Thankful Thursday

Mmm. It's almost the weekend, and that means more time for cooking. Last weekend we experimented with paleo french toast. No, I'm not strictly paleo. But a lot of the recipes line up with the clean eating we try to maintain, so there you go.

We'd been jonesing for french toast, so I found this recipe to make the "bread", which was spongy and delicious, and the absolute perfect texture when browned in the pan with coconut oil for a few minutes. This is a picture right after it came out of the oven:

And this is after browning slightly, covering in homemade spiced strawberry sauce, and coconut milk. Yum!

The next morning I made healthy, fresh granola sans the oils and sugars, and it was so delicious! I just finished off eating the batch this morning with some soymilk at work, and it was oh so good. So needless to say, I'm excited about the weekend. Plus I have fun things to look forward to: a double date, mountain biking, lunch with a girlfriend...getting ready for our trip next Friday (EEEEEE!!!).

This week we went to our scuba class on Tuesday night after work. Nolan picked me up, we googled some random Chinese restaurant, which turned out to be fantastic, and then we stopped at 7-11 for ice cream bars. Oops. At least we burned off all those calories in the pool for 5+ hours, right?

Scuba was...awesome. It came so naturally, and we found that we were finished with each skill before everyone else in the class, so that bodes well. Being "weightless" and able to breathe normally underwater and play around without surfacing was so fun! Nolan and I were playing catch with a bowling ball for awhile on the bottom, and throwing it as hard as we could at each other. Probably the only circumstance in which we could do that. What I'm not sure about is the ear-clearing thing. I had ear-issues as a little kid, and have never been able to go beyond 7 feet even in a pool without a lot of pain. So I was nervous. With some help from our instructor, I was able to SLOWLY get down to 12 feet (how deep the pool was) and be totally comfortable. But it did take a few minutes, and Nolan was so patient as I waited for the air spaces to slowly equalize. I'm hoping if I just take it slow when we go deeper (60 feet, yikes!), it won't be a problem. But I'm still nervous about it. And so excited. Keep your fingers crossed.

With that:

1. I'm thankful for vacation coming up soon! We're already planning to rent a scooter, snorkel, scuba dive, explore ruins, hike through the jungle, and enjoy the Caribbean for 10 days. w00t.
2. I'm thankful for exciting things happening with people I love. Whether it's having babies, or getting married, or new job opportunities, I love when good things happen to good people. And I'm thankful to have so many of those in my life.
3. I'm thankful for grace. I know I'm a total doof and don't deserve anything from God, or even from those I love...but somehow I receive it anyway. Amazing.
4. I'm thankful for alone time. I'm totally a people-person, but you know sometimes it's nice just to have some time without a schedule or company to just...sit. Last weekend I had to spend a few hours working, but other than that I did things like...take a nap. And do an hour-long stretching "workout" with a cup of tea. It was glorious.
5. I'm thankful for you, who care enough to keep up with this piddly piece of my life. You each mean a lot to me!


What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

I can't even believe that August is halfway over. I waited months and months to wear shorts and flip-flops and now I'm looking forward to pulling out my pumpkin recipes and chili and soups. The year is slipping by quickly, and I've already begun thinking of christmas! So many things to look forward to. This week, I'll try to focus on the present a bit:

1. I'm thankful for our upcoming vacation! Just two weeks from now, we'll be almost to Roatan, and ready to go deep under the sea! I'm excited...and a little bit nervous. But I'm so thankful we have time together to do fun things like this!
2. I'm thankful for good work at my job. I like having challenging tasks to keep my mind engaged.
3. I'm thankful for great weather! It's been really warm, but not unbearably hot. In fact, tonight I don't even have the A/C on (woohoo!), but I'm comfy enough to sit here with wet hair and not get a chill.
4. I'm thankful for Nolan. He's just my favourite person and I have so much fun with him. I can't even say how lucky I am.
5. I'm thankful for friends that keep me challenged. Whether it's working out together or just talking and encouraging each other, they're really special.

What are you thankful for?

comings and goings

Recently, we decided it was time to up our coffee game. We normally love our brewed coffee, and we'll sometimes make a poor man's latte (extra-strong coffee with hand-beaten hot milk). So I finally ordered us a real setup. We picked up the Italian espresso maker (for the stovetop!), and a milk frother to get our milk nice and foamy:

As you can see, the frother definitely works. I like my nice, thick layer of foam!

This weekend was pretty exciting. Birthday party on Friday night, then while Nolan slept off his nightshift, I got up and went mountain biking with my friend Erin at Arastradero Preserve, and it was amazing! I'm definitely in the market for my own mountain bike now.

After that, Nolan and I went to our favourite Indian buffet in Sunnyvale, and tried out geocaching for the first time! We found two geocaches, but are definitely going to try some trickier ones next time. We felt a little bit like James Bond or something, pulling out hidden cylinders in bricks and finding hidden messages. Fun!

What the app looks like while using it. The blue dot is us, the green is the geocache.

Our first geocache! It was literally a cylinder hidden in a brick that we had to find.



Our second find - it was tiny! Hidden stuck under a bench.

  

On Sunday, we randomly drove up to the ranch to visit with my parents and get in some whitewater rafting, tasty food, fun, roasting marshmallows over the new firepit and stargazing during the last bit of the meteor shower. The super-relaxing night was somewhat broken up by the boys trying to figure out a complicated math problem. It started with my dad asking Nolan random questions and ended with a question that stumped them both - something about what latitude you'd have to fly at while going 500mph to keep the sunset on your horizon. I don't know. The stargazing immediately ended and they both rushed inside to scribble formulas on paper and finally deciding to just drape a piece of yarn over a globe and find their answer. That was my cue for bedtime.

Last week I found a delicious recipe and had to share the pictures because it was that good! I'd been craving my mom's tomato tart, but didn't have the recipe and wanted to make a clean-eating version (more or less). So I started with a delicious almond meal crust, using sea salt, coconut oil, italian herbs, etc.

Before baking the crust.

Then I added a super thin layer of plain, nonfat greek yogurt. I covered it with fresh minced garlic, and sprinkled mozzarella cheese over that. Then I put freshly-sliced tomatoes on top of that, covered with fresh basil leaves (yum!), and another sprinkle of sea salt.

  

It was so delicious! I'm totally making it again this week.

 We tested out our snorkels when we were up there in the pool, and practiced using our masks and equalizing our ears, etc. Our scuba class is next week, and I'm already feeling nervous! So much to remember! So little time to do my coursework! But it will be so worth it - our vacation is just a week and a half later! EEE!!!

Thankful Thursday

Last weekend I went up to my parents' home to visit with them and my brother, and to meet my bro's girlfriend, Rachael. We went berry-picking, we went kayaking at Stumpy Meadows, had a fun BBQ with friends, and packed the weekend full of activities! Here's a pic I took of them when we went down to Coloma by the river.

Nate and Rachael

I've been a little absent from the blog world lately, as I've been keeping busy, and it's been great. I have a lot to be thankful for:

1. I'm thankful for productivity at work. I love being busy, and it was slow there for awhile. It feels good to be stressed out again, hah!

2. I'm thankful for our fun vacation coming up in less than a month! We're headed to Roatan, Honduras, and Guatemala for scuba diving, exploring, and relaxing! EEEEEEEEE

3. I'm thankful for a loving family, and how open and honest we can be with each other. So few relationships in this world can match that of family.

4. I'm thankful for relaxing times this week. It's been nice to get stuff done for vacation, around the house, and seeing friends and being able to decompress. I'm still lacking in sleep, but that's my own fault for exercising so early in the mornings. 

5. I'm thankful for Nolan's schedule right now, even though he gets home at my bedtime. It means he gets up when I'm done with my workout, and we have a bit of morning together before we have to leave for work. It's been nice.

What are you thankful for?