MIA?

Yikes; I've been terrible at updating.

The most recent event has been receiving our apartment re-lease information.  Rent has gone up a huge amount, and while we could pay it, Allen and I really don't believe we get enough to pay that much (we have a one bedroom apartment.  There's only so much you want to pay for ONE ROOM, no matter how nice it is).  In any case, the last few days/week have been spent searching for and researching alternate housing online, and starting visits.

Still holding out hope they'll lower the re-lease amount, to something we'd be happy with... but I'm not sure.  In any case, that's been mildly annoying (to put it lightly).

I often think of things I want to post about, but never do it.  So, here's a list.  Feel free to imagine what wonderfully inventive and enlightening posts they may be:

• The trail we go biking on.  I've seen the strangest things-- from a bird in a cage strapped to a cyclists back, to a guy with no legs, zipping along on a little 4-wheeled contraption, powered by his arms.  It's amazing to see quick snapshots of other peoples' lives as you pass by each other.

• On a similar note, there's a certain stretch of the trail that, if you're on it at the right time of day, is positioned perfectly east-to-west, meaning you can see a perfect shadow of yourself in front of you.  I love this.  In that silhouette, I can see my crazy calves and powerful thighs, and it makes me feel so strong and alive!  Which alwasy makes me think-- why do we strive for an unattainable, perfect "hollywood" body?  The body is an amazing thing; why not celebrate all that it can do?  For the record, I usually hate my body, but in those few moments when I see that shadow, I feel proud.

• And leading off of that, I realized I have begun to assume that people know things about me.  For instance, I assume it's public knowledge that I used to have an eating disorder.  To me, it is an integral part of my being.  So when I meet someone new, and say, "Hi, I'm Rosanne," I assume that what I'm really telling the person is, "I'm Rosanne, I had an eating disorder but I'm fine now, but I'm still uncomfortable with myself once in a while"..which of course is just silly!  So, I wonder what everyone else assumes they are conveying to new acquaintances?

• I'm also getting entirely too excited about Christmas.  It's only 86 days away, you know!  There are so many things I want to do and make and see.  But, alas-- not enough time (or money) to do them all.  Crafts, decorations, treats (both sweet and savory!), places to go and see and things to do with friends and family... I'm so excited!

• I already planned my cat's halloween costume.  That's right, I am making my cat a halloween costume.  I'm probably the most ridiculous person ever.

• Can't we just buy a house already?

• And while I'm at it, can I please have my own private airplane?  It doesn't even have to be a jet; I'll take a nice turboprop.  When does the HondaJet go into full production?  Can I get in line?

This list has turned into a random list of what's on my mind, and less about exciting posts.  In any case, I'll try to get better about posting.

Protein "Cookies"

Life is busy!  Work is busy, weekends are busy... all in a good way, of course!  I keep thinking of things I want to post about, but haven't gotten around to it clearly.  So for now-- something quick!  Protein "cookies!"

Ok.  So I'm a big fan of protein.  As a vegetarian (ok, pescatarian, I now eat fish when necessary-- mostly to boost the protein, of course!), it's always a challenge to fit in the amount of protein I need/like.  I used to not really pay attention, and was getting "enough" protein, but once I decided to make a conscious effort to really up the protein, I noticed a huge difference.  I can tell when I need protein; lots of times I'm kinda hungry, but really, I can tell I really need protein.  I feel so much better, etc etc etc...  In any case, I also try to 1) widen the variety of protein choices, and 2) rely less on processed, "fake meat" (which I have for dinner, anyway).

Anyway, my breakfast must be two things: chock full of protein, low in sodium, and easy to eat on the go (since I eat breakfast late, at work).  I've been making eggs in the microwave and having yogurt, which is great, but it was time for something new.  So, these protein "cookies" were born!  (I call them "cookies" because i bake them in a muffin tin, but they're kind of a cookie-like consistency..but they certainly aren't normal cookies-- much heavier, which is perfect for breakfast with coffee).

The best part?  SUPER easy:

1/2 cup oatmeal
1 scoop protein powder
1/4 cup egg beaters
splenda and cinnamon to taste.

Mix.  Pat into muffin tins (break into 2 or 3).  Bake at 350F, for ~8 minutes.

SO GOOD.

Calories:  230
Protein:  23g
Carbohydrates: 29g
Fat:  2.5g

I'd like a bit more healthy fats, but oh well.  Other than that, how can you beat those stats?!  And like I said-- absolutely divine with coffee.  Yum.

Ok, I'm done salivating over breakfast.  It's certainly not the most exciting recipe ever, slightly dry and heavy which some people may not like, but I don't mind it.  I love coming up with new food combinations, and it's been a while.  My next quest?  Protein-full biscotti. Balance Bar makes an "almond biscotti" protein bar, which is pretty good.  But I want REAL biscotti, with lots of protein.  I'll have to give it a go sometime.

Any other fun, quick "recipes"?!  Cheap, quick, easy, nutritious...what's better?

ATC - Crowned Cats!

Busy weekend, but in a good way: checking out some houses, watching the last night of racing at the velodrome, hanging out with friends, Sounders game, dinner and time with my parents and brother, and a perfectly lazy but productive (?) Sunday today.

I did finish the cards for the Crowned Cats ATC swap.  Here are mine!

Curious Crowned Cat - Based on a photo from the shelter we got our cat from

Princess Crowned Cat

Sleepy Crowned Cat - Originally based on another photo, but turned into a copy of Xyla!

Thanks! Crowned Cat (last minute :( oops) - quickly based off of Shadow, my brothers' cat

Again, I'd like to think the quality is better in person, AND my scanner kept cutting them off!  But, you can see the gist of them all.

Better post next time!  :)

Weekend in California

This weekend, Allen asked if I was going to blog about visiting his family in California.  So now, I suppose I'm obligated to do so.  Lucky for me, there was plenty of wonderfully ordinary yet perfectly enlightening moments.  Let's put it this way:  Allen's half-siblings are 3 and 5 years old, meaning I spent nearly all my time with them.

Childlike wonder is the most perfect example of the notion of "Ordinary Renaissance."  As a child, everything is new and exciting, and the world is this big, amazing thing just waiting to be unraveled and understood.  As an adult, we tend to see things as commonplace.  Even when we learn or discover something new, it's typically an addendum to something we knew before; a new recipe for an exotic food may be totally unheard of, but it's still a recipe, which we have experience with and know will yield delicious results.

But spending time with those two kids reminded me how amazing the world can be.  Kids constantly repeat things back to you, trying out the feeling of a new phrase on their tongue.  There were many times I'd say something, simply as a statement, and I'd have it (or certain words) repeated back to me--but said with the air of testing the waters, and with a tone of awe.

I always try to take a step back, and look at things from fresh eyes, but that's nearly impossible to do.  Unless something truly is new, how can you "pretend" it's new-- since a new experience is defined by "newness," in the first place.  So maybe instead, I should focus on the beauty of things, and how extraordinarily our world works.  Kids don't understand the world, since it's new to them, and are so easily entertained and enthralled by every little idea and sound and object and feeling.  In the same way, I should be able to appreciate even the smallest of things, not because they are new, but because they really are amazing.  After all, why do we lose that sense of wonderment as we grow up?  Simply through experience.  We expect something, because we've experienced it before, and are no longer amazed by the outcome.  But why?  There's absolutely no reason to lose a sense of amazement (or, at the very least, appreciation) simply because we think we understand something.

All in all, the weekend was a good reminder to stop taking things so seriously and appreciating the wonder in life.  After all, what will wonder and amazement hurt?  Those kids were so much fun, no matter how much pain I'm in now (let's just say I was a human jungle gym).

In any case, Allen and I took a million photos.  We have a nice new camera, so we fully used that to our advantage and played around with all the neat things it can do.  Unfortunately, they aren't on the computer yet-- so you just get a couple quick photos I took with my phone.

Leaving San Fransisco

Baby plane!

Clouds over San Fransisco

Mt. Rainier, flying to California

Rootandblossom: giveaway!

Not gonna lie-- Lena's blog, rootandblossom, was a big reason for me starting my own blog!  I've had so much fun reading about her daily adventures near and far, and had already been kicking around the idea of starting my own... that it was only natural to finally give in and try it out ;)

Lena currently has a lovely giveaway going on, for a set of three adorable pear ornaments!  Go check it out, and go ahead and read all her posts!

In case you missed it, here's the full link:  http://rootandblossom.blogspot.com/2011/08/wool-felt-pear-ornament-giveaway.html

ATCs: Artist Trading Cards

Ok, I felt bad.  Everything is about my bike, bike, bike.  I feel like the guy in that commercial, and the wife complains that "all he ever talks about is the boat.  The boat, the boat, the boat!" haha.  So, time to talk about something completely different-- Artist Trading Cards!  (or ATCs, for short)

I discovered these cards at an art shop in San Francisco a couple years ago, and my mom and I had fun sending them to each other on and off over the last couple years.  It's just a 3.5" x 2" "card" that you can pay $5 for a pack of 12 of, or make a bunch of them by cutting up a piece of $0.25 cardstock.  Some people use the same size pieces of cloth, or any media.  ANYWAY, you decorate them however you see fit.  Draw, paint, collage, the aforementioned cross-stitch...no standard rules!

atcsforall.com is an official site (there are likely more), and people can "host" swaps.  They set ground rules for that particular swap if wanted (some people don't want collage, some people only want pen and ink...etc etc), and then a theme.  Whimsical Fish, or Crowned Cats, for example!  Once you complete your cards (usually 3, plus an extra for the host if you'd like), you mail them to the host, and you receive 3 cards back, from 3 other people who submitted them!  Such a fun way to "swap" fun cards.

Here's a set of 4 I just mailed:

This was for a "Whimsical Fish" swap...  I chose to go with different holidays, but it wasn't a requirement.  For my first official swap (not just trading random ones with my mom), it was great!  (note: these look better in real life.  The color didn't come out super vividly in the scan, and I also went back and added a blue background to the top three)

The best part?  a 3" x 2.5" card isn't intimidating at all.  Some people go all-out and do oil paintings and everything, but for the most part, it isn't too hard to churn one out in an evening.  So, you get to get the creative juices flowing without getting overwhelmed!  And you can enter as many or as few swaps as you like.  Perfect!

My next ones I'm working on is for the "Crowned Cats" swap.  There are so many swaps going on, but I take long enough to get them done as it is (every week or so I'll do one or two).  But, there are ones based on movies (Star Wars was a recent one), styles of art (Zetti, which is a super cute and unique style), or totally random (Obscure Holidays)!  Super fun!

Beautiful Day

Bike ride was fantastic today -- it was a cool, grey morning and afternoon, but by the time I was off work and on the trail, the sun was out and the lighting was stunning!  I kept thinking about how perfect things looked and felt.  Scenery was gorgeous, of course.  The fresh sunlight, low in the sky, with a backdrop of the stormy clouds was stunning.  And my bike is AWESOME!  3 rides so far, and I just keep falling more in love with it!

The view outside my living room window-- taken yesterday, but you can imagine the beautiful views today!

I've never had a road bike, so I suppose I don't have much to compare it to (aside from mountain bikes) and may be slightly biased-- but my bike is amazing!  Stiff and highly responsive, smooth gears, oh I just love it.  :)  Takes my rides to a whole new level.  Feels great!  Such a great, peaceful ride to both work out and relax.  Amazing how those two go hand in hand!

I've also only been passed ONCE since I started riding this bike.  Woohooooo!  And the guy that passed me had a short conversation with me, about how much he liked his bike and how he didn't think he was going to catch me.  Encountering a nice person on the trail was so refreshing.  I so easily get frustrated by the people who 1) don't watch we're they're going and step out in front of you, 2) take up the ENTIRE width of the trail, 3) go entirely too slow and make it hard to go around....etc etc etc.  So, just another happy component to the ride.

Anyway, that was my most beautiful moment of the day: quality time with a great bike, in a wonderfully beautiful location.