A Friday Night, a Gorgeous Sunset, Two Dogs Happy With New Bamboo Bones, A Great Walk and Early to Bed

I admit. I opened the box of orange chocolates I forgot to bring to my graduate students on Wednesday. I ate four pieces (they're tiny, but they were too tempting not to, as I settled into the night), as the dogs went haywire on their new treats. Joanna and I spent most of the day in the office finishing the final edits for POW!: Power of Words, the 6th anthology of teachers and kids from the summer work. We had to hunt Google Docs to the nth degree to find the missing materials.

When I was checking in with my mom, I said, "You should see the sunset tonight. It's tangerine." As we talked, it got deeper and deeper, and when we got off the phone, I finally got a picture of the fire as it settled on the other side of the globe. It was beautiful and this doesn't quite capture it, but I will settle.

Hello, Saturday. Don't tell anyone, but I'm hunkering down to focus on back to back conferences and writing materials that need to be accomplished. I sort of hoped it would rain so I wouldn't feel guilty, but I think I will figure out a plan of action to balance out sun and writing.

I also got my hair "did" at Fade Factory and love the cut. The photos I take don't capture what I think it looks like, but it's looking good.

I absolutely love NCTE and nothing makes me happier than funding all the wonderful teachers I'm able to bring with me - it's their nirvana, their magic and their hope. I'm also meeting with wonderful scholars, too, like Dr. Betsy Bowen and Dr. Shannon Kelly, etc., but it thrills me to no end to push forward the K-12 teachers we are lucky to work with.

In academia, we take advantage of the conference season, but in K-12 education, it's almost an impossibility. I will go to my grave doing all I can for teachers and kids. I'll do my small part in the world to see that they are celebrated, validated and applauded for the awesome work they do.