Paella

Just over two years ago, my sister-in-law and I shared the most amazing meal. We had fresh Paella on the beach in Mexico. Since then I have dreamed of such a delicious mixture of rice, spices, and seafood. This year, my brother-in-law bought me a Paella pan for my birthday, and so tonight we christened it and tried our hand at this traditional Spanish dish.

This seafood Paella called for clams, calamari (squid), scallops, and shrimp. However, before tonight I'd never cooked ANY of those things. Live and learn. Watch the 10 second video to see what happens to clams when you cook them in a tantalizing combination of tomato, onion, garlic, and seafood broth...

The finished product was worth the work! (It was even worth the most expensive spice I've ever purchased--saffron!). We've got some ideas to try next time, but I was so pleased with this dish! In case you want to try it, I used this recipe.

Early Risers

What time does your alarm go off in the morning? Are you the kind of person that purposefully sets your alarm a half hour early so that you can keep hitting the snooze button? Or are you like me, and set your alarm at the minute you need to wake up so that you can get every bit of uninterrupted sleep possible?

And what is your morning routine like? Do you rush around the house getting ready and then jet out the door without so much as breakfast in your belly? Or do you give yourself time to relax, watch the news, or check the blogs? (And if you have kids, how do they change this equation?)

This morning I got up 30 minutes earlier than I needed to. I was out of the shower, had my contacts in and headed to the kitchen to start the coffee at the time my alarm usually goes off. When I went downstairs to get something out of the dryer, I took the time to fold the fresh laundry as it came out instead of shoving it all into a basket to fold this evening (or never...). So far I've had time to do a little reading to try and focus my day, I've popped some muffins in the oven (great recipe I'll share later!), and now I'm writing a blog post!

However, I'm also fighting every fiber of my being to NOT go back into the bedroom and crawl back into my warm bed and go back to sleep. And as efficient as I've been this morning, the sleepiness has caused me to do things like...oh...forget to add water to the coffee pot before I turned it on. Let me tell you--that doesn't work too well.

This morning, I'm not convinced that rising early was worth it...

Bridal Shower!

As I mentioned a few posts back, I recently hosted a bridal shower for my friend Krys! It was so fun because...

A. Who doesn't love showering the bride with gifts?

2. How awesome is it to have a house big enough for a real function?

3rd. Chocolate fountain. Enough said.

The mantel was graced with lovely decorations and favors. (Don't they look great, Beanball? Thanks for your help!!)

And the food. Oh my heavens. No words can describe.

Except maybe the words pound cake, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, cheesecake....

Just a fancy fondue...



But who in this world could resist eating that?!? Not I.


Krys, where'd you go? I can't focus on you for all the presents...

And I'll keep those pictures private. It was a personal shower, after all. Tee hee...

We ate, drank, laughed, played games, and helped prepare our dear friend for a life of wedded bliss. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

Graduated!

This past weekend El Maestro and I drove many hours to return to our Alma Mater--for my sister's graduation! She majored in Cross-Cultural Studies and Peace Studies, so now she's all set to save the world. Soon she'll be moving over to my neck of the woods to work so that she can make some money before she heads off on a year-long volunteer position in Costa Rica!

Congratulations, Em!

What can I say?

My goodness--May has been a terrible month for my blogging! However, I have been doing some important things...which is hard to believe since I haven't documented them here!

Last week I finished my Professional Certification Program! I'm a professional teacher now...Ha ha. It does feel good to have that state requirement out of the way and done with! All the coursework is done, all the papers are signed, all the checks are written...

I also hosted a bridal shower for Krys! It was such a great time...I'll post pictures someday.

Now--to finish May! This week my students are taking the Big State Assessment. They've made so much progress--I hope they can show that on the exam!! Then we've still got two big field trips before the year is out!

I've got two sisters graduating in the next four weeks which means traveling all over the state!

And I still need to decide (quickly!) if I want to plant a garden this year.

All of this random info is just to say that I promise to try and document the fact that I'm alive here on this little blog I call My Life.

Regreso

I'm Baaaaack!

Or maybe you didn't even notice I was gone...

But anyhoo...here I am again!

Sorry for the lull in postings, but I was forced to go to a place where I had to drink this...



And eat this...




And look at this all day.




What a life, huh?

Thanks again, Ma and Pa H!