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“Stranger. Who dares enter this wasteland after months upon months of desertion?”

This crazy gal.

I’m honest. I miss doing this blog thing, I really do. I have for a long time.

But I didn’t know how to explain where I went. Heck, I still don’t.

I didn’t know how to come back. Heck, I still don’t.

But I miss writing and rambling and all that jazz that comes along with having a blog. So I’m just going to come back without explanation, as truth be told, I really don’t have one. I didn’t sail off on a bold adventure or develop a daring and jam-packed lifestyle. I just got bored and uninspired and decided to trail off. For a while. Quite a while.

I put off writing again as I thought I needed the perfect way to come back.

I put off writing since I just could not come up with that perfect way.

But then I realized something… there is no perfect way.

Well actually, there is one perfect way… and that’s to just do it (thanks Nike). Come back. Write. Jump in. Nothing else needed.

So here I am. Jumping in. Imperfectly perfect.

The belly flop on the way in was a little painful. But that discomfort fades fast and boy, is the water ever refreshing.

I don’t know exactly what I’ll come back with. Though it doesn’t matter really. That’s far too many details. All I know is that I’ll be back in and keeping afloat in one way or another.

(found via http://mountainsandbuffalo.tumblr.com/)

Feel free to float alongside, share my paddle board! Just don’t pull it away…my swimming skills could use some work.

So if anybody is still out there… oh HEY!

And if not, no hard feelings (I would have deleted me from my Google Reader ages ago, trust me). I’ll probably just be haphazardly tossing out the ramblings from my head anyway and that could be dangerous to be near. Just kidding!

Or am I…

To conclude: I’m here! And I’m spent.

Realizations

October 30, 2011

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Over the course of my new working stint so far (which I have still neglected to talk about – sorry about that. One of these days…soon…I hope… However, refer to #1), I have realized a few things:

1. I suck at blogging – Yeah really.
“Oh yeah, I’ll be back to regular blogging soon!”
“Oh yeah, I’ll write this, that, and the other thing about my new work scenario.”
Oh yeah… didn’t happen. I also apparently make false promises. MY BAD.

2. I suck at taking pictures of my food. – Yup, I essentially quit doing it. Once upon a time it was a fun hobby. And then everyone and their mother got a food blog, and a fancy schmancy camera with 10 different lenses, and fancy schmancy light box setups for optimal food photo lighting, and customized layouts to make their blogs sparkle and shine…etc etc etc.

And I did none of that. Hello simplicity. Hello tumbling downward into food blog oblivion. Hello not being excitable enough about the whole trend to do much else about it.

(Not knocking all of the stellar fancy schmancy food blogs out there. It’s pure admiration only, dears. I just don’t quite care enough to go that far myself… at least not right now!)

3. I CAN, in fact, become an early morning exercise superstar. – Before, I never quite understood how people could drag their buns out of bed and find the energy enough to get a workout in before the sun rose. But it’s all mental, people. Mental and restful. Get a good night’s sleep (aka reduce your bedtime by an hour or two) and convince yourself that you want to work out in the morning (it’s ridiculously nice to have the workout DONE and the evenings completely FREE) and you’ll get the hang of it in no time. Early morning pre-workout coffee helps too.

(A beach to run on would also be nice)

4. How to make the easiest, fastest poached egg EVER. – I don’t remember where I learned the technique (I’ve read at least 12 internet tutorials for poached eggs over the last year) but here it is:

Take a small ramekin or glass bowl. Fill it halfway with water and add a splash of vinegar. Crack an egg in it and poke the yolk with a fork. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Put in the microwave for 45 seconds. Check it, then put it in for another 10-15 seconds. (If I put it in for a minute straight it gets too hard.). Remove from the water with a spoon. Break that egg seal and let the yolky goodness run free.

Voila Breakfast!

A good, ol’ flash in the pan runny egg does the trick too.

5. No amount of green smoothies or citrus fruits can cure my invincible cold. – I’m probably the most hated person at work. I’ve had an undying cough for over two weeks now. I don’t think that’s normal. If I laugh… it immediately turns into a coughing fit. Running… I stop every two minutes to clear out my lungs.

Why so many false promises, green drink of not-so-glory?

Why are you not working your magic, Mr. Orange?! Such a jip. Vitamin C my tushy.

I’m going to try to squeeze myself into the doctor’s tomorrow… by this point I think meds are my only option.

6. Baking is one of my favourite pastimes. – Okay fine, so I had this realization a long time ago. But it has only been solidified by the fact that now, even though my free time has been reduced, a good chunk of it still goes towards whipping up some of the many (many) recipes bookmarked on my computer.

Muffins!

Chocococonut Style

Guess who got my brother to eat BEANS in his dessert…and LIKE it…Katie did! With her Deep-Dish Cookie Pie – a MUST make (I halved it and used a normal cake pan and it turned out perfectly…and was gone in a day).

Well folks, the fact that I actually updated this thing is PROGRESS. And in my opinion, any progress is a good thing. So here’s to progress… and hopes upon hopes for more even better progress to come.
(I do miss this but I also hate my suffering-from-senioritis laptop that I still have yet to upgrade. Goal for the next week or so – Buy a MAC!).

Oh oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

(source)

Once Upon a TIME

September 28, 2011

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Dearest All of You.

My name is Kristie.

Once Upon a Time I would write here in this very space about the things I ate. Usually I’d post pictures. Sometimes they looked appetizing, other times they did not. But more often than not they satisfied my undying cravings for good eats.

This Once Upon a Time time was characterized by one main premise: Idle Time. Much Idle Time.

But then all of a sudden, from nowhere apparent, this little thing called Life appeared in a cloud of dust, filling the room. It grew and it grew until it consumed Idle Time as I knew it.

With Idle Time’s rapid disappearance I was suddenly transported into a new world, one enveloped by this thing called Work. Time was there too, but not Time as I knew it, not Idle Time. Idle Time was gone. In its place – Filled Time.

This new world with Filled Time was confusing at first. It took some getting used to. It is still taking some getting used to. It is quite a bit different than Idle Time. At first it may seem a little stressful or draining, especially after spending so much time with Idle Time. But you soon come to realize that Filled Time has many benefits.

Filled Time brings productivity. It brings responsibility. It brings social acts. It brings pocket change. It brings a sense of self. And it brings a much greater appreciation of that lost Idle Time that pops its head in every now and again when you seek it out. Idle Time is easily taken for granted when you have too much of it. Lessen the doses and its impact is much more effective.

In going from hardly employed to 3x employed in the past couple months, I’ve come to understand Time a bit better. To understand the great benefits of Filled Time. To budget, savour and appreciate the smaller splashes of Idle Time.

Time is inherently good. Time is your ally, not your enemy. Understand it, treat it well, and use it wisely and it will work in your favour no matter what ratio of Filled to Idle Time you might be experiencing, no matter how much or little of it you might feel that you have.

“Time is on your side.” ;)

Now for Old Time’s sake, let’s bring in some FOOD.

Starting off with a little Pita Pit Paradise – One fine day a while back I mentioned the beauty of Pita Pita. A fellow blogging companion, Marianne, mentioned a winning combo that I needed to try: The FALAFEL (falafel, feta, tzaziki, hot sauce, pickles and plenty o’ veg). I jotted it down and vowed to try it during my next pita run. Well guess what I ordered the other day when the local Pita Pit had a Customer Appreciation Day (ALL pitas, ANY size for $3.99. OH yeah.)

Check out the goods.

FEAST.

I’ve also been doing the egg thing on these chillier fall mornings.

Egg white omelette with spinach, salsa and swiss on a toasted english muffin? Don’t mind if I do.

Or how about hardboiled style with Frank’s and ketchup?

Along with a glass of sludge here and there (a spinach and blueberry smoothie makes one mean mouth-staining drink).

And of course we wouldn’t truly have fall without some form of fruit crisp, now would we. That would be peach crisp. (We can ignore the fact that this was made when it was actually technically still summer. I couldn’t wait for the official fall season to eat official fall desserts.)