Refverie - End of the Year

 Wow... this semester is almost done. (Note my last day on May 31 💃🏻) I get so existential at the end of school... I start thinking about how stressed kids get about exams, and how stressed these APES teachers get on the FB page about *needing* their kids to do well, and I'm just like... is it worth this stress? What if education could take place in a totally different way that encouraged more authentic interactions and learning? (Then I'm like... why are we even here? What is life? Help??... I really earn that summer break lol) I guess I'll just keep mulling it over every year and make little changes to bring that dream closer to reality. • • • Also please appreciate this baller addition to my classroom. This calendar helps my kids (and me) so much... it kinda anchors us down in the routines of the school etc.

Refverie - House Offer

 Ya girl's offer got accepted on a house!!!!!!!! Big moves happening over here!!!!! Also the rain stopped so I'm making my kids calculate how much runoff happens from the Riverside parking lot!!!!!!!! Science!!!!!!!!!

Weekends r fun

What a good weekend!!!

First of all, we had to look at *6* houses to buy this weekend. This whole house-buying business has been FRUSTRATING to say the least. We are looking at the same houses as all these Duke bozos (sorry if you are a Duke bozo - I love you but stop trying to buy the same house in the same price range as me seriously) and we KEEP GETTING OUTBID. Honestly. Can a girl get a break.

So anyway, we had to go look at 6 houses, probably to desensitize us to our most recent loss (a beautiful house in Northgate Park with a YARD for days and just so much potential, and way in our price range)... and we found one we REALLY LIKE. I will not jinx it here, but let's just say it could be a good thing.........

Then I got to teach a group of kids for a district AP review, and everyone was tricked into thinking they were learning more b/c they were hearing it from my voice instead of their teacher's, so I felt so successful!

My friend hangs were on point this weekend as well. On Saturday Maura came over and we shared some *vInHo vErDe* and she & Byron & I talked about life lately. We talked about being 30, what it will be like to be adults/parents, what it's like being in what I like to call "3rd wave Durham" (since a lot of people have moved out in waves, and we have survived through them all). Just lots of fun. Another fun people hang was with Katrina on Sunday... she was the lone book-club attendee, and we sat around and talked about the book/life by candlelight (thanks Duke Power... it's not like I needed lights from 2pm to 10pm anyway). People feed my soul and I reeeeeeealy like the people in my life!!!

I also got to sing at church today, and I'll probably save my love for singing at church for another post because it really gives me life. Probably I should do a weekly "this gives me life" type of post. Into it.

Alright! I'm writing this while my kids are self-directed doing vocabulary practice! I love that I've set up a Monday routine that allows for 45 minutes of me not having to do anything in front of them! That's an experienced teacher trick right there, and I'm here for it.

xoxo

Refverie - Blog?

 Weekend recap is up on the blog!!! 🐛🐞🔮🎢🤸🏻‍♀️🎉💕LiNk iN BiO🦋🎒📖😻👩🏿‍🎤🐳

Refverie - 3rd Period

 I was so proud of myself today! 3rd period started off on a bad note. I was a little meaner than usual and the girls in my class were not having it. I thought it was going to be a bad day and it was making me feel yucky... BUT, I reset my attitude and compromised with the girls (they *could* eat chips if they promised to sweep up any crumbs) and we all felt a lot more pleasant for the rest of the day!!! I'm glad I didn't wallow and was able to recognize it made me annoyed and do what I could to frame it more positively. Success!!!!

Refverie 4 - Houses

 We're looking for houses in this ridiculous Durham market and honestly it's getting to me. Tonight we found out we got outbid on our THIRD offer on a house... I was doing fine until the evening when I was winding down for sleep and my defenses were down... needless to say I started sobbing uncontrollably (it wouldn't be a huge life transition if I didn't break down sobbing at least once!!!). Byron heard me crying and came to calm me down by literally just lying on top of me to squish me down because I think I have a bit of a sensitivity disorder where I just get so overwhelmed I need to be buried under heavy things to calm down. Anyway, the fact that he knew to do that when I was freaking out reminds me how much he truly knows me and how great it feels to be known by someone in those ways. 💕 (This is a pic from hiking last year that I love but never posted.)

Refverie 3

 I worked hard to collect things I loved for travel and now I have simply the best setup! I am really amped to look at all these pinks/purples/teals, but I'm even more amped to always have hot coffee and enough space for things without feeling like my arm is going to fall off. • • • Brand shoutouts!!!! 🎒: @fjallravenofficial 💼 : @delseyofficial ☕️ : @hydroflask (kept my latte hot for 3 hours!!!!) 📝: #moleskine (obv) 📖: @amazonkindle 🖊: @pilotpenusa G207 !!!

Refverie 2

Byron & his fam & I went to a wildlife ranch in Texas and it was pretty awesome! It reminded me of when I went to Kenya in summer '07 and got to go on safari like every day. It was better there bc we got to stand up in Land Rovers, and I had more chances to be silly and make up voices for the animals (one of my favorite pastimes). We rode in the car with Byron's grandparents and they are very cute!!! I was scared to feed the animals from my hand, but I did let this one eat some and it was nice and didn't use its teeth.

SIKE

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!! I know I made a very dramatic post in 2008 that this blog was *over*, but I am ready to resurrect it. I no longer feel ashamed by 2004 Emma's ridiculous overusage of "silly goose", and I am ready to blog in the original & best blog I've had!!!!! But with a slight twist... I'm starting a NEW BLOGSTAGRAM!!! (ooooooh!) I feel like ever since Google Reader hit the dust (RIP so hard), I have stopped coming to a browser to actually read blogs. Also I feel like the market has been saturated with blogs and I/we are suffering from a bit of blogshaustion. I love hearing my friends' thoughts, though, and we already know that blogging stole my heart in high school, so I guess I am back. (no promises that this one will regularly update, though, ok???!!??? check the 'gram for more regular thoughts (hopefully))

So the insta is @refverie - I wanted to make the shortest handle possible, so I had to find a word that had some similar letters to *emma* or *refvem* and I seem to have landed on a word that might be as trite as *wanderlust*. Smh. I am just really *leaning in* to my bloglife now. 

My goal is to post about pop culture things I like, because I like pop culture a lot. And I will probably also post my weird thoughts about strawberries (i'm saying that b/c a bowl of strawberries is sitting in front of me and i literally almost composed at least a two-paragraph post of why i like to eat strawberries the way i do...). In that way, I think it will keep up the rich history of this blog being very silly but also something I take far too seriously.

xoxo

Refverie 1

(going back through my blog-sta-gram and archiving it here for posterity...)

I have really been wanting to start a blog recently but I honestly spend 0.00 time on web browsers looking at blogs anymore (RIP Google Reader honestly I have been lost without it). I *do* however follow a few blogstagrams nowadays so I think insta is gonna be the best place for me to post my musings about books, movies, tv, pop culture, products, trees, and other things I think a lot about. (I don't know if I can fully get on board with the ... followed by a bunch of hashtags, but you never know) • • • This is a white oak leaf and white oaks have cool bark and rounded edges of their leaves compared to other oak leaves. I learned this last summer hiking in the Eno and I hope to try to learn another nature trick this summer. 🌳🍃