Spring in the Desert

 Arizona has a reputation for being a hot and dusty desert state full of tanned people exclaiming "it's a dry heat!" while they eat Mexican food and pass outrageously bigoted laws. But that is simply not the case. Arizona has a variety of terrain and climates, from the sweltering desert floor to chilly snow-covered mountains and pine forests. Also a lot of people in Arizona are very liberal minded and shake their heads in confusion and awe with the rest of the country at the few right winged extremists bringing the state into the headlines. We do have/eat a lot of really good Mexican food though.

Where I grew up, in Prescott, spring is very much like spring most places: budding leaves and flowers, fickle weather that can go from lovely to snowy in a matter of hours, and a slow, gentle and steady transition from the frigid winter to the glorious days of summer. I never really was much of a fan of spring, aside from my birthday occurring during it- the flowers and slightly warmer temperatures were nice but for the most part the weather was way too windy and unpredictable, the first half still felt wholly like winter, and the second half coincided with the stress and pressure of the final weeks of school.

Down here in Tucson though, spring is a bit different- with temps that hang around the 70s and 80s and sometimes peak in the 90s it feels more like summer starts in February. It's constantly the perfect temperature out with the occasional light breeze, only slightly chilly nights, and the scent of blooming flowers in the air all the time. By the middle of may and certainly by june it will be too hot to sleep with more than a sheet or walk more than 20 feet to your car, but the blissful months of february, march, and april are probably Tucson at its best.

We have a very small cactus garden in our very small yard, which I really really like. We moved in last August, so we didn't get a chance to see it bloom for spring. This year I'm loving seeing the changes every few weeks as new flowers show up, cactus fruits start to get plump, and things that were dried and wilted by the time we got here last year shoot up fresh and new. In the desert, just like everywhere else, spring is full of new life and plenty of colorful, fragrant blossoms :)

By summer, the old dead flowers will have fallen off the tops and the fruit will turn into gorgeous, wax-like pink and yellow flowers.

It's still the last few weeks of school, but the wonderful weather lessens the pain a little bit. When I first moved to Tucson, I was quick to complain about the heat and the grime- but over the almost 3 years that I've lived here, I've really come to appreciate so much about this cultured little city. It is really so beautiful and full of natural life and history! Plus, I love how you're never more than a short drive away from hiking trails, campsites, swimming holes, even skiing! As anxious as I am to graduate and continue on to some place new for the next chapter in my life, I'm going to miss Tucson... and I'll definitely miss the perfect Tucson Springtime!

20 in my 20th: #12 Summerhaven!

12. Go to Summerhaven at the top of Mt. Lemon, ride the ski-lift.
 
I did this just over a year ago! Spring is in full swing in Tucson around this time of year and it's wonderful. Down here on the desert floor its warm and breezy during the day (usually anywhere from 70-90 degrees) and slightly cool and mild at night, just enough for you to want a light cardigan. It also smells like honeysuckle all the time which is wonderful. That's going to go away soon I'm sure so I'm loving it while it lasts!

Tuscon is surrounded by big beautiful mountains, many of which are full of hiking trails, swimming holes, and campsites. Mt. Lemmon is the most popular mountain as it's the tallest point in the Santa Catalina mountains and has a tiny little town (Summerhaven) and the Mount Lemmon Ski Valley at the top. It happens to be the southernmost ski location in all of the continental United States, so that's pretty cool.Way up at the top of Mt Lemmon it's still pretty brisk and chilly, and there's even still snow on the ground. It warms up during summer but remains pretty mild- a stark contrast from the sweltering dessert heat. Hence the name 'Summerhaven'.

I have nice memories of visiting the Snow Bowl in Flagstaff with my Dad (where he and I went skiing last month) during fall and riding the ski lift. There was no snow at that time, but it was fun just to be up in the air and look at all the colorful changing leaves. Afterwards we got cups of gumbo soup in the ski restaurant. This memory, along with my curiosity and desire to get a mini vacation from the warm weather inspired me to visit Summerhaven and ride the ski lift up there. It's a decent drive up the mountain (about 45 mins-hr) so Colton and I made a day trip out of it last spring.

It was really fun! Except that between the time that I was 9 or 10, riding the ski lift, and when I was 20 life things happened and apparently I developed a fear of heights. That I didn't really realize I had until I was up in the air. So that was fun. I tried to distract myself by taking photos and trying not to imagine crashing to the frozen-solid snow and rocks 30 feet below me.

All these little shops (aside from the informational one where you buy lift tickets) were closed when we went. I bet in winter when there's lots of fresh snow they're really fun to check out!

pretty view from the top

this is windy point, a lookout spot about half way up the mountain that people like to check out and climb around. Great views of the desert below from here!

I didn't take any pics of Summerhaven sadly, but there wasn't much to it aside from some reaaaally nice cabins and a general store. Pretty cute though! Looked a lot like the neighborhood you drive through right before you get to Frog Falls, Prescott people.

Even though the ski lift ride induced more anxiety than I was expecting, it was a fun day trip and a nice chance to get out of the desert for a bit. Maybe next winter I'll try out some actual skiing, now that I kind of know how (22 in 22? maybe!)

<3

The Week in Photos/Instagram

I wish I was better at using Instagram. I've had it for a year and I've only posted 30 photos. I have hundreds of pictures on my camera, I just very rarely deem them worthy of the minute it takes to apply a filter, upload them, and share them with the world. I'm trying hard not to be one of those people whose Instagram is 90% pictures of their pet so there's that too. Maybe doing posts like this will help me get better at using it because it looks kind of silly to have normal camera photos next to instagram stylized photos.. or maybe I should just start carrying around my DSLR with me everywhere again :)

I'm also temporarily without Adobe Photoshop which I use to edit my photos so crappy camera pic quality in all its glory it is. Sorry!

I'm sure many of you have seen this on pinterest- lemon slices, salmon, butter, salt, pepper, wrapped in foil and baked. We had this for dinner last week and I added some fresh dill which made it even more amazing! Great simple meal.

I served the salmon with roasted asparagus and smashed rosemary red potatoes.

 Bored working the street fair... I tried to get a pic of all the closed up booths and empty street but it was too dark. Just the pizza heat lamps to light up the night!

I really wish I'd brought my DSLR to Roland and Annalise's wedding. There were so many gorgeous details! Burlap favor bags, the fantastic dinner, flowers everywhere, the gardens at sunset... and of course all the fun happening everywhere. This an a blurry, dark photo of the half empty dance floor are the only pictures I took the whole night. Oh well.

Me and Clemenoodles hanging out on thursday night watching Doctor Who. Such a great show! And I love how Clem cuddles up to me constantly. Such a mama's girl.

Except when she's in one of her crazy playful moods. Sometimes when she gets out of control I pick her up and put her on her back in my lap and tickle her belly. That's her favorite!

I was snapping the picture below and took one of me and Colton first. We went to Mother Hubbards for breakfast this morning and we work this afternoon at 4- Same old Sunday routine!

Here's the deal with this dress. I bought it at Goodwill about a year ago, even though it's a Small and I knew at the time it wouldn't fit me. I didn't even try it on. It was cute and 10 dollars and I was confident that eventually I would be able to wear it. Instead of hanging it up in my closet I hung it on the wall in my bedroom, as a bit of inspiration. A goal I was working towards. I didn't start really trying to lose weight until this past January, but I'm so proud with the progress I've made in the last 10 weeks! I decided to try this dress on last weekend for the wedding and it fit!! I put it on again today and it actually is a little loose around the waist. I'm so happy to be able to have this cute little number off the wall and finally into my clothing rotation!!

Hope you are having a nice holiday weekend! 

<3

Weight Loss Update/Progress Pics

Hello Lovelies! I'm having a pretty relaxing day today... School, a bit of homework, a lot of internets, and later today I'll be rewatching a few 1970s films to study for my midterm tomorrow. Colton is headed off to Phoenix with a bunch of boys as soon as he gets out of work today for our friend Roland's bachelor party which means Clementine and I will be having the apartment to ourselves for the next 24 hours or so.

I wanted to pop in and write a quick blog about my weight loss progress! It might not be very interesting to you but health, nutrition, and fitness have become such a huge part of my life and thoughts over the past few months! This may sound odd but I really LOVE being aware of my calories, working out, and observing my weight as it changes because it all comes down to science... and I love that I can use science to help myself look and feel as good as can be!

I chose today to write because I'm just beginning a new cycle in my self designed workout schedule and so I snapped a couple pictures this morning to document my progress. When losing weight I've found it's so easy to not really notice the changes that are occurring because they happen so slowly. Having pictures to compare side by side really make the differences obvious...and they are a huge motivational boost to keep going!

Unfortunately I did not take any starting pictures in January when I first adjusted my diet, quit drinking, and started working out. All I have are some pictures from last September, when I briefly tried (and then forgot about) getting healthy. I'm actually 10-15 lbs lighter in the September pictures than I was in January, and only about 10 lbs lighter in the "during" pictures I took today than I was in September! So the pics don't really show my overall progress. I can still see a huge difference though, especially in the muscle tone of my belly.

Overall I've lost about 23 pounds in 9 weeks and I'm feeling great! I honestly think I look better now than I sometimes did at lower weights when I wasn't strength training. I definitely feel more confident :)

Sorry about the poor quality phone/underwear pics! Usually I would NEVER post pictures of myself like this because I have always been so self-conscious about the way I look... and scantily clad fat pictures? Um, NO. But now I look at the before pictures and just see the progress I have made, not the chubby bits I wish would disappear. Besides I've worn and definitely seen swimsuits that are more revealing. Although... I still feel pretty ballsy.

Have a healthy happy humpday!

This post is full of Irish

St Patrick's day happens to be my FAVORITE holiday! I have the best memories of spending the whole day (which always comes around during spring break) with my friends, cooking Irish food, listening to Irish music, watching Irish movies, wearing the colors of the Irish flag, and of course drinking Irish drinks.

It was my first st. paddy's day as a 21 year old, but I'm avoiding alcohol (and all its empty calories) at the moment so I was a bit unsure of how I would celebrate this year. I was also scheduled to work from 4-CL, which was a good reason for me to not join the masses at the bar but also left me with very little time to do anything celebratory. And lord knows I can't just let a holiday (let alone my favorite holiday) go un-celebrated.

SO, I did what I could with the time and restrictions that I had... I donned the attire, I ate the food, and I even bought the booze... I just mixed it up with massive quantities of sugar and fat and flour and fed it to my coworkers :) I didn't get drunk, I didn't overeat, I didn't attempt a game on the Devil's Dancefloor, and I spent an insanely long and busy 7 hours asking progressively drunker people the same questions (what can I get for you? any toppings? anything else? what's your name? for here or to go? would you like a copy of your receipt?)... but I still feel like I sufficiently celebrated and enjoyed St Patrick's Day :)

In the morning, I put on my favorite new mint green lace dress. That wasn't quite Irish enough for me so I also tied green and orange ribbon around my wrist and my hair.

Colton and I went out to breakfast, which we do every Sunday. We went to Mother Hubbards, one of our very favorites that specializes in homemade Native American/Mexican influenced breakfast and lunch. So good. Yesterday I had to opt for the St Paddy's Special though... "Irish Rarebit". It was basically a cross between Welsh Rarebit and Eggs Benedict with a whole lot of Irish thrown in there. 4 triangles of 12 grain bread covered with dragoon stout cheddar cheese sauce, chopped corned beef, spinach, and two poached eggs. It was sooooo gooood.

I decided I wanted to do some Irish cooking of my own so we stopped at the store on the way home. I bought ingredients to make homemade Irish cream (to make it a little lighter calorie-wise, not as thick and sweet, and to avoid having multiple open bottles of liquor sitting around the house), Irish car bomb cupcakes, and Irish cream pudding shots.

I used this recipe for the Irish cream, and it turned out amazing. Tasted just like baileys!

I then mixed one cup of homemade Irish cream with one small package of instant vanilla pudding and one cup 1% milk. I poured this into 10 dixie cups to make pudding shots! There's hardly any alcohol in them but they were pretty tasty. I took them to work so everyone could have one after we closed.

The biggest cooking project I tackled was these Irish Car-Bomb Cupcakes! I've wanted to make this recipe for years... I talked about it within the first month that I had this blog 3 years ago when I did my first St Paddy's day countdown. Even though I only had about 3 hours until I had to go to work by the time I was done with errands and at home ready to cook, I decided to attempt to whip these up. I broke out my beloved kitchenaid mixer (which works like a dream but weighs a million tons and is a bitch to store/clean in my teensy little house), used every pot and bowl in the house, and in the end produced 24 pretty little filled and frosted cupcakes. Which tasted AMAZING, by the way.

I used the above linked Smitten Kitchen recipe exactly, except I used greek yogurt in place of sour cream in the batter (I never have sour cream in the house anymore and greek yogurt tastes/works the same but is way healthier) and used quite a bit more whiskey in the ganache filling and Irish cream in the buttercream. I wanted each part of the cupcake to taste distinctly like the Irish Car-Bomb role it was representing and I found that with the measly teaspoons and tablespoons Deb suggested the flavor was lost under the sugar, butter, and chocolate. I just drizzled, tasted, and repeated until I got the intensity I wanted.

Chocolate Guinness cake filled with Jameson chocolate ganache and topped with Irish Cream buttercream. Dusted with green and gold sugar!

I made 24 and brought 12 to work. I broke them out after the aforementioned loooong and busy shift while everyone was closing and I think they (hopefully!) raised everyone's spirits a bit.

After work I promptly went home, got into my pjs, got into bed, and fell asleep. I think the rest of the world partied hard enough without me, based on the debauchery I witnessed on fourth avenue last night.

I hope you all had a nice holiday and spring break! It's back to school at 3 for me today :)

Love,
Em

Thursday Update: Spring Break

It has been SO NICE to have a little break from school the past few days. I've still been working a lot, but having nothing I have to do during the day is so relaxing. The weather dipped over the weekend but now it's wonderful and sunny and 85-90 degrees out! Awesome spring break weather.

Here's the week in photos:

continuing with using my new crockpot/searching for yummy, low cal recipes... this is a thai peanut coconut curry that works with chicken or veggies (or both in this case!) It was a success so maybe I'll blog about it later.

 

I gave Clementine a bath finally... it had been longer than I'd like to admit! After she was all clean and out of the tub (and running around going CRAZY like just-bathed dogs do) we noticed that her now soft, smooth hair had separated into a perfect part running down the length of her back. It was hard to get a good picture because she is so rambunctious but it looked absolutely ridiculous/hilarious. 

I attempted to make low-ish calories cookies! I kind of made up a recipe, reducing the flour/sugar/chocolate chips/eggs in the toll house recipe and then using greek yogurt in place of some of the butter...They turned out pretty good. Taste wise they're great but I wish the texture was a little more fudgey/dense and less cakey/airy. I guess I'll just have to do some more experimenting.

I posted this on instagram the other day. It has been so nice out (and our house can seem so small and dark) that lately we've been leaving the front door open while we do things around the house during the day. We have a very small fenced in yard around our house so it allows clem to be able to go outside and run around/frolic in the grass/mess with the dogs on the other side of the fence. A couple days ago I was doing my ab workout while Clem was outside and she decided she was done playing and ran in and hopped right onto my chest. She's such a little mama's girl. 

And this is a picture I took of myself yesterday wearing a skirt I bought at Ross last week... Say what you will, I think the high-low hem trend is super cute. I've been buying more clothes in the past few weeks that I have in the past few years combined... Finally having a job and working a decent amount of hours combined with not eating out and not spending any money on alcohol has been very good for my bank account. 

I also took this picture because as of yesterday I've lost 20.2 pounds and 20.5 total inches (added up from all over my body) since I started trying to lose weight on January 17th! I am very very very happy about this. It's kind of a halfway mark to where I want to be. also, 20 lbs is a huge hurdle. I think I should do/buy something extra special for myself as a reward but I'm not sure what that will be yet... But I'm looking forward to continuing to workout, tone my muscles, eat well, and reduce my body fat over the next few months.

In other news, this week:

My friends Nick and Amanda came to Tucson to visit/search for apartments! I was working most of the time they were here but I got to spend a couple hours with them and I am SOOO excited for them to move down here! They are definitely some of my best friends ever, I've known them since I worked at mama eddas in 2010. Nick actually hired me and was my boss haha.

I still have one serving left of the veggie soup I made and I think I'm going to make more this weekend. It is soooo good. I've been eating it with a salad literally every day for lunch, even though I have a ton of other food in the fridge.

I've been trying to figure out who I'm going to do my star study on for my screen artists class. I want to pick someone obscure enough to be interesting but no so obscure that they aren't really a star... I actually really wanted to talk about James Deen, who is a male porn star turned mainstream actor that recently starred in a Bret Easton Ellis film with Lindsay Lohan. I find him interesting because he has been called "the boy next door" of porn by mainstream journals/publications... in that he "looks like someone you would want to talk to at a coffee shop". He has a HUGE female fanbase though, dubbed "deenagers" (many of his fans are younger women) which is pretty much unheard of... He's kind of an anomaly and I think it would be so interesting to talk about his "star image". I'm worried it might be too taboo of a choice though. Ugh. I dont know. Suggestions on interesting stars?

Coming up:

This week I decide on/register for classes for my last semester of college!! Woohoo!!!

Back to school with a couple midterms and papers just around the corner. blegh. 

Not much else... this is going to be a pretty ho-hum week. No big plans, just school, work, working out, and sewing and blogging if I get the time :)

Hope you all have had/are having a wonderful week! Enjoy the weekend!

Love,
Em

3 Year Blogiversary/Me at 18!

Today marks the three year anniversary of the day I sat at my little dorm room desk and decided to start a blog! Crazy. My writing has been somewhat sporadic and I don't have a ton of followers, but I am SO glad I decided to make an effort to document my life. There are so many photos and memories that I would have (and did, until browsing the archives) never taken or completely forgotten about! It is so wonderful to have the posts to look back on now and years down the road to see who I was and read what I wrote (as cringe-worthy as it might be) as I transitioned out of adolescence and into adulthood.

I was thinking the other day about how much I have changed over the years. It's almost like I can look at each year from about 14 years old to now (21) and pinpoint exactly who I was -taste in music, style, beliefs- and each year is almost completely different. I guess that's what growing up is all about. It makes me kind of nostalgic... like thinking of a group of old friends I haven't seen in a long, long time. Do you ever think about who you were at 15? or 19? I know that at both those ages I was pretty sure I had shit figured out and I did not see my tastes or aspirations ever changing. And yet I did not move to NYC and become a Broadway star.

BUT, all that stuff still makes up who I am today... all those different girls with different things they think are important. I've been thinking about maybe doing some throwback posts... looking back on me at 14, 15, 16, etc just for the fun and ridiculousness of it. Kind of like VH1s I love the 70s/80s/90s but just about me because I'm a blogger and thus inherently narcissistic. Hah.

So, in honor of this blog's third birthday, here's a little bit of who I was when this all began... 

Me at 18

When I was 18, I...
- graduated high school

Me and my fellow show choir seniors on the last day of high school!

It was raining! That's why my hair is so weird.

- moved out of my parents' house/AZ and into a little dorm room at Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR

Administration building at my gorgeous first college

 - Dated and then stopped dating and then dated and then stopped dating and then dated Stewart

- Got my first pet fish, a purply-red-aqua Beta named Mikal

- Worked at my first "real" job- Subway!

- Performed for the first and last time in a dance show - LC's Dance Extravanganza

- Spent my fall break riding in a UHaul with a bunch of other college kids to Bend, OR where we stayed in someone's aunt's vacation house.

 

 

- Ate mostly vegan, sometimes just vegetarian.

- Decided I missed AZ and my friends and my boyfriend too much and moved back at the end of the school year, just a couple weeks before my 19th birthday.

My favorite bands/artists were: Modest Mouse, Regina Spektor, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, Tool

My favorite movie was: Wristcutters: A Love Story

I read: All the Harry Potters again, the first two books of His Dark Materials, Siddhartha, Kneller's Happy Campers

My best friend(s) was(were): Stewart, Sharney, Megan

The most important things to me were: Hanging out with my friends, living a vegan lifestyle, dating Stewart because I liked him soooo muuuuchhhh, coming home to arizona so I could continue hanging out with my friends and dating Stewart and cooking vegan food.

18 was a pretty weird year for me. When I look back on it I think I really had no idea who I was and was just trying to figure it out. That's probably pretty common for the first year of college. I have lots of great memories of exploring Portland, flying home to visit my best friends in Prescott, experiencing the whole dorm-meal plan-college in a new place thing, and leaving high school behind. The summer before college was one of the best ever, and luckily I filmed a good deal of it so I have a nice little video reminder of that time. I won't put any of it here, because we were being dumb 18 year olds.. but it's pretty cool to have.

I also still used Myspace when I was 18 and got a lot of these pictures from there. So old school.

Here's to another year of blogging!

Thursday Update: March is Here!

This will be a short update since I didn't blog much at all this week due to being out of town :)

This week:

This blog reached (and surpassed!) 25,000 views. That is pretty amazing! I can't believe people were still somehow finding and reading my blog while I was away... but I'm glad they were and still are! Hopefully that number will just continue to go up up up :)

I learned to ski! It was so fun, but exhausting! My legs are STILL sore.

I got my first concept exam for my Screen Artists class back- 90%! 10% deducted for not having a works cited page, but many of my classmates pointed out that it was not stated in the instructions so we can turn one in after spring break.

I kind of explored downtown Flagstaff for the first time, aside from an impromptu rainy day trip Stewie and I took there back in 2009. Apparently holiday lights all over downtown in march are a-ok there.I really enjoyed it though! We did the art walk (very similar to all other art walks) and ate at a cool local brewery.

I'm trying one of the many things on pinterest that may or may not be a complete waste of time (I have a massive love hate relationship with pinterest that recently has been mostly hate). I've been swishing with 50/50 mixture of mouthwash and hydrogen peroxide to see if it helps whiten my teeth. Hydrogen peroxide is supposedly the main ingredient in whitening strips? I read it on the internet so it must be true.

Photos:

Taking a break from skiing for lunch... Green Chili Chicken Soup and a Magic Hat Number 9 pale ale. yeah...I didn't take any pictures of the actual skiing. Just food.

While driving to Tucson from Prescott I passed this truck/bus/contraption and had to snap a picture... I'm not sure what exactly they do, but they're rather confident about it.

Coming up:

Spring break starts today! Hopefully that means some much needed time to focus on sewing/etsy stuff and also plenty of time to cook.

It's getting warmer and warmer in Tucson... it's supposed to dip a little this weekend but maybe sometime later this week we can head out to Tanque Verde Falls, Sabino Canyon, or one of the other Tucson swimming spots. Like the University Heights pool.

With any luck this week I'll hit my first weightloss goal... a 20 lb loss! What an incredible and rewarding feeling that would be.

Happy Weekend!

Love,
Em