On Productivity and New Jersey

As you may know about me, I am the queen of multitasking. I don't even like watching movies without doing something else, and its not strange for me to have five or six tabs open on my Internet at the same time. Normally I don't even try to focus on only one thing at a time and sometimes I think this is to my benefit.
However this summer I am trying something new: doing one thing at a time. I decided to do this after a frustrating day productivity wise on Tuesday. This summer I have arranged my schedule so that on Tuesdays I'm working early in the morning, but I'll be done at 10am. I had visions of all the free time this would provide me to read, get some work done on the classes I'm taking this summer, blogging, cooking and doing whatever it is I want. Well Tuesday did not go this way at all and I ended up spending most of the day trying to figure out my online classes, preparing for today's tutoring and in general being mad at how little reading I've done this summer when I'm supposed to have free time on my hands. Boo.
One thing I noticed about my day on Tuesday was that I kept trying to do 10 things at a time. At one point I was cooking lunch for the week, writing flash cards for a tutoring game and trying to watch a video clip for my online class all at once. It got to the end of the 20 minute video, I was supposed to write a reflection and I had no idea what I had even watched. Did I mention I still had not read a single page of the book I actually wanted to be reading? Ah!
And so was born my new goal for the summer. Stay focused on one thing at a time so I can get it all done and then have time for all the things I want to be able to do. I started it out today. By 10 am I had already tutored two kids and gone to the gym and the bank. By 12 I had put two solid hours into tutoring planning and had everything totally done for my afternoon kids and tomorrow morning's kids. By 2 I had showered, eaten lunch, created a whole itinerary for our trip on my iPad, booked our rental car and ferry and cleaned my email inbox. By 2:45 I had conquered my assignments for my online classes. Then, I headed back out to tutor two more kids, and when I got home at 6, I could actually read, eat dinner, go back out for some fro yo and now I'm blogging guilt free. Now this is what I was hoping for when I had the summer "off."
My other favorite thing about summer? Trips! Last weekend Eric and I spent three days at the New Jersey Shore. We went first to Sandy Hook, which is basically an island at the top of NJ right below New York City. On a nice day we should have been able to see the New York skyline, but sadly it was so hot that it was too hazy to see. Here are some photos of Sandy Hook:
Harbor area-

View from the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at in Highlands, NJ

Over on the island of Sandy Hook-

After one night in northern NJ, we headed down to Asbury Park where the wedding was. The beaches were beautiful down there too, but we spent most of our time hanging out with friends and enjoying the wedding related festivities. It also cost $25 to even step on the beach down there, so I took these pictures at 8 am on Sunday morning before they started charging. I swear it pays to be a morning person!




I need some good vacation summer reading, so please send book recommendations my way. Also I have a feeling my pictures are going to be super small because I'm posting from my iPad so I'm sorry :)

Two Days in a Row

Look at me, two blog posts in a row. Lisa did this and I thought it was fun so I'm doing it too. I'd link so you could check out hers but I have not yet figured out how I can link to text on my iPad, oops.

Maybe I should blog more!
I love my family, my friends, my kindergarten students
People would say that I'm a hard worker
I don't understand people who are close minded
When I wake up in the morning I am already hungry
I lost my childhood teddy bear, Snuggles
Life is full of hilarious moments
My past is full of memories
I get annoyed when people only care about themselves
Parties are a lot of fun, especially when they start and end early :)
I wish I had more money for trips and time in each day!
Dogs are like kids, awesome to visit but not something I want to own at the moment :)
Cats are kind of creepy, haha
Tomorrow I'm going to a rehearsal dinner and seeing more of the NJ shore
I have a low tolerance for anyone or anything interrupting my sleep schedule
I'm totally terrified of certain driving situations particularly when I'm in a crazy driving area and have no idea where I'm going
I wonder why I can't sleep late
Never in my life have I driven and or rode in a car more than about six hours at a time, I like road trips in theory...
High school was a good time, I was lucky to have some great friends, many I am still friends with
When I'm nervous in the car, I grab my seat belt (can you tell I was driving through New Jersey today?)
One time at a family gathering... I got nothin... Haha
Take my advice and avoid eating lobster on a first date, it gets super messy! (no I didn't ever do this but I have done it while married and I'm just saying its not a good first date food, plus it's expensive and it's best to at least appear like a cheap date, ha)
Making my bed is a complete waste of time
I'm almost always happy
I'm addicted to my computer, iPad, iPhone, camera and kindle, so basically everything that involves a cord... Oh and also frozen yogurt
I want some to invent a beaming device so I can teleport anywhere I want to go.

Your turn, answer one of these in the comments, or at least tell me what you are up to this weekend.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Looking Backward, Looking Forward...

I guess it's safe to say that I totally failed at posting twice a week in the month of June. Oops. Anyway, this week I've had a little time but I was struggling with what to actually write about. Then Lisa reminded me of her awesome looking forward posts, so I decided to do a variation of that including a look back since I haven't been around these parts much in the last month :)

By the way, do you like my new blog design? I am in love with it and it was all done by my amazing sister. Check out her blog and you can have a fun new design too.

Looking Back
Today I went to a professional development about writing instruction, tutored an awesome and hilarious kid and went to dinner for Katie's birthday. Great day!
Earlier this week I started my first official week of summer. I tutored some kids, I went on a long bike ride with Kathy and I visited Tiff and baby Lia. As much as I complain about tutoring (and I've already started, ask Eric), I do love that it allows me to make some money while also spending some quality time with friends and family.

Last week was my last week of school. It was a crazy week- so many things had to be done, and so many goodbyes were said. However, I did get a special visit from a former student who moved and is now almost in fifth grade (my first class will be in sixth grade next year!). I also got many fun presents and super sweet cards...




Earlier this month I had a successful birthday BBQ. Eric and I have never actually had an outdoor party before because we are usually busy/at the Cape in the summer. But this year I decided to just go ahead and do it. Although I had a minor freak out earlier in the week about hosting two parties in a row, I ended up really enjoying the preparation for the party as well as the party itself.











Looking Forward


This Weekend is the first of three wedding weekends in a row! I'm excited!!!!

This Month we leave for our awesome Seattle/Vancouver/Sunshine Coast trip. I did a lot more planning for this trip last weekend. I booked our train ride up to Vancouver and our hotel there. I also fixed my Sunshine Coast hotel because I accidentally had two hotels booked for one night- one in Vancouver and one on the coast. Luckily everyone I have talked to in Vancouver has been incredibly nice. I can't wait to visit! I also started to research things I want to do in each place. I'm less concerned about Seattle since my college roommate will be showing us around but I am hoping to see Pike Place Market, orca whales, possibly a little of the Olympic Peninsula, the first Starbucks and everything else that Ash talked about all through college. We shall see how that goes! As for Vancouver, I am psyched to see the whole waterfront, Stanley Park, and Capilano Suspension Bridge. If you've been to either place, please add any other must see/do's to the list!

This Year I am looking forward to some upcoming family trips, Caroline (hopefully) returning to Boston, my friends Katie and Timna having cute babies, and my new class (also hopefully) not being crazy.... really, I just hope, I have no idea what they will be like.

Fill me in on some great things that have happened to you in the past month and/or what you are looking forward to this year.

A New Month, A New Way to Blog!

Hello friends! I got a new toy! I'm. Hoping to only bring this new iPad with me to Seattle and Vancouver next month which means I have to learn now how to use it for blogging. I thought today's post would be a good place to start because it won't need many photos if any at all... I really have no idea where to start actually getting pictures on the iPad.

May Goals Recap

1. Fitness goals: Finish sprint triathlon. Make it to yoga at least once. Build up to 50 laps in the pool. Believe it or not, I basically met all of these goals! I finished the sprint tri and did make it to one yoga class (see I told you I can not aim too high haha). I did not exactly make it to 50 laps in the mon of May but I did do it this morning so I'll go ahead and count it!

2. Figure out summer plans. Well, no. I failed at this, but the good news is, June starts summer so I'll have to figure things out this month!

3. Read! I didn't set a specific number but I did make it through four books this month. I finally finished Dry Grass of August which was tough for me to get through for some reason, I think I was hoping it would be like The Help and it just never met my expectations as a result. I also read More Like Her (recommended by Nora and very good), Catching Fire (second Hunger Games book and I think I liked it slightly better than the first one) and The Good Father.

4. Host or plan a party. Is there such a thing as going way too far on a goal? If so, I've done it with this goal! I had a big work party at my house on Friday and I'm currently planning two more parties: one is a breakfast at work and the other is my birthday party which I'm hoping is going to be super low key! Oh well, party number one went really well and I'm very glad I decided to have it.


June Goals

It's hard to believe that I will be recapping how I do with these goals from the Pacific Northwest! Feels like we have been planning this trip forever!

1. Enjoy the last few weeks of school. Its no secret that I absolutely love my class this year and one girl in particular that I have now had for two years. I also have a couple of friends and a wonderful classroom assistant/friend who will be leaving after this school year. I haven't really had to say goodbye to any good friends at work until this year and I'm really not looking forward to it. Despite the fact that I have one million things to do before the year ends I really, really just want to enjoy these moments with the kids and my friends.

2. Fitness goals: Do Eric's crazy an boot camp at least five times. Build up to 60 laps in the pool. Go to yoga once.

3. Blog 2 times per week. I don't ever want blogging to be a chore but sometimes I think if I don't make it at least a priority I won't do it at all" so I'll try to work on that this month!

4. Figure out how to operate this here iPad. Yes I do know how to work the basics but I have already had a couple of times where I didn't know how to do something so I decided to just simply get out my computer. So I just want to learn how to use this thing at least well enough to take it on a trip with me without my computer.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. What are your goals for this month?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad