Great New Dish!

Here is an amazingly simple recipe that is delicious! It is from Martha Stewart. I added shiitake mushrooms to it as well:

~Stir Fry Noodles with Eggplant and Basil~

Serves 4
8 ounces lo mein noodles
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon light-brown sugar
4 teaspoons vegetable oil1/
2 pound Japanese or other small eggplant, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick
5 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, torn, for serving

Directions:
Cook noodles according to package instructions; drain noodles and rinse with cold water. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar and stir until sugar dissolves.

Heat a large skillet or wok over high until hot. Add 3 teaspoons vegetable oil and swirl to coat skillet. Add eggplant and stir until golden on both sides, 4 minutes total. Push eggplant to side of skillet and add 1 teaspoon oil. Add scallion whites and garlic and stir until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add noodles and soy mixture and toss to combine all the ingredients. Serve topped with scallion greens and basil

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/stir-fried-noodles-with-eggplant-and-basil

Can you say "delish?" Oh, and it is great with a glass of Merlot. Or two.

Life keeps moving on

Yes, I woke up at another ungodly hour this morning. Again. At least it was 4 am. I only have a little longer until it is a decent time be wandering through the house. Having a hard time sleeping is only one of the awesome side effects of a miscarriage. Some of the others I won't go into detail about. You can research those lovely ones. My favorite, and I'm not being sarcastic, is the fact I have been using retail shopping as my therapy. I figured I could spend $1000 to see a shrink and maybe get some help, or have it hanging in my closet. I chose the latter. Although I am sure CJ is not too happy with my many recent purchases he has yet to say anything which is very unlike him. Although I know my shopping binge will have to end soon I am enjoying some of my new fall clothes. Thankfully I am getting paid on the 20th, that should make my bank account and my husband happy.

I know some of my friends are afraid I might not be grieving this appropriately or giving myself enough time. I don't really know how to grieve it, or what to do. I have yet to read a book on how to grieve the loss of a baby. A baby I wanted more than anything. A baby I spent two weeks in Belize talking to and letting myself become attached to. A baby who I still yearn for everyday, especially at four on Sunday morning. A baby I only had for four weeks before it was taken away from me. I am doing the best I can.

I am doing better and it is helping me that I have a class full of twenty adorable first graders to go to every morning. I am loving my class. Their sweet smiles are helping me cope.

As a way to become normal I posted our pictures of Belize on my Facebook page. I was so happy then. It took me a month to do because it is hard to look at those pictures. It was such a magical trip. It feels like years ago. So feel free to look at those and I highly encourage your next tropical vacation to be Belize. We loved it. It was such a calming, wonderful place. This picture is now my screensaver because it is so nice to look at. I took this on one of our boat rides out to snorkel the Barrier Reef.

my heart aches

and i don't know when i will be happy again. we found out this week i am in the midst of a miscarriage. i have no words for how i feel. we were supposed to be 8 weeks along. i have yet to completely miscarry and have to most likely go in for a procedure (d & c) next week. thankfully i have had to stay busy with new teacher orientation but coming home is absolutely dreadful. i am so sad and wonder if i'll ever be the old me. someone once said "death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person, what is worse is what dies within you." i now understand this. i feel empty. cj can't help, neither can my parents, and my sweet friends, who all have been wonderful in their own ways, can't help either. i feel numb. so numb.

that's all. maybe someday soon i'll post of our wonderful trip in belize, when we were celebrating being parents.

Canning!

This summer I decided I would try to do some canning. My mom and I used to make jam when I was little. Whenever I get a "wild hair" to do something I go all the way. I couldn't just make organic raspberry jam, I had to make organic blackberry and strawberry jams as well. I am also making three different kinds of pickles, jalapeno jelly, and tomato basil sauce. A lot of the ingredients are from our garden and yard. I picked 4 lbs of blackberries from our field! I was determined to make these organic and local. All of the veggies/fruits are either grown in my yard or from a local organic farmer. I am very happy to support local farmers all the while keeping my friends and family healthy!

I will post more pictures soon. I have only taken a few~ enjoy and let me know if you want some jam ;-)

One of eight jars of raspberry jam

Some of the blackberries I picked

Me after picking a lot of blackberries :)

Modern Day Slavery

Here is a very sad article about Portland and a world I know very little about. My mom has worked with different organizations to get the word out and to help stop this modern day slavery. Educate yourself, read it, and do something!

Dan Saltzman, Portland City Commisioner says: “There’s too many young girls whose futures are being sacrificed by our ignorance.”

Pray for Peyton

CJ's old recruiting partner, Trevor and his his wife Brittney are going through a really challenging time. Their daughter Peyton (2.5) got Ecoli which has caused Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, while visiting an animal petting farm. She has been in Doernbecher for 12 days and still hasn't been released. Please keep little Peyton and the Janeck family in your prayers.

ubi caritas

ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur.
timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

for a girlfriend who needs this right now

A Reunion of Sorts

I was quite nervous to attend my ten year high school reunion. I had an "interesting" high school experience as most people did. I attended LaSalle High School for the first two years. During my sophomore year I was pretty sick with an ovarian cyst and mono. I also had a boyfriend who attended Milwaukie HS. I transferred to Milwaukie at the start of my junior year thinking it would be awesome. Well, it was and it wasn't. Said boyfriend and I broke up and I had to find a whole new set of friends. Although I enjoyed both schools and made friends pretty easily, it was still a challenge. LaSalle was great because most everyone was coming there from a different junior high since it was a private high school. We all had to create new relationships. On the contrary, MHS had its core group of friends in my class. Coming in during the third year of HS made it pretty tough to break in. Although I was on dance team and became friends with a lot of the "in" group, it wasn't easy. When I graduated I was excited to move on. For the kids at MHS that were attending college they were either going to private school or Oregon State {insert yuck face!} I was super excited to leave high school behind and go to UO.

During college and post college I would run into some peeps here and there as well as "friend" them on Facebook. I knew what people were up to and they knew what I was up to. That seemed like enough to me. I was happy they were happy and hopefully they were happy I was.

Skip ahead 10 years and I have two reunions I have been invited to. MHS's reunion was held in June at the Rose Room at the Rose Garden. I did not want to go. I did not think I had good memories of HS. I hummed and hawed about going until CJ finally said, "yes, you are going! You will kick yourself for not going." And, he was right. I had a blast. I realized I had a great high school experience. I had friends, a full social calendar, I was prepared for college, and should not have felt nervous at all. It was so great to run into my old friends. Yes, there definitely was an OSU click that gave me a hard time but I remember why I enjoyed so many of the people that went there. I was so impressed with what they are doing with their lives and how they are giving back to the community. Nurses, teachers, counselors, business owners, engineers, pharmacists, and social workers to name a few! I even reconnected with some of the girls I loved in HS. I look forward to our next reunion but have faith that I will be seeing some of my friends sooner than that.

LaSalle's reunion is in September at Kennedy School.... hmm, do I go? :)

Happy, Happy Birthday CJ!

Cheers to my sweet husband CJ who is turning 29 today! I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you.

Tonight we are going to Bridgeport Brewery with 20 of our friends! It will be a great time. I even had a fabulous Oregon Duck cake made for the occasion by my friend Kyrie. Funny story, I actually grew up with Kyrie from the time she was very little. She and my sister were great friends and I actually babysat her and her brother. Now she is all grown up and a baker! She is so cute and talented :)

I will post pictures after the fun night, but for now I thought I would share this:

{My favorite picture of the birthday boy, ever!}

Summer Reading

I have read some great books this summer. A few for teaching and a few for personal enjoyment. For my fellow teachers, here are some great books:

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

Reaching All by Creating Tribes Learning Communities by Jeanne Gibbs

Teaching Outside of the Box: How to Grab Your Students by Their Brains by LouAnne Johnson {Author of the book that inspired the film Dangerous Minds}

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

So, after all of the school reading I have read I needed some light pleasure reading. My friend Reagan told me about the series by Charlaine Harris. Her books inspired the HBO series True Blood. Her first book is called "Dead After Dark." There are 10 books in this series. They are fast reads and are very addicting. They are the adult version of the Twilight series. WOW! Crazy, passionate, murder, and filled with vampires. I am usually not into fantasy but these are good!

Ahhh, reading! How I love you~

It is official!

So, I can finally blog about this~ I was hired full time at Rosedale Elementary as a first grade teacher. I have had to keep my mouth closed since the beginning of May when I was given a permanent contract with the district. Since the district {and the entire state} had to figure out money/funding/positions, etc. my principal didn't want me telling a lot of people. I felt/still feel extremely honored to have been hired in such dire times.

I am super excited to be back at the school I was at this year, work with amazing people, and learn the ins and outs of first grade. My co-teacher, JoAnn, is FABULOUS and I cannot wait for all the fun we are going to have.

When I found out and signed my contract back in May my parents and CJ sent me these beautiful bouquets.

BEEEEEEELIZE!

Please come soon. CJ and I need you to be here!

OK, enough whining but we really cannot wait to go to Belize in August! We are so looking forward to spending 12 days on the tropical shores of Belize. We are heading there to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary and to get away by ourselves. The last trip we took just the two of us to somewhere tropical was Maui in Oct. 2008! It is time to escape. We will be staying 6 days in Belize City and 6 days on the island Ambergris Caye.

Doesn't this look breathtaking? {This is Ambergris Caye}

So, people have asked "why Belize?" I answer back, "why not?" No, but really we wanted to go somewhere warm but we have done Mexico quite a few times. We went to Costa Rica for 2 weeks for our honeymoon and have always wanted to go here. CJ and I are both licensed scuba divers and they have one of the top 5 reefs for diving in the world. I also thought that since it is situated south of Mexico and East of Guatemala that it would be nice for us to have CJ there since he speaks Spanish fluently. I was surprised to find out that it is a British Colony and the majority of the natives speak English or Creole. There is some Mayan influence but it also has a lot of European and African descendants.

I am super excited to see the Mayan Ruins that date back to 600 BC. I also am looking forward to snorkeling, diving, a massage, visiting the Baboon Sanctuary {which protects over 1000 Black Howler Monkeys} and much more.

When we get back I will post the pictures and tell you of our fun journey~

Camping is a way of life!

CJ and I love to camp. We have gone on three long camping weekends since Memorial Day. We love to find new places to explore, hike, build a great campfire, and enjoy the Pacific Northwest. Rarely, and I mean rarely do we stay in a state campground because we so enjoy being out in the wilderness. We did however stay at a group site with peeps from our kickball team. We stayed on the Santiam River at Cascadia St. Park. We had such a great time! It was sooo pretty there. Yes, there were park rangers, yes there were other campers, but it was still fun. Here are a few pictures:

We hiked up to Soda Creek Falls- super pretty!

CJ on our hike

The view from inside our tent!

Our end of camp

Tate found his way on top of our bed :)

Bailey licking her lips after finding some yummy morsel.

We were lucky to have been told about the place in Prineville that I blogged about early this summer. We went there again for the 5 days over the Fourth of July. It sits on the outskirts of the Prineville Reservoir. There is no dock nearby so we had to drop our boat off at the state park and drive it in which took about 15 minutes. From the state park it takes another 15 minutes to drive on a very windy, dirty, gravel road. Once you get there though, it is heaven! It is so peaceful and quiet. Well, until we get out of the car that is! We had a great time with our friends, Emily, Reagan, Eric, and Matt. We also had our three dogs and Daisy (a 110 pound American Bulldog!)

The rocks CJ jumped off of...

Campsite

The whole gang (L-R: Matt, Eric, Reagan, Emily, Amy, CJ, and all of the dogs!)

Ems and I

CJ getting more ice~ we went through a lot of it!

The campfire provided hours of entertainment for the boys

Our boat at dusk

Visit to Boise, Idaho

Back in March my dad and I drove to Boise to visit my grandmother Jeanne. She has been ill and they moved her into a retirement community at the age of 89! Up until this winter she has remained very active in the community as a floral judge, Boise State Alum {who never misses a home game}, and hanging out with her friends. When her heart started giving her trouble she was admitted to the hospital. She was in and out a few times and we thought we were going to lose her. Thankfully she is doing much better and enjoying her new home. Here are a few special pictures to me that I thought I would share with you.

~How Time Flies~

A lot has happened in the last month and a half. Apparently, I have neglected my Blog. For this I apologize {to the few of you who actually read this!} In April I had a non-cancerous tumor removed from my upper thigh/ lower hip region. It was huge! The size of a softball. It was a pretty rough recovery, thank God for Percocet and a very compassionate husband. I thought I would be up and on my feet in a day or two. Technically I was, it was just very painful. It took me a solid 5-6 weeks to be "normal" again. Needless to say my running {which I had began to really enjoy} flew out the window. This week was my first week back. It felt good, but it was hard!

CJ and I have been intense gardeners in the last few weeks. We have totally redone our yard, beds, pathways, etc. We live on two acres and it takes a lot of time to get our front yard and backyard in presentable shape. For the last five years I have planted some flowers but we haven't spent a lot of time/money on the yard. Well, this year is different! We have a 15x20 organic vegetable and fruit garden which I am very excited about! I bought so many starts/seeds that I had to plant my lettuce, basil, cilantro, and jalapeno peppers in containers because there wasn't enough room. Ooops! We bought a "yard" {which is a dump truck full} of nice dark bark dust and have been spreading that around which makes the whole place really look amazing. To top it off my mom and I have gone to some of our favorite nurseries and have bought quite a few perennials for my beds. Al's and Smith Berry Barn didn't know what hit them when we came in :) Last Saturday my parents came out and the four of us went to the Hillsboro Farmer's Market. We bought some great plants but CJ surprised me and bought me a very nice handmade cedar potting bench. It has gotten a lot of use in its first week! I feel so excited about our yard. We definitely have a lot still to do but we are chipping away at it bit by bit. It has been so fun working with CJ on this project. He and I are really enjoying our weekend gardening time together. With the nice weather we are looking forward to having people over and barbecuing. {Pictures to come on the next post, I have to upload them!}


We spent Memorial Day weekend at the Prineville Reservoir with some great friends. My sister Emily and her boyfriend {who I really like!} were also able to make it over for the weekend. The spot we camped was awesome, but the weather was so-so. We were able to take our boat out a few times but it definitely wasn't hot like it has been in the past. The only downfall of the weekend is I got a bad sunburn on my hands. "Hands?" you ask. Well, let me tell you! If your doctor tells you that antibiotics will make your skin more sensitive to the sun you should listen. It wasn't even 9 am on Saturday morning and my hands got burnt! The rest of my skin was covered so I was fine elsewhere. I could not believe how painful my hands were. They hurt for a solid 5 days. For some reason the picture below does not show how red they were but it was the best I could get. We liked the spot so much we will be going back for the 4th of July!











CJ has also competed in two big "sporting" races. He did "Reach the Beach" which is a 104 mile bike ride from Beaverton to Pacific City. He completed it in 6 hours and 40 mins. Yes, his rear was sore afterwards but he was a trooper. He and our friend Jeff Lee trained for it together. Jeff is engaged to my sweet friend Karen! Karen and I were in Grad school together and we absolutely adore Jeff and Karen. Then last weekend CJ did an Olympic Triathlon at Blue Lake. That is a whopping 1 mile open water swim, 26 mile bike ride, 6.2 mile run. He completed it 2 hours and 45 minutes which was 15 minutes faster than he was hoping for. He also did this in the pouring rain. Portland received 1.5 inches of rain that day. It felt like a monsoon to me {yes, I was in my nice warm house while he was out competing!}







Finally, we have been busy with coed kickball, birthday parties, engagement parties, baby showers, baptisms, walking the dogs, hiking, spending time with our families, and celebrating how awesome life is everyday! We feel totally blessed and are excited for the upcoming summer season!