2011 Goals Update

This month was all about family. My dad and my sister celebrated their birthdays (they were born on the same day), my husband and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary, and we spent a family holiday at a cottage.  The last time I took a vacation with my parents and sister was for my destination wedding 5 years ago!  My goal of spending more time with my family was met in abundance this month.  I also got a lovely night out with my husband for our anniversary, which counted as our date night for the month!

My parents and my husband's parents, 2006

Family vacation for wedding, 2006

On the fitness front, I went swimming every day at the cottage and have been going on family walks after dinner since getting back.  I've been vigilant about taking my vitamins and my probiotics, since I had been low on energy for a few weeks.  I've had more energy since starting the vitamin & probiotic regime. 

At home, I'm very happy with my vegetable garden this year.  I had planted 8 green bean plants, and we got a great harvest from them.  The kale and swiss chard provides leaves all season, as do the parsley, basil, cilantro and rosemary plants.  I've harvested some coriander seeds that are drying and that I'll crush as needed to add flavour to soups and stews. 

I picked the garlic, and now have19 large heads of garlic and several smaller ones that I'll crush to use as a paste.  I'll definitely be planting more this fall!  The leeks are coming along, as are the hot pepper plants and eggplants.  My biggest surprise this year has been the fennel and tomato plants.  The fennel plants are almost as tall as I am!  I use the leaves for cooking, the seeds for seasoning (especially in homemade sausages) and I eat the bulb raw.  I only planted one large tomato plant this year and two small ones, but the large plant is almost 6 ft. high!  Last  year my tomato plants didn't yield very many tomatoes, but it looks like this year will be different.

A very bad photo of my tomato and fennel plants

First Green Bean Harvest

We still haven't gotten around to painting the garage door or to staining the fence, but with the heat wave, it just hasn't been possible. 

I finished the first draft and some revisions of the first book I wrote, and I've started writing another.  I don't know that all this writing will actually lead to anything, but I have to say, I really love the whole process.  That includes writing this blog.  I've managed to post daily, and I've had a great time doing it!

In August, there's more traveling on the horizon.  I'll be in Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Delaware, and New York state as we take a little road trip.  We have a wedding to attend in DC and a friend to visit in Delaware, so we figured we'd just take the scenic route.  I'll be posting my travel thoughts and gluten free reviews along the way.  Don't forget, all my travel related posts can be found under the Gluten Free Travel tab above.