April

It's week four in spring term. I had a physics midterm last night and it went terribly. For some reason, my brain is just not wrapping around the physics subject as well as I'd hope it to. I'm committing myself to school from here on out. The first few weeks of this term were a blast. Hanging out with friends, exploring outside, and cooking up mean food (some of which is pictured below); left little to no time for studies and it is always easy to justify the fun stuff but before you know it, the tests roll in and you're up to your neck. I am choosing to sacrifice somewhat of a social life as I always do in hopes to spend the majority of my time studying and in the woods- the place that makes me the happiest. My 10K trail running class has been awesome this term!! I am literally running a new trail system each week that I didn't know existed. With the beautiful weather as of lately, it has been quite a treat to get class credit to go run 6.2 miles shirtless in the woods with a bunch of other crazy runners. Yesterday, we went out to the Oak Creek access to McDonald-Dunn forest and after a 1 mile climb in elevation dropped through one of the raddest spots I've been yet- Narnia Forest. Appropriately named, this segment of woods was dense, dark, and muddy single-track with a lot of foot-eye coordination and heavy decent. It was a good recovery from the previous climb and spit you out at the side of a windy creek that snaked through the lush wood back to the starting point. Along with exploring new area, I am seeing major improvement in my running. My mile time has drastically decreased from all those damn hills and I'm hitting my second wind way sooner in my run than ever before. I am actually thinking of taking the class again in the fall. 

Off to Environmental Geology now! 

Best

Sweet potato x kale scramble w/ Stumptown on the french press.

Road my single-speed cruiser out to the trailhead with a partial flat and major headwind. Joyous. 

View from 1st run at Bald Hill Park.

Wide trails make for fun areas to run with groups.

Bald Hill Barn.

Post-trail run. Muddy legs are the cue to shower.

Homemade waffles with strawberry and avocado drizzled with olive oil. Paired it with bourbon. MMM.

Chicken breast topped with sauteed asparagus, squash, heirloom tomato, onion, greens, and avo.

Story of my math life. A six pack of Full Sail and Vector calculus.

Bike repairs in the spring sun before work jamming to Bob Dylan.

Bailey says "fuck you" to going out to eat as we made a killing with homemade calzones filled with every vegetable imaginable and feta cheese. 

Hardest part of the calzone making... waiting.

Finished product! We had to split one they were so huge.

Bottle cap wisdom.

Blonde belgium infused with rose petals from Eugene. Thank you, Rogue.

Meal in preparation for three midterms and over 35K in a week. Foraged rosemary on chicken breast with sauteed asparagus, baked sweet potato, sauteed squash/zucchini, and baby kale. 

Spring Break Volume II

A truly lovely week off school and work it was! After staying in Bend a couple days and hanging primarily with my family, we embarked West to Pacific City- my favorite beach spot and a surf favorite among the locals. Renting out a cabin brought me back to my time spent on the coast of Ecuador and building a fire every night, drinking countless Pelican Pub Imperial IPA's, and the warm sunshine we were greeted with every day truly made a fantastic small vacation. Upon departing Pacific City, I made my way through a seventy-degree travel day in late March back to Corvallis and tried to soak up as much sun as possible by running 9.2 miles out to a trailhead, up a butte, down, and back home. It was a great day on the trails that left me sunburnt and exhausted. Easter Sunday always falls at a funky time and due to it being the Sunday before classes started, I wasn't able to enjoy it with my family. However, being so very fortunate, my two best friends here at Oregon State- Haley (longtime friend since middle school) and Zoe came over to enjoy a vegan (Haley's diet) dinner I whipped up of spinach and red pepper stuffed portobello mushrooms, sweet potato mashers, asparagus, and my last growler of the imperial IPA homebrew. Building a fire and drinking from mason jars in the backyard while blasting Led Zeppelin made it look just right out of Better Homes and Gardens in the words of my father and not your very traditional celebration of Jesus' reincarnation. Now, the reality of school is back and a busy term it is already playing out to be.

Currently: studying organic chemistry, vector calculus, environmental geology, physics, and conducting research in Chemical Engineering while tutoring university level chemistry in the evenings. Looking forward to seeing Alt-J live next Monday in Portland. Running a lot, eating well, climbing in the nights, and meditating when I wake up with french press in hand.

Ciao!

Mom walking with the dogs on the beach.

"I'll bring the wine, you bring the telescope and we'll let the night speak through our bodies. As if we are the waves and the energy that moves in between us is the moon; pulling and pushing us to distant shores and farther seas."

Family.

Russell might be a model... 

25 years together and still risking PDA all the time. 

Brother and I.

Cape Kiwanda, Oregon. 

Pacific City, Oregon.

Russell kicking back.

After my 9+ mile run, reading in the sunshine felt right.

Easter dinner.

Spinach and red pepper stuffed portobello mushrooms with sweet potato mashers and green asparagus. 

Haley advertises my home-brew quite nicely.