Tag: animals

Some Tidbits on a Tuesday

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life, training

This is how broke people trim their hair hahahaha. I have actually done this for years, I only pay for a haircut like once every 2 years. Since my hair is curly you can’t really tell if I don’t cut it totally even!

Got in a little run yesterday with the pup, it was beautiful out! I did couch to marathon day 3. It was a 5 min warm-up walk, then 7X of run 3 min, walk 2 min then 5 min cool down walk. Of course someone who runs faster is going to get farther than the 2.36 miles I got hahahaha but it was good. 1 run of a minimum of 3 this week, done!!!!!!!!

After my run I checked on my peas, beans and zucchini I had planted on Friday before the crazy storm hit here on Saturday and turned our yard into a pond. They survived!!! Everything was still upright and growing, my spinach looked a little worse for the ware so we will see what happens with that.

I got the email notification and my tomato plants and herb plants have shipped so I will probably need to plant those this weekend and I think some of my other starts are ready to get in the ground so it will be a busy planting weekend this weekend.

I also made some potato leek soup which I have a pictures and a little video but of course they are on my tablet and not my phone so I will post those tomorrow.

The BF and I avoided housework and watched a movie together. Housework piles up fast. Today or tomorrow I need to get on that hahaha.

School+update

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, House/dating/life, school/studying

School is done and I couldn’t be happier. I ended with a C meaning I will have to retake the class to get at least a B which is what I need for nursing but I am ok with this. The last month of class I was sick and stressed and moving and so I let myself off the hook. I also have to remember that it hasn’t even been 3 full months since my brother died, my emotions are all out of wack. I am taking next quarter off school and feel great about it. This last quarter just exhausted me, I should have taken it off after my brother died but I didn’t and I know for sure that my health and well-being suffered for it. So I am putting me first and taking next quarter off. It will give me time to settle into the new house, which is currently still a mess, and settle into a new routine living with someone and commuting and all that. So that is that for school and here are more house and life updates:

The bathroom is finally starting to really come together! we have about 1/3 of the walls tiled now and even managed a bath yesterday which was AMAZING!! We couldn’t adjust the temp of the water because the spigot isn’t on yet so it was luke warm water coming out which we combined with boiled water hahahahaha, but it worked and being clean felt amazing!

We went for a short walk around the block on Friday morning, Artemis was very happy to get out of the house, though she is starting to settle in and spend longer amounts of time exploring the back yard.

Seed starts!!!! I am so excited about these!!! And I will probably have about 3-4 more trays before I am done! If even half of these survive we will have a GREAT garden and a good amount of food. I can’t wait to see how it all grows.

That is just a quickie update since I didn’t post on Friday. More to come tomorrow on Monday Motivation!!!!

Snow and the bathroom

by Ariana Peters, posted in House/dating/life

It may suck to drive in the snow with a bunch of people who don’t know how (cough cough, PORTLANDERS!!!!) But it sure is beautiful to see all those trees covered in snow and the river lined with snow on the banks.

Trying to defrost my car this morning. And I clocked in almost on time woohoo!!!

Artemis LOVES the snow!!!!! She loves to run around in it. And look you can actually see her against the white backdrop haahahhaahah

He is replacing some of the old floorboards that didn’t hold up quite as well as others.

We spend a great deal of time wandering around Lowes and Home Depot now. That is currently our version of a date out of the house.

This was only a few days ago! Scroll back up to see the progress.

Oh look more Home Depot!!

YES we are finally finished with the taking down part of the bathroom and are starting the building back up! As is evident by him putting flooring stuff back in. I even hammered a nail and screwed in 4 screws Monday night Woohoo! Now I can pretend that I have actually helped.

We have bought the flooring already, a dark wood-looking tile. I think by the end of next week we will at least have a working bathroom and be able to move in!

So we have the new flooring, new bathtub, new sink and vanity already bought. We still need to buy the wall tiles and are trying to decide if we want to keep the old toilet or buy a new one. I guess we will decide that after we bleach the crap (no pun intended) out of it and see what it looks like. We also still need to buy a shower curtain rod, shower curtain, shelves and decorations along with hand towels and wash cloths (we bought new towels for pretty cheap at Costco but it was just the towels).

I think within 2-3 weeks the bathroom will be done and I think within 1-2 weeks we will be moved in!!!!

I have sugarplum fairies dancing in my head

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, House/dating/life

or more factually correct I have images of fresh baked bread and delicious meals and gardens and chickens dancing in my head.

I cannot wait to break out my bread maker for some fresh amazing bread. Sandwiches our first week in the house on fresh baked bread…..yes!

Brandon already said he would build me a chicken coup from some repurposed wood. In Salem you can have up to 6 chickens without needing any permits. I think we will start with 3-4 this year and see how it goes. Then maybe add the other 2-3 next year. Spacing them out like that will be good for timing too. They don’t lay eggs for about 6 months then they produce for about 2 years then it will be harvesting time. So each year we will have to order 2-3 new chicks (after the first 2 years) and I I’ll need to learn how to butcher a chicken.

I have already placed an order to the Burpee seed company, I will have 6 heirloom tomato plants shipping to me around April 9th ready to be direct planted when they arrive. I think I will pick up 1-2 cherry tomato plants just from the grocery store, not heirloom but that is ok. That is perfect timing and should give us about 2-3 weeks in the house to get the yard ready for planning. I will continue ordering plants over the next few weeks.

Ahhhh about 5.5 weeks at the most!!!!!

 

 

……………..Well we got a call and that 5 or 6 weeks we had until we got to move in just went down to 3! We just got notice that the tenets are moving out early! Which is amazing and moves our timetable up about 2-3 weeks.

We are hoping to start moving things in over presidents day weekend. Brandon gets that Monday off and he would like to refinish the tub that day so it has the rest of the week to “cure” and we could start using it the next weekend. The bottom of the tub is wearing off and pealing away a little bit, so Brandon bought a refinishing kit. This is much cheaper than buying a new tub (which one day we will do, hello claw foot soaking tub!!!! one day lol) Having the tomato plants delivering in early April means we have that as a deadline to get the backyard ready for planting. Spring is also when baby chicks are born and delivered so a chicken coup will be near the top of the list too.

It is going to be a busy but amazing few months as we move it, get everything up and running and settle in!

 

Hello!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training, travel

Good morning and happy Saturday!!!!

I am slowly trying to get back into the grove of daily life. I am pretty tired though, part of that is that my cold came back!!! That is somewhat to be expected when I was sick when I left, spent 10 days on a boat with refiltered air and many hours on a plain with refiltered air. I made a giant vat of chicken noodle soup yesterday so I have soup for the week.

Here is a recap of what being home has been like so far.

I started couch25k again to get me back up to my running. I wont do every day but it will be good to get me started again and I can run faster during the run intervals to help with me speed. This was week 1 day 1. I went 1.52 miles. If you want to start running this app is free and great!!! It is how I started running almost wow I think 5 years ago. And now I have 4 half marathons under my belt and bought the $5 app to get me to a marathon with the same program!


Grilled cheese are on the menu as well as soup. I love apple, onion and cheddar grilled cheese on sourdough, so perfect for fall.

Won a Lula Roe contest and got a free item, I picked this tunic. So cute and perfect for fall!!! So comfortable, I may end up living in this.

My food prep before my trip will start paying off now, delicious enchilada!!

Top ramen, before I made my vat of soup.

It has been pretty relaxed. Just spending time with the boyfriend and my puppy and resting. Transcontinental travel is exhausting, but so worth it.

I will slowly keeping finishing my Europe posts as well as settling back into life posts.

Talk to you soon!!!

How are the first few weeks of fall going for you?

Home, Sweet Home

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training, travel

It feels amazing and horrible to be back home. I missed by dog and my boyfriend but other than that I wish I could have seen more.

Back to reality means back to paying bills and going to work. Back to apartment and house hunting with the bf so we can move in together. Working on getting all my transcripts transferred over to a new school here so I can start working toward the nursing program they have now that I know where we will be staying. And I need to starting getting all my annual Dr appts set up since it’s actually been like 2+ years since I did any of that.

Obviously I am actually looking forward to moving in with my BF and getting closer and closer to nursing school is a good thing and I have nothing against health checkups except the copays hahahahaha. It just sucks to come back from vacation and I am super tired, traveling transcontinentally is difficult. Thankfully I work today then have two days off.

Went for a 1 mile walk today with the dog, need to get back to my running.

I will keep posting my Europe trip slowly but surely until it is all done.

Have a good night, talk to you tomorrow!!

Day on the farm!

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle

Brandon and I headed out to his grandparents small farm in northern Oregon to hang out for half a day and had such a great time! It was so relaxing and wonderful.

From the moment we got there Brandon was in front of the blueberry bushes snacking away while we talked to his grandfather. Artemis enjoyed the flavor of the pigs trough water hahahaha. This is the only pig they have left and it is much more of a pet than something intended for a meal. It is getting old and grumpy though. It likes having its belly rubbed hahahaha!!!!! It was a little wary of Artemis but surprisingly she was not afraid of it!

I spent some time talking to his grandfather about their Israel trip which sounded amazing. Then we all went out to lunch and a teriyaki burger hit the spot.

When we got back from lunch Brandon, Artemis, the grandparents dog and I all set off to explore the property. 1/4 of their property is basically a little forest area that is super beautiful, the cows graze down there in the heat and there are blackberry bushes going wild. We wandered down there and explored and snacked on blackberries hahaha. Definitely getting our fruit quota for the day. Have you ever had a yellow raspberry? Now I have! they are pretty amazing right off the vine and according to his grandfather that is how you have to eat them because by the time you have them in the house they are starting to go bad.



At this point we were both super hot as it was the hottest part of the day so we headed back instead to talk some more and look at pictures and cool down.

Around 5:30-6 as the sun was starting to move toward the horizon and a lovely breeze started we headed out to feed the cows!! Got some hay from the barn and some treats for the cows and they slowly wandered over. We fed them some treats as well, their tounge feels like sandpaper like a cat! Again it took a minute but Artemis wasn’t afraid! Though they were a little wary of her hahaha.




Once the cows were chomping away happily we headed back down to the wood area and spent about an hour picking blackberries! 



We went home with probably a good 8lbs of blackberries! I am so making a blackberry balsamic reduction to freeze to put on some amazing stuff this winter (that post to come). At that point the temperature was perfect, I could have stayed out there for hours, and the space and joy of the country was just everything. It was such a great peaceful day. I can’t wait to go back!

In a month or 2 their trees will be hanging low with Apples!!! Can’t wait to make some apple desserts and some great slow cooker meals with apples!

Day 6 of 28 and hiking review of salmon river trail

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

Happy Saturday morning!!!

Yesterday the BF and I headed out for a little hike. We slept in and had smoothies for breakfast, I worked a little bit on flashcards for my Medical terminology class and had the last little 1/4th of a cup of smashed potatoes before we headed out. It was just over an hours drive to the trail so we stopped just before we got there for something to drink and cookies hahahaha. The trail was nice, mostly shaded and not too many people, we passed maybe a dozen people so I was able to let Artemis off her leash for about 3/4 of it.

Most of the trail meandered near the Salmon river, which was pretty shallow.

Lots of trees equaled lots of shade. Though being near the river it was a bit muggy.

We did an out an back trail so we stopped at mile 3.3 to turn around and head back. I brought a tortilla, 2 pieces of ham and some cheese and we shared a tortilla roll up for some energy to get us back.

It was a lot of rolling hills so we ended up running back about 2 of the 3 miles, maybe a little more. We made it back to the car pretty quick which was really nice. We decided to go out to Red Robin for dinner for some big juicy burgers, but I was good and got a side salad instead of fries. It was delicious. That was my day!

I really like the trail. AND Artemis went into the river!!!!!! She has never done this, normally I have to stand really still by the edge and coax her down and scoop handfuls of water for her to drink, this time she actually got in the water! More than once! Breakthrough!!!!!!

Day 2 of 28 day cleanse

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle

Hi!!! Thought I’d start the morning with a quick video

Juice after lemon water

Midafternoon check-in

Who knew salad and soup could taste so amazing!!!


I feel like my stomach might be shrinking too. I am getting full faster which is nice. Leads to less over eating. 

See you tomorrow!!!!

Summer Hiking Series 2017: Silver Falls State Park

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, training

Hola!!!!

Another hike down this summer! The boyfriend and I went to the very popular Silver Falls State Park. This is a state park that is a little over 9,000 acres. The two most popular trails are the Rim Trail and the Canyon trail, also known as the trail of ten falls. The canyon trail is super popular because you go by and even behind some of the 10 waterfalls.  I would like to do that trail at some point but it is SUPER busy because its not a difficult hike and all the waterfalls, but also dogs are not allowed and the last two weekend adventures had not included Artemis, so she was coming on this one, so we chose a different trail.


Never trust the bf to take a picture, it will always be of your backside. 

We did the Rim trail to the perimeter trail to the rackett ridge trail to a road walk for about a mile.

None of these were the trail we had planned on doing haha. We had gone there with the intention of doing the Buck mountain loop but parked in the main parking area (as I said it is busy and parking is limited. And didn’t know where the trailhead was from there. So we pieced together a route from the map.

We started on the rim trail where we saw maybe 20 people in 2.4 miles, not too bad.


Then we turned onto the perimeter trail where, after we made the turn onto the trail, we saw no one for the 3.2 miles. It was wonderful and I was able to let Artemis off her leash.

We got to the junction of the perimeter and the rackett ridge trail, from here the perimeter trail was closed due to winter storm damage so we turned on the rackett ridge which is also a horse trail for 2.2 miles. at about this point it crosses a side road and weaves back and forth through the forest and over the road. We chose to just take the road at this point and walk the just over a mile straight back to the parking lot because my feet were killing me!!! I had done a good mile increase this week and my feet had just had enough. This was also more than double the distance of our recent hikes so I was tired. Even Artemis was dragging behind us.

She passed out hard core as soon as we got to the car.

She was snoring in minutes. 

I was so tired too

Overall:

The rim trail; you overlook a waterfall or two with plenty of streams and waterfall runoff around you. Busy but not too horrible depending on when you go, hardly any elevation gain, small rolling hills, very pleasant.

The perimeter trail; sparsely populated, 1000 ft elevation gain, slightly challenging at times for me, piece of cake for the bf. In the beautiful forest, because almost no people you will walk into a lot of spider webs crossing the trail, spiderwebs: 1000 spiders: 0. There are enough small streams crisscrossing the 3.2 miles of trail that we did that Artemis had enough natural water, I probably didn’t even need to carry a water bottle for her.

Rackett ridge trail: we did 2.2 miles of this and most of it was down. This trail is much wider because it accommodates horses as well, it also wasn’t as smooth as the others because there were less people and more horses who used it.

Silver falls state park is well marked and it is easy to piece together a hike here with almost any amount of mileage you could want.

All in all I enjoyed this hike very much, though I was dying a bit by the end, and would recommend silver falls state park as a great place to hike. You can choose how difficult or easy and how populated or sparse you want your hike to be.

 Here are some fun stats curtosy of my Garmin vivoactive

Until next time, have fun trailing the blonde…………

Have you even been to Silver Falls state park? If so, did you like it?