Love is kind

{Wait for Me via}

{Portland via}

{Cute boy via}

{Sleigh ride via}

On A Saturday Like This

{Lake Mendota via}

{Gregory Peck on set for To Kill a Mockingbird via}

{Orange and blue via}

On a Saturday like this.

An early wake up and cozy morning with my roommate where we sit in bed and wonder where President Obama would have lived had he not been reelected.  No consensus made. My 2nd grade student waiting on his front stoop for me to pick him up to go to the library and him hugging me as soon I got out of the car. Man, I love that kid. Going to Panera and him saying that the bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich he ordered was the best thing he's ever eaten.  He then proceeded to the register to ask them how they made their sandwiches because he wants to, "Start making this gooooooood stuff at home." Classic. A nice, long phone conversation with family. A walk around Lake Harriet on this warm, sunny day. 

Yup. And this. There's always this. It may or may not be the third time I've posted this beauty. Don't care. Still making me laugh. Extras. So good. Make time to see the series if you haven't.

*Going to town on fragments. 

I love my students

 {The school cafeteria... Where chaos and laughter erupt.}

{A painting hanging in my room. Instant good mood.}

{Poster I made hanging in my room.}

I need to start each day being grateful.  I am fortunate to have a job where laughter is inevitable. I love working with kids.  I love being a teacher. I need to start documenting the sweet shenanigans my students say more frequently.  

"Yo Mama G, is there chicken up in the kitchen?" - 3rd grader response to an assignment that asked them to write a question using at least 3 sight words, one proper noun, one noun that's a thing and one noun that's a place. 

"Ms. B, don't make it too hot." - 3rd grader said while pointing and winking.  This was in response to me saying I had to heat my lunch up in the microwave and him remembering the last time I did and almost choked on food that was too hot.

"Am I your favorite student? I hope so, cuz you're my favorite teacher."- 3rd grader

"Who let the dimes out???? Ten, ten, ten, ten!!!!!" - helping us to remember a dime is worth 10 cents.

"I've got a nickel. I've got a nickel. I'm gonna buy a pickle with my nickel. Fiiiiive cents, fiiiive cents!!" - helping us remember a nickel is worth 5 cents.

"You look sooooo cute today!" - Kindergartner said with a little hand flip.

"Your hair is soft. Like ice cream." - Kindergartner said while petting my hair as I try to tie another kid's shoe.

"My grandma rides horses and likes to rearrange her furniture. She also likes casinos." - 3rd grader

"My bus smells like fart. I think it's my sister's fault." - random comment from a 3rd grader during my math lesson.

"Ms. B, when is your birthday? Cuz I'm gonna buy you something at the dollar store." - 2nd grader

Conversation while joking around with a kindergartner.

Me: "DJ, do you have a mustache?"

DJ: "Ewwwww no. Mustaches are disgusting. Only dads have those."

Are you still in Vallda?

This song. Again. And again.

"Every summer is the summer closer to further away from you."

{Image via}

Faith in Humanity

{Ireland - image via}

1)  My brother informed me today that if he and his fiance ever get a dog, they will get a beagle and they will name him Bagel.

2)  I was early for grad class on Thursday, so I stopped at a coffee shop beforehand.  A little girl around Kindergarten age had a piggy bank with her.  Her dad bought himself a coffee.  The girl counted out quarters and nickels to buy a hot chocolate.  Good stuff.

3)  After work on Wednesday, traffic was particularly bad. Instead of trying to fight it, I pulled off the highway and went to get food and read a book.  An older man that works there came up to me with a piece of baklava and said, "For dessert. On the house."  Day maker.

4) My dad sent me a note attached to an article about Jackson Hole just because he knows how much I love that heavenly place.

5) Momma sent me winter socks, a scarf and a thermal randomly in the mail this week. She constantly sends me reminders that confirm why she's my favorite lady in the world.

6) I was sitting next to two woman this morning at a coffee shop.  The one was talking muchisimo gossip about someone in their Bible study.  The other one then responded, "Why is it your damn business? Let that be between her and God."  The other woman looked so shocked. After a few moments she then said, "You are so right.  Thank you."

Practicing Fade-Aways

{Slam Dunk by Clifford Otto} 

In college I had John Murillo as a professor for two of my creative writing classes.  Words fail me right now, so to put it simply, he was awesome.  I learned a lot from him.  He's a really cool, humble guy.  I love his poetry.  Here is a poem called, "Practicing Fade-Aways," from his book Up Jump the Boogie.  It's sicky sicky good. Enjoy!

{Click here  to listen to him read the poem}
{Click here to view his website}

Practicing Fade-Aways

—after Larry Levis

On a deserted playground in late day sun,
My palms dusted black, dribbling
A worn, leather ball behind my back, this loneliness
Echoes from the handball courts nearby.
Nearly all the markings—free throw lane, sideline,
Center circle—rubbed to nothing.
A crack in the earth cuts across the schoolyard,
Jagged as a scar on a choir boy‟s cheek.
Twenty years ago,
I ran this very court with nine other
Wanna-be ballers. We‟d steal
Through peeled chain links, or hop
The gate, to get here: our blacktop Eden.
One boy, who had a funny pigeon-toed set shot
And a voice full of church bells, sang spirituals
Every time he made a basket,
The other boys humming along, laughing,
High-fives flying down the court.
And a boy we called „The Sandman‟
For how he put you to sleep with his shoulder fake or drop step,
Over six feet tall in the tenth grade,
Smooth talker with an itch for older guys‟ girlfriends.
One Sunday morning, they found him stabbed to death
Outside the Motel 6, pockets untouched,
Bills folded neatly against his beautiful cooling thigh.
And „Downtown‟ Ricky Brown,
Whose family headed west when he was two
But still called himself a New Yorker,
Who never pulled from less than thirty feet out,
And could bank shots blindfolded.
He went to Grambling, drove himself
Crazy with conspiracy theories and liquor,
Was last seen roaming the French Quarter, shoeless, babbling
About the Illuminati‟s six-hundred sixty-six ways
To enslave the populace.
At sixteen, I discovered
Venice Beach, with its thousand bodybuilders,
Roller skates, and red thong bikinis.
I would stand on the sidelines and watch
The local ballplayers, leaping and hollering
Quicksilver giants, run and gun,
Already grown into their man bodies,
Funkadelic rising from a boombox in the sand.
Now, all I hear are chain nets chiming as I sink
One fade-away after another,
The backboard, the pole, throwing a long shadow
Across the cracked black asphalt.
What the nets want must be this caress,
This stillness stretching
Along every avenue, over high school
Gymnasiums and deserted playgrounds,
And the ambulance drivers drifting into naps
Back at the station house.
What the boys who ran these courts wanted was
A lob pass high enough
To pull them into the sky,
Something they could catch in both hands
And hang from,
Long enough for someone to snap
A photograph, to hold them there,
Skybound. Risen.

John Murillo

Nuh Uh

If I had an elephant like that, I too would take it everywhere.  And no gosh darn sign would influence my whereabouts.  

{Image via}

Rainy Day at Lake Harriet

I've been going out of my way to take the picturesque roads on my way home from work. It is definitely worth the extra five minutes.  

Yesterday it was raining and I saw an old man on his front stoop reading a book. His dog was lying next to him.  It looked so peaceful.  

Fall has a way.

And Fall has a way of doing that when your mind is clear one minute and jumbled the next. When you make a commitment but then forget what it is and to whom it is for.  When you make watered down promises that never come true. You bask in the hope of someone else's and hope they'll follow through.  To smile. To shrug. To say it's no big deal. Is it? To white lie and wonder if it's been noticed.  To hear big words and nod along as though you understand.  To sleep and waver. To be awake and not listen. When the highway is open and you count the yellow tickers. To daze. To not know the date. The month. To slap your knee and the next minute forget why.  To stick your tongue out in quiet rebellion.  When you trace the circles under your eyes the third day in a row. To be your age. Sometimes. Not often. To not be your age. Often. To wonder what they're doing, when they are 408 miles away. 

Fall Beauty

Sometimes when your To Do list runs 2 pages long, it's easier to just do nothing. Ya know, crawl under your desk and hope no one notices you're missing.  But that I shall not.  Happy Monday. Time to get stuffings done. 

My parents visited me in Minneapolis this weekend. Here are some snapshots. 

 {Lake Harriet}

 {The Rose Garden}

{Pretty rose}

Golden Slumbers

{Such a step} 

I bet the meadow is beautiful

There are leaves on the ground. There are friends in the kitchen. There are homemade cookies on the counter. There are lesson plans written and put away. There are phone calls home to look forward to. 

There is a book on my nightstand with pages flapped indicating favorite quotes. There is an orange, yellow, maroon afghan on my bed. There is Wilco playing. There is an open window. 

Home Feels Rights

I was briefly home this past weekend. It felt right. Calm. Breezy. Comfortable. Safe. Love.

I have a few distinct memories within my 23 years of living that I remember taking the time to think, "Never forget this moment."

When I was in Florida when I was little, maybe around 5th grade, my mom and I were walking on the beach at night.  We were holding hands and she told me to stop. So we stopped. And we counted some stars. We then had a conversation about how wonderful it was that the moon we were looking at was the same moon people in New York, California, and Ireland were looking at. She then asked me if I knew how much she loved me. I said yes. She told me to never forget. I haven't. 

This summer I was at my roommate's cabin in Wisconsin. It was so relaxing. A lot of reading and laying in the sun (with SPF, duh.) My roommate, her friends and I went on her speedboat.  They all took turns water skiing. I was too much of a chicken. Some day.... Anyway, I found a cozy spot at the front of the boat. I stretched out. The sun was beaming.  The waves made for a comforting rhythmic lullaby. The speed of the boat allowed for the wind to briskly pass on my face.  There were small drizzles of lake water splashing on my legs. This was the day before my aunt passed away. I remember overall feeling really down that week. But, during those few hours on the speedboat, I remember having a great serenity knowing that she was going to be safe and free from pain soon.  I like to think that she knew I was happy, and that while she was dozing in those few hours, it brought her some happiness too. 

This weekend when I was home it was the perfect on-the-verge-of-fall weather.  The windows in my bedroom were open, allowing a slight breeze to wander in.  I woke up to the sound of my dog's whimper at the bottom of the steps at 6:00. I clambered down the stairs to let him out to go the bathroom.  He didn't have to go.  He just needed company.  I laid on the couch in the family room.  He nuzzled his nose under my arm and once I gave in, he rested his head on my stomach.  He then voluntarily gave paw. He closed his eyes.  I fell asleep again.  When I woke up two hours later, he was asleep and snoring. My dad had made a coffee run and gotten me a pumpkin latte.  Still hot and waiting for me on the counter. Such a beauty. Dressed in a sweatshirt and sweatpants, with my latte and book in hand, I made my way over to the hammock deep in our backyard.  There I contently laid for two hours. My dad was within sight reading the paper, and my mom was in the kitchen on the phone, her laugh audible and soothing.  

I don't want to hear about your quiche recipe

Last Thursday... what a day.

High points
- Seeing a man of Spanish descent (guesstimated to be in his 60s) sleeping and loudly snoring on a bench inside Target. 45 minutes later... same man... same position... same loud noise. 
- Having a Kindergartner named Wilbert tell me I can call him Wilby or Little Man for short because those are his nicknames at home. Consider it done.

Low point 
- ... Ai yai yai. Hard to pick. Having a student grab my lunch off my desk and flush my sandwich down the toilet didn't help anything. 


But, overall, school year part deus is off to a good start! 

**I most likely actually do care about your quiche recipe.  Just not right now. 

Girls

I'm pumped for the second season of Girls. I don't know when it's coming out, but I'm pumped regardless.  About 49% of the time while I'm watching the show, I think to myself, "Yup. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt."