New School Year, New Lifestyle

Hello Everyone!

So, I know some people will roll their eyes at me, but, this past year I have felt really uncomfortable and annoyed with how much weight I have put on. I have tried eating healthy for like .5 seconds, but I have been going to the gym pretty regularly. However, I know that the key to losing weight is like 99% eating and only 1% of hard work and sweat at the gym, unfortunately for me. Below is another piece I wrote at my workshop (because remember, I said I'm going to start sharing, even if I think it's bad, because that's the only way to get better!).

The Challenge

Through most the years of my life, I've always easily maintained a desirable weight. However, the past few years, I have been slowly, yet consistently, packing on the pounds. I'd never really been self conscious of my life style before about a week ago. I stood on my scale feeling sorry for myself. I finally decided to take my friend, Sarah, up on her offer of doing the Advocare 24 day challenge.

To prepare for my next 24 days of healthy eating, I chose to spend the prior week gorging on all my favorite foods. I went to all my favorite places: Whataburger, In-N-Out, Uncle Julio's, Hard 8 BBQ, my mama's home cooked meals, and last, but not least, my favorite: Chick-Fil-A.

My "last supper" was all around perfect! I was greeted warmly when I walked in. I was served by kind people who happily reminded me it was their pleasure. I then sat down at a cozy corner booth with fresh cut flowers on the table and awaited my meal.

When my food came, I was not disappointed. It smelled WONDERFUl! My food was steaming hot, waiting to be devoured. The crispy fries tasted delicous. A perfect balance of salty and sweet when dipped in Chick-Fil-A sauce. My sandwich was perfect too. The bun was lightly toasted, the chicken was juicy and crispy, with pepper jack cheese melted to perfection.

It was SO good, so why did I feel so horrible? I was so full, I felt like a tick about to pop.

As I sat there, I pondered about my current life style and the way it was making me feel. Maybe all this, what I considered to be "good food", wasn't REALLY that good. Maybe eating healthier food would not only help me lose the weight I wanted to shed, but maybe I would actually FEEL better too? Perhaps, leading a healthy life style WAS all it was cracked up to be!

I've now been sober of "bad food", as much health nuts would say, for a whole 3 days, but I can already feel a difference! I don't feel so full that I'm uncomfortable after each meal. I have more energy. I've also been able to fall asleep right away and sleep through the whole night. I'm now determined to keep on this new path and continue the healthy lifestyle I've started.

Thanks for checkin' in!
Meghan

School's Almost Here!

Hello Everyone!

As promised, I am going to post one of my pieces that I wrote at one of my workshops this week. With school coming up, I thought this would be a good time to share it, since school is almost here! I am ready for school to start, I am SERIOUSLY getting excited about the new year. My heart skips a few beats every time I walk into Target and see all the supplies out!

First Impressions

As each school year begins, teachers and students alike are excited and nervous. We all wish for a great year together, parented included. Being prepared is vital to making a good first impression to start the year off smoothly.

As a teacher, your classroom is a reflection of yourself, because of this, teachers spend many hours before "Meet the Teacher Night" preparing their room. A teacher's classroom can send many messages to parents and students. An organized, clean class shows things run smoothly and orderly. A classroom with well stocked bookshelves, buckets of supplies and manipulatives communicates that the classroom will be a place where an abundance of learning will occur. A classroom with encouraging sayings and educational reminders tell students it's okay to make mistakes and to keep trying.

Along with a teacher's classroom, her appearance and personality also contribute to making a great first impression. When parents and students first meet their teacher, they will look at her outfit. If a teacher is not dressed as a professional, she will not be viewed or treated as such. A teacher's ability to communicate is important as well. They not only need to speak with eloquence and intelligence, they also need to be friendly and warm. This will let parents know that you are competent and compassionate to not only educated, but care for their child as well.

As I look back to my very first "Meet the Teacher Night", I remember how nervous I was. There I was, a first year teacher, looking young. I worried about my first impression on parents and students. The fact that I looked so young worried me. It worried me that parents would not find me competent, since I lacked experience. I realized to make up for that, I needed to make a great first impression.

All of these things take preparation and time on the teacher's end. Being a prepared teacher will, without a doubt, start the year off on the right food to help aide toward a successful school year.

Thanks for checkin' in!
Meghan

New Aspirations

Hello Everyone!

I come to you today after a long hiatis. I obviously did not stick to my new years resolution very well. BUT, I am back and motivated to stay on top of it (better at least) this time!

As many of you probably know, I have been moved up to teach 4th grade next year! I will be doing reading, writing and social studies. At first, I was upset. I've been teaching next to my best friend for the past two years, and really got comfortable and confident teaching second grade. I was looking forward to a GREAT 3rd year in second. God had different plans for me. Looking back now that it's the end of the summer, I can't believe how often God is always right. He always knows just what I need. My new team is awesome, so that's a plus. At first I was also nervous about teaching the big bad writing in 4th grade since this is when they take the STAAR writing test. After the 4 day workshop I went to, I am SO stoked and amazed at God's all knowing-ness.

I have been an avid reader for many years now, but, I have only had the aspiration to be a writer for the past year or two. I love to read and want to make books that kids will love to read as well. Even though I have dreams to be a writer, I feel like I'm not good enough at it, and that no one will want to read my work. However, I have gained so much more confidence to be an aspiring writer from these workshops I've been going to. By being taught how to teach my kids to write, I myself, learned so many tricks to improve my own writing! I also learned how true the old saying, "Practice makes perfect", is! Now, I do believe that there is always room to grow, and no matter how much I practice writing, I can still always improve, it will never be perfect, but you get my drift!

As a result, I have decided that I need to write at least once a week if I am serious about this, and who knows where God will take me on this new endeavor. I've decided I will share the two pieces that I wrote while at this workshop. They aren't awesome, but they are something that I think I did a decent job on, so I want to try to share, even my bad work to whoever may be out there reading!

So, keep an eye out for that in future posts!

Thanks for checkin' in!

Meghan