I regressed a little this week. In age, I mean. I am generally a pretty youthful person, and I often get mistaken for a high-school student... even though I am 22 and almost done with college? Whatever.

But this week, I had a true "little kid" moment on Monday when I had this random desire for some quality Mom-time. I hadn't seen my mom since New Year's and, frankly, I just missed her. So, I called her up and we made plans to meet today in Columbus for some shopping time. Dad decided to tag along, too! It was a great day with the 'rents. Sometimes, you just need to see family and let them baby you a little.

Breakfast was a mug of oats with blackberries, topped with peanut butter... and some saltines to try and cure the too-much-fun feeling from last night.

More remedies for that feeling?

Happy Valentine's Day from Starbucks.

 The mission for the shopping trip: teacher clothes. I start student teaching in about a month, and I had a grand total of one pair of nice pants. That won't fly. Luckily, "teacher professional" is a little more laid back that business professional, so I have a little more freedom with my wardrobe. But, like I said, I hear often that I look like a high school-er, so I have to dress professionally enough to separate myself from my students and maintain authority. The most exciting purchase of the day:

Ohhhh yea, that is a hot pink blazer!

The last stop of the day was a quick run through TJ's for some goodies I can't find at school. And, after the 1.5 hour drive back to school, those goodies made my dinner.

TJ's minestrone soup, and mini pita's with the hummus quartet. Followed by several PB spoons.

 I started out this morning feeling physically awful. It's my fault, but sorry, I'm not sorry. Last night was a blast. After seeing my parents, I feel so refreshed! Leave it to family to give me just the boost I need to power through the last half of the quarter.

Here's to staying connected with those that matter most.
~ Rach

The Perfect Friday

Today started out a little rough. By rough, I mean my alarm didn't go off, I spilled a huge cup of water all over the floor in my room, and backed into a pole trying to pull out of the impossible parking lot outside my apartment building.

Yet, somehow, it turned itself around, and I am sitting here laughing with my roommate, thinking about how utterly perfect today has been. 

First, I taught my fourth graders this morning. As part of FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary Schools), I have been paired with a fourth grade class at a local elementary school. I go every Friday morning to teach a 30 minute lesson on basic Spanish vocabulary and grammar.

They always make my day! It's almost painful to roll out of bed and get myself there on a Friday morning, but I always leave feeling energized and fulfilled. The kids are always so excited to see me, and they respond so well to my lessons. I am always blown away by the amount the retain from week to week. This week I had them speaking complete Spanish sentences about what kinds of foods they like to eat.

As a reward for being so AWESOME, I brought them in some little treats.

Spanish Valentines for El Día de San Valentín! They were so excited and took turns reading the Spanish phrases out loud.

I got a treat as I was leaving too. My cooperating teacher (so the fourth grade teacher I work with) gave me a little note thanking me for doing such a great job and taking them above the basics. It was such a nice surprise. I feel like teachers don't always get the gratitude that they deserve for how hard they work everyday. My heart soared to hear such nice things from a fellow teacher so early in my career. I can't wait to see them next week. We're doing weather expressions, I think!

FLES was followed by class (where I kicked my quiz's a$$), a sweaty gym sesh (including my friend Brit's awesome Zumba class), and another class (which is an impossibly-hard math class that I actually enjoy? What's that about?).

I went home to create this masterpeice:

My latest, favorite monstruo de ensalada: spinach, tomatoes, carrots, half an avocado, marinated artichoke hearts, Italian seasoning, balsamic, and nooch. So delicious!

Tonight should be great. My friends and I are going to get fancy beers at one of my favorite bars down here, Jackie O's, to celebrate my passing the Praxis!! It will definitely be a good time.

Here's to celebrating the small things that makes everyday a great one!
~ Rach

Random Gym Day

Happy Wednesday!!!

For me, that means no classes. For whatever reason, at my college Spanish and Math classes both follow and Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday schedule. Since those are my two content areas, I usually get away with packing all of my classes onto those four days and getting a little mini-weekend on Wednesdays. This is one of those quarters because I am not taking any education classes, which follow the usual Mon/Wed or Tue/Thur schedule.

Usually on Wednesdays, I keep my normal workout routine: getting up at the a$$ crack of dawn to be one of the first crazies at the rec center so that I can be home, showered, breakfast-ed, and ready to hit my favorite coffee shop for cranking out some work by 10ish. I always get tons of work done on Wednesdays. Definitely the best part of the mid-week break.

This morning, though, I could not peel myself out of my bed. I mean look at this thing:

Under that beautiful quilt (made by my incredibly talented mother) is a down comforter and flannel sheets. Add in cuddling with my teddy bear, Elvis, (yes, his name is Elvis, and yes, I am 22 years old) and it is maybe the most comfortable place in the world. It was below 20* outside this morning. My room was freezing. I was tiiiiired. The gym was not happening.

Totally fine, I just headed to do work at my coffee shop a little earlier, and went to the gym in the early afternoon before the rec gets crowded with all the gym bunnies who go after their classes.

I got to the gym around 12:30, and it was still beyond cold outside. Of course, I'm always cold. No joke: always. Winters are rough. See, I have what's called Reynaud's Syndrome, a circulatory problem in which I lose feeling in my fingers and toes when the temperature gets too low. It's not an issue, really. Just a little uncomfortable. Evidence of my poor little fingers when before my workout.

See how white the ring finger is compared to my pink little piggies. Yea, there's no circulation going on in there. It always starts in my ring fingers and seems to spread to the others. It freaks people out which is kind of funny sometimes.

Usually, I run my hand under warm water and massage the finger until feeling comes back, but I didn't really have that option in the cardio-loft at the rec center. So, I let the cardio, heart pumping do the work for me.

I had a great, sweaty workout! I do like to start the day with an early-morning workout, but sometimes it feels better to do it later in the day. I have no idea why, but I'm not complaining either way. It was delightful.

I followed it up with some stretching, and as I was sitting a little more twisted up than usual, I noticed how ridiculous I must have looked in my color combo for the day:

Yep, you see that right. Bright orange shorts, purple shirt, blue and pink Nike's.

What was I thinking when I was getting dressed? Oh, probably that my shirt was already kind of dirty so it wouldn't hurt to get it all sweaty. And, that I absolutely had to wear my new tempo shorts! I love new workout clothes. It always makes getting to the gym a little easier when I feel extra snazzy in my new digs.


So, today's gym adventure was full of random happenings. This seems to happen to me pretty regularly in different activities. My brother always tells me that I over think things. I like to think that I revel in the small comedies of my day.

Here's to laughing at ourselves!
~ Rach

Tuesday "Muse"day

I don't have any specific topic to ramble about today. But, I do have a couple of random musings from the past couple of days. Why not share them here?

1. For the first time ever, Trader Joe's has let me down. 

I generally love all of TJ's products, and that I don't have to go bankrupt to stock up on them. When I saw this jar of Sunflower Seed Butter during my last visit, I was uber-excited to give it a go. Nut butter is my "crack", after all, and I have really enjoyed the sunflower seed butter I have had in the past.

This guy, though, not so much. I cracked it open, gave it a stir, and eagerly took a finger full. And, it was mediocre at best. The texture was weird and kind of gummy, and the sunflower seed flavor was barely noticeable behind a cloying sweetness. I turned over the jar and discovered this:

Yep, there it is. At the bottom, second ingredient: evaporated cane juice. HOw could I not have noticed it was sweetened before I bought it? Sweet nutbutter just doesn't do it for me. I feel like the seeds are sweet enough. Next time, nuts/seeds only. And maybe a little salt.

Luckily my roommate, Rebecca, digs it. All yours, lady.


2. I'm loving my outfit today.

Classic hallway-mirror-iPhone pic

I had extra time between the gym and my first class today (gotta love not starting till 11:00), so I took the time to make myself cute. Granted, I am still wearing leggings, but it still feels good to actually put some effort into the way you look sometimes. Actually, I have really been trying to do this more. It just makes me feel good.

3. I PASSED THE PRAXIS!!!!

I passed the Math Content Praxis 2 exam!!! I talked about taking it here, and I found out my scores this morning. I definitely didn't blow in out of the water, but I passed, and that's all that counts! Done and done.

Now, I'm just waiting on the results of my Spanish Written Proficiency Test that I took last week, and I still have to take my Oral Proficiency Interview, but It is safe to say that I am about 66.6667% of the way done with all the standardized tests I have to take for my degrees. May, it's feeling good.

This week has started off a little rocky, mostly in clumsy and comedic ways, but it's looking up! Here's to keeping the positivity ball rolling!


- Rach

Weekend Wrap Up (2/4-2/5)

This weekend was kind of fantastic. Like really great. After the mediocrity that was this week, it was the perfect thing to pull me out of my midterm-week/time-of-the-month/senioritis-I-don't-want-to-do-any-school-work-at-all slump. That might have been TMI. Sorry I'm not sorry. You know exactly the feeling I'm talking about.

Cue the highlight reel:

After a movie night in with my roommate, Allie, Saturday morning started off perfectly with some oats with blackberries in an almost empty jar of PB. Mmmmm Mmmm!

My friend, Taylor and I hit up the Athens Farmers Market and luckily, the weather was pretty nice, so there was a pretty good showing. It was also great to hang out with Taylor again because we hadn't had time to catch in a while.

Delicious Gold Rush apples. Have you ever tried these? They are tart and sour and perfect. And some spicy chipotle salsa.

 Saturday afternoons my friend Brittany teaches Zumba at the rec, so I definitely hit that up this week. Then did 5 sweaty, delightful miles on the elliptical and was ready to go out with my girls for the night.

We went on a little roomie date to one of the coolest bar/restaurants in Athens, Casa Nueva. Always a fave. I'm sure I will be writing more about it soon to come. I indulged in some delicious brews. They always have good stuff on draft. Then, to accompany my beans, rice, 2salsas and lettuce bowl, I had to go with their house margarita. On the rocks, no salt. As always. Seriously, the perfect combo.

Extra spicy with their chipotle-hot salsa and salsa verde. Pairs perfectly with tequila. Just sayin'.

And now, Super Bowl Sunday!!! Yea, too bad I couldn't care less about the football game. But, my friends are all getting together at one house to watch the game and eat snacks and hang out, and I am all about that. My contribution: Boyer Beer Bread. Recipe courtesy of my ex's amazing mother. This lady knows her baked goods. 

Hot out of the oven. Disappointing picture. NOT disappointing bread.

 Boyer Beer Bread

• 3 cups self-rising flour (or 3 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1.5 tsp salt) I used whole wheat because that is what I had
• 1/3 c sugar
• 12 oz. beer I used a can of Budweiser
• 3 tbs melted butter I used soy free Earth Balance

Mix everything but the butter in a bowl. Dump it in a greased loaf pan and top with melted butter. Bake at 350 for about 50 min. Doesn't get easier than that. And damn, it's good.
 

Even better with more melty Earth Balance

Even though I am not looking forward to all of the studying I have to do after the game tonight, I am so ready to start fresh this week. Bring it on! And LET'S GO.... wait. Who's even in this game tonight? Eh, who cares.

Happy Sunday!
- Rach

Oatmeal in the Morning, Oatmeal in the Evening....

Happy February, Friends!!!

I hope everyone is entering the new month in good spirits! The weather was absolutely gorgeous today! Mid-60s. Sunny. Smelled like spring. Does anyone else think that the seasons smell different?

So, recently, I have been doing some maj-oh nighttime snacking. After dinner, my tummy is happy and full, but about an hour and half or so later, I become the world's largest munchie-monster. When the snack attack hits, it usually involves a spoon and a jar of peanut butter. Although, I am all about the ooey-gooey,  healthy fats of my peanut butter, I'm bummed because the jars aren't lasting as long as I would hope they would.

Also, I hate the feeling of being hungry and mindless snacking so late in the evening.

I have this theory that my dinners aren't calorie dense enough. I think I need to really make sure that I am getting all that I need earlier in the night so that I am not scavenging in the kitchen right before bed. I have hard time sleeping on a heavy stomach.

Solution: OPERATION bulk up my dinner.

Generally, dinner consists of protein (either tofu or tempeh) or a starch (brown rice, quinoa, or a sweet potato) and tons of veggies. I rarely have the protein with a starch. It's probably definitely a remnant of my disordered days. As I realized recently, they are closer than I realize. And now that I am truly committing myself to recovery, I know that this type of dinner isn't balanced or what my body needs.

Tonight, I took a step into bulking up my dinner. I decided to incorporate a whole grain, protein, and veggies into one bowl. Novel concept, I know. and I have to say, it was A.MAZ.ING. Check this out.

¡¡¡SAVORY OATS!!!

As my whole-grain base, I cooked up some of my oats with garlic salt and lots of Italian seasoning. I tried some of them right out of the microondas and holy-DELICIOSO! Like polenta, only with that nutty-oatie-yumminess.

Topped with some sauteed shrooms, cabbage, tempeh, and tomtoes. I really hat about 3xs what you see here. I wanted to attempt a pretty picture for you all. With my iPhone camera. Eh it was the best I could do.

This. was. beyond. Like so good! I loved the creaminess that the oats dded and it really did feel like a more satisfying meal. Don't worry, though. The spoon still made an appearance in the jar of peanut butter, but I didn't feel the need to eat half my jar. I'll hopefully be able to hold onto this jar a little longer. My wallet will thank me.

I think it is going to be my new February goal to make sure my dinners are hefty and well-balanced every night. This should, obviously, be a given, but when breaking out of disordered thought patterns, it isn't always so clear. How I am feeling physically right now, after a better dinner, proves that it is necessary. 

Who knows what random concoction I will come up with tomorrow, but I'm excited to experiment!

Health and Happiness,
~ Rach

WIAW #2

Woohoo! It's Wednesday! Which has quickly become my favorite day of the week. No classes. Relaxing morning in the coffee shop. Productivity. And, the Challenge on MTV. Sad, I know, but my roommates and I watch it every week, and we are definitely addicted.

+

=

A very happy Rach

So, let's get into it. Last week, I explained how I am a definite grazer. This week, I really wanted to try and capture everything I ate in a given day (Tuesday). And, it was hard. Random handfuls of grapes and a few Wasa crackers made it without getting pictured. But, hey, I tried. A for effort.


I was feeling really run down yesterday, so I gave myself a day off of the gym and slept in a little.

Breakfast (9:00a)

Daily oats: oat bran, black berries, apple, topped with pb. With agua y café. On my mess of a desk.

Lunch (12:40ish)

Hummus, avocado, tomatoes, cukes, romaine, and spicy brown mustard all wrapped in a Flatout. Mmmmm

With a side of carrots and the all-so-necessary dill pickle spear. What is a sandwich or a wrap without one?

Grapes about a half hour later for "dessert". Basically the entire bunch.

Snack #1 (2:00)

Needed something right before class. Triscuit Thin Crisps. Are. Addicting. This x8.

Snack #2 (5:00)

Was feeling munchie but not really hungry after class. Cue the crunchy satisfaction of raw veggies.

Dinner (6:45)

I have been really into roasting for dinner lately, but tonight I needed something quick before my Spanish Club meeting. Enter stir-fri: onions, mushrooms, cabbage, and tempeh. With Bragg's Liquid Aminos and sriracha. Obviously, with more sriracha on the side.

Dinner is never complete with something sweet. I know it looks like tar, but it's delicious "Poor Man's College Girl's Berry Crumble": Blackberries in the bottom, topped with a sprinkling of oats and some stevia. Zapped for 3 sec so the oats kind of cook in the berry juices. Ugly, but delicioso.

I'm going to go see The Artist tonight at the little indie theater uptown, so there will definitely be some sort of snack-packing for that. 

Here's to hoping the rest of the week goes better than the first! Roommate drama. Enough said.

- Rach