Speech!

Had a small assembly at school for the girls about beauty and confidence.

It could've gone better. Next time, we'll know. Now, I don't have a great stage presence and I got so nervous that I skipped over information and almost cried at the end. But the reception I was given was that I was a "better" speaker than the counselor. We had 20 minutes to do our thing and I had 3 other people who wanted to talk, and the counselor just kept going on about nothing and monopolized it. Next year, it'll be better.

Picture Time!!!

I did something called "A Day in My Life." Took pictures throughout the day on March 12. We traveled from home to hometown, went to a local carnival and ate sushi. Enjoy.

Yes, this is my foot.

A ton of pictures after the jump!

Mardi Gras is Tuesady... uh, duh.

I come from a land that is very close to Louisiana - in location and culture. Moving pulled us away from that and I aim to teach about Mardi Gras to my foods classes. I always strive to teach about food relating to holiday traditions. Second to Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras is a big food holiday telling celebrators to fatten up for the Lent season. Now, I'm not a religious person but there was research to be done. And boy did I - mostly to pack in as much information as possible int my students' brains. I also went beyond Mardi Gras to Lent and Easter. Getting ready for the egg holiday!!!

They're (my students) making jambalaya and king cake tomorrow. Yes, on a Monday - the powers that be snaked Fat Tuesday away from me for more important business - state standardized test benchmarking... "practice and placement" for the real thing, come April. I'll be making it on Tuesday. Am I doing it to Fatten Up? Hell no. I like connecting to my roots through food. Come spring break, I'll be doing a bit more of that. Sensible portion sizes, of course.

Menu Plan Monday - options for the week

• Jambalaya and King Cake (recipies after the jump)
• Pulled pork (for several meals - nachos, bbq sandwiches)
• Some other pork meal (16 lb pork shoulder for 2 people, yamahama!)- Conchinita Pibil
• Then the standard standbys: Pizza and leftovers.

http://orgjunkie.com/2011/03/menu-plan-monday-march-7th.html

  Mardi Gras Recipes after the cut!!!

2 pounds down?

I haven't really been trying with the fitness stuff until recently. There's a fitness challenge at work. The person who loses the most percentage of body weight wins money. People who gain, add a dollar per pound to the winning pot. Good news is that I've fluctuated between maintaining and dropping. Ideally, I'd like to lose 20 pounds. People who know me ask where that 20 is. I hide it well. Baggy clothes and hoodies do the trick I'm tellin' ya. Then they complain that I'm so little. Here's the catch... I am stupid-short and am too bootyliscious for my height. Then it boils down to feeling better.

We've gotten some workout dvds and have been doing pretty good with working out. I've decided to step it up though. Workout every night. Or at least try to. I walk/jogged about 2 miles around my apartment complex tonight. Then we're doing P90X carb fitness video.

I don't drink sodas much anymore. I need to quit the Koolaid thought. That'd help for sure. I know it would help out even more if I added fruit to my diet. And vegetables. Okay. Fine. It'd help if I added protein too. Yes, I'm a carb whore.

Here's to TWO POUNDS DOWN!