Not-so-relaxing summer

So far, my summer has actually been kind of stressful. I started a two-week intensive Spanish course on last Monday. I'm really enjoying it, but it's 3 hours per day and that, combined with my 10 hours of tutoring per week (and the 10 different lesson plans required), my GA, and a new baby-sitting job have left me with much less free time than I anticipated. After this week, things should slow down quite a bit, though. And Darby and I are looking forward to a mini-vacation to Madison, WI over the holiday weekend.

Even though it's causing me a little stress, I'm so glad I decided to take this Spanish class. It's very focused on conversation, and that's what I desperately need to practice. It's sad to realize how much of my vocabulary I've lost through lack of use. I'm definitely motivated to practice more on my own. I'm also realizing that all of my ESL courses have really changed the way I look at learning languages. Before, I kind of thought of learning Spanish as a finite goal. One day, I would wake up and say, "I know Spanish." But now I view it much more as a continuum. I'll always be learning Spanish. In some ways that is daunting, but it's also very freeing. Before, I had somewhat unrealistic expectations about what I could achieve in Spanish. But now that I've worked with students who have been learning English as a second language for many, many years, I see that perfection is unrealistic. My goal should be to communicate effectively. I'll always make mistakes, but that shouldn't stop me from speaking with native Spanish speakers. And I have so much more empathy for the international students I work with now. After three hours of listening and speaking solely in Spanish, my brain is fried. Next, I want to take some courses in a language from a completely different language family (e.g., Korean, Mandarin, or Arabic). I think that will help me identify even more with my students.

Halfway there!

Well, I finished my first year of grad. school on Friday. I can't believe I'm already halfway done. Time is really flying by. I am still so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go back to school. And I absolutely love working with ESL students. This summer, I'm continuing some tutoring that I started this semester. I really enjoy getting to know all of the students and seeing them improve.

Darby reached a huge milestone this semester. He is now completely done with his coursework. So, for the next two years, he'll be doing full-time research and dissertation writing. I'm so proud of him for all the hard work he's put in so far, and I'm so excited that he'll no longer have homework!

We had a great first weekend of summer (even though it's COLD! I had to turn the heater back on tonight. Boo.). On Friday night, we had a celebration dinner at Crane Alley, one of our favorite local restaurants, and then, being the huge nerds we are, we worked a puzzle. :) Saturday morning, we got up and walked to the Farmer's Market and then had coffee at a little cafe near there. I grilled steaks for dinner Saturday night and then watched a chick flick (New in Town) while Darby hung out with some guys from the lab. After church this morning, we went with our preacher's family to the brunch buffet at Kennedy's. Yum! There was soo much food, and it was all delicious. It's so nice not to have to worry about homework for a little while. I think this summer is going to be awesome!

Fiesta!

So, this weekend the ACU group had a belated Cinco de Mayo celebration. And, I think Erin and I might have found the ideal entertaining arrangement. She hosts, and I cook. The party was at their house, but I brought all of the fajita ingredients and used their grill. It was so much less stressful than having to cook and clean the house. And I didn't have to feel guilty for being "in the zone" when I was cooking, since I wasn't the official hostess.

Austin and Erin got a pinata for us, and it was soo fun! I think perhaps spinning 10 times around the bat was a little much, though. Both Darby and Liz fell over, and I almost did.

Uh, the pinata's the other way, Erin...

Liz, pre-falling down. The streamers on the ground are from my ferocious hitting. :)

Austin, putting an end to it. Actually, Liz was the one who busted it open, but we hung it back up, so everyone could have a turn.

On Saturday morning, Liz invited me to a brunch/clothing swap at her church. It was a lot of fun; I got a few cute new things, and, more importantly, I got rid of a lot more things. I made these raspberry breakfast bars, and they were so good!

Normally, when I try to transfer bars from their baking dish to a plate, I end up with a crumbly mess. But these actually turned out looking pretty decent. I think the secret was lining the pan with parchment paper, then buttering the parchment. And, the bars are healthy because of the raspberries. :)

Hope for the Future

Riding the bus every day gives me a lot of opportunities to people-watch (and eavesdrop). Often, this is a little depressing. But, every so often, I see something on the bus that just makes my day. Today was one of those days.

A group of 18 4th-graders (mostly boys) got on the bus with their teacher. I assume they were taking a field trip to the university or one of the public libraries. Anyway, this group of boys spent the whole bus ride bragging about their Accelerated Reader scores. They were asking this one kid how he had managed to accumulate so many points, and he said, "I just love to read." They asked him why, and he said, with complete sincerity and the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen: "Because reading is an adventure. When you read a book, you can go anywhere." Another kid said, "Yeah, but you could be playing video games or playing outside." And the little bookworm said, "No, you don't understand. You can go anywhere. I just ignore everything else around me. One time I got grounded for reading too much because I wasn't listening to anyone." And, except for the one dubious boy, the other kids were hanging on to every word and seemed truly envious of the boy's reading ability. It was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. So, don't believe people when they talk about kids these days just wanting to play video games or text. If this group of boys was any indication, I'm very impressed with the next generation. (Gosh...am I really old enough to be part of an "older" generation? Scary.)

My experience is in sharp contrast with an experience Darby had several months ago. On his way home, he was reviewing some notes in his lab notebook. A group of middle-school boys was sitting near him. One of them read the title on the cover out loud: "Laboratory Notebook." Then, he turned to his friends and said, "Nerd!" Poor Darby. :)

Mom and Dad

My parents came to visit this past week. Because of Dad's crazy work schedule, it ended up working out better for mom to fly in on her own on Tuesday night. It was wonderful to have her here for more than just a weekend. We had fun shopping, getting pedicures, going out to lunch, and talking, talking, talking. Of course, I had to go to class, but Mom was so sweet to drop me off and pick me up, and it was so fun to come home to a non-empty house (just like growing up!).

Dad flew in from a business trip in Boston on Friday night. On Saturday, we enjoyed breakfast at Steak & Shake, a quick look at the U of I botanical gardens, game playing, an early Mother's Day/mom's birthday celebration, and watching Source Code. I had really been missing my parents, so I was so glad they were able to come. It really means a lot to me that they make it a priority to visit, even when their schedule is busy. And it's less than 2 months until we see them again in Texas! Yay!

Happy Easter!

After church today, we had 6 of our friends over for an Easter brunch. I wanted to get a picture of all the food arranged so prettily (if I do say so myself), but by the time I remembered to do it, the food had been basically demolished. :) So, you'll have to believe me that it looked nice. The menu consisted of:

Asparagus and Swiss Egg Bake
Ham, Egg, and Cheese Cups
Sausage Cheese Muffins
Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins
Fresh Fruit Bruschetta
Strawberries and Cream Cake
Strawberry Citrus Slushies

All of the recipes turned out well, but I especially liked the Strawberries and Cream Cake. I served it with homemade whipped cream, and it was so delicious! Perfect for a spring or summer dessert.

Meredith and Brett

Ryan and Megan (They had just biked 30 miles to return home from a camping trip!)

Austin and Erin

Darby and Me

It was a wonderful Easter. The sun was shining, the service at church was very uplifting (we sang "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," which I LOVE), and we got to enjoy food and fellowship with some of our good friends. So thankful for the many blessings God has given us in this life and, more importantly, for the hope we have of eternal life.

Success!

Well, I made it to my goal weight! The weight came off faster than I thought it would, which reinforces to me that I was heavier than I needed to be. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to ease up on the points counting without going totally crazy. In that spirit, I thought I'd share some of my favorite healthy snacks. Of course, I still enjoy my ice cream and baked goodies, but I'm trying to practice a little more moderation. :)

• Sargento Light cheese sticks
  
• Fiber One yogurt mixed with 1 sliced banana and 1/4 c. Cascadian Farm maple brown sugar granola
• sliced cucumbers and baby carrots with 2 tbsp. Sabra roasted red pepper hummus
  
• smoothies made with half a banana, 1/2 cup of frozen, unsweetened mixed fruit, and 1/2 - 1 cup of 1% milk (enough to make the smoothie drinkable)
• Kashi TLC honey almond flax granola bars
  

What healthy snacks do you like? I need variety to keep going.

Multi-tasking

Well, the good news is: I passed my exam! I'm very glad to have that out of the way. 1 down, 6 to go. But the other 6 won't be until next school year, so I just won't think about that yet. :)

The bad news is: I learned I'm a TERRIBLE single-tasker. Now, I always knew I preferred multi-tasking, but I thought that I could choose to single-task when I needed to. I found out this past week that that is not the case. I really needed to devote almost all of my non-class time to studying for the test. So I decided ahead of time that I was just going to let everything else go: no housework, no grocery shopping, minimal cooking, etc. But when it came time to follow through, it just about killed me. It makes me so stressed to see laundry unwashed, dishes not put away, e-mails unread, etc. And having to eat pizza and sandwiches for dinner feels like some sort of personal failure, even though I know that's ridiculous. (Also, side note: Darby and I have a very fair division of labor. So all of the chores not taken care of were my responsibility, not his. And even though I'm in charge of making dinner, he NEVER complains about what we have. So any pressure I feel is totally self-imposed.)

Darby, on the other hand, is a great single-tasker. Sometimes this is a problem, as he can't put a project out of his mind until it's done, even if he really needs to do other stuff. But this week, I realized that single-tasking can be an asset, especially in grad. school. I think next time I need to study I'm going to have to go to a coffee shop or some place where I can't see the mess. Maybe I should go to a hotel (hee-hee)!

Are there any other chronic multi-taskers out there? Do you have tricks for making yourself focus on one thing when you have to?

MIA

Sorry, I've been MIA around here lately. Perhaps I'm giving myself too much credit to think anyone even noticed. :)

I am taking one of my comprehensive exams for my degree on Saturday, so I'm studying like crazy. I'll be back next week with an update. Have a great week!

What's Cookin'

One of my goals is to whittle my "to try" recipes I've saved online to under 200. So I've been trying to make quite a few new recipes. Of course, I keep adding recipes, so my progress is a little slow. :) Here are some of the favorites I've tried recently:

• Crockpot Refried Beans. I LOVE beans, and these are so easy. You don't even have to soak the beans beforehand, which saves a lot of time. I made a double batch (without doubling the salt, as Darby and I try to limit our salt), and mashed half and froze the other half.
  
• Baked Oatmeal. I'm not much of an oatmeal fan (texture), but this stuff turns out almost cake-like. As suggested, I subbed unsweetened applesauce for half of the butter. One serving is 7 Weight Watchers points, which isn't terrible, but I might try to reduce the sugar next time I make it to bring the points down even more.
  
• Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes. These were made pre-Weight Watchers (I don't even want to know how many points are in these babies!), and they were soooo good! Extremely rich. If you like chocolate and mint, you have to try them.
• Mexican Chicken Kiev. I'm a sucker for stuffed chicken recipes, and this one did not disappoint. The chicken turns out so flavorful and moist. And this was my first foray into the world of Panko crumbs. They are sooo much better than regular bread crumbs; I can't believe I lived without them for so long.

Enjoy!

Look what I got!

My friend Kalyn is an artist and recently started an etsy shop. One of Kalyn's blogger friends did a giveaway of the beautiful piece above, and I won! I just got it in the mail the other day, and I love it! I'm so proud of Kalyn for starting her own business. She has a lot of charming (and affordable!) pieces in her shop, so go check it out.

Spring Break, Part Two

Britt and I headed back to Champaign on Sunday afternoon for a special ACU group gathering. Daniel's parents, who are wine connoisseurs, were in town, and they graciously agreed to host a wine tasting for our ACU group (oh, the irony). Daniel, Liz, and Daniel's parents prepared quite a feast for us, and we got to try 8 or so different wines. It was so fun, and I feel like I have a better grasp of the characteristics of some of the different types and a better idea of which "supermarket" wines are relatively good.

Erin and Liz

Monday, Britt and I did some shopping and then took it easy watching episodes of Scrubs on Netflix. That night, Darby and I introduced Brittany to Custard Cup (our favorite pastime!) and went to see The Adjustment Bureau.

Yum! (Notice my small cup--trying to be good; it's all relative)

On Tuesday, we went to this huge scrapbooking store about an hour away and then sat and read magazines in Barnes & Noble. For dinner, we went to Papa Del's and then came home for some chocolate chip cookie pie and game-playing.

Britt's flight home wasn't until Wednesday evening, so we got to enjoy a walk and lunch at the Courier Cafe before driving to Chicago. I am soooo glad she came. It was wonderful to catch up and have some extended "girl time." One of the hardest things about living up here is not being able to see my Texas friends very often or for very long, and feeling like I'm missing out on their lives. This was just what I needed.

Spring Break, Part One

I had a fabulous Spring Break with Brittany. I'm so glad she came to visit!

Her flight got in Friday night (to Midway, not O'Hare, which I very luckily realized just in time). We checked in to our hotel and then split some delicious cheesecake at the Grand Luxe Cafe (Weight Watchers was decidedly NOT in the picture this week).

On Saturday, we went to the Hancock Observatory where we enjoyed our coffee with a view.

After that, it was on to the Art Institute, then lunch at Pizano's Pizza (just so-so), wandering around Millenium Park, and a little shopping on The Magnificent Mile.

The obligatory "bean" photo

Saturday night we had dinner at a great Italian place, Topo Gigio. I highly recommend it. Then we went to see a comedy show at Second City. It was a really funny show and so much fun to do something completely different.

Sunday morning, we went on a walking architecture tour. It was very interesting, and I probably would have enjoyed it even more had it not started pouring about halfway through. We finished out the tour, then tried to warm up with some soup. We were hoping to go to the aquarium, but the line was really long, so we went to the Field Museum instead. After that, it was back home.

It was such a wonderful girls' weekend. Britt and I both have issues with asking people to take our picture, so we didn't get any pictures together (besides the fuzzy bean one above). But, Darby took one of us at my beloved Custard Cup, which I'll post in Part Two. :)

Spring is here!

One thing I enjoy about living in a colder climate is that the long winters really do make you appreciate nice weather more. Yesterday, it was around 70 and sunny and everyone was in such a good mood. During the first few days of spring, everybody goes outside and just walks around with huge smiles on their faces, saying, "It's warm!" I don't remember that happening on such a large scale in Texas.

Spring break starts today, and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Brittany is coming in tonight and we're going to spend a couple of days in Chicago; then, she's going to come down to Champaign for a few days. It's going to be AWESOME! Just two more classes and a workout to get through, and then the fun begins. Yayyyyy!

Grown-Ups

I've always enjoyed sleeping in on Saturdays (until about 10 or so), but lately both Darby and I have been noticing that we feel really sluggish on Saturdays and often have headaches. We wondered if it could be the disruption in our normal sleep schedule. So, we decided to try getting up at 7:30 (just one hour later than normal). We've done it for two weeks now, and I really like it. I have a lot more energy, and I'm able to truly enjoy my Saturday rather than feeling like I've wasted half the day already. I think this means that we are officially grown-ups. :)

Also, I know I said I wouldn't give a weekly Weight Watchers update, but I can't resist. Even after a week in which I had: pizza (twice), dinner out at an Italian restaurant, and fettuccine alfredo at a friend's house, I still lost 2 pounds! I'm very excited but also amazed at how badly I must have been eating before this.

Weight Watchers

So, one of my goals before I turn 26 is to lose 5 lbs. Well, before last week, that wasn't going so well. In fact, it was going the opposite direction. I had actually gained a few pounds. I really was trying to eat healthier, but there always seemed to be some excuse not to ("it's someone's birthday"; "someone brought cookies to school"; "friends invited us out to eat"; or, let's be honest, "it's Monday"). So, I finally decided enough is enough and joined Weight Watchers. Most of my family has done Weight Watchers in the past, so I was familiar with the program.

And, after one week, I have to say, I LOVE it! Having a very structured goal was exactly what I needed to get my eating on track. I've been eating a lot more fruits and veggies, eating smaller portions, and not mindlessly snacking on pieces of candy here and there. I like that I can still basically eat whatever I want; I just have to decide if it's worth it. My true test last week was when some friends invited us to Texas Roadhouse. I got the grilled chicken salad and, here's the kicker, only ate one of those delicious rolls. And guess what? I didn't die. :) I was telling Darby that the strangest thing about being on this program is that I hardly ever feel full. I'm used to feeling full basically every day. I didn't really know how to stop at the point where I'm not hungry anymore but not full; it's nice.

Anyway, my goal is to lose 11 lbs. I weighed in this morning, and I've already lost 3! I'm so excited. I know that every week won't be such a drastic change, but I'm glad I'm off to a good start. And, don't worry, I won't bore you with an update every week or anything. Just had to share my good news. :)

I'm mean in my sleep, part 2

See part 1 here.

My sleep-talking has been pretty minimal lately, but I guess I've been kind of stressed because it's happened twice this week. And poor Darby has to put up with it.

On Monday or Tuesday night, I started whimpering and saying, "Should I have done something?" Darby said, "Should you have done what?" Then, I said, "There's a card I could have used." Evidently, I was dreaming about Dominion, a game Darby got for Christmas and we've played quite a bit. Not sure why I was crying about it, but I do take games pretty seriously...

Anyway, that was a little annoying but not mean. Then, Wednesday night, I started telling Darby, "Stop it. Just stop it." He said, "What?" I said, "You know." He said, "No, I don't." Then, I said, "You're such a self-assured (slang term for male anatomy)." I have NO idea why I said that. I've maybe used that term once or twice in my life. But I've certainly never called Darby that. Our conversation went on for a little while with me insisting I had a right to be mad at him. I guess I had a dream that he was being mean to me, but I can't remember that part. I do remember getting mad at him, though. Poor guy. I apologized in the morning; luckily, he has a sense of humor about it.

Lessons from reality TV

Perhaps this is just a sorry attempt to justify the hours I spend viewing bad reality television, but I've been thinking a lot lately about how grateful those shows make me for my family.

One theme that keeps coming back to me as I watch Say Yes to the Dress and Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht is that I am sooo thankful for my mom. Of course, I'm grateful for my dad, too, but these shows are more about the moms. And the moms are CRAZY! Daughters will come out in a gorgeous dress that they are obviously in love with, and the mom will say, "Really? I think it makes your hips look big." It's unbelievable. So grateful that my mom knew to be tactfully honest when asked but also knew that her main job in dress shopping was moral support.

And don't even get me started on Kate Gosselin. There are so many problems with her mothering skills. But one particular sad thing is that she says she does the TV show so she can give her kids opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise---like going on lavish vacations. But, when they're on vacation, the kids complain the whole time (of course...they're kids). I can guarantee you they would give up the hot air balloon rides, the spa days, the over-the-top birthday parties to have a happy mom who would get on the floor and play with them. While I was fortunate in that I did get to take fun (but not over-the-top) vacations with my family, the memories I look back on most fondly are singing silly songs in the car together, playing games in our living room, going on church trips together.

I'm so thankful for the great example my mom was and is to me. I've always known she's a great mom, but the older I get, the more I appreciate her. And speaking of my mom, she started a blog! So, you should go check it out. I'm sure she'll have plenty of nice things to say about me. ;)

Good-bye

Katy and Jon (picture taken from Katy's facebook)

Well, I was living in denial, but the day finally came. Last Friday, Katy moved to California to join Jon who's in Marine Corps training. I'm so happy that they are back together after six months apart, but I was so sad to see her go. Jon and Katy were our first friends when we moved to Illinois, and the transition would have been so much harder without them. When we had been here just a few weeks, Darby had to go back to Texas for a wedding, so I was alone. Jon was busy, and Katy invited me over to eat dinner at her house. While I was getting ready, she got a call from her parents (her dad is the preacher at our church) saying that her brother and his family wanted to meet them for dinner in Decatur (about 45 mins away). She could have just canceled on me, but instead, she invited me to come along for the family dinner. I felt awkward, but I went, and had a lot of fun. Since then, we have spent countless hours eating dinner and playing games with Katy and Jon and Katy's family. Thankfully, Katy's family is still here in town, so we won't be losing them too. And, of course, we'll still see Jon and Katy when they come back to visit. I'm so glad Jon and Katy were here to welcome us when we arrived. At a time in our lives when we really needed friends, they were there for us (and still are). And while we'll no longer be seeing them several times a week, we are excited about keeping up with their new adventures.

The two best parts of this week

1. It was WARM! Like, in the 50s and 60s warm. :) Here's the snow mountain today. It really shows how solid it was since it's been above freezing for almost the whole week, and it still hasn't melted completely. And yes, those are huge chunks of our yard in it. Our neighbor on the bulldozer got a little carried away with the snow plowing, but at least we didn't have to do it, right?
2. We got a new couch for our guest room. We had an inflatable queen size bed, but it sprung a leak this summer and couldn't be patched. We've been avoiding putting an actual bed in that room because the room is small and Darby uses it as his music room. Darby's mom suggested a pull-out couch. And, since my ACU roommate and BFF Brittany is coming to visit in March (yay!), we had the push we needed to get it done. So, tax refund in hand, we headed to Ashley and got ourselves a sleeper sofa. I think it looks very nice in the room.