Daily Inspiration

Sometimes, I feel like signing on to Facebook is just asking to be bombarded with viral meme photos, incendiary political opinions, and Farmville invitations.  However, sometimes I sign on to a newsfeed that is delightfully and surprisingly full of gold, like I did yesterday.  If you’re stressing about something, having a “blah” day, or just needing some external inspiration, here are a few bites of soul food via my Facebook buddies.

Need some motivation?

Check out this TED Talk by psychologist Meg Jay.  There are a lot of Thought Catalog articles floating around lately on how to make the most of your twenties.  They’re super inspiring when you read them, but then you realize they all sort of say the same thing, and there’s not much substance behind them to get you going.  I love that Meg Jay relies on psychology more than purely emotional arguments to make her points – although her stories about past clients like Emma certainly will make you think and relate.  Even if you’re not a twentysomething, this TED Talk is a great reminder about making the most of the present instead of waiting around for the future.  It’s a lesson I need to relearn myself, honestly.

Need some inspiration? (Alternately: Want to cry really hard?)

Watch this mini-documentary from SoulPancake (Rainn Wilson’s website!) about Zach Sobiech, a 17-year old kid who lost his battle with cancer two days ago.  I promise, it’s well-worth the twenty minutes.  This guy’s composure and purpose during his last few months of life are nothing short of miraculous, and his wisdom is beyond his years.  I think there’s probably a take-away for everyone in here.  If nothing else, it has sure put my own problems and stressors in perspective these past few days.  If he has such a good and selfless attitude while facing his own premature death, what excuse do the rest of us have for road rage?

“It’s really simple, actually.  It’s just… try and make people happy.  Maybe you have to learn it with time, maybe you have to learn it the hard way.  But as long as you learn it, you’re gonna make the world a better place.”

Need a little lightness after that?

Watch this cover of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Walk Off the Earth.  The video concept is so simple but so cool.  It’s just happy.  And this song always makes me think of 10 Things I Hate About You.  Such a 90s staple.

So there’s your food for thought.  It’s still kind of early so just think of it as breakfast in bed.  Thanks, Facebook friends!

What’s inspiring you lately?  Any good YouTube covers out there?

Travel Flashback: Dunedin

I’ve always said that Dunedin was my favorite city in New Zealand – besides, of course, my “hometown” of Christchurch.  I spent a very brief but jam-packed day there with Erika and Katharina during our roadtrip around the South Island, and I just fell in love with the place.

It had the energy and walkability of a big city, the beautiful rolling hills and bay views of a little seaside town, and a ton of fun and interesting things to do (Cadbury chocolate factory, penguin reserves, and Larnach Castle, to name a few!).  In short, I found it frolic-inducing:

Such was my infatuation with Dunedin that I very much regretted the fact that we’d only penciled in 24 hours there, and I was determined to spend some more time there before the semester ended.  Fortunately, I had the chance when my flatmate, Chelsea, and I decided to go see the All Blacks (NZ’s national rugby team) play during our very last weekend in New Zealand!  Since I had so little time left there, I only blogged about that weekend in bullet points, but it stands out in my memory as one of the best weekends of the semester, so I thought it deserved a second look.

We got cheap bus tickets and hopped on for the five-hour drive.  The bus was super comfy and we spent most of the time dozing off or listening to each other’s music – Chels, this was the trip where I introduced you to Waltz #2!  Remember that?  Anyway, we finally arrived and were dropped off at the historic railway station in Dunedin.

We legged it through the city and checked in at Chalet Backpacker’s, the same hostel that Erika, Katharina, and I had stayed at during our roadtrip.  I LOVED this hostel!  It used to be an old hospital and was just such a cool place.  It was also situated right at the top of High Street with an incredible view of the city and bay.

Chelsea and I spent our first afternoon in Dunedin walking around the downtown area, popping in and out of cafes, and visiting the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.  We headed back to our hostel relatively early and relaxed in the common room with mugs of tea and some 90s movie that was on TV – I think it was Clueless or something.

Oh, and we were Tim Tam Slamming!  Yikes.  That package of Tim Tams in the background is nearly empty.  Apparently we were hitting them hard.  This photo also contains foreshadowing in the form of my shoes (or maybe Chelsea’s… I’m not sure whose feet those are).  We both tried really hard to pack light and only brought a backpack for the whole weekend.  This was a great idea.  We also both wore Chucks and didn’t bring any other shoes.  This was a terrible idea.

The next day, we met up with some other University of Canterbury friends who were in town for the rugby match (Matt, Caroline, and our flatmate, Laurie) and all went to Tunnel Beach together.

This is where the footwear problems began.  For anyone who has ever worn Converse, you will know that they are crazy comfortable provided you are sitting down or walking slowly for less than 20 minutes (which apparently was all I’d done in them – they were pretty much my kick-around go-to-class sneakers).  However, for hikes or strenuous walking, they are MISERABLE.  Bad move, Julie and Chelsea.  Luckily, we sort of forgot that our feet were starting to hurt when we got to the beach’s namesake tunnel:

and emerged onto the beautiful, isolated beach!

We frolicked about – I told you Dunedin was frolic-inducing! – and even practiced our best haka moves in preparation for the match that night (the haka is the pretty fearsome Maori war dance that the All Blacks open every game with).

Moving on to the main event.  After a quick change at our hostel, Chelsea and I grabbed dinner at Velvet Burger downtown, which is the most amazing burger joint I have ever been to, and began the two-mile trek (yup, we decided to walk) to Carisbrook Stadium.  If you’re looking for an update on the footsies situation, they were in extreme pain by this point.  Because of this, Chels and I were already predisposed to be a little cranky, so we were not pleased when we were just walking along and, in about five seconds flat, were engulfed by a spirit mob from out of nowhere.  We tried to escape and couldn’t.  Seriously, they would not let us out.  Then some guy handed us All Blacks flags and we gave up and realized it was sort of fun.

The crowd was huge and everyone was happy and excited – there were even a couple of bagpipers!  Which leads me to possibly the most epic event that I witnessed during my entire semester in New Zealand.

I know the photo’s blurry, but it captures the feeling of the mob.  See the bagpiper towards the right side of the frame?  We were all carrying along on our merry way, chanting and skipping, and all of a sudden the bagpipe music stopped very abruptly.  They had been walking just behind us, so Chelsea and I turned right around, and realized that THAT BAGPIPER HAD FALLEN DOWN.  He wasn’t hurt, honest, so it’s okay to laugh.  He just sort of stumbled to his knees.  If you’ve never been present when a bagpiper falls down in the middle of a tune, trust me: it is the funniest thing you will ever see.  In fact, it may have set the level of hilarity by which I judge all funny things for the rest of my life.

He popped back up, carried on with his piping… and a few minutes later, HE FELL DOWN AGAIN!  This time, he seemed a little embarrassed and felt he had to offer some sort of explanation for this repeated behavior, so he said, “These darn slippery shoes!” and walked rather more carefully the rest of the way to the stadium.

(How cool are the lights of the city on the hill in the background?!)

The stadium was packed to the gills.  Kiwis love their rugby, and this was also the very last match ever played at Carisbrook (the brand new stadium was opening later that month), so it was a big night.

The All Blacks match was SO much fun to watch, especially since NZed absolutely smashed Wales!  All the Kiwi fans in the stadium started throwing their beer bottles in the air in celebration (you can see them all over the field in the photo… thank goodness they were plastic!), which was hysterical.  When the game started, we noticed two girls behind us wearing what looked like hooded plastic painter’s suits, which we thought was super weird… but when we got showered with the last drops of a hundred people’s Steinlagers at the close of the game, we wished we’d thought to bring protective gear.  Ah well, all part of the experience.

Good thing the Kiwis are big into recycling!

Chelsea and I joined the post-rugby festivities in town for the rest of the evening before heading back to our hostel and falling asleep instantly.  The next morning was gray and rainy, but we woke early and spent a few hours in a café with a roaring fireplace, drinking lattes and writing in our journals.

After that, it was time to hop on the bus and head back north for our last six days in Christchurch.  Chch will always be my home there, but Dunedin is a favorite visit, and this weekend didn’t disappoint.  I had the most delicious burger I will probably ever eat.  Chelsea and I got asked if we were twins, our only real goal for the trip (I know, we really don’t look like it.  It’s amazing what wearing matching outfits will do for you.).

Last but most certainly not least, we saw a bagpiper fall down.  Twice.

Funniest thing you’ve ever seen: go!

Strawberry Banana Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal

I realized it’s been a while since I’ve shared any of my recipe experimentations with you guys, so I have a great one for today!  I’ve been wanting to come up with some fresh breakfast ideas to break up the neverending yogurt/egg sandwich/yogurt/egg sandwich cycle that I’ve been rolling with lately.  This one was Pinterest-inspired and ended up being a super success!  Sorry in advance for the not-so-lovely photos.  I can’t find my camera anywhere this week, so they’re all phone snaps.

I came across this recipe from Inspired Taste on Pinterest and it met my two main criteria for a recipe: it looked yummy and I already had all the ingredients.  Done!

I stuck to the basics, but made a handful of changes and substitutions, most notably omitting all the sugar.  It would probably be a little more dessert-y with the brown sugar included, but I wanted to make it a little healthier and I figured it would be plenty sweet enough with the fruit and chocolate (it was!).

Strawberry Banana Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal

(adapted from Inspired Taste)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 2 cups milk (any kind; I used skim)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 tbsp butter, melted
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 ripe banana, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray an 8” x 8” baking dish with cooking spray (you can also use a larger pan, but this smaller size makes your baked oatmeal thicker and chewier, which is a plus in my opinion).
2. In a large bowl, gently mix together the oats, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt, half the strawberries, and half the mini chocolate chips.  Spread this dry mixture evenly in your baking dish.
3. Scatter the remaining strawberries and mini chocolate chips, as well as the sliced banana, over the top of the oat mixture.
4. In the same bowl you just used (yay for fewer dirty dishes!), whisk together the milk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla.  Pour this mixture slowly and evenly over the oats.  Tip the baking dish back and forth slightly to evenly distribute the liquid.
5. Bake oatmeal for 35 minutes, or until the mixture is set and the dish is lightly browned on top.

This baked oatmeal turned out pretty perfectly!  I had a big square when it was hot out of the oven and the chocolate was all melty and gooey – yum.  This morning, I had a slice cold for breakfast with a big dollop of Greek yogurt on top and it was excellent like that, too!  This will definitely be a new breakfast staple – it was so easy to make and is naturally customizable if you use different fruit, no chocolate, keep the brown sugar topping, add peanut butter (peanut butter baked oatmeal… brain wave!!), etc…

One quick note: this would be a great meal to make for a big breakfast gathering where it would be gone in one sitting.  If you’re not going to get through it all at once, store it covered and refrigerated or you will be sad.  I made some beautiful blueberry lemon coffee cake a couple of weeks ago and had only one slice, because I didn’t think to refrigerate it (duh) and the milk in it turned.  Blech.  The bananas on top will brown after being in the fridge, but it tastes the same.  Maybe a squeeze of lemon juice would help that?  Or you could not use bananas.

This batch is already almost half-gone, but I might experiment with doubling the recipe and baking it in a 13” x 9” dish to make it go farther.  Or you could make it in muffin tins to create individual servings – even easier for grab-and-go breakfast and snacks!

I’ve been even busier than usual lately (the countdown is on: less than two months left on the Outer Banks!  happysad) so this is the first time I’ve baked something in a while, but now I’m craving it again!  I have a few overripe bananas staring at me from the fruit bowl that have some serious bread potential… mmm.

Any great new recipes out there?

The In-Between

This post could be about a few different things.  If it was called The Inbetweeners, it could be about my favorite British television obsession from last winter (besides Sherlock… and Downton Abbey… wait, I can’t really narrow it down).

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If it was called The Inn-Between, it could be about the iconic Geneseo bar-in-a-barn that makes no sense to anybody who hasn’t been there, and to many people who have.

(This is an accurate representation.  Oh, the IB.)

But it’s called The In-Between, and it’s about home.  Technically, I have a lot of homes now (hello, blog tagline).  Places where I’ve moved and stayed and eventually left again, perhaps with a little bit more or a little bit less of myself than when I arrived.  But right now, I mean HOME home.

That’s Rexford.  What brought on this little bout of 518-homesickness?  These guys did, of course.

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Oh, you didn’t know I grew up with Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper?  I didn’t.  Rats.  But they DID just film an entire movie in and around the exact area I grew up in.  The Place Beyond the Pines was completely shot and set in Schenectady, New York, and a few other parts of the Capital District.

It wasn’t showing anywhere on the Outer Banks, so on a whim, I went up to Virginia Beach last week to see it by myself.  First of all, Abby introduced me to going to movies alone and it is AWESOME, and second of all, I knew it would be really annoying for anyone I went to see it with if I kept whispering, “That’s my bank!  I know that street!  I went to high school with her!”

As a side note, I didn’t realize until I got there that the theater I’d set my course for was Beach Movie Bistro, a dine-in movie theater restaurant.  It was so great.  The seats were gigantic, everyone had their own table, and a man named Barry brought me pizza during the previews.  Score.

Anyway, in an odd twist, the pre-movie entertainment was about base jumping in New Zealand.

That is Mt. Cook valley, and the view is almost identical to those from my tramping trip there!  Crazy.  The next segment was about this guy named Steve Fisher, an extreme kayaker and one of National Geographic’s 2013 Adventurers of the Year (man, I’d like to win that prize).  I honestly was paying more attention to my pizza during this, but he caught my attention at one point by saying, “My life has shown me many places that tempt me to stay… but even so, there are always new challenges to take on.”

Whoa.  That resonated with me, for some obvious and not-so-obvious reasons.  I’m not an extreme kayaker, so I probably don’t think of everything quite as intensely – but still, I wanted to give Steve Fisher a big “I feel ya, man” on this one.

That all may sound unrelated to the ramblings I began this post with, but it’s all to say that I was in a weird, wistful mood before the movie even began.  And then the movie itself was like driving around my hometown for a couple of hours, albeit with two really good-looking actors running around and a bunch of people shooting guns.

Altamont Fairgrounds, where my friends and I used to go for music festivals.  State Street.  Vale Cemetery.  The GE building where my mom worked for most of my childhood.  The 1st National Bank of Scotia.  Story Avenue in Niskayuna.  I had a couple of high school friends who were visible extras in the movie.  They even used our actual newspapers and television anchors instead of creating fake ones or hiring actors.  At times I actually had to remind myself to look at what Ryan Gosling was doing because I was too focused on the scenery – really??

Unlike the countless movies set in New York City or LA, this movie will not make you say, “I wish I lived there!”  Schenectady is not glamorous.  It’s real.  It’s just a normal town in upstate New York that’s had golden ages and crappy periods and is surrounded by a bunch of other even littler towns that are just keepin’ on.  But it’s green and beautiful in the summer, and there are drive-in country ice cream places EVERYWHERE, and apparently it’s kinda easy to rob banks.  It’s where I grew up, and I know it, and I love it.  I never got as burned-out on living in suburbia as some of my friends did in high school (maybe because I lived “over the bridge” and got to escape back to Rexford after school), but I’ve grown to appreciate my roots even more since moving away.  Isn’t that how it goes?

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So why “The In-Between?”  I intentionally planned to go back home to NY for over a month between leaving the Outer Banks and going to London.  I want to spend time with my family and friends, and just enjoy the area again, before moving halfway around the world.  But ever since I’ve started making concrete plans for the fall, like deciding on housing and booking plane tickets, I’ve gotten wrapped up in London daydreams.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing.  I’m glad that I’m so excited for grad school, and for moving somewhere new.  It makes me sure that this is the right decision.  However, it’s also made me sort of forget about my in-between time.

It was unexpected, but The Place Beyond the Pines reminded me to look forward to the in-between, my five whole weeks of 518, after I leave another place that I love but before I set out on my next big adventure.  Because I’ll be home.  Unfortunately without Bradley Cooper.

Has anything ever made you unexpectedly miss home?