Andy and I took a vacation last week! We were gone from Sunday to Sunday, which is longer even than we were on our honeymoon. I’m not sure I’ve taken that may consecutive days off work practically since I started working after college, and it felt quite novel. We went to Greenville, SC with my parents a few months ago and were charmed by it, so we started out our vacation with a few days there. We had our inaugural experience with Airbnb, a website that lets people put their homes, or a room in their home, up for rent. We found a great deal on a room not far from downtown, which, in Greenville, is where you want to be. It was a room and a bathroom in a private home. The couple was there, but we could come and go as we pleased. It was pretty basic, so if you’re looking for luxury Airbnb might not be the way to go. But if you just want to facilitate getting to a cool city you want to visit and need a place to lay your head, it’s a good option! We ended up getting in bed to read at about 9:00 all three nights we were there and crashing early…maybe not everyone’s idea of a good time, but it was nice to us!

During the days we hung out the co-working spaces associated with The Iron Yard. Andy needed to work some, and I used the time to catch up on some of those things you always want to do on your computer but can never seem to find the time to. (Well, some of them. I was not as productive or efficient as I would have liked, but it was my vacation, so it’s okay!) Plus, I’m really interested in the co-working model but never have a chance to experience due to having a 9-5 day job, so it was a fun chance to try it out. I watched a workshop on Github and made my first pull request. I finally watched Brene Brown’s TED talk on vulnerability…more to come on that in another post, because wow. We were having such a good time that we honestly didn’t do anything else in Greenville! Plus Tuesday the weather was miserable, so it was nice to have a place to be.

It was a wonderful three days of getting up when we wanted, eating what and when we wanted (the list of places we ate is pretty impressive for just three days), and adopting a relaxed pace and spending time together, both of which are sometimes rarities in our normal life.

Then from Greenville we went backpacking for three nights. Yes, it was cold. But we did a late fall camping trip last year and learned our lesson about what gear we needed to bring, so we were well prepared. Wednesday morning we sat in Tupelo Honey Cafe in downtown Greenville (delicious, by the way) and watched big fat flakes of snow coming down for over an hour and thought, “What are we getting ourselves into?!” But as the magical radar predicted, the snow stopped and the day turned beautiful and sunny, so we set out. We hiked on the Foothills Trail, which runs about 80 miles in upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. It was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever hiked, in part because it was the highest elevation! We got sweeping mountain views with nary a house or city in sight, though unfortunately we missed any fall colors there might have been. It was also some of the most difficult hiking I have ever done; on Saturday on our way out we had to hike up the highest peak in South Carolina, and it felt like an accomplishment! One afternoon when we got to our campsite I sat down (in my many layers) and realized, “I feel relaxed.” And I wasn’t sure I had felt relaxed in quite a long time. So that was wonderful. We had our Kindles with us (noticing a theme here?) and got in our mummy sleeping bags every night just about as soon as it got dark to stay warm and cozy.

From the trail we headed for a night of comfort at Chateau Elan, a winery and resort a little bit north of Atlanta. We had talked about going to Asheville for the night, but we couldn’t convince ourselves that we wanted to drive farther away from Atlanta only to have to come back the next day, so this was a nice find. We figured out that the Foothills Trail is actually really accessible from Atlanta and had an easy drive south on I-85. Chateau Elan was a bit kitschier than places we normally visit. It’s a little like Disney World for grownups, with multiple golf courses, a spa, and obviously the winery. It has an array of restaurants to suite any taste, including an Irish pub that was actually designed and built IN Dublin, then sent to Braselton, GA where the winery is to be re-assembled. Kind of kooky! But it was nice to have everything at our fingertips after days of carrying our possessions on our backs. We enjoyed long hot showers and PLENTY of food, not to mention a warm comfy bed. And then the drive back to Atlanta on Sunday was short and sweet. Even though we might not go back again, Chateau Elan was the perfect interlude between vacation, the trail, and home.

On Sunday when we got home I decided to soak up the last few drops of vacation, so I went to see Catching Fire (the second Hunger Games movie), pick up takeout for dinner (I’d been craving Pad Thai!), and make cookies. These were all delightful decisions, and going back to work on Monday wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

All in all I felt quite rejuvenated from our trip. And isn’t that what a vacation should do? Sure, it’s great to go to a new exciting place and see and do all the things you are supposed to do there. But I think Andy and I both appreciated the concept of actually taking it easy on our trip. We didn’t feel compelled to do any certain things because we have been to Greenville before and will likely go back again. And on the trail, your only responsibilities are feeding yourself, moving your feet one in front of the other, and staying warm! It seems like more often than not our vacations are for a reason–a family event, a friend’s wedding, a conference–and so it felt like a revelation to go out of town just for the sake of pure enjoyment! And, I definitely want to do it again.

What’s your idea of the perfect vacation? Have you taken much time off this year?

I’ve been feeling awfully uninspired about cooking lately. I guess because I’ve been feeling busy and stressed, cooking just hasn’t been that fun, and so I’m not excited about my menu plan every week. We’ve gotten takeout a couple of times. I keep looking at what I have on hand and not coming up with anything very exciting. The supplies in the freezer are dwindling, but I’m also trying to be better about getting back to using my coupons. We’ll see how this week goes…

Sunday
spinach ravioli (didn’t cook it last week)
salad (Dole chopped salad blends are on sale and have a great coupon!)

Monday
I have a meeting at 6, so I’m throwing dinner in the crockpot. crockpot chunky beef stew (if I can find a reasonably priced roast)

Tuesday
We haven’t played with our trivia team in awhile, so I’m hoping we will this week! I like to have a quick/easy dinner planned the weeks we go play.
beans and ham (from the freezer)
rice
broccoli

Wednesday
savory chicken hand pies (that I will hopefully have made ahead of time…I got a rotisserie chicken for dinner on Friday, so I will use it up.)
salad
cut-up fruit

Thursday
tuna melts (English muffins are on sale buy one, get one free)
french fries
cut-up veggies

Friday
We’re heading to our first Christmas party of the season! There will be appetizers and desserts, so I’m thinking we’ll scarf down a sandwich or something before we go just to fill the gaps.

Saturday
pasta carbonara (Bacon is on sale, and I have linguine in the pantry!)
some sort of vegetable

What’s on your plate this week?

I’m linking up with Organizing Junkie’s Monday Menu Plan!

Well, the fall CSA box season is over, and I don’t think I’ll purchase a box again. I love the idea of participating in Community Supported Agriculture and was really excited when my apartment complex let us know that a farm had coordinated with them to be a pickup location. It was a bit of a splurge, but I used some “fun money” to try it as an experiment, rather than counting it in our grocery budget. The way it worked was, for a set price paid upfront, I got to pick up a box of fruits and vegetables every other week.

The main problem for me is that the pickup was on Wednesday, and I didn’t find out what would be in a particular box until Monday or Tuesday of that week. As you can tell if you read this blog at all, I’m, well, a little bit of a control freak. I make my meal plan and grocery list on Saturday or Sunday, and shop on Sunday or Monday, so by the time I knew what would be in my CSA box it was too late to incorporate those items into my planning. I had been really excited about meeting some new fruits and vegetables and figuring out cool recipes to try them in, but the reality of it was that I didn’t have the time or energy to do so on the box’s schedule. My CSA farmer sent great emails every week explaining what everything in the box was and even including a few recipes and tips, but it was just not good timing for me.

Another problem was that a lot of the vegetables were so foreign that I didn’t know how to store them and, unfortunately, they ended up withering away in the refrigerator! Or, they were big bunches of greens that barely FIT in my fridge, especially since I had already shopped for the week and not budgeted space for them since I didn’t know they were coming. I think I threw away more food from my CSA box than I have ever thrown away on a regular basis, which is really unfortunate.

Although Andy and I aren’t picky eaters per se, we have several foods that neither of us likes, namely tomatoes. And at the beginning of the CSA box season, boy did we get tomatoes. Every week. I had grand plans of making and freezing marinara sauce, but I only actually got around to it once. So the rest of the tomatoes went, you guessed it, into the trash. Same with okra. We got LOTS of okra. I made gumbo once, and it was okay. I pickled some one week, and it was okay (but the partially eaten jars are still hanging out in the fridge…I wonder if they’re any good?). But I would not normally spend my grocery money on okra, and so it was too bad to have so much of it. Andy is also not really a big fan of cooked greens, and we received many different varieties of greens. I incorporated a few into recipes, and they were fine, but again, their size and volume were somewhat overwhelming for the way I cook.

And I hate to say it, but I couldn’t really detect a difference in the taste or quality of most of the items. In fact, the heads of lettuce we got were actually kind of tough and not that good. We got sweet potatoes several weeks, but they were white when I peeled them and just didn’t taste how I expected them to. We got peppers a few times, but one week the farm fire-roasted them, and I would have rather just had the raw pepper! These are all definitely first-world problems, but I spent a lot of money for what ended up being not a lot of useful-for-me food.

I guess an obvious solution, if I’m really committed to the idea of supporting a local CSA, would be to find one with a pickup time that corresponds better to my meal planning schedule. Or, to sign up for something like Nature’s Garden, where you get to select what goes into the box. That way I could get more of the things that were really good (like the locally grown apples we received!) and none of the stuff I wouldn’t want to use. I have my grocery list routine down to a science though, and I’m not sure I see much value added for me to work that much harder.

Ultimately, CSA box, it’s not you, it’s me. I’m not as adventurous or spontaneous as I thought I was. I might be back in a few years, but for now, Kroger will do.

Have you ever participated in a farm-share or CSA? What was your experience like?

We just got back from a week-long trip, but I was amazed to find that, based on things I have in the freezer, a menu plan came together pretty easily this week! It’s tempting to skip it on weeks like this, but really when you’re settling back in is the most important time to know what’s for dinner. Trying to keep it pretty simple again, as I know work will continue to be crazy through the holidays.

SUNDAY
Thai takeout–a last blast of vacation before the week starts!

MONDAY
I have to go grocery shopping after work this particular evening, so I’m making sure dinner will be easy-peasy once I get home.
frozen pizza
salad
cut-up fruit

TUESDAY
Planning a crockpot meal because I know I have lots of laundry to do from our trip, and that way I only have to worry about one domestic task in the evening.
Beggar’s Chowder (with chicken thighs from the freezer)
bread
good cheese–I like to peruse the “under $5” bins at the cheese counter!

WEDNESDAY
out with some friends who are in town for a few days

THURSDAY
stir-fried pork and cabbage
frozen egg rolls (I bought these to eat with another meal awhile ago and forgot about them–whoops!)

FRIDAY
ravioli (from the freezer)
various vegetables–will see what looks good at the grocery store

SATURDAY
beef and bean enchiladas
chips and guacamole
frozen corn

What’s on your plate this week?

I’m linking up with Organizing Junkie’s Monday Menu Plan!

–This trail mix from Trader Joe’s.

The chocolate is PERFECT, as is the mix of sweet-salty and crunchy-chewy. Plus it comes in a package with 10 individual pouches, which is really nice and easy to grab. It costs like $5.50, which if you do the math is not really that expensive.

–My new MACBOOK AIR.

omg. Andy and I had talked about how for my next computer we would probably go ahead and invest in a Mac, especially since I have been trying to learn to program and the tools really are much better with Macs. But then about a week ago Andy decided that the time for my next computer was NOW! And I am the proud owner of a 13-in MacBook Air. It is so thin and light. I love the keyboard. I love the touchpad. I love two-finger scroll. So, I guess I’ve gone Mac.

–The Story CD. (Yes, I said CD. My car is from year that fell in between the era of tapedecks and aux plug-ins, so I have a CD player but no way to plug in an iPhone. Thus, CDs.)

However I may be feeling about my faith, I still really enjoy a lot of Christian music. There are a lot of talented artists who do wonderful things with words and melodies. This CD just lifts me up. It’s a compilation of artists singing songs as different personae from the Bible. It’s fun to try and decipher which character is singing, and the music is amazing! I can listen to the Old Testament disc on repeat and not get tired of it for several days.

–Old Navy Diva skinny jeans

I guess they’re something like this. I found them in the thrift store donation pile at work and bought them before they could actually make it out to the thrift store! I tend to have mixed feelings about the fit and quality of Old Navy jeans, but at a thrift store price the pair I found is great. They’re not too dark, not too light, not too long, not too short, and skinny but not too skinny. Excellent kicking around jeans, and I think I can tuck them into boots OR wear them with flats! I’ll be getting rid of a pair of jeans I’m not loving as much any more.

So there you have it. A random brain dump of things I like.