Thursday, March 31, 2011

freaking gorgeous

So my car is currently packed and ready for the next trip (which is less of a load thanks to Jimmy and Sue - THANKS!!!!)...

but in the meantime I thought I'd just chill for a second and found this beautiful video, which is made ever so gorgeous by the music from Gladiator - makes me want to cry...and then get on a plane to Scandinavia!

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

i own a house

i just had to post it! signed the papers last night in between an appt, dropping off a student for driving school & picking her up - such a busy, yet AWESOME day

pictures to come :)

Friday, March 25, 2011

end of SB2K11 exploits

So Spring Break ended up being much busier than I had planned on (which is why I didn't do this post sooner), but still nice.

This was the beginning of a meal that included poached chicken, refried beans, and black bean, queso fresco, and nopales salad. This was also the first time I roasted my own peppers and only the second time I've ever made my own salsa. It was sooooo good.




I also took an afternoon and went down to Lake Patagonia, having never been there.
Here's some pics for ya...












Monday, March 14, 2011

SB2K11

I'm officially on Spring Break!!!! WEEEHOOOOO!!!!!

Since I'm chilling this Spring Break, and not headed anywhere, I decided I wanted to do a few things this week to make it memorable, rather than just watch movies all day.
My plans fall under the umbrella of "Getting in touch with Tucson" - and mainly includes cooking, reading, and enjoy the grand ol' outdoors.

The COOKING part of the plan:

I realized I'm going to be heading into a phase of life where I'll be having people over for dinner, specifically some Hispanic friends, and I don't really know how to cook Hispanic food. Sure, people can eat whatever I cook, but I thought it would a good skill to work on and help me get more in touch with Tucson culture. My mom bought the following book when she was here from Native Seed SEARCH (which is an INCREDIBLE store on Campbell south of Ft. Lowell), and I have been cooking my way through several recipes.
I made roasted tomatillo salsa from the book on Saturday, and it was AMAZING! I'm going to try more salsa recipes this week, but I'm currently making Nopales and Black Bean salad. Nopales are prickly pear pads that you cook with. I've eaten them at my student's house but never made them.

However, I didn't anticipate how long the beans would take to cook (several hours, after soaking most of the day), so the salad will be lunch tomorrow.
Instead of salad, here's what came out for dinner:
Fried potatoes, red onion, fresh garlic, and banana peppers, seasoned with oregano, thyme, and fresh cilantro. I put refried beans on tostadas and topped it the stir-fry mix and queso fresco - WOW! I definitely have never considered being a vegetarian, but with no meat able to cook quickly, this was freaking awesome!
Oops moment of dinner: I thought the banana peppers weren't hot, but apparently there are 2 varieties, and I got the hot one. (I should have known! I got them at Food City!) It's all good though! They were very tasty. The only issue came from me seeding them with my bare hands, so now my fingertips feel like they're on fire!

I also bought another "Irish Pub" cookbook, in honor of St. Patrick's Day this week!
There are lots of fun recipes, but today Erin and I conquered this one.
Irish Cream Liquor Chocolate Cheesecake with chocolate chip cookie crust.
Heck friggin yeah it is as good as it sounds! And now we have leftover Bailey's - oh happy day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow culinary adventures....


PS: The above pictures were taken with my new Panasonic camera from Woot!


Sunday, March 13, 2011

random blurb on groupon

The Groupon Guide to: Fear of the Dark

Fear of the dark is the third most common phobia, right behind fear of public speaking and fear of otherwise-normal babies with no faces. Here are some ways to cope with being afraid of the dark.

  • Have a family member or someone you trust strap you down and force you to view a beautiful sunset. As day gives over to cold, uncertain night, your mouth's natural foaming will prevent you from chewing through your straps, and, come morning, you'll either be completely cured or insane enough to have become a great piano player.

  • Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. To make light present, try setting everything you own on fire. When you run out of things to burn, use the insurance money to purchase more possessions.

  • Most people fear the dark because it may hide unknown entities. Relieve your fear of the unknown by spending every night memorizing the faces and methods of serial killers.

  • Confront the darkness inside you by goading an adult sibling into beating it out of you on the lawn during a holiday. If he or she chooses to help you up, head inside for a viewing of The Muppets Take Manhattan. If he or she leaves you on your back, you have implicit permission to take your sibling's truck and "get out of here—just go."

    [very strange huh?]

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

another gem from one of my students

So one of my awesome students Rudy found this video-

Tip: close your eyes, put on headphones, and turn up the volume. It's quite eerie actually, and I don't even go to a barber.

Monday, March 7, 2011

not funny because it's a pop quiz

but really funny to put the smiling sun and happy people with all the idks - wow...i can't believe i get to grade things so humorous



reminds me of this slightly disturbing video

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

a crazy last few days it's been

i dont have the brain power to even write in complete sentences, so here are some highlights (or lowlights) of the past week...


-my parents and sister were here. lots of quality time, some might say a little too much, but they were very gracious and it was rather fun

-i accidentally coated one of my hands in superglue trying to fix a student's necklace and had to spend the rest of class with my hand in a tupperware filled with acetone, while one of my students changed the slides on my powerpoint - classic

- i made biscuits on my own for the first time, only because i wanted to use my irish butter and my new Sonoran honey i bought

-im listening to the Low Anthem's new album that i just got in the mail - superb music

- for the first time since i became a teacher, my alarm did not go off yesterday morning and i woke up at the exact time that the bell rings for first hour, 710 am...crap crap crap crap crap

- ironically enough, the night before i was "commissioned" [ordained by others' standards] by my beautiful community and church. a lovely, though surreal evening it was, so the next morning filled me with no end of shame

-its AIMS week. im pretty sure i hate AIMS more than the high schoolers

-my cats are chasing each other around the house warring and hissing...oh so amusing

- my house stillllllllllllllll hasn't closed...


....did i miss anything? not that it matters much, but it does help to keep life in perspective

Thursday, March 31, 2011

freaking gorgeous

So my car is currently packed and ready for the next trip (which is less of a load thanks to Jimmy and Sue - THANKS!!!!)...

but in the meantime I thought I'd just chill for a second and found this beautiful video, which is made ever so gorgeous by the music from Gladiator - makes me want to cry...and then get on a plane to Scandinavia!

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

i own a house

i just had to post it! signed the papers last night in between an appt, dropping off a student for driving school & picking her up - such a busy, yet AWESOME day

pictures to come :)

Friday, March 25, 2011

end of SB2K11 exploits

So Spring Break ended up being much busier than I had planned on (which is why I didn't do this post sooner), but still nice.

This was the beginning of a meal that included poached chicken, refried beans, and black bean, queso fresco, and nopales salad. This was also the first time I roasted my own peppers and only the second time I've ever made my own salsa. It was sooooo good.




I also took an afternoon and went down to Lake Patagonia, having never been there.
Here's some pics for ya...












Monday, March 14, 2011

SB2K11

I'm officially on Spring Break!!!! WEEEHOOOOO!!!!!

Since I'm chilling this Spring Break, and not headed anywhere, I decided I wanted to do a few things this week to make it memorable, rather than just watch movies all day.
My plans fall under the umbrella of "Getting in touch with Tucson" - and mainly includes cooking, reading, and enjoy the grand ol' outdoors.

The COOKING part of the plan:

I realized I'm going to be heading into a phase of life where I'll be having people over for dinner, specifically some Hispanic friends, and I don't really know how to cook Hispanic food. Sure, people can eat whatever I cook, but I thought it would a good skill to work on and help me get more in touch with Tucson culture. My mom bought the following book when she was here from Native Seed SEARCH (which is an INCREDIBLE store on Campbell south of Ft. Lowell), and I have been cooking my way through several recipes.
I made roasted tomatillo salsa from the book on Saturday, and it was AMAZING! I'm going to try more salsa recipes this week, but I'm currently making Nopales and Black Bean salad. Nopales are prickly pear pads that you cook with. I've eaten them at my student's house but never made them.

However, I didn't anticipate how long the beans would take to cook (several hours, after soaking most of the day), so the salad will be lunch tomorrow.
Instead of salad, here's what came out for dinner:
Fried potatoes, red onion, fresh garlic, and banana peppers, seasoned with oregano, thyme, and fresh cilantro. I put refried beans on tostadas and topped it the stir-fry mix and queso fresco - WOW! I definitely have never considered being a vegetarian, but with no meat able to cook quickly, this was freaking awesome!
Oops moment of dinner: I thought the banana peppers weren't hot, but apparently there are 2 varieties, and I got the hot one. (I should have known! I got them at Food City!) It's all good though! They were very tasty. The only issue came from me seeding them with my bare hands, so now my fingertips feel like they're on fire!

I also bought another "Irish Pub" cookbook, in honor of St. Patrick's Day this week!
There are lots of fun recipes, but today Erin and I conquered this one.
Irish Cream Liquor Chocolate Cheesecake with chocolate chip cookie crust.
Heck friggin yeah it is as good as it sounds! And now we have leftover Bailey's - oh happy day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow culinary adventures....


PS: The above pictures were taken with my new Panasonic camera from Woot!


Sunday, March 13, 2011

random blurb on groupon

The Groupon Guide to: Fear of the Dark

Fear of the dark is the third most common phobia, right behind fear of public speaking and fear of otherwise-normal babies with no faces. Here are some ways to cope with being afraid of the dark.

  • Have a family member or someone you trust strap you down and force you to view a beautiful sunset. As day gives over to cold, uncertain night, your mouth's natural foaming will prevent you from chewing through your straps, and, come morning, you'll either be completely cured or insane enough to have become a great piano player.

  • Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. To make light present, try setting everything you own on fire. When you run out of things to burn, use the insurance money to purchase more possessions.

  • Most people fear the dark because it may hide unknown entities. Relieve your fear of the unknown by spending every night memorizing the faces and methods of serial killers.

  • Confront the darkness inside you by goading an adult sibling into beating it out of you on the lawn during a holiday. If he or she chooses to help you up, head inside for a viewing of The Muppets Take Manhattan. If he or she leaves you on your back, you have implicit permission to take your sibling's truck and "get out of here—just go."

    [very strange huh?]

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

another gem from one of my students

So one of my awesome students Rudy found this video-

Tip: close your eyes, put on headphones, and turn up the volume. It's quite eerie actually, and I don't even go to a barber.

Monday, March 7, 2011

not funny because it's a pop quiz

but really funny to put the smiling sun and happy people with all the idks - wow...i can't believe i get to grade things so humorous



reminds me of this slightly disturbing video

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

a crazy last few days it's been

i dont have the brain power to even write in complete sentences, so here are some highlights (or lowlights) of the past week...


-my parents and sister were here. lots of quality time, some might say a little too much, but they were very gracious and it was rather fun

-i accidentally coated one of my hands in superglue trying to fix a student's necklace and had to spend the rest of class with my hand in a tupperware filled with acetone, while one of my students changed the slides on my powerpoint - classic

- i made biscuits on my own for the first time, only because i wanted to use my irish butter and my new Sonoran honey i bought

-im listening to the Low Anthem's new album that i just got in the mail - superb music

- for the first time since i became a teacher, my alarm did not go off yesterday morning and i woke up at the exact time that the bell rings for first hour, 710 am...crap crap crap crap crap

- ironically enough, the night before i was "commissioned" [ordained by others' standards] by my beautiful community and church. a lovely, though surreal evening it was, so the next morning filled me with no end of shame

-its AIMS week. im pretty sure i hate AIMS more than the high schoolers

-my cats are chasing each other around the house warring and hissing...oh so amusing

- my house stillllllllllllllll hasn't closed...


....did i miss anything? not that it matters much, but it does help to keep life in perspective