Life's Adventures

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can." -Danny Kaye

Well, it has been MANY months since my last blog, but I figure now is a great time to get back into it! I just completed my Fall quarter, and I only have six more months until graduation. :) 

Right now, I am preparing for a trip to Kenya at the end of this month. I am literally beyond excited for this adventure!!! I have begun learning some Swahili. (Hujambo = Hello!) I've completed my shots and picked up my anti-malaria prescription. For the last month I've been packing and repacking trying to make sure I include what I need but not bring too much. I am going to Kenya as part of an international social work course. We will be focusing on conservation efforts in many communities throughout Kenya, as well as learning about cultures and lifestyles around the country. I'll be giving lots more updates about this soon!

The last few months have been really good. John got a new job that he really likes, and I have been really busy with school and internship. I am so glad that I chose to study social work. It is such a diverse field that brings together social justice and individual empowerment, and I couldn't be happier. 

Here are a few photos taken over the Fall. Enjoy!

Hangin' with some horses. Zeke & Harley

Zeus on a hike up to Mt. Evans

John and I hiking the Sandia crest 

Visit from my sister!

Visit from my mom!

Beautiful Colorado sunset
 

Thanks for reading! I promise to be better about blogging. Especially about my upcoming trip :)

Indulgences

Well, yesterday was a fun-filled cooking extravaganza! Before I get into all of the delicious calories I created, I'll give an herb garden update. Below is our little "greenhouse" of seedlings, and John and I were excited to see that they've sprouted! :) We're such good little gardeners!

DAY SEVEN

Look how tall the wildflowers are! Our basil and thyme are also doing very well!

So back to the food... I woke up Sunday morning to a rainy, cold, grey spring day. John had the day off and so I decided that we'd make up some of the fun recipes I've found on Pinterest. My first baking project revolved around my love for peanut butter!! I found a low-cal recipe for Peanut Butter Banana muffins from scratch. :) John enjoyed the job of mashing up bananas, while I was proceeding to get peanut butter all over myself and every kitchen appliance within reach. The end product was delicious little muffins! But I will warn you that when you eat these suckers, there needs to be a drink near by... the peanut butter can kind of make your mouth stick together. hmmm... recipe might need a little work, but overall good.  You can find the recipe here if you're interested: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/07/low-fat-peanut-butter-banana-muffins.html#more

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

My next cooking ambition was to indulge in a baked Bacon Mac n Cheese casserole. Now I know this sounds super fatty, and I'm sure it is... but it is so good!! I used a recipe I found on Pinterest for the mac n cheese and combined it with the topping idea from another recipe that had bacon in it. Here is the recipe for delicious mac n cheese! Just add in crispy bacon bits to the bread crumb topping and *voila* deliciousness. http://annies-eats.com/2011/03/24/classic-mac-and-cheese/

Gathering the ingredients...

Cooking. Look at all of that cheese sauce! 

Yum! Bacon Mac n Cheese 

Now, by this time in the day I had already been cooking for a very long time... I forgot to mention that I made a double batch of the muffins because I wanted to take some to my internship, so that meant more baking time and clean up. John was a huge help because while I was going crazy reading recipes and measuring everything, he was tackling the large amount of accumulating dirty dishes in the sink. I could not have done it without him!

Ok, and now here's the last but not least, ...Baked S'mores. You heard me right. And yes, whatever you are imagining, it is even better. In fact we just had some leftovers tonight, and I am so glad I experimented with new recipes! Baked S'mores with a glass of milk is wonderful. Trust me you need to try it! :) Here's the recipe: http://www.theaprongal.com/2011/11/baked-smores.html

Graham cracker dough, Hershey's bars, and marshmallow creme... just add one more layer of graham cracker dough.

All melty and delicious.

Yum.

Sorry this turned into a cooking/baking blog for the day, but that was really all the excitement from yesterday!

In other news, John has finally found a new job!!! :) He will be working construction this summer. The only downside is that he will have to stay overnight near the job site Monday through Friday because it's too far from our house. :/ Not the ideal situation, but he'll be happier than continuing his stint at Starbucks. And, because he got a new job, we had to get him his own car... or I guess I should say truck. Look forward to some pictures later in the week. All I will say is that it's a pretty "manly" truck and he is super excited about it! ha ha We're excited about the changes coming our way! Love to you all!

Green Thumbs

Happy Easter everyone!
So, John and I have embarked on some new house projects lately. We have decided to renew our lease in this same house for next year and so we're busy planning ways that we can improve this little house. Our first step was take apart our kitchen table and put it into storage in the basement. Our tiny little living room could no longer accommodate: a table with four chairs, a couch, two upholstered chairs, plus a variety of school books, guitars, and random junk. It would be nice if we had a kitchen nook or dining room, but we don't so for now, no more table. However, with all the nice spring weather we've had, we are able to use our two outdoor patio tables quite often.

Now that our living room feels a little more roomy, we have taken on some gardening projects! We're on our way to having an herb garden. :) We also have started growing some cacti because I have a new obsession with terrariums. I can't wait till I can build my own! We have been busy keeping up with the gardens in the front patio and backyard of our house. It's so relaxing to be able to go outside and read or eat dinner and admire all the beautiful flowers. I'm so ready for warm weather! Here are some pics that I took today...

Front Patio

I love these! Aloe Vera & Spearmint

Backyard flower bed. Daffodils for now, but tulips and alliums will be blooming next!

 Dracaena- usually a houseplant, but Rigby eats all plants... so it's moving outside!

Pond in the front patio. There are three little fish; see the one on the left!

View from the outside

DAY ONE:  mixed cacti seedlings

DAY ONE: herb seedlings (basil, catnip, cilantro, lavender, & thyme)

Portrait with Zeus

Tulips are so beautiful.

Love these shapes!

:)

Friends: New and Old :)

Last weekend I drove back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend a best friend's baby shower! Jane is expecting a little girl on May 20th! I can't wait to meet Baby Harper. :) Jane was my "big sis" in Pi Phi during college. I was a freshman and I thought she was so nice and really cool because she was really involved with Greek Week and the Exec board... so one day I went up to her and just asked if she would "adopt" me as her "little". Ha Ha! She said yes, and the rest is history... But seriously, she has been such a great friend and she's been there for me through a lot of life changes.

Baby Harper is growing!

New mommy Tara is looking beautiful as ever!

I got to hold Declan, Tara's baby boy!
I realized it's been a long time since I've been around a baby... like since my sister was born

I've never seen anything so funny. Chihuahua teeth brushing is highly amusing!

That's me with my dad and stepmom. Love you guys!

A new good friend of mine is Gabby! We are in school together and we met because on the second day of class last Fall I noticed that we had all of our classes together. So, being the goofy and slightly bossy person that I am, I went up to her and her roommates and asked if I could join them for lunch. Then I told Gabby that since all of our classes were together we were going to be best friends. ;) So far, so good! 

I'm so thankful that she helped me drive down to ABQ. We had a great time eating New Mexican food, going dancing Downtown, and attending the baby shower. It was really great to catch up with friends and family, even if we were only there one full day. I love being able to drive home in half a day! 

My wonderful friend Gabby! Ha Ha and we're holding little Solo, but he looks possessed. 

A couple of days ago another one of my best friends, Alex, was in Ft Collins. She travels the country as a Pi Phi leadership consultant. She was up working at CSU last week and so I had to go visit her! It had almost been a year since we'd seen each other :/   Alex was my "little sis" in Pi Phi and I'm so proud of all the great things she has done. It's awesome when you have friends that you don't see that often, but when you get together it's like no time has passed.  I'm so thankful for all the great friendships that I have been blessed with. 

Alex and I at Ft Collins Brewery

In other news, John and I bought a slack line. We are now practicing to join the circus in case the economy never turns around... 

just kidding, kinda.

Spring Break Cruise!

Wow! It has been way too long since I've updated my blog! Shoot. Well, no time like the present to start playing catch up. :)

John and I were lucky enough to go on a Caribbean cruise with my Mom, Nate, and Abigail for Spring Break! It was so much fun and so relaxing! Here are some photos from our awesome trip...

Special thank you to Mom for taking us on such a great vacation! :)

A Quick Visit Home

Well, Wow the last three weeks have flown by! I'm sorry for being a "bad blogger" and taking so long to update! Let's see... over the last three weeks I flew home and caught up with my family, quit my nanny job because it was so stressful, found an internship for next year (at SaddleUp!), and will be finishing up the Winter quarter at DU this week! whew
Also, got good news... John got accepted to the Master of Architecture program at UC Denver for this Fall! I am so proud of him for working hard and keeping up his motivation even when working at a dead-end job. :)

Here are some pictures from my recent trip:

Stuffing our faces at Monroe's! I LOVE New Mexican food!

Dining at Zinc before I went to see My Fair Lady with my mom and cousin

Visiting my little Corrie at the hospital... Such a blessing to be near each other when times get tough

After only 48 hours, I had to say bye to my Momma. That trip was way too short!

Saddle Up!

In January I started volunteering at an equine-assisted therapy facility called Saddle Up! It's been a great experience so far and I look forward to it every week. It feels so great to be around horses again... I love it! This weekend has started off wonderfully. John and I went to a new brewery last night called Copper Kettle Brewery and it was so good! And then today I spent the morning at Saddle Up taking care of horses. Here are some pictures from last night and today: 

John and I each got a flight of beer so we could sample all the styles!

Randy, a very well trained therapy horse but who has quite an attitude!

Randy again. We had some free time today so we braided his super thick mane.

Randy and me. Isn't he a beautiful Haflinger horse?

Tomorrow I head home to Albuquerque for a quick trip to visit my family. I'm looking forward to a little escape from school and internship! In other news only four more weeks left in this quarter. Yay!