Why My Dog and I are NOT Alike...

Just a follow up on my post why my dog and I are alike. This week, I decided to do why my dog and I are not alike.

1) I have realized over my socialization in the past 23 years of my life that biting is not a great way to get attention - ESPY still bites sometimes when he wants my attention.

2) ESPY can make it through a RawHide bone in approximately 9 minutes flat (I just timed him with the one he has in his mouth in the picture) - I do not eat RawHide Bones

3) I can properly digest things such as pizza - When ESPY accidentally got a piece of pizza from the mid-afternoon Dominos order on Sunday, he promptly threw it up that night... Great.

4) I lose my energy at about 7:30 - ESPY seems to be in TOP EXCITED form until about... well until I put him in his kennel to go to bed.

5) ESPY is NOT Busy - I cannot seem to get more than a free 10 minutes (of which I choose to spend the time blogging instead of doing my laundry) between interview stuff, nomination stuff, and oh yeah... I teach.

6) ESPY is perfectly content not being busy - I think if I did nothing all day every day, I would go insane. Even though I complain about being SUPER busy all the time, I think, in a way, I thrive on the fast paced style of my life.

7) ESPY does not seem to like Ice Dancing as he barked at all the contestants last night - I LOVED watching the Ice Dancing competition last night, although I was a bit sad when the Americans didn't take home the Gold... but how cute was that couple from Canada.

8) I am drinking a smooth red wine right now (expect a blog soon) - ESPY is strictly regimented to a diet of Water and Puppy Chow (for Big Dogs)

9) I have opposable thumbs to type this with - ESPY has these Du-Claws that are actually quite long and tend to scratch me when he likes to wrestle. Well I'll be honest, I like wrestling with him until he scratches me with his "thumb wannabes"

10) My ears do not fold over - ESPY's ears fold over from time to time (see picture at the top)

11) ESPY eats the carpet - I sometimes only sit on the carpet (when I'm sweaty from Yoga and don't want to sit on the couches)

12) ESPY is dark and light colored at the same time - I am dark during the summer and light during the Winter (soon to be Dark when I come back from CABOOOOOOOOOOO).

13) ESPY seems to like eating paper (he always steals my napkins and unimportant papers - sometimes important ones - to tear apart) - I think I ate paper once, but it was probably a note in the 6th grade that I didn't want anyone reading... hopefully I'm just being facetious, but I usually don't remember anything before the age of 18 :)

14) ESPY enjoys licking my yoga mat - I enjoy lying on it

15) I have met the wonderful Mr. and Mrs. Berndt - ESPY has yet to have the privilege (but that'll happen in March :) )

Hope you enjoyed this rendition of my puppy and I. Time to do laundry while listening to ESPY bark at the Canadians on TV, Awesome!

Oh and #16 - I don't punch ESPY in the face - ESPY punches me in the face.

One of those days...

Although the title of this post makes it seem like today was bad... I actually feel just the opposite!

Good news comes in pairs for me today apparently. First, I found out that I got an in-person interview for both the recruitment director and program director jobs in Teach for America. This interview is in Georgia and is going to take place the beginning of March. While this has made me a stress ball about parent-teacher conferences (which happen to be the same day), I know I'll figure it all out.

Other good news, I found out that TFA is going to let me go to Vegas for the soccer tournament. I thought they weren't going to let me because I already have one excused absence from our professional development because of Leadership camp last summer, but with a little sweet talking and some straight up pleading, they are going to let me go! WAHOO!!!

Good day! Time to go hang with the friends for half an hour and then go to soccer. What a great THursday!

Peace.

Four truths and a Lie

Let's play a game. I'm going to list things that happened to me today and you're going to guess whether I am telling the truth or lying.

1) I got a month membership to the local Bikram Yoga studio for $15

2) I have been just been sweating in a 102 degree room for the last hour and a half

3) I just got home to a letter that said, once again, that if I continue with my "Crazy Parties" then my lease is going to be terminated

4) I won a contest getting me a $300 gift certificate to a skin rejuvenating/hair removal place in Scottsdale

5) I had 2 students plagiarize their Genetic Engineering papers 100% (like not a word of their own)

I'm sure you're thinking right now...

Wow, Kristen, I hope #5 or #3 are lies because the other 3 sound awesome.

Well, if you thought that, you are partly correct. #5 is a lie. But, unfortunately, only the number of students who plagiarized their papers was incorrect... I actually had 5 students write down on a separate piece of paper EVERYTHING they read off a website on Genetic Engineering. But, little do they know, their teacher is not stupid (although I may appear to be at some times). Bless you Google. Type in the first two sentences into the "search" box and up comes a website entitled "FREE GENETIC ENGINEERING ESSAYS." Just how stupid do I look...

While I wish #3 was a lie, I am apparently, once again, on "watch" for getting my lease broken. You know what Hawthorne... SUCK IT. Kick me out, that would actually make me happier. I don't like living in you anyways.

Well, time to eat my McGrilled Chicken or whatever it is called, eat my fries and put on all the calories I just burned off in the Sweat Box known as Bikram Yoga. Hope you enjoyed the mid-week update. Sorry no wine tonight, I need to hydrate, I feel like I just had a vacuum cleaner stuck to my pores and sucked out all the water.

Peace.

Thank you to our Presidents...

... for giving us that nice long weekend!

I had quite an eventful weekend. First, I would like to note that I LOVE the Olympics. Whether confused why a certain skater chose a certain type of music and skated in that certain way, or marveling over the knee strength of the mogul skiers, or fascinated at the pass the U.S. snowboarder made to the Canadian in the Snowboard Cross... the once every four year event is absolutely divine, just like the American figure skater I am watching right now.

So to celebrate my love of the Olympics, I donned my apartment with Olympic rings and brought in the party. The party was quite fun!

It was a "dress as your favorite country" Party. Since the United States was a bit cliche and Botswana did not have any participants in the Winter Olympics (big shocker there - its like a billion degrees in the country year 'round), I decided to dress as Norway. This picture properly depicts my outfit which consisted of shorts painted like the Norwegian Flag, a shirt painted as the Norwegian Flag, and a Viking helmet painted also like a Norwegian Flag. The Norwegian Flag can be seen here with Sabina, a teammate of mine (dressed as Italy).

This was truly an olympic event.

Then, Saturday consisted of the Skirt Chaser 5K in Tempe! This consisted of a few of us donning a running skirt, which I am not sure I will ever wear again (despite how comfortable it was to run in), and jogging a 5K. I say jogging because it truly was a jog. I finished in a little over 30 minutes. Then, we spent the rest of the afternoon listening to a rockin' band play some classic music and drinking free beer (free because they gave us drink tickets with our registration... this was my kind of race). I wish I had pictures, but Jackie did the picture taking at this event (to be added later). Later Saturday I saw Valentines Day, the movie, which I enjoyed and maybe even shed a tear during an ending scene. Cute, not what you would expect at all times, but very cute.

Sunday consisted of a soccer game at 10, which we won! Giving ESPY a gift from Mom and Dad...

Then, a little basketball at the park was in order. Sat in the sun when we got tired. Then, after that, a little sunset Horseback ride topped of an awesome Sunday!

Monday, because of the great weather, consisted of sitting in the sun, reading in the sun, sleeping in the sun... and then going to do Bikram Yoga. Hooked but exhausted. My GROUPON proved me well and provided me with $15 for a Unlimited Month of Bikram! AMAZING.

I just went to class and came home, bought 6 bottles of wine from Safeway to get me through until Spring Break! So, get ready for a wine blog in the next two days. The wine will feature a shoutout to my awesome Cuz who I spoke to on Sunday! Love you!

I have also decided to start writing a book so here is a little excerpt from the first chapter I'm jotting down! Tell me if you liked it... but hold your thoughts to yourself if you're not a big fan :)

Exceprt: Botswana Diamond

“What would you like to drink Miss?” said the waiter in perfect English. I wanted to stop and tell him that I was a “local” and did not need to speak to me in English, but I figured if I looked like a tourist and was now acting like a tourist… why deny the role? I was spending the MOST money I had since I arrived in Botswana on this one outing, well other than the semi-illegal trip to Zimbabwe. I figured I might as well live it up.

“What do you recommend?” I somewhat flirtatiously said back hoping that if he liked me the first drink might be free… boy was I wrong.

“The Botswana Diamond. It is the best drink in Kasane.” Now this didn’t seem to be a outlandish statement since all I had really drank in Botswana had been traditional beer that tasted like vomit that had been sitting in the sun for 3 days and the local KLB beer (much like the American favorite Bud Light). Actually, while on the topic of KLB beer, I do want to note my affinity for it (and Bud Light too actually). Plus, when a beer company uses your initials to promote their company, you can’t help but support them.

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HAPPY TUESDAY!

Vote for TFA

Teach for America is in the running for a $250K grant from Pepsi.

Here is the link

http://www.refresheverything.com/TFA

Vote and tell everyone!!!!

Other good things with TFA: The state of Arizona just designated $2,000,000 to Teach for America Phoenix from the stimulus package... GO TFA!!

Worthy Wines! 4:Pinot Grigio

WORTHY WINES! 4: Pinot Grigio

This week's choice wine is the 2007 Bella Sera Pinot Grigio. For a cheap price of $7.99 at Safeway, this is a terrific pick if you're looking for something light and refreshing.

Maybe it is my opinion of white wines, but this wine seemed too, like the last white, to be better sipped in the sunshine of summertime. It could be the frigid taste of the wine after pulling it out of the fridge, or the tropical tastes, but this is definitely a clean wine.

As you open it, it has a very strong smell that might make you think this would not be the best wine. It has a very strong after taste at the opening of the wine. It was almost too much for me. But, after a day I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh taste of the wine. This wine has a crisp flavor and a clean finish. It has a strong taste of apples, almost to the tune of a hard cider. The after taste of the wine is a strong pear flavor that remains even after you finish the wine.

This refreshing white wine would seemingly be paired with light pasta. I ate a seven-cheese lasagna with this wine and was delightfully surprised. Even though it went well with this pasta dish, I would choose a lighter sauce, potentially a olive oil and white wine sauce or a not-so-thick alfredo to better pair with this wine. Another food I could see this going with is grilled vegetables, zucchini perhaps. While that is a rando-vegetable pic, zucchini was the first thing vegetable that came to mind to pair with this wine. Also, some light seafood, maybe shrimp or clams would work perfectly with this wine. A perfect food would be shrimp or clam linguini to eat while drinking this light wine. Mmmmmmm... ENJOY!!

Go Pinot!

Bryan, notice the wine glass? I love them! :)

Brighten the dreary day...

One thing to brighten my dreary day: My bank account?!?

Now, I'm going to be honest, when I first logged in to my bank account I was not happy. I looked at the lack of money and was displeased. At least I get paid this week.

To the good part: My Chase rewards... BOOM

After only having a rewards card for a short period of time, I was pleasantly surprised to see the number of points I have racked up (which makes sense because of how little money I have in the bank). I have just realized that whenever I am going to be happy with my bank account I will be disappointed with my Chase rewards points and whenever I am happy with my rewards points, I will be sad about my bank account. Well Asi es la vida (Such is life).

In case you're wondering what I did with these rewards, I treated myself to 6 months of Rolling Stone Magazine FOR FREE... Boo Yah Chase, Take That!

Good news to go to bed to.

Oh, in other good news, ESPY isn't tearing my house apart and I finally put away my Christmas tree (yes I know it is the beginning of February, but let's just say I haven't had a whole lot of time - which is a complete understatement).

Want to Know Something that Will Annoy You?

I am sitting here waiting for my one-on-one meeting with my ASU instructor and he is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. I am sitting here all alone waiting for this instructor because we had a meeting scheduled. Normally, if someone didn't show, I would just leave. Here's the problem, he had a Video meeting with another group and he said "I'll come back here when we finish." Which means when he finishes the other meeting, he is going to come back here and think, "I wonder where Kristen went, how irresponsible of her."

Normally, I would not be UBER frustrated with this, but right now, after the day that I have had today, I am furious. Well, furious is not the right term, I am perturbed. Okay, I don't want him to see this, so I'll stop now. Hopefully he is coming soon.

Worst part, I really wish I was writing my Wine Blog instead of an "I'm annoyed" blog.

Why My Dog and I are Alike...

So, after owning a dog for almost a year now, and with the happenings of the weekend, I have realized that ESPY and I are quite similar. Lucky for almost all of you, since you have never met ESPY, just picture me in Dog form and you have the Beast.

SEEEEEEEEEE

First off, the weekend started with a BANG at Hula Bar on Central with my soccer peeps. While this was QUITE fun to have a few Longboard Lagers and some Pork Tacos, a Mill Avenue adventure awaited. Just like ESPY I seem to bounce around from one thing to the next. And, just like ESPY apparently (whose kennel I just found a Beer Cap in - which he had ingested and subsequently thrown up), I like beer. So, that being said, off to Mill Avenue I went. The night consisted of $3 Long Islands and the rest is history. Needless to say, with $3 Long Islands and good friends, there is always a good time to be had. Just like ESPY, I seem to like having fun.

The night on Mill is a great lead in to the next reason I am like ESPY. Apparently, I do not control very well what I ingest. Where I found a beer cap, pieces of a basketball and parts of scented pine cones coming out of ESPY, I tend to ingest things I am "supposed" to. And, much like ESPY, when I do this in excess, I don't feel too well. That being said, I was a bit "under the weather" Saturday and pretty much slept all day. I slept, woke up, prepared for an interview, bought tickets to a Beer Fest, had and interview, and pretty much slept the rest of the day. True story. Another reason I am similar to my dog... I LOVE my sleep.

That brings us to Sunday, where the real similarities came out between my dog and I. I woke up at a decent hour and decided to go for a hike. It was a beautiful day out in Arizona (high sixties) so I trekked off with my pup to Camelback Mountain.

Reason number one of Sunday that I am like ESPY, we are both very competitive. The only

difference is that he is on a leash, and I guess the condition of my right knee is somewhat of a leash for me as well. But, ESPY and i trekked up the mountain jumping off rocks and barreling down the downhill parts.

Our excitement for the outdoors was truly apparent. Then came another one of our similarities, after running... we get tired. ESPY was such a poop. We would be jumping from rock to rock climbing up the side of the mountain then plop... right in the middle of the trail ESPY lies. So, I opened the part of my Camelback (water hydration system, not the actual side of the mountain) and let him drink. I thought I was the only one who spilled when drinking from such an odd contraption, but apparently not... my dog had a problem with it as well. Finally we were nearing the summit of the tallest point in Phoenix when a tall, insurmountable rock awaits.

I shimmied to the top only to find ESPY longingly looking up at me.

Here comes another similarity. He tried and he tried, but he just couldn't get up. Much like me, he would have tried for the next half hour until he succeeded if I let him, but we were holding up people with climbing sticks and safari hats on so I didn't want to be a menace. So, I trotted on down to ESPY's level and we began our descent (so close from the top). If only ESPY weren't a HUGE mongrel, we would have made it, but alas, he was a bit too heavy for me to Fireman carry him up the hill. We had a wonderful time running down the mountain (although I think ESPY's body and my knee were hating us later that evening for our excitement for downhill running).

(note the HUGE tongue)

We proceeded to hop in the car and drive away from the giant rock that people call a mountain. I then picked up 50 Wings from Oreganos, put ESPY in his Kennel, drove to the boys' house, watched the Super Bowl Game, and then went to bed. Good Sunday if you ask me.

Happy Monday.

Inspiration to Make a Difference

For ASU we watched a video called 2 Million Minutes: A 21st Century Challenge. If you are interested in education... google it. If you don't have the time, here is my ASU website where I blogged about it for class: http://kristen-take-it.blogspot.com/

THE HAPPENINGS

With a lot going on, I thought I would take the time for a little update on this wonderful Monday evening. First off, here is the link to my ASU blog which details my night at Mi Patio for an ASU class:

http://kristen-take-it.blogspot.com/

The week has started out very busy. Already on Monday I have had a basketball game with my girls, which unfortunate as it is- we lost. Here is my team during a huddle!

The loss is a little bittersweet... well more sweet than bitter right now. Is it weird that I feel like I'm almost home free for the year. Once I decided not to coach soccer, I almost feel like the year is close to being done after this season. I am DEAD tired and I'm sure ESPY will enjoy a little more lovin' on a day to day basis.

Speaking of the beast, when I took him to the Boarding for Saturday night, he was a WHOPPING 63 lbs. WOW, what a BEAST. Who knew that a cute little 2 week old puppy that looked like this:

Would now look like this:

Oh how I love him any way.

So, speaking of dropping ESPY off, I spent a nice weekend relaxing in Sedona. We arrived Saturday, found a cheap-ish hotel in downtown Sedona (AAA friendly :)), and went in search of food. Of course, we found the wonderful Olde Sedona Bar and Grill... which ended up being the place to be in Sedona on a Saturday night. We spent basically the whole night eating wings, salad, and lots and lots of fries while drinking some great Sedona-made beer! Perfect. To make the night even more perfect, we watched the Women's Championship game of the Australian Open, and LOTS of X-Games competitions! Great times

!

The next day, we woke up, went to go get hot chocolate and some breakfast. Walked through

the great little downtown area of Sedona and enjoyed the cute boutiques in the area. We then went in search of Wineries which ended up being about 20 miles away so halfway there, we ended up turning around and finding another wonderful restaurant that served some typical Sedona beer!

Here's some great views of the Sedona landscape.

Alright, it is officially time to go to sleep. Good night and hope everyone is having a great Monday and happy Tuesday. Tuesdays actually usually suck for me, but hopefully tomorrow won't be heinous. nighty night!