January, goodbye. February, let's call this a fresh start.

January 2011 has been a shitty month.  It's unfortunate really.  I wanted a great start to this new year.  In spite of all my gratitude this month, it's time for me to vent.  Terrible/annoying/frustrating happenings of my month:

• Two major breakdowns related to work
• Constant overload of stress related to everything piled on the plate of my life
• Not being able to close on our house (not for good, just this month)
• D's car breaking down on his way to Athens
• Ridiculous unexpected costs related to fixing said car
• Mounting frustration in my job and not being able to see a light at the end of the tunnel
• Snow days that end up equating to more work for me in the long run
• Inconsistent running due to said stress

I feel like I could go on further, but I'm afraid I'm becoming redundant.

[New day, new month, new beginning]

So I'm wiping the slate clean and starting over.  Tomorrow begins the fresh new month of February and I intend to embrace it head on.  I still have just as much on my plate, but I need to focus on the positive.

• We WILL close on our house this month 
• The month of love and almost marks one year of marriage for D and I
• Tax returns (fingers crossed)
• Praxis (teaching test) scores (although this could be good or bad)
• Stout fest at the Raleigh Times on Valentines Day...what better way to spend Valentines than with a grilled cheddar, avocado, and tomato sandwich, huge salad with the best balsamic, and Terrapin Wake N Bake
• Registering for my first 5k of 2011

It's time.  I am starting to consider getting the 30 day shred which I hear so many people talk of.  I'm not seeing too much weight loss with my running and think I need to devote more time to toning.  If you've tried it (or have another cheap DVD/program you use), let me know.  I'm still going to maintain my gym membership, but figured I may be more efficient with toning at home.

February, let's try this again...

I am graceful.

First and most importantly, it's ALMOST FRIDAY!  Whew.  What a relief.  Although as I type this, I think about my friend Claire who is a stay at home mom.  Fridays probably don't mean the same thing when you are literally doing your job 24/7.  I'm grateful for the fact that I do get some break from my job.  Even when I take home work at least I don't have to be around the students all that time.  And over summer break, I'll have a complete escape.  I am lucky.

One Wednesday, D and I were lucky enough to go to an Allagash beer dinner at the Busy Bee in Raleigh.  I always feel a bit weird taking food pictures when I am surrounded by people I don't know at a beer dinner.  I didn't get any pictures from the dinner, but I did come away one a couple temporary souvenirs.  I dressed nice since I relish those times I can utilize fancy dresses and heels.  After about six high gravity beers, you can get to feeling pretty nice.  On the way out, I loudly gracefully fell down the stairs.  I mean, feet out from under me and I'm pretty sure I slid down a couple steps.  Luckily those beers did have me feeling pretty wonderful and I laughed it off with a couple of people.  I woke up the next morning (feeling fine although like possibly some of that beer was still in my system) with a massive blue and green bruise on my arm.  I also felt some pain in my ass.  I yi yi.  The bruise made writing on the overhead a bit tricky and painful.  And I had no one to show the bruise to!  D left to go out of town and I was by my lonesome.  I don't think a picture would show it very well, but I figured you all might get a laugh out of my drunkeness clumsiness. 

I'll be working on some quality posts this weekend. Happy Friday :)

Gratitude.

To escape from negativity and embrace the positive side of this week...

• I get to sleep in an extra hour or so on Thursday and attend a teacher improvement seminar (which equals a day away from middle schoolers)
• D asked me to go to a beer dinner tonight
• Beer dinners are our only exception for meat during No Meat January
• 4 day week with the students
• Only one IEP meeting this week
• Computer lab with my Language Arts classes = extra time to prepare for IEP meetings
• Two of my students were "fast tracked" to the high school = proud of them but so happy to reduce class sizes by even two
• It's almost February
• I have lesson plans tentatively planned out for the week
• Next week is a 4 day week for me too
• Friday is a short day with my 7th graders
• I'm feeling better
• Pay day is Friday

It really is all about the small things. I have lots to be grateful for.

Calling all vegetarians!

I haven't done many any food posts from this year's No-Meat January.  Mainly because I'm so stressed out that 1) D cooks a meal for us and I typically don't photo-document that; 2) I pick up a $5 cheese pizza from down the street; or 3) I just forget.  Stress will do it to you.  Last year, we made lots of delicious new meals.  This year we have mostly been re-doing those recipes.  One area that we have scoured a bit more this year is the vegetarian sections at our grocery stores. 

One of our fav finds is Quorn.

Quorn has been around in the UK since 1985 (yeah, who knew there were vegetarians then?!  I kid, I kid).  Quorn is made from a protein from the fungi family and is binded together with egg and some other stuff.  It's supposed to be, obviously, high in protein and low in fat.  D and I are skeptical when it comes to fake meats.  I mean have you ever tried the fake bacon?!  There is no substitute for that fatty, delicious meat.  Quorn is actually pretty good though!  We've only tried the Chik'n Tenders, which are like chunked chicken.  I'm trying them again tonight in my Chicken Salsa Verde Bake.  Quorn has lots of other items I want to try though.

D just learned how to make some delicious (yet fattening) tofu, and we found some decent fake sausage.  Oh and these...

...have made way into my life.  There is an American version, and they are delish!  I've never been a hot dog fan, so this is the best of both worlds!  What I don't like is the fact that fake meats are more expensive than real meats.  Grrr! 

We also tried the mostly vegetarian restaurant here in Raleigh, Remedy Diner.  It was delicious.  It does not have the variety that The Grit in Athens has, but it left me wanting to go back for more.  They have an awesome 24/7 breakfast menu that I have to try!  I can't wait to try a couple of the middle eastern restaurants here that have some great veggie options.

So far this has been a successful No-Meat January.  I'm pretty happy that I have found more meat alternatives, since I lean more towards vegetarian than not.  Don't get me wrong...I'm totally looking forward to a heaping pile of bacon sooner than later :)

What are your favorite vegetarian recipes?

Why doesn't the world stop when you're sick?

Oh man.  I woke up on Saturday feeling all kinds of crappy.  Sore throat.  Headache.  Body ache.  Stuffy nose.  That kind of head cold that insists you don't even think about crawling out of bed.  Boo.  I've been choking down Thera-flu, ibuprofen, allergy pills, you name it.  Sunday morning came and I felt worse.  Tossing and turning every night does not make things better.  Life just doesn't stop though.  Student grades have to be entered on Monday.  This means I have to grade.  I have to go to school and enter grades on Monday.  I have to go talk to teachers about a student meeting I have on Wednesday.  I have to prepare for and participate in the meeting Wednesday or it'll take me double the time to reschedule and get everyone to attend. 

Life doesn't stop.  Work doesn't stop. 

On a positive note, I was browsing shopbop for a bit today (what else is there to do when you're sick and have already watched enough Weeds to make you dizzy?).  I found a couple of guilty pleasures that I'm totally putting on my wish list (before they sell out that is).

[Sauce Gaga Middle School Tee, $32, on sale - ok you know I have an obsession with Gaga.  Love this.  They also have one for Blair from GG]

[Madewell Feather Print Skirt, $44]

Then I browsed over at J Crew...

[Always pocket cardigan,  $29.99 - desperately hoping this one is still available in my size as of Friday, pay day only available in XX-small]

[This whole outfit is to-die-for, but specifically the Felted Wool Mini.  $69.50 is a bit out of my price range but they do have my size!]

But then there are things like this calling my name...

[Last minute AND cheap trip to San Fran!]

[Saving up for Spain next winter!]

For whatever reason, the will/need to travel is overcoming my desire for more clothing, shoes, and accessories!

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

In case you haven't heard me mention it enough times...

...I've been quite broke for approximately the past year.  I won't bore you again with the details about why.  Needless to say, I am getting pretty antsy to close on our house in a week and start having some money to play around with again.  Aside from saving money so I can travel more, I have some "necessities" on my list for pay day.  Surprisingly, my first necessity is not clothing related.

[via weheartit]

It's a hair cut!  I've never been too good about keeping up with routine hair stylings.  I prefer to go to a high-end salon for the quality, but I can't afford that every two months.  I started going every 4-6 months to get a trim and update my highlights.  The last time I went was in February/early March before D and I got married.  I am dying.  My split ends look pathetic/sad/depressing.  My highlights are equally drab.  My friend, it is time.  Unfortunately, I am not sure if the spare money will be available with my Feburary pay check coming in at the end of January, but if not I will be scheduling an appointment asap at the end of Feb.

After moving to Raleigh, it was difficult to consider a new salon/hair stylist.  Back in Athens, I had been with my same stylist for 5 years.  I moved when she moved to a different salon.  Since Athens is still within a do-able driving distance, I've considered getting my hair done there.  But I think the switch needs to be made.

With a hair cut, I have been thinking since the summer about chopping my hair off.  I spent years growing it out.  I have really thin, fine hair, so it always looked a little flat and stringy long.  I think my hair has matured over time though.  It's got body and umph now.  It took me a lot of time to grow it so long, but I felt as a teacher I needed a more "mature" look.  First, I wanted to donate to locks of love.

Then I found out they won't take colored/dyed hair :(  Much to my dismay!  So I'm going from this:

[circa October 2010]

to something like this....

[Not too drastic, a bit off the ends and some shorter bangs.  Via weheartit]

or...

[Even shorter, but still blonde]

But then I see gorgeous pictures like this that make me want to hold on to my long locks...

 

My goal in life should just be to have hair and a body exactly like Blake Lively.

Road trippin'

FINALLY!  A happy post :)  I did get lost in a little negativity last night and wrote a note about how miserable this job is making me.  But...enough of that for now.  Spring break is quickly approaching!  As difficult as this first full year of teaching has felt so far, I should count myself lucky for the amount of time I get (and certainly will relish in this summer) off.

D and I have been throwing around spring break travel ideas for months now.  I mean I've been desperately longing for a vacation since September!  Once we officially close on the house and get a bit of tax refund money, I'm going to have ants in my pants to get out of this town.  Since D still has work obligations, one of the ideas we've thrown out is that of a road trip.

D has a beer event in Virginia at the end of my spring break.  We've contemplated driving up to Philly (I've yet to go while he has visited two times now) then up to NYC then back down to VA to round it out.  As much as I'm dreaming of being back on a plane, this trip sounds like a winner.  Since D has the event, I'm 95% sure this is what we are going to do. 

I've been dreaming of NYC for quite a while now.  That would certainly allow me to mark off a few items on my 101 in 1001 list!  We'd catch a Broadway show and eat at some fabulous restaurants.  I think the hardest part would be leaving feeling like we haven't accomplished enough...since the city is so enormous!  I'd love to take D to see a live show of some sort.

One thing I hadn't thought of is where we would leave our car.  There's no way I would brave NY traffic/parking to see the city.  Taxis!  We should take parking costs into consideration.  Here's to hoping that this works out!  Goodness knows I need a break!