"Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late"

I hear summer is over.

I mean, Orange County seems confused, because we hit some stupid record highs yesterday, at 113 degrees. But, supposedly, summer is done and autumn is here.

My 30 Goals of Summer didn't quite get completely accomplished, but... c'est la vie.

To recap...

I didn't gym as consistently as I thought I might, but I did more often than I normally would have.

Still not vegetarian. Not at all.

Kids hate hiking. Well, not HATE, but... they certainly don't love it yet. And forcing them out did not make it any better, so I ditched this goal entirely.

Camped once, and it was magical. I couldn't squeeze in a second trip, with H's new job, but we have one planned for October.

I do not bring my lunch to work 4 days a week. Well, mostly I do, but sometimes I don't. I may have been using up a billion teeny leftover gift card ends to buy frozen things from Target because I'm too lazy/tired/frantic in the morning to make lunch. It's possible.

We managed to check books OUT of the library, and... this is key... BRING THEM BACK! I know, it's a foreign concept to me, but it seems to work!

Kids don't cook. They were not interested, in the slightest, and I didn't push it. But I like to cook, so it works out.

I rambled in this post about why I do not care for OAMC or bulk cooking.

The farmer's market was a cornucopia of rad new ingredients this summer - dragon fruit, lemon verbena... I bought and used it all! And then didn't blog it, because... lazy.

Sadly, I think The Cousins only made it over once or twice all summer. Which is a bummer, but we're all so busy. Maybe things will slow down over the fall.

Baby is in big girl pre-school, and so far is liking it!

No 'Poo did not make it to kidlets, which I discussed here... I'm still on the bandwagon, but really taking it to that level is more committment than I can take on right now.

Alas, there was also no gardening. My budget just wasn't there with The H not working for part of the summer. I have plans, though, I swear it.

We did visit new parks all summer! June - O'Neill Regional Park (yuck). July - Yosemite (rad). August - Eaton Falls (also rad). There were a few others, that I've not blogged, and really, compared to Yosemite, I think I'd be doing them an injustice. Yosemite wrecked the rest of my summer, really. And, also, I've been meaning to add a tab up there under my bloggy title for hiking blogs, but haven't figured out how, nor have I really had the inclination to research it any further than looking for a pre-built widget. See also: lazy.

Resume is updated and awesome. And ready for when I decide I am going to snap. I can see this, on the horizon.

I'm drinking coffee right now. It's from the office, though, and free, so there's one point for Heather, zero Starbucks.

Vacation hours available: 98. Oops?

Facebook friends have been dropping like flies. I deleted everyone I had hidden. I got nasty messages from some, which did not make me like you any more than I did previously, so... thanks for confirming that.

We're discussing registering for the Dana Point Turkey Trot, 10K. It's looking rough, but... I guess it could happen?

I USE SUNSCREEN! I did the last few times I went hiking, at least.

Closet is still a wreck. I was looking for the second half of Baby's bathing suit last night, and opened the closet, and quickly closed it back up. Scary stuff.

All of our outdoor gear is neatly stored in tubs, in our storage area. It's so rad!

Shoes... Well. I have a bag, full of shoes AND clothes that I haven't touched in months. Okay, so to be honest, it's stuff that the H dug out of the closet that I never unpacked from when we moved. A year ago. So, it's cleared out, but hasn't actually LEFT my house yet, which is kind of the point... Half win?

Kids- bedtime was 9:30 or early all summer. I don't play around with quiet time.

Judginess has served me well, and I'm not quite ready to be rid of it. I am trying to be less vocal about my judginess, but... I can't help it. I judge. And I'm almost never wrong. People ought just suck less.

The biggest accomplishment of my summer... by far... was bread baking. It was magical. I made a crusty artisnal loaf, sandwich bread, pizza dough, pita bread. It was all magical and I think I've eaten more bread in the last 3 months than I've eaten ever in my life. And I really like bread.


So. There it is. Successes and failures. I'm posting a new list for Fall/Winter. Separately. Because this is already really long.

It's a party... and YOU'RE invited!

One of my favorite bloggers, Moderate Means, inspired this.

It's a Come As You Are party!

The Rules:
If you've read this far, you're now committed! Your reply is requested!

1. What are you wearing? (No cheating...don't pretend you aren't sitting there in yoga pants and an old t-shirt with your hair uncombed!)

2. Who is coming with you? You can choose any or all of the people in the building with you right now!

3. We're hungry. What are you bringing to share with us? No cooking, so grab something and bring it as-is!

4. We're bored. What are you bringing for us to do? Look around and find something in the room with you!


That's it! Easy peasy, right?!

Ready? Go! :)

Hiking - Eaton Falls

Inspired by Yosemite's prettiness, I made it a mission to stalk some local prettiness, and stumbled upon Eaton Falls on Yelp. It looked promising, really - wooded canyon trail, stream crossings, waterfalls at the end.

The drive was... l o n g. No matter what time, on what day, the 5 freeway thinks it's Monday at 7am. But we got there, found parking easily enough, and the trail head, even though it was shady looking and weird. But I do appreciate free, so I can't really complain.

The trail down is shady, and rocky. There are several stream crossings, but in mid-August the water level is pretty low - you can make it across easily playing Frogger across the rocks. Unlike my kids (who wore their Crocs), I wore my regular hiking boots, and hopped across just fine. Then, I got to a part that looked like it might get my feet wet if I missed. So, being the smart hiker that I am, I took the boots off to walk through the stream, and promptly dropped one of them right in the water. Because I'm awesome that way. Purpose = defeated. Sigh.

Kidlets decided that traversing straight up stream, rather than criss crossing and rock hopping, was the smart way to go.

After about a mile of this nonsense, you really do reach a small waterfall, with a cute little pool that you can wade in. Rather, that crazy people can wade in, because it's hella cold.

#2 likes to continue proving she's non-human.

Apparently, everyone in San Gabriel Valley had the same idea we had.

A picnic lunch woulda been pretty rad, and had I thought it would take me 2 hours to get there, and another hour to hike a mile (thanks, Baby), putting us at the falls at noon, I would have brought one.

The walk out of the canyon is lovely, until the very end and the little uphill action, but maybe I'm just a whiny hiker ;).

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it.

That's it. I'm done.

I am not an Org Junkie, and I cannot stick to a meal plan.

I posted on a message board last week, that I had an epiphany about why I cannot follow my own plans.

I am a huge proponent of fresh ingredients, and I love improvising. That's probably my FAVORITE thing aboUt cooking. I can't do that if I'm working off of a plan. I prefer to grab what sounds good, and make something rad out of what I have fresh right away. That's probably why I do fairly well playing at vegetarian.

I mean, what's the point of a meal plan? To ensure that you use what you have, to have a better handle on your budget? To not be scrambling wondering what you have for dinner?

Well, it's not really an issue. I don't generally run out to the store OR eat out if I'm missing something. I use what I have on hand. So... the end result is the same, right? Why fight myself into doing something that I don't wanna, when I reach the goal just the same?

So I'm not. I'm not menu planning, for a week, any more. I am free! If it works for you, great, please keep doing it. It just isn't my thing.

Instead, I'm gonna try to keep a daily food diary... hopefully it will confirm what I am thinking... that I eat from already owned items. Hopefully. Who knows. Maybe I'll do this and it'll be awful, and I failed. At least I'll get a kick in the ass.

Today's dinner is planned already - roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and some salad or something. Today - check!

Meal Plan Monday!

I am giving this (another) shot... but (hopefully) giving myself enough wiggle room to be comfortable... I'll probably switch some of this up, and trade days, so.. I guess really, it's more like "Stuff I'll Make For Dinner Sometime This Week".

Monday - Pasta Carbonara
Tuesday - Roast chicken
Wednesday - Chicken Tacos
Thursday - Hamburgers
Friday - Pizza (homemade)
Saturday - Kids' Pick night, probably something Japanese
Sunday - no plan

#1 picked up a Japanese cookbook at the library this weekend, and she's dying to try it out, so we have plans Saturday to go for sushi, hit up the Japanese market, and let her make dinner.

Sometimes, I really wish I could get better at sticking to menu plans... But then I consider this, and... really, I don't run to the store all willy-nilly to pick up stuff; I tend to make do with what I have. My grocery budget is probably under $75 for 5 people - I'm pleased with that. We have one staple item that we use pre-made (H cannot let go of his Aunt Jemima Complete pancake mix), but everything else is homemade. I'm going to call us... above average. And, also, humble.

As always, I'm linking back to OrgJunkie.com, and someday, when I grow up, I can be more like her.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods... there is a rapture on the lonely shore.

I treated our last camping trip, to Carpinteria State Beach back in May, as a test trip. It was close to home, close to town, had real, water running bathrooms, showers. I figured I'd break us in slowly.

Since it went so well, I took Snork up on her invite to Mammoth over 4th of July weekend. Snork was meeting some dirtbiking friends. We were just touristing.

So, I rented a tent, again, from REI, because I'm not quite so committed that I was shelling out a couple hundred bucks to own one yet, when I can rent one for $45 for 3 days.

But a few days before we leave, a mutual FB friend of ours (well, FB friend of mine, RL friend to her) tells Snork she has a tent she'll give me for free - giant, 3 rooms, we could practically LIVE in there. I'm so stoked.

I am also paranoid, and like to be fully prepared for anything. So despite Snork's laughing at me, I did not cancel my REI rental tent.

So we left the day before Snork did, spent the night in Fresno, and toured Yosemite the next day before heading to camp. Meanwhile, Snork is picking up our magical new (free) tent on her way up from camp. Promising, even, to have it all set up nice and pretty for us when we get there.

Cell service in Yosemite is pretty spotty, but I start getting texts from Snork, like...

"Did you cancel the REI tent?"

"hey, do you have a tent?"

"did you cancel the tent????"

"CALL ME"

"But did you cancel?? CALL ME!"

Turns out, the tent picking up was unsuccessful. There was a bag. There were stakes. There was a footprint. Alas, there was no tent.

Moral of the story: Do not laugh at your friends' preparedness, even if it borders on paranoia.

Camping this time was a bit more... rustic, than last. And by rustic, I mean, 40 minutes from the closest "town", up a dirt hill 20 minutes into the mountains, no water, no cell service.

The upside to this, was the blanket of stars we saw all night. It was kind of mind-boggling, coming from LA, where it's a handful of stars in a night, to this.

Being a dirtbiking trip, there were plenty of bikes around, which the kidlets kind of dug...

Baby made friends with Riley, whose name is burned into my psyche forever, thanks to Riley's owner screeching for him every 10 minutes while Riley wandered through neighboring campsites....
It was super, super dusty - far worse even than the windy beach camping. This was not sand, this was dirty, grimy dust. And it flew. And was everywhere. So it was tough to stay... clean, and not FEEL dusty. I watched Mr. Snork molest his feet with baby wipes for a good 10 minutes....

Apparently, ones feet must be dirt free prior to putting on dirt biking boots.

Ahem.

We toured the town of Mammoth, which is cute, and houses.....
Yep. A Coach outlet. It was pretty exciting. I was hesitant to even go in, you know, with the dusty and all, but I did, and it was glorious.

We went to the beach at June Lake. The water looked pretty chilly, which was confirmed by the shivering children who kept playing in it. I grew up in Florida, where we do not swim in fresh water (gators, yo). But this water... was clean, and clear, and had fishies, and snowy mountain top reflections, and was perect. If it were 20 degrees warmer, I'da been all over it.

#2 likes to show off that she is completely unfeeling, so she frolicked in the lake like it was a bathtub. Which, let's be honest, after 3 days in the wilderness and no running water, it essentially was.

I was shocked - shocked! - by how cool it was still in the middle of summer. Day times were warm, but the second the sun started to set, it dropped down to Hella Cold. And stayed that way until mid-moning. The Sierra Nevada's? That isht is cold at night. My gas station hat from Gorman came in handy....

We watched July 4th Fireworks at Crowley Lake... Baby tossed pebbles into the lake where people were trying to fish...


#1 and The Niece made questionable fashion decisions...

And, as it does, the sun set over the lake.

If I were a better planner, I'd have had batteries for my camera and could show you said fireworks. But trust me when I say, the $25 was worth it, and it was spectacular.

We did some hiking around camp, up the mountainside, which gave me some time to play with the macro setting on my camera....


The drive home, on the eastern side of the Sierra's, was... interesting...
Eat? No thanks.

We left camp early, around 7 am... when it was about 45 degrees. Which we were dressed for - sweaters, jeans, hats, the works. The 395 runs along the western edge of Death Valley. Shockingly....

Didn't really feel that bad. Obviously, it's hot, but... it's a dry heat? Anyway, when we got out of the car to run into CVS for drinks, we looked... ridiculous.

All in all, I'd call it a success. No one hated it, we mostly enjoyed it. The biggest complaint was that the vault toilets were icky (and, legitimately, they were.... Baby even told me one time, "This is NOT a potty. This is a trash can." Even she knew.).

"Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion"

Happy 4 month No 'Poo-versary!

In full disclosure, I have used shampoo twice - once after each camping trip. It just seemed necessary.

But aside from those two digressions, I've stuck to my honey/baking soda mix, and it's been good to me. I've had none of the hair weirdness that Snork seemed to have, which is good because I don't know how strong my resolve would have been in the face of waxiness. I've also stuck to my home brewed rosemary rinse (again, local and from the farmers market, $1 steeps me enough for a bit over a month!), and it is full of sunshine and rainbows.

Originally, the plan was to put the kidlets on No 'Poo as well. I'm less enthused about this, now, because now it seems like it might be more work for me, and I am not an advocate of creating work for myself. I'm a little torn on this, I gotta say. I'd love to say I'm all types of crunchy and don't want chemicals on my kids' head, but... truthfully, I'm equally lazy. It's a tough path to balance, I suppose.

What I've noticed, is my previously tricky, shady, good-for-nothing-frizzy hair, has turned into easily manipulated, wavy hair. I approve. I'm *thinking*, that since #1's hair is more like mine, it will also do well with no 'poo? And since she's older, she'll be easiest to break in? Hard saying. I have a few more weeks left in summer to consider this...