june part four

Here are the rest of my June photos:

June 22: From a high angle.  Brady likes to chew his toys from a high angle.

June 23: Movement.  Laying in my bed looking at the fan...an essential component to making it through summer.

June 24: On your mind.  Getting ready for VBS this week.  (So I might have procrastinted a bit)

June 25: Something cute.  I think Brady is pretty darn cute.

June 26: Where you shop.  Self-explanatory.

June 27: Bathroom.

June 28: On the shelf.  Or on the top of my bookcase.

June 29: Soft.  Riley has the softest fur, especially after he got a haircut last week.


And, I failed to take a picture for June 30.  Way to end the month, I know...

june part three.

Here is part three of my June photos...I know you've been on pins and needles waiting for it...
I might even get back to writing on here someday.  For now, enjoy this:

June 15: Yellow.  The yellow beads of the necklace I wore.

June 16: Out and about.  Ok, I cheated.  I took this on my birthday weekend, but I was out and about in SF then...counts, right?  (Don't care if it doesn't...)

June 17: In your bag.  I don't think an explantation is truly needed...

June 18: Something we don't know about you.  You may not know about my growing collection (borderline obsession?) with nailpolish.  I'm trying to get better about actually using it, too...

June 19: Fave photo you've ever taken.  I don't know about "ever," but this one is definitely a favorite!

June 20: Imperfect.  It's as though the shopping cart knew I needed something imperfect to take a photo of, so it decided to eat my toenail off.

June 21: Where you slept.  My bed.

june part two.

Here are my photos for June 8-14.

June 8: Six o'clock.  My post-wisdom teeth vegetable ice packs

June 9: My view today.  Riley insisted on sleeping on my lap.  The ground won't do for this little baby.

June 10: Best bit of my weekend.  Frozen yogurt is good for sore mouths.

June 11: Door.  Or the cute little greeters at it.

June 12: From a low angle.

June 13: Art. Supplies.

June 14: Time.  It's summer time!

Hope you all had a wonderful week!

june.

June has started off nicely, mostly because it brought summer with it.  You may have heard, but there is a blogger out there who has started Photo-a-day challenges for each month.  I started playing along in February on Instagram, but decided to share my challenge photos here as well.  If you haven't heard of this, basically there is a "prompt" for each day of the month and the challenge is to take a photo that somehow relates to the prompt.  Some are a bit of a stretch, but the ultimate goal is to be creative.

Here is the challenge list for June:

 And here are my photos for June 1-7:

June 1: Morning.  This was the last morning I made this drive to work.

June 2: Empty.  My empty classroom that I said good-bye to (technically on June 1).

June 3: On my plate.  P.F. Chang's for lunch.

June 4: Close-up.  Brady, my cleaning helper.

June 5: Sign. Lunch at Juicy Burger.

June 6: Hat.  Well, I don't have a hat to take a picture of, so Riley will have to suffice.

June 7: Drink.  I've been drinking a lot of pineapple juice (plus oranges and strawberries) this week.  Freshly juiced...nothing better!

another chapter.

If I had to sum up the way I feel in one word, it's this: relief. 

Thursday was the last day of school, I got the rest of my things packed up and out of my classroom, and I walked away a little bit sad.  I had to fight back the feeling of tears as I drove away that day.  It was the day I had waited so long for, but hard to face at the same time.

Friday still loomed over me, one last time at the school.  Friday was check out day.  It was far less official than I thought it might be, other then hanging over my keys.  That felt like the final moment...that lingered for a couple more hours.  We had a staff brunch at Rio Bravo Country Club, which was nice.  It felt like an extended, forced good-bye.  It was nice, but I was ready to be done.  My heart had moved on.

I got back to school, climbed into my car, and drove away for the last time.  I wasn't sad, I was relieved.  I don't have adequate words to explain all of how I felt, but it was as though I could feel a weight lifting off of me, one I had been carrying for 3 months.  This chapter of my life had finally come to a close. 

the end.

Today was the last day of school for the students.  So crazy!  We pretty much spent the whole week doing nothing, which makes for a long 3-day week.  (I'm not complaining...)  Anyhow, I knew that I didn't want to be stuck cleaning out my room all this week, so I've been taking a small to medium sized load home each night for the last 2 weeks.  Yesterday I had the biggest load, taking home everything I could easily take home that I knew I wouldn't need the last day.  Even though it was a bit of a pain each day, I'm so glad I did.  Come this afternoon, I had all of my belongings out of the room and the room all ready to leave not long after school released today. 

Reality that this was the last day hasn't fully set in, although I felt the tears welling up a bit as I left school this afternoon.  The rest of the staff was gathering to meet the new principal and I was heading to my car.  It might have been one of the single hardest moments to keep my head up and not be obviously upset.

I was happy to spend a fun week with my students, though.  They kept themselves pulled together for the most part and I didn't have to get too mad at them.  (Well, there was a moment on Wednesday when I almost pulled out some work for them to do...)  Tuesday morning we had our awards assembly, which may have been the longest assembly in the history of assemblies.  Ok, maybe not, but it took nearly two hours, which is an extremely long time when you need to use the restroom (Recess is at 10:10, but the assembly wasn't out until about 11:15).  And it wasn't exactly stimulating either.  I then had to wait even longer because I had to do yard duty.  We were in class for just a short time when it was time to have our class party.  My wonderful mother brought the class Subway sandwiches and we watched Cars.  The kids gorged themselves on junk, but were really quite well behaved.  (It's amazing to think back to the beginning of the year and to see how much they have grown!) 

Wednesday was basically one big retirement celebration for the principal.  Definitely not my favorite day ever, but more bearable than I thought it might be.  When we weren't at planned activities, we were watching Cars 2.  And, like I mentioned before, today was a whole lot of nothing.  We had a raffle with all kinds of prizes, most of which were food.  I didn't let them eat it before recess, but let's just pretend they didn't eat it all today.  Because I pretty sure most of it was consumed.  The day felt anticlimactic, as I said a quick goodbye to them, handed them their report cards, and ushered them out the door. 

Tomorrow is officially my last day when I check out and head to our staff breakfast.  I'm sure reality will set in tomorrow morning when I arrive to an empty room and I have to hand in my keys.

only nine.

...more days of school.  Can someone please tell me how that's possible?

Today was one of those days when I really wished I could slow down time.  I know that sounds crazy, especially considering how close to summer we are.  But my students were genuinely good, we had a pretty easy, but productive day, and my kids thanked me for taking it a little bit easy on them.  It was nice and I enjoyed being with them. 

Today was also the day I started cleaning out my classroom and bringing a small load of things home.  I took down one bulletin board and the room already feels a bit empty without it. 

It's strange that it's almost over.  It would probably be easier to deal with if I knew where I was going to be/if I'm going to be somewhere next year.  But, still, it's bittersweet.

Still ready for summer, though...9 more school days.


And, no post would be complete without some puppy cuteness:

Waiting for Mom to come home...it's so boring...

They are pretty sure I don't love them when I make them stay out...