The past week has been one of the best in 2015. My family celebrated my grandparents 60th anniversary. We took a trip up to the mountains and enjoyed the snow. I made Santa pancakes and watched my nieces get excited as they unwrapped Christmas gifts. There's no better way to end the year than surrounded by the love of family. I'm so thankful for all that 2015 gave me and I'm looking forward to all the adventures in 2016!
I spent Thanksgiving week in San Diego. The first half of the week was warm and sunny making it perfect weather for the beach. But a rainstorm came and cooled the rest of the week making for cloudy, beautiful days by the sea. I'm so thankful to have spent the time with family. It went by quickly as we were always doing something--croissant cooking class, beach day, shopping, Beauty and the Beast play, SeaWorld, running a 5K, Thanksgiving dinner, Seaport Village, and getting a Christmas tree!
I'm reminded of the quote: "At the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling."
I feel like that's how my days have been ending lately. There is so much joy around me. So much love.
Lately, it has felt like life has beat me up and spat on me. The end of the day I'm drained and exhausted and left feeling dissatisfied with the work I've created. I think this is what burnout feels like. I'm currently trying to work out of this slump and one thing that improved my mood was going to the evening farmers market in my town. Side note, that picture of me is what I look like when I've been up since 2 am. Can you feel the exhaustion radiating from that picture? Anyway, I got tomatoes and basil and made these tarts. They were divine! It was a nice last, little taste of summer.
I'm so happy it's October! I'm looking forward to all the potential autumn will bring. This time of year always makes me feel more creative which is what I need right now. Plus, I love how the smell of pumpkin and nutmeg are everywhere. October is all about warmth and comfort. It's what one needs to soothe their soul. I hope you're having a wonderful first day of October!
Getting into the Christmas Spirit! Plus, this time of year also means tamales, which means my days have been delightfully delicious. I finally got all my gift shopping and wrapping done and can now just sit back and enjoy the decorations and time with family. I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday!
I'm slow. I'm also impatient. This usually leads to me being frustrated at myself. NaNoWriMo is coming up and I know I won't make it to 50K by the end of November. This time I won't get frustrated with myself because I can't write fast. I need to enjoy the process of getting the words down and that means allowing myself the time I need.
I'm making it a goal to stop looking at clocks so much. To allow myself to be in a moment whether that moment is writing, working, knitting or baking.
Enjoy the motions of your life.
Plus sometimes, it's good to do things slowly. Here are five:
1. Waking up.
Take deep breaths. Stretch beneath the covers. Take a moment to feel cozy and warm. Pay attention to the sounds of a new day starting...of new possibilities and beginnings.
2. Eating/Drinking.
Hot coffee or tea on a cold day. Apple pie warm out of the oven. Things like that demand to be savored.
3. Unwrapping.
It makes a gift a little sweeter as you linger with anticipation while undoing the wrapping paper.
4. Reading.
Sometimes you just don't want books to end. You are so madly in love with it that you take your time with each page, wishing the book would sprout another hundred pages.
5. Embraces.
Your dog greeting you when you get home. A hug from a child. A kiss from a loved one. Holding your grandma's hand.
I swear 2013 lasted too long. I was sick the last few months of it. Still sick actually but I feel like I'm finally on the mend.
Besides being sick from constant contact with germy kids, 2013 was good to me in that I got a job (which led me to the germy kids as I work at an elementary school).
When I finished grad school in 2012, I thought it would take me years to find one considering being a librarian comes with limited and competitive job opportunities (also the other librarians I knew had been looking for 3 years + so they didn't give me much hope), but I did indeed find one!
My writing has kind of been slacking lately what with being sick and having a new full time job but I started this day right by typing away at a story I've been struggling with for years. There was this brilliant moment where the plot finally clicked in my head and I swear it must be a good sign for my writing this year. Right? I hope so anyway.
And I will now leave you with the first new sentence I wrote in this lovely new year:
When I first started working at a school, I was really anxious about how I would handle having to juggle so many tasks. I am the only person that works in the library. There is something daunting about being the only librarian and something wonderful about having control over your own space. But it is indeed very overwhelming. There is always something to do.
But I love Mondays. They are my favorite because only a few classes come in so I have the most free hours of the week to get things done. The other days, classes come back to back and I am not doing much more than reading to students, helping them find books, and checking them out.
I thought I'd share this rather productive day because I know when I was starting out as a librarian I went searching for posts about library routines.
This is what my Monday was like today:
8:30-Turn on the library computers and set up tables and their displays. I open up my email and correspond with other staff about current issues. I also help out two parents looking for books for their kids.
9-A kindergarten class comes in. I do story time and then let them browse through the books on the tables.
9:30-Answer more emails (they never seem to end). I also make copies and then make deliveries for teachers and staff requesting things from the library.
10:20-I shelve books and pull some nonfiction ones from the shelves, knowing that my next class has a need for nonfiction books.
10:40-More time with my emails!
11-A 4th grade class comes in and I help them out with checking out books and AR issues.
11:50-Lunch!
12:20-I get through some more emails and then work on delivering student workbooks to classrooms.
1-I start pulling books for Hispanic Heritage Month. I also have students come in on their lunch and I help them find books and chat with them about random things. If you work with children life tends to be like one of those at&t commercials.
2:30-A 6th grade classroom comes in and they are brilliant. They were rascals last week but have turned it around and work quietly.
3-I start cleaning up, organizing for tomorrow. I make a list of things I need to do, which includes finishing the Hispanic Heritage book display I'm going to present next week. I also have new books that have just come in that need to be labeled.
3:15-But everything can wait because I get to go home and work on my home-to-do list.
I started a new job in the beginning of August as an elementary librarian. I began just a few days before school started and was so overwhelmed. Keeping up with books for over 700 students is kind of hard! Thinks of all those textbooks! Thinks of my poor arms!
Anyway, I survived. I have collapsed into a heap of exhaustion and am so thankful for this long weekend, but I'm also really excited to get back to work. There's really nothing better than seeing a kid excited over reading.
I read We Are in a Book by Mo Willems this past week and had a blast, although I'm sure half the students were laughing at me. A thing I realized about reading out loud is that you can't be afraid to look ridiculous. However, no matter how good I read it, I don't think it beats the video below. I'll leave you with this wonderful adaptation:
This summer has been crazy! There was comic con; reorganizing 50,000 books in the library (still doing that); birthdays (I come from a family full of summer birthdays that it feels like there is a party every week); and a dash of writing thrown into the mix.
August has officially arrived and there are still things I'm looking forward to doing this summer, which include: making homemade pasta, going to the zoo, visiting a museum, and having a picnic in the park. And of course, there is that one minor thing of finishing that darn novel!
Hope the rest of you are having a lovely summer. Stay cool!
