Describe your most memorable vacation.

We did the LAX-Sydney route & spent a few days there till we traveled up to Cairns & Port Douglas. Where we went out to the reef. My favorite part of that leg of the trip was the rainforest.

Then we flew from Cairns to Darwin in the Northern Territories & began our long road trip down to Alice Springs. The road trip was amazing, we went to Uluru & went kayaking in nature preserve. Kings Canyon was a beautiful hike in the afternoon. We went into caves & looked at old Earth.

As we approached Alice Springs & Uluru we were again surrounded by other tourists & they had reminders on which side of the road to drive on. Alice Springs was magical in the middle of the desert. People were really friendly & it was laid back.

I’ve seen that much has changed since we were there but I’ll cherish the road trip & the schnitzel we had at this motel in the middle of nowhere.

How do you express your gratitude?

I say thank you to the bus driver & the guy at the store who surprised me. I thank my barista & my sweet husband. I believe that gratitude goes along way.

By having real conversations with the people that make our day better we acknowledge that they have a place. If it’s making our day easier or by putting a smile on our faces.

If you think that your barista doesn’t notice, you are wrong. Or your bus driver who got you safely home. They notice & they remember.

By acting entitled around those who help you, you may miss out on a good recommendation & some juicy gossip. By doing the opposite you gain respect & gratitude & another perspective.

What makes a teacher great?

A good teacher is open & honest & teaches you how to be better at the subject you’re learning.

My favorite teachers are the ones that taught me how to be a better writer. They’d be honest with me about my writing & what was missing in it without putting me down & being childish.

A great teacher inspires you to learn about the subject you are studying & to become passionate about it. A bad teacher doesn’t engage or teach you to think. They do nothing to inspire you or to reach your goals. Demotivational & mean, they often only care about how they think & not their students.

Being a good teacher means you inspire & teach people to be better than they are. A good teacher shows how to grab the stars, they don’t tell you you’ll never reach them.