Warrior Dash

"The craziest fricken' day of your life".

That's how Warrior Dash touts their 5k 12 obstacle course race. Sure, I've had crazier days but this still right up there as one of them. This is the second year I have competed in Warrior Dash and I plan on doing it again next year.

I told myself in the middle of the race this year that I wasn't going to do it again next year because it was really hard on my knee; the hills KILL me. But, you know what, it's awesome motivation to get my strength up. Plus, I honestly think the reason I keep going back to it, is to challenge myself and because I have never done anything like this in my life (well, save for last year of course). And, really, when do you get an opportunity like this to do something crazy? I mean, sure it's a 5k, there are 5ks all the time. But then you have obstacles? Shit, it's crazy different.

Plus you get MUDDY! I love getting muddy. I may look tired as all hell (probably because I was still trying to get my breath back haha) but it was fun. And there's this unique camaraderie with the other participants on the course. You can bitch about the course with each other and have that immediate understanding. You get help from others if you are struggling with any of the obstacles. You are motivated by others. It's really neat.

Mud. Sweat. Beer. Well, Miller Light.. which isn't really beer to me but hey, it was free. I ended up completing it in 46 I believe (shaved 11 minutes off my time last year!).

Next year will be even better. Cheers.

Kick Clutter to the Curb

Pack-rat.

That's something I've heard, and used, all my life to describe the inherited clutter traits from my mother. See that picture on the right? That was the garage at my parent's house and I'm glad I took a picture of it. Now, whenever I feel overwhelmed with my stuff, I look at this picture, mentally go back into that garage, and feel better about our situation.

A specialty of mine is the 'what if I need that one day?' thought process I go through when trying to get rid of my crap (don't even get me started on 'I'll fit into that one day'). I always seem to amass a smorgasbord of just stuff from the parents, or grandmas, or from people who are giving something away for free. Who can resist free, anyway? Not this girl.

I am always going through my stuff and trying to get rid of something, ANYTHING! I hate the feeling of knowing I have all this stuff in boxes that isn't useful in any way but insists on sticking around, year after year. Mostly, the things I lug around with me are purely sentimental items from my past. But it's ironic because I never see these things and am not reminded of the precious memory until I go through all my boxes again for the 6th time this year, solely for the purpose of donating unused clutter. Until I came across a quote that really stuck it to me and my clutter.

“Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head" -Esther Lederer

It's not exactly aimed at clutter, more at people, but it still spoke to me. I'm letting the burden of all this stuff live rent-free in my head. Let's not mention the 5 years it wasn't living rent-free in a storage shed. I realized I didn't want to drag all this around with us anymore. It exerted too much energy and money we didn't have for a whole lotta nothing in return. My problem also stems from my poor memory, so I become afraid I would forget something I wanted to remember if I got rid of the item(s) which evoked the memory. Not good.

I have read (and reread) lots of articles with great tips and tricks for dealing with the psychological part of clutter, or 'emotional clutter'. Mostly on Pinterest. Oh, I love Pinterest. But, I digress.. that's a post for another day. Basically, by saying 'what if I need this later?' you're putting value on that item in your head. The emotional clutter that ties directly into the fear of losing a connection to a loved one or a special memory is a dangerous one too. Would Great Aunt Millie really want you keeping her huge China hutch in your home just because it was something she used all her life and then passed on to you? Especially if it causes more pain than happiness? Chances are, if she could be here now she would say something like 'Oh heavens no child, you don't even own any China, give it to someone who can use it.' It's pointless to force yourself to keep or use something just because that something holds significance. Notice I said 'force yourself to use it'. Keep it only if you're really, really going to put it to good use or if it truly benefits/enhances your life. Take a realistic approach and don't kid yourself.

There's another trick I really like that deals with weeding out your closet. Take all of hangers and turn them the other way and as you use them turn the hangers back the way they were. Anything left after 3 months, 6 months, 2 weeks, whatever period of time you feel is acceptable for your life, get rid of it! Donate, pass to a friend, or have a garage sale. I haven't had a chance to try this one out in full-scale mode, but once I tackle my garage the closet is surely next.

Now I am all too familiar with the fact that all these nifty tips and tricks are easier said than done... it took me 4 years to finally get on the track to correcting my clutter mentality. Just release yourself from the burden of carrying around unnecessary items you let live rent-free in your head; your children and future grandchildren will thank you for it. I have a big goal for myself in the coming weeks, to once and for all go through those sentimental things that do not enhance my life and give them to someone who can really use them. Of course, I will be documenting everything I get rid of with, you guessed it, my trusty camera. Because I can zip photos, I can't zip 10 boxes of papers.

John Hancock

I have a basic photo editing program that lets me play around a little bit with my photos. Photos that I happen to take on a smartphone camera. It's nowhere near the level Photoshop is, but I don't have $900 to spend on it so I use the most of what I have. Besides, I don't really need a bunch of fancy editing tools right now, I'm just interested in basics. Why mess with a good thing, right? While playing around with all the capabilities of the software I have, I stumbled across a watermark-type feature which I played with the rest of the afternoon.

I'm glad I can finally add my 'signature' line to the photos I create, because I tend to share them out in the internet world. Which can be dangerous. Like compromising your own intellectual property. Not a good thing if I'm aspiring to eventually have my photos on display.. somewhere, someday. For right now, I have been scouring for photography contests I can enter to bulk up my portfolio. Eventually, I'd like to save up enough money to get myself a beautiful digital SLR camera. I have lost so much of what I learned about photography when I was taking classes in college. Aperture, f/stops, ISO, darkroom development, camera angles, composition, diffused lighting techniques, the list goes on and on as to the intricacies of photography. And I love every second of it. Thankfully I kept the very well-loved, very well dog-eared photography text book from college.

My real interest right now is macro lens photography, getting down to the nitty gritty of things around me. I am also experimenting with different angles of ordinary things, as well as taking more pictures of people (something I was never really interested in doing, aside from capturing candid photos of my friends and loved ones). And of course, there's flowers. I love taking pictures of flowers, which I am fortunate I get a lot of this time of year. The dahlias are especially wonderful for the photos I love taking.

As much as I enjoy taking pictures of the bright greens and deep blues of summer; the rainbows of flower patterns, colors, shapes and sizes; the intricacies of the most simple of gardens; wonderful reds of ripening tomatoes; alas I have so much anticipation for the fall. I would argue with myself that fall is my favorite time of the year. My first love is and will always be trees. And when those leaves begin turning, falling and crunching beneath my feet, I am in pure photography bliss. I can't wait to throw on my rain boots, wrap my scarf around my neck and hop out the door, camera in hand.

Now, where did I put that photography book..

Mushroom and Spinach Cups

Each month in my Everyday Food magazine, there is a 5 day menu and shopping list. I have been doing weekly meal planing on and off for almost 4 years so this was a no-brainer. Recently, they began making the shopping list a detachable card, which was way cool.

Last week, I made something that is definitely one of my favorite dishes we've come across from this magazine. They are simple (like a 'why didn't I think of that' simple) and delicious but I think what excites me most about this is the versatility of the dish. You can make just about anything in these tortilla cups. I quickly listed off at least a dozen dinners in my head I could make in this fashion. Here is the recipe below, from Everyday Food.

5 oz spinach
1 lb mushrooms- I used crimini
1/2 med onion- I had the luxury of using one from the garden :)

Tortillas-  used 6
1 1/2 cups pepperjack cheese

Oil for pan
Heat oven to 450 degrees

Heat pan over medium and add oil. Add onion, sautee 3 minutes then add mushroom until it's all nice and caramelized. Then you put it in a medium sized bowl and mix with the spinach and one cup of the pepperjack. I missed that part of the directions and added the whole cup and a half. But hey, I don't have anything against extra cheese :) Fold your tortillas and place them in a big muffin tin, mine was 6. Evenly distribute the yummy mixture into the cups and top with shredded pepperjack. Place in the oven until tortilla is brown and the pepperjack is melted, about 5 minutes.

I had skirt steak happily sizzling away on the barbecue and decided to combine the two. I ended up taking all my steak out and cutting it up. Much easier to eat.

Another I'm definitely making this again. Soon.