The Day I Boycotted "Single's Awareness Day"

     I admit it.  I was one of those people.  For a looong time.  I was one of those people who bought into the counter-culture of despising Valentine's Day because it made me embarrassingly aware of just how single I was. Or if I wasn't single in the month of February, I had such secretly high expectations that something, anything, romantic was going to happen to me on that day that I would without a doubt be left feeling disappointed and bitter.  Bitter if I'm single, bitter if I'm not.  I tried the whole "ignoring Valentine's Day" thing for a while, and that didn't really work either.  But then something happened.  Well, a series of somethings really, that changed my whole attitude.
     In a nut shell, my current take on Valentine's Day is this:  how could I not love a day that celebrates love!?  Because of some crappy things I have been through, I have realized that LOVE comes in all shapes and sizes, and doesn't necessarily have to include another person but should absolutely always include yourself.  The day I changed my mindset about this most controversial of holidays, I decided that I didn't actually have to have "someone" in my life to love me to be able to love things myself.  And I didn't have to be resentful of all the ladies getting teddy bears and chocolates from their male counterparts because, well, I had some pretty great things in my life to be grateful for, and none of them were stuffed with synthetic fibers and had buttons for eyes.  So instead of allowing any bitterness, disappointment, or negativity to infiltrate my day, a couple of years ago I decided to celebrate all of the things I love in life.
     That morning I took my dog for a walk downtown.  I carried a book with me, and stopped for tea at my favorite little coffee shop.  Then I went out and rode my horse.  Then I drove myself up to the ski hill, got a half day in on the slopes, came back to town and cooked a steak and potato dinner for one of my favorite friends, complimented by a fabulous bottle of wine.  The point is, I did not do one thing all day that I didn't love, and I did it with and for the people and things I love in my life.  So what if the love in your life is an overly hairy border collie, or the fresh mountain air, or your sweet skis, or a good bottle of wine, or your best friend. The point is, there is a lot to love about life.  The point is, society sets aside a day for us to celebrate love!  The point is, we should find something we love and celebrate it!  And we should do it more often than every February 14th. Halmark cards and chocolates be damned.

If you know us, you might know that the title for this blog is a merge of our two loves - those of backcountry skiing and horseback riding.  To clarify, Mike loves skiing more than anything in this world (except maybe the three most important women in his life! Ha!) and there is nowhere I would rather be than on the back of a horse.  Until recently, our two great loves existed separate and apart from each other.  And while it will probably take me several more years of begging and bribing to get Mike on a horse, he recently succeeded in getting me to ski up a mountain.  Well, almost.  


Two years ago, when I tore my ACL and hamstring, my doctor suggested I take up backcountry skiing as an alternative to sitting on a ski lift and letting my muscles get all cold and tight and then trying to push them to perform.  Apparently my muscles don't enjoy that, and I could very well end up re-injuring myself.  No bueno.  So finally, late 2011, we purchased me a lovely backcountry skiing set up so I could start enjoying the vast skiing goldmine that is Montana.  New Year's Day 2012 was my first opportunity to enjoy my new hobby.  


Mike woke me up at o' dark thirty (that falls somewhere in between 4 and 6 am) so we could suit up and make the drive from Helena up to the family cabin in Lincoln, where we would rendezvous with some friends and head up to Stonewall Creek, where we would get our ski on.  After a short lesson in gear and a few words of encouragement, we were off up the skin track.  For anyone in moderate to crappy physical condition, like myself, I would like to give the following advice:  don't decide to take up backcountry skiing, buy a whole new set-up (especially boots), and then ambitiously try to skin several miles in to and subsequently up a mountain on your very first ski day of the season. And especially don't push yourself past the point when you start to question whether or not you will be able to make it out on your own. Long story short, my first day of skiing this year did not go great. Blood, sweat, and tears were all present and accounted for.  


But here is the great thing:  during one of the absolutely worst meltdowns I have ever experienced, I was reminded once again that I have some absolutely incredible people in my life.  From the 4 other people in my group, there was nothing but encouragement, understanding, and support.  Despite the pace everyone else could maintain (much faster than my snail's crawl) there was always someone holding up the back with me on the skin in.  It would have been very easy for someone to roll their eyes when I had to have Mike build me a sit pit three-quarters of the way up the slope because my legs wouldn't carry me any farther, or snicker when I had to slide down the mountain on my butt because I couldn't bear pressure on my heels due to the giant bleeding blisters I had acquired.  Mixed in there with my tears of pain and embarrassment were tears of gratitude and happiness.  Because we have some freaking awesome friends to be grateful for, and that makes me pretty darn happy.  Despite everything, I couldn't think of a better start to a new year than being humbled by the strength and kindness of friends and the raw, rugged beauty of the place we call home.    


So here's to a new year and new adventures.  To friends new and old.  I am blessed to know each and every one of you and am so excited to see what we cook up in the next twelve months and four seasons, hopefully sans blisters.  You guys rock.

And for the record, I'm not giving up.  Despite my less than stellar first showing I will conquer the backcountry.


And also, a special shout-out to Nicole.  That girl is a rock star.  
  

Time Flies When You're Overwhelmingly Busy.

Wow.  Apparently going to school full time, working, being a mom, playing house, and moving in somewhere new all at the same time is a lot on one's plate.  Whooda thunk it!  Two months ago, this was our living room:

Shockingly, it looks pretty much the same now.  I'm thinking I might just keep the paint chips as a permanent fixture - call it modern art.    

Moving on up...

We recently relocated to a new city.  Well, as city as you get out here in the boondocks of Montana :)  I've moved a few times, and I can honestly say that this moving experience was the most hectic and stressful and chaotic moving experience I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of.  I now understand fully why nobody likes moving.  

Somewhere in the chaos, we landed here:

And that is where we lived for about 6 glorious weeks.

The camper belongs to some friends of ours, who very generously offered to haul it down to Bozeman and let us set up camp.  Which beat our original plan of setting up camp in a tent in the woods.  It rained a lot this fall!  So we lived and worked and played in our little 10x36 (or whatever) borrowed home, and tried not to step on each other's toes.  Until about 2 weeks ago, when after an insanely difficult home buying process we landed here:

  

And here we shall remain for the next 3 to 5 years.  We obviously have a little ways to go to make it feel like home - I took this picture on our first day of occupation, which was followed by a night of sleeping on the floor.  Now we have mattresses, so we've already made progress!  I'm hoping to chronicle some of the moving in process, since with school and work and, well, moving in, it might be the biggest adventure we'll be having for a while.  

Dear Blog...

I have not forgotten you, I'm just really busy.  Did I mention to you that moving is the pits?  It is.  But I'm learning a lot about attachment to material things.  We did all sorts of super fun things this summer...well, we did a few super fun things this summer.  If I have time, perhaps I will do a "flashbacks" series and I can tell you all about them!  Until then, I have to do things for college.  Like study, and write papers.  Did I mention we quit our jobs and went back to school?  Thus why the moving was necessary.  I predict that we are going to have many great adventures here in Bozeman, provided we find the time for adventuring between classes, studying, and working. And I promise to tell you all about them, sometime after they happen :)

Don't fret, blog, I have not abandoned you entirely.  We're just taking a break!

Skiing on the Fourth of July

Last year for the Fourth of July, we went to Glacier Park.  It was cold, and rained the entire time.  Mike never took his skis out of the car.  This year, we ventured to the Crazy Mountains to try and find some snow.  We found it.  It was 80 degrees and blazing hot sun, but we found it.

We also found, or rather Jasper found, a porcupine.  The dogs barked and growled all night on Sunday...and in the morning Jasper came back to the tent sporting some new accessories. 

But we headed up the trail, quills and all, for a beautiful day of hiking for me and skiing for everyone else. 

Apparently people kayak down Big Timber Creek, and even over the falls.  I can say with much certainty that I will never be one of those people.  But the falls were definitely beautiful! 

We even ran across a whole lotta Fourth of July fireworks out in the wilderness!

Jasper and Sis LOVE to play in the snow.  Jasper is super annoying when he is playing in the snow, especially when you're skiing.  He likes to dig.  And dig and dig and dig all the snow out from underneath of you.  Not the most amusing thing when you're standing on the side of a mountain that could slide out from under your feet.  But it is pretty amusing to watch the both of them run and slide down the hill.  I'm pretty sure they both smile. 

(some more shots of the porcupine quills that would later cost us over $100 to have extracted.  Nice work, Jasper!)

We finally made it to the top, or as close to the top as we were going to get.  Mike and Tyson were really hoping to get to Crazy Peak, but our guidebook was a little misleading and that was a tad farther than we would make it in one morning.  I have a sneaking suspicion they will be trying for it again soon.

It was a great way to spend the Fourth - enjoying some of the best this country has to offer.  :) 

Things Jasmine Will Eat, Part 2

mmmm Pizza.  Who doesn't like pizza?  Especially when you can top it any which way you see fit?  This recipe would be great with a tomato based sauce, but we use store bought pesto because (a) Jasmine generally doesn't like tomato based sauce (b) it's cheaper than making it yourself and (c) I'm too lazy/strapped for time to make homemade pesto. 


Homemade Pesto Pizza

For the Dough (adapted from Martha Stewart)
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt (preferably coarse)


Pour water into the bowl of an electric mixer, add sugar and yeast and stir until dissolved.  Let stand about 5 minutes - until the yeast is foamy.  Add oil, flour, salt and mix until combined.  Then switch over to a dough hook and mix for about 5 minutes.  Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times.

Put a little olive oil in a big bowl, toss the dough in there, roll it around so it's covered in oil, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for at least 3 hours. Go outside and play :)

Later that day

Roll your dough out onto a cookie sheet.  We divide ours into 4 sections so that everyone can top their own.  Recruit expert pizza toppers to assist you topping pizza.  Spread pesto to your liking and then get creative!  Chicken is great with pesto.  I like my pizza with chicken, black olives, artichoke hearts, feta, mozzarella, and parmigiana cheeses.  It's all about whatever floats your boat.  If you're going to add meat you'll obviously want to cook it prior to putting on your pizza! 

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.  It really depends on how much topping you have on your pizza.  For example - Jasmine prefers a paper thin layer of pesto and approximately 3 shreds of cheese.  It will burn if left in the oven for as long as my fully loaded pizza so make sure to keep an eye on things. (yes, this lesson was learned from experience.)


Eat, enjoy!