Crazy Saturday Night

Sorry for my absence these past few days, school has really been picking up speed but I think I may have finally found my rhythm! Let's start with Friday, because it is the best day of the work week, in my opinion! Despite having class from 2-4pm, that is. My roommates are done with class and enjoying their weekends before I even head out the door. You win some, you lose some, right? Anyway, I stayed up pretty late (for me) on Thursday night hanging up some different decorations around our house to make it feel a bit more homey - sidenote: we got a big rug for our living area today! - so I slept in a little bit later than I would have liked to on Friday morning, but once I got up, I ate half a Kind bar, got in my car and headed to Town Lake for a 3-mile run. I figured this run would be a bit more enjoyable than my run on Tuesday because it was a bit cooler outside, and while it wasn't quite as much of a struggle, I think I'll be sticking to the treadmill until the weather starts to get cooler. Plus, I battled an extreme amount of traffic in order to get to the gym to complete three rounds of an arm workout that looked like this:

I felt that this morning when I woke up, that's for sure! After returning home from the gym, I whipped up a new-to-me breakfast: my own personal serving of banana bread baked oatmeal, boatmeal, courtesy of Chocolate Covered Katie. I have mentioned it a few times, but I am not a big oatmeal fan. It's something about the texture, and I have discovered that the only way to make myself eat it is if I put it in the oven and bake it into something better. I threw in some walnuts, a handful of raisins, and a pinch of cinnamon before throwing it into the oven for about 15 minutes. I will probably let it cook for a few more minutes next time, but I will certainly be making this again - especially when the weather starts getting cooler and a warm breakfast is in order.

I headed toward campus around 1:30 in the afternoon and at the end of my second class, I received some very exciting news: I am going to be student teaching this semester for an 8th grade Language Arts class at Lake Travis Middle School. Though this means I have a pretty long drive to make every week, I could not be more excited. I have heard some horror stories about student teaching in the middle school, and I think being at Lake Travis is going to be one great experience. Naturally, I have already stalked my teacher a little bit and I am so excited to meet her because we seem like we will get along really well: she runs marathons, has completed the MS150, loves Whole Foods and Central Market, and enjoys ordering books off of Amazon.com. Plus, she has amazing credentials and I think I am going to learn and grow so much. I can't wait!

After completing my first full week of class, I was more than ready to leave the Austin city limits for a night to spend some much-needed time with not only my Young Life team, but with the entire Northwest Austin Young Life area. At the beginning of each semester, our entire area of leaders spends some time together before the craziness of the semester, and to talk about our goals for the upcoming semester. Though we hit quite a bit of traffic, and spent a Texas summer night with no air conditioning, it was some really great time spent with my team as well as my entire area. I am so blessed to have this incredible community and I could not be more excited about this upcoming semester. I went to a soccer game last weekend and a volleyball game this past Thursday, but I am ready to see my girls on a more consistent basis. My team, despite losing a few quality members to graduation and transfers, is so awesome, and I am really looking forward to seeing different people step up and how we are going to work as a team to love on these kids.

God at work in Austin, Texas

Alex and Ellie - two of my awesome (and attractive) teammates

Dylan taking selfies while stuck in traffic

We're a fun bunch

We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner on Friday night, along with about three other Young Life teams in the Austin area, and some of us helped Chick-Fil-A pull in quite the revenue, as one of my team members ordered three chicken sandwiches and two packs of nuggets. That might rival my brother and his usual order of three 12-packs of nuggets.

I personally enjoyed the grilled chicken sandwich with a side of fruit, and it was delicious. I love Chick-Fil-A but I often forget about it because there is not one close to me here in Austin, nor is there one near me in Houston. So I was pretty excited to be nommin' on this deliciousness last night!

I arrived home around 2:00 this afternoon to start on a bit of homework, and around 5:20 or so, I got in my car and headed (once again) over to Town Lake, but this time just to complete a peaceful walk around the lake. I was pretty worn out from the events of this past week, but it was too pretty of a night to spend indoors. I made a quick loop around one of my favorite Austin spots before making the short drive over to my favorite Austin establishments for dinner: Whole Foods. I got the salad bar, combining some chicken, pork, green beans, mushrooms, and grilled veggies - it sounds like an odd combination - but it was delicious. 

Focus on one point and BREATHE - Town Lake art 

I washed it down with my favorite $.89 six-serving water bottle, 

Gotta stay hydrated!

grabbed a few groceries, and headed home to enjoy this happy find:

Being lactose intolerant really isn't that bad, except for when it comes to chocolate, ice cream, and queso. The ice cream thing is tolerable because I can substitute it with frozen yogurt (duh), but sometimes all a girl needs is a little bit of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I enjoyed a small bowl of this before doing a little bit of baking and completing this blog post.

Phew, that was a long one, but I think it got me all caught up! Check back tomorrow for another Survey Sunday!

P.S. Hook 'em Horns! I am again electing to sit out the game that is happening right this second, but I have a valid excuse this time: I was pretty much out of commission from Friday at 2pm until today at 2pm, so I have some catching up and relaxing to do. A Saturday night that consists of ice cream and baking? Don't mind if I do!