Little glimpses of my life recently

After the beautiful hike of my previous post, I was inspired to start my own little garden on the porch.  Not ideal for growing vegetables, but I'll work with what I've got.  I went to the highly recommended Spencer's Market.  The people were super friendly and helpful in helping me pick the right plants.  Although the guy definitely gave me a frown when I told him I was having to plant in a hanging tomato planter.  Hey, I don't have a yard!  So I decided on tomatoes, banana peppers, poblano peppers, strawberries, and some herbs.  So now I have my little porch garden to tend to.

3 different herbs for cooking and flavoring water

I hope they can all share the space.

The porch receives some pretty direct sunlight, so I'm trying my best to keep them hydrated.  I'm not known for having a green thumb.  I'm hoping it's something I can acquire.  We're also getting some really strong winds, which I don't think are helping my cause.  Despite the heat and wind, they're still alive 3 weeks later.

Banana peppers are growing very nicely.

My little strawberries are doing pretty good too!

Still no evidence of any tomatoes.  I'm afraid the wind may have blown away most of the flowers. :(  Right now it sounds like my house might blow away!

Speaking of the weather though, I have to say how thankful I am for the change.  Just a under a week ago, this is what I saw when I looked to the north:

Smoke cloud over Black Forest

We immediately began praying for relief as the fire quickly became the most destructive in Colorado Springs' history.  Praise God, we have gotten rain for 3 days in a row now!  It has made a huge difference in allowing the fire fighters to gain control and save any more houses from being lost.  So even if it means I get caught in a rain storm while biking through town, I am thankful for it! :)  About 500 homes were lost, so it is going to be a long recovery process for many families.  As sad as it has all been, we're already hearing amazing stories coming out of it.  People really come together in times of hardship.  One of the coolest things I saw on the news today was that the victims of last year's Waldo Canyon Fire put on a picnic for the Black Forest Fire victims so that they could connect.  They're pairing up to share what they learned from their own experience of losing everything and helping them walk through the recovery process.  God works in amazing, unexpected ways!

With the fire and smoke calming down, the air quality was good enough to still have a race this past Saturday.  The blessing of rain also brought cooler temperatures, which made for a really nice run.  This one was called the Sailin' Shoes Run for Fun.  A good group gathered in downtown Colorado Springs for an early morning start.

Start line on Tejon, right in front of Poor Richard's, one
of my Springs favorites

We ran through the streets of downtown and through
the old north end with all the cool houses

We coasted back down Tejon for a fast finish

Mountain Mama's was waiting at the finish line to offer
some re-hydration and energy

I was most excited about the coconut juice!
Not as good as drinking it straight out of a
coconut like all the races in Pohnpei, but
they offered the best they could in Colorado

I was going to just go home with my goodies, but decided that maybe I should hang around at the after party for a little while.  Everyone was hanging out on the back patio of Jose Muldoon's enjoying their runner's high and sunny morning.  Good thing I did!  I ended up walking away with a nice prize.

A pint glass with a $15 gift card to several
restaurants in town!!!

It's always a good feeling when it seems like a race kind of paid for itself!  Plus I had a fun time chatting with other random runners.  It lived up to it's name, it was a "run for fun".

And when I got home I even made sure I had something new that was mango.

Some friends and I have been wanting to do a firepit to hangout and make s'mores, but with the fire danger being EXTEME that's probably not the best idea.  But we decided to go ahead and make some homemade marshmallows anyway.  A family who has been serving in Tanzania is back in town for a short while in transition, and I was hanging out with Anna one night getting to catch up on what they've been doing.  Somewhere in the conversation it came up that I make homemade marshmallows.  Anna then informed me that marshmallows can be made with honey and that she's been wanting to learn.  Eager to try out a new way of making marshmallows and thinking it would be fun to spend more time with Anna showing her how, I jumped at the opportunity!  We scheduled a marshmallow making night and I went to work researching different honey marshmallow recipes.

After I finished my race, I went to my favorite farmers' market.  Yay, so excited that it's farmers' market season!  I went straight for the honey table, knowing that they have great honey made right her in Colorado Springs.  I was really excited to make locally sourced marshmallows.

That night we put the honey to the test.  I'll go ahead and tell you, my marshmallow making is forever changed.  Honey is the way to go!!!  If you thought I was excited about marshmallows before, my excitement has gone up a few notches.  I now want to be the marshmallow girl of Colorado Springs.  I'm not kidding.
It's basically the same process, but no corn syrup or sugar.  Just honey!

It still whipped up really nicely,
and it was still my favorite part to
see it transform into a silky fluff.

They came out so smooth!

I was also really excited to use my new little
sifter which I found at a garage sale the
weekend before for only $.50.
Perfect for dusting marshmallows!

We tried out two different recipes.  If you ever get the urge to try it yourself here they are:

http://kitchensimplicity.com/cinnamon-honey-marshmallows/

http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2012/11/rustic-homemade-marshmallows-whoney.html

Despite a small fiasco of honey boiling over (be careful that the heat isn't too high and your pot isn't too small) they both turned out great.  Of course the hard part about marshmallows is that you have to wait all night to finally give them a try.  So I left them with Anna to cut and coat.  She was so great, she got up the next morning to finish them and brought some to church for me.

All I could say was "Wow!"  They're so much lighter and really take on the flavor of the honey.  That means it opens up a whole new world of possibilities as you can buy so many different honeys based on what the bees have been eating.  And the coatings really added a lot!  We had vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate.  I can't wait to experiment with more flavors.  People better get ready for lots of marshmallow sampling ;)

Ok, to wrap up this post, I'll just leave you with an update on the random holidays I've celebrated recently.

Hard-boiled eggs were a hit at the office

Corn-on-the-Cob Day

My sign had to morph over the span of 2 days.  My first
batch at the office was gone before 11am, so I brought
in some more the next day.

Friends' dietary restrictions give me challenges
to make things in new ways.  These are made
with just peanut butter, mashed banana, nutmeg,
and a splash of vanilla.  How simple and still
so tasty!

Strawberry Shortcake Day!

Enjoyed with friends while watching "Here Comes the Boom"
I would actually really recommend it if you're looking for humor
with a heartfelt message too.

There were a few others that I didn't take pictures of like Rocky Road Day and World Running Day.  The running day has actually inspired my office to start walking a couple of laps around the track together about midday just to clear our minds, get a little fresh air, and keep us healthy.  It makes a surprising difference in the day when your job usually requires you to spend a majority of the day sitting in front of a computer.

I hope today you celebrated Eat Your Vegetables Day.  If you want to celebrate some random holidays, there are some good ones the rest of this week:

Tuesday, June 18: Go Fishing Day, Picnic Day, Sushi Day, and Cherry Tart Day
Wednesday, June 19: Martini Day (there are also some great Mocktail Martini recipes)
Thursday, June 20: Ice Cream Soda Day and Vanilla Milkshake Day (really? both in one day?)
Friday, June 21: First Day of Summer!  Flip Flop Day

Have fun!

St. Mary's Falls

A few weeks ago I got to go on a new hike with my new coworker!  I have my favorite hikes around here, but it's always exciting to discover something new.  This one quickly got added to my list of favorites.  Seven Bridges has long been one of my "go-tos" for hiking and this trail happens to be just a little bit farther down the road in the same canyon.  It's at least a mile hike to get to the trail head, but once you do it's well marked.

Maybe next time we'll look into going all the way to Mt. Rosa
or maybe curiosity will get the best of us and we'll have to see
what Frosty's Park is.

The trail is really nicely shaded as it winds through all the trees.  I love seeing dark green Pines contrasted with the bright green of the Aspens.

I also liked that most of the way up, you're right next to the creek so you can enjoy the sound of the water.  And you also get some little warm-up falls.

A baby waterfall

There are a few trail markers along the way.  I'm not so sure I trust them though.  It's great to know you're still on the right trail, but I'd like to know how they came up with those distances.

This 0.2 miles felt quite a bit longer than 0.2 miles usually feel.

All smiles, almost there!

The last 500 feet is quite a climb, but well worth it to get to the views ahead.

Approaching the falls

Great logs (although a little unsteady)
to take you to the other side of the falls

St. Mary's Falls!

Scott looking like quite the conqueror! 

Happy to be at the top with the views and
the sound of rushing water.  Beautiful!

Looking out, you can see the city...

and beyond.

It also happened to be Go Barefoot Day.  So the pool at the base of the fall was way too tempting to pass up.  I thought my feet could use a refreshing dip in the water.

It's a little chilly!

Happy Go Barefoot Day!!!

Scott did not want to celebrate with me.  I'm pretty sure he thought I was a little crazy, but got a good laugh out of it.  I'll admit it was too cold to stay in longer than probably a minute.  However, my feet were very refreshed and cooled off!  Ready for the trek down.

Another beautiful hike on another beautiful day in Colorado!  Have I mentioned Colorado Springs is a great place to be?  You know pictures never do any justice, so come experience it for your self!  I'd be happy to take you on this hike any time :)