New opportunities

My thoughtful sister had this flower arrangement delivered to my new job a few weeks ago. It was such a surprise and I felt so loved!  I'm both anxious and excited to tackle the challenges that are coming with this new venture. When I get nervous, I make myself remember I'm ready to learn, grow, and use my experience to help my students.

Right now, I'm suffering from the teacher's curse--being sick on vacation.  It started with a cough and has evolved into a pretty good cold.  I'm hoping to be better by early next week and I'll really dig into lesson planning, which will no doubt feel good.

In the meantime, I'm getting lots of cat snuggles and watching Netflix.  Have you seen Young Adult with Charlize Theron?  It's depressing in a funny way.  Next up, Take This Waltz with Michelle Williams.

Oh, and a pregnancy update: yesterday I had the glucose screening for diabetes and everything checked out ok.  I had to drink a super sugary, gross drink, wait for and hour, and have blood drawn.  In that hour, I felt nauseous and the poor baby started moving a bunch.  I shared that with the phlebotomist and he said many mothers say the baby moves all around after the drink--probably from the sugar rush.  I'm SO grateful I dont have the complications of gestational diabetes, but it would have nice if there were some other way to check for it than pump baby with loads of sugar.  It must have been a lot, too, considering all the sweets I ate over Christmas which did not have the same effect!  Alas. That's a tiny concern, but there is so much more to be thankful for these days.

Buon Natale!

6th Annual Sausalito Gingerbread House Contest

Eric and I have been meaning to take a daytrip to Sausalito, a quaint bay front town just over Golden Gate Bridge--a mere 6.5 miles from our apartment.  Seeing their gingerbread house contest in the SF Chronicle this morning, we had a perfect reason to head over! It was raining lightly all day today and the weather added to the coziness of the whole trip. We started off with sandwiches at a place we found with good reviews on Yelp--Sausalito Gourmet Delicatessen. Then we wandered around checking out all the gingerbread houses and stopping in a bakery for some hot cocoa.

The gingerbread house contest is set up so that small businesses along the main strip have them displayed in their windows and you're welcome to pop in to see them more closely. They ranged from fairly sorry (sorry, but the nativity scene just has pieces gingerbread as a backdrop!) to super creative (treasure chest, lighthouse). My favorite was the lighthouse with a black cat in the top--all because the business had an actual black cat hanging out inside their store, complete with a little Christmas collar!

What a perfect December day.

Japanese Tea Garden

It was a beautiful day in the city to have brunch with friends, visit the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, then walk home via Haight for some good window shopping and people watching.

Once home, Eric and I cooked a nice Sunday meal of salmon, kale, and sweet potato. It's been awhile since we've had the time and energy to cook together so "dancing" around in our smallish kitchen together was especially nice. The Christmas tree lights and smells are also making everything perfect.

Emmylou

Eric and Rene singing Dolly Parton covers really made me want baby's middle name to be Emmylou. We are waiting until birth to know the sex of our baby, but have had names chosen since before we were even married! The girl name already has 2 middle names, so adding Emmylou would definitely be a mouthful. Eric says maybe eventually we'll have two girls so we could save my country music tributes for our possible second daughter.

I was beyond happy listening to Rene and Eric crooning, begging Jolene not to their man. A take home pizza and salad from Arizmendi also helped make our Saturday especially cozy.

Here's my lady, introduced by Johnny Cash (most likely from his tv show?!).  And check out her ruling

guitar strap: 

Ladyfriends <3:

Baby's first hippie indoctrination

Books were on sale at my yoga studio and I couldn't resist this! Funny thing is my yoga teacher also mentioned the poses and sequences in the book are actually really good for you and the little one. I'm keeping this for Baby MK, but it may also be my new favorite gift for beebies.

Pregnant much?

"mini" chimichanga lunch special at La Pinata, San Leandro

chimichanga (to go) at La Paz Restaurant Pupuseria, SF

This is what my friend asked when I posted on the FB about my mission to find the best chimichanga in SF. If you're not familiar, a chimichanga is a deep fried burrito with sour cream and guacamole on top! They usually have your choice of meat, rice, and beans inside. I am a fan of chicken chimichangas, but bean ones are also good.

So far, my favorite chimichanga experience has been at La Piñata, but this is mostly because I just like going here.  La Pinata is a sit-down restaurant that reminds me of San Diego Mexican restaurants I used to go to as a kid with my parents and bro or sister (anyone remember Carlos Murphy's?!  La Posada del Sol or the truly great, Casa de Pico).  La Pinata has several locations--none in SF-but I've been to the ones in Alameda and San Leandro.  Their chimichanga is smaller, comes as a lunch special with rice and beans on the side, and can be ordered with a delicious virgin margarita.

The chimichanga I tried yesterday at La Paz Restaurant Pupuseria was more fresh with moist chicken.  So if you're solely focusing on the chimichanga itself, I would go here.  It's also a sit down place, but less formal.  I actually really liked the atmosphere--similar to one of my favorite Austin eats, El Zunzal.  The chimichanga was massive so I just need to bring a friend next time with whom I can share!

Acorn Cornbread

Baked these festive cornbread muffins tonight for a lovely chili dinner hosted by a favorite new co-worker to discuss guided reading groups and literacy interventions. Our principal even came and brought bread and coconut cream pie from Tartine! "Life's so rad."