Some background info + our first time at HealthTracks + SO EXCITED!

I spent the ENTIRE day yesterday in front of my computer, but I got a lot accomplished!

Here’s some background on what I’m doing – I think it’s been awhile since I’ve shared anything. I was in the classroom for five years – I taught 5th grade for a year (while working on my master’s), 7th grade ELA for two years (finishing my master’s and starting on my PhD), and then was a reading specialist for 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade for two years (still working on my PhD). 7th grade is my all-time favorite grade to teach! I resigned from my full-time teaching job last May in order to finish up my degree. I am in the fourth year of working on my PhD in Reading Education. My dissertation is looking at how students experience a sense of community in online courses, so I’ve been conducting interviews for the past 6 week. I have 12 (maybe 13) participants and I’ve interviewed each of them three times. Well, almost three times! I’m finishing up my final interviews within the next weeks, hopefully. The whole process has been crazy hard, but it has also been SO fun. I have loved the interview process and getting to understand what people like/dislike about online learning. I teach online courses, so this has already helped shape how I teach my own students. I’m excited to finish data analysis, so I can really study the specific things that my participants addressed.  So, that’s what I’m always working on! And, fingers crossed, I’m hoping I can somehow pull off a May graduation…

I took a break from work and had lunch – mashed sweet potatoes and chicken tenders. Mm!

I needed a little pick-me-up, so I made some Nuun in a wine glass.

I loved this flavor! Ginger Lemonade. I’m not a huge lemonade fan, but I LOVE ginger.

My throat has been a little scratchy the past few days, so I made some apple cider vinegar shots for us to take. I used a new recipe and it isn’t my favorite. I love apple cider vinegar, but man, these are hard to take!  That little bottle with the squirter thing on top is Oregano Oil. It’s a natural antibiotic! I put it in my tea a lot.

Shot time!

We have been focusing on eating what we have in our fridge, just to cut down on waste and keep it a little more organized. Here’s a look at what we are working with this week. I really need to go through the condiments we have – I’m sure some of them are expired and they take up a lot of room. We are bad about buying something, using it once, and then never using it again. I need to work at being better about that!

Jake got home from work, changed, and then we headed to our first performance workout at HealthTracks! We loved it! The first few weeks are just getting us used to the things they do there and the proper technique to use, but I woke up a little sore today! I haven’t been very diligent about lifting since my hammy has been bothering me, so I’m looking forward to getting to do this. They design plans that are specific to our goals, which is nice! I can still do some strength training while continuing to rehab my hamstring. Win-win!

I like to eat dinner EARLY, like, 5 PM, but we worked out from 5:30 – 6:30, so it was almost 7 before we ate. I had everything cooked and ready to go (minus the salmon) before we worked out, just since I knew it would be a little late. Luckily salmon cooks quickly, so I cooked that as soon as we got home. We had spaghetti squash, quinoa, and salmon. It was so good! I topped everything with Sriracha (of course) and a balsamic glaze. I cooked the salmon in ghee, garlic, and coconut aminos!

We watched an episode of Bloodline while we ate, then shared a glass of wine.

So, this happened. We usually get up at 4, but Jake doesn’t run on Thursdays right now and I looked at the weather and saw that it’s going to be in the 60’s later today, so we opted to sleep in a little! I still wanted to get up early, I was shooting to be up by 5, to start doing a little bit of work, but that didn’t happen. I must’ve been way more tired than I thought because I remember turning my alarm off at 4:45, thinking I’ll snooze for an hour or so before getting up. The next thing I know, it’s 7! I couldn’t believe it. Oh well! I must’ve needed the sleep. And I am SO excited about running in the sunshine later!

Aspen got to have all the cuddles last night before bed. She was in heaven. We have been sleeping with my t-shirt quilt from high school, haha! Our down comforter is just too hot to sleep with!

When Lu is ready for bed, she doesn’t mess around. She doesn’t want to be touched or talked to.

Every so often, Aspen would shimmer herself up closer to me, with her head between my arm and the side of my body. She cracks me up. She wants to be as close as possible to one of us.