1. have a yard sale. i am cleaning out my closets, selling almost all of my clothes, shoes, accessories, and other miscellaneous items in an attempt to start fresh. the yard sale is this coming thursday and friday, 10-5 each day. come on out!
2. write a novel. after telling a story (based on true events in my life) to some friends the other night, they both stared at me, mouths open, as the long and compelling story finally came to a close. "whoa." said one of them. "you, like, need to write that into a novel." and it was like an epiphany. of course i should write that story into a novel. it's an autobiography, and expose, a suspenseful story. a story that i feel the need to share with people over and over and over. a story that i can visualize (a story that i can't stop visualizing). in my youth, i ALWAYS wrote. always. i ran home from school to the computer, typing as fast as my fingers would allow me to as tried to write as fast as i thought (i never did). the adults around me thought all of that writing would lead me to a writing career, but for some reason, the writing came to an abrupt stop when high school and college took over and after all the papers and assignments, writing grew to be a chore. isn't that sad? education ripped my passion for writing away from me. now that it's been a few years since i've been in school, i've felt those old familiar feelings tingle back into my fingertips, so i've decided its time. seriously. this summer i will write my novel.
3. book clubs. the second my schedule gets crazy, books (sadly) are the first thing to go. when the lazy summer finally rolls around again, i finally have the time to get back into reading. kyle too. and this summer, we're taking it seriously. i've already knocked out two books (water for elephants by sara gruen and kissing in manhattan by david schickler, both excellent books). the most fun part has been reading and discussing, so kyle and i made our own book club of sorts. that combined with the other book club that i will pop in and out of, means lots of reading all summer. awesome. and to compliment this project, i am buying a beautiful new book case from craigslist. a tall skinny one to match a tall skinny wall to fill with old and new books. i intend it to be a book case for sharing, for keeping, for displaying, and for talking about.
4. re-decorating. AP moves out in july, leaving a few empty spaces where furniture used to be, and also leaving me with the opportunity to take a fresh look at the apartment i've spent the last year cluttering up. it really is a pretty place to live in, and i really should be better about making it look nice. first things first, i am only going to decorate/design our living space with important and meaningful things. art print from my dear friend danielle. photographs i've taken while out exploring. broadway posters from shows we've seen. no more gathering and nesting. this project goes along with #1. it's time to purge and rethink.
5. planning for my second year of teaching. i loved - LOVED - my job this year. and i'm so excited to return in the fall. i can't wait to NOT be the new teacher. to start fresh. to reinvent some ideas and to come up with new ones altogether. but if i'm going to be successful, i need to do A LOT of planning beforehand, instead of winging everything on the spot like i did last year. last year was basically about survival. next year it can be so much more, so the time to start planning is NOW. little by little, bit by bit, i will plan and gather supplies this summer so that i am ready to come back with a bang next year.
right now it feels like too much planning and not enough doing. which is why today will be spent writing loose curriculum outlines, starting a new book (i love you, beth cooper by larry doyle).
check out the ad for my yard sale here: http://rockford.craigslist.org/gms/1209812031.html
oh, and go see the hangover. it's a fricking hilarious movie.