Working hard or hardly working

Okay so once you graduate from high school and college what happens to your sporty self? You become someone who works out at a gym or you become an adult who plays tennis or golf, etc, or you become a runner, right? Or, a couch potato I suppose. According to facebook nearly half of my friends are avid runners. Okay, half is an exaggeration. I figured it couldn't be that bad. I used to run all the time. Oh, that was 8 years ago when I was a junior in high school. Turns out my left shin doesn't really agree with running and my morning self doesn't always agree to get up for a run. Some days my morning self doesn't even agree to a shower. Anyways, I assumed if I registered for a 10K (only 6.2 miles) that I'd train and conquer. Well I trained- barely, and I conquered- barely. The thought of a half marathon crossed my mind when registering. Thank goodness I cast out that silly idea. I did survive the 10K and I did enjoy the feeling of crossing the finish line still standing. However training and 6 out of the 6.2 miles were pretty unenjoyable. Mom asked me if I'd caught the "running bug". I immediately told her no! It's unfortunate really. I want to fall in love with it but it hasn't happened and I'm not convinced it ever will.

Anyways, this is the photo you get to see because I forgot to smile and look mildly energized as I crossed the finish line.

The Fargo Marathon happens every spring now. The whole weekend includes kids races, a 5K, a 10K, half marathon, a full marathon, and various relays. I was just one of about 20,000 people to participate this year!

Mom and Dad Visit!

No doubt I have the best parents in the world. They've always supported me even when I went out on a limb and said I was going to turn down my teaching contract and move 1,322 mi or  22 hours away. So because I am here they came to visit and see my life up here in North Dakota & Minnesota. It was early March and surprisingly the snow had already started to vanish.

We got a new flurries they day they arrived as we walked around in downtown Fargo and saw the  Fargo Theatre.

 

 We went to my second job, Clay Your Way, and painted pottery and fused glass.

We ventured further into Minnesota and tried our feet at cross country skiing. It had sure been a while but we survived mostly unscathed.

Turns out Fargo isn't filled with thrilling sites to see so we also rode the Sheels ferris wheel, made dinner for my roommates and hung out, toured my preschool classroom, and played cards at Starbucks. It was fun, relaxing and family filled- the perfect long weekend.

Clay Your Way

I work at a stinkin' awesome place called Clay Your Way. It's great to work there except most of the time I want to quit on the spot and start painting. I always wish I were the artist and not the employee. Luckily for me, I get to paint sometimes. Also at Clay Your Way we do glass fusing. Here's my first piece. I don't know about you but I love it!

I cut all the glass and glued it on. The glass used for the words is so fine that you can just break it with your hands.

Finished product after firing and slumping. I'm proud of it!

Today at Clay Your Way I worked two birthday parties, which I don't mind because they keep you busy. At the second party there was a six year girl painting a SMALL cross shaped lidded clay box. She exclaimed to everyone, "I can put my cat in this!" To which the birthday girl's dad and I responded with, "I don't think your cat will fit in there." She said that it could because her cat was put to sleep and cremated. Then she said, "My mom told me not to tell anyone that." I tried to not to laugh because dying pets are not a laughing matter but cremated cats in painted clay boxes by six year old artists is kind of amusing.

Sno-ventures!

Pictures from around Fargo!

After our "blizzard". It was disappointing since we got like 3 inches but we were supposed to get about a foot. I'm still happy to have the snow.

This is the dike in Fargo! It's a great place to go sledding and tubing. I've yet to convince anyone to go with me but I WILL!

A park in Fargo

The snow is starting to add up finally! I'm loving it! This is on the playscape at the YMCA where the kids play daily. We also have a hill at the YMCA we can take the kids sledding on!

Homemade Crayons

Got this idea from Pinterest! It was a blast to do with my students. The students helped me sort the crayons into colors then we decided together what colors to put together for our crayons. We made color combos like pink+red+purple, green+yellow, blue+purple+red, brown+white+black, etc.

Suggested baking time is 7-8 minutes at 275 degree. I say- just watch em! You have to make sure the middle is melted too. When they're done you can leave them as is or swirl them around a little bit with a toothpick. We did a little swirling but not much. If you want to speed up cooling you can put them in the freezer.

HINTS: USE SILICON TRAYS! (Or else PAM like crazy. I ended up throwing out the pan I used for the round crayons. Disaster!)

Use SILICON trays!


Finished product! Viola!