Summertime

"Summertime... and the livin' is easy..."

~George Gershwin, from Porgy and Bess

While most people would equate summertime as beach/party/snooze-all-day time, for my family and I, it's a different story. The past school year has gone, but there's a lot that needs to be done to prepare for the new one! So it's work as usual, only that it is less hectic than normal and I can look forward to leaving paperwork at the office instead of lugging it home. :)

For me, summertime means a leisurely breakfast in the morning, as opposed to the usual gulp-down-my-coffee-and-pray-the-water's-not-too-hot kind which I subject myself to from June to March. A summer breakfast would be something like this:

Then teaching duties in the morning, followed by handling a stream of inquiries in the afternoon, planning seminars, additional teaching duties... and who knows? Perhaps there's time for a half hour jog around the village before dinner time! And perhaps, a lunch or dinner date with friends during the weekend! No smoke-filled bars, of course... after all, I AM a teacher now.

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Summer is all about bright cheery colors adding new zest to life! Here are a few of my summer blog favorites:

Matchbook Magazine, an online magazine for the classy lady who loves all things smart and beautiful! I could just EAT the layouts, they're that scrumptious!

Number two is Oh Joy! ,the delightful blog of graphic designer Joy Cho (assisted from time to time by various colleagues and her husband as well... isn't that sweet?). Reading this blog gives us a glimpse into the famous cozy, laid-back California lifestyle!

My next link is the personal blog of yet another graphic designer who calls herself Mrs. Lilien. Poets everywhere will be delighted with this page, a rolicking rampage of rhyming cadences! Illustrating the blog owner's philosophy in life through the "Seven Persuasions" instead of the Seven Deadly Sins, she exhorts us with one-liners like "The Persuasion of Making the Mundane Magnificent!"

And of course, nothing beats watching Nigella Lawson videos on YouTube! I especially love the dessert ones. I adore her passion for life which translates to her passion for good food, and how she insists on having nothing less than full-fat milk! The more chocolate, the better! A woman after my own stomach.

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Lest you think I'm a totally decadent creature obsessed with leisure and all things frilly, I do have a few intellectual pursuits as well this summer. :)

Apart from the usual lesson planning for the year ahead, I'm also in the Thesis Writing stage of my graduate studies! Yay! I should have a clear idea of my thesis topic before June starts, so that no time will be wasted once I register for the necessary units. Will be doing quite a lot of serious academic reading... oooh... and a lot of academic writing. Better brush up on my academic jargon and Latin phrases over the next two months as well.

On the un-academic reading side, I'll be reading the James Clavell Asian Saga novels (Taipan, Gai-Jin, Shogun, etc.) since my twinnie bought them and hasn't stopped raving about how unputdownable they are. Yeeees... the Asian Civilization teacher within will out!

I also hope to be able to blog more frequently this summer... say, once or twice a week, just to get the writing juices flowing. Am badly out of practice, as my awkward, halting prose shows!

Here's to a fun-filled yet productive summer for everyone!