The end of the quater

Winter quarter is finally over! Graduation was tonight. I have all of my final grades entered. I am ready for a week off. Of course, that week off only means I wont be at school three days next week. I plan to be there 1 or 2 days getting next quarter ready. I am teaching 5 courses and taking a class. Yeah, a little scary. Of the 5, I have taught 2 of them before. There are two sections of the same course, and the last one, I'll wing it!

So with my next few days off I will be doing some Relay work. We still have lots to do. Let me know if you can help. Don't forget to visit my website and make your tax deductible donation. Click here.

I will also be working on cleaning the house. With this past quarter being as hectic as it was, the house is in disarray. I don't like it. I plan to remedy this.

So, if you left messages or sent emails that I never responded to, I am sorry, and please try again. :D

I'm off to bed. First on the To-do list: Sleep in.

Week 7

This week is week 7 of our quarter. This quarter I am teaching 5 classes. Last quarter I taught 3. I really am enjoying teaching. Currently we are just 2 weeks away from the AVMA (our accrediting body) coming for a site visit to review our accreditation. This means that we are very busy trying to make sure "all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed." This also means the stress level has kicked up a whole lot more notches. I was a little bit stressed just with classes and getting lessons planned and papers graded. This has added a whole new level.

Last weekend we drove to Michigan to meet our newest Niece, Abel. We had the honor of attending and celebrating her baptism with much of the family. We got to see Nick's brother and family from Texas, including our nephew, Nick's parents, Nick's sister (Bel's mom) and family and her in-laws. The Grunklee family is a great family.

The trip was great, but a lot of driving in a few short days. We left Friday am, drove 11 1/2 hours to make it to Bay City around 8pm local time. We left Sunday and drove to Valpo Indiana where my cousin, Heidi lives. Amy, Heidi's sister, was also there. It was fun to have dinner and visit with them and catch some of the olympics. Monday morning we headed out and arrived home about 4pm. It was a fast trip with lots of driving, but the weather was good and we got to see a lot of family. :D
Here is a picture of me and Bel.

WA Frost

Tonight Nick and I celebrated the fourth anniversary of our engagement. To date this is the one anniversary/holiday that we consistently celebrate on the date. As is the tradition we went to WA Frost for dinner. The Moonen Christmas was today as well, so we skipped some of that eating and ducked out for dinner, then returned. Due to the cold, I didn't even suggest we visit Rice Park, which is where Nick actually proposed. It was a fantastic dinner as usual.

Nick had the Pork Belly. Basically that is a cut of pork from the same area as bacon, so it is a fairly fatty piece of meat. He liked it. I had the Venison. It was awesome! It was med-rare and I could cut it with a butter knife. Yummy! We also had the 3 cheese platter, which is tradition. We always let our server pick the three (and yes we like Blue cheese) and have never been disappointed.

I love that they have some "mini desserts." Basically they have desserts that take about 4 bites. Perfect to get the creme brulee with out having to eat a huge dessert.

Pictures to follow

My attempt at cooking Korean food

Having gone out for Korean food last month, I was kind of excited to have it again. That opportunity presented itself when I had about a pound of round steak left. This isn't regular round steak. It is home grown from my aunt and uncle. So with a pound of if left, I didn't want to waste it on something not tasty. So I decided to try Bulgogi. This is a Korean dish that is basically marinated and then quickly stir fried beef. I just so happened to most everything I needed. So I attempted. It turned out pretty well. I think I will make it again in the future, though I will likely try to slice the beef thinner. I would also like to try a cast iron frying pan. But that's another post for another day.

Dinner and the theater

On Saturday Nick and I had the pleasure of having dinner with our friends Paul and Kim. They took us to Hoban Korean Restaurant in Eagan. It was very good. We had man doo, bulgogi, kimchee bokum, shrimp tempura and dolsot bibimbob. Everything was wonderful! This place is also pretty cool because it is next to a karaoke place. There are 3 or 4 separate rooms that are equipped for small groups to make fools of themselves in front of a small group rather than a bar full of people, I guess. Maybe some day....

After stuffing ourselves (at least Nick and I did) with awesome food we headed to New Life Academy in Woodbury to enjoy their production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Some friends from church were in it, so we wanted to support them. I ordered tickets online in advance as the recommendation of these friends. Good thing I did as it was a sold out show. It was really good! Our friend Steve played the oldest brother, Ruben. He sang the lead in "one more angel in heaven" and was very good. He had us convinced he was angry about Joseph and his coat.

It was a great night and we were glad to share it with Paul and Kim.

Dear Fellow Commuters on 494,

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of a few driving particulars that will make things a little more enjoyable for all of us.

First off I just want to state, for the record, that I can not go faster than the car in front of me. This is impossible. Perhaps you could think about this in more personal terms. Does ride up on me make you go faster? No. Try as I may, I am limited by the speed of the car in front of me. Perhaps you could try to leave 3 minutes earlier, so you wouldn't feel so pressed to make up those little seconds by trying to inch the rest of us faster?

I would also like to remind you of a pretty important rule that goes along with that. Two things can not occupy the same space at the same time. Now, this is a simplification of it, but this really is a rule of physics. If my car is right there, your car can not be. This is an important rule!

Blinkers are helpful in letting the rest of us know your intentions. If I know you are trying to switch lanes, I can avoid doing so as well. Remember, we can not both occupy the same space at the same time.

This next tip applies to most Minnesotans: when merging, as tempting as it is to slow down, don't. When you merge, it goes so much better if you get up to the speed the other groups are going. Also, kindly let people in as they attempt to merge. If you are exiting as I am entering, do you NEED to be in front of me to prove something? You are leaving, allowing the subtle slowdown to allow others in as they merge acts as a nice buffer don't you think. If you speed up to cruise in front of them, only to have to slow down to avoid rear-ending the car in front of you, almost causing the car you "beat" to rear-end you....remember, two cars can not occupy the same space at the same time.

Lastly, flashing lights on the shoulder do not mean you need to slam on your breaks and proceed at 20 mph. You will not get pulled over if someone is already pulled over. Chances are, at 20 mph you still will not get enough of a glimpse to discern if it is someone you know or why they are pulled over. It's 494, always assume they were speeding and move on.

Please consider these friendly reminders as we commute together this week.

Thanks!

Happy Birthday Daddy

My dad turned 60 on Saturday. After all the getting old jokes were told I realized, again, that my parents can't possibly be the age their birthdays give them. In my mind there is no way my parents should be getting senior discounts, no AARP, and why is my dad golfing in the Senior division? (which he has a few trophies in) For whatever reason, in my mind my parents stopped aging right around my moving out of the house. That was about 10 years ago. Perhaps it has as much to do with them not acting like they are aging. They certainly don't act like "old people."

Whatever the calendar says your age is, Happy Birthday Dad.

Red Lobster for the seafood lover in you!

We went out to dinner with my parents and some friends of theirs tonight. We went to Red Lobster. When you live in MN, that is seafood. I realize that when you live on a coast, there are many places that are much better, but for MN, Red Lobster works for me. It was definitely one of the better recent experiences we have had there. Not that the others have been terrible, but it was very good tonight.

I hung out with my mom today, so I was in Waconia. Nick had to work so he came from CG to meet us for supper. I left a bit earlier than my parents and their friends to secure us a table at peak dinner time (6:30ish by the time they got there). When I got there they said 20-30 minutes. About 7 minutes later I was being seated. The waitress promptly took my drink order. Nick arrive about 4 minutes later, and again, very promptly took his drink order. When the rest of the party arrived, drinks were quickly ordered and brought to us. She did take a minute or two longer to get our food order, but still not bad. She brought our salads and the cheddar biscuits in what seemed like a regular amount of time. But no sooner had we taken our first bites of salad our food arrived. Wow, talk about speedy. The problem with this was that our table was pretty small for 6 people, and to have salad and dinner plates really crowded the table.

Everything was brought to us, tartar sauce, extra drinks, etc. Two people ordered the endless shrimp so they placed a second order. About the time we were half way through eating, the waitress came over and explained her error making the food come out at the same time as the salads. It turns out this was Homecoming for her daughter and she stopped in just as she placed our order. So she spent a few moments with her daughter before making our salads. This delay, she said, was totally her fault and she was soooo sorry and she takes full responsibility for it. Since that was the case and she felt so bad, she was giving us a few little extras to take home with us. The guys with the endless shrimp each got a few to take home, and there were even a few extra servings brought for others to take home.

We told her we appreciated her honesty and accepting responsibility, and really, we didn't need the extra servings. She insisted and was grateful we were so understanding.

We ended up with two servings of shrimp scampi and some broccoli and cheddar biscuits. Yummy! I hope Nick is willing to share them with me!

So, we did ask and the waitress's daughter goes to the "new" school that was formed by the merger of Concordia Academy in Bloomington with a few other Lutheran schools in the area. She was pretty chatty, but very nice.

My tummy is filled with yummy shrimpy goodness and a cheddar biscuit to help sop up the butter. It was tasty!

Gym Rat

I spent almost 2 hours at the gym today. The surprising part was that I didn't realize it was almost two hours until I went to stretch.

Today is also the three week mark of membership at Snap. I am a little bit surprised at how much I have enjoyed working out most days. Perhaps its the ability to shake things up if I want. Perhaps it has to do more with my perception of improvement.

My first week going I was able to do about 20 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill. I am now consistently doing 40 minutes on the treadmill. Today I did 40 minutes at a speed equal to a 19 minute mile. This is quite the improvement for me. I have also added a little biking in with my cardio routine a few days a week.

I am averaging strength training 3 to 4 days a week.

I have discovered that the best way to make the time go by is to read a magazine, listen to my fun ipod mix and occasionally watch football when it's on. The downfall to this is I have read all of the magazines I have, most of them at the club and even a few of the books for the classes I am teaching. This is a good problem I suppose, but it also means I run out of things to read. I have read a lot more celebrity gossip than I enjoy. People Magazine aside, I rather dislike reading celebrity gossip. From reading the weekly gossip mag at Snap I have learned that many of the celebrities are idiots.

I also learned that according to some psychologist, when you set a goal you should not share it with people because it gives us a sense of accomplishment to talk about it, so we don't work as hard to achieve our goals. Um...ok. I have found that sharing my goals with people, including on here, helps keep me accountable. If Nick knows I am trying to lose weight, he is so much less likely to suggest going out to eat, or is more likely to suggest a walk. If that goal is never externalized, how do I hold myself accountable? If that goal just stays in my head, I can change it or amend it to be able to justify anything. That's no good.

What's the difference between a boyfriend and a husband? About 30 pounds. - Cindy Garner

Ok, that isn't a crack at my husband, more an observation of our past 3 years of marriage. I don't know about Nick, but I certainly have put on a few more pounds than I care to admit. My Snap membership is just one of the ways I am trying to remedy this. One of the other things we are doing is eating better. The combination of the onset of fall (the body's desire for comfort foods) and the desire to find tasty meals that are a bit better for us has given me the bug to look and find new things to try. Here are a few things I have tried and we like.

• Hotter than Bret Favre Tuna Salad. Thanks Amy & Heidi for the name inspiration and Nick for bringing it up. It is Tuna and Artichoke hearts with a touch of mayo, cilantro, onion and hot sauce. It is not spicy (hot) but still hotter than Favre.
• Grilled Tuna steaks. YUM-O! A little EVOO, salt and pepper and grill them up to a rare medium-rare. Excellent with salsa, pesto, portabello mushroom caps, horseradish crusting or with nothing at all.
• Stuffed jalapenos. Jalapenos stuffed with seasoned cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. (You might be thinking, bacon isn't healthy....well, when carbs are your enemy, bacon in moderation is great!)
  
• Salsa. So this isn't a new recipe, but eating it sans chips is rather new. I found this salsa is great on most anything. And, in the process we found a new tortilla chip that is tasty, and a bit better for us. Trader Joe's Flaxseed and Soy chips. Really pretty tasty. Good crunch, good amount of salt and no funny taste of healthyness.
  
• We also tried a few cheeses a couple weeks ago. We had wine, cheese and a few accents. Very tasty!! Trader Joe's has quite the selection of cheese.
  
• Speaking of Trader Joe's, it was recommended to us to try the Whey protein if were in the market for a protein powder (vanilla is better than chocolate...I can't believe I just said that)

So that is just a little glimpse of some of the new things we have had at our house. So far, eating better has tasted pretty good around here. Now how to make tater tot hotdish and keep it healthy?