Okay, Tip Tuesday!
I'm starting this off with dance tips, but I'm considering just opening it up to general life tips, since I'm pretty sure most people who read this will be non-dancers...
First tip ever!
Start with a positive attitude. If you walk into a class (or a job, or a social interaction, or anything really) with a sour presence, you will receive what you give. Whether it's a teacher you don't like, a problem with a fellow classmate, or a general dislike for the class- if you go into the classroom thinking it won't be a great day, then it won't be, because you've already made up your mind. Open up that mind of yours and walk in with the attitude that you will make it great. Facing whatever it is that bothers you about the class is a great accomplishment in itself, and will leave you feeling great.
Find something good about the class and remember that. Keep it with you. Did the teacher tell you that you did a nice job on a turn? Did a classmate you don't usually talk to smile at you? Did you nail a step that you'd been having trouble with? Any of these small moments can turn the class around if you just find that one thing that made it great.
A positive attitude is the best thing that you can bring to the classroom. It will change the way your teacher looks at you, it will change the way your classmates look at you, and it will change the way you look at the classroom.
Have you had a class that you dreaded going to? Did something change that? Is this happening to you now? If you try a positive attitude, let me know if the comments below!
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Monday, October 26, 2015
Mirror Monday Motivation
At some point, I will have an entry for every week... In the meantime, I'm still getting the hang of setting time aside every day to write a little bit, even it is only for a short blurb.
So it's Mirror Monday again!
Today when I look in the mirror, I see motivation. I think this time of the year is just a big ball of stress for me, regardless of what is going on. I haven't seen any of my family members in over a month, and friends have been here and there on the weekends when we have time. I allowed myself to sleep in on Sunday and spent most of the day trying to reset. Wouldn't it be great if there was just a hard reset button and you could wake up feeling ready to begin?
Well, I feel as though my motivation has come from yesterday's reset. Even after waking up 3 or 4 different times during the night and not being able to fall asleep due to external noises, I feel like I'm ready to get things done. That is a very good thing, since this is a busy week. I'm ready for the challenge of stepping up my game teaching in class, and attempting to really push things forward in my own life. I've laid off the wedding planning a little bit due to general life getting in the way, but I need to get back on that, and finalize a bunch of things before none of the vendors are left. Food planning for the week is always a source of feeling organized that I love and I need to get on top of that as well for the week.
On that note, I should probably go get some more organizational aspects done. My kitchen is in major need of cleaning, and I will feel very unhappy if that doesn't get done today!
What do you see in your mirror today?
So it's Mirror Monday again!
Today when I look in the mirror, I see motivation. I think this time of the year is just a big ball of stress for me, regardless of what is going on. I haven't seen any of my family members in over a month, and friends have been here and there on the weekends when we have time. I allowed myself to sleep in on Sunday and spent most of the day trying to reset. Wouldn't it be great if there was just a hard reset button and you could wake up feeling ready to begin?
Well, I feel as though my motivation has come from yesterday's reset. Even after waking up 3 or 4 different times during the night and not being able to fall asleep due to external noises, I feel like I'm ready to get things done. That is a very good thing, since this is a busy week. I'm ready for the challenge of stepping up my game teaching in class, and attempting to really push things forward in my own life. I've laid off the wedding planning a little bit due to general life getting in the way, but I need to get back on that, and finalize a bunch of things before none of the vendors are left. Food planning for the week is always a source of feeling organized that I love and I need to get on top of that as well for the week.
On that note, I should probably go get some more organizational aspects done. My kitchen is in major need of cleaning, and I will feel very unhappy if that doesn't get done today!
What do you see in your mirror today?
Friday, October 23, 2015
Foodie Friday
It's my first Foodie Friday! Wahoo!
I didn't have any super exciting dishes to try this week, so instead I will tell you about how I have fixed my hatred for breakfast.
Let me start by saying that I love planning out meals for the week. I typically cook up a bunch of chicken one night, and then throughout the week I cook different sides and sauces to go along with it. For my lunches, I prefer to make a big pot of soup, and it can typically last me for a week. I don't do that with breakfast (who wants to reheat eggs?).
Breakfast has always been an issue for me. I don't like eating breakfast, aside from the occasional brunch, or a bagel as a treat on a really long, busy day ahead. I'm not a morning person, and I'm lazy until coffee has set in. I could be pretty happy drinking coffee and a glass of hot water with lemon for the rest of my days. However, I'm very active. I walk to work 4 days a week, I've been adding at home strength training to my days, and I teach dance all afternoon/evening. With all that, I SHOULD be having breakfast.
In my browsing through Pinterest, I recently came upon an idea about making smoothies. I can deal with smoothies, but it's such a pain to make them every day and have to wash out the hulking blender we have. That's why when I saw a pin about freezing a batch of smoothies in ice cube trays, I knew I had to try it.
I've been on this path for about 2 weeks now. Every few days I make a big batch of smoothie and put it in the freezer. I pop a few out the night before, and let them defrost in my smoothie cup overnight. In the morning, all I have to do is take the cup out of the fridge and it's ready!
This past week I actually tried using a mix with my typically smoothie. The brand was Vega. It actually had a lot of ingredients that I recognized. The only thing is that it was SO thick! It made my already decent smoothie pretty gross, and it would stick to the side of the cup, which caused me to have to scoop it off with a spoon. Not my favorite. I'll try the other 2 packets I got eventually and try to thin out the mix, but I will see.
The smoothie recipe I just made-
A large handful of baby spinach
3 small-ish apples peeled and cut
a lot of frozen blueberries
milk
vanilla spice tea
3 large spoonfuls of plain greek yogurt
a couple spoonfuls of shredded unsweetened coconut
a few spoonfuls of ground golden flaxseed
All I did was throw it all in the blender and mix it up. The consistency is definitely thinner this time around, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm just happy that I am starting my days off better with delicious smoothies that actually are very good for me. I'm hoping that it's contributing to the fact that I have managed to stay healthy and not get sick.
Will you be trying freezing smoothies? It's not a bad idea!
I didn't have any super exciting dishes to try this week, so instead I will tell you about how I have fixed my hatred for breakfast.
Let me start by saying that I love planning out meals for the week. I typically cook up a bunch of chicken one night, and then throughout the week I cook different sides and sauces to go along with it. For my lunches, I prefer to make a big pot of soup, and it can typically last me for a week. I don't do that with breakfast (who wants to reheat eggs?).
Breakfast has always been an issue for me. I don't like eating breakfast, aside from the occasional brunch, or a bagel as a treat on a really long, busy day ahead. I'm not a morning person, and I'm lazy until coffee has set in. I could be pretty happy drinking coffee and a glass of hot water with lemon for the rest of my days. However, I'm very active. I walk to work 4 days a week, I've been adding at home strength training to my days, and I teach dance all afternoon/evening. With all that, I SHOULD be having breakfast.
In my browsing through Pinterest, I recently came upon an idea about making smoothies. I can deal with smoothies, but it's such a pain to make them every day and have to wash out the hulking blender we have. That's why when I saw a pin about freezing a batch of smoothies in ice cube trays, I knew I had to try it.
I've been on this path for about 2 weeks now. Every few days I make a big batch of smoothie and put it in the freezer. I pop a few out the night before, and let them defrost in my smoothie cup overnight. In the morning, all I have to do is take the cup out of the fridge and it's ready!
This past week I actually tried using a mix with my typically smoothie. The brand was Vega. It actually had a lot of ingredients that I recognized. The only thing is that it was SO thick! It made my already decent smoothie pretty gross, and it would stick to the side of the cup, which caused me to have to scoop it off with a spoon. Not my favorite. I'll try the other 2 packets I got eventually and try to thin out the mix, but I will see.
The smoothie recipe I just made-
A large handful of baby spinach
3 small-ish apples peeled and cut
a lot of frozen blueberries
milk
vanilla spice tea
3 large spoonfuls of plain greek yogurt
a couple spoonfuls of shredded unsweetened coconut
a few spoonfuls of ground golden flaxseed
All I did was throw it all in the blender and mix it up. The consistency is definitely thinner this time around, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm just happy that I am starting my days off better with delicious smoothies that actually are very good for me. I'm hoping that it's contributing to the fact that I have managed to stay healthy and not get sick.
Will you be trying freezing smoothies? It's not a bad idea!
Thursday, October 22, 2015
#Kindness4Colleen
Normally today would be Throwback Thursday, but I think I need to take a little time to reflect.
2 years ago today something horrible happened. In my hometown, in my old high school, a teacher was murdered in cold blood by a student. I remember finding out, calling Nick, and just sobbing into the phone. I wanted nothing more than to run to the high school just to make sure that everyone I knew was okay.
I have many students who were in the school that day, and are still in that school now. There are those who have graduated and moved on, and there are those who are friends with students at the school. This tragedy has changed them. Perhaps they are a little less naive, perhaps a little more jaded. Innocence was taken from some of them, and that feeling of safety that Danvers always had was rocked. In contrast, I am proud of these students. If only for one day a year, they remember to take something so tragic, and turn it into something good.
For every dark cloud, there is a silver lining. There is a movement started by Colleen Ritzer's best friend called #Kindness4Colleen. Basically, people are asked to do random acts of kindness in her honor. I am incredibly proud of how many students are participating. It is so tough as a teacher to watch your students go through an event like this- between the emotions, the confusion, the pain. To watch them rise above that and do good in the world is an amazing thing.
I only hope that these students inspire the adults in their lives to act with kindness as well. I find myself on certain days getting caught up in unnecessary stress, and then perhaps not acting as kindly as I could. However, I have preached for a long time to my students about practicing kindness in my classroom, and I hope that resonates with some of them.
Stand up. Practice Kindness. Carry love in your heart. There is so much good in the world if you look for it, and I hope my students are reminded of that every day.
2 years ago today something horrible happened. In my hometown, in my old high school, a teacher was murdered in cold blood by a student. I remember finding out, calling Nick, and just sobbing into the phone. I wanted nothing more than to run to the high school just to make sure that everyone I knew was okay.
I have many students who were in the school that day, and are still in that school now. There are those who have graduated and moved on, and there are those who are friends with students at the school. This tragedy has changed them. Perhaps they are a little less naive, perhaps a little more jaded. Innocence was taken from some of them, and that feeling of safety that Danvers always had was rocked. In contrast, I am proud of these students. If only for one day a year, they remember to take something so tragic, and turn it into something good.
For every dark cloud, there is a silver lining. There is a movement started by Colleen Ritzer's best friend called #Kindness4Colleen. Basically, people are asked to do random acts of kindness in her honor. I am incredibly proud of how many students are participating. It is so tough as a teacher to watch your students go through an event like this- between the emotions, the confusion, the pain. To watch them rise above that and do good in the world is an amazing thing.
I only hope that these students inspire the adults in their lives to act with kindness as well. I find myself on certain days getting caught up in unnecessary stress, and then perhaps not acting as kindly as I could. However, I have preached for a long time to my students about practicing kindness in my classroom, and I hope that resonates with some of them.
Stand up. Practice Kindness. Carry love in your heart. There is so much good in the world if you look for it, and I hope my students are reminded of that every day.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Adventures at the Haunted Farm
I missed Tip Tuesday...
I'm off to a great start, eh?
I promise there was a good reason, though. I took the opportunity of having a day off to decompress. I literally watched 3 Halloween movies in a row, and stayed in my pajamas until 4pm. Granted, I did get up and organize laundry, cook dinner, make a grocery list, and went food shopping, but the majority of the day was spent in the recognition that I just needed a break.
So today is Wild Card Wednesday! Today's topic? Adventure in the Connors Farm Haunted Farm!
Two years ago, I found a Groupon for a haunted corn maze at a farm in the town I grew up in. I figured, why not? So fiance and I headed out with his best friend. And boy did we have a blast!
Last year we missed out on the festivities. We planned on going, but unfortunately between our schedules and the rain, it didn't work out. This year we were determined to go again. This time we fortunately added another girl to the party, so I wasn't the only one screaming.
In getting VIP tickets, we got to surpass the looooooooong line in which people were waiting. We stepped up to the area where we were to begin the adventure. Already there was a scary costumed person splattered with "blood" and what seemed to be entrails in his hands.
I will try not to give a lot away in case you readers decide to go. I will tell you that it started with my least favorite thing- clowns. Now, when I went 2 years ago, the scariest thing by far was the haunted woods with the clowns. I remember one particular clown with arm extensions that came galloping towards us that in turn made me collapse into a freaked out fit. I remember the boys grabbing my arms and gently guiding me forward to get away from that part.
Well, that clown was back, except this time, he started out the whole thing. We were greeted by that clown. I'm pretty sure I shouted "Are you kidding?!?!? This is how it starts?" That definitely prompted Mr. Clown to come back to us after we completed a certain part of the maze.
The scariest part this year to me was this hulking mass of a dude. He was extremely tall and intimidating. He banged on the wall behind him and started screaming and jumping. As I started to pass him, he got his face right on my shoulder by my ear (without making physical contact of course) and whispered "You smell delicious." I was done. I just kept yelling at fiance "I'm not looking back! I'm not looking back!"
My only complaint was how they spaced out the groups. There was a larger group in front of us, and an even larger group behind us. Technically, our foursome took on another couple. They were cute and nice, and we didn't mind. It was the large group of teenage boys behind us that I really didn't care for. They obviously didn't listen to the people who explain things at the beginning. You're not supposed to run, but a couple of times I heard their screams and their feet pounding. Fiance and I were in the front of our own group, and when we started to catch up with the group in front of us, we decided to hold back so that we could actually get the scares and give the actors time to reset to be able to give us the scares. The large group of boys behind us just started yelling at us that we needed to go on through, and made a couple of rude comments. We debated letting them go ahead of us, but that meant more time spent waiting, and who was to say that the next group wouldn't catch up from that? So we stuck it out. The problem with that was that the actors doing the scares assumed we were one large group, and unfortunately throughout the woods, most of the scares went to the boys because they were in the middle of this seemingly massive group. We spent a bit of time without any scares because the teens were the targets. I wish they had someone out like the first year we went- in the clown woods the first year a woman stopped us at a certain part to more evenly space out the parties. It would've been beneficial to have that again this year.
I was happy when the maze ended. My heart was racing, and my throat was raw from screaming. We got apple cider at the farm, and it definitely helped. I was ready for bed afterwards, and promptly went home to sleep.
Overall, though, there were plenty of scares and frights! It took us a decent amount of time to get through the maze, and the make up and acting is always on point. Most parts of the scenery were amazing as well. I would say all, but there was one vague scene I remember seeing that was clearly just plastic Halloween dead body decorations thrown in and around a container (a bathtub maybe? I was not fully paying attention to the scene. I was terrified of the next scare). If I thought we had time, I would definitely go again. I will be back for next year's, though!
Interested in going? Hysteria! at Connors Farm
I'm off to a great start, eh?
I promise there was a good reason, though. I took the opportunity of having a day off to decompress. I literally watched 3 Halloween movies in a row, and stayed in my pajamas until 4pm. Granted, I did get up and organize laundry, cook dinner, make a grocery list, and went food shopping, but the majority of the day was spent in the recognition that I just needed a break.
So today is Wild Card Wednesday! Today's topic? Adventure in the Connors Farm Haunted Farm!
Two years ago, I found a Groupon for a haunted corn maze at a farm in the town I grew up in. I figured, why not? So fiance and I headed out with his best friend. And boy did we have a blast!
Last year we missed out on the festivities. We planned on going, but unfortunately between our schedules and the rain, it didn't work out. This year we were determined to go again. This time we fortunately added another girl to the party, so I wasn't the only one screaming.
In getting VIP tickets, we got to surpass the looooooooong line in which people were waiting. We stepped up to the area where we were to begin the adventure. Already there was a scary costumed person splattered with "blood" and what seemed to be entrails in his hands.
I will try not to give a lot away in case you readers decide to go. I will tell you that it started with my least favorite thing- clowns. Now, when I went 2 years ago, the scariest thing by far was the haunted woods with the clowns. I remember one particular clown with arm extensions that came galloping towards us that in turn made me collapse into a freaked out fit. I remember the boys grabbing my arms and gently guiding me forward to get away from that part.
Well, that clown was back, except this time, he started out the whole thing. We were greeted by that clown. I'm pretty sure I shouted "Are you kidding?!?!? This is how it starts?" That definitely prompted Mr. Clown to come back to us after we completed a certain part of the maze.
The scariest part this year to me was this hulking mass of a dude. He was extremely tall and intimidating. He banged on the wall behind him and started screaming and jumping. As I started to pass him, he got his face right on my shoulder by my ear (without making physical contact of course) and whispered "You smell delicious." I was done. I just kept yelling at fiance "I'm not looking back! I'm not looking back!"
My only complaint was how they spaced out the groups. There was a larger group in front of us, and an even larger group behind us. Technically, our foursome took on another couple. They were cute and nice, and we didn't mind. It was the large group of teenage boys behind us that I really didn't care for. They obviously didn't listen to the people who explain things at the beginning. You're not supposed to run, but a couple of times I heard their screams and their feet pounding. Fiance and I were in the front of our own group, and when we started to catch up with the group in front of us, we decided to hold back so that we could actually get the scares and give the actors time to reset to be able to give us the scares. The large group of boys behind us just started yelling at us that we needed to go on through, and made a couple of rude comments. We debated letting them go ahead of us, but that meant more time spent waiting, and who was to say that the next group wouldn't catch up from that? So we stuck it out. The problem with that was that the actors doing the scares assumed we were one large group, and unfortunately throughout the woods, most of the scares went to the boys because they were in the middle of this seemingly massive group. We spent a bit of time without any scares because the teens were the targets. I wish they had someone out like the first year we went- in the clown woods the first year a woman stopped us at a certain part to more evenly space out the parties. It would've been beneficial to have that again this year.
I was happy when the maze ended. My heart was racing, and my throat was raw from screaming. We got apple cider at the farm, and it definitely helped. I was ready for bed afterwards, and promptly went home to sleep.
Overall, though, there were plenty of scares and frights! It took us a decent amount of time to get through the maze, and the make up and acting is always on point. Most parts of the scenery were amazing as well. I would say all, but there was one vague scene I remember seeing that was clearly just plastic Halloween dead body decorations thrown in and around a container (a bathtub maybe? I was not fully paying attention to the scene. I was terrified of the next scare). If I thought we had time, I would definitely go again. I will be back for next year's, though!
Interested in going? Hysteria! at Connors Farm
Monday, October 19, 2015
Mirror Monday!
So here we go!
This is my first Mirror Monday, where I look in the mirror and tell you what I see. Then I tell you how I think I can build on that, or turn it around.
Today I see exhaustion. I see the remnants of stress and not sleeping. Last week was a little rough. I feel as though I let some work stuff get to me more than it should, and I pretty much feel like I didn't stop moving. Even the weekend was busy with work, friends, and things to do.
October is always a very busy month for me. There's always a fun fall activity to do and friends start to realize that they haven't seen me for a while so they start to plan things. I love being able to see my friends, but this is also the season in teaching when things start to pick up as well in various aspects. It winds up feeling like I don't stop.
Normally this would be fine, but for the past 2 Octobers, this also happens to be around the time that I stop sleeping. I don't know if it's habit from years of working in the restaurant industry where I don't sleep. I don't know if it's from the weather. I also don't know if it's from my neighbors being more active at later hours. Either way, I get less sleep than I would like. Even if I go to bed at an earlier hour, I wake up at various points throughout the night.
So seeing all this, the best I can do is take care of my body. My skin is currently riddled with a stress breakout, so I need to drink more water and eat better. I need to lay off the bad food, and stick to what I know will nourish my body rather than cave in to a craving. I need to sleep when I can, and spend my time wisely during the day. Workouts will help with those lovely endorphins, and hopefully I can remain grounded.
I think the biggest thing I need to remember this week is not to be too hard on myself. I get frustrated when I get stuck on something with work, and I need to just remember to let things go. I need to let things roll off my shoulders and breathe. My brain usually does not like to turn off, so this is the time that I need to find ways to let my brain shut off. I am lucky to have an amazing fiance whose hugs immediately relieve stress from my shoulders, and his sweet words are almost always a reminder of why I can't wait to call him my husband.
Grounded. That is my word for the week.
Monday, October 12, 2015
A New Approach For Me
So blogging is interesting. I've tried a few times to do this blogging thing, but each time I try I get too personal, or I lose focus and have a bunch of entries that have nothing to do with anything. In hopes of finally maybe making this a bit more successful, I'm setting it up so that each day of the week is a theme.
Mirror Monday- When I talk about what I see when I look at myself in the mirror, and how I think I could change it or build up from it.
Taco Tuesday- Just kidding. It'll be Tip Tuesday, where those interested in my lovely world of dance will get a tip on how to do various different things.
Wild Card Wednesday- This will be anything and everything. A random post if you will.
Throwback Thursday- This is very popular across the internet. I'll [learn how to] post a picture from my past and tell you what exactly is going on in it.
Foodie Friday- I'll talk about food in some way or another.
Song Lyrics Saturday- I'll list the lyrics of a song I'm feelin, or a song that is very special to my life.
Sunday Funday- I'll describe a fun adventure I had during the week.
Hopefully this will keep me on track! I'll start tomorrow and I'll even maybe start posting it on Facebook!
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