Solitude

Our culture tends to define our identity as all the things we do or accomplish in a day.  But sometimes we just need to calm down and spend some time soothing our souls.  Lately I've been feeling caught up in all that, but today on my run I was able to relax and spend some time with my thoughts, and with God, and just enjoying the beautiful nature that I was running through.  Its amazing all this stuff I've been worrying about I can just talk to God about it and he doesn't want us to worry about anything.  It is hard to trust all these things to someone else, but I feel so much less heavy knowing that God is right there with me carrying my burdens and working out my little problems.  And I didn't have to go out and save the world or do x number of hours of devotions, He just loves us for who we are.  Hm.  And all this on a run.  Just takes setting aside all the stress of the world and taking some time for solitude. 

?????? Questions of late ????????????

Why is it that I have to run so much to have fun running later? 

Why didn't God make fairies?

What nutritional properties do shitake mushrooms have? 

Anybody have good vegetarian recipes? 

Why is church the best and also the worst thing about religion? 



Anniversary!

I have officially been married for a whole year already.  The year has flown by.  A year ago I had just graduated from college and was quite frankly a little nervous about marrying someone I spent most of the years apart from. But the summer I spent in Bellingham had been so wonderful and we got along so well, that I kept my eyes on that.  And it has been great!  We've learned to not make a huge fuss over little things (well we try)  and to work together and act like a regular couple.  We've been trying to figure out how to make friends and where running fits in and how to decorate our apartment.  We try and eat healthy and make our own chips and hummus.  We have an herb garden and an apartment by the trails.  We don't know what we will be doing a year from now, but we're happy we'll be doing it together. 

For our anniversary we climbed Mt. Democrat, Mt. Cameron, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Bross.  The first one was so so crowded.  The next ones were much more pleasant, but the decent was very rough.  We basically were scaling down the side of a shale slide.  I have lots of knots in my shoulders from being so tense the entire way down.  (Pictures to come)  After the hike we got burgers in Breckenridge.  Man was that delicious. 

More visiting!

Last night my friend Avery came to visit, we took him out on the town for a bit and got some local beer. Then we came home and made a summery little cocktail. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 parts GREY GOOSE® L’Orange Flavored Vodka
1 part fresh carrot juice
1 part fresh orange juice
2 – 3 parts ginger beer


Directions

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add first three ingredients. Shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is frosted and beaded with sweat. Strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with ginger beer, stir gently and garnish with a fresh orange slice.

 

 

 

This morning we quickly hiked up Chatauqua to the bottom of the first Flatiron before I brought him to meet his dad.  Now I better get back to work.  Busy at work on my thesis this week. 

Surprise Visit

Today my friend Tim Langenberg came to visit. Just called me up and said "Hey I'll be in Boulder soon, you wanna hang out?"  It was great!  We went and toured Boulder and got all caught up.  Then they left to head up to snow mountain ranch.  Short visit, but really great to see a friend!

from the home of the buffalos to where the buffalo roam!!!

a couple weekends ago, my little brother kyle, and friends nathan and rebecca took a roadtrip out to visit us in boulder.  we had a lot of fun with them, went to the garden of the gods and did the short tour at the coors brewery, visited liquor mart, hiked at chataqua, saw boulder falls, and walked pearl street. 

kyle stayed the rest of the week with us, and then we took a roadtrip to yellowstone park to hang out with our family. my grandparents live in a trailer in the park during the summer and work at the general store.  we had 5 bear sightings, some of them really close.  we saw old faithful, lots of other guysers, paint pots, mud pots, the grand canyon of the yellowstone and waterfalls, saw where my dad went cliff jumping, saw a wolf, elk, buffalo, and deer.  we stayed in a little cabin near the camp.  it was a wonderful trip.  we also drove through grand teton national park on the way there, those mountains are so rugged and beautiful. 

hope you enjoy these photos. 

also, i now have a job cleaning a lady's house once a week, and have been frustrated with my thesis this week because i had to change the type of buildings i am working with and I am having trouble finding a computer model for them.  i hope next week is better for that.  nate spends all his time not at work writing med school applications, so be praying for him to not be too stressed and to get in somewhere. 

Wild! or Green?

This article is about a woman in Philadelphia who decided to let her yard do what it wanted.  She just stopped mowing the lawn and let it grow!  This is great!  When you have a yard like this you are reducing the water runoff that goes into storm sewers rather than seeping back into the ground water tables, you also increase the air quality, in addition to adding wildlife habitat.  And it didn't cost her anything. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/garden/in-philadelphia-a-garden-grows-wild.html?_r=1&hpw

My apartment doesn't quite match up to this.  Although I have kept my mini rose bush alive and my basil plant is flourishing.  I'm hoping to add a rosemary plant very soon as well :p  Maybe eventually I'll convince Nate we should have a tree or fern.