sistinas

We hiked up the Siphon Draw Trail in Lost Dutchman State Park (Arizona) on Memorial Day. If you head all the way through the draw you can scramble up to the Flatiron, a landmark of sorts near Phoenix, but we started late in the day and didn’t feel like anything particularly strenuous. Neat hike, lots of people, and we’ll definitely head up to the Flatiron when the weather is cooler. I’d like to explore the Superstitions more for sure… though again, when it’s cooler.

For personal reference: that’s number seven.

I read David Bach’s Smart Women Finish Rich this month, which wasn’t bad. It was a little more inspiring than Suze Orman’s women-oriented personal finance book, as well as a bit longer and more in-depth.

Not sure what I’m going to read next month – maybe some fiction! I actually finally got off my butt and got a library card, so I’ve got a whole world of options open to me. I’m a little ashamed I’ve waited so long to get one – the library was one of my favorite places as a child and it’s just as wonderful now. Books! I’m sorry I’ve neglected you.

Unless I go to South America to snowboard, there’s not going to be any more snowboarding until next winter. It’s almost 90 degrees in Phoenix today, and up in the mountains the snow has turned into miserable slushy ickiness. Doh!

I ran 10k last weekend – it was the longest run I’ve ever done and it didn’t feel that hard. I’m in the midst of training for a half marathon, so it was my long run for the week. I’d like to run an officiated 10k before I mark this done though – nothing like race day “magic” for posting a fast time.

I think I’m going to have to take a new approach to this one. Everything (save for the chives and thyme) was growing fine and dandy… until my 95-lb dog decided to take a few flying leaps into/onto the garden box. Dirt and insta-dead plants everywhere. Sigh.

New tactic: small herb pots on top of my desk, safely out of the reach of my psychotic mutt, where I currently have some dahlias growing nicely.

Prescott Whiskey Row Half Marathon on May 3. It apparently involves running up a mountain and then back down… I like that sort of challenge. I’m following a Hal Higdon plan and my long runs are up to 6 miles now and I haven’t had any problems adding distance. Whee!

I’ve had this goal for more than two years now, and I’ve come to realize I’m just not a morning person. I’ve got some kind of sick gene in me where I’d rather work out in 100+ degree heat than wake up at 6am when it’s cool. I get my things done late at night… and that’s just how I am! I’ll wake up when I want to wake up, thank you very much.

Looking at my running logs I’ve ran at least 6 miles a week for the past five weeks… including a six mile run one day. There’ve been some weeks where I’ve only run twice… but we’ll let that slide given the mileage. I think I’m at the overachiever point for this goal, which was to basically get me to start running regularly. Since I’m training for some races now it’s time to make some room for new goals!

Thirteen days after planting and I’ve got all these cute little sprouts now! The parsley was the last to come in (probably because I neglected the planting directions which said to soak the seeds for 24 hours), but it’s there now, along with the thyme, basil, chives (they’re pretty slow), dill, sage, tarragon, and salad greens. A lot of the seedlings are looking pretty reachy because they’re probably not getting as much light as they want (northern window), but I’ve got the window open providing some moving air so the stems should toughen up a bit. Here’s to being able to use some fresh herbs soon (because $5 for a box of basil at the store is highway robbery!!!).

I finished reading Suze Orman’s Women and Money, which was available as a free e-book download from Oprah on Valentine’s Day. While most of the book was a reiteration of things I already know, there was a bit of useful advice in there (particularly around estate planning and the importance of not sacrificing your own well-being to help others) and it did get me plugging away a bit more at my 401(k). I think for next month I’m going to look for a book about investing, which will help me with my “learn about investing” goal as well. I’m going to mark this goal as done if I can keep it up for three more months.

Finally got everything all planted. I’ve got a variety of basil seeds, cilantro, chives, flat-leaf parsley, dill, sage, tarragon, thyme, and some salad greens. Here’s to hoping everything (anything?) actually grows! I’ll write an update in a month or so…

I took a hiatus on getting this done and finally got back to doing it… by starting to listen to every CD in my collection, which is about 350 CDs. I been listing all the ones that don’t really blow me away or cause any emotional reaction on amazon and they’re slowly selling for pretty reasonable prices – between $3-6 per CD after all the fees, which is more than I’d get for taking them to the store even though it’s a bit more work.

Trying to get rid of most my vinyl after this is going to be really unpleasant. Uck.

Now that I have all of my own equipment (I got some awesome deals), I hit the slopes for the second time today. And yes, I hit them hard – dozens of times with my tailbone, my knees, and my face (just once on that one, which is good, since I almost broke my sunglasses). I did actually do markedly better than my first time though – I could make it through long (green) stretches without falling, and I’ve figured out how to control my speed using my heelside edge, which is how I get down anything remotely steep. I can’t quite carve a turn yet because there’s some kind of brain-body disconnect concerning scrubbing speed on my toeside, so I’ll have to work on that next time.

In good news, I figured out how to get off the lift without falling on my stomach. In weird news, I snowboard better as a righty even though I’ve always skateboarded goofy. I have no explanation whatsoever for that.

Six entries last month! That’s consistent enough for me to mark this done… now I’m going to move on to trying to get more readership, which means I’m obviously going to have to keep writing and cooking and baking. Nice.

http://dongerneedfood.blogspot.com

I went snowboarding for the first time last month and it was a blast, even I was sore as all get out for the next few days. I just got some clearance boots from last season so I won’t have to rent them anymore (my feet are so small they were giving me kids’ boots!), and I’ve got a board and some bindings coming as well.

The first time I went I took a lesson (totally worth it – don’t let your pals try to teach you or you might end up hating them), and by the end of the day I made it about 400 ft down a slope without getting faced. I even stopped and stayed on my feet! Hopefully the next few times I can make it down some green lines. Whee!

As much as I love Trader Joe’s, I’m trying to cook more (see goal: learn to cook. really cook) and eat less processed food. Eating less processed food does not equate well to trying everything at Trader Joe’s! Since I’ve been cooking more, I’ve also been walking by some of the things on the shelves there and thinking, “I can make that… and for cheaper, and it might be better.”

I might still try to try all the cheese and alcohol there, though. Teehee!

I’m not sure how to go about doing this, other than buying a lot of wine, drinking it, and comparing bottles. I’ve started a log at http://www.winelog.net to at least remember what different things taste like; hopefully this will help me learn to discern between the different varietals and distinguish between what I like and don’t like… because, well, I’ll drink mostly anything, and then never remember what exactly I drank.

I’ve no intentions of becoming a wine snob (beer is a different story), but I’d at least like some baseline knowledge so I can figure out what to order at a restaurant.

I signed up for an account on http://www.livemocha.com (yay free language learning!) and have taken the first lesson. It seems great so far, especially for something that’s completely free. I’m also using some “Learn in Your Car” CDs that someone gave me a while back, but I think when it comes to languages if I don’t see the words in front of me I barely remember anything. I tried out the language lessons on http://www.mangolanguages.com but it’s not as “interactive” as I’d like it to be, and kind of repetitive.

Ich bin klein.

I’ve kept up with the regular blog entries for two months, with 10 entries in November and 5 last month. I’d like to hit somewhere between that for this month, and that’ll be enough for me to call it done. It’s nice because it keeps me cooking, baking, and thinking about food and what I’m doing with it. I’d like to try and make it a little more thematic but I’m not sure how to do that, as right now it just seems to be a blog about what I’ve been making.

http://dongerneedfood.blogspot.com

As noted in a previous entry, I just finished building a 4’ x 1’ x 4” garden box in which I am going to plant some greens and herbs. I’m undecided as to what exactly I’m going to grow, as it’s winter and I only have northern exposure in my apartment (though it’s literally a wall of windows). Right now I’m thinking about doing some salad mix, sage, basil, rosemary, thyme, and cilantro – I have to think about what I use most when I cook.