Pinterest Fail- Vinegar Taffy

I have a fond childhood memory of making vinegar taffy one evening for family night. It was a one time thing, but I remember it being really fun. Since then, I have always wanted to try it again. Andrew has also recently been interested in learning how to make candy, so I figured that this would be a good first to try. I found several recipes online, but I settled on one that you can find here, courtesy of the How Does She? blog, if you are interested. It has really good step by step pictures and pretty good instructions. I figured that it was a fool proof recipe. This is what the candy looked like on the blog:

This is what our candy ended up looking like:

We had a lot of fun, even though it clearly didn't work. I think our problem was that we didn't have a candy thermometer, and we boiled it too long. It ended up getting really hard, really fast. This blog told us to boil the mixture until it was in the "hard crack" stage, while many other recipes I saw said to go only until the "soft ball" stage. Oh well. We had a good laugh in the meantime. Unfortunately, in order to save on future dental bills, we had to throw it away. It wasn't quite hard candy, and it wasn't quite taffy, so it was just the right consistency to pull out fillings. Better safe than sorry!

Healthy Life Happy Life

It seems like every single weekend I pledge to myself and the universe that it will be the last weekend where I disregard all promptings of temperance and indulge in eating whatever I want. Every weekend will be the last that I have indigestion due to my body's inability to digest all these things. It will be the last that I choose sleep over working out. I will be the last that I...etc. ect. you get the picture. 

This past weekend I finally became sick and tired of hearing myself make empty promises to change. I really want to be healthy. Not because I want to lose weight, (though I could spare 5 pounds or so), but mainly because I want to feel the sense of accomplishment that temperance and self-restraint bring. Science tells us that as we get older, our metabolism slows down. Therefore, if you eat like you did when you were 15, you will find that in your later years, you eating that way won't do you any favors. I want to create healthy habits now. I want to feel the strength and energy that comes from living the word of wisdom in its fullest. I want to walk and not be weary, and run and not faint. I want to be a good example to my kids, and help them to build good habits. I want to have the energy to serve God until I die. I want to stop accepting my own excuses. I figure next weekend isn't the best time to start anymore, the time to start is today! (Well, actually yesterday). So I have come up with a plan.

First of all, Andrew and I signed up for a half-marathon for late October in Napa Valley. It is a trail run that includes jumping over creeks and winding paths, which sounds fun. I have found that signing up for something with someone else is the best way to motivate me to workout. There has to be something I am working towards, and I have to be accountable to someone. So I now have 12 weeks to get in shape enough for the race! So far so good, we ran on Saturday, and yesterday. There are some really pretty places to run around here. 

Second of all, my sisters and I have started an 8 week health challenge that we borrowed from The Six Sisters.  This was something I have tried to do twice before, but both times I have been defeated by my own excuses. This time around though, I refuse to listen to them. I love this challenge because it focuses not on weight loss, but on healthy habits. It is built to reward you for every healthy choice that you make. It doesn't hurt that it is a competition either. I am not usually a very competitive person, unless I am up against my sisters. Funny how that works. We are all stoked about this and excited to help keep each other accountable for our goals. 

On Sunday night I was thinking about these goals, and expressed my fear to Andrew that I am going to give up again, just like I have done twice before. I want this time to be different, but I really don't know how. He suggested that I make a list of all the things that could come up that would tempt me to give up or give in to temptation, and then to create a plan of what I will do when each of those situations comes up. He helped me to make a comprehensive list, and I can say that I am now ready for whatever excuses I manage to come up with. In doing this, I also realized that I can not do this alone. I have tried that, and it hasn't really worked out for me. I haven't really tried to include God in this process yet, which is silly. He wants to help me, and can help me, more than anything or anyone. This body is a gift from him, and taking care of it is something he wants me to do, and will certainly help me to do, if I turn to him. 

I figured that if I kept my blog updated with this challenge and my progress, it would only be more motivation to stick to it. So blogging world, I am calling on you to help me to keep going, even when things get tough. If anyone else is interested in joining the challenge, just let me know! I can happily report that yesterday was a healthy day, and I even went running for 3.1 miles. :)

Anniversary

We celebrated our 1st anniversary this weekend! It is crazy how time flies. A lot has happened this year: we both graduated, Andrew started two new jobs, I completed my first year of teaching, and we moved to California. It has been a great year! To celebrate, we went to the best place to get a sandwich in town, The Sandwich Spot. We got our sandwiches to go and then headed straight to the beach. We had a little picnic, and then just explored the coast. We found an awesome beach that wasn't very crowded and explored along the cliffs. We were delighted to find some caves and some tide pools. We finished off the evening with Dairy Queen, our favorite. I love the ocean, sandwiches, Andrew, and ice cream, so I couldn't have asked for a more perfect date.

But seriously, I love the ocean. It is probably, hands down, my favorite place to be, and we are a short 30 minutes away! I don't even have to get in the water, and it doesn't even have to be sunny. There is something soothing in the rhythm of the waves, and the idea that you are standing at the edge of the known, with the unknown ocean world ahead. The ocean is just so. big. I can't get enough of it. Whenever we get discouraged with how expensive everything is here, we remind ourselves of how the nice weather and distance to the coast is just included in the cost of living. It helps a little.