Another Monday

Today was a great day! Despite the fact my baby was fussy and blah all day, we got a lot done! Office stuff in the morning, lunch with Curtis then we went on a walk, drove to Park Meadows Mall for an interview, stopped at a gas station and got gas (for 2.86 per gallon- geeppers!) and a carwash, went to Sunflower Market and got lots of yummy yummy fruits and veggies, stopped at King Soopers and got the essentials (milk and bread), came home and fixed hamburgers at 4pm (we were starving!), ate the hamburgers. I worked on CARES stuff and tried to keep Samuel happy while Curtis cleaned the bathroom (willingly- yeah I know I got an amazing husband) then I spent two hours rocking Samuel to sleep, feeding Samuel, rocking him to sleep, bouncing Samuel, feeding Samuel, laying Samuel down, picking Samuel up, rocking, feeding, bouncing, rocking, finally he passed out at 8 (love being a mom :o) ), did pilates, stretched, cleaned out my purse, ate some icecream and now I'm blogging! I wish I could blog everyday. I love it. But I love all the things I did today.

I love the feeling of having a fridge stocked full of fresh fruit and veggies. Sunflower Market has GREAT prices on fresh fruit and veggies, everything else is rather expensive so I just browse the produce section and I'm out. I can't wait to cook up some yummy meals with the stuff I bought. Hopefully I will have time to share them on here!

I think my baby is getting tooth in, he is fussy and irritable all the time, its hard for him to take good naps during the day and he wakes up screaming if he does fall asleep. I'm not sure what exactly is causing this since I can't seem to locate an incoming tooth but I cant think of what else it is. Whatever it is I hope it passes, but in the mean time I just take each minute at a time and understand I can't do everything and being a mom and wife is most important.

Cheers!

Manic Monday on Monday!!

Yes, I am finally getting a handle on my days. I am actually going to do the Manic Monday on Monday!!

Do you enjoy brain teasers or do you find them frustrating?
Both! I love brain teasers books. I have bought a few and do them when I feel the need to learn or stretch my brain. Also while traveling, planes, trains, cars - Good time fillers because they are short (usually) and you feel like you accomplished something after you finish! Sometimes I get frustrated at certain ones, or skip them all together. The ones I feel most frustrated with are simple ones that I know I learned in high school but can't for the life of me remember how to do it! (math problems) For the most part I can remember but every now and then it really gets me!

Do you have any unusual collections?
No, I don't think so. Well actually maybe. I was telling Curtis and Josh I save all of my papers and homework from college but also from projects and everything I do. I save it all on my computer. You never know when you might need it again, right?
But I can't think of other unusual collections. I love bags but that's not to unusual and I don't have a lot.

What do people notice about you within the first hour of meeting you (other than appearance)?
My friends later tell me they are usually intimidated by me. Which I feel extremely bad about! I am usually quite and not that talkative because I feel nervous and uncomfortable around new people. I guess this can come across as stuck-up and too good for people but that is NOT what I am thinking or feeling. I am actually extremely nervous ha ha! So if you meet me for the first time, know that I love to make friends, I'm just not that good at it!
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On another note: check out the Whole food market blog. Have you ever wondered about those "Good Fats" people are always taking about? I have and this awesome post gave me a whole new perspective! Especially this part "If you crave a lot of sugar and feel hungry within just a couple of hours after eating..." Check it out!!

mmmmmmm mangos

My wonderful husband went to the veggie market last night to grab me a few things for dinner and brought back some wonderful surprises! Mangos and delicious looking Strawberries!!! I hadn't really eaten many mango (real mangos) before coming to China and last spring I feel in love with them! I cant wait to make some mango smoothies and enjoy them! Sadly, it looks like I am going to be missing a good part of mango season when I head back to the Continental US in a few days....so sad.

On another note. I watched the movie Twilight with some friends last night. I was greatly disappointed as it did not do the book justice at all. However, I continued to read the book last night and this morning and still love it, even though the movie was so vague.

My suggestion: don't watch the movie- read the books!

Warm Weather = Happiness

I feel like my mood changes with the weather. As much as I try to be happy on a daily basis there is nothing like warm weather to lift my spirits. Friday morning started with a walk to the store with one of my good friends Jada and then a yummy tuna melt for me and tuna sandwich for her. We then proceed to chat as she went through my clothes. I love giving my clothes away, I am not sure why but it makes me happy. While going through the clothes this conversation happened many times:

Jada "you don't want/like this!!!??!"

Me "yes but I have so much back in America"

Jada "oh." As she picks up another piece of clothing and exclaims "you don't want/like this!??!"

She soon realized we were having the same conversation every two seconds and we both laughed. Ah, I'm going to miss that girl a whole lot.

I am currently involved in the Self Challenge by Self Magazine. Trying to get into better shape- you know its an on going process. This past week I have been hanging out on the stationary bike at the gym. I have been riding for about one hour. I bring along my Twilight Book (I'm on the third one in the series now) and the time just flies by! It amazes me!

We then came back from the gym and whipped up some yummy smoothies and fixed homemade pizza for dinner! I am getting a little braver in trying new things in my cooking and baking now. This time I added some ground flax seed and wheat germ to the pizza dough. It was still delicious AND healthy. Curtis and I love cooking together. We do it whenever we can. It gives us time to do something together, chat and just relax. Plus we both love food. I used a different kind of yeast then normal and for some reason it didn't rise. I'll have to figure that out. Spicy BBQ Chicken Pizza
Fresh Veggie Pizza

We enjoyed our veggie and spicy BBQ chicken pizzas while watching the movie Fireproof. It was an interesting movie. The acting was not very good but it had some good messages in it. I'm sure it got some differing reactions by the public as well.

Saturday I enjoyed a sunny day in Beijing with Rena. We ate a delicious meal at Outback Steakhouse, tracked down a tanning salon and stocked up at Jenny Lous (the western grocery store). On the way home we met some students who were carrying along a little turtle in a plastic bag. They graciously let him out to run on the silver platter for a good portion of the trip. We tried to have a conversation but my Chinese is horrible and their English was "poor" (as they say). We discovered they went to the same school we teach at and they live at the airport. However I'm sure the second part was some sort of a mistake - but ya never know!

The two students. The one on the right is trying to think of the English he knows...