Happy First Collection of Thoughts! These collections are a space for me to talk about the goofy parts of life. They are a place for me to not take life to seriously, but hold myself accountable to doing something kinda creative once a weekish. The sections and spotlights won’t be the same, but there will be some recurring themes. More serious and thoughtful pieces will be intermixed in the blog when inspiration hits.
Funny Story from the Week
During my Max walks I always keep an eye out for things that make me smile. This week we were walking by a skatepark, underneath an overpass. Max got spooked by a big truck driving over. If you know Max, you know he is a little protective of his butt hole. Well when he gets spooked, his immediate reaction is to get his butt hole as close to the ground as possible (and drag it sometimes). I had to bear hug him and pull his body up from the shrimp position to get him to keep moving. After making it to the car and eating some snacks, all was better!
Yoga Thoughts
Somewhere between 2019 – 2024 yoga moved from exercise to a deeper, more spiritual experience for me. I have moved from trying to be the bendiest, “can do the most” person in the room, to going a whole class without even opening my eyes. Just moving with the voice of the instructor. Who cares what anyone else looks like! I have also shifted from focusing on making sure it looks pretty to making sure it feels good. At times, that means bending my knees, or even skipping poses that just do not feel good (bow pose never again!). Sometimes, in this newsletter, I want to write about what yoga means to me, the poses I do not do, the poses that feel so yummy, and how those things have shifted as I have continued falling in love with my practice.
Worst Book I have ever finished
Guys! I bought this book, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix at an airport a few years ago and it still is the weirdest worst book….that I just could not put down! It starts about some Southern “karens” in a book club being catty. Eventually, a vampire comes in, some curses pop up, kids go missing, a weird chapter with a rat invasion, a crush or gaslighting situation happens. I had no idea what was coming next. And I loved to hate on it!
Beautiful People
My sister told me, I have a way of finding some really cool people and hearing about their life stories. So this is a spotlight of unique people that I have gotten to meet.
I do my New Employee Orientation for my job and I get to meet the most interesting people that way! A few months ago, I met a man that used to work in the world of exotic animal training and zoos. He had experience choreographing animal shows for places like Sea World! But his claim to fame is that he is one of few people that can handle the worlds most deadly birds, the cassowaries of Australia.
Of course I asked for my sister if he knew any good rhinos and he had a great story of an escape artist baby rhino! Imagine husky level escape artistry!
The boiling process!
The final product!
Chaos Recipe: Pretzels or Bagels
- 1 1/2 cups warm water Turn on the hot tap water until it until it feels a bit steamy
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar or another sugar or honey that yeast likes
- 1 tablespoon salt any kind of salt works
- 1 packet of yeast I do not know much about yeast, but I usually use fast-acting yeast
Mix these ingredients in a large bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- 4 to 4 1/2 cups of flour I have not tried other flours but all-purpose flour works well
- 2 tablespoons of oil I used EVOO
Stir in the flour and oil then knead until a dough. Keep working with it until in your heart it feels like it is enough. I make smaller balls of dough once its all incorporated together to make it easier to knead. Just put the balls all back together before letting it rise
Let the dough rise in a lightly oiled bowl for about 1 hour. Cover it in plastic wrap or a cloth of some sort. You can use the same bowl you mixed it in, no need to clean another one.
Shape the dough into bagels or pretzels, and place them on a baking sheet. Just do your best with the shapes!
For boiling:
- 1 pot of water
- For pretzels: 1 cup of baking soda this is not an exact measure. If that is too metallicy tasting, add less next time
- For bagels: 1 tablespoon brown sugar measure with your heart here.
Add the baking soda or brown sugar to the pot of water and bring it to a boil.
Boil each bagel or pretzel for 30 seconds on each side. Tongs are recommended. I still cannot figure out how to keep the pretzels shape to stick together perfectly. This is the step that needs some work
- 1 egg mix it together like you are going to scramble it
Brush the egg on top of each. For pretzels, add your favorite toppings. I love cinnamon sugar and a classic, big salt pieces.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. You can do this earlier, it just made the most sense in the order to put it here.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until you get the color brown you like on the crust.
OK NOW I HAVE TO GO RIDE MY BIKE BEFORE THE SUN SETS!
Unravelling with a Smile 
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