Hello!!!
I’ve missed you all! It’s been over two weeks since I last checked in. Yikes. (As a side note, thanks to all of you who checked in on me! You’re all so sweet. 🙂 ) Anyway, my absence is partially because I have been so busy, but also because of those blog problems I was dealing with. In the end, I decided not to switch to self-hosting – at least not for now. I don’t have the smarts to be able to keep my site updated, virus/spam free, etc., so I’d have to pay someone to help with that, in addition to paying for self-hosting. I definitely don’t have extra money for that right now, nor do I have the time to worry about making the switch. So, I settled on purchasing a bundle from WordPress that includes all that I wanted. I’m good with it. 🙂
To kind of jump into the middle of things again, I wanted to do a combination Week in Review and What I Ate Wednesday post. This is by no means organized – I’m sort of writing down the thoughts when I have them!
Thanks to these two lovely ladies for hosting.
This is so long overdue. Bless you if you read it all, but if not, I understand. 🙂
Recently…
- I have been teaching more and more over the last two weeks. I’d say at this point I’m teaching 40-50% of the day, which is pretty good considering I have to juggle three different class subjects, three different grades, and balancing my time between my two coordinating teachers! I’m slowly but surely making my way to 100%.
- I am LOVING it. Absolutely loving it. I have major flop days where the students are staring at me like zombies, but more often than not, they’re engaged, and I’ve made great connections with many of them.
Grading. Call me crazy, but I’m enjoying it!
- I baked a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies for the staff at GHS. They’ve all been so wondeful to me so I thought that might be a nice way to say “thank you”!
- We watched the finale of Breaking Bad! What did you all think?? (Told you this was overdue.)
- A few weekends ago we went to see Art Prize in downtown Grand Rapids. It’s this huge art festival that takes place every year, but it was my first time going to it. While I didn’t not enjoy it, I’m just not the biggest fan of art. It was cool to see so many people downtown, though!
- Also on that day we went to the new farmer’s market and oh my goodness. Amazing. Hopefully I’ll get back there more to take more pictures, but they’ve recently redone it, complete with an inside section. So cool!
- In between those two places, we stopped at a local brewery called Founders.
The place was absolutely slammed (we later learned it was their busiest day ever!), but the atmosphere was great. It took us a while to find a table (they don’t seat you), and we had to wait about an hour and a half for our meals (!!), but we had some appetizers and beer, and it was just a nice time.
What I Ate:
We ordered a big ol’ plate of chips (made in GR!) and freshly made salsa. Holy camoly, was it good.
The brewery didn’t make any hard cider, but our waiter suggested I try the raspberry ale. That was also delicious.
Finally, to eat, I had the roasted veggie sandwich on sourdough. It came with a house-made beer mustard that was to die for.
- I started and finished the book Divergent. Oh my gosh, you guys. I loved it! It was true YA lit in that it was so fast paced and the writing wasn’t very detailed, but I’m very impressed with the story. I’m almost done with the next one!
- A few weeks ago was the homecoming for the HS! I attended the pep assembly on Friday and WOW was it something. There was so much energy and school spirit in that gym! I always loved my high school’s pep assemblies, but GHS’s put ours to shame. It was just a ton of fun, and my ears didn’t stop ringing for about an hour after! 🙂
- I also went out to dinner that night with my teacher. She’s such a sweet person, and it was loads of fun. After that I went to the football game with her but ended up hanging out with another teacher. I’m not kidding when I say GHS has an amazing staff. Our school lost the game, but it was still a good time!
- I’ve been to the podiatrist twice now. What I thought was just plantar fasciitis is now that plus tenosynovitis plus subtalar joint capsulitis. (Yeah, I had to look them up, too.)
- I have not exercised my legs (squats, lunges, running, etc.) in a looong time because of those foot problems. That said, because it will take about 3 weeks to get my customized orthotics, I won’t be able to do the Run Thru the Rapids 5k I so wanted to do. To say I’m bummed is an understatement. 😦
- Ella turned 2 on Saturday! We bought her three toys. She tore apart one, does not like another, and literally can’t bear to touch the third. I wish I was kidding. She’s such a nutcase; it’s a good thing she’s cute.
- My acid reflux is not much better. Despite doubling my dosage of Prevacid, I’m still experiencing some flare-ups in symptoms, as well as some new things: a week ago, I experienced an esophageal spasm, and yesterday my esophagus began constricting itself…if that makes sense. Three times over the course of the day, it felt like my throat was closing, like someone was pushing their finger into my throat, choking me. It was not comfortable, and as this happened in school, it was hard not to panic. I met with my doctor, but the most she could do was prescribe another medicine and refer me for another endoscopy. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.
- Finally, I have been finding it hard to get into the kitchen. I have so many recipes I want to try out but I haven’t been able to! Hopefully that’ll change soon. As far as my other eats go, I’ll just do a picture deposit (I hate the phrase “photo dump”!) and call it good. 🙂
Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa
Blueberry Brown Sugar Breakfast Quinoa (recipe coming soon!)
I’ve been eating lots of salads lately, and have been topping them with seasonal fruit. In this case, it was a juicy peach.
And this one, which was made up of chicken, peas, and a quinoa/brown rice salad thing from Costco. Delicious!
Other than that, everything has been pretty boring and run-of-the-mill. I’ve been pretty good at eating clean and healthy, so I feel good about that. 🙂
Well, thanks again to those of you who read it all. If you’ve skipped to this part, no hard feelings. 😉 My next couple of posts will be more organized, but for now, I’m just glad to be back!
I’ll hopefully have the time to catch up on other posts this week, but if not, my goal is to get ahead over the weekend. I’ve missed blogging!
Have a great day, everyone!
Liv Lives Life 
Welcome back, Liv! I’ve missed you and your lovely posts these past couple weeks. Glad to see you’re back & doing fabulous. Really enjoyed hearing about what you’ve been up too & must congratulate you with doing so well w/ teaching. Good for you! I’m also so happy you shared the link the Apple Cinnamon breakfast quinoa. It looks fabulous!!
Have a great rest day, Liv ❤
Thanks, Jessie! I missed you too! 🙂
I love all of this, catching up on your crazy but awesome life is so nice!! I mean I think it is great that you love your job, so sorry about your feet though. it sounds like you are doing all you can do now which is good. Love hearing from you!
Thanks! Yeah, I guess I can only do so much. I wish I could just use magic to make them better right *now* though! 😉
I hope your feet are feeling better soon. I know how frustrating injuries can be.
Thanks, Fiona! Yes, it is so frustrating.
Heyyyy there stranger! 😛 It’s good to see you back — I was wondering how you were doing! Sorry to hear about the feet and acid reflux, but it definitely looks like you’ve got plenty of good to balance out those few rough patches. Oh, and I’ve gotta agree about Divergent — seriously a great book, and I can’t wait to see the movie!
You’re definitely right – lots of good to make the bad more tolerable. 🙂
I know, the movie looks so good! I found a preview of it on IMDb the other day and was freaking out!
Oh man, sorry about your health problems! Prayin’ for ya. At least teaching sounds fun!
Thanks! Yes, it is a blast. 🙂
Ella melts my heart every time you post pictures of her.
I hope you’re ok, Liv.
Your salad looks lovely and fresh. I’m really looking forward to that breakfast quinoa recipe.
Mine too. 🙂
I’ll have the recipe up sometime next week!
Sorry about your foot problems and your throat problems – gosh you’ve had a lot to deal with! Fingers crossed it all sorts itself out. (Very pretty toenails though – puts mine to shame!)
How cute is Ella?? Ahh so adorable.
It’s been frustrating and tiring, but hopefully I’ll be on the mend soon. 🙂
Haha thanks! I actually haven’t pained them in weeks…the power on Instagram helped them look better!
Back at it with lots to share. I’m excited that teaching is going so great for you 😀 My mom is currently sitting on the couch with a pile of papers to grade so I can completely understand the workload…. And my dog literally just jumped on the pile, scattering all of those papers. Lol.
Anywho- I’m so sorry to hear that your acid reflux is getting worse. Mine has come back full throttle these past few weeks too. Nothing like yours though with the constrictions. I can only imagine how scary that must be. Thinking of you!
You and hospitals lately…. At least you’ve got a good plan of action with your podiatrist. Too bad about the race though. I know how excited you were about that.
Picture deposit <<< Definitely preferred for me too over photo dump. I think I called it "pictorial" deposit once just to get fancy. Ha.
Food = awesome.
Oh I missed your posts!
Thanks, Madison! It’s good to be back. 🙂 Haha yes, Ella was nibbling the corners of the students’ notebooks the other day. I was laughing because it would have been hilarious to show up to school and say “the teacher’s dog at the students’ homework!”
Yours too? I know you have environmental allergies, too…have you ever been told that there’s a connection between your reflux and those allergies? I’m wondering if, because we haven’t had a frost yet, the lingering allergies are making it flare up? Even if you’re not having constrictions and stuff, it’s still NOT fun to deal with. We’re such wrecks. 😉
I was trying to remember the phrase you used! Ok, next time I’ll call it a pictorial deposit. I love it.
Welcome back. It’s nice to see you again. I figured you were buried with school stuff and it sounds like that was partially the case. I’m thrilled to hear you are loving it, the school and the teachers. If only your feet and acid reflux were doing better too. I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for your further testing. On the plus side, your eats look and sound delicious. Raspberry beer, breakfast quinoa bowls, fresh flavorful fruit. Yum.
Thanks! I know, it’s a bummer those not good things had to happen at the same time as my student teaching, but at least that’s going well! And thanks for the well-wishes. 🙂
I love these Week in Review posts! There’s always a ton of stuff I want to comment on, so in no particular order or even vague semblance of coherence, here goes: happy birthday, Ella! I love her random dog quirks with her toy selection, and holy crap is she ever cute. Yay for your teaching badassery — it’s seriously impressive that you’re able to juggle three different topics and grade levels. (I’m not kidding: my brain is spazzing out at the very thought of having to be that nimble.) Lastly, boo and hiss for GERD and foot troubles.
I have GERD too, and it just plain sucks. I used to have esophageal spasms as well, and they’re just as awful as you describe. My spasms went away with time and meds, but the GERD kicks up with a vengeance if I’m not vigilant about taking Prevacid each morning. I’ve also found that random foods, most of which are definitely not on the typical “foods to avoid if you have reflux” list, can also make things get gnarly. There are some granola bars, snack foods, and other random things that cause considerable pain and suffering. It took some time to isolate those variables, but cutting those foods out made a huge difference. I hope you feel better soon — I’m sending prayers, good vibes, and lots of tummy-soothing thoughts your way!