Update Shmupdate.

Some life updates from January/February followed by an Instagraham picture. (Well, some I actually didn't post on Instagram, so just a photo.) I'm @iffyinklings if you want to get instant access to my exciting life!

// Do you know how stressful it is that an A in the nursing program is a 93? And that a 78 is failing, as in you can not pass go into the next class and must go straight to the jail that is the same class all over again? No thank you. As a straight A student (almost, save for the damn the Spanish class that I got a B in THAT I DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO TAKE but thought would be fun (it wasn't)) I am used to working hard, but now the information is even more hard so I have to work harder and that is just too many hards in one sentence. No.

Me riding to orientation the first day, not realizing how cold it was, and me on my first day of lab wearing my pajamas scrubs.

// I made this for my bestie's birthday and lurve it.

// This is a reminder to myself to make time to work out during stressful weeks because it totally helps. It's so easy to just shut down when so many things are happening and going wrong and even easier to just sit on my couch reading Harry Potter or watching Netflix, but then I get sucked into the dark hole of doom that is so hard to crawl out of. Working out during bad times makes things so much more manageable and even though I love love love being physical, I still forget!

My post-workout smoothie after finally getting out of my funk.

// The color gold is growing on me bit by bit. But I still hate gold jewelry. I think. As I said, it may be growing on me.

// I managed to paint three whole walls in my kitchen before I started classes again, so that means my kitchen is half beautiful white and half ugly yellow off-white. I'll just stare at the wall that has this shelf and tell myself I'm satisfied for the next four months until summer break.

// Vince and I went on vacation to the beach in California. Hopefully more pictures will be posted to please your eyeballs soon. I of course took like half a million. Which reminds me that I never even posted pictures of my trip from August (?) that I took with my friend to a different part in California, so maybe you shouldn't get your hopes up.

// Food, food, and more food.

//The House of the Lord, if you are Mormon. Which I am not, but I still went and enjoyed the beauty.

// Homegrown eggs are so much cooler than store-bought, and not in a douchey 'I'm cooler than you' way. Just look at the print and texture on this egg! I wish I could raise my own little chickens instead of having to pay a guy here in town.

// In honor of my New Year's goal of enjoying life and doing exciting things, I climbed in the tree tops at Flagstaff Extreme Adventure Course. I was one of the 20% who are able to finish the course, and it was awesome. I used to think I was afraid of heights, but I was surprisingly not nervous so I guess I can't tell people I'm afraid anymore. I'm thinking it's because I have really bad depth perception and didn't actually realize how far up I was because when I look at pictures I'm like, 'HOLY SHIT, YOU ARE SO STUPIDLY HIGH WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WOMAN?!'

We also rode a new trail in a town we've never ridden in before, Prescott. The trail was all sorts of awesome and probably one of my most favorite trails, but it was so windy that my ears ended up hurting really bad. We'll go back soon, though!

Good god my genetics are fantastic, my teeth are perfectly straight and I never had braces. Now if only my smile could be straight.

// Baybee sitter 4 lyfe.

Bienvenidos

As some of your know, my family is huge and full of Mormons. Happy, loving, accepting Mormons. (I don't type that sarcastically, they really are. They are an amazing bunch.) My cousin Austin has been on a mission for the past two years in Mexico City and finally got home last weekend. He is one of my favorite cousins and not just because we have the same birthday! I headed down to Phoenix after work on Friday night, we made signs, and then bright and early Saturday those of us that were in town headed to the airport. We were all panicked getting there because his flight was coming in twenty minutes early, but we made it in time with an hour to spare.

We were waiting at the terminal his flight was coming into, and continued waiting, and waiting and waiting. After talking to a security officer a million times to make sure we didn't miss him, we all remembered he was coming in from out of the country, therefore he'd have to go through customs and come out of a different area! Luckily we hadn't missed him and the international doors was just around the corner.

Eventually we saw him walking down the hallway, we all got excited, AND HE STOPPED TO TALK TO THE PERSON HE FLEW WITH! I thought my aunt and cousin were going to loose it! It was so funny. He was just finishing up a conversation with them and wanted to do it before he was accosted by us after walking through the door.

When he walked through, we were very happy he made it safe and had survived two years in a city where he got shot at in a drive-by shooting and lived without headphones. He is a MAN now, not a young teenager like when he left! It's so crazy to see such a difference in him. He seems so happy and at peace and now his english has a spanish accent.

He went and hungout with his dad's side of the family for the afternoon, so the rest of us went back to my great aunts house to hangout. It was such a nice relaxing day with perfect weather, despite being in Phoenix. My great aunt has a wonderful house and I have so many fun memories of visiting as a kid!

I'm not going to tell you my aunts age in the above gif, but I'll say her son is 21 years old. And she can still do a round-off. Pretty badass if you ask me!

I ended up leaving late Saturday night and was sad to go, but so glad I had a chance to relax a little and hang around people I love. It's such a rejuvenating thing!

Saturday Love

||1||
Playing disc golf with the husband. Well, I walked with Roxanne and he played disc. I'm still recovering from a random stomach sickness I got yesterday!


||2|| 
The #whatshouldwecallnursing tumblr. If you've ever been around patients/patient care, most of these will make you laugh! This one about clipping a patients nails made me laugh extra hard because i was asked to do it for clinicals for my CNA class and I so didn't want to. (Luckily I didn't because he was at risk of diabetes which means we can't do it!) And this one as well. SO AWFUL. Oh, and this one. God darn it, just go read them all.

||3|| 
Pixar story rules. A Pixar story artist tweets some advice. Some are silly, but some can actually be helpful for a writer, like "#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later." I think Sara will appreciate some of these!


||4|| 
The Bed & Breakfast Vince and I will be staying at for a couple nights in Hood River on our road trip! My father-in-law and stepmother-in-law got us the place for our wedding present and we're super excited about it. I've never stayed in one (or anyplace so fancy) so it'll be fun. How could it not, given that they serve a 3-course breakfast?!

(I don't know if this is actually the room we'll be at, but it's one of the five rooms.)


||5|| 
Having an Otterbox cover for my iPhone. I ordered one when Vince ordered one and it's great. I dropped my phone on the trail today and it survived!


||6|| 
The woods. Vince and I were talking about how we're excited to live someplace with real greenery, not Flagstaff greenery, which is all the same green and brown because we don't have a wide variety of plants here, but I will miss it!



||7|| 
My brother Connor! He turned 19 on Friday!


||8|| 
Gossip Girl. I stopped watching it during Season 3 for some reason but started it again this week on Netflix. It's so cheesy and girly and Vince sits there and comments through the ENTIRE show when I watch it and he's home, but I'm addicted!


||9|| 
The hostel we'll be staying at in Seattle. (Sorry, you're probably sick of me talking about my road trip!) It's an art hostel so all the rooms have the walls painted differently by local artists. AMAZING.



||10|| 
This interesting article about a Mormon man who is openly gay, but is married to a woman and has children. 


||11|| 
This vlog that Patricia did. OH MY GOD, I just laughed so much.

What if I can't have a baby?

When I was a little girl, I used to love boy things. I would lay on the living room floor with my younger brother and random cousins that happened to be in town and we would play with matchbox cars. We'd make tracks out of paper, trade the sweet 'fast' cars back and forth, and try our damnedest to not get the crappy slow dump truck or crane.

One day, when I was 8 or 9, a switch flipped and I was in love with barbies. Like, obsessed. I know, 8 is a little old to start getting into barbies, right? But I loved them and loved doing their hair and playing in the tiny blow up pool for them. Barbies of course transitioned into baby dolls.

My grandma (who I was mainly living with in my baby doll phase) had the old Cabbage Patch Kids and we had a bald boy and a girl with red hair. I always loved the little boy and he was always my baby. I carried him around for a while, feeding him, burping him, ya know, regular baby stuff, until one day I was over it. I had moved on to the trampoline, coloring, and swimming at the ditch pool.

In church, a year or so later, one of the primary teachers was talking to us about kids. (The Mormons instill motherhood at an early age! Ha.) She was saying how one day we would all become mothers and fathers and that it was God's plan, etc, etc. The teacher asked us each a question, though I don't remember what it was, I just remember my answer: 'I don't think I can have kids.' The teacher asked me why I would say that, but I truly didn't have an answer, so I said, 'Because...' and moved on.

As I grew older and the idea of kids came up more and more in life I remembered what I said in church, and I still felt like that, like I don't think I could have kids. Not have kids in a parenting kind of way, but have kids in a physical way, like my body wouldn't be able to produce a kid. What kind of kid thinks they won't be able to have one?

I've talked many times about having kids and how I want them so so bad in the future, but there's still something inside me telling me that I can't have kids. It's a scary thought because almost everything I do in life is so that I can prepare myself to have kids. (Even though I'm not mormon anymore, it's a Mormon trait that's still deeply instilled in me!) I want to carry a little baby in my belly and feel it kick and move. I want to give birth to that little baby and feel it on my chest and feed it. That's what I want in life. But will I really be able to get it?

Vince and I have talked about what we would do if I couldn't have a kid or if he couldn't have one and even though we have the option to adopt, it terrifies me that I wouldn't be able to have one of my own. I feel like going and getting my eggs tested or something just to ease my mind!

Obviously I won't, and I'll just wait until the day when my husband and I are ready, but it's still a thought that goes through my head pretty frequently. I'm just hoping that it's me being paranoid because I want one so bad!

I've wanted to write this post for so long but it just seems too vulnerable in a way, so I haven't. BUT, now that I have a reason to for Pour Your Heart Out, I decided to link up! Lame excuse, but good enough for me to be fine writing about it! Haha.

Food Love: Ice Cream

So I'm pretty tired right now and not feeling as great as I could, so I'm going to repost a recipe. I posted this recipe way back when I first started my blog and had approximately 2 readers, so I figured most of you haven't read it! Even if you have, consider it a little reminder to try it out.

Ice Cream. Everyone loves it. Well, maybe not everyone, but mostly everyone.

Unfortunately, it's a huge ordeal for me to eat it. I tend to only consume organic milk ('normal' milk makes me sick-weeeird, I know) and I can't have sugar (or I'm a HUGE grump). Ya, ice cream with no sugar. I don't even know if you can buy that stuff, and if so, I'm pretty sure it's expensive; AKA not worth it. So.......I make my own!

I don't have room for an ice cream maker in my tiny apartment, so instead I found something even fancier...a grocery bag!

To start with, I poured 1 cup (organic) milk into a measuring cup, and added 1 tsp vanilla to it.

I then poured said milk/vanilla mixture into a Ziploc baggie. I used a freezer Ziploc because they seem to seal better, and I don't want milk seeping out. To that I added 1 teaspoon sugar and a 1/2 tablespoon cocoa, if I feel like chocolate ice cream. If I didn't want chocolate ice cream, I would have omit the cocoa. (Duh.) FYI: If you can eat sugar, it tastes best with 1 tablespoon sugar, as opposed to 1 tsp.

I then got 2 grocery bags, and put one inside of the other (so it's double layered). I put 2 cups of ice into the grocery bag along with 2 tablespoons rock salt. I added the Ziploc bag full of milk into the bag with the ice and then tied the inside grocery bag shut.



This is where it gets fun. And loud. Annnnnnnd very cold.

You have to have the bag in constant motion for the next 5 minutes by either bouncing it on your knee, hand, toes, floor, forehead...whatever works for you.

Side note: I used this recipe for my kids at the library where I work for a science experiment and it was SO noisy to have 50 (!) kids shaking grocery bags!

Anyways, after about five minutes, open the bags and see if the milk has turned more solid and into ice cream. It'll kind of be like the frosties from Wendy's. If it's not, add a little more rock salt and keep shaking away!

Now this next step is almost the most important part. I'm serious. Once the ice cream is frozen enough dry off the outside of your Ziploc bag with a paper towel before pouring the ice cream out. If you do not, your ice cream will taste SO SALTY from the dripping salt water, thus rendering all of your efforts unnecessary. Don't ask me how I know this. Just nod your head and say yes ma'am.



Now we get to the most important part: eat your home made ice cream that's actually good for you!

Food Love: Garlic and Spinach Quinoa

My first official Food Love post! To read more about what it is, click here.

This week the recipe is Garlic and Spinach Quinoa. As I said before, it is one of mine and Vince's favorite new meals and we plan on making it many times this summer!

I love how simple it is. You use a 2 pans, a knife, and a cutting board...that's it! It's also really quick to make and I always make enough for leftovers the next day!

I must admit that I am SO so incredibly lucky to be with a man who absolutely loves vegetables. I have many friends who have boyfriends or husbands who refuse to eat veggies, and I give them major credit for dealing with that. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to have to 'hide' veggies or have to hear a man complain about what is for dinner! I think it's amazing the lengths that some of these women go to to get their man to eat healthy foods, so kudos! While I love that my man likes veggies, I would also like one who will do dishes, but I guess that might be asking for too much...I can't have it all, right? Hehe.

So without further ado:

Garlic and Spinach Quinoa

Servings: 4           Prep Time: 15 minutes           Total Cook Time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked quinoa

4 cups vegetable, chicken or beef broth

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

10 baby carrots or 2 large ones, chopped

1 head of broccoli, chopped

1 piece of meat, chopped

salt and pepper

3 cups spinach

2 tablespoons minced garlic {5-10 cloves minces}

1 can black beans, drained

Step 1: Cook quinoa according to instructions on packaging, substituting the broth for water. I cook mine in my rice cooker and it comes out perfectly. 

*Did you know that it's actually really important to rinse quinoa before cooking? I didn't, until I read this article!*

Step 2: In a large pan {I use my cast iron} saute onion, broccoli, carrots and meat in olive oil over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, or until carrots are softened. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper, to your preference.

Step 3: One cup at a time, add spinach and cook until wilted. If your pan is large enough, you can add all three cups of spinach at on time. Add minced garlic and black beans and allow food to cook for 5-7 more minutes, until the black beans are heated thoroughly.

Step 4: Mix the cilantro into the cooked quinoa and then serve the veggie mixture over it!

Salutary Sunday

What did I make this week?

How about red velvet cupcakes and A BROKEN DOG. 

I'll first show you pictures of pretty cupcakes.

I made these cupcakes using the Red Velvet Cake recipe from the book The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook. This book is my absolute favorite baking cookbook. I don't think I've ever followed an exact recipe in the book, but for me they are all amazing starting points. 

Because I took it from the book, I can't repost the recipe online! But, I recommend you buy the book for 12 bucks or go to you local library, because they should definitely have this book. {And if they don't, put if a request for them to order it and they will!}

I used a cream cheese frosting and it's so delicious! I love the taste of cream cheese frosting. I know it's not for everyone, but mmmm!!! I love it. 

Here's the recipe I used to ice 24 cupcakes {and there was still a lot of icing left over...} :

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese - COLD

1/4 cup room temp butter {half stick}

2-3 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

food coloring if you want

Using my egg beaters, I blended the cream cheese and butter until it was creamy, and then added the food coloring and vanilla. One cup at a time, I slowly added the sugar until it was a consistency and flavor that I liked. I then used a piping bag and a spatula to spread the frosting onto my cupcakes.

And now for the Roxanne story...

Goodness, it seems that every time I am happy with how walks are going with Roxanne, she hurts herself! As I have told you before, Roxi and I have a love/hate relationship with walks. When she is on a leash and sees another dog, she goes ballistic. Her hair raises and she barks and growls. When she is off her leash, however, she's usually pretty good. She'll run up to the dog and sniff it and usually walk away from it. 

I, unlike Vince, hate letting her off the leash in the areas we walk her. I get so anxious that we will run into another dog or that we'll come across a runner who will get pissed off that she is in their way. I know that most of the time she is a great dog, but there's always that 'if' running through my mind!

Now that I've started running quite a bit, I've been taking her with me. I've been keeping her on leash since I usually run in the neighborhood, and she tends to 'get in the zone' with me. Even if she sees a dog, I have to just keep running and she gets over it pretty quickly. 

Today, I decided to run on a road that goes through the woods and I let her off the leash. She stayed surprisingly close to me most of the way. She tends to run off around the woods out of sight, and usually I'm ok with that. But she didn't today...until we were heading back home. She saw a rabbit and wanted to chase it!

Eventually she realized that she in fact could not get that rabbit and turned back towards me. I put her on the leash because we were getting close to the main road, and noticed she was walking a little funny. I looked to make sure she didn't have any cactus in her paws, but everything looked pretty good to me. When we get home, I give her the once over again and realize that her paw was bleeding! She had cracked her 'thumb' nail in half and that was the cause of the bleeding. {I was going to post a picture of it, but it looks pretty nasty!}

So, I called the emergency vet line because I wanted to make sure she wasn't supposed to lick it {which is of course what she was doing} and they said to put an old sock over it until I could bring her in tomorrow to get her nail clipped. They will probably have to give her antibiotics for it because it's so close to her paw. Hopefully she'll get better soon though to go on bike rides. 

Until tomorrow afternoon, we have a sockdog! 

{That middle one is my new favorite picture of her! Hahaha.}