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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!

Saturday, July 1, 2017

10 days time

I just got back from Spain yesterday. I went with another friend who is also a teacher, 6 of her students, and one of my former students. Max and I are in Chicago and Heather and her kiddos are in San Diego, we all met in Barcelona 10 days ago.

It's amazing what can happen in 10 days. Take a look at some of the kids' Instagram posts on Heather's hashtag, which all came through at the end of our trip:






These kids named themselves Spain Squad around day four, got matching henna tattoos and bracelets, and essentially, became best friends staying up all night playing Twister.

Max had said to me when we were at the airport that he thought he'd mostly be bored and in bed by like 9pm every day. Instead he got 16 new best friends.

Maybe that's what new culture, a different language, exploring a new place, and being open to others who are different from you can do.

Maybe that's what traveling can do.

New friendships. I'll take it.

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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