Rants, Recipes, and Running

Since Ryan works about 50% of the weekends, we really try to take advantage of the one's he is free. Especially now that we live in a tiny apartment - and there is no yardwork/housework to fill up our free time! So last week at about 10:30 pm Thursday night, we decided to plan a last minute backpacking trip! This is one of the best times in Tucson to backpack, because it still cools off at night - but it's not cooling off to 20 degrees ;) We were also in the midst of doing a Whole30 challenge, so had to get creative with planning food ;). And if you haven't been backpacking - food is super important. You burn so many calories, you have such light gear, and good nutrition is extremely important! I was able to work from 5a-1:30p on Friday, so we could be on the trail by 3pm! Score! The Trail: -The hike to Hutches Pools is beautiful. You can either make it a ~10 mile hike or a 4.5 mile hike. We choose 4, so we could make it to camp before sundown. So we took a tram (...

Greetings, blog. It has been a few months since I've graced you with my presence. Excuse? Well... -we sold our house -moved from a 3100 sq ft home to a 700 sq ft apartment -I changed jobs -I went to Florida for 2 weeks for training for my new job -I came home and have been trying to work both jobs simultaneously -We were preparing to move again in May, to start our journey to get back to the Midwest -We had a early "mid-life crisis" What does that mean? Well, we aren't moving any more. It looks as though we are in Tucson to stay. Just trust it's all for good reasons. Was it a hard decision? Words don't explain. Does it still have us scratching our head almost every night? 3/7 nights per week. But we both have the gut feeling we are doing the right thing here. In the mean time, I've come up with all sorts of fun things to blog about. Here are a few posts you can look forward to: -Downsizing: Why you don't need it all to have it all -Work...

This past weekend was spent on the beaches of Miami enjoying a much needed girls trip with my mom, 2 sisters, and 2 sister-in-laws. My heart is so full, and my face-muscles sore from all the laughter! Originally I wasn't going to be able to do this trip due to a lack of PTO, but I somehow managed to eek this out one! I am so blessed. We stayed right on the water on South Beach. The weekend was the perfect mix of shopping, exploring, and lounging on the beach. We ate some amazing food and made amazing memories. We got in Wednesday evening . After getting unpacked, a few of us went straight to the ocean to dip our feet in. Then we walked across the street to a little bar and enjoyed our 1st cocktail of the trip . Thursday morning, Lisa and I woke up early and headed out for a run! Well, "early" in terms of vacation ;). Although humid, the running was amazing in Miami! Miles and miles of beach-side running paths! INCREDIBLE people watching. ;)     Next we to...

It has been almost 2 months, and I'm finally getting to my review post. Better late than never right? I must say the Hawaii trip was the best vacation to date Ryan and I have taken. We started in Kaui, and then hopped over to Oahu. Let's start with Kauai! One of the perks of how much Ryan travels, is he gets some SUPER perks from National. So we got this little hot-rod to escort us around Kauai!     We stayed at a hotel on the East side of the Island our 1st night. We headed straight for a walk on the beach. Actually...Ryan spent the 1st half hour in a 90 degree hotel room (AC wasn't turned on!), logging into work and school. I was not loving that...   But then we headed to the beach!!   Pictured below was a sacred area of the island. After much exploring, we realized those rocks "tombstones".   Here is a panoramic view of the Kauai from the east view! Gorgeous! Our 1st night was pretty low key, as we had a BIG HIKE ...

We are officially "Certified Padi Scuba Divers". This weekend we took a 6 hour drive south to San Carlos, Mexico with another couple, and a local dive shop to get our open-water scuba certification. Let's just say we are now " hooked ". We are already working towards getting our "Advanced " certification, so we can go deeper than 60 feet when we travel to Hawaii in August! There is something so amazing, envigorating, peaceful, breathtaking (literally), and inspiring about exploring a whole new world! I can confidently say that this weekend was probably one of the best weekends I've ever had! And let me tell you...there was not a single dull moment ;) Friday: We were awake at 4:30 am, to get an early start. As we had to complete our 1st dive on Friday, so we were on a race against time! It's a good thing we got an early start, as we were dead-stopped in traffic for 2 hours somewhere north of Hermosillo, Mexico from the worst semi-truc...