Napping & Other Bandits of Time.

What up bloggies! Sorry I’ve been so m.i.a. this week. I have some excuses prepared! The truth is, it’s not that I’m (purposely) neglecting the blog world. It’s just that I’m a busy, busy college student with a grueling schedule. For elaboration on my school’s weirdo philosophy, see here. I have definitely stretched myself thin this semester. Oy! So in my free time, this what I can be found doing:

• Napping, napping, napping! I can’t seem to get to bed until after midnight nowadays, and since I teach at a high school in the early mornings (which requires getting up at 6:45), I seem to be always in need of more sleep. This is especially essential before rugby practices.
  

  The essentials for the walk: scarf, iPod, greek yogurt.

• Smiling over random happenings in my day, like getting a text from my roommate Dicky saying, “Erica thank you so much. Your salad is soooo good” (I didn’t take a picture, but I layered spinach, roasted brussels sprouts, black beans, corn/peas/carrots, & avocado. He was skeptical, but ended up loving it.) In return, this Taiwanese boy taught me the proper technique for making pancakes, which I was totally unaware of (you have to wait for the bubbles to stop bubbling? really? It’s a testament to the instant-gratification culture of the USA, really, that me, this American girl who should be able to make pancakes like it’s her job, had been too impatient to wait for them to fully cook before flipping.)
• 

  Spinach with roasted brussels sprouts and nutritional yeast.

  •  Attempting to fit “legit” cooking into my life. I can’t remember the last time I actually planned out a dinner! Usually I’ll just sautee lots of veggies, add some protein, nutritional yeast or goat cheese, and put it on a huge pile of spinach. Or I just use my dining dollars and eat the yummy (most of the time) food my school has to offer.
• Reveling in life’s funny coincidences. I discovered that a male acquaintance of mine will be living in the house next to me next school year! I can’t remember if this before or after we made out. Regardless, I’m thrilled about it.
• Socializing with the guests that appear in my 6-person apartment. It does wonders for expanding my circle of friends! (see above. hehe!)

• 

  Rachel just wrote an article on the best music for getting it on. Coincidentally, much of that music is what we play in our apartment on a regular basis.

• 

  Im so glad my college doesnt have high standards for showering, or my post-rugby stench might be considered rude.

• Chatting with far-away friends about our crazy iives, and how we survive them. Sample quote from me: “I can’t believe he abandoned you during your first rave on ectasy! He should have stayed in a jail a little bit longer.”

• 

  Miss you! Dont do anything stupid.

• Playing rugby, loving my ruggers, and simultaneously being reminded of just how dangerous the sport is. Our team has just been rocked by the recent death of the University of Texas Women’s Rugby captain. It’s a shocking wake-up call for college rugby, and especially for our team since some of our players were playing when that injury occurred.

• 

  Looks epic, but that is me making a not-so-low (aka not-so-safe) tackle two years ago, when I was a rookie rugger!

Then again, the danger is what makes the rugby bond so strong.

Luckily, all I usually get are bruises.

•  Listening to the Smokey Robinson channel on Pandora Radio. It’ll turn your frown upside-down and heal your soul.
• Oh, and eating! Yes. How could i forget?

Salad with mixed greens, roasted brussels sprouts, black beans, & nutritional yeast.

Brown-speckled banana, just the way I like them.

Vegan sampler of salad & lentils!

Breaking the vegan streak with yogurt.

Did I devour that already? Oops. It was yummy.

A Mocha Blast from the school coffee shop. Note the cute eco-friendly cups! Theyre compostable.

You knew it was only a matter of time! Green monster smoothie with spinach, orange, vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, & coconut on top!

More salad. How lovely these brussels sprouts look!

Plain greek yogurt with cinnamon & a pear.

Yellow cake ice cream. Nom nom!!

Well that’s all I’ve got for now.My weekend is sure to be full of paper-writing, partying, & rugby playing; I’m hoping for sunshine to accompany them all!

Questions:

Do you like the rain?

We got a thunderstorm the other night, and it was so refreshing because it NEVER rains in Colorado!

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten lately?

My college’s dining hall has started serving gluten-free pancakes at its midnight breakfasts, so even the gluten-free drunk kids can get their drunchies on! They’re actually quite tasty, and I enjoyed some last night. Clarification: Not drunk. 🙂

Free-soloing.

Maybe it’s because Colorado is experiencing some freakish weather right now.

Maybe it’s because I’m ashamed that I haven’t learned to rock climb yet.

Maybe it’s because I climbed the mountain in this video too long ago (not even 2 years!) and that was without being on the constant verge of a 1000 ft vertical drop.

For whatever reason, I’m obsessed with this gem of a clip about a female rock climber named Steph Davis. I think I’ve played it at least 10 times now:

Watch it. You’ll get dizzy, but it’ll be great. Trust me.

The Youtube channel it’s on is chock full of amazing feats of outdoor adventurers. I think it was just what I needed for a little kick in the butt to start the week!

On this manic Monday, I started with the (really) lazy girl’s version of overnight oats: about-an-hour oats 🙂

1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/3 cup soy milk, cinnamon, apples

Meaning that I mixed these together, walked to my hour of student teaching at the high school, and then devoured them on the way back to campus. Not too shabby!

But as I arrived on campus, my mind (body? same thing) realized how early I had gotten up, and wanted caffeine.

I’ll say one thing: coffee is a powerful, powerful force.

Looks gigantic, but it just fits a "tall" size.

I stayed awake through class, but my heart would.not.stop.thumping afterwards. Can’t complain, though; I wasn’t really hungry, so I got ahead on some of the night’s reading and ended up munching a red bell pepper for lunch:

Strangely enough, it was enough!

Know what else is a powerful thing? Planning ahead. I knew I’d be starving after ballet and gym, so I pressed and marinated a block of tofu in balsamic vinegar & garlic powder before I left, popped the pieces in a 375 degree oven when I got home at 5:15, and took them out in time for 6:00 dance rehearsal in the form of a beautiful, fulfilling salad.

Complete with nutritional yeast, sauteed onions, and spinach.

Mmmm, portable goodness.

Now my reading’s all done, and it’s not even 9 pm yet. I could get used to this 😉

It’s no free-soloing the Diamond face of Longs Peak, but it’s been a day of achievement.

What are you proud of doing today?

Absolutely

Absolutely.

It’s a word that, in my opinion, is underused in the English language.

It’s as if by using a more passive word, like “sure,” we’re letting ourselves off the hook in whatever we’re agreeing to.

“Sure, I’ll throw a birthday party at my place.” How lame is that?! When you have my approval, I want you to know it, and you will!

So, absolutely, I will host a 21st birthday party at my place this time around.

Absolutely, I will clean up all the beer cans and odd table arrangements scattered around my apartment.

Absolutely, I will look for your hat… 1) on my floor 2) on the field where we lit sparklers at midnight.

Absolutely, I will never eat sausage & pepperoni pizza in sketchy bar again, no matter how starving I am and no matter how much money nice older men contribute to our bar tab.

(Absolutely nothing has made my stomach feel good today; and I didn’t even drink last night!)

I absolutely love birthdays, and my wonderful friends who have them.

But I absolutely need a detox (again).

I’m absolutely hoping that next Sunday I will not, for once, have another 21st birthday party to attend.

I am absolutely hoping to feast on yogurt tomorrow morning.

I absolutely will forgive my roommate for devouring my leftover squid & octopus (though not without difficulty).

And I absolutely cannot wait for winter to be over.

Fill in the blank: I absolutely_________.

Make it weird! Teehee. Have a wonderful Tuesday!

You’re Looking Lovely Today

Yes, Pikes Peak, but you always look lovely. That compliment was for the readers…and me.

Who’s glad it’s Saturday? Personally, I slept until 10, then went on a sunny run and did yoga in the grass. I’m so grateful that Colorado Springs didn’t get a huge dump of snow, like the rest of the country! Having 300 days of sunshine a year makes for tolerable winters.

While I’ve enjoyed taking my breakfasts to go this week:

overnight oats! 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/3 milk, apple

last bit of yogurt, banana, apple-bluberry granolaI love that there’s no shame in bringing your breakfast to class, especially in the original container of one of its components.

It’s sustainable and portable! Teehee!

I’ve also been mooching off my friends with a real meal plan to get into the dining hall for long, drawn out reunions in the form of meals, often nearing 2 hours in length and resulting in reprimands from the staff.

It’s not my fault that I love my friends, need vegetables, and am super thrilled with the increase of tofu dishes!

salad, bbq tofu, and barley salad. along with some tasty agua fresca!

Even the geese are looking lovely. Since when did they become domesticated around my campus?!

Like any other college campus, we’ve always had our share of crazy squirrels, but this is a first.

I should not be this close to you, goose.

I’ve also been having fun in class middle school, especially when things get slow in last period and I pull out my camera…

Those are some of the cool kids. They love me.

Yesterday, an 8th grade girl informed me that all the 8th grade boys have been admiring my butt.

Silly boys. If they think my butt is big, they obviously haven’t seen much of the world 😉

But even without those undeserved naive compliments, everything is looking so lovely.

All the time.

Happy Saturday!

What’s the snow like where you are?

Love, in one form or another.

Kate at What Kate is Cooking gave me a Stylish Blogger Award a couple days back! Gracias, Kate!

There are 4 duties to perform to accept this award:

1.  Make a post + Link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2.  Share 7 things about yourself.
3.  Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4.  Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won!

(I’m really late on this because college life has consumed me, so would y’all mind if I skipped the inevitable twice-awarding of this? I’ll make it up to you!)

Seven Things About Me

1. Highlight of my today: A student was shouting “What it do!” over and over in class, so after a few reps, I responded with “What it do, what it is!” He broke into a grin and worked diligently for the rest of class.
2. I’m a religion major with no religion I consider myself much more spiritual, and I’m not much into ritual except if you count yoga! I just love learning about different ways of looking at the world and mixing them into my own custom philosophy. Oh, and I love collecting religious pendants for necklaces (My favorite one to wear is my Hindi ohm symbol)
3. I walk with swagger when I’m at the gym because I’m often listening to my “Bitches N Hoes” playlist, which includes inappropriate classics like What’s Your Fantasy by Ludacris.
4. Though I love everything to do with peace and harmony, I’ve discovered that violence through playing rugby is essential to my sanity.
5. My favorite book is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, but I know in my heart that I should take a class on it, because I’ve probably missed a lot of important themes!
6. After a night of debauchery, there is nothing better than a carb-heavy breakfast with friends. I swear, those are the only times where I crave a bagel.
7. When (or if) I enter a formal line of work, I will never wear dress slacks. Pencil skirts all day everyday

Merci, Katie! I’ll spread the love later.

I’ve had the pleasure of eating at the dining hall (on other people’s money) twice today! Lucky me, I ate so much spinach and salad bar veggies today! I’ll go grocery shopping…uh, soon…for now I’ve been fishing out of the apartment fridge.

I braved the 7 AM cold to run a quick mile on the track outside, then went through the motions to get to class middle school!

Photography in my apartment kitchen is kind of a bad idea. Outside it is!

Bfast: vanilla yogurt, apple-blueberry granola, bananaPacked lunch/afternoon snack: apple & peanut butter sandwich, more apple

P.s. Are you jealous of my cunocoon? I love it.

And I call it that because that’s what my friend termed it when I first bought it! Weird how that has stuck with me, but “spork” just doesn’t have the same novelty.

Middle school today had one conclusion for me: these kids are full of looooove, in some way or another.

Doodles are only the beginning. You should see the way these kids’ legs are intertwined under the desk!

I narrowly avoided a hug from a male student, and quickly compromised with a fist pump.

One kid apologized for being rude to me yesterday.

I had a heart-to-heart with a boy waxing about the past, when he was “afraid of girls.”

I heard a girl refer to her friendship bracelet charms as “wings so we can fly together, doves for true peace, and a heart to fit in all the love we have.”

This is why I love middle schoolers. The emotions are raging, hardcore.

I’m excited for another 9 AM-4 PM day at school tomorrow. Bring it, Mrs. Brown! I’m curing my overdose of Lewis & Clark exposure by watching silly videos with the roomates.

Question: Did you have a lot of feelings when you were in middle school? I certainly had my troubles with fitting in and crushes, but I was still a very happy kid.

The Horror!

Ask anyone: I am very inexperienced when it comes to movies.

There are so many films I know I need to see, but just haven’t gotten around to. This embarassing list includes: the Star Wars trilogy, Fight Club, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Lawrence of Arabia…and many more that I’m not even aware of.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that I had never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

(source)
One of my best friends is a theatre major at the University of Rhode Island, and they did a live show of Rocky Horror this December. Even though she was manning the lightboard, not performing on stage for this one, I’m NEVER home when she’s at school, so I was psyched to see ANY show of hers!

My research (through Youtube) tells me that I’m lucky to have seen the live show first, because I LOVED the costumes in the URI production and not so much in the movie scenes! The music was ok, but what I really loved about Rocky Horror is the outofcontrolsexy vibe. It’s crazy! It’s insanely provocative! And it’s amazing.

I prefer ripped fishnets and corsets to glittery tuxedos any day. This is URI’s cast:

I love how Rhode Island is less than an hour from my house in Connecticut, but hate that New England has been cursed with such crappy weather the last few days (month??). Rather than return to the battle with the rain on I-95, one of my other besties and I decided to get some Indian for dinner.

Per usual, I couldn’t get a good picture with the lighting.

But I had a sweet (ahem, SPICY) reunion with curry that definitely helped to clear out my sinuses. I got the madras curry with shrimp (they were blackened– exactly how I loooove them) which I mixed with rice. I was also handed some fried potato balls, but can’t remember the name. I think the name starts with K. Anyone? I also enjoyed a coconut lassi! I’ve had the mango variety before; it’s an Indian drink with a yogurt base, mixed with spices. Not too heavy or sweet, and incredibly delicious. There was even curry to take home! My stomach (and my wallet) were very happy.

Wendy had the mango curry with chicken, which turned out to be green. Was it spinach in there? We forgot to sample each other’s because we were too busy talking. We could have gone on forever, but she had exams the next day and we both had a long drive home.  Not horrible; she’ll be home this weekend anyway.

And then I arrived home to find my sister with her new (first!) boyfriend, who is polite, athletic, and witty. Now that’s the opposite of horror!

So cheers to new discoveries! I leave you with a glass of Emergen-C, and it’s half full.

(Though I have no use for most of its organizational/homecare tips yet, I love Real Simple, if only for the inspirational covers!)