Bon Voyage

My last day of work was on Monday.  I know, kinda awkward.  Long story short, our car got picked up on Tuesday to get shipped back to NJ.  So the last day I could drive into work was Monday... 

It didn't hit me until I was driving home and realizing that was the last time I'd be driving that route.  Or driving in San Diego.  I was fine the whole day, but driving home I got a little emotional.

The administration, staff, and children that I'm leaving were amazing and I feel so lucky I got the chance to know them this year!  Room 3 made me this awesome hand print painting; doesn't it look like modern art?  Thanks Juli and Pierce!

Some of my cute cards; they made me feel so loved.

And SkinnyGirl Margarita from my girl Allison, which is fitting since we spent many a lunch break watching Bethenny Ever After.

Saturday I had a little BBQ down by the pool.  It was totally Melissa-fied with veggie burgers, spinach salad, grilled corn on the cob/asparagus, cherries, and mangoes.  Nicole and Greg provided the pasta salad and amazing cake from a little known bakery, Vons ;) And  Alvin  brought awesome Claim Jumper pie!!!  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! 

And aren't my flowers purdy?  Thanks Nicole and Greg! 

After some grilling, chatting, and drinking we headed out to meet up with Ildi, Jason and Angela at Wine Steals in Hillcrest.

Wine Steals has a great atmosphere and was the perfect spot for a chill night with friends. 

Enjoying some rather large glasses of wine.

Vino and cake?  Yes please!

Before closing time we managed to snap one group picture! 

  

Leaving the bar we noticed the trees even like to party in Hillcrest!  Or maybe that was the wine talking...

And a night out isn't complete without some late night eating. (I guess the cake wasn't enough...)  We headed to Denny's, oh yes, Denny's.  Along with a bunch of high school-ers after their prom since we're classy like that.

Whole wheat pancakes were the perfect way to end the night!  

Thanks for a great send off, I'll miss you guys!!!

Isn't Your Birthday in January?

Yes it is.  And I know this is late... 

Like super late.  

obnoxiously late.

But I had a fabulous birthday, way back on January 29th and thought I'd finally share some pictures!

Full outfit shot...I just had to

Our table at Kaminkski's.  It was my work holiday party!

Preparing for SHAKEY FACE

 wow

 Birthday girls!!  Love that we both went with bright coral dresses

Good times :)

 

Sniffly Sunday

Satruday night I went to bed with a bit of a runny nose.  No big deal.

Sunday I woke up with a scratchy throat + runny nose + watery eyes.  No more hiking trip with friends :(

This is what I missed out on, wah!  Next time!

 Shane and I headed to Vine Ripe Market.  I needed oranges in my life.

Baskets of Middle Eastern candies

Great priced produce

sweets!

We had never went here before, assuming it would be expensive.  But we read some reviews on Yelp! and had to try it out.  It's super cheap, and they have a good variety of produce that is delivered everyday.  It specializes in Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food and they have a huge selection of freshly baked bread.  The naan looks so good, but we went with whole wheat pitas.  

And of course lots of oranges.

I got progressively worse as the day went on.

Spent the day napping, reading and sniffling.  I am loving this book, The Art of Eating In by Kathy Erway.  Has anyone else read it?  I'm almost done!

I also got caught up on some homework.  We're having a workshop on Wednesday and I needed to finish reading. 

Any early childhood educators out there?  This book is wonderful.  It's not one of those books that's all theory and by the end you're wondering how in the world to implement it in your classroom.  It does a great job of providing real examples and strategies  you can start using right away! 

*Sorry non teachers for this tangent!!*

Around 5 I mustered up enough strength to finish making Shane's dinner. Jenna's Chicken 'n' Biscuits to Fix Your Life

Shane was in heaven.  I need to cook this boy meat more often!

 

 

I soothed my throat with a smoothie

-handful dandelion greens

-frozen blackberries and blueberries

-rice milk

-1/2 banana

-orange juice

Thank goodness my school is off on Monday!

Lovely

After my stressful week, I was d r e a d i n g going to work on Friday.

Dragged myself out of bed to get in The Shred: Day 10.

I made sure to have chocolatey oatmeal to try and put me in a better mood. 

And packed a nutritious lunch, along with some snacks.

But there was nothing to worry about.  Friday turned out to be lovely.

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

 

It was puzzle day, so the kids brought in puzzles to work on. Ahhh, lovely.

We celebrated  Valentine's Day, so there were lots of goodies.

heart shaped muffins

pink, red, and silver kisses saying "eat me!!!"

so. good.

I got some sweets to take home too!

 Shane's Vday gift from me...I mean my students ;)

I love all my princess Valentine's!

And my partner in the afternoon was back so it wasn't me and a sub.  Sooo much less stress.

And to make it even more lovely...it's a 3 day weekend!

And Shane and I watch Jersey Shore on Friday night! 

And we had a light, quick, easy to eat while you sit on the floor and watch tv kind of dinner.

Plus some candy for desert!!

How lovely<3

Fo' Free

I've been a little MIA this weekend.  But I've been busy!  Watching TV and snuggling on the couch count as being busy, right? ;)  Actually, although there has been much snuggle-age, I've also been quite productive.

Let's start with Friday, shall we?

I took Friday as a rest day.  In the "Recommendation" section of The Shred, Jillian never mentions taking rest days.  But my body needs a day off, so I decided to work a rest day into my Shred Schedule.

I woke up refreshed and ready to start my day.  *On a side note, don't you love waking up well rested?  Some days I crawl out of bed and feel tired and unmotivated, even if I've gotten enough sleep.  What's with that?!*

I had my lemon water and oats.

 1/3 c. oats

flax meal

cocoa powder

1/2 mashed banana

frozen blackberries

Lunch Box 

Snack: apple

Lunch: spinach, quinoa/millet, sunflower seeds, craisins, walnut oil

7 bean salad

Snack: roasted sweet potatoes

I got some awesome news at work!  Let me preface this by saying I am so thankful to have found my school.  The Montessori philosophy is fascinating and truly works (teachers, you need to read up!), the people I work with are amazing; friendly, caring, and willing to help a transplant out!, and my employers are wonderful.  They truly care about their staff.  

We have an "appreciation box" in the staff lounge where you can write how you appreciate someone, and drop it in.  At the end of each month they collect them and each person gets a card and their appreciations.  Each month, someone also gets the Helping Hand Award...and January was my month!

 It's sure feels nice to be appreciated =) 

And to top it off, for my birthday I got a lovely card along with a gift card to go out to eat!

Which brings me to...date night FO' FREE

We had a choice of 4 restaurants and we decided on Chili's!

Throw on some clothes and out the door! 

 The wait was about 20 minutes but that's okay when you live in SoCal.  We just sat outside on a bench and enjoyed the cool, crisp February air while people watching.

Started off with an app,  Fire Grilled Corn Guac.  It was pretty good.  The chips were paper thin and kept breaking!  Shane reminded me that I tend to overscoop and enjoy massive amounts of dip on each chip.  Woops!

Vegetarian options are a bit limited at Chili's, so I went with the Caribbean Salad.

 Fresh pineapple, mandarin oranges, dried cherries, green onions, cilantro, sesame seeds and honey-lime dressing.

 Since we had a gift card, we thought we'd go all out with dessert.  I believe as soon as we sat down Shane pointed to the  Peanut Butter Molten and said "That's happening".  However it didn't happen, we were too stuffed!

We got home and watched the latest episode of Jersey Shore!  I LOVE that show, it's a pleasure of mine.  I'm not guilty about about it either!  Gives me a little taste of home, oh sleazeside<3


Then we watched The Other Guys, with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.  Hm, I need to rephrase that.  We're so cool that we attempted to watch The Other Guys, but fell asleep on the couch.

Friday Date Night fo free= success!