Pep Talk From Kid President
So this is the firs thing I came across this morning while checking my email, and boy did it make my day right off the bat. Both hilarious and so very true, also made me think a little more about some things that have been on my mind lately.
BE AWESOME, I hear this all the time being in the gym, but sometimes it is hard to determine what awesome is for any given day. Awesome one day might be the absolute worse on another day. Sometimes you have days where you feel like you can conquer the world and others where you can barely get out of bed. Days when you succeed at your goals and days where you fail….horribly. When I think more about it, being awesome isn’t necessarily being the absolute best all day every day, it is striving to live better and follow through with the choices you make and the goals you set. Being awesome is not making excuses when you miss-step but owning up to your mistakes, and getting back on track as quickly as you can. It’s not being boring, because like kid president says, anyone can be boring! It’s getting out there, setting goals, and keep going keep going keep going….
Sometimes it’s hard to keep at your goals, but if it is something you really want then you can’t make excuses for it. I use the excuse all the time that I am to busy to do this, to busy to do that…but in all truth I could make time, make different decisions, and then I wouldn’t have to make excuses for why I am not doing the things I really want to do.
The other day I came across a blog that followed a girl who decided to make a 30 before 30 list and write about her adventures. I thought that was a great idea so I sat down and made my own list. It helps sometimes to put your goals down on paper, that way you feel more accountable for them. They are out in the world and not just in your head. The things on my list aren’t all big, some may seem insignificant, but keeping a list around and being able to cross things off, will help motivate me and keep me on track towards accomplishing the things I want to in life.
1. Leave the country again (Canada & Mexico don’t count!)
2. Write a cookbook/organize my recipes
3. Write letters to old friends
4. Take workshops (photography / InDesign / Illustrator / Photoshop)
5. Climb Mount Rainier
6. Compete in a xfit competition
7. Save Money / Build Credit
8. Go to New York / Broadway Show
9. Go to the Opera
10. Read the “Brothers Karamazov”
11. Start learning Italian
12. Get back into printmaking
13. Make beer
14. Build something
15. Learn to sew
16. Make a short film
17. Run a 1/2 marathon
18. Go fishing
19. Do a strict pull-up
20. Do Yoga
21. Go on a bicycle trip
22. Go Spelunking
23. Hike another section of the PCT
24. Go to burning man
25. Go on the classic American road trip
26. Learn to drive a motorcycle
27. Ride in a hot air balloon
28. Volunteer my time
29. Go hunting / learn to shoot a gun
30. Put together an art show, solo or collaborative
What are some of the things you want to do in life but haven’t yet done? Keep at it, and if you get down, just remember what that dude Journey said, “don’t stop believing, unless your dream is stupid, then you should get a better dream…” get a better dream and keep going, keep going, and keep going.
Thanks Kid President, you made my day.
Wenatchee Ridge Snowshoe Trek
This weekend we headed out to Lake Wenatchee for some winter fun and the Super Bowl at Headwaters Pub & Pizza. Despite the lack of new snow, which made our snow shoe / skinning adventure less than epic, it was still a beautiful day for a walk in the woods. We started out at a service road near the Little Wenatchee and walked along the river for about 2 miles before we started up the ridge. Since we got a late start we didn’t go all the way to the top, but did make our way down to the river for a picnic lunch in the sun before making our way back to the cabin. Then it was on to watch the Super Bowl at our favorite local Lake Wenatchee Pub, The Headwaters. Go Ravens! Overall a nice weekend out in the woods.
Something Pretty
Just wanted to share something pretty today!
Hope everyone is getting along nicely this week!
Zucchini Ribbon Salad – With Some Modifications of Course!
It is amusing to me, even the most delicious looking recipes from the most renowned chefs, I can’t help but add a little of my own flair. I think I love cooking so much because there is so much room to experiment and explore new tastes. This is a recipe I found on Pinterest, which looked awesome to begin with, but I think was even better with…wait for it….”A Little Something Sweetin!” Yes I am cheesy, you know you had a little chuckle 😉
I also added some fresh tomato to it. Didn’t add it this time, but I think avocado would also be really good in this.
I think next time I will add some chopped chicken breast to make it a bit more of a meal. Though as is it would be a great side dish to any meal, especially if you are getting tired of the standard side salads.
Homemade Pickled Beets with Red Onions!
Just to start, I LOVE pickled beets, they are delicious! However it seems a little silly to spend so much money on buying jar of them when I get more beets than I know what to do with in my weekly produce order. So yesterday I decided to try and make them myself. I’ve never delved into the work of home pickling, but I found a recipe that seemed simple enough, and with a little research I elaborated on it slightly for my experiment. The baseline recipe that I used was from Alton Brown but I veered away when it came to making the “brining” mixture, I wanted it to be a little more savory.
Ingredients:
6 medium beets
2 large shallots, peeled and sliced
2 sprigs rosemary
2 tsp olive oil
1 large red onion, frenched
1 cup tarragon white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tbs whole mustard seeds
1 tbs whole coriander seeds
1-inch piece of peeled sliced ginger
1 tbs red pepper flakes
1 tsp whole pepper corns
2 bay leaves
1 small cinnamon stick
1 tsp allspice
Directions:
In bowl toss beets (ends removed) with shallots, rosemary, and olive oil. Wrap in foil and bake @ 400 degrees for about 1 hour or until tender. The Alton Brown recipe said to peel once they are cooked, but that wasn’t happening for me so I just sliced thin and took as much of the peel off as possible.
Arrange sliced beets and onions, alternating layers, in a 1-quart jar.
In a small pot boil the remaining ingredients and pour over the beets.
Tightly lid the jar and place in the refrigerator for 3-7 days before serving.
I am anxiously waiting to try these! They look delicious in the jar, it will be hard to wait until next week to try them!
This was my little Spec patiently waiting for the beets to cook 🙂
It’s the new year….yeah I know I’m a bit late on this one.
Despite my horrible lack of keeping up my blog at the start of 2013, I have actually been keeping quite busy with my personal projects lately. Despite having to fight off the inevitable winter cold, where I plowed through two seasons of the X-Files in just over a week, I’ve managed to keep up with sober January, get back on track with my Paleo lifestyle, and make a lot of progress on organizing the “new” apartment, including my art / sewing room.
First and formost, since I love food so much I wanted to share my new discovery from, http://www.crossfitfrederick.com, Paleo Banan Walnut Muffins! Wooohoo. I had some bananas that were about to go, so naturally the perfect thing to do would be to make banana bread….only problem is I am trying to stick to the “gluten / grain / sugar free Paleo thing”…so what do I do? Gogo gadget internet search, and this is the recipe I found. Super easy and absolutely delicious!
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup walnuts (chopped)
Wet Ingredients:
2-3 over-ripe bananas
1 tbsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/3 cup honey
3 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp almond butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place walnuts on baking sheet, and put in the over to roast. Be careful not to burn!
Mash bananas into a liquid. Mix in honey and almond butter.
Beat eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add to banana mixture.
In separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients, including toasted walnuts.
Mix wet and dry ingredients.
Spoon batter into lined muffin cups (I used the silicon muffin cups on a cookie sheet).
Bake 15-20 minutes.
ENJOY!
I have been wanting to start a little indoor herb garden for months and months, but per usual haven’t gotten around to it. However, as my goal for the year is to make a bigger effort to do personal projects, I planted my little seedlings this weekend. Now we will see how green my thumb is, and if I can prevent Spec from knocking them off the window sill, plunging them to their certain and inevitable death.
Basil, Oregano, and Sage
I also got some very pretty flowers at Metropolitan Market today to give a hint of color around the house, I love the little red vase, it has been sitting around waiting for the perfect use!
If these start to thrive, I’d like to add more to the mix, maybe some rosemary, thyme, chives, and cilantro. I can’t wait for the day that I have a yard and can grow my own vegetables! I remember when I was a kid, my dad had a garden and it was so cool to see all the fresh veggies grow. Plus everything tastes so much better when it is plucked fresh from the ground.
Over the holidays and my week long vacation after new years, I not only got some much needed rest and relaxation, but I also got to sit and tear through some reading! I love reading so much and I have been severely lacking in my literary intake recently. I managed to finish “Catch-22″ & “Wild” which were both absolutely delightful. Catch-22 has been on my “to-read” list for years, it is a very unique commentary on the idiosyncrasies of military life and the characters involved. The sheer absurdity and humor of the book made it a quick and interesting read, but it also has a very dark underlying theme that naturally comes with stories about war. I would highly recommend it.
“Wild” was a book I came across while Christmas shopping at REI. It follows the life of a young woman after the death of her mother. It outlines the tragic end to her marriage, her involvement in hard drugs, and her ultimate fall to the bottom of the barrel. She hits rock bottom and knows that she has to do something about it, when she comes across a guidebook to the PCT. Never in her life had she been a backpacker or mountaineer, but she chose to sell all her belongings and venture to the mountains to find what she had lost and put back together the pieces of a broken life. It tells the story of her hardships on the trail and her ultimate success in finding something that she never thought possible. “Wild” is an incredibly engaging read and very rewarding, you find yourself rooting for her throughout the whole book!
In the works now are two books, one that I’ve read bits and pieces of before and another that has been on my shelf for a few years. “100 Love Sonnets” by Pablo Naruda and “Trout Fishing in America” by Richard Brautigan. Naruda’s poems are so lovely I can’t help but love them. I haven’t read much poetry since graduating college, but it is time to dig back into some of the good stuff. I have never read Brautigan before but have had him in mind since a trip to Pittsburgh by Sophomore year of high school, where my friend Laura recommended him to me. So far he seems to be in the vein of frontier early America, simple living, almost a Huck Finn-esqu. Though I’m only a few pages in at this point. I am really enjoying the style of his writing. which is a series of short vignettes and poetry-like entries that comprise the larger story.
Up next will be a blog on the progress of my new studio /spare bedroom! Thanks for sticking around!
Cheers 🙂
Just a Few Things
Recently I’ve been dabbling a lot more with Illustrator, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it! I got started when a friend of mine asked if I would want to help him design a brand for his upcoming LLC (stay tuned I will probably be writing more about it as it develops!). It gave me a chance to brush up on my skills and actually work on some designing! It has been a long time since I’ve done anything very creative unfortunately. Not posting any logo stuff yet, but here are a few other little things that I’ve been messing around with.
Enjoy!
Polka Dots!
Cool Looking Animation
Found this little gem on bombsfall.com check out some of their other stuff it’s pretty rad.
Update – Tough Mudder – CHECK!
A while back I had posted that I was going to sign up for the Tough Mudder race here in Seattle. Even at the time my palms got a bit sweaty and it took more effort than I expected to just click the submit button on my registration for. But I did, I submitted my registration. This was way back in January or February, so just like me I got busy and was in LA on production for three months, yada yada…it was the furthest thing from my mind. Well, September rolled around and I got an email with all the race day information, and holy cow, I had two weeks till this epic race…………..Needless to say I was really nervous, like nervous to the point I wasn’t sure if I’d follow through with it. I wasn’t incredibly worried about being so out of shape I wouldn’t finish, I train pretty hard on a regular basis in crossfit and supplement with the occasional running. But this was the Tough Mudder…THE TOUGH MUDDER! Just looking at the website made my skin crawl a little, with the electro shock therapy….and the electroshock therapy……I mean this thing just looked insane. Most of my team dropped out, so that didn’t help the nerves one little but, but three of us ladies stuck to it. We decided that we were determined to overcome the fear of this beast and finish it in one piece. The day came and donned in our head to toe pink, we drove out to Black Diamond, nervously strategizing about our plan of attack. When we arrived we got our numbers and took our places at the starting line, a little in disbelief that we were actually standing there. The starting siren blared and we were off, charging in a pack with over 100 people cheering and yelling alongside us, and you know what, the nerves were gone. We were in it and I couldn’t wait to see what was in store. It was crazy, I went from being a ball of nerves one second to feeling like I could conquer the world the next. And boy did we kill it, all three of us had the time of our lives. Covered in mud from head to toe after the firs 5 minutes, we were all energy and enthusiasm. The minute we crossed that finish line (3 hours later) it was almost surreal that it had all happened. It will forever be one of my most amazing memories, all three (actually four, we picked up a team mate along the way) of us threw our arms around each other celebrating, it was a HUGE victory for all of us. Every one of us overcame one fear or another, whether it had been heights, electricity, distance, something else or a combination of multiple. We all finished together and in higher spirits than when we started. We had conquered the Tough Mudder and it had felt great. To be honest, I ended up loving it so much I might do it again next year!
Hi I'm Chelsea! I like a little of this and a little of that. Hope you enjoy this peek into my world!
A Little Something Sweetin 
