Too Cute

Really? On Easter Sunday?

After reading my syllabus today to figure out what my next assignment is I came to the realization that we have a paper due on Easter Sunday. From the start I have been extremely somewhat annoyed that all of our work is due on a Sunday, which isn’t technically part of the school week. I really don’t see how that should be/is allowed, and now this! Many people, not just Christians, attend church on Easter Sunday and celebrate with their families. I am surprised she would be that insensitive to the students in the class. Guess I’ll have to turn mine in early.

Very True

“What I expect from my male friends is that they are polite and clean. What I expect from my female friend is unconditional love, the ability to finish my sentences for me when I am sobbing, a complete and total willingness to pour their hearts out to me, and the ability to tell me why the meat thermometer isn’t supposed to touch the bone.”
- Anna Quindlen

I read this quote today is this month's Real Simple magazine. Isn't it true of all girls?

The Best Kind of Day

I usually like Saturdays but today was especially great because I didn't have any grad school work to do! So, what did we do? The boy and I had a breakfast date at Panera then went to the local farmers market to get all the fresh fruits and veggies we needed. The weather was beautiful and it was a relaxing morning. It was exactly what I needed.

With some of the veggies I made some homemade salsa.
Here is the recipe:
3 tomatoes
1 small green bell pepper
handful of cilantro
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 of a jalepeno
salt and pepper to taste

I put each ingrediant throught the food processor instead of dicing it up because it saves time, which I usually don't have enough of (until summer comes)!

What do you think?

I saw this Lily Pulitzer Jeep the other day and thought it was hilarious, but very cute!

This looks really good right now

I officially don't think I can ever have children of my own and be a teacher. I tried to babysit my nieces last night, notice I said tried, because the whole thing was a disaster. If I never take another field trip again with my class I will be happy and at the moment done is the only word to describe me. It's just been one of those days or weeks. Thank you for letting me vent, I needed to!

Take One, Take Two, Take Three, Take ?

So, if you were doing an important grad school project wouldn’t you think it was important to check and see if the tape was recording as you assessed the student? Needless to say I did not and have definitely learned my lesson. I went through three tape recorders, then after some serious stressing and a little bit of freaking out, I found one that worked. A little flustered, but thankful, I did the assessment over. All I have to say is four more assignments and I am done for the summer…YEA!

In less than 4 months I will be in...

China. After months of uncertainty, we are definitely going to be heading out in July to teach for 2 weeks. We are excited about our second voyage to this very foreign and interesting country, except for the more than 24 hour plane ride, you would have to be crazy to be excited about that. I have already started making a packing list in my head! Last year I didn't bring nearly enough clothes, so this year I will definitely remedy that. Washing clothes by hand was an adventure of its own, as I am sure you could imagine.

Here was our Best of China list from last year:

1. Spinach Feta Pizza

2. The two places that served coffee

3. The adorable kids

4. Green Lake Park

5. Feeding a lion with meat on a fishing pole

6. Dressing up in traditional Chinese costumes

7. Chinese card games

8. PB&J

9. Buying cheap electric fans

10. Sprite

11. Raincoats

12. Fresh lime/lemonade drinks

13. New Chinese words

14. Western restaurants

15. Our class

Out with the old, on with the new

I had thought about changing my banner to make my blog a little more fun. So I began searching on my computer and I found a great software program that came with my computer. After playing around with it for a little bit I had a new banner. What do you think?

SHOCKED!

Call me old fashion, but I don't think girls should wear pants to a wedding. So, I went to a wedding today, and saw a lady in pants, and not just any lady, but the mother of the bride! I couldn't believe it. I didn't see anyone else wearing pants (except for about 80 guys, which of course is acceptable). I guess if you're paying for the wedding, anything goes!

How long?

I was at my mom's house yesterday to drop off things for her neighborhood garage sale, and the next thing I know, she has me upstairs looking at all my old bridesmaids and prom dresses asking me which ones I want to get rid of! Ordinarilly, I can get rid of anything without regret. I am just not a saver, and I really don't like clutter. However, yesterday I found myself saying, "but that was from my sister's wedding," or "that one was my favorite." I think mom was shocked, she kept saying, "Are you ever going to wear them again?" and of course the answer is "no". I did pretty well though; I am letting her sell two of them. How long should I keep this stuff? I really will never wear it again! What is wrong with me?!

What Not To Wear?

I am going to a wedding this weekend and am tempted to wear this dress. I have only worn it once (to my rehersal dinner almost 2 years ago), but am thinking it might be a little too springy for March. I might need to go back into the closet and stare at my dresses some more until one of the jumps out at me!

Apparently I have NO life...

at least according to my grad school professor. After reading my syllabus to find out what my assignment was for this week I now know that she thinks that I have nothing better to do than read for her class. Most of the time our assignments consist of a chapter or two in our text then responding to it, but not this week. I have to read 120 pages in one book and chapter 3 in a different text meaning that I can forget about doing anything else besides reading or working on not one, but two assignments for this week. Ordinarily I don't consider myself a complainer, however today, I think I am allowed to because that is a ridiculous amount of reading my friends.

I am addicted to...

Norman Love Chocolate! One of my friends introduced the boy and me to it about a year ago and there was no turning back! There is no other chocolate like it and I have officially become a chocolate snob (to the point where Godiva is just okay...kind of sad, huh?). Thankfully the factory is about 30 minutes from our house, so we have a good excuse to go every once in a while and get our fix (like we did this afternoon). If you get some you must try pb&j, apple, and Venezuelan bitter, they are the best (at least in my opinion)!

Discovery

The boy and I got to see the space shuttle launch tonight at 7:43. This was the best of the four awful pictures I took. It was a pretty amazing sight.

Boring Hair-itis

I am suffering from a major case of boring hair-itis I haven't had my hair cut in months and it looks awful no matter what I do to it. So, I was super excited as I pulled my new Natural Health magazine out of the mailbox this evening and on the front cover was "Secrets to Full, Thick Hair". I immediately started reading about all the things I could do to improve my hair. Seeing as I felt that I needed to do something with my hair sooner rather than later, I chose one of the remedies that I had all the ingredients in the house (it only had one ingredient...apple cider vinegar). The magazine said to heat up 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar, let it cool, and massage it into your scalp, then wrap your hair in a towel for 30 minutes and rinse. Seems easy right? Well, lets just say that patience isn't my strong suit, therefore, the whole let it cool thing didn't happen and as a result I have a red forehead and neck, not to mention that I got some of the vinegar in my eye...OW! If my hair is not gorgeous tomorrow after all of this I will be a little sad.

Why couldn't I say no?

Next time someone tries to hand me a free cookies and cream milkshake from Chick-fil-A I give anyone in my life permission to physically pry it out of my hand immediately before I take that first wonderful sip. I had already eaten my dinner, I was about to walk out the door, I should've kept walking, but I didn't. So much for having self-control!

Picky, Picky

So apparently at the ripe old age of 27 I have already become set in my ways. About a year ago I started eating Cascadian Farms Oats and Honey Granola every morning for breakfast and didn't realize how attached I had become until it was sold out at Publix last Saturday. Now being the flexible girl that I thought I was, I immediately picked out another granola that looked similar and checked out. Well, come to find out that I am not flexible and the new granola tasted a little too much like paper (not that I know what paper tastes like). After three days of trying to choke down the new granola (so as to not be wasteful) the boy couldn't take it any more and went to Target today and bought me not one, but two boxes! Of course now the new granola might never get eaten. Maybe I can use it in a recipe...hmmm. I am thinking maybe this Rachael Ray recipe.

Do I really think that?

After a crazy end of the week/weekend I was actually ready to get back to work this week and I can't believe that I am saying it. Most people live for the weekends, actually, I usually live for the weekends. However, starting Thursday and going through Sunday it was ten times crazier than a normal work week and I didn't even have a grad school paper due. I was so ready for life to get back to normal (or as normal as it gets). Of course, now that I have said this, I am probably going to be ready for the weekend this weekend and not want to go back to work on Monday...I guess we'll see!

Funny, Funny

I got this hilarious email today from one of my good friends. Enjoy!

Two hillbillies walk into a restaurant. While having a bite to eat, they talk about their moonshine operation.

Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. After a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress.

One of the hillbillies looks at her and says, 'Kin ya swallar?' The woman shakes her head no.

Then he asks, 'Kin ya breathe?' The woman begins to turn blue and shakes her head no.

The hillbilly walks over to the woman, lifts up her dress, and quickly gives her butt cheek a lick. The woman is so shocked that she has a violent spasm and the obstruction flies out of her mouth.

As she begins to breathe again, the Hillbilly walks slowly back to his table.

His partner says, 'Ya know, I'd heerd of that there 'Hind Lick Maneuver' but I ain't niver seed nobody do it!'

Black Tie Event

The boy and I spent much of the week getting ready to go to our first black tie event as a couple. He went and rented a tux (originally he got a traditional one with a cummerbund, so I made him go back and reorder one with a vest…so much cuter!) and I found a great dress (that was made for a girl who was at least 6 feet tall, so I got it hemmed…I am 5’3 on a good day). So, how did it go? Read below!

Dear Director of the Gala,

Here are some tips for next year’s event:

1. Have the silent auction in a bigger room, so that everyone is not bumping into everyone else and spilling their drinks (I think I must have had about 5 get close to pouring all over my new BCBG dress, it’s a good thing it was only close or I might have lost it…as most girls would. Plus I don’t even drink!).

2. It would be nice to be able to carry on a conversation during dinner; therefore, the music needs to be much quieter so that I can actually hear what they are saying. I would also liked to have not shouted at people the whole evening. I still have the music ringing in my ear a day later (not in a good way).

3. Can the hired entertainment please have more clothes on? As much as I am sure that many of the men enjoyed the skimpy little outfits they wore, I don’t think the wives appreciated it very much.

4. Not everyone enjoys the same types of food, some choices would be nice (especially for those of us who didn’t eat lunch so to ensure we would look good in our dresses, which is one of the, if not the most important thing).

There were some pros though, I loved getting dressed up and seeing the boy in a tux, the desert was wonderful (probably because I was starving), and we got to go for free (so maybe I shouldn’t be complaining)!

A Twist on Dinner and a Movie

Why go to dinner and then a movie, when you can do both a the same time?! Tonight was a girls night out and we went to a tiny movie theater that served dinner during the movie. It was definitely an interesting and fun experience (and pretty resonable too). However, I suggest that if you ever get the chance to do this that you choose the movie you are going to see very wisely (unless you have a strong stomach). Even though the food was great (I love white pizza), it was hard to eat at times during the movie (I don't handle violence well). However, after tonight I have officially learned my lesson and will definitely choose a comedy the next time I go and drag the boy too!

Alliance Defense Fund

The boy and I went to a fundrasier last night for the Alliance Defense Fund. It was a great excuse to pull out a dress that I hadn't worn in awhile and get dressed up. Before going I didn't really know what the ADF did, however, now I am thankful that we have a group of people standing up for our freedoms that we too often take for granted. As Alan Sears spoke I couldn't help but get goosebumps learning about all the great things the ADF stood for and the different court cases that the ADF has won that is helping us to continue to have freedom of speech and religion in this country. Here is their website, if you want more information.

Giveaway

Mrs. Newlywed at the Misadventures of a Newlywed is having a giveaway. You (or I) could win one of these great totes. Click here to read more and enter in the giveway!

Pretty Interesting

I want to be a teacher because...

Student: Mrs. Jones, do you know what I want to be when I grow up?

Me: What?

Student: A teacher!

Me: Why do you want to be a teacher? (Thinking she is going to say something nice about me or about being in my class)

Student: Because I like to boss my mom and grandma around, it's fun.

Me: Oh, okay.

I guess in her eyes all I do all day long is boss my students around and make it look like fun! So much for being a good teacher and shaping young minds. It might be nice if all I had to do all day long was boss people around, it would be a much easier job!

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn

I found a recipe for cinnamon sugar popcorn on the Real Simple website and just had to make it. I know it can't be good for me, but the more I ate, the more I wanted to eat. Thankfully the boy was arround, so I didn't eat it ALL, he got to eat some too! I did make it a little healthier by using air popped popcorn instead of microwave. Here is the recipe:
Popcorn
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pop the popcorn according to the package directions. In a large bowl, toss the popcorn and melted butter. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the popcorn and toss to coat.

Enjoy!