I'm Alive!

I'm just throwing a fast post out there to my millions and millions of blog followers that I haven't died. My pro paper is due on August 10th and I'm in serious crunch time...which is expected with my usually procrastinating ways. I do my best work when I'm down to minutes! 4.0...4.0...4.0...

I had major dental work done this morning...totally down for the count. OUCH.

As soon as this paper is submitted I'm hittin' up the blog again! I have lots to ramble on about. My new job, people, my little hunk, ridiculousness, etc.

Have a wonderfully awesome day! Peace, love and pumpkin butter!

Rant #147: "Parent-azzi"

I've created a new word. "Parentazzi". It's a cross between a "parent" and the "paparazzi". Oh yeah. You teachers know where this blog is headed...

So I'm getting a mani and pedi the other day at the nail place next to my neighborhood. I frequent this little place. I don't dress up, I rarely have make-up on, and I'm usually one step above pajama pants and a cami. 

I'm sitting in the peace and quiet of 9:15 in the morn and a woman comes in. She seems to frequent the place as well...chatting with everyone, picking out her colors...just a loud type of lady. Well she sits down three chairs from me and proceeds to get her nails done.  My nail tech starts chatting me up, and asks where I work. In my normal tone of response when it comes to my work, I reply with a somewhat whisper..."------- middle school". 

"YOU'RE A TEACHER AT ------ MIDDLE SCHOOL?!?! Oh my gosh my daughter will be in 6th grade there next year!!?!" I smile and give the appropriate "oh how awesome!" response, as she yells at her daughter across the room in another chair that I may be one of her teachers next year. Awesome. Let's get the three other women in the salon involved as well. Everyone stare at the slummin' looking  "teacher" getting her mani/pedi on! Then the lady proceeds with the following questions:

What is your name?

How do you spell it? I want to write it down! (She types my full name in her ipad)

How long have you been there?

What curriculum do they use?

What is the schedule like?

Where do you live?

Do you live near the elementary school in ----- or on the outskirts of the neighborhood? (really!?)

Who else is teaching 6th grade? 

What are their names? 

Where are they from?

WTH?! When did Nancy Grace begin cross examination at my nail salon!?

After bombarding me with questions, she then feels comfortable enough with me to get down to the nitty gritty: Parentazzi complaints.

"I'm really excited about my daughter starting ------ Middle School next year, but you know what I don't like about the district?" No...but I bet you'll tell me! (I'm thinking this, as I smile)

She then proceeds to lecture me on evvvverrryyything she doesn't like with my district. Band, choir, electives, curriculum, bell schedule, and no athletics in 6th grade. I did feel useful as I schooled her on UIL rules (ahem section 1400(b)(3): No Interscholastic Athletic Competition Below Seventh Grade. No interscholastic athletic competition is allowed in any conference for teams in the sixth grade and below. EXCEPTIONS: Certain athletic exceptions allow sixth grade students to participate. See (2) above and Sec- tion 1478.) Thanks grad school! ;)

I listened to this woman for the next half hour. She complained about everything she doesn't like about the school district. I just give understanding head shakes as we teachers know to do, and we try to be great listeners. Meanwhile I'm trying to relax with my pedi, my hot pink flower bra straps are in full effect, makeup is nonexistent and bobby pins are holding my hair back. Dead sexy.

Then her daughter starts telling me about her 5th grade teacher and everything she didn't like about this person. I don't know this teacher, and I don't want to know anything. Apparently this teacher was mean and blamed her for everything. She wants a nice teacher. She asks if I'm nice and if I'm going to be fair. Will I be nice? I won't blame her for everything, will I? I doubt this teacher was mean. I'm sure some of the issues were brought upon herself. I say that because within this one hour I heard the mother say "shut up", "ass" and "what the hell" at least ten times in front of, or to, her daughter. Newsflash: your tween looks up to you as a role model lady. Good job there. #keepitclassy

Please stop. It's my ONE hour this week I've had to myself. I've been with my toddler son ALL week, hubs has been in Canada, and I want ONE hour of quiet, enjoyable pampering before heading back to my toy explosion living room and keeping my cutie yet active son from setting the house on fire. This mom/daughter duo need-ed-to-GO. (notice the intense syllabication there, expressing my complete frustration/head nodding)

I finally managed to use my semi-wet left pointer finger to obsessively text my friends on my cell for the next 20 minutes to make it appear as if I was super busy and couldn't really chat. I had a nice, relaxing ten or so minutes toward the end, and got up to pay. The mom then asked me how to spell my name again to be sure she had it right, because she's emailing the principal today to request me because I seem very sweet. Oh and she asked me for my principal's email too, and proceeded to ask me twenty  questions about my boss' life. Damn people.

Can't a gurl get pampered in peace?! I'm not even working yet. Teaching in my own neighborhood may be a little more difficult than I thought. 

Hey Zoe send me a big hat and some face covering shades...the parentazzi is coming.

Toddlers, Super Healthy Snacks, and 2 Great Reads

I haven't posted about nutrition or food in a while, so I thought I'd share a couple of quick things about kids and food. I'll be the first to admit, my toddler doesn't eat a perfect diet. When we take him to dinner with us, he'll get the occasional french fry and he loves Don Taco's quesadillas. But, when we're at home I try to keep our food as nutritious as possible for every snack and meal. Snacks have been a tough one for me, but I'm getting better and better at the toddler/whole food diet thing. You can't exactly feed a toddler raw salads, veggies and lean meats all day (due to lack of teeth), so it's taken me some time to get creative, especially with snacks. 

A few friends have asked me what Kyle eats now, knowing my obsession with "real" food. Obviously if you've seen my linebacker son, you can tell he's a good eater. He's not picky at all, and I really attribute that to my making sure he's exposed to a variety of foods, herbs, spices, and textures as early as possible. He eats lots of lean, organic, grass fed meats, cheeses, fruits, veggies and he loves Ezekiel bread. He's tried everything healthy under the sun, and I try to keep away from flour, sugar and processed food. Instead of giving him the usual cheerios or puffs for easy, crunchy snacks, I've started using a lot of veggies...with success! Here are a few easy healthy treats Kyle loves lately...and these are all great for "on the go":

-roasted grated carrots (or carrot chips)

-spinach chips

-oven "dried" cherry tomates

-kale/spinach chips

-roasted broccoli

-seaweed chips (sounds weird, but these are insaaanely nutritious and they taste nice and salty!)

-sweet potato chips

-butternut squash fries

All of these things you can easily do yourself with some olive oil and salt/pepper, or, you can buy them already cooked at Sprouts...they're bagged up in the bulk grain/nut area.

Terra chips are Kyle's favorite new snack. They're VEGGIE chips! The ingredients are the veggies and sunflower/safflower oil...healthy! There are several different kinds of Terra chips...the exotic harvest is awesome. I love all of these! They're seriously delicious!

Organic rice crackers are great as well. They're pretty hard but Kyle likes to gnaw on them and they last a while! They're gluten free and much healthier than saltines or ritz. I give Kyle different flavors, and he likes them all!

So, why do I make sure that Kyle eats as healthy as possible? Read the articles below...just a couple of quick reads on kids and processed foods...

From TIME: 

The human brain develops rapidly in early life — transforming helpless infants into walking, door-opening, question-asking, willful little people. And now a new study suggests that a toddler’s diet may have some impact on his future cognitive abilities, with diets high in processed food at age 3 leading to lower IQ by age 8.

Researchers from the University of Bristol looked at data on 3,966 children born between 1991 and 1992, who were part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). The children’s parents had completed surveys on their kids’ diets at ages 3, 4, 7 and 8.5, and the children’s IQs were measured at age 8.5. (More on Time.com: Is School Lunch Making Your Kids Fat?)

Parents recorded their kids’ consumption of a wide variety of food and drink, including details like the fat content of milk, whether breads were refined or whole grain, and how much soda or coffee children consumed. Based on parents’ reports, researchers assigned kids to one of three diet categories: a “processed” diet, high in fat, sugar and calories; a “traditional” diet (in the British sense), made up of meat, potatoes, bread and vegetables; and a “health-conscious” diet of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, rice, pasta and lean proteins like fish.

Overall, kids who ate junky fast-food diets at age 3 had a small drop in IQ at age 8.5, compared with kids eating healthy foods. The association persisted even after researchers controlled for other environmental factors that can influence IQ, such as parental education level, maternal diet in pregnancy, socioeconomic status and stressful life events.

For each unit increase in processed food diets, children lost 1.67 points in IQ. By contrast, for each unit increase in healthy diets, children gained 1.2 IQ points. Quality of diet measured at the other ages did not significantly affect IQ level by age 8, suggesting that diet may be most important during toddlers’ earliest years. (More on Time.com: More Calls to Overhaul Deceptive Front-of-Package Labeling)

The researchers found that early diet seemed to affect kids’ later verbal abilities more than their performance abilities. “Performance IQ relates to an individual’s innate intellectual ability, while verbal IQ more reflects the impact of education, which in turn is affected by influences such as parenting and environment,” wrote the researchers.

That’s in keeping with previous research noted by the authors:

These results are in line with previous studies we have performed in the ALSPAC cohort: overall dietary patterns in early childhood are associated with both later child behavior, in particular hyperactivity and school performance. This suggests that any cognitive/behavioral effects relating to eating habits early in childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake.

From The Stir, January 2012:

French fry? Well, you may want to hold off on that first fry. A new study on food and your brain just came out with disturbing results: Fast food can make you dumb. Seriously. Trans fats -- the kind found in fast food and processed food -- are tied with lower brain volume and worse cognitive performance. In other words, junk food makes your brain smaller and slower.

It's pretty hard to rationalize this one away. If you want your child to eventually do well in school, it sounds like you'll want to lay off the fast food. And you may want to cut back on the boxed snack foods, too. Sorry. We already know that childhood obesity is a problem (or do we?). But here's one more reason to take your children's nutrition more seriously.

I know it's exciting when toddlers get their teeth and can start eating "big people" food. We all love seeing our kids experience new things and enjoying the same foods we love. But it looks like bonding with your kids over your love for fast food is a colossally bad idea. Now don't panic -- no one is taking your French fries away. This is about facing the facts and taking responsibility for the choices you're making -- for yourself and for your kids. We want our kids to grow into their best, brightest selves, right?

Oregon Health & Science University researcher Dr. Gene Bowman says the link between trans fats and brain power is so dramatic, he recommends we stay away from all trans fats. This means if you're not already checking out the ingredients lists, now is a good time to start. He says, "If you aren't sure whether something has them, just look at the ingredients; if there's vegetable shortening, partially hydrogenated anything ... just put it down. That’s the big message here."

The thing is, the toddler years are a great time to get into the habit of healthy eating -- before they even know there are other options out there and while you're still the biggest influence in their lives. It's an opportunity you can't afford to miss. I know some of you already feel strongly about feeding your toddlers well. Here's one more reason to support you when you tell grandma you'd rather not let her take your babies out for burgers.

Start your babies off on the right foot! :)

Our 5th Anniversary...In Photos :)

Michael and I celebrated our 5th anniversary this past weekend. It was awesome and so relaxing...just what we wanted! We had a full Saturday planned, as we headed to Tyler to celebrate our adorable niece's second birthday party...blog coming soon. :)

When I got into the car there was an envelope on the dash....if you know me, you know I love cards. I'm a total hallmark card junkie. So, I was excited to see this sweet card my hubby left there for me...so sweet!

We were in such a rush to leave that morning, we didn't have time for breakfast. So, we stopped at the QT so Michael could get one of those hot muffin things...that I won't touch...and after looking around for 10 minutes for something remotely edible, I settled on a bottle of ol' Slim Fast. I think I drank some of these like 12 years ago in college...I must admit, it was pretty tasty!

I was lovin' the drive...cold, air conditioned car, sleeping baby, Zac Brown Band blaring, and feet on the dash. Ahhh....

After spending some awesome time with our family, celebrating Emma's birthday and dropping Kyle off with the best in-laws ever, we pulled up to Keipersol Winery...and we had our own parking spot! Love it! #thankyouverymuch

I took a pic of the little walkway into the winery...I know, it's vines and shrubs but it looked super cute walking through it. 

As we waited for our tour, we had a few glasses of vino. I was really diggin' the pino grigio, and Michael preferred the Barrel 55 merlot. Here's a pic of my first taste...

Aaaan here's a pic of our counter about an hour later...we had to finish up for the tour. As you can see, we like their wines.

Here's a pic from the tour. It's a small little winery, nothing like the ones we've visited in Napa, but it was super cute...it was really like a little Napa in Texas. #love

Our wine connoisseur took a snapshot of us before we headed outside to the little porch. :)

I'm standing on the back porch which overlooks the estates...about 64 acres of wines. Aaahhh...can I change careers?

My favorite red...cabernet sauvignon.

After a quick rest and delicious dinners of salmon and filet, the manager of the B&B brought out this dessert! I was super excited...I loved it! It was to DIE for...Michael ate this right up, while I hooked it up with my favorite desert, creme brulee. #perfection

It was an amazing little anniversary weekend! Love my hubby! :)

Birthday: #33 Was Awesome!

I had the most awesome birthday this year! I didn't do anything spectacular, no big trips or surprises, but I had an amazingly wonderful day with the people I love most!

On Thursday my sweet friend Wendy took me out for a relaxing early birthday pedi and some lunch at Kincaids! Hellooo relaxing! Who says you can't have riesling at 11 o'clock in the morning? We had a great time gabbing 100mph while making sure to stop often enough to thank the nail gals for their amazing work!

Then I decided to push through that afternoon and hit up Crossfit for a 10,000m row. Hey, I wanted to make up for the extra cals I'd inhale on Friday. Thankfully my girl Megan was there to give me some support, as well as her hubs Jeremy...they got me started on a positive note! #blisterhell

Friday was my actual birthday, and I had a FABULOUS lunch with an awesome group of friends at one of my fave spots, Brio! 

These are seriously the sweetest, most fun, "real" girls I know, and I cherish my relationships with each one of them! I definitely missed a few that couldn't make it...ahem Em, Morris, Bauer! ;) I thought a nice, sunny, 11am lunch on the patio would be great. Ummmm, fail. It was balls hot before noon LOL. These sweet girls toughed it out though...love them! :)

Me, Lisa, Jess, Megan, baby Tegan, Jaclyn, Wendy, Laura, Hayley

 

Jaclyn and Wendy were melting on their side of the table...this was right before we left. Look at their expressions...they were thinking "good Lord Sarah let's go with the pictures, we're dyyyying". LOL

Lisa (from PA) underestimated the Texas heat at 12:00 on the patio. Next time she'll sport a cami and bikini bottoms instead of a tee and jeans. I met Lisa through her mom's group a few months back, and we have a BLAAST together! #pumpkinbutterrr!!!!

Jessica (brunette) is pregnant, hot and probably silently cussing me right there...LOL. Look at Tegan's face, she's like, OMG it's hot mommy!

Laura (shades) is pregnant with twins, gorgeous, and probably cussing the heat as well...in her sweetest, kindest tone of course. :) I wish I could wear fedoras like Hayley. My head is too big. Hayley is always stylin'!

My beautiful friend Jessica (pregnant with baby boy!) and Megan my awesome CrossFitting buddy. We like to get tortured together.

 My strawberry basalmic chicken awesomeness salad...with pecans. #win

Aaand, this is my sweet Wendy and her gorgeous, flowing red hair. Wendy and I have been best friends since like high school, and our sons are just a couple of weeks apart in age! She teaches in my district and lives in my neighborhood too! 

We ate our lunches, I took a million pics and opened a ton of sweet gifts from my girls. Then the server surprised me with a little glass of chocolate heaven with a candle. 

Feeling the love!!!!

After Brio, I walked over to one of my favorite "professional and LBD attire" shops, WHBM. I tried on a few cute things and modeled for my girl Jaclyn. C'mon...acting like you're 12 and trying clothes on is always fun! 

I left the Southlake Town Square for the day, and picked up my sweetie pie. I was SO excited to see him! Here he is as soon as I picked him up. Obviously he's more interested in his cold milk cup than seeing mommy!

When we got home, my friend Emily told me to check my mailbox, and there I found another perfect bday surprise! Check out this little book...Emily knows me too well! This is a perfect book for us LOL! Thanks Em! Hilarious...

Michael got home around 6 or so from work, and we talked about movie, nice dinner out, etc., but we decided to lay low and stay in. We were both pooped from a long week, and we wanted to hang out with our little man. So, Marcos' thin crust veggie pizza was my birthday dinner, and it was DELISH! This place doesn't disappoint. Helloo fetaaaa...

I caught the sweetest picture of the day here, when Kyle was smelling my flowers from Jess. They're so bright and happy! I LOVE bright, fresh flowers. He loved them...is this not adorable?? #meltsmyheart

This past year has been wonderful. I think year #32 was the best yet. A lot of things have changed in my life, and I've changed a lot myself...all for the better! I can definitely say that I am happier at this point in my life, than I have ever been! I'm embracing all of my blessings and living each day to the fullest. I have wonderful friends, an amazingly supportive husband, a healthy, sweet boy and the best family ever! Blessed beyond measure!

Cheers to 33!

Trending on Viddy...HOLLAAA

I'm on viddy now...got on a few days ago, seems pretty awesome! Feel free to follow, as my friend Lisa and I plan on posting many exciting viddy adventures.

My husband thought he would check it out tonight. He signs up, posts a viddy of our son, and within ten minutes this fool made the "trending" feed. Really? My engineer hubby thinks he is now the savvy social media trender of the house LOL. #hilarious 

Check it...I must admit it's pretty darn cute. ;)

Home Decor Hell: I Need Nate

I'm kind of in a home decor hell. I'm a serial procrastinator, and this has affected my shopping and decorating ability as well. I was walking around my house earlier and it hit me...we've been in our house FOUR years. WOW. When we moved in here four years ago, I remember looking around at my blank palette of a house, thinking, okay...I'll transition our urban loft decor into some type of transitional, home-y feel in no time. Six months, tops!

Then, life, work, and baby happened. 

What am I staring at now? Well, I still have blank walls, even less accessories, and mix-matched crap all over the place. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE our house. I never imagined our "starter home" to be as nice as the home we have, and I think it's put together pretty well for the most part. I just feel that I'm shaming it out with the sub-par decor flow. 

I. need. Nate.

Then I can't decide the direction I want to go...I love modern, but I like personal and comfy, as well. The only home brand/store that I love EVERYTHING in, is Pottery Barn. But, our budget has tightened a tad since I've been staying home, so I haven't seriously looked into new stuff in a while.

But, momma's gettin' a BIG raise come August! Hellooo cash monaaay!

So, I thought it would be helpful to make a "to buy" list...kind of like people make "to do" lists. I don't make lists at all, but I know I should. I just can't keep up with them. #attentionissues Maybe I can post this list and reference it when I decide I want to buy something for the house. Some of this may never happen, but hey, high expectations equal high results, right?

-pottery barn seabury couch and loveseat...LOVE

-pottery barn or crate and barrel coffee/end tables...preferable not matching...liking the whole mix-up decor thing ol' Nate suggests...I'm loving the trunk idea, like this one? 

-two large candles to go inside my glass things on the kitchen table

-new formal dining set...pottery barn's round table maybe? nice table but casu chairs? hmm

-wine fridge custom made into our bar

-hardwood flooring for our foyer (I know, ching ching, but I want it)

-new curtains for our giant master bedroom windows...the light, linen, beachy white kind

-new guest room "shabby chic" furniture (but, if we have baby #2, this will be a 2nd nursery, so maybe I should just leave it?)

-new giant clock for the foyer (I have one but, just not feeling it anymore)

-frames to hang pics up in our blank hallway

-a large, black "D" to add to our little family picture collage in our foyer, and maybe some others to spell something out on a shelf or mantle...I love the giant letter thing

-I need to move my piano from my mom's house to our office

-a new slightly modern lamp for the foyer table...I kind of like this one from PB, but I'm not sure if it screams "I just murdered a deer"...

-2 bar stools from Pier One...totally dig these for our kitchen bar...I'm all about mixing up textures

-a back door that has the blinds made into the glass...I'm done with the pull-up shade business

-round "reading" table that matches our bedroom suite, to go in our "sitting area" of our master bedroom

-a gold/tan colored chaise lounge to set next to the above mentioned "reading" table

Yeeah, that's a lot of stuff. Hopefully I get our starter house "complete" before we upgrade...or Kyle graduates from college.

Nate...call me.