how to do a breakup #likeaboss

Yes, you heard that right. Currently living the breakup world. Luckily I'm super pissed so there's way less tears than last time, but anyways it still sucks. That being said, here are some tips for getting through it.

1. Make a kick-ass breakup playlist and spin it on repeat until you can't take it anymore. Here's a few from mine:

What Goes Around - Justin Timberlake

Forget You - CeeLo Green

Tears Dry On Their Own - Amy Winehouse

Irreplaceable - Beyoncé

Fireball - Pitball (ha, I just like it)

Something in the Water - Carrie Underwood

F*ck You - Lily Allen

Elastic Heart - Sia

She's so strange. Good song though.

2. Make a secret board on Pinterest and pin all kinds of breakup things. You'll most certainly come across things like this that will cheer you up:

Here's the complete buzzfeed, which is pretty amazing.

3. Go order this book and read it cover to cover so you don't let the same shit happen again.

Let his words be gospel.

4. Clean up your social media. Delete him and his family from all platforms. No contact. For realsies.

5. Call your girlfriends and go out and get blitzed. Make sure you get some hot pictures of yourself in the process, too...but you probably won't and if you end up puking on your bedroom floor instead, hey, you didn't drunk dial, so we can call that a win.

6. Do the thing you love a lot. My thing is writing, so here you go. Actually, it's quite therapeutic.

7. Remove all the things from your house that will remind you of him. Then, clean the hell out of your apartment and then go buy new stuff to make yourself feel better. So far, I've got new sheets, a new decoration for my bathroom, and a Buddha statue.

8. Workout. And then do it some more. I'll be running a 5K in no time. And eat right. Except in the event of #4, in which case you can eat some pizza and a donut from Stans, provided you have enough energy to go get one.

9. Watch season 2 of Sex and the City.

10. And when you feel like crying, look at the funny things on that Pinterest board.

Seriously.

What's your strategy?

Sunday Skinny

It's summer, friends! I'm so excited! Tomorrow is Monday and I will be sleeping in till about 8 and then sipping coffee and writing even longer. I'm so happy!

Here's the skinny on my weekend!

Piqniq
Summer officially began for me yesterday when Hektor and I went to the Piqniq concert in Tinley. Here's the lineup:

I don't really listen to this music much when I'm by myself, but with Hektor I do! The Mowgli's are my fave for sure, but the others, Offspring included, were all fun.

But even better? Ry randomly spotted Hektor and I (who originally were planning to go alone) so we had a bunch of friends to hang out with!

 Love the Panozzo's, so glad we had a whole day together in the sun!

Random side note...now I see why one of my students, Ayden, drew me like this with the sunglasses:

 Anyways, a few more pics:

Ryan apparently had too much fun - luckily Marissa was there to take care of him:

(When I say take care... I mean, hold his beer?) :-)

Super fun day! Glad I've got this guy to show me new music!

Pinterest Project
Three summers ago I made a summer Shutterfly book and I loved it. Then last summer, I went to Europe, and then came home with hundreds of pics, and so it was overwhelming to think of making the book. This year, I'm going to make it as I go. It's called "Summer Love" and it's going to feature all my faves in these sunglasses:

Here's the front cover - will have pics all with friends and family in these glasses:

My niece is the first one to come for a visit (her first visit to Chicago!!!) and get the glasses. I told my sister to ask her what color she wants. I guess this was the exchange:

Stacey: Caitlyn, Auntie's buying you these sunglasses, what color?
Caitlyn: Really, Auntie?

and when I told Katie, she said, "You're dumb, but you're cute."

Why does no one like my styles? Important note: If I tell you I'm buying these for you, just pick a color and go along with it!

Book Review

This book really pissed me off. Main character, cheating on her fiancé. (Spoiler if you're reading it!) Then come to find out at the end that the fiancé was doing the same to her. Then, he is telling her, "We're perfect for each other, we're both the same, having meaningless sex with others on the side and it's okay!"

I was just so mad that they thought this would be okay, that it underminded (is that the past tense of undermind?) monogamy. I mean, maybe we're not meant to be monogomous (research on that, anyone?) but still.... Not cool. This book was just okay, I'm actually surprised that I actually finished it, but I committed to summer reading and am also hoping to read all these before we go back to work:

I'm holding a book study on Daring Greatly over at BigTIme Literacy if you blog. It will be every Thursday in July!

What are you reading this summer?

How was your weekend? Hope it was fab!

Teacher Problems

I'm teaching a grad school class again. Definitely better the second time around! My rubrics are more clear (still not quite just right) and I already have all the presentations done from the first round, so it's much more efficient. But I still have the same old teacher problems that every other teacher has. Like grading.

I teach an eight week course. Over that time, I prepare students to write two big papers, two papers that are classic assignments for a class like mine: a case study and a thematic unit. This time, I broke the papers down into five parts each and assigned one part each week. I told my students that if they did them on time each week, they could submit them for feedback prior to getting the final grade.

Like 4 people consistently asked for feedback. #mindblown

So last Tuesday was week 7 and I'm now at home with 40 papers to grade (I've done like 15) and most of them I'm seeing for the first time. 15 minutes a paper, that's about 4 papers per hour. (Except when you regrade a paper you already graded, and you're sitting there thinking, "This sounds so familiar." Yes, #thathappened.) So I'm pretty much trapped here with all these papers and that's it. Except I also need to do laundry (but I have no quarters) and go grocery shopping.

I totally remember when I was teaching 4 sections of middle school writing and I'd have 80 five paragraph essays to do on a weekend. That's what I'm living this weekend. Luckily I 'found' time to blog about it, right?

Who else is grading their day away?

Friday Favorites

Yeah, it's Saturday, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it, right?

It has been a good week - no work, not really much to do, and now spring is in the air and summer is right around the corner. Here are a few of my favorites from the last week!

Okay well lets just start with the weather. The sun is out! Seriously it finally came out after days and days of stupid rain! Spring is here friends...I was woken by birds chirping today!

I learned to crochet this week, thanks to Laurie! As she said the other day, "Baby blanket, I'm going to make you my B@$*%!" Me too, baby blanket, me too. (Sister: Hoping to finish one for your Baby Boy!) and then I want to make this:

Let's see....what else?

Mom and Rob - thank you for our Christmas Gift! I just got awesome seats this week for two weeks from Tuesday. Two more sessions of grad school to teach and then celebrations on the 28th!

Modern Family is still hilarious. I'm currently in the middle of a very long binge watch session. Phil Dunphy - funniest character ever and here's a whole blog post all about funny shit he says. 

Oh, and here's more. You're welcome!

And the best? I won vintage scratch and sniff stickers!!!!!!!

What were you up to this week?

Ratings or Research?

I don't get it.

Last night as I was watching the coverage of the election, I saw a promo for Fox News this morning saying they were going to interview a guy who was saying that marriage is dead. Since one of my besties is a Marriage and Family Therapist, and because I'm on spring break, I thought this was something I should definitely tune in and see.

So there we were this morning, me, my laptop and coffee, and the news. I'm patiently waiting for this segment, and finally it comes on and the guy is being interviewed via Skype. As I'm listening, I'm wondering what his credentials are - oh, he's divorced and dating? Well that sounds like someone qualified to be ON THE NEWS.

Anita has her own therapy practice in Chicago and she has yet to be on the news. (I'm sure she's well on her way, but not yet!) But this guy who has no background in Marriage and Family Therapy is being interviewed.

Which got me to thinking - how concerned is the news with reporting real news and research vs. getting ratings? I mean, I tuned in for the same reason I'm sure many people did - for the shock value of the story. But then I hopped right onto Antia's facebook page to get her input:

See, I'm just so used to her preaching marriage and loving relationships and getting the knowledge we need to live those amazing relationships that I was just not feeling this guy and his blog post.

But, shout out to him for tweeting back to both Anita and I, and opening up the conversation.

If you want to read his blog, you can find it here. And, he's on twitter here.

And you definitely need to follow Anita! Here's her website, and here's her Twitter.

Go read his article. Thoughts?

another 4 years of mayor 1%

Umm... I'm sure you know. I'm not a fan of Rahm. They just called the election and he won.

Here's what's not cool about this election: The dollar has spoken. Rahm had millions and was able to control the narrative that was going on. He had the ability to post tons of attack ads on Chuy that were all over the media for the past four weeks. This is not democracy. What's it going to take to limit the donations to election campaigns? Same thing with our upcoming presidential race. How much of it is democracy and how much of it is the rich controlling our leaders to have their interests met?

Here's what is cool about what happened: Chuy Garcia, who doesn't have the financial resources that Rahm does worked so hard and garnered 46% of the vote with his limited resources. He forced our first runoff election in our city's history! He forced Rahm to get out and knock on doors and talk to people, and tone down his attitude. Hopefully, he's taught Rahm that he should listen to more people than just his friends making campaign donations. He showed all of us that grassroots organizing can be done, and we can really have an election that reflects a true voice of the people.

And, if you ask my dad, here's what he'd tell you about this election:

And so there you have it - another four years of Rahm dealing favors to his buddies...

What's your take on the runoff election?

(back to) workin on my fitness

I do better with my weight loss goals when I make them public, so here you all go. That was the original reason I started blogging and it totally helps and works, so I guess I'm back to my roots here on GGL.

We had a Biggest Loser in January until just now and I did not win. I did not win extra lbs either, but I didn't really try too hard. It was still cold out and I don't currently have a gym membership, so you can see how I really went no where. The only consistent change I made was that I started prepping chicken salads for lunch - and did that every day for three months. It's a lot of work on Sundays, but it's a good habit, and I always get veggies with this habit. I love my salads so it's not a big deal, but one friend at work feels like this about them:

Except you guys want to hear about my diet, right? :-)

I started using My Fitness Pal again - they've really up-ed their game! It syncs with my Jawbone and Runkeeper, so all my movements are tracked and it makes adjustments for my activity. Plus, it has this handy equation at the top of the home page:

So I can see how many calories I get for the day, less the food I've eaten (and it's so easy to enter - just scan the barcodes!) + extra calories from working out and then you want to end up in the green.

One thing I don't understand is how it says I get 2,060 calories a day. My two friends who share my diary with are only eating 1,200 a day, so not really sure how that all works out. Anyone know?

So you enter in all your food and track your steps and activity and then you always know how much you have to go.

Anyways, back to my goals - I'm hoping to lose 20 lbs. I know, it's a big goal. It's going to take awhile, I have to stick with it, and I have to be accountable with my friends (that's why I'm glad Jamie and Katie are looking at my diary on My Fitness Pal!) But, then, when I reach my goal, I get this:

Actually there's another one that just came out on Friday, but I can't find it online yet, but if the fitness is going to get real, so is my purse collection :-)

So friends, cheer me on, ask me how I'm doing, help keep me going. After all, bathing suit season is upon us...

March Madness

It's Easter, Lent is over, and I'm finally back on Facebook. Let me tell you, giving up fb for Lent...not easy! Almost every other day I was getting emails from Facebook telling me I'm missing everything, and I totally did miss a few things:

• Kristy planned a boat cruise for St. Patty's day - I had no idea about this, and then at her birthday party she was all, "How come you're not going? That seems like something you'd want to do?" Yeah, it was!
• The bloggers I collaborate with share a group on Facebook and they're planning a super fun poetry blog hop - and I missed all the planning of that. I don't know if I can still get in, but maybe. Crossing my fingers!
• I have a few invites to parties - luckily some of my friends knew about me being gone, so they also emailed or told me things, so all is well there, too!

It's interesting not being on facebook. I can't tell you how many times teachers would be in the lounge at lunch laughing about something - oh, like that stupid dress (is it white and gold or blue and black?) and I had no idea. "Oh yeah, you're not on facebook," they would say.

But, what did I get from this? A lot of my time back. For awhile there, I didn't even think about it, which makes me really believe you can make a habit form in 30 days. (Currently: working on running habit. Day one down.) So I think the compromise will be no facebook on my phone...that way I can check it but not live on it all the time! I was still on Instagram and Twitter, which I use professionally more than anything so I wasn't void of all social media. What if I tried to give it all up? I couldn't imagine!

So some March catch-up...I got this blog redesigned! I love it - mostly everything but I think I want to switch my picture, but other than that, it's all pretty good. I am hoping to write here once a week and then at least once a week at BigTime Literacy, too!

St. Patty's day was super fun! We went to see the river...

And then met up with friends. I sang Karaoke to gold digger - but I will spare you those pics and videos!

I went to Louder than a Bomb last weekend with Alexa, a friend from work and it was amazing. Spoken word poetry for high school kids.  Here is one of my favorite pieces, Parking Dispute:

I also started teaching the grad school class again - I've been completely exhausted, but it's so much better the second time around and it ends in two weeks. I'm so excited for that to be over!

Anyways, glad to be back! Hope you have an amazing Easter Sunday! What else did I miss? Leave me a comment and tell me what is buried deep on the facebook feed!

april currently

I know I'm late to this par-tay, but I have had no time to even think about doing a Currently until this moment! Work is so crazy busy right now...well was, because I'm on Spring Break! I totally need this, too. Not going anywhere, and I'm happy today to just do whatever I want to do!

So let's get to it - what am I up to Currently? Check it out!

Listening to....Ed Sheeran's whole album
The whole thing is great. I love all the songs on that album.... Thanks Holls for the recommendation! Currently I love Afire Love. I don't know, just love it. Check it out -->

Loving that I'm not at work!
I am sitting here, listening to Ed Sheeran, watching Live with Kelly and Michael, and writing a blog. Cup of coffee right next to me and no where to be and no where to go. A cruise would be nice, but I'm also fine just staying home, relaxing, catching up, and cleaning my apartment. I do have lots to do for work - it will only put me ahead going forward, but I want to work on a product for Book Clubs for my TpT store and I need to get ready for our Family Writing Project which begins the week I get back. Be sure to check out BigTime Literacy for deets about that school stuff!

Thinking...Scientology is nuts
I didn't really know much about scientology until last night, but I watched this HBO special on it and it's crazy. I mean, it isn't even a religion but they pressed the IRS and basically filed all these lawsuits against them - inundated the IRS with lawsuits so the government would declare them a religious group and exempt them from the $1million + that they owed the government. And the Scientology "church" won! Again, I have about an hour and a half worth of knowledge about this, but it's crazy!

Wanting a new mayor in Chicago
I don't think Chuy is going to be able to pull it off, but it would be awesome if he became mayor. He wants an elected school board, he wants to collaborate with the people of this city, and it doesn't seem like he has quite the agenda that Rahm does. It's a crazy time to be a teacher right now - Pearson is ruling our profession and the state departments are bullying us into taking standardized tests (by telling us they will withhold our funding if we don't administer them). It's even gotten to the point where it's being proposed that Colleges of Education will be judged on the test scores of the children who are sitting in the classrooms of their alumni. Read that again. Colleges of Education will be judged on the test scores of the children who are sitting in the classrooms of their alumni. Ridiculous. I know I'm getting slightly off topic here, but it's just insane that our profession is being run over by money (Pearson and whomever else is profitting on our students and their data) and and as a collective whole, teachers aren't speaking up. Having Chuy as a mayor in Chicago would at least be one step in the right direction to do what is right by teachers and students.

Needing to fix my car
Last saturday I smashed my car into the posts of the El Tracks. My car is a hot mess - cracked windshield, smashed back bumper, and my front bumper also has some issues. Plus it's a mess inside. So embarrassing....this is one thing I have to get attended to over this break. 

EGGS-plain your name
This was actually my first blog - before BigTime Literacy. I named it after that song Good, Good Life by One Republic. I do have such a good life and wanted to keep a record of all the awesome things that this life has to offer me. Some personal stuff goes on my literacy blog, it's most of that stuff will be here. Now that the March Slice of Life Story Challenge is over, I'm hoping to write on this blog at least once a week, in addition to the writing I do over on my other one!

Alright well that's all for today. If you like what you've read here, be sure to follow me! and Happy Easter! I hope you have a great weekend (and that it's a long weekend!) and thank you to Farley for hosting us once again!

class act

I've been MIA here because I'm immersed in a month long writing challenge over at BigTime Literacy with Two Writing Teachers. I've written every day in March - okay every day minus two. But, it's been great to see that I can balance all the writing with work, with my personal life, and with my extra job teaching grad school! In April, I am hoping to write at least three days a week - two days on one blog and one day on the other. We'll see how that goes!

Okay so anyways! I am home on a lazy Saturday but being very productive. I'm doing laundry and working on my grad school class for Tuesday. I've got a Taylor Swift bio providing a little background noise that I've been halfway watching - until it got to the part when Kanye went and stole her mic in 2009. This led me on a YouTube treasure hunt - to find the video of the incident, which took me to a few more. Check out the few I've watched:

When Kanye commits the mic-stealing:

And then Beyone's response when she wins:

I just got to thinking what a class act that Beyonce is. She was obviously mortified when Kanye did what he did (even though I'm sure it may have been for good intentions), but to give Taylor her time back was just amazing.

The background noise show I was watching talked about how different Taylor and Kanye are, and pointed out that they are "raised" in different communities...the hip-hop community and the country community. I couldn't agree more. I mean, I love a little rap now and then, but that community has just gotten so explicit, so dirty, and I don't even know all the drama that goes on - there or anywhere else. Nashville, on the other hand, just seems to have a better set of values.

I'm just a proud fan of Taylor Swift. I'm going to her concert this summer with one of my best friends and I can't wait!

What's your take on her?

currently

Well hey there! It's time for my fave linky of the month, Farley's Currently! It's such a great time to share what is going on with each of us and make new blogging friends!

Good, Good Life is new to Currently, but the blogger behind it isn't. You may already know me from BigTime Literacy! What you don't know is that my blogging roots started here - I began writing as I was completing a Whole 30 food challenge. I loved blogging, but after the challenge ended, I struggled with what most writers do: What do I write about now? I realized I wrote a lot about teaching, which is how I started BigTime Literacy, but I wanted to continue to write here too, sharing my personal stories and pictures of my family and friends. And honestly, writing with less of a filter. My teaching blog is linked up with my school district so I need to keep that much more professional, but sometimes I just want to be funny and drop an F-Bomb - I did get my beginnings teaching in middle school, after all!

I just had the blog redesign done by Kassie at Designs by Kassie and I love it! I hope you'll follow my more personal stories here at GGL!

And now, without further ado, let's get on with Currently!

Listening to...Sugar by Maroon 5

This video has made me absolutely LOVE this song. It's so so so so good (and how how cute is Adam Levine with those glasses?) Last weekend Hektor showed it to me and I seriously watched it like 10 times before the weekend ended. Check it out, I promise you'll love it too!

Loving my new blog redesign!
So I love Kassie - and now that she's done two blogs for me, she totally knows my style! I love the pink and gold, I love the Chicago reference with the little heart, I love glitter - totally cute! What do you think?

Thinking about hosting a book club!
So I was thinking about hosting a virtual book club - it will probably be over on BigTime Literacy, but I heard about this great book at a conference a few weeks ago - Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. Hattie, the author, did a huge analysis of 1,000s of studies and found the highest-yielding strategies that teachers can use to maximize learning. So, anyone interested? I am doing the Slice of Life writing challenge all of March, but maybe in April or May? Or perhaps summer break? I was thinking we'd all read, and then I'd host a linky every week so people can join in with me!

Wanting Chuy Garcia to make Rahm a #OneTermMayor
It's no secret that Rahm is a 1%er guy who doesn't think with the middle and lower class in mind. Kinda like a lot of the people running our government and it's particularly clear with education in mind. The reformsters want to do away with public schools (Rahm closes 50 and then has plans to open 22 charters in their place?) If you've done any reading of Diane Ravitch, you know all about the downfalls of charters and beginnings of the hopes to privatize public education. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, get Ravitch's book, follow her blog, and look up the Badass Teachers Association. And check out Chuy's education platform here!

Needing the weather to warm up!
I'm so over the cold and crappy weather. Days of no sunshine and grey skies - I want them behind me! February in Chicago has been so cold, so I'm hoping for a warm up in March. I feel like spring and summer are so far away...how will I ever make it to Spring Break (which doesn't start till Easter!)

Spring Break Plans
No plans to travel - so I'm happy to be home and relaxing and spring cleaning! Just found out that I'm going to Spain in 2017 with a former student and my best friend and her students - so as far as travel plans, I'll take that!


And before I go, just have to share a super funny meme I found on Instagram:

If you don't follow @teachermisery, get on it. Whoever runs that account posts the most hilarious things! Seriously though, what a complete waste of web space and news! Did you know this made World News last night? Really....there's nothing better going on?

I hope you'll follow my blog! And make sure you head over to Farley's blog and link up your Currently!

Happy Sunday!

Friday 6pm and Pajamas

Well, you can't be here without noticing the new design...what do you think? Do you love it as much as I do? I've been wanting to write more here on GGL but I didn't love how it looked, so I had Kassie, who did my literacy blog, give it a makeover! It's very pink and glitterly - both of which I love! What do you think?

The rest here is going to be a lot of randomness...

Friday & Pajamas
I've been having some crazy busy weeks. So much so, that I'm ecstatic to be on my couch in my pajamas well before 10pm. The boyfriend is out with his friends, and I'm home with mine - the blog, a book or two, and maybe a movie. I would say I'm more introverted than an extrovert, so having time to myself gets me geared up for another week. Who's with me?!

Sorry Rahm
Did you hear? I'm so happy that Rahm didn't win the mayoral election in Chicago last Tuesday! He's not good for education.... he doesn't have (or support) a democratically elected school board, he supports the creation of more charter schools, and he can't work collaboratively with the teacher's union. I just think it's so amazing that he spent $14 million on a campaign and even had Obama here last week endorsing him - and he still didn't pull it off. It gives me hope that we really are still living in a Democracy...the voice of the people has been heard!

And now, on to April and a new mayor! Here's a little video so you can get to know Rahm's competition, and check out his education platform here!

No fb for Lent
You probably didn't read my last post - because I couldn't post it on facebook, because I gave up fb for lent. Yeah, it's been a week and a half and I'm constantly getting emails saying how much I'm missing out. But I'm going to stay strong! So, if you're going to say something about my blog, leave me a comment here, or I won't get it until April! (I have since figured out how to have Blog'Lovin post on fb for me!)

One Wish
I wish I was in AZ this weekend - hanging out with Katie, sunbathing in the....shit, what's it called? When you sit on the grass at spring training games? I've clearly been gone for too long! Anyways, I wish I was going to AZ sometime soon - I miss my friends, some former students, and the beautiful weather!

I will be writing every day in March for the Slice of Life writing challenge with Two Writing Teachers! Those posts will be over on BigTime Literacy - make sure to follow if you're not!

What are you doing this weekend? Hope it's great!

grrrr Lent

I'm not even technically Catholic. I mean, I'm not Catholic at all - My dad is, mom is Methodist, I'm baptized Methodist, Hektor is Catholic. Hektor usually gives up something for Lent so, I decided this year, I would, too. Give up facebook, I thought. That would be a good idea, I thought. So I did and I haven't checked it since Tuesday night. (Also: Hektor is giving up telling me what is happening on facebook.) Real mature.

It was a good thing to give up. I burn so much time on there reading pointless boring stories (Just said that as a shout-out to Rob!) hahhahaaa. But really, if you're anything like me, you waste a lot of time on there. I haven't seen what anyone is doing since Tuesday night.

This morning temptation began rolling in. I got a very pressing email from facebook - YOU HAVE 22 NOTIFICATIONS!!! You're missing out on what Kristy is doing and also four more people replied to so-and-so's thread. Please come back!

But, I didn't.

Then Hektor comes in the room and asks me if I got invited to someone's party. I said, "Well, I don't know because I haven't been on facebook." He laughs and tells me I'm really missing out.

I know in the grand scheme of things with the Lent story and all this is crazy to say, but it's going to be a long 40 days. I'm only 3 1/2 in and it's already hard. I think facebook is the Social Media equivalent to wine, which I decided would be too hard to give up. Perhaps I should have switched.

If you happen to read this, please share it for me - since I can't go on facebook to do so. Follow me on Blog'Lovin to get my updates!

I'm planning to write on this blog more because I'm having it designed up pretty like BigTime Literacy! Just started talking to Kassie about what we're going to do - it's going to look ah-maze-balls!

What are you giving up for Lent?

xo, Michelle

fajitas for lunch!

Well, things are looking up eating wise. I think I've gotten past the crazy kill-everyone feelings from a few days ago. I'm settling into the fact that a "treat" means a cup of hot tea. As my bff says, "It's just food, not love, Michelle." She's right! Even though thoughts like this roll through my mind all the time...

Thanks MD for the pic on fb today!

Today I am home on a 'cold' day (which stinks because now we're saying so long to our Martin Luther King 3 day weekend and the three day weekend in February in observance of President's day). So, being home for lunch, I actually had some time to make some fajitas!

I made these for some friends over winter break and one said, "I don't even like green peppers - but these are great! What did you do?" Yes, they're that good!

Here's what you'll need:
Pack of boneless chicken
Assortment of Bell Peppers (Or just green ones)
Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil
Lime
Cilantro
Tortillas
Toppings: Salsa, cheese, guac, sour cream...whatever your preference!

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken (at least) overnight in Italian dressing. This is key - this marinating will make your chicken so tender and juicy! It's actually gotten to the point now where I won't eat chicken at home unless it's been marinated!
2. On a grill (or on an iron cast stove-top pan) grill all the chicken. Remove it from the grill, let it cool.
3. Slice onion and peppers - however big or small you'd like it, but definitely in slices.
4. Put some olive oil, fresh garlic (or the garlic in the jar?) into the pan. Throw the onions and peppers in there. Let those cook for a few minutes.
5. While those are cooking, slice the chicken.
6. Throw the chicken in with the veggies and let it get "nice and happy" (as my dad would say).
7. Juice at least half a lime into the mixture. If it gets too limey, add more garlic. For me, those two kinda cancel one another out.
8. Throw some cilantro in there if you'd like.
9. Get your tortillas ready (flour taste better to me, corn more healthy...)
10. Dish up some fajita mixture into the tortillas and then top with your faves!

Serve with some chips and salsa or rice to complete the meal and a Margarita will make it perfect!

Wish I had guacamole!

I know that there are a ton of seasoning packs at the grocery store you could buy, but it's so much better when we control the ingredients. I know everything that is in this meal and it's all way healthier than using a packet of seasoning that has a bunch of additives that who knows how it's affecting my body! I've just had this in mind a lot lately as I make food choices - no more "low-fat" stuff to save on calories...what they take out calorie-wise goes back in with chemicals!

What are you having for dinner tonight?

Retail Therapy

Today I had to stop at Target on the way home to get some stuff for dinner. And I needed a binder and page protectors for this new intervention I'm doing with a kiddo.

When I checked out, I had spent $97. Please tell me that happens to you, too?

Here's what I bought...

New winter hat (It's pink! With a pom-pom on top!)
2 packs of pencils
2 packs of eraser toppers
Pack of my fave pens
Electric pencil sharpener
New shirt
Food I needed (ground beef, corn tortillas, red enchilada sauce, cheese, onion, salsa)
Bag of Cuties

By the time I got to clothes, I was thinking..."Well, I can skip candy and carbs, because buying all this stuff is actually making me feel better!"

And so I used my Target card and saved $5, because, you know, that makes a dent.

Now...if only I can round up $100 a day for the month of January, and I'll be set!

In other news, I lost my car key (I think outside) on the coldest day of the year. Good news is I have all of tomorrow to look for it. (School was cancelled.) Hopefully someone else hasn't found it and ran off with my coche! Losing your keys is the most annoying waste of time I can think of.

Perhaps this happened to get my mind off of junk food!

That is all. Enjoy the snow day friends!

Murderous Thoughts

about food. Yes, you heard read that right.

So I'm basically on like day 1 of a month of (as clean as possible) eating. I'm cutting sugars, carbs, and alcohol and really anything that has more than one ingredient. Except one cheat meal each week, but I haven't yet determined on what day that will be happening.

We are starting a Biggest Loser competition this week at work and that's highly motivating, so I want to do good.

Today I've done really well. Here's what I've eaten and drank:

Warm Lemon Water (Read why here.)
Breakfast: Kashi cereal with a 1/2 banana
Got hungry around 10:30 and ate: Cocoa Roasted Almonds
32 oz of water by end of lunch
Lunch: Grilled chicken and steamed broccoli and a Cutie
Got home, apple and peanut butter <--- Was really wanting something like chips and salsa or something worse like those Munchies; settled on an apple instead
Cup of hot tea
Dinner: Salad, microwaved potato, and a hamburger no bun
Almost finished the second 32oz-er of water.

I'm not even hungry, but I'm so pissed that I can't have a glass of wine or any of those mint M&Ms in the secret drawer (that's not so secret) or a bun on my hamburger. I feel like this:

Not even day 1!! Grrr

Anyone who tells you that you can't be addicted to food - they're a fool and I'm the proof. I am - straight up addicted - not lying. (Wish I was.) (Read about it here or #4 here.) I've let food become almost like an extension of my self - that crappy, processed, food - especially miserable junk food! Its addictive and makes us sick and I've got to be undergoing some crazing detoxing or something.

Which - question: Can I even be in detox if I haven't completely given up all sugar and carbs??

But for now, after I finish this blog, I'm going to read, then watch the Bachelor, go to to bed, and get up and repeat this GD process all over again.

One day at a time. That's all I can handle.

Written on sugar cubes?
Do you see where my mind goes?

Am I the only one who is dealing with this?! Please tell me I'm not alone!!!

PS- Murderous thoughts? I have no idea what that even means - other than I'm angry about not eating what I want. Not planning any murders though. Should I even have posted this?!

PSS- Did you know I started blogging here on Good, Good Life because of a food challenge? Waaaayyyy before BigTime Literacy. It's kinda theraputic, actually!