Quinoa Summer Salad

This is an adapted recipe from Sandra Lee. She is the chick from Semi-Homemade. I was surprised to like one of her recipes because during her show they always seem kinda whacked. One thing about her show that cracks me up is how booze crazy she is. Think about it. "Now that we are done with the child birthday party prep, we can start on the treats for the grow-ups! *wink*" (as she pulls out a half-gal of liquor). 

I personally wouldn’t want to send my (hypothetical) kid to the "children’s parties" she is throwing. It would go like this: "Guess what mom!? The lady had so many grown-up treats that she knocked over the tablescape and passed out! Then we played in the bouncy castle unsupervised! It was awesome!"

She is on the same level as Giada for me. Sorry Everyday Italian, but I didn’t order a side of cleavage with my meal. Oh, and it’s pronounced pro-shoot-o. You are in America now.

Okay, enough rambling. On to the recipe!

Recipe:
1 cup of quinoa
- cook in 2 cups of water (or chicken stock, but water is less calories obv.)

Let cool completely before tossing it with the other ingredients.

Prep all of the veggies and toss them in a bowl together. (See above. Can you handle it?)

1 english cucumber (chopped)
¼ cup roasted peppers (chopped)
¼ cup red onion (finely chopped)
½ cup grape tomatoes (halved)
½ cup crumbled feta
1 tablespoon fines herbs
Balsamic dressing (to taste)

Add cooled quinoa to the veggie mixture. Toss in, feta and herbs. Add a little bit of dressing last and you are done!

You can take shortcuts wherever you want. I roasted my own peppers (because I had some on hand), and my mom makes her own dressing. But you can buy things already prepared if you want! Once it is all mixed together it will all turn out pretty much the same.

Life is a collaboration.

Most of the people in my life are co-dependent. I mean this in the best way possible. For example, if something is going wrong, if I feel off, or if I just need to spill my guts and admit something, I have someone to call. Actually, if no one picks up or texts back I start to get anxious. Much of my life is done by collaboration. 

We can pretend that this only applies to real life scenarios like relationship qualms, career decisions etc. But in reality it also applies to “do I need this?” or “is this cute?” texts that get sent from the dressing room and occasionally from home.

Proof:

The accompanying texts:  "Cute or not?" and "Cute? Not cute?"

The accompanying texts:  "Check out my cat! Checking out my pants too." and "Tell me or else."

Okay, embarrassing. But whatever. You know you do it too! 

Regardless, we need advice about a lot of things. More than that, we need accountability! When you share, ask and think, you are less likely to make a hasty decision and are more likely to pray about it.

Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. - Proverbs 19:20

To Montana and Back.

Howdy Folks! Okay, Montana might not be THAT country.

I just got back from spending time at the Crow Agency of Montana. I was on a scouting trip with Fab Nicole (you have heard me talk about her before). Heard? Read? You know what I mean. She is the co-worker who makes appearances on my blog due to how awesome and fabulous she is.

We spent time meeting with out location partners, getting lost, encountering cattle etc. I won’t bore you with the work stuff, but I thought I would post some pretty pictures of Montana!

Below you will see a Native American “Sweat”… It is more or less a sauna. What we didn’t know was that it is commonly occupied by groups as large as 8 people. And that they are naked!!! We were desperate to wash our hands after that. As one friend so eloquently put it, “You basically just had your hand on some random sweaty butt.”

Inside the 'sweat.' 

This is the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It is the location of Custer’s Last Stand. They had a super cool museum of artifacts from the battle. Nicole and I quickly became obsessed with learning about the expansion west, how it all happened, why etc. It was the topic of many of our drive-time discussions. Note: It wasn’t very long ago! (1876) Think about it. There were probably still native warriors alive in 1950.

After the battle the US government came in and did a burial of the soldiers from the armed forces who died in the battle. We lost that one… just incase you didn’t know. Like majorly lost. But really, no one was a winner after those battles. Even when we won, we had to be the jerks who took the land via force.

Later we went out to the Ok-A-Beh Marina. It was beautiful. These pictures do not do it justice.

You may be wondering: “Didn’t your friend Marina just move to Montana?” If you thought that, then you are a true reader/ friend. And yes, she did. But I was WAY far all the way east from Billings so I didn’t get to see her. I am now wondering if she is secretly a Sioux and if she was named after Ok-A-Beh.

Nicole and I on the other hand gave ourselves Native American names:
Nicole: Snots on Hand.
Me: Running Cow.

Ponder this: Do you paint with all the colors of the wind?

A real vacation to the OC and LB.

Happy Friday!

Finally I will post about the stellar vacation I just took with some lady friends. We went down to Newport Beach, CA for some sun and relaxation (It was just like The OC and Laguna Beach... but without the drama, winter formals, affairs, or untimely deaths).

Honestly, the best parts about this vacation were the sleeping-in and the laughter. The friends I traveled with are low-maintenance friendships and it made the trip super care-free.

Here are some photos of our fabulous time!

We spent time here...

While looking at this.

Did an evening in Laguna.

Played on the beach.

Guarded lives. 

Goofed around here. 

Yes, that is a water bottle bloody mary. 

Sheesh. That was a lot of pictures. Anywho, ‘twas a grand ole time! We ate a lot of food, went to a bunch of different beaches, spent time on Balboa with Caitlin's family, ate frozen bananas, drank adult beverages and read at the pool... really the list could go on forever.

I still haven't unpacked... so I'm off to do laundry!

Laguna Beach on Dwellable

Did you miss me? And an editorial letter to TLC.

Did you miss me? I know you might not know me in real life. And that I wasn't actually gone from my blog… But still. Did you?

I just got back from a fab trip! I will do a real post about it before long. But I first wanted to write about travel. Well, a show about travel.

There is a new TLC show called On The Fly. It highlights how crazy people/ travelers are and how perfect the airlines are. I am pretty sure the point of this show is to make the travelers look like the enemies and the airlines look better… because we all know how annoying and stupid airlines are in real life. It is an attempt to boost their image. Pretty smart PR, but it doesn’t really work.

Airport personnel are supposed to be the hero in this “reality show.” You know, by continuing to smile as people get pissed that their flight was delayed. What they don’t show is people being groped by security, warranted reactions to unexpected charges, someone digging through their bag like a deranged animal at the check-in desk to try and make it lighter (in order to avoid another $50 fee).

The show is really beyond ridiculous. We have all had difficult travel experiences before… therefore this show is not entertaining! All it does is bring back damaging memories of frustrating experiences with airlines. Nice try On The Fly. You aren’t fooling us!
____________

Dear TLC,

The airlines will never be the hero. If they stop charging us for every little thing, maybe they will make it on to the list of things we are indifferent about.  But until then, they stay on our hit-list. Crap, I can’t say hit-list in regard to airlines. Um… I mean... list of people we don't like that much (in a non-terrorist way). Don’t call TSA on me.

You should probably just cancel On The Fly. It is stupid and we will never like it. Also, play more Say Yes to The Dress and less Cake Boss. Thanks.

Sincerely, Laura
_____________

Here is a sneak peek of our trip. It is the only picture that was on Facebook. I haven’t quite gotten around to uploading my photos.

Woop woop! Leaving on a jet plane!

Woohoo! TGIF!

Why am I so excited that it is the weekend?

Well, I am off on one of these:

To go have some of these:

Moscow Mule and Bloody Mary. Two of my favorites! 

To use some of this:

No wrinkles here!

While spending my time here:

Have great weekends everyone!

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Living in the in-between.

I apologize in advance for the non-funny that is this post.

Lately I have had some overwhelming conversations with myself, with friends and with God. If I took a moment to listen to what God has to say back to me maybe they wouldn’t be that way… alas, I am a blabberer… even in prayer.

I have been recently been plagued by the stagnant state of my life. I know I am where I need to be, I am just used to living with the “next thing” in sight. Throughout my life there has always been something next, whether it was an impending graduation, getting a new job, moving out etc. Now I am living. This is life and I am living it! Don’t get me wrong, I am happy! It is just weird. Some of my friends had grad school next and are in that, with graduations and careers to look forward to. Currently some of my friends are changing jobs, moving cities, studying for the GRE, or are in relationships that will turn into a marriage within the next couple of years. It just makes me feel… stagnant.

Stagnant is the only word I can think of to describe how I feel. I know I am doing important things in my life and that I am right where God wants me. It is just a different state than I have ever been in before. There has always been a life-moving-something ahead. I am not looking for answers really, just more so wanted to share my experience right now. Just in case any of you 20-somethings are going through the same life evolution (and evaluation) that I am. You are not alone!

I can’t wait to see what is in store for my future! Maybe that is my problem. I just need some patience! Deep breaths… in the mean time, let’s get some fro-yo.

Now let’s think about the other kind of Sirius:

Sirius Black

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