Life is Chaotic

I promised to be a better blogger. I failed miserably.

I feel as though this is the story of my life. I set out to do something non-work related and I always end up bullshitting around. I thought I could look at this blog as an outlet for my frustrations. For my hopes and dreams. For my grand ideas.

And I couldn't even do that.

I don't know if I am stuck in a rut or what is going on, personally, in my life. Work-wise, I am moving and shaking. This begs the question: am I a product of my environment? I live in Washington, DC. The "capital of the free world", if you will. All that everyone does here is work, drink, have sex, drink, and work some more. Yes, Washingtonians do enjoy the nightlife and such but our minds are always on work. We are constantly glued to our phones every time it vibrates. OMG is that an email from my Senator boss? OMG are we being sequestered AGAIN? Washingtonians are addicted to the adrenaline that comes with working in this city. We eat, breathe, sleep politics.

The unfortunate side effect is that this mentality rolls over into every aspect of life in Washington, DC. We all play politics to a certain extent in every school but I feel it is much more heightened here in DC. I attribute this to the fact that we have no control over our budget [even though Congress likes to spew that we do, we have to ask Daddy(ies) to sign off on our checks] and we have to fight to have basic things in our classrooms. We live in fear that when Congress threatens to sequester that we will still be able to provide for our students because, yes, our District funds get tied up in that mess.

I need to do better. I need to use this as the outlet it was intended to be. But how do I commit myself to this? Alexis from Strange and Charmed suggested be consistent, even if it means you only update every two weeks. She believes that as long as you are consistent with your updates, your audience will stick around.

Is this true? Is this the reason why so many of you left? I simply fell off the face of the planet and abandoned my post.

I apologize. I truly do. I will work to do better.

Yours,

Spring Semester in the Books

I received my 2nd semester grades from Spring Semester finally on Friday morning. I finished with straight A's! Considering that I am a full-time teacher in addition to being a full-time grad student, I am going to go ahead and congratulate myself on this achievement. Now that I am done for the next 6 weeks, this household is gearing up to move! Yes, we are moving out of the District and moving in a much larger space in Alexandria, Virginia. I am not exactly stoked about moving out to Alexandria, I am going to miss the District but since my brother has moved in we have been lacking some serious space. I have also only been to Alexandria once since moving to DC 5 years ago. Anyone have some tips/great places to check out in Alexandria?

Erin Condren Life Planner 2015

Hi Flatters! [is that an ok nickname? kinda sounds weird...]

First things first, I am having a hell of a time with my banner. As you can see, I just kinda gave up after a few hours of dealing with it. Anyone out there that can give me some pointers to get that header centered and bigger??

Secondly, I finally got my Erin Condren Life Planner!! So excited. I have incorporated some pictures into this blog for you all. Check it out below!

The box! Sophie checking it out before Mommy opens it up. 

Have I mentioned that Purple is my favorite color?

Stickers and postcard

squee!!

Garnet and Gold for Florida State!

Inside cover

Calendar

April 2015 spread

Notes section

More notes

Stickers!

More stickers, I love stickersssssssss

Ok that was quick! I hope you enjoy seeing the unwrapping of my ECLP. I am thinking about doing a weekly/biweekly ECLP planner blogs so that you can see my week(s). Let me know if you think that is a good idea below. I love your comments!

Schedule Linky

Hi All! I am linking up with Schroeder Shenanigans to post my daily schedule! I love this idea. As a Secondary Teacher [ELA and History], I have different schedules on different days as well as a different schedule for Graduate School! I have created two daily schedules and check them out below!!

Teaching Life

7:15-7:45am: Waking up, showering, breakfast, getting ready

8:05-8:30am: Arrive at work and prepare for the day

8:45-9:30am: 1st Period [English III Inclusion class]

9:30-11:15am: 2nd or 3rd Period [either English III or US History Inclusion]

11:15-12:05pm: STEP [Student-Teacher Enrichment Period aka Lunch :-p]

12:10-1:39pm: 4th or 5th Period [either English III or Planning]

1:45-3:15pm: 6th or 7th Period [either US History or Planning]

3:15-4:30pm: Making copies for the next day(s), hosting English III meetings, meetings with students

Graduate Life

I have class from 8-11pm on Monday and Tuesday nights. I typically try to nap between work and class or go to school early to complete homework. However, Saturdays or Sundays are my "Graduate" days. So a typical weekend day would look like the following:

11-12pm: Wake up [I need my sleep!!]

12-12:30pm: make lunch and a snack

12:30-1:00pm: Schedule out my readings and notes for comps

1:00-3:30pm: Complete my readings

3:30-4:00pm: Break [eyes are usually blurry and in need of a break!]

4:00-6:00pm: Type up notes for Comps

So that's it! Go link up so I can see your schedules :) 

Test

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Grading Playlist and Trench Coats

We are getting close to one of my favorite times in DC...the Cherry Blossom Festival!! The blossoms are incredibly gorgeous [as seen above] and the weather is downright amazing. As you may tell, I have tweaked my blog name a bit, Life in Flats. I am still going to incorporate teaching into my blog [see below!] but I also want to talk more about my life as a grad student, organizer, planner addict, 2-star chef and aspiring vlogger. I live in an amazing city and I want to share my experiences in and around it with my readers, all 43 of you. I am not much of a creator in terms of having an Etsy or TpT shop so I do feel very much on the outside of teaching blogs. As I have mentioned in previous posts this year at my high school has been especially difficult. Our Principal of 7 years left after much media scrutiny over the safety and security of our building after a few robberies by students against other students took place. Since then there has been a sort of continental divide between the Administration and the teaching staff which is growing larger by the day. Through in two months worth of PARCC testing and this is becoming a recipe for disaster. I don't know whether or not I will stay at my current school. Time will tell!

Moving on to more pleasant things, today I found myself with a foot high stack of papers that I haven't graded in the past three weeks thanks to the never ending grad school work and administering PARCC testing. I created a playlist for myself for when I run, lift weights or grade papers. Sometimes I need some serious power music to get through grading, either because of the amount of grading or, I hate to say this but it is true, the quality of work. EXCLAIMER!! Some of these songs are EXPLICIT! And unfortunately I know that majority of my students the explicit ones word for word...

You can listen to the playlist HERE

I also have been in the market for a nice trench coat. If my life was perfect and I was married to Tom Hiddleston, I would purchase this 1800USD Burberry Trench Coat. But that is the cost of one month's rent for my little apartment in DC and I am fairly certain my loverboy would slice me if I spent rent money on this coat. I have always loved London Fog coats since I stumbled upon the factory store in Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, FL. I have two LF trench coats from Macy's that I think are pretty affordable, 129 and 159 each. 

Aren't they both great?!

So leave me a comment below! Let me know if you like or dislike the new blog name or the new content.

Some Thoughts...

Hi All! I have been thinking lately about my blog, ways to improve it, ways to change it, etc. I have been considering making this blog more than just teaching. I want to incorporate more of my personal life - productivity, food, grad school- into this blog but I feel as though no one will want to continue reading if every post isn't about teaching. Obviously all of my personal life ties into my teaching life so I do feel as though everything will still be relevant to all of you wonderful readers! I am also considering changing my blog name to Life in Flats...please leave me a comment below and let me know what your thoughts on this potential change!!