New Duds...

...is what my grandparents call new clothes. So I am applying this to the new design on our blog! I wasted wayyyyy too much time making that photo collage up there last night. It was actually really, really easy! I would highly recommend using Picasa! Anyway, I felt like just having the wedding pic up there was getting kind of old since we are now beyond the one-year mark and not the little newlyweds we once were (I think in Mormon years you have less time to be a newlywed. Correct me if I am wrong).


My practicum is going well so far and I have only had one technological disaster ruin my lesson. None of the kids can say "Mizukawa" so they just call me Mrs. Miz. My favorite moment so far was this cute little kid who asked me if he could switch the topic of his research paper from Sir Isaac Newton to Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon. I asked him if he liked Pokemon and he just looked up at me (I like having students that have to still look up at me) with this little "duh" look and was like "I have over 300 Pokemon cards." Haha I didn't think that they even really made those anymore! And I didn't think kids still loved them. But I would rather have him research him than look up Chanel handbags which is what some of the girls in the class were using their computer lab time to do, despite my telling them to get back on task. Sheesh. Middle school.


I am currently till in a carb coma from last night's impromptu visit to Pizza Pie Cafe. It was "receipt day" where they give you a yellow receipt, and whatever you buy you can come back and get for free in February. After eating there I was trying to figure out why I love that place so much. It has gotten more expensive since they opened, and the pasta and salad bar are horrible, so you are basically paying $8.25 to eat pizza that is sitting under a heat lamp and all kind of tastes the same. It is always like jam-packed in there and there was a line out the door the whole time that we were there. I feel like an old person having the realization that I would rather save the money and the hassle and just go buy a take-out pizza for half the price that we could both eat there, but I think PPC might be losing its glory for me. That didn't stop me from downing like 6 pieces of pizza last night (they were smallish?) and it sure as heck won't stop me from going back next month for my free buffet.


Someone comment and tell me about your worst buffet experience. Ever found a clump of hair or a thumb in something?

Cap'n Oopsie

Today is Martin Luther King day. The awesome day that we get off just two weeks after Christmas break. To celebrate, Dave and I are going to have lunch at Tuncanos, since we have a gift certificate that is about to expire. Last night Dave told me that it was a "one meal day." (yep, that's definitely not healthy) I'm not supposed to eat breakfast because then you can't cram in as much endless meat. He said he knew it would be hard for me but I could do it.

Except, he's still asleep and there is a fresh box of Captain Crunch around these parts. And a new gallon of milk. And my metabolism of a small child that wakes up in the night hungry. So what Dave doesn't know won't hurt him. And I will still eat plenty of Brazilian meat later, after my two bowls on crunchy cereal and peanut-butter milk digest (isn't Captain Crunch just the BEST???).

A Few Thoughts on Blogging and Life in General for the New Year

I have been thinking about blogging and the internet and what constitutes reality lately. I think that the internet is great. Really, it has so many uses and in many ways we kind of couldn't live life without it...I use it for school, at work, and for keeping in touch with family and friends. I am thankful for technology and I really enjoy blogging for the purposes of keeping in touch, journaling, and just plain entertainment (if I am being truly honest...)

But it isn't real life, and I think that can get us in trouble. Girls, especially, because the internet makes it incredibly easy for us to compare ourselves with one another which we do plenty well enough in real life, at least I do. I noticed that I was getting into a few nasty habits with blogs and Facebook and everything that is not quite real, and after a horrendous meltdown on the last day of finals (an external factor that may have had something to do with ameliorating the situation) I realized that it needed to stop, and fast.

You see, I had a few blogs that I would read from time to time that were admittedly just for the plain fact that they were living these dream lives and at first I would just roll my eyes at how over the top they seemed, but as time went on I started getting a little jealous of them. Some of them are so perky and flashy and over the top that I kind of started getting down on myself about the fact that our life isn't like that. And it was messed up, and unfair to me and especially to Dave, because suddenly he has a wife that is mad at him because he hasn't done the list of "normal" things for her that she has accumulated in her head from the blogging world. Why didn't we get to go on a honeymoon to Mexico? Why don't I get flowers every Wednesday? We never get to go out on expensive dates but ____________ does it all the time and they are students too so there must be something wrong with us!!!!

So, over Christmas and after a very bratty temper tantrum on our "fake" anniversary before our trip (which was so cool and why am I not grateful for the awesome things I DO have?) I decided to take a step back from the internet for a little bit. I needed a reality check, and a little dose of gratitude. And I thought a lot about not comparing my life to other peoples', and I also decided that I am done reading blogs of people that I don't even really know, because that is just a waste of time and totally dumb. If you are not a person that I am friends with or related to, or a practical blog that is teaching me something, I won't be reading you. Because so many of these young, married, perfect life people just make me mad and spoiled and make my expectations wayyyyy too dumb and high. And I thought about this talk from Elder Bednar (from his devotional in 2008, "Things as They Really Are"):

"Today...a person can concoct a counterfeit identity that does not correlate in any way to things as they really are. However closely the assumed new identity approximates the individual, such behavior is the essence of things as they really are not."

No one has a perfect life all the time! And anyone who pretends it is either is delusional or has another thing comin'. But to those of you who I love, and are my friends, I LOVE reading about you and your families and the fun stuff that you do! So I am definitely not talking to you at all. Because real-life friends are the best kind that inspire you and make you happy to hear about.

Those are my ramblings for the night. Time to quit the fake cyber world and go spend time with my real-life husband.

Go Modern Cavemen!!!

So for the past few weeks I have been anxiously awaiting the news of where I will be student teaching in the fall. The way my teaching program works, we are assigned to a school for our practicum semester, which is the semester before we are set to student teach (that is where I am now). Because it is January and schools don't find out their funding and enrollment and everything until later in the year, it is really hard to know for sure where I will be until a little later. However, the placement that they give us for practicum is where we will (*fingers crossed*) be placed in the fall.

I found out yesterday that I will be at American Fork Junior High for my practicum, and hopefully be interning there in the fall if things go according to plan (aka the school doesn't realize that they need fewer teachers than they are planning on now...)! I am super excited for four reasons:

1) internship=half salary and benefits. I know half of a first-year teacher's salary is not much--ha!--but it is better than working for free, which is what student teaching basically is!

2) I will be working with a girl who is currently interning this semester, which will be a really good experience. I can see how she handles things and get her perspective on her first year of teaching.

3) American Fork is not that far away. The school is just a long drive up State Street, which is a bajillion times better than driving up 1-15 in the morning. Or up Provo Canyon in the snow.

4) I totally wanted Junior High!

So, like I said, fall isn't set in stone. But I am REALLY hoping that this is where I get to stay. And the best part of all is AMJH's mascot: The Modern Caveman. Awesome. Picture of mascot will be forthcoming.

Update on M'goals

So I am waiting to talk about Spain and Christmas and New Year's and everything until we get the pictures uploaded, and since I delegated that to Dave (in my head) I hold myself blameless. BUT I can talk about myself some more! So since everyone is so interested, I am sure, let's talk about how I am doing so far with my resolutions (this is really more for myself....feel free to skip this post if you so desire):

Running: the marathon schedule is going great so far! And I am also doing a lot better this semester than last with running in the morning and not putting it off until later in the day. This is good, because I have more time in the evening, but bad for two reasons: (1) I get really, really hungry. All day long. This isn't really bad, since I enjoy satisfying said hunger, but I probably shouldn't eat like three breakfasts. (2) I have lately taken to the terrible habit of getting really, really sleepy around 8pm or so, falling asleep from two or three hours on the couch, and then having Dave wake me up and I then finish my homework until like one or two in the morning. It's no way to live. But I think my body is reacting negatively to waking up at 6 every morning. Student teaching this fall should be a rude awakening.

 One very awesome thing about running on the treadmill every morning is watching this gem of a show                   on my phone....

 

It's amazing. It's everything you could want in a BBC period drama. Which is a lot. Airs Sunday nights on PBS at 8:00, or on Netflix at your leisure.

Cooking Vegetarian Things:  So far....ok. I realized that my vegetarian meal for last week actually had bacon in it. Whoops. And of course instead of omitting it we still ate it anyway. But tonight I am making curry with chickpeas instead of chicken, but I had tuna for lunch. So actually I have eaten meat every day since that challenge started. But I don't think that the challenge was to eat vegetarian, but just cook vegetarian. So I am counting that as a win.

Grocery Budget:  Going good so far! The first week we spent a little more because we had been gone for so long that we really had to re-stock a lot of food. But last week I did great! We even went to Costco and just walked around and didn't spend a dime. We originally went there for samples, but it was a really lame Sample Saturday and I left with a bad taste in my mouth. Not from the food. Just from the, as we call them, "side swipers." They ignore the line that has formed and come in and grab samples from the side. Usually more than one. Maybe they are grabbing one for their guardian angels or something, but usually from what I can see they are taking more than one per person, and then there are none left for me. They make me really mad and usually I want to hip-check them.

 I was much better off going to Macey's holiday open house and scoring samples there. Few people know about this event but I love it and have been a fan since roughly 2008:

Food mixing doesn't bother me....

Fresh Starts

Ok so I have been so bad about blogging lately! I feel so bad because I really like keeping up with it and it is the only journal I am keeping right now. I am a little overwhelmed with everything that I have to catch up on, but I just found this blogger app on my new phone, so that will make things much easier!

I thought that I would start out with a simple post talking about my resolutions for 2012. I actually really love making New Year's resolutions, even though I know some people think that they are a waste because often we burn out. I think that's a sad mindset though, because what is the point of life if we never try to get better? So at least I'm going to try! And there is nothing better than the anticipation of a clean slate and hoping for the fun that could come next!

Here is what I hope to accomplish in 2012:

•Read the Book of Mormon twice through. If I read five pages a day, I can do that easily.

•Have FHE every week.

•Run a marathon! I'm gonna do it! In kind of scared, but week one of my program hasn't been so bad yet...

•Cook something meatless once a week. I love me some animal flesh but I know I should have some recipes that are still filling but don't rely on it completely. And hopefully that will help with the next goal!

•Stick more strictly to my grocery budget. This shouldn't be too hard but I need to be more careful!

•Read scriptures with Dave every day.

•Finish school! This should happen on its own but I'm adding it to the list so I know for sure that one of my goals will get accomplished :)

I am sure that things will be modified as the year goes on. I have some other fun things that I would like to do this year, like craft more and start playing the piano again, but those might have to wait until I am done with school, so I am being realistic. What are some of your fun goals for 2012?