3 Weeks Down, 7 to Go

I've been counting down the weeks till I am done with this biology class series. As much fun as it has been, I'm really looking forward to having my old, normal, 8-hour day schedule back.

This quarter I am taking botany, which really fascinates me, but it's like learning a new language with all the various terms and abbreviations in my textbook. I can see lots of flash cards in my future!

I am also really excited to start hiking again. I haven't been going skiing that much this season, which has really bummed me out, but I'm ok with it. I realize that I will have many more seasons of skiing in my life!

Since I haven't been able to go anywhere very much lately, I have been making jewelry and knitting hats, as you can see in the jewelry photos here. I have so many pairs of earrings that I have made and I'm trying really hard not to buy more beads, but its just so much fun!

I am still cooking some, not as much as I used to, but I have started getting a weekly CSA box from Full Circle. It's really helped inspire me to do some creative cooking instead of just working from a recipe. Don't get me wrong, I love creating a new dish based on a recipe someone else wrote, but I really enjoy coming up with new dishes.

I will be posting more recipes and hiking stories once I'm done with this quarter. I'll try to post photos from the first few hikes I go on this year. So far I have planned to hike Little Si, Twin Falls and Poo Poo Point, some great first season hikes.

I'm also excited to start going on hikes with my cousin Stephanie and my sis-in-law Angel and their kids and my mom. It will test my patience since I'm usually one to rush to the end and then hurry back and I know the kids will want to explore and look at everything and take it slow.

I'm hoping it will teach me to slow down and smell the wildflowers!

Feeling The Changes

Things are a changing, that’s for sure. It’s funny, but I’ve never actually felt myself change like I have been the past few weeks. I’m growing, maturing, and it’s an interesting feeling. The nerd part of me wonders what neurons connected to make it happen, but the human side of me says, who cares! 

 

I’ve decided on a few new mantras for this time of my life. For a long time, it was “Misery is optional. Choose happiness.” It worked very well, and I even have a sign with that saying at my desk to remind myself that even in moments when everything is doom and gloom, I should look at the good things and be happy. I’ve had some difficulty doing that, I admit, but I’m getting better. 

 

The newest addition to my soon to be plethora of sayings is “Do it till your proud of it.” This stems from my childhood where I was taught to put just enough effort in to an assignment, a project, into life, to get that A, but don’t put in any more effort than that. It’s definitely caused me some heartache and lots of extra stress over my life, so now I’m going to put effort into everything I do until I’m proud of it. I’ve found that by doing that, I’m less stressed, I feel better about myself and my abilities and I usually get a better grade. Win win, eh?

The final addition to my lovely group of sayings is kind of a long one. “Take it as a complement when people try to put you down. With how hard people try to make you feel bad about yourself, you must be really awesome!” I have been having a lot of issues with certain people (co-workers, so-called friends, etc.) who try to bring me down in the stupidest ways possible. It used to really anger me a lot, but today it clicked after I had been insulted by a co-worker. I must be just that much more awesome than them for them to try so hard to make me feel bad about myself. 

I’ve also decided to start doing a weekly goal setting/planning session every Sunday using a template I found. If I stick with it and it helps, I’ll share more about it. I’m also doing a 2013 goal setting/planning worksheet from the same website, and I’m really kinda excited for it. I’m hoping it helps me remain more focused on my school and my final goal of becoming a registered dietitian.

In other news, I’m starting my last quarter of in-class classes next Monday and I can’t tell you how great it will be to have a normal schedule back. I’m really excited to learn about botany (hello, fruits and veggies!) but I’m really more excited to not have to work 6 am to 5:30 pm three days a week.

Hope you all are enjoying your week!

Daily Habits

Things I want to do every day:

-10 minutes of relaxation yoga before bed

-Exercise

-Eat (and record) at least 3 servings of fruits and veggies

-Wake up at 5 am, don’t rush out the door

-Cook breakfast and eat at home

-Short strengthening workout in morning

New Hiking Season

 

Spring is finally here, and yet its 37 degrees out and my sister-in-law reported snow on their deck. I've been missing skiing so much this season because of school. I've only been able to go once a week compared to three to four times a week last year. I've been missing the forest a lot. It seems so silly to say that, but it's how I feel.

I went on a fairly good short ski trip this winter to Loup Loup and Mission Ridge. Loup Loup was fun on the few runs they had, but I was really tentative on my skis. The next day at Mission Ridge, I had one of my best ski days. I went on lots of powder runs, hit a ton of well shaped moguls, and by the end of my day after my dad and brother had both quit, I had almost the whole mountain to myself. I felt so good after that ski day.

 

I need to go skiing. But I miss hiking in summer. I'm so glad I've at least been able to snowshoe a couple times, but it's still not enough. I've been doing a lot of thinking this winter about my hiking style. I'm one of those people that tends to want to rush the whole experience just to get home earlier. I don't want to hike like that anymore.

I like the whole idea of taking your time on the way there and then spend a lot of time at our lunch spot, talking, relaxing, enjoying. I'm still not sold that I want to go slow on the way down, because that is the part I hate the most. It always drags on forever. Part of me almost wants to start running down the trails just to get back faster, but I can't leave my group behind.



 

I'm really looking forward to this hiking season. I've got lots of great hikes planned and I really want to start crossing more peaks off my hiking wish list. My goal is to get to the top of every peak along I-90 from Issaquah to Ellensburg by 2020, which is about 5 a year. Some of them are super easy (Squak Mountain, Tiger Mountain) and some won't be easy at all. I'm looking forward to trying them all!

Snowshoeing and Climbing Mountains

As I was driving back to work from lunch today, a thought popped into my head. This thought has been bouncing around my head for a while now, and I think it's time to finally put it on paper.

I realized that I'm finally getting to do all the things I dreamed about when I was little. All I ever wanted to do was climb mountains, explore, go where ever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And I am living that life now. It all just fell into place after I removed all the external pressures.

Somewhere along the way, I lost myself. I became so entranced with being someone who wasn't me, someone that so many others wanted me to be.

I'm so glad that I am now doing the things I wanted to do when I was younger. It's kinda funny how my younger self knew what I should have been doing. If only I would have listened deeper.

I have so many plans, so many things I want to get done in my life. I want to climb bigger, badder mountains. I want to explore remote places, with very few humans around. I want to cook as much as I can, create as much as I can. Life is full of so many possibilities and I am so excited to see what I'm going to do next. 

You with me?

Meal Planning: February

I have been really terrible at sticking to my meal plans lately. I absolutely love to peruse through my cookbooks and see which recipes I want to cook. I’ll admit, I have an excel sheet with a lot of recipe names and their estimated times and what season the produce/meats are best and other miscellaneous information. I’m a bit of a data collector (you should see my hiking list! It’s at about 1250 hikes!), but for me it’s fun. And by creating a monthly meal plan, I’m less likely to eat out or eat bad food.

Salmon Pasta with Fennel and Kale

 

I like to give myself some wiggle room in my meal plan, so I usually only plan for 4 meals a week. That way I have a couple days for leftovers and a free day where I can make whatever I’m inspired to make, whether it’s from extra ingredients sulking in the fridge or when I spot a really great looking bunch of carrots or potatoes or onions or kale or… Well you get the idea.

Tuna and Chickpea Salad with Cucumbers

 

Most of the time, I pick a single part of my meal, like a side dish or a main dish and then pick simple accompaniments. For example, when I have a salad listed, I usually pair it with something simple like rice and pan seared steak or chicken or fish. Sometimes I don’t even follow a recipe, I just use it as a guideline and add my own interpretation (actually that happens a lot).

Soy Earl Grey Tea Latte with Raincoast Crisps

If I don’t have a meal plan set, then I typically am a bit looser in my definition of what’s good or what is bad.  I tend to eat out more, or just get the Chinese food from the deli at my grocery store. Over the past few months, I’ve really missed cooking, so I really want to try to squeeze it in better.  All of these recipes can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, so I should be able to spend my time more efficiently.

Salmon Rice Bowl with Peas

 

Anyways, here is my meal plan for the month:

Week 1:

Favas with Herbs

Corn Chowder

Saucy Steak (orange marmalade sauce over steak)

Gingered Sticky Rice

Week 2:

Salad Greens with Beets and Goat Cheese

Bistro Beef and Mushrooms

Fennel and Parsley Salad

Gold Squash Soup

Week 3:

Crusty Sourdough Bread with Parsley Pesto

Asian Chicken Wraps

Poached Salmon with Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

Cool Jicama Slaw

Week 4:

Garlic Thyme Chops and Onion

Pork with Cranberries and Port

Rough Cut Breadsticks

Creamy Carrot Soup

Desserts and Breakfasts:

Apple and Vanilla Ice with Grapefruit Segments

Honey Toasted Fruit Granola

Maple Nut Oatmeal

Almond Bread

How do you meal plan? What are you planning on cooking this week?

Not Quite Malaise

I’ve been feeling rather off today. Not my usual self. I get those days every once in a while where I have this indescribable feeling, almost like malaise, but not quite as blue. I have been trying to shake it off and become my normal happy, smiling, chipper self, but today it’s just not working. I have a feeling its mostly because of stress and trying to keep my head above water. There are just so many things I need to get done or go do, but I feel like I’m just running myself ragged. 

I cooked yesterday for the first time in a while and it sure felt good. I’m almost getting this keeping my kitchen clean thing under control, all the while the rest of my place looks like a tornado hit. I’m really looking forward to going home and enjoying a plate of beef stroganoff before I hit the books. I needed the comfort food and to be in a comforting place.

My apartment has slowly become my home. I have felt adrift for so long after moving from one place to another every year for so long. This was the first time I'd ever stayed in one place for more than a year since I left my parents' and its taken me about a year and a half before I felt comfortable and at home. There was a long period of time where I was gone a lot just simply because I didn't know how to enjoy my home. I am finally at the place where I'd rather be home than anywhere else. I can't tell you how good that feels.