Time to Breathe

Hey Ya'll,
I know it's only been about  9 days since I last wrote, but for some reason it feels as though it's been so much longer. Maybe it's because my last post was short and more apologetic than forthcoming in nature. Life for me is taking some interesting turns these days; a lot of travel for both work and pleasure, plans for future travel, trying to stay on top of my classwork. Since my last full post I have been to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Dallas, Texas three times over, and Waco, Texas twice over. To be honest I don't really mind traveling, in fact I love to see new places and experience new cultures. But work travel lately has me going back and forth to the same places and I don't think my personal vehicle is appreciative of the extra mileage. Hmm, maybe I will start renting a car to travel for work. Only trouble with that is even though I get reimbursed I still have to have the money before hand to actually rent the car at the time..... We shall see what I can workout for myself.

My husband and I have decided to make a family trip an annual priority for us. We are making the conscious effort to see new places together and I am so grateful to be blessed with a man who wants to simply make me happy. All my life I have just wanted to see the world and absorb all the culture available to be shared with me.With my personal travels recently I was able to visit the a coastal city that I never really thought much about outside of old "Spring Break" style movies. Fort Lauderdale, Florida actually turned out to be a very nice experience. Come to find out this city has a highly affluent residential population. There is even a segment of housing (if you can call it that) along the waterfront called "Millionaires Rowe". We did have a little difficulty finding local establishments to eat while we were there. But I feel as though that was mostly because we were without personal transportation to go exploring on our own. So we stayed closer to the beach and paid higher prices to eat tourist fare, but I won't deduct any points from the city for our inability to search effectively. 

Life has become exciting and I no longer feel as though I am drowning. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I feel it's the most I honest I can be with myself about how life was going for me for quite some time. I still have a lot of water to tread to get to comfortable, but at least my head is above water at this point. Hope continues to flood my heart and new ideas continue to arise. Even though I am not currently in the physical, professional, or financial status that I want to be in at this point in my journey with IIN, I am most definitely entering the frame of mind that is needed for a life long path to peace, stability, ability, and acceptance of my own life. I know that my deepening understanding of food will be the catalyst for the profession of my dreams. I know that I will never trap myself into a job that stifles my wandering spirit again. I know that I will love myself and my body enough to actively and enthusiastically take care of Me. I know that I will release anxiety and depression for good. I know that I will embrace love and my own sexuality to last my marriage until our very last days. I know that I will be able to breathe and center at will. I feel my zen approaching and I plan to "step into the light" and embrace it full on. 

If you like, feel free to join me in my exposed life's endeavors. These are the things that make me happy and I intend to pursue: Love, Travel, Food, Knowledge, Peace, Movement, Culture, Prayer, and all the ties that connect one to the other. Be happy. Be Loved.

Namaste Ya'll

To Be Continued....

Hey ya'll,
I'm just checking in to let you know I haven't forgotten about you out there. I have been traveling for both leisure and business over the past two weeks and now I am trying to keep from getting sick. Once I am feeling well enough to focus on a whole posting I will tell you all about my trip to Fort Lauderdale, with pictures!

Here's to calm tummies and sound sleep,
Namaste Ya'll

Pepitas!

Hey Ya'll,
I know everyone is finished carving pumpkins by now, but I wanted to share our pumpkin seed roasting success. I read a few different postings from other people on their techniques and found the common tone in successful roasted seeds was low and slow. So that's the route I took.
We managed to get about 3 cups of seeds from our 3 medium and 1 small pumpkins. The most tedious part of the entire process was separating the seeds from the pumpkin guts. It seemed to take forever and created a virtual sensory overload. The smell of wet grassy pumpkin, the feel of sticky slippery stringy pumpkin innards, using the fine motor skills needed to pull each little seed from the confines of the muck. But in the end it was actually fun.
I soaked the seeds in salted water overnight after making sure to carefully wash away any remaining pumpkin first. After soaking I dried the seeds out on a kitchen towel for a few hours tossed them in a bowl with about 2 tablespoons of oil, sea salt, and chili lime seasoning (I felt adventurous). Roasted in the oven at 300F for about 45 minutes, stirring the seeds every 15 minutes.
The seeds came out crisp enough to eat the whole seed instead of needing to shell them first. But what I did find was that some of my seeds were on the verge of being overly toasted on the inside (otherwise known as almost burned). So I think maybe next time my oven will be set to 275, it seems to run a little hot. My seasoning was nice, but my personal tastes would prefer more salt on the seeds. I also thought up more flavors to try, but I don't plan on gutting anymore pumpkins anytime soon.
If anyone knows of a way to Quickly and efficiently shell pumpkin seeds, I would love to know. Shelled pepitas are so versital and I have an idea for a breakfast treat while I have a bag full of seeds in the house now. Next time I'll be reporting back with tales from Florida vacation. Until then...
Namaste Ya'll

Trick or Treat

Hey Ya'll!
Happy Halloween/Feliz Día de los Muertos/Happy Fall Harvesting
I think those cover my primary basis. I took The Munchkin only partially around the neighborhood this year; mostly because she wanted to be home by dark. Yea I know, but my baby is still scared of the dark, so all the "Tricks" people pull on Halloween are not fun for her. To be honest I was absolutely fine with going home to pass out candy. Especially since the weather made a shift and now we're back to warm humidy air after a lovely week and a half of Fall worthy weather to tease me. (if you can't tell I'm a little bitter about the returning heat)
As you can see in the picture after hitting only a few houses, maybe 15-20, the kiddo collected a rather decent stash for herself. I think now that my generation are the candy passers the selection is getting better. I don't think I saw more than a couple pieces of no name hard candies in the pile. Which leads me to wonder did the candy passers of my youth simply give what they enjoyed as children? Or were they just cheap? As giggle at the thought of some woman saying to herself "why buy the good stuff for kids I don't even know?" I would like to know what you looked forward to finding in your treat bag. I had a small gang of Princesses Power Rangers express their excitment about my house passing out Milky Way candy bars. Without thought and debate about the ethics of the holiday it brings me so much pleasure to see the little ones having so much fun and feeling safe in their neighborhood. As I wrap this up I am contemplating having a Tootsie Pop for breakfast...But I won't, I'll behave.
Namaste Ya'll