Best Weekend

It was inevitable. I knew the blog hiatus would happen, and it's not as though I didn't have absolutely any time to blog, but sometimes those extra few minutes that I did have I simply wanted to sit and relax and maybe just sit on Pinterest for a few (or 60) minutes. I have also been engaging in some mindless pleasure reading, which has just been good for my soul. Westwood has been crazy, but fun, and tomorrow is the day that I take over the classes full time - yikes! Bring on the lesson planning and grading! My workouts have been a lot of running, and my meals have not been anything special - aside from some apple pork tenderloin I whipped up in the crock pot last week.

The recipe is extremely easy, and though the pictures aren't exactly appetizing, it sure tastes great, so if you want something healthy and just a little bit sweet, this recipe might be the one for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pork tenderloin
• 1/2 apple (thinly sliced)
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 broccoli crown
• 1 zucchini
• 1 squash
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp cinnamon

Method:

1. Slice slits into pork tenderloin horizontally, about 3/4 of the way through the meat

2. Place one apple slice in each slit

3. Transfer porkloin to crock pot and drizzle with honey and cinnamon

4. Slice onion, sprinkling onion slices over the porkloin

5. Surround porkloin with remaining apple slices

6. Cook on low for about 4 hours

7. Cook broccoli and zucchini/squash in the crock pot with the pork tenderloin, or in the oven for 18 minutes heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit - this step is completely up to you!

8. Enjoy! 

I, of course, recommend topping it with salsa

This recipe (inspired by this recipe) could easily serve 5 people, or it can last you five meals - so whether you are hoping to entertain or come home to a delicious dinner, you should give it a try.

In addition to spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen, I also enjoyed dinner with Dylan at a delicious new restaurant, Parkside (a sister restaurant to Olive and June), and we both agreed that this one might just top our list of restaurants.

We split the Friday evening special - the Grilled NY Strip for two, which came cooked medium rare, and with a side of delicious vegetables. In addition to the vegetables that came with our meal, we opted for a side of sweet and sour brussels sprouts that were extra delicious due to the addition of spiced peanuts. I tried to imitate the flavor when I tried my own hand at making brussels sprouts for the first time, and though they were fairly tasty, they just weren't quite the same. Guess I'll just have to keep trying!

My attempt

This past weekend was truly a great one. Austin got a little surprise when the entire city essentially shut down due to a "snow" day, so we had ourselves another 3-day weekend. Something tells me this 5-day week is going to be rough! Anyway, I obviously didn't have to go to school, but I was also unable to take my English Language Arts certification exam that was scheduled for Friday morning. I woke up at 6am, thinking I would certainly find an email telling me whether or not the exam was still happening. There was no such email in my inbox, but I quickly learned that the testing center wasn't scheduled to open until 11am, and my test date would have to be rescheduled. I still don't know when that will be, but fingers crossed that it's soon!

The little bit of snow and ice that was on the roads cleared up by the late morning, so there was nothing stopping the Hills YoungLife from heading south on I-35 toward Lake McQueeney for our spring all-area retreat. I'll admit right off the bat that I had a pretty bad attitude about the retreat, mainly because I was tired from the craziness of the past week, and the weather didn't do much to help my mood. So, though I went in with a pretty sour attitude, I ended up having such a great time. It was certainly cold, and while I did not join my teammates in their 11:30pm lake jump, I did enjoy a night of rest, laughter, encouragement, and worship. I don't think I know how lucky I am to be surrounded by such a great community, and it was so nice to be able to take a step back from the craziness that surrounds all of us and enjoy just being together.

In contrast to a chilly Friday, Saturday and Sunday were absolutely beautiful days here in Austin. Dylan, my roommate Jamie Lynn, and I took advantage of the perfect (albeit windy) weather and headed out to Capitol City Trap and Skeet Club. Remember the last time I did that?

Last round we shot sporting clays, but this time we shot skeet. I'm still not very good, but I sure had a lot of fun doing it, and I had two great teachers in Dylan and Jamie Lynn.

And now I'm ready to curl up with a book and go to sleep early, because something tells me this week will have me moving at 100 miles per hour. My heart is full from this weekend, though, so I already know that it's going to be a great week. Here's to touching base with y'all at least once this week (though I make no promises)!

Hump Day

I can now say that I truly understand the meaning behind "hump day." I have officially made it through half of the work week, and though I still have one dreadfully long Thursday ahead of me, my week is on the downhill. And I mean that in terms of quantity, not quality. Today was an especially good one, as my teacher took advantage of the beautiful January weather and decided to hold part of class outside. It worked out perfectly with the day's assignment, and since these classes will not become my responsibility (and because I haven't read either of the books they are discussing), I simply got to soak up the sunshine while enjoying a book on my Kindle. I am almost 3/4 of the way done with it - not bad for just starting it today!

The book recommended to me by one of my students (Source)

Workout

This morning started bright and early (let's hope this turns into a habit!), and I even woke up before my alarm was scheduled to go off - that's what a 10pm bedtime will do to you!

I was on the treadmill by 5:48am, where I completed this 36-minute treadmill workout, covering just over 4 miles,

before moving over to the free weights area to complete this 20-minute upper-body workout.

I did three rounds of the first five exercises, resting about 20-30 seconds in between, and finished my workout with three sets of barbell bicep curls. Not a bad way to start my day! And I would post about my breakfast, but I'll give your eyes a break from the usual pictures, as nothing has changed from previous day's breakfasts. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit!

And I'm currently posting up in the north Austin Barnes and Noble, killing time before meeting up with some of my YoungLife girls at Amy's Ice Cream. A marathon day!

Houston Rodeo

Happy Monday! And a happy first day of class to many of my college friends. While many of my friends were probably nervous about the start of another semester, I was simply gearing up for week two at Westwood High School. I had a hard time falling asleep last night, and I think that was due to the fact that I took a very late afternoon nap. Oops!

Workout

In addition to not being able to fall asleep, I also woke up multiple times throughout the night - I just never fell into a very deep sleep. Therefore, I woke up just before my alarm was scheduled to go off, and I quickly changed and got to the gym with plenty of time to complete my 45-minute treadmill workout.

It felt good to start off my week with a good run, and I left the gym just before 7am, giving myself plenty of time to shower and get ready for school.

Breakfast

Another day, another predictable breakfast of scrambled egg whites and spinach,

sliced strawberries,

and a small Honeycrisp apple. Delish!

Lunch

So far, my excitement over coming up with new lunches hasn't really panned out, as I have found myself eating close to the same exact lunch every day. That might be because I want to use up all of my food before it goes bad (so as not to be wasteful - my mom would be proud), and because I seem to have found a winning lunch combo. Today I enjoyed a spring mix salad with grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, mini dill pickles, green olives, and La Madeline balsamic vinaigrette,

with a side of either hummus and carrots and celery, or a mint chocolate chip Chobani Bites.

I take other snacks with me to eat throughout the day that range from a couple of cuties to my banana-oatmeal-almond butter muffins. Can't beat it!

Houston Rodeo

Normally the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo releases four performers in November, as a little teaser for the release of the rest of the lineup in January. This year, however, they opted to release all of their performers on the same date - January 12. I was really excited for that date until I realized the lineup wouldn't be released until 11:59pm, a time when I would be long asleep. I will admit that the lineup was the first thing I checked this morning when I woke up, and my heart broke a little bit when I saw that Brad Paisley would be opening the 2014 rodeo season on a day (Tuesday) that is just not going to work with my schedule. My heart broke even more when I saw that Eli Young Band is performing the very next night, but I felt a little bit better when I saw that I could potentially attend performances by Jake Owen, Keith Urban, Hunter Hayes, and Zac Brown Band.

(Source)

I love the rodeo season - the country music (of course), the questionable (and pricey) carnival rides, the Goode Co. Barbecue and footlong corn dogs (such healthy choices, right?), and it's truly just around the corner. And I certainly can't be mad about that!

Sunday Funday

It's another mild winter day here in Austin, and I could not be happier about it. My idea of cold weather is wearing jeans and a light sweater, and this weather is just about perfect for that outfit combination.

My day started off on a great note - with a workout! I woke up just before 8:00am, and I quickly got changed and was speeding up my treadmill by 8:10am. I ran just over three miles:

before completing most of my January Arms workout. I was in and out of the gym in exactly an hour, when I came home to shower, fix breakfast, and get ready for an 11:15am church service.

Breakfast

I know that y'all are way bored with the same old breakfast, but it's just become such a staple of my morning routine that I just can't bring myself to change it. So, until the time comes when I find a new go-to breakfast, scrambled egg whites and spinach will be here for your viewing pleasure.

Church + Lunch

Dylan and I attended an 11:15am church service, followed by a delicious "home cooked" lunch at Threadgills with his mom and brother. 

(Source)

I had never been to Threadgills before, but I pass by it all the time, as there are multiple locations, and I would be quick to recommend it. It's a very fun and unique atmosphere - live music - combined with an extensive (and delicious) menu. We all ordered something different, and each one of us cleaned our plates. I don't have a picture of my meal, but you guys can use your imagination to paint your picture of my food in your mind. I went with the grilled tilapia with a side of steamed broccoli and steamed asparagus. It was delicious and filling, and I can guarantee you that I will be back there in the near future. 

The remainder of my afternoon will be spent doing some meal prep for the week,

and maybe a little bit of reading and relaxing before I hit the ground running tomorrow. Not a bad Sunday, and I hope yours is filled with a little bit of extra joy!

No One Ever Told Us That

Last night I finished what is probably going to be my last "pleasure reading" book of the semester. Though one of my students did tell me that she is going to bring me a book to read by an author of one of the Young Adult books I read over the break, so I am going to make time to read that one.

While reading some of my favorite blogs, I came across a recommendation for this book by John D. Spooner: No One Ever Told Us That, which consists of a series of letters from a grandfather to his grandchildren. Spooner is one of America's leading financial advisors, so a lot of his advice is financial, and touches on subjects like investments and jobs, but he also hits on marriage and chasing your dreams, and the whole book is really just full of fun and essential advice. It is a quick read, and one major theme running throughout each one of the letters is that "all life is relationships." As someone who is a mere five months (give or take) away from the real world, this book not only offered some positive encouragement, it also opened my eyes to how much I don't know about money, and the fact that there is always more to learn. It looks like I'll never stop being a student!

His introduction starts out with this:

• "I know it's old-fashioned, but I love letters. I love to write them and receive them. I enjoy the quality of the stationery and the hardness of fine card stock. And, as in many things in life, I enjoy the anticipation; what's in the note or letter? And I think more weight is given to something handwritten. Often, the real letters are saved as a memory of something special." 

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to write more letters, and I have already written three in the eleven days we've had in 2014. My goal is to write at least one letter a week (and that means lots of fun stationery)! I want to love others as well as they have loved me.

(Source)

The moral of the story is that I recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick and encouraging read, and I also want to share with you a few of my favorite lines, or messages, from the book.

I know this might be hard to read, so if you want to actually read them, simply click on the picture to make it bigger!

Okay, so that was more than a few, but they were too good not to share. Plus, you guys know how I love a good quote.

And after a beautiful Saturday of running errands with Dylan, I'm ready to settle in and watch some playoff football. Go Colts!

Mango Mania

I made the recent discovery that I really love the taste of mango. I am not sure why it took me so long to make this discovery, but better late than never, right? Anyway, after putting some mango on top of my Pinkberry, I went out and purchased a mango for myself, only to find out that splitting and slicing a mango is much easier said than done.

I remembered seeing a mango splitter at Sur La Table during one of my many visits there with Dylan, so I did a little Google search (because let's be honest, ordering products online is so much easier than going shopping), and had one delivered right to my doorstep.

I went with the trusty OXO Good Grips brand, and I am happy to report that it worked like a charm. My mango split very smoothly, and I was left with two easy-to-cut mango halves.

Not a bad deal at all, and you can expect to see a lot more mango around here!

Workout

I stayed up late last night reading (more on that to come in another post), so I slept in until about 8:00am. When I got up, ate a mini-breakfast of a small Honeycrisp apple and two banana-oatmeal-almond butter muffins, and then hit the gym to complete a 45-minute treadmill workout that looked like this:

This workout was inspired by this 45-minute treadmill workout by FitSugar, but I just modified it and changed the speeds to fit my personal fitness level. You can follow this exact workout, or you can modify the speeds to make this workout effective for you. I covered 4.75 miles while running, and another .4ish miles with my walking cool down. A good start to my Saturday!

Breakfast

Breakfast round two looked identical to my usual breakfast: scrambled egg whites and spinach topped with lemon pepper and salsa. 

I really would try to make things more interesting around here for you guys, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? 

And now I'm off to enjoy this absolutely BEAUTIFUL day we are experiencing here in Austin. I certainly wouldn't hate if the rest of our winter consisted of days identical to today. A girl can dream, right? Have a wonderful Saturday!

Weather Wimps

On my way home from the gym this morning, I heard on the radio that we are becoming "weather wimps," and that we have grown accustomed to complaining about the weather. I certainly couldn't deny that statement, as I find myself complaining when it is both cold and rainy, and even though I try not to complain when it's hot outside, sometimes I get so sweaty from simply existing, that I can't help but complain. The moral of the story is, yes, I am a weather wimp, and my favorite weather is sunshine and temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees.

On another note, I survived my first week as a student teacher. Today was a lot of fun, as I really got to engage with the students as they were picking colleges and doing research in the library. I also learned how to use the hi-tech copy machine, and though I started to feel the week catching up to me late this afternoon, I can honestly say that it has been a great week. One down, eleven to go!


Workout

Though I didn't necessarily want to get up this morning and workout, I knew I wouldn't want to after school, so I made myself get up and out of bed so that I could head to the gym to get in a workout before spending a full day at school. Once I got moving, I wasn't so tired, but it's that initial "I hate my alarm" feeling that makes me want to pull the covers right back over my head.

I completed this "crossfit-esque" workout that looked like this:

It took me right around 50 minutes to complete, and for the crunches, I switched it up every other time so that I was doing regular crunches every other round, and switched up my routine with bicycle crunches,

(Source)

v-sit crunches, 

(Source)

and the Russian twist. 

(Source)

It was a great workout, and I left ready to greet the day. I wish I could say I had some really exciting Friday evening plans, but in all honestly, I plan on lounging around the house, doing some last minute organizing, heating up some dinner, and maybe even do some pleasure reading. It is sure to be the last little bit of pleasure reading I will have time to do this semester. I hope your Friday has been a great one!

Treadmill Workout

This morning started off bright and early, as I squeezed in a workout BEFORE school today. I'm hoping to do a lot of that this semester, but something tells me I will crave sleep a little bit more than a morning workout, especially as the semester goes on. For now, though, I've got some sleep stored up from the break, and since it's still pretty quiet around the Clubhouse and in Austin in general, I can get to sleep early and get up early with no real problem. Fingers crossed that it stays that way!

I have a quick incline treadmill workout to share with you guys, that is sure to be a challenge. Walking or running on an incline activates more muscles, which keeps the calorie burn high even though you're moving slower than you might be if you were running at a steady pace.

I modified the speeds on this treadmill workout from SHAPE.com, but here is what my early morning treadmill workout looked like:

I covered about 3.2 miles with this workout, and I rounded out my incline workout with one mile at 7.2mph. It was a good one, and it geared me up for a great day at school. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday!

Tupperware

Tupperware is going to be big for me this semester. Day one and I brought three separate containers along with me to school. I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot more of them, too. Anyway, before I move on to the things you people came for - food and exercise - I'll quickly debrief my first full day at Westwood for you guys. It's going to be great, and a ton of my fears and anxieties were relieved. Remember my New Year's Resolution to not worry as much about things that haven't happened yet? That one needs to come into effect, because as far as I can tell, I'm going to have a great semester.

I will be working with the two English II classes that I worked with in the fall, which is exactly what I was hoping to do. I was a Pre-AP student all throughout my high school career, and while it was obviously a good choice for me, I have found that I truly enjoy working with the on-level students. Though I won't actually take on any of the classes for another two or three weeks, the students will be working on a research project for much of the first six weeks, and as much as many of my fellow classmates hated our huge sophomore research project, I actually enjoyed it, so I'm excited that I will get to eventually teach that. And to make it even better, I really like the research topic: colleges. Each student will research a different college of his or her choice, and eventually prepare a PowerPoint presentation to share with the class. As someone who was very much into researching colleges at a very young age, this project would have been right up my alley, and I hope these students are interested in it too. It's never too early to be thinking about college, especially in today's ultra-competitive age. 

After the research project is over, we will jump right into reading William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I am a big fan of Shakespeare, and this play happens to be one of my favorites. It is the classic twisted love triangle, and it has a very light tone to it. I read it for the first time in 8th grade (not understanding anything, no doubt), and again in the Shakespeare class that I took one summer at UT. Shakespeare is often very intimidating for high school (and college!) students, so I look forward to breaking that intimidation barrier.

Then comes STAAR preparation, which may not be fun, but as far as I can tell, state testing isn't going away anytime soon, so we might as well embrace it. I'm very excited for what this semester holds, and though it's going to be a lot of work, I think it will be extremely rewarding, and a lot of fun. See, what good does worrying do?

Breakfast

Thanks to a very exciting BCS National Championship game last night, I was dragging when my alarm sounded at 6:30am. I wasn't hungry right away, so I simply scrambled up my egg whites and spinach and put them in a tupperware container to eat once I got to the school.

I also enjoyed two cuties and some sliced strawberries.

Not a bad first day of school breakfast!

Lunch

I put my lunch together last night so that I wasn't rushing around this morning trying to remember everything. I'm sure glad I did because I stayed in bed for a few too many extra minutes this morning! I prepared a spring mix salad, topped with grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, dill pickles, green olives, and my favorite La Madeleine balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

I put it all together in this extremely handy Klip-It Salad-to-Go container from The Container Store, which allows you to keep all of the toppings and dressing separate until you are ready to eat the actual salad. I love that because who is going to want to eat a soggy salad?

I enjoyed my salad alongside a personal pack of hummus and carrots, two cuties, and a Dark Chocolate Almond NuGo Organic Nutrition Bar. I know it's pretty lame, but I'm really looking forward to putting together lunches that are both nutritious and delicious this semester. It will make for some fun recipes to share with you guys, that's for sure!

Workout

Westwood gets out at 4:10pm (a far cry from Stratford's 3:00pm release time), so I beat the traffic going home and took a 5:45pm cycling class at the gym. It had been a while since I had taken a cycling class, but this one got me nice and sweaty very quickly. We did a lot of sprinting and slowing it all the way down and standing and sitting and I left feeling like I got in a great workout.

And with that, I'm off to shower, eat dinner, and get everything ready for tomorrow before taking it very easy for the night.  I hope you had a wonderful Tuesday!

Return to Austin

Happy Monday, party people! I'm officially back in Austin and ready to hit the ground running. This morning started out bright and early (a first for this break, to be honest), and I have been on the move ever since getting out of bed.

Breakfast

Now that I'm going to be getting back into a regular routine, I guess it's time for me to get back to my regular posts. As much as you all probably enjoy reading about my personal life, you're probably really here for the recipes and workouts. I understand. That's what this blog was created to be for, anyway!

I started my day off with my usual scrambled egg whites and spinach topped with salsa, along with three cuties. The perfect combination of healthy and sweet - you really can't beat that.

Workout

After breakfast I quickly threw on my swimsuit and headed on up to the gym. I was hoping to get in a last neighborhood run before heading back, but I've been advised to stick to cycling and swimming for a couple of days, just to make sure my knee is fully healed. It's really more sore than anything, but I'm going to take every precaution possible!

Anyway, I snagged a lane and swam a mile and a half before making my way over to the sauna. I didn't realize how much I liked the sauna until very recently (and I mean within about the last week), but I hope to make it a regular thing. That, and yoga. I know I've said that a hundred times, but I did recently treat myself  to a nice yoga mat, so I'm sticking to that resolution!

The Mat (Source)

After the gym I made a quick run over to Ikea to pick up something to help Dylan finish putting together some furniture in his house, and to save us an additional trip out to the Ikea in Round Rock, and dropped a letter off at the post office.

I then made my way over to FedEx Kinko's to print off my syllabus for the semester (I put the pro in procrastination, because I truly could have done this absolutely any other day over the break), and finally headed back home to shower and pack up the remainder of my belongings. I am not sure I will ever learn how to pack lightly, as I, once again, brought home entirely too much stuff. Now I just have to drag all of it back with me (and then some), but lucky for me, my parents are coming to Austin on Friday for the George Strait concert, so I won't have to go too long without anything.

Because it's always incredibly hard for me to leave home after the Christmas break, I decided not to put it off any longer and to just bite the bullet and start heading west on I-10 as soon as I was finished packing. I got back to Austin (to a very empty street) right around 3:00pm, and I immediately started unloading my car. I told myself that I couldn't go get anything else out of my car until I finished unpacking the bags I had just taken inside. Otherwise, it all piles up around me and I get extremely overwhelmed. My method worked, and I was finished unpacking (and organizing!) in an hour and a half or so. As much as I wanted to stop, I just kept on trucking, because I knew if it didn't happen today, it would honestly probably never happen.

Missing my roomies

I then grabbed my reusable grocery bags (because I'm not in Houston anymore), and visited the oh-so-familiar HEB. I grabbed just a few things, as I did bring some groceries back with me, so that I could prepare a couple of meals for the next week or two. That is going to be the key for me this semester: meal preparation! I have quite a few pins just for that purpose, so here's to actually putting them to good use this semester. For now, I made my usual pineapple chicken and vegetable dish and a round of spaghetti squash and lean ground turkey, but I'm hoping to get a bit more adventurous as the semester goes on.

And now it's time to pick out my outfit for tomorrow, prepare my lunch,

and sit back and watch the National Championship game with my Central Market salad before going to sleep nice and early. Or attempting to. Something tells me it will take me a while to actually fall asleep.

Here's to my return to sophomore year. And to learning and growing more than I ever thought possible. Houston, you were so good to me, and I am thankful for time filled with family, friends, and rest, but now that I'm back in Austin, I know that it's going to be a great semester.