Sunday, July 18, 2010

Little Bee


We went to Pineville yesterday and, of course, had to stop at Barnes and Noble. I got a book entitled Little Bee by Chris Cleave. To tell you how good it was, I finished it today around 3:00. It was a book you just can't put down. The summary on the back of the book is as follows, "This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again and the story starts there. Once you read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds."

Cryptic... right? So, as a "rule follower" I will not tell you what happens, but I will tell you it was an amazing novel. A finely crafted story that broke my heart and kept me turning the pages. I highly reccommend it to all of my adult readers.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Presentation Day!

We're all presenting our projects this morning at UNCC. I'm really proud of what I created and I cannot wait to teach writing this year! My students and I will keep "daybooks," which is a new thing I learned about. I think I'm going to structure writing time quite differently this year. It's amazing how much I change things every single time I teach.

On a different note, we celebrated Emily's birthday last night; it was so much fun. Happy Birthday to a dear friend!

Zameon

You went to Alaska? That's really neat. Mr. Charles has always wanted to go there. You should post some pictures to your blog (I went to your blog this morning, but you haven't posted in several months. I figured you'd see a message here before you saw one on your blog.)

If you go by Old Pointe- ask Ms. Wallace to get your book out of my box. I put it in there in case you needed it this summer. If you don't grab it this summer, you can come visit me next year and get it.

I hope you're having a great summer!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Summer School Starts Today!

We had a wonderful weekend. We went boating with the Yeartas on Saturday to celebrate Katherine's birthday. We stayed out on the lake all day and had a blast. On Sunday, we went to Spartanburg to hang out with my sister, Megan. We played in the pool and then had a cookout. Everyone is a little crispy today but it was worth it!







I started teaching the course for my Master's level students yesterday. It's been quite interesting so far; I love teaching!

Megan and Brandon are driving up from Spartanburg today to watch Grace while I go to UNCC for class. My class is from 9-3 (8-4 if you include travel time). It's a writing course and I'm really excited to learn something innovative.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Summers are for Swimming!

Grace and her friend, Aly, have been enjoying Friday pool parties. They swim, play, and eat popsicles. Last Friday, Regina fixed Grace's hair in a mini-pony (too cute) and we practiced walking! Hooray for summers and good friends :)





Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Biltmore Estate

Charles surprised me with a visit to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. We had a lovely visit. Here are a few pictures from our vacation.




Thursday, June 24, 2010

New Book:)

Kassem requested two books (he's in Afghanistan right now) and when I ordered them from Amazon I was about 10 dollars away from free shipping. Of course, the queen of reading decided to order herself a book too. I got A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present and it is incredibly interesting; it's written in a narrative style from the point of view of the oppressed (Native Americans, Slaves, Women, etc.). I most certainly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a summer read!