shake justification

pete and I walked ten thousand steps for our shakes tonight. literally. four miles. they were the best shakes we've ever had. all the fun without the guilt.

fun with duct tape!

I was at the DI today and found an old men's shirt that I want to recycle into a cute new woman's shirt. {along the lines of that cute "maternity"-looking style that is so en vogue these days--I love it because you don't have to worry about your tummy!} btw, I also found all these patterns--you know, from the seventies, eighties and nineties!--for fifty cents! who knows if all the pieces are there, but at least they will give me basic ideas on how-to's, elements and alterations. I am so ambitious! I recently bought a pretty cute shirt in this style that I am going to use as a guide (not necessarily a pattern because it's cute, and I like it, and I don't want to cut it up.) But since I don't have an actual pattern for what I want--I mean, I'm pretty much just making it all up--I want to make sure it will fit me. that's where the DIY dress form comes into play.

I found a step-by-step over at Etsy Labs that looks easy enough. Becca, I know you wanted to make one of these a while ago, still interested? if not, I just might have to wrangle Pete into helping me. and we all know how he will probably feel about that.

{duct tape dress form tutorial here.}

so, has anyone out there in blogland ever attempted one of these? or does her own pattern drafting to make her own clothing? I am slightly intrigued by it all.

Food Awareness

I was reading today's post --the evils of trans fat, hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated anything in foods -- on This Week for Dinner and was curious to see what sort of unhealthy food was lurking in my cupboard. I really hate how healthy-seeming food is more often than not just plain ol' bad for you. Those Fiber One Chewy Bars (shown in the photo below) claim 0g Trans Fat, but do in fact contain hydrogentated coconut oil, high maltose corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup! Yikes!
As you can see I was so concerned about my well-being that I frantically searched my cupboard for anything including the words hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. Some foods were obviously going to be bad for me, but others I was slightly surprised. (those fiber one bars for example)

Why do we do this to ourselves? As a society we are so prone to things that are unhealthy for us because they are convenient, quick, and easy. This highly processed food that has streamlined our lives is slowly killing us. Will you stand for that?

Take a step back. Do you know where your food has come from? Do you know how many miles and how many hands it has passed through to get to your plate? This disconnect (and there is a disconnect from the environment in general in this modern society of ours) not only scares me, but saddens me as well.

I want to take steps forward. I want to reconnect with that which sustains me. I want to implement positive change in my life toward eating healthy, eating whole. This means I have to live a simpler life. {though some might say more complicated} I have to take the time to prepare my food using ingredients from whole, natural foods. I want to lessen any dependence on highly processed foods I might have.

I think without realizing it, though, I've already started taking steps. But I could do more.

Options are out there:

• Get dirty: Grow your own food.
• Support your local community: Buy fresh produce from your local Farmer's Market or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
• Try the Eat Local Challenge for the month of September.
• Consider a more vegetarian diet. Flexetarianism is cool! Plus you can't go wrong with a diet based mostly on vegetables and other naturally grown things.
  

Now that I've rid these unnatural foods from my cupboard, how do I rid them from body?! A cleanse is called for!

revelation

this housewife thing must be getting to me. today I found myself ironing my apron. {and I had this intense urge to iron my pillowcases too! don't worry, I resisted that one} ironing my apron?!

but a girl's got to look good whilst in her palace! (because, you know, the kitchen is my palace...)

fun crafts with wax!

do old crayon bits got you down? you need something to do with them because you'd rather not throw them away? but come on, nobody likes drawing with the unwanted stubs! well, then here's your chance to give them new life. recycle them into fun, multi-colored crayons the kids (and let's be honest, you!) will love to draw with!
(since I don't have children I don't have old crayon bits. good thing there was a sale on all things school supply)

arrange the broken bits into a fun shaped tin for baking. or, if you don't have anything fun shaped that's suitable for baking, you can melt the crayons in something else and then pour them into molds or even heavy-weight cookie cutters (on a cookie sheet, of course!) work too.

bake at three-hundred degrees for about ten minutes or so. it is fun to watch the crayons melt into ooey-gooey swirls of color. once the wax has melted, remove from the oven and let cool. I used non-stick tins, and as the wax cooled the edges came away from the sides of the tin making it oh so easy to take out! hurrah!

get creative with the color combos. this could be hours of endless fun. seriously. and look how cute they came out!

tune in for my next installment of fun crafts with wax! where we will be learning how to make pictograph/petroglyph style art using sandpaper, crayons, wax paper and your iron! fun for the whole family!

reduce, reuse, recycle

anna: I really like making leftovers into something new. it's more exciting.

[the previous night's ratatouille is now tonight's delicious lasagna!]

peter: yeah, what are you going to make these leftovers into?

anna: I don't know. . .

peter: maybe cake?

the utah transit authority

Salt Lake Bus Route Redesign:
Sunday, August 26, 2007

sticker found on a light on the uofu campus. [image via my cellular telephone]

I can't decide if I should be excited or scared. will this redesign revive public transportation use in this community? or kill it off completely? uta is claiming the route changes will make transit in the city faster, easier, and the like. basically their plan consists of channelling routes to make getting into downtown faster and transfers to trax easier.

I am an avid public transportation rider. I ride the bus and/or train whenever I can, even if it's not the most convenient option. I believe in it. but when I see these signs on major routes all over the city, I get a little worried. uta, are you sure you know what you're doing?

the decisions the uta board has made over the past few months regarding the big change has baffled me as well as many others all over the city. For one (and this affects me greatly) they have taken all five bus routes off of 700 East, a major thoroughfare. They have moved service onto 500 East and 900 East, which are slower, narrower streets.

They're changing demographic, they say. I think the utah transit authority is focusing on those in the outlying suburban areas, hoping to get new ridership at the expense of the "local" riders already using the system, depending on the system. My neighbor included. She is devastated.

The redesign actually might really be beneficial for me. There is a new bus route that runs right up my street and goes directly to the university of utah. no more trax transfers. and there are plenty of routes (9th east and 5th east included, I think) that are running every fifteen minutes during peak hours.

so we'll see how this plan affects public trans in the city. I'm sorry to all you out there who's bus route is being cut indefinitely. (and I think that might be quite a few of you) hopefully you can find alternate routes. and hey, there's always your bike!

my lunch

simple + delicious:
avocado/cheese tortilla wraps

housewife: day one

last friday I ended this summer's stint with club u. as always, we went out with a bang. or should I say splash, with raging waters--utah's beach. though technically, in my heart, utah's beach is the shoreline of the great salt lake. it is the capstone event of a summer filled with fun.

I will miss you, club u.

now I'm on to my next adventure. unlike two summers ago when I ended club u with a sabbatical, or last summer when I ended club u with a wedding, I am ending this go-around with a domestic hiatus. I am now a housewife.

okay, okay... so really I'm just on vacation for the next two weeks. then I'll resume my duties in the youth ed office--ten hours a week. ten hours a week isn't much, you say? okay, you caught me again. I need to find another job as well. but until then I am going to make the most of this time I have purely for myself. it has been absolute heaven thus far.

today I had time for:
running
reading
writing
cleaning
laundering
erranding
shopping
buying
eating
everything!

arby's strawberry banana swirl shake

don't try it, it totally sucks. it's somewhere along the lines of "treat milk" (aka "pink milk" aka nestle's strawberry milk) mixed into crappy soft served ice cream. and the banana swirl? yikes! it tastes like the yucky fake banana flavoring! not a very fun combo, to say the least!

do you have the hankerin' for a cold, tasty treat of the strawberry-banana variety? try a shake from hires big h, or iceberg, or even the AC for that matter! they all know how to do the strawberry banana shake a whole heckuvalot better! I should know, I'm a SBS connaisseur--it's the only shake flavor I ever really order...

strict fire regulations

impromptu campfires via the zippo,

s'mores never were so good.



a little fun in the wilds: car camping in the wasatch.

pool rules

has anyone heard of the five minute break?

while swimming tonight at a local pool in town (the taylorsville community pool to be exact) the lifeguards all blew their whistles at the same time, instigating the five minute break. what is the five minute break you might be wondering? I don't know, I'm still trying to figure it out. it basically consisted of everyone getting out of the pool for five minutes--and not all the way out mind you, we all had our feet dangling as we sat on the side. to top it off, a storm was blowing in from the south. instead of the five-thousand degree temps we've been having, a fabulous little chilly breeze was had by all. a cool front + wet bodies equals not so much fun. all the lifeguards sat at the ready in their chairs, but nobody was allowed in the water.

when asked why we needed a five minute break, the lifeguard responded, "to check stuff." what that stuff is, I have no idea.

is this a standard procedure? does your community pool enforce this? it seemed slightly bizarre to me.

photo courtesy of: kellicrowe.

family vacation

peter and I decided we needed a roadtrip, so today we took off to one of my favorite places on the whole planet: sanpete county. yep, that's right. I said sanpete county. fairview, spring city, ephraim, the whole shebang.
after a tour of my alma-mater, we had a lovely jetboil picnic on the campus of snow college. I reminisced the whole time. I miss those days...
then we drove home via the mt nebo loop scenic byway. a very scenic drive, to say the least. here we are at the devil's kitchen, otherwise known as little bryce canyon.
looking back at mt nebo herself, the tallest peak in the wasatch range. nearly 12,000 feet in elevation, she is a beauty to behold. we topped out at 9,500 on the byway. I nearly got HAPE.

iLove

here is the sweetest surprise, a gift for no reason in particular: a cute little white MacBook.

thank you, peter. it is going to revolutionize my life. and my blogging? now I can computerize in style.

I'm an eat-whatever-you-want-etarian

as many of you know, I'm a flexitarian. and no, I did not make that term up. see below.

an excerpt of an article from Spark People:

"What do you eat?!” may be the question most often heard by vegetarians, as if meat is the only food group available. Obviously, as the five million thriving vegetarians in America have shown, there’s a lot to eat, without choosing meat—and they’re healthier as a result.

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, vegetarians have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma. While simple recipes abound for tasty meatless fare, vegetarianism is a leap that many aren’t prepared to take. But you can still have many of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet without trading your turkey for Tofurkey by trying "flexitarianism" on for size. Flexitarians, or semi-vegetarians, are “sometimes" vegetarians, meaning people who reduce some of their meat consumption and fill the gap with other plant-based food groups—eating a mostly vegetarian diet, yet remaining flexible.

I really like being a flexitarian for the pure fact that it sounds cool. and that nobody has ever heard of it. and really it just means that I can pretty much eat whatever the heck I want. I mean, you might be a flexitarian and not even know it!

I really do try to eat more like a vegetarian, I swear. but who can resist burgers?

my peeps

here we are, rockin' harder than bon jovi

club u rock 'n roll music star dress up day