Easter Magic

I love holidays. Like, a lot. There is a set of drawers in my closet, and 2 of the 4 drawers are filled with holiday decorations... and I've only lived here since September... yikes.

I'm typically a very frugal person; I am morally opposed to wasting money on things like checked baggage at the airport, food at movie theaters, and clothes that aren't from Target. But when it comes to holidays, I go way overboard.

Future husband, if you're reading this, I apologize in advance for the excessive amounts of our money I will spend on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, birthdays, and worst of all, our wedding.

I sure hope you're rich. And that you look like this:

Prince Hotass

Ok, end fantasy. I went grocery shopping last night, intending to get enough for at least a week. I even had a list. I ended up spending $8 on food and $35 on Easter stuff. Oops...

Holidays are magical. They are supposed to be special, and now that I am an adult, I get to make them special myself. So, I spent too much money, but I had a special, magical day. Worth it. After a lovely church service, this is how I spent my day. I decided to leave out the pictures of me taking a break from cooking to work on resumes and cover letters. Boring.

Easter brunch for one. Unfortunately, that's not a mimosa.

Easter baskets

This chick chirps when you hold it in the palm of your hand! So cute.

Easter Bunny.

(How to take the leftover fabric from a mediocre DIY Easter Wreath and make a toga for

your stuffed animal... thank god I don't have enough time to turn that into a post)

Hunting for eggs (she missed the easiest one, which was on top of the thermostat).

This is obviously the part of the apartment that I didn't clean.

Set the table: check

Easter dinner! Yum.

How not to make a DIY Easter Wreath

Last weekend, I had some free time, and I chose to spend almost 4 hours of it looking at craft and design websites and blogs, including but not limited to Etsy, Apartment Therapy, and Pinterest.

Yes, I realize how sad that is.

I found a bunch of blogs that I actually really like, and also got some ideas for spring crafts to brighten up my apartment. The first project I decided to do was a DIY (do it yourself) spring/Easter wreath. I read the post and figured I could follow the steps pretty easily. This was Saturday. I bought the supplies on Thursday, and made the wreath on Friday. Not once in that time did I look at this woman's blog again. Oops.

If you actually want to make one of these, here are the real steps to take.

If you want to laugh at my misfortune, continue to read this post.

How not to make a DIY Easter Wreath

Step one:

Take an old cardboard box out of the large pile of recycling in the corner of your front hall.

Step two:

Find something shaped like a circle, trace it onto the box, then cut out. Tip: cardboard is a lot harder to cut than you think. And be careful, scissors are sharp.

Step three:

Cut a hole in the box... but really just cut a smaller circle out of the middle of the large circle you just spent half an hour cutting out of the box...

Step four:

Leave all of these things on the floor in the middle of your bedroom for five days.

Step five:

Remember that you were going to do this, and make a list of supplies you need from Hobby Lobby.

Step six:

Go to Hobby Lobby and buy 2 yards of spring fabric, some pretty ribbon, a hot glue gun and some glue, some tape, some pillow fluff, and then some Modge Podge and scrapbook paper that you absolutely will not use for this project.

Step seven:

When the cashier tells you the total, almost punch her because you only have $10 cash and are trying to use your credit card as little as possible, but then remember that you have a $25 Visa gift card you can spend. Phew.

Step eight:

Come home and place the bag in the middle of the floor, adding to the cluttered aesthetic you seem to love.

Step nine:

Get a good night's sleep, wake up, eat breakfast, watch 2 episodes of 30 Rock, and tell yourself you should probably work on this wreath now. Dump the stuff out of the bag.

Step ten:

Take the pillow fluff and attempt to tape it to the cardboard circle. No need to go about this methodically or anything.

Step eleven:

Cut some strips of your fabric and begin wrapping them around the fluff circle.

Step twelve:

After covering the whole circle with fabric, realize how horrible it looks. Spend the next 20 minutes trying to improve your "wreath" with safety pins and scissors.

Step thirteen:

Realize it's a lost cause, and undo the entire thing.

Step fourteen:

Spill coffee on yourself.

Step fifteen:

Reposition the fluff, and cover the entire thing with obscene amounts of tape. This will make it look a little more even. Also it will become much more like a frisbee/hat/face pillow and much less like a wreath.

Step sixteen:

Rewrap the fabric strips around the cardboard/fluff/tape ring. Do a little better this time.

Step seventeen:

Remember that you bought a hot glue gun, and decide to use it.

Step eighteen:

While waiting for the hot glue gun to heat up, make another cup of coffee. Try not to spill this one.

Step nineteen:

Use hot glue gun to anchor the fabric strips to the ring. Make it look not terrible.

Step twenty:

Cut 5 strips of ribbon and glue them on. Don't try to space them out evenly, as this would make it look too good.

Step twenty-one:

Swear loudly as hot glue burns your hands and gets on the carpet. Wait a few minutes for it to harden, then pick up the pieces and throw them across the room out of anger. Make a mental note to vacuum later.

Step twenty-two:

Decide which part of this wreath is the top. Cut a whole in the fabric and tie a loop with ribbon.

Step twenty-three:

Take some unflattering pictures of yourself with the wreath.

Step twenty-four:

Hang it on your door.

Step twenty-five:

Hope your roommates or neighbors don't mistake it for garbage and throw it away.

Step twenty-six:

Have a glass of wine and blog about it while listening to Disney music.

The fabric and ribbon up-close

Hey! My face fits in here!

This feels a lot like the hat that went with my high school Madrigal costume...

The final product. Not the worst wreath ever made, right?

The magic of the Hunger Games and high school choir

Back in the summer of 2011, a friend recommended that I read this book called the Hunger Games. She briefly described it to me, and I politely nodded and said it sounded interesting. But really, it sounded like horrible garbage. Dystopian teen fiction? Really? I was so excited for the last Harry Potter movie to come out that I couldn't even think about starting another epic book series.

Well, I was totally wrong. I saw the book on sale at Target one day in August, so I figured I might as well check it out. 9 hours later, I was back at Target buying books 2 and 3, and about 20 hours later, I was finished. Holy shitballs, I thought, that was so epic. It took me about a week to decompress from that insane reading experience.

Fast-forward to March 2012, where I just finished the first half of my student teaching. I really didn't think I would like being a high school choir director. Like, I thought it would be horrible and the kids would be mean and awful and I would absolutely hate it.

And then I spent 10 weeks with this group of wonderful kids, and just like with the Hunger Games, I am hooked.

There were definitely moments when I was unsure.

Is Peeta really in love with Katniss, or is it just an act?

Do these kids not like me, or are they just unresponsive because they're teenagers?

Why does it take Katniss so long to get a clue about everything?

How can I have spent 4 years taking music ed classes and doing 100+ hours of practicums and still not know anything about leading a choir rehearsal?

Why is Peeta so nice to Katniss after all the crap she puts him through?

How does my phenomenal cooperating teacher put up with all of this administrative BS and school politics?

Seven months later, I still don't know how I feel about the way the series ended.

Two days later, I am completely sure of how I feel about teaching high school choir.

Since leaving school on Wednesday afternoon, I've been fighting back tears and trying to get excited about starting my elementary placement next week. I went to Hobby Lobby (aka Mecca) yesterday, hoping some craft therapy would distract me. [Don't worry, a hysterical blog post will be coming soon detailing my unfortunate attempt at an Easter wreath this morning.]

I even got to spend the afternoon outside with the four adorable little girls I babysit for and their hilarious mother, and it was 75 degrees and sunny, and there was a cute puppy, AND a trampoline! How could I still feel sad after all of that?

Still, as I drove home last night, I couldn't help thinking about my amazing colleagues and our ridiculous lunch conversations, the sweet custodian who always says hi to me, and the fun last few days I had with my kids. Well, I guess they're not "my" kids anymore. I didn't think it was possible to love a group of students this much, and it is heartbreaking that I won't get to see them every day.

Somehow, I have not cried today. Not even during the HUNGER GAMES, which was a totally amazing and epic movie with some very sad moments. Maybe it was because I was concentrating so hard on not peeing myself because I refused to leave the theater for fear of missing something awesome...

I'd like to think that I'm done crying, but I'm a little skeptical. If it took me a whole week to calm down after reading three books, I imagine it will take me a little longer to get over the end of this wonderful chapter in my life. It will probably hit me when I see the school parking sticker on my car, or catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror wearing the school sweatshirt, or while I'm drinking my coffee out of the mug one of my students gave me. But eventually, I'll stop being so sad about it, and instead of tears, there will be great memories.

If the employment gods smile upon me, next fall I will be setting up shop in a school somewhere, and I will have a new group of wonderful kids who I will love just as much. And the next time I open my folder of student teaching memories, I will not cry. I will fondly remember the amazing kids I got to teach and the awesome people I was lucky enough to work with as the best first teaching experience anyone could have.

And that moment will be magical.

The need for magic

I have a confession to make.

I'm addicted... to my laptop. I open her up every chance I get. I even named her - Maggie the MacBook. I've had her for 5 years, and she's the best. But lately, every time I log on to Facebook, or read the news, or watch clips from the Daily Show, I find myself liking Maggie less and less.

Bad economy. Rising gas prices. Poverty. Injustice. Crime. Budget cuts. Ineffective government. Republican primaries.

This stuff sucks. It's horrible and awful and mean. I get it. But do I want to hear about constantly? No.

Don't get me wrong, I think social media is an excellent way to communicate, voice opinions, and spread news. But I really hate all the crap that goes on in the world, and I'm sick of hearing about it on a regular basis.

When I log on to Facebook, I want to see a cat playing the piano or an unflattering picture of my friend or a dramatic status update from one of those people I'm only friends with so I can be entertained by their dramatic statuses. I do not want to read depressing articles about how my rights are being taken away or about all the crazy, awful things people do in the name of religion or about the latest high school shooting.

I know that my friends who frequently post articles and statuses voicing their outrage are good people who are genuinely concerned with the state of the world. I am equally frustrated and outraged. But rather than tweet about it, I'm going to try something else. I'm going to blog.

Now, I know what you're thinking. How could a blog help anything? How is it any different than posting on Facebook? Well, friends, I'm not going to blog about how horrible everything is, because that would just make me feel helpless, and I hate feeling helpless. No, I am going to blog about boring, ordinary things, and it's going to be magical.

Magic isn't just for Disney Princesses and British wizards anymore.

Anything can be magical if you try hard enough to make it that way. If you can find a little bit of humor, or kindness, or ridiculousness in a situation, it can go from crappy/sad/frustrating to magical.

This blog is my attempt to create some magic out of ordinary life, to share stories, to make my time with Maggie more enjoyable. So, if you're ever feeling blue, read this blog. I promise to entertain you with stories, pictures, and videos of my hilarious/absurd/ridiculous/magical life.