I've been trying to do more cooking so that I'm not enticed to eat convenience foods and I don't buy lunch in the cafeteria at work, but bring a good meal instead. It isn't always easy. It means more planning ahead and more time for cooking.
This week Erik and I made Asian Mushroom Lettuce Wraps from Costco's cookbook, which I found out is available online - very cool. They have past years too... I just googled Costco recipes and found them. We really liked the wraps. They were easy to make and seemed fairly healthy and certainly you could adjust them to be healthier or less healthy. I brought some leftovers for lunch the next day so that was great to have a good meal for dinner and an easy one to bring for lunch.
Yesterday we were bumming around in the afternoon and went to Valley Natural Foods. We saw some really good looking baby bok choy and Erik whipped up a wonderful stir-fry with the bok choy, green onion, red pepper, shiitake mushrooms, steak, garlic and ginger in a ginger sauce. It was very good.
I've been enjoying smoothies for breakfast lately. Here is a look in the blender with all of the ingredients. This morning I had vanilla yogurt, orange juice, a little half and half (or milk - it makes it frothy), frozen raspberries, frozen strawberries, and frozen mango. This past week I have been getting up and leaving before Erik get's up and I've missed my smoothies.
I also have something baking right now for tomorrow (Valentines Day). It smells good!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Today was a beautiful day and I wished I had my camera multiple times. The picture above is from Tuesday, not quite as beautiful today as it was missing the colorful sky, but a nice winter post-snow shot on my way to work. Tuesday I did have my camera and today I did not. Darn!
I got up 45 minutes after my alarm went off, 1 hr 15 minutes earlier than I typically get up, 15 minutes away from needing to be somewhere with an 8 minute drive on the nicest day in the summer. Ugh! What a way to start the day.
Once I was to work, we drove West for a meeting watching a beautiful sunrise amongst the hoar frost. I wished so much I had my camera and I could find an excuse to skip what I needed to do that day, and convince the others in the car that they too needed to skip out on the planned activities and take pictures. That didn't happen. It was nice to dream about it though.
It was a long day, but a good work day. It was mostly cloudy as we got back into town, but on my drive home the sun peaked out for just a few minutes and it was beautiful! Again, I don't have any pictures of this... hm... lesson learned - again.
I did find a picture that I thought culminated today's beautiful sky and frosty trees here.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Last week I went to see Will Steger speak at the Freshwater Society's kickoff event for the Year of Water 2010. His speech was about global warming. His story about how it took him and a crew 30 days to cross the Larsen A and B ice shelves on dogsled was particularly heart breaking because today those shelves have disintegrated, Larsen A ice shelf broke up in 1995 and then B ice shelf in 2002.
Katie and I had a nice trip to the MOA on Friday. We both walked away with plenty. It was nice to hang out with her and of course tap her fashion sense, because she definitely got more of that than I did, but that is okay with me.
Saturday I slept the morning away. Sort of nice, but one of those things I feel guilty about and probably needed at the same time. In the afternoon I went out to my parents and hung out with my Mom. We played with Sonny and went on a nice walk to wear him out. My Dad went to Costco on his way back from watching some of his pitcher's play other sports. He bought a huge pack of pork chops, so I was the happy recipient of dinner. I also brought home Nutella and a loaf of rye bread and I didn't even go shopping. I do have a request by my Dad to make self-frosting nutella cupcakes. I think I'll have to make them soon or the nutella will be gone!
Erik used the grill pan and seared the pork chops and then we baked them to finish and had them with a simple salad. Last night we made calzones with other pork chop and Erik seasoned it with italian seasonings, which made it taste a bit like italian sausage. We had that with spinach, a pesto sour cream sauce, mushrooms and green onion with cheese in our calzones.
We've been trying to do our part in keeping the Earth cool by leaving the thermostat down. I've been sleeping better, maybe part due to it being cooler and maybe part to letting go of my worries. It has been mostly good, but it is hard to get out of bed when it gets chilly. Tonight my toes are a little chilled and I've been wrapped in a blanket much of the night. The candle above is a Thymes Frasier Fir candle. I love it. I've been burning it quite a bit lately. It smells so nice!
Today and tonight we are getting a few inches of sparkly snow. I found it very sparkly tonight on my drive home. It is beautiful! I'd love to spend tomorrow out in it! Maybe I'll have to see about a walk over lunch.
I've been thinking quite a bit about the Buffalo Tri that I'm doing in June. I've been working out but I need to put it in high gear if I'd like to do better than last year. I signed up for a 5K run around St. Patty's so hopefully that will get me geared up to be outside a bit more. I've been reading magazines about training and eating right and some magazines not about that. I've been hooked on magazines the past few weeks. We have a generous pile on our end table right now.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.
You could ask Erik and he'd tell you, I've been worried lately... worried and wound up. I know my worries are small and nothing to get worked up about in comparison to the worries some have of food and shelter. So I'm leaving my worries behind. I once told Erik that I couldn't turn off my worries like a light switch, so quickly and instantaneously, but I heard you can learn to. So to teach myself not to be in a state of worry, here is what I'm going to do:
Workout - because that does wonders for the body and the mind.
Stop dwelling on my worries - the source of the worry still my be present but if I can't do anything about it then I don't need to worry about it.
Be thankful. Be thankful for family and friends.
Believe in myself.
Enjoy. Enjoy each moment.
Do good.
Smile.
Some quotes I like:
"This too shall pass." - my Mom
"Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awaking worrying? Well, don't worry...I'm here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you." - Charlie Brown to Snoopy
"There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem." - Harold Stephens
"Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight." - Benjamin Franklin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars I like historical fiction so this was right up my alley. This book was good and I'd recommend it. I enjoyed the beginning, but I felt like it lost something toward the end. It is about a family and living in a mining town in Alabama and quest of two young girls to find out who dropped a baby down their family's well. It is interesting to think about how much people struggled and today we take things for granted, like soles on our shoes.
How about a long one? Oh yes please and thank you! This weekend's plans are to take it as it comes, sleep-in, read, workout, eat, relax and let go, all comes down to some fun.
I started off the weekend by sleeping in a bit, but not too much that you feel like the day is gone. Erik and I went in search of a hike. We drove across town to Baker Park Reserve, and drove around the beautiful country in search of some hiking trails. We could have driven right onto the lake if desired in my little focus. We did find that entrance to the park. We finally found our way to the winter recreation area and found out that there are little to no hiking trails. They pointed us in the direction of one but made no guarantees about it's condition. We found the trudged on trail that looked like it was used by many different users: snowshoers, skiers, hikers, coyote, rabbits, mice, and the song birds (nuthatch, chickadee, and downy woodpecker). Our feet slipped into the snow on the side of the packed down trail making for not quite great hiking, but that was okay as we were enjoying being out and about.
Then we drove into Excelsior and walked around the quaint downtown. We ate at Jake O'Connor's. It was a great place to have lunch. We also stopped into a little overstocked-little-bit-of-everything store, Leopold's, because of the cat in the store's doorway. The cat's name is Boots and is a sweetheart - definitely a great cat for a store.
I finished Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. It was a good read. I liked it a lot, which is obvious because I finished it so quickly. I liked how there was always a turn of adventure and it is based on a true story, the story of the author's grandmother. I also liked the short chapters inside longer ones. They were sort of like bursts of information. I haven't read Jeannette Wall's other book The Glass Castle, but I might have to put it on my to read list, which seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Books... they seem like they have been taking me a long time to finish lately. Maybe it is the reasons listed in my last post. Well, I finished one. I read most of it quickly for a book club, but didn't make it that night and put off reading for other activities, but I got to the end finally. I read The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. It was an easy read with fun characters. It reminded me of the challenges we go through and how they shape us and show our true character. Something to keep in mind I guess in the midst of life's many challenges. Next on the agenda is Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I just started this one tonight and I can see that it will probably hold my attention quite well.
