Project Life: Week 6

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I felt a little bit behind going into this week – I’d meant to get it all put together at the end of last week, came down with a cold and did nothing for a few days…which meant that when I put this one together earlier this week, I was taking pictures and notes for the current week, editing photos and planning layout for last week and physically working with this one.

I didn’t like it.

At all.

I’ll definitely try to avoid having 3 weeks in the works at once again.

I forgot to snap a photo of each layout, but here are a few favorite cards or pockets from the week:

You have no idea how happy this made me. Hubby didn’t even blink when I asked him to grab me a menu or business card from the restaurant he ate at in San Francisco. He even took a picture of his lunch =)

And Caleb’s little daily to-do list. He even asked me if I wanted to keep one. I love that I’m finding little treasures on my desk to add to our Project Life.

A little collage in Photoshop and a business card.

And that’s a cinnamon roll Caleb is eating. It was a special treat and ridiculously HUGE!

I couldn’t pick when it came to Hanna’s first Winter Formal photos, so I ended up using the Style G page protector as an insert. There are a few more photos on the back and I’m going to have her do the journaling back there when I can get her to sit down for a few minutes.

And Style G? It makes an awesome insert. I’ll definitely be filing that idea away for our Spring Break trip and summer vacation.

And, of course, our week in review. I’m trying to add in a few happenings in the world – last week, the Super Bowl and the death of Whitney Houston this week. I realized recently that my favorite part of the baby book my mom kept for me is when little bits of the world at large peek through.

How are you coming with your Project Life?

What’s Project Life? It’s a scrapbooking system created by Becky Higgins to simplify memory keeping. Quite simply, it’s awesome. All of my Project Life posts can be viewed here.

My Lenten Paleo Challenge

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I’ve been praying quite a bit about how I want to observe Lent this year – it’s been a huge part of my spiritual life for several years now, and it’s something I look forward to. We’re doing Seek God for the City from WayMakers as a church and community, but I find the physical act of giving something up to be so powerful and I want to add that component as well.

From a blog post I wrote three years ago:

It (Lent) can be a time of prayer and preparation for Easter, it can be a time of introspection and self examination and also a time of repentance…Let’s face it…these are stressful times we’re living in. Perhaps more stressful than many of us have ever known. What I learned about observing Lent last year was that it is an incredible way to refocus, to rid myself of the distractions of everyday life, to go deeper in my relationship with my Savior…to bring my life closer in-line with the life God would have for me.

The problem is…I tend to look at Lent as a time to focus on food issues as a way of self-denial, and it’s not easy when:

I can’t eat wheat.

I don’t drink alcohol.

Or soda.

Or much of anything but water and the occassional tea.

Sugar isn’t a part of my diet.

Neither are grains.

I’m not giving up meat. (did it. felt awful. there’s a reason I’m paleo, friends!)

I don’t watch too much TV.

And I’m already working to limit the amount of time I spend on the computer and my iPhone.

I look to Lent as a season to break areas of bondage – choosing to use the deprivation as a tool to turn me towards God in daily need. After a lot of prayer, I’m choosing this time to go strictly paleo – back to Whole 30, something that has evaded me since I finished my first one. Too much dark chocolate and too many paleo baked goods have found their way back into my regular eating. It’s an area I struggle with daily.

There are some odd similarities between a strict paleo diet and the act of denial for Lent – they’re not easy. Self-sacrifice isn’t something that comes easily, but with it comes huge rewards. Through the sacrifice on the cross that we look to through Lent, we are given the opportunity to know God intimately. Through the sacrifice I make with eating, I have a better relationship with my own body and with the world around me. I honor God in a most primal way by eating in a way that allows my life to be used in the way He wants.

I’ll be doing a Friday update each week, with my thoughts and the things God is teaching me during this season.

Are you observing Lent this year? Is God speaking to you about any distractions or idols you need to bow to Him?

eat smarter

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I do a big Costco trip at the beginning of the month – some produce, lots of meat, some cheese for the kiddos, a few other necessities.

And I have to admit: I have a tendency to cart peek.

You know what I mean…when you look at the contents of the shopping carts around you and compare them to your own.

Confession: I am very judgemental about people’s grocery carts. More than once, I’ve considered stealing kids whose parents have carts full of nothing but frozen pizzas, Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

But I’m noticing than more often than not, those cart ingredients just make me sad.

Especially when I’m eavesdropping.

Yes, I know. I’m terrible. I want to steal children whose parent’s feed them garbage and I eavesdrop on perfect strangers. All in the name of eating healthy.

I watched a couple at Costco a few weeks ago - both quite obese, the wife with obvious hormonal issues – trying to make good choices by packing their cart with Healthy Choices frozen meals, Egg Beaters, diet sodas…discussing which ones tasted better than others, even reading the ingredient lists. Their cart was full of food products that were all low-fat or no-fat, with chemical sugar replacements and very little real food. In reality, it was a cart full of chemistry experiments.

And it broke my heart.

Obviously, they’re trying.

They’re doing what television and popular culture, the media and the goverment are all telling them to do.

And obviously, they are failing.

Like I’ve failed. So many times.

We’ve been told over and over to restrict our calories, to eat low fat or no fat, to read labels, to eat more whole grains, and to avoid the empty calories for last few decades.

And still, the obesity epidemic has exploded.

The problem?

the only ‘expert’ on these things is the individual wise enough to examine their chosen way of eating & the effects it has on them. ~unknown

I came across this comment on Pinterest last week, and it struck me. We eat the way the government…or Weight Watchers…or the latest fad diet tell us to, not really paying attention to how it actually makes us feel or our bodies run.

We’re so focused on what we shouldn’t eat that we no longer value food as a source of nutrition. We focus on getting through the day with as little calories as possible, often not caring where those calories come from. Instead of eating a food because of what good it does for our bodies and minds, we’ve turned it into a number game. I know people who would be happy to eat cardboard if it had few enough calories or points.

And we keep doing it all over and over and over…praying that one of these days, it actually works.

One of the things I love about eating a paleo/primal/ancestral diet is that I focus on what each food does for me. Quality and variety are important. Real foods are paramount, and with real food comes real flavor. It’s incredibly personal and customizable because ingrained in the very basics of a paleo or primal or ancestral diet is the knowledge that we need to pay attention.

You can’t do that without realizing how different foods react with your body. I avoid grains because they make my stomach, joints and muscles hurt and they cause me mental fogginess, among other things. Dairy does unpleasant things to my digestion and my skin. And after a few weeks of really paying attention, I’ve seen what oils as opposed to fat do to me. It’s not pretty.

I would love to walk that couple through Costco again – show them how easy it would be to throw together their own Healthy Choice-like bowls with a bag of frozen veggies and some chicken tenders…how to spend a few hours on Sunday afternoon planning and cooking for the week ahead…to skip the Egg Beaters and just eat one of nature’s best foods (unless you’re allergic)…how to eat real foods and see real changes that last.

And I would ask them to pay attention to their bodies - it doesn’t matter if something is only 300 calories if you have no energy and can’t think, are bloated or having stomach issues after you eat it.

We simply have to take the focus off of simply being thin or losing weight, and with that, of counting calories or points. 

Our priorities must change.

It’s about health.

About how we’re choosing to fuel our bodies. 

About wellness.

About thriving.

Tomorrow, come back and read about my personal Lenten challenge and how it fits with this.

Project Life: Week 5

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Trying to get caught up with posting…

This was a busy week – one of those weeks I dread where there’s just something every single day. I will admit it makes for a fun Project Life, though. I ended up using a lot of coral and some orange this week – it just seemed to work and I love that.

Pretty sure this is my favorite card for the whole year so far – no picture, a little bit of journaling, part of our Whole Food’s receipt and a coffee cup sleep I cut in half to take some of the bulk out. Love the story that little bit tells.

And another favorite, overall. Everything came together so easily and tells so many stories from our week.

Something I find I’m doing a lot – 4×6 collages in Photoshop. Just a little bit of white gutters to give some definition. And those Martha Stewart labels fit perfect in what tends to be the dead spots in most of my photos.

And the week in review – still able to get it in for every week, and it adds that extra little bits of life that just didn’t fit anywhere else but fill out our week.

What’s Project Life? It’s a scrapbooking system created by Becky Higgins to simplify memory keeping. Quite simply, it’s awesome.

Project Life: Week 4

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A whole month documented, more or less.

This week? It was all about just getting it done. We’ve had a couple of crazy weeks, full of sick kids and meetings and drama and it’s just been exhausting. This week, I didn’t care about coordinating or themes or anything other than just getting it done.

And I still love it.

Lots of journaling directly on the photos – something I did as I pulled photos off the camera during the week. The pictures in the top left and bottom right were collaged in my ancient version of Photoshop…

and on this one, I used a little digital paper file. Not quite sure I like that exact color – I should pick up one of the Project Life digital sets to pull things together a bit more.

This is what I love most about Project Life – my haircut, a Tweet of a Caleb quote and a reminder about an asthma attack. It’s minutia, really, but it’s the sort of stuff I find so interesting.

I love this second page – the reminders that we live in an agricultural area with the kids picking oranges with their Great-Grandpa and chicken eggs from my parent’s house…a spelling test…a really, really big omelette…the firepit at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

This is the stuff of memories.

Still able to get that Week In Review card in – I love that I can jot down a bit more that I want to remember. Also, had to capture our new vaccuum. I don’t think you ever truly realize how bad the old one is until your first run of the new one.

Ick.

A couple of thoughts:

  • I’m finally working in some quotes, Tweets and Facebook status updates.
  • Also, I’m making a point to work in more memorabilia. Love that Caleb’s spelling test just happened to fit in perfectly. For next week’s, I’ve got my notes from Wednesday night Bible study and one of those cup holders from Whole Foods.
  • This week, I’m starting to work on picking a month’s worth of photos for a single layout to catch up these past few years that I haven’t scrapped. Not sure if I’m going to use Project Life protectors or maybe a combination of the Doodlebug ones. I’m thinking easiest would be the 6 4×6 layout.
  • I told my Mom recently that I don’t see myself going back to “regular” scrapbooking. This feels so much more natural and organic, and maybe even authentic.

What’s Project Life? It’s a scrapbooking system created by Becky Higgins to simplify memory keeping. Quite simply, it’s awesome.

All of my Project Life posts can be viewed here.

getting in the picture

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I’ve got a full month of Project Life done now.

It’s so much fun – already – to look through and see what we did even just a few short weeks ago. As I finished up week 4′s layout, I had to sit for a few minutes and flip through the pages. You can see week 4 tomorrow, but here are one, two and three.

And you know what I noticed?

I’m in two pictures in week one.

And not a single one in the other three.

I know, there are weeks that will naturally be more focused on different family members…but I’d still like to try to get at least one picture of each of us every week.

I tend to be a little non-existent in our scrapbooks. I don’t hand over the camera, I usually don’t like my hair or the way I look, and in those rare times I do say cheese…it’s awkward. In the 10 plus  years I’ve been scrapbooking, there are maybe a handful of pages with photos of me on them.

That needs to change.

I’m making the effort – I’m working on a more natural smile (or at least hoping someone catches me in a not-so-ridiculous pose). I’m trying to take the occasional self portrait. I’m realizing that my grandkids won’t care that Grammy Sam was having a bad hair day – they’ll just want to see what I looked like and the things I did.

It’s an effort that’s worth making, even when it means I’m handing over my new D5100 to the 9 year old.

Are you present in your families albums, beyond your journaling voice? Do you struggle with photos of yourself?

 

Soy-free Asian Marinade

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I love a good marinade, especially as I’m starting to get that spring and summer itch. While we’re definitely many days from those warmer weather, every chance I get I like to throw something like this together and make dinner just a little bit easier on me…by making my hubby do the cooking at the grill.

And while it’s a great, Asian-inspired (but soy free) marinade for the grill, I’ve also used this with cubed London Broil under the broiler. Veggies are pretty tasty when given a few hours in this marinade, too. Chicken would be a great option, and it could also be a stir-fry sauce if you’d like.

Side note: tamari or soy sauce is a much stronger flavor than coconut aminos, but the aminos really allow the flavor of your meat to shine.

Soy-free Asian Marinade
Makes: enough for meat and veggies for 4

  • 3.5 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 5 T Raw Coconut Aminos (or 3.5 T. tamari or wheat-free soy sauce, if you’re okay with soy)
  • 1 t sea salt
  • 1 t ground black pepper
  • red pepper flakes to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic finely minced
  • 1 t ground ginger
  • 2 lbs round steak or steak tips cut into 1″ squares (works well with tri tip steaks or flank steak also, though keep them whole)
  • lots assorted vegetables cut into somewhat equal sized pieces (mushrooms, onions, zucchini or other squash, broccoli, asparagus – if you can roast it, it works)
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil additional for the vegetables

Combine olive oil, coconut aminos and seasonings in a small bowl.

Prep the meat and vegetables and place in separate zipper bags.

Pour about 3/4 of the marinade in the meat bag. Add another tablespoon or so of olive oil to the marinade and toss with the vegetables. Shake to coat.

Best if marinated for several hours.

If you’re going to be broiling:
Preheat oven to 400.

Spread veggies in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

After 20 minutes, adjust the heat to High Broil, move the veggies to the bottom rack and place the meat on the top rack.

Broil until done to desired, keeping an eye on the vegetables to keep from burning. It takes just a few minutes, and I try to flip the meat so it gets more evenly browned.

For grilling:
Here’s where I admit my lack of grilling skill. If you’re doing the smaller cubes of meat, skewer and grill several minutes per side, until they’ve reached desired doneness. For trip tip or flank steak…good luck.

When I grill the meat, I still usually roast the veggies in the oven. Next time, I’m going to try the foil pouch method on the grill – and I’ll update when I have it figured out. You could also skewer the veggies for veggie kabobs.

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