The Lighthearted Wanderer

So with 20 hours left in the comp exam, I have one paper finished and the other about a third of the way there. Ideally I could have magically finished earlier today and just lounged around enjoying the sunshine, but what can you do? Can't play hard unless you work hard ;)  Day 3 of BEDM asks us to talk about our morning weekend routine. How I wish I could answer this question with "lazy Saturdays where I wake up and have some coffee, then go for a run with Chelsea dog at the park before reading a book and meeting the girls for brunch..." But more likely than not, my Saturdays generally find me chauffering parentals around on their errands. Costco on Saturdays is pretty much the bane of my existence -_-  I actually have this weird association with weekends in general. Since I don't have classes, I feel like I should have enough time to get in leisure and social time and schoolwork and hanging out with the family. I guess when there's no pre-set acceptable excuse l...

Hi Everyone,  Taking a break from the comp exam writing to catch up on the Blog Everyday in May posts...today's is 5 Favorite posts from your own blog, what an interesting topic! So I took the opportunity to look in my archives and blogger stats and here's what I've come up with :) My Attempt at Jumping Into the "Fashion Blog" world:  http://claudelaine26.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-victorias-secret-ruched.html   I was super obsessed with this convertible Victoria's Secret dress. Turns out making it look like the model's pics was a lot a lot harder than it looked.  My Proudest Memory Associated with Japan: http://claudelaine26.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-farewell-speech.html   It was a little bit of "paying it forward" and a little bit of bragging, but I was really proud of my mostly Japanese farewell speech. Since I had gotten a lot of help from another blog and from my friends, it was only fitting to post my speech to maybe s...

Of course I miss the first day of #BEDM by falling asleep well before bedtime... What's my blog all about? Ever since I was a kid, I really wanted to travel...I lived in the suburbs of LA but my mind was all over the place, guided by the books I read. My family used to go on plenty of road trips and family visits, and no matter the method of travel, I would have plenty of time to think ... So after xanga and myspace went off to to the cyber black hole, I started this blog as a way for me to share my travel experiences and life "on the road" as a California girl living in Rhode Island. Over the years, the blog's been a nice way for me to document my adventures and be able to look back on them later. From LA to Rhode Island to Japan and back again, student to high school teacher to first grade teacher to student again, my posts range in topics from education to the workplace to culture to learning. So if this is your first glance over my blog, welcome! :) ...

Even though my comp exams start in two days...I could still always use a fun writing break :) Can't believe April is almost gone already... Point Vicente Light House in Palos Verdes, CA.  Enjoying the warm sunny afternoon by reading in the grass after class. If you'd like to join in on the #BEDM collective: http://www.rosalilium.com/2014/04/blog-every-day-in-may-2/#more-9384 Until next time! - elaine

Ever since starting grad school, my worldwide adventures have been very few (*cough* none *cough*) and far between. My lighthearted wandering took on a much more local sort of lens, and I've learned more and more about appreciating the many treasures that LA has to offer. (mostly fabulous food opportunities...) This last quarter has brought some unexpected but pleasant surprises...before heading off to Baltimore, we found out that one of the electives was cancelled unexpectedly, and a bunch of us were left scrambling for classes. Fast forward a couple weeks, and I find myself signed up for 6 classes (and trying to sneak into one other) with the intention of narrowing it down to 4. Fast forward another few weeks and I was only able to definitely decide to strike one from the list. Chalk it up to indecisiveness, remnants of college overachieving lifestyle, or desperately trying to make the most of my last quarter, I actually think that it's because these differe...

Hi everyone :) Just a quick post today. It's Week 1 of the final quarter of my master's program, and I'm definitely starting to see the supercrazybusy-train pick up speed. Signed up for lots of classes, stuff at work is definitely getting busier with more responsibility, and on top of that... JOB SEARCHING. One of my cohort buddies alerted me to UCLA's Happiness Challenge , and UCLA is joining Harvard, Yale, Wellesley, and MIT for an 8-week challenge to practice 8 different habits that research has shown to make people happier: Here's a link to each week's "habit":  Socializing (Don't I do too much of this already?) Doing good deeds Bruin Health Week Sleeping Well (But what if I don't like sleep???) Eating Healthily (Must....drink....more...water!) Journaling Everyday (Okay, I think I can definitely try this) Exercise (Does dancing count?) Be Positive So the challenge is on Instagram with the hashtag #HealthyUCLA and the...

A couple weekends ago, I found myself one of two buses taking 80 UCLA undergrads (and me) to the Posse Plus Retreat being held at the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center . I was invited at the beginning of winter quarter by one of the undergrads working at my internship, and honestly I didn't know what to expect except that Posse was a pretty cool education nonprofit, and everything was paid for on the retreat. And the theme was "social and political movements"--which I thought would be a good experience being a part of conversations on that topic with UCLA undergrads. Sure, why not? I thought. Before the retreat, I tried learning a little bit more about the Posse Foundation. Started about 25 years ago, Posse brings groups of about 10-20 low income students who are all from the same urban area who are going to the same university/college. For example, UCLA's Posse Scholar groups are all from the LA area, but Vanderbilt (in TN) has posse groups from the NYC area. ...

Happy New Year 2014!!!  I always get caught looking between the past year and musing about the future. For right now, I'm just going to make a list of what's going through my head as some silly resolutions for 2014. I say "silly" because these were things I just thought of for new year's purposes, and for the most part my big goals are always in my head.  1) Create something everyday.  Anything from write, draw, put some pictures together, and finding. Different ways to be creative and express it.  2. Practice Mindfulness   Last month I went to a few workshops about different ways to practice Mindfulness. Outside of the specific workshops, however, I was pretty bad about taking the time to bring it into my life. School is starting up again soon, and with all the commuting and different stresses I foresee, I can't forget the different tools I have for dealing with everything.  3. Be less scared.  I've noticed since coming back from Japan, I've fallen in...