Welp, one of my best friends has just left for a new adventure in Alberta! I'm incredibly happy for her, but also sad (obviously!).
We've gone to elementary, high school and university together, so here's some gems I've found from those times!
In honour of her departure a few of us got together for some apple juice and delicious lasagna. Nothing makes me happier than getting together with some good friends. Too bad it was a rather depressing occasion, for the record I only cried once.
I'm sure she'll do great in Alberta, and I'm so happy to call her one of my best friends and now bridesmaids... but's that's another post.
Call me crazy, but I absolutely love back to school time! This really validates my choice to become a teacher. Although, when I'm the one doing the teach I have a feeling I might not enjoy it that much.... But until then I'll enjoy the crap out of new binders and making lunches.
This year I'm going to be commuting to school and living and my parents house, nothing like saving a few (hundred) bucks a month. This being said, back to school this year is a little more... intense. I'll be leaving my house early every morning, driving an hour, and coming back later that night. That means I can't forget things, I can't be last minute, I better pack enough food and make sure I have breakfast... you get the idea. I'll be heading into the faculty of education so my time will be split between university classes, and high school placements..
So, here's some of my student/teacher must haves and tips for the academic year!
You might have to pee every hour, but if you're allowed to leave class this often do your best to drink tons of water and tea. I always bring a giant reusable water bottle that I can refill, and my favourite tea mug for a morning green tea pick me up. This year I'm using a 32 oz. pull top bottle from Victoria's Secret PINK. I've also still got my favourite Teavana Contour Tumbler, I shit you not it will keep your tea hot for hours! Seriously, I need to leave the top off to let it cool down so I can actually drink the contents.
Get a planner and stay organized! I chose one small enough to fit in my purse, but size doesn't matter. It's what's on the inside that counts. I prefer to have a monthly calendar and a section for everyday. This allows me to see the whole month at a glance, as well as plan my days out. Colour code everything! I have so many highlighters and tabs it's ridiculous, but I love it. I actually went out and bought new markers just so all my classes could have their own colour for coding (I'm a little obsessed). I also use iCal on my computer to write down all my classes, under the "notes" section I write what I have to complete for each class. I use "all-day events" to mark any big projects, tests, essays, or quizzes I might have due so they stand out. Do I even need to mention that it's obviously colour coded to match my markers? I bought my planner at Target, other good options are Chapters/Indigo and Staples.
Feed your brain, and your belly! Make good food choices. This can be one of the hardest parts of being on campus for long periods. I mean, Pizza Pizza is just two steps away and they have a buy one get one free deal this week.... and all semester. Don't give in! Pack lots of healthy snacks and meals that you enjoy eating and will look forward to. In the long run your body and more importantly your brain will thank you for giving it the nourishment it needs to make you look and feel good. I'm hoping to keep you posted on some of the lunch ideas I come up with during the year. But until then, here are some of the sites that I go to for inspiration. 100 days of real food is a mom trying to feed her family good, clean food. She posts tons of her girls lunches! Another site that has tons of recipes is undressed skeleton, she has hundreds of meal and snack ideas. More recently she's moved on to offering clean recipes, which is great! When in doubt I think leftovers make the best lunches though. I just ordered these EasyLunches Bento Boxes from Amazon and am beyond excited to try them! Another staple of my lunches are Annie's Cheddar Bunnies and Gummy snacks. They're a great little treat, are easy to grab on the go and don't have buckets of chemicals in them.
Oh ya, one more thing, maybe the most important food tip, EAT BREAKFAST. Please, just do it. I'll come at you later with what I've been doing for quick on the go breakfasts.
Most of all, enjoy it! I always hear people saying high school/college was the best time of their lives... I've also heard the opposite. Don't fixate yourself on the though that you should be having like, the best time ever... enjoy what's in front of you and make yourself happy!
PS - I'm just going to pretend I never left the blogesphere, even though it's been months... okay, all summer, since I've posted. Now that I'm starting a new routine I'm hoping to include blogging into the mix again! I've missed it.
Oh, wait, I have a blog? No, I haven't forgotten. I'll just be honest and say I got real lazy folks. So what's happened in the last month? Well, I moved back home with my parents, I worked as a supply teacher, photographed my sister's prom, and most recently I'm working as a historical interpreter at theMilner Heritage House in Chatham. I'll be working full time at the Milner house for the rest of the summer! The job is amazing, I get to pretend I'm from 1905 and show people around a historical home.
There's only one downside, I have to pack a lunch. I haven't packed a lunch since high school, and even then I would grab a Michelina's pasta dish from the freezer and run out the door. As delicious as Michelina's are, they don't exactly top the health scale and since I've started trying to eat fresh and healthy foods they're not as tasty as something I could make myself.
While grocery shopping for some snacks I could grab and go with I came across Dole's Double Dark Chocolate Bites. Uh, YUM. They're new and they have no artificial preservatives and are made with real chocolate. I loved the taste, but the fact that brown sugar was the third ingredient might have something to do with my love affair. After eating this bites of goodness on a daily basis and dissecting them as I ate I decided, I can make these myself... but healthier. So began the creation of my first recipe! They're not as sweet as the original Dole version, but I still think they're delicious. Bonus, no added sugar! So without further ado, here's my recipes for healthy dark chocolate "brownie" bites.
Ingredients
1/2 cup mixed nuts
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup ground flax
2 tsp cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1/8-1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350
Chop the nuts until they're as small as you'd like, I used a slap chop and it worked great.
Mash (I used my mixer) banana until smooth, add vanilla and honey and mix.
In a separate bowl combine the chopped nuts, oats, flax, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Last, but not least add the chocolate chips and mix. Place bites in a greased mini muffin tin and bake 10-12 minutes Drizzle with some extra chocolate for looks and enjoy!
Enjoy these bits of deliciousness and don't feel guilty about eating them! Stay tuned for some more lunch friendly recipes and updates about my summer-time life.
It's funny, I had a similar conversation with my dad today. He's a financial advisor and was sharing with me how he believes that we should be teaching students budgeting and money skills. School is to teach kids what they need to know to live and work, right? I spend money almost everyday. At some point in everyone's life they will have to spend money and budget, but are we taught how? Unless our parents show us, then as far as I know school doesn't teach this valuable life skill. This is only one skill that we fail to teach students. Personally, I think the school system is failing at reaching it's full potential to truly educate students.
These two spoken word videos share the same general idea. Watch the whole thing, they're simply amazing and deal with a huge epidemic in our education system. Sure, we're educating more people. But, are we teaching them what they need to know?
Speak up, speak out we can't fix a problem if we don't talk about it.
Don't find sulibreezy to be a credible source, what about Albert Einstein?
Today is a sad day, mother nature seems to agree and gave us cold and rainy weather to match. It's officially the last school day of my undergrad! On Monday I had my last DRED class with my year, and last night I TA-ed my last DRED class. I held it in, but so you're all aware I was bursting on the inside! I try to live in the moment as much as I can and decided to not think about how sad I'll be, but just to let it be because all good things must come to an end; this is one of my saddest ends. Of course, I'm happy to be done school but my university experience ended up being more than just school.
You know how there's those days you never forget? Those, moments of impact (I watched the Vow this week...) that change the course of your life, getting in to DRED was one of those moments.
I was working on a fashion show at my high school, choreographing a group of teachers, when I got a call from the office saying my dad was on the phone. We were in the gym, so I went to the gym teacher's office and picked up the phone to hear my dad tell me that the University of Windsor had called and they wanted me to call them back! I got the number and hung up on my dad, promising to call him back as soon as I could. I dialled the number for the University and I waited until who I now know as Gail answered and told me that I had been accepted into the Drama in Education & Community programme. Some screaming and some crying went on until I heard Gail say again "So, do you accept?", of course I said yes and the rest is history! Speaking of history, had I not gotten into DRED that's the programme I would have went into... what was I ever thinking!
It's not easy to walk into a class and say whole heartedly that I like everyone there. Yes, sometimes some people annoy me, or I'd rather not work with someone (I'm only human!). But, I can wholeheartedly say that there is something I cherish about each and every member of my DRED class, you're all amazing.
As we all move on to bigger and greater things we'll take a little bit of each other and a lot of DRED with us. This programme taught us to be teachers, educators, community leaders, critical thinkers, story tellers, designers, artists, and even clowns. But, more importantly it taught us about ourselves and how to be the best person we can be. By learning about our talents and strengths, DRED gave us the ability to master them so they can be used to help others. No matter where we take our degree I believe that fundamental ideal of helping others is at the core of us, and is ultimately what brings us all together... we can't help but help each other! I've spent the last four years with 20-something people, of course we lost a few along the way, and in this final year gained a few more amazing additions to our class. I'll never forget a single one of you and I'll never forget some of the amazing moments we've had....
"Cheating is a developmental milestone!"
Getting way too into role drama and hiding under boxes and refusing to come out as we devised a plan to repopulate the earth in case of human extinction...
"DRED seshes"
Pedagogy & Praxis (duh)
4th year Tina was much more loved than 2nd year Tina (sorry!)
Setting fires in class, on purpose.
Having my water break on stage
Being rocks, or trees, or keys, or waterfalls, or cats, or 2nd graders (or was it 2 year olds??), or principals, or psychiatric patients, or cats (yes, again), or anything really because the first rule of improv is to always say yes.
"Let's eat movies and watch popcorn!!"
We've been serenaded by a british clown who tells the dirtiest jokes
Making digital narratives
We've sat on mats (that later evolved into chairs for some)
staying up all night writing logs
Having little to no guidelines, but making a presentation anyway
The Catalina wine mixer
We've rolled and writhed around on wood floors
Tequila birthdays
We know how long a Gail paper should be, say it with me: As long as it needs to be.
We've had teaching partners that have turned into best friends
We've had sushi dates and celebrated birthdays together
We've had pot lucks & pre-drinks
We've had the time of our lives.
DRED class of 2013, It's been a slice, I'll always miss you and good luck with the rest of your lives!!
I'll leave you with this gem of a song by Jake & Seth, makes me tear up every time...
Ah, yes, Monday again. Luckily, it's the last week of classes! The last week of my entire undergrad, WHAT?! I'm excited and a little said. I've got my last DRED class today, this is the 20 something people I've been in class with all 4 years at the University of Windsor, I'm pretty sad to be leaving them. But, I don't want to be upset so if you're dreading Monday like I am here's a little pick me up! I laughed so hard at this, mostly because I know it's very likely it'll happen to me and Jeff.... things rarely go perfectly for us and that's what makes it fun!
