warnings for my future husband: part 2

i know, i know. warnings part two ... really?  maybe instead of "warnings for my future husband" the post should be entitled "tips for scaring away any potential suitors."

but nonetheless, i've thought of a few more warnings that i want to add to the previous warnings list. and yes it's completely necessary because as i discussed with my dear friend g-dubs this past sunday over lunch, one day i'll make my future husband sign these things just so we're clear that they aren't surprises.  as he explained to me, half of marriages end in divorce while the other half end in death (something i thought was quite hysterical ... not the death part, but the entire expression).  however, with my meek attempts at transparency, hopefully my (somewhere in the distant future) marriage will end once we're old and shriveled all up like raisins.

here are three additional warnings:

1.  i don't always make my bed in the morning.  HOWEVER, i absolutely without a doubt must have my bed made prior to getting in it at night.  this often results in me making the bed around midnight only to throw the covers back a few minutes later, but still.  the bed must be made, but not necessarily at the crack of dawn.

2.  apparently i have a lot of nervous energy.  this may result in me tearing up napkins or the pieces of paper that hold silverware together at restaurants.  i don't consciously think of it as nervous energy.  i just know my six-year-old sized hands need to be occupied (but obviously not with touching food since we all know that doesn't happen).  i promise to not leave these little pieces of paper trash all over the table in hopes to not embarrass you in front of the waiters.

3.  i know that my beloved YA novels are works of fiction, but if i bring up katniss, dumbledore, or princess mia as if we just hung out at the mall, just go with it (the same goes for attending midnight movie premieres for these book adaptations -- i'll go see a blood and guts snoozefest with you if you go with me). the quickest way for the backside of my hand to meet your cute little cheek is to remind me that these are "just books" or that the characters "aren't real" ... they're real to me so just step back.

these three little additions to my list might appear silly, but i promise you this, darling husband of mine: if you cut me some slack in these areas, you'll never hear me complain about that toilet seat that i'm sure you'll leave up.  you learn to embrace the awkwardness that consumes my life and i'll embrace the fact that i should always check the seat pre-bathroom usage (or get used to swimming in the toilet bowl).

deal?  good.

there is so much i don't know about greek mythology.

today i taught my first lesson. that's right ... a megan original, planned-created-and-implemented.  i was working with a 5th grade teacher to enhance what she's doing in her classroom on mythology.  i had planned for us to do some brainstorming and talking about myths, some connecting myths to our current lives a little bit, and then a smidge of reading a greek myth together.  from there, in the weeks to come, we'll work on a fun extension project where we'll get to showcase a myth (or create our own) ... all good stuff.

anyways, i spent hours familiarizing myself with both mythology and the specifics of greek mythology in hopes not to appear completely incompetent in front of those 5th graders.  i knew i wouldn't be able to talk around them the way i might be able to talk around kindergarteners by convincing them i knew what i was doing.  so countless internet and book searches later, i was as prepared as i was going to be.

i was going to connect mythology to the 5th graders by showing them characters from harry potter that derived their names (and sometimes their personalities) from greek mythology, and then throw in a few real life examples influenced by greek myths.  you know, it's all about authentic learning, right?

so here i am, armed and ready with my hermione granger, sirius black, and minerva mcgonagall pictures.  i also had pictures of nike and pandora jewelry in my bag of tricks.  and blow-my-mind there was one kid each time that knew exactly why it connected with greek (or roman in the case of minerva) mythology.

which of course is awesome.  to know they are so excited about learning different things and they have the chance to be exposed to this is inspiring.  i sure as heck had never read any of these greek myths (although somewhere along the line in my k-12 education i did learn about hercules, probs thanks to mr. disney).

and to be honest, in my 55ish minutes with these 5th graders today, i learned more about mythology than i did the weeks i spent planning and researching.

it is amazing what i don't know about greek mythology.  but it is even more amazing to me what these kids do know.  i can't remember exactly what i was like in 5th grade (except i know i liked to pass notes and that i failed a daily edit quiz), but i sure don't think i was excited about greek mythology.

but i'm excited about what i will learn now and it's all thanks to those kids this morning.

and you thought i was never coming back!

remember that funny joke when i said i was going to post more in july?  HA!  i got you!  i'm such a trickster sometimes.  but seriously, if you think about it, if i post less each individual post is more special.  right?  that might be a stretch, but as my battle cry goes: my blog. my rules.

and just for the record, i do have an excuse about not posting thus far in august.  granted, i usually have an excuse seeing as how my life is often consumed with getting out of things, but this one's legit if i do say so myself. so here it is, just so you don't think i've been avoiding you.  my dear sweet grandmother passed away unexpectedly july 31st (harry potter's birthday for those of you that live your life according to pop references like i do) and i stayed with my grandfather and mom to help take care of things afterwards.  needless to say it came as an unbelievable shock to all of us, but i'm at peace with the knowledge that my grandmother was kick-butt awesome.  i had some of my most favorite memories thanks to her (and my grandfather) and she will truly be missed.  but don't worry, pepye (i know you're reading this because obviously they have the internet in heaven and you bookmarked my blog up there) ... i'll try to stop talking on my cellphone when i'm driving (just like you always asked) and i'll finally write down the directions for making hard boiled eggs since i can't call you every time i need to figure that ish out.  and by the time i see you again, i'll have figured my life out and no one will have to worry about what crazy idea i'll come up with next.  cheers to that, right?

hopefully that didn't bum anyone out because this blog is obviously not about bumming.  it's about learning!  so here's a list of a few things i learned this summer.  some have been blogged about previously (but i know you skim the posts so it's not like you'd know that), but others are brand spanking new.  enjoy the list and get ready for some daily (weekly? monthly? eh, we'll see) blogs detailing my LAST SEMESTER of school!  and the job search process.  but let's not talk about that right now.

five things i learned this summer

1.  photography is no easy task, but every now and again you'll get something that doesn't make you shudder. this was grasped after a summer of classes and many evenings of being told my pictures were junk.  you win some, you lose some.
 
2.  sewing is a skill everyone should have.  my preschool bff is way good at it (hence why i learned from her), but i'm grasping it little by little.  and goodness it's fun to have a craft/quilt/purse/etc. when you're done!  although if i'm being honest, i've given away most everything i've made so far.  one day i'll keep something and it will be even more exciting.  

i've got your back, harry.

3.  i will never stop wanting to be a wizard.  harry potter may be finished, but until that acceptance letter comes from hogwarts, i'll never stop. ever.

4.  reunions are SO fun.  and no, i'm not talking about the high school kind, although i'm sure they're dandy (and by dandy, i mean awkward and potentially unnecessary thanks to facebook).  i'm talking about the 1991 kind!  again, a reference to my preschool bff, but she organized the best 1991 reunion complete with potato (her brother) and the perfect setting for the remake of our finest preschool photo.  AND there was a chocovine challenge which happened to be my first servery challenge and i didn't fail.  if you don't understand most of what i just wrote, that's good.  that means you aren't a creepy stalker.  but feel free to read more about it at my preschool bff's site.  my drink might have been strange tasting (but really that's because chocovine is gross), but it was oh-so-pretty with my monogrammed wineglass and ribbon.  never underestimate the power of presentation.

left: luckily my mom saves all her pictures. especially from 1991.
right: the 1991 crew can remake anything. photo props to steven.

who doesn't love the '80s?

5.  my parents are wonderful. and no, 'rents, i didn't put that in there because i need money (although feel free to put some in my account at any time).  nor did i do it because we're going to be roomies when i graduate and become unemployed.  i just put it because it's true.  and tom, stop getting a big head or i'll do my next blogpost on embarrassing things that you've said (preview: convos with preachers).

that's all folks!  until next time, mischief managed.

team harry.

i just got back from seeing hp 7.2 again, but this time in 3D.  and i can now say i've enjoyed a 3D movie!  i wasn't such a fan after i saw the jonas brothers movie in 3D (yes, i saw it ... and yes i would've seen it even if i hadn't been babysitting at the time), but hp in 3D was so cool.

papa gill, who hasn't read any of the books but enjoys the movies, accompanied me to this 3D hp experience and enjoyed it as well.  i think my only real hang up is the idea that they collect the glasses at the end ... and i can only imagine reuse them?  i hope whoever had them on before me didn't have a nose fungus or lice or something.  gross.

but anyways, hp 7.2 2D and hp 7.2 3D both get 5 magical stars.  long live hp.

the adventures of harry, ron, hermione, and megan. coming soon.

the end of an era: harry potter edition

as you may or may not know, harry potter and the deathly hallows (part 2) came out in the theatres this past friday.  or thursday night at midnight if you're hardcore (like me) and not scheduled to work friday morning (like me).

for those of us that are roughly 24ish years old, the harry potter era began when we were harry potter's age when he got his lovely little letter from hogwarts.  i remember reading the first book in 6th grade (more details on that in a sec) and being immediately drawn into this world that i wanted so.very.badly to be real.  i remember asking my dad if there was any chance that it could be real. humoring me he always said sure, but  part of me most have known it wasn't possible.  i guess the part of me that still believes disney world is the happiest place on earth believed in muggles, hogwarts, and quidditch (and that part of me still believes in them just a smidge).

i didn't really think about the fact that this movie being released marked the end of the harry potter era until i saw a friend's tweets (shout out to tan!) about being ready for the movie but not ready for the end of childhood (or to see a weasley die).  and just for the record, everyone's been saying that as of late, but i read her tweet forever ago.  so she's my source.

and maybe, just maybe, now that i'm 24 it really is time for the end of childhood.  i mean, i'll graduate (again) in december and apparently get a job (although if we're being honest i'm not so sure about that anymore).  most of my friends already have big girl and big boy jobs and do other adult things. ex: see harry potter 7.2 on the weekend because they work friday morning.  the jury's still out on whether i'm going to be good at this "adulthood" thing, but at least i have a few more months to figure out what the heck that means.

in the meantime, i wanted to pay tribute to the magical world of harry potter with a few of my hp memories, one from each of the seven books.

ron, harry, and me. no big deal or anything.

1.  it took me forever to read the first book.  and not because i'm a slow reader.  but because i was terrified (like get the sweats and sleep with the lights on kind of terrified) of that darned cat in the first chapter of the book.  oh, you don't remember that cat?  that's because it's really insignificant to the rest of the story.  but it freaked me out in the worst way.  i mean, it sat on privet drive and watched the houses all day.  how freaky is that?  no thanks.  i actually hid the book and didn't get past that first chapter until other kids in my class used the book for a project.

2.  i have had two harry potter and the chamber of secrets books.  i left the first one in a closet on a trip in 10th grade (i was rereading them, don't judge) and never saw it again.  my set was actually incomplete until the past year when i asked for new copies for christmas of the ones i had lost.

3.  the prisoner of azkaban is one of my least favorite books.  and that's a hard choice because i really love them all.  but that one still gives me the willies because of those dementors.  yikes.  i'm pretty sure i've met a few dementors in real life.  seriously, those people that always seem to suck your energy out?  those are dementors.

4.  i read the goblet of fire at the beach on vacation and [spoiler alert!] i don't think i've ever cried as hard as i did when cedric diggory died.  like gasping for breath, blotchy face, bloodshot eyes kind of distraught.  also, because my family was at the beach, i was super bummed i wasn't going to be able to get the book at midnight.  but surprise!  my mom found the closest walmart to the beach house and staked it out to snag me a copy and surprise me the next morning.  best mom ever.

5.  i went to books-a-million at concord mills to get this book at midnight.  there were all kinds of people dressed in crazy costumes and the energy was so electric you could feel it.  and i thought it was all awesome.  some worker even came around and let you get sorted into your hogwarts house by picking a pin that was one of the four houses.  unfortunately i got ravenclaw which couldn't be farther from the truth.  anyone that knows me knows that i am such a hufflepuff.  i'm not gryffindor brave, ravenclaw smart, or slytherin evil (no, mom, i'm not evil enough to be in slytherin regardless of what you're thinking right now).  so by default i'm a hufflepuff.  the one good thing?  i would've gotten to hang out with cedric diggory in our common room...prior to his death and all.  another thing about this book?  my parents took it away from me as soon as i got home from the midnight release.  they didn't let me have it again until after i had taken the SATs.  thanks 'rents.  real cool.

6.  i can't re-read the half-blood prince because it's too much for me.  but apparently i was really into it when i read it the first time because the spine is busted and the pages fall out when i open it.

7.  i refused to read the 7th book until just last december (2010).  even though it was published in july 2007, it wasn't over for me until the day where i finally caved and read it.  hp7.1 had finally come out in theatres and i refused to see it without reading the book first so i gave in and cracked it open.  i read it straight through and stayed up all night because a) i was seeing the movie the next afternoon and b) i couldn't stop crying and who can sleep through tears like that?  maybe that's when my childhood really ended.  i mean, i extended mine three and a half years longer than most of my friends, but it doesn't make it hurt any less.

now that the books are done, the movies are out, and pottermore is a bust, i can set my sights on finally visiting the wizarding world of hp.  that, and looking out for my hogwarts letter come november.  i hear 25 is the year adult wizards get their letters.  keep your fingers crossed and watch for my owl!