Spring.
Gosh, it’s pretty around here in the springtime. Even with work crazy busy, I still try and get out for a few minutes every day to walk around the block, take in some fresh air and find views such as this!
Seeds of change
Well if this darn rain just doesn’t stop, I’m never going to get my dream garden started! It’s been a soggy month here in the PNW and my garden is a mud pit still. I’m scanning the weekly temperatures hoping for those rays of sunshine :-/
To get into the gardening spirit, without having to go outside, I’ve planted a few starter seeds in two mini greenhouses. I thought I would do a bit-o-experimenting – I used eggshells (thank you Pinterest) in one tray and these premade coconut husk disks in the other. Seeds include broccoli, cauliflower and kale. The best sunlight in our house is in our living room, so I’ve rigging up some temporary shelving next to the big window so these babies get some good sunlight.
Um yeah, about that….after a few days, I noticed a total funk in our house and it smelled, wait for it, like rotten eggs! Those darn egg shells stanked up my house! I can’t sit on my couch without smelling them. Fellow gardeners, if you are going to use egg shells to start your seeds, make sure you do it outside… in a green house…that’s well ventilated. And not only did they smell, the seeds did not sprout in a good 40% of them while my coconut disks has a 90% sprout rate (is that even a thing?)
So lesson learned: eggshells DO NOT make for stellar seed sprouting containers.
I’m still here….
Been sorta MIA on this bloggidy-blog lately. Work has really picked up since we’re less than two months out from my major fundraiser. Lemme tell yah, planning for 1200 guests isn’t an easy task.
By the end of the day, my head is swimming with names. I dream about names. Names start to haunt me at this point. It’s kinda freaky how you start to recall random names in the middle of the night.
So needless to say, my weekends (when I’m not working) are filled with as much relaxation as possible. Not too much is getting accomplished in the way of inspiring blog posts and I’m fine with that.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty of things to share AFTER May 8. Wish me luck! I’ve got a big goal of $1 million looming over me.
NBD. Sheeeeesh…..
Engaged.
Just thought I would share some of my fav photos from our engagement photo session a few weeks back! We decided to stick with the south end of town and went with industrial hip Georgetown and be one with nature Seward Park.
It’s difficult for us to find a weekend where there’s not a million things going on so we picked a date that we knew might not be good weather wise. The Friday before was gloriously sunny with blue skies and I was hoping that it’d transfer over to Saturday. Um yeah…about that…..Saturday, the skies were grey, rain was off and on and at one point, it snowed! Not ideal for photos, but we were booked and our lovely photographer, Jennifer Hutter was game.
Not gonna lie, taking these were pretty awkward. I don’t think the fiance and I kissed as much as we did in this photo shoot! And every pose felt funny, even though the results were good 🙂 Our fingers turned purple from the cold, the rain seemed to never stop and Miss Stella was not on her best behavior. Overall, not the best conditions but we tried to make the best of it. Enjoy!
Going Paleo.
I’ve recently had some decent success on good ole WW lately, so I thought I would mix things up and try going Paleo whilst on WW to see how I would feel for a week. WW regards meats and nuts as higher point values so it’s going to be a challenge to stay within my point limits, but I think I should be able to stay pretty close to my target. I will also be curious to see if our grocery bill skyrockets. We usually don’t buy a ton of meat and we all know nuts aren’t cheap…I love me a good experiment though!
Here’s my game plan:
Breakfasts
I’m usually an oatmeal and hot grains cereal kind of gal so this will probably be the most difficult meal for me. I’ve penciled in egg and veggie scrambles and bacon plus a few pumpkin paleo pancakes. I’ll also have to wake up a bit earlier to make sure I have enough time to cook in the AM. Ugh. Oh, and buh bye coffee. I can’t drink it black so it’s onto green tea.
Lunches
I figured salads with interesting veggie combos and nuts plus these turkey BLAT roll ups will do the trick. I won’t have to venture too far off my normal meals for lunch thank god! I might have to look into soups too – I suspect there’s a way to make some paleo versions out there.
Dinners
Can you say fish or meat and veggies? Yeah, that’s going to get old real fast. I’ll have to do some research in regards to paleo friendly sauces and such to help with these dinners. I do plan on mixing up my proteins so hopefully that will keep it a little more interesting for me. Even though I come from a family of fishermen, I really don’t eat that much fish. Time to start buying salmon again.
Snacks
I think I’m going to like my new snack selection! Jerky, guacamole, fruit, veggies, nut butters? Sign me up! I will have no problems in this department!
I think my biggest challenges will be giving up coffee and dairy, especially cheese and full fat greek yogurt. And beans, glorious beans. It will be interesting to see how I feel after some time on this meal plan.
Have you gone paleo lately? What are your tips and tricks to success? Any favorite recipes you’d like to share?
