On Heights, Sharks and Mountains: Conquering Fears

The past three week since I have been home have literally been flying by.  I am getting a bit nervous about heading back to school having had little time to spend at home this summer but am also extremely excited to begin senior year.  Wow, can you believe it? I am almost officially a senior at UR. Looking back on my past three years at college I realize how much I have grown and changed.  From entering as a freshman at HWS to deciding I would pursue a different major and switch schools in the fall of my junior year I have certainly made some big life decisions.

With my decisions came much anticipation of the unknown and whether or not I would be happy with transferring and starting fresh.  The answer is simple, I am beyond thrilled with my life at UR and I cannot even begin to fathom attending another school for my undergrad degree.  I love the people, academics and the social scene--everyone I have met has taught me something wonderful about life and even myself.  One of the greatest things that I have learned is to think outside of the norm and try any and everything new--including South Africa.  If you had asked me a year or so ago if I would be studying abroad working in medical clinics in South Africa I would have laughed but I went and I loved it and cannot wait to return someday in life.

Another thing that I have learned is how to conquer my fears whether it be meeting someone new, trying exotic or interesting foods and seeking out adrenaline junky activities.

For instance, the following three activities were some of the scariest yet most rewarding and exciting moments in Cape Town:

Shark Cape Diving

Bungy Jumping

Climbing Table Mountain

All three of these activities, in addition to my work in the community clinics and settlements each week taught me that I can accomplish whatever I desire.  While I may have needed some friendly coaxing and pulling from friends to get me up the mountain or into that stinkin' shark cage, I did it and I was damn proud of it, excuse my language. 

As I set forth on my senior year I am excited more now than ever to reach out and make the most of my last year at UR before embarking on (dare I say it) the real world. 

I plan on continuing ohsomiscellanea but as you can tell I haven't been able to update as frequently as I have in the past and that is because of two reasons, (1) I am extremely busy preparing for school and will most likely be extremely busy once I get to school and (2) personal journaling.  I started keeping a personal journal that I write in when I hopped the plane to Cape Town.  It served as a way for me to keep memories about the trip that were more personal to me than I would like to share on the blog and also taught me that personal reflection is an amazing and useful tool.

I am hoping to start training for a 10k as soon as I am cleared to full out run again (I have stitches in my back!) and am trying this whole sustainability thing with farmers markets and utilizing the amazing local farmers that surround the area.  More on this to come of course.  Until next time, enjoy the rest of summer while it is around!

Home Sweet Home

With my time at home quickly dwindling away I made sure to make the most of every last second.  Yesterday Brendan and I went to Grimes Glen in Naples, NY.  This is a great place to hike and walk up to an enormous waterfall that towers above.  I brought along my telephoto camera lens to work on some shooting prior to leaving for South Africa and thought i'd share some shots from the day:

Photo Credit: Brendan Ewing

Photo Credit: Brendan Ewing

I'd highly suggest checking out Grimes Glen and the surrounding NY area.  It honestly is a hidden treasure up a dead end road that you would miss on any casual drive through the small village.  While there I would also go into Monica's Pies (prior to entering Naples) and pick up some Concord jelly and Grape Pie!

Recipe: Egg White Protein Oats

So yesterday I woke up early and started my day with a little pinterest.  I am addicted, I know this but the whole website is amazing and great for getting new ideas for crafts, exercises and meals.

I saw that my friend Clare had posted some amazing recipe/photo of microwave oats with an egg in them.  I thought, wow so easy and a great protein meal.  It was then decided that I would try my kitchen skills out with oats, eggs and a microwave.

I used the following:

1/4 cup quick oats

a dash of cinnamon (a lot actually)

1 whole egg

a little almond milk 

handful of  blueberries

put all these in a mug and whip them up.  Microwave for 2 minutes and volia!  I will warn you that when doing this in a coffee mug the oats puff up beyond the mug which caused the loss of some blueberries and a whole lot of juice to go all over the microwave (messy cleanup!)

These were...mhhh, okay. I wasn't impressed with how much I could actually taste the egg but I added some more almond milk and brown sugar and we were good to go.  Since I was working all day yesterday it was a good thing I had such a hearty breakfast, this baby lasted me until I got out of work at 4pm (I was starving at 2 but didn't have time) so A good meal to hold you over for, say, 5 hours!

Today I went with a different mix:

1 egg white

1/4 cup multigrain oats (different from yesterday)

dash of cinnamon

almond milk

water

The first batch didn't have enough liquid and I got more of an oatmeal/ egg crunch pancake. So I tried again to make sure I had the right amount of liquid per oats.

Volia!  Added some organic crunchy PB, strawberries, blueberries and half a nanner.

Nothing like sweet summertime!

Summer Time Smoothies

It is finally summer and I am quickly falling back into my "typical" summer routine.  When I say typical I mean, yes, typical for me.  I'm not sure there are many other college students that enjoy getting up early to run followed with thinking up some delicious replenishing breakfast. 

 I decided to embrace my typical routine by getting up and running a short 2 miles with my mom followed with my first trip back to the YMCA.  I realized how spoiled I am to have a membership in the city to an all women's gym--specialized machines, comfortable and no strange stairs from the locals. Oh I will definitely be missing that for the coming weeks.  I honestly cannot tell you why I take such issue with readjusting to a gym that I used to be so familiar with but I am almost always stricken with fear that seriously puts a damper on my workout.  However, I pushed through, found the machines that I am used to working with and made myself a list of free weight exercises to do and volia--done.

This morning I had decided to start in with some smoothies and had been craving one ever since I made up my mind.  I had seen this idea on Pinterest which led me a blog with a brief description of how it works--honestly it is pretty self explanatory but here is a picture for all you visual learners out there:

Courtesy of Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs.

Steps:

1. Buy or find a cheap blender

2. Remove the main pitcher that it comes with and separate blade (be careful this is sharp!)

3. fill a medium sized mason jar with your smoothie of choice

4. place blade on top of mason jar, attach the piece that holds everything together

5. flip and place on the blender. 

** I find that holding it down works best since the jar doesn't completely screw into the blender mechanism.

Think Magic Bullet on a budget--except this is better since the Magic Bullet is (a) $50 and (b) pretty time consuming with all those parts that seem to get lost!

Full and beautiful with lots of protein and antioxidants!

Ready to drink!

The recipe for today:

1/2 frozen banana

1/4 (give or take) Wegmans mixed frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries & blackberries)

1 container of chobani

1/2 a packet of Spiruten Vanilla Protein Powder

1/2 cup (i didn't measure)? Almond Milk

Blend and enjoy!

Flying By

I honestly cannot fathom how quickly this semester is coming to a close.  As I sat attempting to write my final essay for a philosophy class I felt the procrastination building.  What to do I thought? I perused pinterest (something I had barely known about the last time I actually wrote on Miscellanea) and then decided it was time to update.

Here is a brief recap on the semester:

I became a sister of the Theta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi at University of Rochester and have already met the most amazing girls that I am proudly able to call my sisters.

I said goodbye to my best friend and first dog Greta (Bunny) who lived an amazing grouchy life constantly scaring away my friends.

Brendan and I went to my friend Sarah's Wedding in Upstate, NY which was absolutely beautiful.

I spent hours making these AMAZING irish car bomb cupcakes for miss. Maureen's birthday

Which we later celebrated with many desserts and a great dinner out with her friends from school.

Spring flowers finally sprouted (and then froze again).

I visited Brendan numerous times all which included some pretty delicious meals. (whole wheat pasta, tomatoes, greek olives, capers, feta, basil)

and most recently, friends from home came to visit for a night out!

While the semester as a whole has been one of the best yet and I have met some of the most influential people that have had a wonderful impact on my life, I have yet to explain the best part.

From June to July (this coming summer) I will be in Cape Town, South Africa!  While in Cape Town I will be taking  course while spending 16-20 hours weekly in clinics, hospice facilities and rural AIDS clinics working with the locals while learning their healthcare system.

I cannot wait to share these experiences with my friends and family through photographs and writing!

Further updates for the coming weeks:

1. Ballet Performance Group spring show, this friday

2. First D-DAY weekend, next weekend

3. My mom and I will run a 5k together next weekend as well

4. Summer begins!

S'more Brownies & An Apology

Late nighters are not my thing. Procrastination typically is not either. However, after an amazing weekend with BPG, Brendan and friends I am faced with the dilemma of completing tons of work so I can enjoy my Thanksgiving break, work and stress free.  I understand that many folks choose to catch up over Thanksgiving break as they prepare for the final weeks of school but I prefer to relax, eat turkey, be merry and prepare for the upcoming holiday season. 

That being said, I may not be around as much as usual but I do hope you tune into reading whenever I am able to post. Don't lose faith in me just yet folks, I'm still here.

To keep up with a little posting I am taking a break, aka procrastinating, from reading about Managed Care and HMOs. Fun reading? No.  At least I was able to push through 6 out of the 10 pages for my paper that is due Friday!

If you're missing summer at all, try these:

S'more Fudge Bomb Brownies

Once you try one you'll want Some-more. haha, yeah I really am that pathetic. Seriously though, these babies

Ingredients

1 Brownie Mix (I chose Ghireadelli Double Chocolate!)

1 Package of Graham Crackers

Large Marshmallows

3 Hershey's Bars (Dark Chocolate)

1. Bake Brownies in a 8x8 pan, use the instructions on mix to do this.  If you prefer taking the time for homemade brownies all the more power to you

Options:

2a. After brownies are fully cooked, remove from oven and place hershey's bars on top. Top these with Marshmallow so that entire surface is covered. Place in oven on top shelf & broil on high until browned! **This method causes chocolate bars to melt into brownie while browning the marshmallow, creates a very oozy gooey "fudgey" brownie.  May require refrigeration!!

OR

2b. Remove brownies from oven and place marshmallow on top so that the entire surface is covered.  Place in oven on top shelf & broil on high until browned (2-3 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool. Once cooled remove from pan, add chocolate and graham cracker!

I went with the first plan and the result was an ooey gooey Fudge Bomb of a S'more Brownie!

They look like perfectly cooked marshmallows from your bonfire!

Cut and enjoy! For added yumminess I added a graham cracker to the bottom of each so that you could eat it as a real s'more. I am addicted.

I cannot give full credit to these since I tried my first S'more brownie in the Adirondacks with Brendan this summer. Jo Jo of course great a great meal for the weekly Saturday picnic and included these as dessert!

Carolyn.

This is Cara or as I often call her, Carolyn.  She's a spitfire redhead with big plans ahead of her in the next week.  I am so jealous because she is spending a semester in Florence, Italy.  Now more than ever since I decided to transfer and not go abroad I am wanting to live my life vicariously through this girl, better yet, I can still call her my best friend after admitting this.

Thanks to Cara I was able to meet Maureen.  Now this girl can bake.  Look at this amazing Chocolate Brownie Coffee Mousse Torte. Yum!   I am trying desperately to retrieve the recipe for this dessert and am hoping a blog post such as this will do the trick.  Think of it as a mixture of rich savory brownie with fluffy expresso/coffee flavor...I am in love! Combining my two favorite things all in one.  Perfection.

Summer BBQ.

There are a few things that I look forward to each and every summer...I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, your favorite popsicle or ice cream, lazy rainy days (which were lacking this summer until the past week), tan lines and of course chicken bbq.

I typically prefer a classic chicken bar-b-que that is located on the side of the road usually in a parking lot of your local American Legion.  These BBQ's usually donate proceeds to some cancer research center or a local kid who is down on his luck.  However, luck is never lacking in such a bbq since the sauce is always perfect along with the sides of salt potatoes and either mac salad or cole slaw. Ah Summer!

This summer has been rather ridiculous when it comes to BBQ's since the first one i came across ALL summer happened to be yesterday.  Really? It is mid august and I just passed my first road-side stand.  The best part? I have eaten out almost every day this week (at least once) and all I could bare to each for lunch yesterday was an apple.

Lets get on to the actual story: A homemade bbq put on by the best mother.  My mom uses the old classic NYS fair recipe for BBQ sauce and to be honest I have no idea where she keeps it but man is it amazing!  While the day was rainy and muggy, a nice chicken BBQ really made the sun come out.  Try your own chicken BBQ with some salt potatoes or even corn?  My new favorite combination is actually Heirloom tomatoes with some balsamic vinegar drizzled on top.

 We used free-range half chickens from the local farmers market.  Going organic is not only helpful to your body but also local community!

 Try grilling corn instead of boiling.  By boiling corn and other vegetables nutrients are lost.  Grilling gives great flavor also.

 My dad, Big Jer excited for the meal

 Salt potatoes, a staple of summer.

Two photographs that are a big more artistic than "food blogger":

 "Fresh Squeezed"

"Don't Forget Me"

Bubbles.

Getting back into blogging is more difficult that I thought, though I do tend to over think things a bit too much.  Should I update on my summer and the few adventures I went on or start with the right now?  Either way I wanted to share a bit of my photography that I worked on the past few months.

These hippie bubble photographs were taken at the Park Ave Festival this summer.  I went with my three friends Cara, Mo (Maureen) and Mandy.  While they trolled ahead of me I tended to casually stop and snap a few pictures along the way.

The man with the bubble contraption intrigues me in the strangest way.  I swear he must have been a hippie back in the Woodstock days or something and just never grew out of the "phase" which evidently turned into a lifestyle.  Look at those red sunglasses, beard and tie-die t-shirt!

The image on top is by far my favorite out of the two because the bubble dynamics are what really catch your eye.  They're translucent but also dimensional and a bit carefree if I say so myself.  I would have loved to work with these in Photoshop, which I did actually purchase, but my computer does not have a big enough hard drive to actually work smoothly with it.  Bummer!

Fairport.

Last weekend, and yes I understand that I am writing this out of order and a bit late, I stopped by the Fairport Canal Days.  Comparable to Canandaigua's own "Main Street Show" or the "Waterfront Festival" there was a multitude of vendors from all different walks of life.  Festivals get me sometimes because of (a) the strange people you meet and (b) all the wacky stuff people sell but sometimes you find a hidden treasure that you'll cherish forever.  Sadly, Canal Days did not provide me with any such treasures but instead a rather tasty Cheeseburger which later turned out to be...not so tasty.

Afterwards I ventured over to a seven year olds birthday party, of course it was Hannah my friend Mandy's younger sister.  She so secretly told me to attend and forgot to mention that I would be swimming and supervising/ face painting the faces of her friends, oops!  Fortunately my doggy paddle style of swimming sufficed for such a shallow pool and the deep end was not too challenging haha, I actually had a great time.

I have been lacking in the whole photography aspect of this blog quite a lot, my apologies.  Someday I will stop being lazy and actually do some good posts that take more than 5 minutes of my time.  Until then enjoy the rain.