fundamentally changed.

Have I told you lately how much I love my major? Every day I feel inspired in all sorts of ways. At times I think I might be the worst teacher ever and at other times I think maybe I'll be great. And I guess that's part of its glory. I came across this quote on tumblr:

Reading honest literature makes you love the world. Knowledge and understanding are love. Reading educates our feelings and enhances our sympathy. When you read for understanding, you are fundamentally changed. You are a different person at the end of the story or the novel than you were when it began.
John Dufresne

I have this deep love, this adoration, this real belief in reading. And in knowledge. Today I started my practicum at Oak Canyon Jr. High School and I met the teacher that I will be a student teacher for in the Fall. Pretty exciting stuff if you ask me! I'm just thrilled to be able to help my students learn and understand things they didn't before. Because for me, it really is all about love. I love the kids. I love language. I love learning. Teaching this stuff won't always come easy and they won't always feel the way I do about it, but the fact that I get to try is enough for me. 

ferry friends.

So I decided that Walt Whitman and I might have been buddies, if we lived at the same time (and we were neighbors or something). Of course, I don't actually know this. And I am basing this on one fact alone: he liked to ride ferries. All day long, in fact. He would give the ferry man a dime and stay on that boat until they forced him off.

I'm pretty sure one of my top moments in Frisco was riding the ferry to and from Alcatraz. The views! The breeze! The water! Glorious, I tell you.

Can you imagine? A ferry ride with Mr. Whitman? O captain, my captain...that would be a ride for the books.

my first attempt at a panoramic picture. (from the back side of a ferry, naturally)

like stars.

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man in the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny." 

(Carl Shurz, quoted by Spencer W. Kimball in his "Second Century Address")

This quote was shared in one of my classes on the first day. And it kind of stuck with me.

a new year.

Well, I took this year's Winter break quite seriously. As soon as I finished my last week of school (which included endless hours on my laptop doing projects and papers and studying) I simply put my computer away and didn't even look at it until I was back in school last week. In the time I spent away I had my first Christmas in California with my darling husband, I went to San Francisco for the first time and let's get real--I did lots and lots of nothing mixed in with whatever I wanted (which most of the time, meant more nothing).

Seeing as how it is basically half way into January already, I thought I might write down some of the things that have been filling my thoughts with all of this beginning/clean slate/new goals talk around town.

I've never been very good at your traditional "Resolutions." I mean, I usually set them (see: no sugar, go to the gym more, write more often...) and I usually am disappointed in my lack of motivation/initiative and generally completely forget about said goals by February 1st.

2013 seems like such a fantastic year to be different. Better. Best, even. Let me tell you why...

Twenty-Thirteen is an odd year. And for me, odds just work.
I'll be 23 this year, and as far as I'm concerned that means I'm that much closer to grown up things.
I've already started my last semester of my undergraduate career (sort of: student teaching in the Fall)
If all goes as planned, I'll be a college graduate by December!

Let's just say this: I have such high hopes for this year. I mean, 2012, you ended up being pretty spectacular. In some ways, last year was one of the hardest years of my life. In other ways, it was the very best. 2012 gave me some major growing pains, but it is also the year I will always remember as the one that gave me my Jeffrey to have for keeps. I saw Nashville, New York City, and San Francisco. I learned things about myself I never dreamed I would. So, I'd say it was a success.

SO, here's where this blog is going this year...including my hopes and dreams...and everything in between. More. Just in the direction of more. I haven't touched it in so long, and I've missed it. I really have.

And here's a glance at my hoped-for accomplishments:

Floating Lanterns. Photoshop. Traveltraveltravel. Painted fingernails. More old movies, less pointless ones. Always read for class. Visit teach, and teach well. Be a teacher. Be a gym-goer.

PS. after this post I promise more pictures. promise.