"All I do, the whole day through, is dream of you" (bum-bum-bum)

Well it has been QUITE the week! Monday was a major day of recovery from the weekend of traveling-- I think because of the stress (and possibly a gas-station hot dog), I became very ill the evening of the 22nd. Thankfully with some well-cooked food and lots of ginger ale, Gatorade and water, I was back to normal Monday evening.

Monday was also back to school-- loving my ASL class, it is quiet and stress-free :) Got some resting time in, and some time with friends/ pre-rehearsal for "Singin in the Rain" (the musical I am choreographing this spring). It was a lot of fun putting my tap shoes back on and experimenting with timing and sounds to go with the music...hopefully it won't be too hard for the actors to sing while doing my tap steps lol! I also had my dance's first rehearsal for 'Attitudes' spring show. It went really well and I am excited to make the piece weird and crazy and awesome! :)

Tuesday was my long day. Jesse worked in the morning, while I had classes. That evening, I worked and went to rehearsal two of the week.  Jesse also went to a ballroom rehearsal that night. Oh and I had to deal with a whole bunch of fun stuff, thank goodness for skype and best friends :) Wednesday (AKA the day before Jesse's 23rd birthday), I went to class, Jesse got to relax a little... and then that evening my mother took us out to dinner at Red Lobster-- Jesse really enjoyed the food, the company was good, and I got to give him his birthday gifts (white boxer briefs.....to go under brand new 'dress whites' for his Capoeria meetings http://www.mestresbrasil.com/usa/). We then ran to UMD for his ballroom rehearsal (another great group of dancers), and then I continued on to rehearsal four of the week.

Jesse's birthday day was a blast, and he was such a sweetie-- woke me up when I needed to get ready for class, made me breakfast, and drove me to school. He picked me up at the end of the day and told me he was taking me to JJ Astor, so we got dressed up and headed there. After a bottle of moscato, scallops, ceaser salad, veal with marinara and risotto, grilled pork tenderloin with caramelized apples and sweet potato puree, and Italian trifle, we headed to salsa dance. From there, Jesse started his party by hanging out at Mexico Lindo and I headed to rehearsal 5 of the week. Later that night, around 2:15am, Jesse came home stumbling-- sounds like he had a good time :) And now my hubby and I are the same age for a few months :)

Finally, today (Friday), we had a lazy morning, Jesse went to work, and my day got busy! I picked a friend up from across the bridge, drove us back to Duluth to the dance studio for a meeting (we got a lot of stretching and some working out in), then back to Superior for night one of three "Singin in the Rain" auditions. We had a good group of people, and it was exciting being a part of theatre again! Anyways, I came home and was so hungry I ate like half a pizza! Drank a bunch of water though, and definitely worked out a bunch more then.

This semester I am concentrating on five main things:

1. Boost my grades
2. Get all the in-school experiences I can, because there is a good chance my senior year will be all online.
3. Spend as much time as possible with my good friends, as, again, there is a chance I may not see them more than a few times a year after this summer (sad thought!!)
4. Get my body into great shape-- lose some weight, tone up, get some of my flexibility back, etc.
5. Spend some good quality time with my hubby since he will be CRAZY busy once he is Grad school....

...It's not that crazy of a list really, I just have to try to focus on everything a little more sharply than I perhaps would on a more regular basis. In May we will be making some changes (one of which I am really excited about-- switching to all organic diets!!), and being well in shape will help CONSIDERABLY lol. I also am getting caught up on all doctor appointments...getting my teeth cleaned/ filling fixed, getting my wisdom teeth out (yuck), getting up to date on vaccines/ shots, get an allergy test, and a physical... whew. Lot's to do in the coming months. Once we move (if we move), I'm going to start doing a lot of DIY crafts-- I am obsessed with a blog right now with super cool ideas for the home-- I cannot wait!! :)

Alright, my recipe of the day is going to be one of my all time favorites:

BRUSCHETTA!
 Ingredients:
1 loaf of quality rustic bread, sliced into one inch slices
1 clove garlic cut in half
Olive Oil to coat your frying pan, or as much oil as you like!
An assortment of ripe tomatoes, cut into smallish chunks (I used ripe Roma tomatoes and small grape yellow and orange. When cutting the tomatoes I deseeded and took the flesh out of half and left half)
Fresh basil leaves, torn or cut into pieces
Olive oil to dress the tomatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste (the amount of salt will determine the level of liquid that comes out of the tomatoes)
Grated Parmesan cheese – optional but strongly suggested
Method:
Mix the tomatoes and basil. Drizzle on olive oil and toss gently; then salt and pepper the tomatoes. The more salt you use, the most juice will be released. Let this marinate while you prepare the bread.
In a skillet, brown the bread slices in the olive oil on both sides, until it’s a nice golden color.Remove the bread from the pan. Cut off one end of the garlic clove, and rub carefully over the hot bread slices. The garlic “melts” into the bread by using this method (this adds that extra YUM to the dish). If you prefer, you could saute the garlic in the oil before browning the bread, but you need to be careful to remove the garlic before adding the bread, or the garlic will burn and become very bitter (that sounds too complicated for me, rubbing was much easier).
Place the toasted bread on a great plate or nice cutting board,  pile the tomatoes onto the bread, sprinkle with Parmesan, and enjoy the juice running down your chin! This recipe is DIVINE. I’ll be making it again soon.

Enjoy!! :)