Autumn & The Lake District

So, the hubs and I went all the way up to Cockermouth in the Lake District for the week. Our first holiday away together after the honeymoon, and I suppose that's meant to make it more exciting, but it was exciting enough, anyway! Simon loves going up there, and seeing his G'ma, so I was more than happy to go, and it was wonderful.

My favourite part of the holiday was seeing the trees just beginning to turn for Autumn. I love Autumn. It's my favourite time of the year. Pumpkin spice lattes, butternut squash soup, cozy scarfs and jumpers, and slippers in front of the fire... although, it doesn't really feel like Autumn, does it? When coming back from University today, I was overheated in the car. It's October, for goodness sake! I don't want an Indian Summer! I just want to get on with the Autumnal-ness.

Anywho, back to the holiday I was talking about... I discovered a few things in the Lakes:

• There is such a thing as eating so much you cannot even think about eating for at least 24 hours. 
• I like photographing the outdoors
• I dislike (even more than normal) visiting endless amounts of bike shops
• Using a hairdryer is quite overrated, and
• Simon and I should not really be allowed to go into small shops. Or dance. Especially not dancing in shops.

Unfortunately, we tend to do the latter a lot. Twice we were spotted for our little dances in the middle of a smaller-than-average shop... The first time was particularly embarrassing because we were dancingk to some 80s sound track in what we thought were tall aisles which would hide us from the public eye. Well, unfortunately, the sales assistant spotted us from her spot at the counter, and, with chin still rested in her hand, leant round to watch us bobbing around. I realised someone was watching and, whilst dancing, looked round and made eye contact with said sales assistant. The normal person would have stopped dancing. I, however, kept dancing and maintain eye contact for about 4 seconds before looking back at what we were examining on the shelf and continuing my jiggle. Eventually I told Simon quietly maybe we should stop...

The second time round, the sales assistant in another shop asked us, "Would you like any help - or are you just enjoying the music?" Cringe.

Life is fun.

Creativity and a bit of Imagination

Today, I thought about my dissertation. Then, my entire being groaned. Then I thought about doing

Creative Impulse by Kim e Sens

some more reading for it. In response, I died a little inside. However, I did do some reading, and I took some time to think and reflect, before throwing down the books and sighing in despair.

I want to base my dissertation around creativity, and what part it has in the classroom. Additionally, I want to research the ways in which moving image is used in Literacy to inspire said creativity within children's writing. I do find all of this interesting, but having had such an amazing summer, I feel slightly unmotivated.

Then I remembered this little TED Talk from Sir Ken Robinson that a friend of mine sent me on our faithful friend, Facebook Messenger:

This was my motivation, and it also made me think about myself and my own creativity. In all honesty, I have a huge imagination. I don't always let this be known, as it can sometimes be a little embarrassing. Sometimes, my imagination is so big that reality and imaginary form into one - even at 23 years old! (My birthday last Thursday was great, thanks for asking.) Often enough, this can cause issues with my outlook on life. There have been a few times where I have imagined having a fatal illness for so long that I suddenly believe I do and fall into a spiral of anxiety. Some of my friends like to tease me (all good natured, of course) about how I am so gullible, but the truth is: in my head, I am imagining that scenario they have made up to trick me and in there, it is not beyond the realms of possibility.

That, and I'm just plain stupid.

It's not all bad though. Having a big imagination is not always a hindrance. Without sounding big-headed, I think sometimes it is a talent to be able to create a whole different world, series of events and characters within the confines of my head. I grew up writing short stories, and now I live them by gaming and sometimes playing MMORPGS.

If I could, I would completely lose myself to my fantasy world, but I know that if I go too far in, it is hard to get back out again. I lose myself to the pretend, and my grasp on reality. It's a real problem for me, you know. I had to seek counselling for a while about it.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is...

I want to be a teacher that can use my imagination and creativity to motivate and inspire children. Maybe sometimes my ideas are not always realistic, and lessons may flop due to the fact that I didn't think about the reality of the situation before initiating the teaching, but I want to be able to show children that it's good to be creative. We need to develop creativity in children, so that our world can continue to develop in new exciting ways! I want to mould writers, artists, musicians and dancers out of my children. I know this is entirely possible, because, as Ken Robinson says: we are born creative - we just grow out of it.

A few more babblings..

Note: Blog posts will not be this frequent, I can assure you. I just have a lot of time on my hands.

So, within the last post I didn't really introduce Polka Dot Beans very well. I only explained why I started it.

What is it going to be about? Will it be around a particular topic? Perhaps something to do with cooking, as it has the word 'beans' in? Or just polka dots?

Well, actually, I think it will be around a few things. My friend, who I talked about in the last post, wanted me to write about married life. Well, yeah. I can do that, but it might get a little boring.

I thought about also writing about little teachy things, as I am in my final year of teacher training. It might be a good idea for me to reflect on things, and I quite like nerdy-tech related resources.

Also: I am a nerd, so maybe I will write about nerdy-tech things, not just resources.

Additionally: I am a Pinterest addict, so, who knows, maybe I will post little trinkets I find within a

blog post? (BTW, how can you not like Pinterest? Just look at these ZUCCHINI PIZZA BITES! Ingenious.)

Anyway. The point is, Polka Dot Beans won't have a particular topic. When I was thinking about what to call my blog, I considered many things, but the one name that came to my head first was Polka Dot Beans, because I reckon that if polka dot beans existed not one of them would be the same as the other - a bit like people.

I think that is how my blog will look. A bit of a cacophany of different bits and bobs that people might find interesting. Who knows?

Hopefully my writing style will improve. I am fully aware that my babbling has no structure to it. It's because I'm very easily distracted, okay?!

Enjoy my first dance, if you really wish to see it.

Jaz xo