The Sunrise Story

Posted at Two Writing Teachers for weekly Slice of Life  Challenge. I don't make resolutions. Resolutions make me feel less than and I don't want to start the year feeling like a failure. In 2009, I discovered One Little Word as an alternative. I've been picking a word of the year since 2009. (As I was researching my start, I found this comment on TWT post from 2009.)  My word guides my year. I have an ongoing list...on my phone, in my notebook...and I'm always looking for potential words. I believe it's important to find a word that will lead me to a new and wonderful place in my life. Words are important and meaningful to me and having one to guide me has proven very helpful.  When I pick my word, I have a vision...a goal. In my head, I know what I'm hoping my word will accomplish for me. The best thing about the word of the year...it never goes where I think it will, but it always goes somewhere better. I trust this process and it works for me.  H...

A couple of weeks ago, I was nominated for the Sunshine Award by Dana Murphy . I'm so honored that Dana included me in the bloggers that inspire her. Dana's blog inspires me on a regular basis. Dana blogs on her own blog AND on the Two Writing Teachers Blog. I love reading her posts and her comments on my posts inspire me!  Today, I was asked to complete a blogging challenge by Amy Rudd . I first got to know Amy last spring during the Slice of Life Challenge on the Two Writing Teacher's Blog. She regularly commented on my posts. It meant the world to me and I've become a reader of her blog as well! Since both inquiries are similar, I decided to combine my answers here in this post.   Here are the rules: 1.  Acknowledge the nominating blogger 2.  Share 11 random facts about yourself 3.  Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger creates for you 4.  List 11 bloggers 5.  Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the blo...

For 2013, I set a goal to read 113 books. I did it!  When I shared my achievement on Facebook, I had many friends asking for my top ten. I'm not sure how to come up with this list. There are so many different kinds of books... My list isn't a top ten. I've divided my list into genres and listed my top...3, 5, 7...(I can't narrow it down anymore, I'm sorry!)  Here are my lists: Young Adult Fiction       1.    Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the    Universe,  Benjamin Alire Saenz 2.    The Fault in Our Stars (audiobook read by the author),  John Green 3.   Eleanor & Park ,  Rainbow Rowell 4.   Last Night I Sang to the Monster ,  Benjamin Alire Saenz 5.   Winger,  Andrew Smith Middle Grade Fiction 1   1.     Hold Fast ,  Blue Balliett 2.      Almost Home,  Joan Bauer 3.      False Pr...

I took a week off. Really! No work email. No blogging. No nothing...except family time & reading. I enjoyed every moment. Vacation gave me time to miss blogging and twitter and work. I needed to miss it. I'm back...after the laundry and organizing and settling in. 

I'm sitting here thinking about the  students who sit in room C10  every day with me.  I think about  the stories they bring with them... Divorce Loss Bullying I teach in an affluent school,  but money doesn't protect you from loneliness abandonment indifference In many ways my students are  lucky blessed & protected But they still have stories           we all do Watching their smiles & excitement... Hearing their murmurings about vacation... Listening to their kind words & their compliments I am constantly inspired inspired by these sixth graders

Sharing my slice of life (#slice2013) over at Two Writing Teachers.   Please join us! One of my favorite things about this time of year is reflecting on where the year began. A year ago I was planning on becoming an adoptive mom to an older child. The little boy I was going to adopt was amazing. His eyes still held so much hope after a life filled with so much disappointment and pain. He would be moving in with me in January.  It didn't happen.  As is true with much of adoption, it's a world filled with joy and celebration as well as pain and disappointment. The reasons why it didn't happen aren't important. It changed me. It's been a year and I miss him. Being a woman of faith, I believe that this is in God's plan...but that doesn't make me miss him less. (If you're interested in reading more about that journey, it's on my blog Uncommon Path to Motherhood .) Life has taken a different direction. I chose another path for now. It's good...

Nerdlution goals during the holidays? Who thought that was a good idea? This is the busiest time of year and now I need to make time to read, write and move everyday. Some days are better than others. This morning, I wanted to quit. Just forget about it all...and then I thought about my nerdlution peeps on twitter. Accountability ROCKS! I'm writing (although right now I feel like everything I write is terrible...TERRIBLE, I say!) I'll write my morning pages soon, too. I'll read and I'll move today. Why? Because you're working on your goals too. Because I have time, it's how I spend it. These goals are important. Focus. Dig in. Keep chipping away at your goals! 

As I was drafting blog post after blog post, I decided to post a piece I wrote years ago. It's about my childhood growing up in an Italian family. With the holidays approaching, I'm anxious to be with my family. (Soon!) This piece always makes me smile when I think of them. Love you guys!  Sundays           Flannery O’Connor said that anyone who survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of her life. That quote has followed me around the past couple of days. [Serendipity? Perhaps, or perhaps it’s been following me around for years, and I’ve only paid attention these last few days.] Waking up on Sundays, I always awoke with a big smile. Sundays meant dinner at Grammy’s house. Church first, usually the ten o’clock mass, and then off to Grammy’s.  I’d think about what I would bring with me to Grammy’s house, as I prepared myself for church. Usually I would pack a bag, like I was staying for a week. Katie’s bag (my sis...