Friday Five

1. Being away from my desk

...I feel a bit drained because of it, but during monotonous weeks, I wish for ones like this. Monday was a holiday, Tuesday I was in the field, Wednesday I had meetings, Thursday we had a department picnic and today I'm going to Portland to help pick up furniture for our new office. Phew.

2. Dr. Dog

...And other music. Specifically Dr. Dog because he's playing with the Lumineers in Portland later this month, and Aaron got us tickets! So excited.

3. Tumblr

I finally added cute layouts to both of my tumblr blogs and updated the one I use for my original content

4. Rest

I haven't worked out much due to all the other business. We finally went to the climbing gym last night, and I really hit it hard, and I'm looking forward to a long run this weekend as well as an outdoor bouldering sesh if the weather holds up.

5. Fruit

It's a good feeling when you get to go to the grocery store again, after a week or so, and you have all kinds of fresh food again. Ah.

zucchini zucchini zucchini

I've been a bad blogger... But the truth is, not too much has been going on. I've been working, reading, exercising and mostly just keeping my head down, I suppose. We're planning a labor day trip to Washington for some bouldering (and eating out... maybe some hiking. MAYBE some Sound of Music watching ...if I'm lucky) -- we're leaving TOMORROW!

One interesting thing that has been going on is, well, zucchini. Our awesome next door neighbor was in Canada for awhile and told us to raid his garden while he was gone. We did, and this was our haul:

The eggplant was used up pretty quickly on some delicious pizza last week, leaving me with three GIANT zucchini. The largest one weighs 8.5 pounds and still hasn't been touched. The smallest one is gone, and we're well on our way to finishing up the second smaller one.

Everyone told me that when zucchini gets so big, it gets tough, but I haven't found that to be true of these guys. They're still pretty delicious. Here's what I've made so far.

•zucchini bread
My first time! I'm unimaginative with my quickbreads, and all I usually make is banana bread.

•zucchini pizzas
AKA: roasted zucchini topped with tomato sauce, cheese, Italian cheese blend and fresh tomatoes & basil from our garden

•zucchini potato soup
yup... Pretty self-explanatory

•zucchini & other veggie pasta
Probably my favorite thing with the zucchini so far. Was originally gonna be zucchini-mushroom with an alfredo-y sauce, but I just kept throwing veggies in: red pepper, tomato, onion ...and it turned out awesome topped with some goat cheese!

•roasted zucchini
A nice side dish for all of your fixins.

I imagine I'll make at least another loaf or two of zucchini bread ... zucchini fries ... planning some zucchini tostadas for when we're camping, but I'm running out of ideas! I'm also getting tired of zucchini in general, but it is perfectly good, delicious zucchini, so it seems like a shame not to use it up. I'm determined! One thing I'm considering is trying to recreate the most amazing vegan breakfast I had in Eugene awhile back...We'll see. Let me know if you have ideas. I'll see you next week. Hopefully with a lot of awesome photos!

Friday Five

•Early bedtimes
•Popsicles
•My running schedule
•Greek yogurt ...again.
•Charles Wright & Charles Simic ...the Charleses

Friday Five + banana bread

Last night was productive. I finally managed to use up the two cups of rice I cooked on Tuesday when our leftovers from last week finally ran out.

We've had Mujadra, Burrito bowls, and last night: pineapple fried rice. (the Forks over Knives recipe).

Before I started the fried rice I got some banana bread in the oven. It's been randomly cloudy and ...angry-looking outside for the last couple of days, and there's nothing more comforting. I use my momma's recipe.

• 3/4 cup butter or margarine – softened to room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups mashed very ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup milk
• 5 cups of flour
• 6 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup chopped pecan or walnuts – optional
• Pam

Spray loaf pans liberally with Pam.  Preheat oven to 350*.

Cream margarine and sugar together.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.  Stir in bananas and milk.

Mix dry ingredients together – and then stir into banana mixture.  Mix only until dry ingredients are mixed in.  Do not over mix or the banana bread will be “tough.”  Stir in nuts if desired.  Pour equal portions into pre-Pammed loaf pans.  Bake for about 1 hour at 350* until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Anyway, here's some stuff I've been enjoying this week:

•English breakfast tea
•greek yogurt & berries
•meal planning, baking
•banana bread
•rewatching Laura Vitale videos...

There's a fat kid inside of me begging to get out...

Friday Five

•bike commuting
•fruits & veggies
•straight hair
•box fans
•library books

It's been a crazy week. Work was hectic until Wednesday, and I was still trying to get the house and everything in order. Last night, Aaron's mom and aunts made it into town. So I guess we're signed up for a weekend of family fun. I'll let you know.

Friday Five

•mid-week holidays
•raw Tuesdays (more later)
•pie
•parades
•braids (unwashed hair)

Lists

Bonus lists for you lovely people on this lovely Friday. Just things that have been on my mind...

FRIDAY FIVE
•Dexter season 7
•Unseasonable pumpkin
•Mexican food
•Laughing (I just laughed a lot this week)
•bahama mama (nail polish, not the drink!)

THINGS TO DO THIS SUMMER:
•kayak and hike at Beaver Creek
•climb at Wolf Rock (THIS WEEKEND!)
•hike at Crater Lake
•see the sand dunes in Florence
•ironically enjoy the Enchanted Forest amusement park
•hike South Sister (August)
•visit Mt. Rainier
•visit Mt. St. Helens
•visit Olympic National Park
•boulder at Leavenworth, WA
•be touristy in Seattle
•move into our new house in Corvallis! (late July/August)

TRAVEL BUCKET LIST
•Ten Sleep, Wyoming (climbing)
•The last three states I haven't been to: Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont
•Niagraa falls
•Vancouver ...and drive across western Canada
•Prince Edward Island
•More national Parks ...especially Acadia
•Cabo
•Brazil for the 2014 World Cup
•Patagonia
•Australia & New Zealand
•Nepal
•India (preferably for a yoga retreat)
•Hong Kong
•Norway - where my ancestors came from
•Major cities in Sweden, Finland & Denmark
•South of France / Fountainbeau
•Berlin
•Barcelona
•Lisbon
•Krakow/Warsaw
•Prague
•Greek islands
•Croatian beaches
•Sarajevo
•Istanbul
•Egypt - the pyramids
•South Africa - Rocklands
•Disney ...any park. Somehow I just missed doing this as a kid.

Friday Five

•Belgians
•The Babysitters Club on Netflix
•"Don't stop till we hit the ocean!"
•My new Outdoor Research rain jacket
•The Head & the Heart

Friday Five

1. The Bling Ring
2. gray t-shirt
3. beach-blue nail polish
4. peaches
5. weekend dreaming

Friday Five

•strawberries
•yogurt
•surprises
•sundresses
•a sense of place

P.S.: We're sticking around town this weekend, and hopefully having a few fun adventures. Stay tuned.

Friday Five (w/ bonus pizza pictures!)

•Indian food
•Ice cream
•"Good morning sunshine"
•Video editing (more of a love-hate)
•House hunting

For the past few Fridays, we've been having homemade pizza. That little tradition ends tonight, though, because tomorrow is Aaron's birthday, and tomorrow, we will journey to Smith Rock again. But, tonight, we will go out for a nice birthday dinner. In memoriam, here are some glamor shots of last week's pizza before it was devoured.

Yum.

Friday Five

•New recipes
•Arrested Development reruns (aren't we all?)
•graduating
•gym climbing
•secrets & surprises

Friday Five

•orange juice
•bluegrass
•Parks & Rec
•red peppers
•Books about climbing (but due to sickness, not actually climbing)

Friday Five

•lunches out
•nonfiction
•staying up late
•cheese
•Anne Bronte

Friday Five

Regrettably, I spent most of this week sitting in a windowless room 'learning' things about Drupal. I'm glad it's over, and I can't wait to see what the weekend brings. In the meantime, I did have time to enjoy these things throughout the week:

1. Weeds
2. Animal prints like this one
3. Makeup
4. Italian food
5. Oregon Authors

Friday Five

I didn't mean to slack on updating this week, but it has been so busy! I'll be posting about those adventures in the next several days, but for now, here are five things I've been enjoying this week:

1. public transportation
2. not sleeping in
3. The River Monks
4. mushrooms
5. graham crackers

Friday Five

1. yarn
2. ropes
3. forks (over knives)
4. sleeping in
5. finishing taxes - relief

Friday Five

Happy Friday! I hope it was great for everyone, and I hope you have just the kind of Friday night you're hoping for. After a SECOND, exhuausting week, I'll be relaxing at home before another fun weekend adventure. I feel bad about my lack of blog posts, at the same time, I don't feel that there's an abundance of things to share at the moment, because while everything here is new and exciting for me, it's going to take a while to figure out what's exciting because it's new, and what's really exciting.

Regardless, here are five things I'm enjoying this Friday:

1. Brew Pubs! 2. Climbing inside! 3. Public transportation 4. Sunny afternoons 5. Dean Young

Since we last spoke...

I have:

•cooked more veggies, including butternut squash risotto & fried rice with peppers & lots and lots of cookies
•taken more walks & gone for more runs
•explored our little city's downtown
•finished the West Wing (so sad it's "over")
•watched Silver Linings Playbook
•Started my JOB!

My trip to Oregon

My trip to Oregon was full of:

•Getting in late
•Lots of late-night tea
•An exhausting day in Corvallis
•Thin Mints
•Dessert 7-layer Dip
•Veggie Burgers
•Salad
•Smoothies
•Boot camp (I'm still sore)
•A trip to the home brew store
•Beer
•A pretty cute baby
•Very good friends
•Granola
•Magazines
•Books
•Discovering Vine
•Being sad to leave
•Being excited to be back soon