In gratitude

… for moments of quiet.

… for my goofy girl whom I miss already.

… for the opportunity to get a world class education.

… for still occasionally having my Mom read aloud to my brother and I.

… for really funny physics books.

… for cafes where I'm on a first name basis with half the staff.

… for the opportunity to visit home.

… for the option to advance my own goals.

… for fuzzy housemates.

… for friends who struggle with the same challenges I do.

… for nourishing food.

… for the moments of overwhelming joy when I realize how much freedom I have in my life.

… for good weather.

… for advisors that will help me figure out the conflicts in my schedule.

… for the rhythms of life.

… for how much better life goes when we acknowledge those life rhythms.

…  for Saturday morning antics.

… for fuzzy beasties.

It's been a hard week

"It's been a hard week." I've found myself saying this over and over again this summer. And while it's always true, it's time to realize that I'm tired of letting it excuse my not getting to things that need to be done. And yes, bad things keep cropping up this summer, but at some point we all need to make a stand for ourselves and say "I'm not accepting any more of this crap." I've reached that point many times recently, but apparently it has taken a while to sink in.


Other life updates:

*I leave for Venice in 3 weeks to attend the architecture biennale before I go to Zagreb to start my study abroad in Croatia. 

* My brother's numbers were better at his last lab's appointment so no dialysis for the moment. They'll be checked again in September and be reevaluate.

* The dogs were in apple heaven, and are now in apple temptation hell. They were eating so many apples that it gave them the runs and they started going in the house. This was deemed unacceptable and there is now a prohibition on apples. To be kind I try to pick up apples at least once a day, but that isn't enough to keep the ground clear so they have to exercise some self control. Poor dears.

* My kitchen is over run by apples (we probably have 20 lbs by now, although how many of them are still good is anyone's guess). Apple will be on the menu for quite some time.

* I'll be blogging about my time abroad as a journalist for Cornell University (link here) and am thinking of starting a travel podcast as well. Since I have an official connection to the university for the blog those posts will likely be well thought out and directed, but I kind of want an outlet for all my raw joy, confusion, embarrassing moments, utter bewilderment, exciting (and hopefully not profane) plane/train/bus/ferry mishaps, and hopefully enchantment with everywhere I go and all the people I meet. 

I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures so far from this summer.

A dog and her pillow

This looks like a more fun day than it was. Both pups were a bit out of control so we left fairly soon.

Hurry up and throw it already!!!

"We're best friends, riiiight? Just say yes."
(no pups were harmed in the taking of these pictures)

This blog is supposed to be about guide puppies, isn't it?

I just realized I haven't written much about Valkyrie recently so here's a hodge podge of what's been going on with her. For the past few months she's been on food protocol for being slightly nervous about heavy traffic. She shows her nervousness by racing ahead so she's been getting food for being right beside me with her coat next to my leg and the leash loose. She's been doing really well at it and I think she'll soon be ready to come off food protocol. 

She had her second evaluation back in the middle of May and our CFR is pleased with her progress.

She's had some fun outings to two different farmers markets recently and before I leave in August I want to take her to the Portland Art Museum and the Lan Su Chinese Garden (if they allow her, I haven't asked yet). Maybe I'll get to take her to Saturday Market, but I'm not sure about that one. I want to take her to Ashland with me too. I wish I could be taking her to my summer biology class, but I have lab in the middle of the day and while we aren't doing anything too gross you never know what's been spilled before that she might lie in. I've been trying to get more pictures of her on outings since I don't have many and outings are a big part of being a guide puppy. 

Here she is at the Hillsdale Farmers Market. I always feel a tiny warm glow when we walk past these signs.

She's trying to convince me that my lunch should be her lunch too.

Her first birthday was last Sunday (post coming soon), and she still hasn't come in heat which is odd but not unheard of. 

Right now she's at a puppysitters, her second puppysit of June, because I'll away. I wanted to take her with me, but a trip that had been overnight has turned into a three day production. I think she would handle it with flying colors, but I wouldn't. So she's staying home. 

And here's a cute, if yellow, picture of Kelsa too.

New Pictures of Tazzi and Kelsa

Okay they're mostly pictures of Kelsa, but awesome, young-looking pictures of Tazzi are so rare that they are a really big deal.

Photo a day for the month of May

My Mom found a photo a day thing for May where it suggest something you could take a picture of each day. I started almost a week late, but I'm going to try to keep up with it for the rest of the month. But before that I have more puppy pictures!

Valkyrie and I went to the park today

She always bites her lip when she's excited or really interested in something

She loves to flip the Nyla-ring over her head

The faces Kelsa makes here are priceless

My happy boy

And now a cat exploring a cup

Cooking (mostly): Coconut Rice Pilaf

Happy Saturday everyone! It's been a long week, nothing new happened but it felt longer than usual. What did I do this week besides school?

Well I did some of this...

And took pictures of theses...

And that's about it.

So here's the recipe for the delicious food pictured above. I don't have enough good things to say about this, the creamy rich coconut milk, the little bit of chew to the Quorn, and the tang of the pineapple blend beautifully. Best of all anyone can enjoy this meal, it is gluten free, dairy free, and vegan. This is suddenly much more important to me as of last week, because I decided not to eat gluten or dairy for the next month to see whether it would help my digestion.

Recipe adapted from Budget Bytes

1.5 cup jasmine rice
1 can (15 oz) coconut milk
2/3 cup water
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
A little bit of olive oil
1 medium onion
1/2 a bag (probably about 4 oz.) Frozen peas
about 10 baby carrots diced
about 1/2 a bag (probably 4 oz. as well) Quorn chik'n tenders
1 can (15 oz.) pineapple, drained

To make the coconut rice put rice, coconut milk, water, and garlic in a pot and stir to combine. Cover and put on high heat until it boils, immediately after it boils turn the heat down to warm (or the lowest setting). Keep the lit on and cook the rice on warm for 30 minutes.

Heat the olive oil on a skillet on high heat. Thinly slice the onions and saute until the onions are nice and caramelized then add the carrots, peas, and Quorn. When the carrots are tender add the pineapple and cook until everything is nice and warm.

Combine the rice and vegetables in a bowl and sprinkle with soy or tamari sauce if you like, it's great with or without.