Encourage.

Well I'm over half way to Alabama.  I've driven 1200 miles in the past two days.  Friday I woke up at 4am.  FOUR A.M. I'm insane, but we've been through that before.

I made it to Colorado in record time, I'm sure.  I made a nice little pit stop in Ft. Collins before heading to meet up with Selena at her lovely apartment in Broomfield, CO.  I haven't seen Selena since some of the Brass Angels took a road trip up to see our gal pal/fellow Angel, Kristen back in 2009.  That's forever ago!  It was so amazing to catch up with her!  We went to a lovely dinner at The Kitchen in downtown Boulder.  I'm so impressed with Boulder, CO.  What a beautiful place!  

Yesterday was 500 miles, today was 700.  700 miles normally doesn't sound terrible.  In fact, I've done it many times before...but 700 miles with most of those miles taking place in Kansas?  Oh bless.  The last 100 miles today, all I could think of was how incredibly sick of driving I was!   At least now that I've made it through Borington, USA the drive should be a little more...hmm...populated?

Many people have asked me why I am driving home rather than flying.  My friends, I'm crazy.  Clearly that's the only explanation you need.   Honestly, that's my only explanation for my actions and behaviors these days.  Sometimes, I want so badly to just want the things that everyone else my age wants.  I get these guilt trips from time to time, and desperately attempt to make these things that I should want a part of my life...It never quite works out the way I plan it all in my head.

Anywho, back to the inspiration of this post.  Most of you know that I help out with the children's department at my church.  I've been working with he 4th graders for about 15 months now.  I love it.   I love building relationships with those kids, asking them about their weeks on Sunday mornings, and giving them little bits of encouragement.   I was sent a video of one of the kids that usually attends the children's service in Adventure Canyon.   I watched it and immediately started sobbing.  (In fact the waterworks are about to start up again just thinking about it.)  This little boy isn't in my class, but I see him there every week.  I hope you'll take 4 minutes to watch it, and I think you'll be blown away just as I was.  Oh the things we can do...especially with a little encouragement.

 The things this world could do if we all encouraged each other a little more.    

Master?

Well assuming I passed Advanced Formal Procedures 1 for masters students, I am officially done with my masters degree at the University of Utah.

What a whirlwind.

The past two years have been quite the time for learning, and I have absolutely grown.  I've experienced so many emotions, and met so many people.  It's weird, I thought maybe by the time I finished a masters degree I would have some sort of enlightenment and know exactly how my life would pan out.  I have a much more narrow idea of where I'd like to be in 10 years, but I'm still scratching my head on how to get there.

I didn't expect the whole job application process to be easy, but I haven't expected it to be so hard either.  I've got a third interview in Pleasant Grove this Thursday evening for a job at a k-8 school.   We'll see how that pans out. I really just wish I could push a button and know what I'll be doing in 3 months, but life isn't that easy.

These two years haven't been easy...but I did it.  In a few months I'll have a little piece of paper that says Master of Music.  I still think that's funny. Lisa Tatum - Master of Music.  Tell THAT to my 17 year old self.  It's funny how what you want to do changes over the years, or in my case, doesn't change.  When I was 5 years old, my kindergarten teacher asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up.  I said I wanted to be a teacher.  In the 5th grade, we had to write a paper about what we wanted to be when we grew up, and of course, I was a teacher.  In high school I had brief ambitions of wanting to go to med school, before deciding that I really wanted to major in music education when I went of to my freshman year at the University of Alabama.  Since then I've had times where I want to do something else in music, but I always come back to teaching.  It fits for me.  At least, I think it fits for me.  I suppose my 30 year old self will have a better answer for that than my 25 year old self.

What will future Lisa be like?   It sure will be exciting to find out.  

Late!

So I'm TERRIBLE.  I was supposed to post about this a week ago, but clearly I lack all ability to meet deadlines theses days.  And by all ability to meet deadlines, I really just mean posting on here.  

So I did the Foodie Penpal thing again last month, and I'm already signed up again for this month. =) 

LOVE IT.  My foodie penal this past month was Quinn, and here's what she sent me:  

Getting the box is like Christmas day!   

Dried pear, pineapple, kiwi, and mango!  

Raw California honey! 

Molé Sause!  Love love love Molé!

 Somehow I missed my individual picture   

   of the walnuts, but you can see them in the 

group shot.

                                    

  My little note from Quinn!

                    

Part of the reason I've been so bad about posting is because I had that little thing called 'graduating' to do. I can't believe for different the next few months of my life are going to be.  

Strawberry quinoa whole wheat pancakes

Here we go! Another clean breakfast recipe entry. Hehe. =)  It seems like I post more breakfast recipes than anything else.  I made strawberry quinoa the other day to have for breakfast for a few days.  Last night my friend Melissa and I had a slumber party (after going to the Bee's game) so I got inspired to try some quinoa pancakes.  I've been seeing recipes all over Pinterest for quinoa pancakes, but of course I always have to play around and come up with my own creation.  So in order to make strawberry quinoa whole wheat pancakes, you need to know how to make strawberry quinoa first! So I'm including both recipes.  Quinoa usually takes a hot minute to cook, so don't expect this to be a drive-thru quick breakfast. The reason I like putting it in my rice cooker is because I can throw everything in there and just forget about it while I shower and get ready for the day.   Enjoy!

Strawberry breakfast quinoa.

1 cup uncooked quinoa (rinsed)

8 frozen strawberries (cored)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 packets of stevia 

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups water  

Makes 4 servings (1/2 cup cooked  = 1 serving) 

Put all ingredients in your rice cooker and let cook until done!  Stir so that the strawberries break apart and mix with all of the quinoa.  For this healthy breakfast top with vanilla almond or soy milk and enjoy! 

Strawberry quinoa whole wheat pancakes with strawberry chia compote.

Pancakes: 

1 cup cooked strawberry quinoa

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

4 tablespoons Greek yogurt

¼ cup egg white

¼ cup vanilla almond milk

1 packet of stevia

2 teaspoons baking powder 

compote:

6 strawberries

½ cup water

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons chia seeds

Makes 8 pancakes (2 pancakes = 1 serving) 

Blend cooked quinoa with all wet ingredients in blender or food processor.  Add in whole wheat flour a little at a time until batter is thick enough.   I like to use coconut oil in my pan to cook the pancakes! 

Of course you need something to top the pancakes with!  Something with more strawberry in it seemed the way to go, so I made a little compote to go with the pancakes.  While working on the pancakes put the compote ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Let simmer while you cook the pancakes, then last minute blend it all together in your blender (after washing out the pancake batter of course).   

Here we are again.

Two posts in one week. Wow, the world must be about to end.

Basically what it comes down to is I really don't want to work on my paper right now.   That's fine....

So I've been watching Friends a lot lately.  It's on Nick@Nite every evening.  So I used to complain about how much I miss seeing Happy Days, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie, but I just love watching Friends.  Now that I'm actually the age of the characters on the show I can totally relate.  I even referenced one of my guy friends as being the "Joey" in our group tonight.

This whole graduating thing is, well entirely frightening.  My life is basically "on pause" for the next few months.  I have no idea what will be happening. Absolutely no idea.  I had 2 good interviews at a school out here, but hopefully there will be more interviews elsewhere.  It's funny and interesting to see the things that happen in your world when it is "on pause."

I bought a tent today!  I am so stoked.  $45 for a 4 person (which really means 3 real people haha) dome tent that is super easy to put together.  We put it together and tore it down in less than 20 minutes. I can not wait to spend the Fourth of July in Escalante again this year.  This tent is going to get some major usage this summer.

Well as random as my brain is these days, that's all for now.  I'm being absorbed into watching this week's episode of Smash.

Burn out shmurn out.

Am I done yet?

The past few days have been like a sneak peek into what it will be like to not have school for a while.  Now, that might sound lovely...and it was...but honestly it has just made my senior-itis worse! I've become that lazy unpredictable person, who can't make up her mind about anything.

2 weeks left.  Wow. How did the last 2 years go by so fast?

This semester has gone pretty well.  I felt like my recital was a success.  Finishing that has absolutely been a huge relief.  It was great to have my parents come to Salt Lake to come see me play.  Dad and Jeanne had never been here before so I took them up to Snowbird to see the resort and have Easter brunch.  They loved it.

I feel like so much has happened this month, and I can't even think of anything to put here.  My brain is really turning into mush.  Haha!

Maybe some bullet points about what has happened this month will help:

• Played an orchestra concert.
• Had the recital.
• Passed my interview with my masters committee.
• Performed Fandago with Gabe and the Symphonic Band.
• Played a wind ensemble concert.
• Played Fandago on Gabe's recital. 
• Rehearsed 5 nights with the opera orchestra. 
• Had an interview at a k-8 charter school.
• Had a second interview at the charter school. 
• Played the opera twice. 

Ok, so those are the big things that have been happening with school/my career.  Add in a lot of other rehearsal time, work hours, and really great hangs (most which happened post recital). 

Really great hangs!  

I really have some amazing people as friends out here in Salt Lake.   I have to send out a huge thanks to my friends here.  I get so much great support here, and it really means a lot.  

Well I feel like that is all for now.  

Hopefully there will be more to come soon!   

Just Breathe

My cup is full.  I've really over done it this semester, and I can see it as it happens.  Any little extra added stress just makes me overflow, and I just can't handle it.  I've been on the verge of tears almost every day over something completely stupid.

These are uncharted waters for me.  No, but really.

And I don't want to seem like some little cry baby, but this isn't easy.  I think my biggest problem these days is that I am so over worked, and I am just not the kind of person to allow myself to fail or half ass anything I do.

I put my entire being into what I do.  Into my friendships, my education, my job, etc.  When other in my life don't do the same I get offended. I just don't understand when I put so much into something and someone else can't do the same thing for me.  I don't know how to handle it.

The older I get, the better I get with handling my emotions and responses to things, but these days it is almost like I've gone back to 18 year old Lisa with the way I handle confrontation.

It's just too much.  Way too much.

Even in normal mode I am one of the most emotional people I know.  I wear my heart on my sleeve.

So I ask that you be patient with me over the next few weeks.  I'm finding my way, even though I still have no idea where I am going.

I know that everything will work out.  I know that I will be successful.  I know that there will be release.
I know all of those things.  But in the heat of the moment, knowing those things doesn't make getting through it any easier...well maybe just a little, but not a whole lot.

I'm doing this.  I'm living my life.  I just need to be reminded to breathe every now and then.  Hanging out with Sadie and Chloe are helping me remember that.