winter wonderland

[illinois snowstorm and michigan christmas cat]

We've been enjoying a VERY white Christmas Eve here in Illinois, complete with the requisite family board games and currently the high-tension rush to get six people out the door to church on semi-decent time. Being at home is intense, which you can appreciate if you know the inside of my family. 

I've been doing very good so far with my cookie rationing of two (or four) per day. 

Looking forward to the arrival of Santa tomorrow morning. Who will crack the tradition first, the remaining nine year old believer or the stressed, harried Santa who is getting a bit sick of the job? I'll let you know next year.

Merry Christmas!

meet tyson

My best friend's little brother got a St. Bernard puppy, Tyson.

Here he is at about 7 weeks old, I believe. He's going to be a biiiiig boy.

Enjoy the gratuitous cute puppy shots!

December so far

 

Winter thoughts and happenings:

December is flying by this year. 

In one week I will be heading back to the midwest for winter break and Christmas (!!!).  

The time between fall break and Christmas break is kind of a winter limbo.

VERY GRATEFUL I don't have any finals or papers to write this semester. 

Holiday parties and a bit too much merriment.

Rain and snow. Today is rain.

Cold weather running is back. and hard.

I am so ready to be done with this semester.

Obsessed with rooibos tea.

 Fighting unmotivation.

Need to Christmas shop/craft.

And make more nutmeg banana bread.

where the wild things are

Ben and I stopped in Michigan on our Thanksgiving travels and went for a hike in the woods bordering the lake.

The atmosphere of a cloudy November day combined with forest giving way to seaside (freshwater seaside, anyways) reminded me of the set from Where the Wild Things Are . We didn't see any wild things though, just orange-coated hunters on the prowl for them.

It was nice to see some "big" trees, since the forests in PA are very young due to the logging a century ago.

Since our hike, I have made it back home to Illinois again and am very excited to be on fall break, even though it is already flying by.  

roasted seeds

I have been obsessed with winter squashes all season.

My favorites are the elegant (yet brutal to chop up) butternut

and the creamy and sweet buttercup.

Butternuts are best either chopped and roasted with olive oil and salt, or pureed into delicious soup (the best recipe I have tried is this one).

Buttercups are easy to eat in plain and simple baked slices. Yup, Slice ‘n Bake. You can even eat the crispy skin (although beware fiber intake).

When you’re cleaning the guts out of your squash of choice, keep the seeds and roast them! They are delicious. The tiny bit of extra effort is sooo worth it, and you probably have the oven turned on to roast the squash anyways.

Start by rinsing your seeds to get all the goop off, then toss them in salt and olive oil. The more salt, the better.

 

I don’t know the scientific baking procedure, but 30-45 mins at 350 will probably do the trick.

Be sure to check on the seeds every 10-15 minutes to give them a little stir and make sure they don’t burn.

When you hear seeds popping out of their shells (like popcorn noises) they are probably done! Taste test when you think they are getting close, and keep baking until they reach desired crispiness.

yosemite

 

While I was out in the field this summer

(field: -noun, the mystical place where physical scientists conduct their research in the off-season)

we took a weekend off to roadtrip down to Yosemite National Park.

Yes, this place is as glorious as it looks in pictures.

(although the pictures never show the hordes and hordes of tourists and vacationers, but what do you expect from one of the most famous parks in the world)

The park itself is massive, but the most well-known and photographed part is the valley, where the Merced River has cut through the granite outcrops and meanders through meadows and woods.

There are endless trails to explore, but since we were limited to only one full day, my glory-seeking guys made the master plan to hike Half Dome. Fifteen miles, 4800 ft elevation gain, no biggie. HA. 

I am so happy to have had the chance to be conditioned for this hike (the previous six weeks of daily high elevation hiking allowed us to make it in less than half the recommended time..woo!)

It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, but definitely the hardest physical challenge I have ever experienced.

We took the Mist Trail, which passes by Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. 

The mist is not so welcome when you are headed up in the chilly dawn air, but by the time we were heading down in the heat of the day the thought of making it back to the mist was probably the only thing keeping me going!

 This is Vernal Falls. The trail is mainly an enormous staircase cut into the sheer granite, going around and up over the falls.

 Nevada Falls, the second waterfall on the mist trail. By the time we reached this point the sun was coming up over the mountains and making rainbows in the mist.

 

[just looking at this picture makes my legs ache]

Most of the trail goes through the woods and is gorgeous, until you reach the final ascent of death up the bare rock. My legs were falling off my body after 7+miles of huge granite stairs. To be honest, there were parts where it felt kind of like Frodo's death march to Mt. Doom.

BUT the views are worth it!

 Once you reach the flat sub-dome area, you are greeted with this:

HALF DOME!!! dundundunnnnnn
 Yes, those are people. Climbing up the cables to get to the top of the dome.

Confession: by this point I was dizzy from the sun, my legs were dead beyond any point of death they had ever experienced, and all I wanted to do was collapse and inhale a pb and Nutella sandwich.

So I didn't attempt the cables, and I do NOT regret that decision. I don't think another couple hundred feet make the view any different.

It's kind of scary how they let anyone climb up to the top, regardless of age or physical ability!

 I can't wait to go back to Yosemite and camp for at least a week or two to explore the other trails and parts of the park. I can see myself hiking Half Dome again, but it is not one of those things where you forget about the pain when it is said and done and are left with only the exhilarating memories. I definitely am going to have to let a little more time pass before I destroy that mountain again. 

The War

My little friends have returned.

This time, I am going straight for the peanut butter-laced kill.

[and I almost killed my thumb in the implementation of the deathtrap]

happy birthday ben!

 Today is Ben's birthday. Yay!

He decided he wanted a giant cookie instead of a cake, so I used this recipe to create the COOKIE MONSTER

 It's hard to tell the size of this thing, but it is sitting on a striped placemat. So, the entire recipe makes a giant cookie about the size of a large dinner plate. 

(Don't tell me I'm the only one who has ever wanted to make one giant cookie out of an entire batch of dough.)

 Let me tell you that cake decorating is HARDER than it looks!!!

 The birthday boy requested ham for his special dinner (sick of all the veg meals I have been feeding him) so I baked a ham for the first time ever. Seriously, I have never cooked meat other than fish or chicken.

And oh my goodness it was so easy! I felt like Betty Crocker and it was awesome. I modified this recipe for sugarcane baked ham with spiced apples (downsizing to a small ham, omitting the sugarcane sticks) and the glaze was faaabulous. Kind of like a sweet caramelized ginger snap. If you ever have to bake a ham, this is the recipe to use, seriously.

I mean, look how excited it makes people:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!

i loooove you :)

wouldn't you think i'm the girl

Happy November!

and Election Day--did you vote?? 

Fall is officially dying. The trees are pretty much bare and there is frost on the ground in the morning.

I feel almost desperately sad, like I didn't spend enough time outside while the trees were in full blast and the weather was gorgeous, and now it's too late. 

But I am also super excited for the holidays, and going home for vacation! Thanksgiving! Christmas! New Years! My favorites!

At the same time, I'm kind of freaking out because since when is it time for the holidays??!! Gah!

 Maybe all these conflicting emotions are the reason why I have been struggling to get out of bed in the mornings this week...

Or maybe it is post-festivity letdown from a great Halloween weekend. 

Some years I am all gung-ho for Halloween, and some years I let it slip by.

This year might have been low key, but when I decided to be "Ariel with legs" (washed up on the beach version--yes I always work the red hair thing), Ben decided to be "Ariel without legs."  And I couldn't let the opportunity pass:

All I can say is that there is a true Disney Princess inside every little girl AND boy.

(And with long hair, my boyfriend may be prettier than me.)

gettin crafty

For the past several years, I've put myself on a ridiculous craft moratorium with the lame excuse of "I'm too busy with school to have extra hobbies" (besides the ones essential to life: cooking, baking, running).

Well, I have decided that is a bullshit idea and have set my creative instincts free, because (unfortunately) life is not going to be less crazy once I'm done with school. 

So-- I am obsessed with scarves, and decided to start making my own since I am, after all, still a poor grad student and would rather not shell out $15 a pop to expand my accessory collection.  

It turns out that one yard of fabric from the fabric store is WAY more than an actual square yard, and provides you with plenty of material to chop and hem into a scarf.

It also turns out that JoAnn Fabrics has fabulous sales on material ALL THE TIME and basically rocks. This magical place also sucks away my money into spur of the inspirational moment impulse buys- yikes!

I picked out a few silky prints that were around $5/yard.

This one is my favorite. I kind of want to go back and buy the whole bolt, and make a dress out of it. Or...futon cover??

Let's not get overambitious too soon, Anna.

I dragged my fun little sewing machine out of its hiding place where it has been hanging out ever since I moved into this apartment and started playing.  

The first attempt:

 

I accidentally cut it a little too small (oops!) but I was so impressed with what I could do with the different kinds of stitches on my sewing machine that I don't really care. 

[Please note that I feel SUPER AWKWARD and dorky taking pictures of myself to post on my blog. I don't know how everybody does it!!!]

 Attempt numero dos. For this one I didn't even try to cut the fabric, I just hemmed two of the long edges and left the finished edges as is.

Yes, you have to wear cupcake boxers to complete the look.

Aaaand I am really pushing myself to finish the last scarf, since I have a horrible habit of letting little projects drag on. and on. (What's this under my bed, an unfinished cross stitch from 2000?? A box of scrapbook guts from my trip to Germany sophomore year of high school?)

Well, my inner Project Runway self is officially unleashed. I am kind of scared to see where it goes from here (!) but also feel like I have returned a part of me to myself-- I definitely need to have creative outlet to feel complete. 

p.s. completely unrelated but...since when is Hilary Duff married ?!?!?!???!!

seasons

 My favorite parts of the forest are the stands of glowy yellow trees

 Least fave part: the hills of loose rock. Unavoidable on PA trails.

 [campus...can you tell where I go?]

The trees are definitely peaking here. Last Sunday I was going to go to the gym, but then came to my senses and went for a hike/trail jog in the gorgeous weather instead. 

I don't know if fall or spring is my favorite season, honestly. I guess my favorite is the one that I am currently in (unless it is winter or summer). 

Are the trees changing where you live?

I used to hate cold weather, but I love it more and more every year. I don't know if I could ever be happy living in a place that doesn't have all four seasons, at least for a short time.

Also, just downloaded the new Arcade Fire, and part of Far East Movement. 

Completely honest, I just couldn't live another moment without being able to hear Like a G6 on demand.