Blog Challenge Day 6

Your Day

Today was a Sunday. I slept in late because I have had a really long week. My normal Sunday would start with church and a walk, but every now and then I just need to sleep until I wake up. I had a planned brunch with Anthony, so I went to his house this morning and we made a delicious brunch of sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, and grapefruit. I wanted to spend the day with my family though because this new schedule has me going opposite hours of them. I wake up about when or right after the first crew leaves the house. I often don't come home until most folks are asleep in bed. I was going to go shopping with my Mom and make dinner for the family, but that didn't quite work out. Mom went with Dad to the store and they picked up items for hamburgers for dinner. So, I spent my afternoon finishing homework. I like being a student again, but it is sure a lot of reading! I help Dad make the hamburgers for dinner this evening. I also did laundry, cleaned, and worked on the blog here. It was a pretty productive Sunday overall while still being relaxing. I still have to make my bed and get the last load of laundry from the dryer here in a bit, but it is late so I will be hitting the sack soon! (I hope - please be dry my sheets and clothes...)

The picture is of the textbook I spent a few hours with today.

Blog Challenge Day 5

What is my definition of love?

I think there are many different kinds of love, but at its most basic, I define love as "deeply caring and connecting." People love our planet; I love the ocean - I feel a connection to it. I love people I haven't even met in terms of caring about the world and people being treated well. This is different in a sense though to loving people you are close to. Love for the ocean and love for a person are similar in the fact that you both care and/or connect with them. The difference to me is the amount of emotional bonding we have to those close to us. When we love someone close to us, we connect and care even more some how. All in all, I think it is kind of mysterious too. I recently saw an episode of Bones where they explained love coming from a part of the brain. It is all kind of fascinating really. Anyway, those are my current thoughts on love.

Blog Challenge Day 4

Food - oh, these challenge makers know what I like! I love food! (Probably more than I should) Anyway, well, I had a weird day in terms of food. I slept in too late so I had a few peanut butter M & m's for breakfast. I had an afternoon sub job at a high school for a photography class, so I ate an early lunch, so it was more brunch, of the new canned lasagna. It is okay stuff when in a pinch. After subbing, I hurried over to the next city to go teach my orchestra. It was 4:00 when that was done and I headed to flute lessons. Those don't get done until after the normal dinner hour, so I had a peanut butter bar as a snack. After lessons I met up with Anthony where I had one of those fun dinners; a little of this, a little of that. I had a left over enchilada, salad, chicken nuggets, and chips with pico de gallo. Then, for dessert, three chips o'hoy cookies. So, that was my day in food! =)

Blog Challenge Day 3

The challenge for day 3 is about parents.

Parent:

* a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian
* rear: bring up; "raise a family"; "bring up children"
* an organism (plant or animal) from which younger ones are obtained

That is the definition of parent that came up on the web. I think there are many types of parents and many different people who fulfill those roles in our own unique lives. I am going to talk about my Mommy and Daddy though as I think the challenge is implying us to do. My parents are pretty great people. They are both very giving to their children. They have helped me out a lot recently in bad times for me by giving me a place to live back home again along with my kitties. Their cat still isn't sure about the arrangement though. I thought a story about the other night would do well to give an example about how my parents can be great. My car overheated for the first time. I had work done on it the previous day too, which seems to be the cause....grrrr... I told my Dad what happened when a friend gave me a ride home. I wanted to let him know the situation and that I was going to need to figure out car rides in the morning; it was already late. He stopped what he was doing and wanted to try and fix it then and there. So, we drove to my car, took a look, and saw that the it was probably the coolant. We went to the store, got supplies, and came back to the car. During this trip he told me he had to study for a test tomorrow still. I told him that if he had a big test, I could probably find a ride instead. He kept working and we got the car running and back home. All was good and I was able to drive to all my appointments yesterday! So, that is just an example of one time out of many that my parents will step in to help their kids. So, yeah, pretty great parents!

San Diego

So, about a year ago I was able to fly to San Diego for the Marines Educator's Workshop. I started this blog shortly after that and planned to put some of the pictures up...but, uh, a year gone and no pictures. Oops, so, since it was this time last year that I went, I thought I would put some of the pictures up now!

It was during the huge rain storms that I went, so I didn't get very good pics all the time. My camera was also broken and sometimes we weren't allowed to use the flash. Maybe I will chronicle more what I did day to day, but the pictures tell a story themselves. Just a quick summary - we began at the recruit training base, went up to Camp Pendleton and Miramar, and returned to the recruit base often. This shows mostly about boot camp training. Comment with any questions and I will try to answer what I was doing or what was happening in the pictures.

Now, I am new to this picture sharing. Try this link and let me know if it doesn't work. The pictures are private, but friends should be able to see it based on your email addresses.

Blog Challenge Day 2

My first love.....well, it is hard to choose things about first loves. I like how Carrie talked about dance and knitting. I was thinking of going that route, but then, I remembered something even more fun to write about....my first crush! Not quite love, but it works.

It was back in the days of Cathcart Elementary School. I was in the fourth grade and loved watching Arthur the TV show. At school, there was this boy, David, who caught my eye. He drew my attention because he reminded me of the smoldering Buster Baxter from Arthur. Haha, I probably didn't really use the word smoldering back then, but it sounded good. Baxter, I called him that, not David, Baxter was unlike the bowl headed hair cut boys at school. He wore his hair short, had big eyes, and probably teeth, and was just a bit goofy - like my favorite character. I never talked with him or saw him very often, but when I did....sigh....he was fun to watch; my Baxter.

Blog Challenge Day 1

Introduce Yourself

Well, most people reading this know who I am, but here we go. My name is Erin. I am a musician and teacher residing in the northwest. I love music. My main instrument is the flute, but I also love to sing big and loud when no one is around. I enjoy playing music and teaching music. These days I often don't have time to pursue my own musicianship because I am busy teaching instead. At one time that would have made me really sad, but it is like Will Schuster(sp?) off of Glee. My students give back to me as much as I give them in return. I actually am a recent viewer of Glee and have become a big fan because it really reminds me of how valuable what I do really is. I think we all need reminders of that no matter what we do at times during our lives.



Besides career, talking about hobbies, I love art. I take oil painting classes about once a year. I enjoy gardening and seeing things grow. I love all animals and have cats myself. When I was little I wanted to be a farmer thinking you only had to take care of animals and magically made a living. It would be fun to have a ranch one day..who knows, maybe I still will someday. I also like reading many types of books, traveling, going on walks, and moving my body through things like yoga and dance.

Blog Challenge

Okay Melinda, Challenge accepted!

Day 01- Introduce yourself
Day 02 – Your first love
Day 03 – Your parents
Day 04 – What you ate today
Day 05 – Your definition of love
Day 06 – Your day
Day 07 – Your best friend
Day 08 – A moment
Day 09 – Your beliefs
Day 10 – What you wore today
Day 11 – Your siblings
Day 12 – What’s in your bag
Day 13 – This week
Day 14 – What you wore today
Day 15 – Your dreams
Day 16 – Your first kiss
Day 17 – Your favorite memory
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday
Day 19 – Something you regret
Day 20 – This month
Day 21 – Another moment
Day 22 – Something that upsets you
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry
Day 25 – A first
Day 26 – Your fears
Day 27 – Your favorite place
Day 28 – Something that you miss
Day 29 – Your aspirations
Day 30 – One last moment

Copy-Cat

I am going to copycat Melinda and talk about changes too! I just finished my first week as a grad school student at WSU! I was accepted into a Master's of Teaching Program with a focus in Literacy here at the local campus. I need to get a master's eventually and it can also eventually tie into my professional certification. It is definitely keeping me busy though with my three other jobs. Right now I teach orchestra to beginning students, substitute teach during the day, and run a flute studio. I am liking the new schedule and to be a student myself again. Of course the attitude may change by the end of the semester. So, a few changes with me, but I do know I am less interesting and the pictures are less cute than Camden!