Friday in Austin!

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We woke and went to our continental breakfast, which was NOT as exciting as the first day… the fruit selection was WAY limited (only pineapple, and honey dew by the time I got there) and the main course was a ham and cheese croissant, which was yummy, but not “light” in anyway. Not to mention that ham is such an loaded choice, I mean, there are a lot of groups who won’t eat pig… just my thought.

Anyway, after breakfast, we did our session thing, I attended a particularly FASCINATING session by the FAB Paula Kluth, about Autism, and how to be more accommodating to individuals on the spectrum, in and out of the classroom. :) It was a TEN in my book.

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We hit up Fresh Choice for lunch for some much needed green. I really don’t like salads, and the veggies were all raw, and not what I was looking for, so a little salad, a 1/2 cup serving of lentil soup, most of a tiny ‘tato, and cornbread(!) was delish.

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After conference festivities were completed for the day, we decided to hit the pool again before getting ready for dinner. Lindsay and I were going to have dinner together, while Laura met up with an old friend, so we swam, showered, and got ready for the night.

Lindsay and I went to Baby A’s or Baby Acapulco’s, which was another great Mexican food spot. I got my usual, and it was very, very good, but my favorite was still el marcado’s. :D

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At this point, we’ve missed a history making 12”+ of snow in our home town, and were pretty darn grumpy. We really wanted to be home with our family, and morning and the ride home were looking pretty promising. :D

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We decided NOT to set the alarm in the  morning, but to wake when we woke, dress, pack, and hit the road. We checked out of the hotel at around 9:30-9:45, and made our way to 620 cafe and bakery in Round Rock. It was pretty adorable, but I have to admit. OUT OF CONTROL portions…

 

This is what my plate looked like before I ate:

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And this is what it looked like once I’d been STUFFED:

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Anyway, we drove through the snow as we headed north, but by the time we got home, so, so much of the record breaking snow was melted. :(

Sad.

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I was overwhelmingly glad to be home. I love traveling, but I missed Daron, and my cats, and I really hated to miss the snow. :(

All in all, only a meeting with MizFit would have made the trip better, it was a blast. :D

 

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Hey guys, I left you last after my continental breakfast at the hotel on Thursday morning… After that, my counterparts and I did our conference thing, but you don’t want to hear about that, you want to know about the fun, Austin stuff!

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We went to a place called Hot Boiled, which is a Cajun/Creole/Vietnamese fusion restaurant. It was very small, and in a shopping center, but we were pretty happy with the food, I’d say. We started with grilled chicken springrolls with a traditional peanut sauce.

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Cut into 6 pieces, we managed to have yummy noms while waiting for the rest of our food. :) I got a vegetarian rice noodle lo mein with broccoli and celery. It was SO much food, I felt like I ate, and ate, and ate, and there was still a whole plate left over.

After some more conferencing, we decided we needed to make an EMERGENCY BATHING SUIT RUN, and hit the pool. We soaked in the hot tub for a while and then, I realized I had an untapped resource with me!

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Laura was a swimmer and swim instructor in high school and college! And as someone who thinks a sprint distance tri might be fun to do at some point, I should learn how to properly swim.

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It did NOT go well. haha.

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Needless to say, swimming is an art, and one that I had NO idea how to do properly. We ended up at the side of the pool on the steps, because I need to back up THAT far. I mean, I can float and waggle my body parts to propel myself through the water, but a true freestyle stroke, with the right head turns, and actually BREATHING, is definitely hard. :)

I pretty much spent as much time LAUGHING as I did trying to swim. haha.

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After that, we went to the most AMAZING burger place I’ve ever been to, Elevation Burger in Austin on Arboretum BLVD was unreal. We had organic grassfed beef burgers, fries cooked in olive oil, (and most of a hand spun, to-die-for chocolate shake) :)

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One of those amazing chances to splurge while still making a few small choices that improve the experience. It isn’t health food, it isn’t even particularly healthy at all!! It could be worse, much worse… but it could NOT have TASTED better, I assure you. I had a burger with ketchup, mustard, cheese, caramelized onions, and pickle. HOLY YUM.

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(I also learned laura-in the center- is a fry dipper, who knew!!??)

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Not me, I like my fries doused in only ketchup, thankyouverymuch. :D

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Good evening people… Is anyone else COVETING the new Google BUZZ? I can’t wait for mine to be instated. YAY for technology! :D

Anyway, today was a GREAT day!

 

That’s a lie. It was an Okayyyy day, but I’m trying to be Positive! :D It is always hard to prepare for time away from the classroom. I’m always so anxious about leaving my babies. I’m so glad that I know they’re in good hands. :D

 

Today, I had my FAVORITE BREAKFAST OF ALL TIME!!! Yogurtoats, this time with the second new Greek yogurt candidate of the week, the Dannon Greek (strawberry). (Keep reading for my opinions of the NEW Greek yogurt candidates) Lunch was really, REALLY light, and I paid for it later, I had my very favorite green giant veggie steamer… but the whole serving is just 100 calories. Stupid. (I also had 4 cool ranch doritos, SCHWEET)

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**An ODE to Yogurtoats…

Heather asked me in my last post about yogurt oats. I’m pretty sure that what I know and love as, yogurtoats is just “overnight oats” to the rest of the blogging world, but I don’t care. Yogurtoats rules for several reasons.

1. I don’t like cooked oats.   I know! Everyone loves oatmeal! Oatmeal is the BEST thing EVER, but I can’t get past the gummy part, and I simply do not have the time/patience required to cook oats on the stove in the mornings (let alone wash out the pans)

2. More protein/FLAVA. Yogurt, especially Greek, adds a bunch of protein to the mix, and fats (assuming I’m not eating a 0% yogurt at the time) which keep me full and happy! :D Plus greek yogurt adds flavor which I love. :D

3. I’m not super into hot breakfasts. I dunno… hot breakfasts make me feel sleepy or something. The cool, brightness of tangy yogurt wakes me up (as do fresh cold berries/fruits) so, I like that a lot. :D

 

So, if you want to make yogurtoats the kelsnotchels way, here’s how I do it.

-Scoop 1/3 to 1/2 cups of thick rolled oats into a bowl (mine are almost always travel safe, cause I eat it at my desk)

-Top with yogurt of your choosing, I love Chobani 0%, Oikos, and the new Dannon Greek Yogurt best.

-Based on the “looseness” of the yogurt I’ll add some milk, just a splash (I prefer almond breeze or skim)

-Top with berries or fruit, (or nut butter, or agave, or any other crazy thing)

 

Now, I have a 10 minute commute (go ahead and hate) and that’s the perfect amount of time for mine to have the perfect consistency… the oats are still VERY MUCH RAW, and not soggy, but chewy. I’ve left it overnight before, but I prefer it this way.

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On the subject of yogurt, I wanted to weigh in on the two newest contenders in our local stores. Yoplait and Dannon have jumped on the greek yogurt bandwagons and have greek yogurt stocked in our regular market! I bought one of each, both in strawberry and have sampled them in my yogurt oats today and yesterday (with the same recipe).

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Yoplait

I thought the yoplait tasted “okay”… it wasn’t the worst yogurt I’ve tried, but it wasn’t my favorite. It was pretty stiff, and I thought it tasted a little fake. There were no pieces of fruit, it was just flavored. It wasn’t terribly smooth either. The nutrition facts were pretty good, 12g of protein, and more potassium than the Dannon… not to mention .7 more ounces of the stuff. It was okay, but if there is another kind on the shelf, I wouldn’t buy this kind again.

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Dannon

The Dannon was a “fruit on the bottom” kind, it was a strawberry, syrupy, chunky layer under the yogurt, and I liked it quite a lot! It was pretty sweet, I’m not going to lie, but the pieces of actual strawberries kept it from feeling too artificial. It was VERY creamy, almost mousse like, and was very smooth. It was a little bit of a smaller portion, came in at 10 calories less, though, and still the same 12g of protein. I would definitely buy this one again.

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Anyway, that’s enough yogurt talk for one night! I may actually write another post before bed, and set it to publish tomorrow while we’re on the road! My roadmates and I are excited and we’ll be driving to the ATX tomorrow before I know it! :D

 

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Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf has started this great “Flashback Friday” meme where we write about old books that we loved when we were younger. This could be a series or an individual book that we read until it was worn.

Today, I’m writing about my favorite book when I was about 12-14… I think I read it about 8 times. I seriously thought it was the SCARIEST book ever!

A Ghost in the House by Betty Ren Wright

This is the story of Sarah, who (of course) is crushed and angsty when her family moves into the beautiful old house in the suburbs which belongs to her Great Aunt Margaret. She would be fantastically happy with her amazing new bedroom (complete with fireplace!) but nursing home life doesn’t agree with Aunt Margaret, and she soon rejoins the family and reclaims her bedroom.

The bedroom squabble soon turns to darker tales, as Sarah bonds with her Aunt over the strange happenings that continue to plague their sacred bedroom.

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When I became a middle school teacher, one of the very first things I did was  check this bad boy out from the school library. I read it in about 5 hours, and of course, it wasn’t NEARLY as scary as I remembered it, but I still really enjoyed the story.

I thought it was clever, and twisty, with just enough ghostie-goodness to make me remember why I spent my youth reading mystery/scary/suspense books for kids.

I’d encourage you to check out your old childhood faves from the library too… it is a great way to take a book breather between more heady works, and remind you what you loved about reading back when it all still felt shiny and new. :)

Hey gang.

I’m laid out on the couch and really don’t have the desire to write anything new, so I’m going to copy and paste from my h&F board, about what happened with the podiatrist on Friday.

Went back to the doctor today, and got steroid injections in the bottoms of both feet.

It was really bad, I don’t know if it was just a bad reaction, or what, but it burned like fire as it spread. The injection site is swollen and hurts at the touch. I can hardly walk at all because it burns and aches so badly.

During the injection, she told me to expect pain at an 8-10 on the pain scale, and she was right.

Anyway, the steroids should reduce inflammation and speed healing, but the PF was not being terribly responsive to just stretching and icing, so these shots were step two.

In 2 weeks I’ll go back and we’ll either see progress, or move onto physical therapy.

So, running hasn’t crested the horizon yet. may still be months…

So, on Friday, I couldn’t put weight on my foot, almost at all. Literally, daron carried me upstairs (so cute) and I crawled to the bathroom if I needed to go.

Not. Awesome.

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Today, we went to celebrate winter birthdays at a Mexican food restaurant… My Grams and Art both have winter birthdays, along with my baby brother!!

I CAN NOT BELIEVE HE IS 21 in just 2 days!!!!

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