The "Best year ever" list

This will be the school year that I...

* smile more and ask about people's weekends, rather than dashing to a free copier

* abstain from eating "just a sliver" of the secretary's famous pistachio cake from the resource room

* Call home for amazing kids as much as I do for the kids that make shrill squawking noises when my back is turned

* label all my boxes so I can actually find that my plastic raven for the Poe unit or my DVD for Shakespearean day or my vocab cards...dammit... where are my vocab cards?!

* stop going back to resource room to sneak two more harmless slivers of pistachio cake

* get more than six hours of sleep every night

* play "trash ball" without shooshing the kids a million times

* just say "no" to wrapping another slice of cake in a napkin to have for a snack later (after piling a bit of extra icing on top)

* refrain from staying up late to watch horribly trashy shows like Girls Next Door because I'm too exhausted to get up to take out contacts

* cook for Dan more

* don't snap at a single student, even when someone says "that's kind of cheap" when I "only" give him one piece of candy

* have Red Bull-level pep and enthusiasm

* not join in resource room bitch sessions about this year's super annoying student who got busted trying to Google pictures of celebrity's knockers on his school's ibook.

I always unconsciously start the school year as a hopeless optimist, not unlike every person who makes unreasonable New Year's resolutions. People see the pure and unspoiled stretch of twelve months ahead of them and think that finally this will be the year they will be motivated to lose those thirty pounds or finish that novel. After all, a lot can happen in a year, right?

I'm the same exact way. If I had been in a Disney movie today, I would have been dueting with my similarly in-denial colleagues, twirling down the hallways, and getting my animal friends to help me decorate my room with posters. When I walked into my classroom, I felt this charge of excitement that this could be the Best. Year. Ever. I thought of new station activities and theme days I could have. I feverishly boxed all supplies and printed out labels. After school, I bought myself my annual big box of Crayola crayons (the kind with the built-in sharpener in the back) and opened it to inhale that waxy, back-t0-school smell. Nothing says school euphoria like brand new supplies!

I know that this unrealistic optimism will not last, especially given the facts that I'm already feeling tired from waking up at 6:00 today and ate three "slivers" of apple and cheddar breakfast pizza this morning, and was too exhausted to cook for Dan when I came home. After a few weeks, I know I'll find myself sternly admonishing a class, "I think we need to address the amount of you who are forgetting homework assignments. Don't forget that this is 10% of your grade, I repeat, ten percent. One homework zero will negate about fifty other 100's you already made..."

They'll nod like they understand, when really all they're hearing is "Wa wa wa wa", a la Charlie Brown's parents. I'll go to the lounge and complain. Later, those same kids' parents will e-mail, "What can John Doe do to make up his homework 0's?" Then, I'll have to decide: Do I want to be Mrs. Pushover or Mrs. Ballbuster? Either way, it will take me fifteen minutes to write a carefully worded response. When I crash on the couch after school, I'll be too exhausted to cook, instead eating greasy pad thai while watching 30 Rock with Dan, the highlight of my day.

(Not that this is a totally bad thing! Anyone ever seen the episode where Liz Lemmon's delusional brother is still stuck in 1984? Sooo funny.)

I know this progression from naive optimism to reality is totally natural. Honestly, I'm not giving a full picture of a typical day of my job. Yes, I do have stressful moments, but I also get to read the inspirational journals my students write. I crack up when my students get as competitive as Survivor contestants during a round of "Grammar Jeopardy". I love how when I teach about Edgar Allan Poe, a student will inevitably shriek, "He married his cousin?!" I feel so fullfilled when I can build a shy student up through compliments, high five students for raising their grade, and listen to their rambling stories.

I really do love my job, however demanding it may be. Still, I wish there were a few more days that I thought to myself,

"This will be the Best. Year. Ever."

The recipe list

For Just do it challenge #3, I cooked a full meal (appetizer, drink, meal, and dessert) for the family. A couple of you requested the recipes, so here you are:

1. Mango black bean salsa

* 1-2 red peppers
* 1-2 yellow peppers
* 1 can black beans, rinsed (very important)
* 1-2 mangoes (peaches can be substituted)
* green onion- one bunch (is that what this is called?)
* cilantro- one bushel/bunch
* cumin
* extra virgin olive oil (I refuse to do a Rachel Ray by writing EVOO)
* lime juice

Chop up all vegetables into small pieces. Put in bowl. Sprinkle with cumin. Add lime juice and a swirl of olive oil. Taste. If you want it more tart, add more lime juice. If you want more zing, add more cumin and olive oil. Serve with lime chips. Swoon.

2. Peach sangria

* 1 Bottle of white wine - (I used Riesling)
* 1/2 cup Peach Schnapps
* 1/4 cup sugar (or less, depending on how sweet you prefer your Sangria)
* 2 sliced peaches (frozen peach slices work well)
* 1/2 mango peeled and sliced
* 1/2 liter of ginger ale
* a few sliced strawberries

Pour wine and Schnapps in the pitcher and add sliced peach, strawberries, and mango. Next add sugar and stir gently. Chill mixture for at least one hour. Add ginger ale or club soda just before serving. Garnish with umbrella or strawberry. Drink while pretending you are in the tropics.

3. Fiery shrimp

* 2 sticks butter- melted
* 2 sticks margarine- melted (you can use 4 sticks of butter, but this way is slightly healthier. That's at least what I told myself.)
* ½ cup worcestershire sauce
* 4 tablespoons black pepper
* 1 tsp. ground rosemary
* 2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
* 2 tsp. salt
* 3 cloves of garlic- minced
* 4 lemons- 2 juiced and 2 sliced
* 5 pounds of raw shrimp

Heat oven to 400. Mix all ingredients except shrimp and lemon slices. Add ½ cup of sauce on bottom of a baking dish. Layer shrimp and lemon. Leave room at top. Pour all sauce on top of shrimp. Bake uncovered in oven 15-20 minutes at 400, stiring after 5 minutes and checking on it often. Serve immediately with hot, crusty bread and a salad. Be prepared to get buttery fingers.

4. Profiteroles with ice cream

* 1 qt coffee and 1 qt vanilla ice cream- I used Haagen Daz because my thought is life is short: splurge on the good ice cream!
* 3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
* 3/4 cup water
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. Butter a large baking sheet. Bring butter, water, and salt to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until butter is melted. Reduce heat to medium, then add flour all at once and cook, beating with a wooden spoon, until mixture pulls away from side of pan and forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Transfer mixture to a bowl and cool slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well with an electric mixer after each addition. Scoop out warm mixture onto cookie sheet to about the size that you want your profiterole. I made them about the size of a scone. Bake until puffed and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes total. Prick each profiterole once with a skewer, then return to oven to dry, propping oven door slightly ajar, 3 minutes. This is very important so that they are light and airy. Cool on sheet on a rack. Cut in half, put ice cream in middle, and replace top portion of profiterole so that you almost have an ice cream sandwich. This is delicious if you use both vanilla and coffee ice cream; it just gives it a more complex flavor. Top with dark chocolate sauce (jar is fine). Garnish with strawberry or whipped cream. Congratulate yourself on cooking oh-so-French dessert.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you venture to cook any of there. I'd love to know how they turn out for you!

The "summer, I love you" list

Dearest Summer,

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I love you for...

1. bringing "sexy back"(that is, for allowing me to get away on our anniversary trip to the bed and breakfast with my hubby).

2. Making me feel pretty (AKA: allowing me an excuse to wear my new red dress at my sister's birthday).

3. Satisfying my every desire... by giving me time to visit friends in Boston and try a monster-size cannoli.

4. Giving me time and space... to finish projects like the horrendous yard and office.

(Big office reveal coming soon!)

5. Helping me to relax, at least at the beach.

6. Allowing me to see the world through different eyes (beer goggles after trip to mountain brewery with Dan).

7. Making me laugh (hysterically in bed with Dan when we recount our visit to Massachusetts and all the stories we heard about constipation, enemas, and a very sick cat who receives more medical attention than Sprinkles, Angela's kitty on The Office before Dwight finally mercy kills it.)

8. Celebrating little moments with me (Dan and Bethy's birthday, Father's Day, etc.)

You complete me.

Christen

The "fleeting moment" list

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: List of Photos

Summer is almost over. Where did it go? I'm going to write an "I'm-going-to-miss-you, summer" list later. When I was searching around Etsy today, I found these amazing photos by Courtneyhood that seemed to fit my "goodbye summer" mood.




Don't these dreamy photos capture fleeting moments so perfectly? Go see Courtneyhood on Etsy to check out her other amazing photos. A big thank you to Courtney for letting me decorate my lowly blog blog with her incredible work!

Just do it #3: Cook full dinner for eight

I was inspired to try this "Just do it" challenge by the gourmet dishes from the Julie and Julia movie. Each dish, with the exception of Julie's swampy, over-cooked beef bourguignon, looked divine! I've got to say that I love eating fancy, borderline pretentious food. Artful swirls of sauce decorating plate? Let me embarrass Dan by snapping a picture! French food with names I can't pronounce? Ooh, la la! A dish arranged so that it has more height than a hat worn when visiting the Queen? Yes, please!

When doing this challenge, though, I knew there was one rule for cooking while on beach vacation:

No fussy food allowed.

I mean, during vacation, my family comes to the dinner table slightly buzzed and with sandy feet, so I knew that for my full meal (appetizer, drink, meal, dessert) challenge would have to be casual. So, without further ado, here is my beach appropriate full meal:

The Appetizer: Chips with homemade black bean and mango salsa


This homemade mango and black bean salsa is my version of crack. I make it four or five times a summer, sometimes devouring an entire bowl of it for lunch and then finishing it with a spoon when I run out of chips. It's that good. My sister loves it so much too that she made me promise to make it during our beach trip. Verdict: casual, fresh appetizer!

The drink: White peach sangria
My sister and I still like those uber-sweet drinks that every girl sucks down during her freshman year of college, so we loved this recipe. Add Riesling, peach schnapps, slices of peaches, strawberries, mango, a bit of sugar, and garnish with a strawberry (or better yet, a mini umbrella.)


The meal: Butter, fiery shrimp with lemon, French bread, salad, corn on the cob
I'm still sweating butter a week after eating this meal. The shrimp recipe called for four sticks. This is a great meal for vacay because having to peel your own shrimp paces the meal nicely. We talked for over two hours while peeling the shrimp and dunking the already buttered bread into the sinfully buttery, spicy shrimp sauce and nibbling on the corn. (After coating said corn in butter.)
The dessert: Profiteroles with scoops of coffee and vanilla Haagan Daaz, dark chocolate sauce, and strawberries
In case you've never had these before, profiteroles are basically fancy eclairs sans the filling. I admit that any dessert that I have to define is breaking my initial rule: "No fussy food at the beach." These homemade profiteroles are decidedly prissy. They would definitely wear high heels and red lipstick just to go errand shopping, and I can imagine them turning up their flaky, pastry noses up at the generic ice cream cakes sold at Dairy Queen. Still, a little pretention never hurt anyone, and no one from my family was complaining!
This dessert was actually the trickiest of everything I made because I had to time the profiteroles perfectly so they would be airy. If you try this, simply bake the profiteroles, cool, slice in half, put ice cream in middle, and top.

My sous chef/ hubby enjoying his profiterole:

Verdict: I may never master the art of French cooking, but I damn sure mastered the art of beach cooking! :)

For my next "just do it" challenge, I'm going to do a random act of kindness or charity. After a week of hedonism (floating in pool for hours, impromptu water volleyball games, ice cream for breakfast, it's-five-o-clock-somewhere mantras), I want to do a little giving back.

The secrets list

Secrets, secrets are such fun!This secret and illustrated card are courtesy of Post Secret.

How can you not want to read a juicy secret like the above one?!

Since I'm on vacation right now and can sleep in as long as I want tomorrow, I've been doing a bit of late night Internet searching and checked out a website called Post Secret that a friend had told me about. Basically, it's a blog (and series of books) where anonymous people write down a secret on an illustrated post card to post to the world. I wasn't crazy about all of the secrets I read. If you go to the website, you'll see that some are pretty disturbing. I did, however, chuckle or empathize with several of them, and thought, What a great list idea!

My List of Secrets:

1. I'm scared that some day dinner at T.G.I. Friday's will be my idea of an amazing date night.
2. The biggest reason I want a dog? I love how freakin' excited they are when you come home!
3. Sometimes I peak at the ending of a book. And then get mad at myself.
4. I want to win teacher-of-the-month to feel validated for the hard work I put in (and because I want to win the handful of gift cards.)
5. I think about what kind of mother I will be whenever I talk with my fellow mommy friends.
6. Going along with #5: I constantly wonder how I will know when it is time to try for a baby.
7. I tried to finish an easy level Soduko puzzle with Dan on a recent plane flight. We gave up.
8. I've become a bit obsessive about wearing sunscreen now because I'm trying to reverse the minor tanning bed damage I did in college. I also love fake tanning lotions.
9. I love writing posts on this blog and am so grateful for those who actually read them. :)
10. I sometimes compare my blog to others that are absolutely brilliant, that are funny, and that have a hundred followers. Then I wish my blog was more brilliant, funny, and followed.
11. I like reading celeb magazines because it's refreshing to judge without any guilt.

Hope you enjoyed my little secrets! Here's another one from Post Secret you might like:

On my next post, I'll let you know about my "Just do it #3: Cook a full meal for eight".

The "I-need-endorphins" list

Get ready for a very word Wednesday...

I need a drink. Okay, well it's not that bad, but I at least need to look at a few fun photos from a recent trip because this whole Blogger situation is ticking me off!

Here's a little ditty I put together tonight to the tune of "My favorite things":

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply bitch about my missing follower list
and then I don't feel so bad

Or something like that. Well, I went on the help forum, and I am definitely not the only one who is missing her follower updates. There were some pretty annoyed- panicked- manic- crazy- homicidal posts on those boards. Worse yet, none of us can click "follow" on new or old blogs at all.

What does this all mean? No updates for this girl for a while. I kind of feel like my blog is a tiny, disconnected island, but hopefully Blogger will send a search plane out soon and find my marooned follower list.

Now, usually on Wednesdays, I simply post one or two artsy pictures. Because I'm in need of some serious endorphins, I'm posting a few favorite pics from my recent visit with one of my closest friends and her hubby in Boston. Hope you enjoy too!

Dan and I sucking at Guitar Hero. Yes, the virtual audiences kept booing us off stage:

Dancing divas:

Camera at arm's length capturing a night of clubbing, which I hadn't done in fooorrevver.
Toasting after Samuel Adams tour:

Cheers to feeling a little better already! :)
xo,
Christen

Just do it #2: Go to a movie by myself

(Image via here)

Anyone out there ever seen that episode of Sex and the City where Carrie goes to see a romantic French film by herself on "date night", sighing contentedly with only her box of Whoppers to keep her company?

I remember thinking to myself, I could never do that.

It's not that I have to have constant company to feel happy. It's just that I don't particularly want to have other people see me hanging out by myself, especially at a place where people are coupled up or with their posse.

There are certain situations where people can "go it alone" without being judged. Widowed octogenarians can go to the ballet by themselves. Traveling businessmen can opt for a sit-down dinner for one. But a twenty-eight year old alone to a movie... well, that just seems kind of odd. I felt like strangers would make assumptions about me that were not true, or worse, that I would run into a friend who would ask me, "So, who are you here with?"

Still, I posed this as my next "Just do it" challenge because I had seen it on so many other lists, so I thought I would give it a whirl. I didn't want to go alone to just any movie. Instead, I decided there needed to be a reason why I was going by myself. Then, I came up with this list of seven reasons about why Julie and Julia would be the perfect movie to see alone:

1. My closest friends were out of town on vacations. (Lucky bi-atches.)

2. Dan declared after seeing the preview that he would rather have a root canal without anesthesia than be dragged to a showing.

3. I didn't want to press my luck anyway because he had just gone to 500 Days of Summer with me the previous week. (Loved it, by the way. How sweet is that 3rd Rock from Sun guy?)

4. My mom and sister were both too busy.

5. It wasn't a shoot-'em-up movie where I would want to bury my head in Dan's shoulder.

6. It wouldn't have a complex plot I would be dying to talk about afterwards.

7. I didn't want Dan's good-natured jabs about how my idea of cooking is heating up a Lean Cuisine.

So, folks, yesterday my box of Junior Mints and I went to the matinee of Julie and Julia. At first, I was a bit of a nervous wreck. I kept rehearsing what I would say if I saw somebody I knew. Would I claim that a friend was going to meet me and that I had just come early to save us seats? Would I say that Dan was in the bathroom? Or would I be honest and tell them the long, drawn-out explanation that I have a blog called La Vida Lista, and one of my lists is about "Just do it" challenges, and the most recent one is about going to the movies by myself, and yes, I do have friends, and yes, Dan is doing great, he just didn't want to come to this particular movie, it was nice to run into you, thanks for the offer for me to sit by you guys but I'm honestly fine by myself because that's what this challenge is all about, no, really, I'm fine, so just back off, nosy-ass!

I'll save you all the suspense: I didn't run into anyone I knew.

After I stopped scouring the rows, I relaxed and really enjoyed myself. I love that the movie is about a woman who becomes a famous writer through through creating a blog! I mean, if twenty-eight year old Julie Powell can boil a writhing lobster, cook 524 elaborate French dishes in one year, and still write hilarious blog entries about all of it, then maybe there's hope for all us slacker bloggers out here. I know ya'll love blogging as much as I do, so my advice to you is to see this movie and read The Julie/Julia Project if you want to feel inspired. If nothing else, the movie got me to give Panera Bread a rest and actually cook a decent meal this week.

Verdict of going to movie by myself: Success! I already feel a little braver than yesterday. Honestly, I don't think I'll do this again, though. I love wrestling with Dan for the arm rest, and sighing over girly movies with friends. It was definitely a good one-time challenge.

My next "Just do it" challenge: Cook a delicious meal for eight during my beach vacation. I'm going to do the works: a cocktail, appetizer, main dish, side dishes, and cap it all off with a dessert that is almost too pretty to eat.

Told you I was inspired!

Life itself is the proper binge.
- Julia Child

"Just do it" #1: Serve Dan breakfast in bed

Why choose breakfast in bed as my first "just do it" challenge?

Because my husband truly deserved some stop-your-heart-buttery French toast!

If you read my previous post about going my grandma's house in Massachusetts, then you already know why he deserves this. If not, let me quickly fill you in:

My grandma is a health nut. I don't mean that she simply eats larger servings of veggies. Rather, she's made eating healthy a full-out obsession. She scrapes the cheese off pizza slices. When she does cook her sugar free desserts, she substitutes apple sauce for oil. So when she reached for diet bread, Egg Beaters, and sugar free syrup to make French toast during our latest visit, I knew it was going to suck. And, oh boy, did it. But even though it was mushier than a Lifetime movie, Dan was sweet enough to choke it down and to compliment my beloved g-ma's cooking several times.

Like I said before, the man definitely deserved to be served breakfast.

I've always held back from the whole breakfast-in-bed idea because: A.) I always sleep later than Dan. And I do mean always. and B.) I'm kind of skeeved out about getting crumbs and mushy bits of egg on our sheets. Because I had already made it my first "just do it" challenge, I decided I would stifle my urge to hit snooze and my fear of greasy fingers to actually make it happen. I'm so glad I did!

I somehow set a mental alarm to wake up earlier than him and fried up the vanilla French toast. It was fun to fuss over arranging the tray and the vase of leaves. Martha would be proud. Dan was sleepy but ecstatic when I came into the room with the tray, and he kept gushing, "You're-the- best- how- thanks- hon- did- I- get- so- lucky- best- French- toast- ever!"

(I think he was trying to butter me up to ensure future surprise breakfasts.)



I've got to say that I really loved it, too. There is something deliciously cozy about snuggling under the sheets while chatting over breakfast, especially given the fact that we somehow managed to keep the sheets free of butter smudges.

Verdict: Just Do It #1 was a success!

For my next "just do it" challenge, I'm going to try to go to a movie by myself. I read this on several other people's to do lists, and I think it's an interesting one to try. I'll keep you all posted.

The "Getting listy with it" list

I love lists.

* I love books about lists. *
* I love when magazines publish stories like, "30 things to do before turning 30" and "101 places to see before you die" and "15 ways to be greener" *
* I am dying to see Julie and Julia, because the author cooks her way through an entire recipe book, a mammoth list of 524 dishes.*
* I think there is something incredibly intimate about reading a blog with someone's life "to do" list, and I feel a hiccup of satisfaction when I see that a person has checked off an item.*
* I like how tidy lists are.*
* I think Dave's Top Ten Lists are hilarious.*
* I have a bunch of ideas of lists to post here on La Vida Lista. *


But you already know all this, so I'll stop before the theme of this blog gets too annoying.

For a gal who started this blog with a rather large "to do" list, not much has gotten done around here. I actually have to blame the list for this. Because there are so many items crowding one another out, it never seems like the time to start that herb garden or to take that trip. Instead, the list seems kind of daunting, and some of the items are so everyday (ahem.. "create a file system") that, well, I'm too bored to even start, especially when I've been soaking in summer. Where's the sense of adventure? Where are the great ideas for blog posts?

So, I have a new tactic to get myself to try new things and accomplish items that have been simmering on the metaphorical back burner for way too long now: I'm throwing the list out.

Instead, I'm borrowing the format I saw on the oh-so-lovely blog Keeping Her Cool and my cool friend Laura's Strand Family Adventures. Every month or more, I will have a post called "Just do it!" where I will accomplish one new, scary, fun, helpful, charitable, kind, intellectual, spiritual, or romantic feat that I have wanted to try.

The Rules:

1. Must post what I'm going to accomplish ahead of time on my blog in order to hold me to it
2. Must be interesting enough to write about (sayonara to the item about buying a new fridge)
3. Must be something that makes me slightly uncomfortable or take some work
4. Must finish one item a month, although I can do more if I'm really kicking ass.
5. Must write about the experience, even if I fail or don't even try it. (One of the most interesting posts on Keeping Her Cool was about how she didn't try riding a mechanical bull, even though she had intended to.)
6. Does not have to be on original list

Thanks for reading. Oh, by the way, I really like you if you got my lame-o pun of the Will Smith rap (see title.)

For my first "Just do it" challenge, we'll start with something small and sweet:

Make breakfast in bed for Dan.

The "lessons from family vacation" list

To grandmother's house we go...

Dearest husband,

Here's a blog shout-out just for you:

Thanks for being so unbelievable while surviving our three day visit in Massachusetts with my two grand-mothers and entire extended family! I am more in love with you now, having seen you endured a conversation with my ancient Aunt Jean about her hernias, then ever before.

It's true what your mom says... you really can talk to anyone about anything.

Let's recap on a few things you've learned about my family:

1. There is NO nookie at Grandma's house. Ever.

See below for Grandma's guest bedroom, the opposite of "sexy".

2. I have fourteen first cousins. They are funny, friendly, and say the word "wicked" to describe everything from food ("Lenny's pizza is wicked good") to the weather ("it's been wicked rainy").

3. My grandmother loves pink and blue.

I'm not kidding...4. The best t.v. you can hope to watch: a static-filled version of some 80's cop show on a television older than either of us. And Internet? Forget about it!

5. On any given visit, you will listen to so many TMI topics, including constipation, hysterectomies, and enemas, while eating Grandma's sugar-salt-fat-taste free, low calorie food (there's a reason she still looks pretty great!)

While we're on the subject, thanks for pretending to like her diet bread and sugar-free syrup French toast. I promise that I'll make it up to you...

What I learned about you during this visit:

1. You can charm anyone, from listening about Fluffy and her medical ailments to chatting to my middle school cousins about football.

2. You unconsciously adopt a slightly Northern accent when talking to my cousins. "Cahr" rather than "car"?? You were born in Tennessee, for pete's sake!

3. I am one "wicked" lucky girl for having married you.

Love always,

Christen