Linky Party: Five for Friday!

I decided to join in Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five for Friday Linky Party for this week! If you'd like to join in the linky party, head over to her blog here. Grab the button, include her link in your post, then go back and add your link to the linky party. It's that easy. Here is my Five for Friday this week!

1. I finally got a set of the Paper Mate Ink Joy Gel Ink Pens!

Ok, maybe this is lame, but in the Planner Babe community, these pens are the gold standard. I had the ball point which were ok, but I kept hearing and seeing these on IG from my planner friends. They were all raving about them. I was concerned about bleed through and smudging so that's why I hadn't bought them yet. Then target had them on sale for less than $3! I keep seeing everyone grabbing the set of 14 pens from Target and I was so jealous because the nearest Target is about 45 minutes away from me. These pens usually run $20 or more depending on how big the set it. I commented on Janille's post and she offered to pick me up a pack! By that time the price had gone up to a little more than $5, but even then, it was a steal. I got my pens in Tuesday and I have to agree with everyone about how great these pens are! They write so well and they dry instantly so there's no smudging in my planner. I went to my local Walgreen's on Thursday and they had a set of 25 pens for 13.99 (regular price $35) so if you're hunting a good sale for these you might want to try there.

2. I finally got a great shot of the full moon!

So if you follow me on instagram you know that I am a space nerd. I love reading, looking and talking about anything in the sky, but my favorite is the moon. I'm a complete selenophile! I recently finished reading "A Briefer History of Time" and am currently reading "Pale Blue Dot." Both of these are fantastic reads! Anyway, I tried taking a picture of a full moon a few months back and it was a total fail even though I have a really good camera on my Samsung Note 5. It has a 16 MP camera, but even then my picture was just a yellow ball of light. So I decided to search the internet to improve my night time photography skills. I started playing with the settings in the Pro Mode on my camera. I found the key to a successful shot. Slow the shutter speed down (for my particular camera phone 1/500 works best) and don't zoom. Instead snap the picture and then go back and crop. If you must zoom, make sure you long press the object on your camera screen so that the focus locks onto it. Tuesday, July 19 was this months full moon and it's called the Thunder Moon. I got a really good shot of it and I was so excited! I've decided to photograph the moon all throughout this month to turn into a gif of the lunar phases. I can't wait to keep perfecting my night time photography skills.

3. Celebrating Tim Duncan Day!

So I am a HUGE San Antonio Spurs fan and the announcement of Timmy's retirement wasn't unexpected, but it still makes me sad. In honor of his retirement and 19 years with the Spurs, San Antonio declared July 21, 2016 as Tim Duncan Day. Although I don't live there anymore, I love my city and honored Timmy D by wearing his jersey. I'm looking forward to the new season, but will definitely missing seeing #21 out on the court!

4. Back on my TpT groove!

So I started my Teacher's Pay Teachers store more than a year ago, but with new changes each year (changing grade levels and campuses and team teaching with ESL) I haven't been able to keep up with my work. I decided new grade level, new school theme, this calls for creating some new materials! So I've recently been adding some things on my store for my new Superhero theme this year. I love comic book movies. My daughters and I have seen every single moving in the X-Men series, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the new DC movies (except no Deadpool for the girls!) and I watch all the comic TV shows: Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Agents of Shield, DareDevil, and Jessica Jones. I can't wait until August 5th when Suicide Squad comes out! Anyway, I was already thinking of changing my classroom theme which has been animal print/safari for about 3 or 4 years now. Superhero or Spurs were the two I was deciding between when our campus announced our campus theme would be Superhero. Perfect! Now to make some new materials. As a teacher, you want your classroom to look great, but it can be really expensive to purchase everything. That's why I love TpT because there are so many great graphic designers who offer materials so that you can create your own resources. I've already begun posting on my store so take a look here as I'll be adding more materials.

5. It's Friday!

I teach summer school, but we only work Monday-Thursday so today I'm enjoying my Friday by lounging around at home binging on Netflix while I work on some new products and work in my planner. I hope all of you have a good weekend. See ya next week!