It is my last week of school! I am so excited to be done. This year has been so much on me in so many different ways. Honestly, I think I am more excited to be done than my students are. It has been such a long year for me. Like I mentioned last week, … Continue reading Finally Done with Year Three
It's almost the end of the school year for me! I am so glad to be done with this year. It has been one of my longest years of teaching (and I don't have that many to go off of). I want to do a more complete review next week, but for this week, I … Continue reading Teach and Learn
I find myself jumping from goal to goal. I've gotten a little better at this, but I sometimes find myself constantly looking forward to something. I'm ready to be at my ideal weight, I was ready for my black belt, and I'm for sure ready for summer break. But by always looking forward to the … Continue reading The In-Between
Do you forgive people when they mess up? Hopefully that answer is yes. But what about yourself? Are you okay to forgive yourself when you mess up too? In this day and age, it can be so easy to be mean and say hurtful things. But I believe it can also be just as easy … Continue reading Grace
This has been something that has been in the works for a while now, and I'm so excited to finally be writing about it! If you're actively involved in my life in any way, you already know what I've been working on. And if you're friends with me on Facebook, you either know or you … Continue reading My Martial Arts Journey
I talked last July about The Foundations of a Relationship and how you build your relationship. I want to expand more on that post today. I attended a wedding over the weekend. I knew the bride and she has been a good friend of the family. But I had just met the groom that day. … Continue reading Common Values
A super important part of progress is the idea of being able to hold yourself accountable. You are responsible for your own actions, and it takes a great deal of strength to be able to understand why you succeed or fail. I've been working on my overall health and how that impacts me. I'm trying … Continue reading Holding Yourself Accountable
This was said to me the other day. A couple of my close friends had issues happen that drastically impacted their mental health. The rest of us in the group banded together to be there for them. But this quote was said to me by my partner, who has gone through many of his own … Continue reading I Hope You Never Forget this Happened to You
I am working through a lot of personal growth right now. I talked last week about Keep Calm and Carry On and how that was applying to me personally. I'm not saying that every day is perfect. Sometimes it's hard to continue on. Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed. I strive for success. … Continue reading Redefining Success
I'm almost positive you've seen the posters. They're usually red and say "Keep Calm and..." (There are so many variations). But do you know the story behind the original? I want to do something a little different today. I'm going to give you the history of this saying and also talk about how I am … Continue reading Keep Calm and Carry On
I don't know about you, but I would not be where I am without the support of the people within my circle. My friends and family provide me so much support. They lift me up in the bad times and keep me sustained in the good times. My brain likes to lie to me. It … Continue reading The Support of Good People
I don't know about you, but I'm not very good at asking for help. I like to do most things on my own and be independent. It's hard for me to admit that I need help. But I'm trying. I'm working on it. I'm also the kind of person that I ask for help as … Continue reading Asking for Help
Happy Valentine's Day! While I enjoy this day, the historian in me is curious as to how this day came about. I hope I'm not the only one, so I want to give you the history of Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day has a couple different origin stories. Like a number of many other days, it … Continue reading The History of Valentine’s Day
I haven't done a history lesson in a while, so I figured we're overdue. Yesterday was Memorial Day here in the United States. Most people I know treat it as a free 3-day weekend. Others think of it as the unofficial start of summer. And others still think of it as a way to honor … Continue reading The History of Memorial Day
No, I'm not going to start singing Frozen. I think some of you may already be mad at me simply for naming my post that this week. I tend to be a control freak. I want everything under control, and I want to be able to handle every single thing that comes my way. But … Continue reading Let it Go
I wrote last week about how I was taking a reset. It was needed in more ways than one. But see, that's only part of the story. In fact, I would say it's probably one of the easier parts. Because the truth is, you can't just leave a reset and do nothing with it afterwards. … Continue reading Life after Reset
It's packing day! I am flying out for a trip tomorrow and will get back on Sunday. This is a trip I have been planning for a while, and I am really excited about it! Two years ago, I wrote a post on what to pack for a cruise (read it here ). Even though … Continue reading How to Pack a Carry-On
The big topic lately that I have been talking about on here is growth and goals and improvement. Since that's still on my mind, I want to continue talking about that. However, I want to talk about in a different way. An important part of having goals is the process of setting them. I want … Continue reading Setting Goals
It's summertime here in the States! As a teacher, I am not "working" during the summer, but that doesn't mean that I'm not working. I am always still working on me, and like any other time of year, I have projects that I'm working on. For me, summer is a time to reset. I can … Continue reading Glow Up
I don't pretend to be an influencer in any way. I don't have this fantasy where I think I'm more important than I am. But I have found these products that make my life a little bit easier and a little bit better. So I want to share them with you. Please note: I was … Continue reading 10 Self-Care Products I Love
Do you remember when you were younger and you were growing and how it seemed that your entire body hurt? Maybe or maybe not. Let me ask another question: if your wisdom teeth grew in impacted (I know mine sure did but hey what hasn't gone wrong with my mouth?), then maybe you remember how … Continue reading Growing Pains
Let's talk impostors today. No, I'm not talking about the Impostors on the game Among Us. I want to talk instead about the phenomenon that is Impostor Syndrome. First of all, we need to know what Impostor Syndrome actually is. The short version is that Impostor Syndrome is the belief that your abilities are not … Continue reading The Truth about Impostor Syndrome
You know what I've really been reminded of in the past month? How important it is to have boundaries for yourself. Boundaries can extend to almost anything. Your job, school, friendships, relationships, or even yourself. And I don't mean this to say that you shouldn't let anyone or anything in. I mean this to say … Continue reading Boundaries
I have to be honest here. I've been staring at my keyboard for a few hours now. I'm not sure which words I want to say first. If you come here from Facebook, then you're probably friends with at least one other member of my family. If that's the case, then you're probably aware of … Continue reading The Truth about Grief
Truthfully, I don't know how long this week's post is going to be. There's a lot going on that I don't really want to share. Everything is more or less okay. It's just a lot. Instead, I am going to share a story of something that happened yesterday and the reminder I got from it. … Continue reading Entitlement
It seems crazy to me that we're already in February! I feel like January always goes by slow, but this year it seems to have come and gone in a flash. By now you might've even abandoned your New Year's Resolutions. Hey, no judgment. It happens. Or you may think that your goals are too … Continue reading Self-Evaluation
I am ASHAMED I'm writing this post. Before this past weekend, I truthfully cannot tell you the last time I cleaned my hairbrush. It was awful, and I am embarrassed. But truthfully, I write this post as a guide for all of you. It took me a while to find something that would clean my … Continue reading DIY Hairbrush Cleaner
You've probably heard the saying "Practice makes perfect." While the sentiment is nice, I believe it to be completely inaccurate. I wrote a post last year on preparation and how I was preparing to take over for student teaching. I mentioned this quote then, but I'll mention it now too: "You practice how you perform." … Continue reading Practice
You ever have those days where nothing is necessarily wrong, but you just feel "blah"? That's kind of how today is for me. Minor annoyances and things, but nothing that really made the day good or bad. So as a result, I don't really know what to write about. And there has been no moment … Continue reading Blah Days
It is so crazy to me that I am wrapping up the last week of my first semester as an actual teacher. I could never have imagined how my first year of teaching would look, but truthfully, I wouldn't change it. I love the 7th graders that I teach, and I hope that they are … Continue reading What I Learned My First Semester of Teaching
I am proud of my work ethic. I work hard to get stuff done, and I know how to persevere when times get tough. A strong work ethic is going to say a lot more favorable things about you than a weak work ethic. It is important to do well and accomplish the things you … Continue reading Work Ethic
It's no secret that holidays look different this year. And truthfully, Thanksgiving seems almost like a slap in the face. We're supposed to be thankful? Really? After everything that happened this year? But even with everything this year brought, I'm still thankful. I learned a lot about myself this year. I've stretched my limits and … Continue reading Peace in the Time of Chaos
I don't want this blog to turn into just teaching stuff. What I am going to do for today is show you how to make a geodesic dome. While I did use this in my classroom, this is something anyone can do. A geodesic dome is not a flat dome. It makes little triangles as … Continue reading How to Make a Geodesic Dome
We have heard it so much this year, "These unprecedented times..." I know many people are over 2020. And yeah, truthfully, this year sucked. But the way I see it, we can't move forward without acknowledging the hardships. No real journey to progress is completely smooth. There are bumps, mountains, valleys, and a lot of … Continue reading End of Year Goals
Happy Election Day! If you live in America, make sure you get out there and exercise your right to vote. I promise you it's so important. I'm not going to post my political beliefs on here and tell you who you should vote for. It's up to you to do the research on what values … Continue reading My Homework Policy
I talked last week about how expectations can be good or bad. But you shouldn't let expectations define yourself or how you see people. This post is related to that in a sense. But it's also not. I know that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. A big thing I am learning is that … Continue reading Be Prepared for Anything
We all have expectations about different things. Sometimes our expectations are met, sometimes they are exceeded, and sometimes we are disappointed. That's life and that's how life works. I have expectations of my fitness goals. I honestly hoped that I would be farther along. When I started focusing more on my health, I hoped to … Continue reading Expectations
Apparently, September 29th is International Coffee Day. Now I know what you're probably thinking. I'm a teacher. I have to drink a lot of coffee right? Wrong. I've never liked the taste of coffee, even when you put everything possible in it. So with that in mind, I know a lot of people drink coffee. … Continue reading Teaching Survival Guide
I think I speak for most people when I say that this year is not what we expected it to be. So much has happened this year that has changed some norms and aspects of society. I like to plan ahead on most things, and honestly, part of me wasn't sure I was going to … Continue reading The Changes a Year Brings
This past Monday, America and some other countries celebrated Labor Day. Besides a day off of school and work, I wondered what is Labor Day? Why do we celebrate Labor Day? So, like any good historian, I set to find the answer for all of you. This story begins back in the late 1800s. To … Continue reading A History of Labor Day
I feel it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Nothing necessarily bad happened, but I'm continually reminded of who I am and where I'm going in life. One of my favorite quotes right now is "Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise." I feel that in my soul. I'm working and running myself … Continue reading On the Grind
I had a different post planned for today, but I can't, in good conscience, write it today. We're still seeing this pain, this injustice in the world. It's not excusable, and it's not acceptable. This outrage that sparked into a flame with the events that transpired in March doesn't need to stop. Changes need to … Continue reading Fighting Injustices
I feel like I keep having to mention posts I've already written, but they just keep being relevant! In August 2017, I wrote a post called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" (read it here). It talks about how I worry about life. News flash: I still worry, even three years later. But you know what, … Continue reading Don’t Sweat It
I talked a few weeks ago about the idea of overcoming perfectionism (read it here). I still absolutely feel that way, and what I want to talk about this week is directly related to this topic. The problem with perfectionism, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, is that if you can't get it immediately, … Continue reading Making a Comeback
This is a phrase I find myself saying all the time, whether to me or to my friends. "Be assertive!" I have found this to be such a helpful phrase in many situations of life. For me personally, I am very independent. I hate asking for help to the point where I will struggle along … Continue reading Be Assertive
I know I can be a perfectionist at times. While it can definitely be a good thing for certain things, it's not always the best. You might be like, "Why can it be a bad thing?" Well, I'll tell you. Perfectionism isn't just everything has to be done properly. Perfectionism is also wanting instant results … Continue reading Overcoming Perfectionism
Tomorrow, July 22, is Summer Leisure Day. Unfortunately, like I mentioned last week, things kind of got in the way of my summer plans. However, I still have found some time to enjoy myself. This past weekend, I was able to celebrate my graduation with friends and family. It was a great time, and I … Continue reading Summer Leisure
I'm back! It's nice to get out of town for a week, but it's also nice to be back. The summer is wrapping up for me, and I still have a lot that I feel I need to get done. I know this summer has been so crazy different because of the coronavirus and how … Continue reading Getting Away
As places begin to hopefully open where you are, one of the things that should be opening is the gym. Maybe you've gained a few pounds during quarantine (no judgment). Maybe you're like me, where you keep wanting to get in shape and know that the gym is probably one of the best places to … Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to the Gym
I enjoy making art. I don't get to do it as frequently as I like, but I do still enjoy it. I painted a canvas over the weekend. It's this week's featured image, and I'll include it at the bottom like I always do. I'm so proud of how it turned out. I'll have to … Continue reading Making Art
Battle Kim of the Republic 