It’s February – so that means its Black History Month and my Birthday Month. Yep I celebrate my birthday all month long! As a lover of education and books I want to highlight African American authors this month in celebration of black history month. I do hope that you enjoy these posts and add some of these books to your at home library!
I wrote a blog post for my job and it was shared on our work website so I want to share it with all of you. This is a great post about creating an effective story time at home- and of course – share the post. It does not have anything to do with Black History Month – but I wrote it and I want to share it.
Yes! I am back in the states…I’ve been back for a little over 8 months! It’s hard to believe its been almost a year … but it has! Life at home has been lovely and I am enjoying being with family and friends. Thank You For Following my online journey. I hope you are well. As always feel free to comment, like, share the post!
The kids are home. They are home all day! They need things to do! Go online to see what activities are happening at your local library and community center. You might find some cool things going on.
School is already out for a lot of people and where I work we finish on 12/22- it feels like its forever away. I shared some fun reads in my last post so I hope you find those helpful. Also, I know the kids need some things to do. I am sharing resources that I have in my TPT Store (Teachers Pay Teachers) – I do hope that you can use these resources.
And once you have purchased and downloaded – you have it to use again and again and again!
MAKE THE MOST of this time that you have at home. Whether you have one day, one week, two weeks off- whatever the amount of time it is- cherish it – make amazing memories- and enjoy being with one another!
Thank You For Following my online journey. I hope you are well. As always feel free to comment, like, share the post!
Yep. You know it. I did it. I wrote a children’s book. There were some formatting issues to fix, so I hope for it to all be ready soon so that you can buy the print version. As soon the print version is ready I will share here.
Until then, if you are so inclined feel free to download the ebook on Amazon.
Also…we are jut 5 days away from Christmas. I wanted to share with you some reads for this time. In no particular order here are 5 books you can read to your children, nieces, nephews ….the kids in your life!
1: Turkey Claus
2: The Snowy Day
3: Jackie’s Gift
4: How The Grinch Stole Christmas
5: Fritz the Farting Reindeer
If you have a favorite Christmas/holiday/winter themed book please reply and share! I’d love to build a fun list to keep sharing each year.
Happy Holidays!
Thank You For Following my online journey. I hope you are well. As always feel free to comment, like, share the post!
We are just days away (Friday, December 10, 2022) from the release of my first book. This is so very exciting. I just want to share the link again to get the e-version of my book. Print copies should be available for order in the next 2-3 weeks! I appreciate your patience with this.
More options and platforms for purchase to come soon. I am thrilled to share this work with everyone.
Thank You For Following my online journey – ABROAD IN SHANGHAI – and now here back in the States. I hope you are well. As always feel free to comment, like, share the post!
You can copy and paste the above link into your web browser. It is currently available for pre-order and on December 10th your order will be delivered to you. Currently, my book is only available on Amazon and will be delivered to your Kindle Library. I am working on having it available on other platforms for purchase!
Please feel free to share this blog post and information about purchasing my book with others. It means so much to me.
and it will take you directly to Amazon. Pre-Order is until Dec 10 and on December 10 its ready for anyone to order and receive. Just remember to download/purchase the book on the device you would like to read it on.
Thank You For Following my online journey. I hope you are well. As always feel free to comment, like, share the post!
If you don’t know… It’s the day before December 1…. can you believe it’s the end of November and that tomorrow is the first day of the last month of this year? What a year it has been. My year started with me celebrating and brining in New Year 2022 in Zhuhai, China making gin at a gin distillery, In February I celebrated my last birthday in Shanghai with a bang, and March to May was an up and down rollercoaster of citywide quarantine-lockdown life in Shanghai, with a BIG decision to move home. Do I miss Shanghai, of course, at times – but I am still happy with the decision I made to leave. I have been here, home, in the states since mid-May and it has been wonderful being home with my family, friends, BBQ, tacos, DR PEPPER whenever I want, and elote!
Tomorrow is December and great things are happening in December … look out for a post from me to see whats happening with me this month! Any cool things happening with you? Please share with me… I would love to know about it.
I end every post the same …. life is a journey and I am going to enjoy it.
Thank You For Following my online journey. I hope you are well. As always feel free to comment, like, share the post!
I am not sure what happened, but this post was supposed to “POST” last week. I checked my posts and I didn’t see it. But I am excited to get back to writing, blogging, and sharing about the journey that is my life! Yes- I titled this blog “K-Marie- Takes Shanghai” in the spring of 2017 before I left for China – and I did take Shanghai! I took it by storm and really enjoyed living there. I will be honest, living there, through COVID was difficult and challenging and their requirements and restrictions for daily living are tough and intense to say the least! But, I did it and to say the least, I am HELLA DOPE for that.
Well I moved back to the states and my relationship with my blog pretty much became non-existent. I hope to bring some consistency back with it. All I can say is that I am very thankful and happy to be at home with my family, friends – tacos, BBQ, and elote! Life has been a whirlwind since I have been back, but a good twist of it all. The breeze and the winds have been working well in my favor.
You know that Ms. K loves kids, students, school, and being a part of the education system. This year I took a position working on elementary school campuses helping them with their reading/literacy skills. It’s very different from my life as the classroom teacher, but I am really starting to enjoy it so far! One thing I know for sure, the ability to read is life changing. You know, as well as I, that reading is a part of all of our school subjects and our daily living – even if its just being able to read a menu. I am thrilled to be a part of the process to develop reading and literacy skills for young learners.
Never Stop Reading. Never Stop Dreaming. Never Stop Reading. Never Stop Dreaming.
I have said it before and I say it again, thank you for following my journey! I had some really amazing experiences living abroad and I am so happy to share them here. I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT REGRET living abroad. I wouldn’t change it for anything and I do plan to share more of my lockdown thoughts so you can have a peek into what it was like (for me) living abroad, in China- Shanghai, China, during COVID.
I want to connect you to a few previous posts that I have done that you may find helpful
I am so happy to share that I wrote a children’s book! I have been working on this project for so long and now I am ready to share it with the world. Check out the cover below!!!
Yes! My book has two covers …. why do you ask? WHY NOT! This is the beauty of creating something that really showcases who you are and what you love!
Who Am I? Besides the obvious (a beautiful multi-faceted Black Woman) – I am a teacher
What Do I Love? KIDS! Anyone who knows me knows that I love kids. I love being an aunt, a teacher, and hanging out with young learners.
I really enjoyed working on this project and even having friends daughter put her talents to work and design the front cover of the book. She went through edits and edit drawing and working on what the cover could look like and even back and forth with a digital illustrator to take her drawing and make it a digital image! Once she was pleased we went with it. My sweet little niece designed the front cover and I absolutely love it.
I promise to share here with the book is ready for purchase! I have shared tips for the classroom here on my blog and here are two links to previous posts. I look forward to sharing my completed work with all of you in just a few weeks and hope that you can support me!
I wanted to share some thoughts from my journal from when I was in Lockdown. I thought I had a Day 60 post but I have – Day 50/54/57/58/63/69 – I wrote some thoughts down when I thought about it. I really wanted to mark this time and not forget this one of a kind experience I went through in Shanghai. Below are my thoughts from April 30th – my 50th Day of lockdown and next you will find my thoughts form today! My 60th day of being home in Dallas. Read and Enjoy….
Long Post from Day 50 of lockdown and Day 60 of being home!
Today is day 50 of being at home. In the last 50 days I have had 19 Covid tests. I’m not sure what this achieved since we are not allowed to go anywhere or leave home.
Wait…. I have left home
On Day 48 my apartment complex received passes to go outside. Yes passes. To control how many people are out AM/PM. I went for a bike ride. Alone. Everything is alone these days. Biked about 5 kilometers then returned home.
By that evening, these passes were invalid and we were told not to go outside anymore. I have not heard of one case in my building or in my immediate community but we are not allowed outside. We just keep taking tests. I have had a test everyday since April 17 and sometimes more than one in the same day.
This is all so very exhausting and we have no idea 🤷🏾♀️ when things will look up.
So today. On day 50. I of course took another at home self test. My results are still negative. And I am at home with my streaming apps and my books.
Wow! Scrolled in my phone to find any images from this day. I had this. I probably shared this update on social media.
Me and my pass to be outside… I kept some of these passes. This is as part of history. I cant wait to share with a grade school class about my experience during Shanghai’s lockdown.
Wow! Today makes day 60 of me returning back to the states. I am doing so well in Dallas. Living in Shanghai was amazing. Like a dream- but after five years my time came to an end.
I’m ecstatic being back home. I am back with my family, friends, church community, and all the foods and snacks that I love so much.
Bluebell Y’all/ Bluebell!!!
They turned one of my favorite treats into ice cream….
life just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter
I’m ready for Fall Yall!
What’s the toughest part? This heat! This Texas heat is no joke and we have had a couple weeks of consistent triple digit heat. If you’re a person who enjoys walking or running you need to do it EARLY morning or late evening when the sun sets because it’s extra warm by 7:59 AM. 8AM on the dot you’re working up a sweat. To combat the heat?!? Stay inside with AC! Ice water! Slurpees from 7-11 – Sno-Cones – Ice cream – Swim days (if you can even make it the very HOT outside) and naps when you’re tired.
Being home has been great. Last month I went zip lining with my friends, a vacation with my sisters and niece, and that was all well and great and now I’m settling into my work & daily life here.
Reunited with my family!out zip lining in Plano, Texaspreparing to go down the last zip line!
I’ve started a new job & even decided on where I’ll live (since I’m currently living with family). It was a HUGE LEAP OF FAITH making the decision to move and live and do life in Shanghai. It was a BIG LEAP OF FAITH moving home. Both leaps great and needed for my life. I made some moves with my time in Shanghai and they helped to change my life. I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish while abroad and I did them all and more. I am beyond proud of myself.
+Pay of debts ✅
+Save for my future ✅
+Make great life long friends ✅
+Travel the world ✅
-Covid hit and I didn’t get to see all of the new countries that I planned on visiting, but I did see a lot of China- and how cool is that?
+Grow and develop in my position and career as a teacher and educator ✅
+Try new foods ✅
+Smile A Lot ✅
….and then some (things that happened but I didn’t plan on them happening)
+I received my Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard University
+I was given a raise and promotion from my school- Shanghai HD Bilingual School
+I visited closed to half the provinces in China
+I made it to the top of Yellow Mountain ⛰ (preciously shared one my blog) – a hike that took about six hours with a lot of stops but I finished it!
+I received an award for a writing contest where so shared my experience “Home Away From Home”
+I received the “Game Changer” award from my “home away from home” – my Black community in Shanghai
+I received top medical care for some health issues I was dealing with
So much happened that I never expected or imagined to happen. I’m so thankful to God for His protection and hand over my life! I’m thankful for my time in Shanghai and I am so happy and thankful to be home.
Lots of stories and sharing to come.
Wow! I have been home sixty days.
I’ve accomplished so much in these two months and there is nothing but Greatness to come.
“life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”
– Hellen Keller
Oh and since I’ve been home I have of course been to a PJ Morton concert! Here’s a song off of his latest album ‘Watch the Sun’ – the song is title “My Peace” Enjoy
….you know what I do! and I plan on enjoying all the good things in the hours, days, and weeks to come!
all smiles at a cafe in Shanghai
You deserve all the good things….
As my time was ending in Shanghai, I met a sweet lady from S. Africa who goes by KG. It was a lot for me to take in at first because I too go by KG – but, we both got use to seeing our initials in the same group chat and using context to know when someone was sending one of us a message. KG must be one of the sweetest people I have ever met & and I am really bummed that I met her in my last weeks of my time as an expat in China. On the bright side, through the vehicle of technology we can stay in touch with one another.
Recently the two of us KG’s were chatting online and I was catching her up on my life back in Texas and she was catching me up on her life in Shanghai and towards the end of the conversation she said “KG – You deserve all the good things” and when she told me that – I am happy it was through an audio note so I could hear it – I was so encouraged. She is right! I do deserve all the good things. I’m thankful for the reminder and the encouragement.
Soooooooooo there is so much to share with all of you and I will! I want to share about my experience during Shanghais ’22 Lockdown- But – – I am home in the States. No longer is it K. Marie takes on Shanghai- She took it on (so I GUESS a new name for the blog coming soon) – and she did great and amazing thing while there.
I gave five years of my life to that city and there were so many great moments and there were some very low and tough moments. COVID has absolutely changed the world and everything that we do and how we operate. I don’t regret my time in Shanghai at all, it just came to an end. It felt a bit abrupt – but sometimes life can be hard and abrupt. I have been home for 48 days and I have been at peace. Shanghai took a serious toll on me in the last three months. As COVID numbers spiked the city went into a serious and intense lockdown. Shanghai/China’s lockdown is unlike that of any other country, and I have some thoughts I wrote in my journal that I want to share soon about that. I wanted to take some time to get settled at home and adjusted to life back with my friends and family. All is well with me, and I do pray that all is well with you! I look forward to sharing with you about my last weeks in China and about all that is to come for K. Marie!I’m so happy you’re following my blog. Who knows what I will take on next?
Thank You KG for encouraging me. It makes me think of this verse- John 10:10 – …. I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.I plan to live my life and live it abundantly!
@The Press Cafe & Restaurant in Shanghai China- taken in February 2022
@Jingan Temple, in Jingan District in Shanghai,China – taken in February 2022
@ YuYuan Gardens in Shanghai, China- taken February 2022
Before the city closed I took some pictures at various sites around the city. I’m so glad I did this before the 2022 lockdown started. These will be great memories.
FEARLESS in SHANGHAI 