Art ♥

I'm subbing in a middle school art class today and I am so excited! I'm hoping I get to play with something fun... like clay or paints. Fingers crossed! If not, I will color with some colored pencils like the one's pictured above and have a good ol' time. :)

Friday I'm in a middle school math class again. I was a little hesitant to accept the job because it's math, and I stink at math... but, I really don't think I'm in an any position to be cherry picking jobs right now.... Math it is!

Hope everyone's having a great week! One more day til Friday!!

What was your favorite elective/specials class in school? Mine was music!

Ten on Tuesday!

I woke up with the worst sore throat this morning. This is the second time since I began subbing that I have gotten "sick". I know this sounds obvious, but I am attributing my self-diagnosed sickness to being around so many different kids. Who knows how many strands of whatever they're carrying I am being exposed to. Today I used so much hand sanitizer my hands are all rashy. I'm not completely blaming the kids though...I'm also blaming my hectic schedule this past weekend and my drinking Friday night. I was so good all week and ate so well, with very little alcohol. Then, Friday it all went down the drain. I'm getting back on track this week and kicking whatever bug I have. Vitamins will be my new candy!

Welp, it's already Tuesday. Which means Ten on Tuesday :) Here's another great set of questions from Chelsea.

1. What is a food that you never thought you would try, but then tried and liked? Asparagus. I know, I'm not adventurous AT ALL. Growing up I hated asparagus. It was probably because my parents always made canned asparagus, which was, and still is disgusting. Now asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables. The fact that it is a natural diuretic is an added bonus!

2. Do you subscribe to any foodie publications? If so, which ones? The only food magazine I get is Cooking Light

3. What ingredient do you find yourself reaching for the most when you cook? Spray butter. It's pretty ridiculous how much stuff I put that on.

4. Are there any foods that you hated as a child, but then learned to like as an adult? See number 1!

5. What do you like to eat that others may consider weird? Hmmm... I am so not weird with my food habits. I eat pretty much the same things every week. (I am so boring!)

6. What is the weirdest ingredient you’ve ever cooked with? Honestly, I don't have anything "weird" that I have cooked with... at least, I don't think I do anyway.

7. Do you have any major food allergies? Nope.

8. Is there an ingredient that you would like to cook with, but are intimidated to try? Fish... I love fish but I hardly ever cook with it.

9. Do you bake? Not regularly... I would eat too much of my creations!

10. If you could go on any “foodie” show to compete, which one would it be, and why? I don't really watch them... So, I have no idea. I would go on a show that allowed me to travel and try foods in lots of different places!

Books, health food and dreamers. :)

Hellooooooooo!! I've missed you guys since... umm, Friday? Seriously, I missed you! Insert collective, "awwwwwwww," here :)

I was going to do an In My Mailbox post today, but to be completely honest I am embarrassed at how miserably I am failing at not buying books. I bought 11 last week. Yes, you read right. ELEVEN. One of them is a set too, so if you count the books in the set it's more like..... 19. In my defense (yes, I am justifying this) I got a TON of good deals and all together only spent... ok, nevermind. I just added it up and it's not that good. It's over 50$ and that is still ridiculous. Especially for someone that doesn't even have time to read lately.... Sigh.

I'm still thinking about the IMM post though.... maybe for Tuesday. ;)

Since Friday afternoon I have been go, go, going which is kind of funny considering I was fretting Friday morning about having absolutely no plans laid for the weekend!

Friday afternoon started like any other with Happy Hour (like how I make that a proper noun with capital letters...) at our favorite place, Saints restaurant and bar in West Des Moines. We have decided that this place is officially the "ex-boyfriend bar" as I have seen two guys there now that I have dated and my other friend saw one this weekend. We don't care though, they're not running us out of there. It's still our place. ;)

So, after happy hour one of my friends had a date, so my other friend and I headed to Boston's to meet her hubby and some of his friends for a couple more drinks. It was an early night because I was planning on getting up early to participate in an event the School of Education participates in called Books and Bagels with the I Had a Dream Foundation. Here is me with the "Dreamers". I had a such a great time at the event! What a wonderful charity.
Before we left Boston's on Friday night, my friends hubby's friend (following me? lol) gave us free tickets to an event downtown at Hy-Vee Hall on Saturday called the Hy-Vee Whole Experience. The event is to showcase the organic and natural food selections that are available at Hy-Vee. There were tons of booths with vendors talking about their products, well known individuals in the area speaking, and even celebrities! Shawn Johnson was there in the morning, but we missed her. Darn! ;)
Right away when we walked in we were handed a re-useable shopping bag. My friend and I looked at each other and was like, are we getting food to take home?! Sweet!

We got to walking around to all the vendors right away. I don't think we missed a single one. There were so many products there! We walked away with full bellies and lots of food. Here's the swag I walked away with...
Notice the big bag of BBQ chips already opened? Yeah, I couldn't help myself. I cannot be trusted around BBQ chips...

I got a sample of Chia seeds, some individual sized bags of chips, cereal, Pepsi Max, Cliff bars, Lara bars, Luna bars, Gatorade, Vitamin water, Propel, magnets, coupons.... I also got a loaf of bread that somehow didn't get pictured! Oops. It's the 45 calorie bread from Sara Lee, which is what I eat on a regular basis so it was awesome to get a loaf for free!

Look how small this Pepsi Max is! It's about 8oz, which is perfect for a small craving of pop! (That's Lexie in the background!)
We had such a great time at this event! I know we will plan on attending again the next time it's in Des Moines. I guess this was the first year they had it here, but they've had it in Omaha and Council Bluffs before.

After leaving the convention we wandered next door to a dance competition. We couldn't help but sit and watch the girls dance and reminisce about when we were that little. Our costumes weren't that skimpy though.... My goodness! No pictures of that... lol ;)

One our way back to WDSM we got to talking about health food stores in our area. We just got a Trader Joes recently and we are getting a Whole Foods later this year. My friend had never been to TJ's so I told her she had to go! We decided to just go right then and finish up our grocery shopping since it's already started with all our goodies from the health food convention!

I found these massive bananas at TJ's and even though I didn't need bananas, I just had to buy them... They're the ones on the left (obviously), I wanted to picture them with regular sized banana's to show you how huge they are!


Today two friends of mine and I headed two hours east of here to the Tanger Outlets for a day of shopping. We just got home about an hour and a half ago and I am wiped out! I wore a pedometer all day and I can't believe how much we walked! I'm going to wear one everyday and if I haven't made it to at least five miles I'm going to get my booty outside and get to five miles asap (well, this is the plan. Fingers crossed I follow through. Hold me accountable, ok?)

I am off to finish my laundry and get ready for the week. I still have a chapter to read in my Arts Integration book for class tomorrow and I have no time to do it during the day. Uuuuuuggggh.

Have a great Monday everyone! :)

Do you shop organic or pay attention to preservatives and other "fake" stuff in your food?

Heart Friday ♥

I'm a little impressed with myself right now.

Why, you ask?

I have blogged everyday for two weeks. I don't think I have ever done that. Get used to it everyone, I'm going to try to keep it up. :)

What I haven't done though is sit and write is going on with me. (it's not much, really) Maybe it's because I don't feel like writing it. Maybe it's because I am actually quite boring. Maybe it's because I have been doing a lot of writing for class. Who knows?

Regardless, today is no different. Today... is a bullet-heart post day.

♥ Yesterday I subbed in a music class and was thoroughly reminded how I hate the fact that I didn't learn how to play the piano when I was younger. I think I was too busy trying to play the violin and the flute and the cello... oh, and I think I tried the clarinet for a day too.

♥ I have the most irrational superstitions. Seriously, they're ridiculous. When something falls through I always come up with a ridiculous reason why I jinxed it. It's silly.

♥ This summer I am taking FOUR classes (that is a lot for graduate school in the summer) and SIX this fall (that is also a lot for a regular fall/spring semester). My thought process is I can always drop a class once I see the syllabus and see the work load.

♥ I really hate emails that are directed to a few people within a group, but are ultimately sent to everyone. Know what I mean? Makes me feel like I am doing something wrong, when I know that I am not.

♥ Remember that book buying ban I was on? Yeah, I'm failing miserably. Miserably!

♥ You know what one of my favorite things about the iPhone is? I literally learn a new trick or tip for it everyday. I love that. Especially when I figure it out on my own. Then show someone else and they didn't know it either. :)

♥ I am a little bummed because I found out a guy I had a crush on in high school teaches at one of the high schools I sub at. Then I found out he was married in 2008. Boooo. (everyone should be on Facebook so we can all keep up. Just sayin!)

♥ My sister's dog Chico is so ticked off at her for paying more attention to Lexie, he has become obsessed with me. He follows me around all day! It's cute, hehe :)

♥ The Borders in my area is closing and everything went on sale today. :( Everything is 10-20% off. It's not much, but I just had to buy something... (yeah, I have a problem...)

♥ I don't have ANY plans this weekend. I need something to do. Pronto.

Have a great weekend everyone!! :)

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful ...

....for a subbing job in a 9th grade music class. (that the student teacher is leading. teehee...)

....that the tornado that hit 30 miles south of me Tuesday night was... 30 miles away. Scary stuff.

....that eating better and better each week is getting easier and easier. :)

....that Lexie is doing such a good job at letting us know when she has to go out (this is a big one!)

....my car gets good gas mileage...

....that my summer and fall schedule is working out beautifully, now the classes just can't be full when I go to register on April 6th.

....this week is probably our last week of crappy weather.

....the grass is slowly changing from brown to green...

....I finally got around to giving myself a pretty pedicure and my toes look puuurdy again.

....I finally found some super cute black sunglasses and they were only $7 at Old Navy.


What are you thankful for today?

New fav quote...

I watched this wonderful interview of Lady Gaga last night, and I don't know how it's even possible but I become more and more obsessed with her and her cause(s). It's a long video, but my favorite quote came at around 16 minutes.

On being yourself and not afraid of it...

"Look into the darkness and look into places that you would not normally look to find uniqueness and specialness, because that is where the diamonds are hiding."

Great message, huh?

Ten on Tuesday

I'm linking up with Chelsea today for Ten on Tuesday! I just noticed I have the wrong button for her weekly meme. Oops. Oh well, I've been reading her blog for a couple weeks now and I love her! You will too. :)

1. What condiments are always, always in your fridge? I am a condiment freak, so we always have a ton. Let's see... ketchup, mustard (yellow and honey), raspberry vinaigrette, goddess dressing (oh yeah), light ranch (I clearly like dressings), mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, spray butter and a couple different kinds of jellies. (I had to go look just so that I wouldn't miss anything. )

2. How do you like your steak cooked? Your burgers? Medium rare and well. And it doesn't matter how great the chef is, I like steak sauce with my steak.

3. What’s your favorite use for fresh tomatoes? Cut up and mixed with AE cottage cheese. Mmmmm.... Or on top of a nice chicken salad. Or to make salsa. I like tomatoes...

4. What’s your go-to dinner when you haven’t planned anything in advance and you don’t feel like going out? A baked potato with sour cream, spray butter and lots of s & p.

5. What’s your favorite snack food lately? Bananas. I go through a batch of bananas in less than a week lately.

6. What’s your favorite weekend breakfast to make at home? Breakfast burritos!

7. What’s your favorite thing to grill? How do you do it? Shish Kebabs! I love mushrooms, orange peppers, tomatoes, chicken and steak on mine. Yuuummmmmm! How to do it is pretty self explanatory? My only advice, if you're using wooden skewers do not forget to soak them.

8. What’s your favorite wine for under $10? If you’re not a wine person, what brand of beer is your favorite? I'm a wine and beer person! I love all wine, my favorite is red. I just bought a great one at TJ's yesterday that was only $4.99... I don't go for the expensive stuff. It all usually tastes the same to me. For beer I love Blue Moon, but it's so heavy so I will usually opt for a Miller Lite or Mich Golden Light.

9. Give us your most delicious cocktail recipe. Uhhhh, I'm really not good at mixing drinks... but here's what I got! 1/4 Malibu 3/4 Diet Coke. That's about as delicious as my cocktails get.

10. How do you like your eggs? I just recently discovered the joy that is scrambled eggs and salsa on Sunday so I plan on liking my eggs like that for awhile now. :)

How freaky is it that it's almost April? Fourth quarter is almost over (not that quarters matter to me anymore, but oh well). That is just craaaazy to me!

Oh wells, happy Tuesday! :)