"Take Silence and Respect It"

I love this. Everyone needs to be alone once in awhile.

"I'll Time Ya!"

The fastest, easiest, least painful way to get kids to do something is to say, "I'll time ya!" This works especially well if there are two children involved, as one will try to beat the other. For example, everyday when it's time to get ready for swimming lessons, the girls are inevitably doing something they love-- playing Polly Pockets or reading Magic School Bus books. So today, I said I'd time them. H had her swimming suit on, ready to go in three minutes. P was second and beat her time with a whopping 1 minute. We are now ready to go ten minutes early.

With the extra ten minutes, I'll offer up another trick I've learned. When a child is "full" (aka wants to eat dessert), you only need to say, "___ more bites!" Insert the exact number of bites it will take the child to finish said food. And voila! Done.

Since it's so hot today, I wanted to make sure the girls drank enough water. While they were playing throughout the day, we played a game to drink more. At random times throughout the day, I would yell out a wild animal noise from some part of the house. They would hear me, take a drink, and then yell out the animal name. I felt a little ridiculous but it got the job done! There were more bathroom breaks than normal.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=child+eating&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

Quotable Quotes

Multiple Personalities

My last post got me thinking about the two sides of my life-- the Indie/punky (Hippie as my mom calls it) side, and then the teacher side. The two don't really fit together. I can never wear my Vans to school, or many of my favorite clothes for that matter. I wish the teacher profession was OK with self-expression. I took a picture of the "teacher" part of my room to reflect the difference, and then started looking at other aspect of my room. Anyway, the picture taking got a little out of hand, and I started taking snapshots of areas of my room that clearly reflected "me." Enjoy!

These have all been gifts for my future desk. I should have quite the collection by the time I get my own classroom. The wooden date board I bought in the dollar bin at Target :)

My mom made these for me one year for my birthday. I have to stay "Ms. Spensley" for awhile since I have a whole box full of these notepads.

This is part of my children's book collection. I donated many picture books to my friend Liz who is in the Peace Corps working in the Grenadines to help build schools for the children there. My roommate last year Erin organized an amazing book drive. The chapter books were donated to me from my aunt and the other books I either got from my mom as gifts or through book orders. This is a prized collection for me!

From where I was sitting (not staged)...

Do you think I like bags?

New running shoes are the best. Minus the blisters I always get on the back of my ankles. Ouch!

This month's calendar. It's one of my favorite pages. Hannah is in the bottom left, she is one of my inspirations for keeping up a blog.

Dresser-- make up bag, photo of my dad and me after my last softball game, graduation card from boyfriend, Glee card from aunt, friends card from Erin, graduation card from Mom with inspirational Obama quote on front to appeal to the liberal in me.

Window ledge-- Authentic Italian wine (empty, of course) and olive oil (empty again), graduation hat, and crafted paper tree.

This is a little dark :(-- my key ring is very me, bracelet made by 5 year old, Napoli key chain, peace sign key chain, Des Moines library card, and key to my car, all set on a stand I made with Dove chocolate quotes.

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour of my room. I don't know why the pictures loaded so poorly. I'll work on it.

New Shoes!

For those of you who know me (which is probably 100% of all 5 of you who read this), you know that my purple Vans are my prized possession. Last summer in Italy, I saw purple sneakers everywhere and fell in love. In about the last week of the summer I discovered my roommate (of 10 weeks!) had a pair with her in Italy but NEVER wore them. I immediately got online and ordered a pair as a "welcome home" present to myself (I like to have reasons to justify my purchases beyond the reason of "want"). Anyway, I wear them all the time and love the crap out of them.

This weekend, I got them a friend. LIME GREEN VINTAGE KEDS! I was in Cedar Falls this past weekend and stopped at Mohair Pear, a very local store filled with weird, Indie, vintage, etc. clothes, accessories, etc. (that was a lot of etc.'s). There they were, calling my name. It was just an added bonus they were only $7. Justification for their purchase? They were only $7 and I don't get to shop at Mohair much now that I live in DSM. And, they're lime green vintage Keds. Grandma would be so proud.

As soon as it's not 100+ degrees I'm going to start wearing the crap out of them.

BONUS: I was in Forever 21 looking for a dress for a wedding next weekend, and I found a pair of boots that were also calling my name. They might be a distant cousin to my Vans. Justification: I will get a lot of use out of them, I can wear them while teaching, with skinny jeans, with leggings/tights, the only boots I have are snow boots, and they were only $20. And it was Friday. And I just got paid. It was burning a hole in my pocket. :)

Tatuaggio

I want a tattoo. BAD. I think I have finally decided on what I would like to get. I want it to be hidden, as I will be a teacher and this profession generally scowls on self-expression. I also want it to be very meaningful and something that will always matter to me.

I wanted it on my foot at first but I've come around to wanting it on my side. Maybe this will give me extra incentive to stay fit? I am messing with the idea of setting a goal of a certain weight, and once I get there I will allow myself the tattoo. That will also give me time to save up money and continue researching :)

So far my desired tattoo is a Brand New lyric translated into Italian. As time goes on, I know my Italy trip will become very important to me and a memory I will really cherish. Music is a big part of my life, and always will be. I love Brand New. No matter what mood I'm in, there is a song for it. I won't ever get sick of them. Brand New is also a link to my best friend Tonia, who introduced me to the band, and my boyfriend (and assumed future hubby) Kevin, who sings me BN songs. It's an expression of going against the grain and liking something not everyone else may appreciate. I am currently searching for the perfect lyric.

On BN's Facebook page, people upload dedicated tattoo's all the time. Last night, I looked through all 1,056 pictures for ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

This lyric was my first thought as a tattoo to get, but after looking through the pictures I see many people have it. However, what inspired me in this tattoo was that each of the different fonts are the handwriting of different members of his family! LOVE that idea!

I love [part of] this lyric! I would cut it down to "We learn as we age." As a teacher, I thought this would be appropriate. It would also be something that would be meaningful forever. It would inspire me to continue to make a difference for my students, and continue being a life-long learner myself.

I like this lyric for some reason. "This is the grace only we can bestow." It's different. I wouldn't get this exact one, but maybe something similar and that is different from the norm.

This isn't a consideration, but I liked the story behind it. "When I'm talking to myself I'd always rather be talking to you." His friend died in a car accident and his favorite band was BN. He got this tattoo in honor of his friend. It's a BN lyric of course, and I liked the meaning behind it.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE offer any feedback you have! I have been wanting a tattoo for a long time, but just haven't been able to come up with anything meaningful. I think I am on the right track!

Also, I'm going to need to find someone who is fluent in Italian. I don't trust online translators to translate a tattoo on my body that will be there forever. If you know anyone, let me know! :)

P.S. I was just playing doll house with the girl and I nanny for. Storyline: The boy liked this girl who was doing "pretty things" but then all the other girls were doing "pretty things" too, and he couldn't decide. He finally decided to redecorate his house and "keep" all the girls. Hmmm?

P.P.S. If you haven't figured out what "Tatuaggio" means, re-read this post and try again! :)

Happy 4th!

This 4th of July was a little bittersweet to me because I am really missing Italy. I usually miss it more on the weekends when I recall exactly what I was doing a year ago from today, such as: throwing coins in the Trevvi Fountain, climbing a volcano, navigating my own boat around an island with 3 great friends, etc. The last 4th of July was spent at the "Festa Americana" in Carney Park, Naples in Italy. Festa Americana is a celebration between both the Americans and Italians and takes place in the Navy-owned park. I think the Italians were more excited about celebrating the 4th than the Americans! It was an amazing experience being on a Navy base and celebrating the 4th right. Working with the children and families in the military really helped me to appreciate the meaning behind the holiday.

Apart from Festa Americana, we also spent the weekend climbing Mt. Vesuvius and relaxing at the Isle of Capri. What an amazing way to spend the 4t

h! Here are a few pictures:

My roommate Kristina and I at the top of Mt. Vesuvius

Fireworks at Festa Americana

Emily and I (fellow UNI-owan!) on our rented boat. Here, we are anchored just outside the Green Grotto, about to swim through :)

This was taken from the top of the Isle of Capri. Such a relaxing day!

Despite my longings of Italy, I was able to spend the weekend with the thing I was longing for while in Italy...Kevin! Friday night we went on a date downtown Des Moines to the High Life Lounge and had a few drinks. As we were leaving, we were surprised with two fire works shows. We traveled to Everly, IA to spend the weekend with his family. We had a good ol' campfire Saturday night. Sunday was spent chatting and enjoying the beautiful weather. Saturday night Kevin and I frolicked around Lake Okoboji and caught some fireworks. His extended family has an annual picnic on the 4th each year. The food was amazing home-cooked food (which I don't get enough of. I also got to see Tonia for awhile!

Next year I vow to spend the 4th with my family back home in Monticello. We always start the 4th off with the annual Fireman's Breakfast, followed by the 4th of July parade, family time, and the fireworks! I usually help my uncle organize the parade entries and then help cousins catch candy. I was very disappointed that there was no parade this year! The Clark's thought I was crazy for asking if there was a parade. I thought this was standard. I guess not every town can be as great as mine :)

Hope you all had a fun-filled 4th!

P.S. The diet was completely obliterated this weekend by home-cooked food and adult beverages. I think I will write in my food journal, "You don't even want to know".