Life Lately

We officially started our summer break Monday afternoon. Our first stop (we literally left Elijah's school and went there) was the airport to drop off my husband for another business trip to China - the 5th one since May 2016. Not my favorite, but at least this one is only for a week.

We made it through Elijah's first year of school relatively unscathed. I ended up being hired by the school district to help out in his class for the last 3 months of the year. It was a little entertaining filling out the application though. So, I'm applying to be a kindergarten classroom assistant and they ask about degrees. I have a Masters of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL). Then they ask about your current title. Officially, although I don't agree with it because I don't have a Ph.D., my title at work is Professor. That's probably the most overqualified I've ever felt for a job I was applying for. But let me tell you, the degree and the title don't make working with kindergarteners any easier. There is a special place in Heaven reserved for people who do this for a living.

On the creative front, I've picked up a new hobby - hand lettering + drawing flowers (see image above). I've been using a couple of books to learn, and I highly recommend them. Hand Lettering 101 by Sarah Snyder at ChalkFullofLove, Botanical Line Drawing by Peggy Dean from ThePigeonLetters, and How to Draw Modern Florals by Alli Koch from AlliKDesigns. Today, I should be getting a package that includes an embossing kit, so we'll see how that works out...I have a feeling I will be Embossing. All. The. Things. for a while. :)

I haven't done a whole lot with yarn since the beginning of the year. My husband and I currently have a competition going on to see who can last the longest without buying guitar pedals (him) and yarn (me). We've made it almost 6 months, but it's getting irritating because I keep trying to make a blanket for my new little nephew who is due to arrive in August, but I keep running out of yarn before I'm able to finish. I think I just need to move on to a scrappy yarn blanket instead of a set color pattern, or break into the yarn stash I had saved for a bigger project.

Other than that, we've just been trying to get into the habit of getting out of the house in the morning and get 3 miles of walking in before the heat of the day (which, since it's June in the PNW hasn't really arrived just yet, although today is looking promising). Speaking of which, I need to hustle and get my kid out the door now.

I hope you all have had a fantastic start to your summer!