sammiches.

{7:14 am}
waking up to sunshine. {always a bad sign if it is a school day}.
realizing One {back-up alarm clock number one} and my husband {back-up alarm clock number two} are still sleeping. no, not just sleeping, SNORING.

rush to the bathroom to complete the essentials: sweeping over a face towelette, brushing my teeth, and applying mascara.
crap, it's picture day. good thing I showered last night. and have a dress that isn't wrinkled.
did i mention school starts at 7:30?

{7:37}
arrive at school.
take that back....RUN into school.
grab my kids from a sweet friend who covered for me.
"mrs. dismuke, you look different. are you going to fix your eyebrows?"
{for some reason i have 3 students who have either shaved, Nair-ed, or waxed part or all of their eyebrows off. seriously, don't ask.}

{8:25}
math.
i have a sweet little friend {let's call him g} who struggles to pay attention. highly intelligent, but quite the falling-out-of-the-chair kind of attention span because we are looking at things all around the room.
i have to call on him to make sure he is with me constantly. {4th week of school, people}

me: g, when i compare 4-digit numbers what place value do i start comparing first?
{another sweet friend, j, is quite the jokester}
j: (whispers to g) "seven"
g: SEVEN!
j: PSYCH!

((apparently you had to be there)).

{11:10}
since i didn't put my burrito in the freezer, i overcooked it in the microwave.
burnt myself with black beans.

{11:43}
recess.

t: mrs. dismuke, i got "tazered" at recess.
me: you got "tazered? really? and you're still standing? how did this happen?
t: you know, when you go down the slides...my fingers got "tazered".
me: wait, SHOCKED?!
t: well, yeah mrs. dismuke, "TAZERED"! (duh.)

{11:57}
dancing raising experiment.

"what is a raisin? they look like rabbit poop." hmmm yummmm....

{fast forward to 9:46 pm}
making "sammiches" for my 14 littles who are going to the Baylor vs. A&M soccer game tomorrow night with me to watch their hannah play.

holy moly i love them.

grill pan lovin'.

We ate {quite possibly} my most favorite meal tonight. Maybe because it involves pineapple, mango, avocado, organic sweet baby leaf lettuce, red onions {which are finally good at the grocery store again after having a hard summer}, limes, OH, and the grill pan (go here, here, and here if you have forgotten my LOVE for this kitchen fixture). Seriously, don't TELL me you haven't bought one yet. You're breaking my heart! Just a few of my FAVORITE things...

Props to Cooking Light for this bombshell recipe. Here you go!

Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Salad

1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp {recruit your husband or significant other for this task}
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
1/4 cup finely chopped celery (I nixed the celery because me no likey)
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion (added a bit more of this)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons canola mayonnaise (I used Olive Oil Mayo)
1 tablespoon chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
8 Boston lettuce leaves (OR the Central Market Sweet Baby Leaf Salad - we are using this later in the week. Two birds with one stone, you know?)

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and black pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add half of shrimp to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove shrimp from pan; repeat procedure with remaining shrimp. Cool shrimp for 5 minutes.

Place shrimp in a medium bowl; stir in celery and next 6 ingredients (through cumin). Arrange 2 lettuce leaves on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 3/4 cup shrimp mixture.

For the grilled fruit salad:

1 cup mango, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cup pineapple, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large avocado, cut into pieces

Cut fruit. Grill mango and pineapple on grill pan until light brown marks appear, usually 2-3 minutes. Divide fruit and avocado on plates.

Mix 2 Tbsp lime juice, 1 tsp honey, and a pinch of salt. Drizzle over fruit.

We were "house-sitters" and "doggie-sitters" this weekend for Colin's parents while they were out of town. We also got to spend time with family {and friends} and had a really restoring weekend in our marriage. It's so easy to excuse time with each other and chalk it up to my "job". The beginning of the year is always busy, but we really felt the disconnect starting to happen. This weekend was a time of rest, joy, and fun. We even had the freedom to visit our favorite restaurant, The Grove, which is also where Colin's parents hosted an incredible Rehearsal Dinner for us over a year ago {time flies}. We left completely full of an incredible 3-course meal and refreshed from the time with each other.

Excited to see all of my littles tomorrow and keep learning with them. They are so special to me!

r&r.

"This weekend was full of R&R at the Dismuke household. I am attempting to get over the annual "Back to School" cold, and Colin became severely dehydrated after riding 40 miles in the heat of the day training for his IronMan. Which led us to the ER. All is well, but I guess these nasty stickers were his payback for riding in the middle of a Texas heatwave. "Band-Aid" method it was to get these off!

Fingers crossed for a low-key week.

Pup pup usually encourages us in this....

r&r.

Pup pup usually encourages us in this....

lately.

{LATELY I...}

built an entire pantry accessory/bookshelf/multipurpose shelving unit for my classroom from Ikea without my husband or a glass of wine.

resisted the urge to eat Cheetos Hot Chips with Limon even though I have been passing the corner store at the corner of our schoolyard everyday for 2 weeks {I gave in today. two words: worth. it.}

called my husband paranoid about a random car parked entirely too close to my car, lights on, windows down with a crunched up license plate and no driver to be found. he came home from work and check to make sure no bad guys were going to steal puppy and I.

have been getting back in shape. and rewarding myself with spoons froyo and sonic iced green tea. it doesn't really count if you are working out, right?

can't stop looking at my class list full of littles for next year so excited for the year to just start already. {and at the same time continually reminded of the Lord's provision to take care of HIS children.}

have been cherishing the full night's of sleep and promising myself I will continue this trend during the year.


speaking of which.........

San Francisco: Days 3 & 4

{SUNDAY}

Let's be honest. We had every intention of going running Sunday morning. In fact, we laid our clothes out Saturday night and pinky promised before we went to sleep that it would. be. happening. Well the morning came and we both woke up with tight calves and spasms. Teach US to walk 13.7 miles in one day!

Plan B. Put on those running clothes {and God's gift to San Francisco-ians...tennis shoes} and walk to breakfast. We went to Sweet Maple, a cute little breakfast nook about 2.5 miles away from home. I was craving pancakes and eggs so I opted for an egg-white omelette and a SINGLE blueberry pancake. Holy moly, it was HUGE.

Short and sweet, this was our breakfast. Finding enough room on our table was our main worry. FYI when you are walking 5 miles for breakfast, you can eat just about whatever you want! {Forget lunch.}

We spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy. Okay, we were resting up for our 6 mile journey to dinner. Two words: WORTH. IT.

We decided to have dinner at an all organic, local, sustainable Mexican food restaurant, Nopalito, but not before we had ice cream at Smitten, an ice cream trailer that makes single servings of ice cream using liquid nitrogen. DELICIOUS. Dessert before dinner is always a positive idea.

Alright, dinner at Nopalito was divine. Everything was so fresh, drinks were amazing, and these spicy, crunchy Garbanzo bean appetizers in the place of chips was such a good idea.

{MONDAY}

Monday we promised ourselves we would go running again. Fail. But we don't feel bad about it. We worked off all of our meals before we got there and experienced the unforgiving hills while walking. We had a yummy breakfast on the pier at Pepples Vegan Donuts, explored the city a bit more, packed up, and ate some pizza on our way our way out.

We love you, San Fran! Over and out.

Love,
Colin and Christina

handyman.

Husband....because THIS seems like a super safe idea. You finally figured out the light {and know we cannot find the bulbs}. Thanks for taking care of things around the house - fixing lightbulbs, dusting where I cannot reach, and re-screwing in doorknobs. I almost had to pull a "Law and Order SVU" and kick in the bathroom door this afternoon. The crystal knob came out when I was trying to get in and it wouldn't open. A large Sonic Diet Green Tea does not understand "hold on just a second while I fix this doorknob" well.

Nie, I stumbled across your blog today and couldn't stop reading. You are so inspiring - keep choosing joy.

Love, you fight off the cold, scary sounds, and bad dreams in the middle of the night. Thanks for walking me to the bathroom and making sure no bad guys were in there waiting to wrap me in a brown nonslip rug, throw me in the bathtub, and stab me with a capped pen {seriously, WHAT the heck am I watching to make me dream this?!}

Oh, and a VERY happy birthday to my precious mother-in-love who I do not know what I would do without. Thanks for sharing your clothes, healthy recipes, and love. Your life and marriage blesses us immensely. Excited for this weekend!

((San Francisco Day 3&4 coming later tonight. Colin kidnapped the good computer and is still at work. Check back soon!))