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Friday, July 28, 2017

tgif

This week I read Brené Brown's book, The Gifts of Imperfection... it was so good! I'll save the book review for another day, but loved this idea she had about a gratitude blog she used to write on Fridays, called TGIF:



In her research, she found that she could create joy in her life by practicing gratitude. She uses a metaphor of Christmas lights to explain:


"Twinkle lights are the perfect metaphor for joy. Joy is not a constant. It comes to us in moments - often ordinary moments. Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we're too busy chasing down extraordinary moments. Other times we're so afraid of the dark we don't dare let ourselves enjoy the light. A joyful life is not a floodlight of joy. That would eventually become unbearable. I believe a joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together by trust, gratitude, inspiration, and faith."

And so I bring another blogging format you might like to try out for yourself... TGIF: trust, gratitude, inspiration, faith.

I am trusting that Amazon really is going to show up with my next two books, Posted and The Universe Has Your Back.

I'm trusting that my family and friends understand the intent of my choices and behaviors is always positive, even when they could be interpreted another way.

I'm trusting that even though I feel that I've not done enough work for the coming school year (read: any work) I will still get things together in time enough for a great 15th (!!!) year of teaching.

I'm trusting that I'll find the perfect first day picture book to read to my class...any ideas?!

Feeling gratitude for my new mani-pedi. I was so in need, it had been like 6 weeks!

Feeling gratitude for the twinkle lights strung in my living room, that remind me to continually cultivate joy in my life by practicing gratitude.

Feeling gratitude for cool summer days with a breeze through the windows and amazing evening light on the bedroom side of my apartment. (idk my directions in Chicago!) 

Feeling inspired by Brené Brown, today, and always.

Feeling inspired by the amazing teachers I follow on social media, and my bffs who are teachers, too.

Feeling inspired by my friend Rachel who made a pie... from scratch. It was beautiful and smelled delicious and I think she saved me a piece!

Having faith in those I love most, that each one of them will find the things that bring them much happiness.

Having faith that I will make it to another Cubs game before the school year begins!


Having faith that my half sister, who I haven't been in much contact with, will decide that she'd like to build a more solid friendship with me in the coming years.

So, what did you think? I'd love to read your TGIF post! Write one and leave the link in my comments!


Happy Friday!

Monday, July 24, 2017

brought to life

There are so many things in life to be thankful for, and those things that really awaken your spirit - those are my favorite. Today I stopped by school and saw a few kids and felt brought back to life in some strange way, which got me to thinking about other ways I feel like my most happy, authentic self. Here's what I came up with on the fly :-)

Best friends, especially all together in a group
Usually, my friends and I get together for a long weekend every summer. Chicago or Southern California so far (our hometowns) but I'm sure we'll venture out next. (Vegas has been thrown around.) The thing about this is when we're all together, the hilarity always ensues. The friendships are more than a decade old, and the inside jokes and stories of years past are there, and never forgotten. Sitting with them, laughing with them, being silly, seeing new things - that is most certainly enough to make me feel like a pretty powerful version of myself.

Traveling
I love seeing new places, and one of my friends, Heather, travels every summer with her high school students. This year, on our Spain trip, was the first time I had one of my former students with her and her students. It's awesome to see the Alhambra, but add a former student and his 15 new bffs, you've got a recipe for happiness. Traveling is amazing, and especially with loved ones. I feel so thankful for the opportunities I've been afforded by Heather and her travel group, #nixitravel.

Significant Other
I'm a work in progress in this department, trying to figure things out and do things as right as I know how to do. Like everyone, I screw up sometimes, but I also have boundaries that are meant to protect myself and those I care about. When there's a special guy, and we're doing cool stuff together, and even when we're not... we could just be chilling at home watching TV or reading, but being with my best, favorite person.... nothing. better.

Teaching
Actually not teaching as much as the kids that bring me to life. It's been like 6 or 8 weeks since I last saw kids, and while I'm thankful for the rest and rejuvenation, I know I will be so happy to get back to school when it's time. Today I had to run into work to open up our doors for kids to come check out summer reading books. A group of 4 upcoming seventh graders came in, with their reading logs and with an amazing summer energy, and I was so brought back to life just being in their presence. Even though teaching is hard as hell, it's so rewarding; I love kids.

Family
This one is kinda like friends, like it's awesome to be with family in little pockets, but when we're all together at once, even better. At Easter we were ALL at my sisters for the holiday and it was so fun to have so many people around.

I guess I'm seeing a trend in all these things - it's the people in my life that I love so much and just want to be with, family included.

What brings you to life? What are your things? Write a post and leave your link in my comments!

Sunday, July 23, 2017

gratitude lately

Sometimes life is a major bummer. And when that happens, you have to find things to help you through. In my case, it's yoga and friends and church, and though it's Sunday I'm not feeling super churchy, so I thought I'd also remember to find gratitude in other areas of my life.


Thankful for my fave yoga teacher and friend, Rachel, who reminded me to practice gratitude as she set the intention for class today. I needed this, which is why I come to my mat. Even better when you love your teach.

Also thankful that the first song in class today was Despacito. Check out my niece and I doing our rendition of it here. (An aside: we can't sing for crap, but everytime I watch, I can't help but laugh!)

Thankful for a filter on my thoughts, like today in Rachel's yoga class when I wanted to light her up with a string of explicatives for the crazy cardio routines she was insisting on. For the record, I did way more in that class than I *ever would have on my own.


Thankful for friends who pick up their phones and spend time with me, especially when I need them most. Pretty Princess Time with Katie, catching up with Anita, hanging out with Liz tonight.

Thankful for a warm (cozy warm, not warm-warm) home that is now almost super clean, too.

Thankful for great books to pass the time.

Thankful for Phytosport to replenish hydration when I haven't been taking the best care of myself.


Thankful for this blog, Canva for cute images, and friends who read and leave comments.

Thankful for forgiveness, like forgiving myself for not writing every day this month like I had planned.

Thankful for the people in my life who are passionate about stuff - their work, their family, their friends or significant others, hobbies. I can't understand people with no passions...

Thankful for tacos.


I think that's all for today. Maybe I will make it to church after all. What are you thankful for? Write your post and leave your link in my comments so I can be sure to read it!

Happy Sunday,

Saturday, July 22, 2017

won't budge


In my middle school ELA class, I expect two things to happen on an ongoing, daily basis: Independent Reading and Writing.

Independent Reading
I expect my students to read every day. That happens in class and it happens at home. Independent reading is the cornerstone of my middle school ELA classroom, because...

If children are to build vocabulary,
they should read.
If they need to develop fluency,
they should read.
If they need to learn about a topic,
they should read.
If they need to be a person they are not,
they should read.
If they need to grow, to stretch, to dream, to laugh, to cry, to find a friend, to vanquish a foe,
they should read.
-Kyleen Beers by way of Stacey Riedmiller @literacyforbigkids

So in my class, reading is paramount. Kids must read, and they will. There are a few things I do to create readers.

1. My library is full. I spend my classroom money not on anything else but books (well, also some Sketcher markers, composition notebooks, and folders, too). But mostly books. I follow people on Social Media who are reading new titles, and I get my hands on them and get them into my classroom. And I read! I read the books in my library so I can recommend them to my students. I know my library. I learn my readers. I match them up.

2. I provide time in class to read. If kids are to value reading, they have to see that their teacher values it so much that they create time in class for them to do so. Sometimes it's 10 minutes each day for the week. Other times it's 45 minutes once for the week. But every week in my classroom, students are reading.

3. Additionally, students are required to read 20 pages of their book at home each night. My kids do not do reading logs, but instead I take Status of the Class. Each day, I spend 3 minutes asking each child (orally) to tell me where they are with their reading. They might be starting a new book, in which case they will tell me the title, they might be continuing a book, in which case they tell me the page number they are currently on, they might abandon the book, in which case that will cue me to see what's happening via conference, they might be finishing a book, and asking for time to select another. I always know who is reading what, and I do that with Status of the Class.

4. We book talk. During the first quarter, I do the book talks. It's common that many students are not used to reading and completing a lot of books prior to my class. So during the first quarter, I talk about a lot of books with my students. I have them keep a "Books I Want to Read" list, so they can have a list of books going for when they finish. By second quarter, they are ready to start book talks, and so each student will do two book talks during the quarter. The point is that we are constantly talking about books. Check out Penny Kittle's Book Love for more on this.

5. Finally, when students are reading independently, I am conferring with my readers. I set up a schedule so that I make sure I see all my readers over the course of a week or two... my point is that my conferring is not random. When I confer with my readers, I ask them to briefly tell me about their book (summarize in 3 sentences) and then I have them read the page they were on to me. I then ask them to summarize that page, and while they are reading to me, I am on the lookout for a teaching point. This is not easy work and it takes time to master (I'm still not awesome at it, but I keep trying!) But the idea is that in my classroom, kids are reading, and I'm talking to them about their books in more ways than just one.

My students do independent reading in an ongoing way, but sometimes we do a novel together. In that case, they will set their Just Right books aside and we'll do the novel. I will lead the novel and do more in the beginning with them, but then once I've set purpose, I will require them to read more on their own, so we can then discuss when we are together.

We also do book clubs at the end of the year, after they have built their stamina with independent reading. You can read more about that here.

Writing and Blogging
In addition to reading, my kids are writing, lots. We are lucky to be a 1:1 district, so we blog. But, we also Quick Write, Journal, and publish papers. For this post, I'm going to focus on Quick Writing and Journaling, which leads me to blogging.

Quick Writing
In the beginning of the year, as we are getting to know one another and the routines of the classroom, we begin writing with Quick Writing (Penny Kittle, Write Beside Them). 



This is how I prompt kids to quick write:

1. Write for the entire three minutes, as fast as you can. I prompt them for quick writing, but I also tell them to follow the thoughts in their head. So if my prompt is, "Something I like about school...." and they start that and then go off on a tangent about shopping or a friend, that's totally fine. The goal is to write, and write fast.

2. I tell them to ignore the critic speaking in their head. Writing is hard! You totally judge yourself. You worry about punctuation and spelling and yet there are so many ideas you need to get out. When you quick write, the goal is to write a lot, and it can be messy, it can be unpunctuated, it can be disorganized. Just write.

3. Relax, have fun, and play! This is meant to be a playground for writers. To play around with ideas and words and meanings and anything else. No judgement, just write.

So with that, I then give them a prompt which I do as a sentence stem (with a sentence stem, EVERY kid can get started writing, because they copy the stem and then keep going. Using a question is a little trickier!) We practice Quick Writing for a few days and I observe behaviors, like looking around the room, kids playing with their pen or pencil, avoiding the writing, etc. Then I roll out success criteria:

Last year I notice I had a handful of kids that wouldn't just get to business, so this helped most of that group focus shoot for success. There were still a couple after this that had a hard time, but then it was time to confer :-)

Journaling
I did not add this component in last year, but I will this year. My philosophy is is line with Reading and Writing Workshop, so I know kids must have choice. The prompting in quick writing isn't a lot in the choice field, so this year, I'm planning to add in journaling - eventually I'd like to quick write one day and then journal (you pick your topic) the next. It will take time to build to that but I'm hoping to create some choice writing "play" time for kids this year.

Blogging
All of this leads to blogging! Kids have to have some experience with writing before you go to the tech - they have to know how writers find ideas (my kids are expected to publish two blogs a week, it's always at least two free choice blogs, but sometimes I assign something for one of them. Kids HAVE TO HAVE free choice. Writers are not prompted. Kids shouldn't always be prompted, either!) Then, my blogging mini-lessons teach them everything I do with blogs:
  • Dashboard vs. Blog
  • How to publish a post
  • How to use the tools in the blog post (add a link, a picture, a video, bullets, change font, etc)
  • How to publish a page (and the difference between the post and the page
  • How to write a Slice of Life (see Two Writing Teachers)
  • How to comment appropriately and in an engaging fashion
  • How to use labels to organize your posts
If you want to blog with kids, the first thing you have to do is write your own blog. As with anything else, you should be doing all the work you ask your students to do, which will give you so much insight into what you are asking them to do.

Not going to budge on these things. Of course there are other components to my ELA classroom - poetry, and reading and writing instruction, publishing papers, discussion, book clubs, etc, but these two components create readers and writers. They will *always* be at the heart of the work I do with teens.

What about your middle school ELA classroom? Please share what works for you in your classroom!

Happy Saturday!

Monday, July 17, 2017

look the other way

It's summer and I love it.

But every day I feel a little bit of guilt.



Because I have done ZERO work for this upcoming school year.
ZERO.
I think about it, briefly, then skip off to whatever fun summer thing I have to do.

And reading? I've hardly read anything this summer.
Even blogging every day in July - missed two days.

But I have been to Spain. (My fave trip abroad yet.)
And there is a new guy. (More details to come, he's pretty amazing!)
And my niece is here. (Auntie & Monkey's week of fun!)

The weather is perfect.
It's summer in Chicago with so much to do.

So why do I have to feel the guilt?

Anyone else out there feel the same? Tell me I'm not the only one.

Friday, July 14, 2017

public service announcement

I don't eat many hot dogs. But if I do, you have to do them right. Let me break it down for you so you know what is acceptable and what is not.

#1:

That's cheese wiz with ketchup and mustard under.


Let's try another.

#2

Alright, well, better with tomatoes and pickels, but ketchup on a hot dog.....?


There shall be no ketchup on a hot dog.

#3

Almost perfect, just missing the neon green relish!

#4

This on is almost perfect, too, just missing the celery salt.

If you're going to eat a Chicago style hot dog, do it right:


Tell me how hot dogs go in your neck of the woods!

Thursday, July 13, 2017

#chi love cool people

I was on the train one day going... well, I can't remember actually. But, the girl who was sitting next to me had this cool pin:


I turned and asked her, "Hey, where did you get that pin? It's so awesome!" It was pinned on her bag right next to a Rolling Stones pin, and so it made sense that she got it at one of their concerts. She was friendly enough, but soon there after, she went back to her phone with games or texts, and I did the same.

A few stops later, as she was standing up, she turned to me, holding out her hand and said, "Here, you should have it. Just make sure to put it somewhere where people will see it."

I smiled and took it, asking her name.

"Thanks, Alice."

That pin stayed on my backpack all through Spain, so it was perfect time to represent our hometown while abroad.

I have a definite affection for this city, as most of you who read this blog regularly know. But also, after this incident, the people who call it home.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

be quiet, be still

My niece is here! She came two years ago, then not last year, but now she's back for a week to spend with her favorite auntie / Godmother. We have lots of plans: yoga, shopping, eating, aquarium, beach, visit my dad in the UP and play games. I love to make her try new things, and today the new thing was yoga.

Caitlyn is very athletic. She's been playing soccer for years! So when it came to chaturanga, easy peasy with a little bit of prompting. And her side planks were ON. POINT.

But then there's the stillness and quietness. Let me break it down for you. Caitlyn is a motor mouth. My sister and I used to joke around when her elementary teachers would say she talked to much and we'd look at that meme that says something like, "Go ahead and move my seat, I'll talk to everyone!" So for her to be quiet and be still in yoga, that's the big accomplishment, and she did a great job!

Taking her made me remember how much yoga I've done, how I'm able to cue myself to release stress (this is going to sound strange if you don't practice) but release stress in your face by softening it, releasing your tongue from the roof of your mouth, and just be still. It takes practice but makes you feel so great!

If you want to try yoga, come try with me... and Caitlyn!

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

currently

Not quite Farley's but fun nevertheless!

Making - awesome plans for my Goddaughter who comes for a week tomorrow!

Cooking - sure my dad will be cooking something awesome when I visit him this weekend

Drinking - Coke, delicious but so bad for you


Reading - What the Lady Wants (still......) and thinking about reading the other books on my list but not reading as much as I should be


Wanting - to travel the world with my favorite people


Looking - forward to a week with a teenager of my own!


Wasting - easy days of summer vacation being so so lazy


Sewing - I am not a person who sews.


Wishing - I could spend more money on things like clothes and shoes


Enjoying - binging on shows like Friday Night Lights and The Leftovers


Waiting - on my next trip to see a new city


Liking - the warm weather, especially when it's a little cool, enough to sleep with the windows open


Wondering - when I'm going to get some energy to get some reading and work done this summer


Loving - Summer Michelle who sleeps in as long as she wants, takes a leisurely stroll to yoga, and has lunch with friends


Hoping - next school year is a little lighter than last


Needing - to eat better the next few days

Smelling - grapefruit of Arbonne's Spa line that I've tried today (It's amazing.)


Wearing - pajamas, the best!


Following - friends adventures on social media


Noticing - that in summer I'm so unproductive and...


Marveling - at how much I get done on any given day during the school year

Knowing - I need to be much more productive than I have been lately


Thinking - about school supplies and also that it's tooooo early!


Feeling - restless


Bookmarking - pretty dresses


Giggling - at the thread of messages with my best friends


I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!


Monday, July 10, 2017

that's friendship


On a trip, and in sharing a room with your bff, you ask if you can leave your light on a bit longer, and she says sure. And follows two minutes later, "I'm never going to sleep, just so you know."
It's authentic and real, so you laugh hysterically.

That's friendship.

You walk into a spiderweb and almost fall off the deck, and your friends laugh instead of show concern.

That's friendship.

Your friend is new at her job and can't figure everything out super quick, and is apologizing it's taking so long, but also thankful that she's trying everything for the first time on you.

That's friendship.

A tire on your car has a slow leak, so he fixes it and then puts the air compressor in your trunk in case you need it again.
That's friendship.

You get a text that says "IHTP" which is a long standing acronym from one of your funny friends.
Even though you'd rather not know about bowel movements,

that's friendship.

Your friend comes over and needs you to peel the burned skin off her back from a terrible sunburn. And you do, no questions asked.

That's friendship.

Your friend goes into your bedroom for perfume without asking, and you're happy she did.

That's friendship.

A million ways to be a friend - how are yours showing you they care?

I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the commens and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!

Sunday, July 9, 2017

summer michelle

Yesterday I saw my cousin Michael, who is also a teacher, and he was telling me how his friends liked Summer Mike way more than School-year Mike. Which got me to thinking about Summer Michelle.


Summer Michelle's day today was amazing.

Woke up by sunlight around 7:30.
Spent an hour or so in my bed reading on social media and then in a book.
Got ready for yoga, had a friend come meet me around 10:00.
We took a yoga class our other friend teaches at 10:30.
After, we did a little shopping in the yoga studio and then got a latte.
We came back and figured out what yoga classes we will take together this week.
I walked to the other yoga studio, at a leisurely pace, listening to good music, not in any kind of rush.
I did my 90 minute cleaning shift.
I walked home, talking on the phone to a friend.
I showered, ate a salad, watched a little TV and got ready for church.
Went to mass. It was awesome.
Went to Mariano's and picked up sushi and other snacks.
Took it to a friend's house and hung out for a few hours.
Came home and now I'm writing.

I did no work. I did nothing I didn't want to do. There was no stress. I was so happy.

I saw this post on facebook from Love, Teach:


The school day she described - that's 100% how teachers do business, and we get all that done by like 3:30. My day today has been a long time coming. It's great to be Summer Michelle!

I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!

Saturday, July 8, 2017

home sweet home

Of all the neighborhoods in Chicago, I'm happy to live in Bucktown. (I'd be happier if I could afford to buy a place here, but all in good time!) The other day I was out for a walk and snapping pictures of my neighborhood, so I thought I'd share!


Super close, just a few little neighborhood blocks away, is Holstein Park. Here you can see the field house and the lawn out back. In front of the field house is a pool and a park with some equipment. There's always tons of moms and their littles there, and also during the summer tons of kids from city summer camps. Sometimes they have movies in the park, here too!


As you walk thorugh the neighborhood, you'll notice lots of gardens for everyone to enjoy. Next weekend is our annual Garden Walk so everyone is preparing their best for that event when neighbors get together to walk around and check out what everyone created.


It's also nice to have a Starbucks close by, which I don't frequent that much. Mostly when I have to do some work for school, feels a little better with a Cafe Mocha in hand. What I love though is it's super close, walk over, and sit on the patio if it's nice out!


Corepower Yoga is just a bit further. I love to walk there because when you get out of hot yoga, a walk home is a perfect way to cool down.


Also, not pictured but just to the right of Core Power is an awesome hamburger joint - Small Cheval. Great burgers and drinks and also a very nice patio!

We also have quite a few more parks just off the 606 - it's an old train track that was rehabbed into a walking path. You can't see the 606 here, but this is one of the parks just adjacent to it, including a coffee shop (and to go window) right in that beautiful mural.


If you happen to visit Bucktown, here are some recommendations for food, love all of them!

Stan's Donuts
AMK Kitchen
Blue Line Lounge
Small Cheval
Pequod's Pizza (not quite Bucktown but very close!)

I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!

Friday, July 7, 2017

nothing to say

and my post is late.

There are some days you don't feel like writing.
But you told yourself you'd write every day in July, and so here you are, writing about nothing.
Life happens. 
You are sometimes busy with plans.
And other times you find yourself in misunderstandings that only time can heal.
So you're sitting here, staring at a blank screen, cursor blinking.
All you want to do is take a nap, but you must persist.
You scribble some words down on the website.
You click publish,

and remember that tomorrow is a new day.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

what I'm loving

It' summer break and there's so many awesome things I'm loving right now, like...

What day is it?

Eating dinner at 10:30pm! That's crazy... and awesome.

And then, staying up till past midnight.

Stopping for lunch and then sitting and reading a book, as long as my heart desires.

Getting a super cute 1st bday card from a friend at work. "Crash, Bang, Roar, come party like a Dinosaur!"

Summer romance :-) :-)

Sangria. Going to attempt to recreate Spanish Sangria for Saturday's Family Picnic!

Sundays for yoga and church.

When your sister is having TWINS!!

Pretty Princess Time (PPT): skyping your bff when you wake up and are looking awesome.

Traveling abroad - opening your heart and mind.

#D100pride Summer Selfie Bingo - check it out on our hashtag on Twitter!

What are you loving today?

I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

paella for days

Prior to going to Spain, I watched a few Rick Steves travel videos. What I came to learn is that ham is super popular in Spain. Check out this spot, just off the city center in Madrid --


Ham Museum? No gracias. I'm not a huge fan of ham. I'll have a bit on Easter and that's enough for me.

Another popular cuisine in Spain is Paella. Paella is this grain - sometimes like rice, sometimes more like a noodle, cooked in a huge... frying pan, maybe like a cast iron one? and then you add different things to it - seafood, chicken... dare I say it... ham?

I ate Paella for the first four days in Spain...



Paella in Valencia was a bit different, the grains were more noodley...


And I tried crawfish...sweeter than I thought it would be!


By the end of all of this, I was ready for tapas. And also missing pancakes and a burger back home, both of which I have had since my return!

I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

gratitude lately


Thankful for the cool breeze blowing through my second floor apartment windows.

Thankful for new love and a lifetime of possibilities.

Thankful for fourth of July flowers.


Thankful for America the Beautiful to close out a perfectly timed mass on Sunday at church.

Thankful for the easy, slow days of teacher summer.

Thankful for American food... like tacos from an authentic Mexican restaurant :-)

Thankful for clean sheets and a bed that is actually made.

Thankful for visits from family that involve coffee and donuts in the kitchen.

What are you thankful for?

I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!

Monday, July 3, 2017

barcelona

I was all excited for Barcelona, especially after Ed Sheeran's new album dropped and this song:



Here are the highlights from my visit :-)

Park Guell - amazing park done by Gaudí - our tour guide wondered aloud if he was a genius or mad man... since he began designing parks and buildings in totally new styles. At Park Guell, he used all this recycled glass to create beautiful landscapes and also benches that were aerodynamic (I think that's what she said!) Gaudí said, "I want to capture God's architecture into geometrics," and so he did.

Here Max and I are at the iconic benches that overlook a little plaza with temples.



Gaudi also designed Casa Mila with sculptures on the roof - La Pedrera:



To give a point of comparison, check out what other architects were doing at the same time:



And so you can see how his work was totally new, inspired by nature, beautiful, original - GENIUS :-)

Look at the sculptures at the top of Casa Milá:



Take a stroll down Paseo de Gracia, see all the fancy stores, make your way to Placa de Catalunya, and then to Las Ramblas. This is a tree-lined street with tons of little outdoor shops for souveniers, flowers, food, art, and much more! On the outsides of that street are restaurants and shops, including a Nike Store that all our kids had to stop by...


We also visited La Sagrada Familia, super amazing church designed by Gaudí. I can't even remember all the symbolism with all the differnet parts, but it looks amazing. Next time we're totally going inside, didn't get to this time though!


Those were my favorite parts of Barcelona, but it wasn't even my favorite city of the trip, so can't wait to share more about it with you!

I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!

Sunday, July 2, 2017

expectations

Things never go as planned.

You think your flight will leave on time.
It gets cancelled.

You think your luggage will show up at your destination.
It doesn't.

You are unsure that you will have a good time.
You realize you could have never envisioned the amazing time you were about to embark on.

With teaching, you have to always maintain unwavering, high expectations for your kids, but in life? I think maybe it's best to let a bit of that go.

Case in point - Everyone told me how amazing Barcelona was going to be. Park Guell. The beach. Las Ramblas. La Sagrada Familia.


But we were late getting in, missed a day of sightseeing, and didn't even go into Sagrada Familia, and so Barcelona was just okay for me.

On the other hand, no one mentioned Madrid much, and so I was not really even interested in visiting. And then we go there and it totally exceeded my expectations.

The city center was named Puerta del Sol and the streets that ran out from the center of the city actually made it look like the sun. The days we were there it happened to be the annual worldwide Pride Festival, and there were signs all over the city saying, "No matter who you love, Madrid loves you." There were all kinds of shops and restaurants, a beautiful mercado, and tapas and churros and... joy. It was just amazing and I can't wait to go back.

So expectations. I say keep them high in the classroom, keep them high for yourself, but for everyone else? Let stuff go.




I can't wait to read your posts for BigTime Blogging Challenge 2017! Leave your permalink in the comments and feel free to share on SM with #btbc17!
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