Rainier Woods

 A few weeks ago it was sunny in Seattle so I was hoping it would be sunny around Rainier. As I have learned it is really too early in the season to do much real hiking around the mountain so I headed to the lowest elevation spot which is really more forest than anything else. The drive was beautiful, though Rainier was hiding in the clouds. I hiked for a bit but then decided to head back to sunny Seattle...enough rainy day hikes for this girl for awhile.

This sketchy bridge I drove across

And here is Rainier one day last week...so incredibly gorgeous!!

O Canada

I can't be this close to Canada and not take a trip there, so last week I decided to make the 2 1/2 hr drive to Vancouver. I lucked out with a sunny (still chilly) spring day and since I forgot that going to another country meant my cell phone/3G would not work I had to fly by my memory and the excellent city sign-age to find the things I wanted to do.
Vancouver is lovely-a city filled with skyscrapers, surrounded by water and snow capped peaks. I really like the small part that I got to see in a day.
And both border crossings consisted of "Are you really from Tennessee? What are you doing here?" 

I was experimenting with settings on my camera :)

To Market, to market

Pike's Public Market: fun stop for any tourist or Seattle-ite. Always lots of colors and sounds and sights...from the flowers to the veggies and fruit to the famous fish throwing it is a fun spot.

Monkfish anyone? :)

Sparrow

Been singing His Eye is on the Sparrow all night after hearing Chelsea Moon's version on the way to work.

"Let not your heart be troubled"
His tender word I hear
And resting on His goodness
I loose my doubts and fears
Though by the path He leadeth
But one step I may see
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know that He watches me.

Latest Obsession

My latest food obsession (minus the awesome dairy fee bakery I found here that I am trying to show a bit of self control with) is cauliflower. I have been making cauliflower mashed potatoes like crazy. They are super easy and actually do taste like mashed potatoes.
Here is the recipe:
1 head of cauliflower
4 cloves of garlic, mashed
1/4 c olive oil
salt
pepper
veggie or chicken broth (if you desire...i haven't been using it)
1 1/2 T nutritional yeast (or i guess you could use real cheese if you can eat it)
Cut cauliflower into small pieces and place in boiling water with salt or broth and garlic
Cook until cauliflower is tender
Drain and get all of the water/broth out
Place in food processor or blender. I go ahead and blend the garlic cloves too-usually I take one out.
While blending, add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and nutritional yeast. Blend until smooth.
Makes 3-4 servings
Here is a link to an actual blog recipe if you would like:
http://www.deliciousbydre.com/garlic-mashed-cauliflower/

Imperfection

I was catching up on my Rabbit Room blogs the other night. The writer, Thomas McKenzie,
wrote a quick post about Bennan Manning's passing. The words were beautiful and true:
If you read him, please remember that the Holy Spirit is working through him in spite of all his personal failings. Thank God, because that’s how He works in all of us.
Brennan Manning's book, Ruthless Trust, turned my life around in a time where I was confused and lost and above all needed someone to point me to a God who does not require perfection or to have life figured out in order to come and receive. Honestly, his personal imperfections and humility in owning them was what made faith appealing to me again.
One thing this journey has done is to reveal more of my true grossness-something about being all alone and not being able to hide behind other people or other responsibilities. Suddenly my fears and imperfections seem on display. And more and more layers just keep being revealed. It really is quite lovely :) But in the midst of it I realize how much I want people to see me in a certain light and I think most of us walk around that way. Why can't I let people see my imperfections? I hope I am able to allow those to shine through a bit more...and that I can not be ashamed of them, knowing that I bring nothing to the table.

Tulips!!

Who knew that Northern Washington was the ideal tulip growing climate? I, for one, did not. It is close to the same latitude as Holland, one of the other premier tulip spots in the world and receives the same amount (30ish inches) of rain as Holland. Because the spring is cool the tulips stay in bloom for longer as well. People come from all over to the Tulip festival in Skagit County, which is an hour from here.

Lucky for me, Mom was coming during tulip month, and I knew she would think it was neat. We headed up there last week and I have to say it was pretty amazing. There are literally 1000s of acres of tulips in bloom...it looks like a sea of color. They also have some more manicured areas to view...the one we saw had over 300,000 bulbs. Yes...insane!
I took a ton of pictures, so I will try and limit it :)

The pinks were my favorite

These were Mom's favorite

Visit

Momma came to visit! I don't think there are words to express how ready I was for a visitor and how excited I was to see her. We got spoiled last year between weddings and surgery time off work and holidays...we were seeing each other every month so these few months apart have been tough.
Anyway, the weather was pretty classic Seattle which equals not sunny, but we got a few glimpses of the sun and enough clarity for her to see the Olympics and for her to understand a bit of the beauty surrounding this place. She missed out on 80 degree weather at home for this...fleece and rainjackets :)
I'll post more from the Tulip Festival in Northern Washington where we went.
Thankful for this very special lady in my life.
And thankful that soon I will be within driving distance again.

Donation

Gotten behind again:)
Last week I decided to donate my hair. It is a bit pitiful to admit that I have been thinking about donating for almost a year. But I kept holding back because of kind of silly reasons like worrying about how I would look.
So I finally decided, why do I care so much. This could mean a lot to some woman out there.
I braved it and made the chop. I had gotten a recommendation from a friend and luckily I liked the girl and she did a great job. 9 inches off. If anyone ever donates she put it in 4 different ponytails so it was evenly cut all around (I had not had anyone do that before).
Now I have short hair again!

Mom!

Ready for Mom to come visit tomorrow!!!
Hoping the sun will peep through so she can see some of the beauty here. But regardless we will have a blast. I have missed being close to home!!

Baptized

One theme that continues resurfacing here is the following: No matter where I go, what I see, what job I get, what friends I have, what new experience happens, what I look like...none of those false loves will ever fill the place that is reserved for God's love for me and for how that satisfies. I think I learned that early on just in being in a new place and the excitement of it all, in experiencing so much, of realizing that he is the creator of that all. Now I am seeing it more in the days that are tough here...in the days that though I may see and experience such beauty and wonder I am alone physically. There are days that are tough here. And days that are amazing. Days where I feel alone. Days where I feel surrounded by God's goodness and am okay being physically by myself. In the midst of all of that I am learning how his love surrounds and provides for it all.
I couldn't find it in the book, but in Brene Brown's latest book, Daring Greatly, she talks about being baptized in her bathtub all the time. I have taken a lot of baths here, one because I have this amazing giant tub and two because I have a lot of free nights and it is a great place to relax, read, listen to music, be with my thoughts. Tonight I was baptized again-reminded of such a great love as this. To put this opportunity in front of me to be here for the wonder and the challenge and mostly to learn more about him.

Beauty

I am surrounded by so much beauty here. It is easy sometimes to feel thankful and near to God..I have a lot of spare time, minimal responsibilities. But I know in a short amount of time I will come by to my life that has responsibilities and is busier than life here and is not surrounded by the Olympics, Cascades and endless water. I realized the other day I am a bit nervous about my return....for a lot of reasons.
So as I enter into yet another preparatory phase, this is my prayer: that I will find the beauty in my life in Nashville.
"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek...to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple" Psalm 27:4. 

Photos

Here are some photos from the last month of explorations.
I have been trying to pack it in and today I realized how tired I am. I drove out to Olympic National Park and realized mid hike I was really tired. So I cut my hike short and drove to a port town, sat outside in the sun, looked out on the water and the San Juans and read and had iced coffee. I can tell I have been going pretty non-stop since getting here! Tomorrow (in honor of my birthday) will be a rest and relax kind of day! And at night I am going to a Sounders game...the pro soccer team here. Excited!
Wallace Falls (these are from when Whitney came to visit!)

 Hike up Mt. Si. This was the most intense hike I have taken on yet...climbing 3100 feet in 4 miles. My legs were sore! But it was worth each step...so gorgeous from the top. I had to do a bit of snow hiking on this one as well. I didn't realize how long snow stays around these parts...I found out that Mt. Ranier has 10 feet of snow on most parts of even the lower stuff for still several months! Where am I??