Old News

Wow, I definitely had intentions of blogging much more in the past several months but as you can see, that didn't go too well. Though summer wasn't completely hectic, it was a whirlwind. An amazing whirlwind though. 

Tomorrow I am embarking on the fourth week of classes of my senior year. After procrastinating for the past year, I have actually been seriously researching grad programs and am going to get my applications as soon as possible. I'm just taking it one step at a time. I'm starting to get excited about what next year is going to hold but need to make sure that I continue to live in the present. 

Besides emotionally preparing to move into the next phase of life and whatnot I have also decided to take charge on my eating philosophy. I partially consider myself paleo now. If paleo is unfamiliar to you check this out.  I say partially because I am not 100% and feel guilty calling myself a true paleo. I have adopted it as my philosophy of the ideal way to eat but I'm not able to always perfectly execute this goal. I say this after I ate a delicious salad for lunch followed by a couple delicious cookies. I have made great improvements in my diet but I still adore sweet things and am not planning on giving that up anytime soon. 

I would like to take a paragraph to make a note-to-self: Mackenzie, you LOVE the outdoors! Think about how this weekend you went for a trail jog, hiking, and then the Mud Run for four consecutive days! Ohmygosh, wait... it didn't kill you? Who are we kidding! So what if you're a little sore. You still have energy and could probably do it all again tomorrow. 

Speaking of outdoors, here are some recent pictures:

View from the almost-summit of Dragon's Tooth. Catawba, VA

Andrew and the very top of Dragon's Tooth.

Dragon's Tooth... Before the rain came.

Hiking Angel Peak with Kelsey. Pearisburg, VA

Probably the creepiest thing ever.

Thanks for reading :)

A Canning Endeavor

I believe that today, I have become even more of a farm girl. I had been toying with the idea of entering the world of canning this summer but had not yet had the guts to give it a try. However, yesterday when my boss said that she was going to send the unsold day old strawberries to the cows I had to stop my self from gasping out loud. I could not let such beautiful berries go to waste! So home I lugged home a huge box full of eight quarts of berries!

Sitting here now I can say that for the first time since I was a small child I made preserves! I remember helping my mother with this process many years ago but have never done it on my own. So today, my newest sister-in-law and I embarked together into the adventure of making strawberry jam. It was the real thing. Not freezer jam or anything like that. Start to finish there was a lot involved and several hours passed but I think it will be worth it. Though we accidentally didn't follow the directions to a Tee and it took forever to boil, I think from the few scrapings on the side of the bowl I've snagged it will turn out well and last quite some time. Not to mention, I have several other people in mind who will receive great enjoyment from such a tasty little jar.

Throughout the process I couldn't help but be amazed that I was learning to make preserves in the same exact kitchen as my Great-Grandmother. Living in her house often brings about moments nostalgia when I reminisce about the days before my family inhabited it. Though I did not know her for long before she passed away, what I do know about her shows me that she was an incredible farm woman. Being able to can things in the same house as her is such an honor and a way that I can honor her from-scratch lifestyle which has since been forgotten by many.

Two days old and still beautiful!

Imagine this 8x. That's how many berries there were.

What a cute little miniature.

The main reason it tastes so good.

Boiling to a very long time. It looks like tomato sauce here.

Good thing we had aprons to avoid strawberry speckled clothes.

 

Now it's time to capture my Great-Grandmother's ingenuity and figure out what to do with my remaining 2.5 quarts of berries. Perhaps homemade ice cream or smoothies soon.

Boot Toppers - Easy as 1,2,3

I had seen an idea for making boot toppers recently and thought that it was brilliant. You get the look of having super warm socks poking out of your boots without worrying about your feet sweating. I had some really fun neutral scrap yarn that had bits of metallic gold and the texture looked homespun. I thought this would be perfect for boot toppers because they would go with anything. I started looking for patterns on ravelry.com but didn't find anything that I was satisfied with so I decided to make my own.

Here's how it turned out. Let me know what you think.

The Pattern: 

1. With small circular needles or Double Points, Cast on 44 stitches with US size 6 needles (or size needed to obtain gauge). 
2. Work in two by two rib until piece is desired length. 
3. Bind off extremely loosely and weave in ends. 

Repeat steps 1-3 for the other leg. After they are both finished wear with style and confidence!

You can adjust this pattern any way you want. Number of stitches can vary for different calf sizes or you can play with the pattern and do other things besides a basic rib. I would recommend having some type of rib at the top and bottom though and playing around in the middle. Good luck and if you make your own version I would love to see it! You can email any pictures to adams.m49@gmail.com

Fish and Chips

My parents have come to visit me this weekend and we have the weekend quite filled up! Today when they got here we went out for lunch at a great local towney sandwich shop and then went to the new Irish Pub for dinner. I had been wanting to try fish and chips for quite some and and they were great! Since my parents have had authentic fish and chips in Ireland, they are able to compare to the real stuff and the southwest Virginia version was up to par. Also, I had been craving some good ol' MD Boardwalk Fries with Old Bay and vinegar and had given up on the fact that I'd be able to find them here. However, our chunky potato wedge "chips" had a bottle of vinegar just waiting to be sprinkled on them. There was no Old Bay but the vinegar was more than satisfactory for now. I am so glad that I am able to appreciate these simple pleasures.

After dinner, we walked around campus for a bit so that we didn't feel like complete fatties and then went to 180, InterVarsity's large group meeting. It was a great night for them to come and visit and they really enjoyed it. It was great for them to see some of the things that God is doing through this ministry and meet some of the people that I have come to love dearly.

I am looking forward to spending tomorrow and Sunday with them as well. We will be doing a service project with some other families tomorrow morning, the Spring Game in the afternoon, and the 1st annual SERVE family banquet in the evening. Tomorrow's a big day!

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;

my hope comes from him. 

Truly he is my rock and my salvation; 

he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 

My salvation and my honor depend on God;

he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in him at all times, you people; 

pour out your hearts to him, 

for God is our refuge. 

-Psalm 62:5-8