Two Years??!!

WOW, almost two years since I've last posted. Can't believe it's been that long!! Anyway, what's happened in the last two years? Well I've qualified as a primary teacher (YAY), completed my probation/diploma year and I am now back home working away. Busy building up my class resources and always looking for ideas to improve my classroom. I've also become an auntie for the second time and Ben now has a little brother, Eoghan, who will be two this summer!!! Not sure there's been too many more major events since I last blogged but right now life is good!!!

Where have I been??!!

My, my, my, how lazy I've been when it comes to posting. I've just realised it's been almost 6 months since my last post. I think that should denote me not even being eligable to have a blog!!!

Anyway, latest news from the past 6 months...I'm still in Glasgow and loving it, survived my first School Experience and halfway through my secnond. Absolutely love my class, they're all a great bunch of 6yr olds who come up with the funniest things to say!!! I've got about 3 1/2 months left here then it's back home to find a job.

I've loved every minute of being here, out on my own (although my bro is living with me) for the first time and the feeling of growing up but I have to say I can't wait to get home. I've missed my family more than I could have anticipated and I'm looking forward to getting home and back to family normality. Adding to this, there'll be some great excitement in the family this Summer as my sister is expecting her second baby. This, of course, is another resason why I'm looking forward to graduating and getting home.

Although it's been half a year, I don't think I have anything else to add. It's quite boring really but such is my life at the moment, taken over by lesson plans, class resources and assignments. I promise to (or will try to) blog again soon. Here's hoping it's not another 6 months!!!

xoxo
Katie

Long Time No.....Writing!!!

Ok, I am officially the worst blogger in the history of bad bloggers!!! It has been way too long since my last blog, like almost 4 months too long!!! Though my life hasn't been jammers with daily excitement, there have been some changes. I officially have a degree and am back at college. The biggest change during the gap has been my big move from home into adulthood. I've uprooted and moved to the gorgeous city of Glasgow to further my education in the field of Primary School Teaching and will hopefully be a qualified teacher this time next year, earning big bucks then. So, Monday begins week 4 of uni and I'm loving the course. I get to take classes like Art, Music and P.E and act like a 7 year old child during them all. I've met so many fantastic people from a variety of backgrounds and my lecturers are possibly the nicest bunch of people I've ever met. If I'd known a Post Grad would be this fun, I would have skipped right to it!!!
Monday week I start my first week of Teaching Experience and I can't wait though I'm extremely nervous about it too. I can't wait to get stuck in, correcting homework and making lesson plans where I actually feel like a teacher of sorts though the anxiety of the children hating me still lures in the back of my mind!! Along with this, I'm going home in less than two weeks to see my family and I think I may be more excited about that than school placement!!
Hopefully, I'll have more exciting things to blog about in another 4 months ;)
I hope you're all having a great weekend and have something exciting coming up in the next few weeks that have you all excited and jittery!!!!
xoxo
Katie

Back to Blog!!!

well I think it's time I got back into the swing of blogging after a long absence. I just checked and, shameful to say, it's been over a month since my last blog and nothing eventful has happened for me to write about!!! The past few weeks have been packed with essay's, studying and exams, it seems I'd forgotten there was a world outside!!
But exams are over and now it seems all I have is time, to do whatever I please! Maybe now would be the best time to put my provisional licence to use and actually start driving! Or I could learn the guitar and get some use out of the one my lovely parents got me at Christmas! Or I could get stuck into all the books on SoGoPro Reads!
There are so many options, I'm stuck in limbo deciding which to do first!!!!
Any suggestions as to how I could spend my new freedom (not just from the three options above)?
Katie xxx

Strut Your Stuff!!!

Well, the new post over on Southern Gothic Productions has got me thinking hard about what songs make me strut and to be honest there's a lot!!! So rather than burden the lovely people at SoGoPro, i've decided to blog my picks here instead. BE WARNED, even though I've cut the list down there's still quite a few. So to make it less boring on y'all to read a big long list, I'm going to slot these songs into a few categories!!!
Here goes:

Songs That Make Me Strut!!!
Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor
Walk This Way - Aerosmith
Tie Your Mother Down - Queen
Pay Me My Money Down, O Mary Don't You Weep - Bruce Springsteen
All That She Wants & Cocoa Jumbo - Ace Of Base
Sultans Of Swing - Dire Straits
9 to 5, Harper Valley PTA, Applejack - Dolly Parton
The Alabama Song - The Doors
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Living On My Own - Freddie Mercury
Get Rhythm - Johnny Cash
Next To The Last Romantic - Josh Ritter
Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll - The Killers
Mr. Pleasant - The Kinks
Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - Wham
New Shoes - Paolo Nutini
You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon
I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
I Want You To Want Me - Letters To Cleo
Dancing In The Moonlight - Thin Lizzy
Baba O' Reilly - The Who
Built To Last - Mêlée

Ok that was a long list but i promise the next won't be as long (well maybe they will) so bear with me, you might find a song you don't know but like if you check it out!!!

The next list is some of my favourie oldies, some from 60's and 70's but songs I grew up listening to thanks to my mam!!!

Feel-Good Happy Songs!!!
Rhythm Of The Rain - The Cascades
Walking Back To Happiness - Helen Shapiro
Saturday Night At The Movies - The Drifters (I LOVED this song as a child and used to get my mam to play it over and over so I could dance around to it...truth be told...still do)
Please Mr. Postman - The Carpenters
Don't Worry Baby - The Beach Boys
Devil Gate Drive, Wild One - Suzi Quatro (granted these could have gone in the above list but they make me think of childhood memories, when mam would have the volume sky high and blaring from the house, and all of us dancing about)
Miller, Jack And Mad Dog - Wayne Hancock
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy - Queen (I think this is one of the songs that I listened to over and over when I fell in love with music. Queen are my favourite band -thanks to my daddy- and this may be my all-time favourite Queen song)
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl - Nina Simone (I don't think this needs a reason really, just listen to her voice and there's nothing more that needs to be said)

Ok, last but not least, some irish songs that always get me going!!

Irish Session!!!
Don't Get Married Girls, Seven Drunken Nights - The Dubliners (just youtube and listen to the lyrics)
Peggy Lettermore/Peigín Leitir Móir - The Dubliners (granted the song is in Irish, but even without the lyrics, there's a great beat. Well worth a listen)
Cathain(When) - Gráda (Irish again but great example of Irish sean nós singing)
Dearg Doom - Horslips
Sí do Mhaimeo(She's Your Granny) - Celtic Woman (I'll post english lyrics to this song later, fantastic singing of an old style Ireland and funny lyrics too)
An Dreoilín - Sean Monaghan and The Maimín Cajun Band (English lyrics to this will be posted too. Every student who spends time in the Gaeltacht - Irish speaking summer camp - learns this song and the dance that goes with it. I know it, do you???)
You should all youtube these Irish songs even though some are in Irish because they're superb examples of some great Irish music.

Look forward to seeing all yours' and hopefully getting some new music too
xoxo
Katie

April Showers!!!

I'm FINALLY getting around to posting another blog after much lazy time and lack of motivation. So I thought I'd blog about the goings on in my little life over the few weeks of my favourite month - April. It's my favourite month for many reasons. To begin, I was ecstatic to find a package waiting for me last Tuesday morning containing my SoGoPro t-shirt. I was so happy I didn't even want to touch it for fear of messing up how amazing it was that it was signed by Hilarie Burton. I overcame that fear and safely hung it in my wardrobe after taking some pics!!


Secondly, I LOVE April because my birthday happens to be this month, the big 2-0, or twen-teen as I like to call it! I had a great birthday on Friday last, running around after my nephew, but had to work that night! Thankfully it wasn't busy and didn't have to pull a whole lot of pints so I got some serious catch-up time with one of my best friends who works with me, we've known each other since we were four cause we went to primary and secondary school together. She's such a great person and I'm glad to have had her in my life for so long.
So because I had to work, my sisters thought it'd be nice if we did a spot of shopping yesterday to celebrate. And shop we did:


What else?? Oh, my nephew said my name for the first time this month and I have to say it was one of the most amazing things to hear. He's a live wire and the funniest child I've ever met.

(Ben and I on my birthday after rice-krispies, hence Ben's messy t-shirt). I've also been teaching him some new words. He can now say 'cheese' and smile at the camera, 'here you go', 'tea' and 'Jack'(name of one of our dogs).
I also love April because that's generally when we get our best weather(in my opinion). I love Spring, the smell of freshly cut grass, being out in the garden with the strimmer and feeling a sense of power, the stretch in the evening when it stays bright out, waking up in a good mood- even though it's 6.30am- only because it's bright out!!!
Yep, April is a good month and this year was no exception, it may even have been better this year than any before as I've met so many people through SoGoPro and delight in sharing these moments with them, so thank you SoGoPro Crew!!!
And the best part is that April isn't over yet so I feel more good times to come. My second SoGoPro shirt is on it's way and I look forward to what else April has to offer!!!
I really have been showered with blessing this month.
xoxo
Katie

Bus Disaster and Music Fun Friday

So this morning wasn't the greatest start to the day, my Friday or the weekend. I got up at 6.30am to go to college only to wait for what seemed like forever in the cold for the bus - which never arrived. Considering I go to a college that's over an hour away, it's by private bus and only travels to the college once on a Friday, I was fairly ticked off at this stage. So I went home and got back into the warmth of my bed for an hour or two. What made it twice as annoying was that I found some of SoGoPro Reads books on the online college library catalogue and was meant to pick them up today, now I'll have to wait until Monday to make a start on Atlas Shrugged.
So after I arose for the second time, I made it a mission to clean my room and get myslef organised. This I did half successfully!!!
Then a visit to my sister's and home again to have some fun on iTunes.
A game I would recommend all to play just for fun:

Name of the Game: Soundtrack Of My Life

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool!

Opening Credits:
Diamonds - The Beautiful South

Waking Up:
Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus

First Day At School:
I Am The Highway - Audioslave

Falling In Love:
My Hometown - Bruce Springsteen

Fight Song:
Lifeline - Angels And Airwaves

Breaking Up:
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm

Prom:
Bright Red Star - Stereophonics

Life:
Alison - Elvis Costello

Mental Breakdown:
She's A Runner - Billy Squier

Driving:
Feels Like Tonight - Chris Daughtry

Flashback:
Heartbeats - José Gonzalez

Getting Back Together:
You Are The Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne

Wedding:
Straight From The Heart - Bryan Adams

Birth of Child:
I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles

Final Battle:
Work - Jimmy Eat World

Death Scene:
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen

Funeral Song:
Ice Age - Pete Yorn

Ending:
Pay Me My Money Down - Bruce Springsteen

Some random songs, a lot of favourite songs and just good fun.
You should all play and link me to your pages so I can see the Soundtrack to your lives.

Much love,
Katie