Weekend Update (Recap)

Anyone see the McCain/Palin (Fey) skit on SNL last night? We were out and about last night volunteering for Stripes-Mizzou's free drunk driving service so we didn't get to watch it until this morning. I didn't think it was so funny, really. Now when Tina Fey played Sarah Palin without the real candidates appearing beside her-that was hilarious! Does anyone else feel like Fey is better on her own?

A week ago, I mentioned that Fi started to volunteer for Stripes. This is a free service Mizzou offers to students where they can call anytime from 10pm-3am Thursday through Saturday and ask for a ride home. As long as they are within the boundaries of Columbia, Stripes will happily go pick their drunk asses up and deposit them at their homes (note: not another bar or happening party, but home). This week, I volunteered with Fi and it worked out nicely. Since I hate to drive, but Fi likes it-I was his "passenger." In other words, I called back to 'home base,' so to speak, to keep them updated on the status of our drunkies (when they got in the car, if they didn't get in the car, when we dropped them off...etc.). I also got to read them their "Stripes Rights" which lists off a bunch of common sense stuff and asks them to agree (which they, of course, always do) and by the end of the night we had ridden all over Columbia and saved some students from attempting to drive home drunkenly or sleep on the floor of a stranger's/friend's house. It was incredibly fulfilling and awesome to know that we were helping students out and making sure they got home safely. I wish my college had offered something in the way of Stripes when I was a student!

Fi, Me, Our Stripes Vehicle

We didn't get home until ridiculously late and they fed us pizza and soda (I had a slice of pizza, no soda, just water), which was nice but bad for the health kick I'm attempting to leap into, but I've never heard people more grateful for a ride than last night. Thanks, Stripes!

In other news, we were the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. I loved these costumes. In the past, my roommates from college and I always had a theme-our freshman year we were the Pink Ladies, sophomore year we were a basketball team, junior year-cowgirls, senior year-the Delta Delta Delta sorority (we were being funny-like the old SNL skit: Delta Delta Delta, Can I help ya, help ya, help ya?). Then after college I usually handed out candy on the stoop of my parents house in NY and never ever saw more trick-or-treaters than they received. Literally, they went through about eight bags of candy a year at that place. Their neighbor Matt and his wife Beth would sit on their stoop and I'd sit on mine next to them and we'd have a night of it-having a few beers and handing out candy, talking to the kids about their costumes and shoo-ing away those who came back for seconds. It was literally a Halloween extravaganza the likes of which I'd never seen before. The two Halloweens in a row I had friends to go out with and we were Soccer super-fans one year and the cast of Clue the second year (I was Ms. Scarlet and we carried around props-I had a candlestick-and even played a live version of the game "Clue" at the party we went to-people loved loved loved it! Who knew???).

Last year I was a blue fairy, complete with the coolest wings I'd ever seen and the worst health habits anyone has ever seen-especially on a fairy!

(See below for proof)

And my costume glowed in black-lights. Which I, of course, thought was awesome.

I suppose I haven't mentioned yet that last year I both ran and smoked and drank...a lot. The weird part is, I was in much better physical shape somehow. I'm not sure why or how. The first run I ever competed in, I won third place in my age division and was pretty proud that I'd run a 5k in 25 minutes when I'd never run before, really, in my life (except for team sports: soccer, field hockey, softball). Fi got me into running and my mom made a deal with me: quit smoking before the wedding. Most of the time that's not too difficult to do, once in a while I have caved. But, my conviction gets stronger every time I stop.

However, this is a blog about Halloween. This year, we had more friends and less time. Unfortunately, we ended up at maybe the most overcrowded and overpriced bar in Columbia, but with Fi's best friend, so it was worth it. I won't go into details, but will post some pics for you to get a feel of what our Friday night was like.

      Red and Big Bad
          The Halloween Crew
                CEC Halloween

Ugh! Now I am going to plan our food for the week, hit up the grocery store, then pilates later (for those of you who don't take pilates-you are SERIOUSLY missing out. It's amazing!), maybe have a run and make a midterm exam for my lit. class. Busy day, but maybe I can get Fi to write a more thorough and/or exciting weekend update later.

xoxo

N

Solid as Barack!

M-I-Z-Z-O-U

We found out a few days ago that Barack Obama was making a return trip to Missouri and not just any part of Missouri, but our part of Missouri. In other words, he was coming to Mizzou! I mailed out my absentee ballot (NY resident, still) a few days ago and was pretty psyched at this last minute change to Senator Obama's travel plans. So after I subbed Svitlana's class for her, my friend Liz, Fi and I headed over to volunteer. We received an email saying that if we did volunteer they'd let us in early and we'd be sure to see Barack Obama.

Fi and I

   The Crew: Me, Liz, Fi, Scott, Liz

Not our proudest moment: Snacks from McD's (I had a plain grilled chicken sandwich so it wasn't the worst)

Needless to say, we spent hours walking up and down the quickly lengthening line asking people to fill out forms saying that they would, in fact, be voting on November fourth. It was fun, really. Our head of the creative writing program and his daughter were there, too, so the bunch of us formed a group and got tons of signatures and clowned around while the line grew and people patiently waited. I won't go into details about how they tried to screw the volunteers into getting in early or how they were planning to put us in a parking lot with a big screen t.v. half a mile or so away from the actual grandstand, but what I will tell you is that we ended up ten feet away from Barack Obama-all of us! Our entire group. While we weren't allowed to bring anything in with us besides small bags (tiny-as in-camera sized!), they provided us with "Obama/Biden" signs, American stick flags (which they promptly took away shortly after giving them to us deeming them a safety hazard), bottles of water and those tiny sandbags that keep your hands warm (we used to use them during the cold, beginning of softball season in high school when we weren't piled up and sitting all over each other to keep warm). The crowd waited, as patiently as possible, while every democratic candidate in the state of Missouri came to the podium and delivered brief speeches aimed at riling up the crowd (they only semi-worked). Each person finished up their speech by shouting, "M-I-Z..." whereupon the crowd responded with "Z-O-U!" (Mizzou!)

In the thick of it

Then Barack Obama took the stage. Never before have I seen or been a part of so much buzzing energy in my life. The entire world came to life as if a zap of electric current suddenly shot through the crowd igniting everyone there. There was absolutely no boundary between us: race, age, gender, ethnicity...all joined together as one complete entity there for one hopeful cause. We cheered and cried together, raised our hands to the air together, celebrated and chanted together. For one of the first experiences of my twenty-eight years of life, we were a people full of peace and hope, love and unity brought together by one person that defined change and possibility for the better...for all of us. As a group, we came together as one communally enchanted, enamored and certain entity. He was not only charismatic and articulate, but empathetic and touching. Whether we were ten feet from him or watching him on a big screen t.v. from the back of the crowd, we were all, every one of us, moved by his presence and speech. (I asked my students this morning how they felt-and all were hugely touched regardless of how far away they were in the crowd.) Each of us felt something-the same thing-together.

When Senator Obama took to the crowd to do a lap around the stage and shake hands following his speech, I was fortunate enough to be in the very front (unfortunate, too, as I thought I was going to be crushed to death for a while there). Dozens of hands reached toward the barrier and those of us up against it moved sideways so more of the crowd could reach in and have the same opportunity to shake our future president's hand. There was no sense of selfishness or greed in that boisterous crowd, but a collective sense of generosity-moving for others to get nearer, making spaces so their hands could reach out. I ordinarily value my personal space and would not have liked being in such close proximity, but even in the midst of that crowd I didn't feel overwhelmed or threatened. I didn't worry about being pick-pocketed or feeling invaded, I just felt a part of something much greater than I had before.

See the Presidential Orb around his head?

When Senator Obama reached us-he was as gracious as one would imagine-asking those pushing forward to stop pushing, asking me whether I was squashed or ok, politely asking the girl beside me to let go of his hand that she'd been so desperately clinging to even when he was half a foot away from her. Everything about Barack Obama was presidential and stately. It was truly a mesmerizing and awe-inspiring experience. Before he walked off to continue greeting, thanking and shaking hands-as he was asking the girl beside me to let go of his hand, I remembered to snap a picture (yes, it took me that long to recall I had a camera in my hand!).

Close-up on Barack

So last night Fi and I were a part of history. Maybe it wasn't anything over the top huge, but we were in the presence of our next president...as long as we GO OUT AND VOTE! (As he so eloquently reminded us). I'd like to say he said something different than what we are used to hearing, but he said everything we wanted him to say, he said the things he's continuously been saying-the things that made us decide to vote for him in the first place and we felt lucky and inspired to be a part of it. The only thing I wish he'd done, but didn't was yell: M-I-Z...

I was exhausted when I got up late at 7:30 to teach my 8am class this morning, but it was worth every second!

More to come later. Fi and I are going for a picnic.
xoxoxo

P.S.-If you live in Missouri-we are a swing state, my friends...go Go GOOOO vote on Tuesday. I can't begin to tell you how important your vote TRULY is.
P.P.S.-We took TONS of pics and if you're interested, head to my facebook site!

Pesto Spaghetti (Squash, that is) and Andrew Parker: Found!

Aaah, to be able to get a fulfilling sleep in. I don't know why this is, but it seems like no matter how much rest I get, it's simply not enough. I went to bed before Conan last night (that's around 11:30, I think?) and rose to head to the Sunrise Yoga class this morning which starts at 6:30. I was so proud of myself. I got up and out of bed, dressed and ready to go. I had breakfast: Strawberry Awake with warm milk. (I discovered the delectability of warm milk on cereal in India last year since that's the only way they really serve it. It's like oatmeal, kind of: mushy cereal. You just have to try it!)

Anyhow, I was too proud of myself too quickly. I was ready before 6 and since it only takes about ten minutes to get to the rec center, I decided to heat up the car (we had another freezing morning today) and wait inside while it warmed. I no sooner got back in the house and reclined then I passed out. Literally. Again! It was awful. I woke up and it was 6:40, so I turned off the car and came back inside. Once back inside, I thought I might as well rest a few more minutes before showering and heading to school to teach and, lo and behold, I fell asleep until exactly 8.

Thank God for Fi! He jumped in the car and raced me to school just in time to stop my students from leaving the room (class is supposed to start at 8 and I arrived at about 8:11). Needless to say, not the best way to start off my morning. My other class finished watching X-Men today and we talked metaphors and then it was all over! Just like that.

Fi came back at that point and we went to the rec for real. I think I mentioned that I wanted to run 3 miles yesterday but I think I forgot to mention that I did it! Yay for me! Today I didn't want to run, but had missed all the yoga/pilates/kickboxing...etc. classes and had no other options. I ran 2 miles to bring my three day tally to a whopping 7 miles. This is great because we just sort of decided to run a 5k next Saturday and we haven't done this in quite some time. Not since the Fourth of July, I think! Oh, and when I stopped into the women's locker room, I momentarily thought I'd lost my mind and went into the wrong place because this was staring me in the face:

Weird, right?

Anyhow, we lost a dear friend of ours for a while. His name is Andrew Parker and he's in the graduate program here at Mizzou, too. We love Andrew. He's tall and thin with good bone structure in his face. He's dark haired and quite witty. Kind and totally quirky. Just our style. He deleted all his online social-networking profiles (Facebook, Myspace) and since I lost my cell a while back I didn't even have his number! Really, he'd been MIA for a while and we worried about him, yet couldn't force him to keep in touch or reply to us. Luckily, Fi ran into him the other day and they have been chatting and catching up. I was so happy to hear that Fi made plans for us to have lunch together today and it really was wonderful to see he'd been found. We ate pizza (I know! Right after those two miles, right???) and I limited myself to one piece of pepperoni. It is tasty, though, so I understood why A.P. opted for lunch there (www.shakespearespizza.com-they deliver all over the country and they, too, are quirky and kind). I took a pic of them on Fi's phone (which he has to send me so I can put it up on here, of course) and it really did brighten up my day to see he's doing well. I was worried for a while there. Also, it made me feel like we were right in assuming we were good friends with him when he told us he'd deleted most of the numbers in his phone since he didn't think he'd really keep in touch or talk to many of the people in there, but he kept us. Whew! Unrequited love is a bitch, isn't it? Good to know we don't have to feel that on this account.

Once home, Fi and I ran lines for his play. Turns out no one has their lines memorized and their director is none too happy. Hopefully, Fi blows them out of the water tonight with his memorization skills! Then we made dinner. Pesto Spaghetti Squash with EXVOO, garlic, Chicken, Broc, and Maters!

A few weeks ago, I'd taken my friend Stephanie's advice and froze homemade pesto in ice cube trays, I asked my friend Liz how to deal with spaghetti squash and tonight for dinner, that's what we had! It was a pretty successful experiment. Shall I elaborate?

1 spaghetti squash (baked in the oven for two hours on 375)

1 cube of homemade frozen pesto

1 breast of chicken, cubed

1 roma tomato

broccoli (as much as you like, I'm kind of obsessed)

1 clove garlic

1/3 cup EXVOO

pinch of Parmesan (I didn't put any in the pesto when I made it, though it normally should have parm. I was just out at the time!)

1. Bake squash, but be wary. Those suckers do not cut easily when you're preparing to put them in there. I softened the skin of mine by heating it in the microwave for a bit.

2. While squash is cooling, heat EXVOO and brown the garlic.

3. Add chicken until slightly brown. A good way to tell whether chicken is still raw or not is to poke at it with the spoon you're mixing with. If it's mushy, it's raw. If it feels more solid, it's cooked through.

4. Throw in pesto and broc. The pesto melts much faster than anything else I've ever frozen and the broc was already cooked as I made some for my lunch today before remembering we were having lunch with A.P.

5. Add the chopped 'mater (we don't like ours super mushy, but if you do...add it in when you toss the broccoli in) Cook consistently on medium throughout.

6. While the sauce is cooking, scoop out the innards of the spaghetti squash (most of the seeds are on top so they're easy to just get rid of by peeling off that layer-you do NOT lose much of the squash at all.)

7. Add in as much of the squash as you want (subbing it for whatever pasta you'd use if you were having pesto pasta, instead) and mix it all up together. At this point you can add in some Parm. cheese if you want (we had some fat free so I thought a little kick might be good) and Voila! You have a tasty, healthy dinner that your Fi (if you have one) or hubby or...whoever...will love!

I need to start taking pics with the camera and not my cellie. This doesn't do it justice.

Unfortunately, Fi had to head out soon after dinner, but I was glad to just get to have dinner together! Lately we've been so so busy we haven't been able to sit down together for dinnerand I've been sending it with him. Tonight, though, he opted to go a little late (his character doesn't appear until near the end of the first act) so we ate together, he spent a little Q.T. time with Byzy (Bizzy-the shepherd, sleeping on his feet) and Bogey (the Eskimo...alpha male in the family) then whisked away to practice.

Sometimes I think they might love him just as much as I do! :)

Tonight, it's reading for me (comps are literally just around the corner!) and back to the rec in the morning for round two of trying to hit up Sunrise Yoga! Also, I'm subbing a class tomorrow at noon for a girl in our department that I've only met once in person. It kind of works, though, her entire class is centered around technology, how we communicate and interact now and society's reliance on  social networking...etc...for it's interpersonal relationships. Should be fun!

Oh, P.S.-Fi and I are going back and forth and all over the place with Honeymoon ideas! We've talked about every place imaginable (Peru, Argentina, New Mexico, a cruise, Hawaii...etc.) Our criteria is sort of simple: we want to be able to DO stuff on our trip-see, learn, experience, adventure-yet still have a day off on the beach if we want or come back to the beach later in the day and relax. However! We have a really low salary and are saving our butts off, but most likely will not be able to afford a Lifestyle's of the Rich and Famous 'moon. Any suggestions!?! We're completely open to them!

Thanks!

xoxo

Mission Accomplished!

Today has been so busy! After I left the house for the day and inspected the frozen garden (did I mention it was 25-degrees when I took Fi to school this morning???) I headed to school to do some work of my own. It was a productive morning as I graded just about all of the critical papers from my 8am World Lit class, posted their midterm review sheet and got stood up by a student who was supposed to meet me today to talk about his poor class performance and attendance. Ironic, right? However, Fi and I had lunch and lamented the death of our frozen garden (not everything looks terrible, just the basil and the tomatoes, really).

(Yes, we have face-to-face desks)

Then I headed to the rec and accomplished my goal for the day! Three miles! Yay! I was pleasantly surprised that I felt no soreness from yesterday's comeback run and made sure to stretch really well for today's. I think I failed to mention that a large part of the reason I stopped running a few months back was because my left knee hurt so badly before I even hit half a mile that I decided to take some time off. For a while I was really great with going to the rec and taking pilates and yoga...etc...and then the semester REALLY kicked in. Before I knew it, I was napping every afternoon and not going to even yoga anymore.

Out with the old. In with the new. And it felt great to run again.

When Fi finished with class, we met up and drove home. We're super excited because Barack Obama is comin' to town on Thursday night and we just found out this morning while listening to our buddy Monica on her morning radio show. (Fi asked: Is it cool that we know a radio personality? I'm not sure. Is it?) But we're going on Thursday come rain or shine. To show our support (this is not going to turn into a political blog. I respect everyone's right to vote for whomever they see fit to run our country), Fi posed for me with a poster we pulled out of the Maneater newspaper (our student paper here at Mizzou) which is ordinarily extremely republican (I guess since it's a paid-for ad, though, that changes things).

And lastly, I made some Fat Free Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cookies! These were amazing! Seriously. They were so tasty I made two batches: one plain and one with dried cranberries.

Fat Free Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup rolled or quick oats

1/2 ts salt

1 ts. vanilla extract

1 tb. fat free plain yogurt (I suppose you could use vanilla if you wanted!)

2/3 ts. cinnamon

2 egg whites

1/3 cup maple syrup (straight from Vermont, without artificial anything)

Mix all the dry ingredients together then add all the wet. Set the oven to 375 and make sure when you put the dough on the sheet you spray some nonstick on there first. Also leave plenty of room because these suckers like to expand. Bake for about fifteen minutes (keep an eye on the first batch, though, since all ovens tend to be a little different). I use two teaspoons to get the dough on there-my mom always did this with us when we were kids. You can add any dry fruit-I happened to have cranberries and thought they'd be tasty (Fi and I both liked them). Oh, also, let them bake until they're a tan-ish color. Too pale and they aren't really set and will be all runny and undercooked.

Enjoy!

I'd take a pic, but I sent them to play practice with Fi. If there are any left...I'll put one up later!

xoxo

N