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I've been working hard in the studio the past few days and have already cranked out my new Mother's Day cards. I know I'm about 2 months early here, but I like to be prepared! I have a lot on my plate these days (more on that eventually!) and wanted to be ready for the upcoming holiday. Here's a look at the collection-- you can click through the photos to see the cards in the shop.

I'm really happy with how my new designs turned out. Some are spinoffs of other designs and some are new concepts and ideas.

Are you already planning ahead of time for Mother's Day, or am I the only crazy one?

Prompted by so many different blog posts I've read this week, I started to think about authenticity. It is becoming more and more difficult to identify who is truly authentic in what they do. Is someone writing a self-help blog post because they truly believe what they are writing will help others, or is it all for show just because others have written similar posts and it seems to be popular? Bloggers that are also shop owners offer up some of the strangest and silliest products and I wonder if people really love the products THAT much or if their oohing and aahing in the comments are simply because everyone else is oohing and aahing.

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We have a tendency in this society to build people up. Constructive criticism cannot be given without seeming offensive. I see this on a daily basis with my students. Parents tell their children that they are so smart and such awesome students even if the reality is that they really aren't. The student continues to get built up and when the teacher interjects and tries to explain that a student is struggling, the response is that it must be the teacher and not the student.

In the blogging world, I see the same thing. Readers build up the bloggers that they follow. Sometimes I read articles that are just plain common sense, yet readers respond as if whatever the blogger wrote about is ground-breaking information. It seems as though we, as individuals in this society, have been trained to want to feel important. Or it seems we do everything for gratification. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have someone tell you that you've done well at something, but my question about authenticity comes from these thoughts-- How much of what we do is real? Is the oohing and aahing and the building people up real, or is it because everyone else is doing it? How much of it is truly sincere or is done with calculated intent? And is any of the insincere junk healthy?

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When we give up our authenticity, I think we give up a lot more. We let others mold who we are instead of being ourselves, and we falsify hope within others by being inauthentic with our words and actions. Our authenticity shows who we are and if we give that up, then who are we really? Something completely fake with absolutely no substance?

We are a society that is propelled by adulation. When is someone going to tell the poor blogger with the funky headband that no one wears those in real life and they look ridiculous? Or that we already know how to have a fulfilling relationship without the self-help guide?

For me, blogging is about sharing my experiences-- how much I truly ADORE eating tacos, how annoyed it makes me that the Baltimore City Police helicopter was spying on me while suntanning, how ridiculously excited I am to share something new from my business. It is an outlet that I have needed for a long time to escaped feeling stifled from a rather uncreative daily job. The nature of blogging is that we get up on our soapboxes (hell, I'm doing it right now!), but how long do we keep up the charade of the every-single-thing-you-do-is-amazing-because-it-is-you-who-did-it commendation?

We are not always awesome, in fact rarely awesome at best. So why with the inauthentic gestures? Life is crappy a lot of times. Life is also fantastic a lot of times and if everything is played out to be happy 100% of the time, it makes me feel as though I'm in The Truman Show itself. (I hope someone got that reference because it is Jim Carey at his best. And by best, I mean, great acting, not laughing his head off like a hyena.)

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Nothing is meant to be perfect and nothing ever will be. And it creeps me out when people pretend weird things and play weird parts in their big play that is their life instead of just living it and writing about it. So go give someone some constructive criticism! Tell them that they really shouldn't have worn those purple tights with a cobalt dress or that their card isn't that funny after all (yes, truly people, I hope you haven't been faking me out here the whole time or I would be crushed to know you can't be honest!). I. Can. Take. It. And we all need to learn to get a little thicker skin. It's the healthier solution in the end.

By now, if you read my blog, you have probably figured out that my day job happens to be teaching. And trust me, if I wasn't a teacher now, I'd be blogging about all the crazy shit that happens at our school on the regular. Usually, Andrew can't wait to hear what I have to say about my day. I text him throughout the day with little hints like, "Hey, remind me to tell you about the backpack incident when you get home." I know. You're all dying to know about the backpack incident at this point in time, and trust me, it is pretty much insane. However, for now, I'll have to save that story for later when I'm not longer teaching.

Most of you also know that I own my small business making cards and stationery. This small business has become my night job. I've had a lot of people ask me exactly how I'm able to get all of this done and quite frankly, I'm not really sure how I do it. I recently had a friend tell me that I must be superwoman. So, I decided to document one of my days just so I could realize how much I do every day. I mean obviously, I need to shove that in my face since I'm not overwhelmed or anything like that. Ever. Nope, not at all.

I have to start my day with coffee. 1) I like coffee. And by like, I mean love. 2) Coffee not only tastes good, but it keeps me awake. 3) I wish there was a such thing as a coffee IV. But then I guess I wouldn't be able to taste its delicious taste.

So, yeah. Boom. 8:00am. Coffee.
8:25am. Grab my orders from the night before to drop in the blue box around the corner.
8:30am. Get in the car and make the 6 minute drive to school. Yes. 6 minutes. I love it. When we bought our house, it cut my drive to school in half. I am obsessed. Be jealous.
8:45am. After heading to the main office to sign in, stopping to chat with the janitor for a few, and stumbling through a crowd of kids that I am not awake enough to deal with yet, I arrive at my room.
8:50am. I start working on last minute prep for the day. Thankfully, I have a planning period first thing in the morning. I finish typing up some notes for my U.S. History class and copy a political cartoon for a primary source analysis activity.
9:15am. I start grading U.S. History tests from the day before. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of essays.
9:45am. I have to pick my 7th graders up from gym class. Who thought it was a good idea to put a bunch of stinky teenagers in a gym class first thing in the morning and then ship their sweaty bodies to my room immediately after? I don't know, but I can think of many things I'd rather do that deal with that stench. Just sayin'.
9:50am-11:15am. I teach. Seventh grade geography. 11:20am. I've finished dropping my students off a lunch and head to the bathroom (I spared you the photo), quickly check my email, and finish screening a section of The Last of the Mohicans that I'll be using for my 8th grade U.S. History class after lunch. 11:40am. I pick my students up from lunch and I teach for 3 hours and 15 minutes straight. No break. Three classes. One seventh grade geography and two U.S. History classes. Today in U.S. History we're analyzing clips of The Last of the Mohicans in connection to what I'm teaching about the French and Indian War. 3:00pm. Planning period number two of the day. This day is different since it's the Thursday before we headed to Syracuse for our long weekend. I need to finish making sub plans for Friday. I have to make copies, staple a bunch of stuff, and then I keep working on more of that grading. I also finish my lesson plans for Monday. Planning periods = working like mad as if I'm trying to survive something insane.

4:45pm. I finally get home. Lilah wants to go outside. 4:46pm. Finn follows me around everywhere and wants cuddles. 4:49pm. I'm starved. I didn't have enough time during our 25 minute lunch to eat. That's most days. I've still not gotten used to it and I hate that there's not enough time to eat during my lunch. Leftover pizza it is. 5:03pm. I scarf down the pizza and head up to my studio to start getting work done, but I decide to catch up on a few blogs first instead. I have less work to do tonight since it I left my school work at school for the long weekend so I decide to enjoy a little blog reading. 5:26pm. I finally decide to change out of my work clothes into something more comfortable. 5:33pm. I'm still hungry. I make some coffee and get some mixed nuts to snack on. 5:46pm. It's time to start writing my blog post for the day. 6:15pm. Andrew gets home. He goes on a walk with Lilah while I finish blogging. At this point, I forgot to keep taking my photos. 
After Andrew gets home, we cook and eat. Dinner is usually ready around 8. We like to eat late and always have. It's time for us to catch up and I look forward to this every day. At around 8:30, I start in on my card orders and I work until I am done. Sometimes that's only an hour with an hour to spare to relax on the couch before bed or a bit of time to design instead. Sometimes that means until 1 or 2 in the morning. On days when I haven't been able to get as much grading done at school as I'd like to, my schedule gets adjusted and I might have to kick blogging to the curb in order to get everything done.
And that, my friends is my sort of typical day. And then I go to sleep and wake up. And do it all over again. That is how I manage to be superwoman.
Phew. I'm tired.

It's been a while since I've shared some of my new cards with you all. I have a lot of new designs that have made their way into the shop and I wanted to share some of them with you as I often do. My recent design projects have been focused on upcoming spring holidays-- Saint Patrick's Day and Easter.




I also finally added the much awaited butthead card that I wrote about a while back.

And after missing some cute butts, I decided to whip up this anniversary version.
Don't worry, I know you all missed my cute butt just as much as I did.

Ok. That was awkward. I know. But also funny.

Either way, I'm super glad to be back to designing and adding new items to the shop. It's been a lot of fun! I have a few more Saint Patrick's Day and Easter cards here in my shop if you'd like to check out the rest, and don't forget about the taco card! (You know you all love that one the most!)

What have you been up to lately in your shop-- if you have one, that is?

Every year we go back to Syracuse to meet up with friends, go to a basketball game, and visit old campus haunts. This year's game was especially exciting with a sold out crowd and record breaking attendance for any college basketball game in history at 35,012. We were playing Georgetown, a long time rival, and it was the last game in Syracuse between the two teams as Syracuse is leaving the Big East conference next season. In addition, Carmelo Anthony was in attendance and his jersey was retired during halftime. This event was especially awesome for us since he led Syracuse to the National Championship our freshman year.

We enjoyed pizza at Varsity, the oldest standing establishment on campus.
Walked about campus and checked out the Hall of Languages. The Hall of Languages is Syracuse University's iconic building, happened to be the building in which most of my classes were in, and is recognizable from the Addams Family.
We enjoyed walking through the Quad rather than trudging through in knee deep snow as it usually seemed to be the case while we attended.
And of course, the Dome. Dome, sweet Dome. This year we headed there a little early so that we could catch the team during their pre-game warmup.
We were even lucky enough to get our photo taken at court side during warmups, thanks to a super nice usher that was willing to let us in for a photo op.
Our seats were pretty bad and the game was pretty bad, but it was still fun to be in attendance at such a historical game for Syracuse.
Aside from the outcome of the game, the weekend was just what we needed. Catching up with friends, eating lots and lots of food, sleeping in until 9:30 two days straight, free omelets every morning at the hotel, brews and fish tacos from Empire Brewing Company, coffee from Freedom of Espresso-- all around a good time was had. Can't wait to do it all over again next year.