Lady A Owned the Night

 I've been looking forward to this concert since my friend Reid invited me to go.

And our seats were pretty dog gone good!

Lady A has always had good music and their latest CD has been EXCELLENT. 

Needless to say, I had high expectations fro the show.

And they didn't disappoint.

If I had to pay for every time Reid or I said

"Oh My Gosh"

or

" That was just .... wow"

or 

Any other type of amazed expression.....

I'd be broke. 

And paying off my debt for several years. 

We just couldn't stop reliving and talking about the concert the whole way back to Ames.

Even though it was the second night of the tour, 

it was incredibly polished.

  

All of the acts had amazing energy and stage presence

and the entire atmosphere added to the electrifying performances. 

{entrance of Thompson Square}

{Darius Rucker!} 

I'd go again, in a heartbeat.

It's that good.

I took a ton of pictures. 

Thanks Manne for your photography philosophy

{take a ton of pictures and delete later}

It worked out very well I believe.

Rather than post all +175 pictures (out of 300 I took) here

I posted my top 100 on facebook. 

Check them out here if you're interested in more Lady A photography.

 Tomorrow, real life returns. 

Early mornings

Crazy 7th graders

Lesson Writing and Brainstorming

Unit Planning and Creation

But I'm ready to face it. 

I'm ready to "Own This Week"

Just like Lady A Owned the Night yesterday. 

P.S. Early highlight of my week - my daddy is coming to visit! 

 Tuesday night will be here before I know it! 

Late Nights and Laughter

Yesterday was a fabulous day.

It was Friday.

And it started out with a BEAUTIFUL sunrise.

So of course, the rest of the day was bound to be beautiful.

Right? Yes, I thought so too. 

 Casual Day at school {love jeans!}

Fried Chicken and mashed potatoes before the Ides of March

{deliciousness. especially in cast iron}

Funny and magical entertainment at the MU

 And FREE SUBWAY sandwiches! 

No one was excited for them though. 

Nope, no one

I've been looking forward to the weekend since about Tuesday. 

Not that the week was bad or anything. 

Don't get me wrong there. 

I was just ready for free time.

Space. 

Sleeping in.

Laughter. 

Lazy hours.

Free Reading.

Relaxation.

Fun.

And Friday Night certainly delivered. Between the delicious meal, the free movie at Carver, 

the late night entertainment at the Memorial Union {hello magicians and comedy troupe - thanks for making me laugh harder than I have in months), and free food, I considered the night to be very successful, and the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

Tonight's looking even better too.

Stay tuned for pictures from the 

LADY ANTEBELLUM CONCERT! 

{This girl is not excited, mind you}

Weekend Review

This weekend review is going to have some photos from Friday morning when I was hoping for a snow day. 

I seem to be getting a little better at taking pictures throughout my day (since I think blogging works best when posts include pictures that are semi-related to the content .... sometimes).

But I'm still not good at taking said pictures and actually writing a post. 

So then I'm faced with slightly dated pictures for a post that I had planned to write a couple days ago. 

Bleh. There's no excuse either. 

I'm not that busy with student teaching, so I should have all the time in the world. 

Resolution to work on my time management perhaps? 

I think so.

For now though, here's some snapshots from my weekend:

 My car on Friday morning. No snow day for me, but plenty of snow to shovel off my car before I left for student teaching. Not a bad drive either.

 A successful Friday afternoon = a clean driveway!

 Model material here - coveralls rock

 Inspired by cooking with the Pioneer Woman - let's see if this week's menu sticks

I spent part of my Saturday exploring the library, and since I'd created a menu for the week, my brain was still stuck on ideas for cooking. Thus, the abundance of cooking books that came with me from the library. 

So far, the 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Recipes looks AMAZING. So many great ideas, with only 3 ingredients!

I'm excited to start trying soem of them out in the next few weeks. 

And probably blogging about them too. 

I also wish I had a picture to show you of the amazing pizza I had on my date Friday night. 

Great Plains pizza in Ames is DELICIOUS and FILLING and a FUN place for date night. 

I was so amazed I didn't even think of my camera. 

But  imagine being stuffed after only two slices of pizza. 

And a super thick crust you eat with honey that's on each table. 

{deliciousness} 

Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend!

Made for Monday Night

 Sunsets in my side mirror

Skype date with the lovely Andrea from The Soup Spoon
(and her amazing picture that I borrowed from Facebook - truly beautiful, inside and out!)

Fresh Banana Bread, hot from the oven

Glasses, sweats, and yumminess while doing schoolwork

Monday night never felt so right.
Have an awesome week!

Unwinding

Friday

I've really been looking forward to Friday.

Much as I love student teaching, I was tired Friday morning, so a weekend of sleeping in and relaxing was definitely something to look forward to during the day Friday.

To kick off my night, (after I went to the gym - success!), 

I went over to my friend Ben's house for chili.

And decided to make cornbread to share. 

This is my favorite recipe that my Mom always makes, so 

I thought I'd bring it to share. 

I also took some pictures, just to try out a cooking 'tutorial' like the ones

Ree Drummond features on her blog, The Pioneer Woman

The best part about this recipe is how EASY it is to make

 Ingredients you'll need....

1 14 cup Flour

1/4 cup Sugar

 2 teaspoons Baking Powder

3/4 cup Cornmeal

1 cup Milk

1/4 cup Oil

1 beaten Egg

 Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

 Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing until dry ingredients are moist

 Pour into a 8" or 9" greased baking pan and bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.

 

 And there you have it! Magic, delicious, easy cornbread. 

And one of the best parts - clean-up is super easy.

 So few things to wash, especially since I only used a 1/4 of a cup for everything. 

In addition to chili, I also caught up with some of the boys, and of course, had to have photos!

{Clockwise} Greve, Mumm, and Berger. Of course we don't use first names here!

I'm so thankful for the friends I've made during my college experience.

Some of the most unlikely people have given me some of the greatest memories. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Productivity Rocks

I love evenings when I'm super productive.

These kind of evenings are especially great considering student teaching

Hopefully, I can keep this productivity up when I'm writing lessons and grading papers 

later in the semester. 

A fun first teacher moment from today though...

I got my first note/artwork from a student! 

SO THOUGHTFUL! 

I had to hide my grin behind a book. 

I think I was more grateful than anything else to see that the students seem to

be taking to me as a friendly person, and not just a stranger to the classroom. 

Let's hope this continues when I start to teach. 

For now, I'll keep trying to remember their names, so I can get reactions like this:

"Woah, how do you know my name?!" 

Seventh Graders - There's never a boring moment. 

As for productivity, check it out

Tonight, I:

~ went to the gym and worked out {hello resolution!}

~ made a cherry pie for myself! 

~ caught up with my Dad on the phone

~ made my lunch for tomorrow

~ downsized and froze extra lasagna

~ did a load of laundry (produced CLEAN money instead of dirty money)

(and some shiny hairpins - guess I missed a pocket...)

~ showed

~ caught up on some of my favorite blogs

And it's only 9:30!

 

{oh, and justahappylittlethought - tomorrow is THURSDAY!}

{we're so much closer to the weekend!}

First Day Fun

Today was the first day of the spring semester.

My first day of student teaching too.

Despite being nervous this morning, the day worked out well. 

My first day was not too exciting, since I spent the day observing classroom routines, getting to know the students, and acquainting myself with additional course materials.

And after my first day, I got to spend a little time in the kitchen.

I made lasagna, which might have turned out better if I had used a 9 inch pan, 

instead of a 9x13 inch pan. 

However, it still turned out  (just not as meaty).

 Here's my recipe (which happens to be the FIRST new recipe from my 101 in 1001 list)

Beef Lasagna

18 oz pkg lasagna noodles

3/4 lb ground beef

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon crushed dried oregano leaves

1 Tablespoon parsley flakes

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 6 oz can of tomato paste

3/4 cup water

1 egg, beaten

1 12 oz carton of cream cheese

1 c shredded mozzarella

Cook noodles as package directed. Add cold water until noodles can be handled. 

Lift out, don't drain.

Lightly brown beef. Add garlic, onion, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water. Simmer 5 minutes. 

Mix together egg and cottage cheese.

In greased, 9 inch baking pan, spread layers of 1/4 meat sauce, 1/2 noodles, 1/4 meat sauce, 1/2 cottage cheese and 1/2 mozzarella cheese. Add another 1/4 meat sauce, remaining cottage cheese, mozzarella, then noodles and finally meat. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and enjoy!

Mmmmm..... delicious!

In addition to lasagna, I made a strawberry/rhubarb pie for my friend Seieroe's birthday. 

(NOT a new recipe, but one I hope to feature here someday soon)

I took it over to his apartment, and as usual, found it unlocked, 

which made it easy to leave the surprise birthday pie

However, I also came back from my little birthday errand with another, tall, thin friend. 

Meet John Wayne.

Charming, isn't he?

Last year, when I lived next door to Seieroe and the boys, my roommates and I would periodically steal John Wayne for movie nights, mostly just because we could

or even to help create a little holiday spirit.

 

 Beautiful, isn't he?

 And so full of Christmas cheer!

Amazing what finals week can do to our imaginations, right? 

 So, as to ensure that I get my pie pan back, 

John Wayne gets to stay at my house for a few days. 

I don't think he'll mind, do you?

 

Hope everyone starting classes this week has a successful first week!