dinner of the week

Tonight I made myself a real dinner as part of my new plan to be more grown up (I mean, healthy).  This may be ambitious, but I hope to post about one meal each week.  Anyway, I made Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Tomato Sauce from The Sonoma Diet Cookbook, a baked sweet potato, and my mom's blueberry and peach crisp.  

I love The Sonoma Diet Cookbook!  It's based on the philosophy of 12 super foods: almonds, beans, bell peppers, blueberries, broccoli, citrus, grapes, olive oil, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, and whole grains.  All of the recipes include at least one of the super foods, which are all very flavorful.  The dish I made tonight had bell peppers, olive oil, and tomatoes.  It looked so pretty in the skillet!

I've been craving my mom's blueberry and peach crisp for a while this summer (ever since I made it during our July trip to Flathead Lake) and figured I'd better make it before summer escapes us.  It's a healthy take on a sweet treat (and it uses a super food).  Caroline and I couldn't wait to take a picture before we dove right in!

In other completely unrelated news, I'm very excited (nerd alert) that I figured out how to download PDFs for school to my Kindle.  I know I'm a little late to the technology party, so if you're tech savvy, please forgive me, but it's so cool that I don't have to print out 50 plus pages a week and lug them to class in a binder.  Instead, I can have them all in my cute little Kindle, and I can even highlight and take notes in it.  If only all of my textbooks were available for e-readers...

begin the begin

I'm easing into life here in Music City!  My first class isn't until Thursday night, so my daily routine includes a morning workout, a few hours at work, and then hanging out with Caroline in the apartment.  I am attempting to cook more than in the past (averaging about once a semester) and have thus far made marinated chicken and a sweet potato and tortellini with sauteed bell pepper and onion, so I'm doing better than usual.  If you have any great (and easy...and quick) recipes you'd like to share, I'm gladly accepting donations.

My supervisor, Dwayne, has been unbelievably welcoming.  I can tell we're really going to get along.  However, I'm not sure how I feel about being greeted by this...

Yes, it's a cut out foam board of my head.

...on my desk on my first day of work, but I think I can forgive him for it.  At least everyone in the office knows who I am!

I met the students I will be working most closely with yesterday at the Vanderbilt Programming Board (VPB) retreat.  For my role as the Graduate Assistant for Student Campus Events, I am the advisor to the Homecoming Committee and Vandy Fanatics.  Homecoming is fairly self-explanatory; we plan all of the university-sponsored events leading up to the big game, including a competition between student groups for the prized Commodore Cup.  Vandy Fanatics is the student organization that encourages students to support the different athletics teams.  Interestingly, the chairs for both of my committees are all guys.  It's great to see successful male students involved in campus activities; it seemed like male leadership was severely lacking at Furman.

I have definitely been experiencing information overload the last couple of days, but I know I will figure it all out soon enough.  During a meeting with the Fanatics chairs today, I mentioned the men's soccer team...which doesn't exist at Vandy.  So clearly I still have some things to learn.

Post title: "Begin the Begin," by R.E.M.

moving on

There have been so many changes in my life recently!  Leaving the ranch was hard, to say the least.  After a tearful goodbye with Kris at the airport, two different TSA agents offered me Kleenex and the coffee shop attendant asked if I was okay.  Needless to say, it was a rough day, followed by a quick trip home to Louisville to pack up my stuff, and then moving to Nashville on Monday.

My parents rented a moving truck to transport my furniture to my new apartment, since we no longer own an SUV.  This is what (practically) all my worldly belongings look like.

After lugging the contents of the truck up two flights of stairs and doing the same the next day for Caroline, the apartment is really coming together.  I love that we are right by the lap pool and fitness center, and being on the third floor is worth it for the vaulted ceilings.  I have pictures, but they were all taken with my phone, so excuse the quality/lighting.

New area code: 615

My room

My bathroom

Shower curtain that I hastily bought in order to be presentable at dinner.  I really like it though!

Caroline's room

Caroline's bathroom

So far, all (um, I mean all two) of our visitors have commented on how "grown up" and "real world" our apartment looks, whatever that means.  But it is nice to have escaped the lovely North Village linoleum, to have furniture of our own, and to be able to use actual nails for hanging pictures as opposed to Command strips.

I've attended orientation for both my graduate assistantship and Peabody.  All of the people in my program seem really nice and very accomplished.  I'm in the minority as a 2011 graduate; most people have been working professionals for several years.  Classes don't start until next week, but I have been working in my assistantship for a few days.  Work includes meetings with the balloon man, so I can't complain so far.  I have a very early morning tomorrow helping the freshmen (or "visitors," as my boss, Dwayne, calls them) move in, so we'll see how I feel about my job after that!

Post title: "Moving On," by Needtobreathe

fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue

For my last days off, Kris and I took a trip to Glacier National Park in northern Montana.  He got off work late because some of the horses ran to the edge of the ranch property and he had to chase them down (hahaha), so we got a slow start.  The drive there was beautiful though.

We passed Flathead Lake.

We didn't get to Whitefish until almost 10:00 and were sure no decent restaurants would be open.  I had called a restaurant called Lou La's and asked how late they stayed open.  They told us if we got there by 10:00, they would serve us.  We walked in around 9:55, and they had a table waiting for us.  You might think this is a pointless part of the story, but it was a momentous occasion because Kris ordered his first bottle of wine that night.

The waitress poured him a taste while she and I were talking, and she had to interrupt the conversation to ask Kris if he would like to try it.  When she left, he told me he wondered why she had given him so little!

The next day, we drove into Glacier and embarked on a nine mile hike from McDonald Lake up to Snyder Lake.

The beginning.  Lake McDonald in the background.

Lake McDonald's the largest lake in Glacier.

Kris carried the backpack most of the time, but I took a turn once or twice.
 

Snow in August!

I found him the perfect hiking stick.

Indian Paintbrush...my favorite wildflower.

Kris stopped about every five minutes on the way up to take pictures of wildflowers.  After three miles, it got a little old.

Finally at our destination...Snyder Lake.

We stopped at Lake McDonald on the way back...

and put our feet in!

Looking a little rough post-hike.

So we made some rookie mistakes:
1. We didn't take enough water and ended up getting some from a stream on the trail.  We accepted that we would probably not feel very good later on but didn't really care.  It's a few days later now, and neither of us has Giardia, as far as I know, so I guess we survived!
2. We borrowed hiking boots from the Rod 'n Gun at the ranch that guests rarely use, so they weren't broken in at all and were a little stiff.  Our toes paid heavily for it, especially on the way down.
3. I rolled my ankle stepping off my tent porch right before we left.  Probably shouldn't have hiked nine miles on it the next day.  It's still pretty swollen.
But overall, it was so much fun, and I'm thrilled that I finally got to see Glacier.  We didn't see any major wildlife, but I'm okay with not encountering bears or mountain lions on the trail, thank you.

Post title: "Cowboy Take Me Away," by the Dixie Chicks

i need more time

I can't believe I leave the ranch in less than two weeks!  It has been such an amazing experience...exactly what I needed after four years of hard work at Furman and before two years of (probably) even harder work at Vanderbilt.  After getting the hang of things in Housekeeping, even the work isn't that bad.  We've started to have a lot of fun with our supervisors, too.  One day last week, they drove over to the tents where I was working for no other reason but to ask me why there were cop cars at Staff Housing (because apparently I would know), and we proceeded to chat about ranch happenings for a half hour.  We work hard, but we play hard, too.

Maybe it's because MK and I planned to come out here together and I was caught up in leaving all of my Furman friends, but I never considered that I would make such great friends here.  I was worried we wouldn't be outdoorsy enough compared to all the other staff, but most people are really similar to us.  I hope we'll keep in touch.  And there might be a certain cowboy I'm a little sad about leaving...

Can you blame me when I have views like this?

And this?

And this (haha)?  Photos courtesy of Michael Chilcoat.

Post title: "More Time," by Needtobreathe

i'm a fighter

Big ranch news!  This post is in strict violation of the "no gossip" policy that EVERYONE definitely follows here at the Ranch at Love Creek (oops...I mean Rock).

Last night, MK and I worked the night shift (our favorite!...not), and we were taking our break, sitting in the staff lounge area with a couple of our guy friends.  All of a sudden, the Activities Coordinator comes over the radio and says there is an emergency and asks if anyone is available to break up a fight.  So of course the boys go running.  Meanwhile, MK is very concerned because someone stole half of each of our sack dinners from the fridge.

This is the scene of the crime, the Rod 'n Gun, AKA the Activities Center.  Photo courtesy of Michael Chilcoat.

So this is what went down: a large, intimidating German man was upset to see that one of his family's bikes went missing (bikes that the ranch provides for the guests, mind you).  He went down to the front desk and was yelling about the bike, so our Activities Coordinator (a sweet little blonde girl) drove him to the Rod 'n Gun to get a new one.  No big deal; the ranch owns hundreds of bikes.  After offering the German several bikes and only receiving yelling in return, another guest rides by on the German's bike.  The natural reaction is to approach the man and head butt him, correct?  Well that's what our German friend did.

Needless to say, the cops showed up, wrote a report, and the innocent victim will likely press charges.  He's a sweet southern dad here on vacation with his three boys, by the way.  The Germans were asked to leave.  Hey, it got MK and I out of two extra turn downs, so we weren't complaining.

Post title: "Fighter," by Gwyneth Paltrow

it takes the shape of a place out west

I've obviously been having way too much fun here since I haven't posted in a while.  My sincere apologies.  This is what I've been up to:

Last week, my parents came for a visit to the great state of Montana.  They met me at the ranch, and I gave them a little tour of our humble abode.  Then I showed them beautiful downtown Philipsburg.  We took a trip into The Sweet Palace, P-burg's famous candy store, to get some yummy malted milk balls.

This picture is from an earlier trip to the Sweet Palace, but it gives you the idea of its magnificence.

Then we drove to Gardiner, stopping in Bozeman for dinner.

Our view of the moon on the drive.

The next day, we drove into Yellowstone and hiked along the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

First wildlife sighting of the day, and it was a black bear!

I forget what these guys are called...they're deer-like.

One of about 100 bison we saw.

One of the waterfalls on Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

The larger waterfall (300 feet tall)

Dan and Jenny awkwardly framing the waterfall.

We met this man.  Then we realized his hat said Garst on it.  Apparently that's a company that has something to do with corn.

Artists' Paintpots

The next day, we woke up early to get a good hike in before we needed to leave to go back to Philipsburg.  We did a loop around a lake that passed by a petrified tree and lots of wildlife, including a buffalo just a few yards from the trail.  At one point, I was ahead of my parents and suddenly started running back up the trail toward my mom.  She thought I had seen a bear.  Not quite.  It was some sort of bird; it looked like a smaller, all grey turkey.  I guess I scared it because it started hissing and charging at me.  I was terrified.  My dad was more concerned about getting a picture of it and was disappointed that I had scared it away.  Then we saw a doe and her baby, and I was a little scared of them, too, due to the bird incident.  You never know what an intimidated mama might do!

There's the baby.

After our hike, we grabbed a burrito in Gardiner (Henry had recommended it the last time I was in Gardiner, but they were closed, so I was excited to finally experience Mexican food in Montana) and hit the road back to Philipsburg.  We met some of my friends from the ranch (MK, Lisa, Katie, and Dan) in town at Doe Brother's for dinner.  Then, Mom and Dad stayed in P-burg for the night at the lovely Broadway Hotel before their trip to Glacier National Park while my friends and I drove to Flathead Lake for the weekend.  

Lisa's cousins have a cabin at the lake that was just perfect for our weekend getaway.  We were actually there for the Flathead Cherry Festival, but ironically, there were no cherries.  We went to the festival anyway and walked around, but I would have really enjoyed a piece of cherry cobbler or something.  I really wanted to get a henna tattoo or buy a wolf shirt, but I held myself back.  The rest of our time at the lake included a lot of lounging on the dock and floating in rafts.

This is the life.

Miranda and her family were also at the lake, so we hung out with them, too.  We rode around in their jet skis, wake boarded, and I even tubed off the back of a jet ski.  Miranda's family had us over for dinner on Saturday night, which was so fun!  I made my mom's signature summer dessert (blueberry and peach crisp), and it was a hit.  

I spent my five days off in a row very well and am not even regretting it now as I am in the midst of a nine day work week.  

Post title: "Wide Open Spaces," by the Dixie Chicks