5 Month Trail- iversary

Last weekend marked 5 months since we've been back from the trail- meaning I've been back from the AT longer than I was on it. The past couple weeks, I've been missing the trail a lot. Countless times each day I have random unexpected flashbacks and memories to specific moments. Climbing Mousilake in the Whites in the fog and mist. Finding trail magic of muffins and gatorade in a cooler on the trail in PA.  Hitchhiking in the pouring rain in Damascus. Counting miles and planning our next day in the tent each night. I don't miss the grueling day in and day out feeling of thru hiking, but I miss the overall experience and going to bed exhausted but accomplished every day.

I rediscovered that I have several unfinished blog drafts that I intended on posting- posts about food, lessons learned, clothing, etc. A year ago when I was preparing to hike, blog posts like these from seasoned thru hikers were super helpful and I love the idea of helping someone else planning their thru. But now that I've been back for so long, it feels a little overly sentimental and annoying to keep bringing the AT up.

We get it Mackenzie, you hiked a bunch of miles in the woods all summer and ate a lot and never showered. Talk about something else now.

Agh, I try. But I can't stop!

So I'm going to continue to post a few things, and I'm already putting out a huge disclaimer that I know I'm redundant and annoyingly obsessed with the AT and blah blah blah. I gave the blog a little facelift and added "AT Thru Hike Information" tab where I've linked to some of our posts, some websites and forums, and what I'm most excited about: a list of 2013 thru hiker blogs. It will be so fun to relive our experience through theirs.

Three cheers for the Appalachian Trail!

Tortellini with Spinach and Tomatoes by Cooking Light

This recipe had been sitting in my queue for a while when, miraculously in the middle of November, cherry tomatoes were a good price at Aldi. I think they were .89 for a pint, normally not anything to scream about during tomato season, but in the winter? Love it. Pair this with a bag of tortellini that had been in the freezer waiting for such an opportunity and we had the makings of a delish evening.

I am definitely not a cooking expert. But looking at the seasoning list- garlic, red pepper, basil, and salt- I thought maybe it maybe it would be lacking in flavor. Not so. Even without fresh basil, these four spices, with the help of the chicken broth, were fantastic.

Tortellini with Spinach and Tomatoes by Cooking Light

Ingredients

1 (9 ounce) package fresh three-cheese tortellini

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic [or a couple of cloves]

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil [or dried, if you don't have fresh]
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (6 ounce) package fresh baby spinach [or several handfuls]

Directions 

1. Cook tortellini according to package directions
2. While tortellini cooks, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and red pepper; sauté 30 seconds.
3. Add tomatoes, broth, basil, salt, and baby spinach to pan; cook 2 minutes or until baby spinach wilts. Stir in tortellini; cook 1 minute.

I love spinach, and you will too after seeing this infogram. But sauteing it like seen here kind of gets to me.... like seaweed. My new thing when adding spinach to dishes like this is to snip the spinach leaves with kitchen shears, like you would basil or cilantro. Then you have the color and nutrients of spinach without the wilty clumps.

Don't have tortellini? Use ravioli! Or penne! Or whatever, it'll be delicious.

Click to see savings

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil [or dried, if necessary]

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach [the more the better!]

Directions

1. Cook tortellini according to package directions.

2. While tortellini cooks, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and red pepper; sauté 30 seconds.

3. Add tomatoes, broth, basil, salt, and baby spinach to pan; cook 2 minutes or until baby spinach wilts. Stir in tortellini; cook 1 minute.

As much as I love spinach, there is something that gets me with the wilted texture. It reminds me of seaweed. To combat this, instead of throwing in handfuls of leaves as is, I snip them with kitchen shears into thin strips and chunks. Nothing scientific about it, I just whack at the handful as you would snip basil or cilantro. Then you can enjoy the nutritional benefit of all that green stuff without the wilty seaweed feel.

December, briefly

 I hate the cliche of "Where did the month go?"

But. I haven't posted anything since Thanksgiving. And December, being one of the best months of the year, was left undocumented. So, here are some bullet points of the last month of 2012.

- We went to some work Christmas parties

- Beau surprised me with a Garmin running watch for Christmas!

- I surprised him with a wrecked car, providing an opportunity for me to give him a great Christmas present of a new one. We now have twinner Hyundais. Good thing they are different colors. I know if I've gotten in the wrong car when I see the gear shift and realize I can't drive a manual.

- Don't worry, it wasn't a bad accident.  I swear, I JUST LOOKED DOWN FOR A SECOND and then this parked car just appeared out of no where and then I'm massively sideswiping the poor car and blowing out a tire and careening across the road. It's not hard to total a car when it's worth about $1,000. And, apparently, axles cost that much.

- Beau worked really hard all semester and during finals week and did super well in his classes. 1 semester down..... a bunch more to go!

-We got to spend almost a week in Colorado with Beau's family for Christmas. We love our relaxing unscheduled days there! Beau plays basketball and raquetball, I go for long runs, we walk the dog, play with nieces and nephews, and play games with the family. Lovely.

- We babysat for a family over the weekend. Kids this age are fun.

- Speaking of kids this age, we accepted callings in the ward to teach the CTR 7 class! We had our first class today and are excited to have the group of kids that are getting baptized this year.

- We like our apartment in Manassas and are settling in well. Does someone want to come and decorate for me? I'm getting lazy. I still have a Thanksgiving print on the mantle. Next to the Merry Christmas sign. And across the room from the empty picture frame leaning against the wall.

- To try to combat the picture I'm painting for you of my domestic prowess, I am loving cooking lately. I don't know what it is, exactly, but I just get to excited to make dinner. My "main dish" board on Pinterest is pretty rockin. Would it be weird, friends, if I started posting my favorite recipe of the week? I just get so psyched about recipes and I would love for someone else to share in that joy.

And there you have it. See you in another few weeks.

Weekend of Giving Thanks

It was kind of ridiculous how much I was looking forward to Thanksgiving break.  It's not like we were really doing anything or going anywhere- but that's my favorite kind of holiday! Sometimes when we travel for a holiday weekend, we get back and think, "Where did my break go?" I loved being able to stay home and get things done.

A few weeks ago, a friend at work had a customer putting on a turkey trot in Arlington ask if anyone wanted a free entry. Lucky for me, I am one of the only runners at my office. Normally I pick a few big races per year to pay for, so doing a local 5k was super fun! I had a secret goal to beat 23 minutes. I'm not really sure how I came up with that goal; I only knew I had to run really fast. And I did! My time was 22:45, definitely a PR for me. And get this- I was 5th in the 20-29 age division.

Beau is used to waiting during races. He likes 5ks. 20 minutes is a lot more bearable than a two hours!

Afterwards, we went down town to continue trotting... or cycling, in Beau's case. I looped around the very empty mall and Beau explored on his bike a little.

this cute group on the right was doing family pictures

the Vietnam Memorial is probably my favorite

Thanksgiving dinner was at the Tagg's (not the same without Gram), and afterwards, Beau and I got to do some target practice with Tyler!

Let's be honest here. I wasn't really aiming for the target. I just thought it was really cool to shoot a handgun.

Friday the fam went for a little day hike on the AT.

The girls were troopers, completing their first real hike of about 6 miles.  They had a lot of fun playing in the shelter we went to for lunch. Soren loved his first trail experience. AT Class of 2033!

Seriously though, this kid was born while we were summitting Katahdin. It's meant to be.

 

I just love this picture of Adriel and Beau. They're buds.

 

 We <3 the Appalachian Trail!

Too bad I didn't take any pictures at our game night that evening... just imagine 3 babes and a bunch of adults playing games and snacking on holiday treats. It was great.

One last photo of the weekend. I went on a long run Saturday morning in Manassas- something I've been avoiding because I don't know my way around yet or any good routes. I planned my route via mapmyrun.com, but it was actually a couple miles longer than I was anticipating. When I got home and looked in the mirror, I just had to laugh at my completely disheveled appearance. It was windy and I was tired, okay??

Phone Files

In general chronological order, some shtuff from our phones:

Did I ever tell you about the time I kayaked to a job interview? No? Well I did.

Baby train! Gram's latest progeny at the funeral

A napping Soren

Gram's seven children

Saturday morning hair session

my second favorite trail

unicorn & baseball player at the ward Halloween party

Tru Tru!

Reagan's Halloween costume.... me!

Anna with a baby inside her tummy

Now that baby is out of her tummy, and in my arms.

I finally get to use my best thrift store find ever! I got this set for $10 a couple years ago and it's been in storage ever since.

Broccoli playing in my sleeping bag. Within 30 minutes she had an itchy rash on her face. Down allergy? Something from the woods? Who knows.

The Who! at the Verizon center

pinball wizards

May your long weekend be filled with cycling, nieces and nephews, the AT, anything that can be made with pumpkin, Wii Just Dance, sweet potatoes, Turkey Trots, and Hulu.

Reasons to Hike the Appalachian Trail

Reminder: ZonePerfect giveaway is still open! Ends Monday at midnight, so get your entries in now!

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 I won't even begin to point out how many errors there are on this map, but here's a neat infogram:




Anyone want to take a stab at how many things are incorrect? :)

ZonePerfect nutrition bar giveaway! (closes 11/12)

Through cycling and hiking, I've ended up trying SO many brands of nutrition bars.  One of my favorites, and Beau's too, are bars from ZonePerfect.  For resupplies, we were always happy when we could find these on sale at the grocery stores.  Beau was known to only get bars that were mint chocolate flavored, and he loved ZonePerfect's Chocolate Mint.

My favorite is the "dark" variety- Double Dark Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Strawberry.  In fact, the first time I had a ZonePerfect bar was when I was on a short overnight hike with my mom.  We shared a Dark Chocolate bar and were marveling at how good it was, and not good "for being a nutrition bar", but actually good good. With no qualifiers. With close to 200 calories and around 12 grams of protein, they're perfect for energy snacks while you're hiking (or cycling... skiing... running... and other -ings) or as a sweet afternoon snack that will keep you full until dinner time.

I'm super excited that ZonePerfect will give away sample boxes of the Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Cashew Pretzel flavors to a reader.  Use the Raffle-copter widget below for two chances at entering the contest through commenting and "liking" the ZonePerfect page on Facebook. Giveaway closes midnight on Monday the 12th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

and, of course, while ZonePerfect has agreed to provide giveaway product, all opinions are my own