Hawkeye experiment...

Today is over and tomorrow my weekend starts!

Cue jumping up and down yelling, "YAHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Yes, I had a normal working adult work schedule and am off all weekend! Including Friday, which I understand isn't completely usual, but a weekend off for me consists of Fridays off! Woo hoo!

Tomorrow after Nick gets done with work we're heading about two hours east to do something completely unusual for me....

We're going to a football game here...

Yes, that is Kinnick Stadium home of the Iowa Hawkeyes. My beloved Cyclones' #1 enemy. I feel like a total traitor. Buuuuuut, Nick is a big fan and I promised I would go to a Hawkeye game wearing Hawkeye gear if he goes to a Cyclone game wearing Cyclone gear!

(Yes, I am aware that we may someday be one of those "house divided" people)

Everyone (well, Hawkeye fans) say that the atmosphere at Kinnick is so much better than that at Jack Trice. I am excited to put this to the test and see what all the fuss is about! (Pretty sure they're wrong).

Wish me luck! I will share pictures once we get back! :)

Fillin' the fridge!

Usually I go to the grocery store once a week, but since school started I don't think I have been once! Because of that we have been eating out a lot and I could really feel it in the way my clothese fit. Yesterday I finally stepped on the scale just to be sure what I was dealing with and ... it's not good.

I'm proud of my shopping trip though! I gave myself a budget of $100 to use between Target and HyVee and I think I did pretty good!

Here's what I got...

• half gallon of milk (which I never get through, I hardly ever drink milk)
• baked tortilla chips (these are so addicting...)
• 10 containers of yogurt (I eat it everyday)
• 4 cans of Progessive soup (my newest favorite lunch when on the go)
• 2 cans of chicken broth
• bag of brown rice
• colby pepper jack cheese slices (never had this kind before but it's gotta be good, right?)
• mild cheddar cheese slices
• 1/2 lb of honey ham
• 1/2 lb of peppered turkey
• 2 cans of shredded chicken
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 can of red enchilada sauce (making chicken tortilla soup later this week!)
• a tub of AE cottage cheese (I only buy this stuff when it's on sale, but it's oooh so good)
• sour cream (cause a typical dinner for me is a baked potato...)
• frozen blueberries
• box of penne noodles (my favorite kind of noodle!)
• two bags of lettuce (It was 2 for a $1 today! Steal!)
• bottle of ketchup
• bundle of bananas
• 3 apples
• 3 sweet potatoes (mmm, I'm ready for Thanksgiving hence the sweet potato craving)
• 1 mango (to mix with that decadent AE cottage cheese)
• jar of salsa
• brussel sprouts (I have never had them and they were cheap, so I'll give 'em a try!)
• a huge bag of fresh green beans that were only 99 cents!
• loaf of bread
• box of vegetable crackers
• paper towels (I really should buy these in bulk at Costco, but I don't have anywhere to put that massive thing!)
• toilet bowl cleaner (It's gotta be done...)
• a new vase (I made this adorable arrangement of flowers from Hobby Lobby. Love it.)
• face moisturizer (I use Oil of Olay. Used to use Cetaphil but they've changed something about it now and I don't like it anymore)
• dental floss (I am seriously obsessed with flossing)
• index cards (for studying, yo)

The only thing I forgot was string cheese (my favorite snack) and diced tomatoes for the soup... I'm pretty proud of myself though. Usually between HyVee and Target I go way over $100. Today I had $4 to spare. That's right, I only spent $96. I probably could have saved more if I was a coupon clipper but I'm horrible at that...

Now, hopefully I can eat in for a couple weeks and drop those pesky pounds that have decided to show up.

What's your budget when grocery shopping? Do you tend to get the same things every week?

First test!

Last night I had my first test....

...and I don't think it could have gone better.

If you have been a reader for awhile now you know that I get terrible test anxiety. I am NOT a good test taker. I have to study very hard to do well on tests. I can really know the information and for some reason I just kind of... bomb the test. I tend to get distracted by noises around me, distracted by other students finishing first and almost always debate b/w multiple choice answers.

This was absolutely the case in undergraduate school and high school, and even though I ended up with great grade point averages I had to work very hard to do so. In fact, my first semester of my freshman year of college I did so bad (mostly due to partying adjusting to living on my own) that I was on academic probation in my sorority. Luckily, I think it was the slap in the face that I really needed. At the time I was devastated and embarrassed but looking back now I know I needed it.

The past few days I have been squeezing in studying whenever I could. I didn't see Nick from Saturday night until after my test last night and I'm pretty sure he was getting nervous that I was tired of him! (Which I'm not by the way!)

The test was in Educational Psychology, which so far has been extremely interesting to me and I love the prof! She's also my advisor and I'm loving her more and more each time class meets. Now, I love psychology but I do not love comparing and contrasting theorists. I don't know why but it just bores me to tears. We spent about an hour of classtime on Piaget and Vygotsky and I was so worried an essay question was going to be on them. I'm sure I could have bull-sh****d my way through it and answered the question correctly considering the time I spent comparing the two, but I was very glad to see that questions on them were all multiple choice and T/F. Whew!

I hope I'm not jinxing myself here, but I honestly think that test was pretty easy. I don't know if it's because I'm older and taking studying more seriously or what, but I'm very grateful! I can't wait to find out what I actually got on it, hopefully it's an A! It's 10% of my final grade in the class and I need a minimum of a C to qualify for my teaching degree by Iowa standards.

Are you a good test taker or do you have to study really hard to make a good grade? What are your favorite ways to prepare for a test?

Ten on Tuesday

Today I am participating on Ten on Tuesday, which is a weekly meme that I first noticed from Lisa's blog! :)

1. Favorite way to travel (plane, train, automobile, etc.)
Definitely by plane, because that usually means I am traveling far! I am also a fan of long road trips, but only when you have lots of time and can stop and enjoy the scenery.

2. Where’s your favorite place to travel to that you’ve been to?
Definitely New York City! I'm a city girl and I loved the hustle and bustle of all the people. I loved the lights. I loved the energy. Loved the shopping. Loved the food. Loved the different cultures and ethnicities everywhere. Loved it all!

3. Where’s the place that you want to go but have never been?
Oh gosh, there are so many. SO MANY! I will have to be very broad here and say somewhere in Europe. There are so many places in Europe that I plan on visiting someday that anywhere there is somewhere I want to go but have never been and would be happy visiting!

4. Do you deal with traffic well?
Umm, just depends. Most of the time yes. If I'm in a hurry I obviously hate it but for the most part I'm pretty used to it between living in Kansas City and living in Myrtle Beach during tourist season. Des Moines isn't too bad, but it definitely has it's moments. I'm a fan of finding shortcuts. If there IS a shortcut, I WILL find it.

5. Ever had an emergency while traveling?
No, unless you count summer camp when I was 9 years old and got "sick." (I think I was just homesick, but I was actually vomiting... lol)

6. Do you have a passport? What countries have you been to?
Yes, and it's embarrassingly empty. Sad. Very, very sad. The only place I have been that I needed it for was a cruise to the Bahamas.

7. Are you’ve light packer or do you pack everything but the kitchen sink?
I am NOT a light packer. I am one of those people that think, "What if?" while packing so basically everything goes in the suitcase.

8. Do you take the fastest route or the road less traveled?
Just depends. When I was moving to South Carolina we took the most scenic route. I didn't want to miss all the scenery in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina!

9. Do any activities on the road? (like road games, reading, sleeping, etc. )
Depends on who I am traveling with. If I'm traveling with a couple close friends, yes. All the time! We will find random features about strangers (like mustaches) and count them. We are weird.

10. Use a paper map or GPS?
I have never used the GPS on a road trip! Unless you count the Google Maps app on my phone... I rely on good ol' paper.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!

Priorities...

The first three weeks of class have been... a blur.

Seriously, it feels like a couple of months of activity packed into just one. Not just because of class either. Between work, the new boy and class it's just been a lot. It has definitely confirmed what I already suspected. That instead of working full time and going to school part time, working part time and going to school full time would be ideal considering that is where my priorities are right now.

Take today for example. Its technically my Sunday off, but we have a floorset that is due this week. We typically do them on Sundays because the mall closes early and we can be done by 1am instead of... oh say, 4am? (yuck). So, I had planned on studying the entire day before going in to work at 6pm, that leaves my full time assistant and my part time assistant running the salesfloor during the day.

My full time assistant called in sick today. Leaving just the part time assistant to manage alone.

My first thought? I'm not going in. I have to study. HAVE TO!

Dedication to job? No.

Dedication to studying? Yes.

Pretty simple, right? No. I need money. Job provides money.

That is simple.

Yet, so complex at the same time....

Anyway... enough of that.

My goal is to sub as much as possible. There are three really big school districts in Des Moines and several smaller ones and I plan on applying to all the big ones and maybe a couple smaller ones. Then, I can hopefully work at the nursing home if it fits in my schedule. Between all that and students loans I should be okay - moolah wise. (I know. Student loans. Love 'em and hate 'em)

That's the plan. Fingers crossed the plan works.

Or I win the lottery. That would be even more ideal.

Already Wednesday... the new theme song to this blog.

Oh, it's Wednesday already? Again? Well, actually the end of Wednesday. There's only an hour and and a half left. Time is fl-yyy-ing! Next week I have my first test as a graduate student.

Really? Really! For real.

Oh, and I also got my first parking ticket tonight. I'm having flashbacks to undergrad at ISU when I practically knew the DPS officers by their first name. It was bad. For real. I was lazy and didn't want to walk.

Hell, I'm still lazy.

Hence, the parking ticket tonight. (or actually my resistance at shelling out $160 for a parking permit, which 5 parking tickets will pay for....)

I had a sort of "a-ha!" moment in class tonight and think I might want an ESL endorsement and a special education endorsement.

I went to a very diverse middle school and high school and now that I look back on my experience (especially middle school) as an American I cannot imagine what it would have been like for someone new to the US. So far the little study we have done on diversity in the classroom has been so intriguing to me, I don't see how I can not give an ESL endorsement a second though.

After class I spoke with the instructor, who is also my advisor, and she was really excited. She has an ESL background (and actually taught at my middle school! Small world.) and really pushes that endorsement. She said it would only make me more marketable and coupled with a Special Ed endorsement she said they wouldn't even know what to do with themselves, I would be almost guarenteed a job.

I think I'm going to go for it... If it's something that truly interests me and would make finding a permanent job easier... well, that's pretty much a no-brainer!

I've also been thinking A LOT about this blog and what I want to do with it. I don't want to neglect it and just drop off the face of the earth, but I just haven't had the time to focus on it. I'm thinking about turning it into an education based blog as I go through this journey of earning my education degree!

Hope everyone's having a wonderful week!

"Happy" weight

Wow, Wednesday already? Really?? Whew...

I have a confession to make.

My diet has consisted of crap lately. Total crap. Yesterday I had Chick-fil-A for lunch annnnd Chipotle for dinner. I'm not even going to tell you what I had for breakfast.

Between everything going on right now I am making the easier choices instead of what's better for me.

One of the girls on my staff whom I am very close to shared some amazing news about her and her husband and I was so excited for her I suggested we go to lunch together. Instead of choosing the healthier options the food court offers (which really isn't much... A modified Wendy's salad, perhaps) I chose waffle fries and a chicken sandwich. Chick-fil-A isn't terrible, but it's definitely not healthy! Then, that night Nick and I had plans to hang out and he said he would stop and get dinner and asked if Chipotle sounded good. What was I supposed to say? I suppose instead of the 3 lb burritio I could have gotten something else without a high calorie flour shell. Thennnnnn.... about an hour after we ate dinner he decides he wants ice cream. Off to Dairy Queen we go!

Sigh.

I know this is normal for new relationships but I have gained 5 lbs in the past month. FIVE!

That is a lot for my frame and only being a little over five feet tall.

Do you gain "happy" weight when in a new relationship? What kind of tricks do you have to avoid it? If you're a busy student what kinds of food do you like to pack when you're on the go?