Food Revolution

Casey and I have been watching famous Chef, Jamie Oliver’s, Food Revolution TV series together. We’ve learned a lot about the food served in America’s schools. One thing that Jamie focused on was the sugary milks that are served to the kids. In schools, kids have a choice of either regular milk, strawberry milk, or chocolate milk. The schools just want the kids to get calcium and they figure that the kids are more likely to drink milk if it’s flavored. Well, apparently the chocolate and strawberry milks have just as much sugar in them as a soda does. Also, the strawberry milk has the most calories.

This week, Casey decided to educate the kids in his Technology class about the differences in the types of milks that they have a choice of at lunch. He told the lunch lady to watch to see if the kids start to drink more regular milk. She (just like the lunch lady on Jamie Oliver’s show) told Casey he wouldn’t be able to change what the kids drink. If it’s one thing I’ve learned, do not tell Casey that he can’t do something because he will take it as a challenge and WILL prove you wrong. Tuesday, Casey noticed only a handful of kids chose to switch to the regular milk. Tuesday, he continued to educate the kids and encouraged them to look at the nutrition facts on the milk bottles to verify that what he was saying was in fact true. He told some of the other teachers what he had been teaching the kids and they all supported him and though what he was doing was great. One teacher who has a daughter in Casey’s class told him that when her daughter came home that day, she preceded to inform her mom all about the nutritional facts of milk and her mom was really impressed. By Wednesday he was seeing bigger results so he started graphing the amount of kids who chose regular milk by grade. For example, the first day, only about 4 3rd graders took regular milk. The next time, there were 32 that took the regular milk. The kids really liked seeing the graph I his class. Yesterday, Casey called me and told me that he was causing some chaos at the school. The librarian had informed him that the lunch lady stormed into the principal’s office to complain about what Casey was doing. Turns out, that day at lunch, kids were holding up the line to look at nutrition facts on bottles and she ran out of regular milk! Kids were saying that they had to drink regular milk and she didn’t have any to give them. Casey told me that at lunch, the school has 1 crate of regular milk, 1 crate of strawberry, and 3-4 of chocolate daily. He ran into the principal several times that day and she never said anything.

I’m so proud of him for inspiring his kids and creating his own Food Revolution!!!! Keep it up Casey!

Blonde Moment

Ok, so yesterday at work some virus attacked all of our computers so IT had to come around and personally install patches on all of our computers. Well my “go-to” IT guy had finished installing the patch and he told me to log-in to my computer to make sure it worked. As my computer began to boot up, the picture on my desktop popped up (see pic above). When he saw the picture, he asked, “Where are you in that picture?” I thought this guy must be blind as I pointed to myself in the picture and said “This is me. I’m here.” He just looked at me and then said, “No, I know that’s YOU but WHERE are you?” Immediately, I realized my co-worker had just witnessed a great Jenna blonde moment. I laughed and I told him that we were in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. After that, he just laughed and said “Wow, you’re not THAT blonde.”

Perfect Timing

Grace totally freaked me out last night, her timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I was having a strange dream where I was in my apartment and then someone asked if I had locked the door (don’t know who this person was but it was a friend). At that moment, the apartment door (in my dream) flung open and a scary man came though it. No joke, at that exact moment in my dream, Grace jumps on the bed right on me. I almost peed my pants! I sat straight up in bed and my heart was beating out of my chest. I couldn’t help but laugh and I actually said out loud to Grace “perfect timing.”

Search for THE dress

My mom and I walked into our first appointment on Saturday at the Bridal Boutique in Louisville. Picture a small town bridal boutique in an old building and you’ve thought of this place. The store was filled to the brim with dresses and had that small town feel where everyone was warm, friendly, and super helpful. Our wedding dress angel was Donna and she was amazing! She’s been in the business for 27 years and knew everything that you need to know about wedding dresses. She pulled dresses for me based on some pictures that I showed her and she did a really good job. I had no idea what went into trying on dresses! I was clamped and squeezed into many of the dresses. I came out in one dress that was a size 6 and told Donna I wasn’t going to fit and she just looked at me and said “Oh yes you will” and by golly she squeezed me into it! She had said she was strong and she sure was. All of the dresses I tried on were beautiful but when I tried the second one on I got a feeling and I knew this one would be a tough dress to beat. I tried on about 10-12 dresses that day and after the 12th dress I asked to try on the second one again because I kept comparing all the dresses to that one. When I came out in it the second time Donna said I had that look in my eyes that a bride has when she finds “THE dress.” The fact that I was trying on wedding gowns truly hit when she put the veil on me and gave me a fake bouquet to hold. I didn’t want to take the dress off!

We didn’t buy it then because we still had an appointment Sunday at a place in Southlake (a high-end area) so we knew this place would be really nice. Let’s just say that it would be an understatement to say that we were “let down.” The store was clean but it was so cold and had no personality. The sales girls barely smiled and were helping multiple brides so I would be standing there for several minutes just waiting to be zipped, clamped, or laced up. During the time I was there, I just kept telling my mom that I wanted Donna there. After about 20 minutes in the store and 4 dresses later my mom looked at me and said, “You want to get out of here and go buy that dress don’t you?” I said “yes” and we were out of there before they knew what happened. I called Donna on the way there and I met her and my dress at the door. I got to wear it for about an hour and loved every minute of it.

5k

This past Saturday, Casey and I both did something that we have never done before...we ran a 5K. We got up bright and early Saturday morning to run in the Dash Down Greenville which is before the big St. Patty's Day Parade. I had been training on a treadmill so I knew it would be quite the change to run outside with wind and everything. Also, the farthest I had ever run was 2 miles. Casey and I agreed that we would run it individually so we could see what our best times were. As soon as we crossed that start line, Casey was off. It was kind of like in odl cartoons where the roadrunner takes off and the coyote is left in a cloud of smoke...that's how I felt. The first mile went by really fast. There was a station passing out beer at the mile marker which reminded me I was running in a St. Patty's day race and made me warry of grabbing any future cups along the race route. At 1.5 miles, I saw the biggest challenge yet, a very steep hill. Since when do they put hills in Texas? I set the goal for myself to not stop running up the hill. I can proudly say that I achieved that goal. However, achieving that goal was at the detriment to my pace and my legs. Once at the top, I felt like I was going to throw up and that my legs were made out of jello. I tired to run again but I was running so slow that people running with strollers were passing me. Talk about a blow to the ego! I'm pretty sure one group of guys had a mini keg in their stroller too. When I eventually made the final turn and could see the Krispy Kreme sign (which is where the race began) in sight, I began to pick up my pace to a slow sprint because Casey told me I should do a"runner's kick" like professional racers and I could shave 30 seconds off my time. Well apparently the Krispy Kreme was a lot further than it had appeared because my kick was dying before I saw the finish line. I did finish the race in 39 minutes and was proud of myself. I definitely need to kick-up the training for the warrior dash because running up mud hills, swimming in swamps, and running up bales of hay will definitely kick my butt if I don't.

Update on Life

Sorry for not blogging in a while. I have many things to update you on. First off, in the wedding world we are making a lot of progress. We have the church, the reception venue, photographer, DJ, and Honeymoon all set which I think is good considering the wedding is a little less than a year away. The reception will be at the Petroleum Club in downtown Dallas. It’s such a neat and unique space and the coordinator there, Masoud (Ma-sood), is amazing. The photographer is Stephanie Davis. As soon as I saw her blog I fell in love with her photos and knew she was who I wanted! I posted the link to her blog on the side of mine so feel free to go take a peek at her work. Casey and I have also already booked our honeymoon. We are going to be going on a 5-day cruise to Progresso and Cozumel, Mexico. Casey and I are really excited about going to see the Mayan ruins there.

In running news, Casey and I have continued to train for the Warrior Dash by signing up for some 5Ks. We have two coming up in March so I’m sure you will be hearing all about that and if we survive running the whole thing.

Let the Training Begin...

Casey and I have decided to put our relationship and our bodies to the test. We are competing in a crazy thing called the Warrior Dash in May. The Warrior Dash is a 3.5 mile race complete with 13 obstacles (tornado ally, climbing up bales of hay, running down stream, climbing up a muddy hill, jumping over fire, etc) and you get a "warrior helmet" which very much resembles a viking helmet (see photo). Casey has promised that we are running this race together as a couple which honestly, is the only way I would want to run it. I figure if we can make it through this race together, we can make it through anything! Training began last weekend. We ran outside on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a piece of cake. Sunday on the other hand, made me cry. My legs felt like they were each 100 pounds and the air was cold so it burned my throat. Casey was so supportive, encouraging, and such a sweetheart. Tuesday I trained in the gym and I had a lifetime first...I ran 2 miles without stopping! I was so proud of myself. My goal is to be able to run 4...then I need to work on building some muscles so I can hoist myself up the robe ladder. More updates to follow...