Currently

Courtesy of Heather

Reading: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Honestly, if you never read another book again make this your last. It is one of the best books I have ever read and I'm not even half way through it. PLUS! It's a nonfiction book. I am not a huge biography fan but this book is just so good and so hard to put down. I kept thinking about this book all day at work and couldn't wait to get home and start reading again. What he went through is completely amazing!


Watching: Top Gear (U.K.). I love this show. I am not a car person at all, but I love the British humor and it is so entertaining. I finished watching all the Mad Men episodes on Netflix so I had to start a new show. By the way, if you haven't seen Mad Men you need to start it! 


Working on: Putting together my interview binder. I actually haven't started, but I did take a baby step last night and looked up a good website where I can rewrite my teaching philosophy. My view on the kind of teacher I want to be and what I understand teaching to be has completely changed since I wrote my first philosophy my junior year of college. I also need to organize some lessons I created and other minor details. Finally, I would like to write out ever detail of how I want my classroom to run, from what the room will look like when students enter to how I want papers passed back. It might not seem like a big deal, especially if you have never been trained as a teacher, but every little thing matters in the classroom.


Thinking about: One of the residents at work who passed away today. I recently moved to the 4th floor to work full time and on that floor the residents are more independent and "with it." This means that I interact with the residents more and get to talk to them. The one who passed away was so funny. His birthday was the day before mine! I don't know why I took it so hard. I wanted to cry at work today when I found out during the lunch service. I don't do well with death and I think that because he was a WWII vet and I am reading a book about WWII it just hit me that people who have experienced such an incredible amount of hatred cannot escape death.


Anticipating: My sister's graduation in about a week and a half! I cannot believe she is graduating. I also can't believe that my brother will be a junior in college next year! It seems like just yesterday we were all playing outside in the yard with the neighbors.


Listening to: I haven't really listened to anything new. At work I always play oldies because I hate everything else on the radio and who hates a good classic hit? I have always loved oldies. They remind me of being younger and my dad. He would always play oldies in the car and around the house. Whenever Cats in the Cradle or Brown-eyed Girl*  plays on the radio I can't help but think about my dad! (*My dad would always play this song for my sister because they both are the only ones in the family with brown eyes).


Eating: Nothing at the moment. I just finished a cheese burger my dad made that I took back with me. My dad makes the best burgers! I'm also thinking about eating the dichotomy popcorn I bought at Westside Market this past weekend.


Wishing: I would get a teaching job for next year. I have such a passion for teaching and I really hope a school district will see that! I guess I can also rename this praying because I really need to start praying about it!

Cleveland for the Weekend

I went home this weekend for no particular reason. I even had a debate with myself up until Friday on whether or not I wanted to go. I'm so glad I did. It was such a great choice and it was a very nice weekend.

Friday, April 20: I left Cincinnati around 4 because I had to work. Bad choice. I arrived in Columbus just in time for rush hour. Plus, if you haven't driven through Columbus there is so much construction. I made it home to the Cleveland area around 8. Every time I come home I get hit with an overwhelming feeling, especially with the green trees and seeing a park next to my house. I don't really appreciate things until they are gone. When I got home I got to see this beautiful girl. I missed her so much.

So, I was completely confused when I got home. For some reason I read every single text my mom sent me about her working on Friday wrong. I thought she was off but apparently she was working. I was kind of sad because I wanted to spend time with her but she ended up working all weekend. So, because I got in late, I didn't feel like doing anything. I just watched some tv (which I haven't done in a while since I don't have cable) and applied for jobs.

Saturday, April 21: Saturday was such a fun day. Every time I go home I want to go to downtown Cleveland. I really wanted to go to Westside Markethttp://www.westsidemarket.org/ because I haven't been there in a long time. I went with my friends, Becky and Paul. We just walked around and saw everything. If you are from Cincinnati Westside Market is a lot like Findlay Market but much bigger. I ended up buying a bag of dichotomy popcorn (cheese and caramel popcorn!) and Paul and I got teas!

Afterwards we went to Tower City to walk around. We didn't do much but walk. There is a tunnel that goes from Tower City to the Q (where the Cavs play) so we walked that too.

Later on Saturday I went over my grandma's house. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it on here but my grandma is like my best friend. I always hang out at her house when I go home. She is also the most hilarious lady I have ever met and used to look like Mrs. Doubtfire. She fed me a lot of food and we talked. Her neighbors also came over and hung out. My grandma's house turned into the dog hotel. All my grandma's friends have dogs and they always end up together so I had fun taking pictures of them too.

Sunday, April 22: I didn't do much on Sunday. I just hung out and got ready to leave. My mom and I went up to the Verizon store to see what could be done about my phone since the camera has black specks all over it. Then my dad made hamburgers for dinner. I have been craving burgers and my dad makes the best! That was worth the drive home alone! I then headed left around 2:30. I stopped by my grandma's to say good-bye and then was on my way back to Cincinnati!

How to Throw a Titanic Themed Party

I am obsessed with Titanic and I love history. I also like throwing parties although that rarely ever happens. For my 22nd birthday I threw a Titanic-themed birthday. I wish I had more money because then I would have had a more elaborate party. I should probably re-title this "How to Throw a Titanic Themed Party on a Poor College Person's Budget" because I was/am a poor college person.

What is the  best way to feed people who attend your party? Make it a pot luck. That way everyone brings a dish and everyone gets to eat plenty of food! I tried to offer ideas about what they might eat on the Titanic, but that was kind of hard. Above is a picture of the punch my two friends made. They put a paper boat on it with a picture of me and Leo on the ship like the scene in the movie.

For the entertainment, besides hanging out, I played Titanic and we played an identity game that I saw them playing on Marie Antoinette. Everyone gets a blank card then you have a theme. Everyone needs to write a person or character name on the card. The cards get shuffled and passed back out but no one can see who they have. Then everyone needs to tape the card to their forehead so everyone else can see the card but the person with it. Then everyone takes a turn trying to guess their card. They ask questions to the group and the group answers 'yes' or 'no.' I wanted to do it so that we could only use people in history from 1912 and earlier, but my friends kindly reminded me that I was the history major and they were not. We ended up playing as Disney characters.

Now for the outfits. It wouldn't be a Titanic party if people didn't come dressed in their Titanic best! This is how I split up the Titanic passengers:

• If your birthday is between January and April come dressed as a first class passenger
• If your birthday is between May and August come dressed as a second class passenger.
• If your birthday is between September and December come dressed as a third class passenger.
• However, if you are a girl coming with a boy then you must dress in his class! Sorry, this is a male dominated society. So, if your birthday is in April, but his birthday is in August you’ll have to come as second class.
• But if you are a guy coming alone you can dress as a crew member.

Lastly, everyone who was a first class passenger got first choice of seating. Second class, second and third class last.

Birthday Week

The past week was filled with Titanic, birthdays, tea, family, and friends. I am not complaining at all! I love all those things.

On Tuesday Mandy, my friend, and I went and saw Titanic 3D in Newport. We wanted to go to the 7 o'clock showing but they cancelled it so we went for the 8 o'clock one. To kill time we got some Starbucks and sat and talked where we met a boy who had just moved here from England. It was interesting. The picture above is our attempt to be emo. I tried taking another one, but it kept saying processing and it turns out it didn't work which I didn't find out until I got home that night.

I was offered a full time position at work. I took it because I really need to money, but I do not want to end up there for the rest of my life. I found this treasure in the closet. I was so excited because I love Titanic, but I was beginning to feel like the Titanic was stalking me! :)

I finally got my infuser mugs that I ordered from Fab.com. I used one for breakfast on Saturday with the green tea Tom gave me!

I decided to get my Kentucky teaching license. I filled out the paper work and sent it all in. Now all I need to do is take another Praxis test which I am NOT looking forward to.

Finally, yesterday I picked up my brother from Dayton and we went to Toledo where we met our parents, grandma and sister. My sister is a theater major at the University of Toledo and was one of the leads in the play! I was a really funny play, kind of awkward, but good!

It was supposed to be set in Victorian times, so I was obsessed with the staging!

April 13 2012

I had a wonderful birthday and wonderful friends who celebrated it with me. This is just a small recap of the day. I first went to visit my mentor teacher and students from my fall student teaching experience. Then I met my friend Haley for lunch. We got McDonalds and headed to Eden Park to eat it. At Eden Park we walked through the Presidential grove where I saw Thomas Jefferson's tree. I had to take a picture by it because it was his birthday too! I finished my day by celebrating at Cancun Mexican restaurant with a lot of friends. I felt so loved and appreciated that day. 

Tom got me loose leaf tea and a loose leaf tea pot. He knows me too well. He told me he went in and bought the brightest thing he could find which is definitely an easy way to shop for me because I love colors and patterns. He also knew I collect tea pots. :) I also woke up that morning and saw I had an e-mail for UO. I'm signed up for their mailing list and so I was about to delete this e-mail when I saw something about a gift card. I clicked on the e-mail and saw my mom had sent me a gift card! She also knows me too well!