January 19th: Being Outside

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blue sky

I must say I had a pretty amazeballs day….  It started off with Max’s first trip to the dog beach with a friend and his dog, breakfast outdoors and a great little walk through an art festival.  THEN I made up for the run I missed yesterday right smack in the middle of the day!  When else in Florida can you run 9 miles at noon and not die of heat exhaustion?!  To be honest, it was so nice out I barely felt myself sweat!  The icing on the cake was an impromptu dinner-date with my dear childhood friend.

Gorgeous blue skies, great company, getting some mileage in, hanging out with your girlfriend, spicy Chinese food AND a frou-frou drink to top it all off?!  What else can a girl ask for?

January 18th: Taking it easy on yourself

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treat yo self

Today, I am grateful for being in-tune with my body and what it needs.  This morning, as all Saturday mornings, I was scheduled to do my long-run with my running group at 6am.  This requires me to wake up even earlier than I do to go to work and be dressed and at the running store with my friends on time.

After what felt like an entire week of fighting the slight beginnings of a cold and feeling exhausted all day, I looked at that alarm clock when it went off at 5:30am and did what I normally HATE myself for doing… I turned it off, rolled over and snuggled with Max (my dog, remember?) in bed for another 3 hours.  The only time I’ve skipped a long run in the past year has been because I was either out of town or truly sick (like that upper respiratory infection I had in December… yuck!).  I don’t like to be wishy washy about my commitments and get really angry at myself for not following through with things I know will be good for me either physically or emotionally/socially.

Its a good thing I did!  I ended up having to spend the entire morning at the mechanic getting something fixed, went shopping then had lunch with my aunt then hung out with some girlfriends on Miami Beach!  I didn’t get home until around midnight and was exhausted… add running 9 miles to that at the break of dawn and I think I might have finally gotten the cold I was fighting all week.

Life is good when we treat ourselves good (well) 🙂

January 17th: Moms

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mom quote

Today, I struggled to help children at the school where I work who recently and lost their mother.  As I sat with them in my office, I thought about my relationship with my own mother and where I would be without her.  She drives me CRAZY… but I am thankful to have her in my life.  In fact, I am doubly lucky because I also have an amazing step-mom who loves me dearly.  And, although she was not yet part of my life while I was growing up, I feel as though I’ve known her forever.

Mothers and maternal figures are so important to our development as children and our continued growth as adults.  Yes, they may be opinionated, over-bearing, controlling, hormonal and frequently exhibit behaviors very similar to the symptoms of bipolar disorder but, …  we should cherish every moment we have with them here on earth.

January 16th: Laughter

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laughter 2

I’ve just been cracking up all day about random stuff.  Silly laughs with some co-workers over lunch, random sarcastic comments from others in the hallway, funny things that I read on Facebook or saw on TV at the doctor’s office waiting room this afternoon, conversations with friends and my sister.

When I think about people who have made me laugh the most in my life, I think about my friend Alfredo and my Aunt Georgette.  Alfredo told me that when I left the hospital we used to work at together things weren’t the same.  “Its not as fun being funny if no one is here to laugh about it as willingly as you are.”  On my last day working there, another one of our co-workers jokingly asked if I could please record my laugh before I left.  I guess the hallway outside the office we shared is not half as loud without the sound of me cracking up hysterically from inside.

My Aunt Georgette is the silliest, goofiest, most random person I know.  Her “Spanglish-isms” and hysterical dancing and general craziness has sent me into hysterics since I was a kid… and it doesn’t get old.  Spending time with her is like breathing life back into me and I love her for it.

I guess my point is this: Nothing is better than a good laughing fit and no one is dearer than a friend or family member that can make you laugh ’till you cry.  🙂

laugh

Kale Soup for “chilly” Florida winter nights

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soup no spoon

Its cold out again tonight… and when I say “cold”, I mean its below 50 degrees.  I realize that this is by no means cold for the rest of the country but it is for us (me)!

A friend of mine has been bringing in a really yummy-looking cabbage soup to work this week for lunch.  It looked hardy and chock full of veggies and since I’ve never met a vegetable I didn’t like, I thought I’d give her recipe it a try.  I didn’t have any cabbage in the house but did have half a bag of kale in the freezer so decided to change it up.  I also went kinda nuts emptying out whatever veggies I had in the fridge and bought a few more at the grocery store before getting home from work.  Here’s what I did:

Ingredients:

  • 2, 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes (I used the “zesty jalapeño” flavor but plain is good too)
  • 1, 28 oz can of tomato puree
  • 1 beef bouillon cube
  • 1 envelope of powdered onion soup
  • 1 onion
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 4 stalks of celery
  • 3 carrots
  • 3 zucchini
  • 1 pint of mushrooms
  • quarter of a “calabaza” or yellow squash of choice
  • 1/2 large bag of kale

pot of vegie soup

Directions:

  1. pour contents of all canned tomatoes (both diced and puree) into a large stock pot and fill with about 8 – 10 cups of water.
  2. Add bouillon cube and onion soup envelope
  3. add chopped veggies
  4. Simmer until tender

Done!!  Soooo good and even better for you!!! Kale is a super food full of iron and tomatoes are rich in vitamin C and anti-oxidants.  Enjoy!

January 15th: Fun projects!

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kindness quilt patches

Today, I am grateful for the amazing activity I got to engage my students in!

Part of my role as the school’s guidance counselor is create activities that promote character education.  Our school district has assigned a character trait for each month of the school year so I have created activities and fun projects that correspond to these traits.

January’s character trait is “Kindness”.  I decided that it would be great to have the students use fabric markers to decorate patches of fabric by writing or drawing what kindness meant to them.  I will be piecing these patches together and creating a “Kindness Quilt” for display at the end of the month’s Student of the Month ceremony.

Above are just 4 of the 50+ patches that were created today by the students.  I will be sewing the quilt and posting more pictures and ideas as I work on it in the Craft (Peace) section of the blog!

January 14th: Run!

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running-cheaper-than-therapy-square

Today I am thankful that, despite my crazy schedule and exhaustion, I made myself get out there and RUN.

I was EXHAUSTED all day… When I got up in the morning, I kinda phoned it in and didn’t put on any eye liner and my hair looked sort of like I had styled it with an egg beater.  One of my co-workers took a look at me and asked if I was sick… (Jeez! Do I look THAT bad?!…. Unfortunately, “yes”)  The last thing I wanted to do was do exercise when I got home but I knew it would be the best thing for me.  Besides, I have a race in a few weeks and need to be ready!

Before I had too much time to think about it, I got in my running clothes and headed out for my usual 3 mile loop.  Surprisingly, I was flying!  It was the fastest week-night run I’ve done in a long while and the best part was that I felt as though it had brought the life back into me!  I was more awake, alert energized and ready to go.

Best type of therapy. (And that says a lot coming from a therapist! :))

 

January 13th: Old Friends and New

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old friends

Today, I am exhausted… but I am incredibly thankful that I am exhausted because its the result of the amazing few days I’ve had.  This weekend, I reconnected with friends that have stood by me through thick and thin and have stayed connected to me through phone and social media.  I was finally able to reconnect with them in person and spend some quality time after a year of not seeing each other!  You know a true friend when you can spend so much time apart and it feels like just yesterday when you see each other once again.

I am also thankful that on Sunday and Monday I was able to spend time with newer friends and met new people!  My universe is expanding and I feel so thankful that I am surrounded by so many amazing souls.

Happy girl ❤

Bodacious Bulletin Boards!

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This is only my second year working at a school and I must say that there are aspects of it that make it an ideal career move for me. I love the simplicity and affection of the children, I love the schedule, I love to feel that I’m making an impact in people’s lives and I LOVE the creativity it allows.

When the principal put me in charge of the bulletin board by the front office last year, I semi-panicked. I’d never created a bulletin board before and had no idea where to begin. I think the most difficult thing for me to master was proportion. Once I grasped the space I was working with and the size images I needed to create for it, I have gone nuts with all sorts of fun sayings and themes.

Here are some fun ones I made last year for Honor Roll each quarter. I used the seasons for inspiration.

This year, I’ve decided to change the bulletin more frequently, not just after report cards are issued. Here’s one I made welcoming kids back to school at the beginning of the year:

Welcome Back

One for September which is “National Attendance Awareness Month”:

Attendance Awareness

And my latest creation for October which is when we celebrate “Red Ribbon Week”:

Red Ribbon Week

Fun, huh? What kinds of fun projects do you do at your work? If you’re a teacher or work at a school in any capacity, please share your bulletin board pictures!! I love ‘em!

January 12th: Give it More! (Dale Mas!)

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bicycle

The weather was gorgeous today so I’m really happy I got to spend most of my time outdoors supporting a friend who was participating in a mountain biking race at a local park.  There were lots of families there, playing with balls, riding bikes, barbecuing and just enjoying how amazing it was out, like I was.

At one point I stepped away from the event and walked through a small portion of the park to find a restroom.  On one of the paths on my way over there, I saw a mother pushing the back of her daughter’s bike.  The little girl was whining and crying, obviously freaked out that her mom would let go of the bike and she would fall.  Her mother got a little annoyed by how whiny she was being and snapped at her in Spanish “Dale! Dale mas.  La vida es como la bicicleta.  Cuando crees que vas a caer, le tienes que dar mas.” Translation:  “Come on!  Give it more.  (pedal harder)  Life is like a bicycle.  When you think you’re going to fall, you’ve got to give it more.”  

It obviously had no impact on the 6-7 year old kid but, I sure as hell liked it 🙂