The Wilderness Calls

We're going camping!! It's our anniversary week and my birthday week next week. It's also my spring break and Tim got the whole week off work, so we're heading up to Yosemite. We've never been together before and we cannot wait!! We've spent some bday/anniversary money on some new gear and clothes...I've planned a menu (see very organized chart below)...and we have our guide book with tons of awesome hikes laid out to explore. Now I just have to get through the next week of work as I eagerly await our trip!

Yosemite 2011 Anniversary Trip Menu/Grocery List
	Meal	Groceries	Total Quantity	All used for
L1: Mon Lunch	Cheese Quesadillas	Cooked tortillas	10	L1, L3, D2
		Cheese	1 large bag	L1, D2, D3, D4
D1: Mon Dinner	Shish kabobs	Mushrooms	6 whole/6 chopped	D1, B1
		Pearl onions	6	D1
		Zucchini	1choppedL/2choppedS	D1, L3, D4
		Bell Peppers	1choppedL/1sliced	D1, L2, L3
B1: Tues Breakfast	Omelets	Eggs	4 raw/4 hard-boiled	B1, L4
		Spinach	1 med bag	B1, L3
		Onion	1chopped/1sliced	B1, L2, D4
L2: Tues Lunch	Veg Brgr Sandwiches-3	Veggie Patties	3	L2
		Bread	24 slices	L2, D3, L4, L5
		Hummus	1 container	L2, L3, D3
D2: Tues Dinner	BRC Burritos	Rice	1 container-precooked	D2
		Black Beans	1 large container	D2, D4
B2: Wed Breakfast	Yogurt + Granola	Yogurt	4 cups	B2
		Granola	1 med bag	B2, B4
L3: Wed Lunch	Veggie Wraps
D3: Wed Dinner	Hot Dogs-4	Veggie Sausage	4	D3
B3: Thur Breakfast	Oatmeal	Oatmeal	4 packets	B3
		Dried Fruit	1 small bag	B3, B4, Snacks
L4: Thur Lunch	Egg Salad Sandwiches-4	Egg Salad	Pre-make salad	L4
D4: Thur Dinner	Chili	Garbanzo Beans	½ can (premixed)	D4
		Kidney Beans	½ can (premixed)	D4
		Diced Tomatoes	½ can (premixed)	D4
B4: Fri Breakfast	Granola and Fruit	Soy Milk	3 cups in container	B4
L5: Fri Lunch	PBJ’s-3	PB & J	Prepackaged	L5
Snacks		Trail Mix	1 bag
		Granola bars	4
		Marshmallows	1 bag
Drinks	Hot chocolate		12 packets
	Coffee		12 oz pre-ground
	Creamer		1 container
	Wine		4 bottles
	Water		5 gallons
Kitchen Supplies		Salt & Pepper
		Chili spice mix		D4
		Shish kabob sauce		D1

Goals:

I like writing out my goals. A good friend in college used to always ask me what my goals were and it threw me off guard at first. I was more concerned with the here and now...but then I realized, that way of thinking/living can be so stagnant unless you have someone in your life pulling you forward. So since then, I try to write out my goals. Tim and I did this together last weekend. Here are just a few from the list of things we hope to accomplish before the end of 2011.

Both of us:
1. Start composting again
2. Add 3 more planter boxes with food to the rooftop garden
3. Make all of our Christmas presents
4. Summit 1 14er
5. Ride bikes to church more often (this will be easier now that its spring time)

Tim:
1. Build adirondack chairs
2. Get a passport
3-7 or so are business related stuff for FlickerFilms

Me:
1. Read 1 book a month
2. Finish my thesis!!!!!!!!
3. Enroll for my BCBA
4. Play Handel's concertos for violin well
5. learn photo basics (Tim likes this one especially)
6. relearn guitar cords and 1 song
7. brew kombucha
8. surf a lot this summer
9. be able to do the splits. :)

Here's to living well!

Spring cleaning, gardening, resting, creating, learning.

There are times when I have to think of what to say on a blog and there are times when I have way too many things to pick from to share! My thoughts have been buzzing about and our lives are full with good things, I just love spring and the season of life we are in these days!

Cleaning:
I'm the type of person who actually enjoys cleaning and organizing, not because the task is fun, but because I REALLY enjoy the finished result. Few people can fully appreciate the picture below because I forgot to take a "before" shot, but if you saw our storage room before this past Sunday you saw literally a room that you couldn't walk through. If you took two steps in a row in any one direction you were on top of a pile of something. And then! I convinced Tim that with a little beer and good music it just might be fun to clean. :) We actually had lots of fun finding a place for everything. I actually said when we were finished that I kind of just wanted to hang out up there. Just sit in all the wonderful organization of our camping gear and instruments and luggage and snow sleds and books. :)
Tim and I have this misfortune of both being VERY particular people when it comes to certain things. It's something we both work on especially in our marriage. One of these areas is our aesthetic style preference, but the saving grace is that we both have VERY similar styles when it comes to interior design. :) He got something we've both been oogling for a while.

A mid century modern wall unit. He's badly needed a "proper" work station to be able to edit films and work on his business in the new apartment. So we invested in a few pieces of what we hope will eventually be a full wall unit. It's so pretty!

Here are a few more pics of the place now that we've rearranged a few pieces and gathered up some of our favorite things.














And of course, now that spring is here and we're feeling more settled in our place, we're ready for planting season! These are the winter crops we transplanted (chard and spreckled bib lettuce) plus some basil and a tomato volunteer a friend gave to Tim for the warm season. (ha, warm vs. cold in CA is laughable). Hiding in the back is Tim's project, a bonsai tree. I've learned the fun fact that "bonsai" isn't a type of tree, just a style of pruning/gardening. Any tree or shrub can be a bonsai. This one was sad inside the house, so we're trying to revive its spirits out in the wide open sunshine of our rooftop. This weekend we hope to get about 3 more planters built and filled with veggies and goodness for the spring! Also I have a little succulent garden in the house....probably the only plant that could survive in our little corner by the alley. :)

Our real hope for gardening is to be able to grow almost everything we eat. If you know me well you probably already know this, but when people ask me why I'm a vegetarian the really real answer is "because I'm a Christian". This isn't to say you're a sinner if you eat meat. You're not, and I get into trouble here with quite a few people...but honestly, I don't think that ALL Christians have to come to the same conclusions and life decisions to still be in keeping with scripture. BUT, for me, in today's society with all its complexities and corruptions and complications, the most simple way to be sure that the daily and necessary action of eating food honors God is to be a vegetarian. I won't get into it here...I want to...but I wont.... :)

Other than these small, but lovely things, life is really good. Tim and I celebrate a year of marriage in a few weeks. It's truly something wonderful to celebrate. I've loved being in a space of reflection lately over the past year and where life's brought us. I feel like we both busted our butts under the weight of society and the world and now we've been given a season to rest, and grow and create and explore all the things we've always loved but have been too busy and crazy to pursue. We're reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's biography for a life group at church, cooking up new creations in the kitchen...Tim got a camera with our tax return that we hope to take camping in Yosemite soon, and a neighbor gave us a record player so we've been enjoying Dylan and Junip and JT and Elvis Costello on vinyl all the live long day. We also spent part of Sunday writing out our goals for ourselves and for our family for the rest of this year. I think spring is a good time to let the things that winter let lie dormant come back to life and grow.

Life is really beautiful.