It is (finally) summer holidays here. I took some obligatory photos of the kids with their teachers on Friday, we managed to get the kids to write than you cards and dropped the cards off on Thursday, and we even got teacher gifts. Each teacher, teacher's aid, and after school club person got a £5 gift card to a local coffee shop.
Ezra's teacher and the school headteacher both got copies of Digital Minimalism, which has either gone down really well or really poorly (I thought of it because they both delivered a sort of "screen time warning" before in different school settings)
I definitely had the "last week of school" energy last week, I stayed up too late, did not get up for morning runs, and did not do much sport at all. I also mostly failed to make myself lunch, spent a lot of time hungry and unfocused in my office, and generally felt like I was about to jump off my curated term time sanity schedule into an abyss of summer chaos.
On Saturday I did not feel like going for a swim, and have spent most of the weekend hanging out with the kids. Ezra and Lily are currently watching Wish while the twins nap, and I meant to update budget but instead decided it was better timing for a blog.
Lazy Genius Podcast has been good recently for the transitional summer time - I definitely need the reiteration that we can't plan our way out of transitions. I have made a LOT of summer plans... 6 weeks of summer, two weeks of annual leave, two days of nanny leave, 3 different summer camps, 3 weeks of visitors... but I have to remind myself that even my great plans will need shifting and changing and may not work to make summer include everything I do in the rest of the year (ie workout schedules, uninterrupted working hours, semi-structured weekends, weekly adult social time for me) and that's fine because it will include other things (weeks off work, daytrips, visitors, ice creams).
On a totally different note,
Elisabeth has played a super positive role in my life recently!
I got a lovely card from Nova Scotia! <3!
And after my last post on
Clothing I realized I had created a false dichotomy of clothing choice. I resisted shopping at charity shops (Elisabeth is the charity shop queen) because I used to buy too much second hand and sometimes bought things that didn't really fit and then it would just clutter up my closet. HOWEVER, I have also done this at real stores! I have a black shirt I bought once that is a bit low cut and fitted but would look great at a fancy dinner with a great pair of jeans... and in 4 years of owning this top I have maybe worn it once. So I've decided to start shopping the thrift stores more and seeing if I can find a few things to add to my current rotation. And if I get things that turn out to be wrong I can just donate them back to the charity shop and it will be like I gave a donation to charity which isn't a bad thing either.
I stopped at the local shop on my lunch break last week and found this dress in my size!
It was £10 which seemed expensive for charity shop but way cheaper than new. Also, I am clearly TERRIBLE at staging photos of myself. I also don't have many mirrors in my home and our bedroom has become a kids clothing storage area right now so maybe a goal will be "learn to take a selfie of my clothing".
Have you had any great charity shop finds recently? Are you in the start, middle, or end of your summer right now? If you do teacher gifts, what do you give (or, if you are a teacher, what do you love to receive?)
I like that dress! I think the photo is fine. I am terrible at buying shirts that are too short, even sometimes I do try them on but either my torso gets longer, my belly gets bigger, they shrink or they actually never really fit at all, so they end up going in the pile. So even if I only spent a couple of dollars, they kind of make me feel bad. I recently bought 4 shirts and I think only one of them is going to be a keeper unfortunately. Luckily they did only cost $7 though!
ReplyDeleteI think this is the middle of summer, but only because usually if I were home it would be hiking and ultra racing season really ramping up. Plus my hiking buddy is a professor so he always has to go back at the end of August so we would definitely be getting our hike on right now! I am kind of missing that, TBH.... :(
Edited to add: I hope you will see me soon! :)
ReplyDeleteLove that dress! And I love the framing you gleaned from Elisabeth.
ReplyDeleteI have so many of your black shirt in my closet. The most recent is a gold cardigan that would be perfect over a dress for a dressy occasion... except I don't have any dresses it goes with and I have no dressy occasions on the horizon.
We are in the second half of summer, with school looming in the near distance... and yet there is still camp and summer travel and hopefully at least a good week of Doing Nothing in there, so I am caught between enjoying summer and feeling the stirrings of panic/delight about the next season.
It boggles my mind that you're school year is ending because my daughter starts kinder this year and we're already getting info to register/back to school night dates etc.! I feel like I need a mindset shift that summer is just short and busy (as a kid it felt forever and slow). and maybe it does to my kids! But as an adult it does not, lol.
ReplyDeleteLove the dress! I wish thrift stores had changing rooms around here. That's my big hangup with shopping them!
I did have to super awkwardly try on the dress over my clothes as it didn't have a changing room, however apparently they do allow returns which is pretty cool! I did not think a charity shop would allow returns.
DeleteI feel so out of synch with the summer world. I've never before been able to manage the mindset shift you note but I am hoping this summer is the summer I can... but we're only on day 2 so fingers crossed. Short and busy!
This made me laugh out loud, the idea of you wiggling a dress on over like, jeans and a shirt or something. hahaha. They should definitely put some changing rooms in!!
DeleteYay for thrifted dresses! And I'm so glad I inspired you, at least in part. I tend to like to cycle through clothes. Since I have a fairly minimal wardrobe I wear each piece...a lot. So it's nice to not feel guilty about going out and buying a new-to-me dress etc when I want something fresh. Sometimes things don't work out and items don't stay in my house for long. But I always, always, always either donate, consign, or give my clothes away.
ReplyDeleteAnd hooray for snail mail. It made me so happy to see my card arrived.
Wait...is Kyria coming to visit?? #Jealous
You did! I also have a minimalist wardrobe and I feel like my clothes are just falling apart because last year I got the pieces I need and wore them daily... a lot. I love the idea that for a small amount of money and some good to the world I can get some new things to add and then donate back if it doesn't work.
Deletelove the lovely card! So nice to get something that isn't a bill :-)
And yes, I am so excited that Kyria is coming in the autumn! She may have run ultras, but now she's looking for the ultimate endurance challenge of staying with a family of kids under age seven.
I am excited for YOUR far more grown up visitors this fall as well!
Have you had any great charity shop finds recently? Are you in the start, middle, or end of your summer right now? If you do teacher gifts, what do you give (or, if you are a teacher, what do you love to receive?)
ReplyDeleteWe are currently in the middle of summer... My teaching job starts back u on August 28th, while my kids' school is September 4th, we have a while to go still.
Teacher gifts... we give gifts for Christmas and teacher appreciation week in May. As a teacher myself, I prefer a note/email from a student/parent with sincere appreciation/specific things/projects that made a difference or what the student will remember. Teachers in the US get hammered a lot with critique, and unless you've been in the business a lot, like me, it gets hard. After 20+ years I do not take anything personally and can put a person in their place politely and constructively if their message is snappy/biting.
Apart from a note, it's nice to get a gift card to get coffee/tea or lunch. That's pretty much it. Everything else we can buy for ourselves.
Thank you Daria I was especially curious what you like to receive as a gift! I can't imagine critiquing any of my kids teachers - they do so well and work so hard. We got everyone a voucher for coffee so hopefully they're all able to enjoy a drink at some point.
DeleteFor Arden's teachers this year (who are in their 40's or 50's), we did New Seasons gift cards at Christmas and for her last day. Maybe a little weird, but then they can choose something from the gift section, or a nice bottle of wine, or a fancy dessert, or cheese, or just get a break on the price of groceries. - Kat
ReplyDeleteI have some really nice clothes from thrift shops that people have complimented me on. It's rewarding to know you got it for little money and people recognize it as something pretty and well-fitting :)
ReplyDeleteOh that's double good when you get a compliment on a thrift shop find!
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