Aunty C Returns to Middle America (AKA, Indiana and Kentucky)

I became an aunt for the first time on June 12, 2010. I am definitely a big fan of being an aunt. I feel extra cool and stuff, and I don’t have to worry about all that scary parenting! Due to the craziness that has been my life since making the decision to move to Flagstaff, I have not been able to make a trip home to meet my lovely little niece. This is definitely where technology makes distance easier, though. I have watched her grow over the last 6 months, so I have not felt completely disconnected. Again, also due the craziness that has been our life, we have not been back to Louisville or my parent’s house up the river in Indiana since last winter. Although I have a whole month off from school and work, it was not possible to find a period of time during said month when all my family would be in Indiana, if you can believe it! Anyways. I was able to find a long weekend shortly before the end of the semester where I could slip away for a visit. Of course, I naively thought I would be all done with my school work, but more on that later.

A remote location definitely makes traveling longer. I arrived at the Flagstaff airport at dawn (at least there is an airport, right?), then headed to Phoenix, then to Charlotte (where the sun was now setting), before finally landing in Louisville. My pictures from the airport make it clear I had arrived in Louisville. It has been a while since I have actually flown to Louisville, and I don’t remember these goofy things, but they are so Kentucky I just could resist a couple of quick snapshots.

Although the flying part of my journey was quite done at that point, it was still an hour and twenty minute drive to my parent’s house in Madison. We went to dinner in Louisville at one of my favorite places to eat: Café Lou Lou. R and I are addicted to the Mezze Platter. Although it is on the menu as an appetizer, we make a very good meal out of it. What is it about dips? It is so fun to pile up a little bit of this and a little bit of that onto a pita. It is definitely one of my favorite Mediterranean dishes of all time. We have attempted a couple of times to make some of the more unusual items on the platter with varying degrees of success. Here is a picture, although it is a little dark.

As referenced earlier, I was not done with my mountains of end of semester writing even though I had anticipated being done with everything by the time I travelled. So, I spent Friday morning holed up writing away. I was thrilled that my darling Callie kitty was excited to see me. It has been hit or miss with her affection since they were moved to “grandma and grandpa’s” house after R and I got married. No pets allowed in campus housing, sigh. She snuggled up with me all night and as you can see, was a great foot warmer while I was writing my papers. However, Roxie, our

Brittany spaniel, was very jealous of all the attention she was getting so, she had to get up on the bed, too. Talk about two jealous old ladies! They are not each other’s biggest fans and I think they spend a lot of time competing for who gets the most love. Callie swats at Roxie when she gets too close, but Roxie knows she has the size advantage. After a morning of writing, my mom and I headed to my Nana’s house (godmother) as I had not had a chance to see her in a long time. She is a wonderful woman who has literally known me since the day I was born, and once kindly put a roof over my head for a few months while I was in transition after college.

That evening, I met up with a high school friend, A, at one of the local wineries. Here is a link to The Thomas Family Winery. It is still sometimes referred to as “the old Greyhound station.” I met Steve and Elizabeth shortly after they moved to Madison to start the winery, gosh… wow… close to 15 years ago. Where does the time go? They make wonderful wines, have live music on the weekends, are great hosts, and provide an all around great pub like atmosphere. So A and I spent several hours gabbing and catching up over red wine and cheese. We have travelled a lot together over the years, but it has been a while. So, we are planning a trip for the fall of 2012 when I should have my diploma in hand and hopefully a new job. She always has the best ideas. We are going to do a Irish horse drawn caravan trip. Okay, I know you are going, what??? I did the same thing until she sent me a link explaining it. So here is a link that does a much better job of showing you what it is all about. I think it is gonna be way cool and an interesting way to explore the Irish country side. http://www.irishhorsedrawncaravans.com/

Saturday was our big family gathering. My sister, her husband, and my darling niece came down from Indianapolis along with my other sister who is in college there. J’s birthday happened to be on Monday, so we celebrated her birthday. I won’t overwhelm you with a bazillion pictures, but here are a few highlights of me and my crazy family. If you want to see more, you can check out my album on Facebook. As you can see most of the day was about my niece and her being the center of attention. As the first grandchild and niece of our generation, I think she had more pictures taken than the average super model on a photo shoot! She is 6 months old, so she is at that super cute age where she is aware of you, getting wiggly, rolls around a lot, and almost crawling. She has also found her voice and is starting to babble. Anyways, it was great fun, and yes, I did let other people hold her. The pictures are proof of that! After a busy day of family and food, I was headed to “the Ville,” (Louisville) or Luhvul as we like to say. If you say “Lewisville” or “Looeyville” people will know you are NOT from the area.

I get to feed my niece

Gnawing on the best toy ever, Sophie the Giraffe, that Auntie C gave her

Grandma and Grandpa!

Siblings and Darling Niece Shot with Jule's Birthday Cake

This is what happens when we try to take a picture together (it took about three)

Much better with Darling Niece

I can't remember the last time we had a picture with the whole family. And everyone actually looks good in it!

The next 24 hours was a whirlwind of meeting up with good friends from my Louisville days. Starting with a sushi dinner on Saturday with my good friend C (where I, as usual ordered too many rolls), Sunday brunch at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe for the best biscuits and gravy (why oh why is there no good biscuits and gravy out west???), on to tea and Cake Flour cupcakes (featured on Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate) at the Hillbilly Tea (which is a new and super cute downtown destination, and I would totally have eaten there if not stuffed from biscuits and gravy). Then I did mad more paper writing to meet my Sunday night deadline then wrapped up with a good gab fest with my host P (and bestie) and our good friend Double D. I should mention that P fosters another one of our cats, Kobi. He was a bit standoffish, but as you can see, he

couldn’t resist curling up with my netbook. After they left, I finished proofing my paper so I could email it from a local coffee shop, before heading back to Madison. It was getting pretty late in the day and the snow was sticking so I was in a hurry. This is where it gets interesting, frustrating, and embarrassing.

I load my backpack and purse into my mom’s Pathfinder, and pull out the snow scraper to brush off the snow. I had the brilliant idea to start the car so it could warm up while I was getting the snow off. A little voice in my head told me to leave the door open as I had vague recollections of it being easy to lock the keys in this car. So, this went fine, until I rounded the final corner, skidded a bit, knocked the door and it swung shut. I had that NOOOOOOO moment. Then I thought to myself that maybe I had made up that whole locking the keys in the car business, so I tried the handle. Nope, definitely locked. Tried the other three and the back, just in case. Yep. Definitely locked. Did I mention it was snowing? Did I mention the car was running? Did I mention everything, including my cell phone and AAA card were in the locked car? Did I mention that my host had already left for some evening plans? Pretty sure I used some strong expletive for a few minutes while I considered my options. Knowing that P has decent relationships with her neighbors, I went there and knocked. I introduced myself and explained my sorry situation. They very kindly let me in to use their phone and internet to look up a number for AAA. Which, by the way, is very difficult to find on their website. Humph! Called for lock service, and then called my mom to break the news about why I was going to be a bit later than I had planned. Well, then I learned that there was a key hidden for that very reason… So, called AAA back to cancel service, and was on my way about five minutes later. Stopped at Highland Coffee for a latte and to email my final paper. I really wanted a mocha with blackberry whip cream (and I always order my drinks without whip, so it is THAT good), but was in a bit of a sugar overload by the end of my day, so went for the straight latte. A very slow 45 mph drive then ensued, and I made it home almost two hours later. Sheesh! What an end to the day.

Other than a lunch date with another high school friend, the rest of my trip was pretty chill and was spent hanging out with my parents and brother, which I needed and enjoyed. Before I knew

it, it was time to head to the airport. Callie tried really hard to get me to pack her up for the return trip back. Mom treated me to a hearty breakfast at Wild Eggs, where I got the Truffled Scramble, yum. I want to learn how to make their Everything Muffin, it is sweet and savory at the same time. Then it was time to come back to Flag. I love it here, but boy, do I get homesick for Louisville and my old haunts when I am there. You just cannot beat the architecture in that area. Both Louisville and Madison just have the most beautiful architecture and green space. I was looking forward to escaping the cold, snow, and rain. However, the blue skies and fifty degree weather disappeared with my return to Flag. Has been gray, snowy, and rainy ever since. Sigh!

Sweet Semester Endings and High Altitude Baking

For the end of the semester, I agreed to make some fun desserts for my staff’s last meeting as a thank you for their hard work. I asked for suggestions and got a request for brownies and for dessert pizza. One of my staff, who was transferring to another school, is vegan, so I also decided to experiment and try to make several vegan desserts. As usual, I forgot to take pictures. One of these days I will actually get in the habit of remembering to do so.

With regards to high altitude baking, we really didn’t have any problems with this other than that the sugar cookie crust spread a little more than I anticipated. I actually picked the brownie recipe because someone who commented on it was a high altitude baker and said it worked well. We did treat ourselves to this great cookbook, Pie in the Sky, since we both like baking and wanted some extra guidance. This one is nice because it has tables for different altitudes and has some nice stories about her journey to create all these recipes. We have used it for reference several times already with pretty good success.

Ultimate Vegan Brownies

These brownies were pretty tasty. They were very rich and fudgy, and yes, I really couldn’t tell they were vegan. I had never cooked with coconut oil before, but we had been wanting to try it as we had heard it was a good alternative for butter for some baking. I will warn it is pretty pricey, but we found it on sale so we decided to splurge and try it. I found it made the brownies a little oily or greasy, so I might try a little less. I also discovered that my instant espresso powder was REALLY old and concluded it might be best to not use it.We ended up just grinding up some coffee super fine and letting it sit in hot water. I found the coffee taste to be a bit bitter and strong. In the future I would probably brew the coffee or make sure I had fresh instant espresso. Other than that, we followed the recipe as given. The flax as a substitute for egg worked well, as creepily had the consistency of eggs after it sat as instructed. So they were good, but I would like to give them another go and see what I think with a little less oil and brewed coffee. The recipe follows, but if you click on the title above it will link you to the original recipe.

1 cup coconut oil
4 oz. (or 112 grams) bittersweet chocolate or to be even more strict just use unsweetened chocolate with 70% (or more) cocoa solids.
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
1/2 cup hot water
2 cups sugar
1 cup cake or pastry flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dutch process cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp flax seeds (ground)
6 Tbsp hot water

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease an 8 x 8 pan.

• In a double boiler or a bowl set atop a pot of gently simmering water, melt the coconut oil, chocolate squares and vanilla together.
• Mix the coffee (or espresso) powder with the 1/2 cup of hot water and stir into the coconut/chocolate mixture. Add sugar and remove from heat. The sugars will dissolve a bit but you don’t need to completely dissolve it.
• In another bowl, sift together the flours, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine.
• In yet another bowl (small one), mix the flax seeds and 6 Tbsp of hot water, allow to sit for 2-3 minutes.
• Combine the chocolate/coconut oil mixture with the flour mixture and stir to incorporate. Add the thickened flax and stir that in as well.
• Pour the batter into the greased baking pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. Start checking the brownies after the first 30 minutes to ensure it is baking evenly.
• When finished, remove the brownies from the oven, set atop a cooling rack and get busy somewhere else. These babies need to be utterly cooled before consuming. If you attempt to eat them before they are properly cooled, they will crumble. When they are properly cooled, you can’t even tell they are eggless, I promise!

Banana Bread French Toast Cupcakes

These you MUST try. Robert tried these on a whim for us to take to a friend’s house for dinner one night, and they disappeared in minutes. Since then, they have made multiple appearances. They go together ridiculously easy and are addictive. The first time, we made them with cow milk, but then decided to experiment making them vegan. We both dislike soy milk, so we decided to try almond milk. We leave out the almond extract because we do not like it, however that is why we decided to try using almond milk. I don’t like nuts in baked goods, so we also left those out. We found the almond milk worked well. They seemed a little stickier than the first time with cow milk, but we really didn’t notice the difference, otherwise. We like to use our mini-muffin pan along with couple of muffin tops. Again, click on the recipe title to follow a link to the original recipe. What follows is our adaptations.

1/2 cup mashed over ripe banana

1 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

2/3 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Then you:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pan with paper liners (or spray with baking spray).
• Throw your mashed banana in a blender or or just smash it with a fork.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and sugar into a large bowl, mix well. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the oil, soy or rice milk, vanilla, almond and mashed banana. Stir or fold the wet ingredients into the dry. Small lumps are fine.
• Fill liners 2/3 full (we didn't use liners, and just sprayed the muffin tins with cooking spray). Bake 20-22 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

Really Yummy Oat Bars

The inspiration for these is this amazing strawberry cookie bar that I had at Macy’s Coffeehouse. My friend came across this recipe in a macrobiotic cookbook she has, so she passed it on to me since the ingredients sounded very similar to what we had assessed as we ate one of the bars. It is not quite the same, but they are still really yummy as the recipe title promises! With the pan that I used, I decided to put all the oat mixture down and make a second half batch of the oat mixture to put on top of the preserves. I didn’t measure it, but I know I also used more strawberry preserves than it called for. I just spread it out until it made a full layer across the full pan.

• ½ c. whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ c. rolled oats
• 1 t. cinnamon
• ½ t. nutmeg
• ½ t. baking soda
• ¼ t. sea salt
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 1/3 c. oil
• ½ t. vanilla
• 1/3 c. fruit spread

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add maple syrup, corn oil, and vanilla mixing thoroughly. In a small baking pan or Pyrex dish, press half the mixture like a thick pie crust. Spread the fruit jam onto it and cover with the rest of the oat mixture. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Dessert Pizza

For as common a dessert recipe as this one is, I had actually never made one. After researching lots of recipes I went with this one. I let the cookie bake for about 25 minutes. I found I really had to whip the cream cheese and whipped topping for a long time, and it still had a somewhat lumpy texture. Next time, I think I would whip the cream cheese with the milk first before adding whipped topping in hopes of getting an overall smoother texture. For fruit, I used a can of mandarin oranges, kiwis, red raspberries, and blueberries. I think this was my staff’s favorite. There were no leftovers!

Thanksgiving, Flagstaff Style

We just finished our first major holiday in our new home of Flagstaff, and it is filled with lots of happy new memories. The fabulous Aunt M made the trek from the Big D to join us for the holiday weekend. Having some family here definitely was the icing on the cake! The only black mark on the weekend was me being sick. After almost a week of constant coughing and persistent throat tickle, I called uncle and went to the doctor on Wednesday morning. As I suspected, he said it was most likely a sinus infection and prescribed me antibiotics, which I was trying to avoid. ANYWAYS, a minor inconvenience at most. It slowed me down a bit, energy wise, but did not stop me from enjoying my long weekend!

Our Thanksgiving plans were to join some of my fellow SUSer graduate students for a potluck feast. We had purchased a pasture raised turkey through our CSA. It was not inexpensive, but we concluded that it was worth the cost to know that Buddy (what we named him) had a humane life. So this meant we were cooking the turkey. Luckily, we agreed to do an early evening meal so that we did not have to get up crazy early to start roasting. Roasting our turkey turned into a b it of an adventure with some ups and downs. Upon reflection, I am pretty sure it was our first attempt at roasting at turkey, so we should have expected a learning curve.

Unfortunately, even though we had been letting it thaw in the refrigerator since we picked it up Saturday it was still pretty frozen on Thursday. So, we tried the dripping water technique and finally seemed to get it thawed for cooking. And, we were still on track for getting it in the oven by about 11 am. See, everything said that our size turkey should take about 3.5 to 4 hours to roast. So, this would get it done

around 3:30 and allow enough time for it to rest before we carved and took it our host for the evening. Thanks LE for being a fabulous host, by the way. Soooo, our lovely instant read thermometer (which I highly recommend, by the way) went off right about the time we expected it to do so. We were a little surprised by the lack of drippings in the bottom of the pan, and we were certainly not prepared for the gush of liquid that came out of Buddy when R pulled him out of the pan. Liquid that was a definite pinkish color… that was our first signal that all may not be as we hoped… but at least we knew where all our drippings were!

However, we decided to let him rest, and after a while, R started carving. As he got close to the center, we realized it was definitely not cooked all the way yet. Okay, so perhaps the core was not as well thawed as we had hoped. The turkey went back into the oven for some more sun tan time… And kept roasting as each temperature check did not tell us the inner core was where it should be. Finally, about an hour and half after we had anticipated it being done it finally seemed to be ready for carving. It did turn a lovely golden crispy brown, but of course, we completely forgot to take a picture before we carved it up!

Along with the turkey and gravy, we took mashed potatoes and a big salad of mixed greens with pistachios (all from the CSA), pear, dried cranberries, Rogue Creamery bleu cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. The fabulous Aunt M made her famous buttermilk pie (recipe to follow) and pumpkin pie. Our potluck extravaganza included the following contributions: two types of dressing, two types of cranberry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted butternut squash, sweet potato rolls, cheesy potato casserole, veggie tray, roasted root vegetable fries, dairy free pumpkin pie and an amazing chocolate turtle tarte. It was a lovely evening filled with tasty food and great new friends.

Robert had to work on Friday, so I spent the morning doing some studying. After lunch Aunt M and I headed into downtown Flagstaff to check out some of the local shops. Neither of really planned to spend money, but we ended up finding a few goodies. Aunt M found fun Christmas presents for her daughters, and we each bought each other a fun little gift for less than $5! I had been meaning to spend some time checking out some of the shops, and this was my first opportunity to really just wander and do this. We concluded that we had done our duty as citizens and contributed to the local economy by spending some money on the day after Thanksgiving, and we headed to Macy’s Coffeehouse to indulge in Macy’s Specials. I had a gift certificate for Oregano’s, so we decided to take a break from turkey and got pizza for dinner. We got the Frisco Thin Crust Pizza with a tomato cream sauce and bacon. Yum! We rounded out our evening with several competitive rounds of Quiddler.

Saturday, the weather looked promising in Sedona, so we headed south for an afternoon of hiking. We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather. After several days of highs in the 30’s, we welcomed the clear sunny day and temperatures of almost 60 degrees. It was amazing what a change in elevation could do. As we drove into downtown, we encountered some lingering fall foliage that we could not resist photographing. We picked out a new trail to explore called the Jim Thompson trail that was on the edge of downtown Sedona. It was perfect for what we wanted. It was a pretty easy, fairly flat trail with spectacular views of the surrounding red peaks. We took our time and even though it was a holiday weekend, the trail was not super crowded. It was also nice because it was JUST off the beaten path in Sedona, but you still felt like you were in the middle of nowhere most of the time.

Here are my pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2222387&id=18808643&l=c0dcb9d79e

After returning, we put together a white chili using some leftover turkey and roasted chilies and dried beans from the CSA that we slow cooked in our Crockpot. We have been getting a bag of roasted chilies almost every week. Although that is great, our freezer is quickly filling up with them. I recently went on a quest for recipes that called for chilies, and this one seemed like a good one to try. Obviously we substituted roasted turkey bits for the ground turkey, and chopped up our own chilies and used our own beans.

Today, I rounded out the rest of our holiday weekend with a Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole. I already had a vision of what I intended to throw together, but then encountered this recipe from one of the blogs I like to read. I did a layer of stuffing, then tossed chopped turkey with gravy and thawed frozen peas. I then topped it off with a layer of mashed potatoes and some shredded cheese. Yum, yum! All in all, it has been a good holiday weekend.

The Fabulous Aunt M’s Buttermilk Pie Recipe

3 eggs

2 Tbs flour

½ c. butter, melted

1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

An unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together and place in pie shell. Will bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Hearty Winter Salad

Okay, I am taking a super quick study break to make a quick blog post because this salad was THAT good. Stay tuned for a Tale of Flagstaff Thanksgiving later this week or next week.

Hearty Winter Salad

(Using CSA goodies and pantry odds and ends)

Note: Since this was an on the fly collaboration with Robert cooking and me telling him what to do, the directions are pretty free form. However, if you have any level of comfort in the kitchen, it should be pretty easy to follow.

1 small butternut squash (ours was from the CSA), peeled, seeded, and cubed

· Roast in oven for about an hour at 350 degrees. Turn up 450 degrees and cook for another 10 minutes or so until it starts to get brown and crispy

Take random greens (we used what we got from the CSA). Wash and tear.

· Throw in a skillet on medium high heat along with some garlic and olive oil until wilted. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar

To build your salad, you will also need nuts (we used toasted pecans), dried fruit (we used cranberries), and cheese (we used goat). Customize to your taste and what you have on hand.

· Put down a layer of the wilted greens

· Add a pile of butternut squash

· Sprinkle with cranberries, nuts, and cheese.

Eat! Delish!

P.S. I could see some caramelized onions being a super yummy addition.

Spaghetti Squash Chronicles

We have received an abundance of spaghetti squash with our CSA so far this fall. It is not so much that we dislike it, but it is more that it gets a bit boring as a side dish on its own and I don’t particularly like it as a substitute for real spaghetti. So, for once in my life, I got a little creative and adventuresome when it comes to cooking on the fly! No recipes… no research…. Just me throwing stuff together that we had in the house that I thought might taste good together. I will also say that this type of casserole gets rid of that weird crunchy texture that spaghetti squash always seems to have. In the spirit of cooking on the fly, you will notice that my recipes are a little “loosey goosey” with regards to amounts. If I can wing it, you can too! Just estimate based on proportions and flavors that you like. Honestly, it is hard to make a mistake with these.

I made the first one as a contribution for a small gathering of friends. My goal was to try and get rid of half a baked squash and not have to go to store for any ingredients. After it turned out so well, I got inspired and came up with idea for the second one. Honestly, I liked the Southwest version best, but I would make the Mediterranean one again, too. If you do try either, you will have to let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Southwest Spaghetti Squash

• Whole or Half a roasted squash, shredded into a bowl
• 1 can of beans (I used pintos)
• Sauteed onion and peppers
• Sauteed chili pepper
• Your favorite Southwest or Mexican seasonings (to taste) plus salt and pepper
• Yogurt, cream, or sour cream ( or a mix). Just enough to give it some creaminess and bind it
• Top with shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

Cover and bake at 350 for at least a half hour to 45 minutes.

Mediterranean Spaghetti Squash (going for the flavors of a spankopita)

• Half or whole roasted spaghetti squash, shredded into bowl
• Caramelized onions
• Spinach (I used arugula to get rid of it)
• 1 can cannellini beans
• Some pine nuts
• Splash of lemon juice
• Herbs de Provence, salt and pepper
• Yogurt and touch of heavy cream, just enough to bind it and give it a creamy texture
• Feta chunks

Mix it all together in a bowl. I lightly folded the feta in last. Bake for about 45 minutes until bubbly. We sprinkled some Parmesan on the top before serving.

My Clothing Survival Guide for the Mountains

Funny how your surroundings will change your needs and your tastes. Living in a recreation obsessed mountain town with a completely different climate than I have ever lived in has caused some major changes and incurred some purchases along the way…

First, the ruling style scene seems to be a little bit scruffy,with a dash of sporty, a smidge of funky, and totally functional. You are more apt to see someone in a fleecy, rolled jeans (so your pants don’t get caught in your bike chain) and Chacos than a dress and heels. And slowly but surely, I seem to be slipping into that flow. Although I am still pretty religious about foundation, powder and mascara, most of the rest of my makeup has gone by the way side. I will be getting ready to run out and I will pause to think if I need to change my clothes or freshen up and/or add makeup. And then I will go, “Nah, no one is going to notice anyways!” I mean, I LOVE lip gloss, and I can’t remember the last time I put it on! My criteria for getting dressed in the morning are dependent on whether or not I plan to ride my bike and whether or not it is bikeable (oh, and whether anyone in the central office will see me). My heels, well really most of my shoes, have been collecting dust since August. Again, my criteria are can I walk long distance in them on the hills or bike in them? I spend time salivating over stuff on REI and Sierra Trading Post websites, and I can’t remember the last time I was on the Banana Republic site. Oh wait, I do know that. I bought some khakis on sale for Robert right after we moved here. Good grief what is happening to me!?!

Now that doesn’t mean that I won’t still try and dress cute, and there are definitely some cute little shops where I have drooled over some ADORABLE stuff, but function has definite been my primary focus. I also found this awesome blog by this woman that lives HERE in Flagstaff that I want to be my new best friend. Seriously, I might have to stalk her. I mean, I really need to meet someone who is dedicated to biking, but is still focused on looking stylish, and always on the quest for the perfect pair of ballet flats. We must be kindred spirits, right? Here is her blog, check it out! http://www.sheridesabike.com/

Now the weather is getting cooler, so I am definitely having to engage in some new strategies as well as invest in some new stuff. I haven’t had to deal with weather this cold in 6 years, so it is huge change for me. Luckily, I have always been a big fan of scarves, hats, and gloves, so I have plenty of those. I have also rediscovered an old Abercrombie fleecy and a cream colored quilted Eddie Bauer jacket that are currently in heavy rotation during this awkward weather transition of mild sunny days and frigid nights. I have always had a jacket fetish, so I have plenty of outerwear options. I have also found that knee socks and tights under anything are life savers.

So here is what I have gotten so far:

• An awesome Marmot water and windproof jacket. The color is called raven and it is the really nice deep reddish chocolaty brown.
• Water and windproof pants. I think these will be my saving grace for keeping on biking and they will fit over my real pants!
• Hiking boots that are waterproof
• Multiple pairs of toasty warm knee socks and hiking socks
• A new pair of black tights
• Long underwear. This is a necessity along with tights. And I really need an undershirt to wick away sweat on longer bike rides so that I am not a damp mess when I get to my destination. There is no less pleasant feeling. In silk with a cute pointelle pattern.
• A sporty little zip up hoodie from Target for an in between outer layer.

My Wish List

• A good pair of gloves for biking and what not since I totally thrashed my tan leather Gap ones with bike oil. Side note, I have learned that a key lock for your bike is much more practical than a combo when it is 23 degrees out. Cold metal, wind, and bare skin are a rotten combo.
• These Toms. Doesn’t corduroy scream winter?
• A really skinny knit hat that fits well under my helmet
• This amazingly light and soft Patagonia jacket that I cannot justify. But it is the pretty pearly silvery color with a PURPLE lining. How much more Cori could you get?
• I wouldn’t mind this fleecy either. Amazingly soft and cozy! In the French Roast so that I would look like a cute and cuddly teddy bear.
• For monsoon season, I want to splurge on a pair of Hunter Wellingtons.
• Since I just spent a ton on hiking boots, I am not sure that I can justify another pair of winter boots. However, I suspect I may start looking for a pair of waterproof leather boots. I will be honest, I have also started contemplating the warmth and waterproof benefits of Uggs. God, I can’t believe I actually just wrote that…
• A good pair of rugged water proof sandals like Chacos or Tevas

So apparently, I am still clothing and shopping obsessed. I just have new interests!

A Tale of Two Sunset Hikes

My goodness! I feel like these happened ages ago. I have really enjoyed blogging, but as I have mentioned in other posts, the volume of reading and writing I am doing for my classes has really made this project drop in priority. I am slowly trying to find ways to incorporate it more consistently into the rhythm of my live and catch up on all the ideas and adventures I want to write about.

Cathedral Rock http://wildsedona.com/trails/cathedral.htm

The first of these hikes occurred on the weekend before classes started… so here I am eight weeks later finally making the time to write about it. Sadly, some of my initial thoughts and reactions are not nearly as present in my mind anymore. Anyways, the purpose of this hike was one last hurrah for the end of our summer fun and the looming start of our first semester of graduate classes the next day. We also wanted the opportunity to hang out together before the craziness of our lives set in. Naively, I thought at the time, of course we will still hang out all the time. Although we do still see each other a lot through either work or classes, the socializing has dropped off quite a bit as we each get a handle on our new lives and the demands of it.

We headed to Sedona to enjoy the hike and sunset at Cathedral Rock. The usual suspects came along: R, J, and A. The description of this hike is short and steep. I guess it depends on your interpretation of short… but I definitely agree with the steep part! This definitely challenged my confidence in my agility as well as my fear of heights. As I climbed upward, sometimes almost vertically, I found myself thinking what the h**l am I thinking? This would be followed by the realization that I would have to climb DOWN this same path. Because most of it is not a trail and more of a climb up solid rock, they have build cairns of rocks to keep you headed in the right direction and on what I assume they are suggesting is the easiest path to take. Look in the pictures for an example.

As we climbed higher, the view got more and more amazing. We finally reached the top which was the saddle between the one farthest on the left and the next one. We rested and enjoyed the view for a while. It was then decided to climb a little further to a different saddle. Again, a few minor freak outs and cussing along the way, but arriving at the top is so worth it! After hanging out there for a while, we headed back down to truly enjoy the sunset. As soon as the sun hit the horizon, we started scrambling down. I certainly did not want to be negotiating my way down in the super dark! Every so often, I would still want to stop and enjoy the view and the changing colors of the sky. Luckily, the climb down was not quite as scary as I thought. I just stayed low to the ground and took my time! It was a lovely way to spend our last evening together before our semester started.

Wupatki National Monument http://www.nps.gov/wupa/

We had so much fun on our previous week’s sunset hike that we decided to do another one (and we kinda got a late start in the day!) This time it was me, R, and A. Our goal was to get to the main monument, but we didn’t quite make it. This was the first time I had been in this direction, and yet again, I was in a for a surprise with regards to the terrain and vegetation. It is so crazy how quickly it changes and the diversity you discover in every direction. I just had no idea how rich in natural surroundings that Arizona can be. Every experience has shown me something new.

Our first stop was the Citadel and Nalakihu Pueblos. These were old Native American ruins that had been preserved. The path for the Citadel travels around the elevated ruins and when you come around the bend you discover there is a huge crater. The amount of work put into these brick pueblos, as well as their lasting power, is impressive. After checking this one out for a while, we kept moving as our original plan was to check out the primary ruins. Our last stop ended up being the Doney Mountain. We hiked to the top of this little “mountain,” and were rewarded with an amazing 360 degree panoramic view. We could see for miles in all directions. We could see the San Francisco Peaks in one direction and in another the Painted Desert. I was super excited for my first glimpse of the Painted Desert. We sat back and enjoyed the changing colors of the sky as the sun set. It was so different in every direction. It was also very peaceful and relaxing. This hike was not nearly precarious so we did not feel rushed to leave as soon as the sun hit the horizon. The other really enjoyable part about this hike was the amount of flower and plant life I observed. It was the greatest variety I had seen so far, and I saw new vegetation that I had never seen before. A lot of my little camera phone pictures didn’t capture it well, but there are some in the pictures.

Picture Links

Cathedral: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2212290&id=18808643&l=cb9b12df58

Wupatki: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2216530&id=18808643&l=cdc88f8ec2

My Public Narrative

Our first writing assignment for my program was to write a public narrative. Below you will find mine. This one goes out to my mother for the inspiration she has provided me even when I didn't realize it. I spend a great deal of my time these days reading, writing, and thinking. Although this was the first thing I wrote, it continues to shape what I am thinking about and points me in an unexpected direction. These themes continue to find their way into my writing and thoughts in all of my classes. And here I thought I would be all about campus sustainability! Don't get me wrong, that focus is still near and dear to my heart, and I am already thinking about ways to pull these themes into the setting of a college campus and college students. I just returned from a conference, AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education), and it also reminded me of why I started this program and why I have the interests I do. It is exciting, though, to find my mind and my inspiration wandering in other directions and finding other personal connections. I think I even have the inkling and shaping of what my thesis might be. This is really great as I came here scared to death about finding an idea on which I could write a 60 plus page research paper. I hope you enjoy my public narrative and I would love to know what your reaction to it is. It would help me know whether or not I accomplished the goal of the assignment.

I am content and happy in way that I have not been in a long time. In fact, it would be challenging for me to recall the last time I felt this relaxed and happy in my adulthood prior to now. I believe I have found my way, my peace, and my inspiration by coming to Flagstaff. I distinctly remembering being dissatisfied with my life throughout most of my childhood because I was a “country girl,” and I desperately wanted to be a “city girl.” I wanted cable to watch MTV and suburbia to have a posse of neighborhood friends. Well, I have been a city girl for the last fifteen years or so of my adult life, and although I have many joyous memories of adventures and experiences from around the world, I do not know that I was ever completely satisfied or at peace. As I reflect on the recent changes and choices made in my life, it suddenly occurred to me, that in a way, I have come full circle and made the unconscious decision to embrace my roots and upbringing. With that, I have a new respect and value for my childhood experiences and their influence on who I have become.

I grew up with a “hippy” mom in the seventies who was very gung ho to live the natural life and live off the land. At thirty-six, I completely appreciate what she was doing, but between five and eighteen, I just thought it was weird. I wanted “normal.” I wanted Heinz ketchup, Welch’s jelly, Oscar Mayer bologna, Rainbo white bread, and sugary cereals, not homemade bread and canned goods, fresh vegetables from the garden, and eggs from our chickens. I certainly did not want to be the victim of her vegetarian experiments like nut loaf and millet burgers. Well, I still don’t want those, but as I become older I realize how much of her values and lifestyle has snuck into my own! I am forever on the quest for fresh fruits and vegetables that taste like something. I love it when my husband makes bread, and although I have no desire to take care of farm animals to meet my dairy and egg needs, it would be nice to not be stressing about whether or not they are “happy animals” or the amount of money I am spending to have some of that peace of mind.

I have also rediscovered my passion for nature. I am and always will be an avid animal lover, but I have renewed my love for the scenery around me and being outdoors. We have been biking almost every day and hiking every weekend since moving to Flagstaff. Because I lived in the country as a child, these were part of my daily existence then. If I wanted to visit a friend, I had to hop on my bike and ride two to six miles away to go play. Every summer, I would spend most of my days playing in the forest behind our house. For the last fifteen years, I have lived in cities where parks were the green space and the “wilderness” was a car drive away. I now have the choice to walk and bike just about everywhere again, and I love it. I am re-experiencing that child-like wonder of the natural world around me.

Obviously, I came to Flagstaff for the Sustainable Communities program wanting to be better trained and educated to make a difference in the world around me, but now I have an even greater sense of urgency with the renewed realization of how much could be at jeopardy if we continue down the path we are on as a society. It seems so much of it is about consumerism and how we use it as way to make ourselves feel better and our association with needing stuff to be happy. I am guilty of that although I am working on it! I love my stuff, and I enjoy shopping. However, I feel myself slowly pulling away from buying for the sake of buying and challenging myself with the questions of “do I need this?” and “do I need to replace what I already have?” My response to myself is still mixed, but having less disposable income than I have had in a really long time is definitely helping me be more honest in my answers. The most important piece of this is that I have realized, as I said earlier, that I am happier than I have been in years! I am also more active than I have been in years. I am going outside and playing instead of sitting inside watching TV or going shopping. I suspect there is a correlation between my moods and how I am choosing to spend my time.

It is time for all of us to rediscover what playing is all about and how enjoying the world around us can bring a sense of joy and wonder in a way an IPod or new pair of shoes cannot. Perhaps my idyllic country childhood is unique to a small group that continues to dwindle, but I believe that all of us have had a moment in our lives where we have felt a sense of awe and pleasure based on an experience or encounter with a piece of the natural world. This could have been a trip to the zoo, a family camping trip, a visit to a natural history museum, playing in the park down the street, or even a science lab at school. We all should pause, remember, and reflect. What are our memories of that feeling? Why did it bring us pleasure and awe? Most importantly, how can we discover ways today to find that feeling again and embrace it daily? How can we introduce this to our children so that our future generations value the natural beauty of our Earth and want to protect and enjoy it?

This is my fear and this is why I call to you to remember how to play outside and teach it to your children. We are losing this value bit by bit and day by day. Our children are not in the habit of going outside and playing any more and neither are we. The siren call of the television and video games or driving to the mall to shop drowns out the wind in the trees for many of us. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010), childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years, and in 2009, 26.7% of adults were considered obese. Serious health risks are linked to obesity, including an increased risk in cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Exercise is on top of the list of how to combat obesity. I think we could count play as exercise, don’t you?

We face challenges, though; in fact sometimes we are dealing with actual rules and laws that discourage play. Richard Louv (2005) writes about what he has labeled “nature-deficit disorder,” and the increasing number of children who are experiencing this problem. He describes it as “the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of sense, attention difficulties and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses” (p. 34). Is this where we have arrived? Are we truly at the point where someone has to write a book about how losing touch with the natural world around them is having a negative impact on the health of our children? The increasing regulations in our neighborhoods in the form of homeowner’s association regulations and zoning codes are also prohibiting playing. From prohibiting basketball hoops in the driveway to requiring tree houses without building permits to be torn down, we are stealing the potential of spontaneity and creativity. We are discouraging play and we need to stop this momentum.

Flagstaff is not the true turning point in my personal shift in priorities, but it is definitely shaping my path and clarifying it further for me. Flagstaff and my surroundings have brought out parts of me that I did not know existed or that I have not recognized in a long while. I have newfound peace and acceptance for who I am and where life’s journey may be taking me. It has heightened my awareness and is continuing to shift my values. I do see hope and possibility that encourages me to continue promoting the value of green space and play. A recent trip to Manhattan, which is one of the most urban places on earth, celebrates its green spaces, and so do the residents. Everywhere you turn in Central Park, there are people of all ages playing and enjoying the outdoors. There are smaller parks around the city that are well used, as well as neighborhood playgrounds everywhere with children running around and laughing. In another part of the city, a group of citizens took an abandoned elevated railway track and have turned it into the Highline Park, an urban oasis of greenery and comfortable benches for sitting and watching the world go by. It was filled with people walking, talking and picnicking while we were visiting. Despite the dominance of steel and concrete, it is clear that this is a city that wants to preserve its bits of green for the residents so they have a quick escape from their daily urban confines and a place to play. Even around me at NAU, I see many taking advantage of the campus green spaces. Students are outdoors talking, studying, throwing Frisbees, and not inside playing videogames. People do want to play and be outdoors, we just need to remind them that they can and should be choosing to spend their time in different ways than they currently are doing.

My Self Change Project: Using a Car Less

Well, I guess my previous post was a prediction of me falling momentarily off the blog bandwagon. But now I am back and going to try and commit myself to one or two posts a week. Surely I can handle that right? I do have lots of fun ones started and floating around in my head. It is just hard to make time in between reading, writing, working and the occasional bit of housework and some fun, too! So stay tuned for more hiking adventures and our trip to New York City.

In the mean time, I am going to get a bit nerdy on you. I am a grad student after all. For my Conservation Psychology class, one of our assignments is a Self Change Project. After much deliberation and stress, I decided to undertake a pretty strict reduction in the use of personal cars as a means of transportation. I supposed I should also change that “I” to a “we.” Clearly, this decision affects R as well. Luckily, he is supportive and a good sport.

The basic gist is that for any in-town trips, we are not to use a car unless we are transporting something heavy or some other legitimate reason that would necessitate it. We are working on eliminating any trips that we would tend to make out of convenience or laziness. You should also note my use of “a car.” Although primarily focused on reducing the use of our car, we did not allow ourselves the loop hole of just always jumping in someone else’s car out of convenience. To further discourage our use of the car, we gave up our campus parking permit (for a refund of $375, thank you very much!) and moved the car to the parking lot of Robert’s studio which is about a mile away from our apartment. Probably ninety percent of the places we go would be within that mile radius anyways, so it would make no sense to go get the car. You may ask why we are not giving it up completely? Well, we wanted to allow us the opportunity to continue the weekend trips we have been taking to hike and explore the region. Perhaps a little selfish, but it is still going to be a change for us and a greater change in car use than most people would take. Research shows that making a public statement of intent leads to better follow through and commitment to making the change. So, I said I would write about the project on my blog. So here ya go! If you really want to know more about what I am doing and why let me know. I was going to attach my paper, but I can't figure out how! However, I am happy to send it to you if you ask.

I will leave you with a few questions to ask yourself:

Could you come up with one less car trip to make each week?

If you decided to change one behavior that has a negative impact on the environment, what would it be?