Clearly I’m a photo dump kind of a gal. I take photos way more often than I sit down and blog. Let’s rewind to Thursday. I went to Amelie with Ananth and Kirst.

We got 2 wine flights each along with some snacks to share.

We then moseyed on next door to BigFoot Lodge (which reminded me SO much of BigFoot back in Culver City). Only difference is that this place had popcorn. And I was forced to cheer on the Warriors. Apparently something about NorCal pride?

After work on Friday, I went to my home away from home

Hung out with some buddies.

Why did the peacock cross the road?

On Saturday, a group of us got together to make mimosas (with a side of brunch). Around noon, we all walked downtown to go to Boogie on the Bayou. It. Was. CROWDED. They had tons of live bands, food samples, and random vendors sprawled all along Campbell Ave.

I did not partake in the alligator consumption. But I kind of wish I did. Looked like everyone was enjoying it A TON.

Now, it is bedtime for this old lady. I’m going to attempt the 4:30AM workouts this week again. WISH ME LUCK.

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YOUR TURN:

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

Hello from Washington DC!

I feel like I’m hoppin’ all around the nation lately. It’s spring break and The Budhraja Family is spending the next week here! Well…my parents are here for another two days, but I’m stuck with Sister until Saturday.

Sister and I in front of the Capitol Building

We were super productive yesterday but I think you kind of have to be. Despite the city being so compact, there are so many things to see. But Day 1 was quite a success.

We stopped to say hello to the Obamas.

 We made our way over to the Tidal Basin and got a glimpse of Jefferson Memorial.

I can’t believe how quickly the cherry blossoms start to disappear. I wish I were here a few days ago when they were in full bloom.

We stopped by the Holocaust Museum, but I definitely want to go back again this week. We didn’t get to see many exhibits.

We had Potbelly‘s for lunch – so, so good.

We went to the Capitol Building and then followed up with some Nando‘s for dinner!

Full chicken with three sides: Butternut Squash, Mashed Peas, and Rice

YUM.

And licked our plates clean….

So, SO good. It’s supposed to rain for the first half of today so we will most likely head to a museum. Be back later with more!

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Any must-dos, must-sees, must-eats you recommend? I’m here all week!

My weekend started out with good food and great company! Veronica, one of my co-workers (seriously one of the best people I’ve ever worked with), and I went to Stacks early Saturday morning. Stacks is a pretty popular brunch place in Downtown Campbell. I’ve been there a few times but I think this was the first time I’ve ordered their breakfast.

Feta Omelette w/Green Onions and Tomatoes

Coconut Macadamian Nut Banana Pancake. I just ordered one for the table. They usually come in stacks of 3. Holy moly.

That will definitely happen again. I guess a smart person would order the pancakes when the place is known for their STACKS. That was delicious. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

After breakfast, I met up with Jen and we walked over to REI to check out some of the gear. I had to buy a waterproof shell and a fleece jacket for our Yosemite trip next week. Yes, I haven’t mentioned it on here. I didn’t realize how quickly March had snuck up on us! But I’ll be one of the staff members going on the 8th grade Yosemite trip. I’m not too thrilled about leaving my students with a sub for a week, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun to get to work with other students. Especially seeing them in an entirely different kind of environment.

So I basically have no money now. REI on a teacher’s salary is not easy to do.

The rest of the day was spent attending a 7-year old’s birthday party.

One of Jen’s students turned 7 and they had so much fun playing with their teacher.

…And pushing her around in an inflatable ball.

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Your Turn!

• What’s your favorite breakfast/brunch food? 

• What is/was your favorite thing to do at the park or on the playground? 
  

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! One more day – and you’ve got a pretty good chance at this point!!  

Scenes from this past week:

Last Friday, I was beat. Completely done with work. Exhausted from writing reports. Tired of all the “grown-up drama” that comes along with this job. I just needed to take some time to myself. Away from everyone. So I left work shortly after the kids did and went to Stevens Creek County Park.

It was just me, my mini bottle of wine, and my book (hi-tech version). Nobody else nearby. It was exactly what I needed. Uninterrupted relaxation time.

I also picked up my first shipment of wine from Picchetti Winery! The cool thing about this place is that, with each shipment, you get a free wine gift. This time they included a wine stopper (although who really needs a wine stopper – isn’t it bad luck or something if you don’t finish the bottle?)

Saturday:

I spent most of the day running small errands and reading a lot. At night, I went broom balling with a couple friends in San Mateo. I haven’t done that since college and I had forgotten how much fun it was.

Sunday: Day of relaxation and FINALLY checking the mail:

My sister is the coolest. She’s probably the most thoughtful, selfless person I’ve ever met. She’s always thinking of others and ways to make them happy. Sissy sent me a package with this really cute dress in it. This is not the first package. Last time it was a pair of TOMS shoes. The time before that, it was this beautiful poster of LA to hang up in my room. The time before that, it was pillow cases to match by bedcovers.

Just try not to be jealous of Sister Budhraja. She’s pretty damn amazing.

 I also drove over to San Francisco to watch the Super Bowl. It was such a great game (but who am I kidding? I was in it for the Beyonce concert…). 

Monday: Learning Day and Happy Hours

AKA – Early Morning Walk of Shame 

Today was actually really great because it gave me the chance to get a program overview of one of the high schools we feed our students into. I was really impressed with the amount of support and the number of resources they had. It makes me feel really relieved to know where I’m sending them off to next year.

I also tried out a new-to-me place in Downtown Campbell called Sushi Confidential. They had a great happy hour:

I just got the California Roll. I know, I know. Boring. I get it. The guy who was making the rolls basically laughed at me like I was some sort of amateur.

Tuesday: IEPs and MORE Food

Call me a nerd but I love data. I don’t particularly enjoy having to be so consistent about monitoring and assessing students performance. But I love being able to visually see when a student makes progress. And for this particular IEP, the student had made a significant amount of growth both academically and socially. When I see things like that, it validates my belief that a particular program or intervention is working. I LOVE IT.

I went to another new-to-me place in Downtown Campbell called Jalisco Mexican Food. It’s definitely a hidden gem! I accidentally stumbled on it when I was trying to make a U-Turn and decided to pull into the parking lot. So glad I did. Look at this food:

Wednesday: Worst Day Ever

Wednesday has always been the worst day in terms of work. I don’t have any prep periods on this day so I always feel a bit overwhelmed. Today, in particular, was the worst. And not because of work.

One of my closest friends from college, Kirstin, recently got engaged!! A few friends were going to grab dinner in the city to celebrate. I left work right after the students were dismissed so that I wouldn’t hit any traffic. I parked my car about a block away from the restaurant we’d be eating at and then went into Vinyl – a really cute coffee/wine shop that I was going to work at until dinner. Around 6PM, I head out and walk back to my car to drop off my bag.

I couldn’t find my car.

I walked up and down that damn street, pressing my car alarm over and over – hoping I’d hear it off in the distance. But no such luck. A few minutes later, I realize my car had gotten towed. Here’s the fun part – it turned out to be a whopping $600. How’s that for a slap in the face? 

Anyway, I’m moving on with my life. Kirstin gave me some good advice. Pretend I bought a really expensive coat and never speak of this again. It happened. It’s over. It was my initiation into the bay area. I’m moving on.

Dinner ended up being great. (Can you tell it’s been a while since I’ve cooked at home?) We went to Nopa on Divisadero (also the street “I bought my coat” on). It was delicious. I wasn’t a huge fan of their cocktails to be honest, but the food was great.

Flatbread of spicy fennel sausage, pickled onions, and spinach

And, of course, the newly engaged couple:

Kirst and Brian!

The couple that drives my carless ass to the towing lot I owe them big time! Aside from my very expensive  drama ”coat,” it was such an enjoyable night with some of the best people I know!  

Now I’ve just returned from this:

…and I’m realizing I’ve eaten every single dinner out this week. Time to get back on track!

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When’s the last time you got a parking/speeding/towing ticket? 

Cheap, healthy meal ideas for a girl who is now $600 poorer? 

I like leaving work before the sun goes down. I especially like it when I go for a walk along the LG Creek Trail and then play on the swings after. 

There’s something very stress-relieving about playing on the playground.

I like mixing all my foods together. The uglier the food, the happier I am. I’m not one of those people who cares about the presentation of my food. Because, to be honest, the more time spent on presentation means that less time went into making it taste good. So pile on the ugly food. I’m all about it.

The most amazing Fiesta salad. Ugly, isn’t it? BUT IT’S DELICIOUS.

I have always been a Subway groupie. I love when my sammys are filled to the brim with veggies. But I’m even more of a Subway groupie now that I found out they chop their salads.

I am madly in love with this Greek restaurant called Yiassoo. They have a few places around the area – one by work and one by my apartment. I love Greek salad in general, but they take it to a whole new level.

I love receiving packages. Especially when they’re filled with yummy treats. Completely obsessed with the raspberry/dark chocolate flavor

I love my middle school kiddos. Especially the overly dramatic ones. Like, what is it about middle school girls that need to stand up in the middle of class and announce, “I need to take my BAG to the BATHROOM with me because I have some GIRL issues going on.” We get it – you’re basically a baller because you’ve got your period. But for all those ‘rolling-my-eyes-at-you’ incidents, there are a million more that make me want to squeeze ‘em, hold ‘em tight, and never send them off to 9th grade.

I love those few months from August-December where I was thrown into a whirlwind of IEPs and crazy events at work. Because they have made me that much stronger as an educator. I was frustrated at first. Confused that they would put the newbie up to bat over and over and over. But I got more practice. And I got stronger. And I no longer feel inexperienced.

I love moments that make me stop and reflect. Stop and observe. Stop and appreciate. 

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YOUR TURN!

What are you lovin’ lately? 

What’s the ugliest, most delicious combination of food you’ve eaten? (Because obviously I wanna try it)

On Friday, I stayed at work until 9:30PM. I had the wonderful pleasure of chaperoning the Halloween dance at school. If you follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook, you know what I dressed up as…………

“Dressed up” as a cockblocker. A damn good one at that.

I had no idea that middle school kids could dance the way they did. What happened to the good ol’ days when girls were lined up on one side of the gym and guys on the other?

Regardless, I had fun watching the more innocent ones freak out, run all over the place, and squeal with excitement every time One Direction or Justin Bieber was played. I had just as much fun poking my head in and bustin’ a move in the middle of a couple that was getting a little too frisky with their hands. I am the expert middle-school cockblocker. Oh UniCamp, you have taught me so well.

The dance ended around 9PM and the last kid was picked up at 9:30. At that point, I was starving so a co-worker and I went to Guapo’s in Downtown Campbell to grab a late dinner and some drinks.

Guapo’s Sangria-Rita. It’s no swirl, but it’s pretty darn good.

Saturday:

We drove up to Palo Alto to go to the Stanford vs. Washington State game. We drove up a little earlier so we could grab some food (and not succumb to the appeal of stadium food after a few drinks).

Thanks to the reliable Yelp app, we found Saint Michael’s Alley. The food was delicious, but my favorite part were their cranberry mimosas. So refreshing and yummy.

Cranberry Mimosa – DELICIOUS.

Fall Veggie Omelette w/Swiss and Parmesan

The tailgating definitely had me missing our tailgates at the Rose Bowl. And basically everything about college. I wanted to wear a sign around my neck that said, “These four years are the BEST of your life. Please enjoy every second of it. There’s nothing quite like this experience.” But that’s just weird. So I held off. But every so often I’d get a huge temptation to strike up a conversation with a college kid just to share my two cents. Don’t get me wrong. I love my life, love what I do…love where I’m at. But there really is nothing that is comparable to the college experience. Nothing.

Very different than the Rose Bowl experience. I felt like I was tailgating in the forest.

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What was your favorite middle-school dance song?!
Mine was probably “Too Close” by Next. Although at the time, I had no idea what the song meant. I tell you, I was sheltered throughout middle school and high school!

What are some of your favorite memories from college?
I miss those late-night conversations with friends…the ones where you’re all crammed into a tiny dorm room, 5 people on a bed, nobody wanting to go to bed. The talks that last until 4AM when you all have a midterm to study for or a paper you should be writing. Or the fact that all of your best friends live within feet from you. There’s really nothing like it.

On today’s Thankful Thursday, I’m thankful that it’s Thursday. Because of block scheduling on Thursdays, I am done teaching for the day at 11AM. Usually, the remainder of the day is dedicating to testing students or holding IEP meetings, but fortunately for me, I’ve got none of the above scheduled for this week. So I’m going to spend the remainder of my time tackling the mountain of paperwork on my desk. I can barely see the surface of it – it’s always covered by folders, notecards, IEP paperwork, post-its…and occasionally lettuce….

I’m a sloppy eater. #sorrynotsorry

But let’s rewind to Wednesday.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal, cinnamon, peanut butter, and almond milk. Looks nasty – tastes delicious

Lunch:

Some leftover crockpot chicken on top of a bed of lettuce. Or now that I’m examining the picture above, I guess it was underneath the bed?

Snack/Dessert?

I met up with a co-worker in Campbell for dinner, but stopped to get dessert first at Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt. Couldn’t help myself!

Dessert before dinner

Dinner:

We ate at Sonoma Chicken Coop so we were able to watch the Giants game. Gotta confess here – I ordered the salad and forgot to take a picture of it. So this is a picture of the food display. Basically what I ate – but this one had been sitting out for a couple hours. Cool bro.

Bootcamp:

Done and done. I definitely feel it in my shoulders today. Remember yesterday when I couldn’t decide if I hated alligator crawls or burpees more? I’ve decided. Burpees are the worst.

Good morning and Happy Hump Day!

I’m a little more cheerful today because yesterday was surprisingly more relaxing than the average Tuesday. The district hired a sub for me because I was required to attend a training on a writing program I am going to start implementing in my classroom – Step Up to Writing. I can tell that this program will be so beneficial for my students. Color-coordination, kinesthetic activities, tons of structure – it’s a SPED classroom’s dream come true!

Work and Lunch

The training was supposed to last the whole day, but we were done by 1:15! I wanted to try out a new sandwich place for lunch so I whipped out the old iPhone and went searching on Yelp. I saw a place called Pebbles Deli Cafe with 4-stars, looked delicious, and it was brand new to me. Or so I thought…..
You know that crazy feeling where you feel like you’ve been somewhere before because it looks so familiar (yea, you idiot. It’s called deja vu)? When I parked my car and started walking toward the restaurant, that feeling hit. But it wasn’t just a FEELING. It was like a 10th sense. I knew I had been there before. So I stalked my Facebook pictures (how often do you hear that a person stalks themself on FB?). And SURE ENOUGH, I had come here back in 2009 when Jen, Randy, and I flew up north for a weekend in November 2009.

PROOF!!!!!!!

This was before I knew I wanted to live here. This was before I knew anything about Cupertino…or NorCal for that matter. It was some weird coincidence. Or maybe the stars aligned and some voodoo stuff happened and some magical higher power brought me to this place in 2009 as a sign that I would be returning as a RESIDENT in 2012. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

Anyway, I ordered the Cupertino Sub – turkey, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, pepperoncinis, onions, mustard, mayo on top of some of the softest wheat bread I’ve ever had.

I also took a picture of where we were sitting last time. So craze.

Don’t mind my Trader Joes purse in the picture.

I spent the rest of the day catching up on e-mails (yes, I have e-mails from August that I am still responding to) and bootcamp (x2)!

Bootcamp:

The workout today for Best Body Bootcamp (which will now be referred to as BBB) included some steady cardio. I chose to do my cardio on the elliptical while reading “If I Die, Please Bring Cheesecake to My Funeral” by Donloree Hoffman. This was such a great, quick-read and I found myself not wanting to stop until it was done. If you get a chance, check it out. It’s reasonably priced and kept me laughing the entire time I was on the elliptical (which is hard to do). More in-depth review of the book coming soon!

I also went to the group bootcamp class last night and the instructor laughed at me when he saw how I wrapped my ankle. Apparently wrapping your ankle is an art and I clearly don’t know how to do it. But I was grateful that he wrapped it for me because it’s feeling a lot better today. I’m also feeling the effects of the “alligator crawl” - I can’t decide if those are as physically draining as burpees or a tad bit easier. Regardless, a love-hate relationship exists for both. Like a love-hate triangle.

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When’s the last deja vu moment you had? 

BBB Participants – what’s your cardio of choice?! 

Order “If I Die, Please Bring Cheesecake to my Funeral!” and let me know what you think! 

With less than two weeks left in Southern California, I’ve been trying to take advantage of all the places I’ve wanted to go. This past Friday, I made my way up to Manhattan Beach to spend the afternoon bike-riding with Gina. Well, that was the plan. But on a gorgeous day with beautiful weather, rental bikes were rather limited so we changed up our plans a bit.

I got there around noon and we were both pretty starving. After parking the car, we started walking up and down the boardwalk in search of a place for lunch. We wanted something casual, but also with an outdoor patio so we could enjoy the weather and the view! Thanks to Yelp (who knew you could search for ‘outdoor patio seating’ and get over 50 return results?!), we found a place about a quarter of a mile away called Ocean View Cafe.

They really made us trek to get to the food. Pre-calorie consumption hike.

It was exactly what we were looking for. The food wasn’t fabulous, but it was pretty cheap and we definitely got an “ocean view.” (Although, next time I’d rather try the pancake house next door for better food and the same view!).

Appetizer Platter: Pita and hummus, salad w/ mustard dressing, herb pizza, tabouli

Herb Chicken Pizza Wrap w/feta, chicken, sundried tomatoes, and tomatoes 

Our view from the patio beautiful day!

After lunch, we walked straight over to Manhattan Beach Creamery (a place I’ve wanted to try for over a year now!). I’ve kind of avoided it in the past because I haven’t really had a valid justification to inhale an enormous ice-cream cookie sandwich. But me leaving Southern California is a good enough reason! I got the chocolate chip cookie sandwich with Cookies N Cream ice cream in the center. Diddy Riese style, but I think I liked them better because the cookies were softer!

Gina =) AKA Gyn

They also sell loads of chocolate covered things. Like a $3.50 chocolate covered strawberry. I’ll stick to my cookie sandwich, thank you very much.

Yum. Every bite was glorious and WORTH IT.

So since bikes were out of the question, we just walked for about 3 miles on the boardwalk…talking about all the fun things we would do if we lived right along the water. Yes, it’d be expensive. But we had fun imagining….

Going to miss my Favorite Friend tons <3

After dropping Gina back at home, I headed north to West LA to meet up with Liang to play tennis! I had forgotten my tennis racket and tennis balls at home, so Liang wasn’t too thrilled with me.

Stopped at CVS to buy some tennis balls. A very unhappy and disappointed Liang.

But once we started playing, we were both just ecstatic to be on the court together. We played for over two hours and I am definitely still feeling the soreness in my arms. I LOVE PLAYING TENNIS. I forget sometimes. Because I don’t really know many people around here to hit with anymore. So I just let weeks…MONTHS (and I’m ashamed to say this…but even years…) go by without playing. But every time I get out there, I fall in love with the sport all over again. I think when I move up north, I’m seriously going to look into some online group that meets up to play on weekends. I’m still on an extreme tennis high. Anyone wanna play?!?!

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Any other Southern California natives have recommendations of places I should go to or restaurants I should eat at before I leave?

What activity gets you all giddy and excited?!  

Yes, it’s true – you read correctly. I made a muffin in under 5 minutes. With chocolate. For less than 300 calories. I’m not kidding. The recipe is at the end of this post. But you gotta suffer through the rest of the post before you read it (or just scroll to the bottom, but I’m just going to assume you’re not smart enough to know that). 

After breakfast, I set up some guest posts for next week. Since I’ll be up at UniCamp from July 8th-July 15th, I won’t have access to the Internet or Twitter or Facebook or anything social media related! =) But don’t fear – there’s some awesome posts coming your way from some pretty amazing bloggers!

Then, Sister and I needed to head over to the tennis store because she broke her strings last night at the courts. We decided to play tennis on a whim….it’s been so long since I’ve played, but I really miss it. I keep saying I’ll start playing again, but I never do. Maybe I should join some sort of a team or find some people online to play with when I get up north.

The Best Tennis Shop Around!

The plan was to go to the gym after, but we were starving (because Sister’s dumb and ate breakfast at 2:30AM and I’m just always hungry). So we went to get a sammy at Submarina in Costa Mesa. Now that’s the kind of sandwich I like. (Remember? I like my vegetables falling out on all sides?!) 

We ran some more errands and then made it to the gym. Today was a really good workout for me mentally. Reason being is this. In 2009, I kicked ass. I was good at running, at stadium stairs, at everything (okay, maybe not everything. But the 2012 Divya is looking back at the 2009 Divya in awe and thinks she’s pretty effing cool). I was also really competitive back then. When someone challenged me to do something, I did it. When somebody told me I couldn’t do something, I did it. Because I knew I could. I think somewhere between then and now, that confidence has left me. Partially because I am not in the physical state I was back then, but also because I lost that mentality. When I run stairs now, I’m tired. And I have to stop. And it makes me scared that I’m not as good as I used to be. So my natural tendency is to avoid those things because I don’t want to be reminded of a time when I was able to do all this – at a faster speed with much more ease.

But today’s Stair Interval workout really allowed me to clear my mind and think about myself – both mentally and physically. I’m still an athlete. I still get so much joy from pushing myself to the point of exhaustion and sweat and breathlessness. But it will take me time to get where I used to be. And in the mean time, I need to remind myself that stopping mid-workout does not mean that it was a bad workout. It becomes a bad workout when I feel ashamed and stop working out altogether. So today, despite having to stop 3 times, I just kept going. Yes, I stopped but that’s OKAY. And I finished the workout drenched and happy knowing that I’m one step closer to my goal than yesterday.

Okay, as promised, here is the recipe for your Under-300-Calories, Made-In-A-Mug, Delicious-In-Every-Way-Possible, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins! =) 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oats
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Handful of chocolate chips
• 1 coffee mug (no, not for you to eat)

Directions: 

Mix all of the ingredients together in a coffee mug. Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes. Top with additional toppings if desired (I added a little bit of lite maple syrup). Enjoy!