I love to run. I think it's in my blood. My dad enjoyed running when he was younger, and I remember him competing in quite a few 5 and 10Ks when I was a kid. I entered my first race in sixth grade and caught the running bug. I was on the cross country team for a few years in high school, and was never in the front of the pack, but I did ok, and I enjoyed it. I didn't run on the team in college (even though the coach tried to talk me into it), but I still kept up with running on my own and occasionally with friends. And I've continued that in the years since college. Running helps me stay healthy, challenges me, gives me an outlet for my frustrations. And this introvert appreciates that it can be a group or an individual activity. I love running with friends, especially those who push me a little harder than I would. But sometimes I just like to go out by myself, so its just me and the road/trail and my music or thoughts or sometimes even prayers. Lately I've been feeling motivated to challenge myself a bit more. Since starting seminary, I've run the half-marathon (13.1 miles) in Philly twice. This weekend I'll run the Broad Street 10-mile run with 30,000 people. And... I have officially registered for my first full marathon. That's 26.2 miles. I've been thinking about it for a while, and I decided I have the time to train, I've run more this month than I ever have, and I want to do this before I turn 30. And I might be crazy, because not only did I register for one, but I registered for TWO marathons. I've got friends running both, and they're spaced a good amount of time apart so that I'll have time to recover from the first but still maintain my training. So I'll be running my first marathon in Akron, Ohio in September, and my second in Philly in November. I'm excited. I'm scared. I may be crazy.
Several of my bloggy friends have been writing lately about eating more "real" food, as in food that is either bought and eaten as is (fruit, vegetables) and food that isn't processed and pre-packaged. I think it would be very difficult to get rid of all processed foods from my life, and that's not what they're doing either, but it isn't hard to make a few changes here and there. Some of it is just realizing I actually can make some of things I buy in the store, like granola. So that's what I made! I recently purchased the More-with-Less and Simply in Season cookbooks from the Mennonite community.
More-with-Less basically does what the title says, and gives a lot of "real" food recipes. That's where I got my granola recipe. There are a few different granola recipes in the book so I looked at them and adapted them to my tastes. It was VERY easy to make, and as someone who doesn't really love baking/cooking, I like easy! I'll likely experiment with different ingredients in the future, but for this batch, I did the following:
Preheat oven to 325
Mix together in large bowl:
4 c. rolled oats
1 c. wheat germ
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. sunflower seeds
Bring to a boil:
1 c. honey
1/2 c. oil
1 T cinnamon
Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread on 2 greased cookie sheets. Bake about 30 minutes, stirring often. (*I stirred every 10 minutes, and ended up only baking for about 25 minutes.) Watch closely toward the end, not allowing the granola to become too dark. Allow to cool, then break into chunks.
This made a batch probably about the equivalent in size of two of the boxes I would buy in the store, and I still have leftovers of all the ingredients for future batches. I have raisins, and bought some dried cranberries, but didn't include them in the mix because I figure those are things I can add in as I eat it. It's tasty, easy, better for me, and (I'm pretty sure) more economical.
I look forward to trying out making my own yogurt next! I'm also hoping to try some of the spring recipes in the Simply in Season book. The idea for this book is also probably obvious by the title, it's focusing recipes around produce that's in season. Some of the produce in season in spring that I especially enjoy are strawberries, lettuce/spinach/greens, peas, and mushrooms. Do you have any favorite recipes that highlight spring produce?
For the first time in a while, I had a whole weekend free! Add to that, the weather was gorgeous here in Philly so that helped put me in a good mood. And my roommate was away for part of the weekend so I even had the house to myself for a bit (I love my roommie, but every now and then it's nice to be alone.) All this added up to my being very productive, especially around the house. The things I accomplished included: dusting, organizing/filing some papers, cleaning the kitchen and bathroom, laundry, cleaning off the porch and the furniture out there, planting some lettuce in a "window box" for on the porch, making some birthday cards, running 10 miles (3 on Friday, 7 on Saturday), walking to church, playing some basketball, reading for classes, and making granola. The weekend was capped off Sunday evening with chicken and potatoes cooked on the grill on our back deck. I'm thankful for times that I can get things done and feel like I accomplished something, and still do things for myself that I enjoy, and spend some time outside.
First, before I get to anything else, (and I'm sorry I made you wait so long) the winner of my giveaway was Nen over at Living the Small Town Life. She has been doing a lot of cute sewing projects lately as well, you should check it out. Congrats, Nen! And thank you to everyone who commented, and welcome to any new readers!
I had a week off from classes for Easter, so I went home to western PA. I spent most of the time with my parents, but also went to Cleveland for a few days to visit my aunts and cousins. I got to see my cousin's band play Thursday night and then got to see Tim Barry on Friday night. I also got to spend a lot of time with my adorable 2 1/2 year old cousin.
She's holding one of her stuffed fish in the picture. Her dad is big into fishing and she carries her two fish around all over the place and will tell you that they are a "salmon" and "brook trout". She talks constantly and is probably the smartest kid ever.
Family time isn't without its moments of frustration, but I am always grateful for the time I have with them. And I am so thankful to have them in my life and to know that I am loved and supported.
I am back at seminary now for the home stretch! 5 more weeks of classes and 43 days until graduation... but who's counting? ;)
In celebration of my 50th post, and in a somewhat shameless effort to get more people to read my blog (hee hee), I'm having a giveaway! The winner will receive (at least) a slightly smaller version of the zippered "humbug bag" you can see a picture of in my previous post. I think these bags are good for keeping small things inside of other bags. For instance, I'm using one inside my sewing tote to keep all my little spools of thread. And I'll use another one inside my large purse to keep some of the things that are floating around the bottom. It could be good to keep a few makeup items in, or your cell phone and ipod, or whatever! I personally love the tree fabric I chose for the bags. And the inside has a contrasting fabric. So, as I said, the giveaway will include at least this bag, and probably a few other little surprises! To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is comment on this post. If you would like an extra chance to win, put a link to this post on your blog, and then make an additional comment to tell me about it. (Separate comments are best, because I will probably use a random number generator to choose the winner.) You will have until *noon on Thursday* to enter. Thanks for reading and good luck!! :)
Here's what has been happening in my life in these last few busy weeks:
- Philly has had a taste of spring! All the snow is gone, and we've had a mixture of some rain and some sunny days. This has helped me get back to a running routine, to start training for the Broad Street Run in May, which is 10 miles.
- I was invited back to my internship congregation to preach, and enjoyed visiting with the wonderful people there.
- I learned that TWO of my seminary friends are pregnant! This is in addition to my cousin, and my high school friend. All four are due around the end of summer/beginning of fall. Congrats, ladies! You're all in my prayers!
- I'm on break this week, aka "Reading Week". My intention was to be super productive, but I'm also sick, so that will come after I recover a bit more.
- I have been assigned to the New Jersey Synod of the ELCA! This synod was one of my top choices, so I'm excited. I think it helps that I'm somewhat familiar with the synod and the people since I did internship there. New Jersey is all I know at this point. I will be in conversation with the Synod staff more about a potential congregation in the coming days.
- I've continued to knit and sew. I've completed two more projects in my sewing class (a bag and a pillow that you can see below), and just have to put the finishing touches on another. Tomorrow is my last class, so I'm excited to see what we'll make. (Also hoping I'm feeling at least a little better by then!) Also, keep an eye out for my next post. I have extra material to make smaller versions of the zippered bag and I'm thinking that since my next post will be my 50th I should do a giveaway.
I spent this past weekend at Mar-Lu-Ridge, a Lutheran camp and retreat center in Maryland. Along with my friend Steven, I helped lead a retreat for confirmation aged youth on world religions. I am incredibly grateful for opportunities like this that I somehow get to be a part of. I love any chance to work with youth, and the fact that it was at a camp made it extra awesome. Teaching a group of middle-schoolers about the world's religions in one weekend was a rather daunting task, but I think we were pretty successful at giving them an overview of at least some of the major religions, especially focusing on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. One of the things we emphasized the most over the weekend was the importance of respecting others and their beliefs. I'll be honest, it was difficult to plan this curriculum so that it would be interesting and engaging, but we did our best, and even though the youth weren't as responsive in large group sessions as we would have liked, the feedback we got was good. And it was great to hear them including people of other faiths in the prayers they wrote to share at our closing worship. I think everyone that participated, from the middle school youth attending, to the high school youth who helped lead small groups, to the adult chaperones, and those of us leading, all learned something. And it gave me a chance to apply some of what I've learned from my Muslim-Christian relations class that I'm taking this semester. I could have done without the mice who wanted to hang out in my cabin, but overall, it was a great weekend!
