New Year Update

Everyone is doing it, so I'm going to write a New Year's post too. Here's a little looking back as well as looking forward. Perhaps since I am so completely immersed in the world of education, I have chosen to look at things through a perspective of learning.

Things I Learned in 2013:

1. I learned, ironically for the first time in my life, the rules about where you should and shouldn't place a comma. I am not perfect at it yet, but I am improving. I also learned what the difference between phrases and clauses are, as well as independent and dependent clauses. It is amazing what teaching teaches you. (Disclaimer: I don't always do it right, even though I know the rules. Please don't judge or evaluate my writing here to closely!)
2. I really like Twix bars. Also, I have a slight sugar addiction that my new job doesn't exactly help.
3. I learned all about the temple. Not ALL of it, but more. 
4. I learned how to get married.
5. I began learning how to manage a classroom.
6. Old houses are freezing in the winter and extremely hot in the summer. There isn't really a happy medium. (I now sit on my couch with a hoodie on covering my head, a space heater under my legs, plastic covering the windows behind me, and a nice slipper and sock duo--I am still cold.)
7. Real Christmas trees are cute ideas, but actually require a lot of work. Much to my chagrin I also learned that Walmart and Smiths do not sell stands for live Christmas trees. 
8. It is really hard to start exercising once you have stopped for a while.
9. Furniture is very expensive, and having a Kitchen Aid is everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. Along these lines I have really been in love with cooking. I am obsessed with reading cookbooks and trying out new recipes. This doesn't help much with the sugar addiction mentioned previously. 
10. I learned that Cory, in Boy Meets World, really gets annoying towards the end of season 6. 
11. As you grow up priorities change. I used to really be into music and media, however, with time my focus has shifted more towards a love of silence. I also learned that I am not as young and hip as I thought I was. It seems like only yesterday I was in the know with all the stuff teenagers were in to. Somehow along the way the things I like became outdated, in reference to the 7th graders of today. I was shocked when 9/11 came around and I asked my students if they were even born when that happened. About 1/2 of my 7th graders were born, the other half weren't quite on this planet yet. Crazy!
12. God really does keep his promises. He doesn't just lead you down paths for no reason. 
13. I have a crafty bone in me somewhere. I was lucky enough to inherit my grandmother's old sewing machine and I am stoked to be able to start sewing things to make my environment a little bit more aesthetically pleasing.
14. I don't actually hate the snow. I actually love it. This was seriously news to me. I am finding more beauty in winter than I ever have before. 
15. Hiking is the best thing ever. Hiking Y mountain all the way to the peak was probably my favorite hike this year.

This next year, 2014, these are the things I would really like to learn:

1. How to live a more God centered life, how to be filled with more love for others, how to really have the spirit every single day, how to keep my priorities in order.
2. I would love to learn how to sew slip covers for throw pillows (I'm not really loving the current eggplant situation). 
3. How to love running again. Also, more yoga.
4. How to give my students better feedback, how to engage them more, how to plan ahead better, how to make my students feel more appreciated and listened to.
5. I need to learn to sit down and read for longer than three minutes again. Something about college kind of squashed my abilities to really read books for fun. 
6. How to make cheesecake
7. How to not eat a whole cheesecake once it has been made
8. How to take more pictures, and be a better life documenter. How to write more regularly. 
9. How to spell more words.
10. How to play the piano again.

*Side note: I apologize for the many "list" entries I have written in the past few months. It would appear that out of the last 4 entries, 3 included update lists. I guess I need to think outside the box a little bit more...