A little color

This morning after our walk in the park Shep and I discovered some early blooming flowers in the front and backyard!

And then, as I picked up some branches from the yard and worked on removing a few beastly blackberry plants, Shep found a tennis ball!  What a great start to our Saturday!

To mix, or not to mix

In keeping with our current (and hopefully long term) plan for healthier eating habits, we decided to purchase a Vitamix blender.  The blender would be a great addition to our juicer and allow us to consume quite a bit of the fiber that we are losing with juicing and then composting the pulp.  We waited until Costco was hosting the Vitamix guy with a special deal on blenders and we headed over.  We decided on a sleek black model and quickly set it up as soon as we got home that night.
If you're not familiar with the Vitamix you would surely be impressed.  This thing is a food annihilator!  You can throw pretty much anything in there, peel or no peel, and come out with pure liquid - no straining needed.  The first thing we made was a blueberry banana orange smoothie.  Sounds simple enough, right?  It turned out great and we were excited for our next blending adventure.  The next morning, instead of our normal juicing, we cut up our fruits and veggies and just tossed them in the blender with some frozen bananas to sweeten it up (the leaves, stems, and peels can be fairly bitter).  The result was akin to applesauce in texture - not something I'm used to gulping out of a pint glass (yes, we are basically still living like college students who can only offer our guests a beverage out of a pint glass boasting the label of some beer or brewery) but knowing how beneficial my glass contents were for me I made it happen.
Fully energized, we went out for a hike in the woods on the most beautiful day we've seen for a while.  When we returned, there was more blending to be done!  What would you say if I told you that the Vitamix blends at such high speeds that it can actually COOK liquids!  Naysayers, prepare to be amazed!  We tossed in the ingredients required for tortilla soup, set the Vitamix to High, set about cleaning the kitchen, and 6 minutes later we had STEAMING soup in our blender!  Directly from pour spout to bowl and into our bellies went hot liquid soup!  Bizarre, yes. Delicious, yes!  We will certainly be making that recipe again - next time we plan to toss in some pre-cooked chicken, a few black beans, some corn, and bell peppers right before we flip to "off" for a little chunkiness.
Hungry? Come on over!  Soup's in the blender!

The Beach

After holidays, birthdays, and a job change, we were ready for a night away!  I was able to arrange for Martin Luther King Day off from work to match Jay's holiday so we made plans to escape to the beach!  Not the right season, but we made it work.  On Sunday the 17th we drove to South Beach State Park, just south of Newport, to relax in the only dog-friendly yurt around!  The place was pretty nice - table and chairs, futon couch/bed, bunk bed with a full and a twin bed, and a picnic table.  We set up shop and headed to the beach even though we had quite a bit of wind and rain.  Once we got down to the beach the rain faded but the wind stayed.  Shep had a great time running around on the beach!

We made our way back to the yurt to cook some dinner on the little bit of the porch that was covered and to prepare an evening juice! (Yes, the juicer even came on our trip!)  The storm continued to pick up speed and ferocity into the night and didn't quit until after midnight.  Thunder, lightning, wicked winds and vicious rain - I was just glad we weren't in a tent! 

The next morning you wouldn't have even known how bad the storm was the night before.  The beach was gorgeous (though overcast) and conditions weren't bad at all.  After packing up and thanking the wonderful camp hosts, we stopped at the next three beaches down the coast - Lost Creek, Ona Beach, and Seal Rock.  The third stop was spectacular!  Large ocean waves happily crashed into enormous rocks lining the coast - what a site!  More photos to come after I unload my camera and pick the best ones!  We headed north with a stop at Yaquina Head lighthouse, walked around old downtown (and had a little candy!) then to dinner at the Rogue Brewery on the water.  A very relaxing one day vacation!

To Our Health

During the holiday season of 2009 we started thinking that something needed to change in our diets. We've been getting pretty comfortable being sedentary at home and enjoying a little more than the normal portions we should be having.  So we decided around Christmas to do something drastic!  We started juicing!
Thanks to Craigslist, we were able to purchase a gently used Omega Juicer - a super turbo juicing monster!  Here's Jay displaying our very first juice, made the morning after Christmas. 

You name the leafy green and we've tried juicing it - spinach, romaine, iceberg, cabbage, collard greens, bok choi, kale, beets/beet greens. We normally add some sweeteners, too - apples, pears, oranges, grapefruit, celery, carrots, cucumber. We even tried brussel sprouts, though not surprisingly that was a one time shot. 
We've been consuming 3 juices a day - in conjuction with smaller portions of healthier meals - for almost a whole month now.  I can say I feel better and as we up our exercise levels I think we'll see some big improvements. 

If you're ever curious about what our dark green (or red if there are beets involved!!) juice tastes like - and I'm pretty sure you'd be surprised by how good it actually tastes - come on over!  The juicer is always ready to go!

Outdoors Bound

Jay and I share a love of the outdoors and while we haven't been out as much as we would like to, we are definitely making a big effort to change that.  With Jay's knee getting stronger each day after his September surgery, we have gone out to the McDonald Forest in Corvallis a few times now.  Once the evenings are lighter longer we will be making after work trips a few times a week.  We recently made a trip up the backside of Dimple Hill, a nice 2.5 mile hike on open logging roads.  We saw a surprising number of mountain bikers and hikers considering the day was foggy and chilly. 

Jay brought along 2 of his lightweight camp stoves and we cooked a snack and some hot cocoa on a bench at the top of the hill.  One stove, the Bush Buddy, is basically a small metal cup where sticks and moss burn and a pot can be placed on top for cooking.  After using this stove to boil water for cocoa, I made the mistake of drinking before wiping the soot off the cup!! Lesson learned!

'Tis The Season

Christmas 2009 - Jay, Shep and I drove up to Portland on Christmas Eve for some family fesitivities.  We opted to stay in a pet-friendly hotel so Shep could be cozy on our night away from home.  Our "Eve"-ning started with having to switch rooms 3 times due to various issues, but as they say - third times a charm!  Off to our first stop we went to enjoy some holiday cheer with the Wyss clan.  We were excited to learn that 2010 will bring 2 new additions to the already large family with Barclay's nephew and his wife expecting late Spring, and one of Barclay's niece's and her husband expecting in the Summer.  After a group gift exchange - we walked away with a reusable shopping bag and a stainless steel water bottle (almost like it was bought with us in mind!!) - and some hot buttered rum, we said our Merry's and called it a night.

Christmas Day we stopped by the house of Larry and Dorothy Well for a wonderful Christmas breakfast complete with Mimosas!  There was gift opening and story telling, and Shep had a great time tearing into his stocking!  Kacy the cat went nuts for his catnip ball and we all enjoyed the scene.   

Our next stop was to see the Rains side of Jay's family.  We had some amazing food and raced to complete a pictograph puzzler of Oregon cities.  We happened to be the big winners and the 5 scratch-it tickets we received as the prize netted us $15!!!! 

A few days later we enjoyed a very quiet and very tame New Years at home.  Here we go, into 2010!!

Cel-e-brate Good Times

December is a month of many birthdays among ourselves, family and friends.  We celebrated my b-day on December 11th (though the freezing rain forced a planned karaoke extravaganzaa to be postponed) and Jay's was celebrated on December 21st.  We were lucky enough to each get a special birthday treat courtesy of Brynn Carter - each of our favorites: carrot cake and pie, respectively. We also celebrated Sondy's (Jay's mom) birthday as well as some cousins and close relations in there. 

We also experienced quite a cold snap in mid-December, waking up to temperatures in the single digits a few days.  But, as usual, Corvallis returned to its wicked ways and we have been rainy and muddy ever since, giving Shep a case of cabin fever!