Claudette, Praxis, and school!

Wow, it's been a while! I haven't been keeping up with the bloggy world lately because A. I have been so busy, and B. well I guess that's it! lol Let's recap shall we?!

The weekend of the 14th, Justin and I went to Florida for the weekend. It was great to just get a nice weekend getaway before school started back! We had a great time. The beach was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. I mean seriously, I have never seen the water so clear before in my life.

There was a lot of marine life in the water though because it was so warm. We saw several baby sharks, jelly fish, and some massive sting rays.

Friday and Saturday were gorgeous days with gorgeous water, but on Sunday, Tropical Storm Claudette decided to show her mean side and she showed up. I have never been through a storm like that in my life! I'm going to be honest...it freaked me out! The wind was INSANE and the sand and rain would like beat against your legs and that hurt like a mother! Of course, being from the south, everyone wants to know "What are you going to and what did you eat?" lol My parents and family asked me that...oh I don't know...9468721 times! The first night we ate at The Back Porch. It's in Pier Park and it's really good! I had Mahi Mahi and yea it was good! I like seafood though, and seafood kinda freaks people out so you may not think it sounds good but trust me it was!

Then for lunch on Saturday we ate at Red Robinnn Yummmm.... I said that in the commercial voice but you just didn't hear it. Anyway. I had the whiskey river burger and it was awesome! I don't remember what Justin had but it was something like "Oh my gosh this is too ridiculously hot to eat" but that's his style. If it's hot, he's going to eat it.

For dinner that night we ate at Reggae J's! I love this place. It reminds me of Jamaica even though the food isn't really Jamaican like. It's just the atmosphere. I had Mahi Mahi tacos. Again, if you're not a seafood fan, you may not like the sounds of that, but I promise it is wonderful! We shopped around and everything too and spent way too much money but what the heck...it's a vacation right?!

(The view from Reggae J's)

(Waiting for my dinner at

Reggae J's)

(Outside of Reggae J's)

(Me outside of Reggae J's)

(We saw this guy when shopping)

The next day we ate at a place called Red Brick Pizza. It was good too! I liked it and it was also in Pier Park. Then for dinner that night, we ate at Pineapple Willy's were I of course had to order a Pineapple Willy. It is so good, but for 8.50, I can make the same thing even better at home! Maybe I will make some this weekend and share with you! Then Claudette showed up and that's when it hit the fan. I was so ready to go home. It was just freaking me out.

(The birds going nuts when

Claudette showed up!)

On Monday we came home, and I of course had to run straight to my laptop and check to see the dreaded Praxis results. Well, I looked and tada!

I passed on the first time! Wahoo!! The state requirement is a 137 and I made a 170! I was too excited! Thank goodness that's over! Now I can intern in the spring and graduate in May! May 8, 2010, Coleman Coliseum at the University of Alabama...BE THERE! lol I will be for sure!

School started a week ago and it's already ridiculous. I do like my classes though, it's just going to be tons of work! I have to teach 3 units and in the mean time make a million lesson plans and 500 observations and blah blah blah! I will have 240 hours of field experience this semester thus making my new resume a total of 490 field experience hours so far, and I still have to do my internship! I mean, it's a lot to do, but I'm so glad that they make us do that many because I am going to be more than prepared next year when I'm a teacher....ahhh!!! Next year....that's so close!! There will be a lot of work this year, but I'm so happy that it's work that I'm actually going to use and will benefit me in the classroom!

I would also like to give a congrats to my friend Brittany on making my lasagna recipe! I'm so glad that it was easy for you to make! I have several more recipes coming up soon, especially with fall coming along! I know that may sound stupid, but when it starts cooling off, people like to cook more....don't judge me! Well, I'm going to go now. I hope all of you have had a great week and have a great weekend. I'm thinking that cinammon rolls are going to come into play this weekend, so I will post some detailed pics of that for all of you this weekend!!

What have I been up to? Well, not much really! Let's see.

Last weekend I went to Jasper to my mom's house. I didn't stay the night but I went up there on Saturday. I went up there to get a wallet that she had bought me and of course, I left it up there. So, I went up there this weekend. Sunday was an extremely lazy day. I did nothing. Monday I looked up some new recipes and went to the grocery store.

One day last week I made an awesome dinner. It is my meal of the week. I will post it at the end! It is called Mexican Chicken and it's great! It was the first time I ever made it so I of course have some tweeks I would have made but I will share that with you later.

Another day last week I made some homemade chicken fingers, homemade ranch and homemade macaroni and cheese. I wish I would have taken pictures of the macaroni and cheese, but I make it weekly so I will show it next week! Easy, cheap, and quick!

I started going back to the tanning bed last week. I now remember why I love it so much. I am so excited about going to the beach this weekend! Ahh I can't wait! It's been a whole year and that's been long enough. I'm sorry beach, we will never go this long before we see each other again. I promise!

I have a very busy week ahead of me though before this lovely trip:

Monday I am going to lunch with Bridgett. We are Hokkaido freaks (you would be too if you ever had it) so we are going there, of course. But first that morning, I am going to Woodland Forrest Elementary School to talk to the teacher that I will be helping on the first day of school. I'm so excited about it! I can't wait to see the first day of school. Not only that but the first day of Kindergarten, which brings me to....

Tuesday I am going to help out on the first day of school. Why? you ask. Well, I have this form to fill out and that will give me one free day to miss during my internship. It will be a day that I do not have to make up so that's great! It's going to be so neat. All of these little babies and worried mom's and dad's that keep hanging around all morning. I will also see how to manage the first day of school such as getting the students a tour of the school and a schedule and where to put ALL of those school supplies!

Wednesday I will have to work ALL day. Like a normal person. This will be 2 full whole days in a row. 8-4:45 is going to suck! Oh well, I have to because the girl subbing for me Tuesday morning is working my shift plus her afternoon shift so Wednesday I will work her morning shift and my afternoon shift.

Thursday I am packing and cleaning and getting everything together to head to the beach!!

Friday I will be beach bound and blogger absent! I can't wait!

I have a busy week ahead but I'm looking forward to it. I can't believe school starts on the 19th. Ughhhh I'm not looking forward to that. Although, I thing between looking forward to Fridays, Football Saturdays, birthdays, weddings, Halloween, and Thanksgiving Break, my Fall semester is going to FLY by! Then in January I will begin my internship. Ahh! I'm so excited....(and I just can't hide it!)

Well, that's all that's been going on with me. How have all of you been? I hope you all have had a great weekend and have a great week! I will be back with my meal of the week next week!

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Mexican Chicken

You will need:
2 chicken breasts
1 packet of seasoning (note: I used this fajita seasoning and I honestly wasn't feeling it. I'm thinking next time I will pick more along the lines of chipotle taco seasoning)
2 cans cream of chicken (note: I think next time I will only use one. I thought it was a little runny with 2 but after it sits it may need it. So maybe 1 and a half)
1 can Rotel
1 8oz pkg cheddar or mexican blend cheese
1 10pk tortillas (note: I used flour tortillas, but you may want to try corn. Also, I think I would have liked it better with crushed tortilla chips, or maybe even Doritos....yum)

(I told you there were some tweaks, but it's a girl's first time so hey....!)

Preheat oven to 350

Season your chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Then bring a pot of water to a boil to cook the chicken. Cook for about 30 minutes.

After the chicken has cooked, put it in a pan to shred the chicken. I just shredded mine with two forks


Once the chicken is shredded, put the seasoning on the chicken and just add as much water from the chicken pot, because this is now chicken broth, to the seasoned chicken. This will make it kinda stewy like the chicken you get in mexican restaurants.

Here's the seasoning I used.



Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer.



While the chicken is simmering, take your tortillas and place them in your casserole dish.




Begin cutting strips. It was easier for me to stack them up
and use a pizza cutter so I could tear them quicker.

Place the cut strips in the bottom of a sprayed pan.

If you decided to use tortilla chips or Doritos like I will

next time, just crush them up and make a thick layer of them

on the bottom.

After you have layered the bottom of your dish,

spoon on the chicken. I used a slotted spoon so I wouldn't

have it so soupy.

Then take your soups and Rotel and mix together in a bowl.

Here you may want to drain the Rotel so it's not so soupy like

mine turned out to be. Also, please do not accidentally buy the

extra hot kind. It's super hot and you won't be able to stand it.

But, I don't know anything, because I never make mistakes and buy

the wrong kind.....

After you have mixed the soups and MILD Rotel together,

spread it on top of the chicken. Then sprinkle as much cheese as you want

on top of the dish. Pop it in the oven for 25-30 minutes, and it will be a

cheesy, chickeny, delicous Mexican goodness.

Then forget to take a picture of the finished product because you are so hungry that you just dive right into it and burn your mouth. But not like me though....savages!

Enjoy!!

-Amber