Rollin' with my homies // pt. 2

Continuing with life lately!:

I was a little bummed to spend Easter alone this year as it has always been my most favorite holiday.  Hunter was on a 2 week work trip to Arizona and most of the people I know in Steamboat were out of town!  After morning mass, I putzed around the house and ultimately ended up organizing my craft supplies.  This might not sound especially fun to most but my craft supplies had been in dire need or organizing ever since I moved out of my Cap Hill apartment almost 3 years ago!  I'd been itchy to sort through it all and was pleasantly surprised at how many supplies I had that I'd completely forgotten about!  I also had so much fun putting together Easter baskets earlier in the week for our niece and nephew and included some homemade bunny puppets!  

We thoroughly enjoyed our day Grand Junction trip that I talked about a little here so I won't bore you with it again.

One Saturday morning a few weeks ago, my girlfriend Audrey and I went to Beer and Yoga at Storm Peak Brewery!  They have been hosting this event for several months now but I was always working on the weekends and could never make it.  They move around some tables and barstools inside the brewery to fit everyone + our yoga mats. A local instructor taught the class and it was so enjoyable not to mention a unique venue for a yoga class!  Afterwards, you get a beer to enjoy with your fellow yogis.  That evening, we celebrated our beautiful friend Krisin's birthday!  These two women are incredibly dear friends of mine here in the Boat.  When we get together, there is always a bottle of champagne popped, a crazy amount of laughs and a decent amount of emotional tears.  We can and have talked for hours on end about struggles, celebrations and fears.  These two are so valuable to me!  That evening, we went to Splatz, which is a local wine + painting class.  I have been to too many enjoyable { and drunk heehee! } classes at Canvas and Cocktails in Denver and my expectations were set quite high.  The company was perfection while the scene left a little to be desired.  Lets leave it at that. ; >

Our nephew Charlie turned 5 the end of April!  Hunter was out of town for work but I went up to Wyoming with Hunter's dad for the celebrations.  I remember when we were living in Washington and feeling so broken and sad that we were missing out of the kiddos birthdays, so it meant so much to me to get to do a day trip up to Wyoming and hang out with the family.  The kiddos kisses and hugs are more valuable than therapy for me!  It was a great weekend.  We quickly stopped off at a new { to me! } brewery, Coal Creek Tap, before the party { yes, before.  Did I mention there were 14 five year olds at the party?!  We needed to prepare. } and I was beyond impressed with the decor, selection of brews and the beer itself!  I am really paranoid about putting photos of other people's children on my blog and on the internet, but trust me when I say these two wiggle worms are as cute as they get!  

Ketchup!

Well hello there friends!  Let's play a little game of catch up, shall we?

My day to day looks so very much different than it did 4 weeks ago.  { Alex or Laura, if you ever read this blog I apologize for this next statement } It was so much easier for me to write + post blog posts when I had a few minutes of downtime Mon-Fri while working at my desk jobs.  I could keep a tab open and go back to it a few times throughout the day to add to the post and proof it before posting!  Now, I really only sit down to the computer is to send quick emails for the Mariposa and to read blog posts a few times a week.  I've certainly enjoyed not being glued to the computer 24/7 but of course that means this little ol' blog of mine has been neglected!  Whoopz.

I recently found Cookie + Kate which is my new favorite vegan + vegetarian Instagram account and blog!  I've made her soba noodle salad and hummus so far.  They've both tasted incredible and were easy to put together without intimidating ingredients or processes.  I want to make her west africian peanut soup later this week and her mango spring rolls maybe even this afternoon!

When Hunter and I lived in Bremerton, we had a green smoothie for breakfast and some sort of juice every afternoon, no questions asked.  Once we moved back to Colorado and both of us had one or two different jobs, our daily routine got so screwy.  Since leaving the newspaper, I have quite a bit more flexibility in my day which means setting aside time for daily smoothies and juices has been made a priority again!  Hunter has always been the smoothie lover, while I am the juice head.  Our smoothies have basically been either spinach or kale with frozen bananas, frozen fruit with some agave to sweeten it up.  I've been topping the green smoothies with chia seeds, hemp seeds and raw cacao nibs.  They have really been deeelicious!  Our juices vary but usually are carrots + apple/pear + ginger, beets + carrots + apples + ginger or celery + cucumber + kale + ginger + apple.  I've been adding more chia seeds to them because chia seeds cure all as far as I'm concerned!

It's been snowing pretty consistently since Thursday and even though I'm a little itchy for Summer, it's nice having a few days of cuddling up with tea + hot coffee again.  I know we'll be basking in blue skies and tulips soon enough, so this little snow storm hasn't phased me much.  Before this little bit of snow, we were lucky enough to have a few weeks straight of sunshine, green grass and sun-kissed afternoons.  I know we aren't too far away from having that weather here to stay!

We've been enjoying/suffering through mud season here in Steamboat for a few weeks now.  It's lovely because we finally can go to dinner without having to drive around for 10 minutes looking for a parking spot and can actually get a table at your favorite restaurant, but it's a little crummy when your job thrives off tourists and mud season leaves you twiddling your thumbs waiting for the phone to ring for a reservation!  Thankfully, I've been repainting the entire interior of the bed and breakfast, so I have been busy as a bee with that but I will be anxious to get some guests filling up those rooms again!

I really want to learn calligraphy.  Really, really want to.  That is all.

This past Monday, Hunter and I along with his entire family had plans to fly to Red Lodge for a two day, one night trip.  The morning of the flight, we had to have a change of plans due to weather.  Hunter and I were already up at the Steamboat airport with our bags packed, and did not want to have our 5:15am wake up call be entirely in vain.  We decided to fly to Grand Junction for the morning!  We had an absolutely stunning flight there - Hunter took the long way and we had quite the scenic flight.  He took us over the canyon where the Green River + Yampa River meet up.  It was incredibly breathtaking, though I'll admit flying in the canyon spooked me quite a bit!  After we landed in GJ, we took the crew car to grab breakfast and had hoped the trip would be a quick 2-3 hour trip. Welll, it turned into about a 6 hour trip due to some small (pretty big) plane malfunctions.  We were fortunate enough to be able to take the crew car out on the town again while the mechanics were working on the plane.  I was in the middle of reading Girl on the Train, so I didn't mind the slow and relaxed day one bit!  It was a really wonderful day of adventure with Hunter.  Trips like that with my love really make my world go round.

Speaking of Girl on the Train, did any of you read it?  What did you think?  I wanted to like it, I loved that it was a thriller and kept you reading more and more and more, but the plot line.  The plot line!  It reminded me so much of Gone Girl, which is another book I read within 48 hours.  At the after finishing of both of those books, I realized that I didn't really like either all too much.  Ha!  The plot line of both of them are rather grotesque and kinda foul.  I need to spend more time picking uplifting and inspiring rather than gruesome and foul murder stories.

Speaking of books!  Since painting the bed and breakfast, I've turned to audiobooks and podcasts to keep me company during my 6-8 hour long painting days.  I've so far listened to All the Light we Cannot See and I'm 80% of the way through Me Before You.  I've listened to probably a dozen This American Life podcasts.  I also want to dive into Undisclosed, Startup and The Moth podcasts.  I have 2 more bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a sitting area, a sunroom, the kitchen and potentially the living room + front entry left to paint so needless to say....I've got a lot of time on my hands for listening to books/podcasts!  Recommendations are welcomed and needed.

Did I mention on my blog that Hunter accepted a new job, too?  Hunter accepted a new job!  He's still working in the ER at the hospital here in Steamboat, but he is also working for Classic Air Ambulance as a flight for life nurse!  Say whaaaaat?!  I'm crazy stupid proud of him and how much work he's put into growing his career path.  As of right now, he's been working on the road almost as much as he's been working at home.  We are growing into our new routines day by day, week by week!

I've been working on social media for the bed and breakfast. Both the Instagram account and Facebook page aren't exactly where I want them to be with content quiteeee yet but they are getting there!  If you felt so inclined to follow our Instagram account and like our Facebook page, I would be so grateful!  Everything is a work in progress, right?  ; >

I could go on with more.  And on and on but I will hit pause on Ketchup for the time being.  I'm sure in the next few days more pointless facts will come to me and I'll feel compelled to post about here.  Plus, since I've sat down to write this post the snowfall has disappeared and the sun is peeking out!  It's about time to head out for a run and enjoy some fresh air.  Thanks for making it through this post....if you made it through the post that is.  ; >

Breathe.

If you've asked me "How are you?!" lately, what I want to respond with is "I'm tired.  I'm over worked.  I'm in desperate need of a quiet solo night in with candle after candle, girlie crap tv and wine.  And tea.  And my crochet.  I miss sleeping past 6:30am.  I miss not working everyday.  I miss being able to clean, and do crafts and being able to go for a leisurely walk and I miss spending my lunch break at the gym/going for a run versus working/quick meetings for the next big thing."  Instead, what I do respond with is "There has been a lot going on lately!  My days have been packed but it's wildly rewarding on top of painfully exhausting."  

My newspaper boss just asked me this afternoon "How are you doing?" and I said "Oh, I'm fine!" and she continued to ask me 3 times if I was sure.  Ha!  #walkingzombie #lookaway #monster  Anyway, I want to post a few things about what are making my crazed days a little less crazed and help me keep my eye on the prize.  

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The clean and simple updated blog designs to both Edible Perspective and Bev Cooks have left me all heart eyed not to mention itching for some downtime to work up giving my site a clean and simple facelift.

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Before I left for California this past December, I promised myself that I would drag my parents and take a trip to In n Out. I've only been there twice in the 5 years that my parents have lived in CA.  For some reason in December I was really craving that indulgence.  No surprise that I talked myself out of going and while my hips and ass are thankful we skipped the trip, my craving still hasn't subsided at all.  This copycat recipe snagged my attention and I would looooove to give it a go soon!

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Serial.  All the livelong day, Serial.  I had heard whisperings of the Serial podcast around, but it wasn't until I read LC's post on her favorite Podcasts that I finally bit.  Once I started listening, I could.not.stop.listening.  I posted this to my Facebook a few weeks ago:

Sometimes I'm unintentionally a little slow on jumping on the popular entertainment bandwagons. TV shows, movies etc. This week's bandwagon I finally jumped on? Podcasts. Most specifically Serial. Needless to say I'm absolutely, positively hooked. I'm on on Episode 07 and am already sad at the thought of catching up to the final Episode 12. Did Adnan do it?! Ahhhhhh!

And one of Hunter's high school best friends commented:

Oh man, my wife loved that radio podcast. I came home everyday to her with headphones on with this intense look on her face.

which made me laugh out loud.  Rather than listen to it with headphones, I would hook it up to Hunter's bluetooth speaker.  He would get home from work and try and greet me, ask about the day etc and I would just respond with wide eyed head nods before going to my phone and backing the Podcast up :30+ seconds as to not miss a single word.

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I will make homemade granola one of these days.  I will.  Right after I redesign my blog, get caught up on my craft projects, get a birthday gift from November in the mail and a Christmas gift from December in the mail.  This post got me all twitter-pated to get after it.  I.will.make.homemade.granola.

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One of my sweetest friends here in Steamboat shared this song/video with me this afternoon.  My very favorite part is where he repeats 

Each day that I wake, I will praise, I will praise.

Each day that I wake, I give thanks, I give thanks.

Each day that I wake, I will praise, I will praise.

Each day that I wake, I give thanks, I give thanks.

And they day that I don't wake up and transcend the holy makeup, I am capable, I am powerful.

The day that I don't wake up and transcend the holy make up, I am on my way to a different place.

Gah.  I was listening to this song not too closely while working on other things and that group of lyrics gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes.  It was such a beautiful reminder of this phase in my life to instead of blowing through the day living by a to-do list to pause and praise!  And give thanks!  It sounds quite cliche but also completely necessary to get through challenging times.

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This cozy image of relaxation, indulgence and comfort.  Give to me all the relaxation, indulgence and comfort!

::via::

hbd, hmm!

happy birthday to my favorite hot (hot, hot!) tamale.  

there isn't a day that goes by where i don't pause for a little moment of thanks and appreciation for how happy i am to know hunter and to have spent these last 3.5 years of pure adventure with him.  i am so thankful for his silly, determined, generous and spontaneous heart.

part of hunter's birthday gift was a surprise ski trip to taos new mexico for a long weekend.  i managed to keep it a secret from him for over a month now and i feel 10 pounds lighter after finally telling him this morning where we are going!  his brother, sister in law and niece and nephew will get into town this afternoon and we are hosting the entire family for a birthday dinner this evening.  i'm reminded of the birthday dinner we had up at snowy for hunter 2 years ago when we were living at the ski area.  the kids were running amuck, the wine { + whiskey if i'm being honest heehee } was flowing and we happened to plan a dinner menu eerily similar to what we are having this evening.  filet mignon, roasted veggies with mashed potatoes and a caesar salad { extra anchovies! } are what maddox birthdays are made of!

hunter's birthday//2012

happy birthday my love.  you mean more to me and the people around you than you will ever know.

Take the hint.

Do you ever have one of those moments where you are going about your day to day and all of a sudden think *OMGosh I really want pizza.  And suddenly whenever you pull up Instagram, or open the newspaper.  Hear a radio commercial or see a billboard...it's all about pizza.  People eating pizza, recipes for pizza, a new pizza restaurant opening in town, coupons for cheap pizza, the list goes on.  And you think, huh.  Well that's interesting.  Maybe it's a sign I should get pizza.  And the more you talk about it, the more you think about it all, the more pizza surrounds you.  Then!  You spread the circle a little bigger.  You start telling your friends, your boyfriend, your coworkers, your family how much you are craving pizza.  They all chime in with how good it sounds, too and Yeah you should really go get some!  The next thing you know, your evening plans are rearranged and bam! you are eating pizza.  

:: via + via::

I'm not just talking pizza here { though man, now pizza sounds so good }.  It could be a green juice that you've been craving or wanting a sign to buy that scarf you've had your eye on…maybe you need to see some motivation to start a new daunting craft project, or pulling the plug on buying a new sofa.  Maybe it's even something as big as pursuing that new job and new lifestyle that you've been lusting after for far too long.  Whatever it is, the point here is that once the thought of buying that thing, or changing that other thing creeps into your mind…it follows you everywhere.

For over a year now,  I've been approached by a local Steamboat business manager { who happens to be not just a good friend, but a good family friend of the Maddoxs' } trying to get me to come on board and work for her/with her.  The job she was propositioning me for was my dream job in so many ways.  It would open up so much more flexibility in my schedule, the opportunity for new avenues in which to express creativity, ways to push myself both mentally and physically and all around a beautiful chance for growth in my life.

But I was scared to make a change.  

Lord have mercy was I scared!  So scared that I ignored her requests for 12+ months.  I buckled down and kept on keeping on at my { how I now affectionally refer to it as my } 9a-5p, Monday-Friday, cubical bound, florescent light lit job.  And it was ok!  Really, things were truckling along and things were fine.  I started out in sales with some pretty sad numbers both in $$ booked and $$ in my bank account.  But I kept trying.  I kept working, I kept scheduling meetings with my clients.  I kept showing up to work knowing I could push my monthly %'s booked and!  I can confidently say that I grew my territory { and for what it's worth, my bank account too }.  But seeing those growth in numbers did nothing to make me more excited about my job.  It didn't make me want to work any harder to see how much higher I could grow those numbers and it didn't make me want to work any less.  I struggled with finding fulfillment with my job and always settled that argument with myself by saying "But I really enjoy my coworkers, I really enjoy working with { most of } my clients so it's ok if I'm not 100% fulfilled."  Until I realized that it really wasn't ok.

:: via + via ::

Of course here in the blog world there are 1,000,000,001 real life examples of people chasing their dreams.  Finding their ideal job!  Ditching the monotony of a desk job and chasing their passions.  Reading their stories used make me angry.  "How can you just do that?  How can you quit a steady paycheck and health insurance to open an online craft store/photography business/coffee shop { etcetcetc } and support yourself?!?!?!"  These stories made me angry until once day they didn't.  And I very timidly started putting myself in their shoes.  I started asking myself small questions of "What if I did quit my day job?  What would my day to day that look like?  How much would my quality of life change?  What would I even want to do?"  Of course I lucked out and found the most supportive partner who genuinely believes in me, sees talents I possess that I'm sometimes blind to and can recognize when one area of my life is causing so very much inner turmoil.  He helped me answer these little questions and he supported me when the biggest questions surfaced.  

:: via + via ::

Even with these little and big questions asked and answered, I was still scared.  I was scared of disappointing my current employer.  I was scared of not being able to fill the shoes of this new job.  I was scared financially and truthfully, I was scared of how I  would respond with freedom in my work schedule.  Even with all these lurking thoughts of doubt, there was one thing that remained; the unstoppable daydream of taking the leap to make this big change.  What remained was every time I would hop on Pinterest for a few minutes, half a dozen images similar to the ones in this blog post hit me square in the face.  What remained was that one voice that said "Beth, you can do this." that drowned out all the other voices that were saying "Stay comfortable.  Don't make the change."  

These quotes littered throughout this post are some examples of what I would see time and time again.  These quotes are my example of pizza in the above paragraph.  I knew that I could only ignore them for so long until I had to stop ignoring all the signs and it was time take the hint.

Ya'll know me enough by now to know that I'll have to split this up into like 3 posts with my chronic over thinking/analyzing.  Thoughts and updates to continue in the upcoming days.

*To drive this point home even further, I want to say that I've had 3 pizza related things happen to me / come up in conversation just in the few short hours it's taken me to start writing this post.  It is all very Law of Attraction of you, Universe. 

book > movie

I have always been a pretty shotty movie watcher.  In my defense, it began in my childhood.  We never really watched movies growing up { save for Steel Magnolias, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, While You Were Sleeping and all Disney movies } or listened to a lot of music { save for Michael Bolton }.  I didn't really realize this was unusual until my adult years when my old coworkers took to regularly quizzing me on some of the classic and timeless music { think as simple as The Beetles } and I would fail at their questions every.single.time.  I will never forget the visual of my coworker and diehard music lover + musician Clay racing out of his editing suite over to my desk to ask me a music question.  Right when he would see the bewildered and completely lost look on my face he would walk away shaking  his head in his hands muttering "SERIOUSLY, BETH.  You haven't heard of ______!?!?!?!!!  My 5 year old daughter even knows their music!"  The same goes for movies; Sixteen Candles, Beetlejuice, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Goonies are all movies I hadn't seen until up to the past 24 months. A few of those and many others I still haven't seen.

Beth sitting down to watch a movie poses many issues.  If I'm watching the movies at home I have to have something nearby to keep myself busy.  Painting my nails, painting my toenails, wrapping Christmas gifts, working on some crocheting, cooking…the list goes on.  I just get a little bored sitting down for 2 hours staring at a TV.  To be perfectly honest, 8 out of every 10 movies I watch ends with me falling asleep.  If I go to the theatre to watch a movie not only does my ADD go into overdrive, but I often times feel incredibly claustrophobic and squirmy while cursing at the movie theaters for not designing their theatre to be tall person friendly.  The chairs are SO close together with such little leg room!  Needless to say….I don't watch movies all too often.  In fact, when Hunter and I went to see Mockingjay a few months ago I realized it was the first time I'd been to a theatre to see a movie since the last Hunger Games movie came out the winter of 2013.

Man - I'm doing a really great job painting myself to be the perfect movie watcher companion, aren't I?!

Hunter and I had a totally relaxing evening last night and watched Gravity and Gone Girl.  { I have been more than exhausted lately with an aggressive workout schedule + working during the week at the newspaper and all weekends at my part time job which is why I had no problem with laying on the couch and zoning out to the tv for a few hours.  I will say that this is quite the rare circumstance. }  When we had decided on Gone Girl for our 2nd movie, it dawned all the movies I've watched lately have one common denominator; I've read the book.

Mockingjay, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Wild, The Fault in Our Stars, and Gone Girl.  These are all { plus Gravity } the movies I have watched in the past 2 months or so.  When I would go to work and talk to my coworkers about the movies, it would always start with "Well I read the book, and…."  It cracks me up.  There is one way to get me to sit still long enough to watch a movie!  Most of the movies I've enjoyed while a few of them I really hated.  Ha!

Mockingjay / hated.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day / cute movie but, eh.
Wild / loved, loved, loved.
The Fault in Our Stars / hated.
Gone Girl / ehhhhh, meh.

I have Divergent lined up as the next book to movie that I want to see and am I'm thinking of watching it tonight or tomorrow night.  Wee!  With perfect timing too because my nails need a good fresh coat of polish.  Last night, after we finished Gone Girl , Hunter says "Well now you need to hurry up and read 50 Shades of Grey so you can jump on that movie bandwagon, too!"  Yeahhhhhh, that is one book and movie I'm confident I won't ever read or watch.

dreamboat anniversary.

This past Saturday, December 27th, marked my one year anniversary of living in Steamboat!  Anyone who is anyone (aka anyone who has read this blog for longer than a month) knows I love me a reason to celebrate a milestone while dissecting and reflecting the shit out of it!  Readyyyyyyyyandgo!

::steamboat was looking insanely beautiful this past sunday while we were out cross country skiing!::

When we moved to Steamboat I truly had no expectations of what things would be like here.  This can be attributed to my job interview + job offer + accepting the job + moving to Steamboat all happening within a week's time.  After not working for 13 months (freedom....yay!  empty bank account....booooo!) I was thrilled at the chance of having a steady job + income again.  I didn't give myself time to fret (read: obsess) over moving to a new city without knowing anyone.  We had just wrapped up 7 months of doing that exact thing in Bremerton, so it was the mindset of "Oh, whatever - we did this once, we can do this again."  It was intimidating moving to a brand new new city twice within a year's time but it was also empowering.

I moved to Steamboat a few days before I started work to begin the process of getting to know the city as a newbie local.  I had the weekend all to myself which I remember being so relaxing and nourishing (that is until I got food poisoning Sunday night and spent the entire evening before my first day of work in the bathroom sicker than a damn dog.)  As all things do, it took some time to get into a good routine.  Hunter was still working in Denver and Bob was spending a lot of time up at Snowy so the first few weeks, I spent a lot of time by myself.  I paid a lot of attention to the free events around town that I found listed in the newspaper and attended as many as I could.  I would snowshoe solo every weekend and spent my evenings watching Breaking Bad with a homemade meal for 1, a hot cup of tea or a glass of wine.  It was tough knowing I was 3 hours away from our "old life" and our best friends in Denver…it was almost more painful being 3 hours away from them in Steamboat than it was being 15 hours away in Washington.  It was an adjustment for me for sure.  After about 3 weeks of work and spending a lot of time by myself, I was invited to my first happy hour with work girlfriends and after 4 weeks of work I got promoted to a different department with a brand new job title.  Ever since then - I'll admit it's been prettttty smooth sailing.

My first few months in Steamboat, I remember soaking up it's beauty and walking around starry eyed at how stunning the area was.  I really couldn't believe  that we actually lived here!  I remember witnessing the Alpine Glow for the first time, watching a plethora of wildlife meandering through town, and of course, enjoying the 5 minute or less commute to really any destination in town.

This move has given Hunter and I  so many chances to grow as a couple and to grow individually.  I do still struggle with being 3 hours away from my closest friends and family living in Denver.  I am still learning to go with the flow, embrace each friendship and most importantly to live in the moment.  I never want to lose sight of how lucky we are to have best friends where we live now and everywhere we've lived in the past.

And here we are - one year later.  Enjoying life cozied up in our little cabin just big enough for our possessions but no where near big enough for the love and laughter it holds.  We have a routine and a life that I could have never dreamed up 3 years ago when I met Hunter for the first time.  I'm proud of the simple and meaningful life we've created for ourselves.  I'm proud to do each day with Hunter at my side.

Happy Year Anniversary, Steamboat!  Thank you for being really damn good to us.  

adjusting.

I'm in the middle of adjusting from life pictured on the left { sunny CA life filled with wineries, great food and the best company a girl could ask for } to life pictured on the right { non-stop cuddles, snowy adventures and bottomless hot tea } in less than 48 hours.  

It feels so good to be back in our cozy cabin that is slowly getting buried by snow day by day. 

Happy almost 2015, er'body!

the weekend.

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that I have only 3 photos I have to show from the weekend.  It was one of those weekends that was over in a BLINK of the eye while cramming in tons of work + play.

After I got off work on Friday, Hunter and I geared up and had an after hours cross country ski up Emerald Mountain!  There were 1,000 reasons it was the most fun but the top ones being: The entire trail was illuminated perfectly by the full moon which was more romantic than you ever want to hear about, we passed at least a dozen other after dark adventurers and knowing that I live in a city where multiple people want to exercise in the snow + cold + dark on a Friday night makes me stupid happy, I got to mentally check off side trails and markers along the main trail where we had spent mountain biking all summer long and finally: we knew there was beer at the end of the tunnel as we met up with Hunter's dad for brews and dinner when we were done.  The Boat needs fresh snow something fierce, so it really was more like ice skating than cross country skiing but it was so crazy fun and I can't wait for a good dump of snow to head back up again!  

The rest of the weekend consisted of working both Sat + Sun, a fun girls night in on Saturday, few hours skiing up the big mountain Sunday morning and ending our weekend with my company holiday party.  I was wiped out come Monday morning { noon and night }, but feel a little more back in the groove today.  Bring it, week!

p.s. 16 days until Christmas.  Ahhhhh freakout!

p.p.s. I finally got on Twitter!  Got a Twitter account?  Am doing Twitter now?  I don't even know the cool kid lingo much less how the heck to navigate my way through the darn thing, but come say hi if you are a tweettweet regular!

i made this :: roasted beets + squash lentil soup

The other night Hunter asked me "How much time would you say you spend thinking about food on a daily basis?"  I'm embarrassed to admit that wasn't the first time someone has asked me that question, and I'm sure won't be the last time.

Between planning our Bountiful Basket pickup, Door to Door Organics delivery and the meals to fill our week, plus juggling Hunter's and I always changing schedules, I have to admit...I think about buying, preparing and eating food a lot.  The main reason for this thinking and over thinking can be attributed to reallllly trying to minimize eating out, picking up lunch a few times a week, grabbing a morning juice etc. and is all in an effort to prepare most of our meals at home.  I'm currently reading Julie and Julia while simultaneously listening to the audiobook  Cooked by Michael Pollan.  Safe to say I have home cooked and home prepared food on the brain.  I just finished a really interesting { to me! } section in Cooked talking about the decline of home cooked foods + meals, and he discussed how we give up time at night to cook a meal and instead use that time for watching tv, spending the night on our computers + phones while eating take out food.  He made such a great point on how even when we do carve out time to "cook" at home, so much of the time we are simply heating up already cooked and packaged pasta to pair it with already prepared jarred sauce.  Michael gave the challenge to cook once a week/month something you'd typically buy.  Examples being granola bars, bread, pasta, pickles, beer etc.  So!  It's given me the extra kick in the pants to make the effort of cooking more meals at home instead of picking something up out of laziness and convenience.

Needless to say, I've been thinking about food quite a bit on a daily basis.  Ha!

Last Wednesday night, I was on my 3rd day of a nasty cold, Hunter was out of town and I had given in to the thought of veggie broth + toast for dinner again.  That was until I saw Katie post her Spiced Lentil Soup with Roasted Beets & Delicata Squash, and did a quick mental round up of ingredients at home to realize all I was missing for this soup was the beets.  I knew my evening dinner was set!  I ran by the store lickity split for 2 beets and within seconds of walking in the door I had ingredients on and in the stove.  

Ya'll.  I can't even express how delightful this soup was.  I never say ya'll!  That's how good it is.  The roasted squash + beets were the perfect addition to the intense harmony of spices in the soup.  I loved the flavors and the addition of coconut milk gave it a really creamy and satisfying comfort while the lentils were enough to make sure you were full after one bowl.  Sadly, the entire pot of soup was gone in 24 hours { Hunter did return from out of town and had some, so I didn't eat the entire pot!  Though I could, would and wished I had. }

This one without question will be put into heavy rotation at the Madfield Casa { along with her thai coconut curry soup that I can't get enough of.  This girl knows her soups! }.  Man oh man.  I wish like crazy I still had some of this in the fridge/freezer at home.  I'll need to whip up a batch when we get back from Thanksgiving for sure!

I love soup.

First Annual Friendsgiving!

Living in a more secluded small mountain town makes you realize how much was taken for granted while living in a bigger city.  The list of importance changes weekly, but these are the ones that stick out to me lately:  Accessibility to craft stores, accessibility to a BWW,  accessibility to a plethora of pho restaurants and accessibility to DIA.  My parents and I had much back and forth regarding holiday travel for this year.  It is about a 4+ hour drive from Steamboat to DIA in Denver which feels like a lifetime compared to the 20 minute drive I was used to for 6 years.  There is also the unknown factor of traveling during the winter months with questionable and rather unpredictable roads.  When it came down to it, we decided it was best I only go home for one holiday this year and that holiday would be Christmas.  Yes, I am 29 years old, yes this is my first Thanksgiving away from home and yes I am sad about it.  My parents are the ultimate hosts and I wasn't only disappointed in missing Thanksgiving { and the over the top ridiculously good food, and if I'm being honest the wineries }, but I've just been missing them fiercely so knowing I had to tack on an additional month until I got to see them was hard for me to come to terms with.

::some favorite memories from Thanksgiving spent in CA::

But!  There are some good things that are coming from me staying put for Thanksgiving.  I'll get to spend it up at Snowy with Hunter and his family { I'm tearing up right meow at the thought of seeing his niece and nephew again.  I miss those little wiggle worms like crazy. } and this will be my first ski season in the 4 ski seasons that I've known Hunter that I'll get to be at Snowy for opening weekend, which I'm so excited about!  There are also the pluses of forgoing crazy holiday traveling, fighting crowds, days spent at the airport + travel etcetcetc.  Once the decision was made that I wouldn't be going to CA, it made it our personal mission to start new traditions here in Steamboat.  We were out hiking one Sunday and I asked Hunter to start brainstorming ideas of ways we could make this Thanksgiving season special.  Without much thought, we both pretty much decided on hosting a Friendsgiving right off the bat.  It's easy to throw around "Yeah!  Yeah.  We'll host a Friendsgiving!" but when the weeks started magically ticking down and we had to make some decisions on the date + guest list + menu, it hits you square in the face just what we signed on for.  

Hunter has a handful of his high school best friends who have also moved back to the Steamboat area { yay! }.  They all have delightful wives/fiancés that I feel so lucky to have really hit it off with.  So!  We invited a few of the men + their spouses and a few other Steamboat friends I've gotten to know over the past few months. 90% of the guest list all went to High School together and Hunter actually works with { oh, this is going to be confusing: } his good friend Tony's wife Camilla's sister Hestia { did ya keep up with that?! }.  I've gotten to know Hestia, Camilla and our friend Emily { who also went to high school with everyone } well over the past few months because we all did a 10 week kickboxing class together!  Ok, this is getting confusing - let's keep movin' along with the story telling.  A normal person would have just said "We had some really great Steamboat friend's over for dinner!" but of course I have to take it a step further and talk to you about Hunter's coworkers.  NE WAY...

I'm so sad that I took no { literally, zero } photos of the finished food/table presentation.  I did get all the recipes online, so I'll share the menu that way!

For light appetizers, I served my go-to veggie dip again with carrots + celery + peppers + cubed homemade bread!  We also had some pickles + black olives + stuffed green olives of both jalapeño and garlic that went like hotcakes.  I really wanted to make this jalapeño dip, but didn't want people to fill up too much on the appetizers.  Next time!  For the meat, I doubled this recipe of stuffed turkey tenderloin w/cranberries + butternut squash + kale + pecans and we { aka Hunter } grilled up a marinated pork loin.  I also made these accordion potatoes which is a delicious and easy peasy potato recipe I've made, and will continue to make, time and time now.  { I omit the lemon because I think I'm one of the few people who really don't care for cooked lemon/lime in majority of my dishes. }  For stuffing, I used this bacon and bourbon stuffing recipe and while it was good, I'm not sure I would make it again.  If it did, I would cut the amount of liquid used and ask a professional { aka a carnivore } to fry up the bacon because I don't think I did a very good job.  Ha!  We also had brussels sprouts with melted shaved parmesan cheese and a creamy rice + broccoli dish that some of our guests brought!  It was all served with freshly homemade buns { yes, freshly made that morning } { toot toot! } { <----- horn = tooted } and plenty of wine + beer and holiday punch to keep us all warm and happy.  Emily brought a few pies and deeelicious carmel bars which ended the night on a sweet note.  I felt really good about the menu + amount of food as we weren't hit with a fridge full of leftovers.  All we have left is maybe 1 or 2 servings of stuffing and that's it!

The entire evening was a huge success.  We played a few quick rounds of Catch Phrase and spent too much time looking things up on Urban Dictionary.  While we had good intentions of playing Cards Against Humanity + a few other games but the conversation kept flowing and I got to hear dozens of stories and memories from Hunter's childhood.  I'll take that over an insulting card game any day!  { but I do love me some CAH }

The Thursday before we hosted Hunter text saying "A coworker needs help with a shift on Saturday.  I'm working 7am-3pm."  My first response was AHHHHH FREAKOUT! with the realization that I would then prepare an entire Thanksgiving meal for 8 people by myself.  I quickly snapped myself out of the freakout by reminding myself that, like it or not, I'm really bossy and territorial in the kitchen especially while preparing food for an event/gathering.  I started early and gave myself enough time to feel good about what food I was working on + time spent cleaning the house.  At the end of the night after everyone had left and we were laying in bed, I was looking out the window at the lightly lit backyard with the massive snowflakes falling and had this wave of appreciation fall over me.  I felt so thankful for the food on the table, the full house of friends old + new, the memories made and the ability to put it all together and take it all down.  I am also thrilled I can cross off both Host a Friendsgiving and Cook with Cranberries from my Fall To-Do List!

We leave on Wednesday for Snowy for actual Thanksgiving and is it bad to say I'm a little relieved the meal isn't falling on us this time?  I'm looking forward to being able to kick back with a warm beverage, zoning out to a football game and helping out in the kitchen when my help is necessary.

So very much to be #thankful for this year!

the weekend.

Haaaappy Monday, friends!  This weekend was good for the heart and soul { and stomach! }  It was one of those cozy winter weekends where I left the house a total of 3 times: Once on Saturday to pick up fresh rosemary and placemats from Hunter's dad's house.  Second time on Sunday to buy a new massive snow shovel { hello 12+ inches of snowfall over the weekend! } + a new French Press and the third time Sunday night for a night date at the gym.  Saturday we hosted our first Friendsgiving and it was a beautiful and delicious success.  It consisted of constant prep from 7:45am until 4:45pm when the first guest arrived, but it was well worth it.  Sunday was our lazy day where we watched football { and I crocheted! } for hours and hours on end.  I am thrilled for the 3 day work week and secretly love the crazy snowfall outside.  

the weekend.

This weekend was pretty good for being pretty bad.  Jaime and Ryan had been planning a Steamboat { #dreamboat } weekend for about a month now but leave it to { that bitch } Mother Nature to go and ruin it all.  It's happened once before with My Mary, so it only makes sense that she had to strike twice. The weather report was calling for, and I quote, "Hazardous and nearly impossible travel." so while I do know it was wise to cancel the trip, I couldn't help but bum all weekend long about it.

We managed to sneak in quite a bit with the cold + snowy + freezing weather and canceled plans.  Saturday we woke up to snow, snow and more snow.  Hunter and I tag teamed breakfast.  He cooked one of his mom's famous meals, and I cooked the potatoes I can't stop making { and eating }.  We snuggled in on the couch for a few Food Network episodes before venturing out to run some errands.  Hunter knew I had a crappy day on Friday, so he helped make it better by surprising me with buying some Christmas lights! We hung a few outside, I broke down and finally bought good winter boots and while I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I own a pair of boots with fur on them, I can't deny they are warm and waterproof as shiiiz.  We put them to use and went for a snowy hike up Spring Creek which got us all sorts of twitter-pated and excited for winter activities.  We've begun planning our ski trips and enjoyed visions of weekend cross country/snow shoe adventures.  Heart eyes for days!  The rest of the weekend consisted of a Stranahan's event at a local taproom, The BARley, late night walks in the snow, cursing at the TV screen { Broncos, I shake my fist at you! } and a loooooong evening soak at the Hot Springs followed by cooking up some homemade pizza.

I swear at any point this weekend I had a warm beverage in my hand, cycling through warm cider, hot chocolate, hot tea and of course coffee.  This weekend was a really wonderful introduction to the winter season. Now! to plan Jaime and Ryan's next visit...

the weekend.

This past weekend was one that will keep me warm for quite a while.  Everything lined up perfectly making for an active/busy/productive/silly/relaxing weekend.

Mary and I spontaneously planned another 12 hour mini-mountin meet up in Dillon.  Even though we talk obsessively every day minute by minute but it wasn't until we met up and I heard her sweet giggle that I was able to realize how much I miss my Mary.  My Mary who has been a sister to me for more than 8+ years.  My Mary who approaches every situation with care and creativity.  My Mary who is so damn lovable and perfectly silly.  We had a really wonderful 12 hours eating, drinking, laughing, laughing and laughing.  I love that girl too much.

The rest of the weekend was filled with working + beer drinking + football watching + final mountain bikes of the season (him) + spending time soaking up the sun with coffee and bailey's in hand while reading Julie and Julia (her) + bed and breakfast cooking (us).  It's Monday now and the snow is aggressively falling and will continue to for the rest of the week,
but (!)  I feel so warmed from the memories over the weekend (cliche) that I don't mind the snow one bit (truth).

the weekend.

It was a really beautiful weekend up here in The Boat.  The weather on Friday was absolutely phenomenal considering it was the last day in October.  I spent Halloween evening downtown with a really dear friend and her entire { darling } family.  Steamboat closes down their main street and the town + families pour in for trick or treating from business to business.  Spirits were high with the wonderful weather and it was so fun to see the creativity put into each costume.  I was home by 7:30pm with a glass of wine and scary movie on, which I consider a huge win.  The rest of the weekend consisted of working { both H + I }, chili making, and most importantly relaxing.  I've been working weekends at a part time job for a few months now and I can't even express how much I appreciate a day off now.  The weather yesterday was perfect for an early breakfast out with Hunt, gym time, with some serious r&r.

i made this :: zucchini fritters

We got 2 huge zucchinis in our Bountiful Basket over the weekend.  I have a secret: Zucchini is one of my least favorite vegetables.  We always had a huge garden growing up which immediately equals zucchini meals all summer long.  I think because we ate it so much growing up mixed with it's rather bland and somewhat spongey texture { <----- exact reason I strongly dislike eggplant } is why it's low on my ZOMGGIVETOMEALLTHEVEGGIES list.  I had been juicing them throughout the summer, but I wanted to try and stretch my Bountiful Basket and make more meals out of it...less juices.

I turned to trusty Pinterest and of course found a vegan zucchini recipe within minutes.  Zucchini fritters!  I've wanted to try making potato fritters for breakfast/brunch for quite some time now, so I figured this would be a good introduction to the Fritter World.  The recipe looked quick, easy and I had 90% of the ingredients on hand.  In an effort to reduce buying extra ingredients, I omitted the kalamata olives and capers in the tomato sauce { even though they sounded amazing and we are HUGE olive/caper fans in our house! }, used a white onion in place of green onions, used fresh parsley versus dried oregano in the fritters themselves and omitted the lemon juice because I had juiced the lemon we had on hand for lunch { there goes my theory of less juices more meals }.  Oh, and I was able to add a generous amount of basil to the sauce that we had leftover from our pho and quite a decent dash of crushed red peppers because #spicy!  

Is it ok to admit I had low expectations for this meal?!  I am not fluent in frying thing in general, and may have set our pesky smoke alarm off a few times, but!!!! they turned out so so good!  It was yet another meal I was raving about the entire time we ate it.  When I first planned this for dinner, I had thought Hunter was going to be out of town but he ended up being home { yay! } so I was a little nervous when I knew it had to feed and fill up 2 people.  We each ate about 3-4 fritters and finished up all the sauce and I was completely satisfied!  I have another large zucchini left and would most definitely make these again.  I think some roasted { or raw! } garlic would be really yummy in the fritters themselves and there are a dozen+ ways to dress up the sauce.  Next time I would serve it up with a salad + crispy bread, but all in all I am thrilled with how this turned out!

the weekend

in no particular order

full days working

new book reading

brewery visiting

breakfast cooking 

cleaning + organizing

curry making

friends binge watching

meal planning

hammock laying

We also logged a few hours bundled up in blankets and hats enjoying a bottle of wine in our backyard on Friday night.  No questions asked it stole the show as best moment over the weekend.

We made it!

Amazingly enough, it really only took about an hour and some change to move from Bob's house to our new house.  I can thank the fact that we only moved about 6 blocks and how over the past 3 years we are constantly donating/purging/downsizing our things so we really didn't have that much to move.  At one point I was so bold to even call us minimalists, but Hunter shot back "Do minimalists have 2 yoga mats???" Touché.  But (!!) minimalists or not, we are in our new house, about 90% unpacked and happier than a pig in shit.  We were crazy enough to host Hunter's dad and our friend Judy over for the Broncos game last night { #PFM! #510 } and found time to cook up a bunch of yummy finger foods for the game.  It was what I called a "low sodium" meal strictly because we realized halfway into cooking that we don't own any salt.  Ha!  Moving problems.  A grocery store trip is seriously in order at some point today.  

Give a ring if you want to come to our cozy cabin on the creek!  I'll keep a beer cold for you.