Monday, August 20, 2012

Update #76,394,201

I still haven't finished my trip posts yet, but they will come eventually. Maybe in the next year? I kid, I kid. But really, life has been so fulfilling and crazy that I'm not too worried about it! So instead I will do a simple post with what I've been up to lately.

Sewing a patchwork quilt. I first learned to sew by making quilts and then went on to clothes and I'm starting to realize I love quilts a whole lot more. So I'm going to start investing my time in that more often. I was inspired to do the one I'm making right now simply because I have way too much fabric and want to downsize it. The easiest way it to cut it up and make a quilt! It will include a TON of super sentimental fabric/shirts that I haven't been able to part with, like the fabric from my 'ducky pillow' that I've had since I was a baby and my dad's old high school marching band t-shirt. Vince is excited about it because a few of his favorite shirts (like the first one I bought him at a festival before we were even dating that is a cute turtle) are included as well! It'll be a perfect family quilt.
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I also spruced up my backpack for the new school year with some of the fabric!
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Cooking. I'm back to the mostly dairy-free simple foods diet again. A few weeks before the road trip and all through the road trip I would feel awful after eating anything and I would get so nauseous and hot and sweaty. I knew it had to be what I was eating, so over the past couple weeks I've been cutting a lot of 'bad' things out of my diet (I say 'bad' because I'm already a fairly healthy eater!). I'm already gluten free so it's sometimes hard to limit myself even more, but it's been great to eat plenty of soups like egg drop soup (which I've made 6 times over the past couple weeks) and sautéed veggies on baked potatoes! Of course, fruit is always a major staple in my diet.
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One of the few processed foods I eat are Van's Gluten Free Waffles and I've recently started putting Cacao Bliss on it which is raw cacao and coconut oil. I don't really like syrup and butter gets old after a while, so this has been a perfect choice, paired with strawberries from the garden!
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Saw bye-bye to ice cream cones with sprinkles!

Cleaning. Somehow, overnight, I evolved from the type of person who piles things up on the kitchen table and any other surface in the house into the type of person who is happy cleaning everything before the night is over. Almost every night the table gets cleaned off, dishes are mostly done, and my projects get cleaned up when I stop working on them even if they aren't finished. I've always been one to leave my craft projects all over the living room until I was done with it sometimes days later, but not anymore! It's odd, yet highly satisfying.

Gardening. Ok, that's a lie. I don't actual garden, I just pick whatever has bloomed and eat it. The mint has been growing off the hook and I'm getting ready to dry them out for mint tea throughout the winter (my fav!) and there are finally more peppers growing. We have only had two thus far, but about 12 little guys are starting to grow! The strawberries are also going crazy and I have about 5-8 little ones to eat every day! It's been so delicious.
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The flowers from our wedding last year are also starting to bloom!

Walking. My friend just had a baby about 6 weeks ago and her and I along with another lady have been taking multiple walks a week together around a 2-mile loop. It's been so nice to start my day earlyish (around 8 or 9) with great conversations and some exercise and I feel less guilty about Roxi because she gets a walk in as well! I'm going to start running a loop or two afterwards as well.

Hiking. Saturday I did the Climb to Conquer Cancer with my work! It was really great to spend time with other people who work in the same shops I do that I barely know, as well as talk more with the owner. He's not so intimidating anymore! It was about 7 miles up Snowbowl road to the ski resort with a bus shuttle back down. There were over 4,000 people there, it was nuts!
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My view from the bottom where I parked and the view from the top.
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They were serving breakfast at the top which I didn't anticipate being gluten free, so I brought green beans, a Good 'n natural bar that I hadn't eaten before but was great, and a KIND bar which I love. I took out the green beans on the way up and was like, 'Um, so I know this is weird, but I don't have too many GF snacks that I can bring with me for hikes and I really like green beans, so does anyone want any?' After a quick laugh, the people I was with ate some and agree raw green beans are good!

Ordering school books. This shouldn't count because I only spent about 45 minutes on it, but I have to share about it because I'M SO EXCITED! I needed seven books (4 alone for Anatomy & Physiology) this semester which would have totaled $727 if I bought the books from the bookstore or $391 if I rented them from the bookstore. Instead, I rented them all between Chegg.com and CampusBookRentals.com for a total of $156! That's a savings of $235 if I rented from the bookstore and $571 if I bought my books! I used 10% off coupon codes for both websites (found on retailmenot.com) and I had a $60 credit on Chegg for selling them two old books that I wasn't able to rent last semester. I also payed extra (about $30 which I included in the totals) to have them delivered to me by next Monday when school starts. If I would've been smart I would have ordered books a couple weeks ago so that I would've had free shipping which would have meant I only paid $126 for books. Needless to say, though, I'm pretty stoked on how much I saved!

Well that's my life in a nut shell, in addition to going to regular old work. Anything exciting that you've been up to?

9 comments:

  1. Wow Steff your backpack looks awesome now and so professional! I'd buy that in a store! I can't believe how good your sewing skills are, especially compared to my own!
    I'm such a huge soup fan... I'd love your egg drop soup recipe! Also would love to know exactly how you make your own mint tea! I'm a huge mint tea person and I am growing mint so that would be great!
    Oooh, we rented Ryan's summer books from Campus but I didn't look for retailmenot codes!! I'll have to do that this time.

    Jeez Steff, you're like a real-live grown-up now ha ha. You get up at 8 or 9 and go for a walk, you clean up your whole house before you go to bed, you eat mostly fruits and vegetables... what?!!? =D

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    1. I know, I'm such an adult! haha Except not really. Is that how all adults feel?!

      Anyways, the backpack was so easy! I just cut out the squares to fit the area, ironed the edges back so they didn't show, and hand sewed it on! It took like 45 minutes.

      I'll post the recipe in the next few days! I make it without an official recipe so it's a good idea for me to type it up before I forget it!

      Every time a website has a 'coupon code' box I ALWAYS look up codes!

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    2. Oh, and for mint tea there are two ways: 1) Pick them, rinse them, and dry them VERY thoroughly. Leave the stems on when cleaning then take the leaves off the stem when you dry them and put them on a baking sheet. Bake them at 200 degree for a few hours. Once they are completely dry and crumbly-able, put them in an airtight container. I keep it in a mason jar. Check the jars over the next couple days to make sure there isn't any moisture and if there is throw them in the oven again. Then when you're ready for tea, leave the leaves whole and put it in hot water or crumble it up and put it in a tea strainer. 2) Follow this: http://foodperson.com/2008/07/07/drying-mint/

      Personally I do the oven way...so much easier!

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  2. Make me a backpack!!

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    1. Your comment at work was what made me do the backpack! When you were like, 'I don't understand paying that much when you have to change it' I realized I could just change the one I have at home! I got it a few years ago for $10 at Ross and it's still works perfectly!

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  3. I love the backpack! It looks so cute.

    I love egg drop soup, and I would also love the recipe. If I knew how to make it, I would probably make it 5 times a week!

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    1. I'll post the recipe in the next few days! I have to type it up since i made it on a whim.

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  4. I really like your backpack now and your garden is so great! That hike is such a good cause!

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