Martha's So-Called Life

a few random bits

While I was drinking my coffee and reading Flipboard this morning, I came across some things worth sharing.  

Really expensive, but completely awesome Scandinavian candles.  They come in scents like "fjord" and "forests".  

Skoop superfoods blend.  All the superfoods you should eat in a tasty single serving powder.  I want to try it, but I don't want to commit to 15 packets in case it's gross.  

Lack of dirt and germs could be causing kids to develop more allergies.  Also this America's Test Kitchen Podcast episode (#19, Only 10% Human) has a really intersting interview with Michael Pollan about gut bacteria and how important it is.  Definitely worth a listen!

shop update

Just a quick update on the shop.  I just found these in my giant pile o' stuff I have made and thought they needed to be for sale!

I have been furiously knitting away at other things that I will be sure to post as soon as they are done.  I keep getting distracted by my sweater though!  

sweater progress

Here's the progress I've made on the sweater I am knitting for myself...

If you are interested, you can find pattern and yarn information here.  

So far it's been pretty easy going.  I love knitting from the top down, it makes the sleeves so much easier!

I have several other projects going as well.  Most of them are for the shop, so I'll share when they are done!

around here

There's been a ton of knitting going on (more on that soon).  I have at least three projects going at once, one for me, and a few for the shop.  I've found that knitting and listening to podcasts makes time fly by.  I have lost several afternoons this way.  My new favorite podcast to listen to while knitting is America's Test Kitchen.  It's like Car Talk for cooking.  Love it.  

Kiva and I have had a couple of epic runs in the last few weeks...which has resulted in a lot of sleeping during the day.  We ran up Arctic Valley road last weekend and it pretty much wiped us out for the next few days.  This week, there was not a lot of night time sleeping on my part (not sure why), which resulted in a lot of daytime sleeping on my days off.  

On Friday we did our long run, and then I skied (awesome powder day!) all afternoon on Saturday.  Thus today my legs feel like noodles.  That should make running five miles through 12+" of snow a lot of fun for me... 

Apparently we are getting winter in March this year.  Last week it was sloppy, melty, and most of the sidewalks and roads were bare pavement.  Last weekend was beautiful and sunny with some amazing sunsets.  This week on Friday at about 5:30 we went to Costco and the temperature on the car said 43°F.  By the time we came out it was 28°F and snowing like crazy.  The result was a foot of new snow on Saturday morning.  

Just rolling with the punches around here.  One day it's spring and I can't sleep and the next it's winter and I'm sleeping like a rock again.  

best smoothie ever

A week ago or so, I created a new smoothie recipe.  And by created, I mean that I threw some things in the blender and hoped for the best.  It turned out to be one of my most delicious creations!

For two servings:

1 banana
1 apple, core removed
2 clementine oranges, peeled
1 cup frozen cherries
handful of cashews
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 cup almond milk

Put ingredients in blender and blend!  

It's flavorful enough that it could probably even stand up to a handful or two of spinach or kale.  

favorite podcasts

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately.  Usually I listen while I run, but when I realized that I was falling behind (that won't be such a big problem when I get into marathon training later this year), I started to listen to them while I was doing other things too.  

Here are some of my favorites from the last couple of weeks:

The Dirtbag Diaries - Zen and the Art of Skiing Powder
Definitely something I can relate to as I am not good at skiing powder!

Athlete on Fire - Travis Brown 
Pretty inspirational, lots of good advice/perspective...and he mentions Kikkan!

This American Life - Be Careful Who You Pretend to Be 
From the archives...originally broadcast in January 1999.  

The Dirtbag Diaries and This American Life are old favorites, and I just discovered Athlete on Fire.  Radiolab is another good one if you are interested in sciency things.