Skool iz Cool!

School has begun once again (Monday). I’m taking 12 credit-hours, after the 16 I took last semester. I felt pretty overwhelmed & spread pretty thinly over all my subjects…I just wasn’t satisfied with my focus & how I did in all of my classes. I excelled mainly in those that interested me & got by in the others. So, I lightened the load (minus 1 class & 1 lab). Here’s what it looks like:

• Mon/Wed– 9:35-12:15 pm (with a break in there) –> I get 6 credits for 1 class (2-for-1), which blends Composition 2 + Humanities 2
• Tues/Thurs– 8-9:25 am –> Applied Ethics
• Tues/Thurs– 11-12:15 pm –> Cultural Anthropology

I am most looking forward to the Cultural Anthropology course. My teacher is really enthusiastic, it’s a big class in a teaching auditorium & we’ll have some hands-on assignments. 

It looks like I’ll have a lot of reading. And, I was asking for book recommendations, & I found one before classes started. I’ll finish it, for sure now! I just love it!

  < true story & inspiring!

Last semester I had all male teachers!!! In 6 classes! All of them! This semester, I have 3 males + 1 female (in the blended class). I like it this way. I think I perform better in class taught by a male teacher… I don’t know why! I was the same way with coaches, when I played sports. **What is everyone’s preference in this? Nervous with males, but excel with females? Don’t care?** I find it interesting in how many men are teaching now! Cool!

I might have an edu-crush on them, meaning I respect their styles, accomplishments, & knowledge so much, that I like them! Even if they’re older? Eek! I just feel like I don’t want to let them down sometimes, yanno?! It’s all good. No trouble here. I see the line.

You want food, you say? Okay:

^ Dinner the other night: tempeh in Annie’s ginger marinade; green beans; broiled tomato; red + regular quinoa

Today, I went to class (so long that my lil’ Mac ran out of power from taking notes on it!), walked Bella (gosh, she’s a bundle of energy!), went to the gym, then made something, starting with this:

… then I had a wonderful Elvis-inspired fave-rave:

…in the blender-upper:

I also added some sogurt, ice & water to thin it out. It was thick & indulgent! I stuck it in the freezer while I took a shower, like this:

< in my Shrek cup, over-flowing with goodness! I started drinking it with a straw, but it was too milk-shakey for me, so I got out a long, thin, diner-style spoon. Wow! It was a great combo, but I’m not sure I’ll buy a whole tub of this flavor. It’s good for special occasions or sweet/rich cravings!

My dad & I went to dinner tonight… juuu-ust the 2 of us (~thanks, Big Willy!) Whenever I ask him where he wants to go, he always asks me what I want. But, I know what he really wants. It’s always… THAI! Which I L-O-V-E, too, so it works out!

We went to a place we’ve never been, but I’d heard good things about it. The verdict: it might become a new favorite. We both RAVED about it. I took no pictures, as I was enjoying the meal with pops, but we were both served a soup to start (him: chicken-rice; me: vegetable… I love how the veggies in Thai food are still a bit crunchy!), then I got some red-pepper eggplant dish with tofu. It was very good, but I would request less sauce next time (’cause oh- there will be a next time!) because it was drenched! We got brown rice & it came on a plate, shaped like a star! How cute of them! …a very nice evening!!! 

When I’m at my uncle’s house, I spend most of the nights here, not at home, so I don’t get to see my family as much, though I still call & visit! haha. Is it weird that I like being away from home, on my own, even though it’s only 5-10 minutes away.

Finally, I had some of my favorite tea:

comforting & soothing!

Tomorrow, I have class, pick up my paycheck from work, & my dad is going to join me for HOT YOGA tomorrow night! I haven’t done a night class there, so it’ll be nice to challenge myself then, since I’m usually a morning/afternoon exerciser, usually!

Hope your days are as wonderful as mine!!! The weekend is almost here, folks!

A good-kinda tired

Yesterday, work wasn’t nearly as busy… we were actually pretty slow at night, despite having a more rushed day. My day started with a 7:30 am store meeting, held by the store managers, with every department having to attend.  

I was nervous about making the meeting because 3 months ago, at the last meeting, I totally forgot to go. I had been counting on it all month long & thought about it all the time to make sure I went, but by the time that morning came, I was even up for the time of the meeting, but instead, I hung out until my class at 9! I had to go to the make-up meeting on a Sunday morning, instead.  This time, you had to get it approved ahead of time if you were going to miss it, so I didn’t want another mishap to occur.

Luckily, I worked on Wednesday night & set 2 alarms on my phone that night to be sure.  And yes! I woke up before 7 & made it to work early to clock in & get some coffee & breakfast.  They had a Panera-catered spread with bagels & cream cheese & also doughnuts & fruit.  It was early for me, so I had some fruit & coffee.  I got paid for this?! Okay! Someone from work texted me at 7:06 am to see when the meeting was… hmm, they made it (though, late). 

After that, I was feelin’ my caffeine, so I drove over the bridge to the beach & started running along this path, next to the bay/gulf:

When I looked to the left, this was my view:

What a beautiful day, huh?! It was still a little chilly because we had a storm the day before, bringing in a front, but it got warmer throughout the day.  I ran down this trail until I hit the beach… then I ran on the sand until my calves felt the work & I continued to run along the water.  I finally came to a pier which marked a good place to turn around, so I did & made the loop back along the water & back on the trail to my car again.  I didn’t bring my camera on the run, but, I assure you, it was faboo!

I ate, walked Bella, ate some more, showered, went to work, & came home really hungry! 

I had cooked some red quinoa earlier, so I opened a can of organic garbanzo beans, & added some carrots, spinach, garlic & salsa to look like this:

…then I heated it up & ate it with organic blue corn chips & more salsa. I promise I ate mannnny more chips than this, but to give you a visual:

I LOVE the way the red quinoa looks… & quinoa in general has a nutty/crunchy texture that drives me bonkers! …in a good way!

(not much) later I got pretty hungry, so I had the rest of my dark chocolate-covered ginger, & also pretzels + (Honey) Shredded Wheat dipped in almond butter & some smilk. By that time, I was finally satisfied, feeling very human & very tired. So, I went to bed! Lots of boldness going on here! Lots to high-light, I suppose!

Today I slept til’ 10:30, after waking up at 8:30 & feeling tired & willing to give sleep another go… success! It felt great to sleep, though part of me was like *oh- get up!*

I met my sister at the beach & we took a long walk together, dreaming of the beach houses we will own one day down there! No pictures of today, sorry… it was another beautiful day, though! Imagine paradise & imagine Miss OP in blissful, peaceful nature!

Well, then we saw the movie Bride Wars, which I liked more than I thought I would! Cute! My sister loves these kinds of movies… I like them, for what they are… I did like this one, though I was predicting what would happen from before I bought my ticket!

It’s not too late, but today I’m just feeling tired from the effects of the previous days being so full of exercise, energy, & life! A good tired, for sure! 

I’ll probably just stay in, watch movies, make some grub & call it a night tonight. Tomorrow, I may take another HOT YOGA class (with my sister?) & use my new orange yoga mat.  I like putting this yoga class in CAPS because it makes it seem that much more intense… ’cause I sweat like a little (not-to-be-eaten) piggy! 

Still searchin’ for a book, though I did sign up for a paperback swap program, so I’ll have to get on that…

Bloody Heck!

Yesterday, I got some blood drawn, just to check up on things and I asked for my doctor to check for gluten intolerance. I think this is a way to tell, am I right? In the mean time, the past couple of days, my appetite hasn’t been so present… this is weird for me. And definately a sign something’s up! I figured I’d be more hungry because a lot of products I’ve been eating are more corn and rice-based, with less fiber, though I am having a lot of fruits and veggies as calorie-sources. My aunt took me out to eat at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, which is mostly vegetarian/vegan-friendly. Rare, where I’m from. It was easy, as far as I could tell, to order because they served corn tortilla chips and I asked for corn tortillas, instead of flour. Very chewy, though. I’ve got to say I’m not a huge corn-lover. I love my veggies, but corn- eh, I’d rather pick it out of my food, than try to enjoy it. But, corn-products… we’ll see. My aunt left and as I dog-sit for her, she got me some rice cereal. Thanks, but it has barley and malt ingredients=no good. I’m doing a test-run at a gluten-free diet, and so far, it’s been good. Quinoa, soy proteins, fruits, veggies, beans… all things I love. I’ve been doing a lotttt of research, via the internet and talking to people with CD experience! Thanks to those of you who can relate and have shown me that!

The other night for dinner I had some BBQ tempeh strips (with Amy’s bbq sauce + more for dipping) with a sliced tomater and sauteed peppers and onions.

Today for lunch my mom helped me chop a boat-load of veggies for a stir-fry with tempeh, Braggs and chili sauce. Sister 2 painted this bowl for me at one of those pottery places, because she knows I love using chopsticks… it has it’s own “holder!”

It’s orange! My color, favorite!

My parents got home from Ireland on Wednesday night, zonked! They had an incredible trip, but I’m still waiting to see pictures. They wrote down new, cute little phrases those silly Irish people use and are trying to incorporate them into everyday language here. hehe. They brought me some… salt-and-pepper shakers! The black pepper-shaker has a little shamrock on it’s butt. I don’t know why (yes I do- it’s the eyes!), but they remind me of Jasper. Maybe I’ll shake him to see if anything edible comes out… er, um, let’s not be silly by what I just said…

Alright, folks. There you have it. An update from yours, truly. I’ll let ya know what I hear about the blood work! I’m kind of hoping it is, in fact, CD just so I can pin-point the problem! Yes, that’d make it a little more difficult, especially eating out, but I figure once I load up my pantry with g-f foods, I won’t have to continuously search the internet or read the labels of the foods already on my shelves and fridge! Very meticulous!

I deposited my check after the blood-bath work. I also watched Sleepless in Seattle and settled in with a giant bowl of popcorn (my favorite movie, with my favorite type of corn, and my 2nd-favorite pop!) during a rainstorm the other day. Ah, life is grand!

Sisters, Events & A Symptomatic Quest!

So, I’ve got a lot to catch up on!

1st of all, I have got to give a “shout-out” to Luna Bars! The other day, I was making my way home from Target, stopped at a light, and there was a homeless man with a sign that read, “Please Help- Hungry!” I just bought a PB Cookie flavor Luna (99 cents! I had to!) and know miserable it is to be hungry, so I rolled down my window and gave him the bar. I realize Luna’s are geared toward women, but this man had no idea! All he knew was he liked peanut butter and he was hungry! And, he was very appreciative, which was nice. So, thank you to Luna! I felt good about this deed.

Soo, Sister 2 is home from working volleyball camps, with a friend. She’s been talking about dying her hair dark for a while now. Also, getting a tattoo. My parents are supportive of doing what you want to do, but they can’t get past thinking a tattoo is, in any way, classy. I say, do what you want to do. She’s paying for it, both with her money, and her life-long decision with her body! One day, while I was away from the house, dog-sitting (and watched one of my favorite movies, Love Actually…even though it’s a Christmas-sy movie and it’s the end of July!), her and her friend scheduled an appointment at an Aveda salon. I get home, she gets home, and she’s DARK! We’re both naturally blonde, and she’s tried to go strawberry-blonde before, but that didn’t turn out so well (another ORANGE POP, in a different sense!). She did that by herself, with a dye-kit, so she wanted it professionally done. Fair enough. Here she is, still beautiful and dark-haired. Her scalp is even dark. It looked reddish-brownish-purplish, but I know it will die (dye!) down!

The lighting is okay on this, but she likes it, and I like it. So glad it’s off her mind. Seriously, she collected many, many magazine cutouts of colors she was debating with, which were all the same to me!

Here’s her beautiful friend and former volleyball teammate, giving Tucker some love:

The next day, while I’m at work, my uncle biked over to have lunch with me on my break! So nice! I used my discount, but he paid… fair?! Well, I get a text-message from Sister 2 saying, “Guess what?!” (what?) “I got a tattoo!” Niiiice. Here is her “Peace Dove“:

It’s brown, if you can’t tell. Tattoo #1, and she gets it on her ribs– ow!

In other news, I’ve been having terrible stomach pains, so I’ve done a lot of research about it and paid attention to possible culprits, and you know, I’m not so excited about what I believe it is: Gluten Intolerance (aka Celiac Disease). I have many of the symptoms, which are:

• weight loss
• decreased appetite
• bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, pale + foul-smelling stool
• fatigue, weakness, lack of energy
• bruise easily
• vitamin/mineral deficiencies (vit. K) –> don’t know for sure about this one!
• hypoglycemia –> I’ve sort of felt this way, but unsure
• hair loss
• lactose intolerance
• tooth discoloration or loss of enamel
• canker sores inside mouth
• unexplained anemia –> don’t know
• bone or joint pain
• missed periods, infertility, miscarriages (well, I’m missing periods)
• behavior changes, depression, irritability

(Sorry for TMI on some of these) It’s a multi-system, multi-symptom disorder and symptoms really vary! It’s kind of unknown how it starts, but it can happen anytime in one’s life and be triggered by things like stress, surgery, viral infection… Ah, very mysterious to me!

I’ve been eating a lot of just fruits, veggies, soy products, etc, but I have been feeling fatigued, so I added more grains to my diet. Remember when I made those Chickpea Cutlets that I raved about so much?! I used whole wheat flour and my appetite was shot, and my tummy hurt. Then, that night, I had whole wheat pasta and even my new Annie’s Woodstock dressing contains wheat! I felt myself “skimping” on solid calories and added more grains. 2 nights ago, I had some awesomely delicious Thai dumplings. Oh, I love Thai! Grains + whole wheat flour. Ouch.

 

Then, I looked at my day’s worth of food from yesterday and noted my intense stomach pains, and I contribute these guys to my discomfort:

-Breakfast:  

fruit and PB&J on some whole grain + oatmeal bread

-Lunch was out (with Sister 1), and I had a sandwich on whole wheat bread and coleslaw.

-Dinner included some bean balls, which I made with whole wheat flour to bind them.

I was in dire pain for the rest of the night, and even when I woke up this morning. I wasn’t hungry, but by the time I was, I didn’t know what to make that would feel good to me. I’ve done a lot of reading and researching about gluten-free diets, and noted quinoa is okay. This morning, I went on a bike ride with my aunt and we got rained on, so afterward, I wanted something warm and comforting. I was hungry, but didn’t know what to eat!!! I’d picked up some soup the other day at work, after hearing a customer through my line rave about it, so I bought it. I went on the company’s website and it is, in fact gluten-free, but contained rice starch… rice is, indeed, gluten-free, but I’m learning. “Starch” is a word to look out for on labels. I know that foods are wheat-free if they’re gluten-free, but not always gluten-free if they say they’re wheat-free. Wow. I’m going to be holding around a list of “yes” and “no” foods/ingredients for a while until I feel comfortable. When I went into the meal, I was hungry, but my tummy was hurting. Afterward, my stomach pains disappeared! Magic! I had some Cashew-Carrot-Ginger soup over quinoa, topped with carrots, cashews and pumpkin spice (which has ginger + cinnamon!). Very good!

Well, well. I have a lot of photos for you in this post, and a lot of news. If anyone has any tips or anything like that, regarding Celiac Disease, I’d love to hear about it! I’ll be doing some more research and hopefully I’ll see the doctor soon! Is there a test he can do to tell me whether or not I am, in fact, gluten intolerant? I’ve read to not get rid of gluten in my diet before I’m diagnosed, but how long can I go on in intestinal pain?! I’m going to stay positive about this, because I can hurt or help myself on this one, and I’ve got to get educated and in-tune with myself if I want to help!