Memorial Day

While Memorial Day originally began to recognize and remember those who have lost their lives while serving in the armed forces, it is now often a time when we remember all of our deceased loved ones who have made an impact in our lives.  My family took the time to visit the graves of my great grandparents yesterday and to reflect on some of our favorite memories with them.

Beki and me with Grandma and Grandpa Nye

Here are a couple of our favorite memories:

• Beki was only 4 when Grandpa Rich died and 9 when Grandma Rich died, so she doesn't have a lot of memories of them.  She remembers visiting Grandma Rich in the nursing home and how Grandma would always let her get a caramel out of the drawer by her bed.
• One of my favorite memories of Grandpa Rich was helping in his beautiful, gigantic garden... especially helping harvest potatoes.  Oh, and picking and eating fresh grapes off the vine.  I also loved Grandma Rich's homemade peanut brittle.  Like how Beki and I both had favorite memories surrounding food? :-)  I also remember sitting on metal rocking chairs out on the front porch of Grandma and Grandpa Rich's home under the carport on nice summer days.
• My mom talked about how Grandma Rich would always say "No Rush" - quite the opposite to how some of us operate!  Also, she told a story about my Grandpa's integrity... Once after getting home from a big family dinner at a buffet restaurant, they were trying to reconcile who owed who money for the bill.  They realized that they had missed paying for a couple meals, so my Grandpa went back to the restaurant to pay for the one or two meals that were missed.

Going Driving

This spring has been especially chilly and rainy, so I was very happy today when the weather warmed up enough for us to get outside a bit and enjoy the sunshine.  My family took advantage of the day and went to the driving range.  We all had a great time :-)  I started out a bit slow, but really started connecting at the end and had a few beautiful, long shots (well, long for me at least - landing around the 200 yard marker).  I will just ignore all the balls that I hooked (gotta stop turning the club in my hands on my backswing!) or that only went like 10 yards :-)  I definitely need more practice, that's for sure.

As I mentioned a couple years ago, I took two golf classes as an undergraduate and learned a little about technique, but it's amazing how fast you can lose what you've learned without practice.  Thank goodness I haven't actually had any "business meetings" on the golf course because I think I would embarrass myself! I really do love the sport, even though it can be really frustrating when the ball doesn't go where I want it to go.  So who wants to take lessons with me later this summer?

Me, Beki, BJ (not sure about the look on his face!), Rachel (my brother's girlfriend), my Dad

BYP Happenings

I've been to a few different BYP events this month - the monthly luncheon (of course), Mayor Bieter "Unplugged" and a Lounging Series tonight which was a panel of young CEOs.  I am always impressed with the quality of events put on by BYP and I am proud to be on the Leadership Team of this great organization.

Here are a few highlights that I took from Mayor Bieter's presentation and the question and answer period that followed:

• He recommended the book "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steven Johnson.  It is a book on innovation... I have added this book to my To-Read list on Goodreads.
• I loved the story the Mayor shared about two children.  It went something like this... One child was placed in a room full of colorful toys.  Another child was placed in a room of manure.  After a period of time, the child in the room with the toys became bored.  The child in the room of manure, however, asked for a shovel, saying, "With all this manure, I know there's got to be a pony around here somewhere."  What a story of optimism!
• Mayor Bieter was very supportive of a BSU research park.  He knows that the research done at BSU can help bring that innovation - new companies and new ideas to Boise.
• When someone commented that Boise isn't very diverse, I really liked the Mayor's answer... he talked about how Boise is more diverse than people realize.  Boise has a history of Chinese, German, Hispanic, and Basque cultures.  Idaho was the first state in the nation to elect a Jewish governor.  There are over 100 languages spoken in the Boise School District.
• The Mayor is supportive of "branding" Boise, building a new convention center, and building a baseball /multi-use stadium in downtown Boise.

I also appreciated the time the four young CEO panel members took to share their ideas and insights with us.  They talked about the challenges of starting a company, as well as the rewards.  I appreciated the comments on how of course there will be failures, but it is those failures that help us grow.

I'm looking forward to a couple great BYP events in June - the June luncheon on recreation as well as the Iron Man volunteer event on June 11th!

New Recipes

Looking for something new to change up your dinner menus?  I tried a couple new recipes last night and they were both fantastic.  I adapted them slightly based on the food I had and to my liking.

Plantain Tacos - adapted from Beachbody
2 large plantains, sliced
1/2 onion, diced
black beans, rinsed and drained
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
black olives, chopped
1/2 cup red cabbage, shredded
juice of 1 lime
avocado, sliced
whole wheat tortillas

• saute onion in olive oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.  Add sliced plantain until lightly browned (if plantain was green, boil first until tender... I used a ripe plantain so just put it straight into the saute pan)
• assemble taco with plantain, beans, tomatoes, olives, cabbage, avocado, and top with lime juice

I think this recipe would be good without the tortillas too - just eat with other ingredients from a bowl!

Corn and Black Bean Salad - adapted from cdkitchen
1 cup roasted corn - cut off the cob (I just roasted the ears in foil on my barbecue)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 chopped red bell pepper
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, diced (optional)
juice of 2 limes
5 green onions, chopped
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cumin

Mix all ingredients and enjoy!  I ate this like a salad, but it can be eaten as a salsa too.

Great Day

I love when I have productive days like today.

• 6:15 - Woke up.  Did a couple chores.  Ran to Maverick to buy some flavored water so I could get cash back to pay Brandee for my morning bootcamp and to pay Hunter to mow my lawn.
• 7:00 - 8:00 - In-home bootcamp with Kris and Melissa.  I love that Brandee comes to my house to train us!
• 9:00 - Ran 5.6 miles with Brandee... I only ran the first leg with her.  She ended up running 24 miles (she's training for a marathon)!
• 10:00 - Went to Lowes to buy plants for my garden.
• 10:30 - 12:00 - Weeded my landscaping and planted my garden.
• 12:30 - 3:00 - Scrapbooked with Mandy and Brenda.
• 3:00 - 6:00 - More errands and chores... picked up my Bountiful Basket, went to the grocery store, worked in my back yard, got ready for my BBQ (shredded pork, set up tables & chairs, etc).
• 6:00 - 8:30 - BBQ at my house with some colleagues.
• 9:00 - One last run to the grocery store.
• 10:30 - Updates to my blog... not sure how it got messed up last week, but I think I've fixed it!

It's now close to midnight.  I've got 9:00 am church, so I think I'll hit the sack... 

Doesn't This Make You Smile?

My mom sent an email to my family today.  The subject line of the email was "Doesn't This Make You Smile?" and the body included this quote from Roald Dahl:

"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.  You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."

I thought it was a nice quote.  We should always be thinking good thoughts.  It did make me smile.

Immediately after reading my mom's message, though, I read a response that my sister Mandi had sent as a "reply all":  Are you trying to tell us something?

Hahaha, that made me laugh out loud.  A lot.

Wicked!

It seems like I waited forever for last night to come!  A year or so ago it was announced that the Broadway performance of Wicked would be coming to Boise.  I knew right away I would pay whatever I needed to in order to see this performance!  Pre-sale tickets started last fall if you purchased them in groups of 20, so my parents put together a 20-ticket order (thanks mom and dad!).  In addition to my parents, some of their friends and co-workers, and Mandi and TJ, several of my friends and co-workers joined us.  It. Was. AMAZING.  Seriously, it was so good.  The actors and actresses told an incredible story, the singing was fantastic, and the props and backgrounds were beautiful.  I've had the Wicked soundtrack in my head all day - lucky me :-)

Kris, Brooke, Jen, Me, and Brooke

Woot! Woot!

I did it!!!  I ran a half marathon (13.1 miles) this morning WITHOUT WALKING!  And not only did I run the entire race, but I ran at an extremely consistent pace of just under 10 minute miles and finished in 2 hours and 10 minutes.  I couldn't have done it without my good friend and trainer Brandee.  We ran the entire race together, crossing the finish line at the same time.  Well, technically I finished a tenth of a second behind her based on our timing chips, but I am going to claim that we tied for 1st in our age group, 10th amongst the women, and in the top 25 overall.  This is seriously a huge accomplishment for me.  I remember just a few years ago when I couldn't even run a half mile.  Thanks to a consistent workout regime and a trainer who pushes me and believes in me, I accomplished something I never even thought possible.

Bronco Rock

You all know I'm a huge Boise State fan... so it should come to no surprise that I have wanted a Bronco Rock for a couple years now to spruce up my landscaping.  I was driving by Rockitecture this afternoon and finally decided to bite the bullet and stop in to buy one.  I couldn't be happier.  My front corner landscaping now has a touch of blue and orange.  This rock will make me smile every day as I pass by it :-)

My Favorite Knife

I bought a new knife set about a year ago.  Since then, I have probably used each of the 6 steak knives about a bajillion times, but have hardly touched the other knives.  I guess I didn't realize the benefit of some of the other knives.  Well, I recently discovered this one - a santoku knife - and I fell in love with it.  When I was in Ghana, I helped make dinner a couple nights and the Maughans gave me their santoku to chop vegetables.  I know this probably sounds lame, but I realized that chopping vegetables can be fun!  Since I've been home, I've found excuses to use my new favorite knife.  I've made several salads with lots of tiny, little, chopped up vegetables to go with the mixed greens.  I've also used it for dicing fruit.  So move aside steak knives, there's a new knife in town :-)