Tag Archives: summer

Tiny Tips Tuesday: Make the Most of Your Summer – Part 2

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Dear Friend,

Have you started your Summer of Intentionality lists yet? {Missed last week’s Part One: To Read post? Check it out here for details}…

summer of intentionality part two to doToday I share with you my Summer of Intentionality To Do List aka my list of fun things I want to be sure to experience this summer.

TGBTS/Tami’s 2014 Summer To DO List:

  • Take my daughter on vacation alone – Portland in June, Truckee/Tahoe in July, Minnesota in August. So I can go to Curve Camp in Nashville all by myself!
  • Ride the steam train in Tilden Park
  • Take my daughter on a city bus, a light rail and a train. She’s totally into things that go right now.
  • Read 100 picture books with my girl – already well on our way!
  • Make {dairy-free} ice cream
  • Kayaking at Lake Natoma
  • Read outside – at the park, at the pool, at the beach, in the hammock.
  • Attend at least 10 yoga classes at It’s All Yoga and use my Curvy Monthly classes at home.
  • Host a neighbor get-together – homemade ice pops me thinks.
  • Return to weekly meal planning
  • Daily meditation – already started!
  • River Cats baseball game
  • Family bike ride
  • Complete the library reading program with the little one. I sign up every year and have yet to finish.
  • Splash in a splash pad.
  • Swimming pool most evenings (and swimming lessons for the little one – already signed up)
  • Watercolor with the little one – already started. We both LOVE it.
  • Art days: paint outside on easel, paint vistas outside
  • Drive in movie
  • Fishing with the grandparents.
  • Wash car – at home and at the car wash.
  • Picnic lunches with post lunch rinse offs in the water table – already have done several days and everyone feels better.
  • Breakfasts outside with our lonely cat – such a great way to start the day! We’ve been eating outside for a week and I’ll be sad when it is over.
  • Patio dinners with friends.
  • Farmer’s markets on every day of the week – meaning go to new ones around town.
  • Play in the sprinkler
  • Go to the beach and play in the waves
  • Fly a kite at the beach and at the lake house.
  • Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
  • Investigate the Crocker Art Museum
  • Visit Mendocino County grandparents
  • Visit Bay Area grandparents
  • Visit Minnesota grandparents
  • Build a sandcastle at the beach
  • Make sidewalk paint/chalk
  • Walk 100 miles
  • Drink fruit infused water – cucumber, lime, watermelon, pineapple. YUM!
  • Take a wagon ride
  • Family hike somewhere cool.

Are you noticing a pattern? Not a typical to-do list! A list of fun things that would get lost in the day to day of life (or in the air conditioned house watching endless hours of Sprout) unless we are intentional with our time.

I do hope you decide to make you own Summer of Intentionality lists. Please leave a comment or send me a message and tell me all about it. If you’d like to take a peek at some of my lists from the past click here.

With lots of love and compassion,

Tami

xo

PS – If you find this helpful or know someone who would, please be sure to pass it on. Sharing is caring!

Other posts you might like:

Teacher Travels: De Yound Edition

Teacher Travels: Academy of Sciences

Meet the Teacher

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Making the Most of Summer Break: Halfway Check In

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summer of intentionality 2013

Oh my goodness, friends, I just realized we have hit the halfway mark for summer break 2013. *gulp*

It’s both good and bad news. I’ll leave the bad news up to you, but the good news is there is still time to make some summer break plans to learn, to do and to read.

Have you made your list of things to learn, to do and to read yet?

Here’s my update:

Summer of Intentionality 2013:

Things I Want to Learn:

Skype – – I have used it and am LOVING IT! It feels nothing short of a miracle every time it works. My dad asked me a “technical” question about how Skype works the other day on a video chat and my answer was “It’s magic!” and that pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole thing. I totally wish I would have started using it earlier.

Hootsuite – I’ll just say there is still time in the summer for me to give it a go.

Movie Maker – I’ve been playing around with camera placement, lighting and getting ideas together. Look for some new videos from me in the next few months.

Student Motivation – I am so excited to be learning about the research behind motivation. More on that below.

Things I Want to Do:

My Activities:

Yoga class twice a week at It’s All Yoga – a work in progress! I’m going to class more than I have been in the last couple months, but not making that twice a week goal. Something to work on.

Daily restorative yoga – dude. I need to get on this one.

Manicure – Must schedule appointment.

Pedicure – Must schedule appointment. Is this a good time to talk about my fear of getting oglies from getting a pedicure? Because I really think that is what is holding me back.

Foot massage -Someone may need to hold my hand on this one.

90 Minute full body massage July AND August appointments are on the books.

Road trip to see Rhett Miller with friends. Show tickets are purchased. Now we need to rent a car and find good places to sleep. I may also try to convince my friend to go to a restorative yoga class in SF.

Ride my bike for errands. – Dude, where’s my bike?

Nap in a hammock.- The hammock has been put together and has clocked lots of reading hours. The cat and the kid fight over who gets to try to knock me off. Needless to say, I may have to switch this from napping to reading. Just for safety if nothing else.

Make pie. Good god, I love pie. – So many pies have been made and consumed this summer.

Family activities:

Visit Minnesota grandparents – DONE

Visit Bay Area grandparents – DONE several times!

Visit Mendo County grandparents – in the scheduling process.

Visit Portland friends – they are coming here instead of me going there. Two on the books.

Visit the swimming pool several times a week as a family – Best.Idea.Ever. We’ve been meeting another family there for dinner and swimming more nights and it is simply the best. I’m going to be sad when summer ends.

Ride bikes as a family. – I am not even sure where my bike is at this point.

Go to the farmer’s market together. – So far it’s been teams of two, not three, but we go several times a week.

Cook outside at the pool and eat dinner there. – We haven’t cooked there, but we’ve brought lots of picnic food with us. I love summer food! Especially when it is shared with good friends.

Fruit picking – DONE

Late add: Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge – on the schedule

Late add: Tuesday Night BBQ – on the schedule

Things I Want to Read:

Complete the summer reading program at the library.

 Just Kids by Patti Smith – It was so different than what I thought it was going to be I have to say I was just surprised. I liked it, not loved it. I learned a lot, but completely different stuff than I had anticipated.

Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness – I have it, but haven’t started it yet.

Steal Like An Artist – by Austin Kleon. I reviewed it here.

Uncertainty by Jonathan Fields – I have it, but haven’t started it yet.

Mindset by Carol Dweck – I’m almost finished with it and if I have seen you in person recently I’ve told you to read it. Can’t wait to tell you more about it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – I’m on page 556 and I’m still in, so it must be good.

That’s my mid summer update!

 How are you making the most of what’s left of summer break?

Saturday Senses

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I’ve been inspired by Pink of Perfection’s Five Sense Friday to start a new tradition at Teacher Goes Back to School: Saturday Senses!

tasting :: farm fresh organic produce – thank you, Mayacamas Ranch.

hearing :: new friends connecting

smelling :: sunscreen

seeing :: a pile of books, some nature and my all time favorite summer thing: a swimming pool!

feeling :: still a bit sore from boot camp this week and quite smug I finally figured out how to schedule posts

What are your senses this Saturday?

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Yoga+Music(not quite 365) – Medusa by Annie Lennox – Recipe Edition!

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It’s Tuesday! And that means the Recipe Edition!  

Each Tuesday I will share an easy, nutritious recipe so you can join me in the home-cooked self-care.   

Ahhh, summer break how I love thee. 

Long days of setting my own schedule, slowing down my life’s pace to match the lazy days of summer. A little of this, a little of that and a whole lot of whatever I want to do. 

And who can forget the summer fruit?!? 

Summer is the perfect time for working on my lame food confession. 

Like last week, today’s recipe is more of an assembly, rather than a cooking one. Who can really be bothered with cooking when the weather is so nice? 

Strawberry+Nectarine+Yogurt+Coconut = Summer Bliss! 

Serves 1 

handful of strawberries from the farmer’s market, co-op or your back yard – washed, dried and sliced 

nectarine – local and organic – washed and sliced 

a drizzle of plain organic yogurt 

a sprinkle of unsweetened dried coconut 

Optional: a drizzle of agave or natural sweetener of choice 

Toss in your favorite bowl as you go. 

so much better than "fruit" on the bottom

 

Enjoy! 

 What are your go-to healthy foods? How do you change your diet based on the season? Send me your recipe and you may find yourself featured here!  

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Today’s yoga brought to you by the home practice.   I’m so ridiculously sore from my boot camp session yesterday that I doubt I could make it through a regular class. Yowza! 

Today’s music is Medusa by Annie Lennox. 

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Yoga Teaching Update:  

 FREE Fridays at 4:30 with the new It’s All Yoga teachers (21st and X in Sacramento) – you’ve got to sign up online www.itsallyoga.com.   

 These classes are for every body – level 1/2. Bring your friends!  

 I’m scheduled to teach July 9th! 

 Office Hours with Michelle are on Fridays from 3:30-4:30, so come on by the studio before class and say hi! 

If you found this post useful, please share it on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks! 

   

Catching Up with the Runaway Train

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School years are like cross-country train journeys.

Both follow a particular route, on a schedule at a fairly predictable pace. 

The typical school year looks like this: 

183 days of work {180 with kids}

New students every August {who you hardly recognize until January}

Professional development trainings {with varying degrees of usefulness}

Staff meetings {no comment}

Refining best practices {making the already good teaching better that is kind of painful in the process, but worth the effort}

A bunch of fun activities at the end-of-the-year {well, fun for the students}

Post high stakes testing, both students and teachers exhale.

Then we continue the job of teaching and learning at a much more relaxed pace until the last bell rings on the final day of school much like a train finally chugging into the last depot at the end of a long journey.

By mid-May, we’re starting to look toward closing out the year:

Completing report cards

Adding some ink to the permanent records 

Spending some time outside {go egg drop, field day, track meet, water play day!}

 Finally learning some science and maybe even doing some art.

I start talking more about how long we’ve been together and how much they’re going to miss me I’m going to miss them when they move to fourth grade.

Except this year was different.

Instead of winding down and closing up shop, we experienced a lot of changes, mostly at the administrative level.

Serious stuff.

Stuff one needed to pay attention to, but I can’t help but feel a bit like my long journey on my predictable train was hijacked my the time bandits and my even-paced end-of-the-year calendar filled up with meeting after important meeting.

I was left feeling quite disoriented.

Today is finally the last day of our long journey.

I’m looking forward to the downtime and battery recharging so necessary at the end of each stressful year. This summer will be filled with some stay-at-home relaxing, some thoughts of how to improve next school year, some traveling with friends and of course, lots and lots of yoga.

How will you recharge your batteries this summer? What will you do to take care of yourself so you can make sure your train stays on the track?

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