Emmy faves

I totally planned on just watching the red carpet before the Emmy's....award shows are boring and I would rather just read the results online the next morning. However, the opening skit got me HOOKED- it was hilarious! I was wishing that they would have had more TV stars be in that opening. I loved the Modern Family skit with George Clooney, too. I might have to watch more award shows- very entertaining! Anyways, here are the best dresses, in my opinion.



Um, she could have been in a paper sack and still looked beautiful. I still cannot believe the transformation she has gone through in the past few years. She looks incredible.


Love the pale pink and the little ruffle on the top of the dress.
Don't think this fits wonderfully, but I still like the dress.
I love Tina Fey. This is her best look ever. Although I do not care for Glee much or this actress (yes, she has a wonderful voice...just not my favorite actress), I love her dress and I think that she looks perfect in it!

Who do you think was best/ worst dressed?

Simple Pleasures

I love....
...coffee on a weekend morning. I always wake up first and it is just so relaxing sipping my coffee on my big comfy chair while cuddling with my kitty.

...when Daniel and I find a new TV show and become obsessed with it. This weekend has been a Modern Family Marathon. Sometimes I prefer this to going on a "real" date.

...having a clean home. Between episodes, Daniel and I made our home spotless. I am lucky that I have someone who shares the chores with me!

...being excited to go to work tomorrow. I have a great class, but a couple of challenging ones students. Is it weird that those challenging students are the ones that motivate me the most to wake up at 6:15 am and do my job?

...Groupon. Yesterday I got 1/2 off tickets to the Houston Wine Festival...CANNOT WAIT!

...Bubble Baths. I have taken one everyday since school started on Monday. I take my book and sometimes a glass of wine or my pomegranate/ peligrino concoction and stay in for hours. I am worried about our gas/ water bill for this month!

...Yoga, which I am going to now. Since work started, I have gone from practicing 4x a week to only 1-2 times. I went yesterday (first time this week) and my butt and arms are so sore! Whoever says Yoga is for wimps has never taken a power vinyasa class.

Namaste!

What's been going on

1. Foam rollers
Ever since I got new running shoes, I have felt intense pain in my left quad basically 24/7. I have been running since high school and have never really experienced above average muscle pain. It is so weird that in this situation, it is ONLY my left quad/ IT band....has this happened to any of you? I am hoping that I will not have to buy new shoes, after shelling out $115 a mere two weeks ago for new ones. ANYWAYS, I am taking a few days off of running, and last night I went to "Yoga Bootcamp". After telling us that the class is nothing like yoga and more just stretching for athletes, the instructor has us get foam rollers. I'm feeling pissed at this point. I went expecting an intense yoga class based on cardio and strength (like a power vinyasa flow) and instead it was just going to be stretching? I stretch everyday! So, I begrudgingly use the foam roller on my quad...and OMG, tears come to my eyes it is so painful. I literally feel the lactic acid bubbles popping in my muscle. I am SO going to buy one of those foam rollers...although my quad still hurts, it feels a million times better. *fingers crossed that no running + foam roller will heal my quad*

2. Door
My father-in-law gave us his old door a few months ago, and it had been sitting in our garage ever since. Our old front door, which resembled a rectangle of cardboard, was quite an eye sore. A few weeks ago, my parents paid about $800 to refurbish their front door, which made me want to refurbish the door we had sitting in our attic. My husband didn't care to do it, but loves me so decided to work on our new-old door anyways! This door was a MESS- old hornet nests still connected to the wood, totally scratched up and discolored...but I could see the potential. Well, between sanding, staining, restaining, and sanding some more, and sealing, this little "project" took us over 2 weeks to accomplish! The prep work wasn't difficult, just time consuming b/c we could only do one side at a time and had to always wait 24 hours for the layers of stain and sealant to dry. So, Sunday was the big day...the door was finally done and we could hang it up! 5 trip to Lowes and 6 hours later, this darn door was finally up. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. The door was too long and we had to saw off the bottom 2 inches. The door was too wide so we literally had to whittle the side with a knife to make it fit. Couldn't get the dead bolt to work. Our alarm kept going off. I have to say that the hard work was worth it...wish I had a before pic, but oh well!
3. Two really yummy, vegetarian, and FAST meals...

"hummus" burgers- courtesy of Women's Health. This reminds me of falafel...Daniel gave it an 8.5 out of 10 and REALLY loved it....very filling, too!

• Grind 1/2 cup of almonds and a teaspoon of coriander until it is the consistency of flour.
  
• Mash up a can of organic garbanzo beans and 3 minced cloves of garlic until there are no whole beans left. Stir in almond meal, 2 teaspoons of cummin, a pinch of salt, an egg, and 1/4 cup of fresh parsley. Form patties and cook on a skillet (medium heat) with olive oil, about 5 min per side.
• Meanwhile, mix 2 TB of mayonnaise (or nonflavored greek yogurt or sour cream) with a chile (canned, in adobo sauce).
• Put hummus burger in a pita half, along with some spinach and tomato. Add the chile mayo. MMMMM!

Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink black beans- I made this tonight because I had a ton of fresh black beans left from another meal.

• Stir-fry 1/2 a red onion and 3 cloves of minced garlic for about 2 minutes. Add 2 chiles (in adobo sauce) if you like spicy, along with about a cup of frozen corn.
  
• Add beans after corn is no longer frozen (probably about 1 lb)
• Once beans are warm, stir in some chopped tomato, the juice from a lime, about 1 TB of cumin and a pinch of salt
• Serve with fresh cilantro, Mexican cheese, and a lot of avocado!

I pretty much just threw in what I had, but if you have some other veggies that you need to get rid of, I think it would work. This was really filling...Daniel had a bite and liked it, but had a huge burger for lunch so is fasting from dinner.

She Works Hard For The Money

Yesterday was my first day back at work, and I must say that I am happy to be back. I am feeling motivated to make this my best year of teaching so far. I got so much done yesterday at work- moved all of my furniture by 8 am, put up all of my bulletin board paper and border, covered 3 of my cabinets, made my Science and Math Word Wall, made some materials for the first week of school, and started on my Peace Corner.....whew! Afterward, I ran 4 miles in 35 minutes, made dinner, and did two loads of laundry!!! I was feeling like Kelly Ripa in all of those Elextrolux commercials, except not nearly as cute. The only downfall was that I was on such a rush that I couldn't fall asleep...

Today I was at work by 7:45, and got up my reading word wall, calendar area, and math area...plus set up my library and organized my materials. I was able to leave by 10:45 to make it to my last Tuesday lunch time yoga class and run. I will post pictures of my classroom probably on Friday...

So, I made a really yummy vegetarian chili tonight that Daniel loved! It took little time to prepare, but about 2 hours to cook. Perfect for someone who has some chores or studying to do at home while it cooks!

First, I cooked a pound of black beans, which has to boil for about an hour and a half (this is the time consuming part). You can just use canned black beans if you have to cook in a pinch, but I try to stay away from canned food when I can. While the beans were cooking, a had time to clean our spare bathroom (aka Doodoo's bathroom) and clean our spare bedroom (aka our dog's bedroom).

Next, I sauteed an onion, 3 carrots, and a red bell pepper for about 2 minutes. I then added it with 8 oz of tomato sauce, 3 cups water, and this package of spices:

I didn't make it like it said to prepare, just bought it because it's a convenient way to make sure it tastes like chili and add the correct amount of spice.

I let that all simmer for about 20 minutes, then added my cooked black beans. It was DELICIOUS and Daniel felt really full afterward (always important for a man's dinner).

Speaking of delicious and filling....

Chocolate Eruption cake from Whole Foods, purchased for my mother-in-laws bday on Sunday. Maybe 1/4 was consumed on the day of her birth with the whole family....the rest has been devoured by Daniel and me these past 2 days. I told Daniel that whatever he doesn't eat of it tonight will be in the trash...I have no willpower to stop eating it, so it has to go!

Happy Day

Today was just one of those days where I was in a great mood! I...
1. Went shopping at Katy Mills. I will never go back there, even though I found some good finds
at Gap outlet and Nike outlet. I should have just gone to the Cypress Outlet- it is closer and
nicer. Oh well! I saw this dress last yr at the regular Gap for $40...didn't get it, thought it was
too much mula. Found it today for FIVE BUCKS!!! It has a pocket on the top left boob. I think it will be great for standing outside in this August heat during recess! Aside from this dress, I also got another summery orange/ pink/ yellow/ brown dress, skinny jeans, black work pants, gray cami, gray cardigan vest, hot pink cardigan, hot pink suede flip flops, and burnt orange rimmed sunglasses.
2. Read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for about 2 hours today. It is SO hard for me to read
beyond a book's climax, but I will hopefully finish it tomorrow.
3. For the past several years, Daniel and I have always gotten our hair cuts together. We used to
go to the same stylist....and even though I no longer use her (growing my hair long), I still go
with Daniel because of tradition, even though it is in Sugar Land. We made a date out of it
tonight. Went to Whole Foods first, where I ate salmon salad, the BEST bread pudding, and
this cute little can of champagne:

4. While Daniel was getting his hair cut, I decided to go to the Texas Running Co. to get some
new running shows. Mine are over a yr old and I am feeling the effects on the arch of my foot.
PLUS, my friend Kathryn and I signed up for the Houston 1/2 Marathon lottery, so I need
some motivation to go beyond my 3-5 miles on the treadmill. Anyways, I usually get my kicks
from a specialty store, but this place by far exceeds them all! They actually filmed me running
on their treadmill to see how my foot lands and then allowed me to watch it. I ended up
getting some cute hot pink Nikes that help me run more flat footed, plus a little number to
work out in. Cannot wait for tomorrow's workout!
5. Afterward, Daniel suggested we take the pups for a nice walk. For some reason, I prefer walks
to any other date. We ended up going to the dog park, where we made a game of hiding a ball
and having the pups find it- too cute!
6. After the walk, Daniel decided he wanted some wine. He rarely drinks wine, whereas I LOVE
wine! I of course jumped at the opportunity to buy a "nice bottle of wine", as Daniel requested
(i.e. not the usual twist top I buy). An over-12-dollar Cabernet, plus some brie and crackers=
AMAZING!!!
7. We haven't been on a vacay outside of TX since last November...and we are going to NYC this upcoming Thanksgiving break!!! My aunt lives there... she is one of my favorite people in the whole world...one of those types that is always positive and happy, and always has a ridiculous story to tell. She is almost twice my age, yet has three times my amount of energy. She is always either orchestrating theatre classes to youngsters, or biking across the city, or teaching yoga, or writing the upcoming off-Broadway play. Cannot wait to see her and her other half, Don, in a few months!


It takes a LONG time to blog! GEEZ! This probably won't be happening once work starts back up!!!

Pier 1 sale

Thanks to my addiction to HGTV, I do not think that my house will ever feel "decorated enough". It is something I have been working on this past year, and I still have a long way to go. Once you think about it, it is a little foolish...I am buying frivolous things, like throw pillows that my dogs think are chew toys and silk flowers that just gather dust. The only use that these decorative items have is for aesthetic reasons...no other function. However, it is a hobby of mine, so when I do feel the need to decorate, it has to be on the cheap. With that said, here are my Pier 1 finds!



I took this picture to show the painting over my mantle that a friend painted. I love it, but it is pretty bright, which is what started me this excursion for new colors in my living room.

Although I love our hardwoods, I sometimes feel like our home is too "woody"....wood floors, wood cabinets, wood furniture. I am not a fan of white wood, which would probably stand out better with our floors. Anyways, I got these dinky rug onsale at Pier 1 for 10 bucks! I like how the colors speak with the painting in the previous picture. Wish it was larger, but at least it breaks up the wood a tad.
This lighting is awful, just wanted to show a Home Goods purchase (pillow- $15) It brings out the crimson on the chair if you see if in person. By the way, Doo Doo head was in that exact same spot when I left my home at 11 to meet Daniel for lunch at Ziggys. It is now 2:40! Sometimes I just go up to her to make sure she is still breathing.


I got the two crimson pillows for 20% off at Pier 1, usually 14.95. I also got the middle floral pillow. I love throw pillows, but they stay arranged on my couch for about 15 minutes until one of the dogs kicks them off. My pups loves laying on the couch, but for some reason hate when any pillows are sharing the couch with them!

Ok, I think that is about it! Happy Wednesday!

Last week of freedom!

I cannot believe that my summer break is almost over :-( I didn't get much checked off of my summer to-do list....never went to the dentist, dermatologist, or doctor. Didn't bust out my sewing machine. Didn't train Cole to walk on a leash. Didn't do as much home decorating as I would have liked. What I DID accomplish was a ton of R&R, along with maintaining a clean house, going to yoga or running almost everyday, and some chores such as being my own exterminator, oil change, cleaning out our closets.

Speaking of cleaning out our closets, I sold some old clothes to Buffalo Exchange and scored majorly with these leather Coach shoes! I am not huge on brands where I have to pay a ton of money to be a walking advertisement for them. However, I do not see a "C" anywhere on these shoes other than on the inside. They were brand new, and with my trade in, I only had to pay $17! Plus, I love the burnt orange strap :-)

Daniel gave me a Target gift card that he had received for his bday...I think it is for $25. Might go there today to scope out the shoes and jewelry. I have the shopping bug and I am trying to hold off my shopathon until Thursday, so maybe Target can hold me over.

Can I just say that I think Chelsea looked absolutely gorgeous on her wedding day? Back in the 90's could you have even imagined that she could transform from the awkward ugly duckling she was to such a poised, graceful woman? Love her dress, make-up, hair, and smile!

OK, I am going to fight everything in me that wants to lay around and veg out during my last days of relaxation and instead go hit the treadmill and the 11:45 Pilates class. Can anyone seriously run outside in this heat?!