Buzzzzzzzzzzz

Yes, that is the sound of someone who drank a 20-oz pumpkin latte at 5:30 in the evening.  I never - and I mean never - drink caffeine after noon because of how absolutely awake it makes me.  However, I had a grant to finish writing this evening, and I was just about passing out on my computer.  So...  I drank copious amounts of coffee.

And FINISHED THE GRANT!!!

That is precisely why I failed to blog yesterday, friends.  I had all good intentions to write, but after a full day at work, I just couldn't do it.  This was my agenda:

1. School: the day went fairly quickly, as we did an awesome activity in class that had the kids up and moving around, discussing issues pertinent to their lives.  Also, along with a clip from the History Channel about "History of the Holidays: Columbus Day," I showed this video:



2. PROUD: we solidified the final design for the t-shirt, and it's going to be pretty freakin' awesome.  Get your checkbooks ready, folks - you're gonna want one!

3. Caribou: I spent two hours working on the grant, making adjustments my principal and I had discussed...and hardly got anything accomplished.

4. Gym: I was only planning on staying for the abs/back class because I had so much to do (and I wanted to watch Dancing with the Stars), but I decided yoga was probably the better idea - so had a great 90-minute workout.

5. Dinner: I called BFF on my way home from the gym, and since she had class and hadn't yet eaten dinner, invited her over.  I was planning on making the wild rice & chicken salad but instead changed my mind at the last minute and made this:

I did not realize until just now how horribly awful the picture is!  Apparently I was too famished to care! I made the tried-and-true classic, tortellini with pesto; however, I jazzed it up a bit by sauteeing and mixing in garlic, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, crushed red pepper, and chicken.  O...M...G.  It was a fabulous idea.  BFF whipped up some garlic bread on a toasted ciabatta roll.  (Also, I'm aware that it doesn't look like we had a veggie for this meal.  However, I threw all of the veggies that I bought into the pasta.  That counts, right?)

The pasta was so fabulous, in fact, that I had the leftovers for both lunch and dinner today!

Side note: I was cracking up last night because I had gone to the store and pretty much picked up whatever looked good in the produce department (i.e. cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.).  Then I was joking with BFF about how I was being super random last night and just tossing absolutely whatev into our dinner.  That's when she caught me: "Um...that's called cooking, Emily!"  Haha - oh yeah.

Because I took two allergy pills last night and drank a glass of red wine (remember, it's good for you) with BFF, I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow - and was pretty much a zombie for the first two hours I was "awake" this morning.  However, I still managed to make a delish breakfast:

I tried something new with my oats this morning: instead of cooking them in the microwave, I cooked them on the stove.  It worked out so much better!  First, I didn't have to stand there and open-close-open-close-open-close the microwave to make sure it didn't overflow; I just let it cook on its own.  Second, they didn't cake up the bowl like they normally do (i.e. clean-up was a lot easier).  Third, they just tasted better!  That could be because I added a dash of cinnamon, a swig of UVAB, and some flaxseeds at the end, but who knows?  :)

Obviously today was another busy day: school, Ninth Block, grant writing all evening, and trivia.  The good news is that I finished the grant and sent it off to my principal - hooray!  Hopefully I did it correctly...  :)

Team "Neverland Ranch Hands" did not fare so well at trivia tonight, but we are in fifth place overall for the month of October: there is still time to redeem ourselves!

And since it's Trivia Tuesday, here's some random trivia about me:

One of my favorite physical features about myself is my skin.  Apparently it is extra-soft (although I don't really notice it), and I love all my freckles.  I also appreciate that I get very brown in the summer.  However, my skin is also one of my burdens, as I am allergic to just about everything - band-aids included; in fact, I cut myself shaving last Wednesday, put a band-aid on it (one that I thought worked fine with my skin) for about 30 minutes, removed the band-aid, and still have a red, itchy outline of it on my shin.  If that's not awesome, I don't know what is.

Okay: I'm off to crash yet again.  I'm hoping I'll be able to write tomorrow, but it's also parent-teacher conferences (which means an über-long day), so no promises.

Peace out, yo.