Summer 2014 Bucket List

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That's right folks, I am on summer vacation and there will be several days that I may not know what day it is. Ok the truth is, I don't always know what day it is during the school year. If you ask me on a week where we have Monday off, I will not succeed in giving you a correct answer.

Anyway, one thing I fancy about summer break is the chance to do whatever I want. This is the response I tell people when they ask me what I am going to do this summer. One problem with this attitude is that summer just seems to slip away if you don't have some sort of plan. Last year I had a bucket list and it went so well that I am doing it again!

Summer 2014 Bucket List (subject to change at any moment. Another great perk of summer!)

Hiking

• Fountain Valley Trail....Check
• Swallow & Coyote Song Loop
• Narrow Gauge & North Fork View

Watch Movies

• Frozen (I know! I think I am the only one on the planet!)...Check
• The Book Thief...Check
• Catching Fire

Items for School

• "I'm Finished" jar
• "Write On" jar
• Curtains
• Oil drip pan

Food/Drink

• Make a meatloaf...Check
• Snickerdoodle waffles
• Harry Potter Butter beer

Crafty Projects

• Finish quilt started years ago
• Pillow cases
• Pop bottle painting

Misc.

• Finish the AAA list of coffee shops with Molly (I think this one carries over from last summer)
• Put together my Muppets Puzzle...Check (no blog post for this one)
• Order and put up my chiming clock

I hope that most of these are done with family or friends. If you would like to help me check something off this list, let's do it! Adventures are more fun with someone!

Do you have summers off? Either way, do you have a bucket list and if so, what is on it?

Fall 2013 Bucket List

It is September and in my opinion it is the start of fall despite what the weather says. It has been so hot here lately that even some schools in the state have called off school because they don't have ac and it is too hot. My school is blessed with ac so we were learning away.

Fall is my favorite season. I love pretty much EVERYTHING about it. Growing up in western Colorado I was spoiled with fall colors, cool nights, crunchy leaves and the town was flooded with strangers dressed in blaze orange and smelling like they hadn't showered in weeks.

For being such a beautiful place in the fall, I had a really hard time finding a picture.
I guess I am just going to have to go home and take some myself!



I get very homesick for home during the fall. Where I currently live just isn't blessed with as many trees, mountains or as cool of nights.

Since the season has changed, I thought I would make another bucket list since I had so much fun this summer with checking things off. A few items from the summer are being carried over to fall.

Fall 2013 Bucket List

• Go "home" to Hotchkiss and cure my homesickness
• Explore Frisco, Colorado
• Fall will be the perfect time to do this since the colors will be grand and it won't be so hot! We will be able to sit outside to eat, drink and be happy!
• Make some sort of pumpkin recipe
• Have you been on Pintrest and typed in pumpkin?
• Cut out, cook, frost and devour some fall cookies
• Drink my weight in pumpkin lattes
• Try to navigate a corn maze
• Wiggins actually as a corn maze and I have never been! I will not be going to it at night or when scary things could pop out at me!
• Fall craft
• I don't have one in mind at the moment, but know that I want to do one
• Soup Sunday
• I love soup and fall/winter is a great time to consume soups. So I came up with the idea to make a soup in the crock pot every Sunday and hopefully freeze some of it for those nights when I just don't know what to have for dinner.
• Pumpkin adult milkshake
• Go on a fall hike
• Do some sort of physical activity for 21 of the 30 days of the month
• Go shooting with the Epples
• Watch a play
• Watch "The Great Pumpkin"

So let the fall fun begin!

What is on your list for this fall?

Summer 2013 Bucket List

It is official! Summer break has started for me! I checked out of my classroom around 3:00 today with big plans ahead of me! I have complied a nice list of hopes and dreams for the summer. Some are things that I have put off all year long and need to get done, where some of them are new, fun plans! A few things I have done before, but make my *heart flutter* and need to be experienced again.

• Go hiking
• Make smores
• Make pillow cases
• Finish a puzzle
• Go on a picnic to Jackson Lake
• Eat at a new restaurant
• Explore Georgetown
• Have lunch in Loveland
• Put together clothes pins to display 4th graders proud work
• Clean out and make pretty my guest bedroom
• Pallet project
• Create my own sea glass
• Chalkboard frames
• Complete the "5 Coffee Shops that Get Us Talking" adventure with Erin Molly
• Sip beer margaritas on the porch swing
• Make flash cards for my math class
• Door project
• Move the bakers rack to my bedroom (not worth blogging about)
• Eat at Jim's Wings in Fort Collins
• Get lost at Cheesecake Therapy
• Make Raspberry Cordial with a kindred spirit
• Have lunch with my dad on his lunch break

Ok that is it for now, but the list is likely to change and grow. Here's to adventure and summer break!
What is on your bucket list for the summer?

Summer Living

It is light, but it is there!

 

This picture represents life for me.

 

In October 2011 my step-mom passed away. This was my first encounter with a grief stronger than I had ever known. My whole life changed that day in ways that I never thought were even possible.

 

I was very, very (I can’t stress enough) lucky to have the support of my team teacher, friends and boss and was allowed to have a week and a half off to deal with what I needed to do. Yet as we know, grief is not allotted to a week and a half time frame, and eventually I had to go back to work.

 

I know it would have been ok if I had had hard times at school, but how do you explain to twenty nine and ten year olds why you are crying in the middle of their math lesson on fractions? So I pushed aside a lot of my grief while at work. At home I was able to let the tears flow freely while I sat on the floor of my closet while trying to figure out what to wear that day, but not at school.

 

So when summer came and I no longer had to push anything aside, the grief over took me. I had a very hard summer. I rarely left my house and hardly communicated with anyone. I am trying to think of one thing I did last summer, and I can’t really. When I did leave the house, I suffered from severe social anxiety issues and questioned every interaction with friends. Sadly, I fear that some bridges may have been burned during this time.

 

It is hard to know if what I went through was a helpful way to deal with the gaping hole that was now in my heart and in my life, but it was what happened.

 

In May as the school year was coming to a rapid end I decided that this summer I was going to live and the bucket list was born. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have a repeat of the summer before.

 

Back to my picture, in order to get a glorious Chaco tan, one has to be outside in the sun. In order to be out in the sun, one can’t sit at home on the couch. I got up and I got out there doing things that made my *heart flutter* and built memories. Thank you to all that helped me live this summer and also for your patience and understanding when I wasn't.

 

I lived this summer.

 

This is not to say that I forgot about my grief or that there is still a void in my life that I am not sure will ever be filled again, but it does say that Sandy would have been proud of me and wouldn’t have wanted me to spend another summer not living. She always lived her life even when she knew that the end was near and could have easily just given up.

 

Thank you, Sandy for once again being an inspiration and guide and still making an impact on my life. You were such a kindred spirit with *heart flutters* and truly understood that it is about the little things in life. I love you Blue Box Mama.

Bucket List Check Off ~ Lunch with Dad

Love the "Watering Hole" and the mountains in the background

Want a good burger? Want to eat the most delicious soup you have ever had in your life? Well Woody's is your place! Best potato beer cheese soup ever. I could just sit in it like a hot tub with a spoon.

My dad's company works at Coors in Golden and Woody's is a few blocks away, so I added to my bucket list to have lunch with him on his lunch break.

We meet each other at the restaurant and sat outside under the umbrellas eagerly awaiting the opening of the doors. It wasn't hot so it was nice to sit outside and chat.

I always have a hard time choosing what to eat when we go here because there is just so much that makes me happy. This time around I picked a Philly Cheese Steak and sweet potato fries. I couldn't pass up the chance for soup so I splurged and ordered a bowl. Oh happy tummy!

I love spending time with Dad so no matter where we ate, I would have been happy!

When Dad went back to work, I walked around Golden looking at all the little shops that make up downtown. I stumbled across a coffee shop and just had to go in for a spell. Comfy chair, book and coffee? Yes please!

Again this bucket list item wasn't so much of a new thing for me, but an assurance that it happened this summer.

What is a restaurant that you have to visit when you go to another town to visit?

Bucket List Check Off ~ Door Project and Beer Margaritas

Oh what a busy Friday! I was able to check off not one, but TWO items off of my summer bucket list! I started the journey with my door project. I have had my eye out for an old discarded door, and was graciously given one by some good friends.

First, I cleaned the door up and picked the side that I wanted to feature. Also made a plan for what I wanted to do exactly with it.
I had chalkboard, magnetic and picture hanging in mind.

After a run to Greeley to get supplies (and coffee!) I started the process of turning this boring, old door into a piece of art for my living room.

I got magnetic paint and chalkboard paint. The lady at the store suggesting that I paint with the magnetic paint first, applying three thin coats and then a few coats with the chalkboard paint.


Stirring the paint took much longer than I thought it would. It was like someone had made hot chocolate and put more of the powder in than water.

Once I finally got the paint all mixed, it was time to apply the coats. Thankfully the paint dried quickly and the job didn't take long.

I had some help while painting. Thankfully we were able to paint in the shop and not out in the hot sun. It was hot enough.

Finished! Sadly, the magnetic paint did not seem to work. I need to try some smaller magnets to see if that will help. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but the magnetic paint was the most expensive of the paint. I may look for clips to screw in to hold pictures. We will have to see about that one. I will post a picture of the door when I get it home and some decorations on it!

 

Picked out some flowers to plant for the summer. Now I just need to get some pots!

Finally the second check off on the list: beer margaritas! Figured that it could be pretty tasty, or dumped down the drain and the recipe tossed. It is a keeper!

Ingredients
1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate
12 fluid ounces tequila
12 fluid ounces water
12 fluid ounces beer
ice
1 lime, cut into wedges
Directions
Pour limeade, tequila, water, and beer into a large pitcher. Stir until well-blended, and limeade has melted. Add plenty of ice, and garnish with lime wedges. Adjust with additional water, if needed.

 



Best part about these drinks was sitting on the porch swing and looking at the beautiful full moon.

A day full of *heart flutters* all around.

Bucket List Check Off~ Smores

I was thinking today that my bucket list isn't so much things that I want to do and haven't done, but a list to make sure that I get things done that I want to do. If not, then the summer has a nasty habit of leaving and things not getting done. Tonight's check off I have obviously done many times in life. Putting smores on the list was simply more of a reason to have a get together around a fire and enjoy a little roasted love.



I saw online (probably Pintrest) to stuff a mini Rolo in a marshmallow and then roast it. I'm in! I also grabbed a package of mini Reese's peanut butter cups to give a go. Oh wow! They were pretty darn spectacular! The only problem was getting the marshmallow to evenly roast without the candy falling in the depths of the fire. Messy hands, not a problem.









Life truly is about the simple things in life and the *heart flutters* that come along with it. Sharing smores over a campfire with friends and family tops the list.

Bucket List Check Off~ A Puzzle

First item checked off the Summer Bucket List is finish a puzzle! We finished this one in about 24 hours. This is my kind of puzzle! I like ones where I can pick up a piece, look at the box and see the general area that it goes in.

This isn't a very good picture of the puzzle (having uber issues with pictures tonight.) There is a lot of the puzzle that didn't make it into the picture. I could try again taking another picture, but it has already been torn apart and put back in the box. Another puzzle has already been started in its place!

100th Blog Post!

In school, especially the younger grades, we celebrate the 100th Day of School. Since fourth grade is super boring, we don't celebrate this landmark day (E-I-E-I-O) much to older siblings dismay.

So why am I talking about the 100th day of school when we still have a few months before this day even happens? Well tonight I want to celebrate a different 100 milestone.

This is my 100th blog post!

Now there are probably tons of bloggers out there who have reached this milestone a long time ago, but I am surprised that I made it this far.

I like to blog. I just have a lack of confidence in my blog, my ability and what I have to "say." I often think to myself, "Oh! I could blog about that!" but then talk myself out of it thinking no one will care.

I need to get over this thinking. Clap if you agree...

To celebrate I decided to look back over the 100 and revisit the top six most viewed posts.

1. I Wanna Be Loved Like That

Comes in with 71 views. This excites me since this was probably the most raw, real and honest post I have written. Maybe I need to post more posts like this?

2. I Call A Redo

This post was my second attempt at blogging. I tried to blog and not broadcast it on Facebook, but then no one was reading them, let alone commenting. So I had to once again over come some fear and post the links on Facebook. There are times that I don't blog about certain things because I don't want Facebook land to know about it, but that is probably ok since it probably doesn't need to be shared in the first place.

I think that this post got 66 views because it was my "first" one and people wanted to know what was going on.

3. Salida *Heart Flutters*

I learned with this one that the more people you tag in the shared link on Facebook, the more views you will get! 65 views from friends of all three of my sisters and my dad came and read about our adventure of remembering our mom.

4. "Stealing Ideas"

I had to go back and reread this one since I couldn't remember what it was about based on the title. Update on the graffiti wall. Slight E-I-E-I-O moment for Ms. Wilson. It as several other ideas, get put on the back burner and either never happen or start out and don't go very far. I got it started, but then I didn't really tell the students about it until later in the year and then it just became part of the decor in the room. Although! Lately a few kids have put some quotes up, so someone is thinking about it at least! 60 views total.

5. Get Your Nerd On

I met an author and a "famous" DJ! This post was about attending a meet and greet with Dom Testa, author of the Galahad Series and morning DJ for Mix 100 in Denver. I had an in since my cousin and his wife are friends with Dom, so yes, I name dropped and got some extra perks of meeting him. I still have not read the last book of the series but eagerly await his upcoming series. 59 views total.

6. Summer Bucket List 2013

I am glad that this one made the list with 56 views. I had an amazing summer filled with many adventures with friends and family. I plan on making another list next summer to ensure that I get done what I want to get done. (The fall list fell on its backside.)

Here's to a total of 5,602 views total and to the next 100 posts. Thank you to all that have been on this journey with me and I hope that you stick around for more. I promise to try to be more confident if you promise to comment every now and then. ;0)

Do you have a favorite post of mine?

Books, Chinese Food and Friends

Officially today is the last day of summer, which means that tomorrow is the first day of FALL! Thank you Sweet Mother of Moses!

I have been able to sleep with the window open at night and cozy up. Now I just need to get more chai and my fall is set! It is also time to get started on that fall bucket list!

Even though today wasn't really fall, it kind of felt like it was and my heart was fluttering with each event the day had to offer.

I started the day with Cassie at the book sale at the library and Goodwill for 50%! Jackpot! I was able to buy several books for my classroom and a few for a good friend who likes silly mysteries. Didn't really find any for myself but that is ok because I have so many books on my bookshelf that need to be read.

 

I was b-bopping around on blogs and visited Sheila at Book Journey and she has participated in "Saturday Snapshot " from West Metro Mommy. I liked it so I wanted to play along too.

This is my snapshot of the books I got today.

 

After we hauled our purchases back to the car we headed to Little Bamboo for some tasty lunch and conversation.

 

The afternoon was ended with a Scentsy party at another friend's house. I have some good nose tickles coming soon!

 

Not a bad day for the last day of summer. It is about to get better because this kid is going to go take a nap!

 

Goodbye summer, hello fall!

Frozen...Check

It is official, I am no longer the only person on the planet who hasn't seen Frozen yet. I no longer have to feel like this:

 You can put a nice check next to that on my bucket list.

Last Sunday our little town celebrated the class on 2014 with speeches, food, drink and fun. I went to seven parties with my friend Erin and her three girls. We only spent about fifteen to twenty minutes at each party before we headed to the next one. By the last party everyone was drained, tired, hot and thirsty, so what better way to end the night with a movie about ice!

The best part about the whole movie was when Haedynn curled up with me to watch. She was trying so hard to not sing along and quote every line. I totally understood how hard that was for her!

I wanted to take our picture but there wasn't a way to take a good one, so here is an alternative one!

Thank you Erin, Taelynn, Haedynn and Maesynn for helping me check off my first item off of my list this summer! Any others you want to help with?