Jude Law and a Summer in Belton

I'm sorry. Not to sound like Tim Tebow, but I'm sorry for not blogging all summer long. It was a very interesting summer to say the least, and I wish that I had written about my experiences more. I spent my summer in Belton and I worked 20 hours a week at the Center for Academic Excellence. During the summers our office is in charge of new student orientations, so that was a lot of fun, but it was also a little stressful. I went home SEVERAL times, but it didn't seem like enough. It was also nice because I was only 2 and 1/2 hours away from Caine instead of 4, so the trip to Houston was much easier and worth making for just a weekend.

My greatest culinary accomplishment came when I was trying to eat low carb this summer. I dropped about 7 to 8 pounds total this summer just from working out consistently and cutting out carbs for the most part. The first three weeks I attempted this, I cut out all carbs: bread, pasta, fruit, sugar (yes even in my coffee). It was SO hard. I love bread and cake and pasta...a LOT. But I definitely saw the results quickly. I went and bought shrimp at the big HEB in Temple because it was on sale and it sounded yummy. I peeled and deveined a pound of shrimp all by myself and made a shrimp and spinach salad with balsalmic vinegarette. Then I still had half a pound of shrimp which I put in my freezer. A week or so later (when I was allowoing myself to eat one serving of carbs a day) I decided to use the rest of the shrimp. I also had several tomatoes. So, I thawed and seasoned the shrimp, cut up the tomatoes and sauteed them with a little olive oil and garlic. The tomatoes got soft and rendered a lot of tomatoey goodness, but still remained in tact. At the very end I added a splash of lemon juice and then tossed in the pasta that I had cooked. It made a lovely little dish!

I definitely missed my family as much if not more than I predicted in the last post I made. I missed watching scary movies with Mom and getting to drive with Olivia. But the three weeks I was at home in August I definitely made the most of. Other events of significance this summer:

1. I turned 21.
2. I navigated to downtown Houston (for a day Astros game) all by myself and didn't get lost or cut off in traffic.
3. I wrote a 22 page research paper about the conspiracy theories surrounding JFK's assassination.
4. I made a new friend.
5. I saved lots of money.

So I leave you with a line from one of my absolute favorite songs that reminds me of being a freshman in high school (a full 7 years ago): Tell all the Egnlish boys you meet about the American boy back in the States. The American boy you used to date who would do anything you say.

P.S. More to come...