Sunday, July 24, 2011

Simple Act of Service

Most of my summer break has been spent getting ready for the upcoming school year. School is pretty much all I know how to do. It is what I eat, breath, and sleep.

A large portion of this prep work has been creating file folder games. Dozens and dozens of them. They take FOREVER.

I'm going to start working in my classroom this week, so I made a goal to finish my file folder games by today. It was a lofty and pretty unrealistic goal. I finished coloring everything yesterday, but I still had a rather hefty stack of papers that needed to be cut and glued. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to more than half of the work completed by my sweet husband who stayed up till who knows how late just to help me out. Suddenly my goal is not so lofty and unrealistic.

It's the little things in life that let us know we are loved. :) I'm grateful for a man in my life who cares so deeply about me, who gives with no expectations of anything in return, who sacrifices his own time just to see me smile. I love you, Nathan!

Friday, June 10, 2011

As long as I'm drafting...

Adventures

It seems like everyone I know is going on adventures. Cruises. Disneyland. Disney World. Kauai. California. New York. Utah. Road trips. Movies. Hikes. Pine.

And I am S.T.I.R. C.R.A.Z.Y.

I need to travel. I NEED to go somewhere.

Now, please.

Preferably a cruise. To the Bahamas. To Nassau. To Atlantis.

Also. Alaska.

And Disney World.

And Disneyland. Ariel and Star Tours have been calling my name since the 3rd.

And Scottsdale resorts. Like the Montelucia.

Can we go yet? Please? Now? NOW?!

Blogging Obsession

I often construct blog posts in my head. Often. Almost everything that happens in my day-to-day life causes an automatic mental status update or blog post. Today, for example, I mentally blogged about the power of friendship, the importance of a team, the difference one person can make in your life, how much things can change in the span of one year, how true friends are sometimes more excited for your accomplishments than even you, and most importantly about the power of prayer. Today I had some awesome things happen and some amazing people share in my joy. And it's funny to me that in the world we live in, we can immediately post, text, email, call... spreading good news has never been so easy. And yet, aside from texting my closest friends and posting a semi-cryptic status update, I mostly kept my news to myself. This happens frequently. Something amazing or sad or funny or cute or ironic or awesome happens. And I instantly think about how I can share it through this wonderful social media-crazed society. And status updates are carefully worded and thought out in my head. And blog posts are wordlessly drafted. About 0.10% of my thoughts actually get posted as status updates (which I'm sure my facebook friends can be grateful for. No one needs to know every second of my life.) And about 0.001% of these thoughts make it to the blogosphere.

However small my presence in the blogging world appears, I actually am slightly obsessed with blogs, more particularly with bloggers themselves. The authors of the blogs I read basically fall into two categories, which I have made up for the convenience of this post. One group is people who write newsletters. Post pictures of family events. Birthdays, holidays, baby's firsts, rainy day fun... The other group of bloggers write about their thoughts. They put it all out there: the good, the bad, the shocking, the controversial, the judgemental, the happy, the conceited, the miserable.... anything goes.

I love both types of blogs. I love living vicariously through people's everyday adventures. Newsletter-type bloggers seem to find the joy and beauty in everyday events that others would find monotonous or dull. Emotional bloggers lay it all out on the line. I feel like they are letting me sneak a peak at their personal diary. And I'm hooked.

I think these people have something I don't. They see the joy in everyday things. They are brave and sincere and open and honest. They let the whole world in on their secrets. Just a few taps and clicks on the keyboard and a click of the almighty publish button and just like that...pop... it's up for the whole world. I wonder sometimes, aren't they afraid? Aren't they scared to let people see?

Bloggers who gush about their perfect house and their perfect husbands and their perfect kids.
Bloggers who confess random, sometimes embarrassing facts.
Bloggers who write about their amazing vacations AND their trips to the ER and AND their daily, uneventful walks to the park.
Bloggers who talk about the changes they wish. For themselves. And in themselves.
Bloggers who can't construct a sentence or spell check to save their lives. (I realize I often fall into this category myself.)

I envy these people. Because they won't think twice about pushing publish. Because they don't edit and delete and clip out parts until their post doesn't exist.

Because 99.999% of my posts get clipped and edited and filtered and saved as a draft (mental or physical) until they become nothing more than, "Today was a good day." "Today was..." "Today."

Because today I won't post this. Because tomorrow I'll remember why I'm not brave like them. Why I envy them. Why I have blogging obsession-itis.

But meanwhile, I'll keep reading. And respecting. And envying.

And saving as drafts.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Top Ten...

Places I Want to Re-Visit Right Now

In no particular order.










Can you guess any of these amazing locations?

* I can't shrink any of the pictures. :( If you click on the photo, it goes full-size. It also usually has the name of the place in the URL so if you are guessing, don't cheat! :)


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

2010 Year in Review: March

I had an idea to start this post off in the following way:

Silly, teacher! Blogs are for people with time on their hands!

Then I realized that most of the blogs I follow are written by moms, people who work full time, pregnant women, etc. It's true that I'm in up to my ears in things to do, but somehow these amazing women (okay, and a few men too) find time to blog. I just haven't (and probably won't if we're being honest) made it a priority. It goes without saying that this post is long overdue, but truthfully, I'm surprised I at least made it to February before the Kindergarten tidal wave came rolling back in on my life.

Tonight, "lucky" readers, you get to take advantage of my lack of motivation to complete my homework for my SEI 45 class. Procrastination: 1 Emily: 0.

So back on topic...

March. I honestly have no clue what I did in March. Allow me to consult my photo library and I'll be back shortly.

Evidently, March was a month of randomness filled with super inexpensive dates. Fun. :) Cue the photographic evidence of our simple, awesome lives:


On a GORGEOUS Saturday, we went to one of Nate's mission buddy's rugby games. It was really interesting, but I had no clue what was going on. My wonderful public education never included rugby rules.

Inexpensive (aka free) Date Night: Game Night- Cities and Knights

Bowling with friends

More fun with friends: Ugly outfit night (Nate's was complete with lovely pit stains... Thank you missionaries of Cleveland, Ohio)
Inexpensive Date Night: Painting random pictures? Not sure why exactly we chose this, but we did have fun.
Hiking at Peralta (my personal fave)





Fun with family: Bowling and arcade games

Justin
Anna
Les and Nate

Hopefully I'll get to April before next year. :) Love ya'll.

You're welcome, Mom. ;)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

2010 Year in Review: February

Happy New Year!

In February, Nate and I spent Valentine's Day together. :) At the time, Nate was looking for a job and I was working for a preschool at an hourly wage. Being on a smaller budget just made Valentine's Day more fun. I can home after a long day of work to find Nate waiting for me in a suit. He had decorated the dining room. We had a nice dinner and danced in the living room.
In February, I also went to Disneyland with my family. We had a great time with lighter crowds. I got to visit my BFF, Morgan who now works at Disneyland.


Hidden Mickeys