Project November: Day 3

Day 3: A book you love

There are plenty of books that I "love." I really geek out over the Harry Potter series and have always been in love with the Chronicles of Narnia. And of course, where would I be without my Bible? But today I'm sharing something different. A sweet story that stirs my heart and literally gives me warm fuzzies when I read it.

“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning.
Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.”

via Amazon.com

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo is a book I read in college for my Methods of Teaching Language Arts class. Honestly I'd never heard of it before then. As soon as I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading. I fell in love with a mouse. The story goes something like this: in a far away kingdom several unrelated characters experience pain and loss, and then learn how to cope with a broken heart. Throughout the course of the story, their lives begin to intertwine and their stories connect.

“There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman. Such was the fate of Chiaroscuro. His heart was broken. Picking up the spoon and placing it on his head, speaking of revenge, these things helped him to put his heart together again. But it was, alas, put together wrong.” 

 

“Pea was aware suddenly of how fragile her heart was, how much darkness was inside it, fighting, always, with the light. She did not like the rat. She would never like the rat, but she knew what she must do to save her own heart.”

A tiny mouse looking for a quest finds honor in being brave and pursuing a crazy love, a princess feels again, a rat seeks a different destiny for himself, a king smiles again, and a young orphaned girl is reunited with her father after years of painful separation. The power of a story, of love, of forgiveness... it's all here. Get yourself to the library and pick up this sweet read, I promise you won't regret it!

 

“Reader, you may ask this queston. In fact, you must ask this question. Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse fall in love with a beautiful princess named Pea? The answer is yes. Of course it's ridiculous. Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful. And powerful.”

Project November, Day 1

Clearly my lofty goals for this year's photography project have failed miserably, since my last post was five months ago. I originally started this second blog to be an outlet, a place where I could express myself creatively with topics or ideas completely unrelated to my service at BFA. So, for the month of November I'm tackling a 30-day writing challenge that I spotted on Pinterest. I can't find the original source, otherwise I would give credit to the person responsible for the list. Also, I'm not using every single prompt - some I am rewriting to be more pertinent to my own life. So without further ado, today's topic.

Day 1: Five ways to win your heart.

This is probably referring to a romantic heart winning, but I've included ways that women can win my heart in non-romantic ways, too.

1. Serenade me. It doesn't matter what instrument you play, or what song you sing. Music speaks to me. What can I say? I'm a sucker for guitars and pretty harmonies. Extra winning if you write a song just for me.

2. Speak my love language, which is words of affirmation. I'm ridiculously sentimental. This past summer I cleaned out boxes and boxes of stuff from my childhood and threw away over ten years' worth of notes, cards, and letters from friends that I had saved because I was too sappy to throw them away. Now that I'm a teacher, I'm amassing a collection of handwritten notes from my students and encouraging letters from their parents, because their words speak to my heart and affirm my decision to become a teacher.

3. Give me chocolate. Obviously. Even better if the chocolate includes coconut, mint, or peanut butter in some form.

4. Make me laugh, or let me be free to laugh at stupid/nerdy/quirky things without feeling like a loser. Sometimes it's like I never left middle school.

5. Love Jesus.

P52 / 21 / bittersweet

I only have one picture this week, because I went to the 8th grade dinner and awards ceremony with my camera but no memory card. Fail. It's ok, though, because this picture captures everyone's personality so perfectly!!

P52 / 21 / bittersweet

These are my precious eighth graders. I have had the privilege of teaching seven of them for all three years of middle school!! They've come a long way (and so have I) and now all of them are heading off to the wonderful world of high school. They bring joy to my life and challenge me to be a better teacher. I am so very proud of their accomplishments and growth, but so very sad that I no longer get to have them in class and see them everyday.

P52 / 20 / libero

Pictures for week 20 come from my trip with the eighth graders to Lugano, Switzerland. Read about our adventures here.

P52 / 20 / libero

P52 / 16 / anticipation

This series of pictures follows my anticipation for my friend Megan's birthday on Friday. My gift to her was a handmade pearl necklace, as you can see in the last picture.

[With Picnik officially shut down, I have had to find a new photo editing program. I'm currently using PicMonkey but they are still a work in progress and have yet to enable their "collage" feature.]

P52 / 16 / anticipation

foody friday: fruit smoothies

One of my favorite things about spring is the fresh fruit that suddenly abounds, both in the fields and the grocery stores. I am slightly addicted to fruit smoothies, and after much trial and error have developed my go-to recipe, which only adds to the pleasantness of waking up to the sun on a warm spring morning. For someone who hates mornings, I love waking up to this.

For fun, I'm going to write the recipe in German since that was my homework for German class this week.

6 stueck erdbeeren
15 stueck heidelbeeren
1 banane
1 kiwi
100g joghurt
1 schluck orangensaft

Translation:
6 strawberries
15 blueberries
1 banana
1 kiwi
100g yogurt
1 splash of orange jiuce

P52 / 07 / love

This week I received an outpouring of love from friends, colleagues, and parents of my students on Valentine's Day. Here's just a taste of all the goodies!

P52 / 07 / love