SGP Haikus and Trust

I love Haikus... they just make me smile. If they make you smile, you should go read some at Southern Gothic Productions.

So, last night, a couple of us were talking about trust and it got me thinking... why is it so hard for people to trust? What is trust? why do I need to trust?
If you don't know my story, to sum it up briefly, I had a lot of people let me down. I let a ton of people in, but almost everyone took advantage of it and hurt me in the end. I know a lot of people who have been hurt by people letting them down, people scarred by gossip, or just never had anyone they could depend on. I am here to tell you that the one thing I do know is that I can trust in God. I think it is important to trust others, even if you have been let down before. I think everyone deserve a chance to be trusted in. We only live life once, don't live it in fear. Find a place that you can surround yourself with people with integrity and strength.
The dictionary says:
Trust

1.	reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence

So, take a chance.
Trust in others
Trust in yourself
Trust in the arts
Trust in Faith

have a good saturday everyone

next blog.... pictures of my new SGP shirts

Lessons we can learn from Disney...

So, it's amazing sometimes what we can learn from other people, movies, songs, ect. I was reading Beccas blog last night (btw- you should read her blog http://becca16-everydayiwritethebook.blogspot.com/) and it inspired me to write about some important lessons I have learned from Disney. I too have dressed up in a Pocahontas outfit before. Actually, I think I have been Pocahontas, Belle, Snow White, and Jazmine... and it wasn't just for Halloween either, these were like my everyday clothes that I would fight my mom to wear. I have always been a fan of Disney and I think sometimes God can use your interests to teach you something. So here is my list of things that I have learned over the years through Disney:

1. Always see the good in people

In Beauty and the Beast, Belle was different from everyone else. Actually, the animators purposely left out any blue in the whole town so that her blue outfit could stand out more. Anyways, she taught me to stand up for what I believe in and to not always follow the crowd... and by doing that, allowing yourself to really see people who they truly are.

2. Don't leave your child in the Jungle
haha... just had to throw that in there. In the Jungle Book, poor Mowgli has to grow up not knowing exactlywhere he belongs.

3. Don't focus on my past and keep moving forward.

Meet the Robinsons is such an amazing movie. I have learned one of the most important lessons in like from that movie. I think it is so easy, especially in state that our economy is in right now, to focus on all the negative things in life. The news doesn't really help when most of what we read and watch are negative, but there are still so many good things in life as well. Lately I have been struggling with what I'm suppose to do in the fall. I get so caught up on the "what ifs" and the "what was" that I don't pay attention to the gifts that I have in front of me right now. I think it truly is important to bring joy with you wherever you may go, to wait for joy to find you. Just keep moving forward.

4. We all make mistakes but we can't hide from them, we must embrace them and learn from them.

In The Lion King, Simba is forced to run away... "run away and never return". Yes, he didn't really do anything wrong but he though he did, and so he ran. It's funny how common that is for people. I mean I know my first reaction when I do something bad is to run. But, I have come to realize, that we are suppose to make those mistakes or go through those hard times so that we can learn from them. What if we didn't always run? What if we acknowledged what we have done and learn from it? I think we would truly be better because of it.

5. We get second chances in life.

In Pinocchio, a fairy gives someone this gift of life. Now, as I just mentioned, we all make mistakes and Pinocchio definately had his share of them. However, when he did make a mistake, the fairy always gave him the opportunity to make it right again. I think that's what GOd does for us, he gives us second chances when we need them.

So, thoughts? Comments? What have you all learned from Disney?

P.S. GO to Southern Gothic Productions if you still haven't... southerngothicproductions.blogspot.com

Happy Friday everyone!

a fun SGP shirt

Ok so if you still haven't checked out Southern Gothic Productions... I'm telling you, you are missing out on life. Anyways, a girl named Lauren made a cool SGP shirt and it inspired me to make one myself. So, the front says "Math Genius?" The back says "try solving this then... Hilarie Burton + Kelly Tenney + Nicholas Gray = ? Austin Nichols - Pedestrian?" Then the sleeve says Southern Gothic. Anyways, after making this and sharing with some of my new SGP peeps from the chat, I decided that we should have like a shirt making contest. Everyone should make an SGP shirt and just rock it out and promote the blog. Who thinks this is a great idea? I think its a great idea!!

Thank you Casper...

So two of my new friends, Becca and Megan, inspired me to write about ghosts (yes, I do know how random my blogs have been getting but oh well). Anyways, living on the west coast, I haven't had as many ghosts as you east coast people. I'm not saying that they aren't around over here, just that I think the older a place is and the more history a place has, the more likely you are to have a spirit still lurking around.
So, when I was in jr high, I spent a great deal of time in the library looking at books with history of ghost sightings. I learned at an early age (i think it was because of Casper) that ghosts couldn't harm me. Anyways, back to library books... so I would find stories of people and would go to some of the places just to see where these ghosts use to live. My friend's house was listed in that book for having ghosts.
One day, I was at my friends house. She lived in this old house in the middle of vineyards. She had told me about 2 ghosts that lived in her house but had never personally seen them. That night, we were upstairs in her room and we heard some barking coming outside. Because she lived out in the country, we thought the barking was towards an coyote or something so we looked out the window just to make sure. There, walking thorugh the vineyard was this sillouette of a man just minding his own business. We knew it wasn't her dad... and there was no other person around. A ghost, and it was so cool because it was just a peaceful moment that gave me reassurance that ghosts really weren't scary, they're just minding their own business. It was pretty insane! My first ghost sighting, and I will always remember that. So, whether or not you believe in ghosts or are scared of them, just know that they all have stories just like us.

So, I know that Megan is working on some pretty cool ghost stories so I think that you all should go check out her blog.
http://meganmarymcteague.blogspot.com/

Ghost Stories...

Coming tomorrow... dun dun dun!

New music+ESL=happiness

Oh man, so if you still haven't gone to southerngothicproductions.blogspot.com you need to! These guys are just amazing and today they posted some pretty amazing playlists from Hilarie Burton and Nick Gray. Listening to new music is one of my favorite things and so when I came across some new stuff today, it made me preety happy.
Last week my ESL stdents came up with an amazing idea. In my 4th grade group, I have one student who speaks Russian, one students who speaks Romanian, one students who speaks Thai, and I speak spanish. Anyways, they suggested that we teach each other a new word in our language and start a language log... so we did. Each day we have been sharing a new word in 4 different languages and so I though I would share.
(The spelling may not be correct but it will at least give you the pronunciation)
Hello-English
Hola-Spanish
Buna Ziua-Romanian
Halo-Russian

Yes-English
Si-Spanish
Ya-Russian
Da-Romanian
Shiy-Thai

Thanks-English
Gracias-Spanish
Spaceeba-Russian
Kapkun-Thai

Dog-English
Perro-Spanish
Ma-Thai
Subaka-Russian
Cjine-Romanian
Thats all we have learned so far. If you guys know any of these words in another language, I would love to be able to share it with my students.

Oscars, musicals, and Burgerville

So wow... how amazing were the Oscars last night? I was just really impressed with everything... from the sets, to the host, to the way that they introduced the favorite male/female actress... it was just amazing. One of my favorite parts was the whole musical number. If you already know me, you know how much of a sucker I am for musicals. I have always wished that my life was a musical. I mean think about it, how cool would it be to be able to just randomly burst into song? It would be amazing!
Anyways, yeah... I also wanted to just update on my trip to Costa Rica. Tomorrow night I am excited cause we are having a fundraiser for the trip at Burgerville. Yes! I'm pretty excited cause a group of us are going to help bust tables and such from 5-8 and %10 of the profits that the restaurant makes in that time will go towards our trip.
So yay for the Oscars last night, musicals, and Burgerville!
Have a happy Monday everyone :)

Southern Gothic Productions...

...is the place to be. As someone who loves the arts and seeing the joy that it brings people, I love that the Southern Gothic Production team has started this blog. I have met some pretty awesome people through it and you should check out some of their blogs. I'm telling you what... art and passion are so important and these people have both so if you look under blogs that I am following, you will find some pretty cool blogs.
And... just to make sure you have Southern Gothic Production's blog site... here it is.
www.southerngothicproductions.blogspot.com
Seriously, just go to this blog and read what they are doing. I'm telling you, you are going to love it. I mean, when you are doing something that you love, others can see it and these guys are doing something that they love and enjoy. So go and support them!
btw- I am officially addicted to blogs :)

There's Something About Music...

So I am sitting here at work waiting for my students to show up and laughing at how much fun and addicting this blogging thing really is. I mean, I don't really think anyone is reading this and even if someone is, it's kind of cool to be able to just write and talk about random things and have the freedom to do it. Anyways, so as I mentioned before, I love the arts. To be more specific, I love musicals like no other. Man, I could be having the worst day but if I just put on the soundtrack to like "Wicked" or "The Sound of Music" or really just anything, my spirit is just so easily lifted. So yeah, I have just been having a long week... I'm adminitrasting state testing, planning this Costa Rica trip, and this after school program... and it just seemed like I was on the right track with everything but all of a sudden I just kind of felt really overwhelmed. I don't kow about you all but sometimes just seeing how corrupted schools can be really frustrats me. And sometimes, being a teacher is hard when you have to keep playing the rules of someone else's game. Especially this no child left behind craziness. Anyways, this morning I'm driving to work, not really wanting to go, and had my ipod on shuffle and the song "Defying Gravity" from Wicked came on. I'm telling you what... it was totally what I needed. There is just something about music. How can one song change your mood? How can one verse describe exactly how your feeling? Anyways, this song pretty much inspired me to just continue forward. I mean, just the title alone "defying gravity" doing something that everyone thinks is impossible. Making a small difference in my school district that so many people think can't happen but knowing that I can plant this seed and you know what? No one can bring me down.
So, I'm glad I trusted my instincts, closed my eyes, and leaped. Cause whether people like it or not, I think I'll try defying gravity.

You Can't Shut Up An Artist

I'm lying in bed, roasting in this stuffy room, my mind drowning in a hurricane of online courses and finishing my script and summer plans and how to raise 1600 bucks for my trip and the play and friends and seniorprojectandtheimpendi
ngdoomofmylifeasIknowit.....GASP! Can I just go on break 2 weeks early? Wait, then I'd have to start summer school early, what fun! And by fun I mean I would rather do synchronized swimming with piranhas...I open the window, getting some air. I'm listening to the sounds of traffic on the 29 about 2 blocks from my house. and then the chirping starts. In that moment, it didnt seem like this bird (please note, there is only one. One bird. ONE!) It didnt seem like singing, rather he was cussing out for horrible driving or screaming for his life. It wasnt a bad sound, just unwelcome at 5 am. I'm here, in my bed, having a demented artist moment, thinking my writing will never go anywhere or my acting will never be worth anything when I felt God ask a question? Do you hear my creation sing? Why is this bird singing?Me: because (the realization hit me) because its what he was made to do...God: that song, in all its imperfections, in spite of the hour, is beautiful to me. Because it is my creature, unashamedly doing what I created him to do. And that is why it is worship. that is why it is beautiful. Because he holds nothing back and crys out in love. That is why this bird is an artist. thats what it means to be an artist. To cry out to God "I love you" or "I need you" or whatever is filling your heart. Art is the hearts cry to reconnect with the divine!And you can never shut up the truest of artists.".....But I cant sleep...I'm being treated to a private concert this morning :) You see, there is this bird who just wont shut up. He's crying his lungs out, seeming to beckon the sunrise...and his is the truest and most beautiful art!Sing on, my friendsing your song of praise!dont let the skeptics and passionless people around you deprive the world of your artsing and raise the sun from the sea and our hearts from their slumber, raise your voice to the heavens and I'll join in under. together my friend, we'll share in this songand worship our God in the dawn streaming over the horizon, a new day is here so sing sing sing until the darkness has faded and the doubters can see why we sang without fear. For then it will be obvious, the source of our inspiration, this elation we experience, this fascination, the one we seek to give exaltation, this king and this god and this artist extraordinaire. This lover of our souls, this love so unfair. We dont deserve it little bird...so sing on my friend, I'll translate for you sing , unashamed and unafraidtogether my friend, one voice and one lovesing on my friendsing on...
credit to my dear friend Matt

Pictures

ok so I know this is like the 3rd post today but I thought I would include some pictures from my trip to costa rica. Most of these are just from passing out the shoes to the children. Enjoy!

Stories

Hi all,
So I decided I'm going to change the style of this blog a bit. Along with informing everyone onmy trip to Costa Rica, I want to also start a fun community to help encourage everyone with fun projects to do around the community and getting parents students and teachers involved to help better the schoool systems all over.
Growing up, I never really had great experiences in school. The only thing that kept me going was the arts. I am a true believer that the arts is one of the key componenets to a child's education.
I am 20 years old and I work in a small school district with a high crime rate. A couple of weeks ago, I met with several principles to start an after school program. It was approved an in April we will be starting a program for elementary school students to come and have art lessons, music lessons, and language lessons. All of this is going to be free and led by volunteers. I am so excited to do this and see a safe enviornment grow for students to come and learn. While starting this blog, I decided it would be fun to hear from other people and see what others are doing in their community and schools and maybe get suggestions and encouragement from each other to work together as a team and slowly start to improve the American School system and school all over the world.
So now that you know my two projects both here and in Costa Rica... its your turn to share your stories.

Welcome!!

So, this is my first time ever blogging... let's see how I do.
I guess first of all I should explain what this blog is about (I mean, that makes the most sense right?)
Anyways, last summer I went down with 3 other friends to a school in the middle of nowwhere land, Costa Rica and donated school supplies to about 150 children. All of the supplies were donated from teachers, friends, and family. We were able to give each student crayons, colored pencils, markers, toothbrushes, and a pair of brand new shoes. Now these are children who have never owed anything new before... some have never ever owed any coloring devices either. We had such an amazing ooportunity to go down and help out this small community and enjoyed it so much that I am planning on going back this summer to help even more children (500 to be exact).
I wanted to start a blog to just keep people updated and informed on plans that we are making and/or give you all the opportunity to help if you would like.
More updates to come soon. Heck, maybe I will even post some pictures from last year :)