Weekend Wrap-up {Birthday & Baby}

This weekend I celebrated my friend Bekah's birthday and got to meet my friend Andrea's new baby boy! A monumental weekend if I do say so myself.

Friday night we went out to a place called The Art of Entertaining in O'bryonville. They have wine tastings on Friday nights, which also includes a 3 course meal made in house. They were very generous with the wine and the food was fantastic. We had a wonderful time. I will definitely be going back for another wine tasting there!

Saturday I laid on the couch and did nothing and it was a dream. I had Chipotle for dinner and caught up on episodes of Revenge. Definitely not a photo worthy evening, but still wonderful.

Sunday I got to meet my friend Andrea's baby, Jack. I took over Mexican Lasagna, which looked amazing and got to snuggle with little perfect Jack. sigh

I hope your weekend was wonderful!

Linking up with Sami.

Colorado Tourist: Rocky Mountain National Park {My husband tells all}

Somehow this post got lost and I just remembered about it, so the Colorado tour I took you on that you thought was finished a few weeks ago...is actually not. Today my nature loving and oh so smart husband is here to tell you about the last part of our Colorado trip!

Stop #5: Rocky Mountain National Park
Welcome to Rocky Mountain National Park and specifically, the Fern Lake Trail located in the east central part of the park.  This is Allison's husband (Drew) taking the role as your tour guide to help guide you through our day (and maybe yours one day) at RMNP. 

If you ever have the opportunity to visit RMNP I'm sure you'll want to enjoy a hike while you're there.  The good news is the park offers hiking for any level of expertise, and backpackers are welcomed as well.

When you do decide to visit, or if you visit any other National Park for that matter you may want to consider utilizing a Google search to find a trail that's right for you based on the experiences of others who have already gone.  While at RMNP we knew that a waterfall hike was a must, and with over two dozen different falls in the park simply looking at a map wasn't going to provide the nitty gritty details one prefers to have.

A quick Google search of "RMNP waterfall hikes" resulted in too many reviews for me to read, but enough that I was able to pinpoint which trail we should hike based upon our time and skill level.

The park staff also serves as a great resource for this information as well, but don't count on showing up to any of the visitor centers within the park and getting your question answered quickly.  The summer months proved to be very busy, and the line to talk to the park rangers was very long.  Any planning ahead you can do will save you a lot of time once you get into the park so you can promptly enjoy the outdoors.

While we were in the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center we had the opportunity to pick up a National Parks Passport.  The passport lists every national park by state, offers information about the parks, and provides an opportunity to time stamp your visit as seen above.   We threw around the idea of visiting as many parks as we can, and now that we are back in Ohio, we have begun to plan day trips to some of the national parks in the Midwest region.

I guess I'll mention a quick bit on the gear to take for a day hike in the Rockies since the above picture is of our shoes.  You can see that our shoes aren't hard core backpacking shoes/boots.  I own a great pair of Asolo Hiking boots which you can find at REI or many other good backpacking stores.  Unless you are actually backpacking and hiking in with all of your gear, hiking boots just aren't necessary for a day hike here.  We are standing on the path in the photo, and it's well maintained and easy to walk on, so my Merrel Barefoot shoes were just fine, and Allison's Keens worked out very well.

Had we been atop some 14'ers I might consider something to provide a little more stability, but then again Allison's friend from Colorado has hiked to the top of 14,000 foot mountains in running shoes.  I guess the main point is not to feel pressured to go out and drop $200 bucks on hiking boots if you just plan to do some day hiking.  Gym shoes will work just fine.

Our hike was roughly a 5 mile round trip, and considering about 30-45 minutes a mile in this terrain, you're looking at a total hike time of roughly 2.5-3.75 hours.  It's definitely long enough that you want to pack along some snacks as you'll be burning some major calories huffing up the trails.  I drank through my entire Nalgene (32 oz) just over halfway through the trip.  I would definitely recommend a Camel Back or a couple of Nalgenes for a hike of this length.  You'll start off a little heavier, but you'll also lighten up because you'll be guzzling water down along the way.  The ability to become dehydrated is elevated (that's a joke ha!) here in the Rockies due to the lower air pressure as you get higher in elevation.  What this causes is your body to evaporate water more quickly from your skin surface and lung surface as you breathe more often in the less oxygenated environment.   If you come from an area that is some what around sea level in elevation, you'll find yourself feeling pretty crummy pretty quick if you don't drink enough water out here.

Are those trees behind us or is it medicine? It's both! These are Aspen trees.  Native American's in the area peeled the bark off these trees and boiled it in water to drink a natural pain reliever.  Interestingly enough, the Native American's realized this when they watched a female deer eat the bark directly after giving birth and this led them to believe it had pain soothing qualities. And they were right!  The bark has a powdery surface to it which serves as a natural sun screen of 4 spf.

Taking a look at the cool hillside and blue skies above makes me think of how quickly the weather changes out here.  The quick weather change is mostly caused by the mountainous terrain forcing air upward.  As the air rises due to the mountainous peaks the air parcel condenses and the next thing you know you are getting poured on and thunder may present as well.  The good news is that these pop up showers quickly pass but packing a light rain jacket wouldn't be a bad idea in the summer.

The same goes if you visit any other time of year as well.  In the winter for instance, these same pop up showers/storms can happen and dump some considerable snow in a short amount of time.

As we hiked along we decided to take a break at a bridge crossing we came to.  We stopped to enjoy some trailmix, which frankly I begin to get tired of after a couple of handful's unless there is ample chocolate.  Just make sure whatever snack you take is more of a carbohydrate based snack and not a protein.  Something with more protein, like beef jerky, will require more water for your body to digest it and since your hiking about this isn't the best case scenario for staying hydrated.

I love animals, and apparently they love me too.  I'm not a fan of feeding wild animals as it will make them rely less on their own natural instincts, but in this case this Chipmunk was well trained.  I would have taken him home if he would have crawled into my pocket.

Here we are standing at the bridge crossing. There is a protected fish in these waters called the Greenback Cutthroat trout. This spot is just over half way on the Fern Falls Trail.

Our hard work from the hike was rewarded with a roaring waterfall fed by snow melt into Fern Lake.  The chilly water was more than welcomed after our warm hike up the mountain side.  The Fern Lake Trail was a great place to start in a National Park that has an insane amount of natural world to explore, it's a must on everyone's bucket list. Happy hiking.

Lake time

We just got home from a few days away at the lake with my family. This was the first time all 7 of us got to enjoy a little getaway together and we had a blast! We stayed at my Aunt's lake house at Norris Lake and as soon as we pulled in we were on lake time aka you don't care what time/day it is. Our lake days were full of pontooning, floating, jet skiing, kayaking, fishing, card playing, eating and sipping on summertime drinks.

I hated leaving the lake because that meant the 7 of us had to go our separate ways. My brother headed to his apartment downtown, my sister and her husband had to head back to Indiana and the rest of us have to face reality again. I loved our little slice of lake life and can't wait to do it again!

Linking up with Shanna today!

Sushi Blate with guess who?

That's right...my sushi blate was with the fabulous Erin! This is our third time hanging out, which makes us real life BFF's, try not to be jealous. We had been discussing the option of a sushi meet up and found the perfect little place right smack in the middle of our houses. You know Erin is doing awesome on her budget and we are getting ready to start making house payments so half price sushi was perfect for both of us plus it was delicious. We may have even ordered the exact same thing.

I say this every single time I hang out with a blog friend turned real life friend, but it is just so darn natural, which seems weird, but it's not! Erin and I will definitely be hanging out again soon!

Time to roll out.

Life around the table {book review and recipe}

Think about all the time we spend sitting around a table. Dinner with family, drinks and appetizers with girlfriends, birthday celebrations complete with cake, engagement parties, showers, weddings, coffee talks to catch up with a long lost friend...Some of my favorite memories take place sitting around a table with someone I love.

Sitting around a table with good food is something we all enjoy, but sitting around the table is also about community and a fulfillment beyond just that of a full stomach. As human beings we crave food, but we also crave a deeper sense of community with one another and with God.

In Shauna Niequist's newest book,  Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes she shares the meaning of life around the table through short stories with lessons she's learned along the way. Most of her short stories are also followed by an amazing recipe. [See below for my favorite]

"When you eat, I want you to think of God, of the holiness of hands that feed us, of the provision we are given every time we eat...It's about the table, and about the other places we find ourselves eating. It's about a spirit or quality of living that rises up when we offer one another life itself, in the form of dinner or soup or breakfast, or bread and wine." (17)

I absolutely loved reading this book and savoring all the wisdom that Shauna shared. She encourages her readers to not be afraid to open up their homes and hearts to others. A fancy meal can be shared in an elegant dining room or on the floor on a picnic blanket, but the important thing is that the sharing happens. Shauna's writing style is detailed yet simple. She writes like she is talking to a friend. If you haven't read this book I highly recommend it along with her other books, Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet.

Here is a recipe taken from Shauna's book:

Breakfast Quinoa (serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil
1 large onion
4 links chicken apple sausage (Shauna recommends them from Trader Joe's)
2 cups quinoa
4 cups water
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Slice and soften onion in olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. While that's cooking, slice the sausage and add it to the same pan.

Pour quinoa and water into small pot. Bring to boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with fork and let cool 5 minutes.

Scoop quino into 4 bowls and then stir a scoop of onions and sausage slices into each one.

In the onion pan, fry the eggs to over easy, about 2 minutes over medium heat, and then slide one egg on top of the quinoa mixture in each bowl. (You can also choose to scramble the eggs if you choose)

*While I did receive this book for free from Book Sneeze, all opinions are always my own. :)

Friday's Letters

Dear Drew, Thanks for researching natural remedies to cure our colds. The grapefruit honey tea...I think it's working! Dear Andrea, Praying baby Jack comes soon! I don't want to miss his grand entrance!! Dear Blog friends who linked up yesterday for my first ever link-up, THANK YOU! I was worried it would be just me alone with my link up (which would have been okay) but you all made my day! Please link up again next month! Dear Little Bro, We are celebrating your 21st birthday at the LAKE...get ready! Cheers to you! Dear Norris Lake, Be expecting us soon! I can't wait to cruise around on the pontoon and jet skis! Dear Classroom, I'm coming for you today so watch out! Dear Drew (again), I love riding bikes with you and pretending we are 10 again as we zoom down the hills in our neighborhood! Let's never stop pretending we are young okay?!

Happy Friday friends!!

Hello, Goodbye {Link-up!}

Last month I came up with the brilliant idea at the beginning of the month to make a list of things from the previous month I was saying goodbye to along with some things I was saying hello to in the new month, which is where my first Hello, Goodbye post came in. A few of you commented that you liked the idea so I got excited and decided to start my first monthly link-up!

The Rules:
-Follow my blog, Nestful of Love in whatever way you like (Bloglovin, GFC...)
-Grab the amazing button below created by my talented design friend Erin and add it to your post when you link up below or just link back to my blog

Let's get started shall we...

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<a href="http://nestfuloflove.blogspot.com/" title="Nestful of LOve"><img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/2cfw903.jpg" alt="Nestful of LOve" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Hello August, Goodbye July (Seriously, where did summer go?)
Hello Mortgage payment, Goodbye renting
Hello Revenge Season 2, Goodbye Revenge Season 1
Hello Lakehouse, pontoon and Lime-a-ritas, Goodbye worries

Hello school, Goodbye life
Hello highlighters, post it notes and cute classroom decor, Goodbye money
Hello new 2nd graders, Goodbye blog friends (but just for a little bit)
Hello Family Reunion 2013 and Cumberland Falls, Goodbye Cincinnati

Hello Mini cheesecakes, Goodbye self-control
Hello Photo wall, Goodbye boring blank wall
Hello Ten Year High school Reunion, Goodbye thinking I'm a young whipper snapper

10 years ago? Really? Really?

What are you saying hello and goodbye to this month?
If you don't get to link-up this time, I'll be doing another link up on September 1st!

And the lucky winner of the Noonday Collection giveaway is Holly G. I'll be contacting you soon!