July Currently & Goals & a Meet Up!

Oh, July! You seemed so far away a month ago. How could you possibly be almost here already?! Can't we add another month in between June and July? I really, REALLY want to hold on to June as long as possible. I'm really not ready to return to work in a few weeks...

Currently July

I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy! 4th Grade for the July Currently.

Listening: My little girl is almost 2, and she LOVES books. She also loves Pete the Cat. I took her to my favorite children's book store, Little Shop of Stories, to get the new Pete the Cat book the day it came out. Given that she knows and loves the song "Wheels on the Bus," it's a great book for her to "read" on her own.

Loving: Planbook.com. I signed up for the one-month trial to tinker around with it, and it's fantastic. I'll definitely be using it next year.

Thinking: that I'm much more prepared to teach the Common Core this year -- especially with math. I'm excited about implementing all of the things that I worked on this summer to get ready for math, and I'm optimistic about my year ahead.

Wanting: a longer summer break. There are so many things that I still want to do before going back to school, and I don't think I'm going to be able to get them all done.

Needing: a maid. I can't keep up with my husband, toddler, and two dogs. Once I go back to work, it may be time to hire someone to come in each week.

Tips, Tricks & Hints: One thing that helps me with time management is to try to group all of my like-projects together and work on them at once. For example, I have one day a week at school that I do all of my copying (or at least I did before going paperless!). I also spend one day working on plans for each subject (e.g., a day for math planning, a day for science, etc.) and a day for working on blog posts, etc for the week. This helps me use my time more efficiently and stay relatively organized.

July Goals

I'm also linking up with Jess at I {Heart} Recess for the first time for the monthly goals post.

Personal: I want to start exercising at least 3 times a week (baby steps). I return to work in a couple weeks (!), and I know with all that I'll be juggling this year between work and my doctorate that I will need to do better with exercise for balance and stress management.

Family: I want to squeeze in a couple more "date days" before going back to school. My daughter is in school year round, so on "date days," my husband leaves his office before lunch, and then we go out to lunch and catch a movie before picking her up. It saves us babysitting costs, and it's a fun way to spend our afternoon.

Health: A few years ago when I lost a lot of weight, the biggest change I made was that I consistently drank 64 oz of water every day. Now that I've gained back the weight (and then some), I need to start drinking at least that much water every day.

School: I report to our staff retreat on July 17th, and then pre-planning officially starts on July 25th. I need to figure out how I'm going to decorate my room before then and map out some plans for the first few weeks before then.

Blog/TpT: I'm hoping to wrap up my Paperless Challenge series in the next few weeks, and I have several new TpT products in the works. This summer has just gone by too quickly for me to finish it all!

Outside the Box: I want to find some easy and tasty breakfast and lunch recipes that I can use throughout the year. I do a fairly good job cooking healthy dinners, but I am not consistent the rest of the day. I often forget to eat breakfast, and then I don't make the best choices for lunch either. The more I plan ahead, the better prepared I'll be. And this justifies spending more time on Pinterest. Win-win!

Southeastern Bloggers Meet Up!

Have you heard about the Southeastern-area blogger meet up? It's about time that those of us in Georgia and the surrounding areas get together, and I'm super thankful that Stacia, Amanda, and Jivey from Collaboration Cuties and Ideas by Jivey have  organized something for us. If you are close to Atlanta, I hope you'll join us for the meet up on July 20th. It promises to be lots of fun.

Click on any of the images below to connect with Jivey's blog where you can RSVP.

I hope to meet lots of other fabulous teacher bloggers there! Click the button below to RSVP.