Ten Questions

These originally came from Caitlin but then I stole them from Lisa, since today is a very busy day and a Q&A is a lot easier than trying to make my brain work on a real post!

What are you really good at?  What are you really bad at?

I am good at planning things. I am very organized (read: anal). I am good at spreadsheets. I am trying to be good at photography. I am good at tying a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue and remembering the words to songs. I am good at remembering birthdays and phone numbers and random things like that.

I am really bad at changing plans, especially at the last minute. I am bad at making plans at the last minute (that is essentially changing plans). I am bad at letting go of control. I am bad at accepting other’s faults. I am not patient. I am very hard on myself and other people. I hold a grudge.

Have you ever been in a car accident?  What happened?

In 1999 in Sacramento I was driving home from work and a lady turned left across my lane and right into my driver’s side bumper. I was not hurt. My passenger was not hurt. My car was barely hurt. It was not really a big deal except that I was on my way to a party and it made me late.

Where did you attend college?

Who said I went to college? Just kidding. I first went to college at a JC when I was in HS, to get college credit before I even went to college. You would think this would have given me a jump start and SHORTENED my college experience. You would be wrong. 

Once out of HS, I started college at CSU, Sacramento. I also went to the local JC to get some of the general requirements out of the way… Again, why was my experience not shortened? I took a year off to figure out my life and then I transferred to SFSU (San Francisco), which I think probably added a year, since all the classes did not transfer over. I am not sure why. I also went to the local JC while I was there! So then, about 17 years later, I graduated.

Describe your morning routine today

6:00 alarm goes off

6:00:01 think about getting up to go running, instead, I hit snooze

6:09 get up, make coffee

6:10– 6:17 Pee, put on pants, put hair in ponytail. Ready to go!

6:18 start work

6:19 – 8:29 work, drink coffee, make spreadsheets

8:30 eat breakfast (I usually get by on coffee for the first couple of hours)

9:00 meeting with client

10:45 take a much needed 10 minute break and a quick look at Reader

Have you ever snooped through someone else's things?  Did you find anything interesting?

No. I am a very private person and I would hate it if someone snooped through my things, so I give them the same privacy.

What do you think happens when you die?

I am not sure. I think…nothing. Maybe it’s like falling asleep but you don’t dream and you don’t wake up.  Honestly, I don’t really contemplate it.

Are you superstitious?

No.  But I do knock on wood.

Do people think you are younger or older than you actually are?

Younger. Not only do I have a young face, but I usually wear jeans and sneakers. However, even when I get dressed up, I still get thought of as younger. Also I work with a lot of older guys (read: 50s, 60s, 70s!) and so they really think I am younger.

How did your parent's relationship influence you?

My parents were very loving to each other. I mean, they had fights, who doesn’t but I always remember them kissing and hugging (and me going “EWWW”!) and being very loving to each other. They were also both very hard working, not only in life, but in their relationship. I saw that even when they fought, or even when they had differences, they still made a point to work it out! I would like to say this is how I am, but I am still working on it. However, they have led by giving a good example.  

What were the three happiest moments of your life?

1.      I witnessed a friend of mine slip on a rock and go sliding down the side of a sheer rock cliff and go flying over the edge and I thought he was dead. This was not the end of this saga by far, but learning a couple seconds later that he was still alive was the best feeling ever.

2.      In the same vein, my brother almost drowned under a waterfall when he was a kid but I went under the water and grabbed him by the arm (or hair, I couldn’t quite tell, I was so panicked) and pulled him out and dragged him to shore and I was so scared (I was probably about 15 at the time) but SO HAPPY that he was alive.

3.      Wow, so since the other two are both about near death experiences…um…I am going to leave you with a happier but generic answer and say that I am happiest when planning my next trip or when traveling!

What was the happiest moment of your life? Or any other answer to any of these questions? 

The Blacker the Berry, The Sweeter the Juice

I went home for a few days and lucky me, the blackberries were ripe. So I decided to make what is one of the easiest and yummiest dishes to make in the summer, cobbler. Blackberries and cobbler are one of those things that really make me think of summer. My mom calls this "magic cobbler". Probably because it's super easy to make!

First, admire the nice ripe berries. Yum. 

Next, pick the berries. You will need 4-8 cups. 

Wash the berries. Nobody wants to eat those weird little hairs!

Magic Cobbler:

1 cube of butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup Bisquick

2 cups milk

4 cups fruit (this is also really good with peaches)

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a 9 x 13 pan, melt the cube of butter. 

Mix the sugar, Bisquick and milk together. It may be a little lumpy, but that’s okay. 

Pour the batter into the buttered pan. 

Pour the blackberries (or whatever fruit you want) into the batter.

Don't worry, they will sink a little as it cooks!

Bake 35 - 45 minutes until brown. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

A couple of notes: I added about a half a cup of oatmeal to mine, which gave it a bit more robustness. I also added about 6 cups of fruit, which didn't make it too soggy or too tart. 

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite summer recipe to share?

Lost Coast

source

You may be familiar with the Lost Coast Brewery? NO? Well, shame on you. It's in Eureka, CA, which if you don't know where that is, is in Humboldt County, yes the one of the legendary weed, and also the home of CSU, Humboldt. Also, another random factoid: do you remember the scene in Return of the Jedi when they are in the forest with the Ewoks? That is Fern Canyon, and it too is in Humboldt County. And it is gorgeous!

The reason I picked this as my beer of choice for Kim's blog hop is that, as you may know, I went home last weekend/week. So my this weeks Look What I Did Last Week (<----- click here for my older beers and posts) has a lot of California in it. So, get your beer in hand and get comfortable!

The big event and reason I went to CA was...this little girl's 1st birthday! How exciting! 

She is my best friend's daughter, aka, my neice. Can't you see the resemblance?

In honor of her birthday, my friend's MIL wanted to throw her a big party. With hundreds of people, and decorations and favors and food and...(you are probably wondering WHY, but this my friend is another story in itself!)

So we made 300 cake pops. No joke. 

You can find the recipe HERE. 

We had a few casualties. What do you expect? The poor thing was like, "Nobody sees me as an individual! They just want to use me! Don't they see I am more than just a sweet little ball of strawberry? Cake pops have feelings too! There is nothing left for me in this life!" 

Plop.

 Just a very tiny part of our 300 pop assembly line. A.Very.Small.Part. (it took 3-6 of us 12-14 hours to make all 300, roll them, dip them, sprinkle them, wrap them, tie them and label them). 

Then I got up really early  the next morning and snuck out for a (very awesome 6 mile, 60 degree) run before anyone could make me wrap another cake pop (or dip. or sprinkle. or roll. or.....PLOP!) 

But they found me. And made me start helping with the decorations.

See those small balloons? I tied all those balloons. I am not exaggerating. 20 tables, 3 balloons each (the big ones, praise the lord, were self closing) plus extras for the porch and the gift table etc. My fingers were sore for days. I could barely open a beer. Kidding. This was a booze free party - I am not sure why...is there something wrong with an alcohol fueled 1 yr old birthday party?

Then I went home for a couple of days so I could get a vacation from the party! I did not take these while driving. Okay, maybe I did.

I took advantage of my favorite time of year at home and one of my favorite fruits by picking some blackberries (YUMMY! pick one, eat one, pick one, eat two...etc) and making blackberry cobbler! The recipe will be posted later this week.

(ps I can't believe I paid $3 for a tiny tub of these at the farmers market. If only they were ripe every time I went home!)

I went to visit my oldest friend. Not oldest like she's 100 years old, but the one I have known the longest. Remember this post about my first day of school -- she's the one with the Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox. I was so jealous of that box. It was metal and her mom gave her way cooler things in her matching thermos. Way. Cooler. Now she's a mom and will soon be packing a way cool lunch for her little boy.

I cut off her head. Hehe. It's all about the kids.

I ate so many straight-from-the-garden items. I was in heaven! 

Grape Tomatoes -- I eat them like candy!

Crenshaw Melon

Yellow Zucchini

I forgot what this one is called. Weird flower shaped squash.

 I took advantage of the nice cool weather and ran up some hills. 

You can read more about that HERE.

Yes, that is right! And it says 60! Wonderful!

I hung out with my Mom, drinking coffee and waching....

My favorite coffee cup

....blue-jays eat the cat food. I was seriously only about 2 feet from him. Cheeky little...

 I miss home already!

Dog Rock

Don't worry California. I will be back soon! 

 How was your week? What did you get up to? 

Are you enjoying the last of your summers? 

This post is part of these hops:

Back to The Basics

I grew up in a small town. When I say small, I don’t mean thousands, or even hundreds of people. I mean tens. Barely. My elementary school was a tiny school with only two classrooms and was the same one my dad went to. I believe that when I started going there, there were approximately 50 kids total, split into K-3 and 4-6.

I remember my first day of school, standing there with my best friend and her strawberry shortcake lunch box, waiting for the car that would come and pick us up. Yup, we had a car, because there were only three kindergarteners and we went to school later than the older kids.

Me and My Bestie - First Day of School

My first teacher was a hippy. Well, it was 1983 and there was some carryover from the 70s, I suppose. She played the acoustical guitar for music hour. We sang Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and Anne Murray songs. I still know all the words to the Yellow Submarine. She ate something that at the time I thought was the strangest thing ever – seaweed! I now know this as sushi.  Our “Christmas” play was “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. I played a key role; I was a branch.

The cook was named Bobbi. I will never forget her – she used to check to make sure we ate all of our lunch. We would try to trick her by spreading things out, mixing them around or flattening them down, but she was never fooled. We also used to dare each other to mix whatever was left over all together and eat it. Gross. I think this is where I developed my strong dislike of milk. Have you ever eaten mashed-potato-pizza-green bean-milk?

I looked forward to school. My best friend was there; I liked learning. I enjoyed the social interaction and the games. We built forts out of pine needles and played with our care bears. We played kick ball and steal the bacon and tag. The older kids chased the younger ones around, either trying to beat them up or kiss them. I know it sounds weird and I actually don’t remember being kissed, only being chased around with the threat of being kissed.

We used to play on the flipping bar! Remember the flipping bar? I could swing around with one leg and no hands. I think about that now and it makes my tummy hurt. I can’t believe I did that. It’s so dangerous! Do they still have the flipping bar in schools?

I have many good memories of my school days. I always looked forward to going back to school. I think back on that time and wonder: are things inherently the same now? We have so much more technology and kids are being crammed into public schools. Will kids have good memories of their school days when they are my age?

Do you have good memories of your school days? What kind of lunchbox did you have? (I had a care-bears lunchbox.) Do you have kids now? Are they excited to go back to school or do they dread it? 

This post is linked up with:

This weeks theme: Back To School

Running Amongst Mountains

Yeah, I said "amongst". Shoot me. It sounds fancier.

You have all probably watched Sound of Music, and if you have, you have heard this song a bunch of times:

"Climb every mountain, search high and low
Follow every byway, every path you know.
Climb every mountain, ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow, 'til you find your dream!"

If you haven't, Shame on You! You need to Go and watch it RIGHT NOW! 

This week, I went home for some much needed R&R and wonder of wonder, joy of joys, cooler weather. Weather I can run in without dying! Weather I, wait for it, WANT to run in. I know. Crazy, huh?

Since I started running more often (and longer distances), I have lived in the hottest, most humid places you could live in the US. Florida and Louisiana to name a couple (and the worst). And remember how I was saying in this post that sometimes I don't like to run. Well, now I see why. I have been running in the wrong places.To "find my dream" I had to go back home to the "path I know". And it was great.

The only problem about where my parents live is that there is not a very good place to run. They live right on a (scenic) highway in the middle (literally) of the mountains. So, the choices are...the highway, where there are blind curves and NO shoulder or...straight up the hill via old logging roads. So, up I went.

Oh, there IS another problem. Snakes. As you may remember in this post, the last time I went for a walk in the area, I ran into a not-so-little friend. Luckily, I know what to avoid. Unfortunately, where I was running, some of those things were unavoidable. Snakes love to hang out in all these places, so I watched my step here!!

In addition to having to be on snake lookout the entire time, the run was HARD. Luckily it was not too hot!! My total elevation gain was 1375 feet.

The mountains were brutal. The road I took was an old logging road and was not in the best condition. It was very rocky, so not only was I worried about snakes, but I also feared I would twist my ankle.

 I went pretty high!

To get to the top, there are something like 39 switchbacks. I DID NOT get to the top!

Here are a couple Google Earth Images just becuase it's kind of fun that you can see a) the road, b) all the switchbacks and c) the mountains! I made three markers (which turned out kind of small). One for the top of the mountain (~4500 ft), one for how high I ran (~3100 ft) and one for where I started (~2000 ft) What's really sad is that 4 years ago there was a massive fire on the same side of the river that I ran on and so now all the trees are burnt (these images are from 2006).

(click on each photo to enlarge)

(click on each photo to enlarge)

I miss the pines!

So to butcher paraphrase the words of the Rodgers and Hammerstein,

"I Climb every mountain, I search high and low (for snakes)
I Follow every byway switchback, every path you I know (while trying not to trip on rocks).
I Climb every mountain, I ford every stream (while waiting for a snake to jump out and bite me),
I Follow every rainbow unmaintained logging road, 'til you I find your my dream second wind!"

Can anyone tell me -- when running hills, what is the "normal" elevation gain? What is the normal procedure? I have never done hill training runs before. This one was kind of forced, and I had to take it pretty slow! And most importantly, have you seen the Sound of Music?

This post is linked up with Jill at:

My Seven Links

I know everyone has already done this and I am way behind on the times. That is okay. The town I grew up in just stopped pegging their pants last year.

This is hard, since I have a lot of posts and some of them were written 5 years ago! Also, I know that over the years, this blog, and I with it, have changed. So, some of the ones I wrote in the beginning had a good idea but bad delivery, or they were good but nobody read them.  Also, many of them were more like journal entries than crowd pleasers. However, it was kind of fun to go back and re-read some of my older posts, trying to find a good post to link to. This idea originated here. I am not following the rules. I have not been nominated. I will not nominate anyone. If you want to do this, do it. I give you my nomination now. Do it.

This challenge asks you to identify these 7 links:

Your most beautiful post: This one is hard. Is it referring to a photo, wise words or some deep insight from within? I love taking photos and I love Where I Live so that is probably the most beautiful post(s) I have for you.

Your most popular post: I guess this one is easier because it is quantifiable. If it goes by page hits, it’s Chopped (see below for link). However, if it is down to the number of comments, it is. It’s a Wrap tied with Why I Blog.

Your most controversial post: None of mine are really controversial (ie. sparked a huge debate between followers and me or followers themselves.) However, some happened during controversial times in my life, and during controversial times in my mind (sometimes different times, funnily enough) On Being in Limbo was about a controversy within.  

Your most helpful post; Essential Travel Items or Why Weight? which is a tutorial on calories and eating.

A post whose success surprised you:  Chopped, which is the one I wrote when I decided to go from over a foot of hair to basically none, in the name of Locks of Love. I think this one gets a lot of hits because it comes up the most on search engines, because for some reason people search things like “cut my hair”, “chop my hair” and “locks of love” more often than anything else. (side note of interest: I also “chopped” my hair in 2008 and wrote about it. This post was not popular at all. This goes to show that sometimes it depends on which words and phrases you use).

A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved:  I am Not a Plastic Bag. I wrote this when I was just writing to write and nobody read it and I didn’t care. But I had a lot of fun writing it and I thought it was well thought out and researched. I just didn’t have an audience then. C’est la vie!

The post that you are most proud of: I really like writing about Travel. I enjoy seeing new things and remarking upon them. The post called Kung Fu Fighting that I wrote about braving the trains in China got comments from my mom, who almost never comments. So I was proud that day. (I am also proud of Racing For Your Life because I entered it into a blog contest and won 3^rd place!)

What is YOUR favorite post of yours? Or if you want to answer any other categories and put the link in the comments, I would love to see what you think your 7 links are. If you have already done this meme, tell me what your second place links w