15 GREAT IDEAS FOR YOUR GIRL'S DAY OUT

As a teenager, I used to spend hours and hours on the phone talking with my girlfriends (and this was before cell phones). It was a running joke in my house as my parents and brother would follow the long cord that I dragged throughout the house when they wanted to find me.

My dad would yell out to my mom, "Evette! Call the doctor. I think Janelle has a phone growing out of her ear!" I couldn't help it. Being connected to my friends was my lifeline.

Once I became a wife and mother, I realized that I had begun to loose that connection. I was the first to get married and have children in my circle of friends, so it was very easy to get separated. But that meant, loosing a part of my lifeline. And who wants to do that?

Maintaining our friendships is a critical part of maintaining our own happiness. Friends help keep us in check and feeling like an individual instead of just someone else's mother or wife. Getting the time to spend with your friends may seem impossible with your schedule. Finding something worth doing together may be your issue. Either way, here is a list of  15 Great Ideas For Your Girls' Day (or night) Out. 

1. Schedule your hair appointments together. The hair salon is a place designed for ladies to let loose and just be girls. Its a place for girl chat full of personal stories, venting and just a bit of gossip. Why not do this with your bestie? This is an appointment I make sure to keep. It means I have a guaranteed time to spend with my bestie without my kids.

2. Dinner Out. For me, it just comes natural to follow up a hair appointment with dinner out. Since we are already out together, we have to eat, right? The beauty of dinner is time to talk face to face. We are able to catch up privately and share in a good meal (that we didn't have to prepare ourselves).

3. Grocery Shopping. I know this sounds weird. But, hear me out. Women spend a lot of time at the super market. When you want to spend time with your girlfriend, but schedules are tight, this is a great option. You know both of you have to hit the grocery store. So, coordinate your trip and do it together. Additional benefits come from this shopping trip together.

4. Cooking in. Perhaps you could combine this one with your grocery shopping trip together. Bring the kids together for this one. Cooking together is some good quality time building. Everyone's gotta eat. This feeds you both and your kids at the same time.

5. Make over each other. Plan a shopping trip together with the goal to pick out one outfit for each other. Build it time to visit a Sephora or MAC counter. They can give you a full face make over with a purchase of $50. You might look so good, you want to join this with another activity from the list.

6. Spa Day.  Massage, mani, pedi, relax. Need I say more?

7. Goal Setting. Okay. I know this one really sounds odd. Again, hear me out. Your girlfriend is a great accountability partner. She knows your dreams. She knows what you've been talking about doing for years, but haven't accomplished yet. Work together to set goals for the next three to six months. Make it visual. Write out the plan for achieving the goals. Put it on a vision board. Make your friendship work for you.

8. Walk the Bridge. I am not big on working out, but my bestie is. She knows I won't go to the gym with her, but she can get me the walk the bridge. For us it's the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, connecting Maryland to Northern Virginia. It is a 3.5 mile trail across the bridge. Check out the parks and recreation options in your own area. There has to be a comparable option for you. The point is to find a way to get out there and be active together.

9. Listen to Live Music. Many lounges and bars have regular live music events. Often times they are with no cover charge. This is a good one for a group of girlfriends. Dance, sing and hang together in a more intimate setting than a club or concert hall. Bonus option is a neighborhood karaoke night.

10. Wine and Paint Party. This is a common offering in major cities. Signing up with a Groupon is a great way to make this evening event an inexpensive way to hang out with friends and create some art to decorate your own home with later.  

11. Cooking Class. Here is another idea that can be accessed at a reasonable rate if you catch a Groupon deal. Find a cuisine that you and your girlfriends like and enjoy the time together.

12. Happy Hour. I have some friends that I like to meet up with monthly. You know, not the ones that I talk to all the time, but ones I want to keep in my life because I enjoy their company. Happy hours around town are our places for these gatherings. There is always a good happy hour menu with moderately priced appetizers and drinks that are perfect for sharing, so it is easier to evenly split the check when you're done.

13. Brunch.  Brunch, brunch oh brunch. It is such a cool invention. I prefer the all-you-can-eat buffet style brunch, so I can sample everything. The popularity is growing for this midday meal, so you should have options in your area.

14. Pokeno (Po- Ke-No). Never heard of it? I hadn't either until last year. It is a card game that makes for an absolute hilariously fun night in with the girls. Host a Pokeno night and you will find that your friends are all chomping at the bit for the next one. You need at least eight girls to really make it interesting. We like to play with for pennies or nickles. Putting money on the line makes it that much more competitive and therefore exciting.

15. Purge Party. Well, I use the word "party" loosely. This one is for you and your good girlfriend alone. Choose whose home you will start with. The idea is to help one another to purge your closets of items that are past their usefulness. It is nearly impossible to let go of things ourselves, but your good girlfriend knows what you actually wear and haven't worn in ages. She can also tell with brutal honestly, what is not flattering anymore. The best part of the purge, is getting to take your friend's trash as your own treasure!

So, there you have it. A quite comprehensive list for nurturing your friendships. If you try any of these ideas, please let me know. I would love to get your feedback.

It's Summertime... So Now What?

Swinging on the porch, laps in the pool, tanning at the beach or wind in your hair. Oh and then there's bike riding, hiking, jogging or just sleeping in. But is that all we should be doing in the summer? Having fun? Pish Tash!

Okay, I'm just teasing (but only a little bit). I know this is the time of year we all wait for, but there are some other activities that we should really try to sneak in during the summer. For teachers and parents, this is the perfect time for some necessary tasks. Today, I'm talking to the teachers. (I will write to the parents for part 2). So hold on tight. Here we go.


For Teachers:

• Read some new guided reading books. I know how boring it is to go year after year reading the same books with students (even the ones we once loved). Learning some new stories that can teach the same strategies is a way to spice up what you are doing with students. However, during the hustle and bustle of the school year, there is NO TIME for reading new novels, creating close reading questions and zeroing in on the best strategies to be used with each book. So, that's what summer is for. Take a bit of time over the next few weeks off to read at least three new novels that you can use to refresh your curriculum and bring your own passion for reading back to your lessons. Check out Perfection Learning and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for ideas on new leveled texts you can start reading. 
• Take some free training opportunities. Most school districts use the summer to offer optional training courses. I know that you may want to avoid training and classes at all odds, but these are designed to put that spark back in your classroom. Remember how you felt after your new teacher orientation? After teaching for some time, it is hard to get that feeling back. Attending a training class (a good one) can ignite that excitement in you again. Now, you have to be careful. Talk to people. Find out what courses are getting the best buzz before you choose one. Nothing is worse than sitting in a classroom in the summer feeling like you are being lectured about something you already know or by an instructor that is more torturous than your head in a vice. So, choose wisely. Just make it worth your while. Get excited, because you can actually return to work a new teacher (minus the orientation). 
• Organize your computer files. As the years go on, it is so easy to accumulate our files like a hoarder would rolls of toilet paper. But after a while, it becomes overwhelming (not unlike the toilet paper). During the summer break. use your time to purge old files that are unneeded. For me, that would mean purging files from back when I taught 3rd grade over 10 years ago!  Now, I am sure that this means some of you may have to take a trip to your school to complete this task, but I still think it is a worthwhile task. Although the files are digital, clearing them out and organizing what we keep is a great summer activity, because it helps you to find the files that are useful, but forgotten. Also, you make room to grow with.So, go ahead. Blow the dust of those digital files and see what you're working with. 

Where Should your Preschooler Spend their Day?

When my oldest was born, I was just 24 years old. I was still a very new teacher and had very little experience with the little, little ones. Considering that my family was four hours away in New York, my biggest concern was who was going to keep my precious baby safe once I went back to work. 

What I did know was that I wanted him to be in a home day care. I didn't like the clinical feel of a day care center. I wanted it to be like he was at a home-away-from home. Luckily, I found someone in my neighborhood who was a mother of five (and expecting number six). She became like a big sister to me and took fabulous care of my little one, until he was about two years old. 

At that point, our day care provider decided to go back to work and we were lost trying to decide whether to find another home care or a day care center. Our choice was another home care. We put our son in a home with a provider that was like a grandmother to him. And he stayed there until he was 4 and ready to start our neighborhood Montessori school. I thought that we did the right thing...

That was until he actually started school. I realized that he never had the practice that the other children had with being in a school-like setting. He missed out on that time that others were learning how to work together, follow directions and share. When he started school, he had to do some adjusting. He wasn't available for learning and this set him back.

That's why when my second son was born, I was determined to do something different. I put him in the same home day care with the "grandmother-like" provider. But when he turned two years old, I pulled him out and put him in a day care center with a classroom setting. I made sure they had a specific curriculum and gave daily reports on how my son was performing academically and socially. He thrived and learned so much there. When it was time for him to start the Montessori school at four, he was ready. He learned to read so fast; I was shocked. Even now that he is seven, I am impressed with his decoding and phonetic skills for reading words way above my expectations. 

So my vote is clear. I know that for many of us, staying at home to take care of our own children is not an option. We are forced to make these difficult decisions. After everything that I've experienced, I really support putting our little ones in a day care center with a proven record, to get them prepared for school. 

 I would love to know what you think. Take my poll and leave a comment.Share your own experiences.

Welcome to Teach, Pray, Laugh!

Imagine that you are finally sitting in front of your oldest and dearest friend that you haven't seen in over ten years. You have soooo much to say, but have no idea where to start. That's how I feel right now; writing my very first blog. Although it's overwhelming, it is so exciting!

So, who am I and what am I all about? My name is Janelle Spalding. I'm also known as the Regal Lady, but that's a story for another time. When creating this blog I spent a lot of time thinking about what it is I have to share with you. What is it about me that would be beneficial to someone, anyone who may stumble upon my random ramblings. So I had to answer those questions for myself. Who am I and what am I all about? Deep, right? I know. 

Well, here goes. I am a mother and wife. Standard answer. Let's go deeper. I'm a mother of 13 and 7 year old boys, a stepmother of 24 year old twins (a boy and girl), a grandmother to a 2 year old and a wife to my crazy husband of 14 years. When I read other blogs, I find that stats like that often include the words "stay-at-home mom." That is a title I have never had. I've actually never wanted to be that. That is not my gift! I actually think the women who stay at home are much stronger than I am. 

Instead, after I had my first son, I continued to work in my career as a TEACHER. That's where the TEACH comes from in my title. It's what I do. I've been a teacher for 16 years, but I don't just teach in my classroom; it is just a natural part of who I am. 

To PRAY. This is my gift from God. I have learned to share my life with Him and in return, He hears me and blesses my life. When I don't know what to do, I PRAY. When I can't take it anymore, I PRAY. When everything is going well, I PRAY. I love the Lord and everything that He does for me and through me is to be acknowledged (and often times with a wink and a nod). 

Haven't LAUGHed yet? Well what's wrong with you? I'm the funniest person I know! I will have you know, I leave my students in stitches on a daily basis. My girlfriends call me when they are having a bad day just for a quick LAUGH. It's what I do. As life goes, in the classroom, and with kids anywhere, There is always a funny to share. Stick with me for a reason to smile and we will learn and grow together. 

I hope you come back to see me soon. Know that I know that I haven't gotten deep at all yet with the uncovering of myself and the "Who am I" question. But we have plenty of time for that. It's summer and I've got nothing but time on my hands. We've merely scratched the surface. I have a lot more to say, here at TEACH, PRAY, LAUGH.

Let me know you stopped by; leave a comment. It would be so encouraging. Talk to you soon!