taking a bath..

November 20, 2012 5 Comments

here we are friends… Thanksgiving week.  For some it is exciting, for some it is a difficult time of the year.

 

I have been on both sides if that coin throughout the years…I wish that I had advice for friends of mine having a tough time this year.. just know that I am thinking of you 🙂

 

If you have been following me for a while, or happen to know me personally, then you know that cooking  Thanksgiving dinner is my FAVORITE thing to do in the world!  To me it’s not a chore, it’s a privilege. The days leading up to Turkey day are just as much of a holiday for me as the actual day, You can read more about that  HERE..

 

Today is the Tuesday before, which I have dubbed ‘ big shopping day’…. NO not he day where everyone comes out at 1 am in their pajamas and runs over fellow human beings also in the holiday ‘spirit’ in order to save a buck on GI joe…. I;m talking about the day that I get up very early, go shopping for all of the food that I will need to prepare my meal.

 

Being organized is key. If you know me then you know that organization … yeah… not so much for me, *I* am a multi-tasker. A multi tasker of epic proportions…

 

in fact, while I am typing this, I am doing laundry, wrapping Christmas presents ( the 2 that I have) talking to Ali, listening to some pretty music and bandaging up my finger.

 

All at once.   So to calm my self to a place where I focus on *JUST* shopping for this one meal… it’s a challenge.  But I work myself up for it… and each year I succeed.

 

early in the morning, the grocery store employees are really nice… not that they aren’t nice later in the day, but they are tired..  really tired.  And who could blame them?

You also met other nice ‘early morning’ people… I met a lady this morning who went out of her way to tell me what a great buy the sweet potatoes were.  And where to find them.  I told her about the nutritional benefits of them, next thing you know, we were having coffee and we booked a trip to the Bahamas for a weekend retreat together.

 

just kidding.   everything beyond the coffee part was silly….  but people can be so nice sometimes that it makes you remember why you are thankful.

 

*****  she’s a- rambling again*****…….  ok.. down to business.

on big shopping day, I don’t really do a lot of cooking.. a lot of it is prep….

 

I do make my CRANBERRY SAUCE….. ( which by the way the recipe was from my old friend Mr.s M  who NEVER steered me wrong with a recipe.

A few years back, Scott and I decided  to try to brine our bird.  Brining does a lot of things…. the salt brings out the impurities, the flavor of what you brine with gets taken into the bird, and the salt helps hole the moisture , making for a very moist, delicious bird… But there is one extra benefit that we discovered after a few years of trial and error.

 

stick with me here….here is what is in my basic brine

Kosher salt ( very important to not use baking salt) I use Morton’s in the big blue box

Sugar…  I used brown sugar

peppercorns

citrus…  assorted.. have fun with it!

I onion, peeled & chopped

 

fresh thyme, parsley,  sage, and Rosemary

 

In the past we have tried to mix the brine in a large bowl and keep in in the fridge….   one year we brined in the sink, taking turns to get up and add ice al night long ( to keep the temp cold enough.

 

then somewhere along the way, we learned about this….

 

to you it may look like a cooler, but for our turkey of the year, it is a deluxe bathtub…..

I start by boiling about a cup of water…  add the salt and the sugar to the *clean* cooler then add the boiling water and stir until salt and sugar are dissolved.

 

cut the citrus in wedges and squeeze the juice in with the mix & drop the rinds right in there.  Rough chop the herbs, dump the peppercorns and fill the cooler halfway with ice.

Next, rinse the bird ( by now you should have named him…..  our bird this year is Theodore ) and careful submerge him in his custom made bath.

 

The only thing that is REALLY important here  you need to keep the temp 38 degrees or lower…  this is easy to do by adding ice cubes along the way…  just use a thermometer .. because you are using a cooler, the temp stays more regulated than if you used a bowl or bucket… Just make sure that you put the cover on tightly…

 

 

Now here Teddy is, all soaking…and you may be wondering.. what are the cranberries doing in there????  Truth is…  I ran out of ice and the temp wasn’t low enough…. but I did have an extra bag of frozen cranberries in the freezer……. so I added them, and presto, temp right where I wanted it to be 🙂

 

I usally brine for close to 48 hours.  anything for 24 on is fine.

 

the other cool thing about using a cooler, is that it frees up space in your fridge!  Teddy cam right from the store to his bath.. leaving my fridge open for all of the veggies that I look forward to preparing tomorrow!

 

sadly, after I got Teddy Bathing, I cut my finger pretty bad on broken glass in the basement.. timing couldn’t  be worse..  So I’m slacking on a little bit of the prep work this afternoon and taking it easy…..  but I have  all of the necessary things to wrap and protect it, so I’ll be ok.. and  full steam ahead in the morning!!

 

If you are cooking, have fun with it…. it you are a guest, have fun with that…. and if you are looking for a crazy after dinner tradition, come over to my house….  things get a little wierd Thanksgiving afternoon.

 

I can’t wait to share it all with you 🙂

 

be thankful <31

 

 

PST*****   Happy Birthday to my litte sister, Jodie!!!!!! whoo hoot!!!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Main dish, make-ahead, memories Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

jax love

November 18, 2012 7 Comments

happy sunday , friends.

 

Scott and I were headed out for a walk when a good friend of mine happened to call at the exact time I was turning the key in the engine to inform me of a marathon running right by my house.

 

Back inside we went.

 

So last month, life unexpectedly had me take a last minute trip to go to Jacksonville, Fla to be with my daugther in law, Amanda… you may remember her  from THIS POST

 

while I was there to help her through some medical issues ( my Son is still on deployment until NEXT WEEK!!!)  She and were able to spend a bit of time doing silly things that we both enjoy ….

(not a great pic of either of us, but we were having a blast)

Health Food Shopping!!!!  For about a year now, Amanda has educated herself on non-gmo foods and how to eat a healthy, balanced diet and has lost 30 pounds!!  Let’s here it for how amazing that is!!!

No lie, over my 2 1/2 day visit with her, we hit 5 health food stores !  silly silly fun ❤

 

And of course… we found time for food.

 

hold on to your hats here… even thought I posted pictures when I was Colorado about going  out for frozen yogurt.. But that was only for Scott and Ali.

 

*I* still had not caught onto the ‘fro yo’ craze…

 

until jax.

 

Amanda  has 2 places that she wanted me to visit with her. One was 

 

YOBE!!!

 

yum 🙂  in the event that I am NOT the last person on earth who has not got out for for yo.. I will share..

 

 

Here, we went to a wall o fun……  you serve yourself whatever flavors ( go wild with your combinations..) into your cup

* our favorite was Fat Free ‘taro’  made from a tropical asian plant that has similar nutritional values to spinach… trust me.. this was AWESOME!!!!!*

then you head over to the toppings bar

 

and go WILD!

 

 

 

 

yum 🙂

 

the other place that we went was called COZY TEA

Amanda had told me a few weeks back that when I ever got to jax again that we both must go. ( she loves tea as much as I do)  Neither of us had dreamed that I would actually be there so soon…..

 

but I was… so we went..

 

and it was a phenominal experience!

 

nestled in an amongst other shops in an older part of Jacksonville, it this darling tea shop.

 

 

the room is beautifuly eclectic…. with mis matched dishes, and linens and even chairs, it has all the feeling of a very special living room…

 

you begin by picking your tea..

 

 

so many to chose from ! it was hard to make the choice ( so hard in fact that I  bought some loose tea to bring home with me 😉

 

 

I chose the lemon grass  Chai. I forget what Amanda chose….  I think it was fruity..

 

 

 

 

the food is all home made and without a doubt some of the best that I’ve ever had…

 

 

 

everything is home made and the chef-owners were right there in the kitchen… a delight to to talk to.

 

 

 

 

and when your tea is done, there are so many hand made truffles to chose from!  Of course I brought a bunch home.

She and I also each picked out a freshly baked scone with cream and jam to bring back for after dinner that night

 

 

 

we headed back to her house to hang with the pups, Bruin & Kallie and to just hang out and relax. Relaxing was much needed 😉

 

we ended the night by toasting to Jason, knowing he’s be home soon..

 

 

I did a little cooking while I was there.. I’ll share that in the next post….

 

aren’t they adorable?? she looks a lot like her little sister in this picture :0

 

so pretty !

 

on a final note.. I finally have my own suitcase.  This may sound silly to some, but it has me feeling all grown up.  With all of the traveling that I have been doing recently, as well as much more to come, I’ve gotten pretty good at the packing thing and have discovered some handy tips that I will be sharing soon.

 

I feel like such a big girl when I am maneuvering through the airport..

 

ya know.. a big girl who still takes her blankie with her at 42 years old 🙂

 

smooches friends.

 

enjoy your Sunday ❤

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

a perfect week night meal

November 15, 2012 5 Comments

hi friends.

how have you been?  tough week for me, but I’m rallying thanks to some awesome family & friends 🙂

 

Ya wants a recipe? cool beans… I have one for you 😉

 

A few weeks ago I posted THIS quiche recipe. And truly, it’s awesome. It’s decadent. It’s worthy of my Easter table.

 

Let’s face it .. ANYTHING with pie crust is worthy. Yes? yes.

Which is why the recipe that I have to share with you tonight ( although still worthy of my Easter table) is just a little bit  easier to fit into a week night dinner line-up…  there is no crust 😉 Really? Really.

 

this recipe is thanks to my mother-in- law. She shared this with me when we were first married, and 10,000 years later, I still make it.

 

MANY years ago( like 165) when Scott and I were first married we had almost no money. He was in school still and I was a hairdresser and I picked up a shift or two waitressing when I could. Our grocery money was whatever I had earned in tips that week.. good or bad.. It’s what we lived with. Most weeks our budget ( for the 3 of us) was in the $30 range.

 

Ramen was good…. Boxed Mac & cheese was good. store brand spaghetti and jarred sauce were our friends.

I remember once, we bought a huge jug of peach wine. That just lasted us almost a year… ( who WERE we?) oh yeah… young and poor 😉

 

Funny thing is, the jug of wine came in a box  and I still havet that box… Scott’s Dungeons and Dragons stuff is still in there.

 

You think I’m kidding?

I could make this up if I tried.

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I did not use pepperoni in this quiche… I used broccoli & red pepper… and garlic gold in place of garlic salt

 

 

a sprinkle of salt and pepper 🙂

 

 

 

 

pour mixture, then top with a bit of extra cheese

 

cheese is good. I called it.

 

 

I. KNOW!  RIGHT???  yum!!!!

 

so there ya have it folks…. inexpensive, quick and easy….

 

as the kids got older, I found myself throughout the week chopping up extra veggies each night ans saving them so that whatever night I made the quiche, I would pull out all of the veggies & they could ‘ make their own’ pie.

 

 

one last note.. since I brought up the D& D stuff I have to share that he actually took me on a date once to play D&D.

 

who was  I??

 

much love, friends…

 

oh one last thing.. if you follow me on Fb then you already know that Celia is the winner of the dryer balls.   I’m loving rafflecopter.  IT keeps track of all entries and is completely auto mated when it picks a winner….  That will make it easier for me to give ya’ll more stuff 🙂

 

 

xoxooxox

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

boo!

October 31, 2012 4 Comments

did I a-scare you? sorry about that…

I know its been awhile… I’m not proud of my behavior…

that’s not true. I am proud. I was able to make the * very difficult * switch from one server to another. Greek to some of you? good… let it stay that way…. it really wasn’t fun.. buuuut it’s done 🙂

I will have many more fun things on this server… like the ziplist feature. Don’t know what that is? no worries…. I’ll ‘splaine.

click on save this recipe and it will bring you to a create and account page . ( if you don’t have a zip list account, trust me, you want one)

think of it as your cyber recipe box. You can save any recipe to you box ( once your account is opened ) and create and print shopping lists.

it’s awesome.

soooo to try out this new feature I will share one of my oldest recipes.. Creamy Cheesy Chicken.
This recipe goes back to our camping days. I used to make meals ahead of time & freeze them so that I could just pop them in the oven in our camper. Over the years I have continued to make this, using many variations… it is always a hit!

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I do not remember where I first saw this recipe… I just know that it is a family favorite. its great because you can have all of the ingredients on hand and whip it up in no time!

since I am on a new server.. anyone who had followed the blog by email will need to re follow. on the bottom right side of the screen is a ‘follow’ button.. just click that and enter your email and you are good to go!

happy halloween, friends…. I leave you with a picture of Ali’s costume this year.. along with her friends. They are the Rugrats.. form the popular 90’s cartoon… Ali made the costumes last night. I am so proud of her.. not only for wanting to be a cartoon character , but for being as creative as she was….

and lastly…. my most fav Halloween ever…..I remember it like it was yesterday…. Ryan and I painted his costume in the fornt yard and making Ali’s costume was so much fun. I’ve never been one for a pre bought costume… making them was almost as fun as the actual trick or treating 🙂

this is my last Halloween that I will be sending trick or treaters out into the world to fetch some good candy for their dad 😉 It’s quite bittersweet.

so happy halloween, my friends… be careful out there… those little witches and munchkins are very excited 🙂

xooxoxox

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Cooking in Colorado

October 8, 2012 5 Comments

yes. friends, I am here confessing to you.. I am in love with white beans.

it’s true. and on my recent trip to Denver I told you about a situation that I go myself into.

you see… I was able to use an entire kitchen to make dinner…except, other that appliances and cookware, I had zero food. I mean nada. zilch. less than nothing.

I did not even have salt or pepper 😦

We had stopped at the whole paycheck store the day before I decided to cook ( to buy apples and kombucha… I’m addicted to the booch.. Lord help me) when I saw a container of cooked white beans.

I kid you not when I tell you that I kept thinking about these beans.

I may have had a dream about them that night.

or not.

but probably.

like yes.. it’s true I dreamt about the dang beans

could I even MAKE this up?

So when Scott suggested that we cook in Sat night rather go out and deal with the crowds.. i was all over it.

Except that we were starting from scratch.

so I put my thinking cap on….. *psst… it’s pink 😉 *

I knew I had to have those white beans. I just had to ..

and white beans marry so well with greens. When I saw local spinach at the store, I knew I was onto something.. But Scott and Ali would want an additional protein… chicken thighs were on sale.. so I added that to the basket. and a lemon. I love lemons. Like maybe too much. I start most days with warm lemon water

I wanted fresh pasta, but at 8.99 a whack, I skipped it in favor of dried linguine.

and the smallest jar of oil that i could find.. which happened to be truffle flavored.. which is ok.. I was going to make it work.

and some light cream.. to round the dish out. and finally, frozen peas.

and since this is how I cook…. ( all willy- nilly, most of the time sans- recipe ) I give you

ingredient-challenged barefootgirl cooks in another kitchen white beans & greens with pan seared chicken thighs in a lemon garlic cream sauce sprinkled with peas.

my fingers just hurt even typing that..

so grocery list…….

cooked white beans

garlic cloves ( 3)

bunch of fresh spinach

a lemon

small jar of oil ( truffle in our case, but any heart healthy oil will do)

chicken thighs ( skinless)

light cream

dried pasta

parmesan cheese shreds

frozen peas

*pick up chicken stock. I’ll explain in a bit*

( I was hoping to find salt and pepper packets so that I didn’t need to buy salt and pepper to then have to throw out, but the register lady ( my hopefully someday job) told me to go to the salad bar and sprinkle s&p into a salad dressing container.

pure.

genius.

I started by draining & rinsing the beans and heating a saute pan with a bit of the oil… adding the beans, season them with salt and pepper, adding 1/ the chopped garlic and smashing a few of the beans.

I then added the rinsed spinach right on top

( don’t worry about the extra water on the spinach, it will help the steaming process).. add the spinach directly on top, cover immediately and remove from heat.

don’t peek.. you sneaky- peeker- you…

next. add oil to another saute pan, season thighs with genius salt and pepper and place thighs in pan, allowing them to brown.

Once browned on one side, using tongs.( not to self and all of you… oxo makes the BEST tongs. I unfortunately did not have those there.. I will be changing that very soon ) anyway.. using the tongs. flip the thighs over and allow to brown on the other side. add the remaining garlic and then I added the cream.

* now here is where I would make a change.. I would use chicken stock here instead, and add the cream at the very end. the cream started to curdle a bit.. it was still really good, but if you use chicken stock now to cook the chicken in.. you will be happy 😉 *

cover the chicken and allow to simmer until chicken is fully cooked.

this is an excellent time to cook the pasta in boiled salted water 🙂

add frozen peas once chicken is cooked.. allow peas to just heat through.

next remove the lid from the bean mixture

isn’t it pretty 🙂

and if you are feeling like it’s a wild and crazy night since you are in another city, mix in a bit of cream

and a squeeze of lemon juice. and just to take it over-the-top

some parm cheese

this.. was my dinner….

and this was theirs..

I topped each with a squeeze of lemon for freshness..

yum 🙂

now when all was said and done.. I added the leftovers to one pot ( cutting up the pasta) and made the base of a soup… all that you would need to do is add a bit of chicken broth and heat for a quick weeknight soup 🙂

going out in the city is nice, but every once in awhile, it is nice to just stay in and enjoy the view and the cooking…. and that is how this family spent our Saturday night. And not one of us would have changed it 🙂

enjoy this recipe.. now that I’m done typing, My tummy is rumbly and I’m on the hunt for the ingredients to make it again..

caio friends 🙂

psst.. if you haven’t read it on facebook.. congrats to Lynn on winning the hand knit socks! remember, mom is offering free shipping on any of her items for the month of Oct with 100% of her proceeds going to ward breast cancer research… thank you to all who have taken advantage of this.. I guarantee you… her fingerless gloves are the best!

oxoxo~shel

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

being rich *giveaway*

October 3, 2012 25 Comments

 friends, I have a story to share ( I know big surprise. ) you see, I like to talk, and my pup , Fenway can only listen to me for so long, so I’m chatting with you !

You may know that in my past life I was a cosmetologist. I worked in the same building for over 20 years. ( the ownership changed 3 times, but like the bathroom, I always stayed… I was a fixture there)

Over the years , I made a lot of friends, both co workers and clients.  To this day i am still friends with so many people who I met there.  I am actually still friends with 2 girls that I gave their first day of school kindergarten haircuts to! They are both married with children now.. ghheese…. I sound old when I say that..

Anyhoo… I was kind of an amazing nail tech back in the day. And what happens when you ‘do nails?’  you sit across from someone, hold their hand, and talk for an hour… it doesn’t get more intimate than that… you really get to know someone.

Like Mrs. m.

Mrs. m was a hot ticket.  She had an ‘air’ about her that turned some off, but I just loved her. She said it like it was.. like it or not.

Mrs.m and her husband had a very nice house in an upscale neighborhood in the outskirts on NYC. They also summered on the Cape. ( where I met her)..

After a few years, they sold their NYC house , put everything in storage and starting renting a place in Sedona for the winter.

They talked about buying a place out  in AZ.  They spent the summer talking about what they wanted  and they disagreed ( c’mon friends, they  are married!) 

Mr. m was still traveling for business a lot during this time period..

So the fall came, and they headed to AZ to what she thought was a meeting with a realtor. Turns out, it was a closing. He had bought the house that he liked without her.

She was furious. She stood up, walked out of the room and caught the next flight back to Boston.

About a month later , when she came in to see me at the salon, she had her car FULL of all of her kitchen items. She had her kitchen storage locker delivered to the cape and gave it ALL to me.

Now picture.. I am newly married with just the basics… she gave me a kitchenaid mixer, matching food processor, blender, ice cream maker, entire set of pots and pans, serving dishes.EVERYTHING

I was in Heaven 🙂

She was so furious with Mr. m that she told me that he was going to buy her all new kitchen items once they resolved the AZ. issues.

So one day, we are facing each other, I’m about to paint her nails with OPI ‘ Chicago Champagne Toast’ ( yes, I still remember this, I pay extreme attention to detail… and this was her color)

She looked into my eyes and said ” what makes you rich?”

Now I was confused, because I was anything BUT rich… Scott was still in school and we lived off of my paycheck.. And the tips that I made paid for groceries for the 3 of us)

She then said, ” picture that you could have anything that you want..it’s not as cool as you’d think. Now think about that one thing that just makes you happy. that you feel happy just because you have it and you want to surround yourself with it..it’s the thing that makes you rich”

her thing? was kitchen clips. She could have had anything that she wanted, but kitchen clips made her rich.

So that got me to thinking…  what makes me ‘rich’

the answer?

socks.

I

puffy heart

socks.

And they don;t even need to match :).. A few years ago my mom knit socks for everyone for Christmas.  When we opened them, we all had mismatched socks. She had wanted us to search out which family member had our matching sock.

here’s the thing.. we all liked that they were miss matched and that she had done it that way .. we kept our socks that we had opened

so the following year she gave us these for Christmas

I KNOW!  how cool are these????

I love love love the fingerless gloves!!!!  everyone say hi to Fenway pup 🙂

then earlier this year she made me these…

YOGA socks!

( sorry about my crazy legs & feet 🙂

so there you have it. Mrs. m was a very  wealthy woman, but it was a $5 item that made her rich.

now, because I puffy heart all of my wonderful friends.. I have a surprise for you….

Look what mom made Just for one of you!!!!!!

there are many ways to enter…

1~ like seabreeze designs~ cape cod socks on Facebook

2~ Leave a comment on the blog telling me what makes YOU rich

3~ Share a barefootgirlinthekitchen on Facebook

4~ refer a friend to barefootgirlinthekitchen

5~ ‘Like barefootgirlinthekitchen on facebook ( if you havent’ already)

6~ sign up for new posts via email

7~ pin a barefootgirl recipe or post to pinterest

now… I found this really cool way to host a giveaway ( please forgive my newbie-ness) but I cannot install it here on this blog until I learn how to speak a foreign computer language… It’s just not working for me… so to enter the contest, head over to  hand knit socks by mom giveawayand check off all that applies to you 🙂 ( but remember to tell me what makes you rich.. I really want to know.. and it just might help me with my Christmas shopping 😉

***Don’t forget that after you comment to head over HERE ( click on the word here) to officially enter :).. sorry about the confusion… hopefully someday I can have that directly on the blog….***

Mom is also offering an October special…  All of the proceeds from everything that she knits goes toward our big 40 mile breast cancer walk in May.  So for the month of October she is offering free shipping on any item !! With all proceeds going toward finding a cure for breast cancer

check out her stuff.. she makes the most amazing fingerless gloves ( perfect for texting , and driving, but never texting and driving at the same time, because that is very very bad)

She had tons of stuff that she has already made, and she is more than happy to take custom orders… think ahead to the Holidays, these are all perfect gifts 🙂

This post has taken me forever to type… I need an internet fairy to come help me with the behind the scenes part of the blog….

*waves my magic wand*

xooxox

and good luck!

ps…..   HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD !!!! oxoxox

Filed Under: giveaway, goofy, Knits Tagged With: , , ,

best laid plans….

September 30, 2012 12 Comments

So here I am in the mile high city. And last night I found myself with an opportunity to cook! Here’s the issue… Although I have a complete kitchen to work in, I had zero to work with… Not even salt and pepper .

I spent a lot of time thinking about something creative that I could make ,having to buy the least ingredients. I came up with a killer recipe ( at least in my opinion ;). I took pics and was all set to share it with y’all. Here’s the thing.. I took the pics with my SLR camera ,which I cannot upload until I am home. Bummer. I was so excited to share!!!

So I have decided to share some of the pics I’ve taken with my phone…… There is a bit of food, but nothing that I’ve made ( until I get home .. Le sigh)

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I can’t figure out how to name photos on a mobile device… Ugh.! Someday I’ll get this

It’s been a weird weekend. Some really good… Some really bad. And I don’t care how old you are.. When your kids hurt, you hurt. It’s very clear to me that that will never change. I am quite thankful for their health 🙂

See y’all from my kitchen soon…. Oxox

Shel

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: , , , , , ,

what are you willing to do…

September 25, 2012 16 Comments

the month of October is fast approaching ( my favorite month of all time ~ I come alive in Sept/Oct/Nov like I do no other time of the year.) I really am like a different person.

it’s a perfect time for change and commitment. The ability for us to change and control what we can on our own is truly a luxury.

someone with breast cancer does not always have that option. And yes, folks. October is breast cancer awareness month… and I’m out to make you aware.

I’ve eluded to it before, but I need to tell you without going into too much detail, that my darling stepsister, Audra, was diagnosed at the end of the summer with breast cancer. Audra is one of the most sweetest people that I know with undoubtably the BIGGEST heart of anyone. She has lived a life that is much more difficult than average… There have been road blocks at every step  of the way.

As you may know, My little sister, Jodie and I have walked in the 40 mile 2 dy Avon walk for breast cancer for 4 years now, with our daughters joining us for the last 2…  and we will walk again this May.

When we first started walking it was in memory of my neighbor… a woman that I did not know all that well.. but watching her journey touched my soul. With Fran always  in our hearts, we continued walking after that first year… when we were asked why.. we always answered because we can .

Hearing that Audra was diagnosed last month, this cause took on a whole new meaning for us. I talked to her today.. even with everything that is going on and hard as it is for her to comphrehend… Her spirits are up and she didn’t complain one little bit. She is a fighter!.. and she has her angel son, James, looking down on her ans smiling as well…

I’ve also mentioned about a friend of a friend battling breast cancer with 4 young children.

4. young. children.

SHE is a fighter.

Our team will be walking another 40 miles this May.. and in October we will be walking in another breast walk… this one a 5 mile OR 1.5 mile walk.  This is going to be nice because my mom ( huge helper with our fundraising.. as well as my niece, Mollie .. aslo a huge help) they can walk the shorter of the route and still be part of us.

I wrote a bit about it HERE…

( They have always been honorary Team Pinkteenies, but now they can walk WITH us 🙂 ) ANd we will be walking for Audra and Jen. In a big way.

One amazing lady that I know who started a local running group in honor of her sister who was killed by a drunk driver had a great idea…. ( and I’m borrowing it to make it grow 🙂

For the month of October can you commit to doing one thing a day for the ENTIRE month in honor of someone who has been affected by breast cancer.

You can vouch to :

walk a mile a day

walk 2 miles a day

5 miles a day.

if walking is too difficult, then can you lift light weights while you are sitting?

maybe push ups are your thing

maybe you could vouch to drink a certain amount of water

abstain from a food…

what are you willing to do?

you can think about this, as it does not start until Oct 1. by then I should have the back problems that I have been having with the blog ( I am SOOOO not technical) fixed..  and an easy way for anyone who wants to share your commitment(s) and who you are doing for.

I know many people who have been affected by breast cancer, I’m sad to say..and I will be walking for all of them.. I haven’t lost site of that.

but my October goal?

jog 2 miles each day…

1 for Audra

1 for Jen

( remember, I don’t love running, I love the idea of it..( I’m trying so hard)  so running 2 miles a day is serious work for me… but between you and me ( and now the whole world) when I was feeling during my races that I couldn’t go on.. I thought of these two women.. and somehow, they gave me strength )

and because I love you all sooo much, anyone who participates ( remember, it can be a small commitment…) will be entered and on Nov 1 I will choose one winner ( hopefully my super- cool raffle helper giveaway thingy will be working) and the winner will receive a batch of WHATEVER cookies that you want.. I will make you anything 🙂 )

because you guys are so awesome!

so what will you do?

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weekend recap

September 23, 2012 11 Comments

here it is Sunday night already… how does that happen?

The girls enjoyed homecoming weekend… which was really nice considering it was their last one as students…. when they come back next year, they will be Alumni!! (I wonder if any of them have actually thought of this… I almost hope not. I hope that they are living in the moment and enjoying this ever important senior year of high school )

Remember in THIS POST how I mentioned that I ran into a friend that I haven’t seen in years? Well what I didn’t mention is that when we were catching up and I was telling her about my recent ‘finishing my first 5k victory'( I know you are all sick of it.. I’m sorry….) she had asked me when my next one was. I told her that I did not know.  We had run into each other at bayside runner a small local running store, Opened by a man with a passion for running and helping others run. They will expertly fit your feet with the perfect running shoes…. trust me… you need to go to a professional.. if you are local… Bayside is the best… Adam and his staff are committed to make sure you are in the right shoe.

opps… sidetracked again 😉

crap.. where was I… oh yeah… I had not seen my old neighbor in at least 10 years .. but in reality it was probably more. She is currently training for her first marathon 🙂

Both she & Heather, one of the employees at the store told me about a race in my hometown this weekend. A benefit for a very young boy who had unexpectedly had passed away… It was the Plymouth Police and Fire 5k.. Liam’s Run. I told them that I was pretty sure  I was busy with homecoming stuff, but that I would check it out.

And I did. And I realized that anything ( other than making waffles early Sunday ) that I needed to do homecoming-wise was not on Sunday, I signed myself up.

alone.

So this morning I arrived at the race wandering around looking for where to go, when I see my old friend, Joanne. She was walking toward me with a big smile…  she said’ ” there you are…. I looked to make sure that you signed up…your number is 150.. lets go get it… I’m so happy that you are here.”

A few minutes later we ran into Heather, who  recognized me and high-fived me for coming:)

<– felt a tad bit important and loved 😉  it turns out that runners are sooo nice!!

And boom.. just like that.. years of not being in touch.. I was next to one of my best friends again 🙂 Since she is training for a marathon.. she had already run 15 miles this morning. She did run the 5k.. and came in 2nd in her age group ( I believe she beat out those ‘youngens’ (as we called them) in the age group below her!

She ran the race 22 something ( I tried looking but could not find the official times online yet… I’ll update this post as soon as I do)  *edited… her time was 22 :57* 🙂

She was able to finish her race.. get herself a water and come back to the finish line to cheer me on!

My official time was 35 :05.. although This explains why… I certainly could have been under 35.. I would guess same time frame as last weekend.. And although I did almost throw up again *insert laughter here* trying to sprint to the finish line…. MY breathing throughout the race was much more even and controlled.

I’m getting this!!!

So here are a couple of pics…I’m so happy to have bumped into her and her share this experience with me 🙂  (doesn’t she look great? she will ROCK this marathon!)

so…… on another note..  I debated posting this pic…  I have put on weight.. and even though I posted THIS about my feeling on diets, Eating healthy is most important  and that, my friends, I have not been doing.

So tomorrow I am starting a mini 3-day cleanse. I have a friend who works for beach body and I purchased the basic kit from her. It’s only 3 days. I  can do this. And I know that I will feel better.  I’m traveling a lot in the weeks to come, and although I love wearing yoga pants & sweatshirts … it;s just not reality. I do squeeze myself into ‘normal clothes’ when I have places to be…. but it;s all kinds of ugly… and it kinda hurts. I’m not gunna lie.

If anyone is interested in the 3 day mini cleanse, shoot me an email and I will give you the info…

meanwhile, I’ll still be cooking for the girls…  I might write a tiny blurb about how I am doing/ feeling…. more if you guys want it.. .. but for now I’m off to enjoy family time.

ciao bellas!  cheers to old friends and paths taken…… all for a reason….

oxoox

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friday thoughts

September 21, 2012 6 Comments

hello friends 🙂

I have a confession… I woke in quite a sour mood this morning.  You see, I have a lot going on behind the scenes here… some of it I’ve eluded to, some I’m not ready to just yet… In due time, I shall share.  For right now, I have moments of ups and downs and this morning was a ‘down’

After a completely ineffective pity party for myself. ( like that ever works..) I decided to go for a ‘run’ ( ok. ok.. jog/ walk) but still… it feels important to me 🙂

And I got to thinking that if I started to think of good things form this week gone by then I would be better off.. so here I present to you

my reasons to smile

1~ ( I know you are all sick of hearing this.. but years from now I will look back and want to be part of this weeks’ memories) I ran my first 5k….  you need to know that this was one of those things that I pictured that I would be sitting in a rocker with Scott ( ok.. he could have his own next tome.. but you get the idea 😉 ) when I was 72 saying, ” ya know hon.. I probably could have done that way back when I was 41 if only I tried.”

I tried

I did

success!

2~  in regards to THIS post, which I wrote as a thank  you to all of those who have helped me along the way with my personal journey… I received a lot of sweet responses that quite frankly , blew me away. I love you guys.

the next day I received a series of text messages from Amanda, my daughter-in-law… I was on the phone at the time, so I didn’t get them until all at once.  which turned out to be even better…

seriously…. how could this NOT make me smile????  I’m so blessed that she & Jason found each other 🙂 I love you both!

3~I met a friend at Mayflower brewing company last night.  Many many many years ago we worked in the same salon together…  I think it is extra-special when you can meet up with an old friend and it’s like time hasn’t passed at all.

I’m finding more and more that re-connecting with my old friends is reminding me of this path that I have taken to get to here and that I am so lucky to have had all of you in my life…

* I actually ran into another old friend yesterday that I have seen in about 15 years… to put it in perpective, Scott and I dropped Jason off at her house the night I went into labor with Ryan*

~the irony? it was at the running store.

and some people don’t believe in this whole ‘connection ‘ thing.

4~ I used to DESPISE Norah Jones… in my opinion, She stole the Grammy away from Bruce for his album ‘The Rising’..his amazingly awesome tribute ALBUM  to 911( not just one song folks.. A WHOLE ALBUM ) I was bitter for years. ( I remember being in the salon the morning after the Grammys talking to my clients… ” who the hell is this Norah ( said with extreme distaste)”….

then something happened and I kinda fell in love with her :).. yup  girl crush here. I’m ok with that .  I listen to her on rainy days… somedays while staring out at the ocean.. I have a Pandora station of her music ( as well as her cds ) While I have heard this song and SANG this song.. I only figured out about an hour ago what it its about..

her dog !  How could THAT not make me smile??

5~ I’m making THIS for dinner.. It’s Homecoming weekend and the girls are out most of the weekend.. and Scott is actually home.. so I can have fun with these ingredients. which sent me out in search of figs and I found

…….a sale on Oregon cheese and Washington apples!!

and as silly as it sounds, it makes me feel closer to Ryan…. so I bought them… I think we will open one of the bottles of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir tonight to go with this  🙂

happy start of your weekend, friends 🙂

psst…. one more thing…. guess who signed up for another 5k this weekend??

Liam’s Run  for a good laugh, come see me, or even better.. sign up Sunday morning and run with me 🙂

ps.. you have until midnight tonight to qualify to win some nuts

smooches!

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