Celebration Saturday

 I'm so happy that Ruth Ayres started a Celebrate Link-Up on her blog!!!  I will be joining the celebration every Saturday!!

1. Megan Ginther and I met Louise Borden for brunch this morning at the Bronte Bistro at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.  What a wonderful visit!  We talked about the writing process, collaboration, one word resolutions, teaching, families, projects, conferences, etc.  Megan and I stayed afterward to write and work on our book project.  Sometimes this project is daunting, but it's mornings like today that inspire us to keep going.  We have a lot to say, teach, and learn, and that's exciting!

2. New Year's Eve was fun this year. Last year it was too quiet - the girls were at their own celebrations and holiday guests went home. While it was kind of nice to be curled up on the couch in jammies watching the ball drop in Times Square on t.v., I didn't really want to do that again this year. We had our traditional party with friends, family, and kids, and brought the New Year in between dart games, air hockey, pool, and flutes of champagne! Fun! Unfortunately, my father-in-law took a tumble on our front sidewalk on the way home, but besides some bumps and bruises, he's okay. Later that night, we talked about choosing OLW for our New Year's resolutions. I'm keeping my word JOURNEY since I only picked it at the beginning of the school year, and I feel like I'm still using it.  Libby, my oldest daughter, chose FEARLESS. I love that one.

3. My best friends from high school and college took me out for my birthday (a slightly belated celebration). It had snowed quite a bit, but we didn't let that stop us! We had a great time talking about the past and future and enjoying each other's company like we always do.

4. My students and family gave me a lot of gift certificates to bookstores for Christmas/birthday, so I've been having fun spending them this holiday! It will be fun to bring them back to my classroom on Monday.

5. My daughter, Libby, gave me some blank journals and a set of colored pencils for my birthday because I was inspired to do some sketching again (I used to draw a lot when I was a kid) by Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate. One morning this week, I took up the pencils and watched beautiful birds come to one of our feeders on the deck. I tried to stay in the moment and sketch them as they perched there. I used my bird handbook to help me. The sketch was very rough around the edges, but it was fun. I hope to do more sketching and journaling this year. Have you seen Paul Hankins's sketch journal on Facebook? I love it!

I hope you all have a wonderful week. It will definitely change a bit since we'll be going back to school. I didn't get as much done to prepare for that as I would've liked. I really did rest, relax, read, and celebrate a lot instead! I need to get back to work, but I will have enjoyed these two weeks immensely! Happy New Year and CELEBRATE in 2014!