Sunday, September 11, 2011
Here's the deal...
Alright guys, here's the deal...I REALLY want to be a super cool food blogger, BUT I'm an insanely busy college student. I've got about 200 pages of reading a night, a social life I try to maintain, a babysitting job that sucks up my time, AND I'm a TA in an AP ENG IV class at Midway Highschool. Bottom line, I don't have time! Soooo I'm gonna put my new foodie blog on hold and just blog here! I'm sure I'll throw in some stories about my cooking experiences here and there, but I just won't have time to keep up with 2 blogs. Wish I could do it all, but I never said I was Wonder Woman! haha :)
Monday, September 5, 2011
Ooops!
Ooops...got the html address wrong....
Here's the real one....
diningwithdarian.blogspot.com
Sorry!
Here's the real one....
diningwithdarian.blogspot.com
Sorry!
New Blog Alert!!
Hellooo friends and family! I'm excited and happy to announce the arrival of my new blog...Dining with Darian. The new blog will be different than this one (Live Laugh Love). Dining with Darian will be ALL about food. I'll be trying out new recipes and blogging pictures, recipes, and deets about how the dishes turned out. Tune in to get some new recipes..(and a few laughs...as I'm sure not all recipes will turn out as planned)!
You can access the blog using the following address:
blogspot.diningwithdarian.com
Please read and comment! :)
Lots of love!
You can access the blog using the following address:
blogspot.diningwithdarian.com
Please read and comment! :)
Lots of love!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
I'm Back!!
Soooo its been like over 3 weeks since I last blogged, sorry guys! I've been a bit busy...to say the very least. Unfortunately, this means pretty much anyone who was following me has now stopped, because I stopped blogging. Lame! My bad, though. For those of you who have loyally stuck with this blog and me, you will be rewarded :) This blog will have an update on the first semester of my junior year at Baylor (superrr interesting...not) and my new idea for blogging. But wait...there's more! Directly following this blog, I will post ANOTHER blog giving an example of my new blogging idea. Exciting, right?! Woohoo! Can't wait! Let's get started!
What you've missed....
-My house now only has 4 girls in it. Kyrie has moved from the downstairs bedroom to the Thetas' old room upstairs. Her room is super cute and much bigger than her previous one. The house is overall a happier, more united place to live. We all couldn't be happier. I must note that we have kept up with the 2 girls that left. Both have come over (briefly) and all is well. In my dad's words: Its all good.
-I have a JOB! Yep, that's right I'm a working lady now. Everyday this semester I will pick up Elliot and Oliver, twin boys (kindergardeners), and hang out with them until their parents get home from work. I work 3:15-5:15 everyday. Pretty cool, right!? The boys are absolutely adorable! I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester!
-I'm a TA (teaching assistant)!! I'm working with Mrs. Berry at Midway High School. We teach AP English IV. Hairy Scary Seniors! Yikes! No, no, they're actually wonderful! So far, I love working with them. Mrs. Berry is such a joy to work with and someone I look up to very much already. She's fabulous with the students! I'm sure I'll learn a lot from her, as well as from the students.
Those are the top 3 things that have happened in my life. The rest is the old, boring same old same old.
Now for my latest blogging idea....(Drum roll, please!)
I'm going to transition my blog into a Food Blog! Of course, I'll still blog about my (sometimes) interesting life, but for the most part I'm going to blog about what I've cooked/baked/eaten.
Why?
Well, I've been trying to cook more and I think this will motivate me to choose and try new recipes. AND I'm now on Pintrest. (www.pintrest.com....look it up....NOW) I've found a bagillion recipes on there and NEED to try them out and I want to share my cooking experiences with others.
I'll be cooking desserts, main courses, appetizers, etc. Some healthy, some not. I want to try to take pictures of at least the finished products to show you guys. I think this could be a lot of fun for me and for those who read my blog!! I'd LOVE feedback...so if anyone has any thoughts/comments please let me know!! :) Look out for my first cooking blog....
What you've missed....
-My house now only has 4 girls in it. Kyrie has moved from the downstairs bedroom to the Thetas' old room upstairs. Her room is super cute and much bigger than her previous one. The house is overall a happier, more united place to live. We all couldn't be happier. I must note that we have kept up with the 2 girls that left. Both have come over (briefly) and all is well. In my dad's words: Its all good.
-I have a JOB! Yep, that's right I'm a working lady now. Everyday this semester I will pick up Elliot and Oliver, twin boys (kindergardeners), and hang out with them until their parents get home from work. I work 3:15-5:15 everyday. Pretty cool, right!? The boys are absolutely adorable! I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester!
-I'm a TA (teaching assistant)!! I'm working with Mrs. Berry at Midway High School. We teach AP English IV. Hairy Scary Seniors! Yikes! No, no, they're actually wonderful! So far, I love working with them. Mrs. Berry is such a joy to work with and someone I look up to very much already. She's fabulous with the students! I'm sure I'll learn a lot from her, as well as from the students.
Those are the top 3 things that have happened in my life. The rest is the old, boring same old same old.
Now for my latest blogging idea....(Drum roll, please!)
I'm going to transition my blog into a Food Blog! Of course, I'll still blog about my (sometimes) interesting life, but for the most part I'm going to blog about what I've cooked/baked/eaten.
Why?
Well, I've been trying to cook more and I think this will motivate me to choose and try new recipes. AND I'm now on Pintrest. (www.pintrest.com....look it up....NOW) I've found a bagillion recipes on there and NEED to try them out and I want to share my cooking experiences with others.
I'll be cooking desserts, main courses, appetizers, etc. Some healthy, some not. I want to try to take pictures of at least the finished products to show you guys. I think this could be a lot of fun for me and for those who read my blog!! I'd LOVE feedback...so if anyone has any thoughts/comments please let me know!! :) Look out for my first cooking blog....
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Beach Day
That’s right fam and friends, today was a beach day for the Patterson clan! Montegro has a famous beach that hosts concerts every summer called, Jaz Beach, so, of course, this is the beach we chose to lounge on. Only the best, right?! Well…about that. When I say beach day, what are you guys expecting? I know my boyfriend, Eric, being an avid beach lover (and Jimmy Buffet fan…the 2 go hand in hand, don’t you agree?) has a definite picture in his mind. Heck, why don’t I go ahead and paint the picture of what I think you guys are thinking?! (Follow me?) White sandy beach with crashing waves and chairs with umbrella…oh and of course the water is heated to a nice temperature by the hot, hot sun. You know, not too hot and not too cold, just cold enough to cool you off. Am I close?? Well if you were thinking that’s what I meant by BEACH DAY, you are sadly mistaken my friends. Okay, okay, some of the things were dead on: the chairs with umbrellas and, well…that’s it. No white sandy beach for us, instead we were greeted by a stony, pebbly beach. Different, huh? You’re thinking, “Oh that could still be nice, though, Darian”. Well yes, sweet readers, that COULD be. If the rocks weren’t hotter than the sun itself! Shoes had to be worn when attempting to walk on these hot stones, friends. Not to worry though, because the water would cool us off, right?! Hmmm…about that…the water was frigid. Very, very cold. Sorta unbearable, not super comfortable for swimming. Oh, and no crashing waves, which was splendid, since we don’t care for being knocked down by waves. Different beach experience, to say the very least. Don’t get me wrong, though, this is NOT to say we didn’t have a great time. The differences were just unexpected and gave us quite a laugh. The rocks weren’t that bad once you got used to them…sorta. However, I’ll stick to my sandy beaches, please. Em and I braved the colder than ice water, in order to cool off from our extreme sunbathing. In addition, it was nice to not have to worry about any slimy fish or sea creatures, as we saw none during our time swimming in the sea. The absence of waves, was also a welcomed change from some of the beaches we’ve been to where we are constantly struggling to stay above the water. The water was VERY salty. We discovered this, not by trying to drink it, but simply by laying out in the sun after taking a dip in the sea. I glanced at my legs and saw little white circles of salt. Like I said, the water was super salty. In fact, it was so salty we could see it! I’d consider our beach day a success. We all got some sun, some of us too much. (cough, cough, Dad, cough, cough)
After lounging on the beach for a few hours, we returned back to the pier to catch a tender back to our ship. (The ship was too big to pull into the actual port, so we had to take smaller boats from the ship to the shore) The line was insane and the sun was steady beating down on us. Sounds pretty miserable, doesn’t it? Actually, the wait went by rather quickly, because we got to talking to a man and his son who were in line behind us. They were from England. If any of you know me well at all, you know I ADORE British accents. They were lovely to talk to, but even if they weren’t the best conversationalists, I still would’ve enjoyed listening to them and their splendid accents.
Our day in Kotor was just what we all needed. It was the first true laid back day on shore we’ve had thus far. Jaz Beach was the perfect spot to spend our last day in the Mediterranean. Yes, sadly, this was our last stop of the cruise. We will be on the ship for 2 days (well, only one after today), and then we will be back in Barcelona for a day. Where, of course, we will fly from to Newark then to the great state of Texas.
We’ve really had a great 2 weeks here on the Celebrity Solstice, but I know we are all somewhat anxious to get home and get back into the swing of things. Don’t think that because all of our stops are over that the blog is over, though! I couldn’t leave you all hanging like that! I will continue to blog, hopefully someone…anyone…will continue to read. HA HA! :)
After lounging on the beach for a few hours, we returned back to the pier to catch a tender back to our ship. (The ship was too big to pull into the actual port, so we had to take smaller boats from the ship to the shore) The line was insane and the sun was steady beating down on us. Sounds pretty miserable, doesn’t it? Actually, the wait went by rather quickly, because we got to talking to a man and his son who were in line behind us. They were from England. If any of you know me well at all, you know I ADORE British accents. They were lovely to talk to, but even if they weren’t the best conversationalists, I still would’ve enjoyed listening to them and their splendid accents.
Our day in Kotor was just what we all needed. It was the first true laid back day on shore we’ve had thus far. Jaz Beach was the perfect spot to spend our last day in the Mediterranean. Yes, sadly, this was our last stop of the cruise. We will be on the ship for 2 days (well, only one after today), and then we will be back in Barcelona for a day. Where, of course, we will fly from to Newark then to the great state of Texas.
We’ve really had a great 2 weeks here on the Celebrity Solstice, but I know we are all somewhat anxious to get home and get back into the swing of things. Don’t think that because all of our stops are over that the blog is over, though! I couldn’t leave you all hanging like that! I will continue to blog, hopefully someone…anyone…will continue to read. HA HA! :)
Venice Day 2 (Mom Blogs On)
Our excursion today included a tour on the famous island of Murano and a glass factory there, a visit to San Giorgio Church, and a gondola ride.
We started at the Murano glass factory where we watched a maestro make a flower vase. We then visited the very large showroom with an opportunity to purchase a piece or two. I am not sure if Darian has mentioned it or not, but there is a “Hot Glass Show” on board our ship! This is very cool, or hot, or…you know what I mean!
We go to practically every show and watch for at least a piece or two. These guys are very talented and excellent in explaining the process. So, in Murano, everything we saw, we really had already experienced on the boat with the Hot Glass Show. The only real difference was the Murano maestro worked alone, while the guys on board work kinda as a team. I had been looking forward to this excursion, and definitely enjoyed our time there.
Next we went by water taxi to visit the church. We were told the previous day that Venice has over 100 churches! They’re not even in the Bible belt!
They had sort of an art exhibit going on there called the Ascension. It involved smoke being manipulated by several fans to create a vortex that swirled upward, toward the top of the church. Very nice!
Our last stop was a gondola ride. I had been looking forward to this part, as it seems like an essential part of a visit to Venice. Well, let me tell you, it was not exactly what I bargained for! The dock where we boarded the gondola was what I would call the ocean side. Yes, waves just like the ocean! This is due to the very large amount of boat traffic – big water taxis, small personal boats, tug boats, even the cruise ships come in not too far out from here. Have you ever seen a gondola? It is quite long and narrow, and flat! To make matters worse, they pack in 6 people where only 2 were probably intended! I got the lucky seat right in the middle, facing the side, and sitting up higher than the very low sides of the gondola. I felt as though I might tip right over and out any minute! Well the ride got more stable, and thus more enjoyable as we entered the canals. We all relaxed and settled in to enjoy the ride. Everyone from our tour was on a gondola, so the line of gondolas was long, really just one long boat after another. You know how the gondola ride always looks romantic and peaceful on television? Not so! They lie! The water was jammed with gondola after gondola, after gondola. All of the gondoliers were shouting out to each other, not in an angry way, just regular conversation like “ Hey, did you catch that game last night?” And “how’s the wife and kids?” (at least this is what I imagined it to be since they were speaking Italian!) There was also quite an ugly stench from time to time! I don’t care to think about from whence it came!
I will say that I was impressed with the talent of the gondolier in navigating such unfriendly waters. We were told that not too many men (I think only men are gondoliers) are able to pass the test. It looks like it takes skill, patience, muscle, and of course a good sense of direction, as the canals are as crazy and confusing as the streets! Another little tidbit – only tourists travel by gondola, except for maybe a bride on her wedding day! I wonder if my sweet friend T.H. would enjoy a gondola ride on her big day?
We started at the Murano glass factory where we watched a maestro make a flower vase. We then visited the very large showroom with an opportunity to purchase a piece or two. I am not sure if Darian has mentioned it or not, but there is a “Hot Glass Show” on board our ship! This is very cool, or hot, or…you know what I mean!
We go to practically every show and watch for at least a piece or two. These guys are very talented and excellent in explaining the process. So, in Murano, everything we saw, we really had already experienced on the boat with the Hot Glass Show. The only real difference was the Murano maestro worked alone, while the guys on board work kinda as a team. I had been looking forward to this excursion, and definitely enjoyed our time there.
Next we went by water taxi to visit the church. We were told the previous day that Venice has over 100 churches! They’re not even in the Bible belt!
They had sort of an art exhibit going on there called the Ascension. It involved smoke being manipulated by several fans to create a vortex that swirled upward, toward the top of the church. Very nice!
Our last stop was a gondola ride. I had been looking forward to this part, as it seems like an essential part of a visit to Venice. Well, let me tell you, it was not exactly what I bargained for! The dock where we boarded the gondola was what I would call the ocean side. Yes, waves just like the ocean! This is due to the very large amount of boat traffic – big water taxis, small personal boats, tug boats, even the cruise ships come in not too far out from here. Have you ever seen a gondola? It is quite long and narrow, and flat! To make matters worse, they pack in 6 people where only 2 were probably intended! I got the lucky seat right in the middle, facing the side, and sitting up higher than the very low sides of the gondola. I felt as though I might tip right over and out any minute! Well the ride got more stable, and thus more enjoyable as we entered the canals. We all relaxed and settled in to enjoy the ride. Everyone from our tour was on a gondola, so the line of gondolas was long, really just one long boat after another. You know how the gondola ride always looks romantic and peaceful on television? Not so! They lie! The water was jammed with gondola after gondola, after gondola. All of the gondoliers were shouting out to each other, not in an angry way, just regular conversation like “ Hey, did you catch that game last night?” And “how’s the wife and kids?” (at least this is what I imagined it to be since they were speaking Italian!) There was also quite an ugly stench from time to time! I don’t care to think about from whence it came!
I will say that I was impressed with the talent of the gondolier in navigating such unfriendly waters. We were told that not too many men (I think only men are gondoliers) are able to pass the test. It looks like it takes skill, patience, muscle, and of course a good sense of direction, as the canals are as crazy and confusing as the streets! Another little tidbit – only tourists travel by gondola, except for maybe a bride on her wedding day! I wonder if my sweet friend T.H. would enjoy a gondola ride on her big day?
A City Afloat
ATTENTION: GUEST BLOGGER TODAY
I think we will save the big reveal for the end, but see if you can guess before then!
We pulled into the port of Venice today and Dad insisted we all go out on deck to see the city that floats – and rightly so- it is amazing! We tried several vantage points – all very crowded. I joked that the ship was leaning to one side from everyone rushing over to see Venice. My favorite observation point was the Sky Lounge where they were playing very dramatic opera music! We ended up watching the remainder of the spectacular entrance from our very own balcony! Lucky us to have a room on the right side of the boat!
We did the usual “cattle herding” into the Solstice Theater (more about that later) to await our turn to go ashore for our excursion – a walking tour of “The Secrets of Venice”. I don’t think they told us any secrets, but we did CHASE our tour guide around the crowded, winding, and narrow city streets for a couple of hours. It was amazing but a little fast paced and very, very crowded with tourists. I think we all agreed that we would very quickly be lost on our own in the winding streets that seem to have no organized plan. (Even Dad and Emily) We were glad when the tour ended and we were had a little free time to explore on our own. If you know us, you know we are all about the food, so we used “free time” to enjoy more pizza! Yum!
One of the funny (or shocking) things that happened on today’s tour was about one of our fellow excursion takers, who shall remain nameless – mostly because we don’t know her name! She made herself a target of our attention as soon as we boarded the water taxi at the beginning of our tour by talking loudly and laughing even louder! When her companion suggested that she be quiet because she may be ruining the ride for others, she spoke up even louder and said she “did not really give…” well, you can imagine the rest, and yes, it contained words I’ll not use here!
Mom was appalled!
There were other rude displays from that one throughout the tour, but the big one came toward the end, when we were navigating a very narrow residential area of the city. We all noticed the doorbells at the entrances of the apartments on either side, some of them being very decorative. This rude guest apparently rang a bell or two as we passed. We did not actually witness this as she was behind us, but it became obvious minutes later when a Venice resident rushed to the front of our tour group to complain to our guide. The guide just brushed her away, but everyone knew something was up! We were just ahead of the offender, so we heard her conversation about how she had just “gotten in trouble” and how she did not care – “I mean what are they going to do to me? Kick me off the boat?” and “she probably did a lot worse when she was 17!” It was obvious she was nervous about being caught! We were glued to the action! Later, when we stopped at the end, we overheard the guide whispering to her that she should not ring anymore doorbells as the police could arrest her! So exciting! She quickly slipped away from the group! We are now constantly on the look out for this little stinker for pure entertainment value!
We came back onboard about 9 pm, just in time for more eating! Because we were to be in Venice overnight, dinner was open seating, meaning we did not have assigned tables. We were happy to be lead to a table pretty much in the center of the Grand Epernay dining room (our usual table is off to one side, but with a large window). This table was not just for four, but meant for eight guests. Well, let me tell you, we were soooo excited! We never get seated with anyone else! After several minutes went by, and then several more, it became apparent that we were STILL not going to be seated with anyone else! Wah, wah, waaaaah! Bummer!
This brought on a lively conversation about why not. Why can’t we be allowed to sit with others? What in our behavior makes them keep us segregated? Here are just a few thoughts we came up with:
*We refer to the wine steward at “the wine guy”. This may not seem like such a bad thing at first glance, but you really have to see him to get it. Let me see if I can draw you a picture. He dresses very seriously in his burgundy silk short jacket and wears a tasting dish around his neck (on a chain) at all times. A LARGE tasting dish! From a chain! Think Flavor Flav! We also joked about calling him “Hey, Joe! Set me up!”, but would never actually say that! Wink, wink!
*We can sometimes, just some of us, be caught dipping, or even rolling, our breadsticks in the butter as opposed to using a butter knife properly.
*We are sometimes guilty of staring at fellow dinner guests, particularly if they are dressed strangely, or if their conversations seem more interesting than ours!
*Our fascination with the before-mentioned naughty guest (doorbell ringer). I must mention she made an appearance very near our table (not with us – whew!) dressed in what appeared to be a plaid blanket! Now we call her “Blanket”. Clever, don’t you think? We’ll be on the lookout for more Blanket sightings!
As it turns out, our big moment came the very next day at open seating lunch in the big dining room. We were led to a table with 3 guests and room for more than just the four of us! Dad struck up a conversation with them as a couple of lovely women sat down at the opposite end. Guess what? They were ALL from Texas! Coincidence? I think not! They keep all of us “ya’ll” saying, twang-talking, unruly people together! We quite enjoyed our lunch with our Texas neighbors!
If you haven’t guessed yet, Mom (Amy) is doing the blog today! I hope you enjoyed!
I think we will save the big reveal for the end, but see if you can guess before then!
We pulled into the port of Venice today and Dad insisted we all go out on deck to see the city that floats – and rightly so- it is amazing! We tried several vantage points – all very crowded. I joked that the ship was leaning to one side from everyone rushing over to see Venice. My favorite observation point was the Sky Lounge where they were playing very dramatic opera music! We ended up watching the remainder of the spectacular entrance from our very own balcony! Lucky us to have a room on the right side of the boat!
We did the usual “cattle herding” into the Solstice Theater (more about that later) to await our turn to go ashore for our excursion – a walking tour of “The Secrets of Venice”. I don’t think they told us any secrets, but we did CHASE our tour guide around the crowded, winding, and narrow city streets for a couple of hours. It was amazing but a little fast paced and very, very crowded with tourists. I think we all agreed that we would very quickly be lost on our own in the winding streets that seem to have no organized plan. (Even Dad and Emily) We were glad when the tour ended and we were had a little free time to explore on our own. If you know us, you know we are all about the food, so we used “free time” to enjoy more pizza! Yum!
One of the funny (or shocking) things that happened on today’s tour was about one of our fellow excursion takers, who shall remain nameless – mostly because we don’t know her name! She made herself a target of our attention as soon as we boarded the water taxi at the beginning of our tour by talking loudly and laughing even louder! When her companion suggested that she be quiet because she may be ruining the ride for others, she spoke up even louder and said she “did not really give…” well, you can imagine the rest, and yes, it contained words I’ll not use here!
Mom was appalled!
There were other rude displays from that one throughout the tour, but the big one came toward the end, when we were navigating a very narrow residential area of the city. We all noticed the doorbells at the entrances of the apartments on either side, some of them being very decorative. This rude guest apparently rang a bell or two as we passed. We did not actually witness this as she was behind us, but it became obvious minutes later when a Venice resident rushed to the front of our tour group to complain to our guide. The guide just brushed her away, but everyone knew something was up! We were just ahead of the offender, so we heard her conversation about how she had just “gotten in trouble” and how she did not care – “I mean what are they going to do to me? Kick me off the boat?” and “she probably did a lot worse when she was 17!” It was obvious she was nervous about being caught! We were glued to the action! Later, when we stopped at the end, we overheard the guide whispering to her that she should not ring anymore doorbells as the police could arrest her! So exciting! She quickly slipped away from the group! We are now constantly on the look out for this little stinker for pure entertainment value!
We came back onboard about 9 pm, just in time for more eating! Because we were to be in Venice overnight, dinner was open seating, meaning we did not have assigned tables. We were happy to be lead to a table pretty much in the center of the Grand Epernay dining room (our usual table is off to one side, but with a large window). This table was not just for four, but meant for eight guests. Well, let me tell you, we were soooo excited! We never get seated with anyone else! After several minutes went by, and then several more, it became apparent that we were STILL not going to be seated with anyone else! Wah, wah, waaaaah! Bummer!
This brought on a lively conversation about why not. Why can’t we be allowed to sit with others? What in our behavior makes them keep us segregated? Here are just a few thoughts we came up with:
*We refer to the wine steward at “the wine guy”. This may not seem like such a bad thing at first glance, but you really have to see him to get it. Let me see if I can draw you a picture. He dresses very seriously in his burgundy silk short jacket and wears a tasting dish around his neck (on a chain) at all times. A LARGE tasting dish! From a chain! Think Flavor Flav! We also joked about calling him “Hey, Joe! Set me up!”, but would never actually say that! Wink, wink!
*We can sometimes, just some of us, be caught dipping, or even rolling, our breadsticks in the butter as opposed to using a butter knife properly.
*We are sometimes guilty of staring at fellow dinner guests, particularly if they are dressed strangely, or if their conversations seem more interesting than ours!
*Our fascination with the before-mentioned naughty guest (doorbell ringer). I must mention she made an appearance very near our table (not with us – whew!) dressed in what appeared to be a plaid blanket! Now we call her “Blanket”. Clever, don’t you think? We’ll be on the lookout for more Blanket sightings!
As it turns out, our big moment came the very next day at open seating lunch in the big dining room. We were led to a table with 3 guests and room for more than just the four of us! Dad struck up a conversation with them as a couple of lovely women sat down at the opposite end. Guess what? They were ALL from Texas! Coincidence? I think not! They keep all of us “ya’ll” saying, twang-talking, unruly people together! We quite enjoyed our lunch with our Texas neighbors!
If you haven’t guessed yet, Mom (Amy) is doing the blog today! I hope you enjoyed!
Croatia!!
Croatia was today’s destination. What exactly does one do in Croatia, one might ask. Well, walk the city walls, of course! At least, that’s what we did. When we signed up for this excursion, I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect, to be honest. Turns out, we actually walked along the walls of the Old Town in Dubrovnik. Sure it was super hot and sunny on top of the walls, but WOW what great views! I have to say, I was a little apprehensive about the stop in Croatia, because I thought it may be boring or too hot to enjoy. However, I actually ended up really enjoying the excursion. We just don’t have anything like that around us, at least that I’ve seen. The walk was about 1.5 miles …I think!? Not too bad, except for the extreme heat. We thought we were back in Texas! Haha! At the end of the tour, we stopped in a pizzeria and shared 2 pizzas between the 4 of us. Delicious! After lunch, we returned to the ship for the day. (A lot sweatier and smellier than before, but it was all worth it) All in all, it was a great day in Dubrovnik, Croatia!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
I'm on a boat...all day...man
Today is an “At Sea Day”, so we are on the boat all day long. The boat has plenty of activities to keep us busy, but I speak for the whole family when I tell you the #1 thing we wanted to do today was SLEEP IN! (Okay, not Dad, but every family has an odd ball, right? …kidding, of course! Love ya Dad!) Anyways, Em, Mom, and I slept in good and late. We’ve had a packed last couple of days so we definitely deserved it. We also played BINGO later on in the day. None of us won, but we all came very close. Wahh wahh wahhhh! Tonight was formal night, so we dressed up all fancy and had a lovely dinner in the dining room. We ended the night by watching tonight’s show, Pulse. Very nice!
Anyways, I know these blogs must get boring for ya’ll, so we decided it might be fun since we’re “At Sea” all day and on the boat to tell the top 5 funniest stories or anecdotes from the ship, so far. Sound good? Here we go…
#5 Dinner awards. Every night, there are always several choices to choose from on the ship for dinner. Every night, these choices become a fierce competition between the members of my family. It has come to the point where we won’t even willingly say what we are going to order in fear that another might copy or steal your idea. (Keep in mind we all do it and we all know that more than one person can order a selection). Anyways, when the course comes out and everyone eats their chosen dish we all spontaneously say, “I win” or “Oh yaa I definitely won”. To other diners, this may seem odd. However, it is quite clear to all of us at the table what these comments mean. We are declaring that our dish is superior to all the others, that we are the best “choosers” for that course of that given meal. Super silly Patterson family quirk/game.
#4 The broken door. Yesterday, Emily and I headed for the public restroom near the dining room. As we were leaving Em pushed the door open for us. (There was no attendant present to do it for us…you’ll hear about that later) She must be working out, because she pushed so hard the door came of its little mechanical track that hooks it to the button that opens the door automatically. Yep, Emily broke the bathroom door and we didn’t stick around to be blamed. It was a hit and run.
#3 The Sailor Picture. Every day there is a photo opp as you get off the boat onto the shore. Usually they’re very silly, gladiators in Rome, a lady with a pizza in Naples, and a sailor in Pisa. Well, Dad got away from us when getting off the ship, so he was left to deal with the photo people on his own. Usually, we all stop and pose with whatever character they have together. However, on this particular day, this did not happen. Left alone and defenseless, Dad was forced to take a picture with the MALE sailor. This alone is funny. However, the story got funnier after we went to look for the picture. What we found was priceless! Another man (who looks super European or super “light in the loafers”) happened to be in the side of the picture close enough to Dad to make them look like they were possibly together. Hysterical. Sorry, Dad, I had to share this one.
#2 The bathroom attendants. Okay, so here on the Solstice they have attendants who are paid to stand in the public bathrooms and open the doors for you and point you to an open stall. SO WEIRD. Like um what is the point?! Also, do they get bathroom breaks? If they do, do they use the one they work in, or do they go to another one with another attendant to assist them?
#1 The hand sanitizer people. Oh goodness, where to start?! Well every time you leave the ship, return to the ship, enter a dining hall, leave a dining hall, walk into a new area of the ship, exit an area of the ship, sneeze, cough, laugh, breathe there is someone there with a hand sanitizer squirter waiting to squirt your hands. At first it was no big deal, but now its just humorous. Every time we see one we all start to giggle and back away. We’ve learned if you don’t look them in the eye they don’t mess with you. You can refuse, but you feel them judging you. Emily is the first to give in. She secretly loves the sanitizer. Mom and I are highly opposed. Mom insists it dries out your hands, so she never lets them squirt her. Don’t think they don’t try, though.
We’ve got a lot more stories to share, but after a long day of relaxing I’m ready for bed, so that’s all you’re getting for tonight! I hope you all are enjoying these blogs as much as I enjoy writing them! We’re still tryin to get Mom to write one…maybe I can finally get her behind the keyboard, tomorrow!? We love and miss all of our family and friends! Oh and our doggies…Mrs. Kristi if you read this, tell Paige to the girls we miss them! :)
Anyways, I know these blogs must get boring for ya’ll, so we decided it might be fun since we’re “At Sea” all day and on the boat to tell the top 5 funniest stories or anecdotes from the ship, so far. Sound good? Here we go…
#5 Dinner awards. Every night, there are always several choices to choose from on the ship for dinner. Every night, these choices become a fierce competition between the members of my family. It has come to the point where we won’t even willingly say what we are going to order in fear that another might copy or steal your idea. (Keep in mind we all do it and we all know that more than one person can order a selection). Anyways, when the course comes out and everyone eats their chosen dish we all spontaneously say, “I win” or “Oh yaa I definitely won”. To other diners, this may seem odd. However, it is quite clear to all of us at the table what these comments mean. We are declaring that our dish is superior to all the others, that we are the best “choosers” for that course of that given meal. Super silly Patterson family quirk/game.
#4 The broken door. Yesterday, Emily and I headed for the public restroom near the dining room. As we were leaving Em pushed the door open for us. (There was no attendant present to do it for us…you’ll hear about that later) She must be working out, because she pushed so hard the door came of its little mechanical track that hooks it to the button that opens the door automatically. Yep, Emily broke the bathroom door and we didn’t stick around to be blamed. It was a hit and run.
#3 The Sailor Picture. Every day there is a photo opp as you get off the boat onto the shore. Usually they’re very silly, gladiators in Rome, a lady with a pizza in Naples, and a sailor in Pisa. Well, Dad got away from us when getting off the ship, so he was left to deal with the photo people on his own. Usually, we all stop and pose with whatever character they have together. However, on this particular day, this did not happen. Left alone and defenseless, Dad was forced to take a picture with the MALE sailor. This alone is funny. However, the story got funnier after we went to look for the picture. What we found was priceless! Another man (who looks super European or super “light in the loafers”) happened to be in the side of the picture close enough to Dad to make them look like they were possibly together. Hysterical. Sorry, Dad, I had to share this one.
#2 The bathroom attendants. Okay, so here on the Solstice they have attendants who are paid to stand in the public bathrooms and open the doors for you and point you to an open stall. SO WEIRD. Like um what is the point?! Also, do they get bathroom breaks? If they do, do they use the one they work in, or do they go to another one with another attendant to assist them?
#1 The hand sanitizer people. Oh goodness, where to start?! Well every time you leave the ship, return to the ship, enter a dining hall, leave a dining hall, walk into a new area of the ship, exit an area of the ship, sneeze, cough, laugh, breathe there is someone there with a hand sanitizer squirter waiting to squirt your hands. At first it was no big deal, but now its just humorous. Every time we see one we all start to giggle and back away. We’ve learned if you don’t look them in the eye they don’t mess with you. You can refuse, but you feel them judging you. Emily is the first to give in. She secretly loves the sanitizer. Mom and I are highly opposed. Mom insists it dries out your hands, so she never lets them squirt her. Don’t think they don’t try, though.
We’ve got a lot more stories to share, but after a long day of relaxing I’m ready for bed, so that’s all you’re getting for tonight! I hope you all are enjoying these blogs as much as I enjoy writing them! We’re still tryin to get Mom to write one…maybe I can finally get her behind the keyboard, tomorrow!? We love and miss all of our family and friends! Oh and our doggies…Mrs. Kristi if you read this, tell Paige to the girls we miss them! :)
Naples, Italy
What a fun day we had yesterday in Naples, Italy! We took a tour by motor launch (a boat) along the Amalfi Coast then headed to Pompeii! We had a great time and learned a lot, so without further ado let me fill you all in on our stop in another beautiful town in Italy!
Emily, by far, enjoyed the boat trip along the Amalfi Coast the most. Man does that girl love boats! :) Of course, it was next to impossible to NOT enjoy the ride along the coast. The view from the boat is breath taking! We passed by several towns on our way to the actual town of Amalfi. The cool thing about these towns is that they all seem to be built on mountains and cliffs. We noticed that they seem to jut out from cliffs…so cool looking! The views from the boat were pretty much exactly what you’d expect to see in a typical Mediterranean town. It was like looking at a postcard! Super neat! The views from the boat were cool, but the best part of the boat ride had to be the trip through a cave. Yes, an actual little cave. At first, we thought the boat driver was just getting us very close to the entrance so everyone could snap pictures of the inside, so we were shocked when he pulled the boat right on in. Em and Dad were fascinated by his driving skills. I must admit, driving the larger boat in the narrow space of the cave was very impressive. We got lots of good pictures of all the stalactites! (Mom reminded us that they were stalactites not stalagmites with a handy little saying: StalagMITES MIGHT reach the ceiling and StalacTITES hold on TIGHT to the ceiling. Cute, huh?) Anyways, the cave was the bomb dot com! It was legit, it was awesome, it was something I’m glad we got to check it! The Amalfi coast was beautiful and so was the actual town of Amalfi, where Emily and I shared a massive donut and dad snacked on some lemon gelato. Beautiful beginning to our day! :)
After the Amalfi Coast, we headed to Pompeii where we had lunch provided by the tour at a local restaurant. Lunch was very traditional Italian and very yummy. Next, we headed to a cameo factory. For those of you who don’t know, cameos are pieces of jewelry with the profile of a woman carved into them. You find these a lot in antique shops. I’m sure my Gran has a few :) They’re beautiful. We all really enjoyed learning about how they are made and how they are priced. We found out that the larger pieces are actually less expensive, because they are easier to carve. However, the smaller pieces are more expensive since they are more intricate and highly detailed. Interesting, right? After learning all about cameos, we headed to the Pompeii. WOW is what I have to say about Pompeii. It is absolutely incredible to think that a city from so long ago was preserved so well. It’s even crazier to think that people built over this city without even knowing it existed. The tour guide told us that a famous person who once visited the city a long time ago was quoted as saying no other disaster has caused given us such a great treasure. Meaning, of course, that if it weren’t for the volcanic eruption, the town wouldn’t have been preserved and so intact as it is today. That makes you think, doesn’t it? Needless to say, I really enjoyed the visit to Pompeii!
All in all, I’d say we had a pretty good day yesterday. Today is a sea day, so I will post a blog filling you in on that in just a moment. I don’t like posting about more than one day in a blog, because I feel it gets unorganized and unnecessarily lengthy. Therefore, I will be posting 3 blogs today. I’ve just posted one on Thursday the 28th. This one covers Naples (Friday the 29th), and the next will cover today (Saturday the 30th). Once again, I will try to upload pictures, but unfortunately my blogging is a bit rusty and I can’t seem to remember how. Cross your fingers and hope it comes to me!
Emily, by far, enjoyed the boat trip along the Amalfi Coast the most. Man does that girl love boats! :) Of course, it was next to impossible to NOT enjoy the ride along the coast. The view from the boat is breath taking! We passed by several towns on our way to the actual town of Amalfi. The cool thing about these towns is that they all seem to be built on mountains and cliffs. We noticed that they seem to jut out from cliffs…so cool looking! The views from the boat were pretty much exactly what you’d expect to see in a typical Mediterranean town. It was like looking at a postcard! Super neat! The views from the boat were cool, but the best part of the boat ride had to be the trip through a cave. Yes, an actual little cave. At first, we thought the boat driver was just getting us very close to the entrance so everyone could snap pictures of the inside, so we were shocked when he pulled the boat right on in. Em and Dad were fascinated by his driving skills. I must admit, driving the larger boat in the narrow space of the cave was very impressive. We got lots of good pictures of all the stalactites! (Mom reminded us that they were stalactites not stalagmites with a handy little saying: StalagMITES MIGHT reach the ceiling and StalacTITES hold on TIGHT to the ceiling. Cute, huh?) Anyways, the cave was the bomb dot com! It was legit, it was awesome, it was something I’m glad we got to check it! The Amalfi coast was beautiful and so was the actual town of Amalfi, where Emily and I shared a massive donut and dad snacked on some lemon gelato. Beautiful beginning to our day! :)
After the Amalfi Coast, we headed to Pompeii where we had lunch provided by the tour at a local restaurant. Lunch was very traditional Italian and very yummy. Next, we headed to a cameo factory. For those of you who don’t know, cameos are pieces of jewelry with the profile of a woman carved into them. You find these a lot in antique shops. I’m sure my Gran has a few :) They’re beautiful. We all really enjoyed learning about how they are made and how they are priced. We found out that the larger pieces are actually less expensive, because they are easier to carve. However, the smaller pieces are more expensive since they are more intricate and highly detailed. Interesting, right? After learning all about cameos, we headed to the Pompeii. WOW is what I have to say about Pompeii. It is absolutely incredible to think that a city from so long ago was preserved so well. It’s even crazier to think that people built over this city without even knowing it existed. The tour guide told us that a famous person who once visited the city a long time ago was quoted as saying no other disaster has caused given us such a great treasure. Meaning, of course, that if it weren’t for the volcanic eruption, the town wouldn’t have been preserved and so intact as it is today. That makes you think, doesn’t it? Needless to say, I really enjoyed the visit to Pompeii!
All in all, I’d say we had a pretty good day yesterday. Today is a sea day, so I will post a blog filling you in on that in just a moment. I don’t like posting about more than one day in a blog, because I feel it gets unorganized and unnecessarily lengthy. Therefore, I will be posting 3 blogs today. I’ve just posted one on Thursday the 28th. This one covers Naples (Friday the 29th), and the next will cover today (Saturday the 30th). Once again, I will try to upload pictures, but unfortunately my blogging is a bit rusty and I can’t seem to remember how. Cross your fingers and hope it comes to me!
Rome, Italy
Today we were in Roma! We went on an excursion offered by the boat called “Rome, The Eternal City”. This guided tour took us all over Rome to all the “must see” sights. We visited the Roman Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museum, and St. Peter’s Basilica. Needless to say, our day was chalked full of Roman history!
It is important at this point for me to tell you about our 2 tour guides for the day, in order for you to fully understand what our day was like in Rome. First, we had Gabriella, who was a delightful younger lady. Next, we picked up our guide who would take us through the history of the places we visited throughout the day, Gloria. Gloria was a tad frustrating, very hard to keep up with, older Italian woman, but more about her later.
First, we visited the Colosseum. As we are not Catholic and didn’t personally identify with any of the Vatican attractions, this was probably our favorite stop of the day. Gloria did a great job of explaining the use and set up of the Colosseum. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, basically the Colosseum was the first stadium. In fact, its not set up much differently than the stadiums we see today, in regards to layout, only of course. Here, the Romans would pit gladiator against gladiator, gladiator against exotic animals, or exotic animal against exotic animal. The Romans would ship animals in from all over the world, such as lions, tigers, and elephants to make the show even more spectacular. The fights were always to the death. However, the emperor was ultimately the one that determined when one lived and when one died. In the Colosseum, if a gladiator’s opponent, he would look to the emperor to know if he was to finish the man off or not. A thumbs up from the emperor meant “go ahead and kill”, a thumbs down meant “spare his life”. Interesting, right?! We had fun walking around and hearing all about the Colosseum, but by far the best part of the day was when dad informed us all that he would have “really gotten into that” (meaning the Colosseum events) and that he would have been a season ticket holder! We are all still laughing about that one, because if you know him you know its true…he loves his season tickets!
After the Colosseum, we headed to a nice hotel for a lunch provided with the tour. Lunch was very typical Italian. We started with bread. Then the first course came out: pasta! It was delicious! I don’t think there was a noodle left on any of our plates among the four of us. Next, they brought out the main course: veal served with carrots and potatoes. Just as delicious as the first course! Finally, they brought out cake and coffee. The only unfortunate thing about our lunch was that we were not given the typical Italian “siesta” after. Yes, in Italy stores and all businesses close from around 1:30-3:30 for lunch (at home) and a siesta or nap. Wouldn’t you like to have that in your daily life?! We were more than pleased with our lunch today, but very full and sleepy afterwards. We couldn’t sleep, though, because we had a big afternoon ahead of us: Vatican City!
Vatican City consisted, for the most part, of us chasing (yes CHASING) our tour guide, Gloria, around the sights. She ran at a super human pace through all the famous paintings, monuments, and buildings. We spent what felt like forever in the Vatican museum following Gloria around. Most tour guides choose one or two things per room to discuss, but not Gloria! She chose to talk about EVERYTHING in EVERY room! Unfortunately half the time we couldn’t even see what she was talking about, and by the time we got there she was talking about something totally different. The tour was hard to follow, but the museum was rather interesting. We got irritated by Gloria’s chatter in our ears, so we simply took out our headphones! Ha ha, Gloria! Next, we visited the famous Sistine Chapel, which was famously painted by Michael Angelo. The most frustrating part about the Sistine Chapel was watching our fellow tourists snap pictures in the Chapel, where the deliberately asked us NOT to take photos. The policia would clap and holler “NO PHOTOS”, but still people would click away. One man actually got kicked out for taking pictures, believe it or not! Aside from the annoying crowds of tourists, the Sistine Chapel was actually very beautiful. Like all things we’ve encountered on this trip, its amazing to actually see everything in person.
St. Peter’s Basilica was our last stop for the day. The church was absolutely breathtaking. Every “painting” in the church is actually not paintings, but mosaics; places tiny tiles made them all together! However, you would never know this, because the works look like they were hand painted on the walls and ceilings. Dad enjoyed St. Peter’s Basilica the most, I believe. He was very taken with the art all around the church.
Tonight, we had a dinner reservation at one of the ship’s specialty restaurants, Murano. This was, by far, the best dinner we’ve had yet. The French cuisine restaurant was very elegant and had excellent food and service. I tried scallops and sea bass for the first time, scallops in a puff pastry for my appetizer and sea bass for my main entrée. Oh and don’t forget dessert! I had a crepe filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a balsamic strawberry sauce. So yummy!!
I thought I’d end this blog with a funny story from the trip that I haven’t shared with you guys yet…Emily and I have been mistaken for twins about 5 times in the last 2 weeks (even before we left for our trip). The first was at Potbelly (one of our favorite sandwich shops) by the sandwich maker who said to Em, “Ya’ll are twins, right?!”. Next, by the lady working at the Subway in the airport assumed we were twins and said to Em, “You’re nice to foot the bill for your twin!” (Dad gave her the money to pay for our lunch). Then, the lady in the President’s club in the Houston Airport asked my dad, “And these are your twin daughters?” It happened again when we checked into the cruise on Monday, as well as tonight at dinner by a photographer. We’re not sure if I look young for my age or if Em looks old for her age. We’ve never been mistaken for twins…well except for the first time Emily met Eric (before we were dating). It was at a tailgate, I had just walked away and I believe Kyrie introduced my family to Eric. He said hey to Emily thinking it was me. Too funny, right? …He better not get us mixed up anymore, though! :) haha
That’s all I have for ya’ll tonight! I’m gonna try to post pictures, but I can’t guarantee the internet will cooperate! Cross your fingers, boys and girls! :) Naples, Italy tomorrow!
It is important at this point for me to tell you about our 2 tour guides for the day, in order for you to fully understand what our day was like in Rome. First, we had Gabriella, who was a delightful younger lady. Next, we picked up our guide who would take us through the history of the places we visited throughout the day, Gloria. Gloria was a tad frustrating, very hard to keep up with, older Italian woman, but more about her later.
First, we visited the Colosseum. As we are not Catholic and didn’t personally identify with any of the Vatican attractions, this was probably our favorite stop of the day. Gloria did a great job of explaining the use and set up of the Colosseum. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, basically the Colosseum was the first stadium. In fact, its not set up much differently than the stadiums we see today, in regards to layout, only of course. Here, the Romans would pit gladiator against gladiator, gladiator against exotic animals, or exotic animal against exotic animal. The Romans would ship animals in from all over the world, such as lions, tigers, and elephants to make the show even more spectacular. The fights were always to the death. However, the emperor was ultimately the one that determined when one lived and when one died. In the Colosseum, if a gladiator’s opponent, he would look to the emperor to know if he was to finish the man off or not. A thumbs up from the emperor meant “go ahead and kill”, a thumbs down meant “spare his life”. Interesting, right?! We had fun walking around and hearing all about the Colosseum, but by far the best part of the day was when dad informed us all that he would have “really gotten into that” (meaning the Colosseum events) and that he would have been a season ticket holder! We are all still laughing about that one, because if you know him you know its true…he loves his season tickets!
After the Colosseum, we headed to a nice hotel for a lunch provided with the tour. Lunch was very typical Italian. We started with bread. Then the first course came out: pasta! It was delicious! I don’t think there was a noodle left on any of our plates among the four of us. Next, they brought out the main course: veal served with carrots and potatoes. Just as delicious as the first course! Finally, they brought out cake and coffee. The only unfortunate thing about our lunch was that we were not given the typical Italian “siesta” after. Yes, in Italy stores and all businesses close from around 1:30-3:30 for lunch (at home) and a siesta or nap. Wouldn’t you like to have that in your daily life?! We were more than pleased with our lunch today, but very full and sleepy afterwards. We couldn’t sleep, though, because we had a big afternoon ahead of us: Vatican City!
Vatican City consisted, for the most part, of us chasing (yes CHASING) our tour guide, Gloria, around the sights. She ran at a super human pace through all the famous paintings, monuments, and buildings. We spent what felt like forever in the Vatican museum following Gloria around. Most tour guides choose one or two things per room to discuss, but not Gloria! She chose to talk about EVERYTHING in EVERY room! Unfortunately half the time we couldn’t even see what she was talking about, and by the time we got there she was talking about something totally different. The tour was hard to follow, but the museum was rather interesting. We got irritated by Gloria’s chatter in our ears, so we simply took out our headphones! Ha ha, Gloria! Next, we visited the famous Sistine Chapel, which was famously painted by Michael Angelo. The most frustrating part about the Sistine Chapel was watching our fellow tourists snap pictures in the Chapel, where the deliberately asked us NOT to take photos. The policia would clap and holler “NO PHOTOS”, but still people would click away. One man actually got kicked out for taking pictures, believe it or not! Aside from the annoying crowds of tourists, the Sistine Chapel was actually very beautiful. Like all things we’ve encountered on this trip, its amazing to actually see everything in person.
St. Peter’s Basilica was our last stop for the day. The church was absolutely breathtaking. Every “painting” in the church is actually not paintings, but mosaics; places tiny tiles made them all together! However, you would never know this, because the works look like they were hand painted on the walls and ceilings. Dad enjoyed St. Peter’s Basilica the most, I believe. He was very taken with the art all around the church.
Tonight, we had a dinner reservation at one of the ship’s specialty restaurants, Murano. This was, by far, the best dinner we’ve had yet. The French cuisine restaurant was very elegant and had excellent food and service. I tried scallops and sea bass for the first time, scallops in a puff pastry for my appetizer and sea bass for my main entrée. Oh and don’t forget dessert! I had a crepe filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a balsamic strawberry sauce. So yummy!!
I thought I’d end this blog with a funny story from the trip that I haven’t shared with you guys yet…Emily and I have been mistaken for twins about 5 times in the last 2 weeks (even before we left for our trip). The first was at Potbelly (one of our favorite sandwich shops) by the sandwich maker who said to Em, “Ya’ll are twins, right?!”. Next, by the lady working at the Subway in the airport assumed we were twins and said to Em, “You’re nice to foot the bill for your twin!” (Dad gave her the money to pay for our lunch). Then, the lady in the President’s club in the Houston Airport asked my dad, “And these are your twin daughters?” It happened again when we checked into the cruise on Monday, as well as tonight at dinner by a photographer. We’re not sure if I look young for my age or if Em looks old for her age. We’ve never been mistaken for twins…well except for the first time Emily met Eric (before we were dating). It was at a tailgate, I had just walked away and I believe Kyrie introduced my family to Eric. He said hey to Emily thinking it was me. Too funny, right? …He better not get us mixed up anymore, though! :) haha
That’s all I have for ya’ll tonight! I’m gonna try to post pictures, but I can’t guarantee the internet will cooperate! Cross your fingers, boys and girls! :) Naples, Italy tomorrow!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Nice, Cannes, Pisa, and Tuscany!
Hellooo! I’m back! We’ve (finally) figured out the Internet situation! Wahoo!! I will be typing up my blogs in Microsoft Word then posting them online to save time.
We’ve been very busy these past few days and are having an absolute blast, you guys! Barcelona, Nice, Cannes, Pisa, and Tuscany these are all the places we have been in the past 3 days! Who in the world can say that?!
I’ve already given you guys a brief recap of Barcelona, so let’s go right into our day yesterday…Nice and Cannes, France! I felt very in my element in Nice and Cannes, because I could understand the people! That’s right, I might be a little rusty, but I still can whip out my French when I need to!
For this day, we chose to do a shore excursion that the boat offered called “Nice and Cannes on your own”. Basically, a tour bus took us to a Nice, left us for 2 hours to explore on our own, then took us to Cannes, and sent us out on our own for 3 hours. In Nice, we walked through a flower market that goes on every morning until about 12pm in the square every day. WOW! The market was beautiful, so fragrant and fresh! Not near as big as the market we visited in Barcelona before boarding the ship, but still very captivating. We all remarked we’d never seen flowers, fruits, or vegetables smell so good or look so vibrant. After strolling through the market, we walked to a local Patisserie (pastry shop) where we bought sandwiches and Cokes for lunch. Yep, that’s right…I got to use my French speaking skills to order lunch for everyone. I started out a like rough, but I got better and we got exactly what we wanted! Pretty sure I surprised and impressed the fam, which was an added bonus. (Mmk, let’s be honest, I surprised myself by being able to successfully recall my French speaking skills after a year of not using the language!) We ate our sandwiches on a ledge that sat above the beach. Beautiful lunch local! We were surprised to see that the beaches in Nice had rocks in the place of sand. Ouch! Didn’t look too comfortable. No sand castles there, I suppose! After lunch we strolled around the town square and took in the sights, sounds, people, and various shops. Nice was beautiful and such a fun place to spend the morning.
Next, we headed to Cannes. Some of you may know this famous city from the famous film festival that takes place there every year. The tour guide described Cannes as the L.A. of France. The similarities were endless: the crowded streets, fancy cars all around, streets full of high-end stores (you know, like Gucci, Prada, Dior), and their equivalent to the stars on Hollywood Blvd: hand prints of famous stars all around the main strip in town. We took pictures on the red-carpeted stairs leading up to the theater where the film festival is held every year. Em and I struck a pose, of course. (Are any of you surprised?!) We also walked around and looked at all of the stars’ handprints. We found Sylvester Stallone’s, Sharon Stone’s, Angelina Jolie’s, and Meg Ryan’s to name a few. While in Cannes, we also walked around and looked at all the massive yachts parked in the famous port. We ended our time in Cannes by sitting at an outside café enjoying Cokes and a crepe for me! :) Parfait!
We were all so pooped by the time we got back from Nice and Cannes that we ate dinner and spent the rest of the night in our beds preparing for the next day! What a day! Nice and Cannes were beautiful!
Now, let’s get to today’s excursions: Pisa and Tuscany! Everyone agreed that today was the best stop, thus far! We booked 2 half-day excursions today. The first took us to the town of Pisa, where, of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa stands (crookedly) in Miracle Square. Everyone has seen a photo or drawing of this famous landmark, I’m sure, but let me assure you, you cannot fully appreciate it until you stand in front of it! As we rounded the corner and looked up to finally catch our first glimpse of the tower all of us were scrambling to get out cameras or tell another our reaction to seeing it for the first time. It is so crazy! Its literally leaning! The lean is so insane! I believe the lean is now 14 degrees and experts thought it was finally going to fall a few years back and shut down tours going up inside of it. However, it didn’t fall and they once again allowed tourists to go up in the tower. Guess what….WE CLIMBED IT!! Yep, all 294 steps to the top!! The spiral staircase was crazy; you could feel the lean as you walked up. It got easier when you got to the leaning side and harder to climb when you were on the side not at a tilt. The climb was long and quite challenging. The steps were made out of marble, which is already a very slick surface, but add in all the wearing that has taken place over the years and you get very indented and slick stairs to climb up and down. In places the stairs got VERY narrow. I wasn’t sure I was gonna make it through the skinny-minny opening! In the end, we all made it to the tippy tippy top and got some really neat pictures! Oh and of course we got a pictures pushing the tower over and holding it up, as did every other tourist in the square! Our trip to Pisa was a complete success!! Before I go on to tell you all about our trip to Tuscany, let me tell you guys a joke our tour guide in Pisa told us. She said the tower is not the only thing that leans in Pisa, the cathedral leans, the baptismal leans, ALL the buildings lean, and so you can see why the most popular name in Pisa is Ilene! (Cheesy, yes. Funny, definitely!)
Let’s talk about Tuscany now. Our excursion in Tuscany was a wine tasting tour. As you guys may or may not know, Tuscany is famous for their wines and olives, and olive oil. The tour took us to a vineyard in a town in Tuscany called Monte Carlo (not the one in France), where we were able to taste 3 of the 4 wines produced there. I must tell you that we had no time between the 2 tours, so we had no time to grab lunch. Needless to say we were STARVING! Another dirty little secret about the Patterson family is that we all get very mean when we are hungry. Luckily, though, we all kept it together until we got to the wine tasting and were offered a buffet of meats, cheeses, biscotti, breads, and olives. All very fresh and all very tasty! Unfortunately, our tour was a bit rushed and parts were cut out due to rainy weather. Still, we had a really great time in the Tuscanny countryside.
Tonight we had dinner in the main dining room. The food has been very good so far and the servers are friendly. After dinner, we watched Claire Maiden (from the UK), who works as a vocal coach on the X factor and Britain’s Got Talent, perform. She is a beautiful singer and brilliant pianist. Since we still had a little energy left after the show, we headed to deck 15 to the “Lawn Club”, where they have real grass growing, to watch the Blown Glass Show that is set up on the boat. We went last night to watch the guys blow glass and were in awe, and were dying to go back. Their work with the glass is completely amazing! All in all, its been a great day and an awesome first few days on our trip!
We have an early morning tomorrow, we have to be ready at 7:25am, so I better get some sleep. We are in Rome, Italy tomorrow, so we’ll be visiting the Vatican museum, Coliseum, and St. Peter’s Basilica. Look for a blog about our day sometime tomorrow night! :)
We’ve been very busy these past few days and are having an absolute blast, you guys! Barcelona, Nice, Cannes, Pisa, and Tuscany these are all the places we have been in the past 3 days! Who in the world can say that?!
I’ve already given you guys a brief recap of Barcelona, so let’s go right into our day yesterday…Nice and Cannes, France! I felt very in my element in Nice and Cannes, because I could understand the people! That’s right, I might be a little rusty, but I still can whip out my French when I need to!
For this day, we chose to do a shore excursion that the boat offered called “Nice and Cannes on your own”. Basically, a tour bus took us to a Nice, left us for 2 hours to explore on our own, then took us to Cannes, and sent us out on our own for 3 hours. In Nice, we walked through a flower market that goes on every morning until about 12pm in the square every day. WOW! The market was beautiful, so fragrant and fresh! Not near as big as the market we visited in Barcelona before boarding the ship, but still very captivating. We all remarked we’d never seen flowers, fruits, or vegetables smell so good or look so vibrant. After strolling through the market, we walked to a local Patisserie (pastry shop) where we bought sandwiches and Cokes for lunch. Yep, that’s right…I got to use my French speaking skills to order lunch for everyone. I started out a like rough, but I got better and we got exactly what we wanted! Pretty sure I surprised and impressed the fam, which was an added bonus. (Mmk, let’s be honest, I surprised myself by being able to successfully recall my French speaking skills after a year of not using the language!) We ate our sandwiches on a ledge that sat above the beach. Beautiful lunch local! We were surprised to see that the beaches in Nice had rocks in the place of sand. Ouch! Didn’t look too comfortable. No sand castles there, I suppose! After lunch we strolled around the town square and took in the sights, sounds, people, and various shops. Nice was beautiful and such a fun place to spend the morning.
Next, we headed to Cannes. Some of you may know this famous city from the famous film festival that takes place there every year. The tour guide described Cannes as the L.A. of France. The similarities were endless: the crowded streets, fancy cars all around, streets full of high-end stores (you know, like Gucci, Prada, Dior), and their equivalent to the stars on Hollywood Blvd: hand prints of famous stars all around the main strip in town. We took pictures on the red-carpeted stairs leading up to the theater where the film festival is held every year. Em and I struck a pose, of course. (Are any of you surprised?!) We also walked around and looked at all of the stars’ handprints. We found Sylvester Stallone’s, Sharon Stone’s, Angelina Jolie’s, and Meg Ryan’s to name a few. While in Cannes, we also walked around and looked at all the massive yachts parked in the famous port. We ended our time in Cannes by sitting at an outside café enjoying Cokes and a crepe for me! :) Parfait!
We were all so pooped by the time we got back from Nice and Cannes that we ate dinner and spent the rest of the night in our beds preparing for the next day! What a day! Nice and Cannes were beautiful!
Now, let’s get to today’s excursions: Pisa and Tuscany! Everyone agreed that today was the best stop, thus far! We booked 2 half-day excursions today. The first took us to the town of Pisa, where, of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa stands (crookedly) in Miracle Square. Everyone has seen a photo or drawing of this famous landmark, I’m sure, but let me assure you, you cannot fully appreciate it until you stand in front of it! As we rounded the corner and looked up to finally catch our first glimpse of the tower all of us were scrambling to get out cameras or tell another our reaction to seeing it for the first time. It is so crazy! Its literally leaning! The lean is so insane! I believe the lean is now 14 degrees and experts thought it was finally going to fall a few years back and shut down tours going up inside of it. However, it didn’t fall and they once again allowed tourists to go up in the tower. Guess what….WE CLIMBED IT!! Yep, all 294 steps to the top!! The spiral staircase was crazy; you could feel the lean as you walked up. It got easier when you got to the leaning side and harder to climb when you were on the side not at a tilt. The climb was long and quite challenging. The steps were made out of marble, which is already a very slick surface, but add in all the wearing that has taken place over the years and you get very indented and slick stairs to climb up and down. In places the stairs got VERY narrow. I wasn’t sure I was gonna make it through the skinny-minny opening! In the end, we all made it to the tippy tippy top and got some really neat pictures! Oh and of course we got a pictures pushing the tower over and holding it up, as did every other tourist in the square! Our trip to Pisa was a complete success!! Before I go on to tell you all about our trip to Tuscany, let me tell you guys a joke our tour guide in Pisa told us. She said the tower is not the only thing that leans in Pisa, the cathedral leans, the baptismal leans, ALL the buildings lean, and so you can see why the most popular name in Pisa is Ilene! (Cheesy, yes. Funny, definitely!)
Let’s talk about Tuscany now. Our excursion in Tuscany was a wine tasting tour. As you guys may or may not know, Tuscany is famous for their wines and olives, and olive oil. The tour took us to a vineyard in a town in Tuscany called Monte Carlo (not the one in France), where we were able to taste 3 of the 4 wines produced there. I must tell you that we had no time between the 2 tours, so we had no time to grab lunch. Needless to say we were STARVING! Another dirty little secret about the Patterson family is that we all get very mean when we are hungry. Luckily, though, we all kept it together until we got to the wine tasting and were offered a buffet of meats, cheeses, biscotti, breads, and olives. All very fresh and all very tasty! Unfortunately, our tour was a bit rushed and parts were cut out due to rainy weather. Still, we had a really great time in the Tuscanny countryside.
Tonight we had dinner in the main dining room. The food has been very good so far and the servers are friendly. After dinner, we watched Claire Maiden (from the UK), who works as a vocal coach on the X factor and Britain’s Got Talent, perform. She is a beautiful singer and brilliant pianist. Since we still had a little energy left after the show, we headed to deck 15 to the “Lawn Club”, where they have real grass growing, to watch the Blown Glass Show that is set up on the boat. We went last night to watch the guys blow glass and were in awe, and were dying to go back. Their work with the glass is completely amazing! All in all, its been a great day and an awesome first few days on our trip!
We have an early morning tomorrow, we have to be ready at 7:25am, so I better get some sleep. We are in Rome, Italy tomorrow, so we’ll be visiting the Vatican museum, Coliseum, and St. Peter’s Basilica. Look for a blog about our day sometime tomorrow night! :)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Days 1 and 2...the "Reader's Digest Version"
Well the internet is tricky here on the Celebrity Solstice. Tricky and costly. Soo blogging might be a tad bit more challenging than I thought. That being said, don't be too bummed if the blogging is less than stellar for the next few days. Cut me some slack, I'm racing the clock to get this written! :)
Here are summaries of our first 2 days out of the country:
Day 1- Sunday (Barcelona, Spain)
Ah the day of the jetlag. Yesterday we managed to take a double decker bus tour around Barcelona. We saw lots of sights. What a beautiful town!! We had lunch at a cool place next to the hotel. Between the four of us we shared lots of different tapas. Great meal! After lunch we all hit a wall and went back to the hotel and passed out. Em and I woke up at like 9:30 pm starving. Mom and Dad were still sound asleep, so we ordered room service. Our first dinner in Barcelona was a hamburger and fries in our hotel room. YUM! haha
Day 2- Monday (Barcelona, Spain...Depart for Nice, France)
Today we walked through a really neat market in town before checking out of the hotel and heading for the cruise terminal. We enjoyed seeing all the vibrant colored fruits, smelling the fragrant spices, and hearing the sounds of the market all around us. Finally, we got on the ship! WOW its huge!! Massive!! We explored the ship a lot today, but I'm pretty sure we haven't even seen all it has to offer!! We planned excursions/trips for most of the ports...very exciting! We're going to have a very eventful next several days! :) Dinner was great and so was the show! (The shows at night are my favorite parts of cruises!)
There is SO much to tell, but sadly I don't have enough time :( I promise you guys I will figure this nonsense with the internet out and get back to my lengthy, over-detailed blogs ASAP! :)
Here are summaries of our first 2 days out of the country:
Day 1- Sunday (Barcelona, Spain)
Ah the day of the jetlag. Yesterday we managed to take a double decker bus tour around Barcelona. We saw lots of sights. What a beautiful town!! We had lunch at a cool place next to the hotel. Between the four of us we shared lots of different tapas. Great meal! After lunch we all hit a wall and went back to the hotel and passed out. Em and I woke up at like 9:30 pm starving. Mom and Dad were still sound asleep, so we ordered room service. Our first dinner in Barcelona was a hamburger and fries in our hotel room. YUM! haha
Day 2- Monday (Barcelona, Spain...Depart for Nice, France)
Today we walked through a really neat market in town before checking out of the hotel and heading for the cruise terminal. We enjoyed seeing all the vibrant colored fruits, smelling the fragrant spices, and hearing the sounds of the market all around us. Finally, we got on the ship! WOW its huge!! Massive!! We explored the ship a lot today, but I'm pretty sure we haven't even seen all it has to offer!! We planned excursions/trips for most of the ports...very exciting! We're going to have a very eventful next several days! :) Dinner was great and so was the show! (The shows at night are my favorite parts of cruises!)
There is SO much to tell, but sadly I don't have enough time :( I promise you guys I will figure this nonsense with the internet out and get back to my lengthy, over-detailed blogs ASAP! :)
Friday, July 22, 2011
Packing day for the Pattersons
Tomorrow we leave for Barcelona, Spain!! After a very long week of prepping and packing I can say with some confidence that the Pattersons are ready to jet set off to the Mediterranean for our 2 week cruise. Knowing us, though, I can say with 100% confidence that between the 4 of us we have forgotten something when in our preparations...what that is none of us know yet. Stay tuned! hehe
On the eve of trip I suppose it is a good idea to let you all in on a dirty little family secret of our's: the Patterson traveling curse. This curse has been going on since my parents' honeymoon when my dad's luggage was run over by the plane. My parents stood at the baggage claim, happy go lucky newlyweds, laughing about a passenger's luggage that kept going around in a black trash bag, little did they know the sack contained my dad's possessions. (I must note that this story might not be entirely accurate, because I was not actually there or even born yet, but I have a memory like a steel trap and have heard the story many a time, so I believe I'm close to correct on all that) Later down the road dad got the last laugh on a trip to Hawaii where the airline lost my mother's bag which coincidentally contained both Emily and my possessions. (Keep in mind this was back in the days where all 3 Patterson women could fit their things in one bag. Those days have long since past!) Emily and I are sitting in my room brainstorming the many misadventures we have had as a family and it would take all night to fill you all in, so just trust me when I tell you that traveling with the Pattersons is not always easy. We are hoping that age and time will have ridden the family of the curse, though. Honestly, though, its the misadventures and WGC's (wild goose chases) that make for great stories....after the fact. All that being said, I'm sure this trip will give us LOTS of funny Patterson traveling stories and memories and I will be blogging all along the way so you guys can share in the fun!
For those who have been asking where exactly the Celebrity Solstice (the name of our ship) is taking us these 2 weeks, here is our complete schedule:
Mon Jul 25 Barcelona, Spain
Tue Jul 26 Nice (Villefranche), France
Wed Jul 27 La Spezia, Italy
Thu Jul 28 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
Fri Jul 29 Naples / Capri (Sorrento), Italy
Sat Jul 30 At Sea
Sun Jul 31 Dubrovnik, Croatia
Mon Aug 1 Venice, Italy Arrive
Tue Aug 2 Venice, Italy Depart
Wed Aug 3 Kotor, Montenegro
Thu Aug 4 At Sea
Fri Aug 5 At Sea
Sat Aug 6 Barcelona, Spain Arrive
If anyone has been to any of these cities or knows a lot about them and has any as a result has suggestions as to what we should do/see while there, please comment and let me know! :) We're open to any and all thoughts and ideas! We want to do and see EVERYTHING...who can blame us?!
As I've said, I will be keeping up with this blog the whole time we're abroad (July 23-Aug 7). Unfortunately during this time this blog, twitter, and facebook will be my only forms of communication with America. (sad) So as Andy Cohen (If you're unsure of who I'm referring to you need more BravoTV in your life ;) ) says tweet me, post on muh facebook wall...and comment on my blog. Do not, as Kim Possible says (Disney reference for the younger generation) call me, beep me if ya wanna reach me, because I will not respond/answer! :)
One last important announcement before I end this blog...over the next 2 weeks I will be having GUEST BLOGGERS! Yes, not all these wonderfully entertaining (Ha-ha) blogs will be written by me, as been the norm over the year. Instead, other family members have shown an interest in rambling on about our lives and travels in a blog, but they're too shy to get their own blog (Shhh...don't say I said that!) Mom has said that she wants to blog on days when there are lots of funny things to talk about, so we'll see when she'll make her debut as a blogger. I'm sure she'll be a natural blogger! We may even be able to convince Dad and Em to take a crack at blogging by the end of the week! We shall see! :)
Next time I blog we'll be in Barcelona, Spain! Eeeek! SO EXCITED!! Nighty Night America, last time I'll say that for a while!
On the eve of trip I suppose it is a good idea to let you all in on a dirty little family secret of our's: the Patterson traveling curse. This curse has been going on since my parents' honeymoon when my dad's luggage was run over by the plane. My parents stood at the baggage claim, happy go lucky newlyweds, laughing about a passenger's luggage that kept going around in a black trash bag, little did they know the sack contained my dad's possessions. (I must note that this story might not be entirely accurate, because I was not actually there or even born yet, but I have a memory like a steel trap and have heard the story many a time, so I believe I'm close to correct on all that) Later down the road dad got the last laugh on a trip to Hawaii where the airline lost my mother's bag which coincidentally contained both Emily and my possessions. (Keep in mind this was back in the days where all 3 Patterson women could fit their things in one bag. Those days have long since past!) Emily and I are sitting in my room brainstorming the many misadventures we have had as a family and it would take all night to fill you all in, so just trust me when I tell you that traveling with the Pattersons is not always easy. We are hoping that age and time will have ridden the family of the curse, though. Honestly, though, its the misadventures and WGC's (wild goose chases) that make for great stories....after the fact. All that being said, I'm sure this trip will give us LOTS of funny Patterson traveling stories and memories and I will be blogging all along the way so you guys can share in the fun!
For those who have been asking where exactly the Celebrity Solstice (the name of our ship) is taking us these 2 weeks, here is our complete schedule:
Mon Jul 25 Barcelona, Spain
Tue Jul 26 Nice (Villefranche), France
Wed Jul 27 La Spezia, Italy
Thu Jul 28 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
Fri Jul 29 Naples / Capri (Sorrento), Italy
Sat Jul 30 At Sea
Sun Jul 31 Dubrovnik, Croatia
Mon Aug 1 Venice, Italy Arrive
Tue Aug 2 Venice, Italy Depart
Wed Aug 3 Kotor, Montenegro
Thu Aug 4 At Sea
Fri Aug 5 At Sea
Sat Aug 6 Barcelona, Spain Arrive
If anyone has been to any of these cities or knows a lot about them and has any as a result has suggestions as to what we should do/see while there, please comment and let me know! :) We're open to any and all thoughts and ideas! We want to do and see EVERYTHING...who can blame us?!
As I've said, I will be keeping up with this blog the whole time we're abroad (July 23-Aug 7). Unfortunately during this time this blog, twitter, and facebook will be my only forms of communication with America. (sad) So as Andy Cohen (If you're unsure of who I'm referring to you need more BravoTV in your life ;) ) says tweet me, post on muh facebook wall...and comment on my blog. Do not, as Kim Possible says (Disney reference for the younger generation) call me, beep me if ya wanna reach me, because I will not respond/answer! :)
One last important announcement before I end this blog...over the next 2 weeks I will be having GUEST BLOGGERS! Yes, not all these wonderfully entertaining (Ha-ha) blogs will be written by me, as been the norm over the year. Instead, other family members have shown an interest in rambling on about our lives and travels in a blog, but they're too shy to get their own blog (Shhh...don't say I said that!) Mom has said that she wants to blog on days when there are lots of funny things to talk about, so we'll see when she'll make her debut as a blogger. I'm sure she'll be a natural blogger! We may even be able to convince Dad and Em to take a crack at blogging by the end of the week! We shall see! :)
Next time I blog we'll be in Barcelona, Spain! Eeeek! SO EXCITED!! Nighty Night America, last time I'll say that for a while!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Fun with the Fams
This blog is appropriately titled since Eric and I have spent the last 2 out of 3 weekends with either his family or mine. First there was the 4th of July with my family at our lakehouse, then this past weekend we attended his family reunion in Waco at Moon River Ranch. This blog is all about our weekends with our families!
Meet the Pattersons:
Eric flew in on Friday and we headed to the lake. On the way, we stopped in Round Rock to eat at a little restaurant we ate at as a family years ago. Dinner was excellent and dessert was out of this world!! Day 1 at the lake consisted of cleaning around the house and preparing for the family to get there. Day 2 everyone arrived. We had a huge crowd: my grandparents, aunt, cousins from Mississippi, cousins from around Texas, and my gran-c's sister and brother. We had over 20 people at all times throughout the weekend, even though people came and went. We spent most of the first day with everyone hangin out in the lake on the Colosseum, which was a big float that held 8 people! SO MUCH FUN!! Our 3rd day was the 4th of July, so we all participated in the annual "Lake McQueeny" water balloon fight! Everyone got really into it...even the big (grown-up) boys! Unfortunately, there weren't any fireworks this year...stupid drought! haha It was still a really good 4th of July, though! The last day with Eric there we went to Schlitterbahn with about 1 million of our closest friends. SO CROWDED! We stood in lines for the majority of our day, but that didn't stop us from having fun! I must say that without Eric there to keep me calm and in a good mood I wouldn't have been able to deal with the crowds and longgg lines! (Thanks, babe! :) ) That night after dinner, Eric and I went into town and watched "Larry Crowne". It was nice to get away and have some time alone, without our sweet little chaperone, my cousin Shelby! She followed us around the whole time Eric was there. He was so sweet with her. We had fun with her, but I will say it was nice to get to talk to him and have a chance to have a little "date night". Wednesday morning, we dropped Eric off at the San Antonio airport. I was sad to see him go, but very happy he got to come and stay for as long as he did! The rest of the week was a lot of fun. Overall, I'd say Eric meeting my extended family went well! He hasn't run for the hills....yet! I was also so happy I got to spend time with the family members I never get to see. Its so neat we still all get together as much as we do!
Meet the Schmeltekopfs:
I thought my family was big...until I met Eric's extended family! Wow, I met A LOT of Schmeltekopfs this weekend! Anddd...I loved them! They were all so welcoming and sweet to me! Oh and the place we stayed was amazing! Nice rooms and on a huge, beautiful piece of land! I was so happy to get to be a part of their family reunion! They have so many fun family traditions and an interesting family history. We watched a slide show with pictures and family history, which was narrated nicely by his aunt, Cynthia, and little cousin Michael. Michael knew absolutely everyone in all the pictures, even though he's little and most of the pictures were in black and white. My favorite comments were about a picture of kiddos and a slide of family connections that explained how everyone was related. About the pic of the kids he said, " I think these kids go to my school, but I'm not sure of his names". In regards to the slide of family connections he said, "This looks like a list. Its probably a grocery list." He was precious!! We did Zumba one morning, led by one of Eric's little cousins. That was fun and a good workout! Two nights we did Karaoke. I got talked into singing a song with Eric. He chose Sweet Alabama for us, even though I don't know all of the words. Even though I was insanely embarrassed, I have to admit I had fun and I'm glad his family talked me into it. We also played charades, which was SO much fun! Oh, and pictionary! I have to say they are probably a tad more fun than my family in some ways! (Not that my family isn't fun!) I met so many great people, Eric has an awesome family. I was so fortunate to get to know everyone this past weekend.
Spending time together with our families brought us closer and was a whole lot of fun! The past few weeks/weekends have been so much fun! Its only gonna get better...we leave for Barcelona and our Mediterranean cruise this Saturday! I'm so excited!! Stay tuned for the low-down on our trip!! :)
Meet the Pattersons:
Eric flew in on Friday and we headed to the lake. On the way, we stopped in Round Rock to eat at a little restaurant we ate at as a family years ago. Dinner was excellent and dessert was out of this world!! Day 1 at the lake consisted of cleaning around the house and preparing for the family to get there. Day 2 everyone arrived. We had a huge crowd: my grandparents, aunt, cousins from Mississippi, cousins from around Texas, and my gran-c's sister and brother. We had over 20 people at all times throughout the weekend, even though people came and went. We spent most of the first day with everyone hangin out in the lake on the Colosseum, which was a big float that held 8 people! SO MUCH FUN!! Our 3rd day was the 4th of July, so we all participated in the annual "Lake McQueeny" water balloon fight! Everyone got really into it...even the big (grown-up) boys! Unfortunately, there weren't any fireworks this year...stupid drought! haha It was still a really good 4th of July, though! The last day with Eric there we went to Schlitterbahn with about 1 million of our closest friends. SO CROWDED! We stood in lines for the majority of our day, but that didn't stop us from having fun! I must say that without Eric there to keep me calm and in a good mood I wouldn't have been able to deal with the crowds and longgg lines! (Thanks, babe! :) ) That night after dinner, Eric and I went into town and watched "Larry Crowne". It was nice to get away and have some time alone, without our sweet little chaperone, my cousin Shelby! She followed us around the whole time Eric was there. He was so sweet with her. We had fun with her, but I will say it was nice to get to talk to him and have a chance to have a little "date night". Wednesday morning, we dropped Eric off at the San Antonio airport. I was sad to see him go, but very happy he got to come and stay for as long as he did! The rest of the week was a lot of fun. Overall, I'd say Eric meeting my extended family went well! He hasn't run for the hills....yet! I was also so happy I got to spend time with the family members I never get to see. Its so neat we still all get together as much as we do!
Meet the Schmeltekopfs:
I thought my family was big...until I met Eric's extended family! Wow, I met A LOT of Schmeltekopfs this weekend! Anddd...I loved them! They were all so welcoming and sweet to me! Oh and the place we stayed was amazing! Nice rooms and on a huge, beautiful piece of land! I was so happy to get to be a part of their family reunion! They have so many fun family traditions and an interesting family history. We watched a slide show with pictures and family history, which was narrated nicely by his aunt, Cynthia, and little cousin Michael. Michael knew absolutely everyone in all the pictures, even though he's little and most of the pictures were in black and white. My favorite comments were about a picture of kiddos and a slide of family connections that explained how everyone was related. About the pic of the kids he said, " I think these kids go to my school, but I'm not sure of his names". In regards to the slide of family connections he said, "This looks like a list. Its probably a grocery list." He was precious!! We did Zumba one morning, led by one of Eric's little cousins. That was fun and a good workout! Two nights we did Karaoke. I got talked into singing a song with Eric. He chose Sweet Alabama for us, even though I don't know all of the words. Even though I was insanely embarrassed, I have to admit I had fun and I'm glad his family talked me into it. We also played charades, which was SO much fun! Oh, and pictionary! I have to say they are probably a tad more fun than my family in some ways! (Not that my family isn't fun!) I met so many great people, Eric has an awesome family. I was so fortunate to get to know everyone this past weekend.
Spending time together with our families brought us closer and was a whole lot of fun! The past few weeks/weekends have been so much fun! Its only gonna get better...we leave for Barcelona and our Mediterranean cruise this Saturday! I'm so excited!! Stay tuned for the low-down on our trip!! :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Now what?
My summer internship is officially over!! Yesterday was my last day. The students took a test. All in all it was a boring day, but that's just how testing days are sometimes I suppose! I didn't have to go in today for the teacher workday, because there really wasn't anything for me to do! Lucky me! I got to sleep in and spend the day with my momma! :)
The internship was such a fantastic experience. I know I've said that a lot, but its just completely true! I learned so much and met some absolutely amazing people!!
For those of you wondering what's next...
Well this weekend we're going to the lake and Eric comes TOMORROW!!! It should be a lot of fun! I can't wait to see all the out of town family! :)
I will also be going to Eric's family reunion a few days after I get back from the lake! Should be a lot of fun!
Then, the trip to end all trips...our family cruise!! AH!! Can't wait! We leave from Barcelona and go to Italy, places off the coast of France, Greece, and other fun places!! :)
You guys can look forward to blogs about all of the upcoming trips!!
In the far off future, I do plan on applying for this summer internship next year. I've heard that you can do it as many years in a row and you can. I had such a great time and would be so pumped to do it again next summer!!
Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!!! Be safe and stay tuned for more blogging!
The internship was such a fantastic experience. I know I've said that a lot, but its just completely true! I learned so much and met some absolutely amazing people!!
For those of you wondering what's next...
Well this weekend we're going to the lake and Eric comes TOMORROW!!! It should be a lot of fun! I can't wait to see all the out of town family! :)
I will also be going to Eric's family reunion a few days after I get back from the lake! Should be a lot of fun!
Then, the trip to end all trips...our family cruise!! AH!! Can't wait! We leave from Barcelona and go to Italy, places off the coast of France, Greece, and other fun places!! :)
You guys can look forward to blogs about all of the upcoming trips!!
In the far off future, I do plan on applying for this summer internship next year. I've heard that you can do it as many years in a row and you can. I had such a great time and would be so pumped to do it again next summer!!
Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!!! Be safe and stay tuned for more blogging!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Book Whisperer
Oh My Gosh what a wonderful weekend/beginning of the week I've had!
Sunday, I met 7 of super innovative educators for dinner with Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer. Dinner was incredible. I've never had an experience like that. I sat there pinching myself listening to this group of highly innovative and inventive teachers talking about their classes and teaching styles. They all completely blew me away!! I felt like I should've been taking notes throughout dinner so I remembered every little thing they all said! (Don't worry, I resisted the urge, though.That may have been a bit weird! hehe) Everyone was so great about making me feel welcome and giving me all kinds of interesting and helpful advice. I was beyond excited when one of the teachers that is teaching summer school with me announced that now I was "part of their group" and that any of them would do anything to help me with my future lessons. As silly as it sounds, I was thinking "Eeeek! I get to be in their club! I get to be one of them!!". Sunday night's dinner really reminded me what type of teacher I want to be. What an amazing opportunity and experience it was!
I woke up Monday morning thrilled to be getting to go to Donalyn's workshop. Let me tell you, I knew it was going to be a cool experience, but it was so much more than I even expected it to be! She is such a wonderful speaker and SO knowledgeable about what she is speaking on. Donalyn's whole concept or theory is that we need to do more than teach reading, we need to create readers. She suggests that the only true way to do this is by getting students to ENJOY reading (a foreign concept to most jr. high/high school kids). Donalyn teaches freedom of choice in reading. Basically, she tells the students they will be expected to read 40 books total over the course of the year. She gives them guidelines for how many books should be read from each genre. (For example: 5 fantasy, 12 realistic fiction, 3 poetry, etc.) This concept moves responsibility from the teachers to choose books to the students. Not only do they pick their own books, they must also pace themselves in order to finish all the books by the end of the year. Donalyn has been doing this particular method for numerous years and says its results are positive every year. Kids that read 0 books the year before end up reading 20 the year they have her. (No, they don't fail if they don't read 40 books, so not all kids read 40) The idea is to get students engaged in reading. She does this by having them choose their own books, alotting reading time in class, and having them keep their own reader's notebook (this is where the majority of the grades for her class come from). I could go on and on about her theories and strategies, but that might get boring! haha If you're interested in finding out more about Donalyn and her freedom of choice reading check out her book, The Book Whisperer! I promise, you won't regret it! :)
Sunday and Monday were just phenomenal days for me as a future educator! I learned so much!! In addition, talking to these awesome teachers got me so excited to have my own classroom one day! I'm going to email a few of my Baylor professors sometime this week and discuss how I can incorporate the strategies I've learned in my TA and Intern years. I can't wait to become one of these inspirational and inventive teachers I've learned so much from in the past few days!!
As my summer internship comes to an end I'm swept up in a flood of gratitude for the experiences I've been able to have and the people I've been able to meet. This job has turned out to be more than I could have ever hoped for! I am so blessed to have been able to work with these great teachers and crazy kiddos! Though its been a rocky road somedays, I've learned a lot and grown a lot as a "preservice teacher". This experience has really reiterated that this is what I'm supposed to do. I'm more confident than ever after all my experiences this summer that I was meant to do this and I am completely capable of doing this. Who knows, maybe I'll be the next Donalyn Miller....I wish!! haha!
Don't get all sad thinking this is my last blog about my internship, guys! I'll do one later this week (hopefully tomorrow) giving a debriefing of my last 2 days of summer school with the kiddos. Tomorrow is their last day and Thursday is my last day! 2 days until Eric visits! Wahoo!!
Sunday, I met 7 of super innovative educators for dinner with Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer. Dinner was incredible. I've never had an experience like that. I sat there pinching myself listening to this group of highly innovative and inventive teachers talking about their classes and teaching styles. They all completely blew me away!! I felt like I should've been taking notes throughout dinner so I remembered every little thing they all said! (Don't worry, I resisted the urge, though.That may have been a bit weird! hehe) Everyone was so great about making me feel welcome and giving me all kinds of interesting and helpful advice. I was beyond excited when one of the teachers that is teaching summer school with me announced that now I was "part of their group" and that any of them would do anything to help me with my future lessons. As silly as it sounds, I was thinking "Eeeek! I get to be in their club! I get to be one of them!!". Sunday night's dinner really reminded me what type of teacher I want to be. What an amazing opportunity and experience it was!
I woke up Monday morning thrilled to be getting to go to Donalyn's workshop. Let me tell you, I knew it was going to be a cool experience, but it was so much more than I even expected it to be! She is such a wonderful speaker and SO knowledgeable about what she is speaking on. Donalyn's whole concept or theory is that we need to do more than teach reading, we need to create readers. She suggests that the only true way to do this is by getting students to ENJOY reading (a foreign concept to most jr. high/high school kids). Donalyn teaches freedom of choice in reading. Basically, she tells the students they will be expected to read 40 books total over the course of the year. She gives them guidelines for how many books should be read from each genre. (For example: 5 fantasy, 12 realistic fiction, 3 poetry, etc.) This concept moves responsibility from the teachers to choose books to the students. Not only do they pick their own books, they must also pace themselves in order to finish all the books by the end of the year. Donalyn has been doing this particular method for numerous years and says its results are positive every year. Kids that read 0 books the year before end up reading 20 the year they have her. (No, they don't fail if they don't read 40 books, so not all kids read 40) The idea is to get students engaged in reading. She does this by having them choose their own books, alotting reading time in class, and having them keep their own reader's notebook (this is where the majority of the grades for her class come from). I could go on and on about her theories and strategies, but that might get boring! haha If you're interested in finding out more about Donalyn and her freedom of choice reading check out her book, The Book Whisperer! I promise, you won't regret it! :)
Sunday and Monday were just phenomenal days for me as a future educator! I learned so much!! In addition, talking to these awesome teachers got me so excited to have my own classroom one day! I'm going to email a few of my Baylor professors sometime this week and discuss how I can incorporate the strategies I've learned in my TA and Intern years. I can't wait to become one of these inspirational and inventive teachers I've learned so much from in the past few days!!
As my summer internship comes to an end I'm swept up in a flood of gratitude for the experiences I've been able to have and the people I've been able to meet. This job has turned out to be more than I could have ever hoped for! I am so blessed to have been able to work with these great teachers and crazy kiddos! Though its been a rocky road somedays, I've learned a lot and grown a lot as a "preservice teacher". This experience has really reiterated that this is what I'm supposed to do. I'm more confident than ever after all my experiences this summer that I was meant to do this and I am completely capable of doing this. Who knows, maybe I'll be the next Donalyn Miller....I wish!! haha!
Don't get all sad thinking this is my last blog about my internship, guys! I'll do one later this week (hopefully tomorrow) giving a debriefing of my last 2 days of summer school with the kiddos. Tomorrow is their last day and Thursday is my last day! 2 days until Eric visits! Wahoo!!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Reigniting the Flame
This blogpost is WAY over due, sorry for keepin you guys hangin! Wednesday and Thursday were SUCH better days!!
Wednesday I met with the tech guy and learned lots of new, fun ways to use technology in the classroom. He gave me 2 books to look at on innovative ways to teach English or reading. (More to come on those soon!) I had a lot of fun talking to him and am so appreciative for the part he played in pulling me out of my "I'm failing funk". Wednesday's lesson was one of my very own creation...and I'm very proud of it, because it went over SUPER well with the kiddos! The short story we had been reading was "A Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. (He's super creepy and the kids eat it up...weirdos! hehe) Anyways, I suggested to my mentor teacher that we have the kids write an alternate ending to the short story. Did the old man get killed? Did he live? Did the narrator die? It was up to them! Boy did they come up with some goofball and gruesome endings! They were asked to write ONE PAGE, that's all. Now, keep in mind getting these guys to write HALF A PAGE is like pulling teeth. Surprisingly, within 20 minutes kids were flipping their notebook paper over because they were running out of room! Some wrote 2 full pages, by choice! I was completely thrilled! I walked around and asked a few students if I could read a bit of their work and they obliged. After commenting that they were "crazy" "gross" and "totally gonna give me nightmares", other kids started raising their hands so I could be grossed out by their stories. They were totally eating it up! Next, the kids illustrated their endings. WOW did these get nasty, blood and guts like crazy. (oops, is that against school rules?!) The final step was to have the kids present their endings and drawings. In summary, this lesson was a complete and total hit! The kids totally lived up to and exceeded all of my expectations!! :] YAY!! WINNING! hehe
Thursday was really cool, because I got to observe other teachers in their classrooms. The principal suggested that I get with the technology guy to work out a schedule for observing other teachers so I can get exposed to several different teaching styles. The tech guy arranged for me to spend the afternoon (2nd period) walking around with him checking out the "master teacher's" and "guru's" classrooms. On our way to the first class, we started talking about one of the books he gave me to read, "The Book Whisperer". I told him I completely fell in love with the way the teacher in the book (Donalyn Miller) teaches. He agreed and told me she's coming on Monday for an inservice/workshop for teachers in the district. We talked some more about it and he offered to ask our prinicpal if I could attend the inservice Monday. The principal thought it was a valid suggestion and allowed me to attend on Monday!! In the next classroom, he told the teacher that I was attending the inservice. She is getting a sub so she can attend, and told me to sit with her! (YAY! Made a friend!) She also invited me to eat dinner with her, the tech guy, other teachers, and the author/speaker, Donalyn Miller, Sunday (tomorrow)!! I was completely shocked that these amazing teachers were "letting me in their group". I am SO looking forward to dinner with them tomorrow! What a neat experience it should be!! I observed 4 teachers and let me tell you, they were all remarkable! I was so impressed with their theories on learning, discipline methods, and overall teaching styles! They reminded me of why I want to do this and what kind of teacher I want to be!
Amazing what a difference a day or two can make, isn't it!? Everyone was so nice to me and so willing to give me any tips/advice they had! Overall, great great GREAT rest of the week!!
I look forward to telling ya'll all about the inservice and my FINAL WEEK in my internship! It went by SO fast, but it has been an amazing experience and I'm going to be very sad to see it end.
Countdowns for ya'll:
4 Days left of internship
5 days until Eric gets here
Wednesday I met with the tech guy and learned lots of new, fun ways to use technology in the classroom. He gave me 2 books to look at on innovative ways to teach English or reading. (More to come on those soon!) I had a lot of fun talking to him and am so appreciative for the part he played in pulling me out of my "I'm failing funk". Wednesday's lesson was one of my very own creation...and I'm very proud of it, because it went over SUPER well with the kiddos! The short story we had been reading was "A Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. (He's super creepy and the kids eat it up...weirdos! hehe) Anyways, I suggested to my mentor teacher that we have the kids write an alternate ending to the short story. Did the old man get killed? Did he live? Did the narrator die? It was up to them! Boy did they come up with some goofball and gruesome endings! They were asked to write ONE PAGE, that's all. Now, keep in mind getting these guys to write HALF A PAGE is like pulling teeth. Surprisingly, within 20 minutes kids were flipping their notebook paper over because they were running out of room! Some wrote 2 full pages, by choice! I was completely thrilled! I walked around and asked a few students if I could read a bit of their work and they obliged. After commenting that they were "crazy" "gross" and "totally gonna give me nightmares", other kids started raising their hands so I could be grossed out by their stories. They were totally eating it up! Next, the kids illustrated their endings. WOW did these get nasty, blood and guts like crazy. (oops, is that against school rules?!) The final step was to have the kids present their endings and drawings. In summary, this lesson was a complete and total hit! The kids totally lived up to and exceeded all of my expectations!! :] YAY!! WINNING! hehe
Thursday was really cool, because I got to observe other teachers in their classrooms. The principal suggested that I get with the technology guy to work out a schedule for observing other teachers so I can get exposed to several different teaching styles. The tech guy arranged for me to spend the afternoon (2nd period) walking around with him checking out the "master teacher's" and "guru's" classrooms. On our way to the first class, we started talking about one of the books he gave me to read, "The Book Whisperer". I told him I completely fell in love with the way the teacher in the book (Donalyn Miller) teaches. He agreed and told me she's coming on Monday for an inservice/workshop for teachers in the district. We talked some more about it and he offered to ask our prinicpal if I could attend the inservice Monday. The principal thought it was a valid suggestion and allowed me to attend on Monday!! In the next classroom, he told the teacher that I was attending the inservice. She is getting a sub so she can attend, and told me to sit with her! (YAY! Made a friend!) She also invited me to eat dinner with her, the tech guy, other teachers, and the author/speaker, Donalyn Miller, Sunday (tomorrow)!! I was completely shocked that these amazing teachers were "letting me in their group". I am SO looking forward to dinner with them tomorrow! What a neat experience it should be!! I observed 4 teachers and let me tell you, they were all remarkable! I was so impressed with their theories on learning, discipline methods, and overall teaching styles! They reminded me of why I want to do this and what kind of teacher I want to be!
Amazing what a difference a day or two can make, isn't it!? Everyone was so nice to me and so willing to give me any tips/advice they had! Overall, great great GREAT rest of the week!!
I look forward to telling ya'll all about the inservice and my FINAL WEEK in my internship! It went by SO fast, but it has been an amazing experience and I'm going to be very sad to see it end.
Countdowns for ya'll:
4 Days left of internship
5 days until Eric gets here
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Turbulent Tuesdays
I'm not gonna lie, today was rough. Everything was going fine, then it got bumpy and I got completely stressed. The stressful day really made me question if this (teaching in secondary schools) is what I'm really meant to do. During lunch, I texted back and forth with Eric. I vented out all my problems and fears to him. I freaked out and told him I was thinking of changing my major, because I felt like I was failing, but he reassured me SO much. I'm so grateful for him. He helped me put things in perspective a great deal. I know he was hard at work at his own job, but he took time out of his day to help me snap out of my funk. He's great! :) Enough about my fab boyfriend, let me explain what exactly made my day rocky!
Today, my mentor teacher really didn't have a full day of activities planned. I agreed to find an article for the students to read and write a page summary over. Beyond that she wasn't sure what we would do. While she was at her morning duty, I google searched activities on Edgar Allan Poe. I found a whole lesson plan with 3 activities. One of the activities wasn't right, but the other 2 (an online scavenger hunt and a crossword puzzle) were great. I shared my findings with my mentor teacher and she agreed that we should do those. I was feeling really great about things and very on top of things. Unfortunately, my happy little teaching world came crumbling down around me when I got to the computer lab with the students and realized that 1 of the websites on the scavenger hunt was blocked and another section was WAY over the kiddos' heads (even though it shouldn't have been). Of course, seeing that there was a mistake with the assigned activity the students ran their mouths and sassed about me making a mistake. The room became chaos for 5 minutes while I tried to think of a way to fix the dilemma. Oh, let me mention that my mentor teacher was up in the classroom doing grades or something, so I was completely alone and completely freaking out in my head. I was thinking, "Oh my gosh! Where is she?! How do I fix this?!". I took a deep breath and got to work making a new plan. Finally, I figured out a solution, I altered the directions on the 2 messed up/too difficult parts. Then, I laid down the law and made it known that there would be #1 no talking, #2 no listening to music/playing games (until they finished), and #3 no moving from their seats. Amazingly, the kids got to work with hardly any arguments. Still, I was completely bummed that I floundered so much and seemed unsure and unprepared.
The second period went better, as usual. I'm not sure if this is because of the students or because I've had a chance to work out all of the kinks in my lesson with the first group. Regardless, I'm glad that the lesson went over better in the 2nd class. The day ended with my mentor teacher giving me more praise/criticism. Here's a summary of what she said...
Good Things:
-She said I carry out my lessons well and always give thorough instructions (I'm proud of this one, because basically she said I'm good at teaching haha)
-She said she's been really impressed with my how I can get stern with the kids, but still manage to keep a light, fun demeanor the rest of the time. She remarked that she was worried I would struggle with disciplining the kids. (I'm also very proud of this one, because I'm gonna be honest, I was worried about how well I could keep these knuckleheads under control)
Not So Good Things:
-She advised me to look more excited about the assignments I'm introducing. She feels that sometimes my tone and demeanor say that I'm sorta frustrated or not into what I'm assigning. This one upset me, because if you know me, you know how passionate and excited I am about teaching, so it really upsets me that I'm not portraying that.
-She also advised me to be more "culturally aware". She asked that I take into consideration what race and culture my students come from before chastising them, because apparently some cultures find certain methods "disrespectful". I'm not completely sold on this bit of advice. I do not believe standing by a child's desk and correcting them in a firm tone is "disrespectful". However, I do acknowledge that she has more experience than I do, so I will take this into consideration when working with my students in the future.
Obviously, the criticisms really bummed me out. I like to immediately be good at everything, because I'm a total perfectionist. I know that I cannot be good at everything and I know that struggling at first with anything new is totally normal. Regardless, it all really bugs me. Tomorrow is a new day, though, and I can't fix the past, but I can change the future and that's exactly what I'll do. So watch out kiddos, tomorrow Miss Patterson is coming in happier and more excited than the pep squad! BOOM!
Tomorrow I'm meeting with one of the technology coordinators to learn some new, fun technology tricks to make lessons more interactive and fun for the students. I'm SUPER excited! Sure, I have to get up 15ish minutes earlier, but I think it'll be worth it. I'll be able to use these tips for summer school AND back at Baylor during my TA and Intern year. Get ready profs, because I'm gonna knock ya'lls socks off! :)
Today was rough, but there's always a silver lining...ya just gotta find it!
Today, my mentor teacher really didn't have a full day of activities planned. I agreed to find an article for the students to read and write a page summary over. Beyond that she wasn't sure what we would do. While she was at her morning duty, I google searched activities on Edgar Allan Poe. I found a whole lesson plan with 3 activities. One of the activities wasn't right, but the other 2 (an online scavenger hunt and a crossword puzzle) were great. I shared my findings with my mentor teacher and she agreed that we should do those. I was feeling really great about things and very on top of things. Unfortunately, my happy little teaching world came crumbling down around me when I got to the computer lab with the students and realized that 1 of the websites on the scavenger hunt was blocked and another section was WAY over the kiddos' heads (even though it shouldn't have been). Of course, seeing that there was a mistake with the assigned activity the students ran their mouths and sassed about me making a mistake. The room became chaos for 5 minutes while I tried to think of a way to fix the dilemma. Oh, let me mention that my mentor teacher was up in the classroom doing grades or something, so I was completely alone and completely freaking out in my head. I was thinking, "Oh my gosh! Where is she?! How do I fix this?!". I took a deep breath and got to work making a new plan. Finally, I figured out a solution, I altered the directions on the 2 messed up/too difficult parts. Then, I laid down the law and made it known that there would be #1 no talking, #2 no listening to music/playing games (until they finished), and #3 no moving from their seats. Amazingly, the kids got to work with hardly any arguments. Still, I was completely bummed that I floundered so much and seemed unsure and unprepared.
The second period went better, as usual. I'm not sure if this is because of the students or because I've had a chance to work out all of the kinks in my lesson with the first group. Regardless, I'm glad that the lesson went over better in the 2nd class. The day ended with my mentor teacher giving me more praise/criticism. Here's a summary of what she said...
Good Things:
-She said I carry out my lessons well and always give thorough instructions (I'm proud of this one, because basically she said I'm good at teaching haha)
-She said she's been really impressed with my how I can get stern with the kids, but still manage to keep a light, fun demeanor the rest of the time. She remarked that she was worried I would struggle with disciplining the kids. (I'm also very proud of this one, because I'm gonna be honest, I was worried about how well I could keep these knuckleheads under control)
Not So Good Things:
-She advised me to look more excited about the assignments I'm introducing. She feels that sometimes my tone and demeanor say that I'm sorta frustrated or not into what I'm assigning. This one upset me, because if you know me, you know how passionate and excited I am about teaching, so it really upsets me that I'm not portraying that.
-She also advised me to be more "culturally aware". She asked that I take into consideration what race and culture my students come from before chastising them, because apparently some cultures find certain methods "disrespectful". I'm not completely sold on this bit of advice. I do not believe standing by a child's desk and correcting them in a firm tone is "disrespectful". However, I do acknowledge that she has more experience than I do, so I will take this into consideration when working with my students in the future.
Obviously, the criticisms really bummed me out. I like to immediately be good at everything, because I'm a total perfectionist. I know that I cannot be good at everything and I know that struggling at first with anything new is totally normal. Regardless, it all really bugs me. Tomorrow is a new day, though, and I can't fix the past, but I can change the future and that's exactly what I'll do. So watch out kiddos, tomorrow Miss Patterson is coming in happier and more excited than the pep squad! BOOM!
Tomorrow I'm meeting with one of the technology coordinators to learn some new, fun technology tricks to make lessons more interactive and fun for the students. I'm SUPER excited! Sure, I have to get up 15ish minutes earlier, but I think it'll be worth it. I'll be able to use these tips for summer school AND back at Baylor during my TA and Intern year. Get ready profs, because I'm gonna knock ya'lls socks off! :)
Today was rough, but there's always a silver lining...ya just gotta find it!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Monday Funday
Happy Monday everybody!! Today was a very good day in 8th grade summer school land! We started the day off by learning this week's new vocab words. Next, we watched a video on Edgar Allan Poe. After the kiddos learned a little bit about the famous author, we read one of his famous short stories, "A Tell-Tale Heart". The kids really responded to this story. (Probably because its so gruesome! Weirdos!) To finish off the day's activities, the students had a quiz over the reading. In addition, they were asked to write a half a page on this topic: "Have you ever been suspicious of someone? Who? When? And why were you suspicious?". The answers we got to that question were shocking...you'll hear more on that later! ;)
I didn't actually teach in first period today, but I taught almost everything for the second period class. In first period, I did work with the students on completing various assignments, though, and it went really well. I say this, because if you spoke to me over the weekend, you know that the first period kiddos had me super stressed out and worried. I feel like they're the kids that I have the hardest time getting through to and that's really frustrating. However, today I felt less intimidated by them. (Maybe this means I'm gettin the hang out this whole teaching thing! hehe) My second period kiddies were good, but hyper, as usual. Overall, it was a great day! I got in a workout at Lifetime on my way home from school, so I'm feelin good! :) Let's hope the rest of the week goes as smoothly!
Of course, no blog is complete without some daily funnies from the crazyyy kiddos....
-The first period class had some extra time, so they started presenting their research projects. One group researched the Illuminati. I was very excited to hear what the kids had to say about this topic, because its very intriguing to me. However, I didn't exactly get the presentation I was expecting from this group. Instead of giving me the names of the families that are a part of this secret group, the students proceeded to tell me that the rappers that are part of the Illuminati are either a. aliens or b. in close contact with aliens. Yes, aliens. Like ET aliens. We then had to have a discussion about Wikipedia and the fact that ANYONE can post ANYTHING on the site. The fact that these 2 8th (almost 9th) graders got up in front of the class and both my mentor teacher and myself and told us this "interesting and truthful facts" was shocking. You'd think they'd know better or at least cross check what they've found... Good grief!
-In a discussion over Edgar Allan Poe marrying his cousin, one student exclaimed, "Wait! Its illegal to marry your cousin!?! Like even if they're your second cousin?!". We told him that it was, indeed, illegal. Not sure what's goin on in that kid's life...he seemed a little TOO upset about that law if ya ask me...
-While walking the students back from their break, I happened to overhear a conversation between 3 of my boys from my second period class. Its important to note that 2 of these boys had already previously failed and had been in junior high for 4 years (instead of 3). One of the older, flunky boys shared his plan for the future. He said that he would probably be stuck in 8th grade again next year (for the 3rd time...). He told the other boys that he would stay in school till he could date a younger teacher that would give him the answers and free 100's. That, he said, was his plan for passing and graduating high school. Again, GOOD GRIEF!
-Now back to those "suspicion papers". Remember, the topic was to write about a time when you were suspicious. Here are a few of the more interesting responses we got:
1. One simply started off discussing living with his grandma in a nice neighborhood. He said the only downside to the neighborhood was that he was suspicious that the guy that lived next door was "a gay". I found the working hilarious. Normally, you'd just say "gay", not "a gay". Oh, and he ended the paper by saying "It sucked". Yes, this paper was for a grade. No, that is not appropriate language for the classroom OR for a PAPER!
2. My "teen mom" wrote about a time she was suspicious of her boyfriend. The story ended with her saying that he was cheating on her. TMI. WAYYY TMI, girlfriend!
3. Another boy told me the story of him finding his brother smoking pot in his room. I'm not exactly sure why the kids felt the need to share THAT much with us, but all I can say is I'd rather NOT know every detail of their crazy little lives! Lordy Lord!
6 Days of Summer School left and 10 days till Eric visits! :) Let the countdown begin!
3.
I didn't actually teach in first period today, but I taught almost everything for the second period class. In first period, I did work with the students on completing various assignments, though, and it went really well. I say this, because if you spoke to me over the weekend, you know that the first period kiddos had me super stressed out and worried. I feel like they're the kids that I have the hardest time getting through to and that's really frustrating. However, today I felt less intimidated by them. (Maybe this means I'm gettin the hang out this whole teaching thing! hehe) My second period kiddies were good, but hyper, as usual. Overall, it was a great day! I got in a workout at Lifetime on my way home from school, so I'm feelin good! :) Let's hope the rest of the week goes as smoothly!
Of course, no blog is complete without some daily funnies from the crazyyy kiddos....
-The first period class had some extra time, so they started presenting their research projects. One group researched the Illuminati. I was very excited to hear what the kids had to say about this topic, because its very intriguing to me. However, I didn't exactly get the presentation I was expecting from this group. Instead of giving me the names of the families that are a part of this secret group, the students proceeded to tell me that the rappers that are part of the Illuminati are either a. aliens or b. in close contact with aliens. Yes, aliens. Like ET aliens. We then had to have a discussion about Wikipedia and the fact that ANYONE can post ANYTHING on the site. The fact that these 2 8th (almost 9th) graders got up in front of the class and both my mentor teacher and myself and told us this "interesting and truthful facts" was shocking. You'd think they'd know better or at least cross check what they've found... Good grief!
-In a discussion over Edgar Allan Poe marrying his cousin, one student exclaimed, "Wait! Its illegal to marry your cousin!?! Like even if they're your second cousin?!". We told him that it was, indeed, illegal. Not sure what's goin on in that kid's life...he seemed a little TOO upset about that law if ya ask me...
-While walking the students back from their break, I happened to overhear a conversation between 3 of my boys from my second period class. Its important to note that 2 of these boys had already previously failed and had been in junior high for 4 years (instead of 3). One of the older, flunky boys shared his plan for the future. He said that he would probably be stuck in 8th grade again next year (for the 3rd time...). He told the other boys that he would stay in school till he could date a younger teacher that would give him the answers and free 100's. That, he said, was his plan for passing and graduating high school. Again, GOOD GRIEF!
-Now back to those "suspicion papers". Remember, the topic was to write about a time when you were suspicious. Here are a few of the more interesting responses we got:
1. One simply started off discussing living with his grandma in a nice neighborhood. He said the only downside to the neighborhood was that he was suspicious that the guy that lived next door was "a gay". I found the working hilarious. Normally, you'd just say "gay", not "a gay". Oh, and he ended the paper by saying "It sucked". Yes, this paper was for a grade. No, that is not appropriate language for the classroom OR for a PAPER!
2. My "teen mom" wrote about a time she was suspicious of her boyfriend. The story ended with her saying that he was cheating on her. TMI. WAYYY TMI, girlfriend!
3. Another boy told me the story of him finding his brother smoking pot in his room. I'm not exactly sure why the kids felt the need to share THAT much with us, but all I can say is I'd rather NOT know every detail of their crazy little lives! Lordy Lord!
6 Days of Summer School left and 10 days till Eric visits! :) Let the countdown begin!
3.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday and Thursday
This post is a 2 for 1 deal. I'm giving ya'll the low-down on the past two days in one blog. Excited? ...Ya you are! Let's do this!
Wednesday....so close yet so far from the weekend....
Wednesday was SO great! My mentor teacher put me in charge of the first AND the second class. We started class with a writing piece. The students were asked to read an article (over the millionaire that left her maltese 12M dollars...crazy!) and then give us a page long summary of it. Let me tell you, asking them to do this was like pulling teeth. It took FOREVER!! However, with a little persistence (one of our vocab words :) ) I got everyone to turn in their papers. Next, we had the students produce a illustrated interpretation of "Pandora's Box". This activity went over great with the first class. It was my favorite part of the morning. I really enjoyed walking around the room and seeing the kiddos' drawings. We had a few that were really into art and it was fun to see them so in their element. The second class, on the other hand, struggled with this activity. If I had a dime for every time I heard "But Miss I'm not a good artist!" yesterday I wouldn't need a job, because I'd be filthy rich! To finish up the day, the students had a few vocab activities to complete. Yesterday was an awesome day!! I felt really in control and I think I really started to establish some good rapport with the kids. My mentor teacher said she could tell I was "in my element" today. She said she could tell I wasn't nervous anymore and I was looked very natural in front of the class. (YAYY!)
Thursday...the new Friday
Today was a roller coaster ride. It started out good, then got rocky, then ended well. We started the day researching in the computer lab. We let the students brainstorm people/places to research then put all the ideas in a cup and let each pair choose their topic. Let me tell you I've never felt so old or out of touch as I did when the first class was brainstorming rappers to research. (Yes, they were ALL rappers) Ever heard of "A Tribe Called Quest" or "Wiz Kaliafika (sp?)"?!? Well, me either! I was like "WHAT THE HECK!?!?!" Anyways, the first period class really did well with this. They all worked really hard to find out fun facts about their person. The second class did this after their jeopardy game and tests, but they definitely struggled with it. First of all, they picked topics they knew no one would be interested in, just to be stupid. Here are some of the topics they came up with: Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber (sorry Blaire), Charlie Sheen (I totes would've been into researching him, though), Brazil (reminded me of Bernie), and Nicaragua. It was a longg 1 1/2 in the computer lab with 2nd period, to say the least. After researching, the students were asked to submit a page long paper on their topic. Today we also played a Jeopardy as a review for the tests and took the vocab and "Pandora's Box" test. Jeopardy was just dreadful with the morning group. They were being sassy/defiant and just plain rude. This was really discouraging and put me in a pretty crumby mood. Therefore, I was ready to make appropriate changes to make sure the afternoon class went better. I started out by explaining we'd had problems with the last class and the game. I let them know that if I had even one problem I'd shut down the game, hand out the tests, and we'd sit in silence until it was time to go to the computer lab. I was worried this wouldn't work, but guess what....IT DID!! The game went SO smoothly! The kids were into the game and everyone was on task. The cherry on the top of it all was that the principal came in to observe while we were playing. She couldn't have come at a better time! (YAY!) I was in such a good mood after that, I let the kids talk/listen to music in the comp lab. VERY good end of the day!
Something I'm learning is that some things work well with some classes but not with others. Also, you have to change and modify your lessons throughout the day. If something doesn't work in the morning, I've gotten rectify it by the time my afternoon kiddos get in the door. I'm also learning that spending ALL day teaching is absolutely exhausting! To anyone who reads this and has to deal with/talk to me on a day to day basis I am SO sorry. When I get home I'm a total zombie. Yesterday, I took an hour nap after work. I'm hoping I'll get used to the long days and early morning soon!
Now for some wackadoodle moments from the kiddos:
-Gotta love it when boys that tower over me come asking which bus they need to get on. You are clearly old enough to remember a bus number, if you're still having issues on day 3, I cannot help you baby.
-Students found out I'm an intern today and went bazirk. SO many questions ranging from what school I go to to what I want to teach to if I'm old enough to drink. I was sorta excited when they all told me I should get a job at their high schools so I could teach them. Who knows, maybe they think I'm a push over, but I'd like to think they think I'm fun.
-One of my boys asked if he could use the restroom. My mentor's rule is that they cannot leave to use the bathroom. They are allowed to go during breaks or lunch. I HATE when they ask me, because I feel so bad saying no, because I TOTALLY get that when ya gotta go ya gotta go. I had to tell this boy that he'd have to wait 15 min when we would leave for our afternoon break. LIke I said, I was in a good mood, so instead of just saying that I decided to spice it up. I said look, "When we walk to the cafeteria for break and we pass the boys restroom I'll say 'Peace out' to you and you can go take care of your business". If you know me, you know I say stuff like "peace out", so this didn't seem weird to me. The student thought it was hysterical. He kept saying "Peace out, Miss Patterson?" and I'd say "Not yet, dude". Finally, when we passed the boy's room he said "Peace out NOW, Miss Patterson!". Crazy boy!
I've made it through week one!! YAYYYY!! 2 more to go! Stay tuned!
Wednesday....so close yet so far from the weekend....
Wednesday was SO great! My mentor teacher put me in charge of the first AND the second class. We started class with a writing piece. The students were asked to read an article (over the millionaire that left her maltese 12M dollars...crazy!) and then give us a page long summary of it. Let me tell you, asking them to do this was like pulling teeth. It took FOREVER!! However, with a little persistence (one of our vocab words :) ) I got everyone to turn in their papers. Next, we had the students produce a illustrated interpretation of "Pandora's Box". This activity went over great with the first class. It was my favorite part of the morning. I really enjoyed walking around the room and seeing the kiddos' drawings. We had a few that were really into art and it was fun to see them so in their element. The second class, on the other hand, struggled with this activity. If I had a dime for every time I heard "But Miss I'm not a good artist!" yesterday I wouldn't need a job, because I'd be filthy rich! To finish up the day, the students had a few vocab activities to complete. Yesterday was an awesome day!! I felt really in control and I think I really started to establish some good rapport with the kids. My mentor teacher said she could tell I was "in my element" today. She said she could tell I wasn't nervous anymore and I was looked very natural in front of the class. (YAYY!)
Thursday...the new Friday
Today was a roller coaster ride. It started out good, then got rocky, then ended well. We started the day researching in the computer lab. We let the students brainstorm people/places to research then put all the ideas in a cup and let each pair choose their topic. Let me tell you I've never felt so old or out of touch as I did when the first class was brainstorming rappers to research. (Yes, they were ALL rappers) Ever heard of "A Tribe Called Quest" or "Wiz Kaliafika (sp?)"?!? Well, me either! I was like "WHAT THE HECK!?!?!" Anyways, the first period class really did well with this. They all worked really hard to find out fun facts about their person. The second class did this after their jeopardy game and tests, but they definitely struggled with it. First of all, they picked topics they knew no one would be interested in, just to be stupid. Here are some of the topics they came up with: Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber (sorry Blaire), Charlie Sheen (I totes would've been into researching him, though), Brazil (reminded me of Bernie), and Nicaragua. It was a longg 1 1/2 in the computer lab with 2nd period, to say the least. After researching, the students were asked to submit a page long paper on their topic. Today we also played a Jeopardy as a review for the tests and took the vocab and "Pandora's Box" test. Jeopardy was just dreadful with the morning group. They were being sassy/defiant and just plain rude. This was really discouraging and put me in a pretty crumby mood. Therefore, I was ready to make appropriate changes to make sure the afternoon class went better. I started out by explaining we'd had problems with the last class and the game. I let them know that if I had even one problem I'd shut down the game, hand out the tests, and we'd sit in silence until it was time to go to the computer lab. I was worried this wouldn't work, but guess what....IT DID!! The game went SO smoothly! The kids were into the game and everyone was on task. The cherry on the top of it all was that the principal came in to observe while we were playing. She couldn't have come at a better time! (YAY!) I was in such a good mood after that, I let the kids talk/listen to music in the comp lab. VERY good end of the day!
Something I'm learning is that some things work well with some classes but not with others. Also, you have to change and modify your lessons throughout the day. If something doesn't work in the morning, I've gotten rectify it by the time my afternoon kiddos get in the door. I'm also learning that spending ALL day teaching is absolutely exhausting! To anyone who reads this and has to deal with/talk to me on a day to day basis I am SO sorry. When I get home I'm a total zombie. Yesterday, I took an hour nap after work. I'm hoping I'll get used to the long days and early morning soon!
Now for some wackadoodle moments from the kiddos:
-Gotta love it when boys that tower over me come asking which bus they need to get on. You are clearly old enough to remember a bus number, if you're still having issues on day 3, I cannot help you baby.
-Students found out I'm an intern today and went bazirk. SO many questions ranging from what school I go to to what I want to teach to if I'm old enough to drink. I was sorta excited when they all told me I should get a job at their high schools so I could teach them. Who knows, maybe they think I'm a push over, but I'd like to think they think I'm fun.
-One of my boys asked if he could use the restroom. My mentor's rule is that they cannot leave to use the bathroom. They are allowed to go during breaks or lunch. I HATE when they ask me, because I feel so bad saying no, because I TOTALLY get that when ya gotta go ya gotta go. I had to tell this boy that he'd have to wait 15 min when we would leave for our afternoon break. LIke I said, I was in a good mood, so instead of just saying that I decided to spice it up. I said look, "When we walk to the cafeteria for break and we pass the boys restroom I'll say 'Peace out' to you and you can go take care of your business". If you know me, you know I say stuff like "peace out", so this didn't seem weird to me. The student thought it was hysterical. He kept saying "Peace out, Miss Patterson?" and I'd say "Not yet, dude". Finally, when we passed the boy's room he said "Peace out NOW, Miss Patterson!". Crazy boy!
I've made it through week one!! YAYYYY!! 2 more to go! Stay tuned!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Gooood Morning 8th Graders!
Because of some technological difficulties I was unable to post yesterday's blog, so I'm gonna post yesterday's first and then post another for today!
Tuesday, June 14th
Today was a whirlwind day to say the very least! It was chaotic, crazy, and just plain ridiculous at times, but I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed meeting all of my students and look forward to the next 9 days with them.
Like I told you guys yesterday, I taught today's afternoon class on my own (with only a little help from my sweet mentor!). I think my lessons went well today. We had the kids take a personality test, which we introduced as a "test to see where they are". They all assumed it was going to be a reading test so their groans and moans were heard throughout the school. They were all pretty amused when they found out it was a Pig Personality Test. Basically, the test theorizes that you can tell what kind of student one is by where they draw their pig on the page and what details you give your pig. Of course, this is not very accurate. We just wanted to use this as an icebreaker to get to know our students a little better. After our "test", we had a vocab. lesson. We also read "Pandora's Box" and worked on activities that went with it. Overall, I'd say that today was a really good day. I was excited to get to take most of the control with the second period class, and I feel like I did a decent job (considering it was my VERY first time to teach a class of kids). At the end of the day, my mentor teacher offered me some constructive criticism/praise she'd jotted down while observing me teaching. Here's what she said:
Need to work on:
-Being LOUD. I was nervous and tended to use a quieter tone.
-Varying my tone. Again, because I got nervous I lacked a variety in the tone of my voice. She advised me to work on using different tones in order to hold the students' attention.
Praise:
-She liked the way I taught the vocab. lesson. She said I did a very good job of getting the kids involved.
-She was SUPER impressed (and completely shocked) when I got on to the class for not listening to directions as I was giving them out. I raised my voice and informed them that if they weren't willing to listen to the directions when I gave them then I wasn't going to be willing to answer their questions later. (Ha! Take that 8th graders! hehe)
If I've learned one thing today, it is that there is NEVER a dull moment with jr high students. Here are some of the off the wall things students said/did today:
-Little Precious came in with her momma and was very upset to find that tote bags/backpacks of any kind were not allowed. I informed her that she either needed to leave the bag with me to put in the AP's office or give it to her mom to take home. This was not what Little Precious wanted to hear and she began to tear up. Yes, she got tears in her eyes...over a bag. Now, I love my bags, but this was just foolish. She eventually decided to leave her precious VS PINK bag with her mother to take home....after a 10 minute conversation/crying episode...over a bag.
-We asked the class what the word "optimistic" means and a student eagerly raised his hand to give us the answer. Pleased to have such excitement about answering the question, we prompted him to give us the definition. He proceeded to tell us that it meant "special, like mentally retarded". Confused we asked him to clarify. Once again, he told us it meant "retarded". We realized he'd gotten "optimistic" confused with "autistic".
-During bus duty, I ran into another Little Precious, though she was NOT a bus rider. Instead, she was to walk home. Little Precious needed clarification on which way to walk. Now, I'm no genius, but I'd say walk TOWARDS YOUR HOUSE!
Keep reading for more wackadoodle kiddo stories and the low-down on my journey as a summer intern :)
Tuesday, June 14th
Today was a whirlwind day to say the very least! It was chaotic, crazy, and just plain ridiculous at times, but I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed meeting all of my students and look forward to the next 9 days with them.
Like I told you guys yesterday, I taught today's afternoon class on my own (with only a little help from my sweet mentor!). I think my lessons went well today. We had the kids take a personality test, which we introduced as a "test to see where they are". They all assumed it was going to be a reading test so their groans and moans were heard throughout the school. They were all pretty amused when they found out it was a Pig Personality Test. Basically, the test theorizes that you can tell what kind of student one is by where they draw their pig on the page and what details you give your pig. Of course, this is not very accurate. We just wanted to use this as an icebreaker to get to know our students a little better. After our "test", we had a vocab. lesson. We also read "Pandora's Box" and worked on activities that went with it. Overall, I'd say that today was a really good day. I was excited to get to take most of the control with the second period class, and I feel like I did a decent job (considering it was my VERY first time to teach a class of kids). At the end of the day, my mentor teacher offered me some constructive criticism/praise she'd jotted down while observing me teaching. Here's what she said:
Need to work on:
-Being LOUD. I was nervous and tended to use a quieter tone.
-Varying my tone. Again, because I got nervous I lacked a variety in the tone of my voice. She advised me to work on using different tones in order to hold the students' attention.
Praise:
-She liked the way I taught the vocab. lesson. She said I did a very good job of getting the kids involved.
-She was SUPER impressed (and completely shocked) when I got on to the class for not listening to directions as I was giving them out. I raised my voice and informed them that if they weren't willing to listen to the directions when I gave them then I wasn't going to be willing to answer their questions later. (Ha! Take that 8th graders! hehe)
If I've learned one thing today, it is that there is NEVER a dull moment with jr high students. Here are some of the off the wall things students said/did today:
-Little Precious came in with her momma and was very upset to find that tote bags/backpacks of any kind were not allowed. I informed her that she either needed to leave the bag with me to put in the AP's office or give it to her mom to take home. This was not what Little Precious wanted to hear and she began to tear up. Yes, she got tears in her eyes...over a bag. Now, I love my bags, but this was just foolish. She eventually decided to leave her precious VS PINK bag with her mother to take home....after a 10 minute conversation/crying episode...over a bag.
-We asked the class what the word "optimistic" means and a student eagerly raised his hand to give us the answer. Pleased to have such excitement about answering the question, we prompted him to give us the definition. He proceeded to tell us that it meant "special, like mentally retarded". Confused we asked him to clarify. Once again, he told us it meant "retarded". We realized he'd gotten "optimistic" confused with "autistic".
-During bus duty, I ran into another Little Precious, though she was NOT a bus rider. Instead, she was to walk home. Little Precious needed clarification on which way to walk. Now, I'm no genius, but I'd say walk TOWARDS YOUR HOUSE!
Keep reading for more wackadoodle kiddo stories and the low-down on my journey as a summer intern :)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Teacher Workday
Before I get into the exciting deets of today's Teacher Workday, I'd like to share a piece of the devotional I read today in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.
"I am creating something new in you; a bubbling spring of Joy that spills over into others' lives. Do not mistake this Joy for your own or try to take credit for it in any way. Instead, watch in delight as My spirit flows through you to bless others."
For those of you unfamiliar with Jesus Calling, it is a book of daily devotionals written "from God to you". I thought today's devotional was tailored to where I am in my life today. In general, but even more so after today's workday, I am so filled with a joy and excitement about working with students. I know without a doubt that teaching is what I'm meant to do. As corny as it sounds, I do believe I've found my "calling".
I've been really blessed with an awesome mentor for my time as a summer school intern. I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that she wanted to hear my ideas and listened to any input I gave. I was even more surprised when she told me that I would pretty much be doing the majority of the actual teaching. In fact, I teach my first classroom lesson (ever!) tomorrow afternoon. My mentor will model the day's lesson with the morning group and then she's going to turn the reins over to me with the afternoon group! I have to admit that I'm a little nervous, but at the same time I am SO excited. This is such an amazing opportunity for me as an education major. I can tell already I'm going to get great experience and learn a lot from my wonderful mentor.
Today, my mentor asked me to write tomorrow's objectives on the dry erase board, so we could check that off the list. This is such a simple, "teachery" task that I didn't think anything of it and obediently went over and began to do as she'd asked. After writing the first two objectives on the board it hit me, this is for real. I'm not just playing "teacher" in my mommy's classroom at Travis or Frost Elementary. I'm actually going to be these kiddos' teacher (or intern). Suddenly, the silly, simple task of writing on the dry erase board became much more important and symbolic to me. I'm making my dreams become a reality. I'm growing up. This is for real! Eeek! :)
I can't wait to meet my 23 students tomorrow! I look forward to this journey we'll take together over the next 12 days. With any luck, we will all learn something and look back on it as a good, positive experience!
Like I've already said, I'm keeping this blog for an number of reasons:
#1 I want to share my exciting experiences with everyone and this is a fun way to do that!
#2 These posts serve as a fun and different type of journal that I can look back on (and remind myself why I got myself into this! hehe)
#3 I loved blogging last summer about my semester in Paris and I have to admit I'm having withdrawls...I miss it! (I'm sure ya'll do too....right?!) :)
You may be weary about reading this, because its not about a fabulous month in Paris, France. However, let me just say that if you know anything about 8th graders/almost Freshmen you know I'm going to have A LOT of interesting stories :]
"I am creating something new in you; a bubbling spring of Joy that spills over into others' lives. Do not mistake this Joy for your own or try to take credit for it in any way. Instead, watch in delight as My spirit flows through you to bless others."
For those of you unfamiliar with Jesus Calling, it is a book of daily devotionals written "from God to you". I thought today's devotional was tailored to where I am in my life today. In general, but even more so after today's workday, I am so filled with a joy and excitement about working with students. I know without a doubt that teaching is what I'm meant to do. As corny as it sounds, I do believe I've found my "calling".
I've been really blessed with an awesome mentor for my time as a summer school intern. I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that she wanted to hear my ideas and listened to any input I gave. I was even more surprised when she told me that I would pretty much be doing the majority of the actual teaching. In fact, I teach my first classroom lesson (ever!) tomorrow afternoon. My mentor will model the day's lesson with the morning group and then she's going to turn the reins over to me with the afternoon group! I have to admit that I'm a little nervous, but at the same time I am SO excited. This is such an amazing opportunity for me as an education major. I can tell already I'm going to get great experience and learn a lot from my wonderful mentor.
Today, my mentor asked me to write tomorrow's objectives on the dry erase board, so we could check that off the list. This is such a simple, "teachery" task that I didn't think anything of it and obediently went over and began to do as she'd asked. After writing the first two objectives on the board it hit me, this is for real. I'm not just playing "teacher" in my mommy's classroom at Travis or Frost Elementary. I'm actually going to be these kiddos' teacher (or intern). Suddenly, the silly, simple task of writing on the dry erase board became much more important and symbolic to me. I'm making my dreams become a reality. I'm growing up. This is for real! Eeek! :)
I can't wait to meet my 23 students tomorrow! I look forward to this journey we'll take together over the next 12 days. With any luck, we will all learn something and look back on it as a good, positive experience!
Like I've already said, I'm keeping this blog for an number of reasons:
#1 I want to share my exciting experiences with everyone and this is a fun way to do that!
#2 These posts serve as a fun and different type of journal that I can look back on (and remind myself why I got myself into this! hehe)
#3 I loved blogging last summer about my semester in Paris and I have to admit I'm having withdrawls...I miss it! (I'm sure ya'll do too....right?!) :)
You may be weary about reading this, because its not about a fabulous month in Paris, France. However, let me just say that if you know anything about 8th graders/almost Freshmen you know I'm going to have A LOT of interesting stories :]
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
New Blog Name
Live, Love, Laugh is the new name of this blog about everything Darian. I changed the name, because I feel that these three words describe my life perfectly. At this point in my life, I'm all about living life and taking what gets thrown at me, loving my amazing family, friends, and boyfriend, and laughing as often as possible with all the wonderful people in my life. Stay tuned and Live, Love, and Laugh with me this summer! :]
Sweet Summertime
Happy Summer everyone! :] This summer I will be in Richmond. For now, I'm just hanging around the house and hitting the gym as much as I can (it is bikini season after all). However, next week I will attend training for my summer internship in Katy ISD. I will be co-teaching summer school with a veteran teacher. I've been assigned to teach 8th grade Language Arts. This is such a wonderful opportunity for me, being a Secondary English Education major. I know that I am so blessed to be chosen for this program. I plan on keepin you guys posted on my time in summer school with these kiddos, so stay tuned its gonna be a crazy 3 weeks!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Off To a Good Start
Happy 2011!! There have been many exciting events in past months that I've failed to write about. Where to begin....well first off, I have a boyfriend! He's great!! Really, all that I could ask for and more. It's a fairly new, but I just feel like its going somewhere good. He's romantic and sweet and just perfect (as cheesy as that sounds). For the first time in a very long time I feel like this is more than just a fling, he's different. He met my family over the break and as far as I could tell, they all really liked him. We have plans to start going to church together every Sunday with another couple. This is something that I'm so excited about, because it is important to me that he attends church and is a strong Christian guy. We also are very excited about starting to cook a lot of meals together. We want to save money and eat healthier, and cooking at home is the perfect solution! Plus, how cute is it to cook with your guy!? I'm so excited about this next semester with this great guy :]
I'm absolutely loving my house up here, BIG RED! I have 5 great roommates. We have such a good time all together. I've never felt surrounded by such an amazing group of girls! I am so truly blessed!!!
With all that being said, I don't really have any big New Year's Resolutions. I think this year I just want to try and to be the best Darian I can be. (Again, cheesy, I know) I just really want to be the absolute best I can be, for my friends and for myself. I'm in a really good place in my life right now and I want to continue to stay on this path. I know that everything I have in a blessing and that I can't take anything for granted. I want to enjoy all I have, but more than that, I really want to appreciate everything. I know how in times of blue skies we can forget how fleeting times like these can be. While I have sunny skies, I want to appreciate them and always remember that my sunny sky can turn into a stormy sky in an instant.
SO excited for this New Year!! I know there will be New adventures, New experiences, and New challenges and I welcome them all with open arms! :] Bring it on 2011!!
I'm absolutely loving my house up here, BIG RED! I have 5 great roommates. We have such a good time all together. I've never felt surrounded by such an amazing group of girls! I am so truly blessed!!!
With all that being said, I don't really have any big New Year's Resolutions. I think this year I just want to try and to be the best Darian I can be. (Again, cheesy, I know) I just really want to be the absolute best I can be, for my friends and for myself. I'm in a really good place in my life right now and I want to continue to stay on this path. I know that everything I have in a blessing and that I can't take anything for granted. I want to enjoy all I have, but more than that, I really want to appreciate everything. I know how in times of blue skies we can forget how fleeting times like these can be. While I have sunny skies, I want to appreciate them and always remember that my sunny sky can turn into a stormy sky in an instant.
SO excited for this New Year!! I know there will be New adventures, New experiences, and New challenges and I welcome them all with open arms! :] Bring it on 2011!!
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