Why I Love My Job

The first week of classes is crazy. Like, beyond challenging. It can sometimes lead you to believe you are the crazy one and you can even have moments of weakness where you question why you chose this profession. We are all lucky to survive it. 

And then you get affirmation. 

Tonight, I stupidly checked my email. And there, in my inbox, is an email from a student sent at 9:15p on a Friday night. 

This causes heart palpitations. Thoughts race through my head about what the crisis could be, knowing I likely can't begin to trouble-shoot it until Monday. 

That is the thing about higher ed, or any job in general, you constantly fear the worst. 

I immediately think what did I do wrong. Not even what did I do wrong, but what could I have done better? How could I have better served the student? How could I have better communicated so the student didn't have a question or an issue at 9 pm on a Friday night. A million thoughts race within a millisecond. 

I open the email and it is from a student in the class that I teach.  The student would like me to review his speech (and I encourage my students to do this) five whole days before it is due. 

And it is perfect. 

Meet Me in St. Louis

A few weeks ago a few friends and I reunited in STL. Our friend Andy lives in Soulard which is always a blast, so that was our home-base for the weekend.

This trip we played tourist. We went to the Soulard Farmer's Market (hello fried mini doughnuts!), the Arch and the Budweiser factory. Super fun day (even if I had to miss out on breakfast due to papers that needed to be graded).

 

Although I forgot to get picture happy, I did get Vine happy and made a few Vines of the trip.

Once I got home, I decided to take on the loads and loads of Greene sweet corn my dad had brought me. Puttin' up sweet corn for the winter.

No. 3: Eat More Whole Foods

Since my 30 in 30 list posted, I have had a lot of responses about the 'five ingredient rule.' Mainly snide-ish comments reminding me that a lot of my own recipes have more than five ingredients.

Dudes. I know.

I want to clarify my 'five ingredient rule.'

Say for some reason I buy pico de gallo at the market. And it has seven ingredients and they are all whole foods. Would I still buy it? Yes! Of course. However, I would most likely just buy the tomato, peppers, and onions and make my own version at home.

Often, if a food product has more than five ingredients, the ingredient list includes things likes Potassium Sorbate, Maltodextrin, Fructose, Tocopherols and other ingredients equally hard to pronounce.

The five ingredient rule is more of a guideline and a reminder to eat more whole foods and less foods that have been processed in some way.

For instance, these are the ingredients in my favorite hummus:

• Chickpeas
• Water
• Tahini
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Lemon Juice
• Flax Oil
• Sea Salt
• White Vinegar
• Garlic Juice

That has more than five ingredients, but they are all whole ingredients, whereas another brand of hummus has these ingredients added

• Potassium Sorbate
• Natural Flavors
• Citric Acid

I'm always confused at what natural flavors actually are. If they are natural, why list them? So, the choice is clear on which one to purchase.

There are some foods that I will still purchase that have more than five not-not-so-healthy-or-whole ingredients. Those foods are almond milk (I'm toying with making my own), Fage Greek yogurt with the little sidekick of fruit (yes, it's high in sugar, but it's so convenient!), and protein powder (I'm looking for a more whole powder than the one I'm currently using - suggestions welcome!). I'm sure there will be more as I go along, but those are the ones I have purchased since the 30 in 30 challenge began and that I plan to continue to purchase.

How is the rest of the challenge going? Good so far! Nothing crazy as far as progress. I have kept up with yoga/barre. I've been bad at running. And my tres leches cake was amaze-balls.