Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

I've been away from blogging (again) for a week or so. 2012 I have been working really hard and playing really hard. I'm a bit sleep deprived. And workout deprived,as well, unfortunately. Also, blog post deprived. And when I see something lacking, I generally try to address it. One at a time. Blog first!

Off and on for a while, I have participated in Mama Kat's (World Famous) Writer's Workshop. What better way to address the post-less blog situation?

Share one of your favorite things:

Last fall, I moved out of my old place, which I once fondly referred to as "the Garaje Mahal" into my new yellow apartment by the beach. My friend, J, moved out, too.

On October first, we, along with friends and family, packed up both my stuff and her stuff and moved things to the yellow apartment, a storage area, and J's sister's house. It sucked.

I have always been a restless spirit, somebody who moves frequently and with great joy. Hence, I tend to keep my possessions minimal. But I had been in my last place for 5 years and had accummulated more. J had been there 15 years. She had subsequently more.

Throughout the month of October, the two of us made multiple trips to the Goodwill, letting go of things that we thought we wanted enough to pack them up and take them with us. I went through a phase were I felt rather negatively about "stuff". I went on a vision quest of sorts to get rid of all the "stuff". (I kind of still am, but less emotionally)

I had an interesting conversation with another friend, who was lending me her truck to take a dresser to the Goodwill. She was concerned that I was getting rid of a piece of furniture that used to belong to my grandfather. "It's a family hierloom," she said. "You can't get rid of it!"

But it wasn't a family hierloom. It was a dresser that he had picked up at a yard sale at some point. It's funny, how we can attach feelings or stories to things, and grow sentimental, whether those stories are true or fabricated. Maybe it takes something like a move under poor circumstances to make us rethink our attachments to those things. Maybe every once in a while, we need to get rid of those stories we've been telling ourselves over and over again. Maybe it's good to rewrite our stories and our lives. To prune back the briars in order to let the roses flourish.

J let go of a life that didn't work anymore in order to pursue the promise of something better.

I let go of my grandfather's dresser. But I kept something better.

A true family hierloom, painted by my gramps!

(apologies for the crooked picture!)

Cooking for the clueless

I started this week with a renouned effort to eat more veggies than I already do. I mean, I love veggies, but sometimes when I get busy, I grab the first thing I can to eat. Which often isn't veggies. It takes planning, I've learned. And this week I plan on eating:

Tortolan Chick Pea and Spinach with Rice  (adapted from Beyond the Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan) 

1 pound coursely chopped fresh spinach
1 cup hummus
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups frozen pepper and onion mix
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sweet ginger garlic seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cups cooked rice

Steam spinach and squeeze dry. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Sautee garlic. Add pepper and onion mix until onions are translucent. Stir in zucchini and cook until soft. Stir in tomatoes, spinach, peas, and spices.

YUMMY!

Remove from heat and stir in veggie mixture into rice. Add hummus and salt and pepper to taste.

The hummus gives it a nice, creamy taste...healthy comfort food!

(And I must say...having an actual stove to cook on makes cooking much easier!)

Daily check in:

water = 7 glasses
veggies = 7 servings

Daily fun:

I watched The Muppets while preparing dinner and have been singing   "Ma-na Ma-na" all night!

Today's Fun

TODAY'S FUN:  Today I decided that since I live a mile from the beach, I should really start taking advantage of it. So I took a lovely walk on the beach. I walked all the way out to the point (or actually just to the spot where the clambeds started. If I walked further than that I would have ended up walking home with muddy, soaked jeans. Given the choice between going ALMOST to the point or not, I chose dry pants) I had such a nice day...the temperature was just perfect for a spring walk on the beach. Just enough for a sweater and jeans. The sun was shining, the wind smelled salty,and  I played with about 10 dogs. Good start to a month of fun!

April Goals

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!

It's been years since I thought of April Fools Day as a time to play practical jokes on somebody. And while I really don't plan on playing any jokes on anyone today, I do plan to embark on a month-long quest to have fun every day. Fun = joy = happiness. Therefore, April is the happy month!

It's been a while since I made and posted monthly goals. I had gotten to a point where the goals were just something - anything - to write down each month, not necessarily something I wanted for myself. Just another thing on the "to-do" list: write out monthly goals. But that's kind of beside the point, isn't it? A goal should be something that you actually want to achieve.

So I took a little hiatus from goals to figure out what I really wanted to achieve. And while I can say that I don't have a rock solid blue print, I do at least have a clue.

(Which, incidentally is the first item on my list of things a guy must possess to be datable: 1) Must have a clue)

So, if nothing else, the end of my cluelessness period makes me not only able to once again write goals, but makes me fit to date. Just not fit to cook.


APRIL'S GOALS:

1)  Do something fun every day
2) Work no more than 44 hours per week...(stay no longer than 11 1/2 hours in a single day)
3) Eat 6-8 servings of vegetables each day
4) Drink 8 glasses of water each day
5) Work out (to some degree) 30 or more min per day and 10 hours per week
6) I'm setting out to lose 5# this month. It's time!
7) Get plantings (flowers and veggies) set for transplanting in May (I'm finally in a place where I can have a container garden this summer. I'm happy about that)
8) Look into master diver certification  for this summer.
9) Do 1-2 group runs
10) Go to my high school reunion

April is looking to be quite a busy month....overall, my challenge is to not get bogged down in all the activities but to have fun with them!

Happy April, everyone!

Earth Hour

Today is March 31st, which means that at 8:30 pm, its Earth Hour. Everyone around the world is invited to shut out the lights from 8:30 to 9:30 pm.

I had been planning on having a couple friends over for snacks and games and candlelight. But, as it is, everyone opted out on me. (sick kids, sick self, unexpected house guests, etc)

So I will be spending Earth Hour solo this year. In lieu of board games and snacks, I will be doing some much needed organizing and purging and putting stuff away and making more lists and such by candlelight. Ok, I may have some snacks, as well.

And, yes, my candles will be smaller than the torch in the picture! I just like the picture alot. It was the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver. And I'll use any excuse to bust it open and post it!  ;-)

Is anyone else celebrating Earth Hour? How?

cooking for the clueless

One of the best things about my recent trip was the FOOD! I had originally started the month on a 30 day vegan challenge as posted in this gal's blog. I figured, it would be quite easy in two countries that were primary Buddhist. And then I embarked on what was probably the least vegan two weeks of my entire life! (I essentially abandoned the challenge somewhere around the third "vegetarian soup" filled with pork I received)  "Vegetarian" must mean something different in Indoneisia. Or, more likely, the mere fact that in poor countries, they don't necessarily have the luxury of "going vegan". Pigs and chicken are raised for food and then eaten. That's the way it is. 

Regardless, the food was extremely fresh, extremely well prepared, extremely CLEAN. A wonderful change from the processed junk we are surrounded by in this country. In a strange way, it's easier to eat well in that environment than here, where we value convenience and thrift over good, healthy food. 

On that note, I decided that I was going to try to continue to eat good, clean food (and cut out animal products) in the weeks that followed my trip. As always, whenever I enter the kitchen, I realize exactly how clueless I am!

This week, I adapted a recipe from the original "clueless girl", Alicia Silverstone and her book, The Kind Diet. Of course, since I am so clueless, I forgot to check my spices before I went shopping and ended up having to change the entire spice configuration to coincide with what I actually had in the house. So instead of ending up with Moroccan Couscous, I ended up with a sort of "Thanksgiving Style Couscous". (Simply because I know those spices taste ok on squash.

2 cups cubes butternut squash
2 cups largely diced yellow onions
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped yelllow squash
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt to tast
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 Tablespoons Earth Balance butter
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 couscous

Heat oven to 375. Place veggies on baking sheet with olive oil, salt and 1 tsp pepper. Roast 25-30 minutes, turning once with spatula. Boil veggie broth. Remove pan from heat. Add Butter and spices. Put veggies and prepared couscous in large bowl. Bring broth back to boil and pour over veggies and couscous. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

I ate it for lunch all week last week and did not get sick of it. I will more prepared next time and check my spice drawer before shopping so that I can experience more exotic flavors in my dishes, but for now, the old Thanksgiving standby spices did me quite well.

post vacation blues

Last week, I got back from an amazing trip to Vietnam and Cambodia with a former co-worker and two of her friends. Got there, met my traveling companions, and let loose all over the country of Vietnam. It was awesome!

In addition to seeing a part of the world I have never been, this trip was great because it allowed me to get away from all the things that have been stressing me out in my everyday life and see things a little more clearly. (all really good vacations do just that, don't they)

(And really REALLY good vacations involve jumping off the roof of a boat into turquoise blue water!)

My first week back at work stressed the heck right out of me.

And once again, I'm struggling with the dilemma: do I stay and try to make things work or cut my losses and go?

But this Sunday night, I'm just basking in the memories of that blue ocean and warm sand and good fresh fruit and cold beer with new friends.