Rain, sleet, and snow throughout the night = two words every teacher longs to hear:
SNOW DAY!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wordless Wednesday - February
I did a lot this February, but it's not over yet! This weekend I'm headed back up to Duluth to catch A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Here's a small re-cap in pictures:
Josh at the Winter Carnival Ice Bar in Rice Park.
Rice Park, all lit up for the St. Paul Winter Carnival.
World's Toughest Rodeo at the Xcel Energy Center.
Ride 'em, cowboy!
Yee haw!
Rodeo Clown
Yes, the Valentine's Day 5k was COLD. Air temp at the start: 4F (w/o the wind chill).
Last weekend at Pizza Luce in Duluth. Baked potato pizza = NOM.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Free Friday Fun Facts
1. My favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. I don't care if you think it's a Hallmark holiday.
2. My second favorite holiday is St. Patrick's Day.
3. In the past few months the Echo has had some work done: new brakes, new tires, and today - a new oil pan. She'll be completely rebuilt soon!
4. Yesterday I went for a 50-minute walk. When I got back I was craving salt. And I always wondered why there were chips given out at the end of races...
5. I think I've only had Classic Coke maybe once this year so far.
6. My scale has been telling me "batt" for the last week or so. This morning it finally died and I had to get new batteries. And I SWEAR I would have lost weight this week!
7. I am getting my butters whipped at 5:30. Sushi at 7:15.
8. I hate peppers. And yes, I've tried them.
9. I'm completely fine with going out on a Friday or Saturday night in my black fleece pants and a sweatshirt. I'm happy that I've met a guy who is completely fine with it too.
10. I am addicted to DDR. My Wii version came in the mail yesterday. SO FLUFFY!
11. I am my mother's daughter. I eat the same thing every day for lunch (at school): Chobani yogurt, Amy's spinach feta pocked -or- Amy's cheese pizza snacks, and a protein bar.
12. If I'm feeling frisky, I get a soft pretzel and cheese from the cafeteria.
13. My favorite school lunch is turkey gravy over mashed potatoes or anything with spicy chicken. I rarely get these though bc they are laden with sodium.
14. I just signed up for my first 7k. Lucke talked me into it saying, "What's one more mile?!" I'll find out on 3/17/12.
15. When I was a kid, my favorite day of the week was Friday. That was the day when I'd go over to my grandmother's house for dinner. We always had hamburgers, french fries, and cooked broccoli with Coke and Herr's sour cream and onion chips.
16. Like Katie, I love the NFL, but do not care a lick about the Super Bowl this year. Brady and the wrong Manning. No thank you.
17. Last week I bought my first Park Center sweatshirt. Actually I bought two, but one is white and I haven't worn it yet. I've worn the green one about three times already.
18. One of my favorite meals is Josh's red shrimp curry. Last night he made it with sea bass and it was just as good.
19. Winterfest is tonight. Winterfest is overrated. And I don't feel this way simply bc I could not get tickets.
20. I love teaching high school kids, even more than teaching middle school kids. I never thought I'd love teaching anything other than middle school.
Happy FRIDAY!!!
2. My second favorite holiday is St. Patrick's Day.
3. In the past few months the Echo has had some work done: new brakes, new tires, and today - a new oil pan. She'll be completely rebuilt soon!
4. Yesterday I went for a 50-minute walk. When I got back I was craving salt. And I always wondered why there were chips given out at the end of races...
5. I think I've only had Classic Coke maybe once this year so far.
6. My scale has been telling me "batt" for the last week or so. This morning it finally died and I had to get new batteries. And I SWEAR I would have lost weight this week!
7. I am getting my butters whipped at 5:30. Sushi at 7:15.
8. I hate peppers. And yes, I've tried them.
9. I'm completely fine with going out on a Friday or Saturday night in my black fleece pants and a sweatshirt. I'm happy that I've met a guy who is completely fine with it too.
10. I am addicted to DDR. My Wii version came in the mail yesterday. SO FLUFFY!
11. I am my mother's daughter. I eat the same thing every day for lunch (at school): Chobani yogurt, Amy's spinach feta pocked -or- Amy's cheese pizza snacks, and a protein bar.
12. If I'm feeling frisky, I get a soft pretzel and cheese from the cafeteria.
13. My favorite school lunch is turkey gravy over mashed potatoes or anything with spicy chicken. I rarely get these though bc they are laden with sodium.
14. I just signed up for my first 7k. Lucke talked me into it saying, "What's one more mile?!" I'll find out on 3/17/12.
15. When I was a kid, my favorite day of the week was Friday. That was the day when I'd go over to my grandmother's house for dinner. We always had hamburgers, french fries, and cooked broccoli with Coke and Herr's sour cream and onion chips.
16. Like Katie, I love the NFL, but do not care a lick about the Super Bowl this year. Brady and the wrong Manning. No thank you.
17. Last week I bought my first Park Center sweatshirt. Actually I bought two, but one is white and I haven't worn it yet. I've worn the green one about three times already.
18. One of my favorite meals is Josh's red shrimp curry. Last night he made it with sea bass and it was just as good.
19. Winterfest is tonight. Winterfest is overrated. And I don't feel this way simply bc I could not get tickets.
20. I love teaching high school kids, even more than teaching middle school kids. I never thought I'd love teaching anything other than middle school.
Happy FRIDAY!!!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
A Look Back at January
This is what I had posted at the end of December:
On to the goals:
I'm going to play tennis in January. This was my goal before I tweaked my back in late December and I'm determined to stick to it. I'm also going to run/jog/gimp along at one 5k per month. We're all signed up to do the Polar Dash tomorrow. I just hope I don't puke. The Duluth Inline Half also awaits me in September. I'm definitely worried about this one, but will be rolling around the Metrodome for the next few months with my friend Sten. My goal is simply to finish without any major injuries. I believe that's Sten's goal too!
And here's what really happened:
I did not play tennis in January, but I got very close. About halfway through the month my back decided to flip out on me again. The ultimatum came down from the chiro - this sets and stays or it's time for an MRI. I researched TRIA Orthopedic Center and talked to people about how they fixed their backs after the chiro didn't work. And, miracle of miracles, it stayed put after a pain-filled weekend. I had signed up for a tennis drill last night, but chickened out at the last moment. I'm just not ready to be wracked with pain yet.
Polar Dash 1/1/12
Success! After doing nothing for a very long time, I was able to jog the first five minutes and every downhill slope. I finished in about 46 minutes. I've already signed up for February's race, the Valentine's Day TC 5k, and have recruited a few friends to trot alongside me. After I get paid, I will sign up for March's Get Lucky 7k.
I'm still super worried about the North Shore Inline Half. I've only been blading once in January and then promptly hurt my back. I need to work on this in February.
Hmm...dry January. Well, it was a good thought and I did significantly reduce my alcohol intake. I made it until dinner on January 13th. At that point Josh and I declared that January had "free Fridays" when we could drink. I pretty much stuck to this plan and stayed away from beer during the week.
Free Fridays were also when we could eat and not log our calories. I did pretty well in January and logged 22 out of the 31 days on My Food Diary. The first three weeks were logged religiously, with only Friday not being logged. The last two weeks were a tad more spotty.
All tolled, I lost 5.4 pounds in January. I consider that a win for the month. 1 lb/week is the goal to keep me on track!
To look ahead at February's goals:
Have fun at the Valentine's Day 5k. Don't worry about time.
Keep logging as much as possible in MFD.
Rollerblade at the Dome at least 2x.
Play tennis at least once. And don't be a chicken.
Read a book for Pete's sake.
Try to watch all of the Oscar-nominated movies on my list. (Tonight it's Drive.)
Okay February, you hold my #1 favorite holiday. Let's do this!
On to the goals:
I'm going to play tennis in January. This was my goal before I tweaked my back in late December and I'm determined to stick to it. I'm also going to run/jog/gimp along at one 5k per month. We're all signed up to do the Polar Dash tomorrow. I just hope I don't puke. The Duluth Inline Half also awaits me in September. I'm definitely worried about this one, but will be rolling around the Metrodome for the next few months with my friend Sten. My goal is simply to finish without any major injuries. I believe that's Sten's goal too!
And here's what really happened:
I did not play tennis in January, but I got very close. About halfway through the month my back decided to flip out on me again. The ultimatum came down from the chiro - this sets and stays or it's time for an MRI. I researched TRIA Orthopedic Center and talked to people about how they fixed their backs after the chiro didn't work. And, miracle of miracles, it stayed put after a pain-filled weekend. I had signed up for a tennis drill last night, but chickened out at the last moment. I'm just not ready to be wracked with pain yet.
Polar Dash 1/1/12
Success! After doing nothing for a very long time, I was able to jog the first five minutes and every downhill slope. I finished in about 46 minutes. I've already signed up for February's race, the Valentine's Day TC 5k, and have recruited a few friends to trot alongside me. After I get paid, I will sign up for March's Get Lucky 7k.
I'm still super worried about the North Shore Inline Half. I've only been blading once in January and then promptly hurt my back. I need to work on this in February.
Hmm...dry January. Well, it was a good thought and I did significantly reduce my alcohol intake. I made it until dinner on January 13th. At that point Josh and I declared that January had "free Fridays" when we could drink. I pretty much stuck to this plan and stayed away from beer during the week.
Free Fridays were also when we could eat and not log our calories. I did pretty well in January and logged 22 out of the 31 days on My Food Diary. The first three weeks were logged religiously, with only Friday not being logged. The last two weeks were a tad more spotty.
All tolled, I lost 5.4 pounds in January. I consider that a win for the month. 1 lb/week is the goal to keep me on track!
To look ahead at February's goals:
Have fun at the Valentine's Day 5k. Don't worry about time.
Keep logging as much as possible in MFD.
Rollerblade at the Dome at least 2x.
Play tennis at least once. And don't be a chicken.
Read a book for Pete's sake.
Try to watch all of the Oscar-nominated movies on my list. (Tonight it's Drive.)
Okay February, you hold my #1 favorite holiday. Let's do this!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
It Can't Be Worse Than When "Crash" Won...
Today is a very important day: Oscar Nomination day. Nothing was all that much of a surprise this year, perhaps bc I followed the Golden Globes closer than I had in years past. That being said, let me throw out this pre-meat-of-the-blog rant: STICK TO FIVE BEST PICTURES!!! There is no reason to fish around for films 7-10 just to fill out a list. And with that being said, I'll move on.
My favorite five best picture nominees: The Artist, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, The Help...and I still need to see Extremely Loud, Hugo, Tree of Life, and War Horse. Nmac swears up and down that War Horse should not be on the list. I'll have to watch it to see for myself. Moneyball was fun and well-made, but not in my top five unless everything else sucks. I have a feeling I may enjoy Hugo though.
Movies I still need to see include: Warrior, A Better Life, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (TTSS), Albert Nobbs, Dragon Tattoo, Beginners, Iron Lady, Anonymous, W.E., Jane Eyre, A Separation, Drive, Real Steel, and Margin Call.
Movies I will pass on, even though they are nominated: Harry Potter, Transformers, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. How did Real Steel make the cut? Um, Hugh Jackman, duh!
I'm glad to see Charlize Theron and Diablo Cody got snubbed. Young Adult was so childish and juvenile. I really didn't care for it at all. Diablo Cody gets all of this hype, which I think is unwarranted.
Melissa McCarthy! So glad she got the nomination. The Oscars are usually a very heavy crowd and it's nice to see a movie with a boatload of levity was recognized. Also glad to see Jonah Hill nominated for Moneyball. I don't think he'll win, but I hope working and learning from Brad Pitt will change the types of pictures he does. I think he has better acting chops than what he's most known for.
Only two songs were nominated, but I already know which one is my favorite. "Man or Muppet" was a great song with a great movie montage to accompany it! C'mon, it featured "Sheldon"! I simply do not think that RIO can top that.
Globe-nominated movies that I can wait to see until after I see all of the Oscar-nominated movies: 50/50 (although I just got this from Redbox so I'll watch it anyway), Drive, J. Edgar, We Need to Talk About Kevin. The last one was an odd snub for Tilda Swinton. I've heard she's fantastic in it.
The Landmark Theaters show all of the animated and live action shorts, which I try to see every year. For a few hours and $14, you can see all of them back to back. AMC runs a similar program, showing all of the best picture nominees. Uff-dah, just thinking about sitting in a theater for that long makes my butt and back hurt.
I always like to see the best documentary feature nominees. Last year I loved all of the nominated documentaries and they really opened my eyes to what was going on in the world (hello, GasLand). I'm excited to get my hands on the current nominees and see if I am equally as impressed. 2010 was the first year that I tried to focus on viewing all of the documentaries and it will definitely be something I aspire to do in the future.
I will wait to weigh in on who I think should win until I've seen all of the nominations. I'll post my predictions closer to Feb 26. Until that time...I'll see you at the movies!
Tuesday night: 50/50
Wednesday night: The Way
Thursday: Rango (Hopefully - at conferences! Was going to Netflix Beginners, but thought that wouldn't be good to be watching, should any adapted PE parent happen to find my room...)
My favorite five best picture nominees: The Artist, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, The Help...and I still need to see Extremely Loud, Hugo, Tree of Life, and War Horse. Nmac swears up and down that War Horse should not be on the list. I'll have to watch it to see for myself. Moneyball was fun and well-made, but not in my top five unless everything else sucks. I have a feeling I may enjoy Hugo though.
Movies I still need to see include: Warrior, A Better Life, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (TTSS), Albert Nobbs, Dragon Tattoo, Beginners, Iron Lady, Anonymous, W.E., Jane Eyre, A Separation, Drive, Real Steel, and Margin Call.
Movies I will pass on, even though they are nominated: Harry Potter, Transformers, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. How did Real Steel make the cut? Um, Hugh Jackman, duh!
I'm glad to see Charlize Theron and Diablo Cody got snubbed. Young Adult was so childish and juvenile. I really didn't care for it at all. Diablo Cody gets all of this hype, which I think is unwarranted.
Melissa McCarthy! So glad she got the nomination. The Oscars are usually a very heavy crowd and it's nice to see a movie with a boatload of levity was recognized. Also glad to see Jonah Hill nominated for Moneyball. I don't think he'll win, but I hope working and learning from Brad Pitt will change the types of pictures he does. I think he has better acting chops than what he's most known for.
Only two songs were nominated, but I already know which one is my favorite. "Man or Muppet" was a great song with a great movie montage to accompany it! C'mon, it featured "Sheldon"! I simply do not think that RIO can top that.
Globe-nominated movies that I can wait to see until after I see all of the Oscar-nominated movies: 50/50 (although I just got this from Redbox so I'll watch it anyway), Drive, J. Edgar, We Need to Talk About Kevin. The last one was an odd snub for Tilda Swinton. I've heard she's fantastic in it.
The Landmark Theaters show all of the animated and live action shorts, which I try to see every year. For a few hours and $14, you can see all of them back to back. AMC runs a similar program, showing all of the best picture nominees. Uff-dah, just thinking about sitting in a theater for that long makes my butt and back hurt.
I always like to see the best documentary feature nominees. Last year I loved all of the nominated documentaries and they really opened my eyes to what was going on in the world (hello, GasLand). I'm excited to get my hands on the current nominees and see if I am equally as impressed. 2010 was the first year that I tried to focus on viewing all of the documentaries and it will definitely be something I aspire to do in the future.
I will wait to weigh in on who I think should win until I've seen all of the nominations. I'll post my predictions closer to Feb 26. Until that time...I'll see you at the movies!
Tuesday night: 50/50
Wednesday night: The Way
Thursday: Rango (Hopefully - at conferences! Was going to Netflix Beginners, but thought that wouldn't be good to be watching, should any adapted PE parent happen to find my room...)
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sunday Dinner
Tonight's dinner included Jeanne Fuller's mac n cheese, flank steak, cooked broccoli, and Tom Byron's mashed spuds! Josh cooked everything (well, except his mom's mac n cheese) and the potatoes were just like Dad's. YUM!!
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