Tag Archives: blogs

13 excellent blσgs for your reading and viewing ♥ pleasure

Posted on March 8, 2011 | 23 Comments
иєω σяlєaиs ¢ιту♥ Be lovely. ♥ Be inspiring. ♥ Be generous. ♥ Be kind. ♥ Have integrity. ♥ Believe in love. ♥ Believe in yourself. ♥ Never give up. ♥ Be the change you want to see.

иєω σяlєaиs ¢ιту♥ Be lovely. ♥ Be inspiring. ♥ Be generous. ♥ Be kind. ♥ Have integrity. ♥ Believe in love. ♥ Believe in yourself. ♥ Never give up. ♥ Be the change you want to see.

Hi guys, welcome back. Good to see you. New visitors, welcome, join, comment. Grab a cup of fresh brewed blog copy. Sugar? Milk? Beuller? Anyone?

Today I’m talking about what makes a good blog based on scientific evidence also known as my opinion. OK OK, I’ll throw in some scientific evidence.

Here are the 13 best blogs who have gotten my blogging bum in gear and motivate me to be a better blogger. Try saying that 10 times fast.

1. BJ at Tiny Island This blogger lives in Singapore. She has a nice style of writing. I go back to her blog because not only is has she become a blogger friend, she has great information on living in Singapore. I feel like I’m travelling without leaving my home when I visit her blog.

2. Tana @ From Kenya with Love If you haven’t read about Tana, my friend from Junior High School, who moved to Africa from California when she was young and raised three gorgeous girls on her own, then now is your chance. Tana tells awesome stories of adventures in Africa that will have you cry, laugh and worry. You’ll love her blog.

3. Michelle @ Bleeding Expresso The Godmother of blogs. I kiss her ring. Based in southern Italy, when I got the nod from Michelle my visitor hits soared. Her blog is FULL of useful information, wit, charm and pictures. She captures the spirit of Italy way better than I can. But best of all, she’s got a goat. Actually three goats.  I’m telling you I have yet to see a cuter goat.

Like This!

4. Matt @ ma.tt This cool blogger who designs blog platforms likes to play jazz in his free time. DID YOU HEAR ME? He’s young, talented, traveling the world and has provided half of the world with a FREE place to write your words. We bow down to our youth.

5. Chris @ The Art of Non-Conformity This guy is AMAZING. I admire him. I came across his blog when doing research for my ebook Zero to Blog and saw the fantastic headline 279 days to overnight success. His ebook is FREE and downloadable now.

Chris’s mission is to travel the world and share his stories. Let’s see if he will dominate the world with his World Domination Manifesto. I found his blog absolutely packed with valuable information – for bloggers, travelers, doers and dreamers. Not only THAT, he’s making this world better place. Five star blogger.

6. Anne @ Anne on Life http://anneonlife.com/ – This lovely mom gets an A in my book for being excellent. She does it all, the mom, the blog, the math, the homework, giving her kids the jeep, but what I love about Anne is NOT only did she go back to continue her education in the later part of her life, she got outstanding grades. When she commented on my list of 7 killer buzz words, she got me to snicker when she wrote:

I love ‘hiney’. Uh, that didn’t come out right.

7. Barbara @ Blogging without a blog I can NOT emphasize enough how much I love clicking and going back to Barbara’s blogging without a blog. She and I have similar tastes in books and motivators such as Wayne Dyer, Byron Katie and Tony Robbins. Written in a classroom like setting, when you click over to Barbara’s blog you a guaranteed to learn something new every time.

purple flowers

I smell spring.

7. Pam @ bored cook Good recipes, good stories and a good blogger. She’s actually gets you cooking delicious food. I love her stories about being young and visiting Italy hoping to bet pinched in the bum.

8. Linda @ Lindaloumac This nice English lady moved to Italy after she raised her lovely girls. She keeps us up on her adventures at her blog. She’s also an avid reader and shares tons of information and book links.

9. Katie and Krystyne @ Tres Chic – Two newly graduated high school students embark on their journey to France to study abroad for four months. Read about their adventures and share their journey.

10. Dr. B @ Dr. Tom Bibey Blue Grass Physician I love love love love going back to read Dr. B’s blog. His visitors are like his patients and he takes good care of us all. His mom was an English teacher and his best friend passed away. He keeps his soul alive telling us what it is like to grow up in a small town where you get to the local diner by turning left at the oak.

Plus, he does it with grace, beauty, dignity and love for his wife and family.

There was not a whit of culture or refinement in me or my brothers.  We were just wild sunburned boys who ran all day and stayed covered in red clay dust.

11. Jeff R @ The Anti ignorance Blog
This young fellow is discovering the world through his words. He’s not bothered by visitors or by growth. He’s just writing. Isn’t wonderful that we have the opportunity to read about what our youth think? Give him a visit and let him know we aren’t all bad.

12. Miss A. Topp @ Love, Literature & the Pursuit of Happiness Enthusiasm, smiles, friends, a big family and willingness to tell the truth. Miss Topp is a young teacher and a lover of books. She’s working on her latest novel. In the mean time, feel free to follow her blog at http://msatopp.wordpress.com/

13. Julie @ local food.

One of the perks of coaching our 13 year-old son, Jack’s soccer team is getting to know the parents of our team members. Disclaimer: Joe does the coaching, I do the Starbucks run and cheering. One of the families we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know is Vince and Denise Brigantino. As a thank you gift for coaching (and cheering), they gave us a lovely bottle of their family grown Cabernet Sauvignon. We uncorked it tonight, let it breath for about an hour, and served it with Baked Ziti – yum!

When Julie writes you enjoy the northern California lifestyle along with her.

Thanks for joining me. Leave a comment. It’s how we little blog writers get paid. : )

Julie

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8 life hacks to turn your end of semester blues into all the colors of the rainbow.

Posted on February 3, 2010 | 4 Comments

Talk

There is a field. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. Rumi

Here are 8 ways to turn your upside down days right side up.

1) Care I was saddened yesterday because I saw a fellow student get a bad grade and her world went to pieces. Her eyes went red, her tears started flowing, her lip was trembling and she started writing frenetically in her notebook. How can we as a society be completely unmoved by things like this?

2. Pray – True story. Not too far from my house a kid’s teacher finds out he was smoking and he jumps out the second floor window of his school because he’s afraid his parents will find out. He’s still in a coma. My class and I are praying for his recovery. When I talk to my students I’m so careful to encourage them. It would have been so nice if we could just communicate.
It’s life and death.

3) Offer Encouragement. I have a soft spot for kids who come from broken families. I am one of those and I can tell you it has been my defining moment as I grew. I rarely talk about it because I feel like mentioning the word divorce would break my mother’s heart again.

The wind longs to blog in your hair.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. Emerson

Still, I offer encouragement to kids going through difficult times. The other day I was in the class room and there was a new kid. He’s a cool kid. He talks when he’s not supposed to and sometimes doesn’t listen to my answers but I understand him. I understand him because I took the time to find out he’s new because he’s no longer living with mom, but he’s living with dad.

4) Contribute I contribute what I can to make my home and family a happy one. Not all the time. OK, I’m far from perfect.

Rather, there’s ROOM for improvement. OK I’ll do better. I promise.

We all have the power to add special touches that make our lives better, such as putting out some flowers, some candles, some spices in the garden. I do it as often as I can because I love to share. I recently added my dot com name, my logo and my shop. Pretty soon I should be giving away a beautiful picture, if I can manage to part with it.

Sure my shop doesn’t actually work YET but I’ve put down the corner stone. It’s a wheel in motion and I’m enjoying the process.

5) Communicate Teachers: Don’t wait until the end of the semester to tell your kids how they are doing in class. Parents: Find out ahead of time by meeting up with the teachers. Kids: Ask your teachers how you are doing – don’t let them intimidate you.

Do what is asked. And then some. Please don’t push your children or students too hard. THEY have to WANT to learn. Guess what? Children love to learn.

6) Do your best and then a little bit more. It’s a triangle that has to work together: parents, teachers and kids. The reason this sweet little student was upset is because she’s scared to talk to her teacher because every time she asks her something she gets scolded or a bad grade.

7) Have a Positive Mental Attitude Find what’s good. Find what’s good. Find what’s good. I have to turn in my semester end grades day after tomorrow. I pray I’ve been fair. I think so. I have worked hard at teaching. I tell my kids my goal is to be their best teacher. I want them to succeed.

*8) Go the Extra Mile I particularly remember a mom who asked how her son could improve his grades. I said do something extra. This kid would bring me a translation on a weekly basis. Was I ever impressed. I’m certain his grade reflected it.

I wrote the girl who cried a little message. I told her I hope she knows that there are more things in the world more important than grades. But in her world, there aren’t.

What are your experiences with teachers and bad grades? How do you get your kids motivated to learn? Do you think it’s better to award good grades, punish bad grades or something in the middle?

Thanks for your comments.

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100 lists challenge writers, clear thoughts, inspire and motivate. Just like that.

Posted on January 20, 2010 | 4 Comments

Serving a fresh brewed pot of hot delicious blog content for your reading pleasure.

Here is my 2nd list of 100. My first was my first blog post in October. The idea is to get all of your thoughts on the page. There are only two rules. The first is to start all entries with the number 100. The 2nd is to write it all out in one sitting. I made it only to 80 then took a break before coming back to finish and edit.

Frills.

The reason this works is that it brainstorms to get all of your thoughts on the page. Then the benefit is that everyone can write a list and one day you can expand on one of your ideas. Or maybe someone else will. Also it provides a nice story of where you are in your life today.

1. 100 new ideas.
2. 100 reasons I love to blog.
3. 100 smiles.
4. 100 things I’d like to do right now.
5. 100 students who make me laugh.
6. 100 best paintings.
7. 100 pages.
8. 100 sweet things.
9. 100 rooms.
10. 100 fears of change.

11. 100 reasons change is good.
12. 100 comments on 100 blogs.
13. 100 best all time films.
14. 100 best all time books.
15. 100 times over.
16. 100 songs I love.
17. 100 books to read.
18. 100 ways to motivate you now.
19. 100 ways to write new rules.
20. 100 students who are going to ask me why.

21. 100 calls to my mom.
22. 100 beautiful people inside and out.
23. 100 friends I’ve reconnected with.
24. 100 best cities to visit.
25. 100 new words to learn.
26. 100 jokes.
27. 100 tickles for my kids.
28. 100 dinners I’d like to try cooking.
If. I. had. the. time. and. the. desire.
29. 100 ways to learn to love cooking.

30. 100 things I wish I knew before starting this blog.

Travel in style.

31. 100 excuses I’ve heard.
32. 100 excuses I’ve made.
33. 100 places to publish your work.
34. 100 days on a cruise.
35. 100 animals I’d like to hold.
36. 100 kids who need help now.
37. 100 places who could use your help now.
38. 100 ways I’ve learned to give.
39. 100 ways to be generous.
without. spending. a. cent.

40. 100 ways to improve your writing.
41. 100 colors on my paintings.
42. 100 flowers in my garden.
waiting. for. spring. to. come.
43. 100 sounds in a symphony.
44. 100 yoga stretches.
45. 100 people I love.
46. 100 random thoughts.
47. 100 deep breaths.
48. 100 apples on 100 trees.
49. 100 places to go running.
50. 100 blogs to read.

51. 100 reasons writing a 100 list works.
52. 100 people who have influenced me.
53. 3 people who have influenced me most.

Be inspiring.

54. 100 dinners to serve.
55. 100 reasons I’m happy to be involved in community projects.
56. 100 quotes to sprinkle around.
57. 100 voices that sound like vanilla cinnamon.
58. 100 best metaphors.
59. 100 file folders neatly organized.
60. 100 stories in the news I hardly believe.

61. 100 great motivational words like inspire and empower.
62. 100 babies who are all grown up.
63. 100 adults who act like kids.
64. 100 years of happiness.
65. 100 types of love.
66. 100 upside down tickles.
67. 100 silly memories from my childhood.
68. 100 years of solitude.
69. 100 things I wish my teachers told me.
70. 100 things my teachers taught me.

simplicity

71. 100 sports that make you strong.
72. 100 best all time athletes.
73. 100 best cities to live in.
74. 100 best quotations.
75. 100 best bible versus.
76. 100 best all time gadgets.
77. 100 things to give to charity.
78. 100 top wines.
79. 100 cool things to write on the back of sweat pants.
80. 100 all time best you tube videos.

81. 100 words that can change lives.
82. 100 minute lunch break.
83. 100 minute work out.
84. 100 best nature walks.
85. 100 countries in need.
86. 100 reasons to thrive today.
87. 100 pieces of wood to stack.
88. 100 ways to be a better person.
89. 100 people who are reading this.
90. 100 favorite restaurants.

91. 100 ways to cook potatoes.
92. 100 different sports.
93. 100 miracles.
94. 100 stories to tell.
95. 100 people who have linked me to their site.
96. 100 uplifting positive things to say.
97. 100 people making a difference in this world.
98. 100 things to do before I die.
99. 100 ways to be excellent.
100. 100 discoveries.

101. 100 ways to go the extra mile.
102. 100 things to learn.
103. 100 toys.
104. 100 best cars ever.
105. 100 of my favorite stories.
106. 100 kinds of spices.
107. 100 ways to make cookies.
108. 100 ways to cook vegetables.
109 100 gallons of water.
110. 100 trips to Florence.

Like I said, I like to put in a little big extra. That’s why I wrote a little bit more.

Hope you are well. Thanks for visiting. Please feel free to comment.
Julie

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74th day blogging with 1650+ visitors. WT? Cranking out fresh smiley blog content daily.

Posted on January 12, 2010 | 3 Comments

I’m going to remove my blog stats feature from my blog about Italy. Blogging has taken over my life. I’m going to try to only check my blog visitor stats once a month. Uh huh. Yeah. Right.

Love life! painted by yours truly Julie.

I just want to let my nice readers know how I appreciate each and every click you have made. I have a feeling it’s probably just one crazy maniac who wants me to think I’ve got a cool blog and has nothing better to do so he/she is clicking endlessly on my site. Thanks maniac. You’re keeping me sane.

Today’s theme is going to be about multi-tasking and/or doing one thing at a time. How many things can you do at once? Or is it better to do one thing at a time?

I feel alive when I am doing a zillion things at once. I can have two chats going on in facebook, the phone up on my ear as I’m skyping with my mom watching my children and husband play, listening to a cd while the television is on in the background and the teapot is about to whistle that the water is ready. I’ve also got 10 windows open on my computer and am reading, writing and watching a youtube video. Did she really just say that?

On the other hand I consider myself an entirely simplistic person. Breathe in, count to 10, hold, count to 20, breathe out count to five, repeat. Relax, eat well, do yoga. You can only do one thing at a time if you want to do it well so stay in the moment and concentrate, right? Focus. I’d call this a dichotomy if I knew what it meant. It’s sounds like a fitting word, doesn’t it?

I just looked up dichotomy in wikipedia. It’s actually fitting. Take that Mr. ‘I’m moving on’ blog spam man.

Surprise!

What do you prefer? Everything at once or just one thing at a time?

Hey kids! How are you?! Great to see you. Guess what we did AGAIN today? Yes, we went to the theater in the center of town and got a tour back stage. I went with two shiny teachers and a class of 22 bright students. All the world is a stage. I’m singing and dancing. I happily volunteered to go on stage while the lighting technician showed us how the spot lights work. I must be attention starved because before you knew it a girl named Giada and I were making up a dance routine.

We got booed. We bowed.

Arena del Sole

Tomorrow evening we will all be attending a show. It looks interesting considering the main actor is a man dressed as a woman. Is this appropriate for teenagers? We learnt that the theater used to be a convent with nuns then Napolean was in town about 200 years ago (uh huh) – anyone checking this for correctness? Then the theater got auctioned off to a crazy man who sold leather goods. At least that’s what our guide said.

As far as multi tasking in concerned.

For some psychotic reason I decided to write a guide ebook to getting your blog started and how to make it bloom. I noticed some people are having a hard time getting their blog off the ground so I wanted to share that information. Then I started writing it. It’s not a bad book by any means but still? In Italian they have a saying called ‘chi melo fa fare?’ It means who is forcing me? Everyone I’ve ever met in my life is writing a book so what? The world needs MY information? I don’t think so. And secondly, why would I do that? To prove I can? Breathe Julie Breathe.

I could just take off the picture and that would be that. Only problem is that I’ve already written about 24 pages. Once I start doing something I like to follow through. I just don’t want to put out a mediocre product. I’ll let you know.

Hope all of you are fine out there. Have a great day. Be inspirational. Make the changes you want. Be the change you want. Believe in yourself. You can do it. I know you can.

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You make me smile.

Posted on January 6, 2010 | 4 Comments

Inspired choices.

I hesitate to post because I love looking at my paintings on the blog when I open my site but the show must go on. I can always repost them. It took me about six hours to upload all of those pictures so I don’t plan on doing that again any time soon.

I just wanted to say a big huge thank you to my regular visitors. I see you. I see you coming back. I know you want to know which one is the oil painting. It’s Anne Marie’s. If you follow my blog you guys know that Anne Marie is my best friend and has been for over 20 years. This summer I gave her a framed flower picture for her birthday and she loved it. She gave me the biggest compliment a girl could get and it was these words:

“I’m giving you your first commission. Please paint me some sunflowers.”

I did so happily and with a full, thankful and loving heart.

As you can see I’ve added an ebook link to a book I’m writing to get new bloggers helped started. I’m not an expert by ANY means but it did take some figuring out. I just want to share some of my knowledge. I don’t even know if there’s a market in that. I had two better titles. One was SEO WTF, but I didn’t want to use curse words. And the other was

If you don’t know what you are doing stand next to someone who looks like they do.
 but It think that might be too long.

I actually need your input. For one I still can’t decide on a name for this blog. Do you think I need to drop the .wordpress to make it seem more professional?

I also need to decide which way to head, motivation, art, or Italy journal. I spoke to my life coach Adam and he asked if I have any plans or measurable goals. He’s just amazing. I do. I sent them all in a detailed outlined letter.

I believe in something I read in Napolean Hill’s book called Think and Grow Rich were he describes what is called a Mastermind. The idea is that we all work together for a greater good. That’s my interpretation. That’s why I’m asking your guys’ thoughts.

I had this idea to have a contest, sweepstakes, giveaway where I would give away one of my pictures. It’s drying. It’s an oil paint and it has taken four days to dry. What do you guys think? My idea was to have you write between 50-200 words describing either:

1) Someone who motivates you and why. (or)
2) Someone who you have motivated and how.

What do you think? Should I just do it? Have I got nothing to lose? I don’t even know if I like the new painting. It looks so pretty in person but when I look at it in a thumbnail picture I’m not certain. Don’t ask me to upload it!

And finally I have to confess something. You know how when you have to study for an exam all of the sudden you find time to clean your entire house and organize every sock drawer by color? Well, I have the same thing going on in my life.

I’m supposed to be looking for a bigger house for my family. This is my procrastination. I’ve procrastinated for two years and I’ve never considered my self one to put off doing things.. I need to focus on that. (Or)… I could work more on my blog (or) I could try to stop wanting and start accepting. If I knew the answers! If I only knew.

In the mean time, today I’ll stick with the title Serendipity which means something to the tune of a positive unexpected outcome.

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Hello my peeps – Thanks for visiting and being inspirational.

Posted on December 26, 2009 | 5 Comments

Protect from sun, snow and rain.

I started blogging two months ago and my visitor hits are over 1,100 now. What is going on? I love it. Blogging has taken over my life. I think it has to do with the novelty aspect of it. It’s just a strange and wonderful idea called a blog. I know some people have been blogging for at least five years. To me it is all new and fun.

I’ve got this incredible fear of failing so I keep reading and reading what makes successful blogs. I don’t want people to laugh at me. I have my family and my students to do that. Now I will have the whole world laughing at me.

One of my great readers brought up a funny story about traveling that got me thinking about when I first moved to Italy nearly 15 years ago. I was struggling over the language and we came up with some doozies. In particular I remember asking for preservatives for my toast and mistaking the Italian word for condoms.

Show us your what?

I remember a friend of mine having her picture taken by Italians and she thought they had said show us your teets rather than teeth. These are all rather embarrassing moments but still funny to look back on. There was the case of an language learner who in class accidently said floppy dicks instead of floppy discs.The list can go on and on. As a teacher you try not to laugh visibly.

The longer I’ve been here though the rarer those misunderstandings happen. It is still fun though when mistakes are made. That’s one of the reasons I love traveling.

Italy these days is lovely. Truly beautiful. I have a friend of mine from high school who is a reader here too who unfortunately had kidney failure and is immobile. If you noticed on my last post about 36 Ways to be a Better Person I wrote to spin in your minds. That was for my friend Kelli because I was thinking of her when I wrote it. Not everyone can stand up and spin. One day she and I were joking around on a facebook conversation saying we were going to take the other around with us the next day shopping.

You inspire me.

We live miles and miles away so going shopping is out of the question but in our minds everything is possible. It’s like having a coffee with my mom on skype. Skype is like a telephone on the computer where you can see the person you are talking to and it’s free. The world is changing drastically and quickly all do to this crazy thing called internet.

Today I’m using Kelli’s story for inspiration to write. I’d like to write to her what it’s like to live in Italy during the holiday times and just like you might imagine it is truly beautiful. Each and every little city that I’ve visited seems to be more beautiful than the last. Italians seem to have a social habit of visiting cities with their families on their days off work.

Smile. You're beautiful.

You can often see a family strolling through the city center on the weekends to get an ice cream. You can also see a lot of people walking up or down the walkways shopping outside. The city I live is Bologna. It is famous for it’s porticoed sidewalks. I fell in love with these covered sidewalks for many a reason. I should be offering some historical facts about their length and construction but suffice it to say they are beautiful.

The reason I love these porticoes – or covered sidewalks – is because you can walk the entire city without an umbrella if it is raining. These porticoes protect you from the rain when it’s raining, the snow when it’s snowing and the hot sun when it’s burning.

In Italy these days you can see beautiful lights strung over the main streets. Around dusk they are turned on. I love the lights. Sometimes there can be so many people walking up and down the main street the taxis and buses can’t get through. People are well dressed from head to toe with hats, jackets, scarves, gloves and boots. And usually a smile. Sometimes. Not all the time. Actually. I think Americans are more famous for their friendly smiles. I don’t want to generalize here though folks.

Just smile.

Be the change you want to see.

Thank you for visiting with me in here Italy during these days. Hope your days are lovely where ever you are.

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Posted in holidays, Inspiration, Italy, journal, motivation

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Swim AWAY from the Cake – updated motivational technique.

Posted on December 23, 2009 | 7 Comments

I am putting every ounce of myself to becoming a better blogger, writer and communicator. More importantly is that I am trying to make a positive change in life. Thank for visiting if this is your first time here. Welcome back visitors, feel free to leave comments.

What motivates you?

My best friend Anne Marie kicks my bum in tennis and probably anyone else’s. When we were playing at university we were great partners. We spent our time between matches actually doing cartwheels on the court. We were paired up with a couple of Chinese guys who were so serious about tennis. One day our coach pulls us aside and assigns us new partners. ‘Not the Chinese, Not the Chinese’ we chanted – they’d kill us at tennis. Sure enough, Anne Marie and I found fantastic new partners.

I’m building bridges here.

Stay with me folks. There IS a reason I’m telling you this.

The reason is this. When I am in the class room in front of my students I ask them ‘What motivates you most?’ Is it someone who comes over, puts your hand on your shoulder, smiles, and says good job, or is the person who gets behind you and yells ‘DO IT!’?

When I was on swim team in high school, my sister was my best motivator. She’d follow me back and forth across the lanes and scream ‘Go Julie!’ Her coaching strategy was swim toward the chocolate cake and away from the shark.

Just pretend

Be a kid and pretend you are the best. Walk across the room at this moment as if you have a cape on your back, I don’t care if anyone’s watching – all the better. Our mind will literally follow suit.

When Anne Marie and I were back playing singles tennis, she’d say ‘Julie – You’re going down’ with such conviction, I had no other choice then to let her win. Ha ha ha, Anne Marie, who’s getting the last laugh now?

Point is, get out there, do your best. That’s all we can ask, isn’t it?

Have a nice day and thank you for visiting.

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8 days ’til Christmas. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Posted on December 17, 2009 | 3 Comments

How I love the holidays. I grew up in Southern California so when it snows for Christmas it’s a true joy. When we were growing up, it only snowed once and I remember putting snowballs in the freezer. I remember Californians complaining because it never quite felt like Christmas because it was hot outside. In southern California at Christmas time you can actually see candy apple red convertibles with a Christmas tree in the back seat driving along the coast with the sand and waves in the background. You can also get married in Las Vegas in a drive thru by someone dressed up as Elvis but that has nothing to do with Christmas in Italy.

Where was I? Italy. Oh yeah, I forgot. All this snow must have went right to my brain and I’m not even blonde. That’s a joke for you sis.

Christmas in Italy

Nine days left and counting. If you read my about Julie page above you would have seen that I’m a special aids AND English teacher. I teach English at one middle school and am a special aid’s teacher at another. When I’m in the classroom, I have two roles, I’m either teaching or helping. When I’m teaching I’m pretty easy going. I like to tease my students and tell them I’m 70. They don’t know. They tell me I look great for being 70. Then when I tell them my real age they still look a little quizzed because I think anything over 15 to a 12 year old is considered old. 20-40-70, who really cares. I don’t. It’s how we feel inside, right?

Playing with the Kids

I also like to tell them that there is a quiz today. They never seem to get that joke but I like it. Today I was not the teacher but I was the helper and I think I like that role best. It’s sort of hard to understand your position in the class because as you sit and listen to the lecture you start to think you are a student too. My math teacher friend teaches an 85 year old woman.

I highlight my student’s books and take notes for them. Then, I have to try to explain what I’ve learned to the kids. I’ll make them copies or whatever it takes to get them prepared for their ‘interrogation’.

Interrogation is a common practice in Italy. What it means is that instead of having a written exam the teacher asks each kid orally what was supposed to be learned. For example in Geography the teacher might as an open ended question about China saying Talk to me about China. That’s a BIG subject but basically it can be broken down into it’s physical characteristics, the climate, the government, the resources, the people, the culture and traditions.

When you work with special kids you have to make it simple if you can.

Around the holidays a lot of teachers just do normal lessons. I like to organize Christmas parties. I grew up with a Christmas party and I think it is good that the kids have one too. My five year old had his party today and I got to have a peek at the magic that lies behind the walls of a kindergarten.

Christmas Magic

Close your eyes and imagine this beautiful story book scene. It’s snowing outside, you park in front of the school. The kids are bundled up like Eskimos. Watch them as they put their little feet in the snow for the first time. They have to touch it. You worry that they are going to have wet shoes. The teacher has written everyone a note the day before that the kids should all wear red or white tops and dark bottoms for the Christmas party because Santa is coming.

I dropped off my five year old today and I stopped for a second that I wished was a lifetime to see about 20 little angels going about their angel making projects that included little fairies with sparkles and glue. Then cookies. And then I have to go.

I go to work that I love. Second period I sub and we make paper snowflakes. They look great on the window with the snow falling. In English we sing the song by Black Eyed Peas in English called I Got a Feeling. I’m happy to translate the lyrics. I help the new girl follow along. She’s sweet.

I finish teaching and I go to the teacher’s lounge where the math teacher has his guitar out and is playing beautiful music. Life is good. Life is certainly good.

Thank you for visiting. I’m overwhelmed that I’ve had so many visitors. Thank you.

Have a great day and feel free to leave a comment. I’d like to know what your schools or jobs are doing for the holidays. I see some of your pictures on facebook but I like the stories.

Julie

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Posted in Inspiration, Italy, journal, learning, motivation, teaching

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My tiny success story. (or) Yes. Yes. Yes. I figured it out all by myself.

Posted on December 9, 2009 | 6 Comments

As you might have noticed I am indecisive with titles. I do try. I haven’t yet come up with a name for my blog although I have had some good comments and suggestions. I love bl.g because I just do but I unfortunately can’t use that word because Google won’t recognize it as a blog. I’d rather call this an on line journal but for now the title is unchanged.

My Daily Success Journal.
by Julie Angelos

At this moment I’m over the top excited because I figured out how to change a broken key from my gorgeous laptop. I LOVE my Macbook. I bought it in Orange County, California last summer and I got a $100 teacher’s discount. My first mac was in 1986 at the student store at San Jose State University. Loved that one too.

Anyhow as I was saying I had this incident a few months ago where an ant crawled under my tab key. I took it off and unfortunately broke the plastic bit that holds the key on.

I went on line to figure out how to fix it. I ordered another key but it was the wrong size. It takes three weeks for the mail to arrive in Italy. I then brought my mac to the mac center downtown but they didn’t have the right size either. I sort of gave up and got used to using the tab key as it was. But you know when you just look at something for so long and it bugs you but you put up with it – like your husband, just kidding – ba da da…

Well, finally after five long months I got a second replacement key and voila in less time that it takes to say mac key replacement, it is on and working! I know it’s a long story but it’s the small details in life that make us the happiest. That’s why I love blogging. I am not limited to condensing my words to symbols. LMFAO.

Isn’t life just wonderful when you finally figure something out? The light goes on in your head and you think, oh, so that’s how you do it. I want to hear about your success stories, no matter how big or small. I have another story about a magnet and a cupboard but you guys are going to have to wait for that one.

You’re welcome. Just like you are waiting for my list of movie stars I’ve met. Oh the anticipation. I bet it’s just killing you.

Much love and looking forward to your success stories.

JB

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Posted in happiness, motivation

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