We all know it. I love food and every aspect of it. I enjoying eating it, cooking it, reading about it, watching it, (insert any other verb in front of the word food, and honestly, it's probably true). But there's a reason as to why I'm so obsessed (too strong of a word?) about food...
Because it brings people together. I like to think loving all varieties of food as a prerequisite to becoming my friend. If I can sit down and have an hour conversation with you all about food and neither of us end up snoring by the end of the conversation, there's a pretty good chance that our friendship will be long-lasting.
But now I'm getting off topic. The reason I bring this up is because on of my roommate's friends, I found out, loves to cook. Maybe even more than me. Shocking, I know. So we decided to spend all of Saturday baking holiday presents and some cookies for each other. I think throughout the duration of the day we made, breakfast burritos, goat cheese stuffed figs wrapped in bacon topped with her homemade jam, paleo coconut chocolate bars, failed attempt at hard candy which was later remedied to be perfect, and candied nuts that are ridiculously good. It's better described as an orgasm in your mouth.....times 1000. However, it wasn't just the food that brought us together or the 1000 piece puzzle we finished. It was the 10 hours we spent together while we were doing all of that. Sometimes you don't realize how much you talk with someone until you really spend time with them. So not only do I have a new friend, but I have an insane cooking buddy who is going to give me some of her homemade naan and tikka masala to try this week. Free food is also a perk of being friends with fellow foodies.
Yes, I cook a lot but sometimes I try to do other things. Lets take yesterday for example. Before I had to go to work, my roommate and I decided to try and hike the royal arch in Boulder, again. It's a quick hike which is why I tend to lean that way when I want to go outside but don't have a lot of time. When we got there, we figured the snow would be melted because it was 55 degrees and had been at that temperature for a few days now. But I guess the mountains like to think differently and make our lives that much more difficult. We were hiking in mud, ice skating everywhere because, as you know, you don't salt or sand hiking trails, and the wind was so strong that I was literally falling backwards bursting out in spurts of laughter every minute. Although the weather, I guess I could say, sucked, we decided to push on. This was until we hit a beautiful chain and sign that sign that loudly spoke to the words: DO NOT PASS. To this day, I'm not quite sure if we were actually upset or relieved that we couldn't go any further. For the sake of this story, I will say pissed. So we decided to take revenge. Christmas is next week, we don't have a tree, I'm Jewish so I really don't need one, and I don't want to spend the money on one for one day of a holiday I'm not even brought up to celebrate. On the other hand, I love Christmas as a whole and the joyous festivus that is the holiday of Christmas (that sentence was terrible, but I'm keeping it). So my roommate and I found this pine tree that was being trimmed of it's branches, probably because it was blocking the trail. Although it wasn't a 6 foot tree, it was a branch, with living pine needles, had branches, and smelled like sap. Henceforth, these two branches we found became our "Charlie Brown Christmas Trees" We figured, Boulder took our hiking trail away so we are stealing your branches. There may have been some odd looks on our way down but it's because they are jealous of our brilliant idea. Because now, those branches are leaned up against our wall with ornaments on them and presents underneath.
I think that this time of the year isn't about presents or money but the ways in which you cherish it. Spending time cooking with friends, listening to music, laughing, making memories; those are the ways to spend the holidays. Be happy for what you're given and take advantage of it. No One's life has a specific path you're supposed to follow. You're entire future could change in a matter of minutes. So live in the moment, don't worry about the past because it's already happened, and enjoy what your life is giving you now, because the way you utilize those minutes and seconds, that's what will determine your future.
Happy Holidays Everyone! <3
Monday, December 16, 2013
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
The Crag Life: Broomfield Edition?
So this blog seemed like a really good idea at the time, mostly because I was excited to live in Boulder and could tell everyone from home about all of my spectacular journeys.
Well, clearly that moment of glory was short lived because I had to move back home right after I found a good job and was starting to meet people. But life has a funny way with life and there's reasons behind everything, right? I'm starting to think that there's no such thing as bad luck, but just a detour on the way to happiness. Luckily I have some amazing friends that have taught me that I have been helping people my whole life to become happy and now it's my turn and all I have to do is sit back and watch it fall into place.
And right now, I think it's beginning to...
I have finally moved back to Colorado, with no job, no friends (with the exception of my roommates), and a lot less money (also known as anxiety). But even though I have to start from scratch, I know this was the right move for me. I live in a beautiful house with three friends, I am back in foodie heaven, and now have the ability to really figure out if I know what I want in the future. Although I can't do any sort of sports for a few more weeks, I am still trying to get out and enjoy the outdoors as much as I possibly can. Even if that means taking photos of friends enjoying the new boulder problems or just going on a short hike enjoying the beauty I am surrounded by every single day.
I don't really have much more exciting news to enlighten all of you with mostly because it's my fourth day here. But one thing I can say is the weather is by far the most incredible aspect. The last three days it's been 65 degrees and sunny and tomorrow it's supposed to be -3 during the night (okay, that part I don't enjoy so much) But after talking to multiple Coloradoans, the weather here is unpredictable. We can have a 3 foot blizzard during January and the week after, it could be 70 and sunny which would explain those photos of people skiing in nothing but their underwear. (Or those people could just be insane)
I can't wait to see where this journey takes me....as long as it's not back to the operation table. I've had enough of those in the last 2 years.
May the world surprise you, enlighten you, and cause you to dream <3
Well, clearly that moment of glory was short lived because I had to move back home right after I found a good job and was starting to meet people. But life has a funny way with life and there's reasons behind everything, right? I'm starting to think that there's no such thing as bad luck, but just a detour on the way to happiness. Luckily I have some amazing friends that have taught me that I have been helping people my whole life to become happy and now it's my turn and all I have to do is sit back and watch it fall into place.
And right now, I think it's beginning to...
I have finally moved back to Colorado, with no job, no friends (with the exception of my roommates), and a lot less money (also known as anxiety). But even though I have to start from scratch, I know this was the right move for me. I live in a beautiful house with three friends, I am back in foodie heaven, and now have the ability to really figure out if I know what I want in the future. Although I can't do any sort of sports for a few more weeks, I am still trying to get out and enjoy the outdoors as much as I possibly can. Even if that means taking photos of friends enjoying the new boulder problems or just going on a short hike enjoying the beauty I am surrounded by every single day.
I don't really have much more exciting news to enlighten all of you with mostly because it's my fourth day here. But one thing I can say is the weather is by far the most incredible aspect. The last three days it's been 65 degrees and sunny and tomorrow it's supposed to be -3 during the night (okay, that part I don't enjoy so much) But after talking to multiple Coloradoans, the weather here is unpredictable. We can have a 3 foot blizzard during January and the week after, it could be 70 and sunny which would explain those photos of people skiing in nothing but their underwear. (Or those people could just be insane)
I can't wait to see where this journey takes me....as long as it's not back to the operation table. I've had enough of those in the last 2 years.
May the world surprise you, enlighten you, and cause you to dream <3
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
So this one time, in Boulder...
I actually went climbing!
Yes, I live in Colorado so I should be climbing every day. No, I don't actually do that. Yes, I regret it.
Now that we got that out of the way, I will go into a detailed description of my second outdoor, but first top roping experience in Boulder. (Don't worry, it's not going to be detailed...there was some rock, some rope, some people, and some gear. That's about as detailed as I will get)
Up in Boulder Canyon, which is down the street from me, but near the Nederlands (which is located at the top of the Canyon), there is some sweet climbing with grades ranging from 5.6+ to 5.12+, which is set up for sport or top rope, which is AWESOME! The best part about climbing in Boulder is that the majority of climbs have bolts all the way up or two rings at the top of the climb to put two quickdraws and a rope and be done with it. (The Gunks should really learn from them) However, to get to these climbs, there was quite an approach, and that included crossing a raging river. But don't worry, there was a huge log to cross, but did I mention I have HORRIBLE balance? Don't get your hopes up, I didn't fall in but I was shaking more than a chihuahua on a cold day. It took me about 5 minutes to cross this log, and it had branches to hold onto on the way across and I was on my knees crawling like I was going to die (which I didn't seeing that I'm writing this blog entry now) Once we all crossed the log, we took a 15-20 minutes approach up to some beautiful crag. There were so many people there but it was just such a positive group of people; everyone smiling and laughing with their dogs and kids. There was a woman there, who I thought was 28, was celebrating her 40th birthday (Yeah, I'm really bad at age), and everyone in her group was wearing a shirt where on the back it had numbers 1-40 and boxes under each number. When I asked her what she was doing, she explained that for her 40th birthday, she was doing 40 pitches. All of us stood there with our mouths wide open because that is SO hard to do in just one day. But she had her husband, kids, and friends, set up multiple routes and she would just climb them over and over again. She was such a badass, I hope that I am just like her when I'm 40 (And I may be stealing that idea for my 23rd birthday)
So after all of us watched her in envy, we got on our first climb, which I can't remember the name of which is slightly making me depressed. But throughout the day, we got in a 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9, and some people in my group did a 5.10b which i knew I wasn't capable of which made me sad and wanting to become more badass at climbing. At one point in the day, when my friend was letting me down, she wasn't really paying attention and let me down way too fast and I swung out and smacked my back into the rock next to me. I slightly freaked out since my biggest fear is falling but I felt bad because she was horrified so I pretended like it was no big deal (but it was).
Around 2:30, we saw clouds overcasting the mountains and we decided to bail because we didn't want to have to desend the mountain on wet rock. My roommate and I decided instead of crossing the log again, to cross the actual river. There was a rope that went across so you could hold on and walk so I thought, why not? I rolled up my pants, as high as humanly possible and started walking. The water was freezing because the water rushing down is mostly coming from the snow that's melting off the top of the mountain, but after climbing it felt amazing until I got to the middle of the stream and the rapid hit me and threw me back. Even though I was still holding onto the rope, water went halfway up my body, making the whole, rolling my pants up, pointless.
On our way back into town, which took about 10 minutes, we decided to stop for coffee and walk around a little bit. It was that moment I realized how much I love Boulder. The fact that I can go climbing, go into town, and come home all within a few hours is perfection. Everything is in such close proximity, sometimes it's just flabbergasting. Everyone says that you never leave Boulder because everything you could possibly want is here. As stupid as I thought that statement was, it's 100% true. You want to climb, kayak, go tubing, horseback ride, bike, run, shop, eat, bowl, go to a movie, watch an outdoor movie, go to carnivals, or a farmers market? Don't worry, it's all in Boulder. You want good weather? You want sun? Yeah, it's in Boulder.
I don't know. Climbing, good food, really nice people? Seems like Boulder is a pretty amazing place to me. I can't wait to have more days like these.
Yes, I live in Colorado so I should be climbing every day. No, I don't actually do that. Yes, I regret it.
Now that we got that out of the way, I will go into a detailed description of my second outdoor, but first top roping experience in Boulder. (Don't worry, it's not going to be detailed...there was some rock, some rope, some people, and some gear. That's about as detailed as I will get)
Up in Boulder Canyon, which is down the street from me, but near the Nederlands (which is located at the top of the Canyon), there is some sweet climbing with grades ranging from 5.6+ to 5.12+, which is set up for sport or top rope, which is AWESOME! The best part about climbing in Boulder is that the majority of climbs have bolts all the way up or two rings at the top of the climb to put two quickdraws and a rope and be done with it. (The Gunks should really learn from them) However, to get to these climbs, there was quite an approach, and that included crossing a raging river. But don't worry, there was a huge log to cross, but did I mention I have HORRIBLE balance? Don't get your hopes up, I didn't fall in but I was shaking more than a chihuahua on a cold day. It took me about 5 minutes to cross this log, and it had branches to hold onto on the way across and I was on my knees crawling like I was going to die (which I didn't seeing that I'm writing this blog entry now) Once we all crossed the log, we took a 15-20 minutes approach up to some beautiful crag. There were so many people there but it was just such a positive group of people; everyone smiling and laughing with their dogs and kids. There was a woman there, who I thought was 28, was celebrating her 40th birthday (Yeah, I'm really bad at age), and everyone in her group was wearing a shirt where on the back it had numbers 1-40 and boxes under each number. When I asked her what she was doing, she explained that for her 40th birthday, she was doing 40 pitches. All of us stood there with our mouths wide open because that is SO hard to do in just one day. But she had her husband, kids, and friends, set up multiple routes and she would just climb them over and over again. She was such a badass, I hope that I am just like her when I'm 40 (And I may be stealing that idea for my 23rd birthday)
So after all of us watched her in envy, we got on our first climb, which I can't remember the name of which is slightly making me depressed. But throughout the day, we got in a 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9, and some people in my group did a 5.10b which i knew I wasn't capable of which made me sad and wanting to become more badass at climbing. At one point in the day, when my friend was letting me down, she wasn't really paying attention and let me down way too fast and I swung out and smacked my back into the rock next to me. I slightly freaked out since my biggest fear is falling but I felt bad because she was horrified so I pretended like it was no big deal (but it was).
Around 2:30, we saw clouds overcasting the mountains and we decided to bail because we didn't want to have to desend the mountain on wet rock. My roommate and I decided instead of crossing the log again, to cross the actual river. There was a rope that went across so you could hold on and walk so I thought, why not? I rolled up my pants, as high as humanly possible and started walking. The water was freezing because the water rushing down is mostly coming from the snow that's melting off the top of the mountain, but after climbing it felt amazing until I got to the middle of the stream and the rapid hit me and threw me back. Even though I was still holding onto the rope, water went halfway up my body, making the whole, rolling my pants up, pointless.
On our way back into town, which took about 10 minutes, we decided to stop for coffee and walk around a little bit. It was that moment I realized how much I love Boulder. The fact that I can go climbing, go into town, and come home all within a few hours is perfection. Everything is in such close proximity, sometimes it's just flabbergasting. Everyone says that you never leave Boulder because everything you could possibly want is here. As stupid as I thought that statement was, it's 100% true. You want to climb, kayak, go tubing, horseback ride, bike, run, shop, eat, bowl, go to a movie, watch an outdoor movie, go to carnivals, or a farmers market? Don't worry, it's all in Boulder. You want good weather? You want sun? Yeah, it's in Boulder.
I don't know. Climbing, good food, really nice people? Seems like Boulder is a pretty amazing place to me. I can't wait to have more days like these.
It was like being in a Western Movie, but in really really slow motion.
I have a tendency to procrastinate, if you haven't noticed. I think about all of the blog posts I want to write, but then my brain and hands are saying, "Screw that, I don't want to be put to use."
So, today, I'm forcing myself to update every single thing I've done over the last month in three separate posts. And this will get done, no matter how much my brain and fingers throb by the end of it.
About 3 weeks ago, I was sitting in my living room thinking about how I live in Colorado, the outdoor capital (I don't know if that's true), and that I don't take full advantage of what it has to offer. I know, I live here, I have all the time in the world and if I want to sit in my bed all day and do nothing, then lazy I shall be. But after doing some hard research (I Googled), I found a plethora of ranches in Boulder and Estes Park that offer horseback riding. I'm not a huge fan of horseback riding but I have done it once before and I didn't fall off the horse, so I like to call myself a professional. One ranch, by the name of Sombrero Ranch, offered a 4 hour horseback riding in Estes Park with a breakfast halfway through. Food? and horseback riding? I'm sold....mostly because food was involved. My roommate and I decided to go together and do something different. We quickly regretted it when we realized we needed to get up at 5am to drive 45 minutes to Estes to find out it was about 50 degrees or lower. I have never been so cold in Colorado, and yes, I know, wait until the winter. But the winter is supposed to be cold, so I'm prepared for that.
We thought doing this would be a fun way to meet new people from Colorado. There was only one other woman in our group, and where was she from? Manhattan. Seriously? You couldn't even give us a woman from a different region of the country? So the whole meeting new people didn't really work out. But she was fun to listen to because we got a piece of that Northeast attitude and it made us both smile the whole time.
Stephanie, our guide for the trip took us to meet our horses. My horse's name was Cheech (Chong was there but didn't come along). I can confidently say that my horse was by far the best behaved, thank god because if you didn't know, horses don't have seatbelts so the safety issue was quite scary for me. Me, my roommate, and Manhattan lady (my nickname for her), were ready to do some trotting until Stephanie told us that unfortunately we could only have our horses walk, at a Very. Slow. Pace. Honestly, it was kind of painful to go that slow.
About an hour and a half in, we went to these benches and outdoor kitchen where we were given pancakes, sausage, eggs, juice, and coffee. COFFEE!!! It was the most magical part of the day. But this is where the entire trip got exciting. We had to tie up our horses and Stephanie's horse, Mango, had issues and it got caught in the rope and starting bucking and got loose. Yes, a huge horse got loose in the woods. The next thing I know, the horse is running towards our table where we were eating. We all didn't move because we didn't think it was real until Mango ran into another table (luckily it was empty), then we bolted from ours and watched the horse run around the kitchen and all over the place. I swear, that horse was on some sort of drug. As scary as it was, it was definitely the most entertaining part of the ride.
After breakfast, we continued on the trail for another 3 hours, seeing the beautiful view of one of the famous 14ers (14,000' mountain), Longs Peak and other scenic views of Estes Park. Towards the end of the ride, clouds were hovering over us and they weren't the most pleasant looking clouds. They were more like, if you don't get back soon, hell is about to break loose on you and your horse clouds. Luckily, we made it back to the ranch right before the rain started. But let me tell you, as soon as I got off that horse, my legs felt like I was still on it. I couldn't bend them, my butt hurt so much that I could barely sit down for the next three days.
Even though we couldn't trot and the ride was kind of boring, I loved my horse, I loved the people I was with and I loved the fact that I tried something new. I probably wouldn't do it again but it was a learning experience, and what did I learn? Four things:
1. Never ride Mango
2. Horses are sweet animals if you get a good horse.
3. You won't feel your ass for days after you ride a horse
4. I love breakfast
So, today, I'm forcing myself to update every single thing I've done over the last month in three separate posts. And this will get done, no matter how much my brain and fingers throb by the end of it.
About 3 weeks ago, I was sitting in my living room thinking about how I live in Colorado, the outdoor capital (I don't know if that's true), and that I don't take full advantage of what it has to offer. I know, I live here, I have all the time in the world and if I want to sit in my bed all day and do nothing, then lazy I shall be. But after doing some hard research (I Googled), I found a plethora of ranches in Boulder and Estes Park that offer horseback riding. I'm not a huge fan of horseback riding but I have done it once before and I didn't fall off the horse, so I like to call myself a professional. One ranch, by the name of Sombrero Ranch, offered a 4 hour horseback riding in Estes Park with a breakfast halfway through. Food? and horseback riding? I'm sold....mostly because food was involved. My roommate and I decided to go together and do something different. We quickly regretted it when we realized we needed to get up at 5am to drive 45 minutes to Estes to find out it was about 50 degrees or lower. I have never been so cold in Colorado, and yes, I know, wait until the winter. But the winter is supposed to be cold, so I'm prepared for that.
We thought doing this would be a fun way to meet new people from Colorado. There was only one other woman in our group, and where was she from? Manhattan. Seriously? You couldn't even give us a woman from a different region of the country? So the whole meeting new people didn't really work out. But she was fun to listen to because we got a piece of that Northeast attitude and it made us both smile the whole time.
Stephanie, our guide for the trip took us to meet our horses. My horse's name was Cheech (Chong was there but didn't come along). I can confidently say that my horse was by far the best behaved, thank god because if you didn't know, horses don't have seatbelts so the safety issue was quite scary for me. Me, my roommate, and Manhattan lady (my nickname for her), were ready to do some trotting until Stephanie told us that unfortunately we could only have our horses walk, at a Very. Slow. Pace. Honestly, it was kind of painful to go that slow.
About an hour and a half in, we went to these benches and outdoor kitchen where we were given pancakes, sausage, eggs, juice, and coffee. COFFEE!!! It was the most magical part of the day. But this is where the entire trip got exciting. We had to tie up our horses and Stephanie's horse, Mango, had issues and it got caught in the rope and starting bucking and got loose. Yes, a huge horse got loose in the woods. The next thing I know, the horse is running towards our table where we were eating. We all didn't move because we didn't think it was real until Mango ran into another table (luckily it was empty), then we bolted from ours and watched the horse run around the kitchen and all over the place. I swear, that horse was on some sort of drug. As scary as it was, it was definitely the most entertaining part of the ride.
After breakfast, we continued on the trail for another 3 hours, seeing the beautiful view of one of the famous 14ers (14,000' mountain), Longs Peak and other scenic views of Estes Park. Towards the end of the ride, clouds were hovering over us and they weren't the most pleasant looking clouds. They were more like, if you don't get back soon, hell is about to break loose on you and your horse clouds. Luckily, we made it back to the ranch right before the rain started. But let me tell you, as soon as I got off that horse, my legs felt like I was still on it. I couldn't bend them, my butt hurt so much that I could barely sit down for the next three days.
Even though we couldn't trot and the ride was kind of boring, I loved my horse, I loved the people I was with and I loved the fact that I tried something new. I probably wouldn't do it again but it was a learning experience, and what did I learn? Four things:
1. Never ride Mango
2. Horses are sweet animals if you get a good horse.
3. You won't feel your ass for days after you ride a horse
4. I love breakfast
Cheech and I. We became best friends.
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