Super exciting things!

Wow, nothing exciting has been happening AT ALL. The boy and I hung out in Tennessee for the holidays. He had the weirdest schedule with lots of days off and the gyms kept closing for the holidays which is a recipe for lots of drinking at home. As sad as I am for our cocktail hours to be gone, it’s probably a good thing.

Oooh wait, it did get ALMOST below zero here in Tennessee, which is VERY exciting. Of course, that means the world is falling apart. And by that I mean buildings are full of exploding pipes and no heat.

The forecast for this past weekend ushering in the cold “polar vortex” was quite DRAMATIC. We were slated to get EPIC snow levels of 1-3 inches! We got about 17 flakes here. Thank goodness they painted the roads absolutely WHITE with brine for that.

The temperatures do remind me of why I am going to Costa Rica this winter. This was about the temperature of my March trip to Canada to climb (and camp) in the Ghost. Actually, it was a little colder and I was sleeping in a tent. That was a real adventure in how cold can you get. My contact lenses froze in the container in my pocket overnight. I didn’t brush my teeth for three days because my toothpaste was frozen and honestly it was way too much work. I drank as little fluid as possible because as much as I really love peeing in the snow (which I do), it was just a lot of exposure to the cold.

So yeah, I am definitely excited to pack everything I need for a week in a CARRY ON SIZED BAG, be sleeping in a bed and eating meals in a restaurant! Although I will miss Sonja’s carrot cake and the girls! But I assume surf camp does not require alpine starts shoveling gooey (YUCKY) oatmeal down your gullet before the sun rises while wearing every single article of clothing you brought with you.

In preparation for the trip I did have to buy a couple of swim suits. I hadn’t bought any since we lived in Hawaii back in 2005. Since I hate shopping in a store more than almost anything I rolled the dice and gambled on some SALE suits from Athleta ordered online. SALE suits mean that the tops and bottoms don’t match at all, but matching clothes is overrated anyways. At least they FIT which all I really care about.

Since it was cold this weekend I was motivated to make tomato soup, the creamy kind full of something made from dairy. I stumbled across this recipe and it was AMAZING. Of course the transferring hot soup from the pot to the food processor to another vessel is always going to result in an epic, guaranteed 100% of the time, so just be aware of that. I am still discovering splatter spots in the weirdest places. The day after I made it the boy wanted to make grilled cheese to dunk in the soup. I let him take the reins on that project and could barely finish my sandwich it was so rich. Good winter food for sure.

The other thing I am making a lot of these days (with dairy NOT mayo) is this chicken salad. It tastes a million times better if you make it at least a day before you want to eat it. Also I totally changed the spices. But you can get the gist of it. Very convenient for late nights after the gym with 1/2 a sweet potato or some plain old quinoa.

Other exciting things:
My cat caught a bird! He totally used my spilling seed to hunt the bait pile. Ooops. My bad.

We were SO BORED on New Year’s Day that I did Turkish Get-Ups with the Xmas tree. And we filmed it! But, I can’t upload it here. Stupid WordPress. It was funny, just ask Rebeccah since I made it to send to her.

My other cat likes to use the slide! It’s hilarious.

Just kidding. He only sits at the bottom. Happy New Year!