Mary and Max

I'm looking forward to seeing this once I find some free time. Does "free time" exist as a first year teacher? Not so far. (Well I guess technically the three minutes I'm taking to write this is free time... but I'm not counting it.)

Penguin Cafe Orchestra's "Perpetuum Mobile" (which is the first song that plays in this trailer) was something my favorite student and I bonded over this past summer. I quietly played it while all my class was working on a worksheet, and he came up to me after class and asked if I could write the song name down for him so he could play it for his mom when he got home. Man, I miss that kid.

Penguin Cafe Orchestra: making kids happy since 1972.

Gena Rowlands

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I just watched The Notebook and cried for the millionth time. I never get sick of that movie. I remember I saw it three times in one week when it first came out (freak). Once with my ma, once for a birthday party and once with my grandma and aunts.

I just realized Gena Rowlands is from Madison, Wisconsin and went to The University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I don't know why, but that tidbit makes me really happy. I wonder if we've ever sat at the SAME EXACT spot at Lake Mendota. I bet we have. And I bet she got ice cream too. Birds of a feather flock together.

Superficial goal for the fall: Learn to curl my hair on my own. Specifically, learn to curl my hair like Allie Hamilton's.

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Well, well, aren't they just perfect?

Basilica

This morning was quite a refreshing one. I woke up and went to church with my cousin Kate and her fiance Dan. It's so nice to have family around when you are adjusting to a new city. The three of us went to an enormous church, The Basilica of Saint Mary. It was absolutely beautiful - ornate, tons of mosaics and stained glass windows. It was a good start to the day.

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To make the day even better, we then moseyed our way on over to a quaint diner called "Our Kitchen" for breakfast. I demolished everything. So good. So, so good.

Then I lesson planned for the majority of the remainder of the day. That wasn't nearly as fun or exciting. What is this grown up mumbo jumbo?

In unrelated news:

It is quite annoying when people are condescending about condiments. I've gotten, "You're from Chicago and don't eat your hot dogs Chicago style? FREAK!" a few too many times. Well, listen up, buddy. I don't like mustard, relish or pickles, so why would I put all that on my fine hot dog? You don't see me blabbing about your hot dog. Back off. (People technically never call me a freak, but, exaggeration felt necessary.)

Scab on ankle that really itches. The temptation to scratch it is reaching skyrocket levels.

Eating plain carrots is overrated. Throw spinach artichoke dip into the mix and then we're talking.

Lantern lighting makes all the difference.

Cloud Life

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Yesterday I took an airplane back to Minneapolis from Chicago.

While hundreds of thousands miles up in the air...

I wondered if birds were afraid of planes.

I wondered how many people have ever flown in the air.

I wondered if there was a ritual that my pilot did every time before he flew.

I wondered if anyone else on the plane was listening to Coldplay's Fix You on repeat.

I wondered if the dude next to me could hear my music playing.

I wondered how many babies were at ground level in their mother's arms pointing at us way up in the sky.

It was the first time in a long time that I was okay with "not knowing." Let's see how long that lasts.

An escape into oblivion

Right now I'm going to pretend that I'm here (wherever "here" is) instead of feeling overwhelmed in my new bedroom. Right now I have so many daunting things to do. So many things to tackle in such little time. I guess I'll get started with something small and manageable i.e. go to the grocery store so that I have more in my kitchen other than a frozen pizza, water and Ben & Jerry's.

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This song has nothing to do with my life currently. But, I have been playing it on repeat. Just cause it sounds so sweet.

Skipper

{The Summer Day}

By: Mary Oliver

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean—

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

We all miss you, Uncle Skip. What a wild, precious and laugh-filled life you had.

Rest in Peace 7.19.11

All I Need

Time is a flyin'

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I apologize for being so MIA for the past, uh, month? Or has it been more than that? I guess I could check by just going to my last blog post, but that would require saving this page and backtracking, and frankly, right now I'm just too tired to do so.

These past few weeks have been a roller coaster, a whirlwind, the colors of the wind as Pocahontas might say (I'm so tired that I'm just making up stuff). It has been a mishmash of feeling overwhelmed, excited and nervous. There's been lots of snapping, lots of waking up early, lots of going to bed late, lots of realizing "Oh my god this is the reality of our education system in America," lots of paperclips, more paperclips, making copies, looking tired, circles under the eyes, missed calls from my mom and dad (I'm sorry), feeling behind, feeling inspired, working harder than I ever have, lots of smiles, lots of frustration, lots of being grossed out by dorm bathrooms, too many emails, more emails, lots of sweating, more sweating, even more sweating, a wee bit of crying (sometimes happy tears, other times not so much), lots of laughing, lots of hope.

I think that just about sums it up, and yet, I could probably ramble on for a good hour with my thoughts. I won't though. Again, as I said, I'm really tired. I'm not thinking too clearly. I tried making an analogy the other day about loading my plate up too much with pot stickers on top of pasta on top of pizza on top of salad and so on. It made sense in my head at the time, but everyone else just said, "Kathleen, you seriously need to go to bed."

And so I guess that's what I'll do. I just wanted to pop in and say "hello!" If you are reading this, I hope you are doing well. I hope you have found some quiet time to read outside under a shady tree. I hope you've drank a glass of cold lemonade at least once this summer. And I hope you haven't been using a dorm shower for the past month, but if you have, I feel ya pain.

A preview of Wyoming

Wyoming : Where life is simple and beautiful. And where you can learn how to country swing dance.

Yep, my heart just melted

If you don't like this, hit the road.

Checking out the Chan Chan Man

Chandler has always been my favorite. I don't really feel like explaining why. He just is. I think his mannerisms, quirks and awkwardness speak for themselves. Do you have a favorite Friends character? My ranking goes: 1) Chandler 2) Phoebe 3) Ross 4) Rachel 5) Joey 6) Monica. As far as I'm concerned, Monica can take a hike. Except for the throwback episodes; she kills those. I hope my ranking doesn't offend any readers. To be honest, I have a spot in my heart for each character. Yes, even Monica. Sometimes. Not when she's annoying.

Here are some of my favorite clips highlighting Chandler's goofiness:

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Oh happy day!

It's so beautifully beautiful outside today! Just sitting on my stoop and reading and eating chips and salsa. I'm so content right now it kind of makes me want to do a handstand. Like Mallory:

Only problem is that I don't know how to do a handstand. And, now that I'm thinking about it, I haven't even done a cartwheel in about four years. Uh oh. I wonder if I've lost the capability to do so. I would try it out, but I bruise like a peach and I have some classroom observations coming up and I don't want to be all pale and blue. Here is proof that I bruise easily.

Mmmm look at that hotness. This happened at a football game. No, I was not playing football. I was merely observing from the stands, and yet, I still managed to leave injured. I was taking part in an ole' school tradition in which after the 3rd quarter the song "Jump Around" comes on and the whole student section... jumps around. Well, I guess it got a little too rowdy. I was on the end and ended up taking a tumble. The back of my leg hit the pointy corner of the metal bleachers. Good times.

Side note: In that first picture, Mallory fell hard about 1.2 seconds later.

Cubicles

I'm a little behind the times, and I just got around to watching Michael Scott's farewell episode on The Office. I teared up. More than once. My favorite line was when he's speaking with Jim in his office and he pulls out his recorder and says, "T-shirt idea: Goodbyes stink."

Working in a cubicle use to not seem appealing, but The Office and this following short film make it look not so bad. Deceiving? Does cute stuff like this actually happen?

You're right, not my life

Other than the first three, "You're born, you learn to walk, you go to school," these tidbits don't really apply to me. But nonetheless, this PaperCut ad is creative and fun to read.

Although I never "stole a chocolate bar," one time at a summer swim meet when I was in 1st grade, I saw a a boy a few years older than me steal a fruit roll-up from the concession stand. I thought that was like the worst thing a person could ever do, so I told on him. They never found the culprit, but I knew he was out there. I KNEW!

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Seriously, why am I leaving Madison?

That's a rhetorical question. I know WHY I have to leave Madison - the whole graduating and moving to the Twin Cities to teach just about sums it up. But, I look around this place and think back on all the good times I've had here (nostalgia is my middle name, more or less) and get a lil misty eyed thinking about how this will no longer be "home." This past year I wrote for UW-Madison's school newspaper The Daily Cardinal. Here is my last column. Kind of a goodbye piece. It somewhat communicates how I feel about leaving college. It's an attempt, but some feelings just can't be put into words.

Adding to my spring allergies tremendously. I never had them before, but now they're in full force.

Mallory in front of Lake Mendota.

Quick photo op break with Lauren during our bike ride.

Pretty view of the city from Picnic Point.

Terrace chairs at the new Union South.

James: The Best Buddy I could have asked for.

Girls night out at Johnny O's.

Kristi, me, Shauna, Lauren, Alli