The One I wrote quickly on Saturday

Hey there! Its been awhile. As you may have seen in my last post, I have been blogging over at Leona Lane a few days a week. If you use this link it will bring you right to my Paleo Pumpkin muffin recipe.

When I started blogging with Renae and Sarah, I didn't have the intention of completely quitting this blog. I like this blog. I like to ramble, and say whatever, and title my blog entries silly things.

Then on the day of Thanksgiving, I discovered that I can no longer put pictures on this blog!! Sad day! I have apparently uploaded more than 1 G and that's the free limit for blogger. Who knew? I could pay money...but since I'm starting a new blog I thought that wasn't a good idea.

ANYWAY...I still may post here now and then. Mostly to ramble and talk nonsense. I am well aware that no one will read it, because even my few old readers probably aren't checking this anymore. I guess I can now saw WHATEVER I WANT!!

So what I will say today is have a happy winter day!! Enjoy the cold outside and treasure the warmth in the house. Make a pot of coffee. Get that fire going in the fireplace. Listen to some cheesy music. Pet those cute kitties. Work on a fun project.

That is what I will be doing today. Happy Saturday.

The One with Leona Lane

Yes, its true! I have combined forces with my bestie and partner in crime Renae Kim. We have started a new blog together! Its much more fun to blog together.

I will still be back here every now and then with personal updates, but mostly you will find me at Leona Lane:

This has been a fun new adventure and we are still learning a lot about website design. Please feel free to give us some feedback because we will most likely be making changes in the next couple of months.

Thanks a lot! Love you guys. :)

The One on Thanksgiving

Here I am in Spokane, just about to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. In just a few short hours we will be eating a yummy meal made by mom. Can't wait! Yay I don't have to cook this year!

This year I am thankful for:

My husband Matty who is always super nice to me.

My two-eyed cat Leo, and my one-eyed cat Flash

My baby brother and his wife Josie

My sister who is far away in Germany....her 22nd birthday was yesterday!

My awesome parents who I get to see very soon.

Matt's amazing family, who I consider my family as well.

My awesome friends

I am thankful for lots of THINGS but today I'm just thinking about the PEOPLE.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The One with Thanksgiving Traditions

I have been realizing lately that I have a few personal traditions that surround this wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving. These are of course exclusive to the obvious ones, such as consuming a ridiculous amount of Turkey and pumpkin pie.

1) I run a lot. The past three years I have run the Seattle half marathon right after Thanksgiving. So right before it I am training a ton! This year I am not running since I did a race a couple of weeks ago. But I am still trying to keep up my mileage.

2) I start to think about things that I'm thankful for. This time of year is great for that. In the past I've usually made lists and scrapbook pages and blog posts. Here is a post from 2009 that I particularly like.

3) I drink lots of Thanksgiving blend coffee!

4) I play more games than usual. This started in 2009 with poker and every year around this time I get excited about playing games. When I was a kid, we used to play scrabble after Thanksgiving dinner.

5) I love watching Thanksgiving Friends episodes.

6) I make place tags for the table. This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions. Here is a blog post from 2011 where you can see those place tags.

This year we are heading over to the East side for Thanksgiving! I am excited that I don't have to cook this year. I just get to eat!

The One with Photos of Home vol 3

So its another lazy Sunday. Its November now and pretty much always raining and cold around Seattle. Here is another installment of "indoor" photos. They are pretty much the only photos I take lately because I haven't been out and about very much!

I have been really consistent at buying fresh flowers for the house! They really do spruce up a room.

I love my new pumpkin from Pottery Barn. I don't have anything creative to put in it yet, so I just have tiny pumpkins inside.

This fall Sundays are all about cozy fires and football on TV.

Matty made a beer chicken tonight! He followed a recipe he found online and I think it turned out really well! I will share the recipe soon.

Here is a general shot of our living room. We have completely reorganized. :)

That's all for now! We have really been enjoying our new arrangement. It lets a bit more light in because the couch isn't covering half the window anymore.

I have a Bloglovin Account

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In the interest of reading more blogs, I have started a Bloglovin Account! :)

The One with the Paleo Cookies

I recently promised to post my favorite recipe for grain free pumpkin muffins. As I glanced through my Picassa photo album, I realized that I have NO photos of pumpkin muffins at all...even though I've made them several times and normally take photos of EVERYTHING.

So this reminded me that I should at least share my chocolate chip cookie recipe with everyone. I made these A LOT and I get asked for the recipe all the time! In full disclosure, I got this recipe from an awesome cookbook that I love...The Food Lover's Primal Palate. The website and cookie recipe is here.

You can follow the link, but I will also list the recipe here, with some minor tweaks.

1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups blanched almond flour (I use TJ's almond meal)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I use Bourbon vanilla from TJ's)
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut oil (I use TJ's unrefined...has a coconut-y taste but YUM!)
1/2 cup maple syrup (I use a little less than a 1/2 cup of honey instead. Its cheaper!)
2 whole eggs
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

1. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and turn on the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl beat the eggs, vanilla and honey.
4. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and beat well.
5. Add the coconut oil.
6. Mix with chocolate chips
7. Bake cookies for 15 minutes on parchment lined sheets. Watch the time!! They burn pretty easily and I have taken them out at 13-14 minutes before.

Enjoy!! I am hungry now from writing this and want to make some cookies!

In other news, I will have to make some pumpkin muffins soon so I can photograph them and share the recipe!

The One with a New Health Plan

I need a plan!

I am getting fat and actually quite enjoying it. This time of year is famous for temptations....pumpkin spice lattes....cinnamon rolls....red wine...chocolate covered pomegranate candies....scones....cookies....pumpkin pie. You name anything bad, I have been eating it!! Fall is the perfect time for comfort food, especially foods of the pumpkin variety. Paleo pumpkin muffins are my FAVORITE!!! (I will share my recipe soon...sorta forgot about doing that)

ANYWAY....I need a plan!!

So far I have decided to have a more concrete work out plan. I need to be careful and eat less junk food, but for now, I'm pretty convinced that's not going to happen. I just need to work out a little harder!

Here's my plan:
Monday: Gym workout/intervals 
Tuesday: Run six miles
Wednesday: Gym workout/intervals
Thursday: Run six miles
Friday: Gym work out/intervals
Saturday: Boot camp and/or running
Sunday: be active somehow.

I have already completed Monday through Wednesday, but we have yet to see whether or not I will repeat next week! I will be reporting back soon!!

(Notes: All instragram pics are pretty old. And yes I know that I use too many ..... and !!. But I am okay with that. For me, the more punctuation the better!!!!! )

The One with Pumpkin Waffles

If you haven't already please comment on this post! Thank you!

Matty decided to do the grocery shopping this week, and when that happens, inevitably he comes home with treats! He bought some delicious Pumpkin Waffle mix from Trader Joe's. That stuff is incredible!! Our waffle iron is getting some good use this fall!

 Matt likes to cook a fun Sunday night dinner, and this time it was pumpkin waffles, eggs and thick sliced bacon. Yum!

 There is nothing better than breakfast for dinner, especially when this girl is sad and needs a little pick me up.

We ate them with delicious maple syrup that he bought me in Whistler this summer.

Thank you Matt, for being such a good hubby. :)

I love you.

The One that's really LONG.

What I blog about. hmmmm...

I like to blog about real life. I like to take pretty photos and document the fun stuff of life. I have some goals, however, to also expand my creativity and make blogging more interesting. That might mean doing more projects and taking more photos! Somehow I think that's what I need.

Life has been a little BLAH here in November.

I'd like to change that. If you are a regular reader, I would love a little advice on what people like to read! I guess I will write a little synopsis of the current stuff I do, so that way anyone can add a suggestion.

1. I do Project Life. I'm a tad behind posting about it (yeah, like six months) but I'm pretty up to date with my actual book. In the past two years I've lived a life that is pretty "documenting" oriented. I save receipts. I steal business cards from restaurants. I methodically print photos and round corners and stick my stuff in little pockets. Its a fun adventure, and not one I'm planning on quitting any time soon. I plan on taking more photos of my pages in the future!

2. I scrapbook. Even though I also do Project Life, I also love to play with pretty paper and embellishments. Matty tells me that I do a little too much! Because I document stuff pretty much daily, when it comes to scrapbooking, its all for fun! That's how I like it.

3. I play in the outdoors. I run. I camp. I am kind of an active gal and I love to write about it. Somehow its nice to brag about how fast I run a race, or how I feel accomplished when I learn how to swim. Its fun to share something that's such a big part of my life.

4. I hardly cook, but when I do I love to blog about it. Every now and then I get a burst of energy and decide to take photos of my cooking process or my daily dinners or my super healthy Paleo foods. And I'm always up for taking pictures of treats and desserts, even when I don't make them myself.

5. I take pictures. This may have been implied in the previous four points, but I thought it deserved a line all by itself. Whether its instagram or fancy camera, I pretty much photograph daily! I'm still not great, but I love the challenge of capturing a moment in a pretty way. That's pretty much how I see photography. I take pictures because I like to remember. And if I am remembering, it might as well look good, right?

6. I have a pretty full life when it comes to friend and family. I do love to share random adventures that I have with Matt and others. Seattle is an amazing place. We may think that we are bored all the time, but when I look through my Picassa album, I'm pretty much convinced that we do lots of fun things. I'd like to do even more. This includes trying new restaurants and traveling to more local areas around Seattle.

7. I travel. Okay, not really, but I do have a ton of Europe photos that I haven't shared yet. Mostly just haven't had the time to write the words to portray such an amazing adventure. I'm not sure that this would be an interesting to topic to read about, so let me know!!

Thanks for reading, if you got all the way to the end. Please, ladies, (or anyone) give me some suggestions on how I can improve what I write. I would love any constructive criticism please!!

Love Jenn

The one with Running + Chocolate.

I ran my first trail run on Sunday, the Mud & Chocolate Half Marathon. It was a blast! We had perfect weather and the leaves were just so beautiful. I now think I'm hooked on trail running. The only problem was that I wore my barefoot shoes and ended up bruising my foot on some sharp, angry rocks. Ouch!

My times was 2:10. At first I was pretty bummed by my time because I normally run half marathons in around 1:50 to 1:55. Matt tells me that trail running is a little slower, and I guess that makes sense because you have to dodge piles of leaves and rocks and puddles of mud. I also have a secret theory that the race was actually longer! (Three laps of 4.5 miles + a short run to and from the place where the three laps start. I'm not great at math, but I think that's more that 13.1 miles!)

Matty was so sweet to take photos of the race. Because there were three loops, there were lots of opportunities for him to watch me run.

At the end of the race we were rewarding with lots and lots of chocolate! I am normally not in the mood for chocolate after an exhausting work out, but I stashed some treats for later. :)

The best part about the day was that I got to catch up with an old friend from Hygiene school. We haven't seen each other in five years! So much fun.

The One with the Ferris Wheel

This weekend we all wanted to have a day of fun. Its been pretty gloomy and rainy around the city of Seattle. I am excited to say that we did something new and exciting on Saturday. We rode the brand new Ferris Wheel!

Even better, we got to ride with an adorable little gal in her tutu and winter hat. :)

The view from the top was pretty nice! The Ferris Wheel went around only four times, but by the time everyone was loaded, we ended up on it for about thirty minutes. Its pretty expensive but worth it to do once. The orange trees in Seattle are incredible right now, so it was worth it just to go see the beautiful fall colors.

The One with the Waffles

A friend and I decided to start a regular tradition of having breakfast together!! Now that she has a family its a bit harder to get together in the evenings. We are also trying to save money and not go out to eat very often. So cooking breakfast together on a Saturday seems like the perfect thing to continue on a regular basis. We are thinking maybe trying this once a month.

So we made waffles! Ellen cooked delicious eggs and bacon and made some waffles from Snoqualmie Falls Pancake Mix. They were great, but possibly not as good as home made. Probably a bit easier though, so that's fine! As we cooked we drank black drip coffee. Of course.

Next time we will have a little foresight and possibly make something a little more exotic. But the breakfast was delicious. It was so fun to hang out with friends and eat amazing food! Thanks Ellen for doing most of the cooking!!

The One with Photos of Home...volume 2

So I am thinking that once a week I will upload some around the house photos. This week they weren't very exciting, but I'm sharing just the same! I will keep trying to improve my photography and come up with interesting things to take pictures of.

We still have pumpkins still brightening up our dining room...

 Evidence of my newly painted nails. I really like this color and so far three days later it hasn't chipped!!

 Flashy has spent most of the week curled up in his favorite chair. Even when he's healthy, he LOVES this chair. Any time anyone gets off the chair, it only takes minutes for him to steal the seat.

 Here is part of my mantle. The only new thing is that I have added the corks to the clear vase. I want to collect enough so that I can make something cool. Until then, here they sit!

 Pretty fresh flowers from TJ's! I love having brightly colored flowers in the house.

 Evidence of Matty's pistachio eating habit. These are his favorite! And there's his blue light in the background. That thing is super helpful in the fall months as we are losing more and more daylight.

 And here is a lovely bathroom shot! Why not? That low flat jar is my coconut oil body butter. That stuff is from Trader Joe's and its INCREDIBLE!!

So there ya go...just some everyday photos of home. Again, hopefully next week photos will be more exciting. I will certainly try!!