Celebrity Filled Saturday!

Wow, I've totally been slacking on the blogging. I'm very sorry for this but with only 7 followers and a super busy schedule I hope you understand!!

This weekend I had a the oppertunity to go to a professional development conference. I'm part of Michigan State's Student Michigan Education Association (SMEA). We are a group of students who are becoming teachers. Throughout the year we raise money for Outreach To Teach. I'll post more on that next Sunday. Below is a picture of all the E*Board members who went to the conference on Saturday. It was fun to see everyone in business clothes :)

This is a picture of a small gathering of the E*Board and the general members that went to the conference. There were a lot more members!! It was nice because the conference was very close to campus and we were able to meet a lot of other college's groups.

In the morning of the conference we had small breakout sessions that focused on classroom management, autism, technology in the classroom, and literacy in the classroom. The sessions were wonderful and very informational. The main event of the conference was the key note speaker: Manuel Scott. He was one of the original freedom writers and gave an incredible, motivational speech. If you ever have a chance to meet him do it!

This is a video of the movie Freedom Writers based on Manuel Scott's experience. I highly recommend it!!

After the conference on Saturday I went to church. Michigan State's quarterback, Kirk Cousins, came to our Saturday night service to talk about Christ being in your life everyday and how sports have impacted (for the better) his relationship with God. When I found out he was speaking it made my day because I've had the hugest crush on him for the last 4 years. Yep. Ever since Freshman year of college I've liked him. After the service he was signing autographs and taking pictures so I got this one. I think we'd make a cute couple... you? :D

Now your turn!!

Q1) Do you ever have to go to professional developments? Do you like them?

Q2) Who are some motivational speakers you've seen and loved?

Q3) Who is your biggest "hometown" or "local" celebrity crush?

How do you build an ice cream sundae?

Hey Everyone! This is going to be a shorter post because I'm up north with my family and about to go snow boarding :) I'll post pics hopefully on Sunday!

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I feel that making an ice cream sundae is an art. You have to have the right mix of sweet, crunchy and creamy.

These are my ingredients for my perfect sundae (minus the sour nerds but I wanted them really bad). Also I don't like the cherries, just the juice :)

Step 1) Pour cherry sauce in bottom of bowl.

Step 2) Put in your whip cream

Step 3) In goes the ice cream!

Step 4) Caramel sauce

Step 5) More whip cream, this makes the sundae light and fluffy.

Last Step) Put the candy toppings on!

I always mix everything together, thus the bigger bowl. Substitute whatever toppings you want and make it your own :)

1) What's your favorite ice cream?

2) What is in your perfect sundae?

3) Do you like to ski/snowboard/ice skate?

ABCs of Me :)

I've been an awful blogger and I'm so sorry. I've been battling a head cold, studying for mid-terms, and teaching and working non-stop. Since my blog is relatively new I thought I'd do the ABCs of me. Enjoy!!

A. Age: 22

B. Bed size: Full

C. Chore you dislike: taking out the trash, it always smells!

D. Dogs: I had a dalmation (domino) growing up and when he died my family got a chocolate lab (Mnich). He went with my Dad to Arizona when my parents divorced and I miss him dearly!
E. Essential start to your day: washing my face and brushing my teeth!

F. Favorite color: Pink

G. Gold or silver: Silver, I'm allergic to gold :(

H. Height: 4'11 hehe I'm fun sized

I. Instruments you play(ed): piano (15 years), Saxaphone (6 years)

J. Job title: Full time student, daughter, sister and friend. Along with desk receptionist and teacher who works for free

K. Kids: I want in the future. I love kids

L. Live: Michigan State University, DeWitt (church) and grew up in Portland. All within 30 min of each other :)

M. Mom’s name: Jane

N. Nicknames: Elle (My full name is Arielle), Elle Belle, blondi, shorty, midge

O. Overnight hospital stays: 0!! Never broke a bone and got stitches once

P. Pet peeves: People not doing their dishes. I hate it when I have to pick up after people

Q. Quote from a movie: "Did you hear THAT?!" (Elf), "you had me at hello" (Jerry McGuire), "Run Forest, run" (Forest Gump), "Our love is like the wind... I can't see it, but I sure can feel it." (Walk to Remember)

R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: Older brother and sister-in-law (Steve & Bre), Older sister and brother-in-law (Elizabeth and Chris), and younger sisters Kelsey, Ally, and Ella

T. Time you wake up: 5:30 weekdays, 8:30 on Saturdays and 7 on Sundays

U. Underwear: Victoria's Secret

V. Vegetables you don't like: squash

W. What makes you run late: I love long showers

X. X-rays you’ve had: none

Y. Yummy food you make: Anything I make is good but my favorites are my chocolate chip cookies and toffee bars

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Monkeys!!!

Getting out of the Slump

I haven't blogged in almost a week. Last week was awful. I couldn't get motivated to exercise so I was in an extra grumpy mood. I found out some disappointing news, felt very alone and just in a slump. On Saturday I went to church and it was all about motivation. I really felt the service. I decided to start my week out right and shake my slump.

On Sunday I exercised my butt off... literally! For a group organization we had to clean the Breslin center after the men's basketball game. This is a picture of most of the inside. There are also rows at the top of the picture all the way around. Now imagine this filled with water and pop bottles, concession food, and newpapers. Then imagine 6 girls picking ALL of it up. Yup that was my Sunday afternoon. 4 hours of cleaning and climbing up and down stairs, lunging to pick up trash and bending over. Today I can't feel my legs! It was a great, free workout and I helped my group earn $300 :)

Today (Monday) I was super busy and running late so I didn't eat breakfast. My body felt it until I could eat lunch at 12pm. This picture is of all the food I packed. I had the mac n' cheese and ready pack snack (apples, celery, almond butter and raisins) with diet coke for lunch. The 100 calorie cheese pack and crackers for a snack. I didn't drink the special K shake. It all kept me satisfied till 8:30 pm and I felt energized which was a nice change from last week.


Unfortunately I had meetings all night so I didn't get home till 10pm and made a quick dinner of Veggie Chicken and a sweet potato.

Sorry this is quick and short but it's midnight and a long day... I hope you keep reading in the future!!

P.S. Check out this great giveaway by Sammi. I am in desperate need of some cleaning supplies and these sound great!

A 16 hr Tuesday

Happy Tuesday everyone!! I know I usually do a Tuesday Tangent blog but today I don't really have anything to go on a tangent about. So instead I thought I'd give a glimpse into my typical Tuesday.

I worked from 7:30am-3pm so I packed my lunch. This is super easy and delish. It's a Morning Star Farms California Turkey Burger with ketchup on the side. I grabbed the patty frozen, microwaved it in the container and packed the bun in a zip lock bag. Highly recommend it!

(P.S. Sorry for the shotty picture qualities they came from my phone)

I really like these Ready Snax. They're very affordable ($2.50 in Michigan) and only 22o calories. This one had hummus, carrot and celery stix and sunflower seeds.
After work I have class from 4-7 but thankfully we got out at 5:45 this week! Hip, Hip Hooray!! I decided to go to our College of Ed (my college :)). We have this awesome seating area and coffee shop that provide comfy seating w/lots of plugs and free wifi... I will miss this when I graduate.
Me trying to study but decided to take pictures on my Mac w/photobooth. Very fun and a good study break. The book is called Behavior Management, it's an ok book. They mostly use data instead of examples of special education in the classroom but it is very informational.
At 7:30 I had a TEAM (Tomorrow's Educators for the Advancement of Multiculturalism). I'm the President and put together monthly meetings with Powerpoints that discuss different issues in the classroom. I didn't take a pic of this... Epic Fail on my part.

I got out at 9, participated in FitBlog on Twitter and went home. Made a quick dinner of a turkey/avacado wrap and finishing up some homework while watching MTV reality shows. It's now 11:30 and I can finally go to bed for 6 hours :)

Good night all and thanks for reading!!!

Chobani Giveaways!!

So lately I've been in LOVE with ChoBani. I've never been a yogurt fan, the weird texture and all the milk made me turn away. But I've been reading a ton about it on Twitter and my blogs so I thought I'd give it a try. It is soooo good!! It's light and full of fruit and the 0% ones don't make my stomach hurt. I highly recommend it!

Here a few links to giveaways of ChoBani :)

http://cookinfanatic.com/2011/02/chobani-giveaway/

http://www.wordsearchpuzzledreams.com/2011/02/chobani-review-and-giveaway.html

http://www.everylittlethingblog.com/2011/02/chobani-giveaway.html (Ends at 11:59 pm on Wednesday, February 23rd.

Quadruple "S" Sunday

I can't believe it's Sunday, February 20th already!! I graduate in just over 2 months!! Yay!

Onto the first "S" in quadruple "S" Sunday. These are Snoozies. They are slippers but they have grips on the bottom and fit like socks. They keep my feet very warm and am thankful to my roommate Kelsey for getting them for Christmas. She tried to get me moisturizing socks but since I wear a size 3 in kids shoes Snoozies were the next best thing. I don't mind at all ;)

My 2nd "S" stands for Sandwich. This is my Sunday off from teaching Sunday School so I went to 9:30 service and was able to come home and make a giant mug of coffee and this super tasty sandwich.

I really wanted an egg sandwich but not the same-old, same-old kind. I dug through my fridge and freezer and found Morning Star Veggie Bacon, left over avacado/ranch condiment, pepper-jack cheese and an apple. Individually they wouldn't seem to go together but they mushed perfectly. The avacado/ranch condiment added a wonderful taste along with the spicy cheese and the crunch and tartness from the apple was a perfect finish. I could only fit 1/2 the apple on the sandwich so I ate the other 1/2 with peanut butter. Delish!!
The 3rd "S" is for Snow! I spent all day at my younger sister's apartment. She lives right across the street from me and needed some help cleaning. It started snowing in the afternoon and continued till I got home around 9ish. Here is a pic of Michigan's Winter Wonderland (view from my porch)

The picture doesn't do the depth fairness so I took a pic of my boots outside. I'm 4'11 and the boots come up almost to my knees. The snow is to the top of the boots. A mathmatician would have a formula but I looked it up on weather.com and we've gotten around 4-6 inches already!
And finally our 4th "S".... Sushi!! I wanted a quick meal that would be light before bed so I had some left over sushi and steamed veggies. Quick, easy, and not a lump in my tummy.
And of course I had to finish with 1 1/2 homemade cookies from my Grandma :)

What is your favorite breakfast food?

* Breakfast sandwiches or french toast from Golden Harvest

What is your favorite Sunday activity?

* I often find myself cleaning and doing homework... not my fav but productive :)

Do you have anything to look forward to for the week?

* Not really... I only have 1 quiz and get to watch a movie in the dreaded English class so "knock on wood" it'll be an easier week!