Breaking the monotony

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The more time I spend living in hotels, the more I realize how much money I spend on little things. Thankfully, my company does pay me a per-diem allowance to live on, but I'd much rather save that money up and spend it on something fun when I leave Oklahoma! So lately, I've been trying to minimize the expenses that tend to add up, starting with my daily Starbucks habit.



My favorite part of the morning... but there had to be a better way!

When I'm teaching, I like to take some time for myself in the morning to chill out before I have to be in front of people all day. I've taken on a new class this cycle, which has made me rely on this morning ritual even more. I would leave my hotel room for SBUX by 6 AM, and spend almost $6 on my oatmeal and giant iced green tea. A relatively small price to pay for sanity, but then I got to thinking... I do this about 20 of 30 days a month, and that's $120 I'm paying for oatmeal. So I bought Irish oatmeal, dried cherries, brown sugar, and a box of green tea (under $15) and decided to try making my own. And honestly? It's better than Starbucks! I mean it tastes the same, but now I can get a little extra sleep, multi-task as I get ready, and watch MSNBC and Skype with Jeremy until I leave at 6:40. Saving $100 extra a month isn't bad either.

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I am lucky enough to work with one of my best friends, Amber, while I'm in Huntsville, but when I'm at a training event, it's just me and my fellow instructors. Don't get me wrong, they're awesome and we have a great time together, but the testosterone levels can get to me sometimes. That's why I was so excited to hear that our company was flying her and others from our Alabama office to do some work at our training event! I am so used to just collapsing in my room after training and doing my nightly reports, but this week we broke up the day-to-day by doing the girliest things imaginable- watching chick flicks, painting our nails, and screaming 'NSYNC lyrics obnoxiously in the car.

Friday was her last night in Oklahoma, and even though it sucks that she had to leave, the timing of her trip was perfect. Some of the students I am teaching right now are all in a band together- called Battlesight Zero- and they happened to be playing a show the night before Amber had to go home. I have a bad habit of singing Justin Bieber during class (mostly just the "Baby, baby, baby OHHHHH" part) and begged them to sing it at their concert. Although they refused during the week, they surprised me at the show with a great rendition of it... and unfortunately, my singing drowned them out on the video I shot. Here's the band singing a quick version of Amber's favorite song, Bed Intruder!

Not only did we get to have fun watching these guys play, but we got to see a lot of my other students who came to support the band, and I got to introduce Amber to so many of my friends. When we were about to leave, Amber said (and I quote), "I can see why you love your job so much." I can't think of a truer statement. Getting to interact with my kids, to have little jokes with them, have them come visit my classroom long after they've taken the course, and especially seeing them as individuals with so much talent, it's the most rewarding thing I could imagine.

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Since the rest of the blog is so long, we'll keep this section short today. Amber and I took a road trip to Oklahoma City for dinner- BJ's Brewhouse has her favorite pizza ever. Pizza sounded good to me, so I ordered it as well- just in vegan form. Deep dish, no cheese, no butter crust, with extra tomatoes and basil. It looks like it could be boring (like tomatoes on bread...) but I swear it was phenomenal. The crust had a ton of flavor, and the tomatoes and basil were super fresh. And without all that cheese, I still had room for Jamba Juice on the way home!

So hungry, I started eating before I remembered to take a pic!

After Arizona

So I've been on hiatus for the past 2 weeks without meaning to... "busy" doesn't begin to describe the workload here on this training event! Since my last post, I was able to take a few days to visit family in Phoenix- a fantastic and much-needed vacation- but in the process, had to check in and out of my hotel home. Here's how it's going:

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After the mess I created in my last room, I decided to try and turn over a new leaf when I checked back in to the hotel a few days ago. The front desk threw me a curveball, however, and since there was a conference going on the day I got back, all the rooms were full... except one. A handicap-friendly room. Now to don't get me wrong, the extra space has been great for the most part- but I should note that the room is not only wheelchair accessible, but "little-person" accessible. The counters are dropped, there are two peepholes (one at a normal height and one below the doorknob), and there are stools under every sink. Since the bathroom is enormous (partly because of the bench...) the kitchen is a bit smaller, and includes the tiniest dishwasher I've ever seen. Overall, the room is a plus... and I'm finally on the first floor (and not the 4th!)

Note that the microwave is wider than the dishwasher...

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There hasn't been much time for play in Oklahoma... hence the lack of blogging these past few weeks! Thankfully, my trip to Arizona came at the perfect time. I stayed with my aunt, uncle and 4-year-old cousin Sofi in Scottsdale for a few days, and it was just amazing. We walked every morning, shopped as much as possible, visited family friends I hadn't seen in ages and met extended family I didn't know existed. Some of the best times I had were with Sofi, who I hadn't seen in over a year. She is currently experiencing an affliction commonly known as the Bieber Fever. We watched his movie, listened to the CD constantly, and forced his likeness to interact with the Barbie cheerleaders.

Me, Sofi and Biebs

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I kind of left the food section of my last blog on a bad note- as I recall, my tempeh-and-quinoa dish was plain inedible. I had another unfortunate tempeh incident after that; soy sauce + Bragg's liquid aminos + sesame dressing = way too much salt, and I had to toss it in the garbage after two bites. Confidence shaken, but needing a good tempeh fix, I busted out my pre-marinated coconut curry variety, and put it on an english muffin and paired it with raw spinach. It was, in a word, perfection. Cheating? Perhaps... but until I learn to replicate 1892 East's recipe, I'll stick to what I know.

Yum!!

On the road again

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So I'm back to "normal"- which means another 2-month stay at a hotel in Oklahoma. And I don't mean this in a negative way at all; on the contrary, I've grown to love living on the road. The hotel we're at this time is wonderful, and I've already started making myself at home.




Some things never change...


Luckily, our suites are pretty big, and this is actually  just one tiny, isolated messy area of the bedroom. The living room and kitchen portion are much cleaner I promise... but really, who wants to see a photo of a clean kitchen? The real challenge will come a few weeks from now, when I leave for the weekend to visit family in Phoenix. My coworker is letting me borrow some space in his suite to put all my stuff, but I'm really not looking forward to the packing that it's going to entail.

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This week has been a fairly busy one for my job- we're preparing to train several hundred soldiers, and have spent the majority of our time getting our classes and materials ready for this event. Yesterday was our first day of class, and my kids are absolutely wonderful so far. But too much work and no play has a tendency to make me a little crazy... so in my free time, I've been crocheting like a madwoman, reading the Pretty Little Liars books that Ames let me borrow, and shopping for things to put in Jeremy's next care package. In other words, I have the personal life of an 84-year old woman... and for the record, I am completely OK with this.

Everyone needs an obsession... thanks for this one, Amy!

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It is to be noted that most of the meals that I've eaten this past week have been great- I've been incorporating lots of whole grains, beans, and more vegetables that I usually do. Since going vegan, I've discovered a new favorite food- tempeh. It's kind of the halfway house between actual soybeans and tofu- slightly fermented, and mushed up into a cake that has a much better texture (in my opinion) than tofu, and it's so full of protein and fiber, and super filling. I've always bought the pre-marinated kind, but I wanted to replicate my favorite dish at 1892 East- their grilled tempeh is to die for. So I marinated my own in some Bragg's and spices, and sauteed it on the stovetop in my hotel and paired it with some steamed red quinoa. It looked pretty...

Just. Plain. Bad.

But it was probably the worst vegan dish I've ever prepared. I should have cut up the tempeh or found an actual grill to cook it on, because it had no flavor and tasted almost raw. I even managed to mess up the quinoa- since I cooked such a small quantity in my rice steamer, it got crunchy to the point of having the texture (and for that matter, the flavor) of gravel. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't too bad, but eventually I gave up and microwaved the incredibly unhealthy vegan taquitos I keep in my freezer for just such occasions.

Our local news calls it "April's Fury." I call it "Andrea's Lesson in Getting Over a Power Outage and Realizing What's Important."

As most of you are aware, last week was a rough one for Alabama. Wednesday morning at the office seemed normal, even with a visit to the tornado shelter before lunch, which happens fairly often this time of year. That afternoon, my boss sent us to work from home for the remainder of the day, as the weather looked worse and worse. By that evening, we had lost power, along with everyone else in my part of the state, and what we thought was just another mild round of tornadoes was much, much worse. Dad and I were incredibly lucky and had no damage to ourselves or our property, but the week was not without its challenges.

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Last week was already supposed to be a busy one- I'm leaving for Oklahoma very shortly and had planned on updating some material for work, getting my laundry done and packed, and mentally preparing for another 2 months on the road... but nature had other plans. We were without power from Wednesday until late Sunday evening. At first, the cell towers were not affected, but apparently once their backup power source was exhausted, we were also without phone coverage. We were basically off the grid until Friday, when cell service was restored, and I had already started to get stir crazy at this point. I had to use flashlights to read, almost fell in the toilet on several occasions due to the dark bathroom, and had honestly become kind of hard to live with because of how cranky I had become. And then the universe gave me a much needed smack in the head, and an attitude adjustment to go with it.

A coworker's house

The rest of the neighborhood

  

I received a message Saturday morning from a friend at work, letting me know that one of our coworkers' homes had sustained severe damage and that people from our company were going to help clear some of the debris. Anxious to help, an honestly, wanting an excuse to get some air, I headed over that afternoon. My perspective was completely changed when I saw what these families were faced with. Her beautiful property was now covered in uprooted trees, shingles and insulation. The structure itself?

Needless to say, it gave me the dose of "Shut up and be thankful that you HAVE a house" that I desperately needed. Thankfully, the colleague and her family were alright, but they and many families in our area have a long road ahead of them. If you feel compelled, please make a donation to the American Red Cross or Salvation Army- these funds have been crucial in aiding families in Alabama and other affected areas.


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Most of Huntsville shut down that Wednesday night, including all the businesses in the research park- where Dad and I both work. My father is one of the most resourceful people I know- he makes MacGyver look like a pansy- and had the storm radio, camp stoves and lanterns set up within an hour of the power outage. By the time we got electricity five days later, we were working with a fully functional, generator-based "power grid" and watched disaster movies and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia every night. But what kept us going during the days in between was listening to the wind-up radio- I joked that it we were like Ralphie and his brother in A Christmas Story, listening to Red Ryder every night. 

We played countless games of cribbage, went on field trips to Publix, and just got to catch up with each other, which ended up being pretty wonderful. I won't go as far as Dad, who said yesterday (and I quote) "I really miss the power being out!"... but we learned to cope, and I wouldn't trade our hangout time for anything.

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It took some creativity, but I was able to eat pretty well without power... we did have the advantage of a small 800-watt generator from the get-go that saved some of our refrigerated food. The first night I kind of got a kick out of making miso soup on our deck, thinking that the outage was going to be an hour-long event, tops. Once we were made aware that all of the Tennessee Valley's transmission system was down, I became proficient with the Coleman burners my dad brought out, and was easily able to eat a normal, plant-based diet during the entire situation.

Things have gotten so much closer to being normal this week. My office reopened yesterday, and though everyone in my sector is thankfully accounted for, many had severe damage and one completely lost their home. I'm so grateful to have gotten the perspective shift I needed all along, and, cheesy as it may be, I'm also just grateful to have a roof over my head and a healthy, injury-free body.

Next week begins a two-month stint in Ft. Sill, OK, meaning the next several blog posts should be more relevant to what I originally intended- a place to share my attempt at balancing work, fun, and a plant-based diet while facing the challenges that come with living in a hotel. Nonetheless, it's been so much fun being able to share my adventures at home and traveling for pleasure with everyone these past few weeks!

Pittsburgh Edition

I know this is super late, but we've had some extenuating circumstances here in Alabama... that's for a future post! Last weekend, I visited some of my favorite people in the world, the Gougler clan! (You can get a glimpse of them here...) Amy, a frequent mention in this blog, was my college roommate for 2.5 years, and her husband, JP, is one of my good friends. They recently relocated from Houston to Pittsburgh, so naturally I had to see what this was all about.

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Travel proved to be a challenge this trip. From Huntsville, I had a connecting flight in Memphis, which was delayed... and then CANCELLED. Words can't express the disappointment, and although I made a new friend (thanks for those vodka-waters and the Arrested Development quoting matches, Garrett!), the airline one-upped themselves by sticking all of us stranded travelers in a sketchy hotel. Delta received a strongly worded email from me this week, and I'm expecting a nice, fat voucher in return.

For someone who took 4 years of German in high school, this Spanish phrase was a bit alarming at first glance.

But once I made it to Pennsylvania, I was greeted by my favorite hosts- Amy, JP and Maggie! Their new home was absolutely wonderful, warm and inviting- just as I knew it would be.

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One of my favorite things about Amy's family is that whether we're doing something new and exciting, or just relaxing and hanging out, it's never any WORK. It's always PLAY! The day I finally got into town, we caught up with each other and watched Harry Potter, and it was absolutely perfect. Saturday morning began with a trip to the Strip District for some exploring and brunch, followed by a bus tour of the city. The tour was great- super informative and not at all boring- and allowed us to hop on and off as we pleased. Which meant we needed to stop at the casino... where Amy absolutely BANKED on penny slots! We drank to her success and hopped back on our bus, stopped for some beer at the Hofbrauhaus (so much fun!) and did a little shopping before heading home. We had picked up some fresh produce at one of the markets in the Strip District, which meant a delicious dinner when we got back... after a well-documented trip to the grocery store for some last-minute necessities.

Quadrupling your initial amount of gambling money? We'll drink to that!

Sunday began with Easter services, followed by the traditional Gougler/Timmer + Andrea Easter Egg Hunt. It was very successful for all involved, including Maggie, and proved to be entertaining for longer than expected, thanks to some straggling eggs. The rest of the day was relaxing and low-key, and included a monster walk with Maggie and another round of Harry Potter, sprinkled with some pre-Royal Wedding coverage. It was an absolutely perfect Easter in every sense. The next day was wonderful as well- even though Amy had to work from home, we still made time to play! We took an excursion for lunch, discussed work the way we used to discuss our classes, and just got to hang out. Every time we visit, it's like no time has passed since the previous meetup- we just pick up right where we left off. Amy and I might be polar opposites in some ways, but I think that's really what makes our friendship so unique and special.

I'm 7 months older and 7x more immature. And it's love.

This of course, means that our visit was over entirely too soon... yet before we knew it, it was time to head back to the airport and leave for home. All in all, we declared it an amazingly successful weekend... and that's not even considering the...

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It was determined pretty early on that it's hard to fully experience Pittsburgh without the meat. And since I was on vacation, and needed the full Steeler-nation experience, I decided that my veganism should be on vacation as well. What began with a ham-and-cheese croissant ended with a roast beef sandwich from Primanti Brothers, and whoaaaaa.... I've never had anything like it! A Pittsburgh staple, the sandwich was full of beefiness, cheesiness, and my personal favorite, FRIES. Amy had a turkey version... and we killed them! They were a delicious treat that Monday, and a perfect ending to my weekend of being an omnivore.

So. Delicious.

I don't know if it's evident by the length of the PLAY section, but it's safe to say that my weekend in Pittsburgh was absolutely wonderful! Ames and JP- thank you both again for being some of the most enjoyable people in the world to visit.

comings and goings

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I've come to the conclusion that it's much easier to pack for a long weekend than it is for a work trip, especially when I get to go somewhere more fun than Oklahoma! Tomorrow I leave for Pittsburgh for four whole days to spend time with Amy and JP, two of my favorite people in the world, and getting everything in my suitcase was an easy feat. I am so incredibly excited to experience a new city with them, and to see my best friend that I haven't seen in two whole months! Now when I have to pack for another 2-month adventure in about three weeks, it'll be quite another story...




I'm ready!!!


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It was 85 degrees and sunny yesterday, and I was feeling extremely motivated to do something outside. Running sounded fantastic, but it was almost a little too warm to go to the path at UAH that I frequent after work. So I decided it was the perfect day for my first trail run of the year! It's usually at least 10 degrees cooler up on Monte Sano, the mountain near my house, and my favorite trail (South Plateau Loop) was nice and dry. It was just as gorgeous as I expected, and I ran the 3.5 miles in about 42 minutes (slow? yes... my legs are about 2 feet long!)

Just to give you a visual of why I fall more in love with Monte Sano every time I'm there

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My mom and I decided to go to my new favorite restaurant in Huntsville- 1892 East- tonight. Just about all of their food is locally grown and raised, and everything is made from scratch. They just came out with a new spring menu which I was very happy with, and tons of vegan-friendly items. Their bread is made from scratch and is served with an organic white bean spread instead of butter. I ordered the grilled tempeh and tomato sauce with a side of new potatoes and veggies... and I can't begin to describe how incredible it was. I've eaten my fair share of tempeh (if you've never tried it and are a little weary of tofu, eat some!) but I usually get the pre-marinated kind and just saute it for a second. This was an entirely new flavor and was much more filling and almost meaty! Amazing.

I'm still full.

*On a final and special note, my wonderful mother is deploying on Easter Sunday to Iraq for one year. Please keep her, Jeremy (who's in Afghanistan) and all the "kids" I love teaching so much, in your thoughts as you go about your days.

"pigs are filthy creatures..."

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Even when I'm living at home and not a hotel, the truth is that I'm still far away from a lot of people I love. One of these is my brother, Tony. Aside from being an incredibly funny person, he's the smartest kid I have ever met. An animal nutrition major at Texas A&M, he generally prefers to work with cattle... and has his opinions on just all other livestock. During a conversation at work in the tornado shelter, my coworkers and I got to wondering why humans are so partial to cow  milk. Why not pig milk, I wondered? I found out.

He's not biased...

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I had been looking forward to last weekend for the past few months- my favorite band, Coheed and Cambria, is playing an insane tour called Neverender, and was playing a weekend date in Dallas, TX. No opening bands, no unfamiliar songs- just their first album, in its entirety, as well as some extras and an entire acoustic set. This was my 8th time seeing the band, and was definitely one of my favorite shows. Not to mention, I got to go with my good friend Colin- we actually went to our first show together almost 5 years ago. Next weekend- a trip to see Mrs. Amy Gougler (and JP and Maggie) in Pittsburgh!



"And she screamed, 'Claudio...' "

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Kudos to P.F. Chang's. I've always loved the restaurant, and since adopting a plant-based diet, I appreciate it even more (kind of like Panera Bread). Now I realize that nothing I have ever eaten there is really Chinese, but I really don't care- it's still delicious. Amber and I went during their happy hour last week (happy fact- vodka is vegan!), and I had yummy meal of edamame, brown rice and my favorite, Shanghai cucumbers, for around $10. Amazing.

Sooooo much food!