2016.10.17 Three Things

Did you know we are in the 42nd week of the year? Where did time go? We only have 10 weeks left of 2016. Here are a few things I have been googling lately.

Breakfast 
I'm in need of new breakfast ideas. I like these ones:

Look at all the Seeds and Nuts!

Make breakfast for all week in 5 minutes?

I also still make Pantry Granola and love it! I'm just trying to cut down my dairy intake and the granola goes just so well with yogurt!

Pillows

It's the season to get cozy, so I have been searching high and low for pillows (aka. I have bought and returned over a dozen). These are my favs:

Love the design and the muted colours.

Shibori all day

Pattern and pink? Yes please. 

Come on Hmong

Ski Sweater Pillow

Winter Boots

Here I'm at a total loss. How many boots are too many? What do you look for in winter boots? What do you wear to work? I really like the following boots, but I'm not sure which one(s) are the most practical...

For getting around the city... and to work?

Are these considered winter boots? Mild winter boots maybe.

Snowshoeing Adventures?

Wedge Winter Boots? Are these allowed?

I can't decide if the fact that these are called pillow boots make up for the look?

Fall Goals

This fall I am feeling a sense of nostalgia mixed with urgency and denial. Nostalgia for the days of after work bike rides, sitting on my sunny porch, and getting my fingers dirty in the garden. An urgency to make the most of the last days with temperatures above freezing and sunlight past 5pm. Denial that another fall has come to pass and I feel none the wiser, like I have not grown since last year. 

Via Hiking Photography

As I watch the sun slowly cast an enchanting glow over the city as it falls behind the horizon, I can't help be feel a pang of sadness. An ache in my heart even the best ski videos cannot remedy. I envy those who love this season for all of its golden glory without a sense of foreshadowing.

This fall is definitely better than the August Angst I felt last year. In part because I got out and did a lot this summer. My summer goals focused my attention and allowed me to experience so many wonderful things! But also because I am trying to own it. Own these feelings of nostalgia and sadness and sit in them. Understand a bit of where they are coming from and try to be ok. Recognizing what works for me, what are healthy responses to these feelings. 

But it's easy to allow these feelings to pass without much thought. Soon it will be holiday season, and these feelings that swirl around will be swept away with the fall leaves. So I have decided to try three things to help me focus and try and catch some leaves while they are still in the air. 

1. Reflect - This means slowing down, allowing myself to just be, be alone, be with my feelings, be in the moment. Be alone without being lonely, feel without dwelling, be in the moment without planning for the next moment. To have faith that spending alone with my feelings will not result in a negative spiral out of control. That it will bring me closer to the person I want to be. 
2. Conquer Long-Standing To-Dos - This may seem like a simple task that doesn't deserve a spot on this list, but most of my to-dos remain undone because of my fear of failure. They are difficult tasks with no obvious solution, or method to execute. Thinking about them creates a sense of disappointment and pulls at the strings that are keeping my self-confidence blanket together. Before I unravel, I want to face them head on, and try my hardest to solve them. To look the fear of failure in the eye and at least try. To really believe that the only failure is to not try. The top three that nag at me are:
1. Complete my night side tables - One is half built, the other one remains under my couch, in pieces. Where it has been for 1.5 years. I ran into a problem that the copper pipes did not withstand the weight of my side table top. I've found a solution. I am just not sure it will work, or I will implement it correctly.



Ideal final product

2. Install my wood stove - I have owned the wood stove for over 6 months. It is clearly the season to install it (impending winter). I want to cozy up in front of a fire more than anything. But playing with fire is scary. Installation requires a lot of decisions. The method on how to install is ambiguous and likely very time consuming. I struggle with ambiguity and I don't have all the time in the world. 
3. Fix my sink and drawer - They work, but poorly. They bother me. Every time I think about them, I cringe. I worry about them, I am embarrassed. They aren't hard fixes, but they are wreaking havoc on my mind.  
3. Clean Out my House – This includes the basement, my computers, my mind and my soul. A clean house = a clean mind? Not only is this task something that I have been putting off, but it is also something that bothers me every.single.day. I discussed how organizing makes me happy almost a year ago! Having unaddressed clutter conflicts with my wholehearted desire to live streamlined. I have a theory that a streamlined life is a free life - one that allows me to do the things I love without the distractions or time consumption of stuff. Right now, my life is not even close. I pack it all away in the basement, hoping that out of sight equals out of mind. But that is never the case. The cobwebs that are collecting on my piles in my basement are also collecting in the baggage in my mind and soul. I need to physically and mentally / emotionally clear out and find what works for me.

Not a bad time to lay back and relax.

Paper Bag It

Initially I didn't make any New Year's resolutions. I am pretty happy with things and didn't think I needed to change anything drastically. Since then, I realize I was on drugs and there is always room for improvement!

I have made two resolutions. To read more, and to pack a lunch.

Lunches require a bit of planning. I know that if I don't make a delicious lunch, it will be hard to motivate me to not go buy a wonderful freshly made sandwich. I have been looking around the office and taking notes of any trends from people who regularly bring their lunch, and this is what I have come up with.

1. Left overs - this is by far the most popular lunch. Most of which are a one bowl type meals such as stirfrys, and pastas or rice.
2. Assembling lunch at work - Especially with salads and sandwiches, people bring the ingredients but assemble them at lunch. This is great for me since I love tomatoes in my sandwiches, but can't handle soggy bread!
3. Toasting the bread in your sandwich. I love this idea! BLT here I come!

I'll start the year off with a great recipe that I learned from James, and which is sure to make great lunch leftovers! (I just tried this last night and it was a smash hit! It wasn't as good as James' but it was a great start, and sitting in my lunch bag as we speak!)

Via Goodlife.Eats

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Roast at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes:
Zucchini
Red, green and yellow peppers
Tomatoes
Garlic
Onion
Mushrooms
Sun dried tomatoes in oil
Generous splash of oil from sun dried tomatoes

Cook pasta

With 10 minutes left add:
Spinach
Olives
Capers
Artichoke Hearts

When vegetables are done, mix pasta and vegetables.
Add fresh basil, and some white (or red or balsamic) vinegar.
Optional: add capers, Parmesan cheese and other fresh herbs (I used oregano)
Season with pepper (you probably won’t need salt because of the oil from the sun dried tomatoes.)

Via Fresh from the Oven

(I planned to take pictures of the miracle that is me cooking, but a- I was concentrating on the cooking too much and forgot and b- it really didn't look half as good as these ones I found here and here !)

2010 has begun?

Wow, where have the past few months gone? My monthly to-dos, ten loves, easy eco Mondays and any resemblance to a post have completely gone by the wayside... My apologies for anyone who checks here on a somewhat regular basis.


I can't even tell you what I have been up to for the past little while. I would like to say that work has consumed my life, but that is really not a valid response since everyone is super busy with work, and its not like I have been working 80 hour weeks! So what has taken up my time? Well, I have pretty much gone activity wild, going skiing, and hiking and cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing and and biking and swimming whenever I've had a free moment. The weather this winter has been so nice (warm) and sunny (!!) that I couldn't bare to say no!


It all caught up with me in January when I feel ill with a nasty little cold that wouldn't go away. I am just now recovering from it, feeling my energy levels rebound ever so slowly!

Anyway, enough with the excuses, onto better, more exciting topics! The first one of 2010? New Years Resolution. To read more. I came across this list of 100 great books from the BBC. Apparently most people have only read 6 of the 100 books. I don't think I am much above that, so if I were to try and tackle this list, are there any book suggestions? (I've place an x next to the books I have read)

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling x (1/2)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible –
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell x
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger x
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini x
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres x
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery xxxx
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan x
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel x
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon x
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x (I think I have...)
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Inferno - Dante
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker x
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom x
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare x
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl x
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


I've only read 18 (or possibly 16 and 1/2). I do have 4-5 books on my shelf from this list. I think I will start with those!


New Year's Resolution # 2 will come tomorrow!

10 loves

Keeping in positive mantra mode, I am starting a new series.

I'm going to list ten things I love about certain spaces. And I am going to start with this one....

I can't find the source... anyone?

1. The shoes - of course! I like that they are all different sizes, but they are all the same style.
2. I love the storage use of the shoes - and that they are above sitting nose level!
3. The wooden pencils. Does anyone use these anymore? I have a few that I just love. The hexagonal shape, amazing.
4. The tin used as a vase for the tulips.
5. The matte black chair. I like that the chair angles are the same as the desk, but the black adds a contrast. I also love that it's matte. It really looks like it absorbs the light instead of being reflective and drawing too much attention.
6. The sliver box. A little bling, but with straight lines a classic touch.
7. The wallpaper, so out of Africa... Love the texture too.
8. The drawer handles, a throw back to school days when our teachers had desks like this... I always wanted to peek in those drawers but never dared!
9. The desk legs, at an angle, narrow and attached on the outside. Feels so deconstructed.
10. The greenery and flowers, bring some life to your workspace.

Wow, that was too much fun. I love lists!