Who doesn't want to be stronger?

I have been wanting to blog about this boot camp that I've been doing but have just kept putting it off, so here it is! I heard about Carrie Cox from my friend Becky in January and I was in desperate need of a swift kick in the pants. I was a little nervous going into it because 98% of the chicas there were pretty little to begin with and were there to tone up or lose those last stubborn few. There were only a couple times that I really felt discouraged, but then I had to realize that we all struggled in whatever situation we were in, and every day I was getting stronger. The frustration and inability to do a "burpee" would all lead toward bettering myself, and soon (translation: many weeks later) I was jumping on top of boxes and doing cartwheels. It hasn't always been easy, but it has been easier than I thought it would be.
Since mid January, I have lost 12 inches and 20 pounds. I'm sad to say that it hasn't been more in the last three weeks, I don't why I slack off after I hit a goal. But I am eating better, being more active, stretching and thinking more positively. I am craving better foods more often than the bad ones. Let's be honest, though; I still visit Cafe Rio frequently and haven't quit ice cream altogether, but I am making better choices when I partake. Did you know that you can have a delicious grilled chicken tostada from the Rio for less than 600 calories? I promise. [no shell/tortilla, rice, beans, grilled chicken, lettuce, pico, lime wedge, add guacamole and just half (1 oz) of dressing. You're welcome.] [And it's cheaper than a salad and you don't want to die after.]
Guys, I used to get really offended when I would be around thin people who would complain about feeling or looking "fat." Or when someone who looked perfect to me would talk about wanting to lose just 10 pounds. But then I grew up and realized that we are all unhappy with our own imperfections, regardless of what others may think of us. Someone who is a size 8 may be just as unhappy as someone who wears twice that. The difference is knowing how to love and accept yourself. Doing what makes you feel better, healthier, stronger. Am I completely happy with where I am physically right now? No, but I know that I'm working hard to becoming healthy, treating myself better, and becoming stronger every day. I credit Carrie for helping me to reach a mindset that allows me to see that I deserve better, that I can be better.
Carrie is opening her own training space, and I'm super excited for her. SLC Fit Collective will be a place that I know will have great energy, because that is what she exudes. Is this getting cheesy?  I mean it. And I'm really excited it's closer than Sandy. You should go with me sometime, I dare you.
I still can't do a real burpee, but I'll dazzle you by the end of the summer.

This is last years tri. Women of Steel is next weekend. I'm excited. I'll put up pictures.

So I went on a blind date.

I knew you'd see that title on your blog roll and drop everything. But I did. I went on a blind date. And it was a doozy.

His name is Jeff. Don't get me wrong, he is a really nice guy. And my roommate who set me up? She's nice too. I did not kick her out. I may or may not have flipped her off. But I repented and apologized. So here are the deets.

Long story short, my roommate set me up with a friend from her singles ward. Somehow, I didn't catch on when she said she didn't think I would like him, but our ideas of what we think is attractive are pretty different. I honestly don't know how I missed her sarcasm or facetiousness but she did try to warn me and I guess I just really wanted to go on a date. I don't know what happened or at what point I lost control of my faculties. So I had a date.

Caitie set it up and told me Jeff would pick me up on Friday at 6. Since it was a blind date, she and another friend setting us up made the executive decision that we should go dutch, he would plan and pay for the activity, I would be in charge of dinner. She thought I could make dinner or something. But I don't make dinner unless I'm trying to impress somebody, so he got to choose between Cafe Rio and Five Guys.

He picked me up around 6:10. Picture a 6'2 Harry Potter. He carried a box of cookies. I never know how much shooting of the breeze should happen before we leave, so I ushered us out the door. I think he was probably confused. He chose Rio, which is always the right choice. He was very polite and opened the door for me. His car was quiet, I learned later that he would rather pay attention to the roads and drivers around him. (He is from L.A. and finds Utah drivers suck. Which is true.) We got dinner, I paid, again he seemed a little confused and when we sat down I asked if they hadn't told him of the "dutch" arrangement. I don't recall him answering. Thinking back, I think he was extremely nervous or generally awkward. It could also be that he is very indecisive (of his own admission) and my quick decisions and actions may have been disconcerting to him. My favorite line from our dinner conversation:
me: "It's just funny how dependent on technology my students are. . . "
him: "Yeah. . . .I bet back in the day. . . . .they were like. . . . .why are you spending so much time with that handcart?"
cricket. . . .cricket. . . .
me: "haha. . .yeah. . .those self-sustaining farms. . . ."

Anyway. Towards the end of dinner, I asked what time the improv show was that we were going to, and he said "well, we found out it isn't until 10:15." It was currently 6:45. I waited a few minutes and then excused myself to go to the restroom, where I called Caitie. I had almost run out of questions over dinner, so I demanded she and the friends she was at dinner with return home and play games with us, or it would surely be an eternal three hours. She said they'd come when they were done eating.

We decided to go to my house and play a game. We broke out the Scrabble. I was game, I love me some Scrabble. I was nicer than when I play with my family, accepting and following his interesting point techniques (I put down "Jew" on a triple word box and got 39 points. He put an 's' down and got 45. That's not legal.) I didn't question some of his words but drew the line at 'ret.' "How would you use it in a sentence?" I asked. "I don't know." "Then you can't use it as a word." I replied. Seemed logical.

We used every single tile except six. I don't know if I've ever done that. Of course, we did play for two hours. There was a lot of thinking and quiet involved, but we had some tunes playing that broke up the silence like a champ. I will have you all know that I won by 22 points. I was extremely proud of myself. Caitie and her friends got to the house towards the end of the game, and we played a couple games of Uno and Chutes and Ladders. It was a good time.

Finally we went to the improv show at The Empress Theater in Magna. I was pleasantly surprised, it was much better than I thought it would be. It was also free, since it was held upstairs instead of in the actual theater. After intermission it got kind of long and drawn out; that's the problem with a lot of improv shows/sketches, they don't always stop when they should. If it's not working, end it. It was a long show and didn't get over til around midnight. On the drive home, after a few comments, I ran out of questions to ask and we drove the last five minutes in complete silence. Total and complete silence. It was so funny to me. When he walked me to the door, I thanked him and gave him back his cookies. He said he brought them because he had heard I was making dinner and he thought he would bring a contribution. He really was a nice guy, I just think he probably hasn't had a lot of social opportunities.

The end.

Welp. Big Gulps, Eh?

Sorry. I won't even offer excuses. It's just real pathetic.

The last time anyone blogged from this computer was obviously the post Tracie did regarding her love of "Little House." Who can criticize that?

Tracie turned 20. What the??? She was really excited that I came up for the big day.

She was even more excited I brought up this beauty from Grandma's house.

Her friend (I think Talia?) made this delicious cake which we sat around with forks and devoured. After the little munchkin boy was removed.

She had a killer party attended by many. The "event page" on Facebook featured this amazing picture of MJ and ET. I used all my creative juices and iron-on transfers to make this piece of work. Then I left it at my house. I was crushed. But she still liked it. Who wouldn't?

Brayden got baptized. I cannot believe my buddy is 8! It's crazy.

Tracie had a dance concert. It was phenomenal. I drove up with Mom, Dad and Laura and we stopped at Cafe Rio and it was delicious. A lovely evening had by all.

Tracie got a boyfriend. His name is Kev-Kev. Or Kevmeister. Or Kevilicious. Or just Kevin. He's a nice young man. Sorry I didn't fix their red eye.

I'll try to post again before it's been three months. No promises, Laura.

Crazy school antics

I know. Wasn't I supposed to be blogging more? Oh well. I'm just too busy being super awesome. Here are a few recent stories (ps I will always change students names because I like my job):

The other day at the beginning of 4th period I commented that everyone was there and started to clap. A few clapped along and then one boy kept going after we had all stopped. Because that's hilarious, right? So I said, "Fitzwilliam, I bet you couldn't clap all period."
"Yes I could!" he responded, still clapping.
"I bet you won't make it ten minutes."
"Yes I can!"
And he did. For 50 minutes straight. While reading the part of Capulet in "Romeo and Juliet." It was awesome. I gave him a candy bar and wished him good luck at wrestling practice.

***

So. Romeo and Juliet. Act 2 scene 2. The Balcony Scene. So perfectly ridiculous. After we read, we watched the scene from the 1968 version. So cheesy. Click here if you need a refresher.
After that, we watched the scene from the 1996 adaptation for a comparison. I like this one much better, probably because Leo is much cuter than the 1968 Zac Efron. Click here to see that scene.
Anyway. We were watching the second clip in one of my classes. One of my students, we'll call him Wilhelm, said, "I'm going to take notes on how to make out." We all laughed. But when it was over and I was walking to the front of the room I took his notes off his desk. I read a few, laughed out loud, and proceeded to read them to the class:
Make Out Notes (yes it had a title)

• Stalk her (creeper)
• Learn how to hold breath
• Make it sexy
• Make out for 20 seconds
• Nice and slow
• Make out a second time
• Tell her how much you love her
• Kiss on the neck and slowly make your way down
• Kiss goodnight
• Almost get caught

I should note that after a full day of balcony making-out, I had my own make out dream that night. I won't lie, it was a good one. At one point I walked up to my special friend (in the dream, don't get excited) and planted a good one on him. He seemed confused and asked what day it was because he didn't remember it being a holiday. I asked him if it had to be a holiday for me to kiss him like that. Yeah. I have the moves. I'm pretty sure I got a proposal as well. Who wouldn't after a move like that? I should probably try that one in real life.

***

And from today (which I put as my status on Facebook): if you already read it, consider this post over.

Third period came around and I just wanted a break from the Romeo and Juliet madness. I was just shooting the breeze and Newsies on Broadway came up. (Really, it is back on for 12 weeks!) One student said that the only musical he had ever seen was "High School Musical." Disgraceful. I pulled that screen right down and we watched Newsies. All period. It was awesome.

I really really love my job.

I learn something new every day.

One of my students wrote her essay on the tragedy that is pit bull prejudice. A whole page, single spaced. It was captivating.

Almost married!

Right? So here are the details on the big date. Because let's face it, any date these days is big.
So Caitie and I talked about doing this double date thing back in the springtime and it never happened. We had been talking about it again lately and decided to just do it. I had wanted to set her up with Tom for a long time, he is a science teacher at my school. He's a super nice guy. Dan is in Caitie's ward and has been to our house a few times. It was nice to have the advantage, already knowing both guys.
I bought a crockpot. I also bought a giant slab of meat. Who knew that a pot roast was so expensive? Not this girl. Totally worth it though, because the french dip sandwiches were so amazing. I also made steak fries with homemade fry sauce. It was delicious. I had put the roast in the crockpot in the morning and the house smelled super aromatic when I got home. I cleaned up, played on the computer, forgot that I didn't get the bread yet, went to Jimmy John's for the best bread ever, made the fries and watched America's Next Top Model while I waited for everyone to get there. Caitie had parent teacher conferences so they all got home around 7:30.

Is it weird that I put the salad on the plates? Or even more weird that I took a picture of it? I especially like the detail of the folded paper napkins. It was truly a class act.
There were never any awkward moments while we ate, it was all very fun and natural. After we ate dinner (did I tell you I bought ramekins for the au jus?) which, have I mentioned how yummy it was? We broke out the scrabble board. It was a pretty slow-moving game and Caitie was pretty restless because she'd been with kindergartners and their parents all day. . .and it was only the second time she'd played because she has lived such a sad life. We finished our game and then sat in the living room and talked for a while. PS during the game we ate key lime pie-lets (they were itty bitty) that C-dawg had made. Yum.
I told them that I needed to be at Grandma's to watch Perry Mason so we broke up the fun around 10:45. Caitie and I had a de-brief and I headed over to stay with my Grandma (I'm there for the week.) Side note: Grandma was already in bed when I got there so I went in and snuggled with her for a minute and it might be one of my new favorite memories with her. We watched a few minutes of Perry and then I went down to bed. I love my Grandma.
So, peeps, it was a fun date. It was enjoyable. I might have made a few flirty comments to Dan about our wedding and how many sisters he had relating to how many bridesmaids I would have. . .and then when Tom mentioned he had some Danish in him, I asked if Dan did and when he replied in the negative, I told him I might have to switch sides. You can get away with ridiculous jokes like this when you're 31.
Just so you don't have to ask:
Yes, I'll probably go on a date again. I don't know if it will be with one of those boys. Maybe it will be with Caitie because we have a lot of fun together.
Yes, I'll post the recipes.
And yes, here is a picture of the boys:
Me, Tommy, Dan. I am holding the beautiful ear of Indian corn that Caitie had provided to enrich the ambiance of the evening.

French Dip Sandwiches:
1 Lean beef roast
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 beef boullion cube
1 bay leaf
1 tsp crushed dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
3 whole peppercorns

Place beef in slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, boullion, and spices. Pour over the roast and add enough water to almost cover the meat [I put extra water in to make it not so salty]. Cook over low heat 10-12 hours or until the meat is really tender. Remove meat and reserve broth. Shred meat and serve with hard rolls. (from Emily)

(From "Our Best Bites" Click on titles for the websites)

Oven Steak Fries

4 medium Russet potatoes, washed

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Mix desired spices in a medium bowl. Add olive oil and combine well.
Cut potatoes into 8 wedges each.
Add potato wedges to seasonings and toss to coat.
Lightly crumple some aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and then arrange potato wedges on foil. This makes cleanup easy because your potatoes won’t stick and it will also ensures they’re cooked evenly. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes.
Fry Sauce:

Fry Sauce

1/4 c. ketchup
1/4 c. mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip! Tried it once in a pinch and it was beyond horrible!)
2-3 tsp. chopped dill pickle

Combine and serve with homemade fries or onion rings.

PS

My mom asked for a picture of the flower I made on Breast Cancer Awareness day. Here it is.

My mom asked for a picture of the flower I made on Breast Cancer Awareness day. Here it is.