LisaSmiles 59:365

A great day! Too many smiles to recount.

Wangs and knobs obviously made me smile but so did being a puppet and a Spanish skeleton, finally conquering Aurasma and being a dastardly ne...pas. 

And then there was my first sketch note. 

More tomorrow including my keynote (yikes!) 

LisaSmiles 58:365

Travel chaos seems to follow me whenever I go to Southampton for ILILC. Still, all was forgotten when I saw my friends, and the MFLTwitterati hit Cenos and the Trago bar.

A good weekend ahead.

This little chap made me smile at Bristol Temple Mead. As did a Chai Steamer from AMT. 

LisaSmiles 57:365

I'm going to Southampton tomorrow for #ililc5! Very excited. There will be many highlights I know but my yearly encounter with Manx knobs will be one of them!

Lots to do including making dozens of cupcakes.

LisaSmiles 56:365

Leaving school with a smile still on my face, particularly on a Wednesday, is always a great feeling. A morning of planning and management time followed by a good afternoon with Y6 who (mostly) seemed to finally be understanding what I expect. And then a meeting in Birmingham; nice to see some familiar faces and meet a few new people too.

Looking forward to Wolf Hall. It has been decreed that one must wear a suitable hat in celebration of the final episode. I know it's the wrong colour but all other options have been rejected as 'that one looks like Henry VII's hat', 'that's too French' and a flat 'no.' 

LisaSmiles 55:365

A bike ride with Jude in the cold and rain but it was good to reminisce on cycling in Switzerland and how much we missed cycling to school and other places.
And then I realised that this time two years ago I'd just had my first ski lesson!

LisaSmiles 54:365

I think I'd like Libby to join me every Monday as my day was much more pleasant with a sidekick in the classroom!
Our balloon debate this morning also made me smile as the children had to decide out of 8 with responsibilities at school which 3 should be saved and which 5 thrown from our (imaginary) hot air balloon heading for imminent crash. Their decision to save the learning mentor ('he sorts out all our problems and we'd all argue without him) the sports coordinator ('we need our sport, Miss!') and the caretaker ('the school would be a mess without him; he tidies all the litter and decorates the classrooms and cleans') whilst 'throwing out' the lunchtime supervisor, the receptionist, the pupil(!) me and Mr Barry, the head teacher made the staff smile when I told them! Prior to the vote they'd had to argue for one of the people (assigned randomly) and some of them argued well, catching the objective of the lesson.

A quick blast up and down some hills after work blew away the Monday cobwebs, ready for Only Connect!

LisaSmiles 53:365

Looking at pictures from the Murder Mystery made me smile today on a wet dreary day. Thanks Julia for sharing yours after I failed to take any of my own! I also smiled when I discovered that the 'bullet holes' are still on one of the chairs at church; anyone who sits on it must wonder why there are black hole reinforcers on it in a random pattern...

LisasMiles 52:365

Lovely morning for another Park Run - very bright sunshine (above taken into the sun; below the opposite way) although it was freezing cold! I wasn't expecting to get close to last week's PB but I ran exactly the same time - without the aid of pacemakers this time. That made me smile! 

Looking up to find John watching a plane taking off on the television made me smile - he'd chosen the clip and it lasted 28 minutes. I really don't understand the attraction myself but there you are! He sees no point in running! 

And the boys continue to amuse greatly. I  don't recall even a quarter of the things they say that make me laugh, and some of the things I do recall are too rude or too private to share but they certainly keep me amused! 

LisaSmiles 51:365

My baking skills made me smile today.
After prompting from Jude, I finally attempted 'Mr Stritt's Lebkuchen' two years after he ate it at ISW "Books and Brownies" club. I followed the recipe but it didn't turn out as it should have done. Not overly gingery and not sticky. However, Jude declared that it was 'good cake' anyway.

Then I made torrijas with leftover brioche rolls. Yummy! Not many left now as the boys like them hot. I, on the other hand, like them cold so I'm looking forward to morning coffee after my ParkRun!

Went for a cycle ride as the sun went down. A man apologised that his dog was in my way (it wasn't misbehaving just walking along minding its own business) and was honestly shocked when I told him not to apologise as I didn't own the path! Makes me wonder what normally happens when a cyclist passes them...

It's been good this week spending time with Isaac and Jude, watching random things on iPlayer and discussing all manner of things. Those boys really do make me laugh, sometimes to the point of tears!

LisaSmiles 50:365

Smiley suitcases in Next on our shopping trip. New school shoes for Jude and he blagged a new Tshirt too.

And then I dropped my credit card into the self serve till in Boots. Literally inside it. No way of getting it out. Card cancelled so no harm done. And I have to smile at my stupidity.

LisaSmiles 49:365

Today is my least favourite day of the year but in spite of it all, it's had smiles. 

I ate liquorice and went for a run wearing Dad's sweatband. I drew the line at wearing very short yellow shorts though! 

My parcel arrived from Lululemon. 

We had steamed puddings for dinner in honour of Dad. 

And John's bicycle arrived from Germany. It has his name on it. Literally! He arrived home at 7 and has been constructing it since! If Dad had been here, he'd have 'helped' and probably managed to slice his finger or drop something on his toe ;)

LisaSmiles 48:365

My smiles today come in Swedish and German:

Also amused by Jude wearing a cereal bowl on his head, a mock trial for stealing small woolly hats and pancake making and eating. 

LisaSmiles 47:365

February half term Monday. Not my favourite day of the year. However this year it was a day at Leicester University speaking to PGCE students. Slight hysteria ensued thanks to #sewagegate and tales of exchange students. I was also amused by random questions asked at odd times, and by getting my heel stuck between two paving slabs (although not amused by the damage to the heel!) A lovely day and a very welcome bottle of 'thank you' Prosecco. 

LisaSmiles 46:365

Felt very nauseous this morning as I looked at a picture of someone standing on the edge of a cliff during the church service when my vertigo kicked in, but had to smile. I love mountains and miss them so much and yet they make me dizzy, faint and likely to be sick! So here's John and I on top of the Jungfrau. I'm holding his hand very tightly and had to sit down very soon after that!

And I woke to find this message on UP as I synced my Jawbone. So there you are!

LisasMiles 45:365

A huge running smile today as I woke up early so made it to ParkRun at Kingsbury Water Park in spite of my busy week. And I should perhaps try to run as fast as I can when I'm exhausted more often as I broke my PB a minute, aided by the Valentines pacemakers. Having ended up at the back I was not letting the 28 minute sign out of my sight and chased it down, overtaking with just under 1km

to go and finishing in 27:18 officially (although I made it 27:10) 

And to cap it all, a red rose and Swizzel sweeties at the finish! 

And more flowers from John on my return. Lucky girl! 

LisaSmiles 44:365

A lovely day (in spite of the rain!) in Devon, speaking at a conference. A lovely group of people and good to see some familiar faces! Also great to receive some lovely feedback. 

A long train journey home made better by a) having a seat b) catching a glimpse of the sea c) finishing The Goldfinch - at last! I enjoyed bits of it but it was too long.

And arriving home to see my boys was great too!

John'd bought me back a souvenir from his Finnish travels - a very lovely conference bag. Almost too lovely to use really!

Thanks to Kathy for telling me about the smile in this competition - if you'd like to vote for photo 120, my friend Rebecca would be very pleased as her husband took it and it's their dog.  ;) (numbers 94 and 98 also feature lovely smiles)

LisaSmiles 43:365

Made it to the Premier Inn. Currently about to 'choose my pillow' as instructed  and go to sleep. 

Fun with a parachute this morning in Y2 and a successful maths lesson. Y5 enjoyed their pair work activity this afternoon and I made it to the train to Devon in time. 

Very little time for lunch but I did enjoy the Brie and grape sandwich I had for tea! 

And I'm finally getting into The Goldfinch - only taken 600 pages...

Time for sleep as I've delivering two sessions tomorrow at a conference in Newton Abbott.

LisaSmiles 42:365

I tidied my cupboard at work. It's amazing how much a tidy cupboard makes you smile!

All excited at news of Isaac's trip to Iceland next year  - we all want to go too!

Scoring WolfHall with Isaac was fun too.

And I managed to fit (most of) the things for my conference on Friday in the case AND managed to fit in my clothes too ;)

LisaSmiles 41:365

A successful observation, arriving home whilst it was still light and a funny sewing story have made me smile today. Borrowed a picture of the excellent shorts you've made Z. Hope A forgives you soon x

LisaSmiles 40:365

Another classic Jude comment this evening on the way back from BB. On spotting people at the bottom of our hill he told me to 'look at those chavs. Look, they're in running stuff' to which I replied. 'One of those 'chavs' is Miss Harper (his y2 teacher and my colleague now)!' 

I maintained my record as 'finder of lost and mislaid children' after school and had a lovely conversation with a kid with amazing curly hair: he hates it, I covet it!

And the discovery that unifix cubes do not come in grey was the sort of  a crisis that could only bother you the night before an observation so I had to laugh at myself! 

Photo is from July as I like wearing my flip flops. 

LisaSmiles 39:365

Ranking up there with "Who's that bodyguard yelling at the England team?" (referring to Martin Johnson, the then manager) and "Fidel Castro? He plays cricket for Argentina doesn't he?", Jude has just commented that Bernard Cribbins was playing guitar with Katy Perry at the Superbowl. What a lovely thought! Nice try - it was Lenny Kravitz. Easily confused!

Great concert this afternoon at the Symphony Hall. Black Dyke Band are amazing; I loved the variety and the flugel solo was mesmerising. Thanks Joel for inviting us!
 

And Eddie Redmayne won the BAFTA. He always makes me smile!

LisaSmiles 38:365

Catching up on 8 out of 10 cats play Countdown which was particularly hilarious this week!

Croissants from the bakery for morning coffee and cakes for 'supper.'

Another run just as the sun went down. 

Rhod Gilbert and mate's song about 'baby wipe ablutions' as they climbed Mt Kilimanjaro also made me smile widely. 

And the moon still shining brightly as I watch MOTD in bed. 

LisaSmiles 37:365

Laminating. I love laminating. It's so relaxing!

A fine run this morning - didn't feel bad and I managed not to fall over on icy patches which is always a (welcome) bonus! 

More Innocent hats found. 

A relaxing Friday night! 

LisaSmiles 36:365

We opened a frutería in Y2 today - everyone visited and bought some fruit. Promoting healthy eating ;) 

Loved the ones who sang their role play! 

Discovering work I'd sent to the printer three weeks ago was still waiting to be released was a good moment as I found it just in time for next week's lesson. 

And my Swedish lesson on Duolingo included the phrase below:

Hoping for Bjornen äter vegetarianen next ;)

LisaSmiles 35:365

Wasn't well today but I had to pop out to get some bread and finally found some hatted Innocent Smoothies. 

Some little creatures now have warmer ears ;)

LisaSmiles 34:365

For an hour today I thought something terrible had happened to Isaac on the way to school as his school messaged me 5 times to say he hadn't arrived and when I called to say he'd left home gone, then told me he hadn't been to his lessons either. The relief when they called back and said that it was a mistake (on their part!) and that he was safe was incredible. 

Jude is off school and has kindly shared his bug with me so I'm ill now. 

Not been a good day to be honest but there have been high points including y3's enthusiasm, the antics on The Jump and a hot bath. 

Here's to a better day tomorrow - and no more puking!

LisaSmiles 33:365

The one day I wear heels to school and we end up standing on a muddy hockey pitch...
The sun/moon round in Only Connect.
Falling asleep on the sofa when I got in from work.
Trying to organise 10 year olds that don't seem to know when their birthdays are (most odd!)
A hot bath before the bed :)

PS I like my crocs!

LisasMiles 32:365

8.5 miles with an average pace 9.49 min/mile - that's worth a big smile, especially as it felt very hard work for the first 2 miles. 

And I saw the beautiful ponies, managing to capture a picture before my phone inexplicably decided to 'run out of battery' with 49% battery left... Quite annoying as there were other sights I wanted to capture, including more ponies and the sun going down over the lake. 

The battery on my iPod Shuffle ran out with 3 miles to go and I quite enjoyed listening to myself breathing and the park sounds. It was quite soothing but no sure I'd have enjoyed it as much if I'd be struggling at that point. 

Nice to see Bob Alex and Harry this morning accompanying 'Uncle' Charlie to church. Worship group were particularly appreciative of Bob clapping our rehearsal! 

In other news, I think I'm becoming addicted to Wasabi peas!