Book Fair Break

In case you hadn't noticed, the theme this year is superheroes/Reading Saves the Day. This was the shirt design Scholastic offered. I loved it the moment I saw it! I even got a cape to match, which I used at our kick off event.

Book Fair Break

We did a Guess the Page Count contest. Our winner's guess was only 12 pages off from the correct answer!

Book Fair Break

Prize certificates for our contests.

Book Fair Break

We have an all-school reading goal of 150,000 minutes. These are our tracking bookmarks.

Inspired by... the finish line

I am up to my eyeballs in  Book Fair preparation these days (I am the coordinator for my son's school) and will be taking a break from posting until we hit the finish line. Hopefully along the way I will find more to inspire me.  In the mean time, I'll post a few pictures of what we are up to for the Fair. See you in a couple weeks!
 

Inspired by... people

One of my facebook friends has a new blog and I saw a link the other day and went to check it out. I was immediately inspired. I'll let you check it out the inspiring post for yourself here, but in summary, she has decided at 39 years old that she wants the next 39 years to be filled with more adventures and fewer regrets. One of the lines that caught my attention was this: <<But I woke up recently realizing that I was settling.  I was telling  myself that “I was 39 and so this was it.”>>

Since I am on my own quest for personal mission and connection and intentionality in my life, I was inspired by Kim to keep going - to keep finding myself and trying hard things and making my own adventures.

Inspired by... people

Christina Katz inspires me. Her books (Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids and Get Known Before The Book Deal: Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow An Author Platform) inspire me. They make me want to run to a coffee shop with a pen and paper and start writing. Her newsletter, The Prosperous Writer, inspires me to do the same. When she writes about writer events she is doing, I want to move to Oregon. When she talks about the successes of her students, I want to set aside a pay check or two and take as many of her classes as I can (too bad those pay checks never stretch that far - some day, though...).

Even if you have no interest in writing, check out Christina - she will make you want to dig into whatever is your "thing" and grow in your skills and your passion.

[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.]

Inspired by .... people

Kal Barteski is my "target" today. I don't get to Kal's blog as often as I used to, but when I do, I am inspired.

Inspired to take pictures. Inspired to paint. Inspired to be "bulletproof."

I love her honesty and transparency. I love her creativity. I love her sense of humor.

Are you looking for inspiration today? Go spend some time online with Kal.

Inspired by... people

This week I want to share links to some people who routinely inspire me in some way. Today's person is Michael Hyatt. Michael Hyatt is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and also an online presence (Facebook, Twitter, blogging) who focuses on leadership development, among other things.

Michael inspires me in a number of ways. I appreciate how well he walks the line between good boundaries and transparency. He writes about times he has tried something and failed. He shares things he has learned the hard way. But he does this sharing in an appropriate way.

I am challenged by some of his posts - challenged to improve my online presence, to use social media well, to set good boundaries with time and energy, to focus on my passions.

Michael also shares on his blog about upcoming books and offers readers the opportunity to win a copy every now and then. And I am all about new books!

Check out Michael's website and some of his past blog entries. You might find, as I have, that they are worth subscribing to so you don't miss them.

Inspired by... mission (part 2)

I mentioned on Thursday that I am on a quest for a personal mission statement - and a quest to re-discover and re-connect with myself.

Toward this end I am reading Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally and this book - The Path. The Path is another book with exercises and questions that lead you toward building a personal mission statement.

To be honest, I would love to hide in my bedroom or a quiet corner at the bookstore or library to really dig into both of these books. My daily responsibilities are keeping me from going through them as quickly as I would like. There is probably an advantage to taking my time, though. Some of the questions are hard. Right now I am wrestling with what element am I: earth, wind, fire, or water....

Any ideas?

[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.]

Inspired by .... mission (part 1)

I am a woman on a quest. I find myself repeatedly in the position of having taken on too many things and wishing I hadn't - of wondering why I said yes - of wishing I would have learned the last time.

I have decided that a good "next step" is to develop a personal mission statement. I want something simple that I can use as a guide when I make choices for where to invest my energy and how to spend my time. I am hopeful that 5 years from now  (a) I will look back on this time as one of significant self-discovery and (b) that I will be living in the fruits of this labor, passionate about the things I am doing, connected to myself once again.

Toward that end, I am reading two books that are inspiring me toward this process.

Life is a Verb is something I read about at Women on Writing. The interview inspired me to run to the library and check out the book. After reading the introduction, I ordered it immediately so I could scribble in it and underline and highlight to my heart's content. I have not been disappointed with my purchase! The premise is what would you do if you had 37 days to live? Not a revolutionary question - people ask it all the time (although maybe not with the odd "37" number of days). The idea, though, is to live your "everyday" life in such a way that your answer to the question is that you would continue to live your life as you already are. There are quotes and exercises to keep me thinking and to draw me further in to the journey. I am loving it.

Come back Saturday and I'll share about the other resource I am using. 

[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.]

Inspired by... old friends

This past weekend we got to spend time with a dear friend from college. We haven't seen him in probably 14 years. I am always curious when reunions like this take place if it will be the sort of relationship that picks up where it left off, or if it will be awkward.

In this case, it was the former. We laughed and shared stories. The "boys" went out for dinner and kept reminiscing and telling more stories. We found ourselves wishing the visit was a little longer. It makes me wish we could get all of the gang together. It makes me want to dig out my college scrapbook and remember the "good old days."

In honor of this friend's birthday, which is today, I am fondly remembering college days and the joy of old friends.

Inspired by.... unconditional love

My favorite part of the Christian message is the vast, limitless, and unconditional love of God. It is what drew me to Christ in the first place as a teenager and it anchors me to the faith even today. 

I love the section of the Gospel of Luke when Christ talks to the other thieves being crucified with him - the one thief mocks Christ, but the other confesses his sin and confesses Jesus' role as Messiah and Christ offers the thief some thing eternally greater than a simple rescue from the cross - eternity with Him.

That example of love challenges me to love others well and to strive to love them without condition.