Done and Drogging!

Hola chicas y chicos!  I realize this is a twofer post, but it is also a midnight wasted post, so it will be a quickie.

Thursday was pretty un-monumental.  I ate a KIND Bar as my train breakfast.

KIND Bars always make me happy.

The school day was a little weird, the kids were getting so tired of doing nothing.  A lot of people were watching a movie in Mr. S’s room and my girls class came in and was like “we cleaned up and played that game (Scattegories) in Ms. Wax’s room, can we do that again?!?”  Midway through the day we ended up going to an Anti-Violence Parade.  It was totally non-related to violence or the lack of violence but there was food and performances.  I couldn’t eat the burgers and hot dogs but one of my students bought me an (unphotographed) icee that made me pretty happy 🙂

For my non-mammal-on-the-grill lunch I came inside and ate this Asian-Style Potstickers Lean Cuisine.

I’ve decided that I only like frozen “diet” meals when they are Asian inspired.

The rest of the day was pretty random.  A went out with his co-workers and I hung out at home and vegged.  I ate some snacks but never officially did dinner.  I had 3 of these.

And 1C of KashiHeart to Heart Blueberry with vanilla hempmilk.

I bought this Living Harvest Hemp Milk after hearing blogger raves but I wasn’t all that impressed, it was a little too sweet for my liking.

I also made a 3T serving of paperbag popcorn.

Now Friday, however, is when the fun started!  Today was finally, officially, my last day of teaching.  It was a little bittersweet because as excited as I am about going back to school and starting a new profession it’s odd to think about not teaching any more.  I had said most of my goodbyes to students earlier in the week so I didn’t have to shed too many tears about that.

{I will say, I shed some tears right now: I wrote a mega post that somehow got erased and my rewrite will be nowhere near as insightful}

I didn’t eat any breakfast but I was very excited to eat my last lunch from the pizza spot across the street from the school.

Goodbye East New York food!

The kids were dismissed at 10:30 and then things got a bit ridiculous.  We got called in to a staff meeting for which the entire purpose was to scream at the teachers.  Our principal got back the results of a DOE survey on which she and the school got very poor scores – she was pissed.  She screamed at us for more than an hour.  In addition to several other things, she said that even though we usually get out early on the last day she was holding us until 3 as punishment.

After she left some older staff members continued to scream for another hour.  Some of the things that were said were just shocking – there was so much anger and inappropriateness.  The newer teachers were shocked, Ms. N actually left the room and Mr. H said he felt like he was going to throw up.  One of the issues is that the school got very poor ratings on school safety and the screamers were beyond aggressive in saying that people were wrong.  There main points were a) things are a lot better than they used to be; and b) the kids aren’t “that bad” and it is pathetic that adults would feel unsafe.  I’m going to address those points really quickly.

A) It doesn’t matter if things are better, if they are not ok they are not ok.  You can not and should not lower your standards just because there has been a slight improvement.  I get that the kids used to light the bulletin boards on fire, that was a problem.  However, the lack of flaming bulletin boards does not a safe school make.  At least 2 times a week at least 5 students would come to school in the middle of the day, stoned as hell, and wander the hallways messing with other students.  That is unacceptable.

B) In spite of my experiences (for example: a male student getting an inch from my face and screaming that he would f*cking kill me.  Or another student bashing my face into a wall) I do NOT feel unsafe.  When it comes down to it, I am an adult and they are children.  However, when I filled out the survey I wasn’t thinking about my safety, I was thinking about student safety (funny, I thought that’s what we all were worried about?!).  It is not safe that in our middle school we have many 16year oldsrunning around and terrorizing 12year olds.  Bullying is unacceptable and it is rampant in our school.

Anywho, Moving on to happier things!  Both administrators gave me a hug and told me I did a great job and my principal told me I have a job waiting for me whenever I want it.  And after that we got wasted 🙂 Ms. M organized an escape celebration for me and I couldn’t be more grateful.  A group of us that were close went to Franklin Park Bar in Prospect Heights.

I started with a Franklin lemonade, which was delish.

And then I made people do a round of Knob Creek shots.

And then I did another shot (alongside a too sweet mojito that I handed off after 1sip).

And then I had a pear cider.

And another.

And I also had a final shot that I was definitely not able to photograph.  I had a great time but I was definitely only semi-functional at that point and I very much appreciate Ms. M for driving.  I managed to get a pic of part of our group.

 

I love (some of) my coworkers!

Afterwards a smaller group of us headed to a diner in my ‘hood because every one wanted shakes and burgers.  I got a black and white milkshake.

It was good but A showed up and drank most of it.  I also got a turkey burger.

 

The fries were for Ms. N, I didn’t have any, and I had about half of the burger with A.

After my coworkers split A and I went down to 5thAvenue to meet up with my friend Lana (from Williamsburg).  Her bf was dj’ing and we went to watch.  I had a great time catching up, but definitely didn’t do any more drinking!  Apparently Lana has been reading my blog, so that is exciting – Hi Lan!

Afterwards A and I did a long walk home and stopped in at a grocery store.  I picked up my favorite frozen food ever.

This veggie pad thai seriously rocks so hard, it is fantastic.

And now it is beyond time for bed.  It was a great, great day, I feel very blessed.  I am also excited because my parents are coming into town for a visit tomorrow, see ya then!

What was your favorite job to quit?  How did the last day go?

I’m That Into Him

I had a really fun evening, it an unexpected sort of way.  First on the agenda was finishing up my business with a grocery trip.  A was busy so I finished out my Physique57 workout from this morning hauling 2 heavy bags back to the house!  On the way home I stopped for a fresh juice.

I got a small veggie blend – Apple, carrot, spinach, kale, celery, bok choy, parsley, lemon, cucumber, and ginger.

Delish, this was my favorite of all the juices I’ve tried!

A had an eye appointment at 5:15 so we threw together a quick meal.

A cooked the pasta (Rising Moon Organics Wild Chanterelle Mushroom Ravioli) and the broccoli/cauliflower together.

Then I topped my portion with a serving of TJ’s marinara sauce.

So tasty!  I like pasta cooked al dente and this had the perfect amount of chew to it.

The plan for the evening was to head to Manhattan to see a friend of a friend at a comedy club.  We got a late start because of A’s appointment and the rain but we were feeling good.  I even relaxed with a book waiting for the train.

Well apparently I was too relaxed because I followed A right onto a train headed the wrong direction!  Once we realized our mistake (on the moving train!) it was too late to make it to the show.  I was sad, but it was easy to get over once A suggested Wendy’s and a movie!  We split chicken nuggets and fries, my portion –

and watched “He’s Just Not That Into You.”  A had never seen it and he loved it – it is the perfect mix of touching and comedy.  I snacked on some new Lindt Mini Truffles while I watched.

I had one of each flavor – cappuchino, nougat, caramel.

I have some fun planned for tomorrow so I’m trying to make it an early bedtime but we’ll see how that goes.  Sleep tight!

What silly things have you done for a crush?  As you know I married my high school sweetheart, A and I have dated since my senior year (his jr year) in high school.  When we first met it was very casual – he thought I was hot and I wanted him to drive me around in his car!  Well as I spent some time around him I developed a crush.  A ran cross country so I thought “what better way to spend time with him than join cross country too?”  Good idea, except, I was already a cheerleader.  I somehow worked it with both of the coaches that I did cheer practice M, W, F and running T, R.  So I ran 2 days a week, which meant while everyone else was training and getting better I was basically maintaining.  Which meant I started off pretty strong but by the time the first meet rolled around……….I came in dead last and then puked!  The things we do for love!

No Direction

Hello again!  I didn’t fall off a cliff (although with the hooky I’ve been playing my employers might think so!), I’ve just been deep in some serious discussions.

Updates –

1. The Newman’s Own Organic products have been continuing to rock my socks.  A ate a milk chocolate bar and wouldn’t even give me a bite because he liked it so much.

 

And I brought in some products for a small party at school (6 out of 30 children are graduating from one of my classes so Ms. M and I threw them a lunch party) and the kids were very impressed.

They all admitted to be worried when they saw the word “organic,” but were surprised by how much they liked the cookies and pretzels.

2. We have abs0-frickin-lutly zero idea what the heck we are doing next year!

The flowers and cupcake are to celebrate yet another option opening up.  I am pretty stressed out about what to do, and the last 2 days have been consumed with neverending conferencing.  Here is the basic deal

A was offered a position at a podiatric medical school in one state

A was offered a position at a medical school in one state

I was offered admission into a Masters Nutrition program in one state

I was offered a really amazing, dream of a lifetime teaching opportunity back home

A is on the waitlist for a medical school in another state

None of these options are in the same place.  If A makes 1 choice I can be an RD, if he makes another I can not.

I really can’t get into more detail than that, but basically I am stressed.

3. To releive some of said stress I have plans to see a movie and then to meet up with a college friend for dinner.  An actual post is soon to come.

What decisions are you currently making?

Newman’s Own Organics Rocks My Socks

There are so many things to be excited about in this post I don’t even know where to begin!  My train breakfast was a favorite,

Peanut Butter Cookie is my favorite Lara flavor by far.

School was easy today – I taught 2 periods, had 2 periods of graduation rehearsal, and then had a half day.  We had a quick labeling assignment to do and then I had the afternoon to start cleaning my classroom.  I gave Mr. H 99% of my stuff so I’m glad all the chart paper I slaved over will not be going to waste.

For lunch I went the trail mix route.

I call this Peanut Better Trail Mix.  1/4C each peanuts, dried blueberries, and pb m&m’s for a filling 570 serving.

This was bigger calorie-wise and smaller volume-wise than what I usually pack but I ended up feeling in good full-ness and enjoyment.  I also had a baggie of green grapes.

 The school provided lunch, which I obviously skipped, but I did eat a slice of unphotographed cheese cake.

I left for home promptly at 3o’clock and got slammed with a migraine before I even made it in the front door.  I almost missed my fun activity but thank goodness medicine and a nap kicked in on time.  This didn’t hurt to perk me up either.

When I saw fellow Brooklyn bloggers getting Newman’s Own Organics boxes (complete with fancy mints I’d never seen before) a while back I was quite jealous.  Several people recommended that I ask for my own and I decided to plead wildlynicely request my own sample.  Sally more than generously agreed and I expected a small sampling.  Holy frick.

Re-dic-u-lous amount of food.  A and I were deeply struck by the generousity.  Expect to be seeing a ton of Newman’s Organic Own products in my posts for the next 10 years 🙂

I floated on a cloud of thankfulness and happy thoughts to my next activity – another fitness first, this time with Vani.  We did a 45 minute spin class at Crunch.  This was my 1stish try at spinning and I sucked but I also loved it.  My history?  My mommy loves to spin but I’ve always been a bit scared of it.  

The one time I did go to a class with her I was the youngest person in the room by at least 20years and the worst by at least 50 gasps per minute!  I did my best to keep up but about 5 minutes in my foot slid out of the strap and my knee slammed into the handle.  What’s worse than getting your butt kicked by the last generation?  Having to leave early, bloody! 

This time I still sucked, but I made it through the entire class, all limbs intact.  Sadly, we have no more gym membership as of July 1st but I am going to try to attend a few gym classes over the next two weeks.

After class Vani and I walked down to 7th Avenue for some fresh juice.  I got carrot-papaya-apple.

This was the perfect pick me up.  Plus it filled me up and basically became dinner.  I did have about 1/4 of A’s tuna salad sub when I got home.

And A spent the rest of our evening doing some serious discussing.  There is a LOT going on right now with plans for next year and I got some very interesting news today.  Hopefully by the end of the week I should be able to give you guys some updates.

Now it’s much too late and I’ve got to hurry to bed, night!

Have you ever tried spinning?  What’d you think?

Update

I’m not doing pictures of yesterday for a couple of reasons –

1. My stomach felt sick in the morning so I was pretty boring
2. I ate Indian food and not only are my pictures blurry, I don’t remember what anything was!
3. The bowl of popcorn I ate at the end of the night while watching Dumbo was embarrassingly large.

Yesterday was exciting for several reasons though:

1. I met up with some fabulous Brooklyn bloggers for an Indian dinner at Milon – I am officially an Indian food convert
2. I quit my job.  As of Monday my resignation from the NYC DOE with be official!  I am so glad I said something too – another English teacher was about to excessed.

Today we are heading off to the Big Apple Bbq, what are your plans for the day?

Chain Gang

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, so your regularly scheduled food blogging will not be returning until tomorrow.  However, Diana tagged me for a fun blogger chain post so I will be doing that.  Enjoy 🙂

Rules

1. Once you are tagged post a picture of where you blog.
2. Feel free to tell us a little more about your space or explain certain items in more detail.  Or not.
3. Link back to the original post.
4. Tag 5 other bloggers to show their blogspots.

This is the desk in my bedroom/living room/one room.  This is where I blog, work, and eat most of my meals.  For more details I will address a few questions you might have.

Yes, I do have a large pile of stickers on my desk.

Yes, I do have dessert shaped erasers and animal shaped rubber bands.

Yes, I almost always have a Diet Coke Plus on my desk.

Now for the questions –

What are you wearing right now?

A flowery tank top from H&M and my Duffy’s Love Shack undies – I do NOT wear pants in my own house!

What’s the last thing you read/are currently reading?

The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson.

Do you nap a lot?

Not really; I get home late enough/exhausted enough that a nap usually just means bed time.

Who was the last person you hugged?

One of my students who was excited that she earned an 80% in the 4th quarter.

What’s your current obsession/addiction?

I always always have to say Scrubs to this but over the last couple weeks it also seems like gelato.

What’s for dinner?

There will be no dinner, instead I demolished Five Guys fries with malt vinegar and gave myself a tummy ache (there’s a reason I’m skipping the post today people!).

What was the last thing you bought?

Gifts that I am bringing to Brooklyn blogger meet up tomorrow evening 🙂

What are you listening to right now?

“Alive with the Glory of Love,” by Say Anything.  Before that I was blasting Joshua Radin (<3).

If you could have a superpower what would it be?

The ability to magically heal myself, like Wolverine from X-Men.  I’d never have to worry about my joints hurting from a run again.

What is your favorite weather and why?

I would have to say the “winter” we have back home in St. Thomas.  It is cool with out being rainy, not too humid, the skies are bright – it’s pretty much perfect jeans and tank top weather.

What time do you usually wake up?

Either 6:05 or 6:55 usually, depending on whether I’m planning on being early or not.

What is your most challenging goal right now?

Making it through the last two weeks of teaching without losing my composure.

Favorite pair of shoes that you keep going back to even though you have a zillion others?

My reef sandals (in every color).  I wear them at all times there is not snow, even when they are vastly inappropriate for the weather.

Name one thing you can’t live without.

My husband and stove popped popcorn (he’d say it was in the opposite order).

What time is bedtime?

Ideally 11:30, usually 1:30.

If there is one place you could be right now where would it be?

Standing on a red carpet.

And now I’m passing on the honor by tagging the following bloggers –

• Meghann
• Nate
• Melissa
• Kath
• Sue

Blessings

Sorry for the two day absence, work has been hard and I’ve been feeling really sad lately.  I feel like these last two years have really taken a lot out of me.  I don’t take care of myself and I’m still not successful at work.  I don’t get enough sleep, I don’t eat healthy enough, I don’t get to work out.  Plus my skin has been freaking out lately which doesn’t really help.  I don’t have any food pics but I can’t post quite this much negativity.  In spite of it all, I managed to make a list of the things (related to this experience) I am grateful for.

Reasons my 2 years at my school were a blessing

1. I got to explore my undergrad degree, even if I never use it again
2. I feel gangsta telling people I work in East New York
3. for a small number of kids, I did have a huge impact.  There are students who I can genuinely see education/emotional/social growth in that I know I had a part of developing
4. it gave me a chance to spend two years living in nyc
5. even without regular gym time carrying my huge work bag has built up my arm strength to all time highs
6. I realized while doing this job how passionate I am about getting proper nutrition education to low-income areas
7. A and I will always know to appreciate the little things in life after this

What blessings have you found in struggles?

Drag Me

Sorry for my two day absense – my obsessive need to be near A has lead me to make some stupid (but fun!) decisions.  I’ve done a LOT so this with be a slightly less detailed account.  It’s been a great two days, but I’ll backtrack…..

Monday morning I ate a Cookie Dough Balance Bar for my train breakfast.

I try not to eat Balance Bars all the time because they do have 2.5 – 4grams of saturated fat, but they sure are good!

For lunch I packed a Fiji apple,

a TJ’s Nonfat Honey Greek Yogurt,

and 1serving of Doctor Kracker Fire Roasted Crisps.

 

The apple was super mealy so I only ate half but the crackers and the yogurt hit the spot.

After school I rushed around trying to get some program applications (I’m going to try to post about this on Thursday) filled out and faxed.  It was a lovely spring day and I was glad I dressed in season for school.

The picture is blurry but here is the flowery fabric –

 

I love this shirt, I got it and the same but in black from H&M last year.

With more rushing, I even managed to make it to the gym for a class.  1st I did 15minutes (2walk/13jog) on the treadmill to warm up.  I did 1.6miles.  Then I headed into a 30minute Abs and Stretching class .  Holey Moley, I couldn’t even finish all of the sets!

Next up, making dinner.  I did some snacking while cooked, I serving each of turkey pepperoni and salted peanuts.

It is also possible that I ate an ice-cream Snickers bar.

Yums.

Dinner was very veggie,

baked tofu in a sea of roasted brussels sprouts with a small pile of coleslaw.  I had never eaten a brussels sprout before this year but now roasted they are one of my favs.

The tofu I drained, pressed, sliced, then drizzled with evoo and a sprinkle of dried mustard and paprika, baked for 25minutes at 475*.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, I only ended up eating 2slices (1/3 of the package).

And finally was homemade cole slaw, recipe below.

All together.

The cole slaw was inspired by this sale item at the grocery store –

Cole Slaw Recipe

• 4C shredded cabbage
• 3T mayo
• 3T apple cidar vinegar
• 1t sugar
• 1/2C raisins

Mix to combine and Done.  I’m sure this will be even better leftover.  I love raisins in cole slaw.

Somehow after dinner A convinced me to see a 10:15 showing of “Drag Me to Hell.”  Drag me to Hell is right – Worst.Movie.Ever.  Seriously, I don’t know if you guys remember the year in the ’90’s when 80 movies in a row were terrible (Godzilla, Breakdown, etc.) but this movie was worst than all of those movies combined!  Even scarier was what I ate during the movie (I always eat a ton during scary movies) – an entire container of pretzel bites with fake cheese and a box of cookie dough bites.  Seriously, I’m glad I don’t have pictures.  A calls me a goldfish, I actually made myself nausous.

This morning I was still feeling so gross from the movie-crapfest that my train breakfast didn’t get eaten until well into 2nd period!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif Bar.  This wasn’t bad, but it was my least favorite flavor in months.

Lunch was a total bust – it seemed like such a good idea at the time, but it just didn’t come together.

The idea was Pre-Smooshed PB & J Museli: Greek yogurt, oats, raspberries and peanuts.

Doesn’t that sound good?  Well, no, no it was not.  I took about 2 bites before I decided I’d rather be hungry.

I stayed after school to conference with some kids then rushed to the post office to main in an application.  A was my knight in shining armor today – it was pouring and he came and met me at the train with an umbrella.  Even better, he let me talk him into a meal at Sweet Melissa!

It was wet and chilly enough out for a hot drink so I took full advantage, Sugar and Spice Latte.

A caramel latte with nonfat milk and homemade cinnamon sugar marshmellows.

For eats I got the Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich.

It came with a green side salad,

was served on a crossaint and had green apples and golden raisins in it.

Delish.  Usually I don’t eat the bread on restaurant sandwiches (and I never eat crossaints) but today I ate the whole thing and it was delicious.

A and I hung out at home for a bit and then he said he was going for a run.  Well, my plan for June is to slowly get back into running shape doing intervals but I’m a crazy-face who misses my husband all day so I jumped up and said I’d go too!  We did some loops in Prospect Park and a few little loops in the Slope.  And get this – in 35minutes (I ran the exact time of my 35minute gym playlist on my i-pod, which was an exciting coindence) we did 4.4miles!  Not only did I know think I could run for 35minutes straight I never thought I could do more than 3miles this out of shape!  Other than a few quick stops for boob adjustment (holey heck I need new sports bras) we ran the entire time.  And my ankles/knees don’t even hurt yet (keeping my fingers crossed)!  I can not even describe to y’all how excited I am.

And then it seemed totally normal to tint my hair…..with Kool Aide (oh yeah!).

I used 4C of h2o and three mini packets to dip my hair into.  The end result?

Pretty much zilch.  It’s a little bit darker and it smells fantastic!  In retrospect, when I did this as a teenager I had blonde highlights.  I’m glad I tried though.

Now it’s time for a sweet (smelling, literally) bed time.  I hope everyone’s week has started without a hitch.

Have you ever used food for beauty?  How’d it go?

Tattoos?

Our alarm didn’t go off this morning again (didn’t I just buy a new phone because of this?!?!?!) and I knew there was no way I could get to work on time, so I didn’t!  I called in sick.  I have 6 days left in my bank and I know I won’t be coming back next year so I might was well use them.  I’d like to say I did something fun with my found time but what I did was much more necessary – catch up on sleep.  I called in at 7:30 and got back in bed until 3:30!

When I woke up, 1 full school day later, I breakfasted on what I had packed for lunch, museli.

TJ’s Nonfat Honey Greek Yogurt, 4figs, a few walnuts, and a chopped pear.

I mixed/stored it in a leftover salsa jar.

Very tasty.

I’m not sure what the plan for the rest of the day is I want to go to the gym and there are several movies we want to see.  I’ll let you know in the evening, Happy Friday all!

Marybe wanted me to share my piercings, so here it goes –

• when I was 7 or 8 (mom?) all of my friends had there ears pierced so my mom finally caved and let me get mine too, which was fun because my best friend’s mom was a jewler so she did it for me
• a few years later (13? I have no memory) I got a second hole on each ear
• and when I was 15 my grandmother took me to get one more, on my left ear.  My parents said I couldn’t get another one so my grandmother said I could only get one!
• my 6th piercing is my belly button – when I was 15 my parents said I could do it if I attended Saturday math tutoring; Thank God math tutoring was canceled 2weeks after I got the piercing done!
• finally, my parents let me get a tattoo for my 17th birthday – I have a small star outline just below my left hip.  I didn’t realize at the time how common star tattoos are (I lived on an island, I was shocked when I got to college and saw that every girl at UM had a star tattoo!) but I’ve never regretted it for a moment, I love my tattoo.

What tattos or piercings do you have?

Rolling, Rolling, What!?

Fred Durst lyrics aside, I’ve been on a roll this week with the productivity!  I’m pretty proud of today if I do say so myself.

I had no train breakfast (or lunch) today because A and I were going back to the doctors to get the blood tests we missed from last week.  It was interesting day of school – I did not teach a single class.  Exit projects for science and social studies are due tomorrow so every single period of 8th grade for the last 2 days has been devoted to finishing them.  It’s not that I mind helping with the projects, but isn’t the school sending the wrong message by instituting a mad rush?

I stayed after school to re-average grades for students who handed in make-up work today and then I met A at the doctor’s office.  Quick and painless.  I’m not afraid of needles, but I should be – I have really small veins and the last 3 times I got blood taken it involved 8+ sticks and a popped vein!  A went before me and was nice enough to save me his post-test leftovers.

He brought me about 1/4 of a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl.

I ate it on the walk home.

I didn’t even have time to sit when we got home because I had to make a quick turn around to make it to the gym by 6:15.  I did the best I could to approximate a meal by drinking a chocolate EAS on the walk.

60minutes of Virgin Yoga is just what I needed – I’m still sore from the class on Tuesday!  My balance is pitiful, even the first-times look more graceful than I do as I flop around like fish.

When I got home I hunkered down to work and finished my plans/materials for tomorrow, and 90% of next week, and 50% of the week after that!  The reason I had to do tomorrow is because I was informed that I will be teaching Social Studies for the next two days due to the upcoming state exam.

Dinner was quick and simple but delicious.

Yam Soba noodles + frozen organic asparagus = tasty meal for 2 x 2nights.

 

I topped my portion with a drizzle of evoo, a sprinkle of salt, and 1T toasted pine nuts.

Somehow after dinner I managed to convince A that a trip to the grocery store at 11pm as a good idea- so we went!  We got our groceries for next week.

Groceriers, grading, doctors appointment, plans, and the gym?  Sounds like a good day to me.

Are you afraid of needles?   I am not.  Which is probably how I ended up with 6piercings and a tattoo.