Totally just dyyyying to find out what week 2 of summer entailed?
Me too.
Sometimes this odd thing happens during summer vacation where it all starts to blend together and I can't really remember where one week ends and the next begins.
Luckily I have this handy thing called a "Camera Roll" on my phone to remind me of my existence.
Let's take a scroll through said Camera Roll |poet status| and see what my "P" highlights were this week.
The Productive
**So, this week was productive but in a bit of a different way than week 1. It was less standards and curriculum development and more of something that I truly love: reading! Ironically, as an English teacher, I don't get to read as much as I would like to during the school year. This week I got to amp up my bookworm levels and dive into these titles:
"In The Middle" by Nancie Atwell is this gem of a book I recommend for all middle school Language Arts teachers. It literally is 550+ pages of pure gold that will help you transition your classroom into the workshop model like I am this coming school year. Nancie Atwell has been teaching longer than I have been alive so her wisdom printed in this book is helpful for a teaching newbie like me.
Workshop is all about letting students choose the books they desire to read. This choice is great for the kids but can be labor intensive for the teacher as they have to read all of the books the students are choosing from.
That was the task I started to tackle this week.
I finished "The Red Umbrella" by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and have started "Return to Sender" by Julia Alvarez. Both books chronicle the struggles of young children who are living the lives of immigrants in America. Looking for some good YA literature for either you or your children? I highly recommend "The Red Umbrella" - allows for great discussion around "fitting in". I will let you know my thoughts on "Return to Sender" next week.
The one thing about reading from the teacher lense, is you need to take lots of notes as you read if you hope to ever remember what you want to talk about with your students. |Call in extensive Google Sheet full of teacher-musings.|
I will let you know my review of "In the Middle" when I finish reading all 550+ textbook pages ;) haha! |Maybe don't hold your breath on that one, people|
**You may have also noticed the next largest productive task I accomplished this week.
MY BLOG GOT A FACELIFT!! Which was a lot of work but a lot of fun!
One thing I have learned over this last year and a half that I have been blogging is that I may be a writer but that is not synonymous with website designer. No one ever told me that in order for your blog to not look like a 3-year-old designed it on Paint: Crayola Edition you practically need to be a computer hacker. Or, at the very least "speak" <html>. So, over the last few weeks I have pretty much become bilingual: my native tongue of Sarcasm and now, Computer Coding. Whaaaat?! Pretty productive if you ask me.
**The last productive highlight of my week came as a result of you guys: all of my darling readers who are helping to build my blogging community!
Thank you to all of you who shared my posts this past week. The increase in traffic on my blog allowed me to fiiiinallyyyyy get approved for Google Ads.
I literally have applied for Good Ads 7 times. They consistently said "no" until this week! |Apparently just having your mom read your blog doesn't count as "high traffic"... weird.| I am still convinced they were like gosh... approve this Domesticated Dutch-ish girl so she will leave us alone.
Regardless of their motives... I am thankful.
The Playful
**Story of my life... I had another bachelorette party this week. This one was dang, ridiculously fun.
We rode a Pedal Hopper around Denver. They are those giant bikes that hold approximately 12 squealing girls that are SO not fun to get stuck behind in your car but SO much fun to actually be on.
Look how cute my friend Alex is. And this was even after we had been pedaling around town for 2 hours.
Then look how awkward I am. I was waiting for my ride to pick me up and apparently the only thing to do in an empty hotel room is take a selfie with the Bachelorette Party banner |obvi|.
**So much fun this week. My sister and I got to celebrate her birthday a little early - sister style!
This means hosting her for dinner |see below for our what our menu entailed|, fancy drinks, and a show at Comedy Works.
We saw the comedian Jen Kirkman and she was to die for. Witty. Real. And pretty much someone we wanted to force to be our friend. Our plan of cornering her in the alley after the show didn't work.
The Plates
**As mentioned above we had my sister Nikki over for an early birthday dinner. I think this was more exciting for me than it was for her because... I FINALLY got to use all of the entertaining gifts we got for our wedding. The thing about living in a tiny apartment is, it doesn't matter how many pretty platters you have to entertain with, you don't have the space to actually entertain humans - Chia Pets, maybe, but not actual adult-sized humans. |I'm sorry, but can we just stop for a moment and imagine a Chia Pet dinner party? ....... Ridiculous.|
I made Nikki this Cheesy Ravioli Bake from Shay at Mix and Match Mama but added some grilled chicken marinated in Italian salad dressing alongside it because let's be honest, there is no better way to roll in a new year of life than with cheese and pasta but my hubby would literally turn his nose up to a meal without meat so I had to add that for him.
I also had to get Nikki her favorite dessert because... birthdays.
She loves Strawberry Shortcake.
Let's be real... I bought a premade angel food cake and then we topped it with sugared strawberries and whipped cream. But, let's also be real... just because it isn't made from scratch doesn't mean I can't use my cake platter. I need any excuse I can get to use these wedding gifts.
**I also made these pretty Breakfast Raspberry Lemon Rolls also from Mix and Match Mama. Can you tell I am slightly obsessed with her? If you aren't yet, just give it a sec and you will be, too. I whipped up a powdered sugar frosting to drizzle over the top. These rolls didn't need it but I needed powdered sugar in my life so.... it happened.
**The last food item I am obsessed with lately is PB2. It is a dried version of peanut butter so it has like zip sugar and zip fat but still a good amount of protein. Basically peanut butter without all of the stuff that can make it bad for you.
All you do is mix 2 tbsps. of PB2 with 1 tbsp. of water and voila! Mix it all up and then spread it everywhere - apples, toast, fingers. Whatever floats your PB2 boat.
The Pinterest-inspired
Last week not too much Pinterest-worthy happened. BUT never fear... I redeemed myself this week with not 1 Pinterest project but, 2! I know, summer does crazy things to me.
**First, I took this amazing FREE Webinar from Scarlet & Gold to learn Calligraphy.
Obviously nailed it. Ha!
This class was a bit humbling. I will admit I went in with this mindset like "Hey, I have really nice cursive handwriting. I am going to rock this. I bet Scarlet & Gold will be begging me to work for them after this!"
But boy was I wrong. I couldn't even get the pen to write! Guys, I have been able to do that skill since I was like 5.
But I am excited to keep improving!
**Also, made these fun Wine Bottle Tiki Torches last night with some of my fellow teacher friends.
They are beautiful! They are perfect for summer! And best of all.. they ACTUALLY light!
Gotta love Pinterest success stories and drinking with a purpose!
The Push
Hmmm... the gym this week?
I already told you! I rode a 12 person bike around Denver from bar to bar. Close enough.
The Pretties
**I wore this fun skeleton tank top from Rogue Fitness. I know what you are thinking, Jess... skulls aren't pretty. But... I love the pretty detailing and it makes me feel like a total Bad A$$. And feeling like a tough chick is pretty, pretty if you ask me! I mean... case and point:
That's my B.A. face... if you were wondering.
**A tragedy happened this week. My pretty white Keds from Target got Balsamic Vinegar spilled on them |GASP!|. Not so pretty anymore but this means I get new fresh white ones this week!
How has your summer been so far? Share the fun you have had in the comments below!
***
Read more from my Summer Blog Series here & here!
Stay tuned - my reviews of Jurassic World AND this week's Bachelorette episode coming this week!
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Labels: Fashion, Friendship, Productive and Playful, Real Life, Recipes, Summer Blog Series, Summer Vacation, Teacher
