Sunday Social!

1. What is something you have wanted to do but are afraid of?
Pursue photography as anything other than a hobby. I'm too afraid to market myself and/or make mistakes with people's memories.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I hate this question! I have never been able to answer this question! In high school I could not see myself in college...in college I could not see myself in the workplace...in Pittsburgh I could not see myself in Baltimore. Let's just say that I see myself in a home that is my own. No more nomadic ways.

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?
I can't wait to go back home and see how much baby Pennie has grown!

4. What are your hopes for your blog?
I don't have any hopes for it other than I hope that I continue to enjoy writing in it.

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?
See question 2. I can't see myself anywhere other than where I am. But I will say that although Baltimore is lovely, it is not home.

6. What is your morning routine?
On a workday:
6:10: wake up and pet the cat
6:15: shower and get dressed
6:35: make coffee and toast something for breakfast
6:40: finish getting presentable
6:55: feed and water the cat and pour the coffee
7:00: watch a little GMA while eating
7:15: grab everything and go

I Hate the Grocery Store...

And here are three examples as to why:

1. One time I was rolling my cart through the aisles and I came to a couple blocking the entrance to the aisle. I said "excuse me" but they didn't hear me. I moved closer to repeat it and the man caught sight of the movement and put his hand on the woman's back to move her aside. She looked at me, turned her nose up, and said "she needs to say 'excuse me'". That made me so angry because I did say "excuse me" and really why should I even have to? How is it more rude to allegedly not say "excuse me" than to blatantly block a path that is made for walking? UGH!!!

2. This morning the grocery store was extremely busy and the lines were long. When it was my turn to put my stuff on the belt, the lady behind me started doing it too! There was only one divider and it was between my stuff and the stuff of the person in front of me. She even went so far as to push my stuff forward to make room for hers while I was still unloading. WHAT??

3. My number one pet peeve at the grocery story is when I am using the self-serve checkout and people behind me start sending their stuff down the belt while I am still bagging. I am only one person and I never have that much stuff. Why can't people just wait 45 seconds for me to finish bagging my stuff?

I really believe the grocery store is one of those places that just shows who people really are. Not everyone is nasty. The woman who helped me pick up all the boxes of cereal I knocked over was a sweetheart. The people who kicked the boxes out of their way were not.

What I'm Loving

This is such a cute linky!!

I am loving that I had to snuggle under a blanket tonight.

I am loving that my Annie cat has taken to higher ground to escape the dog rather than scratch him on the nose.

I love that it is Pumpkin Spice Latte time again!

I LOVE that football is back, even though I am horribly losing in fantasy football. What is not to love about a sport that give you moments like this?

I love that my roommate and I give each other free counseling every night after work.

And I love this:

Too Many Words to Say

I have so many things running through my head that I want to write about and I keep trying to put them down into words. It's not working. It's not really writer's block. More like hyper-thinking. Is that a thing? Since I can't manage to write an actual blog post, I will try to just write thoughts that I am thinking about writing about. That makes no sense. Oh well.

The education system is a mess. I know because I work in it.

I wish people would stop bashing the education system.

I can't wait to vote.

I want everyone to shut up about the election and actually LISTEN to what the candidates are saying. If you give them enough time, they usually contradict themselves.

My parents want to come visit me. I want them to come visit me too, but I have been having an awful time getting motivated to do anything lately and I really doubt they will want to watch a marathon of Dance Moms with me.

I am starting to enjoy cooking again. It helps to have a roommate because if a mouse comes out and tries to kill me, she'll be there.

I know that makes no sense, but I'll leave that alone for now.

I don't know if I have what it takes to make it as a teacher for the rest of my life.

That makes me angry because I love teaching and I don't know what else I would do.

I get so envious of stay-at-home moms, not because I am under any assumptions that it is easy. It just seems so idyllic.

I don't know if I even want kids. I am 33 years old. Shouldn't I know by now?

I'm done for now because my mind is getting confused again.

Sunday Social!

This Weeks Questions:

5 items that you can't live without on a daily basis (food, water, shelter, and clothes don't count)
1. My iPhone - I love it. It is my camera, my video camera, my library, my connection to the world, my musical collection, and my entertainment. I even started using it in my classroom. The day I dropped it and the screen cracked was an awful day, but she's a trooper and still works.
2. My credit card - I hardly ever have cash and even when I do it disappears so fast. I always pay my statement balance every month, so that I don't get charged interest and I also get 3% cash back! Woohoo! Chase probably hates me.
3. My computer - I switched to a Mac a few years ago and I don't think I will ever go back. It is so user friendly and has awesome features. I've got my eye on an iPad next.
4. Iced coffee - I don't care if it is -20 degrees.
5. TV with working cable - last week without it was haaaaaaard.

All time favorite book? Why?
OOOO! Hard question!
I will have to go to Dr. Seuss for this one - Oh! The Places You'll Go. I read it sometimes when I have a bad day.

Something you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2012?
That is only a few months away so as much as I would like my Master's degree before then, that is not going to happen. So, I will say that I would like to have my class working efficiently and hard for 95% of the day.

If you could go back and relive any year or part of your life, which year would it be?
1999 without fail. Best year of college ever.

What do you wish people knew about you without you having to tell them first?
First, this sounds like a dating profile question. Second, I wish people knew that I am introverted. Third, I wish more people understood what introverted REALLY means. Too many people equate it with meek and quiet. It is more about how I process information and re-energize my spirit.

Shadow Stalking

Shadow stalking is one of my favorite photography projects! However, I love to do it with my iPhone and that is against the rules of this linky. :( But, I tried it out with my camera. Not too bad, but I still prefer the iPhone for this fun.

Travel Tuesday

When I was growing up, my family always took a vacation trip every summer. My parents are very outdoorsy and so we often went camping in a national or state park. When I was a teenager I just wanted to go to the beach so I'm not going to pretend that I always enjoyed those choices. But, nonetheless, we saw some great places and the travel bug stuck. The irony of it is I find myself drawn to a park when I am in need of recharging and I would go camping in a heartbeat if I had a camping buddy to join me.

One of my favorite family vacations happened after the loss of a part of my family. The winter after my older brother passed away, my dad made it his mission for us to spend an extended weekend together somewhere special. We ended up renting a condo in Deep Creek, Maryland. We didn't do much special, but we all knew the purpose was family quality time. So, my favorite memory from this trip is us sitting around the fire, wrapped in blankets, just talking.

Although, snow-tubing was fun too.

Thank God for Saturdays

I have accomplished nothing this morning other than rearranging a few boards on Pinterest. Too be honest that is way more than I planned on accomplishing. If our cable was working, I would have spent the morning in front of either HGTV or Food Network. But, I guess the world wanted me to use a few brain cells on categorizing my pretend life. When I have a hard week I like my weekends to go as slow as possible. And this was a hard week. As I said our cable is out and our internet is spotty. I have called Comcast in the last 2 days more than I ever have in life combined and each call is more fruitless than the last. I had to stick my hand in the toilet yesterday which is never a happy occasion and my rental company says we didn't pay our rent and I KNOW I did. My online class is harder than expected. I feel sick mostly due to dehydration and other effects of being in a stifling hot classroom all day. Plus, kindergarten continues to be a challenge and a half. I feel a blog post about the education system coming soon but I need to get back to my laziness for now.

Wordless Wednesday

Top 10 Lyrics

I had a rough day. Some days in kindergarten are like that. My formerly white shirt is speckled with orange. My big toe was trampled on twice. My body was covered in sweat all day. I was cried at, yelled at, hit, tapped in the stomach, and ignored (not all of that was from kids, which makes it worse). I couldn't do the fabulous, fun thing that was planned because of technology failure. So, in honor of a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day, I am writing a list of my current top 10 favorite lyrics (in no particular order). Enjoy!

1. John Mayer: 3X5
"Didn't have a camera by my side this time / Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes / Maybe I will tell you all about it / When I am in the mood to lose my way with words"

2. John Lennon: Imagine
"You may say I'm a dreamer / But I'm not the only one"

3. Lifehouse: Broken
"The broken locks were a warning / You got inside my head / I tried my best to be guarded / I'm an open book instead"

4. Train: Meet Virginia
"You see her confidences is tragic / But her intuition magic"

5. Miranda Lambert: The House That Built Me
I thought if I could touch this place or feel it / This brokenness inside me might start healing / Out here its like I'm someone else / Thought that maybe I could find myself"

6. Garrison Starr: Sit With Me Tonight
"It's not all darkness / It's not all light / You don't have to fix this / Just sit with me tonight"

7. Taylor Swift: White Horse
"I was a dreamer before you went and let me down / Now it's too late for you and your white horse to come around"

8. Whitesnake: Here I Go Again
"Like a drifter I was born to walk alone"

9. Tom Petty: Mary Jane's Last Dance
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again"

10. John Mayer: In Repair
"Too many shadows in my room / Too many hours in this midnight / Too many corners of my mind / Too much to do to set my heart right."

Sunday Social

This Weeks Questions: End of Summer Wrap Up

What was your favorite trip/vacation/activity this summer?

I only went on two trips and they were both my favorite! I took my FIRST EVER trip overseas this summer! My sister, brother-in-law and I went to Southern Germany and Italy. By the way, Tuscany is my love.

The walled town of Rothenburg

Dachau Concentration Camp

1st view of the German Alps!

Colosseum in Rome (that's me!)

Vatican City

Tuscany...ahhh!

Fake David in Florence

Mid-evil village in Tuscany

Hey! It really does lean! And yes I am wearing the same green shirt as I am in Rome. I had to pack light. Don't judge me.

Venice

But, as amazing as that voyage was, it is equally amazing to go home to Pittsburgh and see my family and friends. I was able to meet and spend a lot of this time with this little cutie:

The newest godchild

My family and I also went to Living Treasures Wild Animal Park. That place is awesome! We were so close to the animals and it was smaller and way less crowded than a big city zoo.

This one terrified me.

I learned that giraffes have lizard tongues.
Favorite outfit look of the summer/clothing item?
I go for comfort at all costs. If I am home, I am wearing the bare minimum and if I go out it is mostly shorts and tank tops. No fashionista awards for this girl.

What is one thing you wish you had gotten to do this summer?
GO TO THE BEACH!! It amazes me that I am sooo much closer to the beach than I ever have been and yet I have managed to make it there exactly one time in the four summers I've been here.

Favorite Song of the Summer?
"I Make My Own Sunshine" by Alyssa Bonogura
You know, the one from this commercial...

Favorite movie/tv show of the summer?
This summer I became obsessed with The Pioneer Woman on the Food Netork. I love her and want her life. Do you know her? You need to.

Who is Henner?

Well, creating a name for a blog is a lot harder than I anticipated! My understanding is that it is supposed to say something about who I am as a person or it is supposed to let people know what they can expect from my blog.

Sounds wonderful.

And impossible.

Who am I?

1. I am a teacher, but I don't really want to only write about teaching.
2. I love photography, but I am not disillusioned enough to call myself a photographer. Plus, sometimes I go through moods where I don't want to take pictures. Right now is one of those moods.
3. I am a daughter, sister, and friend.
4. I am a student. An eternal student it seems. I am working on the hard-to-attain graduate degree for the 2nd time around. Maybe more on that later...
5. I am a huge Steelers / football fan, but since I live in Baltimore I know how annoying non-Steelers fans find that fact.
6. I am a reader. I like suspense. I like page-turning dramas. Maybe a touch of romance or suspense. I do NOT like 50 Shades of Grey. Maybe I'll post more on that later too.
7. I am an introvert. I process internally. I enjoy quiet moments and time to process alone. Writing has always been a pleasure for me. Hence, the blog.
8. I am a wanna-be world-traveler. I got my first taste of it this summer!
9. I am an obsessive pinner on Pinterest.
10. I am not someone who enjoys lists.

I wish I did enjoy lists. People with lists are organized.

I am not organized.

There is a lot of things I'm not that I wish I was.

I guess I should explain the name of this blog.
Henner is a nickname.

See, I have 3 adorable little godchildren. There was a ceremony for 2 of them. The third was just welcomed into this world, but I can still claim her. They all live far away from me. The oldest one couldn't say "Heather" when she was younger. It always came out as "Henner". It kind of stuck. Really, only 4 people call me Henner. Even Oldest Goddaughter stopped and can now say Heather. I always wanted a nickname and Heather is not easily shortened.

It is now published on the internet. That makes it official.