My Life on the Road

Literally. Well, almost....
I spend about an hour and a half of my day on the road getting to and from work and that is not including the traffic that I might sit through during rush hour, wrecks, etc.  Interestingly enough, I think that most of my greatest ideas come from my time of solitude and/or singing at the top of my lungs (AND I am the next American Idol!) But I've also had a chance to come across some interesting drivers during my lovely commute and over time I've begun to catagorize them and thought it would be fun to share some of my "fun" experiences and thoughts....

1. The all to famous "grandma" driver--everybody knows this type of driver and has probably, during one time or another, yelled at this driver who is engaged in some sort of fantastical reverie that causes their foot to fall asleep.  Or maybe this person has no other reason to be on the road other than to drive so slow so they CAN smell the roses on the side of the highway.  I'm ok with these types of drivers, until they park it in the left lane (a.k.a the fast lane) and then there is a stream of naughty words running, not walking, through my head.  If you can't already tell, I have a bit of a lead foot, which leads me to my next driver :)

2. The "I want to smell your exhaust" driver-- they are in such a rush and get so close that they end up enhaling the smell of your behind.  These drivers are mad at the "grandma" drivers because they won't get it the right lane.  ahhhh that joy of looking in your rear view mirror and seeing the nose hairs of the person driving behind you. 

3. The "I will get you back hahahahhahah you can't mess with me!" driver--I came into contact with this type of driver when I was having a "I want to smell your exhaust" type of day (yes, you know you have had one of those "oh crap! I overslept! days and need to get to work on time.) So I'm very annoyed that this person is going 55 in a 65 when I'm trying to go teach the children of the world, but no no no, instead of moving over this person decides that they will get revenge! muahahahahah! They not only get over, they proceed to get back behind me, get as close to me as they can (keep in mind that I am now going 10 mph over the speed limit) and swerve back in forth behind me WITH their bright lights on! Come on now...I wasn't that mean when I was suggesting that you move over. Seriously. My question is...if you had gone this fast to begin with, couldn't this all have been avoided? Case and point.

4.  The "topsy turvy" driver--this type of driver is just plain dumb.  They would rather rummage around in their bag and find that oh so important, must have now, lipgloss than watch the road.  Guess what driver? You are always suspected of drunk driving! At least, that's what I always think.  Keep your reputation clean by keeping your eyes on the road, mcdrinkerson!

And last but not least....
5. The "I'm so angry and need to express myself through raaaaaage" driver.  This is my absolute favorite because who doesn't like a good dramatic soap opera for the road? Why DVR snookie when you have THIS type of entertainment?  Which brings me to my Oh so favorite story of the week....

This past Wednesday, my school system had an Early Release Day (yay for students, uggghhh for teachers!) So word has it that there is a super nasty wreck on I-77 South that had been backed up since 11am. At this point it is 3:30 and there is a handful of us that need to make it home.  So we caravan it up and follow each other taking the backroads.  Eventhough we aren't at a standstill, we are in stop and go traffic with stoplights, stopsigns, slow drivers, etc.  So it took me about 2 1/2 hours to get home.  By then, I have a decided that I need to go straight to my chiropractor appointment so that I'm not late.  As I merge off of the highway, I get into the left lane with the intent to turn left in the direction of my chiro.  At the exact same time I look at the clock and decide that I have a few minutes to spare and would rather turn right and go home so that I can change into a more comfortable outfit.  I immediately check my blindspot and swerve over two lanes.  HONK! HONK! HONK!!! I slam on brakes and realize that I have (accidentally) almost ran a motorcyclist off of the road and he is yelling BIITCH!!! at my passenger side window as he goes by. I have my hands off of the steering wheel in the air and I'm saying, "Sorry!!  I didn't mean too!" and I'm cringing inside because I'm thinking of all the "what-ifs" and the "thank-gods" of the situation.  How did that happen? I checked my blind spot! Ohhhh it must have been the fact that I swerved over two lanes to get to where I'm going at the last minute. Huh.
But the story doesn't stop here, my friends.
I'm now behind this angelic motorcyclist and he is chug-a-lugging on his bike in front of me. Literally. Chuga-chuga, chuga-chuga, chuga-chuga.  I'm starting to calm down and about 10 seconds goes by and he decides he has not gotten enough of me. He turns around on his bike, throws his hands in the air, and yells (yes, I heard it over my music) at the top of his lungs, "You BIIIIIIIITCH!!!! F$%*@ You!! (you can only imagine what gestures he is using with his chubby fingers) He totally had the O face as he held out the vowel note in the B word! The funny part is that I was in complete agreement with him about my idiotic driving and so I yell back, as loud as I can, "I KNOOOOOOOWWWWW!" with my hands also in the air minus the lude finger gestures.  Mine were more like fingers together, flat and angled, as if I were welcoming people to my dinner table type gesture.  That dude was angry.  You might want to hug me the next time you see me because I almost died. Victim of road rage. By motorcyclist. Whew!

Ahhh, fun times on Exit 28 off of I-77.  At least I know that he probably slept like a baby that night...getting all the raaaage and stuff off of his cheast. 

So those are some of the lovely people that I have come across on I-77.  I'm sure I've missed a few so feel free to comment with your thoughts and war stories of your life on the road. Drive peacefully and safely, my friends (just beware of crazy bikers now that you know what could happen if you run them off of the road!)

It's been an interesting year I must say.  A year without meat or coffee. Meat wasn't too hard to give up.  I definitely had to get a little more creative with my meal planning, but coffee.....ohhhhhh coffee. My love.  It was an emotionally and physically painful change because my body had an actual addiction to the stuff.  And when I say painful, I mean physically, painful.  I had migrains for 3 days where I was in my classroom teaching and would get nauseous.  I would come home and sit in the dark.  Not to mention how my kidneys were feeling first thing in the morning.  Coffee was smacking them in the face and saying "Who's your daddy?" and then leaving them to crash in the early afternoon.  Poor kidneys.  If they could talk they would probably voice that they would prefer to not be coffee's bitch. 

One vice down...a few more to go.

So there have been many pros and cons with the "What Would Jesus Eat" outlook on my daily dietary decisions (hows that for some alliteration?)

Pros:
1. It's made me feel healthier.
2. I've enjoyed trying out new recipes.
3. The cost of meat balances out the cost of more fresh veggies so we haven't had a financial burden.  Or at least I haven't noticed our grocery bill substantially larger than those in the past.

Cons:
1. The inconvenience it seems to have on others because it's not a societal norm--let's face it, we are one meat loving nation.  Vegetarians are the minority.
2.  The inconvenience it has occasionally had on Mike and I--Food Lion doesn't sell vegetable broth, or at least the one in Cornelius doesn't.  So boo on you food lion! Food Lion may be cheaper, but doesn't have it all.
3. The waitress at Kimonos.  Ok this one gets me heated (and I feel a little hypocritical about this one, but I'm sharing it anyway.)  On our honeymoon, there was a Japanese Steakhouse that was by reservation only.  In the meantime, Mike and I had made friends with another couple on their honeymoon and we asked them if they would like to eat with us at the Japense Steakhouse.  So we change the reservation, blah blah blah.  Our reservation is for 8pm and by then, I'm starving.  I mention that I'm a vegetarian to the waitress (why? I don't know.  If I don't order the chicken, then they won't be throwing the chicken on my plate--DUH) and that I'll be having the shrimp entree.  Well this seems to be a really big deal to the waitress.  She kept telling different people that worked there to not serve certain things to me (keep in mind that we are having food cooked in front of us with 8 other people and they kept looking at me everytime it was mentioned.  A teeny bit embarrassing) 

Then she doesn't bring me out the soup because it was made with meat broth, announces it to everybody, everybody looks at me, I tell her it's ok and that I'll eat it, she argues with me and says "Noooo, you are a vegetarian!", I get super embarrassed and I hate her for life and write about it on my blog. Haha that will show you, Miss Japanese lady who works at a random japanese steakhouse on the island of Turks and Caicos!  Haha! You are written about on MY BLOG!  Total payback.

My final con. My hypocritcal vegetarian grudge.  I was so hungry that yes, I would have slurped the heck out of some chicken broth miso soup.  I don't think I would have died.

For now, I don't voluntarily offer up the fact that I'm a vegetarian in an attempt to avoid near death starvation. Lol.

Overall, other than the Japanese waitress mishap, our new diet hasn't been too bad and I think that Mike and I have gotten into a routine that we are happy with.  There will always be mishaps like the one at the vegetarian steakhouse and I will always make peace with it by writing about it on my blog (kidding) But we are happy and that is really all that matters, right? 

I am going to sign off with one of my favorite recipes that Mike and I probably make once about every two weeks (with leftoevers for next day lunch!) from the Super Cleanse book that I have been addicted to this past year.  So delicious (if you are not a fan of butternut squash you can also use peeled sweet potatoes.)

Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients:
5 cups vegetable broth (don't try going to Food Lion!)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups celery, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrot, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Himalyan sea salt(regular table salt is fine too)
5 cups butternut squash-peel first and cut 2 inch chunks
1 teaspoon of umeboshi vinegar (this is what I use, but I'm sure regular or no vinegar at all is not going to effect the taste)
Optional garnish: toasted pumpkinseeds or cayenne.  I recommend the cayenne and a little bit of sour cream--gives it a smooth and creamy KICK!

Directions:
Bring broth to a boil over high heat.  Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat and saute garlic, celery, onion, carrot, and salt, stirring often for 5 min.  Make sure this pot is large enough to hold soup because you are then going to add broth and squash.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook 10 min.  Uncover and stire well until squash breaks down easily.  Remove from heat and stir in vinegar.  Transfer mixture, in batches, to a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into bowls, add garnish, and enjoy!

A New Year

Happy New Year!  Can you believe that it is 2011 and the last time that I blogged was in February of 2010?  This year went by super fast.  My new years resolution has been to blog, obviously.  My goal is to blog at least once a week...so I have chosen Sundays. 
New Years Resolution? Check
Is it realistic? Yepo.
Is it going to happen? Yessssss!

Happy to be back.  Can't wait to tell you about my Super Detox journey of 2010.  But for now...I must get dressed and go to work. yuck.  Will be back soon! :)

What would Jesus Eat?

Ok. So anybody that has come into contact with Mike or myself in the past 6 months (lol, I'm making it sound like I have a disease) has learned that we have a made a huge change in our everyday diets. We decided to become vegetarians.

For me, it started around the time that I was in grad school in 2007 when I stopped consuming certain things that freaked me out. First, I read in a magazine that Splenda could possibly be carcinogen. So...there goes Splenda. Shortly after the Splenda kick, I cut diet sodas from my diet as well. I don't drink them at all now. I started thinking about how I was consuming all of these products that weren't naturally put on this Earth by God. They are man made products that yes, may make you feel better because you aren't consuming as many calories but they aren't REAL. They are fake. Splenda is the spam of sweeteners.

So when I started realizing how easy it was just to say NO to these habits that I had slowly incorporated into my diet, I decided to keep going. I picked up a book (at Target, of course!) called Super Cleanse: Detox Your Body for Long-Lasting Health and Beauty.

It was a little pricey ($14.95) too be so small but it looked like a very informative book and a quick read so I bought it. I read the entire thing that night. I couldn't put it down! It began by taking you through the scientific ins and outs of the food that we put into our body. I'm going to quote the first paragraph of the book because it was one helluva hook and I fell for it.

Word on the Street: We are what we Eat:

"Food is the medicine that heals our bodies--if we are choosing the right things to eat. Some of the food we put on our table may be undermining our health in ways we don't even realize. Many of the fruits and vegetables in our markets are sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and most meats are pumped up with antibiotics, hormones, and fungicides. when we ingest these chemicals, they can have a harmful effect on the body."

Yuck! And I'm thinking to myself, all these years I have been eating these things and because I couldn't see them, I didn't really pay attention to them. It went on to explain all the foods that we put into our body like sugar, flour, cheese, and processed foods that our body has a hard time digesting which clogs up our system while disabling our bodies ability to properly absorb nutrients and the minerals that it needs to be healthy. It just really opened my eyes to the fact that I have one life (duh, you think this light bulb would have gone off sooner. Don't worry it did-I've just been ignoring it) and I needed to start treating my body with respect. The more I treat it like crap, the rockier the road will be for me when I get old. Reality check!

So I stopped eating meat and stopped drinking coffee (now, it's green tea for me) Why coffee?

I've just read enough about the pesticides they spray on coffee beans, how coffee can hinder intestine absorption of much needed vitamins and minerals, and how taxing it can be on your liver (helllllo, my liver is still recovering from college!)

These were enough reasons for me. Bye bye coffee (this has been the hardest one, by far) I still crave a nice warm cup of coffee and a good book on a Sunday morning. Can I just tell you though that I had the worst migraines for two whole days when I stopped drinking coffee? I had my last cup on a Sunday and by Wednesday I could hardly teach and was feeling nauseous from the pain? I'm not exaggerating. It was terrible. That is a little scary, don't you think? I was going through a painful caffeine withdraw!

Anyways, to wrap this long story up, I have always had somewhat of an obsession with having a balanced diet and so I already knew how to eat healthy but this book just lit the fire underneath me to get me going on a higher level. I always like for my meals to have an appropriate amount of fiber and protein (most important), antioxidants, and vitamins. Yes, I'm a freak and I think about these things EVERY TIME I eat. It's a little exhausting. I don't eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner without a protein just because it is that important to me. I ease up on the fiber (ewww I would be on the toilet 24/7) but I incorporate it daily. So while I've been getting a lot of flack and a lot of "why?"s about becoming a vegetarian, I don't care, because I've always been obsessed with the nutritional value of food and I've enjoyed this lifestyle change so far. But, I don't make a big deal about it either. There are some people who are like "OH I'M a vegetarian. I can't eat THAT." I think this is so rude. I don't ever want to be perceived as someone who judges others who eat meat. This isn't something that I have decided to so I can be like "hey, look at ME." No, this is something that I have decided to do because I wanted to. I don't even mention it unless I'm asked about it. It makes me happy and really, isn't that all that matters?