Happy February, see you in March

I haven't blogged in over a week, and it has been the weirdest thing - the first time in years that I took a little time off of blogging for reasons other than vacation or a loss in my family. I took the week off of blogging simply because I have nothing to say, and because my heart just isn't in it right now. The funny thing is, though, I am happier than I've been in longer than I can remember. I wake up every morning in love with my home and my family, and excited to get to work on a business I'm so passionate about. A million thoughts are swimming around in my head 24/7, and none of them have to do with blogging, or even leave any room for thoughts about blogging. I truly am a one-thing-at-a-time kind of girl. That worries me for when we have children, but that's another post for another day.

I haven't really read another blog in weeks, maybe months, and I'm OK with that.

I don't have the urge to share every aspect of every moment of my life anymore (slight exaggeration), and I'm OK with that.

I don't miss outfit posts at all, and the way planning for the next one always made me feel like my wardrobe isn't good enough. Now it all just seems silly.

Bottom line, I think I've grown out of what my blog was before. I think it served it's purpose for a time, and I have no regrets. But now I need to really figure out what I want this blog to be going forward.

One thing I know for sure is that most readers can just tell when your heart isn't in it. I believe that everything you do in life will be received one thousand times better if you do it from a place of true joy and passion for that work. And I just haven't had that for blogging since somewhere in the fall, and I think I need to take a step back and re-evaluate. I don't think I'll ever decide to shut this blog down. I really, truly do enjoy blogging. Or at least I did, and I think I can get that back. I just need a break.

So I'm taking February off. February, because it's a shorter month, and because it's a cold month, and because it's the month of Matthew's birthday and our anniversary and the Bar Exam, and because there's a lot of brand maintenance I'd like to fully devote myself to in the next few weeks, before the blossoming of a busy spring for my photography business.

I'll be be back in March. March begins my favorite time of year in Austin, and it just seems like the perfect time to start fresh here. I'm going to really try to devote myself to getting caught up in February - caught up on putting my home together, caught up on emails in my blog inbox, caught up on that brand maintenance I mentioned, and hopefully all of that catching up will leave me invigorated and creative again when it comes to this online space that really is so dear to me.

I'll still be posting as per usual on Instagram if you'd like to keep up with me there, otherwise, I'll see you all back here in a few weeks. Happy February and happy month of love... :)

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Valentine Minis!

Just a little announcement courtesy of j. noel photography, if anyone in town is interested! :) 

(all sessions will be held next Sunday in Southwest Austin - email me at jnoelphotography@gmail.com for more details or to book your family!)

Managing behaviour in the digital age

If you ask most teachers, especially newly trained ones, what one of the biggest challenges of teaching is, they would probably say managing student behaviour. Especially as class sizes grow and more students are bringing along potentially distracting digital devices, making sure you are keeping students on task is becoming ever more important. If this is something that concerns you, then read on.

ClassCharts could be the solution to your problem. ClassCharts is a digital management tool which can help you, your students and their parents to track and improve student behaviour across the whole school.

Using ClassCharts you can set up seating charts for every room in your school and create a profile for each student. Teachers can then use ClassCharts to monitor and reward positive behaviour as well as track negative behaviour. As the teacher builds up data across classes they can start to understand how different seating arrangements and student pairing and grouping can impact on behaviour, then generate seating charts for students that group them in ways that help them to work more efficiently and harmoniously.


So how does it work?

Well one of the first things to do is to add seating plans of your rooms. This is easy to do and you can drag the virtual desks around into whatever configuration you have in your classroom.

Then you also need to upload your students. What I really like about ClassCharts is that you can also upload a photograph of each one, and this can be really useful if you have large classes and lots of students names to remember, especially when it comes to writing reports.

You can then either manually assign seats or generate a random seating chart. During the class you can use ClassCharts acknowledge a range of positive and negative behaviours. These behaviours are all customisable so you can create your own or use the default ones.

ClassCharts uses html 5 so should run in any modern browser whether it’s a laptop, iPad or Android tablet, so the teacher can use an tablet during the class to instantly update behaviours.

Either before or during the class the teacher can also shuffle the class seating depending on a number of criteria from things like attainment targets to gender or previous behaviour.

One of the real time-savers of ClassCharts though is when it comes to report writing time. Each students’ behaviour has been tracked through their various classes and teachers can get a detailed report, including dates when different behaviours were recorded.

Both students and parents can also access live reports and monitor progress throughout the term, so students and parents know how they are doing and parents don’t have to wait until the end of term to find out what’s been going on with their child.

This helps to share responsibility and makes it much easier to get parents involved in dealing with any negative behaviour at the earliest possible date.

Although ClassCharts is free and has been designed so that a single teacher can set it up to track their own classes independently, the real power of the platform is its ability to work across the school and track student behaviour in every class. To make this easier ClassCharts also interconnects with a range of other educational management software systems, from simple tools like Edmodo to more complex ones like SIMS and PowerSchool.


What I like about ClassCharts

• I’m really impressed by the fact that such a powerful and well designed tool is free.
• It’s great that a system like this and the data it collects can be applied and shared across a whole school.
• I really like that you can see the student and access a range of information about them from targets, to behaviour and even a little about their background.
• Great to get parents involved and students monitoring their own progress.

What I’m not so sure about

• This is quite a complex tool and creates a lot of data, so I think it’s going to take a bit of getting used to for teachers and perhaps a bit of training too.
• It does produce a lot of data and you can easily get a bit too tied up in this and forget about the person.

Well I hope you find ClassCharts useful and give it a try.

Related links:

• Digital books for teacher development  
• Making lectures and lessons more interactive with mQlicker  
• Evaluating authentic mobile apps for learning
• Publishing 3.0 - A new model for independent educational publishing 
• The Digital Classrooms on Indiegogo
• Digital Classrooms on Facebook
• Digital Classroom on Flipboard

Nik Peachey

Snow Day

Overnight we had a light dusting of snow, and basically the whole city has shut down since. And I don't blame them. I almost died trying to get a couple pictures of the "snow" out on my front driveway this morning. Treacherours conditions, indeed. But no seriously. Be careful this morning, fellow Texans! That ice is slick!

Yesterday I took the day "off" to run errands and drive all over tarnation looking for a chest of drawers to put in my office, only to wind up coming home defeated and empty-handed, and so frustrated that there was still so much stuff strewn about my office floor and nowhere to put it, that I forced Matthew to bring the large Pottery Barn buffet cabinet we'd been keeping in the garage (since we downsized, a lot of our old stuff doesn't fit in the new place) into my office so I could have some storage space already, damn it. So now I am utilizing a rather oddly placed dining room buffet that smells faintly of mold from our flooded Pod, and you know what? It's a place to put shit until further notice, and I literally breathed a sigh of relief to see a my tidy office space this morning. Snow day + clean office + tortilla soup in the crock pot + editing & coffee = my idea of a fairly nice Friday. :)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I'll see you back here next week!

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Shop Spotlight: Row House 14 for saucy/cute cards

Hey friends! Today I'd like to highlight a shop called Row House 14 just in time for Valentine's Day - if you're looking for a super fun, non-Hallmark card to give your sigO, this shop delivers. Check out their birthday and thank you cards as well (this one is my favorite!). There's a funny/cute card for any occasion over there. :) Use the code MYVALENTINE15 for 15% off your purchase through next Thursday, the 30th!

Have a great day...

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Workaholic

The other day I was accused of being a “workaholic,” and while my first instinct was to react (badly, of course), I chose not to really react at all, and instead just sort of let this accusation marinate a bit. Thought about it, weighed it out, asked myself if this was a good or a bad thing, what it means for people in my life… etc, etc. I’ve been thinking about it ever since, so naturally, I had to blog it out. How does anyone without a blog sort out all their feelings? I have no idea. ;)

Lately I have found myself in this strange quandary where I always feel busy, always feel behind, can never fully enjoy being in the moment because my brain is always ten steps ahead of me, pushing me, propelling me forward, causing me a perpetual sense of anxiety and inability to be fully present in anything. I always feel like the crazed rabbit from Alice In Wonderland… “We’re late, we’re late! For a very important date!” and I’d need more than two hands to count all the times I’ve said to someone in my life lately “I’m so BUSY. I’m so BEHIND on work.” In other words, “I don’t have time for you.” 

AND I HATE THAT. I don’t want to be that person. No one likes that person. I think, after mulling it over a while, I’ve decided that being a workaholic isn’t necessarily a bad thing depending on the context, but in my case, I think it IS a bad thing. I need desperately to learn balance. I think it’s especially hard for a young business owner to find balance when there is ALWAYS more to be done. The future of your business is 100% in YOUR hands. Each and every responsibility that comes with running your business (in my case, marketing, communication with clients, packaging design, shipping, contracts, web design and copy, bookkeeping  [or lack thereof], location scouting, shooting, editing, networking, rebranding, blogging sessions, planning for the future, etc, etc, etc - not including ANYTHING to do with running this blog and creating good content here!) falls entirely into YOUR lap, and no one else’s. It really cannot be delegated, unless you hire an intern. You must simply sit down to your work each day, accomplish as much as you can in order of priority, and when it’s time to clock out at 6:00 o’clock or whenever you decide to call it a day, it’s so important to say to yourself “I did all I could today, and I am proud of my work. My work is not finished, but it will never be. And that’s OK. Tomorrow I will chip away at more, and everything will be OK. But now, NOW I will go be present in my home and in my REAL life with people I love.”

So much easier said than done. But today I’m asking myself for grace. And calm. And peace. I want to ENJOY my work. And then I want to ENJOY my life. At the end of this day, my work will not be finished. I will not be “all caught up.” I don’t think “all caught up” will exist for me anymore. But it IS important to understand when work is done for the day. It IS important to stop using the “busy” language.  YOU create the environment you exist in. You create it with your words and with your actions. With how much work you take on, and the price tag you place on your time. So my project now is to be mindful of creating that serenity I so crave in my life. To choose it and embody it and be it, for myself and those around me.

Amen, and amen. 

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Plastic industry

You will learn about the subject of the plastics industry on all things related to it , such as:

 Plastic industry

Project plastics industry

Ways plastics industry
How plastics industry
Plastics industry in Egypt
The way the industry and the formation of plastic
Introduction to the plastics industry :

Is the plastics industry of vital industries upon which the rights in various areas of life The products plastics industry starting from the pots in the house to the ceilings to cars to airplanes and enter the plastics industry in many other industries Kalsnaat metal , wood and electricity cables , appliances , electronics and packaging industries , and falls under the the plastics industry a lot of industries.
The plastic or so-called " plastic " material is easy configuration consists of different ways chains called polymers .
Still communities experiencing development since the Stone Age and even the age of the black gold ( oil ) , which contributed to the emergence of new industries and many have appeared plastics industry flourished and became today occupies the top of the current industries as a result of frequent use in everyday life , because the plastics industry interference in the composition of things and tools around .
The plastics industry is of the following materials :
Petroleum .
Natural gas .
Coal .

Composition used in the plastics industry :
Plastic consists of ethylene , one of the derivatives of oil, which is used in the manufacture of polythene because it contains the element carbon , which is the most effective in the industry Albolemar , and added to it the properties of a certain gain Kalliona , flexibility and transparency.
Plastics Industry :
Production of plastic - plastic industry
Includes the manufacture of plastic polymers manufacturing stage and then stage the formation of the final product .
Preparation Albolemar :
The petrochemical plants to convert crude oil to the monomers of cracking through the links , and then linking Almonomirat in long chains called Polymer and be completed in standard units .
Industry and the formation of plastic :
Forming plastic product - the plastics industry
During this stage is the formation of the final product after the addition of plasticizers and Kalmqoyat Alakhaddab to improve its properties , and the product is formed by seven major operations :
Stereotyping any industry template as required for casting or casting it.
Casting or molding .
Extrusion .
Telmas or the formation of polished wafers .
The formation of chips or lamination .
Foam .
Thermoforming .
The plastics industry by molding :
The molding process is divided into a set of other processes :
Bloating : This process is used in the manufacture of bottles hollows , and the process is done through the introduction of a tube of molten resin ( Barison ) in the form of compressed air and pushes or steam , which expands to Albarison resin impetus to all aspects of the template.
Injections: a more thermo-plastic molding processes common , and the process is done by dropping tablets from the resin pot oppressive to the template to be made ​​, and after 30 seconds the plastic solidifies , then opens the template and then is ejected product formed by nail expulsion .
Pressure: This is more of molding processes commonly called Almtsaldat thermal , and surgery is performed by pressing the plastic and then put pressure on the configuration template used in the formation of the final product and the products of this process trusses car handles and utensils.
Rotational force : This is done through the template partially filled resin powder , and then heating the mold and engine management problem at a maximum speed centrifugal force .
After that the force called Force to pay the molten resin to the walls of the mold and then keep it in place until harden.
The plastics industry by casting or molding :
Or casting foundries - Project plastics industry
This process is used in the formation of thermo-plastic material , and is the process by pouring the molten resin in a mold and then left to Atsald , and the most important products of this process : the gears and thick panels .
The plastics industry by extrusion :
Extrusion process - the plastics industry

This process is used in the production of pipes and wire rods and caps , with the introduction of solid particles from gases emerging from the plastic pot into a conical cylinder hot.
Formation of polished wafers :
This process is performed put molten plastic Muscolan between a couple of cylinders and hot This process results in elements such as : playing cards with plastic -covered mattresses and used in the tables , and after adding fiber sheets or metal foils .
The formation of chips or lamination :
That Ptchiq piles of fiberglass , wood, paper , then soak the chips in the resin and the process is put on top of each other and then put it under the machine where this machine pressuring until the resin Ptchiq chips with some strong pressure produced from this process compressed wood panels cover the tables .
The plastics industry by thermoforming :
Thermoforming - Project plastics industry
They process the least expensive in terms of money compared to other processes , and are installed plastic sheet over the mold and heated until soft , then suck the air pump chips soft down to cover all of the mold, then it becomes hardened and appear in the forms and templates are different and the most important products bathtubs .
Kinds of plastic :
There are two basic types of plastic are:
Thermoplastic :
Thermal plastic products - plastics industry
He is soften heat and then changed its shape and therefore can be melted down and re- formed , and this type is the most widely used products are : plastic bags , bottles and plastic .
Plastic Allahrara :
Turns this kind of after -machined plastics material is molten , and can not be re- formed and soften when re-heating , and uses this type of plastic in the packaging of electrical wires and handles pots .