2 for 2.

Two posts in as many days. Shut the front door. It's true.

I've had a really great day today. I woke up on my own at 7:15. This tends to happen when you're in bed by 10:15, but whatever. I am going to rejoice regardless. I got up and made a pot of coffee and then started doing some homework. That simple. It's so weird. When I'm on a mission, there really is no stopping me. It's just the getting onboard that mission that's the problem.

Anyway, I got a decent amount done before I headed to church with my parents. That was nice.

By the time the mid-afternoon rolled around, I decided I wanted to head downtown to check out the Bistro Market that I've heard so much about. Oh my gosh, that place is amazing. A Godsend if you will. If that means that God sent it. Does it? Anyway, God sent that place to make me happy. If you haven't been there, it's on the corner of Walnut and South, and it has this wonderful big-city feel. There's a hot food bar and a salad bar, a Starbucks, a gelato bar, a wonderful glass case filled with treats of all kinds, and then a grocery store on the other side. The actual grocery store part is filled with a huge selection of organic and locally grown produce, which is pretty freaking sweet if you ask me. And the meat counter. Holy mackerel. Fresh fish and seafood. Free range meats. It was beautiful. I ended up a beautiful pecan-crusted pork chop and a bacon-wrapped turkey filet. I also bought some grass-fed beef that I'm pretty stoked about. The pork chop was delicious. I had it tonight for dinner.

Going primal really is delightful.

I liked it so much I made my mom go back with me for a second trip. No kidding. Then we played a little show and tell, and she showed me her downtown office, and I gave her a tour of the poli sci department and my GA office. Overall, a fun day. Now I'm back, with a tummy full of pork chop, and I'm about to start in on round two of Study Sunday. God bless three-day weekends. I teach Attack tomorrow morning, and then it's more downtime. Holla in the streets of Springfield. I love downtime.

Peace out, peeps.

All The Small Things

Week 1...check. I've made it, peeps. I'm down one week of grad school. I'm also down one week of Paleo. I'm happy to announce that both are going just swell.

I think I'm really going to enjoy my classes. One is a stats class. The other is is a seminar in public admin. And then the third is an online human resources one. A good mix of practical coursework and then some classical studying. I know it's just week one, so I these outlooks are subject to change. Duh. But it is definitely nice to be back in the swing of a schedule.

And Paleo? I love it. I've always been a healthy, whole food eater. But since starting this challenge, my energy has been through the roof. I'm not hungry at all. And if I do get hungry, I can eat. There's no restrictions on quantity, which for a growing girl like myself, is AWESOME. I really think that if I could choose a career and know without a doubt that it would be a success, I'd be a natural foods chef and open a restaurant. But I'm a chicken. Still though, I encourage anyone else to go start one. I'll be your first patron.

What have I eaten this week? Lots of eggs, chicken, and fish. Broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, carrots, apples, grapefruit, cherries, bananas, blueberries, raw nuts, and anything else that's of the earth. No dandelions though. Or rattlesnake, which are both on the list of "approved" foods. Not kidding.

Anyway, after today's wod, I went to the farmer's market with my ma, which has very quickly become my Saturday morning tradition now. I love the farmer's market. No. I absolutely ADORE the farmer's market. It is like a street fair and grocery store all rolled into one. Today, however, I hit the jackpot. As I was picking out cucumbers, the vendor told me I could have all of them for $1. ONE dollar. Then he threw in all his bell peppers for another dollar! I walked away with two bags full of vegetables for two freaking dollars.

Shut. Up.

At the next place, as I was paying for my spaghetti squash, a man walked up to me and offered me a free seedless watermelon. I will give you three guesses as to what my response was to that, which really is two guesses too many.

I friggin' cleaned house. Holla. And yes, this was a highlight of my day.

It is totally the small things in life. I love it. I love today.

Stone Age Blenders

A few posts ago, I wrote about this Paleo challenge I've decided to take part in at our Crossfit affiliate. It started yesterday at 3:00. Saturday evening was epic. Arris pizza, Orange Leaf, and grape martinis, lovingly dubbed "grape time." It really doesn't get any better than that. Well, until I started feeling sick. Regardless, I've hit Paleo hard and fast and I've stayed strict. Yesterday and the majority of today I stuck to the basics: chicken, veggies, a piece of fruit here and there, raw nuts. However, tonight I came home and for some reason spent a great deal of time in the kitchen working on some Paleo banana muffins and a winter squash soup.

Yeah...it is absolutely delicious. All of it. So I called my mom.

"Mom...?"
"Yes, Amber?"
"What are you doing? I don't care. I just made caveman food. Come taste test."

And this is reason #581 why I love my mom. I played the part of the Next Food Network Star and plated my soup in a small ceramic berry bowl, complete with freshly ground pepper on top. It was picture perfect. And the almond flour muffin was sitting atop a lovely shallow glass plate. Bobby Flay would have beamed. And then asked me what the hell I was thinking. That is the most likely scenario that plays out in my head.

As for the ingredients--the muffins were baked of almond flour, eggs, bananas, cinnamon, vanilla, and not too much else. A fellow primal eater had lovingly passed on that recipe to me. The soup was more an inspiration from other recipes I'd seen. I didn't follow one to the tee, but more just went on my own path and it turned out absolutely swimmingly. Roasted acorn squash, caramelized onions and carrots, coconut milk, fresh pepper, and ginger. All pureed in the blender.

Oh. My. Gosh. I have found the holy grail of the cavemen. Because I know they loved their stone age blenders.

My cooking experience took my mind off the fact that I read ONE syllabus today and immediately wondered just when I lost my mind. Syllabus? What is a syllabus? Or a research paper. These are foreign concepts.

More later. My non-trad brain is tired and ready for my Jersey Housewives.

I hate so much about the things you choose to be.

God bless Toby Flenderson.

I've felt incredibly lazy this week. That's probably because I've BEEN incredibly lazy this week. Knowing that my life is about to get 10 times busier starting next week allows me the freedom to take spontaneous naps and watch all the reality television I want. Long live Bravo.

On a less lazy note, I've been super happy with my workouts this week. The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS on Tuesday morning, so I got up and went for a run. Ever since my injury I haven't really been running regularly, mostly because it's sort of depressing to be so far away from where I was. But sitting around feeling sorry for myself isn't the way to get back to tip-top shape. It'll be hard, but I'm ready to put in the miles. That said, I did a pretty solid 9-miler and felt okay with it. That and a PR on Fight Gone Bad yesterday were probably the workout-related highlights of my week. Oh, and Fran. Can't forget about Fran.

I did make several trips to campus too. I met with Dr. Patel on Tuesday about my GA duties. I'm going to be managing the database of MPA students and moving them from one program over to another. Microsoft Access and I are apparently going to become very good friends. I'll also be assisting with clerical stuff for the program and then doing some editing for the book Dr. Patel is co-authoring. All in all, not too bad. I'll be working 1-5 every afternoon. Class will be on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I have an online class as well. Still teaching my Attack class on Monday at Ozark Fitness. Training for a marathon in October. And prepping for the Heart of America Crossfit competition in November.

And this is why I don't feel guilty for not being 110% productive this week.

Oh, and my Paleo challenge starts Sunday at 3:00. I'm positive I'll be posting my wonderful thoughts on that soon enough. I've been allowing myself whatever I want until then. Because it's gonna start to get ugly, folks. Real ugly.

So I guess for now it's back to my marathon of The Office. I'm cracking up at every episode. Like laugh out loud, crazy woman laughing. I really do think I'm hilarious.

I feel God in this Chili's.

I'm slowly making my way through The Office again. I don't know why I don't do this more frequently, because I'm seriously busting a gut laughing. I just finished one of my favorite episodes EVER. The Dundies. I actually happen to have my very own Dundie award that a friend gave me for Christmas a few years ago. Dundie. Even the word makes me laugh.

Dundie.

Michael Scott still just hits a little too close to home for me though. Thank you, former jackhole boss of mine who I will continue to hate until the day I die.

In even more couch potato news, my DC Housewives are on tonight. I was amused by last week's premiere, and I'm anxious to see how it all blows up. Early likability goes to Mary and Stacie. On the fence about Lynda. The other two I have no strong feelings either way, although I AM a sucker for an accent. Hello, Caht. I'm also pretty sure Michaele will fly off the deep end so that'll be entertaining. But I don't think they'll replace the NYC gals in my heart. Doy.

Speaking of new friends, I'd like to introduce my pal, Paleo. There's a 6-week CrossFit Paleo challenge starting soon, and I think I'm gonna do it. In a nutshell, it's meat, vegetables, fruit, and nuts. The hunter-gatherer paleolithic diet. No dairy, grains, beans, anything like that. In all honesty, I eat pretty Paleo as it is. I'd just have to give up my oatmeal breakfast. And my cheats. And my booze. Hmm. I'm not gonna stress over it though. If I deviate from Paleo, so be it. But everyone's doing it, so I'll jump the bandwagon. I am easily swayed.

That said, I will take bets on how long I'll embrace my inner cavewoman. I wonder if I get a dinosaur.