And then it was November...

Wait. What?! Where did October go? Whoosh! It blew in and outta here like a hot, dry Santa Ana wind. (Like my attempt at descriptive writing?)

While being a middle school teacher is seriously much more manageable for me ('cause middle school is AWESOME) than being an elementary school teacher was, I still find that I am busy, busy, busy. I'm just busy with other stuff. I was elected as vice president of my teachers association last spring, and that means I have additional duties after school in that capacity - not every day. But several days a month I have meetings related to that.

My other new endeavor is a little eBay business I'm dabbling in. That's a post for another time, though. Suffice it to say, Michaela and I spend some of our "free" time thrifting after school and on the weekends. We have high hopes for our little business.

October wasn't all work. We did manage to have some fun together. A couple weeks ago we visited Riley's Farm in the local mountains for a taste of fall. It actually cools off there and feels like fall a little bit. Here are some pictures from our day trip with Grammy and Papa:

It was a beautiful day! I seriously love getting out of our urban sprawl and into the rural areas. If it weren't for my family and my job, I'd move in a heartbeat. Wide open spaces...

And then it was October...

My, oh my! It's been more than two weeks since my last post. This is the way it is when I'm teaching.

It's too bad, really, because I spent the summer trying to get this little blog going strong. I even hoped it would become an income stream for me eventually. But I have to say that I don't think that I have the kind of time and know-how for that at this point. Maybe I'll try again next summer.

In the meantime, I'll post when I can. I come up with good ideas for posts when I have absolutely no time to write them, and then when I have time I don't seem to revisit those ideas. Sigh...

So here's a sort of lame update on life lately:

Today we attended not one, but two birthday parties. Michaela looked forward to this day all week and she had a blast. I had a good time, too. We still managed to get a couple of errands done, so tomorrow won't be too crazy.

Thursday night was my twentieth Back to School Night, but my first as a middle school teacher. It went well. Now that September is a wrap, I feel like we're really in the swing of things at school. It's a good feeling. I absolutely love my new school, and my colleagues are great to work with.

Michaela asked me if we could decorate the house last weekend. So, despite temps in the 80s and 90s, I said yes and we put out the autumn-themed decorations. If it would just cool off a bit now...

Lastly, here are some recent photos off the iPhone of Miss Michaela. She's really into mermaids and Ariel these days, so she was overjoyed to find this Gymboree mermaid costume at the local thrift store a couple weeks ago. (What we're doing at the thrift store is for another post sometime soon, but you can check out my Pinterest feed in the sidebar to get an idea.)

Michaela used to take a gazillion selfies every time she got her hands on my phone, but she rarely does so anymore. I was actually happy to see these on my phone tonight. 

What a goofball!

Throwback Thursday - Just in from Hawaii (2008)

I'm somewhere out on the open seas today traveling from Ketchikan, AK to Victoria, B.C. So here's a post from way back when I was a newlywed. Michael and I vacationed on Oahu that first summer of our marriage. It was lovely.

We had a WONDERFUL time in Hawaii. The picture above is at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on our first full day there. We sat out by the pool for several hours refreshing ourselves in the pool and soaking up the rays. I had never done the resort thing in Hawaii before, and so it was good to spend a couple days at this amazing property and feel like we were living in style.

Being in Hawaii with Michael was totally different than the previous times I've been there before. He has spent enough time in the islands (he was born there and has returned many times since) to know about all the local delicacies and favorite places. I was introduced to many foods I had never tried before as Michael hunted down some of his favorites like malasadas and manapuas - yum!!! I also tried shave ice with ice cream and azuki beans. It didn't sound good to me at first, but it is - it is! We treated ourselves to a shared shave ice every day.

Once we left Waikiki, we spent the remainder (and most of) our vacation in the town of Kailua. Kailua has one of the best beaches in Hawaii, but no resorts. It's a bedroom community. Lots of people live there and commute to Honolulu for work. We were within a short walk's distance from the beach and the downtown shopping area. The property at which we stayed was waterfront, but not beachfront, however we could see the beach from the backyard (which was just beautiful), and we had full use of their saltwater pool. The unit we stayed in was so charming and comfortable, and the owners were gracious hosts. In fact, they discussed having us return next summer to housesit for them while they travel! We would be delighted to do so, of course!

On a side note, I really enjoyed waking to the sounds of the birds in the morning. They kept birds at their home, and together with the native birdies we were treated to quite a chorus each morning.

We drove around the island one day - up to the famous North Shore, through the fields of sugar cane and pineapple, along the stunningly beautiful coastline. Of the three islands I have now visited, I have to say that Oahu is my favorite. There is so much to do there if you like, and yet when we were at "home" in Kailua it was so quiet and and life moved very slowly. I was trying to figure out how we could relocate to Kailua, but alas I cannot think of a reasonable way to do so. So, we will return as visitors one day instead.

I hope to put together a little slideshow of some of our photos, but I've got other things that need my attention first. Perhaps I'll get to that over the weekend instead.

Aloha, for now!

What I'm Reading - Blogs

I discovered blogs about ten years ago when I decided to start the China adoption process. Personal blogs about China adoption experiences were a great resource for me, and I developed some good friendships (to this day!) as a result of reading and commenting on others' blogs. Somewhere along the line, we all seemed to migrate over to Facebook, and very few of us continued to blog as life became more demanding (kids!).

More recently, I have been in search of new blogs to read. I got on a kick of running Google searches looking for Stitch Fix reviews last year, and in doing so have discovered some new blogs that are worth reading beyond the monthly SF review.

Here are some of my favorites:

I think I found Edie's blog on Pinterest a while back. Seems like I was looking for either Stitch Fix reviews or fashion for forty-somethings. I will have to say that her blog is no lightweight, though. Edie has a lot of poignant reflections about life and faith, and her blog is uniquely and beautifully presented.

I'm not even sure that Cassie from hi sugarplum does Stitch Fix reviews, or not. So I'm not sure how I found her. Nevertheless, I love her sense of style. (Stripes and florals really do look cute together. Who knew?!) She also did a series on the Alaskan cruise she and her hubby took a few months ago, and of course I loved that. In addition to fashion and travel, you'll find home decor and DIY posts.

I stumbled across Dorothy's blog when she guest posted last week on another blog I've been visiting. I can relate to her journey as a single woman, and as someone coming to grips with a terrible loss. I am always drawn to people who don't have a picture perfect life, but who strive to live life gracefully.

Cyndi's blog was definitely a Stitch Fix related find. I love that she's over forty, fashionable, and that she points to the Lord as the source of all beauty. As someone who enjoys clothes, but struggles with putting it all together with accessories and such, Cyndi's blog gives me daily ideas for the contents in my own wardrobe.

I came across Sarah's blog this summer, and I've been inspired by her tips for frugal living and generating additional sources of income. I changed out many of my lightbulbs on her advice, and looked into simple ways I could monetize this blog. Her posts seem to make me take action!

These are just a few I enjoy reading throughout the week. The thing I need to work on (that I used to enjoy so much!), is commenting. I know how much I enjoy reading comments on my own blog posts, and so I need to be generous with my comments on the blogs I read. That's how relationships between bloggers are established.

So, what are you reading? Who is your favorite blogger?

This Week's Highs & Lows

Summer days have a way of blurring into one another. It's actually kind of hard to recall each on distinctly. Ha!

This week's highs:

Spending time with my brother-in-law Ben and his daughter Kiana. On Monday, we met up over at my parents' house for a little time in the pool. Michaela loved that!

Other highs were noting that Michaela is now coloring in the lines in her coloring books. . .

. . . and attempting to spell! I love seeing her try new things.

This week's lows:

Sadly, I learned that the father of two of my former students had passed away. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor last fall after suffering from a seizure. They are the sweetest, most gracious people, and I just hate that this has happened to them. Please pray for Mrs. C, Stacy and Tim as they grieve for their husband and father.

In light of their loss, anything else that has been less than perfect in my life this week seems insignificant. I'm blessed. God is good.

Have a restful weekend, friends!

Wednesday Night Ramble

Last Sunday I had a great idea for a meaningful post, but as the week has progressed I lost my focus. So tonight I offer you some rambling thoughts instead.

Michaela had a dental appointment today, and she got a good report on the health of her teeth. I was a little worried because we have been battling each other about teeth brushing, and she developed a bit of an aversion to tooth paste recently.

The dentist did ask if she was sucking her thumb, or anything like that, and so I did have to confess that she has "Chewy" that she puts in her mouth when she sleeps. Chewies are just baby burp cloths, but you'd think they are an animate object because she loves them so. She started chewing and sucking on them when she was a baby and she was teething. I have been trying since last year to get her to ditch Chewy because it grosses me out, but with no luck! However when her dentist learned of Chewy he explained why it wasn't good for her, and that it would be better to just hold Chewy and rub it on her cheek instead.

Well, nap time was a complete failure today because she was mourning the change in her relationship with Chewy, but thankfully tonight she fell asleep quickly. I went in to check on her just a few minutes ago, and she's sleeping peacefully and Chewy is not in her mouth. This is a big deal, people!

Three paragraphs about Chewy. Sheesh...

Okay, this is sort of sweet bittersweet. A couple of weeks ago, I gave Michaela a copy of my CD and a copy of her daddy's CD. She has a CD player in her bedroom, and she was eager to listen to our music. My CD is country music, and she puts it on and sings and dances along to the music. She keeps asking me if it's really me singing. 

Michael's CD is mostly instrumental, and so she listens to that while she sleeps. She has always listened to music while she sleeps. She's like her dad that way. He always listened to something while he slept, too. The first song is Michael singing Mel Torme's The Christmas Song. She will start it over and over again until she settles down - she loves to hear his voice. I do too. It's nice hearing his music in the house again. I don't know why I waited so long to get that CD out.

We leave in two weeks for our Alaska cruise. I think we have acquired everything we need for the trip, and I can't wait to actually pack it all up and hit the road. We will embark in San Francisco. I am really looking forward to exploring the ship, seeing the beauty of Alaska, our excursions, and the food. Oh, and ten days of not having to cook, clean, or do laundry is also very appealing! It's going to be a great way to cap off our summer break.

Okay, enough of my rambling. Good night!

Blog Makeover!

One of the things I was looking forward to doing more of this summer is blogging more frequently, and I knew that I'd want a fresh look for this space. As you can see, today the new header and elements were installed. I am just delighted and practically giddy with excitement.

This look, as well as my previous design, was done by Faith at A Design of Faith. She is wonderful to work with. I only had the most general ideas to get her started - florals and birds. I think I emailed her some links to blogs that appealed to me, too. She nailed my style on her first attempt. The header reminds me of the blog I had when I was married, which I really liked.

I highly recommend working with Faith!

I'm Back!

I never meant to step away from here for five months. Every time I thought about blogging, I just didn't feel like I had anything to say and/or I just didn't feel like it.

And then there's Facebook...

When I started blogging in 2005 or 2006, I made many friends and enjoyed reading their blogs and commenting on a regular basis. Then we all migrated to Facebook, and most of us let our blogs go. We reduced our thoughts and experiences to a sentence (or two, or three) - the Cliff Notes version of our lives.

For me, Facebook became a huge time sucker upper. While I love keeping in touch with my friends and family there, I just spend too much time doing so. A few weeks ago I decided that I'd get off Facebook for the summer, and use my blog and Instagram to share our summer adventures instead. Last night I deactivated my account.

So here I am! I am working with Faith to freshen up the blog. I can't wait to see what she designs for me.

I'm going to miss my Facebook buddies, and I hope they will find me here and check in (and comment!). Maybe I'll make some new friends as well.

So here's to a Facebook-free summer!