Down Time

It's taken me something like a full week to have anything interesting worth blogging about. Seriously, life has been that boring lately haha. Nah, I'm kidding- life has been good, just very different than my usual. Here is what you have missed in Kelly-land.

1. I went to the Cape last weekend and went to the Darius Rucker concert. If you don't know Darius Rucker you should listen to Learn to Live and This. Caroline got me the tickets for my birthday so I got to go with 3 of my absolute favorite people in the universe...

That's me, Eric, Jake and Caroline :)

2. On Saturday Eric and I went on a harbor cruise in Hyannis. It was a beautiful, calm and sunny day to be on the water. What can I say other than it's heaven?

3. Earlier this week my sister and I visited my grandmother. I've been working on a family stories blog and she has obviously been my main source of information. She has so many awesome stories! I mean not only has she lived through so many world events, but she also raised 8 kids and helped raise 21 grandkids so you can only imagine. When we first arrived she was reading an old journal of hers and said I could borrow it, she was just checking to make sure she hadn't wrote anything terrible in it. Haha! This ended up being the coolest thing anyone has EVER let me borrow, definitely ever. I was literally engrossed in the book for HOURS last night. It follows her life from 1999 to 2005, so most that she writes about I remember (as a high school/college student) but of course her perspective is fascinating. Also she talks a lot about my grandfather, who passed away when I was 10. I can't even explain how lucky I feel to have something like this in my possession right now.

4. I am going to get a little philosophical here about summer and my thoughts on it. I obviously did not go into teaching for the summers off, especially since I don't really take the summer off haha. However, teaching during the school year is all-consuming for me and it sometimes does not leave me time for other things that are important to me. I feel very thankful to have this time to visit my grandmother or go to yoga in the middle of the afternoon. Of course I think it's important in life to be a hard worker, and be successful in your career. But I do wonder sometimes what we are missing by being one of the most hard-working, non-vacation taking country in the world. Should we really be proud of the amount of vacation we don't take? This summer I chose not to be proud of the amount of tutoring jobs I get or money I make. I choose to be proud of what I chose to do with my down-time. Hopefully I use the time to take care of myself and spend time with important people, because what else is life really?

What have you been up to lately? Do you take all your vacation days? Why or Why not?

Sitting on my Bum with a Piece of Coffee Cake

Unlike teaching, where usually the overall day is good, or bad, or just fine... tutoring starts over every new kid I go to. So while this morning's little boy may have hid from me again (in his closet, no less), I still got a running, jumping hug from my afternoon kid. In everyone's defense, hiding boy has only known me for a week and hugging girl is my tutoring best bud- I worked with her for 2 years and she came to my wedding ceremony before she started going to a school where she'd get tutoring at school. Now I get to work with her again this summer. She still hates tutoring, but she loves me and I'll take that over running away and hiding every day. My new summer job title? Torture Enforcer- making sure children are tortured in the summer since 2007 :)

On a slightly less torturous note, today I was thinking about how I need some serious motivation to kick my butt into gear. I've been dragging myself to workout lately and letting any possible excuse deter me entirely. I know a lot of my lack of motivation has to do with my knee hurting again. So, this was #1 reason why I needed some motivation. #2 reason = tutoring. Not only is it a job that involves sitting (which is the opposite of my normal job) but sometimes (like this morning) kid's moms feel the need to bake delicious smelling coffee cake that I smell for an hour straight and then have to accept when they offer it to me at the end. Yum. So yeah, so many reasons to be more motivated about my workouts.

Then, BAM (hit by a bus), I read Amber's blog and she talks about daily mileand I'm like facebook for fitness? That's what I need to stay motivated. It will be cool to see graphs, or whatever they do of my daily workouts, and I can't get any graphs without actually working out. Yay! So far I have two friends- Amber and Morgan, so.... join daily mile and let's be friends. Then, if you don't see my workout for awhile you can send me threats and bribes, as in "we will not be friends anymore if you don't get off your bum" or "Kelly I promise you a nice, cold Bud Light if you get off your bum" etc. Ready, set, GO!

PS. I went to hot yoga today with Caroline so you don't have to start the threats... yet.

Perplexing Summer Days

Today was my first official day of summer! Since my true schedule has not started up yet, I just had one kiddo to tutor. He was fun- we talked a lot of sports, mostly the Bruins, with a little '04 and '07 World Series thrown it- he was age 2 and 5 for those haha, crazy!

On my first official day of not stressing to the max about kindergartners, a few things confused me. Here is a brief list of things I find perplexing:

1. People who feel the need to broadcast their political and religious views on their car. I'm all for our college sticker or whatever and I do have an "invest in children" license plate (which i guess is a LITTLE political). However, today I saw someone with a huge JESUS license plate. I just don't get it...

2. Teachers who are against fun. Why did you go into this profession? After my brief work stint this morning I stopped by Eric's field day at work. The kids were having a BLAST. They were all contained and safe but they were seriously having the best time ever. Eric has told me some teachers complain about field day. Look, I get it's probably a long day and MAYBE requires a little more effort for you (though I imagine it's mainly Eric who it's more effort for!), but who cares? They are kids! Let them have some fun! I run into this at my own school sometimes. I get it, I do, kids are a handful when they are hyped up and excited. So don't do it every day. But occasionally, get your bum to bed early, get some coffee and let the kids have a little fun!

3. People who really care a LOT about which way toilet paper is put on. I recently heard a serious conversation about a woman who was actually ANGRY at her husband for putting the toilet paper on "the wrong way." I since learned that many people have a preference about whether the toilet paper is facing out or in. Do people really worry about this kind of crap?

4. Wives and girlfriends who "enjoy" catching their husband cheating on TV or the radio. Remember the TV show Cheaters? A Boston radio station does something similar where they call the husband/boyfriend and say that they won free flowers, who would they like to send them to and then BAM, they catch the guy cheating because he inevitably sends it to the other woman. I find myself feeling bad for the girl but then I think, WHAT!? If you are suspicious of your other half, why would you PUBLICLY catch them?! Then you have to deal with it publicly! Sure, I think it's important to know the truth and all, but must it be in such a dramatic fashion?

Do you find any of these things perplexing? or can you explain one of them to me? What do YOU find perplexing?

School's Out for Summer :)

"Summer vacation is yucky." - one of my students

Much as I love above student, I have to disagree. I love summer vacation, even if I do tend to work for most of it :)



You may be wondering what I am up to this summer or you may just be assuming I sit on my bum for 2 months. If it's the second, you obviously do not know me at all. It's a money making time and I have bills to pay and trips to go on! haha. Here is a little summary of what I'm up to...



Work
Starting on Monday I'll be tutoring 8 kids: 4 kids going to first grade, 2 going to second grade, 1 going to third grade and 1 going to fifth grade. A few of these students I'll be working with once a week an some twice a week. I work Monday-Thursday, starting at 7:15am and ending between 5 and 6 each night. Every day I have at least an hour and a half off for lunch (including time getting from one place to another, but still a huge upgrade compared to my normal barely 30 minutes) and some days I have other breaks during the day. The reason why I start early and end lateish is because I'm working around cap schedules. Starting the day after the 4th I'll be adding two mornings a week at a summer school in my district. I'll have all the kindergartners recommended for summer school, two that I know already and one who is my student. It's only 5 kids but they all have a lot of needs and seemingly no attention spans, so we shall see how that goes. A lot of songs and games! I already put all my kindergarten cds on my ipod so I can bring that. I already realized the consequence of this will be I can't put my ipod on shuffle anymore. You can imagine my surprise at the gym last weekend when "Clean Up Robot" came on right after some hip hop song!



All other summers I have worked at a morning summer program Monday-Friday and only tutored 2 or 3 kids, so I have no idea what this schedule is going to be like. To me it looks MUCH easier than my school year schedule, but I know that driving around everywhere can get intense, not too mention the many different grade levels and needs I'll be thinking about. So we shall see :) I'm excited for the change of pace though. Also my ratio of kids this summer including summer school kids is: Boys 11 Girls: 4. Yikes! Cue the sports and adventure books!



Play
As usual, Eric and I will be spending a lot of time at the Cape this summer. I purposely loaded up my Monday-Thursday so we can leave for weekend trips on Thursday night and not sit in insane traffic (so we hope- we'll still have it on Sunday but oh well!). Our Cape summer fun begins next weekend with a Darius Rucker concert, thanks to an awesome birthday present from Caroline. We will also likely return to the Cape for the 4th of July.



Other exciting events include, our 1 year anniversary on July 10th! Still not 100% sure what we are doing yet, but leaning towards a trip to Burlington VT. Anyone have any hotel or things to do recommendations?



We will also probably spend a little time in New Hampshire and finally end that summer with a bang at Eric's cousin's wedding Labor Day weekend on the North Shore.



I'm excited for a little change of pace, a new schedule and some new challenges. What are YOU up to this summer?!

Wine and Love

Hi everyone. I'll be doing wine and love again this week- what's made me grab the bottle and what do I love? Stop by Nora's blog to check out hers and see who else is participating!

Wine

1. Oh where oh where to begin? Just kidding :) It's the last week of school though and that just means absolute crazyness. The kids are losing it, and one in particular is giving me a lot of trouble. I love him and I know it's not his fault, but that doesn't make it any more fun. Especially when no. one. listens. to. me. about. this. child. Grrr! Anyway, I love him, I have tried my hardest and I know he'll be in good hands next year.

2. On a similar theme, the end of school is so stressful. Next year I really have to start buying presents for everybody earlier. I tried to start last weekend but I couldn't think of anything. Next year I will force myself to think of something. That has caused unnecessary stress this week.

Love

1. My first class of kindergartners (5 years ago!) are graduating elementary school and will be soon be middle schoolers. Sure, they were the prince and princesses of driving me to the wine, but I still love them. One of my absolute favorites from that year has stopped by a couple of times to discuss how sad she is. Today she also decided to re-enact the running hugs she used to give me when she was in kindergarten and first grade. Did I mention she is almost as tall as me now? Thank goodness she is a slim child or I would be in trouble!

2. Today was our end of the year concert, slideshow and picnic. It's a very crazy day but definitely one of my favorites. One of my little girls actually cried during the slideshow today. It was very sweet.

3. As you may have heard, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last night. I'm not going to rub it in at all since I know my blogging BFF Amber is a big Canucks fan. All I will say is, I am totally a bandwagon Bruins fan and I admit this about myself. But I am really happy for my friends who are really Bruins fans, who have really been watching even when they were not good. Also, yesterday should've been my cousins 27th birthday (he passed away from cancer 2 years ago) and HE was a big Bruins fan, so I'd like to think they won it for his birthday :)

4. I also love my new Kindle that Eric gave me for my birthday last week. His parents got me an amazong giftcard AND my students got me an amazon giftcard so I won't be paying for books for awhile! :) I also am reading a GREAT book that I think everyone should read called Secret Daughter. Fantastic book about a little girl who is born in India and brought to an orphanage by her mother because the family wanted a boy who would be more "helpful" (I'm simplifying the situation, the mom obviously did not support this). She is adopted by an American mom and Indian dad (now living in California). The story goes back and forth between her birth mom, her adopted mom, the daughter herself and some of the other characters in the story. I'm not sure how accurate it is to India, but it seems really good. I had to restrain myself today when one of my student's mom's was talking to me about how her son is spoiled (doesn't act like it at ALL in school) and she's like, in India boys are very valued and spoiled....I was about to be like OH YEA I was just reading about that and then I'm like... hmm, yeah maybe not an appropriate time to discuss your pleasure reading Kelly :) But anyway, I'm not done with it yet but I still think you should read it. That's my plug.

Time to go zone out for awhile in preparation of the crazyness that will be tomorrow! Right now I'm in denial that I have summer work starting on Monday. I'll let future Kelly worry about that :)

Testing

Been having some issues with the blog this week and just wanted to make sure it would work before I wrote a whole post :)

Summer Work Outs

Well hello everyone. Hope you are all well :) I've disappeared for a bit in end-of-the-year madness. Lots of hoops to jump through... at least that's what Eric calls it when I have to spend 20 minutes on the phone/attempting to send a grade report so I can get tuition reimbursement for a class that I was forced to take through the district and the superintendent gave me a grade for. WHY DOES HE NEED A GRADE REPORT WHEN HE GAVE ME THE GRADE? Wah.





Moving on, the kids are at all time worst behavior, but equally hilarious as always. Today, one of my students came back from being out sick for a week. His mom has had a rough week because multiple of her kids have been in the hospital with sickness and her husband has been away. During lunch, I talked to him about how great his behavior has been today. I kept mentioning how his mom was going to be so proud of him and he's a great big brother for being on his best behavior while his mom worries about his sister etc. Finally he looks at me and says, "yeah... I kinda just forgot to be bad today." If only he could've forgot every day...





I now interrupt this blog hiatus to discuss an important topic: summer workouts.



What do you guys do in the summer for work outs?

I am seriously debating what I want to do this summer. I am most likely going to join a gym, but I don't know which one. Here are my options:



1. Join the local YMCA. I used to be a member of this gym and I can get a summer membership for $99. I would have an option of two gyms locally, both with a pool. Also, I would have access to a Y at the Cape. The only bad thing about the Cape Y is that it's not super convenient and it doesn't open til 12 on Sundays... which is just dumb if you ask me.



2. Continue with my regular routine while at home (walking, running, biking outside, using treadmill and yoga videos on rainy days) and join a super convenient gym at the Cape, also $99 for 3 months.



3. Not join any gyms and save my money for yoga :) Obviously I would still do cardio outside and with the equipment I have in my house.



My major dilemma is just my overall ADD when it comes to working out. I always want to switch it up! Also I know you are probably thinking I am going to have endless spare time this summer so I should join all the gyms and get in ridiculous shape, but in fact I'm going to have a pretty similar time commitment to my summer work, just spread out differently throughout the week. More about that later :)





What are you planning to do for work outs this summer?

5 Years Later.

Time is flying by lately, and somehow this weekend I found myself at my 5 year college reunion. Ah!

A few of my friends flew in/drove up on Friday night so we had a little low key BBQ at Katie's and then I headed home to prepare for a busy Saturday!



I started bright and early with a BC Alumi 5K. My knee bothered me after last week's 5K so I decided to walk it and luckily Gerry and Linda didn't mind doing that as well because otherwise I know I would've just become bored and started running.







We came in last place which was fantastic, conquers my fear of being last! Ironically, Gerry (maroon shirt and sunglasses) who has done 9 marathons and is FAST was the technical last place finisher... unless she is still running races at 100 years old, I'd say it's safe to say that will NEVER happen again!



After a short detour to Starbucks and the BC bookstore, we headed to the "Gold" (5 and 10 year) BBQ.







We had a good spot at the BBQ where people basically had to come to us if they wanted to talk to us. This helped me avoid awkward conversations with people I was never really friends with at all. Score one for me.



Also, I was surprised to see two of my bestest guy-friends from both high school and college there because I originally thought they couldn't come. I became friends with these two around the end of high school, when we got to college we all made new friends and then brought them all together to make a big group :) Lots of memories with these two, as I have known Dan (middle) since kindergarten... freshman year of college, me, Dan and Gerry would go to dinner at the dining hall at 5pm and not return for hours- just because we would be talking and laughing for that long. Matt (right) is one of those people I can not see for a year and feel like not a second has gone by. We both went to Australia the same semester and even though we were a plane ride away, we traveled around central Australia and New Zealand together at the end (with another of our friends who is also awesome).





After the BBQ, Cristina, Christina and I headed to the School of Education lunch. The Undergrad Dean is retiring this year and I seriously love him. He is the only reason why I was able to double major (it's required for ed majors) and study abroad. When I told him the Communication Department wouldn't let me do it, he laughed at me and said that I was in the School of Ed so he was in charge. He then went on to approve all sorts of things to make sure I could study abroad. He even let me do my science requirement on an island in Australia. I really appreciate the fact that he realized that studying abroad, not sticking to every silly rule, was going to make me a better teacher :)



Then we headed back to Katie's apartment to shower and get ready for the nighttime event. I looked cute for about 10 minutes until I realized I had to be outside and it was freezing cold, oh well!



The nighttime party was in the mods. The mods are the modular houses on campus that went up in the 1970s. They were supposed to be temporary housing but they are so loved by students, they haven't gotten rid of them yet. Many hilarious memories of our time living in Mod 11B senior year. Katie and Kelly from...



(freshman year of college, 2003) to...



(last night)



About 5 minutes after this picture was when I went back to my car, climbed in the back seat and did a complete wardrobe change :)



We spent the rest of the night relaxing in the back yards of the mods. I have to admit I didn't go out of my way to talk to a lot of people, but I did spend a lot of quality time with my college favorites.

























Overall it was a lot of fun. I have no desire to be in college again, though it was fun once, but I do miss seeing everyone on such a regular basis. I'm also glad I managed to limit my awkward conversations. I am totally one of those people who sees someone I know and turns around to go hide. I swear I'm not antisocial, I have lots of friends- I just am not into the small, fake talk. If I really want to know what someone is up to these days but we are not and never really were friends, I'll just stalk them on facebook. Thankyouverymuch.



Have you been to your high school and/or college reunions? Did you have fun?

Wine and Love <3

Back to Wine and Love by Nora this week. What has made me want to grab a bottle of wine and what do I love?



Wine



1. Unfortunately I think work is going to be on my wine list until it's over. The kids are checked out (read: way more annoying than usual) and I am stuck with 1 billion things to do. The summer will not provide a total break from work, but it will change things up a bit, which I think it necessary right now.



2. My stomach has been the WORST this week. I was getting pain all weekend and then starting Monday I was so nauseous I could barely focus on anything. I'm starting to feel a little better now, but I still have no idea what I could've done to piss off my stomach that much. IBS really sucks sometimes. Could someone please just tell me what not to eat? I promise I will not eat it.





Love


1. Long Weekends. I wish every weekend could be a long weekend. Not only did I have some quality time at the Cape and my 5K, but I even had time to get some work done on Monday and go to a friend's Memorial Day BBQ. I didn't actually get a picture with Sarah, even though it was her party, but I did get a good one with Susanne...







2. I don't know if this qualifies as "love," but I am very thankful to have my friends and family safe after the tornadoes in MA yesterday. We are NOT used to tornadoes in MA, and some very destructive ones touched down in the western area of the state. I'm thankful they had become mostly thunderstorms by the time they hit my side of the state. I'm not going to go all "it's the end of the world" on you, but what is UP with the weather lately?



3. Simple pleasures: sleeping well, strawberry popsicles, beautiful weather (other than the scary thunderstorms/tornadoes), getting to see baby chicks that just hatched (one of the kids I tutor has a nest right next to his swing set!), watching my almost first graders start to LOVE reading, and many more.




What is your wine and love this week? What are some simple pleasures you have enjoyed?