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?