Where Are They Now?

I made a bit of a last minute decision and bought a flight to go home to Pittsford for my ten year high school reunion.

Ten years!  It doesn’t seem possible.  Imagine a decade from now…. 2020.  Doesn’t that seem like eons from now?  Like, we’ll have flying cars and self-cleaning houses (oooh!) in the oh so futuristic ten years from now, right?  Ten years goes fast.

The reunion was so much fun – it was an odd mixture of people who came, I guess since it was in the middle of summer, and a fairly small representation of my class.  Maybe forty people?  I think we graduated with about 250.  It was kind of nice that nobody seemed to have their entire high school posse represented so we all just sort of floated around and visited with each other.  Or maybe it was just after ten years, no one remembered or cared who belonged to what clique anymore.   No one seems that different from ten years ago, but everyone seems to be doing good things with their lives.

I only took one picture the entire time, and it was in the cab on the way there.  This is my best friend, Krissy, and I.  We met in eighth grade, in a class called Enrichment.  I don’t remember what we were supposed to actually do during Enrichment, but if passing notes was the point, then we were top of the class.  We originally bonded over our musical preferences.  While everyone else was listening to either Pearl Jam, Dr. Dre or Dave Matthews Band, we had both (separately) discovered a love for the oldies station.  We had certain songs we’d call each other when we heard them on the radio: Little Red Riding Hood and Snoopy vs. The Red Baron stand out in my mind.

In other words, we were pretty dorky.  But we managed to turn out okay. 

10 years ago: Spring Break in Myrtle Beach, April 2000.  My sister, Katie, and friends Jamie, (me), Krissy and Tamara.  And a waiter who wanted to immortalize himself in this shot too.  I don’t think we’ve changed too much in ten years, except that no one parts their hair in the middle in the anymore.  So late 90s. 

I feel like the advent of Facebook (and the ease of keeping in touch over instant messenger, email, texting, cell phone/no long distance) has made reunions a little bit anticlimactic.  I’ve kept in good touch with my closest friends from high school through these mediums, but I also have the ability to spy on almost anyone I’m slightly curious about from high school or other past stages of life via Facebook.  There were very few people who I saw at the reunion who I didn’t have some semblance of what was going on in their life already.  In fact, I found myself in conversations mentioning something about someone’s life and realizing I only knew that because I had seen it as a Facebook status.  Since it happened back to me, I think that’s okay.  For example, congratulating someone on a baby they just had when you probably haven’t had an actual conversation with them since sometime around graduation day?  Thanks to Facebook. I obviously love the connections that internet/technology allow me to make and keep, but it certainly ruins the “where are they now” moments that reunions are supposed to have.  I know exactly where they are; their Foursquare check in just told me. 

What was the last reunion you had?  Did you attend? 

Farmer’s Market Sandwich (Again)

I’m kind of obsessed with this sandwich.  I made it for dinner Tuesday night, and then had it again for lunch Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

It’s good, ya’ll.  Even if you’re not a big fan of squash, you might like it this way.  Besides, what else are you going to do with all the extra squash your neighbor keeps giving you?

I made a video how-to of this last year, which I’ll post at the end.  But if you prefer the drool-worthy picture step-by-step, here you go.

You’ll need: squash or zucchini, olive oil or balsamic vinaigrette, pesto, basil and real mozzarella (the kind that comes in a ball). 

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Cut your squash (and/or zucchini) into rounds that about as thick as a quarter. 

(PS, that’s my cute sister in my kitchen!)

3. Lay the squash coins out flat on a cooking sheet.

4. Drizzle with olive oil or… even better the balsamic vinegar recipe I gave you in my previous post!  Sprinkle with Mrs. Dash’s, or Italian Seasoning or good ol’ salt n pepper.

5. Roast the coins in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.  Check them half way through, and flip ‘em over.

6. Meanwhile, spread about 2 tsp of pesto on a slice of bread.

7. Lay two thin slices of mozzrella (abt 1 oz) on the bread.  Sprinkle a little pepper on, and microwave for 10 seconds just to get it a little melty.  This is about where you should be dying from the delicious aroma of pesto + melted cheese. 

8. Cover the mozz with basil.  I really don’t believe in too much basil, but use your own discretion. 

9. Once the squash is cooked, add it as the “meat” of your sandwich.

10. Devour.  Repeat for the next four days in a row.

Okay, if that wasn’t good enough for you, you can watch me make it here.  This is a lower-calorie version with a few swaps, but the steps are still the same. 

Thankful Thursday: 4th of July Edition

I am thankful for every minute of the sun soaked days on a flat as glass lake spent with the best of friends.

I am doubly thankful that said friends welcome us (and our doggy) into their family-filled holiday weekend with open arms and room on the boat and the biggest platter of chicken salad I’ve ever seen.

I am thankful that after 200 failed attempts at wakeboarding, I didn’t give up, I stood up and finally experienced the thrill of *boop* going over the wake.

And with regards to that, I am thankful that Craig starts the boat slow enough that I actually *can* stand up.

I am thankful for the experience of watching Donna and Matt make their first attempt at wakeboarding, and specifically the smile that erupted across Donna’s face when she got it.  (On like the 3rd time.  Jerk.)

I am thankful for SPF 50.

And on this holiday, I am thankful for the freedom that living in this country bestows upon me: the right to pray to my God, to speak my mind, to choose my spouse and to get an education.  To name a few basics.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th.  What are you thankful for?

I’m Not Lying

I don’t know why people don’t believe me when I tell them about my dog’s anxiety. I mean, LOOK at him.  He is just WILD and out of control. 

Um, yeah, he’d be the one all noodled up in the lawn while 15+ people splashed in the lake, spun off on sea-doo’s and ran back and forth past him to the house up the hill. 

But really.  He is very anxious. 

I swear!

Farmer’s Market Bounty

I was just thinking to myself the other day that I wished we still operated in a world where “bartering” was common and people paid for services with fresh eggs and zucchini and green beans, cos I had a hankering for some farm fresh food and no space in my day to get to the Farmer’s Market!

Be careful what you wish for, right?  A day after thinking this thought, I was given a bag of green beans, a bag of zucchini and squash, THREE bags of basil (pesto), a whole heap of cucumbers and some heirloom tomatoes.  It was time to get cooking!

Roasting is so absurdly easy it shouldn’t even be called a technique, but I think it is truly the most delicious way to prep a vegetable.  Really…. better than a Bloomin’ Onion.  Roasting brings out the natural sugars in vegetables and makes their flavors sweeter, more potent and diminishes the bitter flavor that turns many people off from veggies.

Almost any veggie can be roasted.  My favorites are zucchini and squash, green beans, asparagus and root vegetables (onions, potatoes, beets.)

Prep work:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  A nice toasty oven is the key to roasting.
2. Chop veggies into even sized pieces.  I like either “one bite” or “two bite” pieces.  (You know, a piece you can eat in either one bite or two bites.)

3. Put your veggies in a ziploc bag and add 1 T of olive oil.  You may have to adjust that depending on how many veggie pieces you have, but I find that’s enough to cover a whole cookie sheet of veggies.  Shake shake shake to coat all the pieces.
4. Lay out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  If you’re not into messes, you could cover your cookie sheet with tinfoil and you’ll have the easiest clean up EVER.

5. Sprinkle with a little bit of rock salt, and pepper if you’d like.
6. Roast for 10 minutes.  Take out and move around (stir, flip, shuffle… just wiggle them around a little bit.)  10 more minutes, shuffle.  10 more minutes.
***Pay attention after the 2nd 10 minutes (20 minutes cook time.)  Some veggies will be done at this time.  You can taste or poke to be sure.
7. EAT!  )That’s my favorite step, of course.)

Alternative Options:
#1) Dress with balsamic vinaigrette for a little more flavor (works especially great on squash and zucchini.)
Shannon’s Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (makes a big batch)
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 T dijon mustard
1 T sugar

In case you’re wondering, Shannon was the owner of the coffee/sandwich shop I worked in all through high school.  We kept this dressing on hand and put on just about every salad and sandwich we made.  I still keep a batch of it on hand at all times.

#2) Toss afterward with a homemade vinaigrette.  Here’s one of my favorites to toss on green beans.
3 T olive oil
2 T white wine vinegar
2 t sugar
1 t dijon mustard
Any chopped herbs you might have (parsley, basil, dill) or a pinch of dried basil
Put in a glass jar with a lid and shake to emulsify, pour over hot green beans and serve!

Now, heat up that oven and get you some veggies!

Write It Down

Subtitle: “How I Earned an All Expense Paid Trip to the Dominican Republic”

There’s a well-known study in behavioral psychology about the 1953 graduating class of Yale University.  3% of that class, upon graduation, committed their goals down to paper.  20 years later, follow up on the alumni from this group found that those 3% had acquired more wealth than the other 97% graduates combined!  This study is frequently cited as a powerful testimony to the power of the written word.

Unfortunately, the study never happened.  Yup, just like many urban myths that proliferate through email forwards and websites, there’s not a parcel of truth to this study.

Or is there?

Both Yale and Harvard (who is sometimes listed as the graduating university in variations of the story) have both confirmed that this study never existed, despite the fact that consultants, coaches and business managers have been quoting it as a foundational principle for achievement and goal setting for years.  The persistence of this belief, to me, indicates that it is an idea that does still resonate with us, even despite the apparent lack of empirical data to support it.

I’ve always personally subscribed to the power of the written word, whether it’s using day to day logging (like food logging, or tracking exercise) or journaling for more long term goals and self-reflection.  Recently, I’ve been cleaning out a filing cabinet that contains at least four years worth of papers and documents.  In my paper shuffling, I came across some interesting pieces of evidence about the power of writing things down.

The first was a pretty heavy-duty piece of self-reflection that I had to complete as part of my coaching training, about 3 years ago.  The questionnaire was an exhaustive 20 pages, but of course, I couldn’t help but dive in to see what had changed in the time that had transpired.  One of the exercise involved evaluating how you spent your time vs. how you would like to spending your time, and as I read through exercise I saw that I had written that “I feel like I am living on adrenaline, constantly rushing from one thing on my to do list to the next and never feeling like I was actually present in the moment.  If the only thing that changed after coaching training was this feeling, it’d be worth every dollar I’m paying to be here.”

I re-read that statement three or four times before I realized that I had really written that, and felt that way.   I don’t feel like that at all anymore.  I can’t say that I consciously came up with a plan to put in to place to slow down my life, although I could probably attribute the change to regular gratitude journaling, somewhat regular meditation, and saying “no” more often.  I was amazed to see that while I had not consciously focused on creating that change, I had indeed created that change.  (Guess my coaching training WAS worth every dollar I paid for it.)

The next thing I found was a “wheel of wellness” that I had created a few years ago to use with clients.  It’s a wheel with various aspects of wellness (food choices, emotional eating, energy balance, etc) and the client rates their satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 in each wedge of the wheel.  It gives you a picture of how balanced their life is, and it also helps identify areas to start working on.  I had “tested it” on myself about 3 years, and had written on the back that the only area I was dissatisfied with was my food choices, in particular the amount of processed foods I used.  I had written that my primary goals would be to cut back on diet coke (which was an at least once a day addiction).   I shoved that paper into a drawer and never looked at it again.

But what happened?  A few months ago, my husband and I decided we would stop buying soda to keep in our house.  It’s still my ‘go to treat’ but now instead of having one every day for lunch, and sometimes again after work, I have 2-3 a week.  I didn’t consciously make that decision remembering the wheel, but nonetheless, my written down goal has come true, again without really a great deal of effort!

Okay, you want to know how I went on an all expensive paid trip to the Carribean don’t you?  The last piece a paper I found was entitled “BIG WIGS.”  WIG stands for “Wildly Improbable Goals,” and comes from Martha Beck’s book Finding Your Own North Star.  (A fantastic “soul-searching” book that I highly recommend.)  Beck’s premise is to write down goals that are SO wild, so improbable, so crazy that you can’t even imagine how they’d come true.  This gets you out of the “yeah, but….” self talk that tends to circle Somewhat Probable Goals (not very catchy, I know).  I won’t tell you what all my WIGs were (because the other ones are going to come true, I know now)… but I had written “All-expense paid trip to somewhere warm and tropical with my hubby.”

WELL.  I heard the Twilight Zone music start to play when I read this.  Last year, I was talking to a friend who told me about a program where Personal Trainers could go work a week at a number of different resorts in exchange for their and guest accommodations and food.  As I still had my personal training certification active, I signed us right up and last May, Matt and I lounged around in the Dominican Republic, all expenses paid, in exchange for 2 hours working as a personal trainer ever day.

Now, my WIG didn’t exactly mention I’d be working for 10 hours that week, but do yout hink I’m complaining?  NOPE!

The last piece of paper was what struck me the most, because at the time, when I wrote it, I couldn’t foresee any possible way that we’d be headed somewhere warm and tropical … and not pay a dime.  But that’s the magic… I couldn’t imagine it, so there was no doubt or anything to get in my way. There’s something powerful that happens when we write things down, and tuck them away.

Look, some goals need to be SMART goals.  They need specifics, they need plans, they need follow-up.  But some goals are either so big and too wild to tame (like my trip), or they’re a little fuzzy around the edges to create a how to plan (my “less adrenaline, please” goals.)  And some goals fall in the “would be nice” category – you’d like to make them happen, but maybe they lack a little bit of the urgency that creates an “okay, what’s next?!” kind of plan. These goals might not need the same kind of systemic, SMART style plan that clearly defined, specific, and time-oriented goals need.

Some goals need plans, and some goals need incubation.  The latter – the wild ones, the fuzzy ones and the non urgent ones, are the perfect types of goals to incubate.  To write down, to dream about, and then to put away to hatch.  I’m not promising that everything you write down on a piece of paper comes true, but I’m a firm believer that the actual act of committing your dreams or goals to paper is one of the very critical pieces in creation.  It’s an act of intention. Taking it out of the mind, putting it consciously on to paper.  Putting words to the dream.

Someone once said “a goal is just a wish until you write it down.”  It may not have been a Yale graduate who uttered those words, but it’s sage advice nonetheless.

You don’t have to know how to make a goal happen yet.  But writing it down is the first step towards committing your intention to making it happen.

I challenge you to write down 3 goals:

(1) one BIG WIG goal.  Fairly specific, but so wild you can’t even imagine how it would happen goal.

(2) a fuzzy goal – a feeling or experience or a state of being you’d like.  Again, you don’t have to know how it’ll happen.

(3) a non-urgent goal.  Something you’d like to do, but don’t feel stressed about.

Write it down in a journal.  Write in a piece of paper you fold up and tuck into the back of your filing cabinet.  Leave it in the comments.  Send it to me an email.  (If you do, I promise to email you in 2 years and see where you are!)

Just begin with the intentional act of committing your goals to the written word, and let the magic take hold.  Trust me, you’ve got nothing to lose and maybe a vacation to go on…. Endless pina coladas by the poolside?  Yes, please!

Pesto!

For Valentine’s Day, my husband gave me a plant.  It’s called a polka dot plant.  And it’s sitting on a pot behind my kitchen sink.  The fact that it’s actually alive, a whole five months after I have acquired it is a miracle in and of itself.  I’m not exactly known for my green thumb.

One of these days though, I’d like actually have a garden.  I’d like to experience putting seeds in the earth and getting my hands dirty and seeing the fruits (and veggies) of my labor sprout out months later.  In the meantime, though, I’ll have to be content with polka dot … and my friends sharing the excess production from their labors.

Last week we had a potluck party to celebrate a friend’s birthday and another friend leaving for Italy.  Our friends showed up with dinner dishes in hand, and a bonus – basil!  Three of my girlfriends – Jamie, Anne and Akanksha – all came with a Ziploc baggie full of basil.  I knew exactly what I had to do with all this fragrant delicious green stuff… make pesto!

This recipe comes from my Aunt Jennifer.  It’s incredibly simple, but so flavorful.  I make it in my food processor, but for years – during college and grad school – I would actually make it in a blender.  (Meaning if you don’t have a food processor, don’t despair… you can still make this!)

Here’s the recipe:
2 cup packed basil leaves
½ cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup toasted pinenuts
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Throw in a blender or food processors.  Whirl.  Eat.

Uses for pesto:
-          My Aunt Jennifer always cooks tortellini and chicken and tosses it in pesto.
-          I toss on roasted beets + potatoes for a little flavor.
-          Make a Caprese salad (sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and basil) and drizzle a little pesto over.
-          Slice a French baguette into thin slices, drizzle a little bit of pesto on each piece and add chopped tomatoes on top.  Broil for instant bruschetta!

Pesto IS very calorically dense (cheese, olive oil, nuts….) – so remember, a little bit goes a long way.  But it’s a great way to use fresh basil from your garden, as well as heart healthy olive oil and nuts, and antioxidant-rich garlic.

Other variations include swapping the pine nuts for walnuts, and swapping basil for other fragrant herbs like parsley or sage.  (See my parsley pesto here.)

The Sis!

My sister came to visit me!

We made squash sandwiches.

And talked about weddings. (Hers, obviously.)

And snuggled with pupdog.

And met some of hubby’s co-workers out a bar – but only talked to each other and Jamie. (Oops.)

And talked about how much fun it will be when she moves to Winston-Salem permanently.

Just kidding.

But wouldn’t that be nice?

Another Saturday Night, And I Ain’t Got Nobody

Matt was working last night, so I downloaded the movie Valentine’s Day to watch while I folded laundry and cleaned. I thought that it would be a nice way to “treat” myself, considering my lame-o Saturday night plans. (Don’t take that as a complaint; what makes me a perfect match for an emergency medicine resident is that one weekend night out, one weekend night in is my idea of perfect balance.) Anyways… I digress. The movie? Have any of you seen it? Other than it having lots of my favorite actors in it, the plot/stories were really weak. Like a watered down Love Actually. The only part where I truly laughed out loud was at the end there’s an outtake of Julia Roberts in a car, and the driver says to her as they pass by, "Rodeo Dr? You ever shopped there?" and she goes "Once. Big Mistake. Big. Huge."

Oh Julia. You are a keeper. (Anyone else psyched about her playing Liz Gilbert in upcoming "Eat, Pray, Love" movie?)

Friday night, we attended end of the year party at our friend Anne and Locke’s house. End of the year for both teacher-Anne and the first year interns. To the rest of us suckers, summer doesn’t mean anything except relief from the heat in the office air conditioner. I brought my camera, but somewhere between mainlining artichoke dip and bringing back my old school flip cup skills, I forgot to bring it out. Jamie was walking around with hers, so I’ll just send you on over to her post. (Eventually, we’re just going to come up with a schedule as to who is in charge of documenting and blogging our mutual events.)

Once I had my house all spiffy and my laundry all folded, it was crafty time up in the Cline house. (Seriously, guys, I am just OUT OF CONTROL and wild.) I saw this post and decided to try my hand at it. So I spent the wee hours of Saturday night cutting up an old tee-shirt and glue-glunning. (Haven’t sewn to a shirt yet; will post pictures when it’s complete.) To say my husband was shocked when he called at the end of his shift (midnight) and I was still up is an understatement. It was a fortunate surprise though, as we had nothing as far as good eats in the house, so I put away my glue gun and whipped up some late-night quesadillas for the good doc. See what I mean? Best EM wife ever.

From flip cup Friday night to crafting with my snoring doggy Saturday night. That, my friends, is balance.

Oh, and footnote… speaking of crafts: I know I posted this on Facebook, but I don’t think I posted it here yet. This was my other project from our sewing night. Anne had brought this cute swirly orange and white fabric. I cut shapes out from it, and just free-handed them on with the sewing machine on to a T-shirt that had been in my goodwill pile. I was really happy with how it turned out. Pardon the dorky self-timer pics.

Morning Glory

Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. – Psalm 90:14

(5:30 am sky, no photoshop required.)