december

Outside: drifts of heavy snow. more coming down tonight.
On the needles: gifts of hats and mittens which are not likely to be done in time.
In the crock pot: elk green chili, with cider and bread
Reading: Jane Eyre, when I'm not studying for finals

but to be honest, I am having a hard time focusing on finals.  all I want to do is knit warm cozy things to send to you for the holidays while I watch the snowflakes drift by my window.  in the mean time, I am sending you warm wishes ~

happie turkie day

On the menu:

Turkey with gluten less sausage and apple stuffing and gravy, corn casserole, roasted Brussels sprouts, yeast dinner rolls, classic cheesy mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole with homemade marshmallows, and of course, a coconut pumpkin pie.  This is the most beautiful pie I've ever made.

Happy Thanksgiving friends! ~

have a cozy weekend

It's a cold snowy weekend here in Colorado.  We are snuggling up with some knitting and coca (and probably some studying), and perhaps there will be baking of pumpkin chocolate bread and making of soup for dinner followed by popcorn and the watching of this.  Also starting to do some serious thinking about pie. I love pie.  And weekends inside.

Stay warm and cozy ~

november

Outside: surprisingly beautiful and sunny.  just enough nip for a scarf and boots.
Lunch: crockpot tomato basil soup and grilled cheese. perfection.
Reading: lean in, which is a little cheesy but has made me think more about my career...
And speaking of my career: I've got one.  I'ts time for me to show my quality.  whoa.

Autumn is always a season of changes, and things are certainly changing around here!  It's exciting.  Or terrifying.  whichever.  Happy November!

all hallows

It's a beautiful day.  It will be a quiet holiday around here (mostly I'll be studying), but I do have a giant pile of candy to give away to the neighborhood kids.

Happy Halloween dear friends

squish

Happy things: a new baby born to good friends of ours.  with and excellent nick name, which we plan to bring up when we meet his first girlfriend some day.  In the mean time, his feet are tiny, and I made squish the cutiest booties.

Happy things, happy Friday.

SNOW

They have been sighted! The first flakes of the season!  We woke this morning to an unexpected covering of heavy wet snow.  It's been a lovely, cold fall day and it is high time for cookies.

I made monster cookies. As for the snow, it's already starting to melt... but you can still see some out on the porch... along with the dogs' footprints, as they have been leaping madly around outside all afternoon.

Any signs of snow where you are?  What's the chance of cookies?

taco tuesday

We've had a new tradition spring up lately: it's call Taco Tuesday.  It's awesome.

Here's some of our recent favorites: black bean and yam quesadillas, crockpot carne asada nachos, spinach and quicken quesadillas, kale and corn quesadillas, choizo and potato tacos, shrimp and guac tostadas, pulled pork tacos.  queadillas and tostadas and nachos totally count as tacos on taco tuesday, btw.  and maybe one of these days, I'll get around to making my own tortillas. maybe after midterms.

Happy Taco Tuesday! ~

falling leaves

I love autumn. That's all.
Sending good thoughts your way on a beautiful day ~

october

Outside: yellow leaves are blooming
Drinking: homemade masala chai. Tomorrow: pumpkin spice chai.
Reading: Wild, for my continental book club.
On the needles: the sleeves of this sweater
Studying: the synaptic plasticity of memory and learning in the brain (ironic?)

I hope this new month finds you well and doing good work. keep in touch ~

apples in the fall

Our grand plans for apple cider fell through when all our apples fell early.  But, we've manged to make the most of it with apple pie, crockpot applesauce, spiced applesauce cake with cream cheese frosting, apple cheddar crepes and we might still try to make some smaller scale cider and apple cider spiced donuts. Lots of apple love.

What's your favorite thing to make with apples?

thanks, September

Outside: 63. Rain. Apples on the tree.
Enjoying: Our seasonal favorite; the pumpkin spice latte.
On the needles: A sweater for me, with yarn from Peru.
Reading: MOL, when I'm not digging through patent claims or a medical physiology textbook.
These dogs: are loving the cooler weather, playing outside, then taking naps. It's lovely.

How's the weather where you are?  Have you seen the first signs of fall? I've been ready for it for ages; knitting on the needles, soup recipes and spiced chai just waiting.  I love this season. Thanks September. 

4th annual birthday backpack

Crestone Needle and Humbolt - #44 &45

Amazing birthday backpack weekend.  We returned to the South Colony Lakes to summit the needle, which was a beautiful class 3 hike. The sunrise as we climbed through broken hand pass was stunning.

 On the right, you can see us climbing the east gully, and on the left, the needle from the lakes, immersed in clouds.

And here's my Dad and I on the summit!

When we got back to basecamp around noon, we decided to take a risk and hike to the top of Humbolt despite the incoming weather.  We climbed through the clouds for a record 3 hour total climb, and were rewarded with a break in the weather at the summit. 

It's been a wonderful 14er season!  45/60 = 75% to completion.  Can't wait to bag some more next year!  Extra thanks to Brennan and Jodi for the awesome pictures. 

millions of peaches

peaches for me

from Palisade.  and thus we have had:  peach pie.  peach muffins.  cheesecake with peach topping.  peach ice cream.  more muffins.  peach lemonade. peach jam. peach cobbler.

I love peaches.

Happy end of summer days ~

forty three

Snowmass Mountain

This is one of the most beautiful and most difficult hikes I've done.  The backpack trail in was 8.5 miles, but the view of Snowmass lake was well worth the trek.  From the lake, you can see the rest of the 8 hour climb to the summit; up through the boulder field in the center, then to the right through the basin, up some terrifying loose rock and scree, through the notch, across the ridge, and the summit is actually the bump in the top right of this picture.  The climb was long and steep with some frightening exposure, but the view from the summit, of course, was spectacular. 43/60 = 72% to completion.

garden

 My amazing MOL was here this past week, and decided to try to teach me how to garden.  I can't guarantee the health or safety of these flowers for very long, but for now... wow.

bye, july

Hello, August!

Outside: Flowers in bloom. Watermelon mint sun tea on the patio

On this needles: still making lazy summer progress on my seascape 

Reading: about halfway through TOM and having trouble putting it down

On the table: wine and cheese, plus grapes, olives, almonds, crackers, boar salami, and chocolate

It's too hot to turn the oven on.  Let's eat outside.  

Let's chat and sip wine or tea and watch the summer thunderstorms build above the mountains.  Soon enough, we'll be back to teaching and classes and interviews and networking... but for now, let's just chill. 

forty two

El Diente

What a great hike!  We backpacked in and spent the night in the beautiful Killpacker basin, with awesome views of the summit above a gorgeous waterfall.  Soca joined us and had a wonderful time leaping through the tall grass chasing butterflies.

We had an early start on the next morning, but it was slow moving with a lot of loose rock class 3 terrain, but the view from the summit was well worth the effort.  42/60 = 70% to completion; rough roads ahead... forage onward!

Wishing you days as lovely and views as far 

los cabos socks

Finally!  Only 2 years after my actual honeymoon, I actually finished the socks I started for that trip. The cruise was the perfect inspiration.

The pattern is fantastic for a hand-dyed yarn in a beach colorway, adding a little variation to the pattern and highlighting the changing colors. It's wonderful to show off a FO now and then.

I'm off to the mountains for the week.  I hope you are enjoying your summer days~!

forty & forty one

Lindsey and Culebra

The 14er season has begun!  This past weekend we took on two peaks in the Sangro de Cristo range.  Day one: Lindsey was a success even if we were a little slow.  View from the summit above.  During lunch on the saddle, the locals were very friendly. 

Day two: Culebra was an interesting hike because there is no official trail.  We wandered through elk territory up to the ridge, and followed the horseshoe curve to the summit.  It was a nice and quick hike with beautiful views of the valley floor. 

We've made it to the 40s! I wish I could say this meant we are 68% to completion, but the hikes we have left are all class 3 to class 4 ... we'll see how we do....  Also, we've realized it has taken us 11 years to get this far.  Wow. 

away and back again

Back from an amazing trip.  It was wonderful to spend time with family in such a beautiful place! 

If you ever find yourself in Bermuda, take the opportunity to get away from the cruise crowds and scooter over to St Davids to spend some time at the Clearwater and Turtle beaches. This is where the locals go to relax; they are beautiful and public but mostly deserted. There is an incredible new nature preserve with trails winding over the stone cliffs over looking the sea.  It was wonderful.  Tobacco beach, while slightly more crowded, has some awesome snorkeling and cliff jumping, and a fantastic restaurant right on the sand.  

Cruising was an excellent choice for a big family gathering, with time for everyone to do their own thing and come back together for dinner every night.  Thanks to PBG for a wonderful vacation! And thanks to Kevin for the photos!

Then, we helped DH's parents move into their new RI house, and decided to undertake an epic cross country road trip to take home a rowing skull.  On the way we stopped by Niagara falls, which was truly impressive.  Overall, a successful trip, and we are happy to be home again with our puppy. 

What have you been up to while I was away? 

hey june

Outside: on the patio. I'ts summer; hot days, afternoon thunderstorms, breezy evenings
On the needles: Seascape, a wonderful light lace pattern for seasonal knitting
Reading: catching up on the Kindle, so I can finally take on this and then this.
In the oven: a rhubarb cherry pie, with crust from this book (again, my favorite recipe), with ice cream.
Looking forward to: Leaving next week for RI and the cruise.  It's hard to focus on much else.

This is where my days wander when I let them stray.  Where have you been lately?

little trouper

The Troup baby was born!  Hooray!  And I finished the zigs, only slightly late.

This was a joy to send off for baby's use, and a joy to knit as well.  The pattern is simple but interesting, and was perfectly suited to the situation... 

The then Mom-to-be had emailed all the old collagen knitting gang with the news, saying she wanted to send us all yarn as she was turning the sewing room into a nursery.  I agreed to take the yarn; but only on the condition that I send it right back to her in knit form. When I got the box of yarn I had to double check that she was having a boy, because she sent me all blue!  And she was, and did. 

Congratulations Troupers!  

brunch

I love brunch.  It is the most amazing meal ever invented, in my opinion.  This past week was DH's birthday, and we had a board game brunch party to celebrate complete with GF delicacies and beermosas.

Blueberry lemon scones and overnight cinnamon rolls, both from this amazing book which honestly has my favorite collection of GF baked goods I have ever found (thanks Jaclyn!)  Also on the menu: fresh fruit, sandwich-I-ams (aka french toast breakfast sandwiches), and a rhubarb-berry cake with Greek yogurt. 

Any excuse for brunch is a good excuse. When can you come over?

souffle girl

What have I been doing lately?  Making souffles.

A ricotta pesto souffle, and also a chocolate souffle (above) for dessert. From this cookbook, inspired by this. Doesn't get much more awesome.  Souffles are amazing people; not nearly as difficult as everyone makes them out to be, delicious, filling, and gluten free. 

Where did I get the milk? Lucky for me, from the store.  Sorry, just geeking out a little. Enjoy your day... and make a souffle!