Haley and the Return of the Blue Fairy

For most people, the glorious weekend is coming to an end, but for me there is still one day left. That's right, I don't teach until Tuesday...woohoo! I love a week's worth of work being crammed into two days. Nothing nicer than a two-day work week! Especially because I'm totally a snot-nosed, sneezing, sniffling, sleepy, red-eyed sickface. That's right, now it's full blown, all out attack of the sickies. But I have D here taking care of me which is super sweet...before I get too detailed about today, let me back up to Friday.

Friday, D and I hung out and had our tasty dinner (which I already blogged about), then moved onto making these incredibly scrumptious Banana Spring Rolls. The fat content is pretty low in these suckers, but the sugar and calorie content, not so much. However, I figured we deserved a treat since I've lost about thirteen pounds since leaving NY and coming back to MO and I feel pretty good about that so far. So, I whipped up a Banana Spring Roll for each of us as a means of enticing D into learning how to make them, as well. Here's my version:

I know! You can see my years in the service industry skills paying off, right? The hearts in the background made of chocolate syrup. They were better before I moved the plates and the spring roll went flying...but the powdered sugar was a carefully thought out plan, too! All for aesthetics, of course :)

But they were so good, I got D interested in making more...so here he is performing step one: rolling half of the banana (sliced down the middle) in the spring roll wrapper with a sprinkle of brown sugar doused in with the banana, as well.
Here he is grilling it on the stove in a pan. The recipe called for lots of butter in the frying pan, but I cut it down to just enough for crisping purposes.
Here he is taking his spring roll making VERY seriously, of course.
And here we are tasting the final product...he approved of his version, too, not just mine. Way to go, Fi!!!
Then we went out and caught the movie "Bride Wars," which was a lovely way to do something wedding, but not stressfully wedding, related. It was quite cute and quite predictable and exactly what I needed to be excited about the wedding and less stressed about life. Speaking of which, our Save the Dates came in and we are addressing, stamping and send those puppies out this week (finally!). It's all very exciting! D and I spent a lot of tonight putting them together and will, hopefully, get them out by Tuesday-ish. (Also...I have to say "Save the Dates" instead of "STDs" which is the acceptable acronym for obvious reasons. I can't bring myself to call them "STDs"...could you?)

Saturday, I spent the morning waiting for D to write his blog for the Missouri Review. We were supposed to play racquetball at one, but since he needed to get the blog done and at 1pm he wasn't finished yet, I decided to head out for a run without him. It was ridiculously cold and I didn't wear my gloves (dumb!), but ran a fantastically hilly 3.25 mile loop. When I say hilly, I mean...my car rolls down the hill backwards cus the damn hills are so freaken steep and there's a stop sign at the top of one of them (who does that, right? Really dumb!). I mean, these are hills that bike riders get off their bikes and walk up...exactly. They're bad. I was super proud of myself for running the hills with no trouble, but really wanted to run longer than 3.25 miles. I couldn't because the final hill, the one right before our house, is a total killer. I couldn't fathom running by the time I got to the top...I just wanted to fall on the grass in our lawn and wait there until a neighbor let Dustin know to come out and collect me.

However, it felt awesome to run like that. When I got back, D had just finished up his blog and we headed over to the rec where I did some arm-work and then we hung out in the hot tub for a while. We investigated the two saunas: one with steam and one without and I thought I'd pass out in the steamy one. Have you ever been in there? Seriously. It's painful. There was an old man reading a library book in there...and how he could see the pages, let alone the words, is beyond me. I could barely see my own hands and, eventually, had to get the hell out of there. The old dude sat there, though, he was there before us and was still there when we left. I have NO idea how people can just sit in there like that. It had to be at least 100+ degrees in there! The heat was literally painful! The dry sauna was so much more bearable. 

Then we took the dogs to the dog park where they, luckily, didn't get into fights or run away (ok, ok...so they were fenced in and couldn't get out if they tried, but they're sneaky little canines and could've found a way out of they really wanted to! And...ok, ok! There were no other dogs in the park when we got there. They left as we arrived. And no jokes about my fur-babes scaring them away!). And to add on to our already busy, and growing busier, day, I played Wii-Boxing for the first time. I'd seen Lance and D play it earlier in the week, but was sort of intimidated by the whole nunchuck idea and how aggressively they punched the air. But, yesterday, I caved and tried it out. Much to my surprise, I was actually pretty good at it and went through about four rounds before my entire body started weakening and fatiguing. It is one HELL of a workout, my friends. I am literally sore all over to the extent that it feels like my Wii-opponent actually socked me and not a virtual version of me. I'm in pain. Really. Still.

Last night, Beth's friend Haley was in town for a wedding. When they were finished, they grabbed a few friends and swung back to our place. Always a good time. Haley, it turns out, is a loyal Dustin and Neesha Save the World reader, although we didn't know it until last night. I was beyond flattered, to be honest. Occasionally, someone will tell us they read our blog, but it always surprises me just how loyal people are. The conversation turned to our Gossip Girl-toned blogs, and Haley said, "I don't know what UTHers are, but I love it anyway!" to which Steph replied, "Upper-Tate-Hallers!" and it flattered my to no end to see that they enjoyed what we were writing and new, even, the acronyms. Awesome! Plus, Haley is super fun and we definitely do NOT see enough of her. She was nice enough to let D keep his car in the parking lot of her apartment complex when he came to visit me last year. Such a lifesaver! And at that point, I'm not even sure I'd ever met Haley! Needless to say, we were thrilled to hear she was coming into town, even before we knew she dug our blog! But, thanks, Haley! That made my night! (Pictured: Beth, Haley, Me)

This was just the event D and I needed to test out some of our new games. You see, D got me "Gossip Girl" the board game for Christmas and we haven't had the opportunity to play it yet because it demands more than two people, so we took this opportunity to cast our game choice on others. Essentially, the Gossip Girl game is a less-risque version of "Never Have I Ever" that we used to play as a drinking game in college. "Never have I ever...hooked up with someone in this room..." if you did it, you had to throw in a "$100" dollar bill (like in college, if you did it-you had to take a sip of your drink. If you were the only person who drank, you had to tell your story). This game didn't have the consequence of having to tell your story, thank God, and we all had a good time playing, except Beth. We think she was afraid it was going to be more scandalous than it was...hopefully, she came around to it by the time it ended.

We had the extra-added bonus of having some extras over, as well. Our friends Steph and Meg came over to play games, too, as did two friends of Eli's (Beth's bf): Zeke and Bob. The thing is, Zeke and Bob were not their real names, but I was drunk enough to believe they may as well have been their names so they stuck. Meg came up with Zeke and I think I misheard poor Bob's name. We knew those weren't actually their names, but it seemed ok to call them that and they were good natured about it...so, hence, their names went from "Seth and Tom" to "Zeke and Bob."

To the left is a shot of Zeke and Eli (on the right) in our living room (see our new t.v. on the mantle? Our first couple-purchase ever! Just bought from Best Buy last week). Bob is not pictured. Somehow I couldn't find a pic of the two of them together: Bob and Zeke, that is (which begs the question-can one exist in the same frame as the other? Weird). The boys totally got into Wii baseball. Guys seem to have this thing with seeing who can hit the most "homeruns." I know. It screams innuendo, right? I wonder if they're trying to make up for something by swinging the hell out of the Wii remote and watching the numbers for just how far the baseball travels. Hmmm. (If anyone's counting...D won :)

Overall, it was a good time that only got better when the fairy costume came out. Yes. I said it. The fairy costume.

Some background on the fairy costume: Two Halloweens ago I got a fairy costume and wore it out to a bar the day I got it. Yes, this is a good time to mention it was about five days before Halloween or, maybe, a week...but who keeps track of these things? Anyhow, it was a blue fairy costume with giant sparkly wings and I totally loved it from the moment I saw it. I wore the crinoline under it and tights, heels...the whole nine. And I coaxed a buddy of mine to go out bar hopping with me while I donned the fairy costume. I know-who does that? Long story short, I met this very old man with a very sad story who asked me to please grant him a wish. He asked for happiness and it nearly broke my blue-fairy heart. You can read the full story on that one over on my myspace blog if you're interested...but the costume was awesome. When I walked through blacklights, it lit up. Not all bars were "Fairy Friendly" that night since it wasn't exactly Halloween, remember? But my love for the costume grew strong.

I wore it two more times that year. To the left is a photo of me and part of my friend Danielle at a Halloween party that year. She was Strawberry Shortcake. This was full-out fairy costume. See the possibilities of this baby and why I love it so much? Below is a photog of the fairy costume in full effect last night...note, it doesn't even need the crinoline, curly hair and blue eye shadow to work it's magic. Amazing. Not many costumes work that hard all these years later. And, trust me when I say this, this costume works it, baby.

Last night, the wings were sitting in the corner of the living room and, before I knew it, the costume came out and there we were, living it up in the glitter of my wings. Haley was totally in favor of the fairy costume and all I needed was the slightest bit of egging on and I was more than happy to slip into my blue fairy getup (as you can see). I didn't bother taking my jeans off, and threw my pink cardigan back on before tying on the wings, but I think it made a nice fashion statement...don't you? Thanks for the encouragement, Haley! (Not that I needed much, but without you, I might've sidestepped the fairy costume til everyone left!) 

I swear, I really don't get to wear this often enough. Luckily, next weekend there will be a Ladies Night, which means some other ridiculous, yet fun outfit to dress up in...so it won't be too long before my desire to costume-ize my attire will be satiated. Whew! What is it, cowgirl night, Meg? Better start seeking out a ten-gallon hat and some boots. Any other suggestions?

After Wii games, a random card game (I don't even know what they were playing, actually, or where the cards came from), Catch Phrase (which nearly always ends in a fight), Gossip Girl and the fairy costume, we called it a night. 

When everyone left, D and I popped in "Mean Girls" and I passed out on the couch. Today, I rose to a throbbing, ailing pain in my head and throat. No siree was it a hangover, but a double shot sickness coming at me full force. We were supposed to meet Beth's little group for lunch and had invited our boy Ben, who we haven't seen in WAY too long (that's for you, Ben, if you're reading!), but I was too sick to get out of bed (which was so sad for me). D brought me back an extra large Sweet Tea from McCallister's (lunch spot) and a broccoli-cheese soup (my fave). I drank lots of yummy peach tea and stuffed two sandwiches into my belly by day's end. We also managed to watch Iron Man, Mean Girls (with commentary), Juno and the first dvd of the second season of 24. Good stuff...especially since I haven't seen any of this season of 24 just yet (NO CABLE!).

Now the sneezing is back and I have to seek out something without sudafed (it kept me up most of last night) to help make me feel better.

Hope you all had a fab weekend...and look forward to more exciting, less "three day catch-up of events" blogs as soon as we get, well, all caught up with life. D has a hilarious story about some girls he over heard talking in the sauna...Gotta love being around the undergrads.

xoxo

N

Plans and No Plans

Time is somersaulting by like a trapeze artist. It's true. 

Between hitting the gym as much as humanly possible without killing myself and still getting tons of work done for comps and preps for classes, there is little time to stop and enjoy the day. Today, however, was an exception.

For whatever strange reason, we were granted a brief reprise of our autumn weather and I basked in the 60-degree sunlight all over campus from my office building to class to the next class to the rec and back to my car. I'm not sure it could've been lovelier. 

The rec was sort of a bust since D and I planned to play racquetball, but couldn't because all the courts were reserved. A week ago, this wasn't an issue since the students weren't back yet and we could engage in racquetball playing as much as we wanted without having to reserve a court. Now-not so much. So we reserved one for tomorrow and trudged back out into the sunlight. No big-D's chariot (the scooter) awaited and glided me back to my car. 

We planned, then, to go for a nice long run on the Katy Trail (I was thinking somewhere in the 6-8 mile range), but after my lunch (oh, my friends, I made the tastiest saag paneer in the world last night, thanks to Steph's Christmas present: Didi Eammons' incredible Vegetarian cookbook!) which was saag paneer wrapped up in a Flatout wrap followed by my Fage-which is still holding strong in my staple-favorite food category-with a touch of wheat bran, dried cherries (I read in Runners World cherries are good for relieving soreness) and granola. I honestly think that is pretty much my favorite thing to eat in the whole wide world. However, when I finished, I was beat and had 0% motivation to go running as opposed to D's fleeting 60%, so today was my day of rest (Beth, Liz...etc...I took your advice, just not yesterday!). And I literally rested by falling asleep.

Before I knew it, some unexpected plans hatched. I had canceled drinking-at-the-Fugue-plans with my Liz (my head is still bothering me...can you believe it? And I can't shake this fatigue for anything in the world!) and Lance and Em showed up with dinner for four! Bacon, cheddar burgers and a hankering for grilling 'em up! So we did. While they grilled, I whipped up my planned dinner for D and I: black bean spicy burgers and no-fat potato chips! I have to admit, I've been stealing some tasty, mostly vegan recipes off of other websites I'm addictively searching for recipes, so I don't think I can technically reproduce them on here...? But if you're interested, the burgers were a hit and the potato chips were an even bigger hit! And how can you beat NO FAT??? Amazing what a microwave and thinly sliced and salted on four-minutes, stopping once to flip the 'chips', can do :) (See what I did there???) I wasn't sure how D would feel about the black bean burgers. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about them, but when he finished his regular bacon cheese burger and his first black bean burger only to add another little black bean patty to his plate, I felt pretty damn good about it. So good, I ate another myself!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that Dustin and I are also pretty obsessed with this website called SparkPeople which keeps track of our calorie intake and fitness each day (as long as we put the info in), but we both love it and religiously track our progress as the wedding day approaches. I came across this website while reading the blog FittingBackIn . Though, come to think of it, I'm not sure how I found this blog, but I can tell you it appeals to me because the author is very practical, nonpretentious, witty and, well, normal. She has a very relatable life so I like to peek in on her blog and see what she's reading or what she's eating, how her daily issues are going (apartment problems, missing her husband, looking for a new house, work...etc.). It's like reading one of those books that was enjoyable, engaging and fun to read. If you're in the mood for something like that-I suggest you visit her blog cus it's a good time and some of her quirkier comments totally remind me of my saavy sister. That, by the way, was a totally unsolicited plug and unexpected. 

Anyhow, the important thing is...if I hadn't stumbled across her blog, I don't know how long it would've taken me to find SparkPeople so I'm grateful for that. It has become somewhat of a game for D and I to see how many calories we've had in a day as opposed to how many SparkPeople thinks we should have based on our age, height...etc. It's fun to see what we've done in a day and a nice, easy way to keep track of your eating habits if you're trying to be conscious of them. (There's my plug for SparkPeople, too!) :)

Moving along, dinner was great, the company was even better and we all enjoyed a few cocktails (which succeeded in making me even more exhausted) while being entertained by the Wii playing. We discovered "boxing" tonight and what the numchuck is used for: boxing, as it were. Let me show you what it looks like to watch someone Wii-box in your living room.

And below is what it looks like to watch two people watching a person Wii-box in your living room.

It was wonderful to have Em and Lance over. Especially because I've been feeling a bit anti-social lately. I think it's the stress and fatigue and the sudden cooking obsession (seriously, if you catch me in the grocery store-keep walking. I have a really hard time concentrating on conversations when I'm grocery shopping. I'm so sorry. It's so sad and weird! Emily can attest to that!) Hopefully, we will start a Thursday Night Hang Out tradition with them since they're pretty fabulous.

And, hopefully, this weekend will bring about more interactions with more of our friends that we haven't seen since before Christmas break! We miss you guys (you know who you are) and talk about you all the time. If D doesn't answer his phone, try me!

Thank God it's Friday. Hope it's a good one!

xoxo

N

PS-If you're of the praying mindset. Please keep a friend of my oldest brother, Amit's, in your prayers. His friend's 26 year-old wife passed away the other day very unexpectedly during a fertility treatment that caused her to bleed to death. As you can imagine, his friend is devastated and everyone is quite shocked and upset. I'm sure they could use thoughts and prayers at this time in their lives. Thanks, everyone!

World of Wii Fit! or WWF!

Welcome to the wonderful World of Wii Fit! For our birthdays, my parents and siblings bought Fi and I a Wii complete with the Wii Fit game and accessories. Fi hasn't had an opportunity to play yet, but I managed to get a Wii Fit workout in earlier this evening with my mom and dad looking on. Suffice it to say, my Wii Sports needs some work, but my Wii Fit wasn't so bad.

The cool thing about this Wii Fit program is that it keeps track of my progress. I did, however, ask it not to tell me how much I weighed, though it has no problem telling me if my balance is poor or if my performance on a certain event, program or yoga position is "couch potato" level. I named my Wii Fit trainer Claire (you can pick between a woman or a man), and she was pretty encouraging, sometimes. I'll keep you updated on how it goes with Claire and Wii Fit.

I also tried this pretty scrumptious Fage Greek yogurt today with some tasty three berry granola (I know that sounds unappealing to some, but I have to admit, I'm a total sucker for granola and berries-not fruits, mind you-just berries). I'd heard about this Fage yogurt for quite some time from a few of the food blogs I peek in on and am pleased to announce it is as wonderful as everyone says and I highly recommend this delish combo. It's creamy and a little thick and very filling. I had half a cup and put the rest back in the fridge. Perhaps my mom's lasagna (boo-yanya-in baby Dustin's language) filled me up or the excellent Indian veggies I had for lunch that Mom made for my birthday.

Moving on, though, Fi and I hope you all had a spectacular holiday thus far. Mine started out with a twenty-hour drive back to NY in rain, sleet and snow followed by the arrival ofmy siblings: Kiran and Sara with an unexpected cousin's arrival on Christmas Eve (Srinivas or just Sri: pronunciation-Shree).  My family gathers at our house for Christmas Eve, then on Christmas day we head over to my Aunt Ronnie's house-two hours away, but worth the trip.

Here's my family on Christmas Eve from left to right...Uncle Teddy, Mom, Kiran, Sara, Pop, Aunt Barb, my cousin Jamey, and Aunt Ronnie

On Christmas morning, we have another tradition where we open gifts from youngest to oldest. This means little Sara goes first, then me, Kier, Mom and Pop. My favorite part of Christmas is giving gifts I think the people I care about would like. I know that probably sounds totally corny, but true. This year Dustin and I did gifts for our families together-which is also a first-and everyone seemed really excited and happy about what they got. We gave Sara some pj's she wanted, a pair of shoes and Hall and Oates' Greatest Hits. Kier got a giant 93 piece car kit for his new car.We gave Mom some clothes cus she said she needed them terribly. Clothes are tough, but Connie completely dug what we gave her. For Pop there were slippers and sweatsuits (yes, they still actually sell sweatsuits and my dad has gotten VERY into outdoor work since he retired a few years back). We gave Aunt Barb new pants since she doesn't fit into ANY of her hand-me-down ones and, lastly, we gave Sri an iHome for his iPod. Everyone seemed happy, which made me ridiculously happy, too!

Oh, I almost forgot-my fam totally hooked me up, too. I got a new battery for my computer so I'm able to write my blogs whilst sitting on the completely cozy chaise lounge in my parents living room. Kier and Sara gave me a Garmin because Dustin and I travel so much that they thought we needed it-which they were right about. This will make my drive back to Columbia so much easier than trying to read my hand-written directions in the light given off by passing traffic on the highway.

After gifts, I went for a run in some of the new running tights Mom and Pop gave me and it felt fabulous. It'd been way too long since I'd run (about a week, maybe a little less than that, but still!) When I came back, the family had started on breakfast which Kiran made: eggs of all kinds, omelettes, (I had a yummy egg white one with veggies), toast and breakfast meats. I was starving and had some coffee and my omelette before heading to the shower and getting ready to head up to my aunt's house for part two of gift-opening and more eating.

So, we drove the two hours to my aunt's where we snacked on some shrimp, cheeses, crackers and tons of little eats. The  scrumptious scent of browning turkey filled the house. Aunt Ronnie had made my favorite dishes: roasted veggies and broccoli with garlic and pepper. We were preparing to sit down and have dinner after posing for some pics and helping set the table when out of nowhere...disaster struck.

Above is a photo of the women in our family at dinner that night. Mom, Sara, Aunt Ronnie and myself.

To the left is a photo of my Uncle Teddy and one of his and Aunt Ronnie's dog's: Cash. Cash is just a little over a year old. He's a purebred shepherd from Germany, but not well socialized. Above is also a picture of the kitchen where Cash and Sara were when the incident occurred. As a matter of fact, we were all in the kitchen getting ready to sit down for dinner when Sara bent down to Cash's level and began to pet his face with her little hands (Sara is maybe 95 pounds, 5'2.5" and, as you can see, very small overall). No sooner did she say, "See, Cash, you don't have to be afraid. I'm not scary," than Cash barked and bit her right in the face. Poor Sara is unlike anyone else I know and instead of sounding an alarm or yelling, crying, anything, she gets silent when she's badly hurt. Reactions were slow motion, but as she stood, I ran across the room in time to see blood pour out of her chin, forehead and lower lip. My dad and mom rushed her into the bathroom and I washed off her hands which were covered in blood and icy to the touch. She cried quietly while my parents cleaned her up and put bandaids on to keep the skin as close together as possible while they drove twenty minutes to the ER of the hospital my dad used to see patients in once in a while.

The left is Sara heading to the ER and on the right is her return to Christmas dinner. She may be tiny, but she is completely tough and what a trooper! She had my mom text us from the ER to let us know she was hungry and planned to eat when she arrived back at my aunt's house. They used derma-bond to close up the gashes on her forehead and chin and she was back in less than two and a half hours.

We were thrilled to have her back and she told me, later, in confidence that she didn't want Christmas to be ruined since it had already been hard enough on the family without my Grandma around. In some regards, my little one saved Christmas. Sara was always kind of mine. Sure, she's my parents daughter, but somehow she was always my responsibility which made her mine in some way so it felt wrong for me to not go with her, but too many is too many and it was definitely my parents place to be there.

After more gifts and food, we headed home. The next day we began my 29th birthday celebration! Kier, Sri and Sar made Kiran's famous Gumbo for dinner and the next night Mom and Sri made Indian food with Sara's help. Then we had a wonderful cake complete with candles and presents from my family. Besides all the awesome Wii stuff, Kiran gave me a GPS watch to keep mileage when I run so I don't have to jump in my car and drive around like crazy keeping track of the odometer.

While the celebrations have been wonderful, today Kiran was the last to go. Sara and Sri took off yesterday after a fancy Sunday brunch (complete with mimosas) and I'll be home through the New Year. It's never the same when they leave. Before Kier departed, we celebrated my birthday for the third night in a row last night by going to see the movie Gran Tarino with Clint Eastwood (very sad...and everyone, including Fi, said the same thing: Why does Clint Eastwood make all these sad/serious movies all the time now?). Usually, we celebrate my birthday for days and, thanks to Kiran saying he couldn't imagine celebrating for just one day, we did it again this year. Can you imagine what next year will be like?

Today, I spent two hours in the DMV renewing my dad's registration for his car and had way more close proximity to people than I feel comfortable with (they were all touchy and unaware of how much they'd invade personal space by hitting into me or rubbing their hand against my hair...etc.). Hated it.  Then I went to the jewelry store to try and pick up my wedding ring (it's my mom's, but way too small for my enormous fingers so it had to be adjusted), but it's closed on Mondays...then back to my Wii Fit extravaganza. We've come full circle now, my loves, and I promise my next blog won't be so long to get through OR so full of stuff!

Hope your holiday has been wonderful and unforgettable. Tell us your favorite holiday stories or gifts! We can't call you all individually...please, please share with us cus, really, we miss you! :)

xoxo

N

P.S.-Mrs. A. Parker...if you're reading...Thanks for liking our blog! We hope you keep reading!