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
53. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
54. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
55. Middlemarch - George Eliot
56. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
57. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
58. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
59. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
60. Emma - Jane Austen
61. Persuasion - Jane Austen
62. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
63. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
64. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
65. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
66. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
67. Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery
68. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
69. Atonement - Ian McEwan
70. Dune - Frank Herbert
71. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
72. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
73. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
74. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
75. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
76. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
77. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
78. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
79. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
80. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
81. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
82. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
83. Dracula - Bram Stoker
84. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
85. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
86. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
87. Germinal - Emile Zola
88. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
89. Possession - A.S. Byatt
90. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
91. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
92. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
93. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
94. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
95. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
96. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
97. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
98. Watership Down – Richard Adams
99. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
100. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

Well, I've definately surpassed the typical 6 books... but I still have a long way to go!

I've been tagged- time to do some ABC's

ABC's

A- Attached or single: as single as you can get... if you know any cute, awesome single guys... send 'em my way :) lol
B- Best Friend: just one?!!? Ramon, Debbie and Patrick
C-Cake or Pie: Rum cake... yummy!!!! I'm not a big fan of pie
D-Day: Friday or Saturday
E- Essential Item: caffeine... my life is too crazy (and about to get even crazier when I teach!)
F- Favorite Color: Purple & Orange
G-Gummi Bears or Worms: worms- I like to eat them one color at a time
H-Home town: Clinton, UT
I- Indulgences: Popsicles
J- January or July?: good question... January= too cold & July= too hot... anywhere in between would be nice.
K-Kids: do nephew's count?!?!?
L-Life is incomplete without: family & friends
M- Marriage Date: hahaha don't make me laugh... like that is going to happen! (I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, heaven knows I'm not!)
N- Number of Siblings: 2 younger brothers & 1 sis in law
O- Oranges or Apples: apples.. but they have to be crisp
P- Phobias or Fears: Ducks, losing someone I love, snakes, mice...
Q- Quote: "Non molare mai, credi in cio' che fai"
R- Reason To Smile: nephews... need I say more?!
S- Season: when it is cool enough to wear a hoodie and not be too hot or too cold... about 50 degrees
T- Tag Three: See below
U- Unknown fact about me: I have never been stung by a bee
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I was almost vegetarian but have been converted to the meat side.. lol (ok, yeah, that was lame.. but hey, it is almost 4am)
W- Worst Habit: picking scabs, zits... ya, I'm a picker (but not a nose picker!) i know.. kinda gross.
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: never had an ultrasound... so lets go with x-rays.
Y-Your favorite food: Italian (duh!) and chinese
Z: Zodiac Sign: scorpio!

I tag: Debbie, Meghan and Kaija

Good Times in PC

After graduating my mom told me we would go do something fun when I finally land a job... And since I have officially landed the job (possibly of my dreams!), we headed out to Park City do do a little shopping and relaxing. It was a blast! We headed out Thursday morning and after a close call- I just saw my life flash before my eyes and heard my mother cuss moment- we headed straight for the outlets. We started and one end and worked our way through just about every store... I was rather disappointed in the selection this trip- thought I didn't walk away empty handed I succeeded in finding an awesome pair of shoes and a cute shirt. After a not so successful shopping trip we headed to the hotel to check in, dropped our stuff off and laughed at the fact that they gave us the honeymoon suite- when we asked for 2 beds... and headed out to catch the bus to go to Main Street and do a little more browsing- I can't go to Park City and not go to my favorite art gallery. Every time I go there I HAVE to go into the Scanlan gallery- John Scanlan and his wife take AMAZING photos from all around the globe I can only hope to be that good someday (though I don't think I will ever even come close!). Then it was off to the Baja Cantina. My favorite restaurant in PC. I think we go there every time. It was quite tasty and of course I ate way too much. Then it was back to the bus. We decided to catch the bus that goes back out to Kimball Junction (where the outlets are) and make a quick Walmart trip... It turned out to be QUITE the trip! We didn't know where the bus stop was so we ended up sitting on the bus for an hour- going all the way out to Jeremy Ranch and back to Walmart... it was most definately "blog worthy" as I would say. The bus driver was rocking out to the old rock station... and I of course, sang along! I think Mom was a little embarrassed... lol. Finally, after our bus adventures- we made it back to the hotel and swam for a while before being invaded my kids. Then it was back to the room for a little veg time and some much deserved sleep! Today we headed back home. We were quite disappointed because we were hoping to hit up the arts festival but it doesn't start until tomorrow. Missed it by a day. Oh well... there is always next year!

Thanks Mom!!! I had a blast!