a problem I don't have

I read at The Hairpin the other day about The New and Unworn Clothing That Haunts Your Closet-- let me just go on record as saying, I do NOT have this problem.
When I buy new clothes, I wear them right away. Not always the very next day, but usually within a week or two. Sometimes the SAME DAY. I NEVER have clothes in my closet that I've never worn. NEVER.

Am I the only one? Or are you like the girls at The Hairpin?

bitter truths

I saw this on another blog (I can't remember which...), and it made me happy. Because I totally believe it. It's from Lemony Snicket's Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid.

I liked it for a lot of reasons, but mainly because I totally live by this. If I'm going somewhere with unknown or questionable plans, I always have a book. Sometimes I leave it in my car so as not to appear rude, but you can rest assured that I always have a book.

On my birthday this year, we went around the table at dinner and everyone had to say nice things about me (family tradition, don't question it, it's awesome)-- and one of the things my dad said that he liked about me was that I always have books around. Stacks here and there. One upstairs, downstairs, in my bag, in the car.

And it's true. I love books. I love having them. I love reading them. I love looking at them. I love talking about them. Love books.

And in the technological age, I find myself wary of the e-book, but with the new iPad, I decided to try it out. Read two books on my iPad this weekend. Read Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl and Beth Orsoff's Romantically Challenged. I enjoyed Twenties Girl as much as I've enjoyed Kinsella's other books- cute, decently written, happy ending, mindless. Romantically Challenged was ok- one of those I wouldn't read again, but don't feel short changed since it only cost $3.

Although e-readers will NEVER replace the comfort of an actual book, I liked it. I think I would love it to travel and such.

shocking news

I went painting Saturday morning. My sister really wanted this one painting, so my mom and I went and painted them for her.
Mine is on the right, mom's on the left. My sister is muchos happy- she hasn't seen them in real life, just the pics. But, she's pumped. Like always, had a blast at Corkscrews and Canvas!

1 Year, 100 Books

During my very first year at McClure, I taught a student named Allison. She was only in my class for a few weeks before she qualified to be moved into the advanced language arts class. I was devastated when she was moved from my class. In all my years of teaching, I have never been more impressed by any student's writing ability than I was with Allison. She was simply in a class by herself. Even in her advanced class, her writing ability was incredibly better than her classmates.

Well, Allison is in highschool now and has taken a bet from one of her teachers: to read 100 books in 1 year. She turned 16 last week, and if she is able to read (and review!) 100 books by her 17th birthday, then her teacher is going to give her $200! Naturally, Allison accepted this challenge- and not only that, she's writing all of her reviews on sparklife.com! She's only read three books in her challenge so far, but she's looking for comments and suggestions. I have no doubt that it'll be an entertaining year as Allison takes on the challenge!

The link to see her columns so far: http://community.sparknotes.com/tag/one-year-100-books
I couldn't figure out how to get them in an RSS feed- if anyone does, please let me know!!

who!?

Click here.
It's not spam. This is really me. I promise. It's not a scary virus or porn. Just a happy clickage.

blame it on January

My friend Micah wrote a song a few years ago, and I always liked the line "I blame my problems on January". Because, honestly, I feel like it has to be the worst month ever. (I'm 100% sure that now that I've said this, I'll get married and have all of my children in January.) I will now air my grievances with January.

1. I don't get paid from December 17th (ish) until the end. of. january. which, by the way, is a VERY LONG MONTH. It is truly the WORST thing about my job.
   
   
2. Football ends. Baseball hasn't started. Sports purgatory. I do not care about basketball. At all. I mean, hooray if Alabama wins, but I just don't care for the sport. And. Don't tell me I can watch the NFL or some other bogus sport that no real people like. I watch college football, Atlanta Braves baseball, and golf tournaments. None of those are happening today. Except on ESPN/CBS classic. Which I watch all of the time this time of year. And don't even me started on how much I hate SportsCenter/PTI/ATH this time of year- all they're trying to do is convince me that these "sports" that I don't like are actually valuable. Liars.
   
   
3. It's freaking freezing. And I am WAY over wearing a coat and not being able to move my arms properly. I feel like a tyrannosaurus rex. and I don't like it.
   
   
4. It's dark before I leave school. No, seriously. Middle school in Cobb gets out at 415, so I normally leave around 5. Which, in January, is dusk. GIVE ME SOME SUN LIGHT. I feel like I'm going to die of a vitamin D deficiency. Or at least, I think it's vitamin D. Right? I don't know. I could google it, but, well, I just don't want to.
   
   

I think I'm going to stop there. That's enough complaining for one day.

To combat the negativenancyness of that list, here are some things I love right now:
1. my iPad.
2. White Collar. To be more specific, Neil Caffrey.
3. My cowboy boots.
4. My lunch box.
5. painting

painting

Have you gone to these drink-while-you-paint painting classes? They seem to be all the rage in metro Atlanta, and I went to Sips-and-Strokes about a year ago with my school. In the past few months, one of my mom's bffs has opened one these places in west Cobb called Corkscrews and Canvas.

So, I've gone quite a few times. I've been more times than a normal person should go, but it's been fun! Honestly, I like the painting a lot- if I had a need for all of these pieces of "art", I would go more often, but it's already out of control. I've been giving most of the pieces away to friends and family who mention they like the piece. I mean, if you like it, you can have it! Here are a few of the things I've done so far....
So, I've been planning a birthday party at Corkscrews and Canvas for my friend Angie, and we were trying to decide what piece to do, and I took a picture of this sample from the studio. (My friend, Jill Alford, did this!)
We're gonna go paint this next month (hopefully!), but I was curious with my own artistic ability, so I decided to attempt it myself!

Mine is obviously a little different, but I really like it! It's hanging outside of my classroom! Adorable!