June/First Half of July Favorites

I'm going to try something new, where I post a list of my various favorite things for the month. Might be music, might be books, might be a person, but I always like to share these things with people anyway, so why not do it via blog? :D

Here are the things I'm loving right now:


Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
I picked up this book a few weeks ago on the recommendation of some friends, but finally got around to reading it a couple of days ago. I heard about it awhile ago via Youtube phenom Tyler Oakley (I follow him on Twitter. He's hilarious). The other day he had tweeted how much he loved the book, and it reminded me that maybe I should actually read the darn thing already. It's fantastic. John Green (Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines) and David Levithan (Boy Meets Boy, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist) are two of my favorite young adult authors, so the fact that they wrote this together should have been my first clue that I would love this book. Without giving too much away, the story centers on two boys, both of whom are named Will Grayson. They are very disparate people, but eventually their lives intersect in a really interesting way. Each will has a really distinct voice that sounds exactly like someone you could know.The heart of the book is really about friendship and love; what does it mean to be and/or have a best friend? What does it mean to be in love? The best part about the novel is that it talks about these ideas in such a real, honest way, that you can't help but see yourself a little bit in each of the Will Graysons.
One of my favorite quotes from the book: "'When you date someone, you have the markers along the way, right: You kiss, you have The Talk, you say the Three Little Words, you sit on a swing set and break up. You can plot the points on a graph. And you check up with each other along the way: Can I do this? If I say this, will you say it back? But with friendship, there's nothing like that. Being in a relationship, that's something you choose. Being friends, that's just something you are."

Bon Iver, Bon Iver-Bon Iver
My students from South Middle School in Eau Claire actually introduced me to Bon Iver's first album. I am ashamed to say I had never heard of Justin Vernon before that day, even though he hailed from the good town of EC. I was hooked from the first note of "Flume". (To put it in perspective, my students at Tomah try to introduce me to Ke$ha. I refuse to make her acquaintance on the grounds of being a fan of music.) Since then, For Emma, Forever Ago has been my go to paper grading music (I am very very picky about what I listen to when I grade papers, and since that takes up 70% of my free time, rightly so), the perfect morning music, the best fall asleep to music. This new album lives up to, if not surpasses the first. I've been listening to it constantly. I also love that I know that "Towers" is actually a reference to UWEC housing :)

Lucky Lucky Lavender nail polish by OPI
I used to never paint my nails. I always picked it off after maybe a day. I distinctly remember sitting in Psychology class in high school the Monday after my junior prom, peel off all of my hot pink nail polish while the teacher lectured. In hindsight, that may have been a contributing factor as to why I did not have a date for senior prom. Anywho, lately I've really gotten into painting my nails. The summer is a great time for it too, so I go out a get all kinds of fun new colors. This Luck Lucky Lavender color is my new go to shade.

A Very Potter Musical
I have been obsessed with A Very Potter Musical for a long time, but only recently started watching it again, due to the need to consume every possible Harry Potter media before the last movie comes out. If you've never watched it, do yourself a favor and watch the video below (don't give up on it until you watched at least through Act 1 Part 5. Act 1 Part 5 literally had my sister and I rolling on the floor from laughter. You will understand why when you watch it. Bonus: This is where Darren Criss (of Glee fame, if you've been living under a rock) got his start. He and his friends actually wrote the entire play, then performed it at the University of Michigan.)

On that note...Darren Criss
In all honesty, I've loved him since I originally saw AVPM, but it was the first time seeing him perform Teenage Dream on Glee that had me hooked. He's so freaking talented. Long before he was on Glee he used to put up Youtube videos of himself singing Disney songs. Yes. A straight man who enjoys a good Disney ditty. Sign me up :) Check out is original material on iTunes as well. Also, as a bonus, he and his signature pink sunglasses are adorable. If you don't believe me check out the clip below (he's in the blue t-shirt):

Brothers-The Black Keys
So I've been on this new music kick lately. It's not that the music is techniqely new since many of the albums I've recently downloaded have been out for awhile, however it is new to me. I have these lists and lists of songs and albums that I've been meaning to download for forever that just sit on my Mac Book desktop. I vowed to myself that I would finally get all of it this summer. I started with this album, which is fantastic, btw. Loved "Tighten Up" the first time I heard it, and the rest of the album doesn't disappoint. It's the perfect music for cleaning my apartment, because it keeps me dancing around, but mostly there's just a bluesy, soulful sexiness to the album that's hard not to like.

The Suburbs-Arcade Fire
Another album that's been on my list for forever. I'm so glad I finally downloaded it. The album has an epic quality to it that's hard to describe. There's certainly a reason it one the Grammy for Album of the Year (2011).

The Book of Mormon
I am always on the lookout for new musicals. I frequent Broadway.com, and watch all sorts of behind the scenes, in rehearsals, opening night videos, so I can pretend I am actually in NYC and able see all these shows in person. ONe show I would kill to see right now is THe Book of Mormon. Written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of South Park), you might think it would be offensive, absurd, and over-generalized; it totally is. However, it has heart that always feels lacking from South Park episodes. You can guess the topic from the title. It is in fact about Mormonism, specifically two young men sent on a mission trip to Africa. The songs are hilarious (and offensive, oh the offensiveness), but there's also a sense that Trey and Matt really love musical theater, and are trying to do the show justice. It won a bajillion Tonys this year, and with good reason. The cast is super talented, the songs make you first gasp, then roll on the floor with laughter, and at then end you walk away thinking you may have actually learned something about religion, not just about Mormons. *True story: all of the songs, and information used to create them is really based off the Mormon religion-it's not just making shit up

These Shoes:  Click Me to See Shoes
If you are a girl, I do not need to explain why these shoes are awesome, but I'll break it down anyway. They're platform semi-wedges, which means I get high heels without my uber-flat feet killing me at the end of the night. They're tan, so they go with everything. They're buckled onto my feet, which means I don't need to worry about accidentally slipping out of them. The only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not I will tip over on them and twist my ankle. Considering the first time I wear them will be tomorrow at a bachelorette party, consuming copious amounts of martinis, I give myself a fifty-fifty chance of falling over. I'll let you know how that turns out.


Launching Writer's Workshop
I discovered this book at Barnes and Noble the other day, and I am legitimately excited. Writer's workshop is something I'm really trying to implement in my classroom. I did a little bit with it last year, but it never got off the ground as much as I would have liked. This book gives ideas for lesson plans for the first month of school, and really gives a clear idea of how to make the system successful. It even has pictures! The only thing is that the lessons are structured around a 5th grade class. I'll need to do some tweaking to make it work for 8th grade, but I'm actually excited to get planning.