It’s been a BOOT kind of Christmas!!!

URUGUAY

We hopped on a plane yesterday morning around 8, and we finally made it - 25 hours, 3 flights and 5 time zones later. It’s 2:30pm here in Montevideo and we just got to our hotel. We both want to go out and explore, but we decided that showers and a quick nap are probably the best route to go right now.
Views from our window:


I’m so excited to see this up close:

There is such an old European feel around here…and then you see modern structures like this one:

And a sinking ship? really?

Getting excited to go walk around. We saw some amazing looking strawberries for sale on our walk from the bus to the hotel that we might just have to go check out.

Sound Time!

My parents came out to Seattle this weekend for a quick visit.  We took the opportunity to eat some great seafood and visit some sights out on the peninsula, including the Naval Undersea Museum and the Dungeness Spit.

A funny story about the middle picture below – the diver standing next to my dad was sitting on a bench when we first got to the museum.  My mom, Joel and I all saw him move and realized it was a real person but my dad was already on his way over to him and had no idea there was a real person inside this costume.  Dad sat down on his lap and then jumped up startled when the diver statue started moving under him.  After that, we decided we had to get a picture of them together. 

Thank you Mom and Dad for a great weekend!

Salineras de Maras – Peru

Another PERU collage!  The same day we visited Moray, we stopped at Salineras de Maras, the ancient salt mines. Many families have different pans in this large salt mine, and they are passed down from generation to generation.  There is a salt water spring at the top of the mine that is left over from when the mountains rose from the sea (again, this is from our cab driver – so some info might have been lost in translation :-) ).  The stream from the spring is routed to the different pans to fill them up.  Individual pans are then blocked off from the stream so the water can evaporate leaving the salt behind to be harvested (do you harvest salt? collect it? hmmm).  It is a fascinating site and they have been getting salt from the pans this way since pre-Inca times.

Moray – Peru

FINALLY getting pictures from Peru last year sorted ;-). 

These pictures are from Moray Peru.  We hired a cab in Ollayantambo (for under $50 for the whole day – and that included a generous tip) to take us to some of the surrounding areas, including Salineras de Maras and Moray.

Moray was one of the coolest places we’ve ever seen.  There were several large circles in the valley, each with several different terraces.  Our cab drive told us (and some of this may have been lost in translation, so if really interested I’m sure you can find more online) that each of the different levels was used to grow different types of crops because the elevations provided different “sub-climates”. 

Looking down on the circles, and at pictures before we even got there, I was expecting them to be a lot smaller, each new level maybe 4 feet higher than the rest – but I think these pictures really show how incredible this sight actually was…and to be completely honest, it was quite a hike climbing up those little stone steps in circle after circle.

A love affair with BOOTS!

Let’s just start out with this:  I’m cheap. or thrifty. or frugal.  Take your pick – i respond to all three.

That may be why it has been so hard for me to make a decision about cowboy boots - I’ve wanted cowboy boots for over a year and a half now, and fell in love with a pair about a year ago - but decided not to get them right away because they are expensive (in my book) and i figured my love for them would pass…and I had a job where I had to dress up everyday.  So fast-forward a year…my love for these boots hasn’t passed.  AND now I have a job where the dress code is casual (or i guess technically there ISN’T a dress code) so I can wear cowboy boots WHENEVER I WANT.  SO now comes decision time.  WHICH COLOR???

The countdown is on.

2.5 weeks until Argentina!  Between now and then, we have 2.5 weeks of work, packing, and a weekend visit from my parents!  Our trip will be here before we know it.

I keep saying I’m going to post pictures from past trips, but that never happens, so here are a couple from our visit to Lake Titicaca during our Peru trip last year.

 

This last one obviously isn’t out on the lake, but is in Puno, the Peruvian town that is a major gateway to the lake.  Joel and I were out walking through town and there were hundreds of women that had gathered in the central plaza in town, all dressed in their green skirts, these hats, and their blankets full of stuff.  They all lined up, stood around for a few minutes, and disbursed again within 20 minutes or so.  We were expecting a parade or march or something, but nope, nothing else happened (and of course, if there was someone directing the whole situation, we a) didn’t see that and b) wouldn’t have been able to hear even if we had heard it).

stuffed mushrooms

My camera lives in my kitchen and documents most of my culinary creations, with the intention that I’ll immediately sit down and blog about them.  Well, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a very good blogger and most of those creations never make it to the blog.  I’m bound to make that change :-).

Here is my most recent creation – stuffed mushrooms.  And before we get any further – here is Joel’s reaction “it’s a lot of stuff on a very good mushroom.” (I do think he liked it though…)

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms:

• 4 portabella mushrooms (with the hope that these will be good for a reheated lunch)
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 can diced tomatoes – drained and rinsed
• 1 can artichoke hearts – drained and rinsed
• 1/4 c quinoa
• ~1/4 tsp ground pepper
• ~ 1/4 tsp ground sage
• sprinkle of cheese to melt on top

Dice the onion and mushroom stems and sauté in EVOO until cooked through. Mix in sage and pepper while cooking. In a separate pan, cook quinoa until tender. When onion/mushroom mix is completely cooked, add tomatoes, chopped artichoke hearts, and cooked quinoa.  Cook until heated through.  Spoon mixture over portabella caps.  Cook uncovered at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Sprinkle cheese over the mushrooms after 20 minutes, and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until mushrooms are tender. 

ENJOY!

 

 

And because it’s never too late to showcase our Halloween pumpkins: (right? right.)

UH-OH!

Something's wrong with my blog!  Why aren’t these posts showing up right?

 

UPDATED!  Magically fixed somehow. 

Recent photoshoot

I’m such a bad blogger and am so far behind on posting (don’t I always say that???). 
Remember this little guy?  Well, now he is the proud big brother of an adorable little sister.  Here are some pictures from our photoshoot - isn’t she the most adorable little 6 month old?

Mariners baseball. My oh my.

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a few more from the olympic game farm…because it was just so cool!

One of the several bears…just waiting for bread to be thrown into his mouth. 


YAK ATTACK!!! Isn’t he SO CUTE!!

Olympic Game Farm

We had such an awesome time at the Olympic Game Farm this past weekend. 
Here are just a couple pictures of our new elk friends!

Camping is never complete without a campfire and smores :-)

labor day camping trip

a trip to the Olympic game farm and some great hiking with awesome views. better pictures to come later.

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blogging on the go

many new posts to come soon...but for now I'm trying out a blogging app from my new phone.

and because i'd hate to post without a pic - here is one of us at a sounders game earlier this year.

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guess where we’re going….

  

 

Winter Olympics!

I LOVE winter! (well, not Seattle winters...those are just wet and grey...and my job isn't exactly conducive to letting me enjoy winters, but I guess that is the way it goes)

With the Winter Olympics going on, I was reminiscing of my trip to the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002. My high school cross country ski team made the trek from Casper, WY down to Salt Lake to watch one of the cross country ski races. What an experience!!! It was amazing getting to see all the excitement around the Olympics in person, I wish I had the chance to go see the Vancouver Olympics since I only live a few hours away from that excitement.

Here are a few of us that made the trip together. I can't believe this was 8 YEARS AGO!!! (but I am happy to say that the group of us in this picture still keep in touch!)

Trip Planning

Wampus was helping me plan our upcoming Thanksgiving trip.





Unfortunately, he thinks we should go to Brazil instead of Uruguay and Argentina.



Sorry Wampus...tickets are already booked!

forgot to mention…

I forgot to mention in my last post that Girls on the Run made it onto Eric’s Little Heroes (a program through Komo news that features local kids’ sporting events in the Seattle area).  Check it out – the video is so cute!!!

Girls on the Run is SO MUCH FUN!

Last summer I joined the board of directors for Girls on the Run of Puget Sound and am having a blast being involved in this organization.  I got several friends together and we ran the GOTR 5k last December (this just reiterates how far behind on posting I am). 

The theme was SUPER HEROES and since most of us work for Ernst & Young, we decided to be Ernie’s Angels (Charlie’s Angels qualify as super heroes right???).

Here is our awesome team, plus Joel, the supportive bag carrier.

Thank you everyone for joining the team!  Mark your calendars for the spring 5k on May 22 – we’ll be running buddies this time around!

Brodie

The couple weekends ago a our friends Krista and Brian came and stayed the weekend with us and brought their dog Brodie.  Brodie was such a fun dog, I was hoping they would accidently leave him in Seattle with us. 
Isn’t he such a beautiful dog??
 
Can you guess what breed he is?


and just for fun….here is a picture from Krista’s blackberry of Brian and Joel enjoying a friendly competition of wii swimming:

Red Lentil Soup

I am always trying to find easy healthy lunch options to take to work.  One of my newest favorite things to do is make a big pot of soup, freeze flat in individual portion sizes in ziploc baggies, and take them to work for lunch.  I just pull the bag out of the freezer and by the time it is ready to heat it up for lunch, it is fully defrosted! PERFECT!

This weekend I made soup based on this recipe to take to lunch a couple times this week. 

Red lentil soup:

• 1 c red lentils
• 3 c chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• pepper (1/4 tsp maybe?)
• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 chopped onion (i probably should have chopped it finer, but we’ll see how it tastes!)
• the recipe calls for salt, but I left it out since my chicken broth has a high sodium content. 

It smells delicious – I hope it tastes just as good tomorrow!