I am alive…I promise

So, yeah, I’m still here. Summer school has invaded my life, though, so it seems like I have no free time at all. Every day (7 hours with one class) is like a week, so it’s tough to get a handle on things at times. Not to mention that the students I’m teaching have all failed this course before and do not seem to care. Bah…the joys of teenagers.

In even worse news, and the main reason I haven’t been around…my camera broke! I guess while it just bit the big one. It was it’s time. It was old. My birthday is coming up, so I have hopes that I will be able to get a new one soon.

Hope things are going well with all of you!

Well, Hello There!

I’m back from vacation! I’ve actually been back for a few days, but I’ve been pretending that I’m still on vacation and not doing a thing Although I should be upset about that (summer school starts tomorrow, and I haven’t done a thing yet!), I’m not. It’s been a fantastic two weeks, and I feel ready to get back to work.

I’ll have a more complete update later about the past few days, but for now, I have some work to do and blogs to read!

Oh, and thanks to Healthy Ashley for the smoothie king gift cards! They will used VERY well, I promise!

In Florida :)

I’m here in Florida!! It’s beautiful and wonderful here. It’s so nice to be away

My dad’s condo doesn’t have Internet access yet, so I won’t be around much. Hope you all enjoy the next few days, and I’ll definitely update and catch up when I can!

Finally…Vacation!

That’s right folks, summer has finally arrived for this girl! I was able to sleep in this morning (7:30…not bad, huh?) and take my time. I love it when I’m not in a rush! I do have a lot to get done today, though, because I’m going on my 12 day vacation to Florida tomorrow morning. So, there’s has been plenty of errands to run, laundry to do and packing going so far today. There’s also been a lot of eating! Because I hate to waste food, I have some perishables that need to get eaten before I leave tomorrow, so that has formed the backbone of my meals so far today.

For breakfast, the usual soy yogurt and banana. I also had a mug of jasmine green tea with it this morning (I usually drink my tea at work).

Then, I went to work doing some laundry and cleaning the apartment a bit. Soon enough, I was ready for a snack. Because I eat “lunch” at 10:30 on school days, breaking that habit is a hard one. But, lucky for me, there was an apple just waiting to become my snack. And, since I just received my new Real Simple in the mail, it was also part of my snack time!

After my snack and some more cleaning/packing, I went for a walk to accomplish errands, rather than take the car out. I hardly ever take my car out unless I’m going to work. I really don’t like driving very much. Perhaps that’s the city girl in me.

After I finished up with the errands, I found myself next to Smoothie King! What an excellent time to finally try the smoothie that Kath has been raving about, the Mangosteen Madness. It did not disappoint It was a bit sweeter than I expected (even though I ordered it “skinny”, meaning without the extra sugar), but so, so good. I enjoyed it with a pear, some strawberries and a banana (I definitely did not eat all those bananas and strawberries, though!).

Now it’s back to making sure that I’m ready to leave bright and early tomorrow morning!

Getting Better All the Time!

I am definitely feeling much better! I’m still a bit tired and weak, but I think that’s to be expected after losing 6 pounds in two days! Can you believe that? I know it’s all water, but it freaked me out. Hopefully it will come back very soon.

So, back to the world of eating. I’ve been taking things rather slow, because I haven’t been hungry at all, and I don’t want to get sick all over again. Today started out as every warm day does in my apartment…with soy yogurt and a banana! I only used 1/2 cup of yogurt today, because I really wasn’t feeling breakfast.

Then, I stopped at Starbucks. This is basically a teacher work day tradition for me. Whenever I get the chance to wake up later (when there are no kids at school), I stop off and grab an iced green tea. It is so refreshing!

Today for lunch, I brought some brown rice and an applesauce (I told you I was keeping things simple!), but I think I may venture out of the school between meeting to grab a smoothie I’ve really been wanting one lately, and there’s a smoothie place right near my school.

Tomorrow is the last day I have to go to work until July 7th (silly summer school). There’s so much to clean and organize before then!

Hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday

A Letter

Dear Stomach Flu,

I hate you. I don’t hate many things, but I hate you. You have made me feel terrible, unable to eat and very, very tired. You thought it was so funny to take over my body last year on the last day of school, that I suppose you figured that you’d give it another shot. But, I will recover shortly and show you who is in charge when I eat amazing food again. For now, I will retreat back to my couch, watch shows that have been on my DVR for months and sleep whenever I feel like it.

-Your host body, who despises you

*I haven’t even been able to read your sites because the thought of food makes me want to cry, but I’ll catch up in a little while!

The Last Day of School

Yep. That’s what I’m in the midst of as we speak. Well, it’s the last day for the kids, at least. But the pressure is removed once they leave. It’s another half day, and the students don’t have all of their classes, so I’m not teaching until 9am. Sweet! That means that I was able to wake up a little later, head to the gym and then to work. It was a really nice start to the day

I hurt my calf a few days ago (just tweaked it a little, I think), so I’ve been taking things easy at the gym. I’ve basically just hit the treadmill and walked at an incline to get some cardio in and stretch the muscle. No elliptical, no running…nothing too bad on the cardio front. This morning, I decided to give running a try. Nope. I was able to get 1/4 of a mile done before it hurt too much to keep going. So, I spoke to the trainer at my school this morning. Apparently ice and moderate rest (no running!) are the restrictions for a little while longer. Boo.

After my gym time this morning, I enjoyed my standard summertime/weekday breakfast of 2/3 cup of soy yogurt and a whole banana.

Yay for running out the door cellphone pictures! I also went to the dentist yesterday, and he told me I can start introducing non soft foods into my diet again!! So, there is a notable addition to my lunch! I am going to try out some red peppers! YAY!!! I cannot even explain how happy I am about this. I’ve been waiting for this for SO LONG! I’ll take it easy, though.

On my way to work, I decided to treat myself to something special.

A venti iced green tea (unsweetened, of course). So delicious and refreshing. It was a really wonderful pick-me-up this morning.

So, it’s off to say goodbye to my kids for the last time.  A little bittersweet, but not as bad graduation is going to be!

M.I.A.

I know. I’ve been a bad blogger. I’ve gotten so caught up in the end of the school year activities (ie cleaning, meetings and grading), that I haven’t had time to post. By the time I get home in the afternoon, I’m way too tired to post. And I haven’t been taking many pictures, either, although I promise that I have been eating. Meals have been rather sporadic, so they’ve been quick and readily available (smoothies, hot rice cereal, fruit, etc.). I promise I’ll post something a bit more interesting soon, as graduation is tomorrow, and then all I have left is three teacher work days, which involve more meetings and packing up my classroom, but not nearly as much stress

I’ll be back soon (hopefully tomorrow!). I hope all of you have had a fantastic week. Tomorrow is already Friday! I can’t believe how fast the week has gone by.

Another Hot One

Today was a rough one, temperature wise. A few schools in my county had to close early, because the air conditioners broke. It was one of those days where you start sweating just from walking outside.

I definitely enjoyed my LAST FULL DAY OF TEACHING FOR THEE YEAR! Today was my last class with my seniors, who graduate on Friday. It was bittersweet, as all last days are. As much as we annoy each other, I really care about each of my students, and I am so proud of their successes. It’s great to see them move on to the next stage in their lives, but I will miss each of them (for a little while, at least).

It was so hot this morning, that I gladly ate my standard soy yogurt with a banana (sorry, no picture). Lunch was some butternut squash soup that a coworker made for me. I work with the best people

I had physical therapy this afternoon, and when I left, I was hurting. I was also very hungry. So, I enjoyed my classic afternoon snack of one apple and a few grapes.

As you can tell, I ate at my desk because I’m still in the final stages of grading. I have a few more 10th grade exams to finish grading, and then I’m free!

For dinner, I had the exact same meal as yesterday. I told you I made a double batch for a reason! And, I was still eating and working. No time for real dishes for this gal. It’s Gladware all the way!

Then, it was time to take a break from grading and attempt a thank you batch of muffins for my friend who drove me out to the horseback riding event on Saturday. She had mentioned that she was craving carrot-zucchini muffins, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

As you can see, they look ok, but I wasn’t happy with the flavor and texture. I need to work on them a bit more before I give them to anyone, never mind post the recipe! Gluten-free baking is ALWAYS a work in progress.

I also have another good friend/coworker who has been having a rough time with things lately. He’s kind of dealing with those moments in life where everything seems to come at you all at once. So, I baked him some super healthy Peanut Butter Bran Muffins. Now, this recipe is a keeper! Super filling and quite tasty, I think they’ll be great

Peanut Butter Bran Muffins

3/4 cup soymilk

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 Tbsp (or more!) peanut butter (or nut butter of choice)

1/4 cup agave nectar

2/3 cup brown rice bran

2/3 cup brown rice flour

2/3 cup sorghum flour

1Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum (or ground chia seed/water mix)

cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom to taste

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin or grease really well.

In a large bowl, wisk all the wet ingredients until well combined.

In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until JUST combined (no more than necessary!)

Evenly distribute in the muffin tin (each should be approx. 2/3 full). Bake for 17-19 minutes. Take out of the oven, and let sit for 2 minutes and then let cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes:

You can sub regular whole wheat flour for the gluten free flours, but you might need to increase the baking time and lower some of the liquid amounts. You can also sub wheat bran or oat bran for the rice bran.

I find the gluten-free baked goods are much lighter if you mix the dry into the wet ingredients.

You can cut the amount of agave. I would if I were making these for myself, as I don’t always like things too sweet.

I added banana to half of the batter. It was good, so I imagine that any add-inn (chocolate chips, anyone) would be phenomenal. Add your favorite!

And, with that, I’m going to do some reading (for me…not for work!) and then get to bed. I’ve got an early morning date with the gym, so I need to be rested!

Sunday Pantry/Fridge Cleanout

So, the verdict on horseback riding is…I LOVE it! I had an amazing time, even with the bazillion degrees (yes, that is a technical term!). I took a lot of pictures. Here are a few:

I was on a horse named Moonwalker. At first, I was a bit nervous that he was named that due to a love of walking backwards, but he was awesome! My friend, Stacey (whose fantastic back and horse, who she just bought, is pictured above), works at the ranch we were at, and picked out Moonwalker just for me. He was amazing and so well behaved. Despite the inevitable day after soreness, I cannot wait to do it again!

After our wonderful day, I was so tired (from the heat, I assume), that I returned home around 6, drank a ton of water, ate a small dinner and promptly slept for 12 hours straight. I definitely needed it. I woke up this morning ready to go, although there was no gym in my day today, because of the already mentioned VERY sore backside!

My camera was dead when I returned from the ranch, and I forgot to charge it last night, so there are no pictures of breakfast, 1st snack or lunch (yogurt, apple, chickpeas with tomatoes and saffron rice). Unfortunately, those were my last tomatoes for a while, because the salmonella tomato contamination has spread to Virginia. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

Sundays are always my huge grocery shop day, even though I always stop by a few additional times during the week for fruits and veggies. When I return from the grocery store, I am faced with the task of finding room for all of my new additions. That means that I wind up making some ugly, yet tasty, mixes of whatever needs to be used up that night. Tonight’s snack#2 and dinner were no exception.

I had an apple, 1/2 a banana and some grapes with some cashew butter on the side. And, for dinner

I had some millet, purple potatoes, lentils, edamame and sweet potato. It looks ugly, but it was great. I also made enough for later in the week. I love leftovers!

The rest of tonight involves grading more papers. As soon as I’m done with the two exams that I have to grade, I’m done for the school year! Well, until I start teaching summer school. It’s OK though, because there is definitely a week and a half of vacation in FL between the end of the year and summer school, so that should be ample time to relax

I hope you all had an amazing weekend, and that you’re all ready for the week. I know I’ve been terrible at commenting lately because I’ve been so busy. I’ll get better as soon as I can!