Belknap Hot Springs

Yesterday, Cliff and I took a five hour mini vacation.  We drove up route 126 into the mountains to breath fresh air, see tall trees, and soak in mineral water.  We visited Belknap Hot Springs which is a campground, hotel, and apparently rural development that has two hot spring pools on their property.  The public can come and for $7/hour or $12/day soak in one of their pools.  It's not a natural hot spring environment as pipes bring in the hot/mineraly water into what looks like a swimming pool.  It's a cute little area tucked into the trees. Oh and what would a mountain lodge be without countless carved bears.

This is a great place to bring future visitors who would like to experience a hot spring without any hiking (or nudity) involved.  Besides the pool, they also have a few trails that lead people to gardens and meadows.  It was nice but weird all at the same time.  We were an hour along the river, in the middle of the mountains yet there was a very manicured and concrete garden in the middle of nowhere. Odd but nice.

Oh and there were fuzzy rocks.  I really love living here as moss grows all over everything.  It makes me so happy.  It just makes things feel more peaceful.

We soaked for an hour.  As you can see we looked really relaxed afterwards (and unsurprisingly I looked really red).  We need to take more trips like this.  It didn't take all that long but we got out of the city (ha...even I call Eugene/Springfield a city now) and got to unwind thanks to the lack of cell service.

Oh and they also had these guys.  They are sculptures of musicians.  I wonder if they play ambient music around the patio area in the spring and summer.  If not, they should.  Oh and you are right...there are plants growing out of that piano.

Since we were already an hour up route 126, we decided to drive a little further up the mountain to see Sahalie Falls in the snow.  We passed several signs telling us that we were officially in the snow zone but since it was a 50 degree sunny day (hacha!) we decided to proceed forward without the required chains or snow tires.  There were walls of plowed snow on each side of the car but somehow we were still hopeful that the parking lot would be plowed and open.  Well, it wasn't.  This was the first time that I actually wanted to have snowshoes in hand so that we could have hiked in to see the falls buried under a few feet of snow and ice.  My imagination tells me that it was beautiful.  Instead this is all that we got to see.

As we headed home, I decided to stop at a country store/gas station to get kettle corn (as I remembered buying some there when Dad came to visit back in 2007).  We got caramel kettle corn and taters as I love them (my PopPop's nickname for me when I was little was Tater as I liked them so much).  Well in the Northwest they are called Jo Jo's apparently.  Check this recipe out to see what I'm talking about (p.s. Cliff really loves this blog).

It was a really relaxing day.  I love where we live.

Why I Love Movies

Mom and me pose for a picture shortly after the store opened.

I spent the first nine years of my life (more or less) in a video store.  My parents owned their own store, Video Adventures, and I would end up there everyday for obvious reasons.  There was a little mattress in the back office where I would take naps.  I didn't mind being at the store.  I filled my time playing with Barbies in hand-built structures made entirely out of plastic VHS cases and honing my skills as a skee-ball player.  That's right....we had a skee-ball game... in the store!  It wasn't a good idea for my parents to show me where they kept the tokens as I frequently would nab them to play with customers.  I don't think anyone ever paid to play that game because I always had them on hand (sorry Mom and Dad!).  In fact, I loved spending time at the store.  All of the employees became an extended family, customers became friends, and we always had something good to watch.  Plus, I got to work a pricing gun and use the register. When the stores closed we liquidated all of the videos except for our favorites. This meant that we got to keep goodies like: Mannequin, Adventures in Babysitting, The Gnome Mobile, Troop Beverly Hills, Just One of the Guys, The Parent Trap (the first one), The Absent Minded Professor, Hairspray (again, the first one), Sleepless in Seattle, The Mighty Ducks, Coming to America, well....I could go on and on.  I'm probably one of few people my age who brags about their impressive VHS collection.  I just can't let them go.

Growing up I got to see alot of movies.  I mean alot of movies.  The store would get preview tapes so that we could watch them before we ordered.  Mom and Dad would have to watch them and I would always be right between them on the couch.  It was pretty great.  Because of the store I got to see movies that most kids my age weren't allowed to see.  We had a pretty strict rule about not repeating bad words and whenever anything would get too mature Dad's hands would go over my eyes and Mom's hands would go over my ears.  This was a pretty good system.  It took me a while to figure out the actual story behind Pretty Woman.  I just thought it was a movie about a lady who learned to shop and live in Beverly Hills. I'm happy my parents let me watch movies with them.  I learned a lot. In the end no harm, no foul.  I turned out just fine.  In fact, I think I turned out pretty awesome.  Movies introduced me to acting, music, design, and a world outside of Southern Maryland. For this I am very thankful. 

The reason I am bringing this up is because tonight is the Academy Awards.  I always get excited for the awards despite only ever seeing one or two that are nominated.  The main reason being that I grew up in a family that watched movies at home not in the theater.  I do enjoy going to the movie theater but I generally only go for two types of movies: Will Smith action films and comedies.  It is incredibly enjoyable to laugh out loud with people or scream and cheer for Will Smith's victory over aliens/the wicki-wild wild west/whatever he is conquering.  Otherwise, why spend all that money when you can pig out in your pajamas on your own couch?  I never see movies in a timely manner but I'm ok with that because I love renting and watching movies at home.   These days I am a big fan on Redbox and the library.  The library gives me access to the classics while Redbox helps me stay in touch about relatively new films (and pop culture).

This year I saw 17 movies; meaning movies that were released to a wide audience in 2011.  I saw eight with the help from Redbox, three in the theater, three via cable at the Lyddane's house, two via United flying cross country, and one via the library.  I'm pretty proud as I have seen three of the films nominated for best picture: Moneyball, The Help, and Midnight in Paris.  All three were very enjoyable but I have to go with Moneyball.  I love sports movies to begin with but Moneyball takes it to the next level.  It is a candid look inside the world of major league sports.  It is intelligently written and well acted.  If you haven't seen it please go to Redbox and treat yourself.

In honor of the awards, I decided to nerd out a bit and serve food and beverage inspired by the three nominated movies that I have seen.  We are having Moneyball meatballs.  They are meatballs in a spinach and cream sauce.  How does this relate to the movie?  Well, because money is green and so is spinach. We are having green meatballs so in my simple mind they are kinda like Moneyballs.  Stop laughing.  We are also having The Help malted chocolate pudding pie parfaits but without the special ingredient. To drink we are having red wine to honor Midnight in Paris.  Kinda lame I know but we needed a beverage and red wine is very French.  Oh and a salad because it is important to eat your veggies.

Are you doing anything fun to celebrate?  Enjoy the show!

In case any of you were wondering, below is a list of the 17 movies from 2011 that I saw this year.  My taste in movies can be questionable at times (note that I love romantic comedies, frat boy humor, and musicals) so please don't judge me too harshly.  Also if you have any suggestions of other 2011 movies I should see please send them my way and hopefully they will have them at Redbox.  Here we go: Midnight in Paris, The Change Up, A Better Life, The Way, Country Strong, The Green Hornet, Soul Surfer, Gnomeo and Juliette, Paul, The King's Speech, Arthur, Water For Elephants, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, The Help, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, and Moneyball.

Thankful For Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving.  I really do.  It is a fall holiday which means there are pretty colored leaves on the ground, a chill in the air, and pumpkins everywhere. Amazing.  I always get so excited for Thanksgiving.  It's great if you stay home and host folks or if you go out and visit with family and friends.  Plus it is the beginning to the holiday season which makes everything feel just a little bit more special and like you are a kid again.

I always get nostalgic at Thanksgiving.  I made Cliff watch the parade with me yesterday and I sadly will admit that I always tear up when I watch it.  One year mom and dad took me to New York as a birthday present to see the parade.  It was raining and we were running late to get on the line so we stopped at a McDonalds and bought expensive New York breakfast biscuits.  It was raining so hard that the bottom of our paper bag fell out in the middle of the street (a busy NYC street) and our food went to the ground.  It didn't matter, we picked up the soggy wrapped biscuits and went on our way.  For anyone who knows my dad and me, you will understand the significance of us eating anything that fell in the street :) It was so much fun and it makes me smile just thinking about it.  I love the parade.

This year we were excited to host friends and family in our new apartment.  Brie (Cliff's cool cousin) lives in Portland so she came down for the event and Kathy and Jill (our super amazing friends from college) traveled down from Portland as well.   We wanted to do Thanksgiving with a bit of a southern flair so we tried to spice the traditional menu up a bit.  Our menu included:

• Bacon wrapped dates for an appetizer (thanks Katie and Read for introducing us to them last year!)
• My deviled eggs
• Brie's asparagus, beet, argulula, and chevre salad
• Brie's amazing collard greens (I want the recipe so bad)
• A lovely 12 lb. Walmart turkey
• Cornbread stuffing
• Cliff's homemade cranberry sauce
• Corn bread
• Cliff's sweet potato pie
• Kathy's pecan pie (always a must)
• Jill's delicious chocolate pie (we requested it as it is just that good)
• Apple dessert wine that we bought back in Virginia and saved for a special occasion

My one frustration was with my deviled eggs.  Our family always made deviled eggs for family holiday celebrations (sometimes they would be picked in beet juice!).  I remember being little and watched the parade (see...I love the parade) from our kitchen and helping mom make them.  I never remember them turning out anything but perfect yet somehow in my adulthood I have never managed to make a batch where every eggshell comes off cleanly.  It makes me so mad!  Deviled eggs are now my thing and I would like to make them not only tasty but pretty.  I have heard that older eggs peel easier but what does a person do when you have no choice but to use fresh eggs that you bought at the store just a few days earlier?  Any suggestions?  I would be extremely thankful.

Everything was so good and it was so nice to have everyone in our little house.  Great Thanksgiving.  We sat around chatting, laughing, and goring ourselves on pie and then we relaxed in our living room and played with Rudy.  We were going to go see the Muppets (the Muppets!) but there was not enough time and we were way too full to function.  Kathy and Jill sadly had to return back to Portland but Brie got to spend the night.  It was so nice hang out.  This morning we got up and went to breakfast at Off the Waffle and then Brie went back home.  I was so sad when everyone left as Thanksgiving went by way too fast!  Oh man.

Cliff and I have been shocked at how easy the clean up is this year.  We stayed on top of the dishes throughout the whole prepping and cooking process so the kitchen and house are not a disaster.  It is awesome.  One more round of dishes and we will be all set.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know that we have a lot to be thankful for and were very lucky to share the holiday with great  people.

Now onward to Christmas!