Baby $teps

Yesterday not only did I get my back window (and side mirror) fixed..

I also closed my Victoria's Secret credit card, my Nordstrom Retail, and my Discover card! 

Here is to paying off stupid debt, and to having money to spend again! 

Yayyyy! 

Have to have your downs to appreciate your ups..

Today was an emotional roller-coaster for me... Ready for the ride?

In the wee hours around 5 am I went to brush the snow off my car, THIS HAPPENS: [Very low.]

I figured a little duct-tape will hold it together until after Christmas right? [Coasting]
I meet up with my bro around 10 to take advantage of all that powder.. [High hopes]

While loading our stuff in my trunk.. THIS HAPPENS: [all-time low] 

I literately cried the whole way up the mountain.. [Can I feel any lower?]

We get to Snowbird and this sweetheart asks if I will use his tarp so it doesn't snow in my car.. #blesshisheart. [On the up?]

The snow was GREAT. [Rising..]

It was 8°, and we couldn't feel our toes, fingers, or noses.. [Plateaued.]

As I was driving home from Snowbird thinking of all the negative captions I could use to share this picture: [Falling again.]
"Well there goes my Christmas."
"Poor me."
or the chosen: "FML" & yadda yadda..

 

  Driving home, we came around the curve where you get your first peek of the entire valley, and my breath was captured...
[Like when you are at the top of the roller-coaster, slowly coasting & you can't help but feel the butterflies..]
(& not just from the fridgid breeze from my non-existent back window.)

It was definitely an eye opener.

I realized in this moment:
Yeah, this totally and completely sucks..
Yeah, it couldn't have happened at a worst time..
Yeah, it is freezing and EVERYONE is looking..
BUT:
I am so blessed to live in such a beautiful valley.
I am so blessed to even have a car. (Let alone with a working heater.)
I am so blessed with the opportunity to snowboard.
I am so blessed with an incredible family.
I am so blessed with a warm place to call home.
I am so very blessed to be alive..
& everything is going to be OK..

and the tears start to flow again..[☯]

The best spicy pickles everrr.

If you know anything about me, you probably know I love pickles.
They are definitely one of my favorite foods. My amazing mother helped me can some this year, and let me tell you:
THEY ARE THE BEST PICKLES EVERRR!!!
Here is our recipe:
BRINE:
2 Quarts water
2 Cup vinegar
1/2 Cup pickling salt
1/2 to 1 T alum
- Boil until salt dissolves

Stuff one quart jars with:
Pickling cucumbers [we get ours from Okubo's]
dill weed
1 jalapeno sliced
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp black peppercorn
5 to 10 mustard seeds
pinch of red pepper flakes
(We added 1/2 habanero for extra spice)

Before you start scrubbing, make sure you have some clean mason jars, and brand new sealing lid disks. We load our dishwasher with our clean mason jars and run it on a HOT wash, with a HOT dry. You want your jars pretty warm when you are stuffing them.

Make sure to scrub all your cukes and peppers really well.

We sliced our cukes in quarters, but you can honestly do whatever you prefer. We also sliced our jalapeno in half, but left our hot pepper whole.

Before you start stuffing, put your new lid disks into water on the stove. You want them to be pretty hot, but not necessarily boiling. Stuff your jars with dry ingredients first, and then full of your cukes. You want a little room at the top. Pour your hot brine over your pickles, and wipe the rim of the jar with a dry towel. Place a hot disk on top and screw it tightly with your screwband. Your pickles are ready to be sealed.

To seal your jars, it is best if you have canner pan, but a large, deep pan with a thicker bottom should do. These jars below were done with a thinner bottom pan and they broke due to too much heat. You want the water boiling, and allow them to be fully submerged in the water for about 10 minutes.
This is a great reference website for canning pickles.

Check your jars to make sure the lid does not move when you push on it, if it does move, try boiling them again. Once you have them all sealed, allow them to cool for up to 24 hours and then place them somewhere dark and cool.
Pickles will be ready to eat in three weeks, and should last for at least a year (if you don't eat them all by then ;). Refrigerate after opening.

If you need any help, please comment below.

Juicy :)

My Mom and I have been on a green juice kick as of late. I highly recommend it! All of our juices have turned out surprisingly tasty [Not to mention, extremely good for you].

We fill our mason jars and drink half [of a quart sized jar**] daily.
One daily serving size is the juice from this: 

four carrots,

four stalks of celery,

half of a beet,

one lemon,

half a cucumber,

a thumb nail of ginger root,

one and a half granny smith apples,

and four to five handfuls of spinach.

**UPDATE: We've researched into it losing it nutritional value if you do it for a few days at a time. The best way to do it, is in a jar, but you need to fill it all the way to the top, and screw it tight. When you open it, you need to drink the whole thing at a time so it doesn't have a lot of time to oxidize and lose it's nutrients. We have not changed our recipe just the size of our jars. We now use pint size jars as one whole serving. :) Freeze to last longer.

(Shake before you drink!)

#blessings.

Today I am extra thankful for:
1. Good health.
2. The internet. I believe it is more a blessing than a curse.
3. My youth. I wish I could be forever young, but in reality aging is one thing everyone goes through. So I'm going to live it up while I still can. :):)

#blessings.

Today I am really, especially thankful for my best friend Jenny. It's her birthday [and exactly my half birthday]. 

We've shared some awesome experiences and adventures together and throughout all these years we have stayed so close!

I appreciate her and look up to her more than she'll ever know.

She understands me better than anyone else (and even translated for me in nursery;). She makes me laugh harder than anyone I have ever met. She's my favorite person to hang out with all day, any day. She is one of the most genuine, creative, sweetest, prettiest, most spoiled girl I have ever met. She has the most awesome personality too. I am so excited I get to be a part of her life as she graduates this year, and marries her [other] soul-mate. She is such an amazing example to me, and I don't know what I would do without her.

& have I mentioned she is beyond amazing with a paint brush?

#blessings.

Three things I am very much thankful for today:
1. Music, especially musicians. Since I have started learning the guitar it has made me realize there is so much more to it than I ever knew. I am so happy there are creative people in this world that have it figured out. I will understand it some day, but for now my appreciation grows on the daily.
2. Having so many guitars around the house I am able to learn and play on. It is not a cheap hobby! I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn, and for my guitar teachers patience.
3. Concerts. It is one thing to listen to your head phones, or while driving in your car. It's entirely another to feel it throughout your body. #IloveLiveMusic. I am very blessed to have been to some amazing concerts through the years.