Happy Holidays!

Here's wishing everyone a somewhat belated happy holidays (hey, New Years is still on its way). We had a nice time in Seattle, just Brad and myself. We opened presents and got to video chat with our families. Brad gave me a membership to the Woodland Park Zoo, which I blogged about previously. I'm pretty excited for getting to go back; there were a lot of exhibits I'd love to see again, and some where we missed the animal that was there. Gifts of experiences are always great, especially one we can experience all year.

Our tree with presents under (and the fake fire on the TV!)

Nut loaf that looks surprisingly like meat loaf...

Our Christmas dinner came out great, the nut loaf was awesome. Brad really liked it, which made me happy. We finished off the last of it yesterday; it was nice to have leftovers for so long. We even ate it while we were snowshoeing yesterday in Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

The computer added this funny effect, it wasn't actually snowing while we were there. 

Snow shoes on!

We rented snow shoes and trekking poles from REI and drove about 1.5 hours east of Seattle to get to a snowy area. We got to a point when we were driving to the trail that the back country road was so iced over we didn't think our car would make it much farther. So we just parked there and walked the rest of the way up the road until we got to a designated hiking trail in the forest. It was nice because even though there was snow, it wasn't all that cold. And there weren't any other people around until the end. I have more photos from my camera but I'll have to post those later. We spent about 5 hours out there and hiked around 7 miles with lots of stops and lunch in the middle. It was a good first snowshoeing experience, and I would definitely do it again. I've missed hiking; we haven't gone in a long while.

I'll try to post again soon regarding some craft projects (I finished one and started another). Hope everyone is relaxed and happy!

Meal Plan 12/29-1/3
Because we spent so much money on food (including our Costco shop) leading up to Christmas, Brad said he wasn't going to go grocery shopping this weekend and we would just have to make due. So this meal plan is pretty lame (plus, I think we will need a few things from the store to make this work), but I managed. I'm not sure what our New Years plans are yet, so we might end up changing this around somewhat.

Sunday: Tortellini (from Costco)
Monday: Chili
Tuesday: Black bean burgers
Wednesday: Rice and beans
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner!
Friday: Ravioli

I think all we'll need to buy is a few onions, eggs, fruit, and some fresh vegetables.