This weekend we started a new tradition-going out and finding our Christmas tree in the forest.  My sister and brother-in-law have done this for years and I knew that when we moved here that I wanted to get in on the tradition.

We drove up to McCall on Friday (it’s about a 2 hour drive) and then woke up on Saturday to go find our tree!  We bought our permit, rented our snow shoes, and set out to find the perfect tree.

It didn’t start off so well…

But it quickly turned around:

We hiked down hills with saws:

Staked out the perfect trees:

Got one! (We were on the lookout for four):

Got two! (Look at that stud):

Got three!

We still hadn’t found OUR perfect tree.  We went on the hunt and saw one on our way back, WAY down the hill.  Shaun got on the sled to get down to it and proclaimed that it was THE PERFECT tree.  He cut it down and got it back up the hill (with the help of my brother-in-law).

We were a happy family:

It’s the tree standing up behind us.  We stuck it in the snow and we’re below it.  It was still 10 feet and when we got it home we had to trim it down a bit.

Here she is on top of the car:

And outside our house:

That’s one beautiful tree!  Pretty trees that are under 12 feet are hard to find out in the forest.  They are few and far between.  We totally lucked out.

When we got home, we put the tree in the house (you should smell it in here!) and decorated with Christmas music going.  Lu LOVED it.  It was the first year that she’s really understood Christmas and got into it.  We had such a nice night. 

Shaun just came upstairs and proclaimed, “I love our tree.  This is the best Christmas yet!”

I think I need some more ornaments since I’ve never had a big tree before. My old tree topper also won’t work because it’s too skinny to fit on top of the tree.  Expect to see some improvements .

I agree with Shaun though, this IS the best Christmas yet!

We woke up yesterday to this:

Over 8 inches of snow. We had to get Lu in her snowsuit just to get her out to the car.

All the schools were closed and I headed over to my sister’s house to work so that she could help watch Lu.

Look at the North End!

In true snow day fashion, we had to get out and play in the snow.  Doesn’t it look like fun?

Who is that man?

She cheered up once we started throwing snow at her?!?!?!  Weird kid.

See, Frosty isn’t so bad!

Tessa made a snow angel.

With a little help:

Isn’t it pretty?

Frosty thinks so.  Can’t you feel his excitement!?

Now that we’ve been having real winter weather-weather that is NOT NORMAL for Boise, I get asked a lot if I miss California and it’s “great” weather.  I can honestly say that I do not.  There is something SO RIGHT to me about four seasons.  Even though I grew up in California and only had 2 seasons (Cold/Rainy and Hot/Beautiful), I really love four seasons.  I think that the snow is beautiful and fun.  I’m a little miffed that it’s heating up today and getting to 40.  We’re getting rain-BOO! 

This snow has also made me realize that I really am my father’s daughter.  He loves watching the weather and SO DO I.  I drive my husband nuts with how much I want to watch the news and look at the weather online and on my phone. Weather is cool! Right?

Another thing that this weather has made me realize is that I really like to shovel snow.  A LOT.  My friend Megan (who just started an awesome new blog) describes it perfectly.

Anyway, that’s a very long winded way to say that I’m loving this weather and the thought of moving back to California does not sound appealing at all.

This looks like one happy family!

Ask me again in February…

It has been COLD and snowy here in Boise.  The coldest I’ve seen is 1* on our outdoor thermometer and we’ve had snow on the ground since Monday. We woke up today to more snow!  There was a Christmas parade and the Farmer’s Market in Downtown Boise this morning so we bundled up and went!  Call us crazy

Lu in the car, ready to go!

Don’t the girls look happy?

Wouldn’t you be ecstatic if your Mom dragged you out to watch a line of Minis?

No? How about a snowman! On a Harley!

Really?  Are you having fun yet? Maybe not:

(I think my dear daughter is thinking “EFF YOU MOM.  This SUCKS!”)

The marching band that made both my sister and I start crying-they always do-WTF is up with that?!?!?!

Dancers…sort of dancing…

Isn’t this fun? Well at least there are candy canes!

(“Really Mom?  Really?  Even this candy cane can’t make me smile.”)

Cool old car:

These people said “EFF IT!” and put up there hard top.  How awesome is this car?!?

This float was so sad.  The characters were all falling over because of the snow

Horse-in a a blizzard! (not really)

We ended up going to a Vietnamese place for Pho and watching the rest of the parade from the window.  We saw Santa, sorta…The girls said they had fun or something like that…

  While we were doing that.  Daddy was out mountain biking.  No really!

He had a blast!  So did we-no really we did!

I’m loving the seasons here.  We’ll see if I say that in January or February or March….

I’m thankful for yesterday.  Family, friends, great food, great fun!

The table:

The appetizers (my guests said that the sausage and cheese plate from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Hickory Farms box was good):

The ham (the star):

Apparently carving a turkey is very serious business:

My little “helper”:

The “helpers”:

My loves:

I love that Shaun took this picture. Great company:

My sister and I, ever competitive, wanted to see who could make the uglier pie:

I really do think my apple pie won the ugly contest:

Good thing, they were both DELICIOUS (or so I was told).

Couldn’t have been a better day!

WOW!  I had a FABULOUS birthday and weekend.  I took the day off on Friday and went to the spa.  I got a massage and facial.  The facial was absolutely amazing.  I was in another state of consciousness during that facial.

Friday night was my BIRTHDAY PARTY!

My sister, Willy, and Shaun REALLY outdid themselves.  Check out this gluten free and mostly milk free cake:

Numerous people commented that it was the best CAKE (not the best Gluten Free Cake but best CAKE) they have ever had.  My sister hit this one out of the park.

Her house looked gorgeous:

The food was all gluten free and AMAZING. As were the flowers.

They even sang to me!

The Margaritas were STRONG and good!

Everyone kinda looked like this by the end of the night:

Ahh, that’s better:

(Luke evidently doesn’t know how to use zoom )

The happy hostess:

My piece with dairy free ice cream! (She thought of everything peeps!)

It was seriously the best party I have EVER been to.  NO joke.  I love all my friends-new and old.  This really is home.

The next day we woke up to snow!

Not a lot, but snow none the less.

Yesterday, I hosted Megan’s baby shower!

(My sister strikes again!)

Presents!

This one cracks me up.

Mommy and Grandma Mikey

11 years after moving in next door to each other at Porter.  Go Banana Slugs!

My co-host

Megan is going to be such a wonderful Mommy.  Baby Loaf is one lucky kid!  I feel so fortunate that I got to host the shower and do something nice for Megan and Luke.  They are truly wonderful friends and I’m so thankful that we live 3 miles away from each other!

More snow fell during the party.

And we woke up this morning to this:

And here’s Lucy telling Mommy: “Lotsa snow Mama! Lostsa snow!”

The weatherman is predicting 5-10 inches by Tuesday night.  Wednesday it’s supposed to be sunny but the high is 15 and the low is 4.  It appears that we are NOT in California anymore!

Next up?  Thanksgiving for 12.  You should see my ham.

You thought I forgot, didn’t you? I’ve just been really busy at work and well work unfortunately takes precedence over the blog.  To remind you, every Thursday until Thanksgiving 2011, I will be posting something I’m thankful for.

Today?

This town and all the people in it:

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It took us nearly three years in California to build up a good friend base, feel a connection to where we were living, and to feel like it was home.  We’ve lived in Boise for almost 5 months and I already feel like it’s home.  I absolutely love it here.  The only thing I miss about the Bay Area are the friends we left but thankfully I go back for work and can visit.

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday.  I LOVE birthdays.  Birthdays are my favorite holiday (no joke) and I can remember most everybody’s birthday.  My birthday used to be my favorite holiday but now Lu’s is .  Anyway, on Shaun’s 30th birthday I gave him a huge party.  I had a 6 week old but I thought it was important to celebrate the big 3-0.  He promised me that he would do the same when I turned 30.  Tomorrow night is MY big party.  We’re having margaritas and gluten free, meat free, and dairy free appetizers and cake!  Over 20 people are coming!  And they’re awesome people-they’re my friends!  The fact that I have over 20 quality friends after only living here for 5 months is amazing.  I’m not normally the type of person to have a ton of friends either but it’s different when you live in a small town and yes Boise IS a small town!

Then, next week, I’m hosting Thanksgiving.  Originally Richard and Elaina were going to drive down from Pullman, WA but that didn’t pan out and it makes me sad but I understand.  I’m still going to have 10 adults and 2 toddlers at my house.  WOWZERS.  I’m so excited to host my friends and family for Thanksgiving.  I can’t wait! Here’s the menu:

That’s:

-Turkey (organic and hormone free-holy expensive!)
-Ham (local and organic-I can’t wait to get it at the Farmer’s Market  on Saturday) with a pineapple glaze
–Ma’s corn bread stuffing (this is one my most favorite things in the world and I’m so sad I don’t get to have some )
– Mashed Potatoes (both dairy free and the real thing)
-Gravy
– Megan’s Dad’s Green Beans (aka Green Beans with Onion Paste from Madhur Jaffrey’s book An Invitation to Indian Cooking)
– Crockpot Butternut Squash Risotto (my main dish since I can’t eat anything above except for the green beans and dairy free mashed potatoes)

Others are making:

– Cranberry Sauce
– Sweet Potato with Kale
-Homemade (and evidently awesome) Macaroni and Cheese
-Rolls
– Green Salad
-Pumpkin Pie

If I have time, I’m making an Apple Pie too-just because I like to.

I’ve stared everything that is both gluten free and vegan.

For appetizers I’ll have hummus and veggies and Luke is bringing his “Sausage Bread”.  I may have to bust out something from this too:

I just got it in the mail from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.  I’m excited to see what’s in there (even though I can’t eat it).

YOM.

First, before I get to exercise, I’ll share an awesome picture that the photographer at my brother and SIL’s wedding got of Lu, as a flower girl.

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There’s a few more pictures of the wedding at http://www.danieljireh.com/blog/.  I can’t wait to see them all.  I love that picture.

Now, exercise! In the past year I haven’t exercised as much as I used to.  I stopped because I was having disordered thinking about it.  I was exercising to burn calories.  I wasn’t having fun, I wasn’t enjoying it-I was exercising to eat more. No bueno.

What I’ve come to realize is that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like to exercise.  It makes me happy, like REALLY happy.  Got that yet? Exercise makes me REALLY happy . I no longer use a heart rate monitor to track how many calories I burn (I haven’t in about 5 months) and I exercise because I want to. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m doing The Artist’s Way and one part of it, are the “Artist’s Dates”.  Artist’s Dates are 2 hour chunks of time where I’m supposed to do something for myself with myself (and no one else) that foster’s my creativity. Some of my dates? Going to get my make-up done and getting a lesson (and buying said make-up).

A recreation:

Going shopping for myself and only myself.  Wandering the aisle’s of art stores to see if anything catches my eye, trying soccer for the first time, RUNNING.  Yes, running.

When I run, it’s my “me” time.  It’s when I reconnect with me and talk to myself.  A LOT gets done in my head when I run.  It’s one of the reasons I love doing it so much and by myself.  I really like to run by myself.  I like being stuck in that ‘ol brain of mine

How about you?  Do you like to exercise?  If you don’t, do you do it anyway? Do you find other ways to be active?

I went to my very first Bikram Yoga class this morning.  Ummm…I’m in love.  I’ve heard people talk about finding their “kind” of yoga and I think this is it for me.  I loved the heat of the room, I loved how excited the instructor was, I loved the sweating, I loved that it brought my heart rate up by stretching not by jumping around.  I loved that I didn’t have to do 1,000 chaturangas (or any for that matter).  I have issues with my shoulders and usually too much yoga can really bother them, I don’t think this will.  The only part that SUCKED was this pose:

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Salabhasana or Locust Pose. O.M.G. My legs where about 2 inches off the ground and my elbows and arms were screaming.  Apparently someone in last night’s class was able to do the  full Scorpion Pose:

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Holy Ow.

I will definitely be going back and SOON!

I woke up at 5 am this morning to take the class.  It was windy outside and it continues to be windy.  I’m really glad I took these pictures on Sunday:

I don’t think there will be any more leaves left on the trees after today.  How amazing is it to live somewhere where there are 4 seasons?  I LOVE it!  The Bay Area had 2 seasons-Sunny and Rainy.  That was it.  All the trees here are so beautiful, they sky has been amazing every morning, the crisp cold air-LOVE!

I’m in a good mood, can you tell?

Today I also wrote in my last page of my journal.

I’ve been trying to write 3 pages every morning since June 21st as part of The Artist’s Way.  For the most part, I’ve written everyday.  I’ve had a few lapses but I really see the benefit of this and try my hardest to write every morning.

With that, I’m going to enjoy this bowl of oats. YOM.

I’ve been a little obsessed with learning everything I can about body weight training and high intensity interval training.  I’ve been on the BodyRock.tv A LOT since Friday-watching old videos, putting together exercise routines for myself, looking at form.  What this means is that I’m seeing Zuzana over and over and over again. It’s kind of sad actually, I’ve been singing the words to “Oh, Susana” in a Russian-esque accent all weekend.

I digress.  Anyway I’ve seen hundreds of images like this:

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She’s a phenom! She’s like scary cut.  Shaun actually saw a video and said, “She’s too cute for me.”  My goal is not to look like her.  I know that I probably could (minus the big fake boobies) but it would take a lot of sacrifices that I don’t want to make (hello carbs-I love you!). NOR do I think I need to look like that.  I just want to be in good shape and feel comfortable in my body.  I can tell you that I understand why she has a boob job (not that big of one though ), when I was training for the ironman, I got visible pecs under my boobies and they were not cute-AT ALL.

Anyway, I post all of this because I had something very interesting happen to me last night.  I was looking at another blog that I frequent where the writer posts a lot of pictures of herself and writes about her workouts.  I’ve always thought that this person is in great shape and a total inspiration.  Last night though, I found myself thinking “She looks a little squishy.” “Wow she’s not cut at all.” “Did she gain weight?”

A. These are totally inappropriate thoughts to have about someone.

B. She’s the same size and shape that she’s always been.  I’ve just been inundated with pictures of Zuzana and my perception is completely skewed.

This happened in 48 hours! Crazy. 

Of note-I have felt REALLY GREAT about myself and have not turned those thoughts that I had about someone else onto me.  That is really big deal.

I also saw someone at the gym today who had on a hat for the 2009 Boise Half Ironman.  I didn’t even think twice before asking her about it.  A few months ago I never would have asked her because I would have been too embarrassed by how out of shape I was.  That’s just silly and I’m glad I recognize that.  We had a great talk and she highly encouraged me to join the tri club at the Y.  She said that it’s fantastic.  I can’t wait!

Oh man is Lucy at a fun age.  Even when she does something she isn’t supposed to it’s cute.

On Thursday Lucy didn’t take a nap at daycare.  On Friday, she was at my sister’s house with our sitter in the morning.  I went to pick her up for naptime and the sitter said that she was REALLY tired (not surprising).  I brought her home and she DID NOT want to nap.  I rocked her for 10 minutes and she was still wide awake.  I put her to bed and she babbled for 40 minutes.  I went into her room and told her it was time to go to sleep (in my sternest voice) and rubbed her back. That seemed to help but as soon as I left the room she started babbling again.  Finally at 3 (I put her down at 1:30) there was silence and I thought, “Success!” 

I was working away when about 25 minutes later I hear light knocking.  I ignored it thinking it was just my house making noises.  About 2 minutes later I hear more knocking.  I get up to go answer the front door and as I pass by Lu’s room I hear the knocking coming from HER room.  I open the door and there stands my 2 year old on her stepstool in front of the door.  Apparently she had been trying to get the door open.  That silence?  Well that was her getting out of bed (which she has never done before without either Shaun or me in the room), taking her stepstool and using it to get her blankets and books off of her shelves and then to try and open the door. Oh yes, and to get into the vaseline.

I didn’t notice at first that she was covered in clear goo.  I brought her upstairs to Shaun (who was home sick) and asked him to watch her for a little bit longer so that I could finish up work.  I came back upstairs and notice that she’s VERY shiny.  I asked, “what’s on her?” and Shaun said, “I think it’s spit.”  I go to wipe it off and know IMMEDIATELY that she had gotten into the vaseline.  The picture above is after I tried to get it out.  Lovely, huh?  And she’s so dang proud of herself too!  Luckily she only got it in one place in her room (on her rocker) and after a good bath her hair is mostly back to normal, albeit a little greasy.

In other Lu news, yesterday she told me, “Mama, behave!”

It’s a good reminder

~~~~~

Food and Exercise Update

I did my first Zuzana workout on Friday and OMG, I am very sore.  I’m going to get out and do a run later today and I hope that that will help the soreness.  A girl can hope!

Yesterday, I went a did a big stock up grocery trip and I made hummus, pumpkin date oatmeal bars (still perfecting the recipe but they are GOOD), and raw almond butter (it is so much cheaper to do it at home, vs. buying it at the store!).  It was a good day!