Kudos to Barbie

I hate it when I hear that Barbie gives girls poor body image. For a plastic doll, Barbie takes a lot of the blame for these sort of problems, and it has always upset me quite a bit.

I mean, sure, Barbie is pretty skinny, but she is also a doll. There are those studies that show that if Barbie were a real girl, she wouldn't be able to stand because of the too small waist-too large chest scenario. Having a perfect figure is certainly something that is overvalued in our society, but blaming a toy for it seems a bit much. I have quite a few friends who were not allowed to play with Barbies when they were kids for this reason. That's just ridiculous.

My defense for Barbie has always been her slogan that girls can do anything. That's a slogan we want girls to live by, right? And Barbie certainly can do anything. There exists Barbie dolls for just about every profession: nurses, dancers, scientists, teachers, astronauts, etc. There is also a graduate Barbie put out each year. So Barbie sends off more than just the "you have to look good" message. Barbie tells girls that it doesn't matter that you are a girl, you can still be anything you want to be.

So, with all that said, I was THRILLED when I saw this commercial this morning. You go, Barbie! My mom played with Barbies, I played with Barbies, and I will most likely force my future children into playing with them. This is the most fantastic advertisement for a toy I have seen in quite some time:

A Thanksgiving Survey

10 Things I wish I could say to people...

10. Don't be so stupid about what you post on facebook. Even though we are hardly friends, I can still see everything you post, which is about the people I love.

9. I think of you every single day and I no matter what i do, I can't think of a way to make your situation better. It's way over my head and I just want to move across the country to hang out with you everyday until you are healthy again.

8. I have the world's biggest crush on you, and it is killing me that I can't even tell you or give you the slightest hint.

7. You are the best friend I could have ever asked for. You are the little sister I always wanted. You are the biggest thing that I think of when I consider taking jobs out of state. I worry about you, your friends, your school work, everything all the time. I want you to do good things with your life. Don't screw it up, kid.

6. I'm not ignoring you. I just need more alone time lately. Life is stressful, but I love you and I'll come around soon. I'm sorry I haven't been a good friend.

5. You are the best person to ever come into my life. You are my other half and I thank God everyday that I have someone who understands me and is so dependable. I hope I am the same friend to you.

4. Let's eat pizza I don't really like and watch TV shows I hate. Those have been my favorite memories of college.

3. A lot of people don't like you, but you fixed my life in every way possible, and I'm not sure you'll ever really understand how.

2. Honey, things are going to get better. You are strong. Keep staying strong. We're here for you.

1. It didn't work out between you and I, and I was pretty disappointed, but it's better this way for you. I just wish we were actually friends again. I see hilarious things everyday I want to show you, and get sad that I can't really tell you since I'm the ex-girlfriend.

9 Things About Myself

9. Even though I'm more than ready to be paid to teach, I'm going to miss my student teaching kids a whole lot.

8. I'm thinking of moving somewhere crazy in August...though I know money will probably stop me.

7. I used to have a lot of fun making outfits and wearing crazy things. I wish I wasn't too old for that now.

5. I never remember how to do long division, but I do know more camp songs that any person should.

4. I am obsessed with pink, glitter, Barbies, dolls, ballet, and anything else really girly.

3. iCarly is basically my favorite show, and I am not ashamed.

2.I actually know what the following things are: subordinate clause, independent clause, prepositions, comma splices, appositives, etc. I love sentences! :)

1. I have 10 school days left until graduation!

8 Ways to Win My Heart

8. Buy me the blue Wawa pop. If you lived in Ohio, and somehow found the blue Wawa pop, I'd probably marry you.

7. Take me to Build-A-Bear

6. Take me to Bob Evans, Cracker Barrel, or another breakfast food establishment, and then don't judge me for how much I eat.

5. watch one of my favorite movies with me (Elf or The Wizard Oz)

4. Like my family

3. Don't judge me for my ice cream choices (cotton candy with gummy bears)

2. Hang out with me and Lizzy.

1. The fastest way to my heart is to not only tolerate my dog, but to actually like him and befriend him, and appreciate all of his fat, lazy, stubborn, and unintelligent qualities.

7 Things That Cross My Mind a Lot.

7. If anything I say ever stays in my students' minds.

6. Getting a job after graduation

5.What my friends are up to and how I can figure out how to spend more time with them

4. How Eagle and I can live closer together.

3. How I will decorate my future home with the maximum amount of pink possible

2. What some of my campers are up to during the school year

1. God

6 Things I Do Before I Go to Bed

6. brush my teeth

5. set alarm clock

4. set out clothes for the next day

3. read the Bible

2. check that I set my alarm clock

1. say goodnight to Charlie

5 People That Mean a Lot to Me [ besides family ]

5. Oh I hate this, I'm not choosing five.

4.

3.

2.

1.

4 Things I'm Wearing Right Now

4. tan pants

3. pink sweatshirt

2. ring

1. socks that say "Potter" on the bottom....

3 Songs I Listen to Often

3. Hal and Oates "Make my Dreams Come True"

2.Owl City "Fireflies"

1. Miley Cyrus "Party in the USA"

2 Things I Want in My Future

2. a job

1. to stay in touch with my friends

1 Confession

1. I have "The Dog Who Saved Christmas" set to record on DVR already...

Henry Builds A Cabin

I haven't been updating much, since I'm trying to keep any student teaching experiences pretty far from the internet. And since I teach every day, and then come home and work on lessons and grading the rest of the time, I don't have a lot of not student teaching related experiences to blog about.

I do have a little bit to share today. My students are just finishing up a book on Henry David Thoreau and Walden, and I was searching the internet to try and find images to show them, when I stumbled upon this piece of greatness:

This is one in a series of picture books intended for 2-3 graders. They are to serve as a basic intro to Transcendentalism. Henry is a bear who wants to build a cabin in the woods, and his friends Emerson and Alcott think he's silly (as in Ralph Waldo and Louisa May). The summary on Amazon shows it hits on 3 of the 4 main points of transcendentalism (simplicity, nature, and self-reliance...it's missing the spirituality bit). Do I want to buy this and read it to all future classrooms as an into the literary movement? YES! Do I want to buy this and read it every single day to myself? YES!

Graduation is in 8 weeks and then who knows what will happen! So far, the plan is to ride a bus to New Jersey to visit Eagle around January 12th-ish, and be there for her birthday, and then visit American Girl Place and then Camp Reunion! It's too early to be counting down the days, but it certainly is something to look forward to!





This is the first post that has been tagged with "bears." How did that happen??

Student Teaching in a nutshell

I haven't posted much about student teaching in case someone tracks me down via my blog, or if my students creep on me. But a lot of people keep contacting me via internet and asking, so I'm posting it here! Mostly, it's fun and the part that sucks is school starting at 7:15. If you want to ask me about it, though, feel free!

Yea, I miss my mattress. And my boxspring.

I've been home from camp for a while now, but I've been super busy getting ready for school and student teaching. School starts tomorrow :)


One of the first things I did when I got home was go on an adventure with Bart, Lizzy, and my mom to the zoo, where there was a Dinosaurs exhibit, and a POOP exhibit.

This was basically the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.


Lizzy was pretty determined to look as though she was having a terrible time in every picture...

...until we decided to look like mean dinosaurs.
And then there was the poop exhibit!

The poop exhibit wasn't nearly as exciting as I wanted it to be, but there were a lot of really funny puns everywhere, my favorite being "No Winnie, just poo."

At the zoo gift shop, I bought a really fantastic card for Eagle made of Poo Poo Paper. It's kind of a really awesome concept, and probably the best thing I've ever sent to anyone. When I mailed it, the lady working at the post office said "oh this is pretty, what is it made of?" and I decided not to tell her it was made of poop.

In the process of writing this blog, Natalie introduced me to a hilarious website called Catalog Living. It is the funniest thing I have read in a really long time. Basically, it shows ridiculous pictures from catalogs and tells the story of the people who live in those houses. Fortunately for Andrew, they spend a lot of time mocking decorative balls. "While Gary and Elaine were in the kitchen getting popcorn, the brave yellow sweater attempted its escape."

Although it seems like we just met, you're the one I won't forget

I could do that thing where I summarize summer week by week, but no one would actually want to read that. I could tell a million stories about funny things the kids said and did, along with funny things the staff said, but that may be a lot of "you had to be there" sort of moments. But since Andrew was so upset that my last post was less than satisfactory and now I feel obligated to post something about the past two months of my life, I'll say this:

It's no secret that I love camp a lot, but it became really obvious this summer just how important camp is to my life. It was by no means a perfect summer. It was stressful as always, plus temperatures in the triple digits, and at one point, for the first time in my entire camp life, I was actually a little homesick. But I got through all of that, and I am now entirely sure that this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. This summer I took a lot of risks, and I really changed for the better. For the first time in my life, I feel ok with myself and with where my life is going. And that's what's really important.



And I've been thinking maybe somewhere down the road
After all our stories have been told
I'll sit and think of you, you
The dear friend I once knew
Shot through my life a shooting star

home home home

Lots to say about camp this summer, but I'll save it till later.


All you need to know now is that I am safely home in CFalls, and wishing I was still in Oxford.