Food. Books. Movies. Clothes. Wine. Aqua-Bike. Photography.

Let's talk about everything... everything that is cliche.  Nothing too deep on this post today.  Just a lot of things I've seen, heard, read, tasted or want to try.  You know, the basics... food, clothes, movies, music, books and of course my two "basics" photography and wine.  This is definitely a "For Fun" kinda-post. 


Food: 


So for awhile there David and I were trying the 17-day diet... first time around we had success and the last two times we've tried again we did not accomplish anything. Since I was watching what I was eating I really didn't get to cook anything too exciting.  I don't need to make fried chicken with a thick cream sauce... but when you limit dairy, grains, etc. it makes for some boring meals to create.  I've hit a little "mood" where I want to cook some new dishes and maybe even bake a few treats.  


So I have a few things I'm going to try at some point this week/weekend... 


Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese... click here for a picture and recipe


Asparagus and Chicken Fricassee... click here for a picture and recipe


Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes... click here for a picture and recipe


I have all the ingredients for everything above... I'll let you know how they all turn out. I made my own version of Oatmeal Cookies the other day.  They actually turned out awesome... I cut the oats in half and put coconut and dried cranberries in the mix.  Yum.  Click here for a picture and recipe.  


Books: 


I just finished reading "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson.  Great read!  He is such a funny writer.  The book was about him and his friend hiking the Appalachian Trail.  (The AT is just like the Pacific Crest Trail but on the East side of the country).  You learn a lot about America reading the book as well.  If you are into hiking/travel/adventure/outdoors kind of books you'll definitely enjoy this one.  I can't wait to pick up another book by Bryson.  


I am totally switching gears and I just started reading "Crazy Love."  My sister gave me the book for Christmas.  The back of the book reads... 


"Have you ever wondered if we're missing it? It's crazy, if you think about it.  The God of the universe loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing-love.  And what is our typical response?  We go to church, sing songs and try not to cuss.  Whether you've verbalized it yet or not... we all know something's wrong.  Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo?  Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions?  God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself.  Because the answer to religious complacency isn't working harder at a list of do's and dont's- it's falling in love with God.  And once you encounter His love, you will never be the same." 


It's going to be a "hard" read... if ya know what I mean.  


Movies: 


So movies have been a little difficult lately.  I've actually watched a few that really did not excite me at all.  "Drive" was fairly gory and not what I expected.  "Tintin" was actually kind of boring to me.  "Rum Diary" was not all that great either.  A little while back I watched "Moneyball" and I really enjoyed that movie.  (David not as much, but I don't think he gets/likes baseball as much as I do.)  We just rented "How to Train your Dragon."  That movie was very cute and entertaining... safe for the whole family lol.  I would recommend it.  Cheap theatre night we watched "This Means War." It was actually very funny, we laughed out loud a handful of times.  And the other day we saw "Hunger Games."  I did not read the book... so from just a movie point of view I thought it was good.  It wasn't like the best movie I've ever seen or anything... but I judge movies purely on an entertaining value.  Did it entertain me?  Yes.  (Warning for the next one: Spoiler Alert.)  So I rented "One Day" the other night while David was out of town.  Great little movie... loved how it went through all the different years and how the two characters grew.  (Plus I loved Anne Hathaway's hairstyles).  The ending shocked me.  I got a bad feeling all of a sudden... like "Ohh no, something horrible is going to happen." And before I could even finish that thought.... BAM!  She literally gets ran over by a bus.  I actually put my hands to my face an a little yelp squeaked out.  I was shocked.  Of course the movie turns sad... but that's life, right?  The very end of the movie brings you back to the beginning so you can see what actually happened and finishes it so that your not completely in the blues.  I think it was a good movie... even if it didn't have the ending I wanted. 


....This is not a movie, but I do have to say very quickly that I've been enjoying "Frozen Planet" on the Discovery channel every Sunday night.  Awesome cinematography.


Clothes: 


I bought a pair of cowgirl boots for my birthday.  I. Love. Them.  They are brown with a turquoise diamond pattern on them.   So every girl has their "thing" that they like to buy... a lot of girls it's shoes, for some it's purses and others love scarfs.  Mine is skirts.  I love my skirts so much that I just sent about 10+ skirts home with one of my friends so she can take them all in for me. (I lost some weight/inches and a lot of my skirts were not fitting correctly.)  Instead of tossing them out and just buying new ones I decided to save them.  SAVE THE SKIRTS!  I did loose a jean skirt though.  It's way to big on me and she could not save it.  Sad.  So now I'm down to... 20 skirts.  TWENTY?  Yes.  What?  I like skirts... how many pair of shoes do you have? ;)  


Aqua-Bike


I really want to try an aqua-bike this summer.  I loved my triathlons last summer but I hated training for the running part.  I'm just not a runner.  Obviously I love swimming, Masters Swimming is going well.  I actually have another meet next Saturday.  And biking is a lot of fun too.  Running sucks.  So this summer I thought I would concentrate on the two sports I like and try out an aqua-bike.  I know you're all going "what the heck is that??!"  It's a race where you just do the swimming and biking... no running.  The swim and the bike are longer though (than a Sprint triathlon).  Right now I am looking at the Grand Columbian Aqua-Bike in September.  It's a 1.2 mile swim followed by a 56 mile bike ride.  


Wine: 


We've came across a few wineries lately that were pretty good.  I always like to share... So Carlton is this cute little po-dunk town with a bunch of wineries.  You could definitely spend the afternoon tasting and you would only have to walk a few blocks.  Scott Paul had a few wines that we enjoyed... it was fun learning more about the French region.  I really enjoyed Folin Cellars though, they had a lot of reds, Barbara, Tempranillo, Cab, etc. that I liked.  I would definitely check that place out.  We went into the Gorge for my birthday weekend.  We've hit up a lot of the wineries on the Oregon side so we decided to mix it up and hit the Washington side.  They were all pretty good... I think Syncline was probably my favorite.  Plus it had a big tree-swing so that's always fun.  (Memaloose has a nice deck/view of the river and the coolest wine-dog ever.)  


My birthday present from David was a wine membership at our favorite winery, Marchesi.  Come June we'll have 7 bottles of wine from the Italian winery.  Mmmmmm! I can't wait.  They can't make a bad wine over there.  Who wants to have a wine party in June?  This girl.  :) 


Photography: 


I bought a new macro lens!!!  60mm f2.8 macro lens.  I'm excited to play with it!  (I actually would be playing with it right now, but my stomach is in shambles so I'm laying low...hence writing a long blog on nothing.)  I'm looking forward to the busy summer season.  I'm over this slow Spring phase I am in right now.  I'm ready to shoot and shoot and edit and edit.  (Although mid way through I won't be singing the same tune with the editing deal.)  


Check out my  Instagram feed... I am doing a "Photo a Day" in April.  I am following this list here.  
My Insta name is "aubrielegault" come follow me.  


Well I think that about covers it.  I have a few Instagram photos to take... a new lens to pay with,  a hard-heart-filled book to read and an aqua-bike to train for.  I better get on with it.  


Skipping, 
Aubrie