Crafting, Cooking, and Writing

Hello all! This is my last Monday Made It in the USA for a while :( I go back to Italy on Wednesday! I'm definitely feeling a mix of excitement and sadness to be heading back to a place I love, but leaving the people I love. This week, I did a little crafting, a little writing, and cooked a tasty (maybe...) Greek meal for my family!

I don't know if you've read it yet, but if you haven't you should! "What Do You Do With An Idea," by Kobi Yamada, is one of my new favorite children's books! It's so beautiful, and I can't wait to share it with my class! The book tells the journey of a child who has an idea (embodied as a cute little egg), and though he tries to ignore it, the idea follows him all around. He's nervous to share it with others, but nurtures and cares for his idea. Eventually, his idea colors his world, spreads its wings, and takes off. He discovers what you do with an idea, but I'm not going to tell you because the last line of the book brought me to tears and I want you to have the same experience :)

Anyway, I was so excited when I bought it that I read it aloud to my mom as we drove home. I couldn't decide when to share it with my class! First day? As an introduction to Writer's Workshop? When talking about being brave with our ideas when sharing them with the class? Before starting Genius Hour? If we do our Invention Convention this year, as an introduction to that? I decided I'll use it all throughout! My mom and I came up with a thousand fabulous ideas just discussing the book, and here is my favorite: 

Isn't it darling!?!? They still need to be jazzed up a little. I think I'm going to mount them on bottle caps and maybe do some green scrapbook paper along the bottom to be grass. I might change the crown size and add a little sparkle too :) The plan is that for the day or so before reading the book for the first time, one of these little guys is going to be sitting out on my desk. Whenever a kid asks what they are (because you know they will), I'll respond with something like, "Oh, just a little idea, I'll tell you about it later," or, "Just an idea I have..." After reading the book, the "Ideas" will end up being desk buddies for the day for kids who have a fabulous, out-of-the-box idea, who bravely share their plans and ideas, or who make amazing connections. For example, during our Processes that Shape the Earth unit last year, my student from Indonesia, as we're discussing plate tectonics, says, "Ohhhh, we probably get a lot of tsunamis in Indonesia because we're part on the Indo-Australia plate, but also on the Eurasia plate." DING DING DING!!!! I was so excited by his fabulous thinking, and that would have been hugely deserving of a Idea desk buddy for the day. I think that they're going to be tough to earn, but everyone will have ideas that are deserving :)

I've jumped aboard the Washi Tape bandwagon and can't be stopped. 

Oh my gosh, I'm obsessed. I bought tons for my two new Erin Condren planners (yayyyy! They arrived!!), but have used it on all sorts of things. I'm planning an herb garden for my brand new apartment, so I made little chalkboard tags with wash tape posts to label each plant, and I've been decorating my binder clips... yes, I'm that obsessed.

Can't wait to set up my garden!

I'm on a journey to Domestic Goddess-hood, and part of it is attempting to become a fabulous chef. 

Right now, pretty much all I can make is pasta salad, but I took a cooking class in Greece and learned to make a few things. The other night I tried them out on my family! Greek salad, tomato fritters with tzitziki, turkey feta burgers, and stuffed grape leaves... I'm pretty proud of myself!! You can read more and find recipes if you want on my other blog :) (The picture is actually from the first time I tried making these- I didn't take any cooking pictures! Oops!)

Finally, my fourth Made It, which is more of a "wrote it" than a "made it." 

I love writing, and keeping my personal blog, Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere (I love Disney) is very therapeutic for me. I love looking back at where I've been, and adding to/crossing off my bucket list! My only real complaint about life in Italy is that I feel dumb a lot; I can't be as independent as I'd like, and I don't know how to take care of things the way I would here. So when my internet went out last Thanksgiving, and my landlady said she didn't want to renew it since I'd be moving out in July (!!!), I just accepted it (angrily) and went without. It was hard not being able to skype my family from my apartment, but I also got very behind on blogging. Anyways, I've been trying to update this week and have a few new posts if you're interested (so far, A Series of Firsts in Cervinia, and Switching from Mozzarella to Feta)!!