Summer To-Do List!

*Sigh* Sweet, sweet summertime is just around the corner.  While I am no longer in a profession where I get the summer off, I don't want summer to be wasted.  I am taking two courses, working four jobs, and doing lots of research over the summer - this definitely has the potential to turn into something disastrous that only a workaholic could concoct if I'm not careful.  A blogger I follow, who is a teacher and has the summer off, created a summer to-do list.  I thought, "hey, why not?" so I am following suit!

**Disclaimer: Summer here is being defined as June 1 - August 19 (because I have to start preparing for the fall semester after the 19th.)

1. Read at least 10 books for fun.  My goal for this year is to read 55 books, and I am well on my way.  Summertime is such a great time to read, preferably while laying out beside a pool.  10 books = 1 book per week with one week off for good behavior.  Easily doable.

2. Sample 5 new recipes.  As a single woman living alone on a pretty tight budget, I have really gotten into cooking.  I can't afford to buy every meal pre-made, and I don't live with someone who can cook for me (sorry, the dog is not trained to do that).  I did not grow up with the best cooking role models.  Let's be real, my family members HATE to cook.  I cook dinner for myself at least 5 nights a week, and, who knew, I like it!  I take recipes I find on friends' blogs, from simple cookbooks, or what I Google then I change them up to fit my own tastes and preferences as I go.  I have a pretty good little set of recipes I can quickly execute at a moment's notice, but I need more.  Hence, sample 5 new recipes over the summer and see how it goes! :)

3. Go swimming at least once a week.  I love love love swimming.  It's one of my favorite one of the few types of working out I can stand!  Swimming laps is relaxing and soothing.

4. Make at least one trip to the beach.  I live about 5 hours from the beach, so I don't get to go very often.  My girlfriends and I went to the beach this past weekend, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it.  I want to go back.  Now.

5. Plan and budget my big trips for the upcoming (2013-2014) school year.  One of the coolest parts of graduate school is getting to travel to conferences in interesting places.  While it is enjoyable and educational, graduate students don't get a budget for this (It's one of those, "if you don't do it, you don't get a job, but you don't have money to do it" kind of things).  For this fall, conferences mean traveling to Dallas several times, which really isn't a big deal.  However, this spring includes New Orleans and Philadelphia (much cooler for the Texan!).  Therefore, I am starting my research for exploring now and budgeting so I can really enjoy the trips and not feel guilty.  Sidenote: I have made a deal with myself that when I travel to cool places for conferences, I go a day early and spend that day exploring the city I am in.  What's the point in going cool places if you don't get to really see them?  

6. Try Yoga.  My job is stressful, and I have the really bad habit of getting overly frustrated.  I just can't relax and people tend to get on my nerves.  I try stress-relieving activities, but my frustrations usually just result in my not sleeping well.  I think yoga could be a solution.  Can't hurt to give it a try, right?

7. Organize the closets and cabinets.  One of my favorite parts of summer is the time to do summer organizing/cleaning.  Gosh, I love to clean - it stems from my control freak tendencies.  Who can blame you for taking your controlling nature out on an unsuspecting closet?  This summer, all the closets and all the cabinets in my house are getting an overhaul!

8. Just "be".  I grew up in the country where there is peace and quiet and life moves a little slower.  A typical weekend consists of waking up early to mow and do the yard work before it gets to hot then moving inside to clean the house.  Afternoons are spent on the four-wheelers, by the pool, or fishing.  Nighttime is for grilling with family, watching movies, baking sweet treats, or just enjoying time.  I miss moving slowly.  I miss just being allowed to "be", to exist.  I want to take more time for this during my summer.

It may not be overly exciting but with all the busyness of graduate school this summer, I am more than looking forward to crossing every item off of this to-do list.  What's on your summer to-do list?

10 for Tuesday! (Numero Dos) :)

**Disclaimer: I realize that to most people this is just the end of May, but my life runs on an August-May yearly schedule and probably always will.

At the end of every semester, I feel pretty rough.  I'm so busy during the semester that I barely have time for anything other than work and school, but at the end of the semesters things change and I find myself with an abundance of free time.  Graduate school is a strange, strange universe.  I don't actually have to clock-in at work or be somewhere but I have tons of work to do.  The idea that there is always work to do even when you aren't working is odd to some people, but anyone who has been in a graduate program or in academia or even a schoolteacher understands this concept.  This is that week.  Rough, rough, rough.  To help control my stress levels and bring some homeostasis to my mind and soul, I'm devoting this post to 10 things I'm thankful for on this Tuesday.  I find that in moments of stress and frustration, counting blessings is one of the most humbling and enriching exercises.

1. Teaching Excellence 

On Thursday, one of my bucket list items was crossed off - earn an award for teaching.  I love being a teacher and it means more to me than most of my other traits.  It embodies the kind of person I want to be, a person who serves others, gives back and makes a small difference in a complex world.  I am humbled beyond words to have earned this honor. :)

2. Pet of the Month for June

My little puppy won Pet of the Month at his vet clinic! :) See the winning photo below - 

3. Spontaneous road trip with my girls!

For Memorial Day weekend, two of my best girlfriends and I decided to celebrate one of the girls' birthdays.  We always get together around this time of year (end of busy work season, end of a semester, birthday, holiday...it works!).  We met up in Houston and went out that evening, then drove down to Corpus Christi to spend two days at the beach.  There was lots of laughs, delicious seafood, and a little sunburn, but we all came back a bit more relaxed and rejuvenated at having the time to spend together.  

4. Best friend time

My best friend and old college roommate got married this past fall and moved to Dallas.  Bleh!  We are both very busy people and unfortunately, we haven't got to see each other this semester!  (Dang school and work and husbands!)  On Friday, that wrong will be rectified as I keep to spend the entire weekend with her!!  I read a quote on Pinterest a few days ago that said, "Sometimes talking to your best friend is all the therapy you need."  How accurate!  Best friend time is the best therapy and soul juice around.  (And, she just texted me this morning that she got offered a teaching position for next year!  Can I get a celebration, too?)

5. 36 Years of Marriage

May is known in my life as a busy, busy month.  It's the end of the semester, so there is much grading and finals and so forth, but it's the month that includes: my grandmother's birthday, my sister's birthday, Mother's Day, my parents' wedding anniversary, my dad's birthday, Memorial day, and one of my best friend's birthday.  Add to that graduations.  Now, add on that this is the only "free" time I get between semesters so there is lots of travel.  May pretty much empties my bank account every year.  However, despite that, it is fun!  There is always plenty to do and plenty of celebrating people to do it with. 

I'm pleased to get to celebrate my parents' 36th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  Wowzers!!  In a world where marriage is not as treasured as it used to be and few couples make it very long, I love seeing a couple like my parents.  They are still going strong after all these years and make marriage look easy.  One day, I hope I have children that can look to strong marital role models in myself and my husband (whoever he may be). 

6. Great Reads

One of the greatest gifts a child can be given is the skill of reading.  That is my belief.  It's why I am an English teacher.  It's why I have pursued reading education as my field of expertise.  It's why I love reading with kiddos.  It's why I read incessantly.  I am on book 30 for the year (according to my GoodReads account), and I love it!  To me, there is no greater high in the world than escaping into another world, another time, or another adventure.  I'm a fiction reader, although I dabble in nonfiction, mostly in the form of writing books.  I'm addicted to reading, and I love words.  I'm thankful that I learned to read as a young child and my parents showered me with books.  :)  I'm also lucky to know people who are avid readers that can "talk books" with me. 

7. Mentors

I have been blessed beyond measure with some fabulous mentors in my life.  These people have come in all forms, but have shared one common goal in helping me become a better person.  I'm stubborn, so I have often tested their patience, challenged them, and been difficult, but they have stayed by me.  I've made some mistakes and definitely had to learn some hard lessons for myself, but I've turned out ok so far.  I can't take all the credit for this (I mean, I can only reasonably take some of the credit!). 

8. Country time

"I'm from the country and I like it that way" - I love being able to spend time in the country, away from the city.  Life moves more slowly here, people are more genuine, and the soul has time to recover.  I love my job and I enjoy school, but sometimes I just want to slow down.  I want to breath.  I just want to be.  Being in the country allows me this support.  This is the only place I have ever been where "just being" is enough - in fact, it's recommended! 

9. Peace

I'm thankful for finding peace in simple corners of the world. :)

10. God (save the most important for last, right?)

He always knows exactly what I need before I need it.  Yesterday, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed.  I'm stressed.  I show my stress in a unique way - I pull into myself and don't discuss the stressor.  I let it build inside me and fume a bit.  Not healthy, I know, but talking about the stressor usually makes it worse.  God has provided me with many resources to help me figure out my plight (all sent to me within the past 18 hours!).  God is good, always.  :)

Throw Back Thursday!

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same." 

I've learned a great deal over the past few years about friendship.  I believe friendship is one of the greatest gifts life can bestow upon us.  Friends are the people who are there for you.  The people you celebrate with in times of triumph and the ones who pick you up in times of trial.  I am blessed to have been given more friends in my lifetime than I know what to do with.  More importantly, I have come to realize, I'm blessed to have friends with staying power.

I have some terrific friends that I have made in college and through work, but I can still call up my best girls from childhood any day, any time and they are there.  How many people can say that?  How many people are lucky enough to grow up with people who share every major life event with them?  These girls and I have been through everything and we are still as close as ever.  :)

Blessed by friendship!

Way Back Wednesday!

Despite the somewhat misleading title, my posting today will not really be from "way back" - just a year ago.  One year ago this month, I made the most difficult decision I have made in my short life: I decided to leave my classroom and return to the university full time to pursue my dream of a Ph.D.  I had already completed my first year of working on the Ph.D., but as any doc student can attest, courses are the least of a graduate student's concerns.  I knew that to fully appreciate the hardships and benefits of getting this degree, I would have to live my students.

For some reason, today, I have been overwhelmed with nostalgia for my "babies".  When I finalized this decision, I was not happy about it.  Today, I am still not happy about it.  The feeling could be better described as indifferent....but that doesn't quite capture the feeling either.  You see, I love graduate school.  I love the feeling of learning.  I love teaching my undergraduates.  I love research.  I love writing.  Sure, there are many things I don't like about it, too.  There are parts to any profession that are less than desirable.  And, certainly, as a teacher I didn't love my job every day.  However, for all the stress and hardship of working in a school,  I loved my kiddos every day.  They made everything worth it.  Not a day in the life of a teacher goes by without feeling completely overwhelmed and blessed by the love the teacher has for his/her students.  I was (and still am) no different.

This semester, I was given the wonderful opportunity to be an intervention teacher on a project.  I got to go to a school everyday and read with third-graders.  While I only worked personally with two sweet children, I quickly became enamored with the entire classrooms I visited.  My heart soared when I entered the building and was completely full every day I left.  I miss that feeling.

I have been teaching since I was nineteen years old.  I got my first job as a substitute teacher that year, and for the duration of my undergraduate degree, I worked as a substitute, tutor, and private instructor for many different companies and individuals around the town I lived.  Through some of the hardest times in my life, teaching and seeing my students got me through.  No matter how badly I felt or what was going on, my attention would be completely focused on my students and they would brighten my day.

As I begin my second full year away from my students, I once again feel the conflicting emotions of that decision.  While I know I am doing well teaching my undergraduates and still know I love teaching, it really isn't the same.  I never thought I would grow up to be a teacher.  I certainly didn't expect to become a teacher who so fully loved her profession.  It's true that they say teaching is a calling.  It's definitely mine. :)

10 for Tuesday!

I love writing, and I love blogging, but between work, classes and life, I've been feeling a little nonchalant towards my blog.  I just haven't felt the tingling in my fingers that let's me know I have something good to write.  In true Tracey fashion, I've been researching to see what other bloggers blog about on a daily basis.  I came across many cool "challenge" ideas, so I've decided to do one of my own.  Usually, I only write interesting stories on the blog, typically something funny that happened in my life, sometimes something inspiring.  This summer (June and July), I am going to blog at least 3 random posts a week.  :)  My 6-word autobiography was number 1.  My hope is that this challenge will motivate me to be more creative, vulnerable, and entertaining on my blog.  Cheers!

Today's topic: 10 for Tuesday!  Here are 10 random facts about me...

1. I love all things pop culture (i.e. movies, music, tv shows, gossip magazines, books, trendsy websites).

2. I think statistics is cool.  I mean, there is just something satisfying about how perfectly numbers can be placed into equations to tell a story...

3. Which brings me to number 3, I'm a bit of a control freak, organization monster, cleaning guru. 

4. Write everyday.

5. From the country, and I like it that way! 

6. Coffee addict.

7. Did I mention being a book nerd? 

8. Jetsetter, obsessed with travel.

9. Believe in Silver Linings. 

10. Intrigued by sunsets. 

6-word Autobiography

Lover of words: passionate writing educator.