flyin’ high

Greetings from 37,000 feet.  I’m on my way to Charlotte with a short stop in St. Louis.  Once in Charlotte, I am driving a rental car up to where my grandma lives in Hendersonville, NC [close to Asheville].  My dad is still there but leaving tomorrow or Monday.  They had a service for my grandpa yesterday, in a tiny little chapel, on top of a mountain.  It has the most amazing view ever.  My dad said the service was emotional but the minister did a fabulous job.  I guess he even quoted some lines out of my blog, from the tribute I wrote =)  It was mainly for their NC friends and a few close-by family members.  There will be a larger service, in Marshall, MI, in 2 weeks.  I’ll definitely be flying out for that, along with the rest of my family.

Now, to catch up.

FRIday:

I had some pumpkin in the fridge that I needed to use up, so pumpkin oats were in order. 

• 1/4c. oats
• 1/2c. water
• 1/3c. pumpkin
• 1 small banana
• dollop of brown rice syrup
• walnuts
• 1T pnut butter
• 1/4tsp chia seeds
• cinnamon/ginger/cloves/vanilla

Completely satisfying.

Look at that perfect dollop of pnut butter.  I am not quite sure how that happened, but it definitely looks like I used a fancy frosting tip, haha.  That would just be a BIT ridiculous…when I pushed it off the spoon, it just happened to make a perfect landing.

Ohhh…the little things ;)

The weather is INsane here!!  I am definitely still adjusting.  As you remember, last week, it snowed 28” where I live. EEK!!  It was literally all melted in 3 days. WHuuuut?  The past 2 days were in the 70’s.  Just plain craZy.

Since it was SO nice out, the hubs suggested going to downtown Boulder to walk around and grab lunch.  I went for a 5m run beforehand that kicked my arse.  My legs were super lame yesterday!!  I felt like I was running through honey…I almost stopped running to walk multiple times.  Somehow I kept going and made myself run further than normal. 

Showered –> off to Boulder

We stopped in a few stores and grabbed a late lunch at Mountain Sun Brewery.  LOVE this place.  They have great quality food and keep their prices really low.  They get their food locally whenever they can, have a huuuge vegetarian menu + they brew their own beer. mmm

They have 8oz glasses available, which I absolutely love!!  First, I had the Blackberry Wheat.  One of my favs!  I’m not sure what Chris was doing here…

I hate going on trips without him!!!

He had a veggie burger, jalapeno style.  I had a 1/2 veggie + hummus samich with a 1/2 salad on the side.  The 1/2 salad seemed more like 1/4 salad, boo.  After ordering, I noticed their soup of the day was Cream of Fennel!?  I had NEVER heard of this…but we both thought it sounded delicious.  We ordered 1 cup to split. 

8oz beer #2 - “Cleveland Brown”  I LOVE brown ales, like Newcastle.  This was pretty good but Newcastle is waaaay better!  The soup was creamy and delicious.  The fennel flavor wasn’t too strong but we still really liked it!  I was glad we ordered it because my sandwich was pretty light and the salad was teeny =)

I was out of food to make for dinner.  I knew I’d be leaving so I didn’t want to stock up too much this past week.  So we went out to dinner too.  Very unusual, especially with our no job status.  I found an Indian restaurant [Chris LOVES Indian food] nearby that got really good reviews and they had a good deal on their dinner buffet.  I was all about that because I usually get tired of my meal 1/2 way through when I’m eating Indian.  They had a great variety and a huuuge selection of veggie options.  It twas delicious!

Guess what POPped up in the mail yesterday???  My POPchip samples =)  They came in a really well designed box [I know that sounds dumb..but the designer in me pays attn. to that stuff, hehe].  I love their packaging/branding!  I got 6 cute snack bags that clock in at 100 cals.  There are a lot in their too!  The first flavor to try was barbeque.

I’m not usually the biggest bbq snack fan, but these little suckers were super flavorful and had a great crunch.  Chris and I split a bag of the cheddar later on too.  I think my favorite are going to be the sea salt + black pepper, mmmm.  If you have salty/crunch addictions, check out this snack.

THANKS POPchips!!! =) =)

I was up at 5:30am this morning….mrrrr  We went to bed at about 1am, so I am a little sleepy!  I was all out of sorts this morning…not sure what the problem was!  I was pretty much packed and left myself enough time in the morning but things got hectic quick.  I hate travel stress!

Pretty sky this morning!  Even though I was starrrrrving, I knew I shouldn’t eat my breakfast at 6am because then I’d want lunch at 10.  I ate a banana and chugged some h2o + an emergenC immunity defense.  

Here are some of my plane snacks!  Don’t worry, these will not all be consumed today!! I always need snacks around like cereal + bar + Amazing Grass + chocolate, but I don’t want to have go out and buy it when I’m in NC.

By the time I got to my gate I felt like I could eat my arm =)  I waited til I was seated on the plain to chug my Naked, Green Machine + h2o.  I needed a boost of fruits and veg, but totalllllly missed my oats this AM.  I never get sick of oatmeal!

I use the point + shoot when traveling!  Too hard to take out the mac daddy cam in flight! =P

I haven’t chomped on my apple yet, but I am thinkin’ about it!

…

The apple was consumed to help my grumbling stomach + help with my ears popping.  St. Louis airport is small, smelly, and weird.  The plane ride was HOT and the airport is also warm.  I think I would rather be cold then hot when traveling.  This airport is pretty dead…

Starbucks closed!?  Right next to “Sausage World”…..no.thank.you.

 

I found another SB, even though I try my hardest to avoid them.  I’m not really a fan of their coffee and their mocha type drinks are always way too sweet.  I prefer Caribou or local when possible!  I got a regular coffee and asked for 1 pump of pumpkin.  She put in 2 and was going for a 3rd when I stopped her!  Added some milk too.  It was a little too sweet, but oh well, I need some caffeine!

Grabbed the latest Real Simple magazine as well.  I forgot to bring a magazine AND a book for the 1st plane ride, gr.  I hate having nothing to do on the way up!

Doesn’t look as good as when I first made it, but this almond butter + jelly + banana samich will be my lunch on the way to Charlotte.  There were definitely no good options at the airport!

Hoping this wakes me uP!

 

Enjoy your Saturday!!

~Ashley

Oooooh, so mad!! I just went to post this but the only option is to PAY for Boingo to get online.  Stoooooopid!  I’ll be posting in CLT upon arrival.  [gr]

I also forgot my charger in Colorado!!! grrrr x10!! I might not be back for a few days…we’ll see!!