I Love Fall!

i'm wrapping up the end of my 5 day staycation and boy have i been busy! (even though halfway through the week i came down with a bit of a cold. boooo!)

i've been walking, biking, cooking, cleaning, watching movies, going to the library and hanging out with friends & family. it's been very fun & relaxing to just have time to myself and be on my own personal schedule. tomorrow is my last day before i go back to work but it's going to be a fun day. it's payday.. therefore it's a good day. i'll be having lunch with a coworker then going to trader joes (my favorite store ever) then taking my 4 & 5 year old nieces for a walk at the lake.

speaking of the lake! my friend/adopted brother Jeremy and i packed up our bikes and went to gray's lake to ride. it was a beautiful day even though we struggled against advisory speed winds at times. we also strayed from the lake and followed a trail that runs alongside the river just to get to a wooden bridge for a nice view of downtown. yes, several times my legs felt like hot, burning jello.. and my hands hurt from the weight of leaning forward (i had a case of carpal tunnel about a year ago and too much pressure for too long can be uncomfortable).. but we took breaks and in the end rode twice around the lake plus went off on the river trail.. a total of about 5-6 miles by my calculations. awesome!

so now it's time to relax.. i made a dinner of leftover roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, bell peppers & onions and morningstar spicy sausage patties crumbled. i threw in some seasoning & hot sauce.. it was delish! and after awhile here i'm gonna try my hand at a cupcake recipe that will require all my culinary skills: rainbow cupcakes. should be fun!

New Bike!

not since i was 12 have i owned a bike.. until now :)

tonight i went and bought myself an adorable new bike for a great price. i decided to shell out an extra 20 bucks to buy a different seat because the one the bike comes with already is absolutely horrid to sit on.. and i managed to replace it all by myself! ok so my 5 year old niece was cheering me on.. "go becky, go becky, you can do it!" sweet kid :) this is the exact kind..

so i'm pretty upset that the past several days and the next several days are going to be either 50-60 degrees for a high.. or rainy. or both! BOOOO! so any chance i get to take this bad boy out for a spin, i'm taking it!

can't wait! i'm so excited!!! :)

September Is Gorgeous!

today my sister and i took my 1 (almost 2) year old nephew out to a local lake just south of downtown called gray's lake.. behold it's glory! you can see a few of the taller business buildings but the majority of them are shorter and hidden by the vast wooded area surrounding the lake.. damn pesky wilderness!

so the distance of the trail around the lake is 2 miles and a portion of that is along a beach that my nephew, kyden, guided us on..

and another portion of it is a bridge that kyden also enjoyed..

he ended up throwing a stick in there for good measure just to teach the lake a lesson! anyways, it was a lovely afternoon with weather probably in the low 80s.. tomorrow will be much cooler (that's iowa for you!) in the 60s and my roommate rachel and i plan on going to the gym then hitting up the nature trail. thursday morning i'll jog said trail with my sister.. and tonight i walked a mile around my neighborhood! by the time this week is over i do believe i will have walked/jogged the distance between here and the moon. 

my roommate also told me about a walk/run being held in remembrance of our fallen soldiers and in support of their families that's going down sometime next month so i plan on joining in on that.. and i'm planning on doing more things like it because it pushes me to get that much healthier and it also benefits the cause :)

Determination: Fancy Word for "Nuts"

a work colleague and i were at an event in the community and got to talking about our personal goals. she and i are alike in many ways but one main thing really sets us apart. she's dived right into all the things she wants.. head  first.. and is really getting the most out of her life. although i admit that i know, and other people know, that i've worked really hard to prove my determination.. i still feel like i've barely dipped my toe in the water, i guess.

so here are my goals in no particular order..

• take a sign language course
• get into some sort of a creative outlet like art class, writing group or community theater
• be part of a team sport. my dream is to be on our city's rollerderby team, but in all reality i just can't afford the insurance it would take lol.. so maybe that (someday!) or for now something like volleyball.

but my biggest wish is this..

• to condition myself enough that next summer i can sign up, participate and complete a competitive run.

when i told my work colleague this, she made it all sound so simple. i know deep down it's a far stretch.. not because i don't have the will power.. but because i feel lost in it all. i don't have a consistent support structure in my life right now and although i should be able to achieve things on my own, i'm finding myself wanting a system to go by and another person to either do this alongside me or someone to encourage/advise me through it because they've experienced it themselves. i guess i could describe it as wishing i had someone to relate to for feedback, conversation, tips, etc. well i figure if i cannot have that in my life in the form of a person then what my colleague introduced me to will help me!

a program called "couch potato to 5k".. it provides you with a regimen best suited for those of us who want to take our lives and do a complete 180 in the other direction. some person designed it back in the 90s and it's apparently still a great tool that people have found useful in turning things around for themselves. i myself am very excited to try it and i've decided what better time than now?  :)

the actual program: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

extra info (support forums, useful tools, inspirational stories, etc): http://www.c25k.com/

my comment section should be open to all comments without requiring a log in now, so please feel free to share your own experience and story if you'd like. i know i'll be talking about mine :)

Nature Trail Fun

yesterday morning my roomie and i woke early to see out our plan we made the previous night to go for a nature walk. about 10 minutes away from our neighborhood is a big stretch of woods that has a small trail (about .5 miles) and a longer trail (1.5 miles).. but the longer one splits off of then reconnects with the small trail, so you're actually doing both.. hence the reason i just say it's 2 miles. but i digress. the weather was about 70 degrees and the trees shaded the majority of the place so it was a very nice walk..

 

then last night i was telling my little sister about how nice it was to get out of the city, away from traffic and pavement and people.. so i agreed to go back the next morning with her! lol..

i had alot of fun this morning and because i'd walked the trail the day before i had a better sense of direction (yesterday got a little sketchy when we hit an unexpected fork in the path.. but we made it!). today we got an earlier start and it was colder, but we decided to run the hills we were faced with and they kicked our butts and then the cold wasn't an issue anymore :) i also had fun taking pictures then playing with them on my camera effect app i have on my phone..

i would really like to make this a weekly activity until it's too cold to bear. i'm aiming for sunday mornings but this is one thing i really will not go do if i'm alone. i'm tough.. but not "fight off a mountain lion/chainsaw-wielding killer" tough. i know i know.. fat chance of that happening.. but still! not going a mile into the woods alone and that's final! 

now i'm going to relax and enjoy the remainder of my day off.. rainbow cupcakes just may be in order tonight if i have the energy :)

Deliciousness!

 Vegetarian Enchilada/Burrito Hybrids: 

Vegchiladaritos.

i call them that because i winged the recipe and it was more like burritos made in the style of enchiladas! all measurements weren't even measured but eyeballed.. these are my guesses lol.. turned out great though!

ingredients:

1 can of black beans, rinsed thoroughly to wash away the gunky stuff they're packed in

half a bag of Morningstar brand "beef" crumbles

3 cups of frozen southwest-style veggies (it's mainly corn but has a bit of veggies in it, Walmart brand)

3 cups of cooked white rice

1 packet of taco seasoning

some water to make it all come together

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tortillas (i use the Mission brand "life balance" flour tortillas.. they're thinner and way flexible)

one can green chile sauce

one can red enchilada sauce

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optional - sliced black olives, green onion, cheddar cheese, sour cream, hot sauce

directions:

warm up a little olive oil in the bottom of a large pot.. toss in all of your ingredients from the first section and mix/heat thoroughly. i used a mixing spoon and scooped one spoonful into a tortilla, wrapped it to the best of my ability, and packed them into a large casserole dish whose bottom i covered in the red enchilada sauce.

once they were all packed in, i drizzled the green chile sauce over the top, sprinkled a bit of cheese and baked at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes. i knew that i wanted the top to be kinda bubbly and crispy, too, so i then set my oven to "broil" and let them bake from the top for about 5 more minutes. i topped mine with olives, green onion, mexican cream and hot sauce.. it was REALLY good!!!

use your own preferences, tasting, and judgment! 

Hello!

welcome to my new blog :)

i want to move away from "attempting vegetarianism" because that blog was a means of sharing my attempt at a kick start to a healthy living challenge.. and i did it! i kicked my own butt and came out the other side a much more conscious person who values their life so much more. but as i move on now and experience the ups and downs (mostly ups.. yay!), i want a more personal place to share my stories, recipes, crafty projects and anything else that strikes me as interesting or share worthy in the moment.

so, first story!

this morning i woke bright and early to head down to the big farmers market downtown with my sister and her kids. parking was hell but.. that's what you get for hitting snooze and being late. but i digress. it was alot of fun and it was a pretty gorgeous morning (i'm talkin 7 am here people.. for produce. that is a real testament that i've changed!).. here was one of the many views of our lovely downtown business district..

 

there are about 6 side streets that branch off of the main street which is full of vendors. it takes about an hour just to see them all!

i ended up getting lots of goodies.. zucchini, eggplant, green onions, apple cider, apples, and broccoli.. all fresh from local farmers and for really cheap, what's not to love?! fast forward to tonight when i get home from work. i find my zucchini shredded all over the kitchen floor.. and i immediately knew the culprit..

  <<bad boy.

milo. don't let his cute face fool you.. he is guilty of everything that goes on in my apartment 99.9999999% of the time. as soon as he saw me go into a fit of rage, he disappeared lol.. but i found him. oh yes i did. i'm from the school of hard knocks, so you know i brought him over to the damage and scolded him. he really is the naughtiest cat to ever exist in the entire world.

anyways, i decided to go ahead and try a quick first time recipe i found online for fried eggplant. i made up my dredging bowls.. one of flour with s&p, one of eggs with paprika, and one of breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese. i used some canola oil i heated in a skillet and fried them for a couple minutes on each side. i also decided to bread up a handful of fresh mushroom slices i had on hand just to see what they'd taste like homemade. the eggplant was pretty good (i topped with a little bit of the fresh hot sauce stuff my coworker makes for me).. the mushrooms rocked! i've never been a big eggplant person because, well, i've barely eaten it. but i'm always down for trying stuff and it was good.. but i sure do love me some mushrooms :) i'll definitely be making those more often as a nice little homemade indulgence.

have a good night!