Daydreams and Shoestrings

It’s funny how Instagram sometimes trumps reading blogs these days.  I know I am pretty guilty of that – I can follow along with all my “friends” quickly on Instagram, and if for some reason I missed their last 10 posts, I can see them all at once.  Mari is one of those bloggers.   Wow, she and I probably go back to 2009 or 2010?  I have no idea, but it’s a long time.  She lives in New York, practices yoga, and loves her niece very much.  A few weeks ago she posted on Instragram that a fellow blogger had passed away “but at least she died doing what she loved.”  I asked who it was, because we have the same mutual blog friends, and when she told me it was Jen from Daydreams and Shoestrings, my heart sank.  I wasn’t a loyal blog reader of hers, but as soon as I went to her blog I immediately recognized it.  She was an avid runner, all around outdoorswoman, married to the man of her dreams.

She died while hiking with a friend when the weather started to turn.  Her friend was injured but survived.  Sadly, she did not.   She seemed so full of life!  She really loved to travel – here are some of the places she wanted to go.  The shoestrings on her shoes took her to a lot of races.  She had an ever changing bucket list! 

Maybe her death was just another kick in my pants to just focus on living life and not micromanage everything.   Her husband wrote on her memorial page:  “I think you’re Mom and family have captured the best words that incorporate how you lived your life everyday. “Be bold enough to use your voice, brave enough to listen to your heart, and strong enough to live the life you’ve always imagined.”

“Live the life you’ve always imagined.”  Those are some very powerful words.  Am I living the life I’ve always imagined?   Well, yes and no.  I am happy with my family and friends, all the renovations going on with the house, that I have a roof over my head and I can put really good food on our table.  But my job is really sucking the life out of me, and I really need to figure out how I can do something that makes me happy.  While I would love to get up at 2:00 in the morning and bake bread all night in a kitchen, um, the $9 an hour paycheck can’t really support the life I have now.  So I am getting my thinking cap on.  I know I will find my way sooner or later. 

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Breakfast was more quiche!  This time with a sauteed honey crisp apple on the side.  I sauteed the apple while I blogged before work yesterday – I cut the apple, put it in a skillet and cover about half way with water and heat over medium heat.  Once the water has evaporated – about 5-6 minutes, I add in 1/2 teaspoon butter, pinch of brown sugar and cinnamon, and cook an additional 4-5 minutes.  Much like Fuji apples, I love how honey crisp apples hold their shape when cooked.

It was a bit overcast, but I beat the rain and got in a 45 minute walk at lunch.  I tried a different path near my office, and I liked that it had a line around the path so that you couldn’t get lost.  Turns out it was only about a 15 minute loop, so I ended up doing the loop three times.

I bought a rotisserie chicken at Walmart over the weekend.  I found out when they cook their chickens at my local store puts them out at noon and 5:00 p.m.  So I went there on Saturday at 12:15 and the chicken was still piping hot and juicy.  I picked off nearly two pounds of meat and made chicken soup with the carcass and some of the chicken, used some of the chicken for my tostadas at lunch, and will use the rest later in the week for chicken enchiladas.  Not bad for a $7 bird!  My tostadas had low fat refried beans, chicken, a bit of leftover cooked white rice, diced red peppers, jalapeno and some shredded Cabot cheese.  So delicious and filling – and topped with my tomatillo salsa.

I was getting worried when I got back to work and it started to rain.  My new couch has literally been in my driveway in three big boxes for over a week.  We haven’t had any rain (and no, I never once thought someone would steal it!) but I didn’t want to risk them getting wet, even though they were not only in boxes but shrink wrapped too.  I knew I had some cash on the bulletin board at home, so I texted Jacob and asked him to ask the floor guys if he paid them, would they bring the couch and my bed frame in – the answer was a quick yes!  And just in the nick of time too – Jacob said as soon as they brought the last box in, it started to downpour.  Whew!  Worth every penny as it took three big guys to bring the boxes in – not sure Hannah, Jacob and I could have handled that on our own.

I have new bedroom carpet!  So long ugly orange carpet.  And it’s got a wonderful padding underneath so it’s super comfy.  Although Hannah told me that once they ripped the carpet out, she said I had really pretty hard wood floors underneath – doh!  All the same wood, same grain, etc.  Oh well, I actually prefer carpet in a bedroom.

So dinner was quick and easy.  Chicken noodle soup I made over the weekend with a sandwich on the side.  Easy peasy.  I do always cook and store my noodles separate from my chicken broth – I don’t like the texture of noodles in soup after it’s been in the fridge more than a day.  And it’s easier to freeze the broth without the noodles.  The bread I used on my sammie is from The Fresh Market – it’s a quinoa bread that’s really tasty!

So my question for the day to you is this.  What are your daydreams and where do you want your shoestrings to take you??

Make it a great day!