Like I said

As mentioned previously, we were in the car for 8 hours.

We were also surrounded by beautiful mountains....so what was I to do other than take pictures?

This is a glacier!

Pretty!

me

We got to the town around just before dinner. I wasn't feeling oh so great due to the altitude and constant moving for the past 8 hours. Daniel and I walked around and found some yummy food. I ordered lemon water and Daniel ordered masala tea. But this is what we got. Mine tasted like hot lemonade and was surprisingly delish. Daniel's was a little weird. It's a little strange to drink hot liquids from a glass with a straw.

After dinner I went and got my hair washed. The girl used about 10 pumps of shampoo and washed my hair twice. I definitely felt clean when I left.

Once we settled in for the night in our twin beds my headache went away and I felt a lot better. The next day we did a little sightseeing in town and visited a carpet shop. It was pretty amazing to see how fast these women worked! And if I ever hit the lottery, I know where I'm buying my next rug!

Then we got back on the road, and took the "short" way home. It only took us 6 hours on the way back.

While we were driving, and by 'we' I mean the driver who actually has a valid drivers license, Daniel spotted some local farmers and decided to stop to talk to them. Here they are with their yak:

Look at the shadow on the mountains!!! isn't it great?

do you have a favorite mountain??

Sorry I know this post is random, but my brain is a little fried right now from class today. But in other news, I did run yesterday and plan to run tomorrow as long as it doesn't rain. My run on Monday felt great so I think I'm ready to add a little distance.

love

laura

And away we go

Last Friday, Daniel and I headed up to the mountains for about a week. We didn't take my computer so i didn't even try to blog (obviously.)

But we got back this afternoon and the 3rd load of laundry is in with another soon on it's way.

I want to be that annoying girl that posts every single picture I took of the exact same thing, just because it's so pretty, but I'll hold myself back. But for the record, I have a lot of amazing pictures from this past week!

Here we are on the plane....the flight is only about 2 hours, which is really nice!

I've actually lived and visited high altitude without any problems before. They say that it doesn't matter who you are, you just never know how the altitude will affect you. And this time was the worst transition I ever had! The first few days I had bad headaches, bad dreams, and just didn't feel great. It didn't help that we travelled to over 15,000 feet within 2 days of arriving.

Here is the view from our plane!

Isn't that amazing?!

Our first night we weren't too hungry (mostly because we killed some fried rice and noodles as soon as we got in). So we decided to just eat street food. You just pick out what you want and they fry it for you. Yum!

I had broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, lettuce, and lamb. Oh the lamb!!! Seriously I have got to start eating red meat more often!

Saturday we hung out with new and old friends, and I drank my weight in tea. Oh my goodness, it was quite literally the best tea I have EVER had in my life. Oh the goodness!!

Sunday we left for a 2 day trip to a nearby city. The first day we drove 220 miles in 8 hours.

Yeah, I'll let you do the math on that one. This might have been part of the problem:

What is so fun, is that I had been on this exact same road 4 years ago, so I have a lot of pictures from then and now, and it's really fun to compare!

I could totally wake up to this every morning!

We stopped for lunch and got the "buffet."

I won't do a day by day post, mainly because I really only took pictures the first few days. But stay tuned for some more wildlife and mountains!

love

laura

Keepin it real

Last Saturday Daniel and I had a breakfast date at a western restaurant. It was so good!!! I love breakfast! And I love having someone else make my coffee :)

Daniel enjoying his omelet and looking kind of nervous.

Yummm french toast!

After our date, we came home and I lived in the kitchen for the next several hours. We were having friends over the next day, and i wanted to make TPW cinnamon rolls. They really are so good!

And I added chocolate chips because why wouldn't you?

Please note all of the flour on the floor. It's not as easy at it looks people.

Daniel caught me getting some of the leftover cinnamon sugar glaze off the counter. no shame.

This week was my teacher's birthday. I got her a small present that cost just a few dollars. She had the best reaction and was so grateful! After I gave it to her she was saying that she wasn't expecting any presents for her birthday and she was so excited because she got two presents this year. I was so happy to celebrate her birthday with her! She was a great reminder that it really isn't all about the presents. ahhh...perspective.

The next few days is a holiday here, so Daniel and I are leaving tomorrow for the mountains. I.am.so.excited. For reals........I cannot wait to be there!

I'm not taking my computer so I'm not sure if I'll blog or not. But don't worry when I get back I promise to post pics of everything we ate :)

Happy weekend!

love

laura

Week in review

I wish I had pictures...but I don't.

I also realized that Daniel and I haven't taken a picture together in well over a month. We need to fix that.

If ya'll noticed, and I'm sure you did, because what is better than stalking my blog to keep track of my running stats, am I right?? I've actually been running for 2 weeks now. Just call me consistent.

I ran last week twice, and tomorrow will make twice for this week. I know, I'm not setting any huge records here, but I don't want to overdo it on the whole self-discipline thing. Some things are just better eased into :)

The high light of our week was receiving some good language encouragement. I feel like when learning language there are always good days and bad. Some days you feel like you're totally making process and are way excited that you understood more than just 'hello,' but there are other days that you can't speak a sentence to save your life.

Anyways...the high point of the week. Daniel and I both had a friend (who actually speaks the language) give us some tips and pointers and also give us an idea on where we are in the whole fluency thing. We were both pleasantly surprised to hear that we're actually catching on and making good improvements. It's one thing to tell yourself that you're right on track but it's a whole other world to have someone else tell you, and actually have the authority to say it! Daniel is killing it. For reals. He is amazing at speaking, understanding, reading, and writing. I'm pretty proud of all he has learned and how well he has learned the language. It's pretty amazing!

In other news...we're currently out of decaf coffee. I know, the horror. For a few years now, I've never made just straight coffee. I make half regular/half decaf. But I also drink a lot, so I guess it evens out in the end! I started doing half and half about 4 years ago after I took a really long caffeine break.

We ate hot dogs tonight. I know my sister is gagging this very moment, but seriously a good hot dog is rare these days, and we were pretty thankful.

My language teacher gave me half of her birthday cake today. It was a small cake, but still. No one should have too much chocolate cake with peaches, kiwi, and other unidentifiable fruit on top. Everything in moderation, I say.

Daniel and I have a breakfast date on Saturday morning. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day, and I LOVE eating it out! love love! So i'm pretty excited about our date! I may not have any pictures with my husband, but I can guarantee I'll have a picture of my Saturday breakfast.

Strawberries are starting to come into season here, which is also blogworthy.

That's it for now, have a good Friday! (or thursday depending on your time zone)

love

laura

Must make recipe

You know how sometimes you just feel like you're in a cooking rut? You feel like you make the same thing all the time and nothing sounds good to make? That's where I was a few days ago, so I wandered over to Skinnytaste.com, because I feel like everyone is talking about it.

And I found this! I always love a good crockpot meal!

I made a few substitutions....I chopped up 2 tomatoes (next time will do 3) instead of using the canned diced (bc we can't get that here), and instead of all of the spices, I just put in a packet of Taco seasoning. I also didn't use scallions, because I'm still unsure as to what those are exactly. And I only used about 1 lb of chicken.

Here it is!

Last night I served it over rice, and tonight I made tortillas and we just used the leftovers as burrito filling. I'm telling you, this is amazing and delicious!!!!! I rarely ever find a recipe that I want to make over and over again, but this one is definitely a keeper. One thing I simply LOVE about it, is how easy it is!!! Very little chopping or prep work. Also, I love that it is versatile.....you can put it with rice, tortillas, use it as a quesadilla filling, or serve it over tortilla chips and make a taco salad. Leftovers will no longer be boring! Make it, I promise you will like it!

Also, in cooking news this week, look what I did!

Apparently I'm stronger than I thought. I'm thankful that I wasn't hurt when the blade went flying but also sad, because this was seriously my favorite knife!

Daniel cooked on Saturday night, and we had pork, veggie stir fry and rice...it was yummy!

Random story.....I hung out with a local friend on Saturday night and she has a car. So she picked me up at my house but made me sit in the back the whole time because she "wasn't skillful." It was pretty awkward, so by the time she took me back home I insisted that it would be okay for me to sit in front, a risk I was willing to take.

I'm off to spin class!!

love

laura

whose child?

Last Saturday, I went to a local orphanage with a few friends. The orphanage is in a small town about an hour or so away.

I didn't really know what to expect, honestly. The last time I went to an orphanage I was about 11 years old. We lived in Belgium and our church kind of adopted a nearby orphanage. We would go each year to put on a Christmas party for them and bring presents. I remember how fun it was to go shopping for "our girl" and buying her all the pretty things we thought she might like.

So that was close to 20 years ago.

Last weekend was Easter, so we brought plastic easter eggs filled with candy to let the children have a little easter egg hunt. We also brought cupcakes and fruit. All of the children were in a large "playroom" and as soon as we walked in they were grabbing the food from us and just devouring it!

We also brought coloring pages and markers so they could color. Most of the children had disabilities so it was hard for them, but I think they enjoyed it!

There were only 3 babies at the orphanage, and I was able to hold 2 of them. I also spent some time with this little guy while he was eating lunch.

And I started to wonder, whose child is this? Are his parents worrying about whether or not he is safe, what does he look like, what are his interests? As I thought about this in regards to his biological parents, I wondered the same thing about his hopefully future parents. Are there families right now who are longing for  a child....and wondering are they safe, what do they look like, and what are his interests?

Most of the children just wanted to be touched, or held, or to hold a hand.

After we returned from the orphanage we went to eat "over the bridge" noodles. It was my first time to eat them and I loved it! It was a great experience. Basically, you get a plate of raw veggies, egg, meat, etc...

Then you put all of it in to a bowl of boiling water. The water cooks it and then you add the noodles and eat it. I was a little skeptical about the meat being cooked all the way, so I just ate around it. But it had great flavor and was perfect since it was a cold rainy day.

love
 
laura

That is what I call ironic

So....I don't have a single picture of our Easter. But rest assured that I wore the exact same thing I wore last year and Daniel wore a new blue plaid shirt that looked quite wonderful on him.

I was talking to a friend last night (you know who you are) and we were both lamenting how we had "mysteriously" gained 2 pounds each in the last few weeks. I was specifically annoyed because these past 2 weeks I have intentionally exercised more and continued my healthy eating habits...yet right when I started to increase my physical activity, I gained weight. (sidenote I've been the exact same weight for the last 9+ months, so any deviation is weird)

Yes, 2 pounds is not the end the world, I know this. But I'm allowed to feel like it is :) ha! And just because i don't live in America doesn't mean I can't experience first world problems :)

Anyways...I've been going to spin twice a week, and doing the Shred or walking a few miles on other days. And let me tell you I had the opportunity for Starbucks this past week and I turned it down!!! Someone give me a gold medal for showing ultimate self control.

So...the 2 pounds. I decided this weekend that enough is enough and I decided I must start running regularly again. It's been a few  months weeks since I've run with any real consistency. The best time for me to run right now is in the morning before class. Which means I would have to get up early. Earlier than I would like. But I told myself I had to get myself back into shape and exhibit a little self discipline.

So this morning, my alarm went off and I started to get ready for my run. I figured I would weigh myself to see the most recent weight gain. And lo and behold if I wasn't exactly back to my old weight. That is what I call ironic.

After celebrating how healthy and in shape my body was I contemplated not running at all, because clearly there was no need right?! Daniel even told me to go back to bed. But persevered I did, and ran about 3 miles. It wasn't fast by any means, but I loved it. I loved running on the empty quiet streets and knowing that before I'd even had my first cup of coffee, my work out for the day was done.

go me.

In other news, I'm continuing to watch my way thru the Star Wars movie. We've started watching a new one on Saturday nights...yes, we do know how to party, thank you. We just finished the Jedi one, so now I think we start going back in time to start watching the new ones. Makes sense right?

All that to say....I'm going to start running again.

love

laura