You're Up and You're Down

I'm not going to lie to you, I've had a weird weekend...

On Friday night I indulged in a delicious new-to-me restaurant called L'Andana , including some of my favorites...

lobster

and apple crisp...

I might have told Eric there is nothing in the world I love more than apple crisp. Oops.

Saturday began with some BC tailgating...

BC Football watching...

While tailgating, I learned that Katie became an aunt! Her brother and his wife had a little baby girl. Yay!

Next on the plate, I finally showed my grandmother the scrapbook that Caroline made me of wedding pictures and then headed to a 6 month memorial mass for my former student who passed away last year, N.

The mass was sad, but it was nice to see all of N.'s family and friends (many of whom were also my students). Since N. was an organ donor who saved 6 people, the priest read letters from the recipients and their families thanking N. and his family. Seriously, if you are not an organ donor now, BECOME ONE. If an 9 year old can save 6 lives, what could you do?

After mass we wrote letters to N., attached them to balloons and sent them into the sky.

The kids loved it. I kinda loved it too.

Obviously the mood I was in after this did not scream pink hair and sequin dress, but that is where my night lead...

In case it's not clear- cuz it's probably not, I am Katy Perry... not because I particularly like her (though she's fine) but because I wanted an excuse to wear a sequin dress and a pink wig. My friend Sarah had a housewarming/Halloween party and I had a lot of fun catching up with her and my other high school (and elementary school/middle school) best bud Susanne who just finally moved back to Boston after 8 years away, yay!

Eric and I had to divide and conquer last night because his best friend had a Halloween Party too. I don't even have a picture of our costumes together because Eric left for his party before I got home from N.'s mass. Oh well, you don't need any pictures of Eric in a kilt, do you?

So Saturday was CLEARLY all over the place. Today was less crazy obviously, but I did learn that my friend Tiff's dog had a seizure last night and really isn't doing well, so if praying is your thing... please help :) You remember this guy right?

So, to summarize, this weekend I: ate yummy food, went to a BC game, learned Katie is an aunt, showed my Nana my wedding scrapbook, went to a memorial service, dressed up as Katy Perry, learned sad news about Tiff's dog and now I'm giving out candy to a lot of Mario's, an Oreo cookie, Cinderella, a Christmas tree and a ton of other unidentified kiddos. Good thing a Katy Perry song describes my weekend so well. That's no coincidence kids.

Tell me your BEST Halloween costume as a kid. Also, tell me some good news. Anything good, I'll take :)

Adventures in Weeknight Fun

Good morning! I am so happy it's Saturday. This week was long and very busy. I would say I'm looking forward to a nice weekend of relaxation, but that would be a lie because today is most likely going to be busier than most of my days this week were... however it's (mostly) with fun things so I won't complain. Besides there is something more calming about a morning with some couch sitting, oatmeal eating and blog blogging.

One cool thing I got to do this week is to go to Shecky's Girl's Night Out with my lovely sister. It's hard to describe, but basically it's sort of an indoor "market" where small businesses (I think mainly small?) can show off their jewelry, clothes, purses, shoes etc and you can buy them... while being served free drinks (which I did not enjoy because I was sick and it was a weeknight, but still- a good idea if you want people to buy things haha). You guys probably know I'm not a huge shopper (well except for purse-shopping haha)- and I've recently learned that if I buy myself clothes very infrequently, I'll still have plenty because Caroline will decide she no longer likes perfectly great clothes that I can take over. The joys of having a sister. Anyway, I wasn't at Shecky's because I'm a huge shopper- I was there because my bestest friend Katie was one of the "vendors"!

You may remember Katie's beautiful necklaces from my wedding...

or Katie's wedding... hi Cristina!

Katie started making these beautiful necklaces using crystal and freshwater pearls a few years ago and started an etsy business called The Perfect Strand to sell them :) I highly recommend checking them out, they are a great present for yourself or someone else- and they photograph awesome for wedding pictures.

Here was the gorgeous set up at Shecky's...

That's my beautiful cousin in my wedding :) The photo is taken by my very talented aspiring photographer friend. I also have extra motivation to help her become a professional photographer since she promised to be my classroom assistant if she makes enough money to quit teaching... wahoo!

Katie in action:

Look at that official "vendor" pass!

Caroline and I enjoyed our goody bags a little too much... how about some pink heart glasses?

Caroline also snapped some photos of other "booths" at the event, so you could see what it was all about...

Overall it was pretty cool. Katie never fails to amaze me :)

Have you ever been to an event like this? I never even knew they existed!

Time to get moving on my crazy day!

Poopsicle

Eric and I say "poopsicle" when something sucks.

It sucks that Ecto erased my post and my typical "copy and paste" method did not work because I had a minor computer crash in the process.

Oh well. I'm not writing it again, but I will re-post my running questions because I want some answers :)

1. Why do I have trouble breathing/my throat hurts when its cold out and I run? Is this something that will go away if I just keep at it? It's been happening to me since I was little (legit have memories of the "mile run" in elementary school) but I haven't tried to really fun in the cold more than once or twice a winter, since it's annoying haha.

2. I know most training plans have 4-5 running sessions per week. Do you think it's totally crazy to think that I could increase distance while only running twice a week? My knee seems to like a 2 day a week plan way better than 3, but I'd like to be able to work up to 5-6 miles... no more than that. Thoughts?

That's all from me. This week is going to tough so I'll try to check in when I can!

Slowing Down

Marriage is a Blast

Let's face it, marriage gets a bad reputation in the world. When Eric and I got engaged, everyone was very supportive of us as a couple. However, many were quick to point out how much marriage sucks. The divorce rate isn't exactly encouraging either. FINALLY last month we got a card from a friend of mine who couldn't come to our wedding, she wrote, "Marriage is a blast!" Little did she know, she was the first person to say something positive about marriage to me, really!

I realize that when people say marriage sucks they mostly mean in a few years... probably when kids are involved (sorry kiddos, I do love you, but let's face it- you make marriages a lot less of a blast). Even so, I think marriage is a blast, and I plan to write it (and mean it) on every wedding card forever!



I think I've mentioned before that Eric and I do not eat the same dinner... almost ever. With the exception of Eric's amazing sweet potato risotto, our nightly routine is basically tripping over each other in the kitchen and then on the off chance that we time our meals to be ready at the same time, we may eat together. It's weird, but it works for us. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why Eric and I disagree so much about food, but basically we just grew up eating very differently and are both way too stubborn and set in our ways to adapt.

Last night, we actually decided to cook a meal together. Eric took control of the stuffing and I grilled the chicken and cooked a Delicata squash in the oven.





So good. I am kind of obsessed with squash right now. And I'm always obsessed with stuffing. Plus it was kind of cool not to have to do the whole meal. Eric may have dumped gravy on top of his whole meal, therefore ruining it in my book but hey- at least we got to cook together!

Tonight I wasn't planning on sharing another meal, so I made tempeh with parsnip fries...



The parsnip fries were great, but the soy ginger sauce I cooked the tempeh in was TERRIBLE (way too salty!), so I ended up stealing a portion of Eric's pasta with ground turkey bolognese sauce... which was delicious. Perhaps we will start cooking together more often :) Marriage is a blast, I tell you.

Marriage also rocks when your husband decides to put aside his hatred of running and run a 5K with you. It rocks even more when he decides he actually likes running. It rocks the most when you go for a run on a gorgeous fall day...



There was a swan in the reservoir!



And lots of ducks...





Much as I love yoga and spinning, there is just no other work out where you can enjoy this kind of scenery (let's face it, bike riding is a little fast to enjoy scenery)...









Engaged Kelly is pretty impressed that married Kelly and Eric eat and go running together.

Take that haters, I like marriage. It was even worth the pain in the bum that was planning a wedding. It was sorta worth the name change process... though clearly I am not finished with that since I discover my old name on at least one thing per day! My new goal is to have it all done by the time I'm 40. I aim high.

Replaying Life's Momentary Pleasures

Okay, I'm READY for another week of the kiddos.

If I type it, will that make it true?

In my total procrastination that was today, I took a quiz on "Self" about what makes me happy...

Your results indicate that you are more likely to succeed in becoming happier if you practiced:

Savoring life's joys. Paying close attention, taking delight, and replaying life's momentary pleasures and wonders, through thinking, writing, drawing, or sharing with one another.

At first read I was like "paying close attention", "drawing"?! This is clearly not me. But then, I read it again and I realized, "replaying life's momentary pleasures and wonders through WRITING" = blogging :) Yea! I'm so glad this quiz was able to quickly discover exactly what is my true happiness in life.

Life's pleasures from yesterday include...

• Wine tasting at Nashoba Valley Winery :) Eric and I try to make at least one visit to this place a year. I might have to go twice this year though because they only have the Spiced Cranberry Apple wine I like around the holidays :)



• After wine tasting, tailgating a winery... and yes, we did invent this (in case you were wondering)



• Taking terrible pictures of tailgating the winery, I have no idea why Eric looks so angry with me. I do not recall him having any problem with me taking the picture!

Really I do not know what was up with our picture taking...

Obviously we were having too much fun for pictures. With this spread, how could we not?

Yes I realize that is a lot of beer for a winery, but Nashoba is cool because they sell wine, beer and whiskey :)

Ah, if only life momentary pleasures lasted into Monday...

What was the best thing you did this weekend?

A Few Epic Failures...

...NOT IN THE KITCHEN! yay!!!

I got my occasional reminder today about appreciating my darling Kindergarten kiddos, ridiculously unaware and incapable of following routines as they may be :) This calls for some stories from the classroom...They are sort of epic failures, but the funny kind!



First story begins yesterday afternoon. I am telling the kids who is attending the special PTA "Pumpkin Decorating" after school. One of my students, we'll call her "Y", not because her name starts with "Y" but because she is one of those kids that always asks "why" and boy do I feel compelled to think up an answer sometimes to the most ridiculous of "why" questions. "Y" just for the record (becomes important later in the story) has a developmental delay... she is cute as a button, and sometimes has a shockingly good memory, but sometimes is just unclear at all on what she is actually doing (which isn't too crazy for a 5 year old anyways). So "Y" was attending pumpkin decorating and she didn't know before so I watched as she slowly started to get really excited about the prospect of spending an hour after school decorating a pumpkin. She started bouncing in her seat first, and then making excited giggling noises, while bouncing. I was getting a kick out of the whole thing happening in front of my eyes. Then, I called her name to get her take home folder, she BOUNCED out of her seat, took the folder and then promptly got so overwhelmed with excitement that she SMACKED me with her folder. WHAM, right on the face. This wasn't an accident in the way someone might accidentally trip someone, but it also wasn't a purposeful "let's hit my teacher and see what happens" situation.

Being the...cough... experienced teacher that I am, I looked at her shocked at first. Let's face it, even in the insanity that is my classroom this year, I was just expecting to get hit with a block in the middle of a tantrum, not smacked on the head with a folder out of pure excitement. She looked back at me, also shocked. Then I burst out laughing. Sorry! But it's really hilarious when you think about it. Of course at the same time that I laughed in near hysterics I kept repeating "it's not funny, we should never hit anyone in the classroom..."

So much for that lesson on matching your face to what you are saying. Speaking of my face, it kind of hurt for awhile after... that girl has some arm strength, I'll have to tell her Physical Therapist!

Story 2 begins this morning when I decide to have a conversation with my "typical" children about one of our special needs children in the class (not Y, we will call him "David" because he LOVES the story, "No David!" by David Shannon. David stands out big time in the classroom by refusing to do work and throwing tantrums that involve throwing materials. I know it's tough to befriend someone like that, but recently the kids have been REALLY mean to him. The girl who sits next to him, let's call her "Do Gooder" said yesterday (right in front of him)- raise your hand if you don't like David sitting at our table. Um... hello? Do you think he can not hear you? After this somewhat extreme incident, I decided I really had to chat with the class about being a good friend to everyone in the classroom no matter what they may need to work on.

I talked about how we all have things we are good at, things we need to work on- I gave examples of people who may need to work on writing letters, or being a good listener, or doing the monkey bars etc. I read a great book called "Since We are Friends" which is about a little boy named Matt who has autism and his friend who loves to play with him despite some things being hard for him. I didn't mention the word "autism" but we discussed the book and how we can be good friends to everyone in the class. I encouraged the kids to talk to me or another adult in private if they have any concerns about any friends in the classroom. Finally, after my lecture I let the kids have a chance to talk...

The comments: "So, where is David right now?" "There was a boy in my preschool that threw blocks at kids so I told my mom I didn't want to go to that preschool anymore" "I don't have ANYTHING I need to work on" (hmm except maybe being less cocky?)"I am never mean to David" - said by "Do Gooder" (major conversation with myself in my own head- will I call her out in front of the whole class? quick decision to talk to her about it in the hall later, her response, "yeah that was one fresh thing I did, I do one fresh thing at every school I go to" lol WHAT?!).

So yeah, fail #2 in 24 hours. But some good stories.

I also had a girl burst into tears today in the middle of my math lesson because she broke her nail and it will "NEVER GROW BACK!!!!!!" I quickly explained to her that in fact your nails will ALWAYS grow back and there is nothing to worry about. She was calmed down again in less than 1 minute. I'll call that my success for the week.

Good times in Kindergarten.

The Case of Phone Anxiety

Confession: I have major phone anxiety.

Sure, Tiff and I once set, what has to be, a world record by talking on the phone for a whopping 8 1/2 hours.

Sure, Katie and I still talk on the phone about 4 times a week, sometimes for longer than average periods of time.

It's not talking to my friends that worries me, it's not even talking to people I don't know that worries me, it's the actual ACT of making the phone call.

What if I interrupt the person in the middle of something important?

What if I catch them off guard and they don't know how to respond?

What should I say when they answer... especially if it's a cell phone, is it stupid to ask for the person, should I assume it is their phone?

I also have this random fear that I am going to forget who I called or what I'm doing while the phone is ringing. I know... irrational.

It is my PET PEEVE when I e-mail someone, and they respond, "I'd love to talk about this further, call me at _____" If I wanted to talk about this on the phone, I'd have CALLED you. Would someone ever call someone back to say, "hey can you e-mail me?" No! Get with the times people. E-mail is where it's at. E-mail can be read and responded to at a time that is best for both people. Let's say you are one of those "I don't like things in writing" people (obviously I'm not haha), then let's make plans to get together. Yes, I'd rather meet up with someone any day rather than talk on the phone. True story.

This is actually a fear I've tried to do something about, since turning into a stress mess whenever I have to call someone is kind of a pain in life. In college, I volunteered for the admissions office at BC. I was in charge of calling people to congratulate them on getting into BC and asking if they have any questions about the school. Yes... 2 hours of nothing but CALLING PEOPLE. It's called facing fear and kicking it in the butt.

Well, this didn't really work... sure, I made it through those 2 hours with only a small amount of panic. But, unfortunately, calling high school students did not translate into life after college where I'd have to call my student's parents (only if I absolutely HAVE to haha), and other random people that I usually care slightly more about than some random high school student.

I continue to wonder what the best time to call is, what I should say when I do... etc, etc, etc. And then, after all that- I usually get a machine and then my "duty" is still not over, I have to wait for them to call me back (which is less anxiety inducing than calling people but does not leave me with the "my job is finished" e-mail that writing up an e-mail and pressing the send button does).

Are you a phone person or do you prefer e-mail? Do you have any other random fears that you have tried to overcome?

Pumpkin Apple Chia Muffins

Breathe in, breathe out.

I lied yesterday, I need more than a 3 day weekend. A 3 day weekend didn't help me at all when I got back to the ridiculousness that is my job right now. I'm not going to bother blaming other people (though I could...), I was just not in the right mental state today. Eric would argue I am still not since I just had a major freak out about missing my library card... which was in fact in purse (it had fallen off my key chain).

You know what helps my mental state? muffins. I love muffins but they are usually loaded with butter so I make my own Kelly-muffins. Even Eric likes them... after he puts a nice slab of butter on them :)

Yesterday, I created Kelly's Fall Muffins... aka Pumpkin Apple Chia Muffins :)


I based my recipe on Tina's Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins, because let's face it, I really know nothing about inventing my own recipe. It's got a different twist though, so I can call it Kelly's Fall Muffins still :)



Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour1 cup oats1/2 of an apple, chopped1/2 cup packed brown sugar1 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp baking soda1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin1 tsp pumpkin pie spice3 tsp egg whites1 tbsp canola oil1/2 tsp cinnamon1 tsp chia seeds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.2. Coat a muffin tin with Pam3. Mix together all the ingredients.



4. Pour into muffin tin. It should make about 12 muffins, depending on how big you make them :)5. Bake for about 15 minutes.



I highly recommend enjoying them with a little of this...



Ah, the tastes of fall almost make up for the insanity of this season for a Kindergarten teacher. Almost.

What is your favorite fall food? After the obvious caramel apples (and apples in general), I think I'd go with squash.

Live the Life You Love

Hello Dudes and Dudettes... probably more dudettes, and Eric + Dad haha.

I finally have both my computer AND my camera cord wahoo. I have full out plans to blog every night this week so...wish me luck and check back :)

Today will start with my fabulous weekend. On the way home today Eric and I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Live the Life You Love." The life I love = 3 day weekends at the Cape. Have I mentioned every weekend should be 3 days? I'm sure no one disagrees...

Yesterday was the highlight of the weekend- Eric, Katie, Adam and I decided to take a day trip up to Provincetown. Eric and I went once about 5 years ago, but we haven't been back since. On the way up we stopped at a place that was recommended on Phantom Gourmet as a restaurant that serves lobster rolls that just have plain lobster, no mayo- aka lobster roll the Kelly way. The place is called Arnold's and it's in Eastham. I'd totally recommend it, it's a great casual, outside/inside seafood place and even though it's one of those order and then sit down places, they have a liquor license so if you go for dinner you can enjoy some drinks, and some ice cream after :) We just went for lunch so I got a delish lobster roll...



Lobster meat really speaks for itself people, there is no need for mayo.

First stop in Ptown? The Pilgrim Monument...

We climbed to the top... (just around the time Lisa and Amber were finishing up their marathon, I was checking my blackberry!)



There are awesome views from the top of the monument- you can even see Boston!





In the staircase leading to the top, different towns donated stones- it's fun to look for towns with significance :)

Like, our wedding town...

I'm going to leave out the other towns just in case we have any crazies reading the blog :)

At the base of the monument, they have a fun museum...







After the Pilgrim Monument, it was time for an Art Sand Dune tour.

This company takes you in a suburban into the dunes of the Cape :)















The dune tour was very cool- I think all visitors to Provincetown should do it once. Personally, I was not a fan of our tour guide. She wasn't all that informative and she was in love with Eric and hated me, so that was annoying. I also was a bit car sick because I need the front seat in the car, and she insisted that Eric sit there. Obviously the Ptown stereotype that girls like girls was NOT in my favor haha.



Luckily, even though she completely trashed my restaurant choice for the evening, we decided not to listen and I'm glad we didn't. Victor's was a little bit out of the downtown area and I loved the feel of the place as soon as we arrived...







I liked it even better once I had the lobster spring rolls with cashew pesto sauce. Greatness. And yes, thats lobster for two meals in one day- like I said I was living the life I love.



Katie got the pulled pork sliders that looked fun so I took a picture before she could eat....





Also, anywhere with good sweet potato fries is a great place in my book...





Yummy dinner, followed by sunset for the drive home.



I love long weekends. We work so our weekends can be great, right?

How was your weekend?