Sustenance Sunday: A Very Vegetarian Thanksgiving

Chris and I have been vegetarian for a few years now, and to be honest I don't miss meat a single bit. Though we do eat fish on occasion, so technically, we are pescetarian.  Which just makes us sound like snobs.  So we stick with vegetarian.  However, as the holidays approach, the first thing I think of is turkey.  Not that I necessarily miss eating it myself, but turkey = Thanksgiving, right?  

Well, we are visiting friends for Thanksgiving, so we might have to save some of these recipes for Christmas (hope my family is open to trying some of them!), but here is a roundup of mouth-watering vegetarian recipes for my veggie-loving friends out there.

Sweet Potato, Onion & Fontina Tart

Festive Chickpea Tart

Maple Tempeh (with or without the quinoa)

Roasted Vegetable Galette

Pumpkin & Black Bean Casserole

Butternut Squash Baked Risotto

Pumpkin Hummus

Stuffed Curry Sweet Potato

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

Mashed Root Veggies

Are you vegetarian?  Do you like to experiment with Thanksgiving recipes or stick with the tried and true ones you grew up eating?  

Let me know if you try any of the recipes above, and I will try to remember to do the same!

What Month Is It?!

Between both the greeting card timescale and that of a part-time freelance writer, I find it especially difficult to keep track of what month we are actually living in!  Greeting cards need creating at least two seasons before they are due to hit the shelves (often even sooner!), and freelance writing can often require planning for a particular season.

While this certainly keeps things interesting, it can also be hard to stop, take a step back, and appreciate this moment.  Once upon a time, I was a planner through and through.  Now, I am much more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal.  The only conclusion I can think of is that the ways of my free-spirited husband have slowly rubbed off on me.  And if not, well, I'm blaming him anyway.  

I have, however, been trying to focus on living in the moment a bit more lately.  Moments where I am not thinking about what in the world I am doing with my life, the direction I want to take in my career, or whether I am saving enough for retirement.  So basically all of the boring adult responsibility type things.

This reflection may have been inspired by the life gurus we have seen speak over the past few months (including Sonia Choquette, Wayne Dyer, & Deepak Chopra), so I can't exactly take all the credit for this burst of inspiration.  

Here are some ways I am doing my best to live in the moment as of late.

The addition of this antique wooden crate/night stand, because it's just what my bright corner of the room needed!

DIY, because it soothes my soul... (big reveal coming soon - eek!)

A little picture frame makeover, because our bedroom walls are still bare... (this is the before)

These mirrors because craigslist finds make me happy!

This little reminder of Thailand, because I left a piece of my heart there, and because we finally put something (anything!) on our bedroom walls! (side stage right: another craigslist find from a few months ago, painted with my trusty chalk paint, of course!)

Cross country skiing, because we were excited about the arrival of snow! (though the same cannot be said for the freezing temperatures that followed!)

The beautiful Fall sunsets we get here in Colorado, because they really know how to brighten up a tough rush hour commute.

I love to sit and think about all of the little things I am appreciating at the moment.  It always brightens my mood.  Looking forward to holiday travels, seeing friends and loved ones (not mutually exclusive), and getting out of our daily routines at home.  Because you know we love to shake things up around here!

As I teased above, I should be posting a big DIY project (along with a mini one!) sometime after Thanksgiving.  So basically whenever I can physically finish everything!  I can't wait to show you!

And last but not least... who has decorated for Christmas already?  Am I crazy because I want to do it this weekend?!  Prepare for Christmas overload here on the blog in the weeks ahead.  The music has already begun!

A Little Fresh Mountain Air Therapy

We spent the week of July 4th visiting one of the most beautiful natural landscapes I have ever seen: Yellowstone.  I expected it to be great, but having spent a lot of time in the mountains, I didn't expect it to be that different than the other wonderful places we have frequented.  Boy was I wrong.  It was absolutely stunning, unlike anything else I have ever experienced.

Let me back up.  Yellowstone is about a 10-11 hour drive from us here in Denver and we decided to make a proper road trip out of it.  We were under no illusions that we were going to find any big tourist towns/cities in Wyoming, but we are game for exploring cute small towns, so we began researching towns that were about halfway to Yellowstone.  We ended up stopping in Riverton on the way up.  Cute little town, but apparently everything is closed on Sundays... which also happened to be the day we arrived.  We found one restaurant open for dinner (thank goodness!) before going for a little drive around the area.  The next morning we found a super cute coffee shop to grab a quick breakfast for the road.  The owner was an older gent who gave us a little tour of the coffee roaster in the back (sounds creepy, but he was a super sweet grandpa-like man!).  He gave us a really good impression of what the people were like there.

Wyoming also had a lot more rolling hills than we expected, and of course we had the promise of the mountains looming in the distance.  We drove the final 4 hours on Monday morning before landing at our final destination: The Old Faithful Inn.

Instead of trying to tell you how amazing it was, I will let the photos speak for themselves...  and I apologize in advance for the photo bonanza (overload) that follows..

long drives require lots of caffeine... 

blurry husbands...

the stunning, rustic Old Faithful Inn.

nightly live music, including two of my favorite instruments: piano and violin.

 the one and only, old faithful.

the view from our room when we checked into our hotel. 

early morning lake views. 

just missed spotting three wolves. super disappointed we didn't get to see them. 

playing spot the wildlife... 

beautiful crystal clear water. 

misleading the guys to a "viewpoint" of Grand Prismatic Spring only to find out you couldn't see it from there... 

second times a charm. the breathtaking grand prismatic spring. 

taking some back roads... 

and the creme de la creme... mama bear and two cubs spotted on our last day! 

babes are a bit harder to spot.. 

ah ha! there he is crossing the log. so cute.

tuckered out after all the excitement.. 

a quick visit through grand teton national park on our way home.. 

definitely a first. does one person even qualify as a "town?" apparently so.. 

 lunch in a cute little town on our way home.

 altitude much? 

It was just the mountain adventure we were looking for, and so much more.  Great company, stunning scenery, and fresh mountain air.  Does it get any better?

Chris is now craving the mountains every. single. day.  Literally can't get enough.  :)  So we have been doing lots of hikes to satisfy his craving for higher altitudes.  

I don't know about you, but I plan on taking advantage of a lot more of these fun adventures before the Summer slips away!

Happy Friday!