Reading Update - go read this now!

Setting -   Paris and the coast of France, WWII
Characters -   a Nazi soldier, a blind teenage girl, an eccentric cast of townspeople and military personnel alike
Point of view -   primarily the soldier and the girl, flashback and 'present' day
Conflict -   besides the actual war and occupation, the questions at the heart of the book are really 'what are we willing to do for what and in whom we believe?' and  'at what point does it become impossible to lie to yourself any longer?' and 'how much of our reality is based on what we see vs what we choose to believe we see?'

Seriously, go get it now. You won't regret reading this book that somehow paints a quiet dignity amid the backdrop of war  for its characters who are so different from each other yet who really want the same ultimate thing we all want - to live a life that is enough.

Paris - the street where I live

 corner market with a very sweet clerk, Rashid

 view from one end of my street

 view from a different direction

 87 steps from the street below mine; if I go around, its much longer but easier on my tush and calves

beautiful greenery along a wall

 view from the park at the end of my street

 Place Emile Godreau - a gorgeous "park" at the end of my street

 a park bench there - oh, and there's wifi from a nearby hotel too :)

 Parisian water fountain in the park - there isnt a place to put your mouth, thank goodness

 see how steep my street becomes on the far end? that's where my apartment is.

 my street sign

 and my front door on the left with the heart on it

I hope y'all don't get sick of my posts about Paris; there's just so much to see and share.

Adventurer

I shared this photo the other day on Instagram, but I thought I'd share it here too. My Coke can today said "Adventurer" - I think that must be a message from the universe that I'm about to have the time of my life on this trip to Paris. (How funny is that maniacal grin, right?!)

Eight days left in the USA and counting...

Prepare yourselves for many upcoming posts about all things Parisian, including this Kentucky transplant trying to find her way around a glamorous city.

Be sure to pop by the blog next week; I have a fun layout to share. Here's a peek:

A bientot!

Overscheduled and Overwrought

I need to learn how to say no. Not so much to chores - I have no problem saying no to that kind of thing. No, I need to learn how to say no to fun things and do the things that must be done or at least stay home and rest. But it's so hard.

If my friend wants to meet for cocktails after work,how can I say no?
If the fella wants to go to a play or a ballgame or a movie or an event, how could I turn that down?
If Kelsey wants to meet for dinner or go shopping,  you know I can't tell my baby no thanks, right?

And yet, I find that there are times in my life when I feel so overscheduled that I'm overwrought and worn down. That's when I get sick. That's when I get a migraine. That's when my heart beats fast, and I have anxiety. That's when I don't sleep well, when my stomach gives me trouble, when I'm extra irritable. Being overscheduled affects my physical and mental well-being. I know this, but it's hard to put the changes into action that are needed.

Part of what creates this sense of overscheduling is my very busy work calendar. Yes, I teach high school full-time in a traditional brick and mortar school. What you might not know is that I also teach ESS (after school tutoring) two afternoons a week, an adult night class (for students who didn't graduate on time) one evening a week, an online class (for students who don't attend traditional school) for which I have appointments/conferences twice a week, and a CEPT program class (as an adjunct faculty member at WKU) two days per week. That's an awfully busy schedule.  Don't forget the time I spend in faculty meetings and department meetings, the grading that sometimes has to come home with me, the planning I need to do for lessons, and the constant communication expectations with parents and students. Once my work obligations have been met, there's still a lot to do. (If you've ever wondered how I get to do the fun things I get to do on a public school teacher's salary, my crazy extra work schedule is your answer.)

While scrapbooking is still just a hobby of mine, I'm also working to transition a bit more into the business side of things. The couple of hours I spend weekly on my blog is evidence of that as is the twice a month minimum that I meet up with Tracie in order to tape our podcast. Sure, we have a great time when we're together and usually enjoy a nice dinner out, but it's work to prepare and make the podcast happen. If you add into that the time I need to actually try to be creative and scrapbook, you can see that there are lots of pulls on my time.

What about the fella? Relationships involve time and work, and I sometimes worry that he thinks he doesn't get enough attention. I want to be a good girlfriend, a fun one, but sometimes I'm so dang tired that I think I could fall asleep on the couch in the middle of House of Cards. I love to go places with him and do fun things, but inside I sometimes feel whiny because I didn't get enough sleep or have so much that I know I should be doing instead of just having fun or relaxing with him. He has some things that are about to take up quite a bit more of his time too, though, so I guess that will all even out a bit. I try not to borrow trouble, but being overscheduled sometimes feeds into a spiraling sense of doom.

Beyond jobs and hobbies and relationships, I have the same obligations that so many of you have - my house gets dirty and cluttered, my yard has to be wrangled into submission regularly, my dogs need attention, the laundry gets away from me, groceries need to be bought, appointments have to be scheduled and attended, bills have to be paid. I'm not telling y'all anything you don't already know, but it starts to feel a bit overwhelming if I dwell on it all too much.

Silly me - I also want time to sleep late on the weekends, rock on the patio, read a book or magazine for pleasure, work on another kind of crafty project, watch television with the fella, and maybe just meditate. I want to have time to meet Kelsey and chat or enjoy a long phone call with one of my besties or hang out and surf Pinterest for a couple of hours. (How in the world did I ever manage to raise a child and take care of a husband? I'm exhausted just thinking about it.) I want to be able to spend the evening with the fella and not need a list or my iPad to deal with something I didn't finish earlier. I want to be fully present in my moments of fun. Sometimes it feels like I overschedule myself to the point that the fun things aren't possible or I feel guilty about them.

In the wintertime, I feel less guilty about the days I stay home and putter around in my pajamas. For some reason, the spring and summer don't work the same way for me because there's so much I could be doing outside in the gorgeous weather. I'm sure I feel this way partly because of the extra hustle and bustle that surrounds the end of the school year and the planning of a big trip, but I'm really hoping that my time abroad this summer allows me to be less scheduled and more relaxed. After all, y'all won't be able to track me down quite so easily with a few thousand miles and a seven hour time difference! Lol!

What do you do to keep from feeling overscheduled and overwrought? Maybe I need some of your pointers. :)

Curly vs. Straight?

I'm always in a quandary about what to do with my hair. I honestly don't like fooling with it too much, so I'm generally unwilling to spend very much time and effort with it. My friends irl are pretty divided on how they like my hair, so I thought I'd pose the question to you.

Here's a recent pic of it half curly, half straight - basically I didn't do anything to it but let it dry naturally and sweep it to the side.

Here's a pic of my hair straightened (mostly) - that requires that I shampoo and dry it the night before and then use a straightening iron on it. Even then, if I get hot or if it's humid, then it starts to curl underneath.

Another straight shot...notice that I rarely use a clip for my bangs when my hair is straight.

And here it is curly - basically I let it air dry, put a bit of curl cream in it, and go. On my recent trip to Mexico, I wore it curly the entire time. Humidity + heat + ocean = no way straight hair would work.

I'm on the edge of looking like Gilda Radner's character on SNL in this pic - lol!

This one is still curly but much more controlled. Notice that I tend to clip my bangs out of the way when I wear it curly.

So what's your preference - curly, straight, or au natural that is somewhere in between?  Help! I'm trying to decide what my 'go to' style will be while I'm in Paris this summer. :)

Fave spring instagram pics

If you don't follow me on Instagram (the horror!), here are a few of my favorite pics from the last month or two. 

 Monogrammed straw hat I took to Mexico with me - it's very Ya Ya Sisterhood-ish or Ladies Who Lunch-ish, I think.

 Love this new dress - polka dots are my thing!

 Selfie in the backyard wearing my new kimono that I snagged for $15 at Cato.

 Lowder-dog giving me his "Oh, please" look.

 I snapped a photo of myself in the aisles of Michael's on NSD. Yes, I'm a giant nerd. (Allergies have been kicking my tuckus, note the glasses in a couple of pics as a result.)

 NSD shopping win!

 A fab article about my daughter in a local magazine - I'm so proud of my girl!

 The polka dot case I bought for my Instax camera so I can take it safely to Paris with me - how cute is that?

 Kiddos at school working hard on their pass/fail documented essays on controversial topics they chose - I will survive this process; I will survive this process.

 Here's a photo the fella snapped of me on Cinquo de Mayo - props to him for improving photo skills!

 Here are some of my seniors working on explicating the poetry of Robert Browning. For some reason, they didn't have the same depth of love for "Porphyria's Lover" or "My Last Duchess" that I do. :(

And here are the albums I asked for your opinions about in our Facebook community! If you haven't already joined us, do it right now. No, seriously, right now.

If you already follow me on IG, think of this as a review. If not, head on over and give me a shout; I'm @lowdertiff.

Sharing a layout - Sweet Life

Here's a look at the finished layout - I just love the color scheme of this page! While it does feature a picture of me, you might notice that it's not a selfie for a change. My friend, Tonia, actually took it when we had lunch together last fall. Interestingly enough, this was sort of an inspiration chain project for me. I had just finished the layout about Tonia joining me in Paris this summer (see yesterday's post) and realized I had this pic of me from the same day that I wanted to scrapbook somehow. Enter an all about me page - I hadn't made one in a while, so here ya go. 

I just love this piece of paper, but I knew that it might be challenging to mix other patterns with it. No matter, I decided to go for it. Y'all know that I own lots of PL style cards, so the next thing I did was search through my extensive collection of cards to find something I could use for a title and journaling cards too. I ended up with a total of 5 cards to use on this layout. Go me! At this rate, I might actually use up some of my stash. (Well, make a dent in it at least...) I played around with arranging the PL cards and finally settled on the version you see here. For me, it almost created a single block of information since I edged each card up next to the other and to my photo. Yes, there's a lot of pattern and color happening here, but it's the kind that makes me very happy.

Closeup of the title block and accompanying embellishments

Closeup of the journaling

Closeup of embellishments

And here's another look at the finished project.

What have you scrapbooked lately that makes you really happy? Was it the photo or the paper or the story or the embellishments that took you to your happy place? Do tell. :)

Confession is good for the soul, right?

Confession is supposed to be good for the soul, I hear. While I'm not a fan of the face-to-face confession that my fellow Catholics and I are supposed to engage in regularly, I do agree that confession is designed to lighten one's emotional load. Perhaps it's the Lenten season that has inspired me to confess some of the truths of Lowderland right now. Whatever the case, here goes...

1)  Interacting with people who have zero personality exhausts me. I'd rather dislike someone than deal with a person who has no personality at all. I mean, have an opinion or a response or an experience or something that gives you some flavor. Grr - so frustrating!

2)  Just tell me what I have to do; there's nothing to be gained by talking about it first. While I appreciate the opportunity to voice my opinion, that's really only worth my time and energy when you're willing to act on my opinion (that is right, of course). If you have no plans to incorporate my suggestions/responses, then drop the charade. Just tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it. Skip the pretense of letting my voice be heard.

3) A lack of air conditioning in a concrete box with 30+ teenagers is the embodiment of the seventh ring of hell. (I used to say eighth, but that's not really accurate in terms of Dante.) And as a continuation of that point, perhaps some better planning would have been in order for my school district. Even though March isn't generally that warm here, replacing the entire a/c system in a concrete building that has no windows and 1500+ students/personnel would've better been accomplished over the holiday break or in the dead of winter. My room temp has hovered between 81.5 and 86.5 degrees for the past two weeks, greatly increasing my propensity toward grouchiness and student propensity toward laziness. It's been a rough couple of weeks 'round here...

4) I've been taking a lot of naps. That's right. Judge me if you want, but there's not much better than curling up with Lowder-dog on the chaise lounge after a long day at school and drifting off for an hour or so. What a simple and healthy way to spend a late afternoon!

5) When I make a healthy, adult dinner, I'm inordinately proud of myself. On Wednesday, I cooked blackened salmon, asparagus, and scalloped potatoes with French break for dinner with the fella. It was healthy and satisfying and made me feel like I'd earned my 'grown-up card.' That's a win in my book!

6) I'm not sure how I feel about embracing my curly hair while I visit Mexico and Paris. It could be cute, or I could end up looking like Gilda Radner's Rosanna character on SNL. For reals.

7) Since I can't sit still comfortably for more than 30 minutes at a time, I'm obsessing about how I'll manage the 8 hour flight to Paris. (Mainly worried about my back and my hip, says the old lady.) Guess I'll have to get up and parade a bit while stretching. I'm sure the person sitting next to me will really appreciate it...oh my word.

8) I can tell I'm really, super tired and frazzled when I consider turning down fun invitations because I'd rather stay home in my pajamas and not talk to anyone. This girl right here is def ready for spring break!

9:) One of my personal pet peeves is people who try to sell me things in social situations. I know what you sell already. If I want it, I'll ask you. Quit hawking your goods to me at parties and on email and on social media. Worse yet? Don't limit your interactions with me to moments when you think you've solved my 'problem' with whatever you're selling. I'm your friend or coworker, not your
customer. Grrr!

10) The giant bag of Reese's peanut butter eggs that they sell at Sam's Club? I think it's much smaller than it used to be. Has anyone else noticed? My bag didn't last nearly as long as it did in years past. ;)

Sharing a layout - Senior Pictures

Maybe I was just feeling nostalgic this past weekend, but I thought it might be fun to make a layout using a couple of my senior pictures. Check out that crazy big  hair, y'all!

The top photo focuses on the title block that I built using a PL card and some Jillibean Soup letter stickers. I layered a Pebbles chipboard diecut on top. I started with a yummy floral design for my background (Dear Lizzy, I think) and added a strip of textured cardstock to the middle to ground the photos.

Here, you can see the lower part of the layout which includes two more PL cards, one for journaling and one for decoration.

If you'd like to see the journaling more close-up, here you go.

Finally, here's the finished layout. I went back to my preferred size of 8.5 X 11 for this project, mainly because of the small wallet size photos I had to use.  The colors and the design of this really make me happy.

Have you scrapbooked your senior pictures? What about your kids' school pics? I think it can be a challenging thing to do, but the end result was well-worth it to me.

An epitaph

Have you considered how you'd like to be remembered after you're gone?  This week, my college prep seniors read and studied "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," a poem that focuses on the lives that normal people led as the speaker strolls through a small, country cemetery. It ends with an epitaph of the original speaker, so I often ask students to write an epitaph for themselves or for a loved one who has already died. For many students, this is a challenging activity since it incorporates both the poetic expectations/requirements that we've been studying this year and a personal element that might include either fear (at their own mortality) or grief (at the mortality of a loved one). I do think it's an important assignment since it forces them to consider if the lives they're leading are ones that are indeed memorable and if their choices are accurately reflecting who they want to be.

Here is the assignment I gave them today: You are asked to write your epitaph--an original expression of no more than 50 words, that reflects your view of life and that would be engraved in stone as a marker of your death and life. You will be evaluated on the originality of the epitaph, the quality/depth of meaning, and the graphical (artistic) form of presentation. You may wish to rhyme, but it is not required. You may also wish to use various poetic literary elements like metaphor or personification. Be careful to correct your work for errors before submitting it tomorrow, 2/26/15.

Interestingly enough, I've been personally impacted by two deaths this week of people I didn't even know. How is that possible, you might ask. Well, it involves the deaths of two people close to my age who were important to people that I do know well. I won't go into details here, but suffice it to say that I have been giving quite a bit of thought this week to my own mortality. Since I assigned the epitaph to my students and since I've been thinking about my own mortality, I thought it might be useful or illuminating or meaningful to create my own epitaph and share it with you. While it definitely still needs work - this is a first draft - I'm happy with what I've written so far. I exceeded the 50 word limit, but that won't surprise y'all. I seem to have a lot to say in general. :)

Here lies a woman you thought you knew,
who wandered through life with more laughter than grace,
who saw herself critically through the eyes of others,
whose existence engraved itself in the hearts of her friends and the lines on her face.

She lived life with the depth of  a saint and the breadth of the damned,
unapologetically and undeniably both in a single breath.
She was a thinker, a maker, a mother, and a dreamer
whose impact will not be dimmed by the dark flower of death.

She lived her truth, ever striving for authenticity
in a world that judges others with impunity.
This woman traveled and learned and loved and gave little
pieces of her heart to her family and community.

Sunday check-in

This past week was not at all what I expected since my town experienced its greatest snow event since 1968 - a full foot of snow fell in one day followed by two inches two days later and another inch plus ice two days after that. Needless to say, I did not have school all week and was cooped up at home alone for the majority of the time. Here's how I spent that unexpected gift of a week off work...

1. Crafting - I made two layouts and a mini-book this week. No, that isn't nearly enough in terms of the time off I had, but I just didn't feel super creative. That's okay; at least I enjoyed what I did make.

2. Sleeping - I took naps; I stayed up late and slept in; I went to bed early and woke with the early birds. In short, I slept when I was tired without worrying about the time of day or anyone's expectations of me. It was an incredible gift.

3. Reading - blogs, message boards, social media, magazines, newspapers. I didn't really spend any time reading books this week - ironic, right, since I had so much time? I just didn't want to commit to a long piece I guess. Right now I'm working on Paris to the Moon and The Paris Wife, so I guess I'll just continue them into this coming week.

4. Watching - my streaming services got a definite workout this week. Netflix, Amazon, HboGo, my dvr, and Hulu were all part of my daily plans. I can recommend Veep (HBO series), Amelie (a famous French film from 2001), and The Americans (a new Amazon Prime offering). I also continued watching TrueBlood season 7, Grey's Anatomy and Scandal current seasons. Obviously, I spent lots of screen time this week.

5. Eating - yeah, this snow week has not been good for my waistline. Let's just say I've cooked and snacked and eaten and repeated all of that again and again. I don't want to talk about it anymore, I'm out of breath from typing. Hahaha! Looks like I need to get thy plumpish derriere to the gym asap.

6. Talking - while I spent most of the time alone, I spent many hours on the telephone this week. Tracie (ScrapGals bestie) and I chatted constantly about podcasting and scrapbooking and the weather, and our lives, and our goals, etc. Travis (one of my boy besties) and I chatted about romance and weather and work and writing; we're thinking of starting a writer's group to inspire us and hold ourselves accountable to our goals. Tonia (one of my scrapbooking besties) and I chatted about travel and family and Paris; I think she's going to join me for part of the time this summer! Vonda (my way back bestie) and I chatted about family and work and weather and our unexpected gift of time off.  The fella and I talked nightly about our days and the weather and interesting things we'd seen online and on tv. Kelsey and I talked a few times about her upcoming birthday and school and weather and pups. Of course, I also stayed in touch by text with my other boy besties, Sergeant and Coach, and my other bestie, Lori. Yeah, for someone who doesn't really like talking on the phone, I did a LOT of it this past week.

7.  Cleaning - besides getting caught up on laundry and dishes and mopping and bathrooms, you know the normal stuff that everyone has, I also worked on cleaning/organizing my 'junk' room that is actually an extra bedroom. I'm about 75% finished with it, so I feel pretty good with my progress. One more snow event would have me finished with that project and potentially ready to work in my studio on some organizing projects. The garage/bonus room will have to wait until spring since those areas aren't heated.

8.  Podcasting - because of the bad weather, I couldn't drive to Tracie's house for us to record new episodes of our podcast as planned. Instead, we had to improvise and record with me via Skype. I didn't love the format, but at least we will have a show for you later tonight.

9. Working - I did work a bit from home this week, primarily on my online class I teach for a neighboring county. I graded online work and held phone conferences a few times this week so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by the amount of work I'd have encountered if I had waited. I also did some thinking/planning about the next few weeks at my brick and mortar school too and answered emails from students/parents/teacher candidates/etc. To not actually be at work this week, I still managed to do some work. I didn't get anything graded because I didn't bring anything home - oh well.

10.  Cuddling - with the pups the first part of the week and then with the fella the last part of the week. Once it was clear enough for him to go to work (Thursday!), he brought a bag over and spent the weekend with me. It was the first time we've spent several days together in a row. He did go to work on Friday and left for a couple of hours each yesterday and today to give us a bit of time apart. He's easy to be around, so that's one reason I enjoyed our time together.  I'm pretty good at cuddling. Haha!

How has your week been? What are some things that you worked on this week? I'd love to know. :)

Snowmageddon Prep 2015

Apparently, we're expecting 15 inches of snow between now and Tuesday morning. That's right, 15 inches. In the South. In February. And it's supposed to snow on Wednesday and Friday and next Sunday too. For those of you who live in northern areas, this probably sounds like a normal forecast. In my entire life, I've never witnessed what 15 inches of snow in a 36 hour time period looks like. Ever. This should be interesting.

The real air low temp on Wednesday is supposed to be -8. Real air temp. Again, prob not a big deal for some of you. For this delicate, hothouse flower, it's a pretty big friggin' deal. In fact, the upcoming forecast does not show temperatures reaching above freezing until next weekend. That's right, next weekend. When you take into consideration the average high temps in February are usually the low 50s, you can see why this is shocking.

We have a handful of snowplows in my town of roughly 60,000 people. We have some ice trucks. We don't have anything to deal with 15 inches of snow. Thankfully, we were already scheduled to be out of school tomorrow for President's Day, otherwise that would be another issue that we'd need to address. At this point, I can't even think about how this will likely impact our school schedule.

Here's what I do know. I've been to the grocery and gathered supplies. I have the necessities - dog treats, dog food, and people junk food to last several days for sure. If I'm so inclined, I have the ingredients to make potato soup, Tuscan rustica soup, quick coq au vin, quiche, corn chowder, salad, salmon, and sausage crescent roll bites for actual meals. I also have cereal and bagels and nuts and Fritos and random ingredients to rustle up meals. I have a case of cokes, a 1/2 gallon of milk, 4 beers. 3 bottles of wine, 1/2 gallon of fruit tea and 4 diet Sunkists to drink. Hahahaha! Apparently, liquid nourishment is quite important to me. I also have Valentine's candy, a giant slab of almond toffee bark, Lofthouse cookies, strawberry fruit pops, and two boxes of Magnum ice cream bars if things start to looks really bleak. I could be snowed in for days, people.

As long as my electricity holds, I also have lots of options for entertainment - Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Pandora streaming; internet and all the glory it possesses; DVDs to watch; a novel to finish writing; French to continue learning via games/apps; games to play online; and social media to peruse. Of course, I might also decide to get crafty or to read as well. I stopped by JoAnn's yesterday and Michael's and Barnes and Noble today to stock up on a few goodies just in case. Alas, I don't have any schoolwork with me to do. Oh, snap! Hahaha!

Stay tuned to my Instagram or Twitter or Facebook feed for up to the moment whining and random updates, but I'll also update you here. Keep warm and stay safe, people!

T

Dreaming of...

the streets of Paris

desserts of chocolate decadence

a relaxing massage

the beaches of the Mediterranean

the love of a good man

the smell of fine perfume

the lovin' of a majestic wiener dog

the winnings of a mega lottery

a weekend snowed in with my pups, my lovie, and much craftiness

Hey, I'm good for at least four of these right now and a couple more on the future agenda. Not bad, not bad at all.

Happy Valentine's Day my friends; may your dreams come true!