Everybody. 

Last week, I made pasta. 

From scratch.

Turns out, it's pretty easy, though I'm not so patient with the thinning it out part. That takes longer than I care for, so M had to take over on about half of it.

A D.C. friend was visiting for the last week and I decided we'd have an Italian night. 

I wanted to make Pasta Amatriciana again. It's a dish I discovered while visiting another friend in Rome 2.5 years ago and when I got back, I hosted an epic Italian dinner night with friends.

Even though I couldn't remember what recipe I had used in 2012, I decided we were making it again last week.

I still love it. And with homemade pasta, it's just that much better.

It's all pretty simple, though the pasta prep does require some planning.

Here's what to do:

For the pasta, we use an America's Test Kitchen recipe:

2 cups of flour
2 large eggs plus 6 large yolks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt

Process all ingredients in a food processor until it forms a cohesive dough. If dough sticks to fingers, add up to 1/4 cup flour, one tablespoon at a time until barely tacky. 

Turn dough ball onto dry surface and knead until warm smooth, for 1 to 2 minutes. Shape dough into 6-inch long cylinder. Wrap with plastic wrap and let it set for about 4 hours. 

Cut dough into equal pieces. The recipe says 6, but we did 4, which might be why it took so long to flatten. 

Dust both sides and roll it out, slowly, rotating and flipping as you go. When it's thin enough, you should be able to see your fingers through it. Repeat for each of the sections of dough.

Let the flattened pasta dry for about 15 minutes. 

The fold the dry pasta into about 2-inch pieces, folding over itself. Then cut into slices, depending on the thickness you want. I made mine fairly thin since the recipe calls for linguine. 

Unfold the pasta and separate. Fresh pasta will cook much faster than boxed pasta, It only takes 3-5 minutes typically. 

For the sauce:

4 slices bacon, diced

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic (I definitely used more than this. Probably 3-4 cloves, but I love garlic.)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

14.5 ounces cans stewed tomatoes

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (I got to use basil I'd grown. Possibly the best part.)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (Yeah we used more than that too. We just added it to the individual bowls so everyone had as much as they wanted.)

We also added in a splash of red wine.

Cook diced bacon in a large saucepan over medium high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of drippings from the pan.

Add onions, and cook over medium heat about 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes; cook 30 seconds. Add canned tomatoes, undrained; simmer 10 minutes, breaking up tomatoes.

As that's going, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain.

Stir basil into the sauce, and then toss with cooked pasta. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

I'd recommend serving with a glass of red wine. 

This was maybe not the perfect dish for a hot summer day, since the pasta making took time in the hot kitchen, but, it's so delicious. 

Do you have a favorite recipe? Any favorites from a trip abroad or a dinner party with friends?

This week was a bit chaotic and exhausting for me, so while I'm recovering and catching up, I'd like you to meet Manda from musicalpoem. She's a fellow world traveler and Blackhawks fan. Next time I'm in D.C. expect photos from a coffee date or a hockey game.

I used to work with a woman who, like me, was an avid traveler. On the occasionally slow Friday afternoon, she and I would swap travel stories or give the other suggestions on where next in the world to visit.

“You should go to India,” she told me one day after I informed her that I had never been. “I absolutely loved my time there. It’s the only place I’d go back to, but that’s because I missed out on seeing the Taj Mahal.”

“The only place you’d go back to?” I asked.

She nodded. “I have a no repeat rule,” she said firmly. “There’s too much to see in the world to go back to a place I’ve already visited.”

That thought stuck with me.

When I was a child, I visited Shanghai for the first time. It was a hot, dusty city then, swarming with mosquitoes that left bites that swelled up horrendously and curious Chinese who would openly stare and gape at foreigners, even in the city. (That’s still common now in China, but usually only in the rural countryside. City dwellers have long been accustomed to the sight of foreigners.) I remember going on a drive to what I assume was a neighboring city. Along the way, we drove through rice paddies and I was glued to the window of the van, fascinated. I had never seen a rice paddy before, never really understood where rice came from.

I hated visiting China as a child, absolutely hated it. I hated how my mom insisted I always hold her hand no matter where we went as a measure against getting snatched even though I thought of myself as a “big kid” and certainly didn’t need my mother’s protection. (Child snatchers were said to target children of mixed or foreign ethnicity, as race was a good indicator of whether or not the child’s family had the money the snatchers were after.) I hated the food, how everything had bones in it and all parts of an animal were served and really, why couldn’t I just eat plain noodles in soup all day, every day? I hated the mosquitoes and the dust, how every day I’d be blowing dust out of my nose and wiping it off my face and itching all over from the swollen, angry-looking bumps that marked a mosquito’s kiss.

I visited China again just before I turned 18. In the ten or so years since I’d been to Shanghai, it had transformed to a city I couldn’t even recognize. Gone was the dustiness that used to be everywhere, although the mosquitoes were still vicious in the city outskirts. Fast, efficient and reliable trains now connected nearby cities to Shanghai, distancing the rice paddies from a traveler’s view by the window. The Bund was a sight to behold, Nanjing Road was peppered with luxury brands and hawkers offering their wares (“Watch? Bag?”) and so much more of the city spoke English, even if only enough to get by to sell things to tourists.

My trip to China at age 18 led to my decision to minor in Mandarin Chinese in college, which in turn led me to study abroad in Beijing for a year in college. When I arrived in Beijing at the beginning of my year abroad, I thought to myself, “Last time I was here, I was only here for four days. This time, I’m here for a year. Time to make it count.”

And make it count I did. My year in Beijing was incomparable to any other year. It was the year that changed my life, one that made me into who I am today. (I've even written books about it!)

I am forever grateful that Beijing and I found each other; I can’t even begin to imagine how different everything would be had I decided to spend my year abroad elsewhere.

I wouldn’t have chosen Beijing as my year abroad destination had I not minored in Mandarin Chinese, and I wouldn’t have chosen that minor had I not gone to Beijing when I was 18. And if I abided by a “no repeat” travel rule, I wouldn’t have returned to China as a teenager. 

Sometimes, one just needs to go back to a place they’ve already been. Maybe it’s to see what’s changed since the last visit, or to return to a favorite location. Or maybe it’s to allow a place to make its full impact on a person, and to see how not the place has changed, but how a person has in the time that’s lapsed. No matter the reason, there’s always a benefit in returning to a place previously visited.

Manda is a world traveler always dreaming about her next travel destination, although her home city of Hong Kong will always hold a special place in her heart. Other things she’s passionate about include books, cupcakes, makeup and tea. She has a tendency to listen to her favorite songs on repeat and has been known to crave noodles at 2 a.m. She blogs at musicalpoem and can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.

It's been awhile since I've done a Monday Motivation and no promises that I'll keep it up, but yesterday it hit me just how much of a beast this week would be. It's shaping up to be a really great week, but a beast all the same.

So this motivation is as much for you as for me. Who I'm kidding, this is really to help me jump start this week and convince myself that I can do everything that needs to be done.

To start, this lovely image is brought to you by Kelli and Ashley. You can find more of their collaborations over here.

The last few months have been building blocks for some things that are coming together now. And when I feel incredibly overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated by slow progress, I remind myself that all of these things are steps toward something much, much bigger. 

I may sound all zen about it now as I'm sipping my morning coffee and watching Grover scope out everything happening outside our front door, but I guarantee that it's harder than it seems to keep steady and calm on the inside, at my core. That's usually where my deepest fears and quiet doubt like to hang out and sometimes creep into my way of thinking until I get back to quashing them again.

So here's what's on deck this week:

+ Writing probably at least two stories a day at work. I like being productive and having my byline in the paper daily, but that pace is difficult to maintain. But when I'm in that spot when stories just keep flowing, I run with it. It balances out the slow days.

+  Meeting tonight to finalize details for The Wall That Heals, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial coming to town this week. I used to work for the organization that runs TWTH so local veterans asked me for advice. I've also got to write about it for the paper. It's really a special thing, but from the inside of it all, it's incredibly time consuming. 

+ Whipping up fundraising and marketing kits for the rink, plus a new website. I'm telling myself that the front end work will pay huge dividends both in requiring less of my time later and hopefully great returns for the rink.

+ Rink board meeting Wednesday. I really work best with a deadline, so there's that.

+ One of my best D.C. friends is coming to visit. I AM SO EXCITED. And yes, I just used all caps. I'm thinking about taking her to the fair/rodeo if everything times out.

+ To prepare for the visit, we've got a ton of cleaning and organizing to do. Plus, moving chickens in the backyard and other various tasks that never end around this place. And possibly having to pick up the Sunday shift while other reporters are on vacation. 

+ Helping a blogger friend with a new website and social media plan. I'm really excited about it, just not sure how much I'll accomplish on that front this week.

Pretty much, every day for the next week is booked solid. Here's to hoping I keep up with bringing lunch to work, working out and maintaining some semblance of healthy living despite the fact that Erika and I will probably overdose on wine and queso. Old habits die hard with old friends.

A tall order for this week, but lucky for me, most of it HAS to get done, meaning I will somehow find it in myself to GET IT DONE. Likely with multiple cups of coffee per day.

Who's with me on conquering this week and doing big things? How do you break down big projects, busy weeks into manageable tasks so that you stand a better chance of doing it all?

Earlier this summer, I was feeling out of shape, out of sorts and not happy with myself. 

I'm sure girls the world over have bouts with insecurity and self doubt. Usually, I don't let it get to me, but every now and then, it creeps in and gets under my skin.

This last time, I was feeling it while I was home on vacation. 

While I was home, I ran with my parents and walked a lot. While I was home, I also recommitted to things I'd been better about before. Running, exercising more, less soda, less fast food and all around less junk.

After a quick bout with a cold or something when I got home, I got back on track. Running some mornings, Insanity workouts other mornings. They don't call it Insanity for nothing, I hate it, but it works when I don't have time to drive out to the trail, run and drive home. The downside of country living.

Some other things I got serious about were less eating out and more brining lunch to work. 

Things I worry about lately are my health and our finances. Basically, if it costs more than $5, I am now a royal pain about spending money. 

Buying a house has made me into a penny pincher of epic proportions. Why did I not have this trait for the last 30 years?!

Before, I was grabbing gas station snacks or quick lunches out most days. Partly because I fell into the busy trap, partly out of laziness and lack of planning. That was costing me anywhere from $3-$10 per day during the work week. 

Now, I'm spending a few extra bucks at the grocery store each week and bringing a lunch I'll actually eat. 

It usually consists of sliced turkey, from the actual deli, not a package. A half pound is usually $3 or $4 and lasts most of the week, unless M takes lunch too. 

I've also been easing myself back into yogurt. The kind I like now is 50 cents a container and I usually only buy 3 or 4 per week knowing I won't eat it every day. It's a consistency thing. 

I'm a huge fan of string cheese, which is weird, because I'm really not that into cheese. M says to avoid cheese altogether and save those calories and fat for elsewhere in my diet, but I like the low fat calcium boost. The kind I buy is about $3 and has 10 or 15 sticks of string cheese. 

Usually I toss a banana or peach or whatever fruit I'm into that week into my lunch, for just a few bucks a week.

And because I'm into carbs, I usually stash a baggie of pretzels in there too. They're good for snacking throughout the work day and they'll keep if I don't get to them one day.

I've also significantly cut back on my soda intake. Before I'd grab a 20 ounce bottle in the afternoon because I was tired, or busy, or stressed. Really, I don't think it was helping me any.

Because I'm still a cherry coke addict, I take one 12 ounce can with me per day and have that for lunch or an afternoon treat. Sometimes I splurge and have two, or if I'm really desperate for caffeine I break down and grab a bottle, but I've stayed strong on this the last few weeks.

We've been making a lot more iced tea around the house and I turn to that more than the soda these days. My water intake is also increasing, in part because the smoky skies thanks to the major wildfires in surrounding state and Canada seem to be making me constantly thirsty.

All of these things are now conspiring to help me spend less and eat better. I'm now spending probably less than I'd spend on a day's lunch out to cover homemade lunches for the week. We've kept lunches out together to once a week or less and dinners too and it really feels like so much of a treat now to go out than it did before. 

This week I got busy at work and fell off my normal workout schedule, but I kept up with lunches and water intake. 

Even still, I noticed the last few days that I felt more awake, more productive, focused and energetic. Plus, I feel all responsible and grownup with the money we're saving by eating better. 

This all makes me very, very exciting for skating season to start again. Last season was my first back in figure skates in years and I didn't feel all that confident in my own skin or that strong. Now, I'm wanting to get back out there and go for it. I'm sure a few hard falls will knock that right out of me, but I'm feeling a lot less fragile than I did last season. Maybe it's all the hard labor in the back yard. I kid. Sort of. Not really.

Slowly but surely, I'm getting back to my old ways of running regularly. I was never an athletic all-star by any means, but honestly, I always took a great deal of pride in being able to complete multiple half marathons without being a super skinny, speedy, athletic rockstar. I did it in spite of drinking too much wine and eating too much pizza and popcorn. 

The closet purge is also helping the mental aspect of all this in that I'm weeding out the things that don't fit now so that every morning I can put on a great outfit and feel great. If I'm going to crank out 40 minutes of Insanity (which is a form of torture) or somehow pull out 3 miles in about 30 minutes, I deserve to feel good about that all day in my comfortable, feel good-look good clothes. 

I may never get back to my all time adult skinniest of a size 6, but I can surely get back to a place where I feel fully comfortable in my own skin. Where I feel healthy and strong. And I feel like i've finally hit that sweet spot where I'm finding the balance that's right for me. Enough exercise to drop a few pounds and keep at a healthy spot, but not so much that I can't sleep in when I'm plain exhausted or just don't wanna.

I once gave up soda for Lent and between that and tennis training, I lost 10 pounds in a few months. I bet if I gave up wine and kept running, I'd drop 20, but let's not get carried away here.

So, this might have been a little long winded, but I'm feeling pretty solid on this whole pulling it together thing. Seriously, I've been dancing in the shower and throughout the house while getting ready for work each morning and rocking out in the car on my way home each night. I even covered a city commission meeting this week, so it's pretty huge to be in this good of a mood all week. 

I should also credit Alicia for some inspiration on this front. She's got all kind of wise words on healthy living and loving yourself. You really need to check her out. No really, do it.

How do you balance a healthy lifestyle and doing what you want? What are your vices?

Something big happened about a week ago.

I found a bathroom remodel in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine that I love.

The best part is that it fits fairly well with the existing bathroom layout and size. Plus, M liked it too. 

In case you don't remember our upstairs bathroom, that I like to call the Swan Lake bathroom, here's a peek.

First, what it looked like when we bought the place.

The tile accent is the part that kills me.

I went to war on the wallpaper and now it looks like this.

Better right?

But, still not really my thing. I don't hate the colors, but in taking down the wallpaper, we thing we damaged some of the tiles and we need to redo some plumbing, so we've mostly settled on redoing the whole thing. 

I spent a good chunk of last summer trying to figure out a paint color that would work with the turquoise, but it was a doomed endeavor. Finding a color we both liked that wouldn't drive either of us nuts after a while just stressed me out. Plus the rosy pink colored tub, sink and toilet just bug the heck out of me. 

There's no shower in this bathroom so we're planning on rigging a shower into the existing tub space, changing the room a bit, but not too much. 

The room was low on our list, but it's moving up since we need to make some renovations to the downstairs bathroom, where some previous homeowner put the shower. In the basement. With no vents. So that's a mold and water damage problem just waiting to happen (at least in my mind). 

So color me excited when I was flipping through the Kitchen + Bath Ideas issue of Better Homes and Gardens while M spent what felt like forever looking at pieces for the drip irrigation system in the raised beds and I saw this absolutely lovely bathroom remodel. 

There will be some tweaks since we don't have that giant window in the bathroom, but the design fits the current setup and keeps the white and turquoise color scheme, if I decide to keep that. I do love green and turquoise was my favorite color once upon a time.

I even love the tub they did, though ours wouldn't have the sloped ceiling, it's a workable design for our bathroom. 

Really, it just makes the whole thing crisper and more functional. 

Bottom line, having a concept for the bathroom that I've had so much trouble deciding on a design for makes me incredibly happy. It's one less thing to stress over. It's one thing that is mostly decided and we can start moving toward a beautiful remodeled bathroom. 

I've considered a brighter color for the bathroom since that's supposed to help you wake up and kick start your energy for the day, but I think I prefer the more serene color combo. 

What do you guys think? Go with the serene colors or a bright, bold color?

While I was home, mom and I went to my sister's baby shower in Williamsburg.

Since we were out that way, of course I wanted to pit stop in Colonial Williamsburg. It's one of my very favorite places. 

I grabbed some mixed nuts at The Peanut Shop for M as part of his birthday present, then mom and I checked out the colonial garden and nursery on the main street. 

It's a pretty impressive space that packs a lot of greenery and agriculture into a fairly small parcel of land. The interpreters use colonial agricultural practices and work to test techniques of the era in modern conditions. 

There's also chickens, goats, cows and other livestock wandering about and in the fields. 

We were back a second day and dad and I chatted with one of the interpreters about drainage testing, in which they used pots in the ground to test drainage conditions for a certain plant. They had great cold frames and raised beds and some plants that I really want to try here at the minifarm. 

it's the kind of place that comforts you with the knowledge that men and women have been doing this agriculture thing for centuries before you even existed on the planet. 

They were so creative with their trellises of branches and twine. They used bricks and old windows for cold boxes. 

On days when I think it's too hard, I can think of that colonial garden. They didn't have running water or modern technology. Granted, we're doing a lot by hand and have cisterns, it still has to be at least a bit easier for us now than it was for them. Not to mention the ladies were wearing so many more layers of heavy clothing. 

I was out there sweating in a t-shirt and shorts, getting assaulted by mosquitos and fearing snakes at every turn, but I would have been so much more miserable if I was wearing skirt. So miserable. 

This weekend we were out clearing the windbreak to keep the grass down, which limits the mosquitos and the snakes. That's also where we'll be relocating the chickens and adding some raised beds and fruit trees within the windbreak, eventually. 

That might seem fairly easy, but the windbreak is seriously bigger than our yard at the old house. It's flipping huge. It's four rows of trees on each leg of the L-shaped wind break.

We're both covered in bug bites, hot and exhausted. So exhausted. 

But those colonials did that kind of work without a lawnmower. And without an iPhone to blast music to keep them entertained. And probably without bug spray and sunscreen, though I refused the deet this weekend since that stuff freaks me out. 

All that to say, we have dreams of turning these 26 acres into a small scale working farm, but it's going to be a long, exhausting road and I will probably drink too much wine and flip out too many times along the way. 

Until then, more photos from Williamsburg. Because I love that place. If you're ever in southeastern Virginia, I highly recommend a visit to Colonial Williamsburg, as well as my former workplace, Historic Jamestown and part of my home county, Historic Yorktown. Together they make up the Historic Triangle and you can seriously do it all in a weekend. 

These sunsets. They are amazing. One of my favorite things about Montana summers. They certainly make up for the all out mosquito assault going on at our house currently. Don't mind the Grover smudges on the storm door. He loves to just sit/lay there and look out on his domain, aka, bunny stalk.

It was a productive week around here, though there's so much more to do. 

I had a bout of feeling out of shape and self-conscious and my response to that is to jump right back into working out with a renewed commitment. It's the kind of thing I do on occasion, but words from Alicia on recommitting continue to help me stick to my guns. So I dug out the Insanity DVDs again and cranked out three workouts this week as well as a surprisingly speedy 3.2 mile run. It's so much easier to run when I get a cool morning with this view.

And I need to get on the ball with Ashley's #30DaysofCityLove since I need to do more exploring in this town. I've only been here a year and a half and while I have my favorite places and regular haunts, I need to discover more. 

There's been chicken chasing and slow progress on reducing our rooster population. It sounds terrible, but it turns out roosters are terrible. They're mean to poor Crazy May and they're loud and truly, we have too many roosters compared to the hens. That's just bad news. Crazy May is the only chicken with a name so far. M started calling her that because she's a little different. She's the smallest of our flock and always off on her own. But she's also the sweetest hen and she lets M and I pick her up without a lot of flailing and flapping and general shenanigans. 

Since I'm still getting the hang of this chicken thing, Modern Farmer's latest chickens for dummies article is pretty handy.

We're still working on our plan to build their permanent coop further out in the windbreak and away from the house. They'll need that for winter and it will help with our gardening plans since that will help us keep them off the deck, out of my container plants and out of our plants in general. 

For now, we have one raised bed completed and another one in progress. We've got plans for more raised beds since they keep out more pests and predators and also protect our plants from the brutal winds up here on the hill. Plus, then I get to have flowers and other plans in the ground in front of the beds, completely protected from the wind. The tomatoes and peppers are doing well so far. I'm looking forward to having some veggies to eat!

My carrots are exploding in a container on the deck and my edible container is still trucking along. I'm hoping those plants start to fill out soon. More on that coming soon! 

I loved this post from Caitlin on gardening in small spaces with low lighting. Great ideas in here for those with less space to fill with greenery.

My mint plant also turned into more of a mint bush. It outgrew it's little pot so last weekend we went on a hunt for a new container. I wanted a galvanized tub kind of thing, but instead, we found a steel milk bucket at my favorite second hand/antique shop in town, The Barn. The bottom had some small holes and rust, so we cleaned it out and M sealed it with some paint since it's an indoor container. 

The other night I transplanted the mint to its new container and love it. I've got another metal pail just waiting for a plant to make it's home in. 

All of this has kept me busy and not blogging as much as I'd like to, but life is meant to be lived. I worry sometimes that my blog doesn't get as much attention as it might need to be great, but really, I'm okay with that. I've got a lot going on at the house, with animals, mini-farming, plus work, professional organizations and community projects I'm involved with. 

There was a time I could do it all on very little sleep, but my mom's sage words, "you should pick a few things to do well instead of doing everything less well," have finally become an accepted fact of my life. It's hard for me to do, but I'm working to focus on the things that most need doing and the things I most want to do. So if I'm not here on the blog as often as maybe I should be, don't hold it against me pretty please. And if I'm slow to respond to your comments, it's not at all because I don't love you (your comments make me so happy, every single time) it's more likely that I'm chasing a chicken or trying not to kill my plants. 

I've seen quite a few other bloggers having similar thoughts on their blogs, including the always thoughtful Manda over at Break the Sky, which is now Musicalpoem. She just got back from Chile and seeing photos from her trip made me smile at the memory of my own. And guys, she's a Blackhawks fan. This girl is awesome.

The incredibly lovely Kate over at Farmhouse38 is also changing things up on her blog and I recommend a read. She's the sweetest blogger friend who is my go-to gal on chickens.

Basically, every night I feel a lot like Grover does after doggie day care. Exhausted. That just means it was a day well spent, right?

If you've been hanging out in this space lately, you might have noticed my growing interest in food and where it comes from. 

We've been busy tending to our tomatoes, peppers and carrots. We've had onions, lettuce, cucumbers and herbs growing inside while we built another raised bed, which isn't done yet. 

Over the weekend, I found a magazine with great edible container ideas so I had a good ole time with the half-off plants at the local farm and ranch store and made my own edible container with cauliflower, purple basil, African Blue basil, variegated sage, Swiss chard, and a dahlia. I am over the moon about it, assuming the animals don't find a way to destroy it all. Rest assured there will be more on this edible container project later in the week.

You may remember a post about The Dirty Life, a book on farm life that took me awhile to finish, but I loved it. Absolutely loved it. 

So on my flights to and from Virginia at the end of June, I went looking for more. Sadly, I couldn't find anything worth lugging around in the airport bookshops so I opted to do a more thorough book search online when I got back to Montana. 

I went looking for Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich, but then I went a little wild with the "you might also like" suggestions. All in all, I ordered seven books on farm life, food and making things yourself. 

Six have arrived. One isn't even out yet, but I got so carried away that I ordered it anyway. And while most of these books have a theme about our society's unchecked consumerism, I did get most of these books for $3 or $4 each. I didn't pay full price for any of them, not that I don't believe you should pay for great writing, but a spending spree on books about making things yourself would seem a bit foolish. So all totaled, I think I spent less than $50 and had a gift card to cover the entire book haul. 

Here's what I got:

Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl by Susan McCorkindale

Grow the Good Life by Michelle Owens

Made From Scratch and Barnheart by Jenna Woginrich

Growing a Farmer by Kurt Timmermeister

Greenhorns edited by Zoe Ida Bradbury, Severine von Tscharner Fleming and Paulo Manalo

I'll be deep diving into these this week and this stack will likely occupy me for a bit. I'll be starting with the one on top, it was the perfect thing to see in my stack of mail when I got home last night from a particularly stressful day at work. 

What are you reading lately? What kind of books inspire you or encourage you to read more of a certain topic?

After a week of vacation at home on the East Coast, I came back to Great Falls for a three day work week and then a three day weekend. 

Needless to say, I haven't quite adjusted back to any kind of normal schedule. 

Back at the Homestead, we have so much to do. A friend had been visiting when I left for Virginia and the boys did zero grocery shopping while I was going. 

And I came back with a rucksack full of things that sort of exploded all over the bedroom and I just sorted and put away last night. Operation Closet Purge is back in action. More on that later.

Then another friend came to visit for the weekend, so we were out and about for some holiday fun. 

We knocked out some grocery shopping (yay for proper pantry stocking!) and some errands. 

On Friday, the boys decided to go out to the back of the shop and shoot for a bit. 

I have never, ever, in my entire life handled a gun. But M owns one and since it exists in our house, I had told him I would like to know how to use it to avoid accidentally hurting myself or others and in case a situation should arise in which I would need to use it. 

For the record, he is highly qualified in using firearms, as a former military officer and also through his research on body armor. If I was going to learn to handle a firearm, I really could imagine no better teacher. 


So on America's birthday, I shot a gun for the first time. 

I'm no expert shot, but I did manage to hit the target a few times. You see that target on the left, the center diamond? Yeah, I got a few shots in that diamond.

M's gun was a bit too big and heavy for me, plus my arms are not that strong, so it was a challenge for me to have a steady enough grip to be a good shot. 

But, I did it. 

I won't go into any of my thoughts on gun rights or gun control or gun violence, but living in the country, with chickens where bears have been spotted less than 20 miles from here, a rattlesnake was in my garage last night and coyotes can be heard from the deck and a gun existing in our house, I figure it was best to know what I'm doing.

Honestly, my arms have hurt since. 

Later that night, we went to the race track, my first time at the races. It was hot, loud, dusty and not really my thing, but I'm glad I finally went after a year of living within a few miles of the track. 

There were a few crashes and the boys seemed to enjoy talking about cars. Things were fine minus the possibly drunk lady behind us whistling so loudly I thought my ears might bleed and screaming. And a child screaming "America!" "Land of the Free!" all through the intermission. Part of me is really glad she loves her country so much, but the screaming was a bit excessive. 

After the race, the track cut the lights and from the hill, there's a perfect view of all the fireworks shows in town. And there were a lot. We all decided that none of us had ever lived in a place with so many massive fireworks. Seriously, regular ole people set off the kind you see in professional shows. It's kind of crazy, but a stunning view for the 4th.

All in all, it was a pretty all-American kind of 4th and full of firsts for me.

How did you spend the holiday weekend?

When I started kicking around the Make Waves essay contest, I was excited. When Alicia at Jaybird and I started talking about a blogger collaboration, I got really excited. When Erika at All Things E and Rachel at Tossing the Script came on board, I was stoked. 

But when I read the Make Waves entries, I was blown away. 

Ladies. You are fantastic. 

And from all four of the Make Waves hosts, we thank you for participating. For sharing your stories with us. And most of all, for making waves and sailing stormy seas. 

In each entry, bloggers opened their hearts to us and shared their grief, their joy and their aspirations. 

I, for one, am honored to have been a part of it all. 

Choosing a winner was tough, but we are happy to announce that Jamie of Ink + Adventure was our top choice. If you haven't read her entry yet, we highly recommend you hop on over here.

You can read all the entries here. 

Thank you again lovely blogging ladies for participating. We loved the Make Waves contest and hope you did too. Let us know if it's something you'd be interested in doing again, but I'll certainly keep using the #makewaves motto and would love to have you along for that ride. 

And most importantly, keep on sailing those rocky seas and rockin' the boat!