Well, here we find ourselves. Post Thanksgiving bulge (actually my most favorite
holiday…and not because of the feasting) and post Christmas chaos, and into a
New Year. 2012, the year of the
end of the World!! Bold!! I do not believe this! Who can know?
Our Christmas was incredible. And not chaotic at all. We try to not get caught up in the hype, and focus on what our true gifts are. We had a luscious, little dinner and games at Grandma and Grandpa’s,
a lot of laughter with our whole family, a wonderful Spirit-filled service at
church to celebrate the birth of our Savior on Eve, and a Christmas Day filled
with relaxation, food, relaxation, games, relaxation, movies, and jammies! Greg played his new ukulele, Ellie
played the piano, it was decadent!
Greg and I felt our feathers plump up having all of our kids here. Chicks in the nest! Ha! What a feeling!!
A Boy and his Ukulele
Now we are well into the New Year. Greg and I have sat for the past week, milling over our
goals, and desires for this year.
Of course, we have a few great races that we are excited about. Wildflower Triathlon in CA and Ironman Canada in Penticton, BC, Fueled by Fine Wine ½ marathon in Portland, sprinkled
with a few smaller races. We are
looking forward to being back on track with training, eating well, and carrying
on our healthy lifestyle. I have
been creating, and coming up with some pretty fantastic Vegan meals, and have
decided to start making Sundays our prep-day. It has worked out great!! So nice to come home starving from a workout and have a meal
on the plate and ready in under one minute! Mostly raw, whole foods. Protein rich, with a lot of fruit and green leafy’s. We are cutting out a lot of our eating
out. We are not fast food people,
but do eat out quite a bit, and it has become unsatisfying for us on
occasion. Not to mention that
anything we are cooking at home far-surpasses restaurant meals in taste,
quality, and healthiness. So we
are reining that in a bit. Occasional
with friends of course. Cooking
together is a huge passion for both of us. Aprons on, music cranked, drinking wine. Most of our favorite nights include
this!!
Vegan Mediterranean Pizza
Vegan Inside
Baked Kale chips. The Bomb!!
Other than that, we have reconnected with yoga. Ah! Both of have such a huge love, respect, and craving for
yoga, and always have. We just got
a little off track. So we are back
at our practice twice weekly, and looking to add a third day! Hoping to perfect our head/handstands!!
=)
Looking into this year, we have some incredible travel that
will be taking place again. Not
just for races, but also for pleasure…we will don our backpacks and set
off…destinations TBD!
I am also, on a de-clutter mission. Our house, our minds, our life. Closets, bookcases, brains, souls! We are pretty un-cluttered people in
general, but everybody needs a good clean out. A little rejuvination.
A freshness. Do you do
this? A sort of Spring-cleaning
for the soul?
We are also both feeling a little heart-tugging. Praying about the mission field. We adore people, and kids, new
cultures, travel….so naturally for years this has been on our heart. So both of us are standing arms lifted,
heart open for an answer from God in this department. It seems every day that goes by, we feel more and more led
in this direction. So…we shall
see. This is not our timing, and
although, we feel that tug, it could still be a while…or next week. We are not in control of that…just
listening with our whole hearts.
It’s interesting that last week, we practiced Yoga with the
premise of “courageous vulnerability” which can lead into so many aspects of
life. And as I think about a
mission trip, and how courageous that causes us to become, along with the vulnerabilty, it’s
exciting!! That unknown. That stretching. That leap of faith. I think because Greg and I are both
“live by the seat of our pants” people, that we have that courageousness to set
forth on any path that God puts us on.
So, we will wait patiently for that.
What are your New Year intentions? Thoughts?
Prayers? Goals?
PS: Almost forgot to add my favorite picture for 2011 LOVE THIS! If love can survive a riot....
Here's to hope, love and kissing!
Another PS: After having some requests, here is the pizza recipe:
Any vegan crust that suits you from http://vegweb.com/index.php?board=472.0
Bake the crust first. Then I top with
My Hummus:
1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans with 1/2 of the water drained
1/4 cup Tahini
1 lemon squeezed of juice (I always use a real lemon, it just tastes better)
2-4 cloves of garlic pressed
1-ish TBSP EVOO
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1-1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika OR 1-ish TBSP of chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
~Blend all in a food processor
After you bake the crust spread with hummus, add sundried tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, red onion, parsley
IF you want cheese, add some feta, but I just sprinkle the hummus with nutritional yeast for a cheesey flavor.
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