things that make me happy: diy hair, stamps, flowers, green screen, and istation cake

home. once we got home, i had to quickly get a picture, lest i forget. angelica and i were talking about her grandson and she said she flat-irons his hair because it is super curly. so i suggested getting a brazilian blowout...and the obvious,"they're just so expensive!" so i explained how i've been doing mine for the past year (once every 3-4 months), and it really isn't that difficult, just a little time-consuming. so i promised i'd let her know what product i used.

i was really excited when i went to the post office, and i'd received letters from two of my aunts-kim and mindy! it's always just so good to hear from them, and to know what is going on with the family up in iowa. it especially felt like Christmas in July, because mindy had seen one of my facebook posts back on april 29...i was down to 1 stamp...well, she must've known...i must have been emitting my anxious "i'm-almost-out-of-stamps" vibe...strong enough to be felt from iowa! you do the math #imawriternotafighter (line from michael jackson the girl is mine, had he been thinking shakespeare)

i dropped one of my friends off at the airport with her mom, and got to meet with another friend later at kona grill, because we hadn't gotten together since summer school. it was really great to snack on sushi, and catch up! then of course we went into the mall and made our way strategically to 3 stores to find the products that she was in need of and i escaped unscathed! we did get a great historical lesson regarding how the perfumes were made and how they layer, and how many actual molecules went into the making of each fragrance...and yes i actually found one that i really liked...just sayin..this man loves his job! #pasionateaboutscents

i also put it on my shopping list to grab some flowers from the store. the boys love flowers...

this work week started out (as usual on monday-yesterday [two days ago now..this is what happens when i procrastinate]), and when lori walked in, she came bearing someone new! she introduced us to her friend lori (not a typo), who will be joining us at istation! so here's what i'm thinking. from now on, we should start hiring people who share names of current trainers and then pair us all up whenever possible so that it makes it really easy on the participants! it also makes for a great cover-up....oh, that was the other julie, not me...

 i spent part of the day with toni, visiting some of her TACKLE SUMMER SLIDE campuses. it was great to get out and see the kids working with tutors and enjoying their time on istation. we made our way back to the istation tower just before lunchtime, and i joined suzanne and deane, who has finally been freed from the chains that bound her...and was doing the on-boarding process, so i got to sit in and when lunch rolled around we had a casual lunch in the war room (where all of the important battles are waged...). it's always a good idea to take every opportunity to get to know people as well as possible!

besides, hard to beat turkey-wrap pinwheel sandwich bites, pita chips with hummus, and the cinnamon-crumble bites. and i kinda' screwed up and took too many pita chips-they just came out of the bag too fast, to my horror, and i don't know these people well enough to be manhandling pita chips and putting them back in the bag, having them wonder if i washed my hands or not! so...i zoned out of the conversation for a minute, thinking through my dilemma. i was going to have to be creative about rationing this little scoop of hummus. so i mixed it up and used the veggie dip (meant for the carrots), intermittently and it paired well with the pita chips. i was very proud of myself when i was able to finish that last chip... those cinnamon bites, though...addictive! yikes!

when toni returned, we finished our rounds, but i forgot to go up to get my new id badge pic...but that morning, i did get the exciting news that i will be training in florida (one day...but at least i get to see the palm trees, right?) so an overnighter- i'm going to try something new with the automatic feeders-separate the boys so that bruno doesn't eat chaco's food and give chaco a reason to write mommy dearest memoirs.

then tuesday we had an office field trip, so i got there a little early. when i pulled into the underground garage, it seemed so dark. when i turned the car off, it was too dark to see what i was doing. that was strange-i don't remember having this sensation previously. when i got up to the lobby area, i looked around and there were a bunch of people sitting around. "hmm," i thought, "all of these people here for an interview?" then i saw some familiar faces--and realized that the lights were out. i made my way toward the first floor restroom, because the elevator was out. then i realized that the bathroom was pitch black. just as i was preparing to use my phone flashlight, with visions of cave-spelunking, the lights came back on. when i got back to the elevators, people were still waiting around for the elevators to begin running. they were fine on the other side (floors 1-12), but the express to the upper floors were a little sketchier...and we may or may not have heard someone in one of the elevators who'd gotten stuck when the electricity went out-20 minutes...

once the first run up was ready to go, i was intent on going up-not a worry, lisandra was not as sure, but bless her willingness to take a walk on the wild side! she was thinking claustrophobia, and what if... i had been on a netflix adventure binge for a minute, and so my mind went to the panic-room mode, and if i were stuck in an elevator, what would jason bourne do?  but there were no hiccups, which is good, because we were about to have kiddos coming for a field trip! the cool thing is that i got to go through the tour-which i hadn't done yet, so it was fun to go through and see what happens with the students! the group i was with-silly and antsy, but no more so than any other group of 2nd graders! at one point, the kids were told about tiger, the office dog, and they were asking about him from that moment on, wanting to get a glimpse of our mascot..i don't think we saw him once, but would not stop asking where the dog was (one track minds!) my favorite part of the entire tour was definitely the green-screen room! the kids loved it, and the walls were padded (not for crazies), which gave the kids a chance to scream at the top of their lungs once. it was still a little loud in the room, but no one really heard them from the outside.  the bottom line-they had a blast!

if i were a super-hero in space...this might happen. 

if i were just a normal semi-normal person stretching out in front of a regular green screen, though...this might happen.

masks of the characters-students got to choose their faves

it really is a fun field trip-highly recommended! very fun, because they have been interacting with these characters and now they got to see how everything comes together!

afterward, toni and i went out to another site- i've loved tagging along with her, because we've been able to have some great conversation time.

so today, we got to go out to one of the sites toni has been working with, and i got to meet ms. nutall, one of the dallas isd board members. she is a treasure, and she has been working with students during the summers, to help curb summer slide. they have an impressive support system. we also went to the boys and girls club and today was their celebration! i love that we were able to be there-these kids were so great!

over the top cute!

so that kinda' sums up the past couple of days, and it's going to start getting a little crazy up in her.

blessings-
julie

week 1 feels like a month (in a good way)

week 1: success! 

yes, it was a fun week, successful on many fronts. learning, getting to know different divisions, getting to know the other trainers (they're all spread so far apart!) and i didn't gain TOO much weight, even with all the feasting! i really do like the assembly of personalities and minds that comprise the training department!

the entire week was filled full (redundancy) of information-information-information! so, have you ever seen the episode of star trek, next generation where data shuts down and has to be rebooted? if there were a switch on the back of my neck, i think someone might have to go and flip it and put in a new card or something for more space...

this morning was the end of the conference, but it was really just the training team having an intimate-family breakfast. and i got all of my important stuff taken care of so that i can get paid! i am in love with the offices! it is SO kid-friendly, and fun...i would love to see some kids from our feeder pattern go through on a field trip and learn about the many different career possibilities in a company like Istation alone!

amazing what all goes into making the program happen! 

 just a few minutes ago, there was a knock on the door and of course a chorus of barking ensued...when i looked out the peephole, there was no one, so i prepared my ninja skills just in case there were someone hiding around the corner, just out of sight...fortunately i did not have to injure anyone tonight. there was a small box sitting in front of the door. hmm. strange, i haven't ordered anything in quite awhile. guess what came in the mail  hands of the fedex man:

i am SO impressed that brian was able to get these cards knocked out so quickly (i mean, he didn't print them himself, but he did gather the info and get them ordered in such a short turn-around!) just a little more official!

and i am really excited that there is a training opportunity in which i am going to be able to hang out with some great trainers and get to know them better, as well as observe and take in some new techniques and skills!

the boys were happy that i was home by noon today, because every night has been a late night until now. i think we're going to go out and visit some petsmarts and petcos tomorrow and anywhere else that allows dogs. the men are coming to fix the water damage from all of the rains, and that's going to make it a little loud and crazy in here, so i know they'll be less anxious if we can just avoid it altogether. and hopefully i can convince them to fix the hole in the wall that maintenance left there a couple years ago when they had to fix something with the sprinkler system...fingers crossed. ok, screw that, i'm going to cross my arms when they come in, and tell them that it's a non-negotiable since they have all of the tools here already.

ok, so if you've been keeping up with this blog for any period of time, you know that i have a certain affinity ok, obsession with florida. something i may or may not have shared previously about my job is that we have a presence in FL! so again, if you've been following, you also know that one of my 'kindred-spirit' friends lives there, and i have been SO  close a couple of times, and have talked about moving there..so hopefully that will be a possibility at least to travel to. only time will tell. i should ask jacira, one of my teacher friends in miami if she uses it or not...

i haven't exercised this week, and i can feel it. i think i am going to get up early (well..earlier than noon) to get out for a walk and maybe infuse it with a little jogging here and there! let's gauge it and see how it goes. i'm excited to get together with some friends tomorrow night-it seems like it's been forever.

hope you've had your own small successes!
julie

if i had binoculars, i would live in my own little diorama

cane's won again. on the way home i kept thinking i could make it all the way to my apt to make my own dinner...but i don't know what happened; must've been the rain. HAD to be the rain.

so it's been awhile. i guess i kinda imagine myself in a confessional (not that i'd know what that is like, as i am not catholic, but i've seen enough movies...) i might start out with something like, "forgive me blogger, for i have not blogged..." i don't know where it would go from there, but i don't think it would be pretty.

so. school ended. on the last day of professional development, we had the privilege of a training with real school gardens. they began with a drum routine that sounded like a sacrificial interlude from the gilligan episode with the head hunters...luis loved it.

there was a time when i really wanted to purchase a jembe drum

 but the instrument that caught my eye was the rattle...even from a distance, i recognized the beads on the outside. they were the beads that we used to pick off of weeds in costa rica to make bracelets. there was a specific little park that we would go to and then you had to pull the threads of weed out. i was so excited about it! good memories!

amazing weeds!

 we proceeded to have a great training. i think i was a little aloof because i had agreed to move to 3rd grade to teach and so i was going through the training with the 3rd grade teachers. well, that morning, i was asked if i was interested in becoming the reading coach at school. so you must understand that i had run through several emotions at that point. i wasn't as involved as i should have been, but i hadn't accepted the offer at that point, and i wasn't really sure how i felt about anything.

i called my parents and then i had a conversation with lorraine, our former reading coach (who has since accepted a vice principal position-congrats lorraine!). i then went through the arduous process of applying for the position of reading coach. i'm excited because i know it will be a growing and learning process.

the next week we began training for summer science discovery camp. the training went well. i'm going to refrain from saying to much about the actual summer school portion, as i was under the impression that i would be able to stay in my classroom...and i ended up having to move out of my room. but i didn't have anywhere to go, so i had a makeshift classroom on the stage. mood lighting. one side of the 'room' was in the depths of despair-a huge shadow of gloom and doom encompassed them. i had to rig up an easel-using a ladder and duct tape. 

 in fact, one boy's mother actually made him ask me if we were going to be in there for remainder of the summer. i told him he could let her know that we would be moving into a classroom after the first week. it was a long week and i was bitter; but i don't think it was too evident...the kids were having fun.

we have actually covered a lot of information, and i am pretty sure they got it. most of them will be in 5th grade next year, and i have been fortunate to have 5 of my former students. 

i'm pretty sure the 'mouse' in this diorama cannot hear...disclaimer: i am not responsible for teaching them to draw..only teaching them about ecosystems and food chains...and they GOT that!

other than that, we've been very low-key, playing it cool. i have been going to the shooting range-which has been fun.

today we went to the environmental center for a mini field trip. we got to pull out the binoculars and do some bird-watching. i had a blast. i had more fun just looking into the little wooded area-it felt like i was in a real live diorama with 3d trees and such. i realize that sounds silly, as in real life these things are 3d, but when you look through binoculars, everything is so much cooler!!

oh, did i forget to mention that we have trainings that we have to attend with the science camp...well, today the song that kept running through my mind was fugees killing me softly and when he suggested a warm up activity...it was more of a death-warmed-over activity. i thank him for trying, but i'm pretty good at hooking and engaging my students. and today i was counting down because i had some errands to run.

i've also gotten together with some other educators who are excited about ensuring that we have effective teachers in every classroom-and working toward a goal of ensuring that voices our voices are heard and we have a seat at the table when it comes to legislation concerning our students. we can either react to what happens to us, or we can be proactive and help guide the conversations and actions that are in the works. i choose the latter. in essence, this is an extension of what was brought to light in our ed policy program.

good day!
julie

'demon fish'-80's pop band or book by an author with bad galmour pics?

let me begin by saying i am so sorry, those of you who link to this blog from facebook-somehow my settings got messed up and none of my posts were showing up for others-i don't quite know how that happened.


today has been long. but not bad. we had our field trip to the nature museum today, and it would have been really fun if i were there with friends! but, alas, i had 17 students to be in charge of.

we got to watch a great show about force and matter and the kids loved it. i loved finding a brochure about speakers for their shark exhibit. check out this one:

the picture caught my attention and i couldn't help but think that it really fit the book title...i could see her being the author of "demon fish."

then we watched the movie in the imax dome-loved it! it might've been a little over the kids' heads, but that's ok, they loved the prehistoric marine reptiles! by the time we got to do lunch, it had still not warmed up and the wind was blowing....and we had to eat outside. boo. (thanks gigi). then we went back in and enjoyed the hands-on exhibits for the kiddos.

this was the mucus display, and it accurately portrays what has been going on in my head, nose and throat over this past week.

LAST PAYMENT ON MY CITI CARD TODAY!!! now only one more to go and the last bit of a student loan! it feels good!

i also tried the spaghetti squash today and i actually enjoyed it as much as the zucchini! i loved prepping it last night because it was so much fun to shred!! cool stuff!

i walked into the office today hoping that my package had arrived, but it had not. the package, being my calendar. so i am hoping that it is in tomorrow's delivery. i walked in at a good time because they had one of the 'annoying tenants' in trying to get his way about something that was obviously not an option.

and tonight was my phone interview with smu, it seemed like it went fine, but only time will tell...i'll know how well i did if i move on to round 3, i guess. i wasn't too nervous, but i don't know how great i am at thinking on my feet, either.

may your field trips in life be without all the children!
julie

melt: theme song for ice cream and crayons and young children made of wax

(quick update! i had to put the fish up for a few days because they're the coolest! please feel free to feed them by left clicking!)
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh (that is a sigh of relief-had it been frustration, it would have been capitalized). last call for summer camp! aaaaand DONE!

i did score some great extras to use in my classroom, though! i LOVE posterboard and chart paper!! i am pretty certain that my car is exponentially heavier because of all the paper! of course, when i got home, my hands were full bringing things into my apartment because i had some perishables (heat advisory until 8pm-boo).

i only need one melted crayon art-piece for my simile example-this is why i brought up all crayons and markers (i probably ought to look through and see if there is anything else

not only was today our last day of summer camp, but we had a field trip to top it off! we went to the library downtown and we had an illustrator and a student author speak to our group. the illustrator was interesting! if you've ever read the book esperanza rising or gracias the thanksgiving turkey, joe cepeda is the author, and he was phenomenal! he has illustrated many children's books and he actually wrote and illustrated the book swing, which he read to us-EXCELLENT book to read to your students!!

i picked up some great drawing/writing tips for our students! they don't know it yet, but they should be very excited! i'm gonna' make authors of them yet!!

SWING

as you may have noticed, i did not include the other author's name because i was not impressed (so instead of wasting time and space on her, i'm wasting space explaining why i did not write about her...hmm).

and we got back later than usual. i still had to get all of my stuff together and ready to go-i was SO hoping to get out before 4:45 so that i wouldn't have to play 'parking-lot-chicken' with parents picking up their "car kids." well...i didn't have any parking lot problems because i didn't get everything cleaned up and packed up until 5:05. ugh. (i went the extra mile and clorox wiped all of the desks...better than i found them).

it just crossed my mind that if i have to change out my car for another, i'm going to have to unload all of that junk...i need to look at the cut-off date again and pray that i have until the beginning of school so that i can unload it there and not have to carry it up and down these 3 flights!!!

here's hoping that your summer gets cooler and you don't feel like a melted crayon screaming to get out of the car!
julie

monday tuesday wednesday thursday saturday saturday sunday

alrighty then...i love it when friday feels like a saturday and then i realize that it really is friday and i get another saturday tomorrow! truly exhilerating! so, dallas isd, if you are listening, i would be all in for 4 day work weeks if that would help (not that it's even on the table, but if it were, you'd have my vote!)

today has been a lazy day for us. not that we're complaining! i mean, i got first place in a word game (and that's a big deal!)

ok, it was low-scoring, but in all fairness, there were only 215 possible combinations!

i've also been getting some of my summer reading done. if you are a teacher this book is a must read!!

excellent book-easy read, but it changes the way i look at my teaching

so...next week is our last week of summer school and the designers of the program planned a field trip for to go to a library on the last day. and the teachers are required to go chaperons. the last thing i want to do on our last day is take a bunch of students to a library where they are supposed to be quiet and somewhat respectful, but the worst part is that it's at the end of the day, so we cannot work on things we need to do to finish up. bad idea. boo. but summer school is over!! then meetings start back up on the 9th-ugh. too bad the weather is so hot! it really makes it unfun (new word) to even step outside.

we talked about doing another 4th grade lunch, so i might fix something (that way i know i'll enjoy it). perhaps a crockpot dish so that it stays warm and delicious. pulled pork? meat loaf? chicken?

not much of consequence today-have a great weekend!
julie

the tour guide probably made it all up

when i woke up this morning, i knew it was an abnormal day because we had a field trip, so i started out abnormally as well. i saw this little sample packet from my last visit to sephora. so i decided that since nothing else would be normal, i might as well try this out. it was pretty potent and for about an hour or two i felt like i had a vogue magazine stuck up my nose.you know how when you open the samples and all of those smells start mixing together?  and even now that i got home and tossed the packet, it got on my hands and i'm getting a headache again.

yes, today we had a field trip to the dma (dallas museum of arts). i love going to the museum-on  my own time...not as much with a class of students i have to keep track of.

this was a wonderful welcome...

..but i found this one more welcoming!

it was good times, and our volunteer tour guide let me know that we were late and that our tour would be short because she had to get home for a plumber appointment. cool. but she was fairly knowledgeable; i think. she could've just been a very good maker-upper. i mean, i know some people who are great liars and do very well at balderdash...and we never would've known.

the kids were impressed...the boys were immature of course when we walked through the african exhibit-because the carvings were naked and well endowed-and they have just recently begun a health class. they giggled.the girls just said ew. after our tour guide went to meet her plumber, i had to get a tag to wear around to continue touring.

i will say this: there are a lot of rude people working at the museum. they do not know how to talk to children. and we may or may not have gotten a little lost making circles around the samurai exhibit. which was perfect, because it gave us just enough time to eat and relax and not long enough to get bored and cause trouble.

so, this weekend i am going to try to finish a couple of projects, get some papers graded and into gradespeed, and start a new art project. the new project has to do with these:

and i'll tell you about the other ingredients after i finish if it works out. i'm pretty excited about it!

so i got a lamp. cheap lamp. but a lamp. since i've been in the apt, i haven't had one. so i got lightbulbs. well, i got quite a few 100 w and 60 w. then i got home and realized it was a 40 w lamp. grr. so i'll go get a bunch of those tomorrow. i am going to go ahead and stock up on a ton of lightbulbs, because according to energy star a bill was passed in 2007 to 'up standards for bulbs," which in essence means phasing out the cheapest lightbulbs. hmm..this seems like a recipe to a monopoly on led and cfl bulbs---price increase? just thinkin'...perhaps beck has something...stocking up b/c either way i'll be able to use them. they don't spoil and i don't even have to store them in a vaccuum seal bag!

shine brightly!
jules

p.s. if you know anyone who is graduating and want to do a fun little something for them, hollie put up a really cute post today!