I am SO excited to announce that I will be joining the Teach for America 2014 Corps, teaching elementary back home in Hawaii! As a Native Hawaiian, born and raised in Hawaii, it has always been my goal and dream to go back to my community and teach students who may not have the ability to afford the same luxuries and experiences that I was blessed to have when I was growing up. When I opened the email and found out on January 9th that I would be able to fulfill this dream of mine, I started crying. I am well aware of the many criticisms of Teach for America, and I have encountered a few individuals who are skeptical of my dreams and the journey that I am about to take, but I couldn't be more excited and passionate about this cause. So I'm going to be a typical 21 year old for a minute and say that my haters are truly my motivators. Here's to my future endeavors!
I took my last pictures for the University of Portland Pilots Dance Team spread (cue crying). We received graduation announcement and cap and gown order forms in the mail yesterday, and I can't believe that senior year is just a few months shy of being done! After graduation, I really don't know when I'm going to dance next. That thought is just heartbreaking for me, but our team pictures came out absolutely perfect! I love this team, I love these ladies like my sisters, and I can't wait to finish out the rest of this basketball season! West Coast Conference (and VEGAS!!!) here we come!
This semester, I'm student teaching in a Kindergarten class, and my work sample is going to focus on addition through 5 and 10, centered around a cookie theme! I'm going to start by reading "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" to my kids on Monday, and then kick off addition on Tuesday! Wish me luck, my students' number sense is severely lacking, but I'm so excited! I have a rambunctious bunch of 56 students (28 in the AM, 27 in the PM) who never fail to make me laugh.
I've had a sore throat all week, so I went to the doctors yesterday, missed student teaching, and found out that I have strep! I haven't had this since middle school and completely forgot how much it sucks. BUT, being at home has given me a chance to catch up on my dearly missed sleep (I slept for 12 hours last night, thanks to NyQuil), and I've also had time to review some NYX beauty products that I've been eyeing out in the store for some weeks now. I LOVE makeup and doing makeup reviews, and long story short, these NYX butter lip glosses are PERFECT. The lip gloss in Tiramisu is definitely my MLBB (my lips but better) color, and the product is very smooth, not sticky at all. I've been skeptical of lip gloss since the days of getting my frizzy and unmanageable hair stuck in the goopy mess on my lips, but I am extremely impressed with these babies. The color payoff is great, it's the perfect amount of color for student teaching (being conservative with makeup and whatnot), and it's not overly shiny. Love them!
Earlier this school year, a group of friends and I had a falling out, the reasons behind which I have never quite figured out. Although it still hurts and I'm not 100% over it yet, I've made other friends, and strengthened old friendships, and I think it's been a good life lesson for me on personal growth. Pinterest is a great place of inspirational quotes, and this has been my mantra for the past few months. With a little over 3 months until graduation, I'm just going to continue being the best person I can be, spend more time with the friends who really matter to me, and spend less time worrying about what others may be saying or doing behind my back. God carried me to this point, and he will carry me through it.
Happy Friday. folks! Enjoy the weekend!
xo,
