Soon, many Americans will be gathering for one of the biggest annual sporting events – Super Bowl Sunday.
In honor of the upcoming festivities, in this post, I’ll share some:
(1) Favorite football-themed lessons, worksheets, games, and music
(2) Favorite game-day recipes
(3) A couple of personal memories of years past
First, the memories.
Football, “Footy,” and I
As a non-sports fan, Super Bowl Sunday is a day where I have fun making fun food and spending time with people I love. I’m that person: the commercial-watching, appetizer-eating, half-time show critic. The only time I’m ever interested in the game is when the Indianapolis Colts are playing.
My biggest Super Bowl memory was Super Bowl XLI (2007) between the Colts and the Chicago Bears. At the time, we were living in Melbourne, Australia. We kept a blog of our adventures back then called Aussie Chaps. Here’s what I said at the time:
Did you think we’d actually miss seeing the Colts play in the Super Bowl just because we live 12,000 miles away? Of course not! We ordered the sports channel for a month just so we could catch the game!
Decorating the piano is a fun visual and tactile activity that I do with every new student.
2 – A Printable
Free download of rhythm variations on the 4-chord pattern. This will be a great reference for my students who are playing worship chord charts. I always walk them through a process that slowly expands the rhythm patterns they use but have never written anything out concrete. I imagine it would look like something similar to what Heather’s done.
I’m back for my third and final installment on how to implement Evernote into your daily life as an independent music teacher.
While I say this is the “final” video in the series, I’m sure there will be much more on Evernote to come here on Piano Pantry as it’s a program for which I’m quite passionate. Can you tell?
This 3-part video series together is less than 40 minutes. If you’re like me, you listen to single podcasts that are longer than that! Most of us likely spend 30-40 minutes each evening watching a show or video to chill out. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of us also spend that much time daily reading blogs or posts on Facebook piano teacher groups.
I can promise that if you give those 30-40 minutes just one day to watch the series, it could potentially change how you handle and organize your studio forever. A strong statement, I know, but I believe it with my whole heart, and well, if you know me, you know that for the most part, I say what I feel!
The following is a breakdown of what you will see in part 3.
1:10 A brief explanation of the available desktop client, web client, and app.
1:55 How I use Evernote compared to Notepad, Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive.
2:55 Features and demonstration of the three account levels and key features I use the most including forwarding emails directly into Evernote, the powerful PDF, and office search functionality, and presentation mode.
7:55 Integrated Apps: Skitch, Scannable, Web Clipper, and Penultimate including short iPhone and iPad demonstrations.
12:05 Three reasons and a demonstration of why I believe using tags to organize Evernote is better than using individual Notebooks.
14:40 Layout options, creating shortcuts, and sequential ordering of notes using symbols, numbers, and letters.
Brilliant recital idea.Engaging students directly in their own experience and learning process is so important but can be hard. This is a perfect way to do so.
I often struggle with finding off-bench music lab activities for my youngest students (ages 5-7). Since I have one student doing lab and one in a lesson simultaneously, they have to, for the most part, be able to function on their own. If a student doesn’t read well yet, that makes it even harder.
In comes MLT and the idea of acculturation – being absorbed in and hearing music in a variety of styles, meters, timbres, instruments, and modes. Viola! One lab I rotate now is purely listening (15-20 minutes). It’s simple – they listen to music while drawing freely in their personal art book and they love it!
For many, the month of January is an easy checkpoint to stop and re-focus our eating habits after the holidays. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so.
Even when extra conscious of maintaining healthy living over the holidays, a reboot/refresh feels good in the weeks following. I’m usually sick of sweets and crave vegetables more than ever.
This year, rather than focusing on what I shouldn’t eat – like, for example, trying to avoid cards and/or sugar, I want to shift my attention to what I SHOULD be eating. How can I get one more serving of veggies into my day? Did I eat at least one piece of fruit?
More than any other time of the year my husband and I find ourselves eating at home the majority of the time in the first couple of months of the year. If fact, last year, I recall eating at home EVERY meal in January.
I think it was more about the challenge than anything, but we did, and it was great! In doing so, I discovered some of the recipes I’m about to share with you today.
I wouldn’t call myself a recipe creator but more of a recipe “scouter” and “critic.” Ha! I love trying lots of recipes and really work to find good ones that I can then confidently share with others.
There are 30 recipes linked below grouped into 5 categories: breakfast, soup, mains & sides, salads, sweets & snacks.
Since we all know the term “healthy” can mean different things for different people, just know that most of these recipes lean toward lots of vegetables and lower in carbohydrates.
I rarely buy pre-made foods but I recently saw a recommendation for frozen breakfast sandwiches and we ended up really enjoying these.
For a breakfast sandwich, 220 calories is pretty good.
Banana Split Smoothie
I’m really picky about smoothies. This one is my favorite by far, to the point I literally crave it. The recipe is from a devotional book I read last year called Love and Care for the One and Only You. Throw in a handful of spinach for an extra boost.
6 to 9 oz vanilla unsweetened or plain almond milk
1 to 2 ice cubes
1/2 banana
3 large frozen strawberries
1 T. almond butter
1/2 serving chocolate protein powder
1/2 serving vanilla protein powder
Soup
Get your Collard Greens on with this Pot Likker Soupfrom Add a Pinch
The recipe calls for Kielbasa sausage but I find it too fatty. I just use basic Eckrich Skinless Smoked Sausage. I love cooked cabbage so this one is a big winner for me.
This fruit salad could be easily adapted using a variety of fruits. I didn’t use the mint because I’m not a huge mint person. I just used the juice of an orange rather than store orange juice.
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until well combined. Refrigerate the bowl for 30 minutes so the mixture is easy to handle.
Scoop dough into tablespoon-sized portions and roll into balls. Place balls in an air-tight container and store them in the fridge or freezer until ready to eat.
Did you find anything here you’re particularly excited to try?
Do you have any favorite healthy recipes? Share them in the comments!
Last week Drew and I took a three-day getaway to Pennsylvania. We had our eyes set on Hershey and the Yuengling factory tour in Pottsville – yes, I spelled it right, it’s really “Pottsville.” (For those of you who may be wondering what Yuengling is, it’s a beer made in Pennsylvania and my husband’s favorite). He was thrilled when he found out it’s coming to Indiana in February!
This photo is in front of the factory.
This one is right on the other side of the street and is their newly remodeled museum/store/tasting building. I just had to show you because I thought the front of the building was beautiful!
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While on our trip I was able to catch up on some leisure reading including this crazy but true Mystery in Six Parts.
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With eighteen hours in the car, we also listened to this podcast on 99% Invisible about the NBC Chimes. I figured since the NBC chime-theme is what many use to identify a Major 6th, you may find it interesting.
There are three times each year that the seasons give me a chance to feel refreshed and invigorated.
The last week of May, after the school year lesson schedule comes to an end, I’m preparing for a lighter summer schedule.
The middle of August, gearing up for Fall lessons to resume (this is the time I feel most refreshed and in order).
NOW. The turn of the year when I have a chance to reflect and re-consider goals, organization, and life in general.
Many of us, during at least one of these three points in the year, realize it’s time to refresh and reorganize our studios.
January is one of my slower months of the year. It’s cold; there are no holidays, conferences, festivals, or recitals.
It’s the perfect time to rethink how you work, including organizing your studio physically and digitally.
Evernoteis the perfect program to help independent music teachers in this area. Today, I will walk you through the perfect little tool that will be your best friend on the internet and your mobile device for capturing and organizing life – the Evernote Web-Clipper.
Congratulations to Kristen Rendall, winner of December’s Piano Safari giveaway!
Here are a few fun stats as we wrap up our last episode of Friday Finds for the year.
Since Piano Pantry’s kick-off in March of 2016, I’ve shared 293 finds, and received 53 comments on 36 Friday Finds posts for 2016.
Can I tell you something? I LOVE it when you comment – even if it’s a short one! As a blogger, you can see the stats, but the numbers are just that – numbers. It’s getting a chance to read the words and thoughts of you, my readers and getting to interact with you that makes it so much more fun, so keep it up in 2017!
You would think after sharing 293 things I would be completely out, but quite the contrary. Absorbing content is something I love doing and I promise to only ever share finds that I feel are completely worth your time to check out.
Here’s what’s on my mind as we take a turn into the new year:
As 2016 comes to a close, I’m looking back at this past year and can’t believe what a whirlwind and blessing it has been. It’s been a year of opportunity, growth, challenges, and firsts.
Today I would like to share with you a personal reflection as well as the best posts from Piano Pantry in its first year.
Goal-Setting
This past year, I decided not to make any “New Years Resolutions” but to instead, sit down and set specific goals for myself. Evernote guru Michael Hyatt wrote a post How Evernote Can Help You Achieve Your Goals in 2015that I used as inspiration.
Speaking of Evernote if you missed it, check out my post on using Evernote as an independent music teacher.
One of those goals was to start this blog and my studio website by March 1 (the latter of which I accomplished this summer). This site’s first post, “Welcome to My Studio”,was published on March 20, 2016. Check!
I often struggle with finding off-bench music lab activities for my youngest students (ages 5-7). Since I have one student doing lab and one in a lesson simultaneously, they have to, for the most part, be able to function on their own. If a student doesn’t read well yet, that makes it even harder.
