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About me
I started a #bookstagram because I simply love books and have been looking for more bookish people to talk to. Since joining my #TBR has gotten a little out of control. ?⠀
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I’m a mom to a two year old and I live in Southern California with my partner, two dogs, bearded dragon, and one fish. We also harvest Monarch Butterflies to help regrow their population. I’ve been teaching fourth grade for five years, going on six.
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Recent Posts
Reflections and Resilience: A Teacher’s Journey
Well, I made it. I'm ready for this summer to heal and collect my thoughts. I am ready to reflect...
Brotherless Night
A beloved here and the winner of the Women's Prize for fiction, it is a standout in the...
This book is 650 or so pages and I absolutely savored each one
This book is 650 or so pages and I absolutely savored each one. Told through multiple point of...
Took a girls trip to Pismo Beach this past weekend
Took a #girlstrip to Pismo Beach this past weekend to celebrate the start of summer with my two...
And just like that year nine in the classroom is done
And just like that year nine in the classroom is done. I can’t believe I’ve been at this job...
Just me getting ready for summer reading
Just me getting ready for summer reading. Broke my book buying ban for Mother’s Day. Tried to get...
I have been teaching for 11 years now and I have to say, this year has been my favorite. Teaching fifth grade was so much fun! I was pretty nervous to start a dramatic change but honestly it felt like the right fit almost immediately. When we did our last community circle meeting students I have had since THIRD GRADE said it was their favorite year. Like every school year it had its challenges, but after everything we went through together we felt pretty unstoppable this year. I’ll be riding this high into sixth grade where I’ll be looping with the same kids. What an honor I get to be a part of their lives this long. Such a rare privilege I don’t take for granted. Now to relish in my book stack and enjoy that well deserved summer bliss. #teacheronbreak #summer #teachersofinstagram #bookstagram
Finished rereading Circe and I definitely think it’s a favorite book now. I appreciate it so much more now than I did when I first read it years ago. I cracked open This is How You Lose the Time War last night and I think I’m finally read to sink my teeth into it. And Kin. You are my summer plan. #lastnownextreads #books #lastnownext
lol I read one book in April and I did not like it. #Hyperion by Dan Simmons started strong but then sputtered out. Some editing here would’ve worked wonders. I am once again rereading an old favorite to get me back into a reading groove. April was alright. But now one more month till that sweet summer freedom. One month closer to being back in Altadena. Can’t wait.
Second slide shows the oak tree coming back. Those things are so tough. I want to keep some leaves and make them into something. The last couple slides showcase Waffles, the cat. I think I’m a cat person now. I love my dogs. But man. Cats are prettttyy coooool. Some spring break pics and finally a pic of my favorite place. Los Angeles. You’re a sprawling nightmare. But you’re still ours
#closetosummer #summerfeeling #bookstagram #sciencefiction
February you were intense and blissfully short.
It took me years to finally finish this one. I would start it. Then stop. Just knowing I was not in the right head space. In all I’ve read it in bits and spurts over the course of the last seven months. Nature writing cannot be consumed quickly, at least not for me. I always have to slow down. I absolutely loved this one and I’m so glad I took my time with it. I loved the writing. It almost felt like you were there with her, bending down and REALLY looking at nature. Observing slowly. Not rushing.
I’m afraid we still have not heeded Kimmerers message. In one essay she writes how she was evacuated for one night due to a gas explosion at a nearby factory. Her warning loud and clear. And one I’m sadly too familiar with. There are no words that can quite encapsulate what it’s like to leave home suddenly, and never return because it’s reduced to ash. My story is not unique and in the coming years and decades it’ll become more common than we all think. It’s never too late to slow down and listen to the world around us. How can I participate in the Honorable Harvest? How can I express my gratitude to the Earth?
Thank you for this gift Robin Wall Kimmerer. I will return to it always. Favorite essays include: a Mother’s Work, The Three Sisters, The Honorable Harvest, Old Growth Children, The Sacred and the Superfund, Collateral Damage, and Defeating the Windigo.
#nonfiction #essays #naturewriting #braidingsweetgrass
January, you’re 31 days too long. But alas I can still count my blessings. Even in spite of getting stung by a sting ray that eventually got infected and needed a course of THREE DIFFERENT ANTIBIOTICS FOR A WEEK. Actually I take it back. January two years in a row, what gives?
Favorites this month are Some Desperate Glory and Never Let Me Go. Both excellent science fiction. If you like science fiction having to do with parallel universes and time jumps with a mix of fascist cults, Some Desperate Glory is your book. And Never Let Me Go needs no introduction. That one sunk its teeth in me.
But other than that. January was filled with loss and struggles. It wasn’t without its bright spots but alas I am defeated. It was a hard month. And oh yeah abolish ice.
I finally got around to taking this off my TBR and I have to say it completely lived up to my expectations. It’s hard not to draw parallels to what happens to Kathy and company to what happens to others in a society that are viewed as less than. As I always say the best science fiction books hold a mirror to current times as if to say “gotcha!” And although it is easy to read a book like this, about how clones are simply created (or more than likely farmed) to be used by other humans as they age or fall apart, and gasp and say how horrific! One does not need to step outside the door too far and realize these nightmares live on our streets. Haunt our nightmares. How does one cling to hope amongst such darkness? I guess sometimes just putting your feet out on your doorstep and moving forward with the promise to help your neighbor has to be enough. This book is so sad. But strangely filled with such warmth. I guess that’s life most days it seems. #kazuoishiguro #neverletmego #sciencefiction
Felt wrong to not do a yearly wrap up post and since I’m up here you go. God bless @the.storygraph for making wrap up posts easier. My reading was so uneven this year. I never found my groove. I wanted to set some goals for this year but let’s be frank. It won’t happen.
In my most eloquent wording, 2025 you can suck it. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.
The horrors persist. But so do I.
I think one of the hardest things my family has lost in the Eaton fire is our Christmas Decorations. My husband and I have been collecting them from places we’ve traveled since we first met over ten years ago. My son had made a handful. I had some that my Lola had made as well. My Christmas stocking I had had since I was a baby. My mom’s house, which also burned, has the Angel topper. My sister and I would trade years, taking turns on who would place the angel at the top. I can still remember my dad grabbing my hips to pick me up so I could place it at the top. All those things are gone now. Christmas is a time of tradition. When we reflect on our year and our past. Remembering things with each ornament and decoration taken out. Now we start over. And make new ones. This weekend was strange. At once I am filled with a bottomless well of sadness. Sometimes I wonder how I can possibly be standing. I honestly feel just so dead inside. But. There is still so much I am grateful for. So much still worth fighting for.
@ornamentsforaltadena gets a special shout out here. My family and I went to their Winter Bloom market and got some special ones handmade from people across the country. My husband and I have an annual tradition of watching the LOTR extended editions every December. So this hobbit door was a particular standout. @arrangementsbyadelaide of course had so many cute decorations. Because Angela knows how much our community needs them. And most importantly. Thank you to my family that gave me back precious decoration that my Lola had made by hand.
Altadena I miss you every day. I can’t wait to come home.
#eatonfire #nonbookishpost #bookstagram #losangeles
38 years on this earth and this last one has been been a doozy. This year we decided to shake things up as a family. We booked it to a tropical location for Thanksgiving instead of staying home. And I gotta say I am liking this new tradition. I have accomplished two out of three things on this tote. Just need a new tattoo. Thinking I’ll go nautical this time. @jawjawinks you in? lol. Cheers everyone. Here’s wishing this next year is uneventful. Boring. A snooze. #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #vacation
Tell me a story of a complicated man indeed! Odysseus is probably the original anti hero. I could go on but I’m sure there are already one million essays about this by people much smarter than I. I wanted to read this because I remember this edition became quite the controversy when it came out. For one it’s translated by an actual WOMAN. Can you believe it! The AUDACITY. Jokes aside. If you pick this up definitely read the translators introduction. She gives a wonderful breakdown of her decisions and I think this was just a delightful read. I think the part with Cyclops will always be my favorite. Of course like any fantasy epic it probably could’ve used a better editor. But I’ll let it slide this time….ha. Glad I finally read this one and so happy Wilson sought to make an accessible version for us all. Also shoutout to @sethisreading for his review and reminding me I had to pick it up before the movie! #theodyssey #homer #epics #vacationreads #classics #greekclassics
Dear ones,
About ten months ago when my life was completely turned upside down you showed me the power of the community. And ten months later they are breaking ground on my house. In about 12 months I can finally come home.
It has not been an easy journey. And it is strange to think that although I should consider myself one of the “lucky ones” the road has felt impossible to traverse. But of course I trudge through the mud because at least I can. I know many others forced to make impossible choices because they can’t.
This would not be possible without you bookstagram. The world is dark but many of you have provided my family and I with a light in our darkest moment. So I hope this weekend when you tip a glass or watch the sky you think of our little family in Altadena. And for just a second you feel something like hope.#eatonfire #altadena #bookstagram