i should be a food writer

I love food. Granted, my love of food has changed the last few years with my new forced diet. Either way I always thought that being a food writer and restaurant reviewer would be a pretty awesome gig. As I was going through old cookbooks to get rid of ones that are no longer relevant to my life, I came across this pretty sweet rating system inside one of my cookbooks.

Amazing right?! I totally should start my own food blog so I can rate them solely based on this system. It's nice because there's a clear difference between ok and very bad. But what if it's just bad? I know I've had things in my life that were bad, but by no means would they require those awesome Spanish exclamation marks. Maybe I could adjust it to accommodate more of a range?

I looked through my cookbook to see what I did on pages that were ok or very bad. I didn't write notes on why it was bad, or things I could do different. Just the face. Some of the recipes I didn't even understand why I tried because they looked disgusting. All my other cookbooks were totally normal which was quite boring. (Granted, this was a cookbook from middle school and the rest were from when I was older.) Be on the lookout for my new blog rating restaurants with smiley faces and exclamation marks. It's going to be pretty awesome.

i like big butts

This post might be TMI for some, but my sister just wrote a post that was TMI so I figured I should follow suit. So I decided I needed to face something that couldn't be denied any longer. My butt is getting bigger. How do I know you ask? Because I am living in a constant wedgie. I googled "bigger butts and running" and came across an article on Livestrong  titled "The Best Ways to Get a Big Butt" with this terrifying quote:

Running

Outside of being a great cardio workout, running tones your lower body, giving you a bigger, rounder butt. To increase the butt-building potential of a running workout, add sprints, stairs or hills.

Awesome. All I did this summer was sprints and hill drills. And now I'm training for another half marathon. My butt is doomed! I'm hoping that it's getting bigger because of running and not because it's just getting fatter. I guess I need to go shopping this weekend.

best end to a friday

Depending on how our week goes, we will go to the forest at the end of the day to play. We went out today and some other classes were out there. I was talking with Sarah when a former student of hers (I knew him as well, he was quite...unforgettable) came up with a skeleton of a lizard he found out there. He was showing us how the jaws work and then said, "And right here is where the family jewels were. You can tell because of those bones. Too bad they're gone now." Oh man, I wish he was still in second grade so I could hear his ridiculous stories. 

I spent the past weekend avoiding the craziness of ACL, and our awful 100+ degree days. How did I do this you may ask? I went to Chicago to visit Rebecca, Michael, and my super awesome nephew Miles. I wasn't sure how to pack since all I have been wearing are shorts and tank tops. Packing a sweater? It seemed too good to be true! (In order to be safe I also packed a tank top and shorts. You never know.)

Miles turned 7 months while I was there, and he looked like a new kid when I saw him! The last time I saw him was July 4th weekend. It's crazy that he looks so different in just that short amount of time. I spent the weekend holding onto Miles while he bounced up and down (my shoulders and biceps are sore today), reading him books, putting him to sleep, taking him to the park, and even making him laugh! He's not a fussy baby, but apparently he doesn't laugh much, to Rebecca's annoyance. But I was able to do it! Granted, it sounds more like grunts half the time. But I'll take it! I guess Rebecca and Michael aren't as funny as they seem to think they are. 

He also learned to wave while I was there. Now I don't want to say it was my influence, but it probably was.

Look at him "walking" too! He's such a big boy!

It was really hard to leave him on Sunday. I know he felt the same way because he was giving my puppy dog eyes on the entire ride to the airport. I know he won't remember me when I see him at Thanksgiving, but at least Rebecca and I sound the same so he'll basically know who I am. Here are some more pictures of this weekend to enjoy. He's a pretty cute baby. I dare you not to scroll down!

Wait, what? There's no more food?!

Baby jeans and baby feet? Too much!

He loves to swing!

Mushmouth

Miles was cold, so he took care of himself.

I love food!

He's a big fan of mine, obviously.

Our typical photo shoot.

Miles' hair super long, so we thought we'd let him finally see the world clearly again. The result? Pure awesomeness.

Photo shoot continued...

Look at him standing! (Or...leaning with support...)

Miles loves to read!

Do you really have to leave Aunt Courtney?

2 more months until our reunion, and counting!

things i love

I'm stealing this idea from my friend Katie who has a blog and finally told me about it. (I don't know why she kept it a secret because it's funny. And when she gives the ok I will link it from my blog.) Anyways, here are things I love right now:

1. Being able to drink coffee on mornings where I don't think I can even muster enough energy to put on real clothes.

2. Seeing a movie in the middle (ok right after school) of the day. Sarah and I went to see The Help, finally, and it was awesome! It was awesome because I finally saw this movie, I went with someone instead of going by myself like I was going to do, and it was a fun thing to look forward to throughout the day. Even better, I got home early enough to still eat dinner and go to bed at 9:00 like an old lady.

3. Heather's crazy reaction to the possibility of a roach being near her. I had heard that Heather FREAKS out when she sees a roach. I mean screaming, running away and making her 7 year old students deal with it. Unfortunately I hadn't ever experienced this in person...until today! Her sink has been leaking in her classroom so she was cleaning out underneath it so our awesome custodian wouldn't have to deal with it when he came to fix it. She stood up to throw something away and was about to get back under there for one last thing when I saw a huge roach. I stopped Heather and said the only thing I could think of. "Heather, look right at me." She looked confused and almost started laughing. I said it again and without even seeing anything, she yelled "IS IT A ROACH? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" She screamed louder than I had ever heard, and literally ran towards with her arms up in the air. She seriously screamed as if someone was literally sawing her arms and legs off. I gave her some of my laminating to cut and told her to leave the room. As I physically pushed her out of her room one of my old students was standing in the door of the room across the hall with a look of pure panic, and curiosity. That's how loud she was. Kids across the hall could her her through 2 closed doors. It was an amazing sight to behold.

4. Pinterest! Really, I don't know what to say except it is awesome. It also gave me tons of awesome things to do and try over the summer. Last night I made pulled pork tacos from a recipe I saw on there. It's a magical website. I don't know what I would do without it!

5. I just signed up for my second half marathon! I will be doing the 3M Half in Austin on January 29th. I never thought I would do one, let alone 2 half marathons! Let the training begin!

Things I don't love right now:

1. Having the crazy jitters after drinking my coffee since my body isn't used to so much caffeine. (It probably didn't help that I basically chugged it and drank it in less than an hour. No big deal for normal people, but this was only the 4th cup of coffee I've had in over 3 years. My body was hating me. Or teaching me a lesson. Who knows.) For real. I couldn't write at one point because my hand was shaking so badly. Totally worth it though because I didn't fall asleep while I was teaching.

2. Karma. I walked into my "living room" after getting in my pajamas and saw a huge daddy roach on the ceiling. Killing it was a lot of fun with my own, controlled, screaming.

3. I don't have enough time to be on Pinterest anymore because school started back up. Boo!

4. Half marathon training begins! Having to run 8-10 miles on the weekend will be rough. Waking up crazy early on a weekend during the school year? Sucks. Doing this in the freezing cold (or, Austin's freezing cold weather) will be tough. But I can't complain, it has been ridiculously hot here this summer, so running in weather where I won't be sweating before I even start is nice.

So those are some things I am loving and hating right now. Enjoy!

i will always remember...

you are drivin' me nuts!

Oh man do I love Toddlers and Tiaras! I'm just watching the latest episode and cannot believe what is going on these days. First of all, there was a kid last week that for celebrity wear was Dolly Parton, fake boobs and all! And yes, she was only 4 years old. I could not believe it, and assumed the judges wouldn't like it. Nope, they LOVED it! One of the lady judges said it would not have been as good without the boobs.

So this past weeks episode features one 2 year old whose mom paid their coach to quit her job and work for them full time! Another 2 year old didn't get to sleep until 1 am and woke up at 6 am. Obviously she was tired and was falling asleep while they were doing her hair and makeup so her mom called the dad and said, "Go to the store and get her happy juice." This juice, for a 2 year old, consisted of an energy drink, apple juice, and coke. Before she went on she was still tired so her dad was throwing her in the air while she was drinking her happy juice out of a bottle to help wake her up.

One of the 3 year olds was wearing black shoes instead of white shoes and white socks in order to stand out, and the judges took off points. Girl, you should know better than that! 

Oh my God! So I am blogging and watching this at the same time. For celebrity wear, someone dressed their 3 year old up as Julia Roberts in Pretty Women! And not when she gets all classy in the end. She was dressed like a hooker! Oh man Miles needs to get on this beauty pageant circuit! He would totally be way more classy and awesome than these crazy people. Don't worry Rebecca, here's a link to all of the Illinois pageants coming up. 

For those of you weird enough to not watch this show, here is the best beauty queen I've ever seen.

i love college football

Have I mentioned how awesome my parents are this year? Well thanks to one of them I am going to the game tonight! I haven't been to a game since I graduated 5 years ago! I even got a parking pass. How fancy! I am pumped! 

HOOK 'EM!!

who doesn't love a free paint job?

I'm sure by now you know how awesome my school is, and how awesome the parents are. Well one of my parents, and one of Nichole's parents asked us the first week of school if they could paint the outside of our portable because it looked so sad. We of course said yes! We didn't know when it was going to happen, but we definitely weren't expecting them to do it that weekend! Not only that, but they were crazy and decided to paint at 2 in the afternoon. Not only that, but they painted on the hottest day in the world. It topped off around 111 degrees while they were out there. Other teachers who face our portable were texting me that they were out there so I stopped by to check on them and see if they needed anything. It only took them a couple of hours, and it looks AWESOME! It definitely makes walking up to my room way more enjoyable. 

Before

After

Next up? Rain gutters so we don't get wet every time in rains. Who wants to put them up? I'll offer a nice high five, smiles, and water from the hose outside. I know, it's pretty tempting!

oh boy

I am trying to keep up my awesome tan so I decided to go lay out today. I also wanted to go outside and enjoy our cold front of 95 degrees. I know, it's getting pretty chilly around here. (Don't worry, I just checked the temperature and we're already back up to 100 degrees.) Anyways, there was this crazy kid who was probably around 6 years old, who was there with his older sister and crazy mom. Just as I'm getting into the pool this kid starts yelling that he's drowning (he can doggy paddle, but not very well) and his mom keeps yelling at him to shut up while she's sitting on a chair reading. Then he says, "Hey mom, I just peed in the pool." Awesome. I get that swimming in a pool with kids it's pretty inevitable that they'll pee in the pool, but don't announce it. I immediately got out and he got out and back in. He then said, "Mom, it's still hot right where I peed!"

So he continues to yell and scream, and his mom continues to yell and scream at him for yelling and screaming. This cute kid showed up and the crazy kid starts showing off and doing cannon balls. So the cute kid tries to copy him and the crazy kid told him he was too little to do any stunts. He then starts to play rough with the cute kid and the mom said they needed to go. Crazy mom sees what's happening and screams (still sitting in her pool chair, book in hand) at her crazy son telling him to leave the boy alone and get out of the pool. He gets out of the pool but refuses to sit in the chair next to her, so she starts chasing him around the pool! Oh man, it was getting pretty good. She finally got him to sit down and continued to yell at him for being mean to the cute kid. 

Finally his mom lets him get back into the pool and his mom gets on their pool float. Because he doesn't have something to hold onto anymore he is struggling to swim. He starts yelling again that he's drowning. His mom's response? "Don't swim then! You don't know how to swim yet." Excuse me, what? If that's the case, then why were you letting him swim around all by himself while you read your book? So he's yelling for help and luckily his really sweet sister was near by to slowly walk to him and pick him up by his hair. I wish I was a part of this family. It looks like fun.