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What I know about some teenagers

Sweater: F21, Skirt: Downeast Basics, Bracelet: Threads, Shoes: Forever Young (similar)

I'm kind of half in love with my sixth period class.

I am doing my best right now to not think that in 7 weeks sixth period will be history and we'll never have the same chemistry and the same laughs and the same "Oh my gosh, what's going to happen to Gatsby?!?" that we have now.

(P.S.  Book Club on The Great Gatsby is next Thursday, April 25.  Eight days away.  If you start it now you can totally finish it on time.  It is in my top three favorite books ever so READ IT!)

I love all my classes, but there is something a tad different about sixth period.  There is a feeling of camaraderie and unity that is rare for self conscious hormonal teenagers.  Sixth period likes each other.  They like the class.  They want each other to do well.

Case in point:  I told the class I would give them a pizza party if every single person passed the class.  Every quarter the same one boy has failed.  The first day of fourth quarter when he wasn't there, someone yelled out, "Where's Adam!?!"
"I think I saw him in the gym!" Someone else yelled.
"I could go check if you want.  He needs to be here..." volunteered another someone.
"Yes.  Go check."  I said.  So the student ran down in search of Adam, begging him to come to class so he wouldn't fail.

When Adam showed up to class the next day, Brad asked him if he had handed in his final poems.  "Not yet," said Adam.  "Well, you better!  They're worth 100 points, you know!" replied Brad.

Yesterday when Adam was absent again, Sam told me that he had texted Adam demanding to know why he wasn't in class.  "I think everyone should text him!" yelled out Gail.  I agreed completely.  So Sam gave me his number and I wrote it on the board real big and clear and I said, "Class!  You have my permission to use your phone for exactly two minutes so you can text Adam and ask him why he's not here right now!"

And so they all pulled out their phones.  Thirty eight texts sent to Adam telling him to get his butt to class so he can pass fourth quarter.

Suddenly I realized, "This goes beyond a slice of pizza.  These kids aren't just going to all this effort to have one piece of crappy pizza from their English teacher."

Teenagers kind of get a bad rap these days.  And some teenagers deserve the bad rap.  But I guess I know something about some other teenagers.  Some other teenagers really do care whether or not Adam passes the class.  Some other teenagers do their reading assignment and come prepared for class and do all their homework.  Some other teenagers try hard to please their teachers and are respectful and kind.  Some other teenagers are nice to all their peers no matter what they look like.

That's what I know about some teenagers.

Now.

I'm excited to introduce Bonnie to you.  Yep, that's right.  Bonnie.  It is a cold day in hell when I meet another Bonnie so I was pretty stoked to get an email from old Bonnie.  Especially because Bonnie is a man and that, my friends, is rarer than a blue pig.  And yes, I made that one up myself!

I love Bonnie's advice on working from home and his insightful pieces of motivation.  I especially love this piece on using Pinterest to promote your home based business or blog.  Bonnie's blog isn't the run of the mill blog that I follow, but I think that's why I enjoy it so much.  He gives mostly business and practical advice, and it offers a man's voice in this very much so woman dominated field.

+++

When I first saw "The Life of Bon" I instantly knew I wanted be a sponsor on her blog. The name alone did it for me! With my name being Bonnie (and yes, I am a guy named Bonnie), I think it's fun when I run across another Bonnie. It's a rare thing! I blog over at Beach Money CEO and tweet at @boatingbonniec and typically post business tips, work from home tips, motivational pieces, skin care tips and information about my Rodan + Fields business (and how you can have one too). I tweet motivational quotes, happy thoughts, positivity and talk about food a lot... For this guest post, that the fabulous Bonnie is allowing me to write, I want to share one of my experiences from a trip I had to Disney World. My first blog was about my dining and restaurant experiences as I traveled around the country. I was a guy constantly traveling on an expense account, so I enjoyed every night of travel I had to be away from home. The blog was not restaurant reviews, but rather my experiences surrounding my dining experiences. So here is my goofy post:

A Goofy Good Time

I've never professed to know a whole lot about too many things. I think I have decent intelligence, I think I have a good education, I believe I make wise choices for the most part, and I find myself always wanting to know more - at least on subjects I'm interested in. I'm curious by nature and do like to discover new experiences. One of the things I do pride myself on is the vast amount of Disney knowledge I have accumulated over the years....especially for one who is not employed by Disney. I can thank my brother Justin for this. He worked for Disney as the director of Fairy Tale Weddings for many years and he always answered all of my curiosity questions and gave me opportunities to visit Disney World (for free) more than any person could ever dream. Now people come to me for help in planning their Disney trips, and I love to make suggestions about all things Disney. I love Disney World. Matter of fact, I am at Disney as I type this. One of the things I have done for the past five or six trips in order to keep things new and magical is to do something new during each stay. This trip I've even beefed that up a little and I am trying something new every single day. It's still so easy to find new things to do! For the particular experience that I'm writing about, I decided to eat at the steakhouse at the Contemporary Resort that has been suggested to me several times. It fit with the theme of my blog, it was a steakhouse & I love steak and it was something new....it sounded like a perfect combination to me! I had spent the early part of the day with my lazy butt on the lazy river (and a couple of water slides) at Typhoon Lagoon and then the mid afternoon and early evening at Magic Kingdom. This steakhouse was at the Contemporary and I had plans to go to EPCOT for IllumiNations that evening. So a quick Monorail ride over to the Contemporary had me walking up to the podium to ask for a table. As a side note, I'd like to say this is typically not a wise thing to do...to just show up without reservations. The Disney restaurants book up early and my suggestion is to always book your reservations well in advance. But I've found with a party of one and a "pretty please" and kind smile the cast members will typically try to accommodate. ...but there I was at the podium and was told it would be about an hour and a half wait. I pondered the wait for a second and thought "Let's do it!" So I grabbed my buzzer and went and visited the gift shop and then snuggled into a big soft chair in the lounge. Time actually went by pretty fast, but it was every bit of an hour and a half. I caught up on some phone calls, watched the Monorail zip through the concourse, got to watch the sunset and the full moon rise over Bay Lake all the while thinking about the exceptional steak I was about to sink my teeth into. My mouth was watering.

Always observant of my surroundings, I noticed that there were a lot of kids at this steakhouse...but it is Disney World. This place didn't have the same class and dignity as Le Cellier over at EPCOT in Canada or as the Yachtsman's Steakhouse at the Yacht and Beach Club. But it is Disney and they theme things well, and it certainly looked like something one would find at the Contemporary Resort. I was just getting hungrier by the minute. I had steak on my mind. My Buzzer finally lights up!! So I go to the podium, turn it in and they take me for the grand tour. I opted out of the "family picture" they were giving most families and the hostess showed me the buffet and then the dessert buffet. Hmmmmm....something just doesn't seem right. A buffet at a steakhouse? So I asked the hostess if this was the steakhouse. She chuckled and said "we have some roast beef on the buffet, but the steakhouse is on the 15th floor." Instead of the Concourse Steakhouse....I got Chef Mickey's (which is actually located on the concourse right next to the monorail track.) What is "Chef Mickey's" I asked. It's a Character Dining experience. I had waited an hour and a half for a Character Dining Experience??? Not a steakhouse??? It was a new experience....so I just went with it! I met MICKEY MOUSE!!! And Donald! And Minnie! And Goofy!! They all stopped by my table for a visit! I totally loved it! I felt like an idiot, and a bit Goofy sitting in a character dining experience....a grown man...sitting by himself...but I just went with it and enjoyed the moment.! If you pay for it, you may as well enjoy it! It was sheer joy to see the kids around me look at the characters with such joy and excitement. It was truly sweet. I even got to see some teens totally loose it when they saw Minnie. Teen Boys...not faking it...they were loving seeing the Characters. Disney truly gives people the freedom to be a kid again.

The food was good. Very good. The Carved Roast Beef was seasoned to perfection and the ham was Christmas Day worthy. They had some stir fry veggies and some green beans....and a salad bar.....and some Turkey Pot Pie. If it's going to have Mickey's name attached to it at Disney World, you know it's going to be better than just good! It may have actually been the healthiest meal I had eaten while here.... until the dessert. They have a buffet full of all of these miniature cheesecakes and key lime pies and Chocolate Mousse Mickey's and brownies that all tasted heavenly. Disney knows how to do food, and especially sweets! Oh yeah, did I mention a build your own Sundae bar?? Genius!! This wasn't a Golden Corral buffet - this was incredibly good food with an incredibly fun atmosphere. Did I mention I met Mickey Mouse?? If you are going to Disney and you have kids (or don't have kids) make it to one of the Character Dining Experiences. And if you want fine dining and a great steak, get the name of the restaurant correct....

The best weekend of my life

I feel like I should say something incredibly profound about my college roommates and how deep our friendship runs.  About how when I said, "Hey girls, let's get together for a weekend" they were all down, no questions asked, no matter the cost or the inconvience.  Court (below) hopped on a plane at 5 am followed by a 6.5 hour drive to show us her shining face.  These girls mean everything to me.  I feel like God looked down on me and thought, "You know what?  I'm going to throw some stuff that might be a little tough for you.  At times you might feel like I'm being totally unfair to you and you might even be mad at me.  So to make it up I'm going to give you the best group of girl friends a gal could ever ask you.  They'll help you through it all and keep you grounded and safe." I love these girls like sisters and know they feel the same.  

And now, without further ado, I present to you our weekend.

We got to St. George about 1:00 on Friday and it was party time from the first second.  Can't you tell how absolutely delighted we are?!?

I realize now that I didn't get any pictures of the condo decor.  It was atrocious.  It was like space age meets grandma in the 1980s.  Somehow we loved it.

After we stuffed our faces with Cafe Rio (Hello!  Sal and Court were coming from out of state- you know that means we had to hit Cafe Rio at least once a day), our next destination was the pool.

The five of us laid out in a row to see across the pool from us, a line of boys laid out all in a row.  We yelled over, "ARE YOU ON A BOYS WEEKEND?!?"  "YES!" They yelled.  We yelled back, "WE'RE ON A GIRLS WEEKEND!"  They then invited us to the "rock pool" later that night with them and we said, "Oh, we're flattered, but we're married, thank you very much."  But you know what?  It's nice to know you still got it!  (We wanted to send Mandy, our only unmarried bestie, out with the boys (1 to 6 ratio- HOLLER!)  But she refused.  Missed the boat on that one, Mand!)

After the pool it was shower time so we could hit the tennis courts.  Naturally, we all just hopped in together.

Next up was tennis and there's not much to say about that except for that Amy beat me every time and nothing makes me more mad than being beat by Amy.  I shall have to practice more, my friends!

Dinner was at Larsen's.  While eating I noticed a man spending a lot of time trying to get a stuffed animal from the machine.  I cheered him on because I like to flirt with creepy old man.  When he actually won the stuffed little guy, he gave it to me.  My friends forced me to take a picture with him and I was kind of scared.

Dinner was followed be about six hours of the card game, Bang.  I kid you not.  We are vicious with that game and could play until the sun came up if our bodies didn't beg for sleep.  I am competitive as they come so I was absolutely furious with every single one of my best friends for at least ten minutes during the night, but isn't that what having best friends is all about?

DAY 2
First stop:  The pool.  Naturally.  The weirdest thing happened at the pool.  We were playing and jumping in and being wild and crazy like you should when you're with your besties at a pool on a Saturday afternoon.  The lifeguard kept rolling his eyes on us and trying to sleep.  Finally we yelled to him, "WHY DO YOU HATE US!?" To which he replied, "You're just really annoying."

I'll be!  A seventeen year old telling ME that I'm annoying?  Talk about a role reversal, my friends!

Next stop: Cafe Rio.  I wasn't joking about the eating there every day thing.  For you folks that aren't from Utah, if life ever calls you to this great state make sure you stop at Cafe Rio at least every 24 hours.  It's probably the best thing going for Utah.  The sweet pork is the sweetest, most delicious meat you will ever put in your mouth.  I could eat there every day and never get sick of it.  When you visit Utah email me and I will tell you exactly what to get for a party in your mouth.  Heck, I'll even meet you there to eat with you!  And Utah people, if you don't get to Cafe Rio at least twice a month you are not showing your gratitude to that great establishment!

Next stop:  Hiking and exploring in caves.  One thing I love about my group of girlfriends is that we are all high energy and love to move and play.  Since we were in desert land we thought it only fitting that we take some time exploring like the true little kids we are.  We took glowsticks in the pitch black caves and splattered those bad boys everywhere and then played hide and seek.  If you put the glowsticks all over the cave walls and all over your bodies you can blend right in with the scenery.  It was crazy fun.  If you are ever in St. George you have to do this in Snow Canyon.  Best. Activity. Ever.

I look like a serious midget and I have no idea why Amy is sticking her leg in between mine...

Side note... somehow Amy and I ended up dressing alike for almost everything we did.  We're basically the same person except for I have a slightly better filter than she does and I am not currently breast feeding.

The night ended with Papa John's pizza and dirty Dr. Peppers (coconut Dr. Pepper- have you had one?  They are to DIE for!) and more hours upon hours of Bang!  We only stopped at midnight for our pazuki tradition.  We stopped playing around 2 am and then laid on the bed and talked until 4 am.  Going to bed meant leaving in the morning, and gosh darn it, why can't we all just live together again?

So grateful for these girls- they are one of the biggest blessings in my life.  Can't wait for next year's trip!

And Vanessa, you were so missed!  But I know that little baby dying to come out of your tummy will be worth it!

What could I write tonight?

The weekend has been busy and beautiful and full of all of those things that make you take a step back from your life and catch your breath as you realize how good life is.

Tonight there is much that I could write.

I could write about the hours of nonstop fun with my college roommates in St. George.  The swimming, the tennis, and the talking about life until four in the morning.  I could tell you about those bonds and how strong they are and how sometimes there are people in your life that aren't family but they are family.

I could tell you about how I had to leave said girlfriends at 7 am to get back to hear my sister speak in church at 11 am.  I could tell you that I was speeding and how I got pulled over for going 90 in a 75 and when the police officer asked where I was going I said "church" and he let me off with a warning.

I could tell you about my little sister and how she rocked that missionary homecoming talk today.  I could tell you about what a great public speaker she is and how confident and dynamic a person she is.  I could tell you about how strong the spirit was and I could write about how touched I was and how proud and inspired by her hard word.

I could write about all the extended family who came, not just to support Mary, but to support my mom and our family and my dad who is watching down from the heavens.  I could talk about how death may end a life, but it never ends relationships and how those relationships can continue so sweetly way beyond the grave.  I had to sit back and awe and just look at the people who showed up in droves to support our tiny little big family.

I could write about my cousin who says very seriously to me every time he sees me, "How's your blog going?  I'm sorry I don't read it.  I really never read it.  Sorry."  I don't really care if my cousins read my blog or not except for when they seek me out to tell me that they don't read it.

I could tell you about Hubs who washed dishes for a straight hour.  A MAN, DISHES, AN HOUR.  Doesn't quite seem to fit, does it?  I realize more every day how lucky I am to have such a rock in my life and how important it is that I try my darndest to be a rock back.

I could tell you how I only slept four hours both the nights I was in St. George because when you only get together with your best friends for two days out of the year you are just so stinking excited that you would rather not waste time sleeping.

Yes.  I could write about all of those things.  But I'm not going to.  Instead I'm going to take a scorching hot shower, cuddle up next to Hubs and try my best to remember that no matter how you look at it, we are blessed blessed blessed blessed.

My besties.

My college besties.  Can't even begin to describe my love for them. (Not pictured, Vanessa who will be on bed rest this weekend with a fetus that doesn't like mom to have fun with her girlfriends.  Vanessa you will be so missed!)

When I was living with my best friends- you know, holding incessant prank wars, kissing each other's boyfriends, and coming home late every night to Office marathons and giant tubes of cookie dough- we made a promise to each other.  "Hey!  When we're all grown up and married and stuff we still gotta do this.  At least once a year. We have to have our girls' trip!  We have to always stay friends."

And everyone agreed.

Then a year passsed and another and then somehow four years had passed since college graduation and still no girls' trip.  In January I had an epiphany of sorts- God certainly wasn't going to give me more awesome girlfriends if I couldn't take care of the ones I had.  I looked up a condo in a meeting place for all of us (now living in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico) and texted all my girls  "Meet me in the spring to party it up for a weekend.  Do or die."  Luckily they all said do.

So that's where I'm at this Friday and Saturday.  Laying by the pool, shopping, playing cards, and eating exoribitant amounts of cookie dough and ice cream with my besties.  Friendships like this don't come around every day.

You might also want to read:

+The last time I was with my besties was in September, at Court's wedding.

+And speaking of friends, just why is it so freaking hard to make friends after college?

+It's election time at my school.  I hold my breath and wait for them to be over- they just bring back painful high school memories.

+Three years ago, I wrote this piece:  Me vs McDonald's.  It was weird, I admit.  Luckily, no one read my blog then.

+Two years ago, I tried my hand at poetry.  This confession poem was the best I came up with.

I don't want to clean and you can't make me.

Congratulations Melissa Palmer, you just won yourself $50 to Shabby Apple.
Congratulations Grace Bowles Inman, you just won yourself $50 to J. Crew.
Email me at thelifeofbon@gmail.com and we'll get you two girlies on your way!

It's a beautiful world of blog giveaways, isn't it?!?

INTERESTING THINGS (Keep in my that interesting is subjective, please.)

+I spent two hours today cleaning out my car, inside and out.  Given that it is just a little corolla, the fact that it took two hours to clean should tell you something about the dismal state of the car's cleanliness.

+Speaking of cleanliness, the house is a mess.  For the life of me I can't keep stuff cleaned up around this joint.  Last week I did awesome.  Every night before bed I set the time for 20 minutes and cleaned up until the timer went off.  And the house stayed totally clean.  This week I haven't had the time or energy or incentive to clean up.  It doesn't help that Hubs has less than neat freak habits and also lacks time, energy, and incentive.  (I'm hoping ratting him out on the blog will provide him more of an incentive to clean?  Come on, Hubs. TAKE MY BAIT!)

+ I've had people tell me they like to read my blog even though I write so much.  Funny because I don't think I write very much.  And why would you have a blog anyway if not to write?

+ Today a student came up to me after class and said, "Teacher, how do I get a blog?"  I thought it was about the sweetest thing ever.

+If your're ready to be real jealous I've got a little lady who used to live in Scotland but just moved to Thailand and is now soaking up the sun with a pina colada in hand.  I know, disgusting, right?  I have to admit I love following blogs of people living abroad because it can be so vastly different from life in the states and yet somehow so the same.  I am hoping that one day Hubs and I will have the opportunity to live abroad together, wherever it may be.  Until then, I'll live through Elizabeth!  (Oh, and P.S.  Watch for how her kid looks like a total mini husband.  It is absolutely adorable.)

Hello everyone! This is Elizabeth from The Bradleys! I am so happy to be guest posting on Bon's cyber home!

Two days ago ( at least I think it was two, I am so jet lagged...) we left behind the quiet life by the Cromarty Firth in the Scottish Highlands. We had planned on staying permanently in the UK but after having a complex visa situation ( that makes me irate thinking about) we moved back to Thailand, where we have lived for roughly two years. Quite a contrast!!

One of the movies available on the plane was the latest Bond, which I hadn't intended on ever watching, but I had 5 hours to kill before my next connection. If you haven't seen the movie, let's just say it was actually pretty good and worth watching ( in my opinion). The ending takes place in Scotland, the very place we were leaving, not too far from where we lived. Everyone I meet really loves the country, as do I. Is it the people? In my mind yes: Scots are witty and friendly. The archaic buildings and foliage are also a huge part of the allure, and the Skyfall really played that up.

On the other hand, the winters are pretty terrible. The wind is borderline evil, slapping you hard in the face, even in early Spring. This made staying inside by the fire, sipping a cup of tea or hot chocolate the most amazing, comforting thing ever.

I will always miss the 4 months we spent in Scotland, and wonder if one day we will go back! For now I am happy to be in the land of coconuts and palm trees, sipping an ice cold drink while my daughter plays near me. I would love to have you follow our family adventures on Instagram and on our blog! You can also follow us via Bloglovin'

  

What I wore + What we did at school

(This post idea is stolen from E Tells Tales.  I adore her.)

From left to right:

Shirts:  H&M, Forever 21, Banana Republic (white button up), Gap (cardigan)

Pants:  Walmart, Walmart, Forever 21 (Yes, I found colored skinnys for $9 at Wal-mart- and I bought four pairs!)

Shoes:  Forever Young (All three pairs!)

Seniors:  They bombed their parts of speech test, so it was time for some reteaching. To spice it up I took all the kids outside one afternoon to play a parts of speech game.  It was windy and a little bit miserable, but it was one of those days that is trying so desperately hard to be spring and we want spring so desperately bad in return that I thought we couldn't just ignore her valiant efforts.  ( Her?  His?  Is spring a boy or a girl?!?)

I taped pieces of paper to the wall, each paper with a part of speech on it.  Then, I made the kids line up on the other side of the field.  When I said a word they had to run to the wall and hit what part of speech the word was.  They ate it up, you know they did.

They tested today and did buckets better than the first time they took the test.  PHEW!

We've also been reading The Alchemist, which I am kind of liking less and less.  It starts strong, but the middle is pretty slow and boring.  Today my third period class was harassing me because they've hated all the books I've made them read this year.  I don't know what came over me, a case of the giggles or what, but I just sat up there on my stool and laughed away.  "I know!  It's true!  I have made you read some pretty boring books, haven't I?!?"  And then they all laughed along.  Sometimes when those kids start wanting to attack you it's better to just admit they're right and laugh and then all of sudden we're all on the same team again.
(Senior books we've read this year:  Othello, Catcher in the Rye, Les Miserables, Lord of the Flies.  Those aren't that terribly boring, are they?)

Juniors:  It's my favorite time of year with the juniors... It's Gatsby time!  I always save Gatsby for the spring because I love spring and it feels like this incredible reward that I give myself after a year of putting up with teenage drama.  The Great Gatsby is the most unique book- it is the only book that I like more every time I teach it.  This is my fourth time teaching it and I find myself stoked out of my mind for every junior class period thinking, "Oh, wait until they find out about the mistress!  I can't wait until they realize what a little sneaky devil Gatsby is!  Oh when they see how Tom reacts they are going to FREAK out!"  I threaten my students with classroom exile if they dare look up spoilers or ruin the ending for someone else and boy, do I mean business!  You ruin Gatsby for your classmates, you die.

The reason why I love this book so much is a true mystery to me because I hate every single person in it.  No character is likable, and yet I just can't get enough of the despicable dudes.  Half the time I just sit there pondering who I hate the most.  I find myself totally consumed by Fitzgerald's beautiful language. (I'm convinced there's no better American writer.)  The layers upon layers of text allow me to get something new from the text every time I read it.

We're just about to get to the part where all the shiz starts to hit the fan.  Ohmygosh I can't wait for my students to see what happens! Can you tell yet that I LOVE this book?  (P.S.  It's April's book club selection, so if you haven't yet, get reading!  We will have our discussion on it on April 28.)

Sophomores:  I'm in a total slump with these little dudes.  We're reading Ender's Game and I'm just not into it.  At all.  This is my third year teaching Ender, and certainly my last.  I didn't like it that much the first time I taught it, but my sophomore boys always eat it up.  So I sacrifice myself and my selfish literary passion once a year for a month so that my sophomore boys can have it their way for once, (because those poor sophomore boys really never get what they want in English class, do they?) but I just don't think I can take one more year teaching this book.  Sci-fi is not my genre and Orson Scott Card is in desperate need of a good editor.  I just don't love the book so in turn I don't love reading the book, talking about the book, or writing about the book.  Which is what we do all day in class.

Any killer ideas to spice up some Ender's Game?