Since my 25th birthday has long since come and passed, I have decided to keep my 25 Before 25 alive, but I'm not so stressed about getting them done by a certain time. If they happen, they happen. If they don't, they don't.
If I do them, I will FOR SURE be posting about them :)
Now you may be wondering, "What is Amy going to do with her 26th birthday year now??" and let me tell you that I have an answer for that.
I want to complete 26 craftyish projects by my 26th birthday. I have no idea what they are yet, but Pinterest is some great inspiration and the blank walls of my house make me feel like some of it will include some form of art, but who knows.
I have wanted to volunteer more regularly. I used to devote many many hours in high school to this. It was easier then because I was more involved at church and on a committee where I could do this often. Not to mention that I didn't have as much work on my plate....
I was even pretty active in college. I volunteered at random things, and even tried my hand at a co-ed service fraternity on campus, but quit when it seemed everyone involved was more focused on drinking and partying than volunteering.
Since college and high school, I have found it much harder to find volunteer opportunities. Since I am not as involved in a church, where a lot of volunteer opportunities are available, I am having a hard time finding volunteer opportunities. Which brings me to the beginnings of the list.
Below is a small (but hopefully growing) list of local (well, local to me...and possibly you...) opportunities to volunteer your time if you so choose.
1. Feed My Starving Children- This is a permanent packing site where you can go and pack food for residents of third world countries. They say it a lot eloquently here, on their website.
My assessment: AWESOME.
Why? It's a good experience, just enough time (not too long, not too short), family friendly, and though it is a religious organization, it is solely about the religion.
What you do: It's super easy to register online, and they send you a reminder email. You go 10-15 minutes before your scheduled time, but if you get there 5 minutes before or at your scheduled time, that's ok too. Then you check in on their computers where you get there, and they give you a lovely hairnet to wear! There is a small presentation in the beginning of the shift. Then you wash your hands, listen to the directions on how to do it, pick a table, and get to work! You might even make some friends at your station :) After your shift, you can go pray over the food that will be sent out, or opt out and wait in the gathering area (it's not weird, I promise. I've done both and no one makes you feel like crap if you choose not to pray over the food!). The staff gives everyone a small presentation about who they are helping by packing food and they ask you for a donation if you want, but you're not required to donate (and no one makes you feel pressured). I have gone twice now, and my mom bought me a shirt, which is considered a donation (and I wear it all the time! It's so comfy!) There are all kinds of jobs- scooping food, weighing food bags, sealing food bags, packing boxes with food bags, etc.- so it's family friendly. They also have lots of shifts to accommodate your schedule too.
{Cute right?}
2. The Northern Illinois Food Bank- They have three sites to volunteer at, but I will most likely visit the North Suburban Center in Park City, as it is only 20 minutes away from my house. I haven't been there yet, but I have wanted to give it a try ever since a friend told me about it on Facebook! It is a food pantry that provides food for families in 13 different counties that need it most. What's better than helping your neighbors with their basic everyday need to eat? It seems they also have many different opportunities that include both volunteering and donating. I'll let you know when I check it out!
3. Save-A-Pet- I did this in college a few times after I got trained and I LOVED it! Needless to say, I spent most of my time in the bunny room, and also got to play with cats and walk dogs around the yard. It was a good experience. From what I remember, you have to go and do about 30 minutes of work- cleaning out dog and cat food bowls, collecting and folding laundry, etc. before you can play with the animals, but it's fun! They don't normally take people unless you can make a training session and then commit to going at least once a week. I am looking forward to doing this in the future :) Maybe even take home another kitty? Kitty-Shorts McMeowy?
Any places that you know of around here that you want to add to my list? Suggestions welcome!
I just read one of the books of my classics list a few weeks ago- The Great Gatsby. I read this book back in high school in my Freshman English class with Mr. Olsen. (Anyone else have him? I LOVED that guy!)
Anyway, I loved the book back then, and took extensive notes in it so that I wouldn't miss anything. Now I look at those notes and think to myself, "Ohhh, that's where I must have learned that word..." which is weird because I don't remember actually learning the word, but there it is underlined with the definition next to it.
I did this with a lot of my classic books. I have a habit of underlining words that I don't know, or like and want to use more often, and ear-marking the pages. So my copy of the Great Gatsby has some underlined words, and though I didn't add any more marks to the pages, I did stop and think about a lot of the story.
Even though I had already read this book, it was different from how I remembered it. In fact, the parts that I remembered from the book, were not the parts that I really enjoyed or thought about this second time that I read it.
*********************************SPOILER ALERT*********************************
Like the part of the story on page 144-145 when Gatsby is at Tom's house. Gatsby tells Nick that he is going to stay and watch over the house because Daisy said that she would flip the light off and on if there was any trouble. Then, when Nick goes over to peer through the windows, Daisy and Tom and downstairs in the kitchen talking. Nick describes it as an "air of natural intimacy about the picture". This time when I read it, I noticed the and felt the heartbreak for Gatsby. Here is a man, OBSESSED with a woman, who toyed with him. Deep down I think she was living in a fantasy world, but yet, she made him believe she really meant to leave Tom. And maybe she did, but she just didn't have the courage to. She left her light on and made Gatsby think she was in her room with her light the whole time, when really she was running back into the arms of Tom. It made me realize what a weak, confused girl she was, and what a hopeless, romantic man Gatsby was. Fitzgerald put it so eloquently when he ended that chapter with "So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight-watching over nothing".
I never noticed this before. I mean, I read this part of the story, but I didn't get the emotion in those 2 pages. Now, as an adult, I do. This is why I am re-reading the classics.
Well, that and because there are no good books that I can relate to for twenty-something-year-olds.
Yay books! And movies that are based off of books!
#1- Paint some pictures and hang them up
#12- Create something from Pinterest
are BOTH done!
Though, technically, I haven't hung them up yet....ha
I bought a canvas at the Hob Lob and crayons at Target. Then I picked the order I wanted them. I also decided I wanted to put the word "Create" on the bottom, which I sketched in pencil.
I hot glued the crayons to the top. I added masking tape just above the word "Create" so that the wax from the crayons wouldn't run onto the word (which I would later paint).
I used an embosser (or you can use a hair dryer) to melt the crayons slowly and let them drip down the canvas. Then I removed the masking tape and painted in the word create. And there you have it my friends :)
So this has officially begun! It started on October 16th, 2012. In fact, I am so behind on updating this list that I have already finished a class for my Masters! Whaaaaaaaat? I know!
I am in a cohort at Olivet Nazarene University that meets at Vernon Hills High School (nice and close to home!) on Tuesdays. I am fortunate enough to be in it with some friends of mine that also teach at Fremont, which makes it so much nicer!
It has been going well :) The first class was a bit difficult because there was A LOT of reading to do, which was hard to manage with also teaching full time (and then some....). I did find things very interesting to read about though. I feel like I learned a lot about Reading, both historically, culturally, and biologically. It was neat!
This next class that we are taking is lighter reading, but we have to teach a bunch of different strategies and document the work we are doing to turn in to our professor. The strategies are ones that are pretty helpful, and things that I think my kiddos can really benefit from, it's just hard to fit them in with the already busy day we have!
Anyway, #19 is well under way and I am excited to share some things that I learn with you as I continue!
This past August 2012, I decided to FINALLY donate my hair to Locks of Love again.
The first time I did it I was in high school. My hair was down to the middle of my back and I just decided one day to donate it. I cried from the time she made the little pony tails on my head, to the time she evened everything out after cutting off 10 inches. Looking back, that seems silly because it's just hair, but I think I was feeling like I lost a part of me.
This past August when I donated my hair again, I didn't feel like my hair defined me. I was so much more than just long haired :) So I didn't even cry about it! Go me!
Not to mention the fact that it felt good to be able to do something for someone else.
So here is the before, during, and after:
{Before}
{During- sectioning off hair}
{During- cutting off sections!}
{After}
I hope to be doing this again in another year or so!
This is part of my 25 Before 25 List......it's #4- Become a Teacher!
The end of the school year has come and gone and it has led me to reflect on my teaching experience thus far. 2010 was my first year teaching {ever} and I was scared and excited all at once. After having 10 interviews in multiple districts and being rejected 9 times, I was stoked to finally have a teaching job.....and not just any teaching job, a teaching job in the district that I went to school at. It was seriously everything that I ever wanted (minus the fact that it was part time, but thank God it was because of the year that ensued). And I love that fact that I see cows on my drive and get stuck behind a tractor driving down the road sometimes :)
I was worried about the fact that I was teaching Kindergarten, but after the first day I was pretty hooked. Kindergarten is so much fun. I loved that I got to sing, dance, and sit on the floor with the little kiddos. Not to mention the fact that they are just so darn cute! We did super fun projects, and they are like little sponges at that age. They grow so much over the course of the school year and I had so much fun learning with them. And do you know what's weird? At some point it hit me that I wanted to teach Kindergarten. When Tommy was in the hospital, I worried about my kiddos the first day I was away from them. Then, I stopped thinking about them when I was at the hospital and focused on Tommy. When I went back to the classroom a few days later, teaching Kindergarten was still so fun. I actually enjoyed going to school when I did, and I enjoyed being with Tommy when I was at hospital. I was having fun in the middle of a crisis, and you may read this and think that is totally selfish, but that's what teaching Kindergarten was for me: fun. Even on the days that were hard- the kiddos were crazy, someone was crying or under a table, a lesson didn't turn out like I planned, etc.- I was still happy to be teaching Kindergarten.
I love teaching them how to be little people. I love teaching them how to sit on the carpet criss cross applesauce with eggs in a basket. I love singing hallway songs, calendar songs, and phonics songs with them. I love penguin playday and teddy bear playday. I love giving a direction and then telling them to put their hands on their head/shoulders/knees/elbows etc. I love teaching the basics- especially phonics. I love seeing them grow academically/socially. I love teaching them compassion towards each other and how to problem solve. I love their love of learning.
Last year I taught Second Grade. Big jump, I know. It was definitely.....different/fun/challenging/friendly/unexpected, thought not all in one day. ha. I learned a lot about my teaching self, my personal self, and teaching in general. I do not think I would have gotten through alive without my team, and my friends at school, that much I know. Next year will be a new adventure, a new challenge, and though I am not ready for it right this minute on August 1st, I will be. Many things to look forward to this month :)
I am a teacher right now, but I suppose this will be a lifelong journey.
Well, it's almost time to do this one. On Sunday, TOMORROW, I will be running my first (and quite possibly last, but who knows?) half marathon: The Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Chicago.
I heard this was the best one to run because there is so much entertainment on the run that it's helpful. I am glad for this because I will definitely be needing something to distract me for some of the time. You know that point when your mind realizes what you're doing to your body? Yeah, that little stretch of time.
I got my handheld water bottle, my goo packets, and my moral support all ready to go. Pictures will be posted soon....
All I have to say is this, my goal is to finish. I just want to run the WHOLE thing, and I want to finish it.
{Truth}
Well, I did it!! I ran super slow, but I ran the whole time and I finished it in 3 hours. (3 hours of running...yikes!) It was fun at times, and mostly hard, but I did it! woot!
I made my two goals and I couldn't have run it with my Bff Megan. Seriously. She was refilling my water bottle when I needed it, getting ice at EVERY medical station and putting it down my back, and telling me when to take my GUs and water. She did all this while thanking every band/person that came out to cheer and making me believe I could run 13.1 miles, even when it hurt like hell.
Thank you Megan!! I couldn't have done that with out your mental and physical support :)
So there are a few things that I have accomplished on my list of 25 things to do before I'm 25. I want to blog about them!
This blog is for #2- Buy a House.
So Tommy and I were looking for a house for a few weeks. Well, if you know Tommy, then you know that he has been looking for a house for much longer than that!
We finally found one at the end of February (which is the one we live in now!) in Libertyville. We were living in an apartment in Arlington Heights, that we were very happy with, but it was time to find something more permanent. We looked in Buffalo Grove, Libertyville, Arlington Heights, Lake Zurich, Hawthorn Woods, and Palatine. We saw a TON of houses- ones that needed lots of work, ones that needed some work, and ones that didn't need any work at all. And then we found our house. The one in Libertyville. As soon as we walked in, I felt like it was our house. The layout was just what I wanted, and it didn't require any painting or updating. I was stoked :)
