Back in January I posted that I had a goal to run at least a mile every day. This is just to keep in shape and keep up with running. Here is the update...
January I did really well. I ran at least a mile every day except for 5 out of the whole month. I felt great and was having a great time doing it.
February has not been so well. The first two weeks of February I ran every day except for 2 and I even lost about 4 pounds in those two weeks. But this past week I have not run at all.
I have been subbing in a preschool off and on in the past months. But last week I started to be in there every day. I was in there all this past week and all of next week too, and who knows how much more. But I am learning how working five days a week makes it very hard to keep up with my running schedule (especially with it being cold outside and getting dark early...)
I miss the running, so I am hoping to get back to it soon. I miss how good it makes me feel.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Valentine's Day - Part 2
Valentine's Day 2009 (yes, this blog will tell about this year :)
In accordance to our tradition that was started last year we began planning our fancy menu about two or three weeks before Valentine's day. One year I somehow got a free subscription for Food and Wine magazine, so we searched through all of them in hopes to find some candidates. We found many recipes, but it did not take long to narrow it down to a main course, salad, and dessert.
The menu would be meatloaf with a red wine glaze; arugula salad with feta, black olives, and dill; and finally tres leches cake with dolce de leche sauce.
Valentine's day morning we slept in (something we do not do often enough!) and made some wonderful blueberry pancakes for breakfast. When walking out to the dining room table to put the food out, I saw that my plate had a pot of beautiful mini-roses on it. The mini-roses are gorgeous, they are yellow with peach edging. I am excited about the chance to plant them outside and see if we can keep them alive, happy, and thriving.
We made a shopping list and headed out. After a nice long time at the grocery store we finally made it home again. I quickly began working on the cake (since they suggested that it be made the night before...oops!). We set out a trey of sausage, cheese, crackers, and fruit. That was our lunch/snack till we could eat our feast.
After much cutting, chopping, playing in meat, stirring, reducing of sauces, and measuring we finally had our meal.
We sat down with a plate full of meatloaf, salad, and dessert. A wonderful glass of wine to go with the meal. And a Wallace and Gromit video playing. Good food, good movie, good man, good times!
Soon the meal was over and we decided that it might be fun to go dancing. So we changed and drove 45 minutes south to Floyd, VA to go contra dancing. It took awhile to find the actual dance hall, but once it was found we realized that many, Many, MANY other people had found that same hall. It was so packed in the dance hall that you could not turn around with out whacking someone with your elbow or kicking them in the leg. We stayed for many dances but still left early. On the way home we once again were playing the game of "how many deer can you spot" but this time all of the deer were laying dead beside the road. And the winner was 5!
Valentine's turned out wonderful. The food was great, the dancing was fun, and the following day as I was substituting at a school a dozen roses were delivered to the school for me. I feel like we have been celebrating all of February, and it has been wonderful.
In accordance to our tradition that was started last year we began planning our fancy menu about two or three weeks before Valentine's day. One year I somehow got a free subscription for Food and Wine magazine, so we searched through all of them in hopes to find some candidates. We found many recipes, but it did not take long to narrow it down to a main course, salad, and dessert.
The menu would be meatloaf with a red wine glaze; arugula salad with feta, black olives, and dill; and finally tres leches cake with dolce de leche sauce.
Valentine's day morning we slept in (something we do not do often enough!) and made some wonderful blueberry pancakes for breakfast. When walking out to the dining room table to put the food out, I saw that my plate had a pot of beautiful mini-roses on it. The mini-roses are gorgeous, they are yellow with peach edging. I am excited about the chance to plant them outside and see if we can keep them alive, happy, and thriving.
The mini-roses are pictured below.
We made a shopping list and headed out. After a nice long time at the grocery store we finally made it home again. I quickly began working on the cake (since they suggested that it be made the night before...oops!). We set out a trey of sausage, cheese, crackers, and fruit. That was our lunch/snack till we could eat our feast.
After much cutting, chopping, playing in meat, stirring, reducing of sauces, and measuring we finally had our meal.
We sat down with a plate full of meatloaf, salad, and dessert. A wonderful glass of wine to go with the meal. And a Wallace and Gromit video playing. Good food, good movie, good man, good times!
Soon the meal was over and we decided that it might be fun to go dancing. So we changed and drove 45 minutes south to Floyd, VA to go contra dancing. It took awhile to find the actual dance hall, but once it was found we realized that many, Many, MANY other people had found that same hall. It was so packed in the dance hall that you could not turn around with out whacking someone with your elbow or kicking them in the leg. We stayed for many dances but still left early. On the way home we once again were playing the game of "how many deer can you spot" but this time all of the deer were laying dead beside the road. And the winner was 5!
Valentine's turned out wonderful. The food was great, the dancing was fun, and the following day as I was substituting at a school a dozen roses were delivered to the school for me. I feel like we have been celebrating all of February, and it has been wonderful.
The roses that were delivered at work, with the mini roses sitting at the base.
How lucky am I?
Now to think...what kind of menu should we have next year?
How lucky am I?
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Valentine's Day (last year)
I was getting all ready to write about our Valentine's day celebration yesterday, but then realized that most people do not know the history behind it. So here is what happened last year, so that you might better understand what I write about this year.
Last Valentine's day Matt and I had only been dating for 4 months. We were still getting to know each other, and getting used to us as a "couple." Then the "day of love" comes along and we are not quite sure what to do with it. Well, let me say it from my point of view...I do not know what to do with it. I have never had a boyfriend over Valentine's day, so this is all new to me.
Valentine's day is very much a holiday for the ladies. I mean really, what do you get a man for Valentine's day? So after agonizing over this question and the expectations of a gift that he might get from me, I decided to have a conversation with Matt about Valentine's day. We both agreed that the whole gift thing can easily turn into.."He spent $50.00 on me so I need to spend more than that..." And we wanted nothing of that. So we decided to make a limit of no more than $20.00 on a gift, and the real gift would be us sharing one of our true loves together as a couple...COOKING!
The week before V-day we got a menu together. Then V-day came. We exchanged our 20.00 gifts, I got a stuffed dog, he got three bags of flower bulbs (with a note saying "this relationship has been a beautiful surprise, I hope you get many beautiful surprises from these bulbs") and "tickets" to a free concert of a band that he loves.
Then we went shopping for the ingredents to make this wonderful meal :)
We decided to make food that we would not normally make, and something that we needed each others help with. So the meal was quite fancy. We had Beef Burgundy, Greek Salad, Green Beans, and French Silk Pie all made from scratch.
We cooked, we danced, and we said "I love you" for the very first time. Snacking on cheese, crackers and grapes we created this wonderful feast. Then finally the time came when we could sit, relax, and enjoy the fruits of our labor. What a meal it was and what a memory! That day turned out so well that we decided that it would be a great way of celebrating our Valentine's day again.
Last Valentine's day Matt and I had only been dating for 4 months. We were still getting to know each other, and getting used to us as a "couple." Then the "day of love" comes along and we are not quite sure what to do with it. Well, let me say it from my point of view...I do not know what to do with it. I have never had a boyfriend over Valentine's day, so this is all new to me.
Valentine's day is very much a holiday for the ladies. I mean really, what do you get a man for Valentine's day? So after agonizing over this question and the expectations of a gift that he might get from me, I decided to have a conversation with Matt about Valentine's day. We both agreed that the whole gift thing can easily turn into.."He spent $50.00 on me so I need to spend more than that..." And we wanted nothing of that. So we decided to make a limit of no more than $20.00 on a gift, and the real gift would be us sharing one of our true loves together as a couple...COOKING!
The week before V-day we got a menu together. Then V-day came. We exchanged our 20.00 gifts, I got a stuffed dog, he got three bags of flower bulbs (with a note saying "this relationship has been a beautiful surprise, I hope you get many beautiful surprises from these bulbs") and "tickets" to a free concert of a band that he loves.
Then we went shopping for the ingredents to make this wonderful meal :)
We decided to make food that we would not normally make, and something that we needed each others help with. So the meal was quite fancy. We had Beef Burgundy, Greek Salad, Green Beans, and French Silk Pie all made from scratch.
We cooked, we danced, and we said "I love you" for the very first time. Snacking on cheese, crackers and grapes we created this wonderful feast. Then finally the time came when we could sit, relax, and enjoy the fruits of our labor. What a meal it was and what a memory! That day turned out so well that we decided that it would be a great way of celebrating our Valentine's day again.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Valentine's Day - Part 1
Greetings, All.
I have once again taken over my wife's keyboard to bring you the latest adventure from the Daniels Family. This year, we decided that instead of flowers, or chocolates, or other such American traditions, we decided to stimulate the economy in 0ur own way.
The original plan was to go see a show somewhere locally, and cook a fine dinner - similar to what we did last year. We kept our eyes open for a show that we might be interested in, and found a one-night only showing of 'Hairspray'. I went to the ticket office one day at lunch, only to find out that the only pair of seats left were in the very back row, off to one side. We could have gotten seats much closer, but been nowhere near each other. So, we scratched that one off the list. Lana kept looking, and found a show called 'Stomp' in Richmond. No, it wasn't a live performance by Godzilla. I personally had heard of the show, and knew a few things about them - but never actually seen them. Lana had heard about them from way back when, and really wanted to see them. We watched a few clips of them on YouTube, and decided it was worth the drive to see them. We bought tickets for it that night.
Now, neither of us liked the idea of driving three hours there, and three hours back just for a two hour show, so we decided to make a day of it. With a little research (And a little help from her friends), we found a few good suggestions for restaurants for dinner, and some sights to see before the show.
We had a plan.
Our Richmond adventure started out yesterday morning. We got to sleep in, and had a nice waffle breakfast. We lounged around, and generally had a very relaxing time. We loaded up the car, and got ready to go.
We were 150 miles from Richmond, had half a tank of gas, it was dark, and we were wearing sunglasses. Well, it wasn't dark when we left, but still. The drive there was uneventful. The scenery whizzed by, and the music and conversation flowed freely. We had a good time.
Finally, we got to Richmond. Lana was the navigator, and used the iToy to its fullest. She got us to the 'Fan' district in Richmond, and found the museum. It was easy enough to spot. It was a big concrete dome in an area full of two-story commercial storefronts. Obviously a museum. Parking was free, and I managed to get Lana's little car into a tiny parking-spot that I was sure would annoy someone.
We wandered around that museum for hours. Three floors full of displays. Astronomy, puzzles, Biology, fossils, and even a live corn snake (Very non-poisonous. Unless you are a rodent) that was available for petting. We wandered around that museum looking at all the displays. There were lots of interactive ones. There were a few that we saw that had obviously gotten more attention than they were designed for. On those, you could hear the metal scraping along as kids moved various bits around. But the whole thing was amazing. One of the neater displays was the Mind-Bender section. This was an area of the museum for solving puzzles. There were wooden block puzzles, rope puzzles, and all sorts of mind-bending experiences. As you moved through it, you were encouraged to gather clues to help solve other puzzles. If you solved enough, you could get your picture taken and added to a hall of fame. We solved enough of the puzzles to get our picture on the wall, but decided against it.
Soon enough, our stomachs told us it was time for dinner. We still had two hours to kill before our show, but you can't argue with your stomach. So we found our car (undamaged, and intact) and headed downtown. Of all the restaurants that we had for options, the Strawberry Street Cafe sounded the most interesting. Their claim to fame was that they were mentioned as a Jeopardy Question one time. Something about being a famous Richmond restaurant with their salad bar in a bathtub. I had never heard of them, but to all who are going to Richmond - I recommend it highly. The service was excellent, the food was superb, and the dessert was big and yummy - And they have Sweet Tea! I had the Pasta Jambalaya, and Lana had some kind of Spinach Lasagna. Mine was superb. So good in fact, we tried making it from scratch tonight for dinner. We almost got it. Anyway. Dinner was good, and cheap.
After dinner, Lana navigated us to the theater. We got there a little early, but that was okay. There were a few other people who were waiting outside, so we weren't too bored. Then we noticed the kids. Maybe five or seven years old. Excited about seeing Stomp! They had me a little leery - I hoped we weren't in line for Elmo or anything. But we talked with the parents, and the excited kids and found out that it was going to be a very cool show.
We were finally seated, and anxiously awaited the start of the show. Soon enough, a guy walked out on stage with a broom. And the show started. They were halfway through the second 'song' when Lana looked over at me. I caught her eye, and realized that I hadn't stopped smiling since the first rhythm was tapped out. And it only got better. Not only was this a show involving a lot of tap-and-dance with improvised instruments - but it had characters. There was the generally odd and generally picked on weird guy - One of his performances involved him loosing his shorts. There was the include-everybody-and-everything-in-the-fun guy - including the audience - and a few serious-men. Women too. Some songs were solos, but most of them were simply amazing group events. They used everything they could get their hands on to make rhythm. Brooms, metal trash-bin lids, buckets, and signs. One scene had them swinging from the ceiling to hang next to a wall covered in potential noise-makers. They even included the kitchen sinks. Four of them to be exact. Full of water, strapped around their necks, and making fun noises - All in rhythm, all in perfect time. They even did their signature 'song', they had three guys with large 55-gallon barrels on their feet - stomping across the stage like a freakish triplet of Godzilla's - all in perfect time. There was another song where three of the performers passed a trash-bag back and forth. They would dive (literally head-first) into it looking for potential noisemakers. The final song of the night was performed with the help of the audience. All through the show, the include-everyone guy had been 'training' the audience to copy him. And for the final song, he showed off his perfectly trained audience to the other members of the troop. Of course, there were a few people who did their own 'interpretive' additions to his instructions. But it sounded cool anyway. And before we knew it, they had done over a dozen songs, and it was time to applaud. The troop got a standing ovation, and at least two more fans.
But then, we had to go home. The fun was over. It was going to take another three hours to drive home. But we were both excited. It was a great show, and a great ending to a valentines day - part one. On the way home, we saw at least 15 deer on the highways. Two particularly stupid specimens were hanging out on the pavement. We didn't hit any of them, but it was enough to keep us awake. It wasn't just a drive home - it was a "How many can you spot" event.
We finally made it home about 1:30 in the morning. We were tired, happy to be home, and a little sad that the day was over. But it was worth it - it was an excellent trip.
Valentines day - part deux will happen next weekend. We are doing some fan-say cooking.
Until next time,
-Matt
I have once again taken over my wife's keyboard to bring you the latest adventure from the Daniels Family. This year, we decided that instead of flowers, or chocolates, or other such American traditions, we decided to stimulate the economy in 0ur own way.
The original plan was to go see a show somewhere locally, and cook a fine dinner - similar to what we did last year. We kept our eyes open for a show that we might be interested in, and found a one-night only showing of 'Hairspray'. I went to the ticket office one day at lunch, only to find out that the only pair of seats left were in the very back row, off to one side. We could have gotten seats much closer, but been nowhere near each other. So, we scratched that one off the list. Lana kept looking, and found a show called 'Stomp' in Richmond. No, it wasn't a live performance by Godzilla. I personally had heard of the show, and knew a few things about them - but never actually seen them. Lana had heard about them from way back when, and really wanted to see them. We watched a few clips of them on YouTube, and decided it was worth the drive to see them. We bought tickets for it that night.
Now, neither of us liked the idea of driving three hours there, and three hours back just for a two hour show, so we decided to make a day of it. With a little research (And a little help from her friends), we found a few good suggestions for restaurants for dinner, and some sights to see before the show.
We had a plan.
Our Richmond adventure started out yesterday morning. We got to sleep in, and had a nice waffle breakfast. We lounged around, and generally had a very relaxing time. We loaded up the car, and got ready to go.
We were 150 miles from Richmond, had half a tank of gas, it was dark, and we were wearing sunglasses. Well, it wasn't dark when we left, but still. The drive there was uneventful. The scenery whizzed by, and the music and conversation flowed freely. We had a good time.
Finally, we got to Richmond. Lana was the navigator, and used the iToy to its fullest. She got us to the 'Fan' district in Richmond, and found the museum. It was easy enough to spot. It was a big concrete dome in an area full of two-story commercial storefronts. Obviously a museum. Parking was free, and I managed to get Lana's little car into a tiny parking-spot that I was sure would annoy someone.
We wandered around that museum for hours. Three floors full of displays. Astronomy, puzzles, Biology, fossils, and even a live corn snake (Very non-poisonous. Unless you are a rodent) that was available for petting. We wandered around that museum looking at all the displays. There were lots of interactive ones. There were a few that we saw that had obviously gotten more attention than they were designed for. On those, you could hear the metal scraping along as kids moved various bits around. But the whole thing was amazing. One of the neater displays was the Mind-Bender section. This was an area of the museum for solving puzzles. There were wooden block puzzles, rope puzzles, and all sorts of mind-bending experiences. As you moved through it, you were encouraged to gather clues to help solve other puzzles. If you solved enough, you could get your picture taken and added to a hall of fame. We solved enough of the puzzles to get our picture on the wall, but decided against it.
Soon enough, our stomachs told us it was time for dinner. We still had two hours to kill before our show, but you can't argue with your stomach. So we found our car (undamaged, and intact) and headed downtown. Of all the restaurants that we had for options, the Strawberry Street Cafe sounded the most interesting. Their claim to fame was that they were mentioned as a Jeopardy Question one time. Something about being a famous Richmond restaurant with their salad bar in a bathtub. I had never heard of them, but to all who are going to Richmond - I recommend it highly. The service was excellent, the food was superb, and the dessert was big and yummy - And they have Sweet Tea! I had the Pasta Jambalaya, and Lana had some kind of Spinach Lasagna. Mine was superb. So good in fact, we tried making it from scratch tonight for dinner. We almost got it. Anyway. Dinner was good, and cheap.
After dinner, Lana navigated us to the theater. We got there a little early, but that was okay. There were a few other people who were waiting outside, so we weren't too bored. Then we noticed the kids. Maybe five or seven years old. Excited about seeing Stomp! They had me a little leery - I hoped we weren't in line for Elmo or anything. But we talked with the parents, and the excited kids and found out that it was going to be a very cool show.
We were finally seated, and anxiously awaited the start of the show. Soon enough, a guy walked out on stage with a broom. And the show started. They were halfway through the second 'song' when Lana looked over at me. I caught her eye, and realized that I hadn't stopped smiling since the first rhythm was tapped out. And it only got better. Not only was this a show involving a lot of tap-and-dance with improvised instruments - but it had characters. There was the generally odd and generally picked on weird guy - One of his performances involved him loosing his shorts. There was the include-everybody-and-everything-in-the-fun guy - including the audience - and a few serious-men. Women too. Some songs were solos, but most of them were simply amazing group events. They used everything they could get their hands on to make rhythm. Brooms, metal trash-bin lids, buckets, and signs. One scene had them swinging from the ceiling to hang next to a wall covered in potential noise-makers. They even included the kitchen sinks. Four of them to be exact. Full of water, strapped around their necks, and making fun noises - All in rhythm, all in perfect time. They even did their signature 'song', they had three guys with large 55-gallon barrels on their feet - stomping across the stage like a freakish triplet of Godzilla's - all in perfect time. There was another song where three of the performers passed a trash-bag back and forth. They would dive (literally head-first) into it looking for potential noisemakers. The final song of the night was performed with the help of the audience. All through the show, the include-everyone guy had been 'training' the audience to copy him. And for the final song, he showed off his perfectly trained audience to the other members of the troop. Of course, there were a few people who did their own 'interpretive' additions to his instructions. But it sounded cool anyway. And before we knew it, they had done over a dozen songs, and it was time to applaud. The troop got a standing ovation, and at least two more fans.
But then, we had to go home. The fun was over. It was going to take another three hours to drive home. But we were both excited. It was a great show, and a great ending to a valentines day - part one. On the way home, we saw at least 15 deer on the highways. Two particularly stupid specimens were hanging out on the pavement. We didn't hit any of them, but it was enough to keep us awake. It wasn't just a drive home - it was a "How many can you spot" event.
We finally made it home about 1:30 in the morning. We were tired, happy to be home, and a little sad that the day was over. But it was worth it - it was an excellent trip.
Valentines day - part deux will happen next weekend. We are doing some fan-say cooking.
Until next time,
-Matt
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Finally!
Around 3:00 pm today I finally got information that I have my final grade for one of my classes. Usually I am not so excited about final grades, but this class has been going on too long for my liking.
This was my clinical class or my "student teaching" for the library. I had to have 200 hours of working in school libraries, and lessons taught, among many other requirements. I started this class in May of 2008, so 10 months later I am glad to see this class done.
I enjoyed the class and I learned a lot, but I am glad that it is now done :)
Oh, in case anyone is interested...I got an A!
This was my clinical class or my "student teaching" for the library. I had to have 200 hours of working in school libraries, and lessons taught, among many other requirements. I started this class in May of 2008, so 10 months later I am glad to see this class done.
I enjoyed the class and I learned a lot, but I am glad that it is now done :)
Oh, in case anyone is interested...I got an A!
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