New things...

This blog has seen me through so much of my adult life! From just turning 21, in and out of relationships, back and forth across the country, different jobs, different days...I've grown and become myself while sharing much of those experiences with you. I've written less and less here over the past year. My life has become joined together with my best friend and love, Richard. So many of my experiences these days are shared with him. I feel like this blog has always been my life, but I feel as though I have an "our life" now which I have hesitated from posting about here. I started a tumblr awhile ago for me to keep track of small moments with him I wanted to remember. This week we turned it into an "our life" blog, and decided to contribute our own views of it together. It has bikes, Richard's photography, cooking adventures, and all things we love. I will still return here to post about my personal experiences outside of my relationship, so don't stop following! Just begin following my new adventure with my buddypalfriend. We call it : the bunny hole.

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week 3

Today is day 21! I've made it through 3 weeks of Whole30, and I feel pretty good. It's easier to shop, cravings are virtually gone, and I just feel dang awesome. I went out for breakfast for the first time with Siobhan and had great success at Honeys. At home, I've cooked up a mean batch of chicken tinga, spaghetti squash with chicken and tomato sauce, and I have become quite fond of these mini coconut flour pancakes. Seriously, they are dairy free (are eggs dairy?) and grain free! I like to put sunbutter and bananas on them, or apple spread with cinnamon.

Something else really encouraging and honestly, just heart warming..is that three ladies I know have all been inspired to start their own Whole30! AWESOME!!!!

Richard and I had Thanksgiving here, our 2nd together! We cooked for ourselves, and everything was Whole30 compliant! We didn't miss a beat :) (I did bake him a pumpkin pie..) Yep, that's turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts, sweet potato bake and mashed fauxtatoes (cauliflower and turnips! holy YUM!) First time I haven't felt like I wanted to vomit after thanksgiving!!!

Food has become my life. These 30 days are all about making myself healthier. This involves sleeping...as much as possible! Exercising (taking longer routes to work, or extracurricular rides with rich) and simplifying my life in other ways. Here's to the last week of my journey to wellness!

druzy my heart

I don't really ask for much..ever..but PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEE someone buy this for me. I suppose I could buy it myself, but getting presents is more fun. I'm a size 6 thank you. drool drool drool drool droooooooooooooooooooool. From Of a Kind.

MN

Oh boy..Minnesota came and went! It was surprisingly more beautiful then I had imagined. Minneapolis is a cool city, reminded me SO much of Portland..but there was NO SHOPPING! A crime, right? I literally spent the whole week trying to find SOMEWHERE that had SOMETHING I could buy, or even WANTED to buy, and alas, there was none. Oh well.

And then I met Richards family. yep.

PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Walker. Seriously the best museum I have ever been in. 

 

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, adjacent to the Walker (Sister, Mom, Dad, Me & Rich!)

 

The most magical Finnish sauna you ever did see. (wood burning!)

 

Split Rock Light House

 

Gooseberry Falls

 

A panoramic view from our balcony at The Baptism River B&B

 

And the river itself, Baptism. This was on the property where we stayed. Seriously, beautifully, magical. 

There was also: Lake Superior, Walleye (state fish, yum!) Chino Latino, small town Wisconsin, local Honeycrisp apples (originally from MN!), Iranian Food, Richard receiving his masters (yea!) annnnnnddd SNOW! Yea for vacations!

Whole30

For as long as I can remember, eating has always been an issue for me. My body has a hard time digesting. Over time I have figured out that some things bother me more than other (a glass of milk) but in general, I don't feel like my body is working efficiently. I happened across my friend Sarah talking on Facebook about a new food approach she was taking. I was intrigued. I googled it, read about it all night, then asked her out for coffee. It's called Whole30, and the general idea is that for 30 straight days (no slips!) you remove ALL inflammatory foods from your diet (alcohol, sugar, dairy, grains, & legumes) and after the 30 days you reintroduce these foods slowly to see how your body reacts. In the mean time, your body is cleansing itself from a lot of unhealthy food. (their manifestos explain the science behind food, and how your body reacts or breaks it down [or doesnt]! These were really helpful to me) Maybe it sounds crazy, but..it's only 30 days, and I am hoping to understand my body more afterwards. Maybe you're thinking, "well, what are you supposed to eat?!" and the answer: A LOT! It's not a diet, so I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want to. It just can't have anything from the food groups listed above. I CAN have: All sources of protein (meat, fish, eggs) veggies and fruit! This has proved to be a really fun challenge! Last night I made rice out of cauliflower (minus the honey), and curried chicken with pumpkin/coconut milk sauce with some onions and squash. YUM! I've never made curry before either! I'm only on day 3, but I feel good, and I am excited for each day to come!

 

coconut milk, pumpkin puree, cashews, cinnamon, curry, cumin, red pepper & coconut! 

 

Curry sauce with chicken, squash and onion

 

"rice" made with cauliflower! it was so good! 

sick day

It's inevitable that when you live and breathe with someone and they get sick, that you will in turn get sick. Sick days are for sleeping, drinking tee, laying in the sun on your floral couch and catching up on the internet. Sometimes Richard sends me emails with treats inside. These were inspiration. The bottom one is the idea I have in my head of what Minnesota will look like. We leave in less than 2 weeks to spend a week there. I am very much looking forward to it.

Erin Wasson

She can not believe in muses all day long, but she will forever always be one.

Article here.

new shoe day

SERIOUSLY been on the hunt for a solid 2 years for the perfect pair of black ankle boots. I've been eying these ones on Free People for about 6 weeks and finally bit the bullet and ordered them last week. I got them today and I'm IN LOVE. BESTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Salut!

DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M THE MOST EXCITED ABOUT?! I signed up for a French class!!!! It starts tomorrow, and it's 10 weeks long, once a week for an hour. The school is Alliance Française, a few blocks from work!

THEN! Bowling begins again on Tuesday! And I have the BABEST of babes on my team! Melissa and Dan again, and EMMA TOOZE my biggest girl crush ever.

LAST AND NOT LEAST! My girl Mae just started at a new salon! I have an appt on Thursday, and I am SO excited to see her in a place she will be so happy in. I had the pleasure of celebrating her and Matt's wedding last weekend, and oh! what a joy! BFF Siobhan makes an appearance below too as a TOTAL BABE.

making home

It's been 2 weeks of our new place, and the first week we were mad putting stuff away! This past week has been slower going, but we're getting there. Things are in place and I think we'll start hanging stuff on the walls this week. Here's a peek at our great room..Richi took it with an app on his phone, so it squished the kitchen a bit, but you get the idea!

I've been finding some really fun bike posts around the web lately. Thought it would make a good "round up".

1. Invisible Helmets! (via Free People blog)

The Invisible Bicycle Helmet | Fredrik Gertten from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

2. Imaginative Photos here.

3. Annnnnd airbnb for BIKES!

meant to be

I have NO idea how this tab opened in my browser, but all of a sudden I was browsing BTVTVS, and loving their simple designs. ESPECIALLY, the Pompey Chain Ring. At $48, I think I could treat myself :))))))))

 

39° 57' N / 75° 8' W

I'm not sure if this is horribly cheesy or totally awesome, but I kind of want to make one of these. You can customize coordinates! I would probably get North Bowl, where Rich and I met :)

A, B, C

a) I changed my header. It's been a few years, I wanted something simpler..and naturally I put a heart in it.

b) I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do in life. I've been in retail for almost 10 years! I wonder if I'll be wanting to stress out about payroll when im 37. I've been captivated by childbirth since I helped my mother deliver my youngest sister when I was 15. I've toyed with the idea of becoming a Doula. More recently I've wondered about even becoming a Midwife, and making a career out of it. It would involve going back to school to become an RN, then attending Midwifery School. Exciting! But also the though of school again is nauseating. Also, even Nursing School part time would be crazy to do on top of a full time job, so what would I do? How could I support myself? Thoughts thoughts thoughts.

c) Rich just had friends bike across the country! They put up a picture this morning when they got to SF, and it was so inspiring. I want to start taking longer bike rides. Maybe some day Rich and I will ride bikes down the coast (west). dreams dreams dreams, and that would mean a new bike!

Gifture is my new favorite iPhone app. You can take pictures, or add pictures from your phone and create an animated gif! Its set up like twitter or instagram where it publishes to a feed, and you can follow other people, comment etc. Rich saw this bunny tag on a building the other day, and made us turn around so he could take my picture in front of it. Naturally I can't take a nice photo and had to make a face. BUNNNNNNNNIIIIIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

cohabitating

Rich and I are coming quickly up on being together for a year! We just signed a lease on our first apartment together. I'm really excited to get in and make a home together. 2 Bedrooms, wood floors, and very very big windows. We have the entire 2nd floor! 

desk

well, give me a break with the title of this post. I guess I'm starting over in a way it feels so long since I've blogged.

Over a year ago, I saw this post on For Me, For You. I knew I wanted to make that desk someday. I was lucky enough to clean the basement out at work around then and ended up with several pieces of awesome solid sanded wood. It then took me a year to ACTUALLY order the legs. They came Thursday and Rich and I (read: Rich) got to putting it all together today. 

I got the legs from hairpinlegs.com, and honestly I wish I had gotten the 3 pin ones. I got the classic hairpin, and it's not AS stable as it could be as a desk. These probably work better shorted and with a heavier top. BUT, it looks amazing, and for the first time in over a year, I have a desk! YES!