three cheers for the universe

I've been getting these Notes From the Universe delivered daily to my inbox for a number of months now. I always read them, and occasionally I share them. This morning's note was particularly timely and inspiring.

Which sounds like more fun, Chrissy: Being showered with miracles just because I love you, or being showered with miracles because you dared, stretched, went out on a limb, raised the bar, threw down the gauntlet, faced your fears, and grew into more than you ever knew you could be?

Dare ya,
The Universe

Lots of changes are afoot in this little life of mine. Progress, challenges, hopes, dreams, opportunities, and risks. Today, I'm submitting a story to two different magazines. Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt my first ever ten mile run. This weekend, I plan on dancing and laughing my ass off at the annual Nacogdoches Luau. Next week... well, who knows? I'll tell you who. You. All in due time.

recipe: vegan blueberry scones

(I'm going to do my best to write this post without making any "let's get sconed!" jokes, but I'm not making any promises.)

Scones and I have a long and tumultuous relationship. It began my senior year of college, when I went vegan for the first time and spent too many nights when I should have been studying for finals holed up in the kitchen, baking batches of chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter bars. A good plan, but unfortunately every single thing I baked came out of the oven looking and tasting exactly like a scone. Hard, dry and, while not unpleasant to eat, not exactly what I was aiming for.

Years later, once I moved to Nacogdoches and went back to eating dairy and eggs, I became slightly addicted to the scones at Java Jacks, a little coffee shop in town. I liked dipping the scones in my coffee while I used their free WiFi to trudge my way through library school. Even now, I can't go into that place without thinking of PowerPoints and MARC records.

Now that I'm back on the vegan wagon, and now that I've mostly mastered cookies that actually look and taste like cookies, I found myself missing scones. So, with my best friend Google, I found a promising recipe and gave it a shot.

I made blueberry scones, because those are obviously the best kind. I followed the recipe exactly and ended up with six scones, but I have to admit - while they were very tasty, they weren't quite the right consistency. A little too mushy in the middle. To me, a scone must be firm, dry, able to soak up coffee at a dunk's notice. I'm planning on making this recipe again, but next time I'll make twelve smaller scones and leave them in the oven an extra five minutes. Then, we'll be in business.

In the meantime, let the records show that between Nathan and I, all these scones disappeared within one day. Perhaps we're already in business?

adventures in camping

Nathan and I went camping at Boykin Springs Recreation Area for the long weekend. Boykin Springs is home to a very nice swimming hole, and is located in a nearby National Forest. East Texas is full of National Forests and Rec areas, so we had our pick. We chose this one because it was the least crowded, the cheapest, and there were no bored rangers telling us to put our dog on a leash every five minutes. Yeah, we're rebels like that.

We slept in our Hennessy Hammocks, which were super comfortable, cool and kept us cozy and dry when it rained the second night. If you're looking for a tent set up, I highly recommend taking the hammock route! You can pitch them anywhere with two trees and don't have to worry about the ground being bumpy, jagged or wet.

Nathan loves building a roaring fire, and I love sitting next to it. Campfire is probably one of my top five favorite smells.

Since we were sleeping in our hammocks, we pitched the tent for Seamus. He slept in it the first night, and the second night he slept under my hammock. Very adorable. In this photo, he had been looking very handsome and adventurous, but right before I took the picture a bug flew by his head. As you can see, Seamus is not a fan of bugs.

We live in the Piney Woods. Enough said.

This right here is the real reason I love camping. Yes, it's fun to sleep in a hammock and sit by a fire, play dominoes and Scrabble under a tarp while it rains, cook dinner outside and swim in a lake. But mostly? Camping is the one time when I can let go and do nothing but read with pure, guiltless abandon. No Internet to surf, no laundry to wash, no errands to run. Just me, a good novel, and a little green cup filled with wine for hours on end. That's perfection, right there. That, my friends, is camping.

the power of guilt

I don't remember if I officially announced this, but I've decided to run the Austin Marathon this February. As soon as registration opens up, I'm sending them my money and sealing my fate. Nothing like a financial obligation to keep my training on track!

Speaking of training, I've altered mine slightly. I'd been doing a 16 week marathon training plan, but during week three I realized that at the rate I was going, I'd be "marathon ready" by September, and then what? Keep running 20 miles every weekend until February? No, thank you. Instead, I'm now working through a 16 week training plan for a half-marathon, to be immediately followed by the original marathon plan. The only real difference is the rate at which I increase the weekly long run, and it has me running four days a week instead of three. I actually prefer this, but have to keep reminding myself that scaling things back is not a sign of weakness. I know that in the long run (ha!) I'll be stronger and healthier for it.

This week, I started a thrice-weekly weight training class at the college and while I'm acclimating to the new routine, I'm taking it easy with the running. I skipped Thursday's five miles in favor of a rest day, and almost skipped this morning's make-up run as well. I was tired. It was humid. I was lazy. When the alarm went off at 5:45, I reset it for seven and tried to go back to sleep. But one should never underestimate the power of a recovering Catholic's capacity for guilt, because the next thing I knew I was getting dressed and on my way to the gym, planning to run three miles as a peace offering.

When I swiped my card, I discovered that my gym membership had expired at the end of the semester and not, in fact, at the end of May. I considered going home, having at least tried to run, but I'd made it so far. Instead, I headed to my favorite morning loop and managed to run 4.22 miles down quiet and overcast streets. And you know what? It was a really nice run. Peaceful, relaxing, meditative, and definitely worth dragging myself out of bed.

On the menu for the upcoming glory that is the three day weekend: vegan blueberry scones, sleeping in a hammock, reading two books, writing a long letter to my pen pal, and an eight mile run. I'll be back Tuesday with a full report. Until then, please enjoy your day, your weekend, and all the those things that you force yourself to do.

speaking of the present moment...

Police Slog Through 40,000 Insipid Party Pics To Find Cause Of Dorm Fire

the present moment

I read an NPR article today (okay, it was two minutes ago) by Eyder Peralta which questioned whether the "now-ness" of the Internet has changed our sense of time and altered how we see the world. From the article:

I'm not sure when, but in some ways, Americans have transitioned from a society that worked toward a future, to a society that lives for the now. We watch movies on-demand; we send instant messages across the world; we get news as it happens and there's no use waiting for the six-o'clock newscast or the next day's paper.

So in the past we read books, mailed letters, and got our news after the fact, from papers and peers. Today, we have Twitter streams and Facebook newsfeeds, which allow us to build an ongoing conversation around events and ideas as they're happening. On the one hand, this is good. We're living in the present moment! We're engaged with what's happening right now! And yet, the author asks, what exactly are we sacrificing for this overwhelming sense of immediacy?

Perhaps, this technological evolution of the web is just a mirror of our society. Perhaps it signals a deeper plunge into the immediate.

If so, I ask, in a world of now, how do we get the future right?

First of all, I must be upfront about the fact that any time I hear an argument that begins, "well, in my day..." or "back when I was a kid, things were so much better because..." I can't help by roll my eyes. I'm a big fan of change and I believe that in the majority of cases, change is good. I think we've been steadily improving on the past for about as long as the present has been around. That said, Eyder Peralta makes a good point.

I spend a lot of time on the Internet. It's a big part of my job, yes, but it's also a big part of my life. Sometimes I think about how often I report back to the Internet - I update my status on Facebook and Twitter, I track my runs on Dailymile, I let people know what page of The Virgin Suicides I'm on with Goodreads. So much of my life is spent clicking the refresh button. And yes, I get something out of these websites. I get a sense of community, connections to people I might otherwise lose track of or never know at all. But, as Eyder Peralta asks, what am I giving up? Spreading myself thin with a thousand surface distractions every hour - well, how can that not affect my ability to have deeper ideas, more developed epiphanies, and projects that go beyond the present moment, projects that I've nurtured past the now? Naturally, I'm thinking about writing, and how it is possibly the least instantly gratifying process on the planet. How can I become a better, more dedicated and ambitious writer, when I'm squandering all my words on tweets and IMs and comment fields?

I don't have a sassy ending for this post, but I suppose that's fitting. Excuse me while I think long and hard about this conundrum. And post the article on Facebook.

weekend: seamus edition

The Lost party was only the start of our weekend. You'd think that would have been the highlight, but no! Saturday and Sunday were just as wonderful. Here's a snapshot of my weekend through the eyes of one very special pup.


On Saturday, Mr. MRT graduated from college, which was very exciting and impressive. Yay for MRT! Mary threw him a backyard bash (my favorite kind!) and we spent most of the day and night hanging out, drinking beers, and marveling at the cool weather that came out of nowhere. I made Prospect Park Potato Salad from Veganomicon, which everyone seemed to love. I would have taken a photo, but it was gobbled up too quickly. Seamus, the party animal that he is, enjoyed the chance to lick people, beg for meat, and chase orbies and small children around the yard.


We awoke on Sunday late and slightly headachey, and had no choice but to take take coffee and dog to the park. While there, we teased Seamus with the ball and caused him to make his Concerned Face. His concern did not last long and soon enough, he was rolling in the grass and chasing squirrels while we sat on the swings and continued to discuss WTF had happened in the season finale of Lost.


Sunday afternoon was spent doing the usual chores - meal planning, grocery shopping, granola making, This American Life listening. After all the excitement of the weekend, Seamus was fairly exhausted. When Nathan and I left to attend a two-hour long Ashtanga yoga class (which was awesome) he seemed almost relieved.


Seamus hopes that you had as fun and adventurous a weekend as he did, and so do I.

lost party!

We finally got around to watching the season finale of Lost this Friday night. To celebrate the event, we invited some friends to our home and went happily overboard with the theme party concept.


Welcome to the hatch! What better way to greet our guests than with a handy Dharma Initiative symbol on the front door?


About an hour before our friends showed up, Nathan suggested we wear the two jumpsuits he just happens to own. Since the members of Dharma Initiative like to rock the jumpsuits, and since we were admittedly low on 70's fashions, I agreed. My name tag says "Roger Workman" and in the above photo I am either posing in the bamboo that grows beside our porch, or hiding from a smoke monster on a mysterious island. You decide.


I was most excited to make a Lost cake, featuring the Dharma symbol iced on top. The cake was pretty delicious - I just veganized a box of Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake and whipped vanilla frosting. The Dharma symbol - well, let's just say I have a lot more respect for cake decorators than ever before.


I also printed out Dharma labels for the wine and Amy baked sugar cookies shaped like fish (Fish Biscuits). Eralda made a very yummy salad (full of island greens and fruits) and we feasted on black bean chili and skillet cornbread before finally settling down, only to HAVE OUR MINDS BLOWN. Seriously. WTF? That show is out of control. Nathan and I spent the next morning trying to figure what had happened while we were running, and I was so enthralled by theories, complaints, despair, ideas and conspiracies that seven miles flew by. Unfortunately, I still have no idea what's going to happen next and I can't wait for the next season to start. In the meantime, you can bet I'll be sharpening my cake decorating skills.

on a roll

This has been an excellent week.

I finished up my fiction class and handed in my final portfolio. I revised the hell out of my first story and good news - I actually like it! (For now, anyway.) My dinners this week have been both adventurous AND delicious (trust me, those two do not always go hand in hand). Tomorrow, I'm having friends over to watch the season finale of Lost on the projector (no spoilers until then!) and tonight, I'm going directly to the park after work, drinking a beer, and enjoying the company of my favorite person and my favorite animal. I am so lucky!

Some other things making me happy this week:

Eralda started up her cooking blog. The latest recipe posted is for the granola about which I've been raving. I'm newly in love with Academichic, which showcases fashionable clothes that I'd actually wear - in fact, it's already inspired me to wear both a skirt AND a dress this week (not at the same time). Spring has officially arrived in East Texas, and that means strawberries, raspberries and mangoes are all super cheap and super delicious. MRT the Elder finished his undergraduate career this week (congrats!) and the party to celebrate is Saturday. We caught up on The Office last night, and great news - it's back to being the awkward, painful and heartbreakingly hilarious show that I know and love. And last but not least, tomorrow is Friday.

Yes, yes. An excellent week indeed.

easy as one, two, three

I just finished my final portfolio for my fiction writing class. This involved revising the three pieces that I had workshopped this semester and then writing a paper discussing the changes I made and stating the goals and plans I have for my fiction's future. Naturally, this was fairly easy for me - I like to talk about myself and why I do the things I do, and I love any excuse to make a list or state a goal.

I've decided to write down and post my writing goals for each month. I've found that the best way to accomplish things is to set specific, quantifiable goals, the more precise the better. These little goals of mine aren't rocket science. They're not exactly shocking because that's not the point. They are meant simply to keep me on track, help me stay focused, and reward me with a small thrill each time I get to cross something off my list.

Here's to discipline, and hoping that this time, it sticks.

spring has sprung!

Yesterday, Mary drove Sonnie and I out to Boykin Springs Lake for an afternoon of swimming, snacks and sunning. It was a perfect day and the ideal way to 1. celebrate the successful completion of an early morning NINE MILE RUN (!) and 2. offer Nathan the peace and quiet necessary to write papers and study for tests and accomplish all the other boring stuff that being a graduate student demands (sucker!). We had a lovely time, and when I finally went to bed last night, I realized that I had not done one "productive" thing all day. And you know what? I was totally okay with that.


Seamus is a true blue water dog. He swam and swam until he could literally swim no more. Seriously. He got in the shallow end of the lake and stood there, whining, until we finally got out for a much needed rest.


Boykin Springs has a series of little dams and waterfalls. The park had been closed since 2004, when Hurricane Rita blew through, and only just reopened last month. Just in time for summer!


There were not too many people on the lake yesterday, which was nice. I like having my own private swimming hole.


No trip to the lake is complete without the proper snackage, which we all decided independently and unanimously. I brought strawberries, Mary brought salt and pepper potato chips and raspberries, and Sonnie packed pretzels. We all shared (even Seamus!) and then swam some more before finally heading home around dinner time. I wish every day could be Sunday.

makeover!

I've been playing with the layout of my blog. Mostly colors and the header. What do you think?

Also, I got my hairs cut. Not as short as I had been considering, but look! Swoopy bang things! That's got to count for something, right?


Right.

dallas is for vegans!

(This post contains gratuitous and mostly unnecessary images of food. They are all safe for work, unless you are hungry. Consider yourself warned.)

Before this week, I'd never been to Dallas before. In case you didn't know, Texas is quite a large state and it's easy to live here for nearly five years (eek!) without stepping foot in one of it's largest cities. But on Tuesday, both Nathan and I drove three hours north and burst on to the Dallas scene like... well... two hungry vegans. Please accept this humble photographic representation of how I spent my non-conference time in Dallas.


The Spiral Diner and Bakery was named 2007's Restaurant of the Year by VegNews, so I was really excited to try it out. The restaurant itself looks kind of like a 1950's diner and everything on the menu is vegan. At the Spiral Diner, they make a point to serve as much organic food as possible, to keep their prices as low as they can, and to support local and independent non-profits. Did these admirable values translate to admirable plates? Nearly. Nearly.


I had the Philly Cheeze Steak sandwich with a side of potato salad. The potato salad was awesome. The sandwich was pretty good, but not the punch-you-in-your-face flavor that I'd been hoping for. Still, very satisfying and definitely nothing I'd find in Nacogdoches.


Nathan had the Curry Noodles, which he thought was kind of bland. I think he liked it better once he doused it in red pepper. For dessert, I wish I could say that we shared the Deathstar Sundae but in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit - proudly! - that we each ordered our own. And that it was totally worth it.


A huge vegan brownie, topped with three scoops of i-scream, and covered in espresso. God, was it good. Overall, I rated the Spiral Diner 3.5 our of 5 carrots and Nathan gave it a three.

Wednesday was my big conference day, and so to fortify myself we headed down the road to the Dream Cafe, which Mary T, Culinary Queen of the Greater East Texas Area, had recommended to us. Neither Mary T nor the Dream Cafe disappointed.


Black beans and rice, two whole wheat tortillas, scrambled tofu with spicy salsa and soy cheeze. Throw in an awesome cup of coffee, and I was ready for whatever those librarians had in store for me. We both rated this place a solid 5 carrots!

We were still pretty full from breakfast when lunch rolled around, so we chose to split an appetizer and entree at an Indian restaurant, whose name has escaped me. I like Indian food but it's just a little too spicy for me. Despite the fact that I'm a very slow eater, I always find myself trying to finish Indian food as fast as I can. It hurts, but it's a good hurt.


I don't know what this was called. Nathan ordered it. In the back is a samosa, and beside it some naan. Nathan rated this place 5 carrots. I gave it a three.

I'm sure that in addition to food, Dallas is home to lots of important culture, art, history, and natural beauty. Unfortunately, when you only have a day and a half to explore, and most of that exploring is limited to the library conference taking place on the second floor of a hotel, the best you can hope for is good food, good coffee, and a comfortable hotel room. In that regard, Dallas is a five carrot city. I'd go back anytime, and not just for breakfast at the Dream Cafe.

be my guest

Friends! I have written my very first guest post on another delightful woman's blog. The blog is Yes and Yes (because yes is more fun than no!) and my post is called How to Become a Runner Who Likes to Run. It provides a nice summary about my quest to become a runner, from my humble beginnings in Remedial Gym and right up to my latest quest to conquer the marathon. (I ran eight miles this past Sunday!) I encourage you to check it out, along with the rest of Sarah's posts and guest posts.

And if anyone has clicked over here from Yes and Yes, welcome! If you like writing, dogs, eating, running, books, photos and/or lofty goals, you have come to the right place.

weekend of food, basically

My weekend started with a Saturday morning yoga class. The class was bittersweet - Saturdays are one of my favorite classes, and Kim - the instructor - was teaching her last one. She's headed to India later this month, and while I'm happy that she's pursuing adventure and intrigue, I'm sad to see her leave the studio. To wish her bon voyage (and to say goodbye to Jennifer, another instructor bound for North Carolina) Amy hosted a lovely brunch directly following class.

Amy (who owns the studio, and happens to be one of my best friends) is also a vegan, so there was plenty of delicious things to choose from. Above - hummus, pita, fresh fruit and a vegan potato and onion frittata. Very good to eat. Not pictured: coffee and never ending mimosas.


This is what happens when I have two or three mimosas at 10:30 in the morning. Photo shoot in the bathroom!

We were also dog sitting this weekend for the MRTs. Molly was, as always, an ideal house guest. The only problem we had was early Sunday morning, when a crazy storm raged outside the window, putting Molly into a panting panic. She is not fond of storms. Seamus, on the other hand, left the bedroom for the couch in the middle of the fuss. I guess Molly's panic was keeping him from his beauty rest. On the bright side, the storm seemed to exhaust Molly because she spent the rest of the day catching up on her sleep. Oh, to be a dog.

The storm knocked out our electricity for a few hours, which was kind of fun, but by lunch time we were back in business. Good thing, too, seeing as we had tons of laundry, bill paying, paper writing, apartment cleaning, and cooking that had to be done. I used Eralda's recipe to make some really kick ass granola - my first homemade batch ever! I had it for breakfast today and it is de-lish. If you want the recipe, let me know and I can email it to you. Suffice to say, it's full of nuts and seeds and all kinds of goodness, plus the house smells heavenly while it's in the oven.


For Sunday dinner, I made Lolo's latest recipe. I always seem to make her recipes as soon as she posts them, and I am hardly ever sorry. This dish is pan-fried gnocchi with asparagus tips, mushrooms, roasted red peppers and canned artichokes. Despite using almost all of the substitutions she mentions, the recipe was definitely a winner.

Speaking of winners, you might notice that my dinner photo is less crappy than usual. Nathan got tired of watching me photograph things in poor light while our food got cold, and he rigged up a desk lamp on the corner of the counter, dubbing it my "mini-studio." Mini it is, but I'm already liking the better lighting and the shadows. So yay Nathan! And yay Vegan Yum Yum! And gnocchi! And weekends!

As always, I hope your weekend was just as tasty.

weekend to do list

• East Texas Garage Sale, Saturday at 7am.
• Yoga after the yard sale.
  
• Kimberly and Jennifer's goodbye brunch after yoga.
  
• Clean house like whoa.
• Wash and put away all the laundry.
• Write and revise like a crazy person.
• Write yoga newsletter.
• Pay all the bills.
  
• Meal planning and grocery shopping.
  
• Make homemade granola.
• Complete an eight mile run.
  
• Finish reading On Beauty.
  
• Dog sit for Molly T.
• Call my mother on the telephone.
• Put together and package two birthday boxes.
• Bake cookies for last workshop on Monday.
  
• Collapse, exhausted and (hopefully) accomplished.