Thankful Thursday

Things I am thankful for, big and small:

1.  Friendship, red apple sangria, and new opportunities

2.  Appreciative words from parents out of car windows and in sneaky little student notes on my desk

3.  Adorable crocodile tears over 7 year old logic gone wrong

4.  Dips, laughs, and jewels in my very near future

5.  A much needed bang trim squeezed in for tomorrow

6.  Excedrin migraine and no alarm being set 

Finds

A couple of my latest obsessions that I thought I would share.  I promise I am not getting paid to endorse either of these.  I just adore them.  If I was Oprah you would all go home with them in a goodie basket after my next show.

 MORROCANOIL Hair Products
I am in love with this stuff in an I-never-knew-it-could-be-so-good kind of way.  

Big disclaimer here...I don't spend a lot on hair products ever.  They have never seemed to make a difference and are obnoxiously priced.  I am a Garnier or Sauve lady usually.  But, my hair stylist tried the Morrocan oil shampoo and conditioner on my hair, and I consequently spent way too much at the salon that night because I needed to have it.  It dramatically changes the texture of my hair even without styling.  My mane is extremely thick and coarse. (I owe it to what I believe to be my secret Samoan heritage, but that is another story.) I have a very hard time getting it smooth, soft, or shiny.  It ends up fro-ing and frizzing out big time when I leave it down.  No more.  I have the shampoo, the conditioner and the oil treatment.  If you have thick, coarse hair or just dry, damaged hair it will be worth every salon-priced penny.

2.  Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat
I am a DIY nails kind of girl.  I have been doing my own nails with a religious devotion since middle school, so I have tried quite a few top coats in my day.  This one blows them all out of the water.  My sister told me about this one, and I could kiss her for it!  It truly is quick dry but without the easy peel/flake factor you sometimes get with other quick dry nail polishes.  It also sets the color underneath beautifully, even over multiple coats.  I am telling you, I have done my nails with this stuff 10 minutes before bed, gone to bed and I still wake up the next morning with a smudge-free, shiny manicure that last 3 or 4 days longer than usual.  I will never use another top coat! 

Thankful Thursday

Gratitude is perspective.  It is myself in the rearview mirror while we're driving through the mountains.  It forces me to reflect, and immediately shows me just how small I am, and just how much there is around me.

Along those lines, here is a list of things I am thankful for right this minute...

1.  Chocolate covered pretzels - The genius of this flavor combination never ceases to amaze me.

2.  2 canine companions that define endless entertainment and unconditional love

3.  Work teammates that buy us a round of Monster Energy on our lunch break

4.  Hummingbirds, hibiscus, and marigolds in March

5.  Siblings who I would actually choose to hang out with if we met under other circumstances

6.  Cold drinking water and ice out of my refrigerator on demand

7.  Hot, clean water out of my choice of a shower, tub, or sink on demand

(We do remember that #6 and #7 are not a given in many parts of the world, right?)

8.  A husband who comes home from a work trip tomorrow night and gives me the world every day!

Wordless Wednesday

Resignation Letter

"We must be willing to give up the life we've planned, so we can live the life that's waiting for us."-Joseph Campell
Today I wrote a resignation letter.  I will not be teaching next year.  For the first time in 13 years I will neither be teaching nor pursuing teaching.  While being an educator is a huge part of who I am and what I had planned for myself, I have other parts.  Like the writer part who so desperately wants to have the energy to type a coherent sentence at the end of the day.  Like the photographer part who wants the space to learn more about what she seems to have a good eye for. Like the wife part who wants to have some patience and nurturing left for her husband at the end of the day, and potential parts...mother, entrepeneur, volunteer.  I want time and space and air to do those things.  
Don't misunderstand.  I love teaching.  It is the life I have planned and the life I have lived for over a decade.  I would sit in school as a kid and say to myself, "When I'm a teacher I will...," not as an "if" but a "when."  I would play school like it was my job and write on my walls with chalk.  I would study every detail of my teachers.  I noticed how they penned a cursive L in that sharp red ink, and how their Rockport flats looked like peppermint patties.  I would note how they cradled the book between their thumb and pinkies while they read aloud and how their bracelets klinked together musically as they wrote on the board.  It was never an "if."  It was a "when."
And now I've been living out that plan.  I went to college for education.  I was a substitute teacher for a year out of college, then taught 4 years in Wisconsin and now 3 in Arizona.  I have breathed, ate, slept, and bled teaching for that time, and probably will again at some point in life.  But for now, I'm packing up my classroom and that life that I had planned for the life that's waiting for me.  
I'm turning my attention from others' families to my own.  I'm going to write until I'm blue in the face:  words, sentences, blog posts, letters, stories, books.  I'm going to cook, photograph, garden, learn, create and see where that takes me.  I'm going to take the amazing and rare opportunity that I've been given to pursue something different, something unknown but worth the investment.  And, I can't wait for what's waiting!

I wrote this post in response to hollywood housewife's invitation to join in a gathered thoughts link party at LoveFeast

Thankful Thursday

Things I am thankful for right this minute...

An upcoming weekend with this guy!

Wordless Wednesday