Maestra A. Vega

Gratitude  On this last day of the blogging challenge I woke up feeling grateful. Grateful for the opportunity to participate in this challenge that forces me to find small parts of my day that stick out just enough to write about it. Grateful for waking up on this beautiful island on day two if our spring break vacation. Grateful for all the people I have around me everyday. Grateful for the opportunity I get to sit with the little humans and enhance their already wonderful minds. Grateful for my beautiful little family. And most importantly, grateful for this wonderful life. 

A: Alivia is my niece B: Bacon is life C: Coffee is also life D: Don't like Dunkin' Donuts coffee (that much) E: Evelyn is my Grandma's name F: Friend's is my favorite show G: Gilmore Girls is my second favorite show H: Humble I: Interventionist J: Jessica is sitting next to me as I write this K: Kardashians are my secret shame L: Love my family M: Madelyn is my daughter N: Neatness is important O: Organization is my Jam (OCD) P: Phoebe is the name of my four year old shih tzu Q: Queen is one of my favorite bands R: Rue is the name of my one and a half year old shih tzu S: Salty chips are the best snack T: Tenacious U: Unagi (If you know what I am referring to, we're friends) V: Vazquez is my married name W: Wish I could think of a something for the letter U X: Xavier is my nephew Y: Yoga pants are also life Z: Ziplining sounds scary

Made it to Friday, I thought to myself as I opened my eyes to my fourth snooze alarm. It's been a long and busy (in a good way) week at work and home and I am looking forward to day two of our book organization project at school. Made it to Friday,  I say to myself as I get out of bed and become instantly anxious at the thought that I... Made it to Friday... The thought became scary... Scary because tomorrow is Saturday and we are hopping on an airplane to fly to the Bahamas in less than 24 hours. Don't get me wrong, I love Fridays, I love the thought of being in the warm sun, I love the thought of Friday before spring break...but... I hate the thought of flying (even in first class). We made it to Friday, I tell myself, this time in a bummed out way because tomorrow is Saturday and I have to fly. Flying makes me nervous. I am still having trouble deciding which movie I will watch during our 3.5 hour flight. Usually I feel ok once I have a good distracting movie picked out and ...

Today is our ten year relationship anniversary. Words cannot describe how incredibly lucky I felt to wake up this morning, next to this man who has made our life so wonderful. When we first started dating, he always joked around with me and would ask me if I loved him and if I had written him a haiku poem expressing this love. I am not the mushiest person so he got a kick out of messing with me. Today, on our ten year anniversary, I decided I would write him a few haiku's. I feel he's waited long enough, don't you? Cheers to ten years!  Today marks ten years  A life of dreams come true Oh how I love you  Darling you are loved adored, admired, cherished always in my heart. I met him online on Myspace to be exact  Oh yes, that's a fact

I have a cute display of cookbooks in my kitchen and as I walked past them this morning I thought about how they have become a decoration more than a tool. I got a new Instant Pot over the Thanksgiving break and I have only used it about three times since then, which is sad considering two out of the three cookbooks are instant pot recipes. Instant, as in, it shouldn't take too long to cook up a nice meal using one of the hundreds of recipes. I should stop telling myself I don't have time to cook dinner and put those cookbooks to use. What should I make?

With spring break a week ahead I have started to noticed my kiddos have turned into squiggly worms. Who can blame their bright and shiny faces as they look out the window on this bright and sunny day thinking about all the fun they will have a recess. In order to give them a teeny break before coming back to earth (reading) I let them chat about what they were going to do over break and it worked like a charm. Just one or two minutes of chatting and then to reading land we went.

The door shuts and I immediately begin to feel a little claustrophobic. I look around a tiny room with 6 other people as we frantically begin to search for clues that will unlock a box that has a key that will get us into the other room. In the tiny room is a confession closet, a huge ceramic slide puzzle, a bench, and a beautiful stained glass wall. As the others are looking for clues I am drawn to the  ceramic slide puzzle. I start trying to solve it so that I can see if this will somehow help crack the code for the combination. I start shifting the pieces around and I quickly begin to realize that the puzzle was not intended to be pieced together as none of the pieces had a match. It was merely a diversion and I fell for it. We had 60 minutes to crack the code and I spent 7 of those with the silly slide puzzle. Gotta love those escape rooms!

One of my husband's favorite meals is baked ranch chicken with a parmesan and cheddar cheese crust. It's pretty easy to make and tastes amazing. All you need are some thin sliced chicken breasts, a bottle of ranch dressing, a ranch seasoning packet, shredded parm., and shredded cheddar cheese. Start off by seasoning the chicken with a little salt and pepper and while that marinates you can make your cheesy topping. In a bowl mix one ranch packet, a 1/2 cup of parm. cheese and 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and set aside. Pour the Ranch dressing in a bowl big enough so that you can dunk the chicken in it. Prepare a sheet pan (I like to cover the whole thing in foil for easy cleanup). Dunk all of the pieces of chicken in the ranch and place on the sheet pan. Once finished, grab your cheese mixture and cover the top of all the slices. Bake for 40 minutes at 375 and enjoy. These pair really well with white rice, but we're low carbers in our home so I substitute for cauliflower rice ...

A: Hi Ms. Vega. I have no more stuffy nose! ME: Really?! That's amazing! A: Yep! It is. I blew all of them out last night. ME: All of them? A: Yep, all the boogers, I blew them out last night. ME: That's amazing! Great job!!!

Yesterday I spent some time with fifth grade during their "Starbucks mode" blogging session. I was amazed to see all the kiddos so focused and typing away. I was curious about what they were gonna slice about. A family members birthday? A game they played yesterday? Will there be sad slices? Happy slices? My slice is about them... Will theirs be about me? It's always so amazing as a teacher to be able to learn about our students and share in different conversations about all the different things. Sometimes, however, there are those students who are more reserved and blogging is a wonderful way for them to have their little voices heard and allows us to get to know them. I cannot wait to read all of their little thoughts.

Today I am feeling nervous and anxious for my daughter. She is taking her constitution test and has been anxiously studying as hard a she can to prepare. I know she will do well but I still can't help feeling somewhat nervous for her especially when she looks at me with anxious eyes. I have constantly been reminding her that she has prepared as well as she possibly can and that she is going to do amazingly well. I cannot wait to receive a text from her today telling me she tackled the constitution beast as I know she will be feeling relieved it's over with. Sending positive testing vibes to you my sweet girl.

My husband does a lot of the recruiting for his office and part of this job entails him having to call back the interviewees for a second interview. Yesterday, after he was done making the calls, he stacks his pile neatly on the dining room table. At the top of the pile was his appointment sheets with the names and times for the interviews he would have on the next day (today). We left the house in a hurry because we wanted to grab a bite to eat before the dreaded luggage shopping trip (slice to follow tomorrow) not thinking twice about the stack of papers. We return home after being gone for about three hours to a mess of chewed up paper all over the dining room floor. We instantly look over at Rue, our younger more mischievous shih tzu to find a little piece of paper on the tip of her nose.... We look around to see where she got the paper from and my eyes take me to the dining room table. The APPOINTMENT SHEET, "The dog ate your appointments!", I say as I look at my husband...

Today our daughter is going to Navy Pier on a class field trip and my husband was giving her the silly "Make sure you don't talk to strangers" pep talk. Maddy and I were listening to him with smiles as was sure she was thinking "duh, I know this." When he was finished he asked he if she needed to learn jiujitsu so that she can defend herself from evil (in a joking manner of course) and she responds with "No, but I need money." Gotta love a teenager with sassy comebacks.

Smooth, rich, dark, creamy. I prefer it over milk chocolate. On most days I enjoy a piece after I eat my lunch. Anyone feel the same?

I have my list and my costco card ready to go as we walk into the giant warehouse full of wonderful things. With me is my husband, my mom and my cousin Alex. My husband insisted we needed three shopping carts because he knows  his wife. I reassure him that my list has only five things and one cart would suffice. On the list was toilet paper, paper towels, dryer sheets, bottled water and paper plates. As we begin the long walk down the isles of wonder, I immediately become distracted by all the amazing things. Velour hangers! Adult beverages! Jean jackets! Gouda cheese! Doggie treats! We needed them all. Before I knew it the cart was full and we hadn't even checked anything off the list besides dryer sheets. My husband sends Alex to get a second cart. Cart 2 is filled instantly. So yes. We needed the third cart. Luckily, however, cart three was for all the things that my mom needed as well. Needless to say. He was right. We needed three carts. Now off to eat my gouda.

I open my eyes and peek at my phone to look at the time. OMG!! It’s 6:50 I yell to my husband as I jump out of bed freaking out that I have to be out of the house at 7:15 to go to work. I run to the bathroom kicking myself for not having remembered to set my alarm. I look in the mirror at my disheveled hair thinking about how I’m going to tame it and get ready in less than 15 minutes. I rush to grab my phone so I can text my bff/coworker to vent to her that I woke up late. I start typing a message to her and I notice a text that she sent late in the evening yesterday about her having gotten home from dinner. I stop in my tracks because I know very well that she wouldn’t be getting home late on a work night (we pride ourselves in early bed times) and I walk over to my husband and ask; “What day is it?” “It’s Saturday...” he replies. I put my phone down and get back into bed, heart still pounding and ask him why he laid there watching me as I ran around frantically. He just responds “I d...

3:00 I get the text from my daughter that she is on her way to the hot dog joint with her friends. I feel comfortable knowing she is with a group of friends. 3:10 I get a text from my daughter that they arrived to the restaurant. And I sit and wait, looking at the clock as it inches closer to the time we agreed that I would pick her up. One hour passes by and I get the text that she is done and ready to come home. I instantly feel relief because I know I am a short drive away from her sweet face. I hop in my car and two minutes later I see her smiling face with walking towards the car with a delicious chocolate milkshake with rainbow sprinkles in her hand. Not too bad for our first time. Looking forward to her being able to spend more fun times with her friends (sans mom panic).

Driving in the car with my coworker in pouring rain headed back to the parking garage of the building where our PD is being held. We are amazed at the huge droplets of water hitting the windshield. It's coming down hard, making it difficult for my wipers to keep up. We sit at the red light and I begin to sing,  rain rain go away, in my head and I am interrupted by the shock of tiny white rocks hitting my car. HAIL! My coworker and I start to panic and I picture a hail chunk piercing a hole though my windshield. We inch closer and closer to the intersection of the garage but are halted by a car waiting for the light to change to continue on ahead. Please turn green, please turn green... I whisper to myself as the little hail chunks slam on the car. Then finally, after what felt like an eternity, the light turns green and we head to safety. Not a ding in sight. Welcome Spring.

Today has been a pretty normal work day with not much happening. It's lunch time and I am sitting here staring at the little blinking line waiting for me to type me next word I have come to the conclusion that I have slicers block. I don't have a particular moment that has stuck out to me so far today besides right now. Sitting in a quiet space with nothing but the sound of my fingertips hitting the keys as I slice about nothing. Literally nothing. 

TodayI received a text that I have been dreading since the day my daughter was born. "Can I hang out with my friends after school on Friday?"; she asks. Immediately, I start to sweat, it becomes all I can think about, and a pool of questions fill my head... Where are you going? Who will be driving? How many friends is it? What if my answer is no? When did I get a teenager?! I think to myself, fighting back the urge to respond for fear of dulling her little teenage sparkle. She goes on to tell me that they will be going to eat at a local hot dog place and then to a friend's house to play a game.  Unsure about how to feel and what to say, I finally responded with "OMG! Lets talk about this later ." More thoughts... What do I say? Should she go? Should she stay? When did I get a teenager?! I have no idea how to handle this, but for now, I will wait until " later"  to decide.

This morning I received the most amazing news from one of my friends/coworkers! At first when she came into the office she looked as though she had to share some not so good news and this quickly made me uneasy. I thought to myself "Oh no, bad news on a Monday morning..." But then suddenly she jumped and shouted her news (not going to share as she is a fellow blogger) and the most intense feeling of joy and excitement quickly took over. After the excitement glitter settled, it got me to thinking about how quickly news can make or break a moment in an instant. Today was one of those "make" days and I am so incredibly excited for the future and everything that is to come. Here's to my friend and more good news.

On lazy days when my family is in the mood for pasta I like to cut corners and buy a nicer brand pasta sauce instead of making my own which I normally like to do. Today I chose vodka sauce. I got the Gionatti's brand which is ok on it's own but close to perfect when I add a few dashes of some extra spice. I pour the sauce into a pot, I add herbs de Provence,  fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, a dash of cream, and strips of roasted red peppers. I let the sauce simmer as I sauté the chicken breast and boil water for the pasta. A quick and delicious meal made in under 30 minutes. Don't forget the crusty bread!

On Saturday mornings my husband usually gets up around 7 and heads to work for a few hours. I usually stay home and get stuff done around the house as I await his return. This morning I decided to switch things up a bit and came to work with him. My cousin Alex is also employed in his agency and was  at the office when we arrived. I decided I would sit and visit with Alex as he ate a cheese danish and green juice that I brought him from Starbucks . We chatted for a few. He finished his danish and I guess he was still hungry because he got up to go to the kitchen to grab a takeout box from the fridge. Before I continue, I must preface by explaining that my cousin Alex is a rare breed of human. He’s the kind of guy that will talk you in circles, never a dull moment, and he has the most “creative” taste buds. He will eat things that one would think do not go together. At this point I’m nervous as to the the contents of this takeout box. He opens it and low and behold I see two pieces ...

Lately I have been listening to more and more country music thanks to my good friend Jess and our morning carpool rides to school. She usually drives and always has sweet country music playing in the background. Today was my turn to drive so I handed her my iphone to give her full reigns on the music selection. She chose a song by Chuck Wicks called "Stealing Cinderella". The song title quite ironic as I was telling her the story about my daughter acting out scenes from Cinderella when she was a little girl just the day before. She would put on her plastic noisy heels and clack all over the house shouting "Oh my goodness, it's midnight!" The song is about a man who visits his girlfriend's dad to ask for her hand in marriage. As he sits and waits in the home of his future in-laws, he looks at all of the childhood photos of his soon to be fiance. Through the pictures he sees the love he has for his daughter and vise versa and realizes that her dad probably...

Jess: Phoebe’s hair looks good today! Anaese: Her topknot? Really? Jess: Yea, her topknot looks on point. Anaese: Well, on point-ish. She looks good from afar but up close she is a hot mess.  Jess: Well for her, it looks good!  For anyone that doesn’t know Phoebe, she’s a sassy 3 year old little Shih Tzu with a lot of hair. So much that she has to wear a topknot or else she wouldn’t be able to see. I brush her every other day and without fail she manages to mess up her topknot within five minutes andbasically walks around looking disheveled most of the time. However, every once in a while, if you catch her right after she’s been brushed she will look on point... ish.                                   On Point                                              ...

On most days I enjoy a diet coke with my lunch. I know how bad it is for you (aspartame) but it satisfies a craving like no other. Yesterday I forgot my diet and I was very sad. I sat there with my lunch missing my bubbly friend and decided I would write an acrostic poem. Delicious Irresistible Everyday lunch item Tates better than Coke Zero (In my opinion) Canned Diet is my fave Obsessed Keto-Friendly Euphoric I know I share this obsession with many other colleagues... It's nice to work with people who get me :-)

I open my eyes to the sound of my alarm at 5:30am. I am one of those people that needs about 30 minutes of "snooze" before I am able to get out of bed. 5:30: I hear the sound of the alarm. I barely open my eyes to press snooze and in an instant I fall right back to sleep. 5:39: I hear it again. I open one eye, click snooze and fall right back to sleep.  5:48: The alarm sounds. I open one eye, click snooze and fall right back to sleep.  6:04: I open one eye, this time, no alarm... Uh oh... "I hit stop instead of snooze!!!" I said as I jumped out of bed and rushed to the shower! 

I chose intentions as my "One little Word" this year. I was chatting about work/life with one of my best friends who has been in my life for over 17 years a few months ago and she gave me probably the best advice I needed in that exact moment, which was to set my intention each day before arriving at work. This happened to be around the same time that my colleagues were sharing their "OLW's" and I thought I would try it out as well. I thought about my conversation with my friend and it hit me...intentions... I wasn't sure if it was the right kind of word but it felt right to me. It is a word that could fit in every aspect of my life. I am constantly thinking about my intentions and they have quickly become the fuel of my day to day. Intentions. Setting  the  intention. Treating people with good intentions. Doing everything with the best intention no matter the situation. What's your "OLW"?

My husband and I have pretty tricky names. Tricky for others to pronounce and even trickier when people try to spell them. We are really spoiled with delicious takeout options  in the area where we live and will oftentimes order in on the weekends. I’m usually the one to place the orders via the phone because I have dietary restrictions (low carb diet). When placing the orders I always tell the person on the phone my name is Ana just to avoid any confusion and it works like a charm. This morning was different. I was up pretty early feeding my niece and my ever so thoughtful husband asked if I wanted some breakfast takeout. We usually never order out for breakfast but today was different. We were too tired to cook. He dials the number to our favorite breakfast spot that’s about two minutes away from home. He places our order and at the end the person on the other line asks him; “what name should I put this order under?” He replies without thinking; “Ana...” We hear a long pause unt...

Today I spent the day in heaven. My Brother and sister-in-law agreed to let me babysit my brand new 6 week old niece, Alivia. I woke up at 6:30 in the morning after only having slept 4 hours to do my weekly house clean up so that i could dedicate the entire day to snuggling my beautiful niece. And boy did we snuggle (among other things)  We had a fun photo session, multiple feedings and a ton of snuggles. Nap time is the best part. I cradle her in my arms and I am in heaven listening  to her breathe and catching little smiles as she dreams little baby girl dreams. Reminds me of the song Cheek to Cheek  by Fred Astaire. “Heaven, I'm in heaven,   And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak...” I love you, Alivia!

\ My good friend Daisy is getting married today and we thought it would be fun to do a little wedding primping before the big day! I met Daisy over the summer and we have quickly become good friends. There is never a dull moment when I hang out with her and I have truly enjoyed getting to know her. We visited a nail salon in Oakbrook for a relaxing mani/pedi session. The bride decided on white nails and I went with a baby pink color!  After our two hour nail appointment we went to Devon to enjoy a delicious meal of lobster bisque soup to start and a seafood mix grill as our main course. By the end of the meal we were full and ready to return home. It was a great evening full of celebration, laughs, a little self care and a seafood grill.