There’s Only So Much Crafting I Can Handle

Though I typically enjoy being crafty, there is only so much crafting one person can handle.

That, my friends, is not even one quarter of our wedding invitations.

Ryan and I have been formatting, gluing, stickering and stamping for hours. We have a little more than half of our invitations stuffed and are calling it a night.

I am so grateful for Ryan’s help. He was the computer whiz and figured out the templates for our invites, and also helped me stuff all the envelopes with the actual invitation, reply card and wedding website card.

While working away on the invitations, we both enjoyed two big bowls of soup for dinner which went unphotographed in the invitation madness.

I also took a quick baking break and made us a coconut-scented vanilla loaf bread that included a cup of light coconut milk in the batter.

I’d share the recipe, but I basically winged it and it wasn’t overly amazing. Still, we both enjoyed a couple of slices smeared with a bit o’ buttah.

After plugging away at our initiations for another hour or so (and going through 2 bottles of super glue!), I declared it was time for dessert and ran to our local grocery store to nab some goodies.

Ryan is a huge fan of Oreos, so I decided to make a semi-homemade bowl of cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream.

I blended light vanilla bean ice cream with mini Oreo cookies in a food processor until I had a thick, somewhat soupy mixture, chock-full of Oreo chunks.

The above bowl is Ryan’s serving. I actually ate a lot of cookies and ice cream in the process of making the mixture that my portion was much smaller since I was already feeling a bit ill from eating so much of  the vanilla loaf before downing more sugar in this bowl. Ooof!

I’m off to clean up some of the crafting madness now because our apartment looks like wedding invitations just threw up all over the place. 

G’night, friends. 😀

Hansel & Gretel

Ryan, Sadie and I woke up nice and early this morning. I think we were all a little excited about the morning hike we had planned at Rock Springs Run, a state park located about 30 minutes from our apartment.

Before heading out, I made myself a mocha green monster smoothie.

The smoothie contained:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1 packet Starbucks via instant coffee
• 1 large handful of spinach
• 4 ice cubes
• 3/4 c. milk

It didn’t look pretty, but it sure tasted good!

Morning Hike

After a 30-minute car ride, we arrived at the state park. It was pretty deserted, with only a small donation box signaling the entrance. This was very different from Weikwa Springs, the state park where we usually take Sadie hiking, where people greet you and there’s a bunch of people everywhere enjoying the springs, hiking and exploring.

We were literally the only ones there!

About 20 minutes into the hike, we spotted a ginormous banana spider!

 

Talk about unnerving! After spotting that monster, we were on the lookout for its family members for the rest of the hike.

We hiked along, sticking to the “white blaze” trail.

Sadie was thoroughly enjoying herself. Every 10 minutes or so, she’d take off running, chasing a bird or bug.

As we continued walking, we came upon several divides in the trail. The trail map said for us to stick to the white trail, only there were white markings on tress on each side of the divide.

We chose one direction and walked for a mile or so before deciding we probably selected the wrong trail. We got a little turned around, but felt much better when Ryan found another divide with a big, white marking on one of the trees.

Victory!

Our hike continued and we couldn’t help but compare the trails at Rock Springs Run with the trails at Weikwa. These trails were very sandy and not shady in the least. We definitely prefer the Weikwa trails.

Perhaps our biggest complaint was the obscure markings along the trail. We got lost a number of times and said that if we ever come back to hike these trails, we’re bringing bread crumbs like Hansel and Gretel to ensure we’re able to find our way back.

Getting lost a couple of times was a little unsettling since there were so many different trails we could take along the hike and lots of signs warning us about bears as we entered the park.

Fortunately there was no shortage of pretty foliage to enjoy.

Getting lost required us to get a little dirty to try to find our way on more than one occasion.

 

We’re so scrappy. 😉

Though the trails were mostly sunny, we were able to find some shade to stop for a water break about three miles into our hike.

I figured this hiking trip would be the perfect time to test out the Thermos vacuum insulated water bottle I received from the company to review.

The literature that came with the bottle claimed it would keep liquids cold for hours.

I was a little skeptical when I took my first gulp…

…but the water was COLD. Like just-out-of-the-fridge cold. I don’t like lukewarm water, so I was ecstatic to have ice cold water to enjoy in the 90+ degree heat.

After hearing me rave about my cold water, Ryan ditched his temperate water and got in on the action, too.

Oh-so-refreshing.

Our hike continued on and Ryan saw two wild boars! They were elusive creatures and by the time I got my camera out, they were gone. 😦

We also saw BEAR tracks. I guess those signs weren’t lying.

That’s a bear footprint, right?

Luckily we didn’t cross paths with a bear during our hike, but we DID see a bear as we were driving out of the park. Crazy, huh? It was a small(ish) black bear and we just about flipped out when we saw it. Like the boars, the bear was quite elusive and ducked into the brush before I could snap a picture.

As we headed home Ryan and I both felt a little hungry and swung by McDonald’s for a chocolate banana milkshake to share.

It was a little too banana-y for me. I think I was more in the mood for a plain chocolate shake, but that didn’t stop me from downing my fair share.

Now it’s lunch time!

Ryan and I also HAVE to work on our wedding invites today. They’re not gonna assemble themselves after all!

Check ya lata! 😀