Photo Friday: peering through the core

I admit, I’m a little jealous of Pierced Wonderings’ vista of color each week. New Orleans splashes across my screen until I swear I can smell bourbon and my skin itches from briny water of the sea mixed with the muddy Mississippi. When the sun beats through my office window in the afternoon, and Jen’s photos grace my monitor, I can feel the sultry heat of the South permeate my nerve endings and widen my synapses.  If only I had Mardi Gras to photograph….

common core - 1 (1)

Last week I visited Indian Prairie Elementary School. The school just turned 25 years old. The K-5th grade school began with Mrs. Kathleen Savage and she retires this year.  Things have changed a lot since she began teaching, mostly due to technology.

Now we have fewer books and more hands on learning.

common core - 8

Mrs. Savage writes plays and every student who auditions gets a speaking part.

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Read my lips

fortune telling - 1

A month ago, I readied myself to attend BAM16.  This is one of my two favorite conferences for writers.  These are my “birds of a feather.”  I met friends I only knew virtually, reconnected with friends I made last year, and got a whole new gaggle of friends.  For anyone thinking about attending next year, I highly recommend grabbing a roommate.  Sure it cuts down on cost; but the best benefit is the lasting friendships.  My roommate from last year, Pam Lutrell, and this year’s Julie A Wallace are now two of my favorite people.  Pam’s Over 50 Feeling Feeling 40 made me begin to feel more confident about fashion and style.  I still feel a bit more like Style from the Stylus, if you know what I mean.  Still, Pam and the other style bloggers pumped me up.

Julie, from WordStormCasserole came in a day early and had a leg up networking with the other bloggers.  She literally crammed me into her gaggle of friends and before long, the five of us became the ClownCarChronicles (Midlife Bloggers Gone Wild.)  We formed our own Mastermind group and plan to meet once a month to keep each other accountable.

Again at this conference, my mind swirled with ideas about monetizing, ambassadorship, and branding.  What is my brand, anyways?  I want to be known as a good writer.  A storyteller. I want to get my novel published so I can proudly call myself a novelist.

So what’s up with the lip prints, perhaps you wonder. While at BAM16, we each got a lip-reading.  Jennifer Connolly, from A Well Styled Life  suggested I try a shade of the complimentary lipstick just a bit brighter  than I usually wear.  I picked Cover Girls “Outlast” in shade 925. Wow! That shade really does brighten up my face.  Thanks Jennifer.

Not that I really believe in fortune-telling, but everyone came back happy about what they heard:  “Your creativity is about to break through to something big;” “You are on  the verge of a partnership;” “you’re a natural-born caretaker:” and more great things like that. So here’s what I remember hearing.

See those holes in your lip print? That’s a sign that energy is escaping.  You have many irons in the fire.  Perhaps more than you can keep track of.”

Whoa Mama.  

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STEM Tuesday: Landing on my feet

We all want “land on our feet” after a bad experience.  There’s even a book called Land on […]

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Gratitude Monday: Sunshine and Sisterhood, Pizza and Prayer

Oh the sun shine! Yesterday I heard warm weather by midweek.  [tweetthis]The face of the torrential downpours last night changed from disheartening to signs of growth and green.[/tweetthis]  It’s May, and poetry month is behind me.  I still love reading poetry.  I still love the exercise of learning new ways to express myself.  I apologize to faithful readers who stuck through April and my lack of poetic talent.  I feel full of energy, re-committed to following a morning routine. So with that gush of enthusiasm, here’s a list of 10 things I am thankful for this Monday:

[icon name=”female” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] BAM Connection:  I love reading the various blogs of my sister-bloggers. Meeting them face-to-face is encouraging, fun, and invigorating.  But… connecting after the fun is over is super-duper-dope-great.  Dina, Sara, Beth Ann, Joanne, Julie: We have some great things planned!

LTY
What? Where’s Jolan and Bonita?

[icon name=”female” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] LTYM:  Listen to Your Mother in St. Joseph, Michigan.  My first BAM roommate was not to be.  Or were you my second, dear Kim?  With LYTM coming strong behind BAM, and a lack of volunteers, she bailed on me.  That’s okay, I volunteered to help her take tickets.  After all, I’m a Michigander.  My kids were born and got through middle school before I left Bad Axe. (Yes, that really is the name of a town in Michigan.)  St. Joe’s is not too far away. What a wonderful treat!  Such a wonderful chat and sip dinner with Jolan and Joan and Yvonne before the show.  And the show − wow!

[icon name=”heart” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]  Ruth Myers and 31 Days of Prayer: A little gift from my friend, Judy, added to my list of meditations.  Day 1 filled me with such inspiration, it will  soon metamorphose my thoughts into a blogpost.  (Tomorrow maybe?)

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Photo Friday, Shrooms and a last NaPoWriMo

I love that it’s almost over, and I’ll miss it.  I suppose it’s a bit like hiking the […]