High Five For Friday 3/7

This week has been a bit hectic, but I like it like that. I spent the week learning about the classroom I am taking over. I feel pretty good about it and can't wait to start!

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This week, I have stayed up way past my bedtime perusing pinterest for teaching ideas. One of my favorite parts about teaching is planning lessons. It is extremely time consuming, but I like finding engaging ideas and watching the students get excited about something I have planned. I know students learn better when they are engaged and having fun. I have found some great ideas and I am so ready to start implementing them. 

There is this cool site where teachers can upload their lessons, power points, games, etc., and get paid for them. It is like a Etsy for teachers. There are tons a free items on the site as well. It is so awesome how many resources are out there to make teaching a bit easier.

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This weekend I am getting my classroom together. I remember the first time I walked into the 100 yen($1) store here. I thought to myself, "this is a teacher's paradise." So I was so excited to go in this week and stock up on goodies. All of the bins and things make this little organizer one happy girl! I got all of this stuff for $50. Okinawa for the win!

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I finally got my haircut this week. My hair grows extremely fast, which most would like, but I don't. All growing up I liked my hair super long. Last year I cut it short, well short for me, and now I don't want it to be long. I think it looks more mature and healthier. But, if I don't cut my hair every two months, it gets very long. I love a good haircut. It makes it feel so fresh and healthy. 

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Thursday evening was my last day teaching English to local children. I was sad to say goodbye, but I just couldn't continue to do it any longer due to my new job. I will share more on it later, but for now, how cute is this little guy who wanted to take a picture with me!

It is not a stereotype, they love the peace sign here!

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In celebration of my last day and two weeks with no sweets, I bought myself some macaroons from my favorite little spot close to the Japanese school I teach at. It is an hour away from my house, so I figured I wouldn't have an excuse to stop much longer. They are seriously the best macaroons I have ever eaten!

 Hope you have a great weekend! I will be instead working on my classroom all weekend!

Linking up with Lauren, Darci, Rebecca, Casey, and Jennie

Dr. Oz 3 Day Cleanse Review

I have been wanting to try a cleanse for over a year now. There is something about giving your body the wonderful things it needs and getting a refresh. I have been pinning them left and right lately. I thought it would be a perfect time to try one while I didn't have much going on and while Jake wasn't around to mess up my eating habits. I also thought it would be a great way to start off my 3 week, 3 meals a day, clean eating spree. I looked at all of the cleanses that I pinned, and this one looked the most affordable and the least crazy. Some required all sorts of weird ingredients or didn't sounds like enough food. I didn't need a juicer, my champ of a Black and Decker blender would work just fine. It also was very well organized with a nice little graphic, and I am quite the visual person. Honestly, I would have loved to do one where they give you all of the juices, but those aren't available for me here. 

DAY 1:

Breakfast- I was excited to start the cleanse. The tea started off my morning great. I didn't use the stevia, though. I made my first smoothie and it was great! Not as good as my normal green smoothie, but definitely drinkable. I also discovered the recipe makes a lot, which was nice.

Lunch- Yuck. I had heard this drink is gross, but I mean, it was GROSS. I don't like celery, so that was the first problem. The second was the texture. The recipe made an entire blender pitcher, and I only drank half.

Snack- I didn't end up eating a snack because I was not that hungry. I probably should have just drank one so I would have had enough energy to get me to the next drink.

Dinner- I loved this drink. It was my favorite one by far. The only problem was that the pepper burned my throat. I felt so good after this drink.

Day 2:

Breakfast- The tea and breakfast smoothie were a welcome treat when I woke up very hungry. I felt so wonderful after breakfast. 

Lunch- I wasn't that hungry by lunch, but I drank the second half of the lunch smoothie from the day before. It was a bit better after being refrigerated for awhile.

Snack- Oh wow, I needed this snack. I was hungry. I made the breakfast smoothie for a snack and it was awesome.

Dinner- I crashed in the afternoon, but the dinner smoothie made me feel great again. Yum! I would drink this smoothie on a regular basis, without the cayenne of course. 

Day 3:

Breakfast- I woke up hungry again but feeling refreshed.  Breakfast gave me a huge burst of energy. 

Lunch- It was a bit better, but I still couldn't drink the entire thing. I blended it for a LONG time to get a smoother texture. I have heard if you decrease the celery and peel the cucumber it is more manageable. 

Snack- I had the rest of the lunch smoothie. I know, I know. If you don't like the lunch, why didn't you make the other ones? I don't like to waste things, and it was already made, so I sucked it up.

Dinner- At this point I was feeling good and excited to be almost done with the cleanse(and ready to CHEW something wonderful the next day). I basically chugged this entire drink.

Results:

Cost- I bought everything on the list, plus some. I did already have some of the ingredients, but I wanted to stock up and I wanted to see what the price would be. The food aspect was around $65. This did not include the supplements, lavender oil, and salt, which are things that a lot of people already have. I didn't want to run out of everything, so I bought a lot. I bought about 3 bags of each kind of fruit. I ended up only use one blueberry, mango, and pineapple, and two raspberry, but I knew I would use them after the cleanse. I had to get frozen fruits because fresh berries are hard to get here. I had a ton of leftover ingredients in general, which is fine because I will use all of it. So I would say that you could get away with spending around $55. 

Hunger- Honestly, I wouldn't say that I was hungry. I craved real food. I wanted to eat things that were not all mixed together. With that said, I think it was just my body missing the act of eating. My body wanted to chew something. I thought the drinks were more than enough to keep me satisfied, but I was so excited when it was time to eat regular food again. It also showed me that I often eat out of boredom. I kept going to the fridge and looking in it and realizing I wasn't even hungry. Habits.

Weight Loss- By the end of the cleanse I had lost around 3 pounds, which wasn't a big deal because my weight fluctuates so much. My stomach was the flattest it has ever been by the end of the cleanse, though, so that made me very happy. 

Energy- After the breakfast and dinner drinks I had tons of energy. On the first two days I got a headache and completely crashed around 3:30. I had to take an hour nap. By the third day I didn't crash in the afternoon.

Dirty Deets- Cleanses sometimes get a bad wrap in this area. Some cleanses are supposed to completely clear out your intestines, which has you spending some time on the toilet. That is not what this cleanse is for. I did not find that my bathroom habits changed. I pee a lot as it is, so it was normal for me. 

Bath- Take the bath. Just do. It was fabulous and how often do you have an excuse to take a bath 3 days in a a row? I didn't get the lavender oil, though, and I wish that I had. 

Overall- I felt pretty good. It wasn't that far off from how I usually eat, just in a blended form. I wasn't too hungry, tired, or grumpy. The only part I didn't like was that I got a headache. 

After- The next day after the cleanse I woke up feeling really good. As much as I wanted to eat everything in sight, I found that I was less hungry the day after the cleanse and wasn't craving foods like I was during the cleanse. I continued to eat well, and ate raw fruits and veggies and a piece of fish the entire day. 

I am happy to say that this cleanse worked well for me and that I would do it again in a heartbeat. First of all, it was extremely doable. Many people say they couldn't do it, but you totally can. The ingredients are fairly normal, it is pretty straight forward, and you don't starve. It helped me practice my self-control and made me feel so refreshed. If you are considering doing it, go for it! I would definitely recommend doing it when you don't have a lot going on and temptations don't stand in your way. 

Floating Market, Thailand

After our New Year's Eve in Chiang Mai, we got up early and headed to the airport just to be delayed for three hours. I had only scheduled us in Bangkok for one day at the beginning of our trip and one and half day at the end of our trip because I knew we would get sick of it pretty quickly. By the time we got to our hotel in Bangkok, we were exhausted. Our hotel was absolutely incredible, one of the nicest hotels either of us had ever stayed in. We took advantage of our comfortable bed and took a nap and then went down the the buffet in the hotel's restaurant. We pretty much wasted one of our days in Bangkok, but we were ok with it.

We were back and forth on whether we should go to the floating market. I loved all of the pictures I had seen, but it was an hour away and a lot of reviews had said that it was not worth it. We decided to call the front desk to see what they suggested. They told us that the tours are a waste of money, but that we could rent a taxi for $60 and it would be ours all day and we could go wherever we wanted. We thought that this would be a good idea, so we booked it.

The cab came and picked us up in the morning and took us an hour outside of Bangkok to the town where the popular Damnoen Saduak floating market was. We pulled into an area that was not the floating market and we were slightly confused. Our cab driver introduced us to some very interesting people and told us they would help us get a boat to the floating market. They sat us down and quoted us $50 a person. We were in shock! We did not know we had to pay an extra $100 just to get to the floating market by speed boat. At this point, we were mad we had driven all the way out there and now were getting scammed. We told the cab driver and he said, "Oh, I didn't know you didn't want to do the 2 hour tour on a speed boat. I can just take you to the market." Ok sir, that is what we wanted in the first place. They were obviously in cahoots.

We finally arrived at the floating market where we were able to walk around the foot market, look at the floating market from above, and rent a rowed boat for $5. We were so happy to have finally figured it out and that we didn't let them scam us. We joked that it wouldn't be a Thailand trip without someone trying to scam us at least once.

The boat ride was a lot of fun and a bit scary. It was hectic on the waterway, with boats going in every direction. We were rammed multiple times and were afraid we were going to capsize. We weaved in and out of the different waterways looking at all of the souvenir shops lining the sides and looking at fruits and prepared foods in the boats surrounding us. The souvenir shops had giant hooks and would hook your boat and pull you over so you could look at their stuff. Funny and interesting, but it was harder to ignore the pestering this way.

The souvenirs were pretty much the same as they are all over Thailand. They were a bit more expensive, though. We were really tempted by some beautiful paintings, but we knew getting it home  wasn't realistic. There were also fruits and vegetables being sold in boats rowed by cute old women. There were lots of boats selling the typical coconut drinks and mango and sticky rice. There were boats of women making food in giant woks. It was interesting to see people sitting on chairs on the side of the waterway and getting food from a boat.

Overall, the reviews are correct. It is not entirely filled with boats topped with beautiful fruits and vegetables like it was many years back. It has become super touristy and is mostly centered around the sale of souvenirs. There are still some boats with beautiful fruit, but they are few and far in-between. I am still very glad we went. It was so interesting to see and it was a lot of fun. I would recommend it to anyone who is considering it, but I would recommend not taking the expensive speedboat tour. The $60 taxi for the day was such a good deal, because he took us wherever we wanted to go for the entire day!

Linking up with Bonnie and Tina for Travel Tuesday!

Therapeutic

Our weekends are usually packed with activities. Ever since we got here I haven't wanted to waste a minute. I want to see and do and eat everything. Weekends seem so short so we try to enjoy every minute. On Friday, as I was shopping for the 3 day Dr. Oz cleanse I was starting Saturday, I decided that it would be best to just hang around home, that way I wouldn't be tempted by food and tempted to shop, since I am trying to do a "no spend" March. I hate to admit it, but my first thought was, "if I do nothing all weekend, what am I going to blog about?" That's when I decided to take a weekend to focus on myself. How often do we just sit and focus on what our minds and bodies need?

This weekend was nothing short of therapeutic. I slept in later than usual. I drank tea and did yoga in the morning. I drank my Dr. Oz smoothies all day long. I took my vitamins and other supplements. I cleaned. I read. I did projects around the house. I blogged. I thought about the future and wrote down my goals and dreams. I ran. I gave myself a pedicure. I took Lexie on walks. I took a detox bath at the end of everyday.

I read the most inspiring book I have read in a long time, Cold Tangerines. It is about enjoying and appreciating life's little moments. Thanks Julia for the wonderful book and I can't wait to read the next one!

There were a few paragraphs that really hit me:

"The only option, as I see it, is this delicate weaving of action and celebration, of intention and expectation. Let's act, read, protest, protect, picket, learn, advocate for, fight against, but let's be careful that in the midst of all that accomplishing and organizing, we don't bulldoze over a world that's teaming with beauty and hope and redemption all around us and in the meantime. Before the wars are over, before the cures are found, before the wrongs are righted, Today, humble Today, presents itself to us with all the ceremony and bling of a glittering diamond ring: Wear me, it says. Wear me out. Love me, dive into me, discover me, it pleads with us."

We all want to do good in the world, to make a difference, to make a change. We try to fight all of the bad in the world, and we never stop to appreciate the good in life. We always talk about the wars and the diseases, but never talk about the little victories, the good deeds. We are always looking to get somewhere, not appreciating each day and what it holds. 

On wanting the big, movie-worthy moments in life:

"The Big Moment, unfortunately, is an urban myth. Some people have them, in a sense, when they win the Heisman or become the next American Idol. But even that football player or that singer is living a life made up of more than that one moment. Life is a collection of a million, billion moments, tiny little moments and choices, like a handful of luminous, glowing pearls. And strung together, built upon one another, lined up through the days and years, they make a life, a person. It takes so much time, and so much work, and those beads and moments are so small, and so much less fabulous and dramatic than the movies."

I know I am guilty of wanting and wishing for the next milestone in life to happen. We all think that these milestones, graduating, getting married, having babies, are the defining moments of our lives. Those moments are few and far in-between, were as the little moments are the ones that tie everything together. I know I have to appreciate the little moments in life instead of waiting for the next big moment to come around.

During my therapeutic weekend, I decided to write a letter to my future self. I want to remember this stage in life. I want to remind myself what makes me happy and to celebrate the good and enjoy the little moments. I wanted to document such a happy time in our life as a reminder when we face hardships and struggles. I wanted to write down all the things I love about Jake, because I know there will be days in the distant future that we will struggle and I will need a reminder. 

This weekend was just what I needed. This cleanse wasn't easy, but it was nice to focus on self-control. My body and mind feel renewed and now I am ready for whatever life is going to throw at me. When was the last time you had a me day? 

Linking up with Monday Morning Gossip and Funday Monday