Hello friends!

Ready for a whole lot of randomness in one blog post? Well, good!

It’s finally beginning to look like spring around here! We’ve had rain the last few days, and lots of people are complaining about it, but I find it relaxing and beautiful. Plus, it’s not snow, which is of course a good thing. 🙂

(That’s an Instagram pic from a few weeks ago, but you get the idea. 🙂 )

I’ve been trying to keep up by posting at least a few times a week, but I’m sorry if I seem a little disconnected. What with just a few weeks left in the semester, professors are really starting to pile on the work (and my procrastination doesn’t help) so school has been taking up a lot of my time. BUT I’m almost done. Almost.

Speaking of school, I’m kind of sort of trying really hard not to completely freak out about this test I have to take on Saturday. It’s the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification, and basically, my future is riding on it. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic. I can take it as many times as I want, but it costs $75, and I’d like to only take it once. This one is the English certification test, and ohmygosh if the study tests and flashcards are any indicator, I’m in deep trouble.

I know there are a couple of teachers out there who stop by my blog on occasion, so I’m going to rant here a bit. So, looking over the flashcards and example questions, I’m a bit upset. These questions are so factual and almost completely useless for teaching. I’ve been an English major for three years and have never come across many of the terms, authors, and other stupid things they put on these cards, so why am I being tested on them? Doesn’t it make sense to have a test of teaching methods or at least of questions that pertain to an English classroom? Not things that only the greatest English scholars in the world know? GOSH. Ok, rant over. Sorry.

So anyway, I have that to look forward to this weekend, but there is a silver lining – I’m going to a Fab Faux concert Saturday night. Yeah, I’m only very excited. If you’re a Beatles fan, check out the videos these guys have on their site. They sound so good! I guess they’re going to be playing the White Album straight through, which should be amazing. So if I come out of that nasty test feeling horrible about myself, I will at least have the concert to lift my spirits.

Well now that you know my life story ( 😉 ), how about we talk about the food I had over the week?

WIAW

Hosted as always by Jenn!

Breakfasts

Nevermind, no breakfast pictures. Apparently I did not deem any of my breakfasts photo worthy. But in all honesty, all of them were exactly the same Greek yogurt bowl I always have.

Lunches

On Saturday I whipped up this delicious quesadilla. My mom had cooked up some taco meat Friday night, so I added the leftovers, refried beans, Mexican cheese, and romaine lettuce to a whole wheat wrap. Salsa on the side, and it was perfect. Yum!

For my cousin’s 3rd birthday party, my mom made mac and cheese. The one from the Food Network magazine that I made a few weeks ago. Gosh this stuff is good.

At the party, I had a helping of it with some veggies, salami, chicken, and cheese.

Snacks

Let’s just say I snacked a lot again this week. And I’m not too happy with myself about it. But here are some common snacks:

Granny Smith apples. (I’m kind of an apple snob. I’ll eat most kinds, but these are my faaaaaavorite.)

(source)

And popcorn.

This is a recycled photo, but I actually bought a different kind of microwave popcorn: Newman’s Own. I was looking at all of the terrifying ingredients on the box of the popcorn I had been buying and decided that it would be worth it to spend more and not get goodness knows what sort of chemicals. So anyway, Newman’s Own popcorn is really good – it’s not as salty as one would like, but perhaps that’s a good thing… 😉

Dinners

Last Wednesday I went out to Panera Bread with my friend Kayla and ordered the BBQ chopped chicken salad. I looooove this salad!

It was my grandma’s birthday on Saturday and we had her over for dinner. I wanted to make something warm and filling, and I’ve been meaning to make this dish for a while now. It’s a favorite so I was glad to have an excuse!

The original recipe was from Southern Living magazine, but can be found online HERE. It’s called Chicken Cobbler Casserole, but I hate that name (for some reason it sounds too dessert-y??) so I call it Sourdough and Chicken Casserole. But wow is it delicious. There are mushrooms, roasted red bell peppers, cheese, and a wine sauce…all topped with cheesy sourdough croutons. What isn’t there to love??

This should definitely be on your to-make list! 🙂

Desserts

Other than leftover Easter candy, I enjoyed a plate of Oreo chocolate ice cream and a few alien cookies at my cousin’s party.

As well as more cookies at home. Hello, splurging.

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Workouts April 7-13
Sunday: 35 minutes elliptical + strength training
Monday: off
Tuesday: 20 minutes jogging (with an incline) + 30 minutes walking on treadmill
Wednesday: Pinterest exercises
Thursday: rest? Another jog? This day will depend on my schedule
Friday: This day will depend on Thursday.
Saturday: P90X Yoga

So, while I was jogging yesterday, I decided to up the difficulty a bit by adding a 1.5 incline. After about 6 minutes of jogging, my shins and a lot of the muscles in my lower legs started to ache like crazy. I eventually had to lower it to 0 because of the pain, and when I did it, the pain went away. I have this problem on hills outside too, obviously, but what I’m wondering is if any of you have tips for getting rid of and/or treating shin splints? I really hate those things and don’t want them to be a problem any more. If they do get worse, I’ll contact a PT, but for now, I’d like to hear your input!

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Other than that, I don’t have much else to say. Oh, except I wanted to share a few cute pictures of a few cute babies, because, well…I can. 🙂 And who doesn’t like cute babies??

My little 3 year old cousin has a baby brother that I got to hang out with this weekend.

He is such a cutie pie.

Remember when I helped throw my friend a baby shower and got her little guy this adorable robe?

Well, it looks about a bazillion times cuter on him.

When Amber sent me this picture, it truly made my day.

And finally, my own cute baby.

Pet owners out there understand why I’ve grouped Ella in with these adorable two little guys.

It’s fun to begin the day with a whole lot of cuteness!

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Questions for the day:

Is it spring where you are?

What was the scariest test you’ve ever had to take?

Any tips for easing the pain of shin splints?

What’s the cutest thing you’ve seen all week?

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!