To Do Nothing

Have you ever made it a goal to do nothing? It's more challenging for some than others. If you asked me a few years ago how often I tried to do nothing, I don't think I could have said ever. I always wanted to be going and doing stuff. I liked being challenged and experiencing new things, which I still do today, only with more balance. In college one semester, I was taking 18 hours of classes, working 10 hours of work study, swimming for the swim team 2 hours a day, lifting weights every other day, being an R.A., and trying to get a rock climbing wall pushed through the bureaucracy of our school. All this just to see how much I could push myself. One afternoon before swim practice, I was working on a 10-page paper when my computer froze and I lost 2 pages. I didn't have time to rewrite it and I had to go to practice. There was this sinking feeling of despair, like I couldn't keep up. I told my coach (who happened to be my sister) what had happened. She knew me well and saw how distressed I was and told me to take the day off. I sat on the pool deck and cried for about 10 minutes, then fell asleep there on the concrete deck for 45 minutes. I was empty. I had reached the breaking point.

From that experience, I know what it feels like to be too busy. I also think being married has helped me to slow down a bit. Just to enjoy life sometimes. That's sort of where I am in life right now. it's a continual process because this world keeps pushing us to keep up with the latest and greatest, increasing our efficiency and flexibility, seeing how much we can cram into the day.

This year is a year of nothing for me. Recently in one of my classes (I teach ESL at a college for Korean students), we were working on telling the date. One girl said "two thousand ten", and for a split second I had to think about it. No wait, it's 2011. This year is our first year to do the same thing as last year. We're living at the same place, working the same job, doing pretty much the same thing as we did the year before. When I think about it, my old self wants to jump in and tell me I'm not making any progress. But in truth, I'm happy with my life. This will be the first year since we've been married that we didn't have to pack up and move. Moving is great for not being attached to your stuff, but it's not exactly fun.

I still feel like I'm growing and changing. Family has become a much higher priority to me, so sometimes Rebs and I will stay home on a weekend, or skip a workout to just be. Someone once told me that you don't have to always be efficient because God is perfectly efficient on His own. I like that. it takes the pressure off. Go at the pace you feel comfortable with.

Homemade Lowfat Granola Bars

I've been cooking and baking a lot lately. It's sort of been my creative outlet since we've been back in Korea. I enjoy the challenge of finding the right ingredients in a foreign country, translating Fahrenheit to Celsius, and just making it all work. So far, I've made strawberry jam, applesauce, cranberry applesauce, beans and rice, hummus, and my latest, this granola bar recipe. Rebs and I have been trying to eat really healthy since we've been back. One of the tricks I've found is always having something healthy readily available. So instead of grabbing a bag of chips when you feel like snacking, you can grab something more healthy and more convenient (because we haven't been keeping chips in the house).
Rebs said these granola bars were the best she's ever had!

So the recipe is as follows:
1 cup oatmeal (preferably not instant)
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup finely chopped raw almonds
1/2 cup ground flax seed or wheat germ
1/4 cup dark brown sugar or molasses
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup agave syrup
1/4 cup sunflower or almond oil
1 tbsp butter (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375*F. Mix dry ingredients (not including fruit or salt) in a large mixing bowl. Pour dry mixture onto the baking pan covered with aluminum foil, spread as thin as possible. Bake for 10-20 minutes, or until slightly browned.
2. While dry mix is baking, combine sugars and fat(s) in a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir constantly until evenly mixed.
3. Combine everything together in the large mixing bowl. Grease aluminum foil in baking pan, Press mixture into baking pan. Pack solid. If you have another pan of the same size, place aluminum foil over top of mixture and use 2nd pan to press firm.
4. Bake for 25-35 minutes. Remove hot granola with aluminum foil onto a cutting board. Use a large knife to cut the granola into preferred sizes. (Remember, this recipe is lowfat, but still high in calories, so smaller is better.) Do not saw. Rather, press down firmly and separate. Let the granola cool, then store in an airtight container for up to one week out of the refrigerator. Or granola can be stored in the fridge for longer, (but is harder to chew when cold).

Beans & Rice

I couldn't seem to upload this on any of the recipe websites for free, so I thought I'd just put it on here. I made beans and rice for the first time this week and it turned out really well. We've had the leftovers twice and didn't get sick of it. So here is my Healthy Tex-Mex Beans and Rice Tostadas recipe:

(Note: Measurements may vary)
1/4 cup uncooked wild rice
3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed.
2 cups chicken broth (or 1&1/2 c.b. w/ 1/2 cup water for a less salty taste)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 small/medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 8-12 oz can sweet corn
1 tbsp tomato paste with 1tbsp water (or 2oz skinless, pureed tomatoes with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 tbsp cumin
1/4 cup dried cilantro (or 1/2 cup fresh)
1 small/medium red bell pepper

Extras:
soft corn tortillas
sour cream or plain yogurt
salsa to taste


1. Prepare the rice. Rinse rice in warm water, Press the grains between your fingers to get out excess starch. Rinse again.
Cook using chicken broth and juice from corn. I used the rice cooker, but you can cook in a pot just as easily in about 25 minutes.
2. While rice is cooking, heat oil and butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Saute onion for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and continue for 1 more minute. Add bell pepper for 1-2 minutes. Add cumin and blend with other ingredients.
3. Reduce heat to low. Add corn, beans, cilantro, and tomato paste. Mix well and cover until rice is finished. Stir occasionally.
4. When rice is finished, add it to skillet and mix with other ingredients.
(optional)
5. Lightly cover tortillas with butter or margerine. Put in oven or toaster oven on broil for 2-3 minutes, until just crispy and slightly brown.
6. Mix yogurt with a dash of cumin and 2-4 tablespoons of salsa.
7. Put skillet mix on crispy tortilla, then cover with sauce and enjoy!

Snowed In... Again

That's right. It's in the upper teens tonight as I write this, and it has been snowing since about 10am with a forecast of continuing through the night. We're staying at Rebs' mom's house, which happens to be on kind of a hilltop. So we chose not to get out today. This is pretty much a repeat of two and three days ago, except the first time was with an icy intro. Probably the best thing about it so far has been taking our dog Legend for walk in it. She about 12 and a half now, but when she goes outside, she acts like a puppy, bounding in the taller stuff, sometimes dropping her mouth into it as she walks to quench her thirst, occasionally rolling in it, and when we go around the block, she seems to like taunting the other neighborhood dogs that she's on a walk while they're behind the fence.

The good news is that all this cabin fever has forced us to get focused and take care of exciting things like going through junk mail from the past 2 years, torturing myself with climbing videos, or checking up on my 401K plan. Well, maybe it's not that exciting, but at least I have nothing better to do to avoid doing it any more.

Repercussions to a Minimalist Lifestyle

So if you've been reading, you know that we've been stateside for several days now. You may also know that I've been on somewhat of a minimalist kick, which I think is one of the best times to do it because you're tempted with things you "need" left and right. 'Tis the season to be spending. So far, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. I realize that right now in life, I have everything I need. It helps knowing that we likely have (at most) one more year in Korea, which means that we will be moving and will be vanquishing much of what we own, or shipping it home. I see my minimalism as a way of reducing my stress and work in the long run. Maybe when we move back to the States for good, I will think about things differently. We'll be getting cars, a house, and opening up our long-forgotten storage unit to fill it. But that's not right now. So for now, I will continue to minimize my life.

Rebs doesn't exactly see eye to eye with me on this whole thing. Yesterday, I happened to put on a pair of socks I hadn't worn in a while. I went downstairs and was sitting there when Rebs came by and noticed a big hole on the underside. Her first reaction was to want to buy me some new socks. I think that would be most people's reaction. But I still have plenty of socks, probably more than I can wear in a week. Let's face it, most people do laundry at least once a week. So if you can manage to have clean socks every day of the week, why does it matter if you have 4 pairs or 17? As far as I know, she hasn't bought me any new socks. But I did consent and tell her she can buy me some new boxers. :)

All is well here in Colorado. We're really enjoying our time with Rebecca's family. Life is so simple without work or a cell phone. And Rebs' dad and stepmom have been so gracious as to let us use their cars during the day by dropping them off at work. Two nights ago, we went to the Bonefish Grill for dinner, had some amazing food, but it was especially special because we were all together: us, Rebs' dad and stepmom, stepbrother Brandon who is in the Marines, his fiancee Kim, and Rebs' brother Josh, who flew to Canada the next day to meet his fiancee. Everyone's schedule (except ours) is somewhat complicated, so the fact that we were all able to be together was nice. Afterwards, we came back and had an early Christmas, opening a couple gifts at first, but Santa's helper (Gail) kept finding new gifts that should be opened at that very moment. So about half the presents got opened. We had some fun with doing one-legged squats (no alcohol necessary), and finished the night with some warm apple pie and ice cream.

Two things I've been enjoying a lot lately: working out and eating! If you know me well, you know that I really like eating. And the one thing for me that makes food even better is having earned it through a good workout. It tastes better and is always guilt free. I also like being in good health, so that doesn't hurt either. So yesterday, Rebs and I went swimming for about an hour. I think it was about my senior year of college that I actually fell in love with the sport. Before that, it had been a means to an end-- a scholarship. But I knew I needed a better attitude about it because of how much time we spent training. So I prayed about it and really set my mind to change. That last season was my best ever. I loved the way I felt gliding through the water with ease due to a finely trained body. I think that feeling has stuck with me. So now, even though I'm not in peak performance shape like in college, I love getting a good workout in every now and then.

I've been having trouble adjusting to the time change from Korea to here. Korea is 16 hours ahead of Denver time, so when I'm going to bed here, it's about when I was getting up a week ago. So I wake up around 3,4, or 5 in the morning and am wide awake. It's happened every day I've been here so far. But Gail usually gets up early to work out and she invited me to come with her. So this morning, when I woke up at 4:30, rather than trying to force myself back to sleep, I was excited to get up and have a workout buddy. We did a CV circuit that Gail's trainer made for us, which is basically a mix of arms, abs, and legs, rotating through each station usually with less than a minute rest. His name is Chris and seems like a nice guy. Very perky for 5 a.m., but I guess that could be good for motivating the unmotivated. After a half hour, he had to go with his next client, but that was fine with me because I was already pretty fatigued. It's amazing the difference you feel at high altitude. I get winded so much easier up here near the mile high city. I believe Westminster is around 7000 feet in altitude. So during my lifting and running, I feel like my heart is burning a bit, hard to get air, but at the same time, fine tuning itself to be stronger. C'mon red blood cells, multiply!

So here I am at 7:30 in the morning, having already had a good workout for the day, a nice Fa La Latte (God bless the eggnog), and written a blog. I kind of like getting up early, but will probably need a nap later.

Arrived

After a ride from our friend to the airport, a flight from Busan to Tokyo, then Tokyo to LA, and LA to Denver for a total of 28 hours of traveling door to door, we are safe and sound at Rebs' dad's house. But for the 1 hour wait on the tarmac in LA, and then waiting for our luggage to arrive on the flight after us, it was a very smooth trip. It was a great feeling when we came up the escalator to see Brent waiting for us, to see the smile on both his and Rebs' face, the pure joy from a long-awaited embrace. It has been over 2 years since we were last in Colorado. So much has gone on while we were gone, it's hard to catch up sometimes. But the people we love are still here.

I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, my usual jet lag wake up time. We were slightly delirious upon arriving, having only slept a few hours at different times on different airplanes. But we still managed some good conversation with all of the family. And now that the camera isn't packed anymore, you will hopefully get to see some pictures as we travel.