Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Easter Weekend...

I wound up having an amazing time on Sunday with the dad's side of my family! It was the best ever, and every time I visit them I realize how lucky I am to have been born into such a great family. I really, REALLY lucked out. :) They're so great! I can't wait for the summer, I'll have my car and will be able to visit them much more frequently (yaay Poconos & Wildwood).

So, on the way to NJ I stopped in Park Slope to fetch my sister...she wasn't ready when I got there so I brought the salad up to pop in her fridge. I wound up forgetting it there, which was pretty crappy. I ended up unloading a bunch of it onto my sister & others (this salad was seriously like 15lb of produce), since I wouldn't have been able to finish it all before it went bad.

Math exam grading is about halfway over...gaaaaaah! There's nothing more soulless than being cramped in a classroom grading standardized tests with 10 other people in the first few days of spring. Oooooooh how I want to be outside. This weekend is going to be crap: 8 hours Saturday, 8 hours Sunday. Ew.

Oh well. I'm going to buy a billion pounds of goji berries with the $392837492834 I earn from all these extra hours. :)

Astelin!

Hm. I was walking through the grocery store today and heard an advertisement for Astelin.

Pharmaceutical companies are obviously hard at work making up ridiculous diseases and even more absurd methods of treating them. Um, not an expert, but hydrochloride seems frighteningly similar to "hydrochloric acid." Yes, thats it...we'll treat your runny nose and sensitivity to chemicals by searing the tissues inside of your nose!

These assholes are taking what is a normal (and healthy) bodily reaction to irritants (their list includes perfume, cigarette smoke, air pollution, CLEANING PRODUCTS, and air fresheners), and classify it as "nonseasonal rhinitis." Then they push a poisonous concotion to "treat" your "symptoms." Wait, we know this story already. And PS, you have to pay for it.


http://www.astelin.com/

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Hm...it seems that no sooner than I was celebrating the end of the NYS Math Test, an additional 32 hours of my week got sucked up for grading...luckily it will be over on April 3. At $9823498345/hour, I'm not necessarily complaining...but it would be nice to have time to blog and exercise and sleep and breathe. :)


My sister & I are driving down to New Jersey to visit our extended family for the Easter weekend. I'm really excited, but also a little amused at how drastically different the food around me will be this weekend, compared to last (Garam Masala). I'm bringing a GIANT salad (the biggest biggest salad bowl I own, completely stuffed), with 2 heads of red leaf lettuce, 1 head of green leaf lettuce, sprouts, red peppers, a ton of kirby cucumbers, and vine ripened tomatoes. I tossed it in EVOO, lemon, salt & pepper. Yum.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

@!%&*#

...Woah!

My weekend in the Poconos can only be described as unbelievable. I never imagined that I'd grow so close to 20+ people in the matter of 2.5 days. I don't know if any description I could provide would do the retreat any justice. We laughed, we fell still, we brought sexy back.

The personal growth I experienced over the weekend was remarkable...listening to the experiences of so many raw-fooders of all kinds and discussing with them their challenges and triumphs was like a gift from the Universe.

The overwhelming amount of information and insight brought to the table by Anthony, Drew, and Philip was astounding. The retreat absolutely blew my expectations out of the water.

The food was incredible (another understatement). Everything was gourmet, organic, and freshly prepared with love. The tables seemed to constantly be peppered with Sarma's delicious creations (oneluckyduck.com). Oh, and 20 pints of raw vegan gourmet ice cream from pure juice & takeaway? Yes.

Everyone was so warm and authentic, and the chateau was unlike anything I'd ever seen before.

Fortunately, its all been documented in the form of videos, pictures, and MP3 which will surely be popping up all over internet-land (specifically GITMR), that I can't wait to check out myself. I left totally refreshed mentally, physically, and spiritually. My arms hurt from hugging people this morning!


So, I'm completely blown away. Getting back to reality hasn't been easy so far but I'm working on adjusting my perspective. I'm going to see how long I can go without reading a magazine or watching television with my roommate... :) I really want to stay in my blissful raw-vegan bubble.

Also, my new schedule makes my health a priority -- going to bed at 8:00 or 9:00, waking up early enough (5:00 AM) for a run, morning juicing & smoothie'ing it up, etc. etc. Here's to time management and mental health! After today's super early rising, I'm ready for bed right about now. :)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Cheers!


Ah. Here's to the state math test nightmare FINALLY being over. The past month or so feels like it has been the most stressful of my life. I've spent the past three weeks catching up ALL of my students (special & general ed) to the state prescribed curriculum and its been absolutely miserable prepping and training them for this damn test. Its finally over and now we can spend the next few months doing projects & having good times. Also, I can get back to blogging on a regular basis. Woo!

I still have a ridiculous amount of grading to do, and lesson planning is out of control after the March test since we don't really have a solid pacing schedule/guide.



Tonight I made creamy, delicious sesame seed milk for the first time since the end of my juice feast. It tastes incredible and is so super easy to make...

Sesame Seed Milk
32oz cold filtered water
1/2 cup unhulled brown sesame seeds
2oz honey


Oooooh, and I'm heading up to the Poconos for the weekend with all the sexy raw foodies and I can't wait!