Addicted

I may or may not have a problem. Ok, I do. I am addicted to Kombucha. I have drank it every single day this week.

And at $2.99-$4 bucks a bottle, it is an expensive addiction. Want to know the worse news of all? I have dragged my sweet loving husband down this dirty road with me. He is now also on the Kombucha addicts train. Now we are talking $6-8 bucks just for us to get something to drink. The only good news out of this whole thing is we have abandoned our used to be beloved soda pop for this alternatively fizzy drink.

Still, we have a problem. The solution? Make our own kombucha! We are in the process of beginning our first brew! Stayed tuned for how-to and hopefully a successful outcome!

2011 Goals

I try not to do new years resolutions. I just don't really like them. Instead, I wanted to put together a list of Goals for 2011. Btw, can you believe it's already going to be 2011 next week? AH! Not me. I just got used to 2010. Ok here we go.

1. Run three marathons, plus a half and a 15k at least.


I'm just really starting to enjoy running. And since I am getting into Marathon shape for my upcoming race in April, why not keep in that shape and knock out a couple this year. The ones I am looking to do this year (as long as they don't sell out before I can get the money to register) are-

• Shamrock Run, Sunday March 13.
  
• Race for Roses half, Sunday April 3.
  
• Vernonia Marathon, Sunday April 10.
• Seattle Marathon, Saturday June 25.
• Foot Traffic Flat, Monday July 4.
• Portland Marathon, October 9.

2. Start a garden, and take a gardening class.


We have our name in to get a plot this year. It will be small, but I am looking forward to having a space we can grow yummy veggies on. I'm also looking forward to learning more about what kinds of produce grow best here, and when is the best time to start planting.

3. Travel to at least 2 new places.

Since we live so close to California and Canada, we thought this year our two vacation spots would be somewhere in Northern CA, and Vancouver B.C. I am soo looking forward to discovering the West Coast!

4. Fall more in love with this man.

Sappy alert! We have been through a lot this past year. With the end of school, moving cross country, stress of finding new jobs..etc, we have learned a lot about each other but everyday I feel more and more blessed that I married someone who can put up with all my quirks.

5. Find a job that I love.

I don't know where it will be, but a big goal for me this year is to find a job that I absolutely love. I have never had a job like that. Life is to short to hate where I am, or what I'm doing. I must do something I love, or I will go crazy.

6. Do something that scares me.

I dont want to get to comfortable in life. I want challenges and adventure. Therefore, I must do something that scares the you know what out of me, every so often. Put myself out there in an awkward situation so that I can change, learn, adapt, discover. I think I am going to start by taking a class at the local community college. No, not english or math...but better! I'm not going to share what class just yet. But when I start, I will be sure to spill.

Ok. I think that's it. I dont want to overload myself with goals. A few good hard ones will do. I hope putting this out there will keep me accountable. Sometimes you need a good kick in the pants you know?

Anyone out there have any goals they want to share?

Rain run

Today marks the first day I have run in the rain here in Portland. Seeing as how we have been here 4+ months, it's a miracle I haven't run in the rain before. There have definitely been rainy days that I was supposed to run, but I usually would either put it off until later in the day, move my route to the dredmill, or just not go. 'Oh, its raining...I'll just run later', was my go to answer. And most times, later just never happened.

So today, after wining and moaning to Eric via text how hard it was pouring, how I didn't have any rain clothes, how cold it was...I just told myself I was going to suck it up and go!

And go I did! 6 miles up the the trail head, partway down the trail and back. It seems I have done myself a disservice though. Now that I have actually gone out and done it...I can no longer use the excuse that it's raining.

Before. All nice and dry.

After. Notice the rain drop coming off my hat. I was completely soaked.

You know the best part? I really didn't hate running in the rain at all! Sure there was some not so pleasant stuff. Like the rain pelting you in the eyes, or the soggy socks, and who can forget the drip thats coming from your nose but you think it's just rain and you lick it away and find out that its not rain but runny boogers. Ugh.

But it's pretty exhilarating. And you feel extra hardcore during and after. Which, is really the best feeling of all.

Now that we are in the rainy season, it's easy to fall into a slump. Rain all day most days, no hope of sun and dark by 4:30. Here are a few very random photos that are making my day a little brighter.










I hope your enjoying your Tuesday. Here's hoping its a little dryer than mine!

Post Christmas sadness

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was lovely, but I missed our families a lot. We got lots of wonderful gifts. And had a good time skyping with the people we love.










We spent the day eating lots of yummy vegan food. And I had an 11 miler scheduled that I thankfully got done before it started to rain. All in all it was a very relaxing day that I wish we could have more of.

Back to work for Eric. Well, kind of. He works a three day work week this week. I worked yesterday, and not again until next Sunday which will be my last day.

I am looking forward to this upcoming Friday. We are going snowshoeing on Mt. Hood.!!! The Schads asked us if we could house sit for them, and of course we said yes because not only does that mean we get a kitchen to cook in, but we also get their car! So we are going to take it up the Mt. for some fun times!

Not much going on until the weekend though, so I'm ready for it to be here!! =o)

Merry Christmas

From our house to yours!

Life is changing again??

As of last night, I was informed that my last day of work will be January 7th. Which is weird because I am at the point where I'm only working on Sunday's (besides this week) so I'm assuming my last day will be Jan 2nd.

There is a slim possibility that a position might open up at another store that I could try and apply for, but seeing as how all the stores are over hours, it doesn't look like they will be doing any hiring anytime soon.

What does that mean? Welp, it means I begin the job search again. I cannot even begin to tell you how much this stresses me out. We are at a point where I do not need to work. Eric makes enough to cover our bills and then some. HOWEVER, I want to work! I want to be busy and have something to do. I am so bored of sitting at home. And extra cash to put into the savings account is always a good thing!

I knew taking the job that it was temporary, but I guess I always hoped they would hire me on or I could move to another position. Now, I am back to the question I was asking just a few months ago...what now?

In other news, you know you live in a rainy place when the forecast looks like this.No percentages, just, rainy likely. Looks like we will be having a wet Christmas.

Pancakes and eggnog.

This morning I had a pancake fail. I know, it's not that hard to mess up pancakes but I was making them without eggs and with pumpkin puree and from scratch and I guess I just had my ratios off..? Anyways, they were pretty darn soggy and kind of gross. The maple syrup helped a lot. ha.

Also, if you haven't checked out Soy Nog, you must!!! It's so so yummy. I put a little (ok a lot) in my coffee and it makes it really good. Rice nog is also really good, but Eric doesn't like it as much so we don't get it. I am going to stock up before they stop carrying them though!
Secondly, I made a spur of the moment decision this morning and signed up for Shamrock Run 2011. I am going to be doing the 15k.
I'm pretty excited. The course looks a little challenging, with a climb around mile 4, but it will be good training for the marathon in April. The best part of this race is the entry few comes with: a tech t, free beer at the end, free lunch and a finishers medal. Nice! Not bad for $35 bucks.

Last thing, I am 100% done Christmas shopping! Wahoo!! I even went ahead and stuffed Eric's stocking because I was so excited about it. Yes, I know thats not "traditional", but who cares.

ok-I'm off!

Double digits!

Saturday I was scheduled to run 9 miles. It was so cold and rainy all day Saturday that I put my run off until Sunday. Well as life would have it, I did not get up early enough to run before church so it just didn't happen. Today was the day. I woke up early, grabbed a homemade clif bar, and was off. Then an hour and 40ish minutes later...this happened.


10 miles!! I knew going into the run that 9 was soo close to a double digit, and I have never run more than 9 miles in my life, so I really wanted to do 10 and hit that double. I cannot even tell you how proud I was of myself. I'm not boasting or bragging but back in February of this year, I couldn't even run 1 mile without stopping.

Now I am running 10 miles, and only stopping twice. Once at the half way point to eat some dried apricots and once at mile 8 to stretch my achy legs and do some quick yoga. This was a pretty big day for me...and I feel proud. =o)

OK, enough about that. The rest of the day consisted of relaxing and going grocery shopping. This vegan thing is getting so much easier. I loaded our grocery cart with fresh veggies, so I am excited to do some serious cooking this week. I bought two huge heads of red leaf lettuce, and it took us 20+minutes to cut, wash, dry and put it all away. haha. We will be eating some big salads this week.

BTW. I made this salad dressing and it is very very good. I was getting pretty fed up by store bought dressing so I'm really excited about this one.

And to end the day, I saw this.
Not bad at all.

Lazy Saturday…

 

I thoroughly enjoyed today. Nice and lazy.

We stayed in bed till about 10, got up and went to get bagels. Yum. Came home and set up our computer stations.

ha. I managed to wrap a few presents.

And then we skyped with my family! It was my dads birthday yesterday and they were celebrating today.

Dinner was next, so we bundled up. (it’s cold and very rainy out)

btw…this is me on a true lazy day. Not showered, yoga pants, and the worlds most comfortable boots.

Finally we ended the day by making our very own clif bars. Seriously, these are yummy and totally worth making!

First up, millet puffs. Or rice crispies, or whatever puffs you want.

Then quick oats, followed by rolled oats.

Then you add your toppings. In our case, raisins, cranberries, chia seeds, hazelnuts, almonds, flax seed meal. (do not use whole flax).

Now you work on your wet stuff. You want to add it all to a pot over medium heat.

First, peanut butter or really any kind of nut butter you prefer. Added bonus if you make the nut butter yourself!

Add unphotographed, molasses, brown rice syrup, coconut oil, date paste, vanilla bean or vanilla oil.

Mix until it looks like poop, and is kinda runny.

Add wet to hot ingredients. And get in there with your hands and mix. This might take some time to be patient. You want it all covered and sticky.

Mix, Mix, Mix.

Put into a pan, any size will do. It just depends on how thick you want these. I think our pan was around 12’'x8'’. Throw some plastic wrap on top and use a rolling pin or something hard to really roll them out flat and even.

It helps if you have a handsome man doing the work.

Now, put the tray into the fridge, or let cool completely on the counter.

Enjoy a yummy beer.

Yes, that beer is from Japan. It was delicious.

After a short time has passed. Take your bars out and cut them. We got 15 bars out of our pan but we cut them smallish.

NOTE: these are going to be used by us for an energy bar. Probably something we will take with us on long bike rides (Eric) or long runs (Meg) so we didn’t make them huge because you really don’t need to be chowing down on more than a couple bites for an energy supplement.

We used this recipe first. See, we made a batch earlier today but then realized we could make them a little better so we made another batch. The second batch was pretty amazing so I think we might be keeping the recipe a secret. =o) Feel free to take the first recipe and play with it. Figure out what works for you guys.

Btw, we loaded all the ingredients into a online recipe calculator, and we got some rough calorie and protein estimates. For 15 bars with everything we made in the second batch, they tally in at:

• 215 Calories per bar
• 30g Carbs
• 9g Fat
• 6g Protein

Not bad, but there is definitely some room for improvement. Especially in the protein part. Next we just need to figure out how cost effective these are. I am guessing we are going to be saving a lot of money on not having to buy clif bars anymore, but I can’t wait to find out how much!