Feeling Thrifty and oh so Vintage

 Last weekend I was blabbering on about all my exciting plans to visit the York Vintage Fair and the Thrift Festival in Darlington. Well I have had a fabulous time at both of them so my weekends were very enjoyable!

I spent the day in York with Ryan last Sunday and we popped along to the Vintage fair to check out what they had to offer. There were all sorts of retro clothing but I spent most of my time eyeing up Levis shorts and some jumpers for Sam's birthday. I did get myself some lovely new shorts and chose a cute knitted jumper for Sam that she seemed to be happy with this morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon casually strolling through York and had lunch at Pitcher and Piano. I was very cheeky on Sunday and also went out for a carvery with Sofia, but shhhh it's the weekend!

This weekend I spent time in Yarm as it was Sam's birthday today. We went out for a lovely meal where I had a cauldron of Thai Green curry (which everyone at the table stared at) before heading to Yarm High Street for a few drinks. Yarm is always an experience, lets just put it that way!! Then this morning, after re-fuelling with tea and croissants, we drove to Darlington for the Thrift Festival. It was free entry and sooooo worth it! We spent ages walking around and looking at all the cute things the stalls had to offer.

There were loads of different crafty type stalls selling their goods; even a woman who made jewellery out of spoons! I learnt all about brownie box cameras from the guy on the camera stall, might have got caught by the Look North camera man, drooled over fresh bread and yummy cakes, got all geeky about Harry Potter quote necklaces and was very excited about all the hula-hooping and hippy vans.

 

For lunch there was a lot of choice. You could book a table to dine in a themed hippy van (bizarre but really cool) or grab something from the street food stalls or cafe. We opted for a Moroccan style falafel flatbread with chopped salad and hummus, YUM!

It's a shame that Ryan couldn't come with us as he would have enjoyed all of the upcycling goodness and would have definitely stuck around for the talks. I also spied a veg box scheme and some 'help yourself' veg plots that would have made him really happy :) I know he had a nice day at the York Food Festival though so I don't feel too guilty.

 I have really enjoyed spending my time shopping in these alternative places. It was so refreshing to experience something different to High Street shops. Please let me know if you hear of future events that are similar because I will definitely want to go! :)

Life outside the classroom.

At University my lecturers would always go on about how important it was to keep a 'work-life' balance as a teacher. As a fresher I obviously sat in lectures thinking, well I've been out three times this week and still managed to be here today, how hard can it be? Three years of teaching placement later and now living life as an  actual teacher, I finally understand what they were on about. When you have had a long day, the last thing you want to do is sit in the classroom and get things sorted for the next. However I always feel worse when I take massive bags of work home and I know I'd rather be doing other things. I am trying so hard to keep my work at school on most nights so that I can spend my evenings and most of the weekend relaxing. That is what they are for right?!

I haven't done much on the evenings this week apart from put my feet up and get some well deserved R&R. Monday night I did actually go to Slug and Lettuce in York with Ryan. As students we used to go most Mondays to make the most of their 50% off so it was really strange but nice to be back! My weekend also started off well, Friday night wine and film with Tom and Amy and then Saturday morning bliss...

I was up about about at 7am, thanks a lot body clock, so I thought I'd have an easy morning reading magazines and drinking tea. Ryan bought this magazine called The Simple Things last week and I've been pestering him to borrow it. It's a mix of foody stuff, interior design, gardening, travel and crafty things. I really enjoyed reading it, there are some interesting articles and lovely pictures! One article I particularly liked was about Masala Chai which is apparently good if you are a tea and coffee lover with it's mixed spice flavour. I really want to try some so I will probably spend some time in the supermarket tea aisle soon.

I also liked reading about the Moroccan feast, camping escapes and bike rides. The October issue is out on September 17th so I might have to convince Ryan to buy that one too. So that I can borrow it of course!

After a nice chilled day at home yesterday, doing a little bit of work too, today I am going to the vintage fair in York with Ryan. I am really excited as I always used to miss it when I volunteered at Oxfam. Obviously my volunteering was much more important to me but it's still nice to finally go :) If you fancy it, come to York Guildhall between 12pm and 5pm. There is apparently a vintage tea party and hair salon as well as lots of fabulous clothing and homeware to look at.

Next weekend is already looking pretty busy too. I am going to stay in Yarm for Sam's birthday which is super exciting because I haven't seen her in ages; I've almost forgotten what a parmo is! We are off out for a fancy meal and I'm being the usual 'hippy friend' ordering a Thai curry when everyone else wants a pie. Pfft :)

It's always strange how life works out but while I was flicking through The Simple Life, I noticed an interesting looking festival in Darlington. So now we are going out on Sunday to take a  looky at the Festival of Thrift.

"The first national Festival of Thrift is a FREE fun celebration of everyday living with upcycling, recycling and finding the sassiness in sustainable living!"

I love how creative people are with their upcycling; I'm forever looking at them on Pinterest!  I'm excited to spend a few hours looking around what the festival has to offer. There are workshops on as well but I don't know if my pennies will stretch that far after paying the drink prices in Yarm!!!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend 

xx

Live what you love.

Good Evening! It feels so strange sat writing this post while it's going dark outside. Is it a sign that Autumn is definitely on the way? or maybe it's just because I am writing my post late... again! Ooopsy :) It has been a super busy week as I finally starting teaching my own class on Tuesday, YAY!! Even though it wasn't technically my first day at school it was still really exciting to get into MY classroom and do things my own way. As well as the first week of school I have had new glasses, been doing some more yoga and trying to spend time with Ryan too so it's been a really lovely week. I've made a deal with myself that I will try and leave work at school so I actually have a life besides teaching.

 

Despite this deal I've still been spending a lot of time looking teaching stuff on teachers pet and Pinterest, it is all so cute that I wish my classroom was big enough. I must say that the pencil hospital and caught you being good ideas I talked about before have been VERY successful in this first week. I've also watched a few episodes of New Girl ready for the new season that starts on September 17th (American). Regular readers will know how much I LOVE Jessica Day and I hope that my teacher work-life balance will be just like hers in the coming year! 

Talking of Jessica Day, all avid New Girl fans will remember the Jamboree t-shirt she takes back from Spencer in season 1 of the show.

"Girl made a lot of jam, Spence. You know how time-consuming that can be? You need a jar funnel, a canner, some fresh fruit. Strawberries, raspberries, maybe a tayberry."

Schmidt 

Well today I really really really wanted this t-shirt, I had a jam making sesh with Ryan as he is really good with foody related things. He will probably blog about it too so check out his fancy WordPress blog which is mostly food related here.

Anyway, after this weekend, I now know aaaaaaaall about making jam. That is partly the reason why this blog post is late. I was supposed to come back to Harrogate at lunchtime to get on with my to-do list but I just got so into the jam making! Yesterday we had a little drive around Pocklington, where Ryan lives, and found lots of Elderberries and Blackberries. I helped pick some but left the messy blackberries for Ryan to do while I whinged about being cold :P does anyone else think it's really cold lately? I wore boots all weekend!

 Last night at 8pm I was sat on the floor in my reindeer onsie raking berries off the stalks with a fork so we decided to leave it until today to get stuck into the actual jam making, However, when Sunday morning came, rather than rushing straight into the jam making, we decided to go out for a lazy Sunday morning breakfast. It was a good idea of mine I think :) tucking into half a full English and a pot of tea would make me ready for any day.

So... making jam! I was in charge of sterilizing Ryan's old jars, always the eco-friendly with his recycling. It's not too tricky, you just pour boiling water into them to kill any germs. Then you cut circles of greaseproof paper for under the lids but I forget why!! 

 Then you have to weigh and wash all the berries before leaving them to boil/simmer for 20-30 minutes. Then you put the sugar in (how much depends on the amount of berries) and leave it for AGES again. Finally you end up with a yummy smelling, gooey mixture that sets when it cools :)

and there you have it...

JAM!

I am very much looking forward to tucking into toast with homemade jam in the morning. What a perfect way to start my second week in school!

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future

Yesterday I had a fantastic day at the YUMI community street festival, despite my ridiculously early start. YUMI is a multicultural initiative with a community garden that Ryan volunteers for, he is a keen gardener so it's totally his kind of thing. You can find out more about the work they do from their website, http://www.yumiyork.org/ 

"YUMI links people with different beliefs, lifestyles and cultural roots: we share our skills and talents, support each other, celebrate our traditions and achievements, and lead public events."

So how do I come into all of this? Ryan asked if I would help out with the festival as there were a few children's activities (my specialty) but I strangely enjoyed getting mucky with the bunching onions before tucking into some delicious food from India, Hungary and Harrogate's Bettys (a little closer to home of course).

The success of the festival was of course down to all the hard work that went into the organisation and the growing of all the produce. My tiny contribution is nothing in comparison to all the people that religiously gave up their time to make sure everything stayed on track. I did visit the allotment a few times and I was definitely the only one who didn't know a pak choi from a tomatillo.

On the day all of the plants got transported by van to Parliament Street in York (where all the best festivals and markets happen) at 6am!! Yes that meant a very very very early start for us. Once we got stuck in and started mulching (I picked up gardening words, go me!) the time soon flew by and before we knew it we had a beautiful little garden in the city centre. The little touches such as painted wooden signs and facts about the plants made it even more interesting and colourful to look at. 

One of my favourite parts was what I have nicknamed the cute produce stand. The ceramic pots, painted wooden labels and mucky bags gave it a real authentic garden feel and I loved reading where the seeds had come from. Hungary, Japan, and Poland are a few that I can remember. I don't know whose idea the wellies were but I think they looked awesome!

As well as the beautiful garden, there were also stalls where chefs from around the world had cooked some native dishes using ingredients that were being grown on the allotment. There were also some children's activities that enhanced their understanding of both the cultures and where the food comes from. I was amazed to see food from so many countries all being sold in one place. I also learnt where some dishes originate from that I didn't know before.

 After perusing all of the yummy goodies that the chefs had to offer, we settled for the Indian Chickpea Curry. It is something I have tried before which defeats the purpose BUT it was delicious! Plus it came with some type of fried bread that I had never heard of. I got a little more adventurous with pudding and sampled a Hungarian poppyseed cake with raspberry sauce before going chocolate testing at the Betty's tent. The lady was lovely and so interesting! I never knew that so many processes went into making chocolate from cocoa beans. Betty's had mixed new flavours of chocolate specially for the festival. I was brave a tried a 'rosemary and olive oil' as well as a 'wasabi' flavoured one rather than playing it safe with ginger caramels. They were weird but strangely yummy too!

Thank you YUMI and Ryan for letting me be part of such a fun and interesting day!! Now I just need plenty of sleep ready to start my first year of teaching on Monday...... and you guys thought I wasn't going to mention it :P hahaha good luck to all you NQTs out there! Just remember that you are fabulous teachers and there is more to life than your work <3

Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.

I HAVE TIME TO BLOG! :) Who knew I'd be so busy during the luxuriously long summer holidays that I have off?! After two beautiful weeks relaxing by a pool in Spain, I've been playing catch up with all my work and slowly ticking off the to-do list ready for the new term in September. The start of my NQT year is fast approaching now and I'm starting to feel the nerves!

It was finally time to get back into school today (I don't just laze around for the entire six weeks... well... almost) and I spent all day moving tables, laminating, making displays and generally organising my new classroom. Here is what it looked like when I arrived at 8:30 this morning...

It was quite an inspiring classroom when it was left for me but I had to take down everything that was blu-tacked for the massive Summer clean. After a lot of muscle work and hours of laminating and stapling it finally looked a little bit like this...

There were loads of ideas on Pinterest that I wanted to integrate into my first classroom so it was an exciting day having them all come together. You can check out my classroom ideas/inspiration board here and see if you can spot any of them in my classroom. 

I've grouped the children into tables and named them after British olympians and paralympians which ties into our 'Growing Together topic'. We are going to be looking into healthy living and ending the half term with a study of ancient greek olympics. There are lots of creative links that make absolute sense I promise!

I've switched the literacy and numeracy boards and backed them with lovely bright colours so that the classroom is nice and fresh even for the children that spent last year in there. My numeracy board still has some work left to do tomorrow but it has certainly brightened up that corner!

The 'UP' inspired display has been in progress since our moving up morning. I asked the children to write down what they wanted to achieve this year on a balloon so that their aspirations could metaphorically lift the house and we'd be 'growing together'. See what I did there? ;) The bookcase and desk area is sooooo much better and more accessible now too. I want to create a really attractive reading environment/chill out zone so that the children will be more encouraged to use the space. The post box is a nice touch from the old classroom, I will be using it for children to write down any problems or feelings that they might not like to talk about.

Now for the super geeky, keen teacher bit. I have been sooooo picky about the organisation of the classroom. To be honest I think it was made worse by the two weeks cover I did back in July because I had to teach according to someone else's rules until Summer. I literally couldn't wait to replace the visual timetable, figure out a way around the CONSTANT pencil sharpening and move the desk so things didn't fall off the back.

Visual Timetable - I like my timetable to have a simple image and phrase so that it doesn't take up loads of room on the board. These editable square images from twinkl are really lovely and completely free! They have a huge range of resources and I definitely recommend checking them out. I used their mini-beast borders during placement and the children loved them.

Pencil Hospital - I really hope this works, I can't cope with children spending more than five minutes sharpening their pencil to a perfect point. All children will have their own pencil and when it snaps, they can replace it with a pencil from the 'ready to work pot' and leave their pencil in the 'pencil hospital' pot. Then I can have monitors to use the 'pencil doctors' (sharpeners) to fix all the poorly pencils. Genius. Just genius.

Caught you being awesome! - For a bit of positive behaviour reinforcement, I will be giving away raffle tickets to children who are caught doing something awesome in my classroom. It could be for effort, manners, being a good friend or whatever really. They write their name on a ticket and pop it in the treasure chest at the end of the lesson. At the end of the week I will choose two names from the chest and they get a little prize from the box. Children should soon realise that the more times their name is in, the more chance they have. Probability objective ticked? :P

Lollypop sticks - I'm sure all my NQT friends will be using this idea already. Write the names of your class on lollypop sticks. Obviously I had to recruit Ryan to do mine because of my weird wet wood phobia. Theeen you have a lucky dip of names when you want a 'no hands up' class discussion.

Even though I am totally knackered, I am excited to get back into school and finish sorting out the rest of my classroom tomorrow! :) September NQTs... please let me know if you come accross any other ideas. I will be intently following my Pinterest feed in the meantime!