Embarrassed...

I'm aware that I'm heinously overdue for an update, but I'm up to my overly-mascara'ed eyelashes in Christmas shopping stress. I seriously don't remember being this overwhelmed last year. It was like a couple orders online, bam, done. All the presents were at my house waiting for me when I finally got home after my 24-hour adventure from Santiago to Miami to Charlotte to BWI due to Snowmageddon Part Uno. Just remembering that little venture makes me want to change my clothes and take a shower. Yuck.

Anyway, maybe once I have a better handle on Christmas shopping I can add something interesting on here? Perhaps?

Couple random thoughts:
1) I seriously need to start my Christmas shopping in early November next year.
2) The commercialization and amount of people in the stores overwhelms me.
3) I do not want to even think about looking at my credit card bill.
4) Avatar: The Last Airbender was way better than Avatar. I don't care what the critics say.
5) Tonight I opted for movie by myself in my house instead of going out. Am I 40??
6) I am ridiculously excited for Ravens vs. Pit-of-hell's burgh tomorrow. And Jets vs Patriots Monday! Big weekend for football!

Fall fruit

Words cannot express how cold it is. It's interesting; in the back of my head this past year I knew in theory it was cold up here, but I'm not sure my skin registered it. And now, it's a rude awakening. One which is only going to get worse, seeing as it's only November.

There are two silver linings to the weather getting colder and days getting shorter. One is pumpkin, which I could discuss ad nauseam, but I won't.

The other is one of my favorite fruits: pomegranates! I wish these things were available year round, but alas, only in the fall. They're super tasty and super healthy. One of the girls at my old job thought they looked gross on the inside, but she was kind of a bitter negative person anyway. And had clearly never eaten a pomegranate.

Granted, they take a looong time to peel and whatnot, but the reward is big. They have a huge amount of antioxidants, as well as potassium, and vitamins B and C. It's also low in calories and sugar.

If you haven't tasted one, give it a shot! If you have, let this post remind you of the pom wonders and inspire you to pick a few up the next time you're at the grocery store.

Lettuce choose...

Awesome. It's almost 8 pm, and I haven't showered or started the monstrous load of grading I have to do. Oh well. I'm trying to keep up on blogging! My mom read my blog and was INSPIRED to buy quinoa!!! I have changed a life through my blog. Even if I happen to be squatting in her place of residence.

Anyway, before I get onto my (brief) thought for the evening, I want to express how awesome my family and friends are. I can't even count how many people have prayed for and asked about my Praxis test on Tuesday. I had students, siblings, parents, friends around the world pray for me. All of my coworkers asked. I got a call from out of state to see how it went. I feel super loved :).

So, quickly, I'm going to offer a short rant. I got into a familiar debate with my mom over iceberg lettuce vs. greener leaves tonight. We've been through it before. Up until about two seconds ago, I was about to say iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value. A quick Google search proved me wrong! Apparently it does have SOME value. Just not alot. And less than Romaine or Spinach leaves. Here's the thing; if I'm going to be eating salad, a food I only consume to be healthy, I want to be as healthy as possible. Thus, I'm going with the greener choice. Also I HATE the texture of iceberg lettuce. If I wanted to eat cabbage, I would eat cabbage.

That, my friends, is all I have to say for now on this matter. I have kids to teach tomorrow and I need to give them their papers back!

Quinoa

What?? I don't even know how to pronounce that word. That is what you're thinking. Or at least that's what I'm betting you're thinking. Let me help: keen-wah. Looks like this:

Except super small. It's a grain grown in South America that my fantastic cousin Kaylie first mentioned to me before she left for Africa. I kinda thought, oh I guess I'll cook it sometime when I have time...and we all know how well that goes.

But I kinda thought I should give it a shot, and I spent a long time googling before I figured out how to spell it. Anyway. You don't care about all this. Let's fast forward: a woman at work gives me a box and I google 'quinoa recipes' and make a nice mexican-style quinoa dish for my lunch two weeks ago. And it's good! I like this stuff. It has a nutty, grainy texture, and goes well with alot of flavors. Here's the important part: quinoa is high in complete protein, which apparently means it contains all 9 amino acids. (Good for me and others who don't eat meat.) It's also gluten free, which doesn't matter as much to me, but definitely matters to people with Coeliac's disease (don't worry; I had to search that spelling too).

So today is week 2 of cooking quinoa, and I went off of a fruit recipe. I love cinnamon! And spending a year without apples has made me appreciate them more. It looks yummy, and with the walnuts I think it will be very filling.

If you're up for a little adventure, or just something different in your diet, I recommend giving this a shot! I found it in the organic section of Martin's near couscous and similar products. It's admittedly a little expensive ($4.29 for this 12 oz box), but I think it's worth it. If you're buying and eating white rice, I won't even begin to tell you how lacking it is in nutrients. The same goes for regular pasta. (Now whole-grain pasta is a different story. Especially if it's Nature's Promise.) So hopefully you're all cooking wild rice and/or spending 4 hours using your pasta machine with local eggs and whole grain flour to whip up your own pasta. But if you're not, you should give this a shot.

Physical Therapy

Well friends, this week marks the third week of another new thing...physical therapy. For those who may not know, on Labor Day a drunken little tiny tot (ok, so she wasn't totally drunk and she wasn't THAT young, but still) smashed her car into mine. There were many results of this, not limited to my anger and then sheer rage when her friend asked me if *I* was drinking and driving, but the main one I want to discuss briefly is my neck.

I have always had tension in my neck/shoulders, but the hearty slam to the back of my Civic didn't help. The orthopedist signed a little note recommending 12 sessions of physical therapy, so I guess after Wednesday I'll be halfway done.

I'm sure physical therapy is quite rough and painful if you have some sort of serious injury like, say, a torn ACL. And there are painful days. But for the most part, it's wonderful. I get to spend an hour working on the muscles in my shoulder and having people velcro warm towels around my neck. Today my therapist did something called ETPS, and I have no idea what it stands for. (When I wikipedia'd it, it went to Empire Test Pilot's School, and that's definitely not right.) The long and short of it is that he took two little things that looked almost like glue guns, and shocked my muscles with little electric zaps. And it was great! I think it helped my neck a little.

It's also a great place to people watch. Mostly old(er) people, but sometimes there are kids with sports injuries. It's pretty fascinating. I feel like I could definitely fake PT knowledge if I needed to, a la Catch Me If You Can. Don't worry; I have no interest in attempting this or testing my hypothesis.

Well, I have a warm shower and a bed waiting for me. Note to self: need to blog more. Otherwise I'll lose my 1.5 readers. (Hi Mom!)

Good night everyone! If you're ever in a car accident, get checked out right away! Make sure you Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is secure.

Disturbing Trend #2: Weddings

Well, fall is just around the corner and you know what that means - weddings! Wait, what? you're saying...Wedding season is May/June! Yes, yes it is, but inexplicably I have two weddings in a row on the upcoming weekends.

One of these weddings is for one of my closest middle school friends, and I was able to get together with her and her bridesmaids to help put together the programs, name cards, etc. During this crafting session, the bride starting talking about some things she saw either on her guest list, or from friends' weddings. Let me explain:

Traditionally, the outer envelope is addressed to the person to whom it is traveling in the mail. The inner envelope is addressed to the invitee(s). For example, when I get an invitation, the outer envelope says Natalie + my mailing address. The inner envelope would say Natalie and Guest.

Since my friend didn't have an inner envelope, she had pre-made cards saying "____ seats have been reserved in your honor at the wedding. Please choose your meal: [steak, chicken, pasta...I picked pasta CLARO!]". She then wrote in the blank the number of seats, i.e. 1 or 2. Apparently, some people crossed out the number and raised it!! So one family wanted their daughter to come, and they crossed off the 2 and wrote a 3 instead!

In other instances, she addressed the letter to one person and had the number 1 in the blank, and they asked her if they could bring a date. Now, I understand if you're close to the bride and groom and you want to bring your boyfriend, but if they aren't your best friend or family, I think you need to take the invitation and accept the fact that they are on a budget.

The other wedding I was invited to was addressed to only me on both envelopes, and then had the traditional RSVP card where you jot down how many people are attending. I wrote 1, but I was wondering about the protocol for that situation. This may be common knowledge for all, but not me, so I will share. Those little RSVP cards are standard, so unless it says you and guest on the inner envelope, it's super rude to write "2" attending the wedding.

I'm pretty appalled by the rudeness in this whole process. How do people not know how expensive weddings are?? My friend told me it was all her single friends that were committing the faux pas' (sidenote: what IS the plural of faux pas??), which makes sense...but at the same time, I'm single and super aware of the price tag on the big event.

I'm assuming all these people weren't TRYING to be rude...but for crying out loud let's have some awareness! If it's addressed to you and not your significant other of 4 years, don't take it personally. If you aren't married, engaged, or living together you have no place to expect cousin Ginny to invite you AND Guest.

And that's this week's rant. More on weddings after I attend possibly? More on food? My thoughts on TEACHING?! Grad school? We'll see!

Labor Day burgers!

Labor Day is for picnics, no? What's a vegetarian-ish to do? (I added the -ish because I've been smelling the barbecue ALL WEEKEND and I have been utterly tempted.) Well, you see, you make black bean burgers! I got this recipe from ReadyMade, one of my FAVORITE magazines. I had to alter it a little because I didn't have all the ingredients. They turned out really well!

Yield: 4 burgers

2 (14-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
1/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
generous pinch of salt
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 lime
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 soft hamburger buns

Accompaniments: sliced avocado, romaine, salsa, sliced sharp cheddar

Pulse 1 can beans in a food processor with yogurt, bread crumbs, cumin, oregano, cayenne, paprika and salt until a coarse purée forms. Transfer to a bowl and stir in cilantro and remaining can beans. Add as much juice from the lime as needed to create a mixture that holds together well (you likely won’t need the entire lime; slice the leftover lime into wedges and serve with the burgers). Form mixture into 4 patties.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers (alternatively, heat a grill pan and brush it with the oil). Cook burgers until outsides are crisp and lightly browned, turning once, about 5 minutes total. Serve on buns, along with the accompaniments.

Tomorrow is the first day of school...and school! I have the elementary/middle school classes in the morning, and my graduate class in the evening. Wish me luck and pray HARD!