I made it!

Well I am happy to report that I survived my very first week of teaching Kindergarten.

 

I was nervous and extremely excited. It’s one thing to meet your kids but it is another to be with them for eight hours a day! Luckily, it went a lot smoother than I could have imagined. Of course there were some frustrating times but overall it seems like I have a great group of kiddos.

 

I have some fantastic supportive people in my life and woke up to these text messages on Monday morning…

 

So what did I learn after my first week?

1. Teachers work a lot. A lot, a lot.

2. Going to bed at 830 is okay. It’s actually more than okay.

3. I am definitely in the right profession.

4. The five year old brain/perspective is something everyone should strive for.

5. I need nap time during the day too!

 

If you are a teacher, how did you feel your first week ever went?

The Classroom!

Well I am alive. I’m sorry for the serious abscence the past few weeks. I have been beyond busy moving out of my old apartment and into a new one while setting up my classroom and getting ready for the beginning of school. I was nuts for taking it all on but I did it! Today I am going to show you my wonderful classroom that has been consuming me this past week!

Here’s what I started with…

And here is the end product…

And check out the adorable “supply cake” my sister made…

I LOVE it! It was so much work but definitely worth it. I cannot believe that my kiddos come on Monday. I am so excited!

What’s your favorite part of my classroom?

Comfort Foods #2

Last weekend Matthew and I decided to cook up a fancy meal and it rocked our socks so we did it again this past weekend! We decided on apricot and apple smothered pork chop with sweet potato casserole from Paleo Comfort Foods and ended our night with some chocolate coconut cookies from Practical Paleo.

 

The pork chops were extremely simple and so tender. I’m normally not a huge fan of pork because I feel like it comes out dry alot. Well this time was not that at all. You seared each side of the pork chop and then cooked them in the crockpot for three hours. The meat literally fell off the bone. The sweet potato casserole wsa not that different from my typical mashed sweet potatoes but the addition of a a few key ingredients took it to another level.

Dessert was light and tasty. Not overbearing and easy as pie!

Overall, another winner again. This one was less work intensive then last weeks but still equally delicious.

 

Am I inspiring you to cook up a “fancy” meal?

Bring the Heat Competition

Yesterday I woke up bright and early to head out to Crossfit Katy to get ready for my first Crossfit competition. I was nervous, excited, worried, anxious, ect. It felt like I was back in college about to play the first game of the season. I arrived before the sun even came up and set up my spot, checked in, and chatted it up with the other competitors.

WOD #1 was a 2000 m row. I wasn’t super pumped about this workout because I’m not a big fan of cardio intense workouts but I did have an advantage of being tall in the row. The result : 8:14.

WOD #2 was a floater wod that consisted of 3 min AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of burpees that required a hand release at the bottom and a side jump over a bar at the top. I hate loathe burpees so I just wanted to keep moving on this workout and suck it up. The result: 29.

WOD #3 was 3 rounds of a 350m run, 12 power cleans at 55 and 12 push press/jerk at 55. This one didn’t seem so bad and the weight was so light for me. But for some reason the combination of the heat and the concrete made this one terribly painful. The result: 7:20ish (I think).

WOD #4 was 2 rounds of 12 front squats at 65, 50 (ish) yds of a farmer carry with a 25 lb dumbell and kettlebell, 16 hurdle jump overs at 21 inches, another 50 (ish) yd farmer carry, 24 dumbell snatched and then a 100 (ish) yd farmer carry back to the start. This by far was my favorite workout. It was fun and much easier to breathe. The result: 7:30ish (I think).

Overall, I finished in the top third of the girls I competed against. The burpees pretty much killed my chance at a top ten finish and the WODS weren’t really up my alley in the terms of being my strengths. However, I am so glad I did the competition and challenged myself yet again. A big thanks to all the folks who came out to support us and a big thanks to Denise for all these wonderful pictures!

When was the last time you competed for something?

WIAW

Well this week has been crazy due to some new teacher training. I’m gone from my house from 7 am to about 8 pm because of crossfit after. Lets just say if I make it through this…I can survive real teaching. Anywho, here are my eats when I have a marathon long day!

Breakfast at 6:45 am: I had 4 baked egg cups topped with my most favorite salsa. I also had a few banana bites (Similar to banana bread- bananas, coconut flour and eggs are major ingredients) and a side of Kombucha.

Snack at 9:30 am: Really I was dying of boredom so I reached in my bag and grabbed one of these new uber bars from the maker of lara bars. It was tasty and got me through watching paint dry.

Lunch at 12 pm: I had cut up chicken, grass-fed cheese, sliced bell pepper and cherry tomatoes. I dipped the chicken and bell peppers in a homemade dip.

Snack at 4 pm: Yup boredom happened again. I had a bag of grapes and some pistachios.

After the training wasting 8 hours of my life I headed to crossfit where I am happy to report I gained 5 pounds on my backsquat! Remember baby steps. And did some sprints.

Dinner at 8:30 pm: I was tired so threw together a quick meal. In the mix was some leftover meatballs topped with marinara, carrots, snow peas and zucchini.

Snack 9:30 pm: I discovered Justin’s Hazelnut Butter which is um heaven. So I enjoyed a nice bit 🙂

On a side note…I have seen two of the most goregous sunsets the past two days.

What did you eat yesterday?

When was the last time you stopped to enjoy a sunset?

Monday Motivation: Like Joshua

This title made me think of the old school movie Like Mike but I kept it anyways?

Today, I start out on a new chapter of my life. I begin training to become a teacher. It’s odd that I have some nerves about this when I have been in a classroom now for the past year. It may be more nerves of excitement because I have worked a while to get to this point.

It was so fitting that yesterday at church we talked about Joshua. The short version of this story is that Joshua was scared to follow God’s plan. The pastor shared a story about when he went to an adventure camp with one of his sons and they had to climb a 50 foot wooden pole and then jump off to a bar seven feet away from the pole. He shared how scared he was. He shared how he was thankful he had someone there on belay (to catch his rope if he fell). He shared that he was glad he had this story of Joshua in his heart.

Let’s face it. We all have things in life that make us nervous, scared, or anxious. I can remember different things in my life such as: certain softball games, the first time I went repelling, going to college, and so on that gave me that knot in my stomach of nerves. I could have not completed the task but I did each one and I am so glad that I did because it made me stronger. It seems like every chapter of our life holds at least one thing that causes us that fear. Luckily, we have Joshua to tell us to:

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid;do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I am so glad I heard that yesterday. Of course things are scary but remember no matter what you are scared of there is no reason to be scared. So here’s to just conquering another thing in a new chapter of life just like Joshua.

What is something that you were afraid of but conquered lately?

Comfort Foods

Earlier this week my dear Matthew was looking through the cookbook Paleo Comfort Foods and was drooling stating how delicious things looked. We decided it would be fun to make a feast of sorts out of this book. After flipping through the cookbook a few times we decided on gumbo, sweet potato spears with a chipotle dipping sauce and chocolate pudding. Odd combinations. Yes. We know.

So how was everything?

Amazing. Delicious. Fantastic.

The gumbo was easy and delicious. The ingredients were butter (subbed for bacon grease), coconut flour, almond flour, celery, onions, green peppers, garlic, bay leaves, chicken stock, diced tomatoes, shrimp, crab, venison sausage (subbed for pork) and file powder. It is a lot of ingredients but really quite simple. It also made a HUGE batch. We ate more than what we needed and still probably have over half of it left.

The sweet potato spears turned out really well. I’ve attempted these before without a recipe and am always left feeling dissapointed. I wish these could turn out more crispy but I don’t think that it possible.

The dipping sauce was my absolute favorite part of it. Simple ingredients and amazing flavor.

The chocolate pudding was simple and rich. It took me back to younger years when my grandma would make chocolate pudding. Just what we needed to top off the night!

This was so much better than going out to eat and a lot of fun to cook a fancy meal together. We enjoyed picking out the parts of the meal, grocery shopping and preparing the food.

 

What was the last “fancy” meal you made?

Baby Steps

I have been doing crossfit since last October and I have greatly improved. However, a few weeks ago I talked about some goals that I had for myself in crossfit. I have some happy news to report! EEK!!

1. 20 unbroken pull ups…I’m still at about 13 right now but I am getting stronger and more consistent with them.

2. 50 unbroken double unders…I did 32 in a row today!! 32. I am so pumped. Part of my problem on double unders is that I get so I excited when I’m close to my goal that I then mess up. Today in the WOD (Workout of the Day) I was consistently getting around 20.

3. Suck less at burpees…I still suck at these but I’m trying to do them correctly rather than the lame step back/up method.

4. Overhead Squat 75…making progress on this one…I have done 65 pounds!

5. Back Squat over 200…Today, I did a rep scheme of 2×3 and 3×1. On the last two sets of 1 I did 185 decently well so I would say my max of 190 has gone up.

6. Do a handstand…THIS IS WHAT I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT!!! AFTER FINALLY GETTING OVER MY FEAR I ACTUALLY GOT UP AGAINST THE WALL MULTIPLE TIMES!!!!!

7. Be able to do a ring dip…I can do these with the smallest help of the band. My stabilization has gotten so much better!

8. Do full range of snatch and clean with same weight as power snatch/clean…I am really proud of how far I have come on these. I feel like my clean is doing great and making huge strides on my snatch!

9. Get more flexible…I still need to focus on this one more…

10. Compete….It’s next weekend!

How I’ve Changed

I think it is kind of strange how much you evolve as you age. I have been thinking back on my past and how far I’ve come and it is cool to see the growth. Here are some ways I’ve changed…

1. I used to never snooze. Ever. My alarm went off and out I popped. I always thought it was ridiculously silly to snooze because you could just sleep until the last minute and then wake up. Well, I have no idea what has changed but I snooze everyday now. I’m hoping that it is just a summer thing because I’m not a fan. It really perturbs me that I now have to set my alarm earlier than I plan to wake up so I can lounge in bed.

2. I used to hate sweating. I was actually just telling one of the girls I give pitching lessons to how I got a serious “it is time to grow up” talk from my old pitching coach because I always complained about the heat. I started to laugh because this week I willingly completed a workout in a building with no air conditioning when it was over 100 degrees. Seriously?

3. I used to eat junk all the time. I’ve already talked about this here but when I look at the way I grocery shop, choose and prepare my food I am so proud at how far I have come. I am so thankful that I changed my perspective at a young age so I can treat my body how I should.

4. I used to have to match at all times. I’m going through a stage of cleaning out a bunch of old things from my apartment and I was so so matchy matchy. Now, I hate that because if I find something that I love I want to buy it whether it “matches” or not. Sidenote, I’ve been buying some stuff for my classroom and decided it is so much less of a stress mentally and on my budget if I don’t have to find 14 tubs in teal. I’ll just take the cheaper ones in a rainbow of colors, thanks.

5. Lastly, I never used to read. Now I read blogs all the time and have a stack of books on my nightstand that are needing to be read. I’m really glad I made this change because like my pops always told me…I really can’t be a kindergarten teacher if I don’t like to read.

So there ya have it…I’m the same gal I always have been and will be but it is cool to look back at the changes you have made!

So tell me what’s one way you have changed recently?

Foodie Pen Pal: July

Another month gone! I cannot believe it’s almost August. I have so many exciting things coming up! I received a wonderful package from Angie. I was excited because the package was small so as soon as I pulled it out I was curious what was in it!

Man there were some fabulous things! I got pistachios (which are my favorite nut beside almond butter), Angie’s favorite tea, some always handy lara bars, a pretty cloth flower, and some lip balm. The pistachios were definitely a favorite of mine and Matthew’s. They had the most delicious smokey flavor to them. I miss them dearly! Angie did such a good job of giving me foods I was able to eat! Thank you again Angie.

Want to know exactly what Foodie Pen Pals is?

Here’s a detailed explanation of the program:

-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
– Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

 If you are interested visit The Lean Green Bean!

Have you ever had any of these products?

What would you mail a Foodie Pen Pal?