a year of Wooden: week 18

Posted on May 5, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi, everyone, and welcome to all the new subscribers! Thanks to all of you for spreading the word about my blog … it means so much to me that you let me be a part of your life. Thanks for reading!

Monday means it’s time for this week’s year of Wooden challenge. Today we’re introducing a new challenge for the month of May: Be true to yourself.

January: Drink deeply from good books.
February: Make friendship a fine art.
March: Help others.
April: Build a shelter against a rainy day (financially).
May: Be true to yourself.

For the month of May, we’ll be focusing on the very first item of Coach Wooden’s 7-Point Creed: “Be true to yourself.” Each week, I’ll be posting a question for you to reflect on, perhaps through journaling or meditation. The goal is that by the end of May, you’ll have a clear idea of what it means to be your happiest, most authentic self so that you can work on being true to that self.

This week, here is your question to consider: If you won a zillion dollars and no longer had to work for money, how would you spend your time?

goals for the week of 5/4

Posted on May 4, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi everyone! How is your weekend going? I hope you’ve been up to fun things! Last night after I finished working, Allyn and I went to dinner and a film festival in San Francisco, which was a blast! This morning I’m off to church and book club for a fascinating and important read, Behind the Kitchen Door, about inequalities in the restaurant industry. If you’re someone who eats out in restaurants even semi-frequently, I’d highly recommend taking a look at this book. It’s a quick read and will change the way you think about eating out.

And now… it’s time for goals!

Here’s how I did on my goals from this past week:
– ~~write 12 pages~~
– ~~finalize travel plans for the summer~~
– ~~send out three query letters~~
– ~~read up to page 350 of The Kitchen God’s Wife~~
– ~~go to two yoga classes~~
– ~~connect with three friends~~

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– write eight pages
– send out three query letters/submissions
– finish midterm evals of students
– finish reading The Kitchen God’s Wife
– go to one yoga class
– have an amazing time celebrating Julie + Chris’s wedding!

Questions of the day:

What was a highlight of your weekend?
What are your goals for this upcoming week?
What recipes are you drooling over lately?

This post is featured on Menu Plan Monday!

fabulous friday #20

Posted on May 2, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Happy TGIF! Can you believe it’s already May? I am in awe of how quickly this year is flying by. A reminder to make the most of each and every day we are blessed with!

Here are 5 things I’m loving right now:

1. The gorgeous, summer-like weather we’ve been having around here … warm and sunny, the days are long, and I can sit out on the porch with a book and a glass of iced tea reading even after dinnertime. On Wednesday Allyn and I went to a Giants game and I didn’t even need a jacket! I didn’t know San Francisco EVER got that warm, especially down by the water. It was glorious! And I love the energy and happiness in the air at this time of year, like everyone is more carefree and open to the world.

2. The latest collection of short stories, The Color Master, by one of my favorite writers {and people!} Aimee Bender, author of the previous best-selling novel The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Aimee was my professor at USC and she is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. She definitely was, and continues to be, a huge influence and inspiration for my own writing. I am savoring her new book–the stories are by turns delightful, dark, funny, serious, and always surprising. I would highly recommend putting this on your summer reading list!

3. I wrote a short story that has been published in the online literary journal Superstition Review! I’m so excited and honored to have my work featured as part of this publication I have long admired. You can read it here. {Note: the story is fictional, and a little dark/sad… just be warned!}

4. These berry + cream cheese muffins I made a few days ago and have been enjoying as breakfast, snacks, and dessert … zero refined sugar, zero white flour, and absolutely delicious! I will be sharing the recipe on here next week, stay tuned!

5. This picture, shared by my dad on Facebook:

BONUS: Vote for my friends Mike & Bob Bryan, who are amazingly kind and generous Philanthropists of Giving and are in the running to win $100,000 for their charity! You can vote up to 3 times a day and it takes less than a minute! https://givkwik.com/campaigns/2014-asu

raspberry pavlova

Posted on April 30, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Hope you’re having a wonderful week so far! I’m spending the morning and early afternoon working on various projects, then teaching two classes for Communication Academy later this afternoon, and then I’m headed into the city to go to a Giants game with Allyn and his business school classmates. It will be my first Giants game and I’m excited!

Before I leap into my writing for the day, I wanted to share this amazing dessert recipe from Easter that our family friend Diana made. It’s a Russian dessert named after the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. We were all blown away! It is light and fresh — the perfect dessert for spring or summer.

I know it looks complicated, and there are a lot of steps to this recipe, but Diana assured me it is actually quite simple to make. And I can assure you it is quite delicious!

diana’s raspberry pavlova
{adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe}

– 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
– pinch of salt
– 1 cup sugar
– 2 teaspoons cornstarch
– 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
– 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
– 2 pints fresh raspberries {1/2 pint for the sauce, the rest for topping}

homemade whipped cream:
– 1 cup cold heavy cream
– 1 tablespoon sugar
– 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

homemade raspberry sauce:
– 1/2 pint fresh raspberries
– 1/2 cup sugar
– 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
– 1 tablespoon framboise liqueur

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees F and place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking pan. Draw a circle on the paper, using a 9-inch plate as a guide, then turn the paper over so you can see the circle through the paper but won’t get any ink or pencil on the meringue.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the egg whites and salt. Beat the egg whites on high speed for about one minute until firm. With the mixer still on high, slowly add the sugar and beat for about two minutes, until it makes firm, shiny peaks. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

3. Sift the cornstarch onto the beaten egg whites and add the vanilla and vinegar. Now fold ingredients lightly with a rubber spatula.

4. Pile the meringue into the middle of the circle on the parchment paper and smooth it within the circle, making a rough disk. Don’t stress out — it doesn’t have to be perfect!

5. Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours. Then turn off the oven, keep the door closed, and allow the meringue to cool completely in the oven {will take about 1 hour.} It should be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

6. While you’re waiting for it to cool, make your raspberry sauce: Place the raspberries, sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for four minutes. Pour the cooked raspberries, the jam, and framboise into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until smooth. Chill.

7. Also make your whipped cream by whipping the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until firm. {Diana adds a caution not to overbeat!}

8. To assemble: invert the meringue disk onto a plate and spread the top completely with your homemade whipped cream. Combine the fresh raspberries in a bowl with about 1/2 cup of your homemade raspberry sauce, enough to coat the berries lightly. Spoon the berries into the middle of the Pavlova. Slice and serve immediately with extra raspberry sauce if desired.

Enjoy! Diana also added that you can easily adapt this recipe to use other fruit of your choosing, such as strawberries or blueberries.

Hope you’re having a wonderful day, friends! Eat something delicious!

a year of Wooden: week 17

Posted on April 28, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi, friends! Happy Monday! Time for this week’s year of Wooden challenge, wrapping up our last week of April before we transition into May…

January: Drink deeply from good books.
February: Make friendship a fine art.
March: Help others.
April: Build a shelter against a rainy day (financially).

Last week, the challenge was to make a small change of habit that results in more money in your savings account. When I was working as a graduate student teacher at Purdue, my paycheck was deposited into my checking account automatically each month, and I began immediately transferring a couple hundred dollars into my savings account. And as a result, my savings grew steadily each month.

Now that I’ve graduated and stopped working at Purdue, I’m working as a freelance writer and editor and don’t have a paycheck automatically deposited into my checking account each month. So for this week’s challenge, I’ve made a small change of habit of depositing a quarter of the checks I receive into my savings account instead of my checking account.

For this final week of April, the challenge is to make a financial goal that you want to accomplish this year and an action plan to achieve it. My goal is to put $1,000 into my Roth IRA by the end of the year, which means I need to save $20 a week, or about $85 a month.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Coach Wooden that always inspires me:

Question of the day:

What is a financial goal you have for this year?
What steps might you implement to achieve this goal?

goals + recipes for the week of 4/27

Posted on April 27, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi friends! Happy Sunday! It feels like it’s been for.ev.er since I’ve done a goals post — I skipped last week because of Easter and my trip to Mendocino! Speaking of Easter, we never really chatted about that — how was your Easter? Mine was one of my favorite Easters ever. I spent most of the day volunteering with Allyn at a church in San Francisco, serving lunch to the homeless. The big dining room was set up like a sit-down restaurant and as volunteers our instructions were to treat clients like they were dining at a 5-star restaurant. It warmed my heart to see the bright smiles and proud postures of the clients leaving the church after the meal. I believe that the world would be a much better place if we simply treated everyone with dignity and respect. I definitely want to volunteer there again next Easter!

For Easter dinner, I missed my parents and brother, but I had a wonderful time visiting with my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. As always when we all get together, there was much laughter and storytelling. My aunt Annie hosted us all for a delicious meal of eggplant parmesan and grilled chicken, and this amazing cake whipped up by our family friend Diana. I got the recipe from her and will definitely be sharing it with you soon!

I finally feel like I’ve settled into my new weekend routine: waking up early on Saturday to teach four classes as part of my new job working for Communication Academy, crashing into bed exhausted but happy, and waking up on Sunday morning to head to church. {Which I’ll be doing as soon as I hit “publish” on this blog post!} Today after church I’m looking forward to getting together with my friend Michelle, who I haven’t seen for a couple weeks. And then, just like that, the weekend will already be winding down!

Before I head out… it’s time for goals!

Here’s how I did on my goals from two weeks ago:
– ~~write 12 pages~~
– ~~prepare for teaching & tutoring this week~~
– send out three query letters
– ~~read up to page 250 of The Kitchen God’s Wife~~
– ~~go to two yoga classes~~
– ~~connect with three friends~~

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– write 12 pages
– finalize travel plans for the summer
– send out three query letters
– read up to page 350 of The Kitchen God’s Wife
– go to two yoga classes
– connect with three friends

And here are some recipes I’m drooling over this week:
– chocolate banana pb smoothie via Jill @reini days
– zin-zen chicken via Sarah @The Pajama Chef {originally from Rachel Ray}
– nutzo date bites via Danica @It’s Progression
– spaghetti squash w/avocado kale pesto via Whitney @sometimes.always.never
– cucumber noodles w/peanut sauce via Two Peas & Their Pod

Questions of the day:

What was a highlight of your weekend?
What are your goals for this upcoming week?
What recipes are you drooling over lately?

This post is featured on Menu Plan Monday!

highlights from mendocino trip

Posted on April 26, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I spent the past few days on a little getaway to Mendocino, a quaint coastal town in northern California. Allyn’s family was sweet enough to invite me along on their trip, and I loved getting to spend more time with them and get to know them better. They are a super fun bunch, and we accumulated many inside jokes over our four days together!

Allyn’s family rented a vacation house a few miles outside of town with a stunning view of the ocean. I also loved the beautiful tall trees and the vibrant wildflowers!

We went for day hikes along the beach cliffs and through the Jughandle nature preserve. Sometimes the weather in Mendocino can get quite dreary and foggy, but we lucked out with clear sunny days — perfect to take in the gorgeous views. We even spotted some humpback whales in the ocean, and some sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks.

There was no Internet access or cell phone service, and it was refreshing to get “off the grid” for a few days. Instead of watching TV or checking email, evenings were spent talking by the fireplace, roasting marshmallows for s’mores, playing board games and trying to complete an epically challenging puzzle called “The Sentinels”… which was finally finished just before we had to leave!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I am so grateful to Allyn and his family for including me! I’ll end this recap post with a message we found spelled out with sticks along the Jughead trail — a great reminder for us all: YOU ARE LOVED.

Questions of the morning:

What was a memorable getaway trip you took?
Do you ever set aside time to go “off the grid” and put away your electronic devices?

a year of Wooden: week 16

Posted on April 25, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi, friends! I just got back from a lovely trip up the California coast to Mendocino {pictures & highlights coming tomorrow!} … we unexpectedly did not have cell phone or Internet service, so I was unable to post this week’s year of Wooden challenge until now. I guess it is more of a weekend year of Wooden challenge at this point. Thanks for being patient with me!

January: Drink deeply from good books.
February: Make friendship a fine art.
March: Help others.
April: Build a shelter against a rainy day.

This metaphorical shelter includes family, friends, good work, faith — but, since we will focus on these elements in other months, right now we are focusing on the financial interpretation.

Last week, the challenge was to take one of your weekly discretionary purchases and drop the money into your spare-change jar. Instead of going to Starbucks for an afternoon pick-me-up, I brewed some black tea at home and sipped it out in the sunshine. In Mendocino, we packed brown-bag lunches a couple days and enjoyed picnic meals out on the hiking trail and at a rest stop along the highway instead of eating out in a restaurant every day.

This weekend, the challenge is to make a small change of habit that results in more money in your savings account. For example, when I was working as a graduate student teacher at Purdue, my paycheck was deposited into my checking account automatically each month. I found the more money that was in my checking account, the more money I was likely to spend. So I began immediately transferring a couple hundred dollars into my savings account, knowing that I could always transfer it back to my checking account if I needed it to pay bills. But, guess what? I never even missed it. And as a result, my savings grew steadily each month.

Another small habit might be related to the “cash back” incentives of many credit cards. Instead of using rewards points to purchase gift cards or material items, you might think about using your rewards points to deposit cash back into your savings account. I started doing this towards the end of last year and am on track to put about $200 of “free money” into my savings account this year.

Before I go, thanks to blog reader Tracy for telling me about financial guru Dave Ramsey — I love this quote of his:

Questions of the day:

What are your current savings habits?
What small changes could you make to ensure more money ends up in your savings account at the end of the month or year?

fabulous friday #19

Posted on April 18, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Friday, everyone! This week seemed to go by simultaneously slow AND fast to me — does that ever happen to you? Whatever your plans are for today and this weekend, I hope they are filled with love!

Here are 5 things I’m loving right now:

1. Tonight I’m going to see Les Mis with my grandparents! I’ve only seen the movie version of this musical, so I’m really excited to see it on the stage. It is one of my Grandpap’s favorite musicals, and he’s been singing the songs all week around the house.

2. Speaking of singing… I love rocking out in the car as I’m driving. I am not gifted with a great singing voice, but I don’t care — when I’m by myself driving, I sing with zero self-consciousness! If one of my favorite songs comes on the radio {currently: Pompeii, I Choose You, Girls Chase Boys, Dark Horse, Rewind, or pretty much any T.Swift song} I feel like I’ve won a prize. Yesterday I drove down to San Jose and back for a dinner-and-a-show date with Allyn, and the drive flew by thanks to my solo karaoke session. {And also maybe because I was a tad excited to see him.} 🙂

3. My nightly routine of climbing into bed with a book, sipping on a mug of this huckleberry tea I got in Seattle, and reading until I feel sleepy. Such a peaceful and relaxing way to end the day.

4. Easter! This time of rebirth and renewal always makes me feel hopeful and rejuvenated. I’ll be spending Easter Sunday serving meals at a church in San Francisco, and then in the evening my family is getting together for dinner. My grandma is even making her famous-in-our-family eggplant parmesan.

5. This quote from the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

RIP Marquez, who passed away yesterday at 87. As my friend Corey wrote on Facebook: “Thank you for it all.” He was one of the best.

Questions for the morning:

What are you loving right now?
What are your plans for Easter weekend?

my health heroes

Posted on April 17, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Earlier this month I received an email from the American Recall Center, “a brand new website devoted to providing health and wellness news in simple, straightforward terms.” They say their ultimate goal is to help their readers take complete charge of their health by being fully informed!

They asked me if I would be interested in participating in their “Who Keeps you Healthy?” campaign by answering the question, “Who is your Health Hero?”

I immediately wrote back, “Of course!” I’ve spent the past couple weeks thinking about the question, and I’ve decided it’s too hard for me to pick just one person. I’m extremely fortunate to have multiple Health Heroes: my family!

My dad inspires me every day with his determination and perseverance. In addition to running many marathons including Boston, he is a “running streaker” and has run at least three miles every single day since July 7, 2003 — that’s nearly 4,000 days! He keeps track of his streak and writes about running on his website.

My mom inspires me with her commitment to cooking nutritious meals, eating a healthful whole-foods diet, and making time for exercise even when she is busy. She has run many marathons and goes running in the morning before work, and walks twice a day with Mr. Mur-dog. She is truly a strong woman inside and out, and is my favorite gym buddy — she always encourages me to do one more rep on the weight machines! And, longtime blog readers may remember, my mom and I climbed Mt. Whitney together back in 2003.

Trojan_Invite_2011 My brother inspires me with his dedication to exercise and being healthy, even in the midst of a super-busy academic and work schedule; he is a student in USC’s MBA program, works part-time in the USC Athletic Office, and serves as a leader of multiple student and volunteer groups. Yet he still makes time to run multiple times a week and is even taking part in a meditation course this semester. He inspires me to be healthy and happy in mind and spirit in addition to my physical body.

The more I thought about Health Heroes, the more my list grew:

My grandparents, all in their eighties, go on walks nearly every day. My Gramps rides the stationary bike every morning while watching the news. My Grandpap still plays golf occasionally and my Grandma plays bridge every week to keep her mind sharp.
My Aunt Annie does Pilates multiple times a week and my Aunt Mary goes to super-early-morning cycling class at the gym before work.
My friends {both in real life and the blogosphere} have inspired many healthy adoptions that are now a part of my daily routine: my yoga practice, my morning breakfast smoothies, my lunchtime salads, my nighttime meditation ritual, even trying new things like zumba!
My cousins inspire me to remember to have FUN exercising and moving my body, because isn’t that what it’s all about?

I feel so fortunate to have so many Health Heroes in my life who motivate me to stay true to my own goals for a healthy, happy, fulfilled life!

Question of the day:

Who are your Health Heroes?