The last couple of weeks have been nonstop. No wonder I got sick. After slamming out interviews, giving finals, moving out of my classroom, packing for Miami, vacationing in Miami, driving up to Vegas for the weekend and then back down, it is no wonder I have been diagnosed with a double ear infection, bronchitis, and sinusitis. Phew! But I’m feeling okay and I’m ready to start this vacation. Especially knowing I have a job to show up to on August 13.

South Beach Miami was a great time aside from being ridiculously expensive. I allocated 100 bucks a day for spending and I blew through that (100 bucks) just the first night. How I was going to factor in the day took another day to figure out. And Lael and I were not evening living it large out there. The problem is that in South Beach— a Snapple costs 6 bucks, every restaurant automatically adds a 20% gratuity, and a cocktail costs 15 dollars. Shopping? All the choices in area near our hotels were high couture shops. So….we had to make some adjustments. Breakfast was the toast and coffee offered by our hotel. Lunch was beach-side made of cheese, yogurt, lunch meat, and crackers we bought at a local market. Dinner we splurged. Before nightlife, we had homemade cocktails in our room. And on the dance floor, we bought 6 dollar bottles of water instead. Although, I only danced one night. I hate dancing. The other nights I sat back and watched and chatted with other tourists or ran around taking photos. 🙂

We did take a tour of Miami one day, however. We got to see some beautiful neighborhoods in Coconut Groves, eat empenadas and buy cigars in Little Havana, and check out the celebrity homes on the islands there on a Ferry ride. Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford the snorkling trip we had planned or renting Vespas and cruising around town.

On Sunday, on our flight to Miami, I sat next to a nice guy named Carlos who grew up in Miami. He offered to give Lael and I some tips on where to go and where to eat while we were there. And he even met up with us a couple of times. We tasted some amazing Cuban food because of him and learned a lot about a crazy form of Brazilian martial arts that he was into although, I don’t remember the name.

On Monday afternoon, as Lael and I were coming into our room after a splendid day at the beach, we were greeted by two beautiful young women from Minnesota. They had come in the day before as well and wanted to see if we wanted to get together that night for some dancing. What a great pair they were. We had an awesome time mimicking their Minnesota accents and dressing up, borrowing shoes, talking about girly stuff, and hitting South Beach as a four-pack instead of two. We enjoyed their company so much, we are now Face Book friends and plan to maybe take a trip to Minneapolis and come visit. We spent a lot of time with them over the week—beaches, shopping, lunch, and night life—and have some hilarious pictures to prove it–although I still need to get Lacey to post them.

Earlier Monday, Lael and I accidentally laid out in the gay part of the beach. We didn’t notice the two rainbow flags 300 yards apart and decided to set up shop right in the middle. An hour later, we pull our noses out of our books and figured it out when we notived a middle aged bleach blonde european step into the personal space of a flabby Native American. Too funny.

On the last night, I was exhausted and sunburned and ready to go to bed, but Lael dragged me out. We went to Clevelender with Carlos and this young man named Jonathan from New York who we met in the lobby earlier that day. Jonathan bought us a shot of Tequila and after that, I actually danced a little bit. But Lael topped it off. The tequila and the heat really got to her and she said she was too hot. I told her we had to leave anyway if we wanted to get a good nights rest before I early flight the next day. I told her she has been good her whole life and needed to do something crazy. If she jumped into the pool (outside bar and dance floor) we would surely get kicked out. But who cares, if we were going to leave anyway, right? So she did it. My sweet, good friend Lael, jumped into the pool. Jonathan followed. We got kicked out. And I never saw Lael with a bigger smile on her face, ever. Good times. 🙂

On my way back from Vegas on Sunday(another blog to come), I started to feel chest pressure and a cough. So now it is Thursday and I’ve got all the itises known to man. But I’ve got lots of plans through next week and as long as my son doesn’t get sick, we will be good. I missed Kanan sooooo much on the trip. I found that if I thought about him, I’d cry, so I tried to keep myself distracted. But it was great to hold him when I came back, smell him, and hear his sweet little voice. He has grown so much just in the week I was gone. This summer is going to be awesome. I can’t wait to spend quality time with my son, my friends, and family; and of course, to get some artistic me time in. My friend Kelley and I are working on a Christian Children’s book together and I need to do a page a day. I’d like to take a class at my church to further my knowledge of God, volunteer a bit at the Pregnancy Resource Center, and some how through it all, take another week long trip somewhere. We shall see. 🙂

Salad, no dressing please. This is a request no one would ever hear come out of my mouth, but now I’m not so sure. My friend Kelly invited me over for dinner the other night and served a spring green salad with it. When I asked where was the dressing, she responded pleasantly that she didn’t use dressing. Well, I’m somewhat of a food adventurist and decided to dive in and give it a try. It had cheddar cheese on it, maybe that would suffice. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted great! And with my analtical nature, I sought to figure out why. The key is the type of greens. I was raised on romaine lettuce and homemade Italian dressing which I continue to make for my dinner side. I’ve perfected this salad. But, the salad needs the dressing. The dressing is the most important ingredient! The salad Kelly served was a mix of fresh baby spinach, baby romaine and baby leaf. The flavors of these plants are less bitter, and when topped with cheese, are quite flavorful.

So the last few nights I have changed my childhood salad recipe and swapped out my romaine for a new type of greens. I still love my dressing, so I’ve kept that, but make it much milder so as to not overpower the mild and flavorful taste of the greens. I also added a couple of other lettuces that taste good too. But, seriously…if I run out of vinegar, I won’t be running out the door as quickly and will not be afraid to just eat it as is.

Here is the recipe, so simple and so good

Mama Theresa’s Spring Salad

Serves enough for one large personal salad or two small side salads

In a medium sized bowl mix the following:

• Two cups of mixed fresh fresh baby butter, tango, baby spinach, baby leaf, and baby romaine lettuces.
• A few slices of dark red bell pepper
• A few slices of cucumber
• A quarter cup of thinly sliced red cabbage
• One diced green onion including both bulb and chive
• 2-3 oz of diced medium to sharp cheddar cheese

Now the dressing here is a lighter version of my normal dressing, but perfect. I’ll be honest, I’m estimating the amount below as I just pour and shake but this feels right. In the end, start light, and add more if you need more flavor.

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 dashes of red wine vinager
• 3 shakes of Lawry’s garlic salt
• 2 shakes of pepper

Toss and enjoy!

How do I get it? I’m telling you right now, I have it right now. I am experiencing the cleanest, most natural high of my life right now.

How to Feel Amazing

1. Take a two hour nap, on the couch with the blinds open so the sun shines through slightly onto you.

2. Wake up slowly

3. Drink a tall glass of “Greens First” by Doctors for Nutrition.

4. Wait about 5 minutes

5. Feel Amazing!

I’m telling you right now, the combination is key. I drink “Greens First” a few times a week, and most of the time, I don’t have time to take it after a 2 hour nap. I take it running out the door, I take it while cooking my dinner. I feel really good and energized when I do, and on that alone, I recommend the product, but it is still not to this capacity. Not with this clarity. And I take a two hour nap every Saturday afternoon. It is a ritual I have been practicing since I’ve had Kanan. And sometimes I wake up feeling good. Sometimes I wake up feeling groggy, but wake up after a while and do feel good. But not to this capacity. Not with this clarity. 🙂

Colors are more vibrant. I breathe in deeper and less shallow. My thoughts come quickly and clearly not fidgety like after a cup of coffee. I feel strong. I feel happy. I feel ready for the rest of the day! After today, I am thinking this might be a perfect replacement for a morning coffee.

I’ve had many green supplemental drinks and nothing beats this one. It tastes really good (sweet and minty)! It has less calories. It is packed with fruits and vegetables, antioxidants, live flora, and fiber. I don’t sell it, but I totally would if I had the time and the resources. 🙂 Google it; research it; buy it; see for yourself.

If you count Boones Farm and Wild Vines, then I have started dabbling in the wines when I was 16. But anyone who really knows wine, knows that can’t count. With that, I officially started drinking wine when I was 20 years old and discovered Merlot at my first “sophisticated” party in college. My relationship with Merlot lasted about 5 years until I discovered Cabernet Sauvignon. It tasted fruitier, dryer, less oakey, and more alcoholic.   So since then, that has been my default wine. Now don’t get me wrong, I have tried many wines. I’ve tried many whites and many reds but it is difficult to determine my preference for one or another without tasting them one after the other and comparing. So one would wonder why I didn’t go wine tasting to learn more about the fine drink, but life just hasn’t worked that way for me. So it was not until 9 years into my love for wine as of last Friday that  I was able to finally compare.

My good friend Kelley turned 40 and she took her VIP crew (that included me, yipeey!) on a limo-driven, wine tasting adventure through Temecula. We all are teachers funny enough and used our “personal business” leave to take off for the day. We got to sleep in, then meet at Kelley’s for bagels with creme cheese, mimosas and bloody mary’s, and chick chat. Then our very young limo driver showed up and we were off. We went to Callaways, Longfellows, and another one whose name I don’t remember….hmmm.

But what I do know is that I determined these three things over the course of the day:

1.  I pretty much don’t like most white wines. Especially if they are sweet or oakey which pretty much leaves them all out. The only one I remember liking was the Sauvingnon Blanc.
2.  I love, Love, LOVE Zinfindale!
3.  I think it would be fabulous to be married in vineyard. In the fall would be even better. 🙂

I learned these two things:

1. Cabernet Sauvignon is a natural hybrid between Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Pretty fitting for me given my taste in white wine.
2. I do actually have the courage enough to give my phone number to tall, good looking, Christian, wine connoisseurs like the 27 year old Jared I met at winery #2.  (That is indeed a first for me. I always wait to be asked…haha).

On our way home, we danced in the car to various songs from the last 30 something years. Hilarious time. Bethany cracks me up the most. Between the dancing, the jacuzzi, and the lost purse—twas an adventure for sure.

So—to anyone who has not gone wine tasting, I do recommend it. I had a great time and would love to do it for my 30th, but hopefully then I will the love of my life on my arm—which in that case would have to make the trip co-ed.

I’ll start with the best and work my way to the worst. The best thing I learned today came to me via email. Remember my student Jonathan whose girlfriend up and left to Tijuana? Well he hasn’t been to class all week and I’ve been worried. But today, I opened up my email to find a message from him. It said the following: “Miss. This because I find Pricilla. You know how much I love her. So I not come back. Goodbye. Will miss you.” So the romance continues between my two students and I am so happy for him. However, the teacher/mother in me also hopes he goes back to school in Tijuana at least. I assume the novelity of their reunion will wear off after a while and the imminency of a needed education will begin to follow him. Pricilla’s family values education too, so I believe she will pressure Jonathan to go to school. So in the end, I believe this is good news. This news also helped soften the blow of the next news.

See, obviously given the fact that my student emailed me personally to let me know he will not be returning to school because he found his girlfriend in Tijuana, I have developed a good rapport with my students this year. Last year, I had that same type of rapport with my fifth period class but apparently not with my second period class. See this year, one of my students received a Valentine Gram from a previous student I had last year in my second period class. I teased my student and then told him I had his girlfriend last year and to ask her about me. I asked him today what she said. He said that she told him I was a good teacher but I was moody and I once ripped her project in half. Yikes! I don’t remember doing that? I only rip up tests if a student is caught cheating. I’m hoping that given he is learning English that something got lost in the translation, and it was a test that I ripped up because she was probably talking during the test. But to find out a student viewed me as “moody?” That is hard! I did have a rough first period last year so I wonder if my emotional state second period varied depending on what happened with my first period class. I sure hope so! I’m going to start paying closer attention to how I behave after a tough class this year and see if I notice a correlation. This year is more laid back because I have a break almost after each class—First period, teach; second period, break; third and fourth period block class, teach; lunch; fifth period, teach; sixth period, teach. But in case next year, I get a similar schedule as last year, I defintely want to prevent that from happening again. I’m not a moody person so it came as quite a shock.

But who knows, I may not have a class to teach next year. The final news I learned today is that district will have to lay off 88 staff members , 25 of which will be from the two high schools. So—if I do keep my job, it will by the hair of my chiny chin chin. I keep trying to remind myself that change, scary or not, brings color to life. I just hope the color isn’t black. So keep me in your thoughts or prayers please!

…because I have joined the Iphone/BlackBerry “crackberry” technology-dependent cult. And any one of you “old schoolers” who roll your eyes at me and say “oh no, not her too,” let me give you my reasoning. I carry a large purse. Why? Well apart from it being fashionable, it worked for me because I need space to carry my day planner, my camera, my phone, and my ipod along with all the other stuff women keep in their bag full of tricks sans a pacifier, a Thomas the Train, wipes, and an extra diaper (okay, that’s only Saturday through Tuesday, but you get my mommy humor).  So needless to say, I have been eyeing the Iphone specifically because I knew it would easily work well with my itunes and my ihome player in my bedroom. I definitely wanted to wait, however, because it is a bit pricey compared to other phones, especially since my phone company demands a monthly Internet package when hooking up an iphone. But when I lost my phone last week, I knew I would have to hasten our inevitable union/love-affair. And so it was Thursday that my Iphone and I met. We have been getting to know each other over the last few days and I must say, he is everything I thought he’d be and more. I have now condensed my day-planner, camera, phone, and ipod into one device. I bought a holder for it that even has a slot for my ID/credit card so I can actually just leave my purse in the trunk when I want to travel light (although hanging my keys from my jeans belt loop isn’t very classy, but hey…sometimes I just don’t care). The added bonus is that I was able to sync my iphone with my Yahoo contact list and so when I inputted everyone’s telephone numbers into my iphone, my Yahoo contacts showed up with the same info. So God-forbid I lose my phone again, I will no longer have to bombard you with funny stories and excuses about why I need your phone number again.

So according to the History Channel, “some” researchers believe that on Winter Solstice 2012, the alignment of the planet and the solar system could freeze our telecommunications. By that time, I will have been used to and reliant on my amazing technological device for almost four years….oh yeah, I’ll be so upset. 😉