Spring Fever

Hello and happy back-to-school. Definitely needed that break... It was so good to be home in Atlanta with my parents and pups. Yes, back home in Atlanta. About two weeks ago my parents made the move and were back in Woodstock. I can't be any happier to be back, I have missed this house/area more than I thought... So many memories flooding my mind. I came home to our house getting me carpet laid and my mom couldn't be more thrilled! Let's just say that the tenants didn't take very good care of our house... But it's slowly coming back together!

Before I made the journey home, I was able to spend 3 days with my SOAR team in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina. We hopped on a bus for 5 hours and finally made it to UNCC for SROW 2012. I don't think I have ever been so tired in my life from everything we were doing. Cheering, dancing, Stepping, oh and learning :D there was never a moment where we weren't cheering... Representing Georgia Southern! We have been working a little over two months on different committees and I am happy to say that out of almost 2000 people at this conference, we came home with some awards :) 1st and 2nd in education (we lost to ourselves!!) and 3rd in service! I couldn't be any prouder of my team and of course Georgia Southern.


My mom and I took a couple 'girls days' and went on a few adventures. One of my favs was our trip to Kennesaw Mountain with the pups. Murphy was loving every second of it... he was up and down the trails like he had never seen the daylight before. We ended the day with a nice picnic :D Second adventure was to the Georgia Aquarium! I haven't been in years and it made me feel like a little kid again. Aside from every child in the state of Georgia being there (happy furlough day)... mom and I were able to get through the crowds to see all the little fishes! Overall, it was a wonderul break, wish it was longer, but got finish this semester up!

So, over the break my parents and I went to one of our favorite burger places in town. Of course I had the black bean burger, but my dad made a comment on why he chose to get chicken that night (AT A BURGER PLACE?) He said that after reading my blog on the 'pink goo' and seeing a clip on the news, he was skeptical about it in all beef. Me not really having an answer decided to search for the answer... and well here you go.


T H E PINK G O O.
According the NPRs The Salt blog, about 70% of your ground beef supply has "lean bits of meat derived from muscle and connective tissue." Otherwise known as : Lean Finely Textured Beef.   "It's not required to be labeled," explains Don Schaffner, a food scientist at Rutgers University. There is a chance you will find either EColi or Salmonella in these trimmings and because the industry recognizes this issue, they treat it with Ammonium Hydroxide to kill the pathogens. This could cause even more problems though. The American Meat Institute defends the practice. "This is not the same ammonia you'd use in cleaning supplies," explainsBetsy Booren of the AMI Foundation. "It's a gas, it's a different compound, and it's a well-established processing intervention that has a long history of success."


Here, ABC did a 'taste test' on the slime... take a look. Reporting that, "But this burger is more chewy in a sort of gristly sort of way. You feel like you’re chewing on something that really shouldn’t be there.”


Off to class now, then work (pilates @530--join me!!), and finally going to end the night with a birthday dinner for Miss. Becca Ashe. Happy birthday sweet girl!