no gonna lie

It was hard for me to hang today. Good thing night lift tickets here run for $10 a pop (usually $40/half day upwards to $110+/vail).

I had a good rep going for me...Colorado girl, used to boarding 2 miles above sea level, with 3 years under my belt. Granted, I was never out of breath here, though habitually drinking lots of water.

But when there's only one lift open, and it's 700 feet long, it's quickly tiring. I thought it'd be icier than it was, but one run was soft and freshly groomed. And hey, not a bad view to the top!

this doesn't happen here...

Thursday after yoga I was thrown off by this sight:

Blinding! 

Good thing Friday things went back to normal:

paying it forward

Update! Today (Tuesday, Jan 7) is the final day for online donations...muchos gracias!
.....

My travels are taking a different twist this February. Time to pay it forward for the goodwill and hospitality I received from so many strangers last year.

Consider helping me bring homes to our brothers and sisters in El Salvador with any amount of donation!

http://share.habitat.org/shannon-dils-gv14503

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vitamin-D day

After snowing 7 consecutive days, it finally stopped for the afternoon. Almost a bluebird day...but hey, I'll call this a vitamin-D day!

quaint downtown Petoskey

breakwall...with 2 feet of hilly ice

finding purpose

When you are unemployed, it is easy to fall into the slump of sleeping in and doing absolutely nothing...what is the point of getting up if there's nothing to do, right?

So to make myself purposeful, I've gotten into the rotation of yoga, shoveling, reading, photographing walks, and cooking.

Cooking might be the most rewarding to me because I've also made it the most challenging. I have purchased a local CSA winter share, which means a bag of veggies every 2 weeks. Which means, the only things really in season (or in winter storage) are carrots, turnips, kale, potatoes, winter squash, and radishes. It will be interesting, considering my go-to is to sauté everything.

One of my first experiments is kimchi! My version is carrots, daikon radishes, and garlic, which is currently soaking in salt water. It is a couple days away from being ready.

And complete sidebar...I made flour tortillas from scratch! Olé!

christmas morning...every morning

It doesn't stop!

I thought I'd return the favor and shovel the neighbors sidewalks. Afterwards, Drew told me that the CITY paves each and every sidewalk here. Not that you can tell after a few hours and a few inches...but insanely enchanting nonetheless.

back to midwest roots

With a farm name like True Roots farm, we're constantly talking about not just our vegetable roots, but also our heritage roots. After closing up the market for the season and put all but the still-happily-living brassica beds to rest for the winter, I have made my way back to my roots...back to Michigan.

I'm in a quaint little town in Northern Michigan, called Petoskey. It's situated just south and a little east of Lake Michigan...which tends to confuse me where the sun rises and sets.

A cloudy and chilly 39 degrees today. I try not to peak at Denver's 68 degrees and sunshine. After all, Denver's apple blossoms froze this year...definitely not the case here!

A bag 'o' apples a day keeps the doctors away!

A clear Lake Michigan.

The almighty Lake Michigan in all her glory.

Empty winterized docks.

Bear river. And thankfully, I did not get mauled by any bears on this hike.