Spring Updates!

       I've got some crazy news! 
But first, hello internet world, it's been a while. 

I wish this had been a lucky jersey because a lucky
jersey might have helped the Caps get past the
second round of the playoffs. Ughhhhh. 

      A long while, actually. I apologize for my absence! It's been a busy spring so far. However I am armed with some extra time in my schedule, some new ideas, and a whole lot to update on in a quick update post! I have spent quite a bit of time the last few months doing what I usually do every spring, panicking over the end of the hockey season and then slowly killing my nerves by watching my team in the playoffs. I am a Washington Capitals fan through and through and EVERY SEASON they just screw me over in the playoffs with their lack of playing as well as they should. Sigh. Of course the games are 3 hours plus overtime, and of course there is one every 2-3 days, so I lost both sleep and time to get things done. Laundry piles up, social obligations fall to the side, and all I wear is my giant hockey jerseys and leggings. It's a rough time. And, like they do every year, the Caps fell in the second round again this year to our biggest rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Life is so rough. So, so very rough.

      Work has been super busy- wrapping up my caseload management responsibilities, getting test-prep planned, getting through test prep, and then on top of it all supporting coworkers in all of their personal endeavors. Half marathons, babies, buying houses, babies, weddings, and mostly people having babies. I love that I work at a school where there is a huge culture of both teamwork and shared celebration. We love to support each other through all of life's journeys, not just the ones we are on in our classrooms. I've done a bit of baking for these celebrations- a bouquet of cupcakes for a "bride wars" themed bridal shower, cute little cupcakes for a baby shower, and this sprinkled beauty, which admittedly was a severely huge amount of cake, for another baby shower. We've got another one coming up in a few weeks, and for that there may be some cookie pictures on my Instagram page.

      My husband and I have traveled quite a bit, too! We visited friends in San Antonio for spring break, went to a wedding in Atlanta, and....for the big news....we went to Munich, Germany for a few days in March! Aside from our honeymoon in Jamaica, this was my first big international trip and it was quite a trip! From the long flight over to exploring a new city on my own for 2 days (hubs was doing work related things), it was both fulfilling and exhausting. The even crazier news is that we are MOVING to Munich in September! Hubs will be working there for 1.5-2 years in a post-doc position. Holy moly! He applied several months ago as it was his "long shot" scenario, and after  months of him waiting to hear back, then getting invited for a visit, then him giving a talk on our visit and then more months of waiting to hear back after our visit, we finally know for sure we are headed across the pond in a few months. This beautiful city pictured below will be our new home!

I took this picture from the top of St. Peter's church in Munich, right across from the Marienplatz (tall tower on the right)
and Frauenkirche (tall church on the left) on my first day in the city. 

      I've got so many posts I have wanted to post but haven't for professional reasons; look forward to additional posts about traveling, moving, and managing all of life's daily requirements in between the moving and traveling posts! I'll still be baking, running (if I ever recover from a sprained ankle that is nagging me), teaching, bullet journaling, and I'll definitely be back to the blogging on a more regular basis.

Indian Inspiration

The "India" challenge on my baking list was one I was really looking forward to completing. I think that Indian recipes are often so much simpler than what I often cook or bake. I love the aromatic spices of Indian culture and the flavors they produce! Another great attribute of Indian recipes is that they are often nearly-vegan to start with, so if you are adapting a recipe to fit certain food specifications (allergies, dietary needs), it's simple enough to find a recipe that will easily fit your needs.

These cookies I made, for example. They are called Nan Khatai cookies and I used the recipe found on Blend With Spices. The directions were clear and simple. The ingredients were few and readily available- the only catch was the Cardamom. I don't use cardamom often, so when I went to the store and saw that the tiny 3 ounce container was $15 I went on a mini rant to my husband in the middle of the baking aisle. He just looked at me like "uhh....." which is understandable. It's probably the same look I gave these two college girls once when they stopped me in the same baking aisle and asked me if they could just melt butterscotch chips and use it as salted caramel. Uhhhh....

My little jar of Cardamom

What I ended up doing was going to the local Co-op grocery store, where you can buy many herbs, spices, and baking needs (cocoa powder, etc.) by the ounce. They have containers or you can bring your own. They also have these little plastic bags you can use and twist tie closed, which is what I used, and which makes you feel super sketchy when you go into the store to by an ounce of cardamom which looks like some other substance, and then you leave the store just carrying around your little bag of "ground spices." Sketchtastic. Worth it, though, to only pay 92 cents for cardamom, instead of $15.

Step 1: Mix dry ingredients. Step 2: Add wet ingredients

Step 3: Drop onto cookie sheet

Anyways, these cookies have a basic recipe with few ingredients. No refrigerating the dough, no extra steps needed- just mix, bake, and done. They tasted delicious! I might use less cardamom next time, because I found the taste to be a bit overpowering. However, the almonds on top help to smooth out the taste of the cardamom, so don't skip on the nuts if you make these!


I thought I'd blog the process of these cookies, you know, step by step style. I realized as I was uploading pictures that I took really boring and non-descriptive photos of the process. I also realized I need to edit the lighting in the photos because my kitchen has this one horrible fluorescent tube light and everything in the kitchen- cabinets, appliances, counters- are an off white color, so there is little natural looking light. When I take photos without flash, they come out a little dull. I could definitely have edited these photos and skipped this whole paragraph explaining myself, but I'd rather get the post up! I'm sure I'll regret that later...Enjoy for now!

And, voila! Cookies. 

Explaining the Title

Polymath (n.): A person of great learning in several fields of study

     I was at work and we were eating (surprise!) someone else's baked treat that had been brought to celebrate a birthday. It was a DELICIOUS pecan monkeybread. I'm still drooling thinking about it. Anyways, I'm standing in the workroom, laminating cards for my students to use to play "Go Fish" (with fraction/decimal cards), and a coworker and I are discussing aforementioned monkeybread (drool). He starts asking about my baking ventures. "You're like, a talented baker, right? You just make all sorts of things?" We talk for a bit about that, my previous life with an egg allergy, baking inspiration, yada yada and then he asks how my other projects are going- the quilt I've been making, packing to move, prepping for the school year, blah blah.

     Enter another coworker, and coworker #1 says something along the lines of "Did you realize all the different stuff Sarah can do? I mean she has a million hobbies." So of course I'm flattered and embarrassed and try to avoid the conversation by bringing up whoever made the monkeybread (seriously I need a bib) and fumbling with my fraction/decimal cards. The two of them start talking about how I should start a blog. And one of them says "There's a lot of blogs out there, but you really have a lot of talents worth sharing!" Generally, I never share this sort of flattery. I admit, I enjoy it, and it made my day, but I don't usually like to brag about people bragging about me.  It even sounds weird in that sentence. But it's relevant to the next part of the story, so, yeah. I'll just be over here blushing (and drooling)...

     Fast forward to later that day, while I'm trying to finish THAT DARN QUILT. I'm tying knots (only 9 more to go!) and listening to this when-I-was-in-college-era mix of mostly acoustic mousic (I'm leaving that typo because I like it) when a Mason Jennings song comes on that made my brain wax a wee bit philosophical. I thought a good blog pursuit would be something about being a "Renaissance Woman." That sounds so...touristy, to me, though. It didn't feel flattering. Like, "Oh I can be a renaissance man but I'm a female so I have to classify that with gender specific vocabulary" and I just wrinkled my nose at the sound of introducing myself as "The Renaissance Woman." I also pictured this horrifying scenario where I just start getting offers to perform at Renaissance fairs, totally not the same thing.

     So I did what any average human being does, and I Google search the term "Renaissance man." There it is! My inspiration! I had completely forgotten about the Greek word where the idea of Renaissance man originated- polymath. I love the way the word polymath flows, though! And as a newly discovered math teacher, who's been nerding hard over manipulative activities this summer, the word has the added bonus of containing the word "math."

     I have always envisioned myself spending my life learning to be good at whatever I'm doing. I anticipate that my life ventures may change every now and then because I'm a very flexible person with a large variety of interests. I love the idea of using this blog to be a platform to that journey of becoming a person who spent their time on Earth cultivating knowledge of all sorts. Do I have a cluster of more strong interests? Sure. There will probably be a lot more posts on this blog related to things I pursue often- baking/creative outlets, active lifestyle pursuits (I haven't talked about running yet, have I?)- but I hope that my journey to discover and learn can bring along all sorts of people with me. I'm sure there are many interests that I have yet to discover, and I hope that blogging about them when I do discover will leave behind a trail of inspiration for others to follow.

But seriously...

Time for a little inspiration!!

     Sometimes, I get crafty. And sometimes when I get crafty I think, "This craft needs to be meaningful and worth my time, and not just frivolous." Trying not to be wasteful, I decided I'd make something inspiring and do a little recycling at the same time.

     I have several blank canvases laying around but the one I wanted to use most was actually a misprinted photo canvas I got in the mail last year. After contacting the company about the canvas, they of course sent a new one, but I was left with the crappy looking one! So, I brought it to my table and sat to work covering up the previous photo with white acrylic paint. Then, added a background color.

This is actually upside down from my viewpoint
whilst taking the picture. Huh. 

     Now, when I saw this color I was very pleased because this is my favorite color. A sort of cobalt, cerulean blue. Always has been and always will be! And then I started planning the rest of the canvas and realized that there are few colors that show up really well on top of this color. Oops.

     Inspiration for this canvas actually came to me several months ago. When Maya Angelou passed away, everrryyyone was posting their favorite Angelou quote on every social media outlet possible. I had absolutely no problem with this; I really enjoyed having a day where scrolling through media meant that I was enlightened by her wisdom, inspired by her triumph, and smiling at her happiness. However, a friend of mine posted one that made me give a resounding "Amen" aloud to myself as I read it. "You may not control all of the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them"

     To me, this is a excellent hard truth with which I feel everyone must come to terms. Our choices define us and we are all prone to those unfortunate choices. As a special education teacher, to me this quote also inspires the thought that decisions have different weight for each individual. Choosing what to eat for dinner is a difficult decision to someone dedicated to losing weight, but an easy one for others; deciding what to do with your life can be an easy choice for those passionate about a particular profession,

                             Dat glare, tho                                     but an excruciating one for those whose talents                                                                                         may not be easily quantified. 

     This is a conversation I hoped to inspire in my 6th grade classroom with this canvas. The finished product is sitting on my dry erase marker tray at the moment, directly underneath each day's agenda. I have to admit I haven't had that conversation I've been awaiting, but there's a lot of time left this school year for that. 

Finished product! Off center image. A little pixillated.