It's not August yet...

so this is my last chance to get a July posting in.  It is summer.  Life is good.  Full of swims in the river, eating raspberries, making homemade ice cream, BBQing with friends, weeding the garden and good ol' work.  Yep, even work is better in the summer, at least the parts when I'm outside in the dunes.

Last weekend I got to work at the Lanphere Dunes, known as the most pristine dune ecosystem on the Pacific Northwest coast.  It was a glorious day, starting with a walk through the dune forest.  I had a hard time keeping up as I couldn't resist picking the ginormous huckleberries growing along the trail.  As we hiked up out of the forest onto an open dune sheet I was met with the sweet, sweet smell of yellow sand verbena in bloom.

We headed out to work on the foredunes where beach buckwheat blooms (the pink ones) were plentiful.  It was foggy for a good portion of the morning but the sun came out by the end to offer a brilliant view of the north coast.  I love the dunes!

It was difficult to leave the beach on such a sunny day but at least I had more huckleberries to look forward to on the hike back.

Another trip to Roswell...

means another trip to the UFO Museum and Research Center.

Visiting my Grandma in Roswell, NM has always meant going to the UFO Museum.  What else is there to do in Roswell?  Absolutely nothing (almost> but that's another post).  Plainly said, I think the Museum is absolutely lame.  I mean, it is BAD.  It mainly consists of a bunch of framed newspaper articles displayed on walls.  Why then did I go again?  Like I said, what else is there to do?

Also, I've never taken photos.  This trip I took a lot more photos inside and outside the museum to give you a taste of the alien invasion of Roswell.  The number of photos is also another indicator of how bored I was.

Back when they called me Emy...

I once had a friend, Chris, who lived across the street from me.  And so did his little brother Shawn.  Chris and Shawn were my first ever friends.  We spent a lot of time playing in the yard and keeping ourselves entertained with whatever we could find.  We also enjoyed playing with He-Man and She-Ra action figures and saying, "I am Skeletor!"

Then, when I was about five and half I got my first lesson that all things in life change, when Chris and his family up and moved far, far, away.  My mom and I would take weekend trips to visit them for a few years but then they moved even farther away.  My only tie to Chris was via the letters we wrote to each other which continued through our high school days, but eventually that connection was lost.

And then a few months back I was on Facebook and decided to try and find Chris.  Sure enough, there he was with his wife and three kids.  What a great re-connect.  Next thing I knew his mother was contacting me to invite me to Chris's graduation celebration in Chico.  That's right.  Somehow Chris and his brother Shawn had both ended up back in Chico.  

The kicker is that Chris did not know that I was going to be at his party.  I was definitely nervous to show up considering we hadn't spoken since we were maybe 7 or 8 years old but I was also very excited.  It was really great to see Chris, Shawn, and his family again as well as meet newer additions to the family.  This is definitely one of those unexplainable connections in my life that just doesn't want to be severed.  I mean, seriously... what an amazing, crazy world we live in.   

Interesting to note that our order in heights reversed since childhood.

Kale Chips...

They MELT in your mouth!

I've seen several recipes for kale chips while perusing my favorite recipe blogs, which usually happen to be healthy, sugar free, gluten free kind of blogs. Anyways, the kale chips just did not sound appealing. How could tough, hard kale turn into this nice crisp chip that can easily be chewed and swallowed?

Well, as soon as I placed my first kale chip into my mouth my eyes popped at the intense burst of pleasure it brought to my taste buds. The chip really did melt in my mouth.! The flavor was reminiscent of eating a french fry and I had more chips in hand ready to scarf down before I had a chance to swallow the first chip. Like potato chips, these things are addicting. Once you eat one you just can't stop.

These kale chips are the best thing that I've discovered in a long time. I've been making many batches and sharing them with co-workers, neighbors and friends. I want everyone to experience the joy of kale chips. So I'm posting the recipe I use.

1 bunch of kale
1 lemon
2 Tbsp olive oil (give or take) it really doesn't take much though
sea salt

Trim kale and rip into chip-sized pieces. The ‘chips’ shrink slightly in the oven so I make them a little bigger. In a large bowl drizzle the olive oil, squeeze the lemon and sprinkle the sea salt. Use your hands to really mix it all up and coat the kale.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place kale on baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes at 350' or until kale is crispy.

I LOVE > wait for it...

TANGO! I don't just Love tango. I LOVE Tango!

I'll admit that it took a little prodding by a friend to get me to sign up for a tango dance class but all it took was one class and I was hooked. I smile the entire class and when the class is over I smile all the way home.

I never expected to enjoy dancing tango as much as I do. Going into it I felt I would be a fish out of water. I watched a few Youtube videos that had me a bit freaked out. Quite a bit freaked out really.

I'm not really sure what it is about this dance but I can't get enough. I love the music. I love the people. I even love the attire. Tonight I wore heels for the first time. Yes, you read right. Me in heels. I haven't worn heels since I was a bridesmaid over 10 years ago. It is easy to say that heels are a bit out of character for me which is exactly why I LOVE tango as much as I do. I get to be a different me and it feels good and it's fun. Yes, my feet do hurt after 2 hours of dancing in heels but the pleasure so outweighs the pain.

This Should Not Come As A Surprise...

I'm crazy> it's true. I've considered myself crazy for a variety of reasons in the past and I've now added one more. I've turned into one of those crazy people that enjoys running. Well, I've always enjoyed running short distances and have for nearly 15 years. It is running long distances that I consider to be crazy. About 3 years ago I decided on a whim to train for a 1/2 marathon. Problem was that I got mono about 4 weeks prior to the race. So that ended my first period of running craziness.

Then along came my friend Iowa and we started running together on a weekly basis. She suggested running the 5&3/4 Trinidad to Clam Beach "fun run" in February of this year. I ran it with her and had mixed feelings about the "fun" part. Mostly due to the fact that for some reason I was really nervous about running my first race which had me feeling really sick prior to and during the race. Iowa assured me that everyone gets nervous before their first race and that the next one will be easier and "funner." How could I refuse?

So today I ran 9.3 miles in the Redwood Wild Rivers Run along the Smith River. It was a perfect, sunny spring day on the northcoast. The route went along the South Fork of the Smith River and through old growth redwoods. White petaled trilliums dotted the ancient landscape as we ran and ran and ran and ran. At the three mile marker a nice gentleman sat in a sunny spot on a bridge playing his banjo. Reminded me of Kermit the Frog!

Anyways, we did it! Yes, I'm pleased with myself which brings me back to the point about being crazy. Running races is seriously crazy. You get nervous for no reason and yet you're choosing to do it. You run so long that your feet start to hurt and if you really push it your legs start to feel like rubber at the end. And yet, each time I run I only want to run more. It is addicting.

Like most things in my life I'm going with the flow of it all. Before this race was even over Iowa was plugging the idea of the Avenue of the Giants 1/2 Marathon coming up in 6 weeks. Not sure if I want to do it or not. Time will tell. But for today I will bask in the bliss of being a crazy runner.

A Lovely Spring Visit...

A lovely spring equinox day in many ways.

First, the weather couldn't be much better. While at the dunes/beach this morning it was so pleasant I was in short sleeves. The ocean was brilliantly calm and I felt so thankful to live and work in such a beautiful environment.

Even better than the sunny beach was getting to see my friend Fireman and meet his wife and son. Fireman and I went to HSU together and haven't seen each other in 8 years. It didn't seem like much had changed, except Arcata, according to Fireman. Mini Fireman had just turned one and enjoyed his first experience at the Arcata Plaza. And Kelly... well, she suggested getting coffee at 2pm in the afternoon and I knew right away that I was gonna like her. And I did.

Spring fever...

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!
~Mark Twain

Loy Krathong - Day Three...

Three days of festivities, decoration and all day and all night sounds of fireworks. This was quite the festival! We were all feeling a bit worn by day three with little sleep but there was yet another parade to attend and we didn't want to miss out. The costumes and floats were the most intricate I've ever seen with loud speaker systems that told a story in both English and Thai. Notice the elaborate hair-dos in this short video.



Starting my first night in Chiang Mai I was able to scan the night sky for glowing lanterns that people had sent up as part of a ritual. Traditional belief has it that when these huge hot lanterns are set adrift and float away, so do the troubles of the persons who launched the balloon. The third night was the peak of lanterns. The sky was filled with the seemingly magical lanterns floating and bobbing about with the shifting of the breeze. It is impossible to truly capture what it is like to witness a sky full of lanterns but here is a quick video I took with some live music in the background to set the mood.



Jeremy and I both successfully launched a lantern my last night in Thailand. In addition to hoping the lanterns would take away all of our troubles we added our own personal wishes. The perfect ending to a wonderful visit with my brother and Thailand.

Upon my return to to San Francisco I at first thought the stars in the night sky were lanterns. I was so used to looking for lanterns and hadn't seen stars in Chiang Mai as the pollution hides them. It took me a few days to get re-accustomed to stars and not lanterns.

My Brother Lives in Thailand and Now I Know Why...

Now that I have FINALLY visited Jeremy in Thailand I can say that I kind of understand why he chooses to live there. And there are many good reasons that he does. I will name just a few.

First of all is that while his US family misses him very much he now has a family in Thailand.











While he left many friends behind he has made many new friends in Thailand, including Matt and David pictured here.











And have I mentioned Lilly?



















Jeremy likes Thailand because there he can drink fancy teas and has ample time to play scrabble.






He is also able to be crafty and not be judged by Martha Stuart. Who knew that crafts could make him so happy?

And when he's in Thailand he can host visitors like me. He gets two thumbs up!

I made broccoli...

I can't take all of the credit but I can take some of it. I did after all spend a good deal of time finding and ridding my broccoli plants of the cute, little green caterpillars that wanted to eat them up before I would ever get to.

And now it's winter and I get to harvest my first ever broccoli. I can't wait to taste the freshness!