February 2017

Last week I shared a story about how I accidentally ended up moving to Washington State, and about the importance of following your dreams.  Fulfillment is no joke - without it, we humans tend to struggle.  Personally, I know that finding fulfillment in my life is absolute a critical piece of everything that I do.  Unless I feel like I'm somehow contributing to the greater good or helping to serve others in some small way, I find myself feeling lost....

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. ” — Charles Schulz Happy Valentine's Day!  I'm actually writing this the day before, so technically it isn't Valentine's Day yet.  I'm actually not a huge Valentine's fan - I'm sure that comes as a shock to most of you - ha!  But seriously, I think it is sort of a silly holiday, BUT if you like Valentine's Day, I say go for it - every person is different!  A few years back, Aaron...

“Pasta with melted cheese is the one thing I could eat over and over again ” — Yotam Ottolenghi It's time for another incredibly easy "freezer bag" backpacking recipe.  This recipe (if you can even call it that), is so easy that you will wonder why you ever spent $15 on a pre-freeze dried backpacking meal.  The important part of this meal is purchasing the noodles that are designed to be prepared in the microwave - if you buy the noodles that are meant to be boiled, they...

Sometimes I think that I must be completely nuts.  Maybe I am.  Honestly, I don't care.  When I was in college, there was an entire group of students that referred to me as, "weird girl".  When I found out about this, I asked them why - and they said it was because they couldn't, "figure me out".  They said that I liked to sit and read by myself in the dining hall and that I seemed mysterious.  I always found that comforting in a way...

“Heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy.” — Emily Brontë I really wanted to film a short video about this experience.  In fact, I tried to do just that about 2 weeks ago, but the video turned into  what I can only describe as, "watching...

“I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.” — W.C. Fields I have carried eggs on a backpacking trip.  Yes, real eggs.  In a plastic container.  They were delicious, especially when they were scrambled with fresh bell peppers for breakfast.  Sadly, as my interests have changed (i.e. not carrying a 70lb pack), so have my backpacking cooking habits.  While a lot of people like to go "all out" with their backpacking meals - I've taken the route of completely simplifying my cooking -...