See ya Later, Cuddle Time

The Beard has a myriad of skills. I've documented some of them here. Some he's acquired in the Boy Scouts. Some on his mission. Some from varied education and vocational experiences.

First he was going to be a pilot.

Then he was going to be a professor of religion or seminary teacher.

Then he was going to open a Rita's Italian Ice in St. George with his favorite mission companion. {Fun Fact: their mission president beat them to the punch and opened the first Utah Rita's in Midvale a few weeks ago! This is an old photo from when we went to the Grand Opening. Go try it. It will change your life.}

Then he was working on a history degree, planning on going to law school afterwards.

Then he did BYU's Media Music program for a while.

But none of these were his THING. 

Thankfully it wasn't that he was lazy or stupid - he's so smart and could do ANYTHING, and has tried tons of options. It was just that he honestly didn't know what to do. Did that make us feel better? NOOOOOOOO! Just kidding. It did. A little.

But now we can laugh and laugh because HE FIGURED IT OUT. The Beard's favorite thing to say is "I'm realllllllly good at the internet." And he super is. He's always been so interested in all things technology, and he's thought about doing that for a long, long time. His last two jobs have been SEO and he liked it, but knew he wanted to do something more challenging.

Finally, this last spring he came across these boot camps that teach developers how to code in Ruby (don't ask me what it is or what it does, all I know is it's a coding language that Twitter and other cool, modern websites are built with). They are intensive 3-4 month programs for 8+ hours a day, and the closest one was in San Francisco. He started preparing and we started planning for it, thinking he'd apply this fall and who knows after that. I didn't love the idea of sending my husband to San Fran for months with a bunch of computer nerds.

The DevPoint Labs Development Bootcamp just fell right into his lap. And by that I mean we'd been praying for insight and guidance and Heavenly Father answers prayers and has a plan for us. Several big companies in Utah teamed up to start a bootcamp just like the ones in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and other big cities, aimed at training developers in the new coding languages that tech companies DESPERATELY need.They have multiple companies lined up to hire people right out of this program, including Zappos. Which would mean discounted shopping for me. Obvs I'm excited about that. He's excited too - spending lots of time looking at jobs in St. George and Phoenix, practicing coding nonstop and networking with his program peeps. You can read The Beard's Student Spotlight for the program here.

I could bore you with the details of how every tiny thing fell into place - the meetings, the random connections he had in the industry, paying for the program, getting the hours off at work he needs to go to this program (afternoons/evenings until 8 pm EVERY NIGHT. Yikes.), even the people who are already lining up interviews with him for when he completes the program in December. Suffice it to say that I've never seen him more sure of and excited about anything in his life, except maybe the release of The Hobbit last winter.  This is IT, you guys.

He starts today, and I couldn't be more proud of him. He's going to work almost full time at his job, go to class until 8 each night and most of the day on Saturdays, AND deal with crazy little me on his off hours. Here comes 2.5 months of super intensity! That means a lot less of this:

So anyone who wants to be my gym/cupcake/library/Netflix/girls night buddy to fill those now husbandless hours - I'm taking applications at dholdy{at}gmail{dot}com. I won't make you cuddle with me and Glen Coco unless you want to.

My Douchebag Nose and Day 1/180

I made it. At least until today. Here's how the first day went:

9 pm - Get in a fight with The Beard over something stupid right before bed, the night before my first day of school because that's maturity!  #marriage

10 pm - Go to bed grumbling

11 pm - Actually put down my phone after reading every article on Buzzfeed

12 pm - 4:30 am - Have roughly 7 stress dreams about missing Mitch's call, sleeping through school, rampaging gorillas, the usual. Approximate sleep time = 1 hour.

4:30-5:30 am - Lie awake cuddling Glen Coco and trying to get the panic in my chest to subside, even like 2%

5:30 am - Elder Budge calls from the airport! We got to talk to him for almost 45 minutes until he boarded the plane and the stewardesses made everyone hang up. It was awesome. He even bore his testimony to us in Japanese!

6:30 am - Sneeze and burn my hand while curling my hair. Glen Coco licks me furiously, gravely concerned. Thanks, nose. I couldn't have done it without you.

 7:05 am - Dance my way out the door and into my silent classroom for some awkward outfit photos

Top: Victoria's Secret, Skirt: Cozy, Heels: Forever Young Shoes, Belt: F21

 

7:50 am - Bell Rings. It begins. Panic turns to adrenaline which turns to volume in my voice and snapping in my fingers.

 First Day Activity - I ask the kids for some input about the kind of class they want, they write their thoughts on stickies and put them on the board for us to talk about

2:50 pm - Bell Rings. I finally take a breath. And several ibuprofen.

3:30 pm - I stumble into my apartment, change into sweats and notice my numb toes have returned. Curse of the heels. But they're just so cute!

5:00 pm - The Beard comes home and makes me homemade pasta because he's THAT cool.

Here I am, several days later, toes still numb, burn still glaring, throat strained and still smiling. Three days down, 177 to go. :)

Resistance is Futile. Pinterest is Inspirational.

Well here it is! I'm at school waiting for my kids to pour into my room for the first time. I love fresh starts. I love setting goals. I love To-Do lists. I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest, listening to some of my favorite tunes, writing in my journal and making categorized lists of goals, ideas, worries and task items. I found several of these beauties on Pinterest that have stuck with me lately. I suppose this constitutes my list of goals for this school year.

My thoughts yesterday as I thought about meeting all 200 of my new "kids" Monday morning. Love them already. And I want to hold on to that love, rather than get sick of them, because my love for them DOES make a difference.

My thoughts today as I wake up early, meet 200 of my kids, go over my policies 6x in a row and come home with toes numb from pacing in heels all day.

For tomorrow and the next day and the next - when things get hard (TWSS) and I'm tired and sick and feel like I'm never gonna make a difference.

My Motto for this year - gonna pin this by my desk and on my mirror because it's what I want - to be a legend.

The best piece of overall life advice for school year multitasking/type-A/control freak me - leaving my phone in the car and appreciating nature as we camped with our best friends this weekend was a nice reminder of the beauty of just LIVING.

Basically I want to live my life in bold. Be a more tenacious and vivacious teacher. Expect more, do more. Be a more accomplished learner and student in grad school, my job and life in general. Have a life every day outside of school. Be healthier and have balance in my life. Have fun with my job every day! I only have 180 days with these kids and I want each of those to mean something to each of us. 

Alright, Sunset Ridge Middle School. Let's do this.

Back to School Playlist

Today is the last "free" day of working in my classroom! During these three days, I've had faculty meetings, department meetings, a couple of PTA-provided meals, front office paperwork, and the remaining time is mine in my room to decorate and plan lessons. That means lots of Pandora, Grooveshark and Netflix Office Episodes to keep me motivated and awake.

Here are my latest tunes keeping me sane for your audio enjoyment:



Pompeii - Bastille
Great song to sing along to with a fake accent and punch-dance in the car.



White Nights - Oh Land
I skip around my room hanging stuff to this song. 



Gold - Britt Nicole
This is cheesy but the first time I heard this song on the radio I thought "Man. I wish all my kids knew that." It's a song that gets me motivated to love and help these little psychos.



1940 (AmpLive Remix) - The Submarines
The interesting layered sounds of this song just get me!

Pandora Station - The Gorillaz.
These songs are fast-moving and fun - my go to mix for a grinding 2 hour lesson planning session. 



Album - Marina & the Diamonds - Electra Heart. I've had this album on repeat for weeks. The Beard HATES IT. But I love the upbeat dance tempo and clever lyrics. Great for high-activity work.

What are you guys listening to? What should I add to this list? I'm always looking for new tunes to blast in my classroom (The Beard can't grumble at me there!!).

Wish me luck - Monday is our first day of school!

Back To School Shopping List

Business Time - Our Back To School Winner is Victoria!!! Please email me at dholdy{at}gmail{dot}com so we can get it to you! :)

I'm back in meetings today!! I've really missed dressing up. Sure, wearing nothing but yoga pants and Star Wars t-shirts for 3 weeks in a row is pretty awesome. But my poor closet is in neglect. I'm really excited to get back to planning my outfits and shaking things up. These little punks see me 180 days, nearly in a row, so it's awesome for stretching your wardrobe. Will they care if I wear the same thing twice? No. But I WILL! I try hard to not be an "outfit-repeater." This means I have to look for pieces that are easily re-mixable. And appropriate for a junior high teacher, obvs.

Lately, any shopping I'm doing is focused around pieces that will build my "professional" wardrobe. For example, I think I might try the boyfriend jean/graphic tee/statement jewels look, but it's not at the top of my list because it isn't something I can wear to school. I'm still working on my back to school shopping list, but I thought I'd share what I'm going for in my wardrobe this year:

A-Line Skirts - I bought two (I highly recommend the Midi from ASOS) and I seriously might buy 10 more. They are awesome. Comfy, professional and flattering to those of us with "thunder thighs." I prefer the term "thick-a-licious thighs" but probably no one else does.

Dressing up Maxis - I love maxis. So much. You all know this. Beachy prints and t-shirts don't dress them up enough for school, however. I bought a printed skinny belt 3-pack at Forever 21 a few months ago and I got a couple new button-downs so I can recreate looks like these:

Fun Dress Pants - Sure, I have the classic black, but I broke out this time and got a fancy red flare dress pant. Red is my favorite color and it's basically a neutral in my wardrobe of blacks and grays so I'm really excited about finding new combos.

Colored Blazers - I have a bit of a blazer problem. Well, no. I actually just have a bit of a SPACE problem. Blazers are amazing for teachers, throw them on over almost anything and BAM you're done. I have every neutral color and a red, but what I've really been fantasizing about is the perfect hot pink blazer. On my list since about May.

Printed Pencils - My stretchy striped pencil from Old Navy is worn almost every week. Love it. I also got a floral pencil skirt from Gap and an aztec-print from Urban Outfitters. Perfect for print-mixing!

{All images via Pinterest}

For those of you who have to dress up for your jobs - what do you guys wear? Where are your favorite places to shop for professional attire?

School is 4 Fools Look at Meeeeeeee

Not only am I going back to school, but I'm also going back to school. If you're confused, you're not alone. I don't really refer to my job as "work" but usually as "school" since I'm a teacher. So I'm going back to "work" school, but I'm also going back to "school" school.

**Also don't forget about the Back to School Giveaway! Ends today!**

I found out on Friday that I've been officially accepted and enrolled at Western Governor's University for my Masters of Education starting September 1st! It was touch and go there for a while because I definitely said

"Ok thanks! Love you byeeeee!"

at the end of my phone interview, but they were cool with it anyway. For the record, I say that to everyone on the phone when I hang up. It was not intended to be brown-nosing. Sorry, Clover.

Yeah, my admissions adviser's name is Clover. Haven't heard that one before. I like to picture a little jolly leprechaun helping me improve my future, hiding a pot of gold under her desk in a bright green cubicle.

This guy surprised me with dinner and a movie (always my favorite) to celebrate!

Ultra Quick Movie Review: The Way Way Back is worth a redbox for sure. But I hate seeing my idol - Steve Carrell - as a doosh. :(

So Wednesday I go back to "work" school for teacher meetings, a week from today all my new kids show up for the first day back, September 1st I go back to "school" school to start my Masters program and September 16 The Beard starts his web development program downtown and I'll basically never see him again until Christmas (more coming on this - he's making me be secretive).

We're loading up on string cheese, gushers, office supplies and spiral bound notebooks over here. I love back to school shopping. I think I have 4 planners now.

I don't think my blog will suffer. In fact, my blog posts will probably increase because I'll be on my computer even more and looking for stuff to distract me/procrastinate my homework with. Good news, right?

Back to School Giveaway!

 One week from today I'm officially going "Back to School." We spend a few days in meetings, trainings and working in our classrooms before school starts on Monday the 26th. I'm pretty excited about this new year! It's gonna be nice to finally NOT be the new kid. I still have to set up a new room and plan several weeks of lessons, but I'm much more comfortable. I'm basically a pro now. That's right. Just try to snapchat me, you little punks.

In honor of back to school, I'm hosting a giveway with my teacher friend Tayler and a cute DIY blogger - Designs by Tiffany. I'd love to have the "Wake Up And Be Awesome" print in my classroom to help with those rough mornings with sleepy teenagers. :) The giveaway starts today and will run for one week!

Check out her blog here and her cute etsy store here for more adorable prints and make sure you enter to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Back to School

I haven't posted in 2 weeks, so you might have guessed that school is in full swing. Starting last week, I was at the school every day working on all kinds of stuff, going to meetings, and drinking lots and lots of caffeine. Turns out if you spend your whole summer sleeping as late as you want, being at school at 7:20 am is pretty rough.

This first week is sort of killing me. I'm out of "teacher shape." But it's so fun to be back! It's weird how quick you can fall back into teacher mode.

First day of school outfit! Yes I planned this days in advance, just like 2nd grade. I miss you Tweety Bird backpack.

I love my new heels, and wore them the entire first day. And by wore them I mean I stood, paced and ran all over the school in them. At the end of the day I didn't have blisters, but my dogs were barking and ONE OF MY TOES WAS NUMB. And it hasn't gone away! The interwebs says it's normal and it's just temporary nerve damage. So I guess I just get used to it for now? WTF

I came home to a clean house, warm delicious homemade dinner (by the Beard) and a beautiful new bamboo plant, which I talk about buying every time we go to Harmon's. Ryan's kindness healed my foot! He didn't even get mad when I fell asleep on him several times. What a guy.

Starting new, I just keep thinking of last year. I learned so much last year, and I keep making mental notes of all the things I would like to do differently. *Kind of long. Probs only teachers will fully understand this. But it applies to life.*

1. Be more serious. Last year it was hard to not feel like an intern. It was hard to take myself as a teacher seriously, because I felt that many people in the staff and administration weren't taking me seriously. Like I was just a cheap placeholder. As long as I wasn't causing problems or making waves, they could just forget about me. Teaching is a profession, and one we should take pride in. We get to change lives and be someone vitally important in these  teen's lives. It means dressing more professionally (even though I was overdressed compared to much of the staff last year), paying real attention in my meetings and stepping up to help where I can in the school.
2. Be on time. It's so easy to roll in a little late, especially as the year goes on. I don't clock in. No one is waiting at my door. Yet, the days when I am on time run much more smoothly. Not to mentions it is a measure of honesty and integrity that I can improve upon. 
3. Plan in advance. I hate to admit this, but I don't think I'm alone in "flying by the seat of my pants" many days. It wasn't uncommon to have no idea what we were doing next week, not to mention days that I didn't even read through the PowerPoint for the following day. I was so tired and overwhelmed sometimes, but in reality it only made me more stressed and exhausted to feel unprepared and naive. I've never been a formal lesson planner, but this year I'm thinking out my agenda for each day and outlining it briefly. I already feel more confident about it. 
4. Spend more time with my students. The best memories from last year were times that I was interacting with my students, even if it wasn't directly related to the curriculum. I want to meet my kids at the door - it makes a huge difference. I want to ask them about themselves and follow up with what's going on in their lives. I want them to feel comfortable with me (not in a friend way, don't misunderstand me), and to know that I value them.
5. Emphasize positivity. Last year I figured this out halfway through the year. I had the choice of spending another semester stressing about assignments, tests and notes, or I could have fun teaching. And I did! I reinforced my important rules, and then let everything else go. We started having a great time learning, and I think the kids appreciated it even more than I did. 
6. Be a better example. This school is very different than Mapleton Junior High. A large section of the staff and student body are nonmembers, and it really made me examine my conduct. Do I want to be one of those Mormons that reinforces their views of bigoted hypocrites? No! I want to be a good person, a great teacher and a fun friend that is also a Latter-day Saint. 
7. Take care of myself. Last year I would wait until I was sick to sufficiently hydrate and sleep. I wasn't super vigilant about hand sanitizer. I would veg on the couch when I was tired after school, instead of making myself exercise. I drank WAY too much DDP. I'm trying to set a healthier pattern. I've even gone to the gym on my way home after school! (It helps that I get off at 3:30 and the Beard works till 10)

To my new teacher and prospective teacher friends - don't get frustrated because your idealistic view isn't materializing. It won't for a while. And don't get bogged down in the administrative logistical details of daily teacher life. Take some time to remember why you are doing this and what you (and the kids) will remember in 5 years. I'm going to strive to remember our district motto:

Every child, everyday.