Blog Archives

The Bucket List is complete!

This list that began 365 days ago has added to a year full of memories and gotten me outside of my comfort zone. šŸ¤

Tonight I’m celebrating a new decade, and I don’t feel like I need a list to commit to plenty of content worth sharing for the coming years. ā˜ŗļø Looking back, I know that I wanted to ā€œmake the mostā€ of my twenties as I closed out this chapter of my youth. Moving forward, my thirties are all about becoming a parent and raising babies with their own special memories!

I tried to pick a favorite list item but I can’t, there are so many good ones! It’s been so fun to look back on all of them today and appreciate where this past year has taken us. The days are long but the year is short :)

Bucket List Item #3: Visit a Museum

Tomorrow will mark 2 months since my 29th birthday, and we are only on bucket list item #3! A little behind pace, but so many of the events are weather-dependent and geared towards summertime. Finding the next task to check off was a little limiting as Boise wasn’t climbing past 60 degrees over the weekend, so I selected “Visit a Museum.” Ideally I would have liked to find a more exotic or adventuresome museum, but we made do with what our hometown had to offer.

Zeb and I looked up local museums that we hadn’t been to before. (For anyone visiting the area, the Warhawk Air Museum about 20 minutes outside of Boise in Nampa, Idaho is a fun visit and one we’ve gone to many times!) We picked the Idaho State Museum in downtown Boise and made it a full “date day” with brunch first a cute new-ish spot called Huck House Brunchette.

Everyone is short-staffed right now and we are always being reminded to be patient and give grace to the employees who did show up; which is why we decided not to say anything when my eggs benedict arrived….sans eggs. 😁 Oh well, the brioche bread, avocado, bacon and hollandaise sauce was still a delicious plate, and we had split a little flight of mimosas to go with our coffees.

The museum was three stories with exhibits that included little interactive stations for families and kids. Here’s a little Idaho history you probably didn’t know and can enlighten your friends with over your next happy hour:

Idaho’s Parachuting Beavers:

In 1948, Idaho Department of Fish & Game dropped 77 beavers via parachutes into the Idaho back country. The first was named Geronimo.

Credit: Idaho Fish and Game

At the time, the mountain town of McCall was becoming more populated and residential. However the pesky beavers in the area were becoming a major problem for the new residents. Trapping and relocating them was difficult as there weren’t many other suitable habitats to relocate them too.

A local Fish and Game employee named Elmo knew of the perfect habitat, the Chamberlain Basin in what is now known as the Frank Church Wilderness of No Return. Issue was, as the name implies, there aren’t any roadways into the basin. Next he needed to brainstorm a method of transportation that was safe for his team and the beavers. He knew there was a surplus of parachutes from World War II. He planned to put beavers into wooden boxes, but began to fear they would chew their way out. He designed a special box that would automatically open upon impact with the ground and allow the beavers to safely escape. Enter Geronimo, the guinea pig parachuter. Elmo’s team sent Geronimo up for test flight after test flight, parachuting him to the ground, watching him leave the box and repeating until they were sure it would be a successful mission for transplanting the unwelcome beavers into the wild.

77 beavers in total were sent into the Chamberlain Basin via parachutes and created their habitat in what is now the largest protected roadless forest in the lower 48 states.

And now you know a little something about Idaho State history that you probably didn’t before. :)

Another interesting tidbit we gleaned from our tour: The unique national monument in central Idaho called Craters of the Moon, which is a preserve made up of over 400 acres of lava fields, was visited by astronauts prior to their mission to the moon.

We learned about early farming tools, pioneer houses, mining, and rock formations. At the end of the day, we stopped at the gift shop for some ā€œBeaver Brigadeā€ stickers to mail to a friend, then we were eager to reunite with our little 6-week-old sweet pea.

Strong Like My Coffee Turns One!

There is a little call for celebration…. Strong Like My Coffee had a Blog Birthday. Blog Anniversary? Regardless….Strong Like My Coffee turns 1!

One year ago I launched stronglikemycoffee.com. It all began a few years prior, when I became addicted to reading blogs. Now I’m on the other end of the computer page…This occasion calls for coffee, and some (Low-Fat) berry chocolate chip coffee cake :)

Happy Birthday stronglikemycoffee.com ! One year of Health and fitness blog posts!

Reading other blogs has always provided me with so much inspiration. I enjoy reading all about other people’s lives….their food, their travel, their exercise, their ideas. Looking at their pictures and making their recipes and trying their workouts. After a while, it starts to feel like we’re friends…..when I don’t actually know them at all. (This is starting to sound stalker-y….it’s not like that, I promise!)

So 365 days ago I joined the club. I figured I had some similarities with bloggers I find so entertaining, I could join their little community and share my thoughts too. At first I began humbly….sharing my page with my friends and family. But then came some strangers. Thanks to (the genius) invention of Pinterest, strangers began stumbling upon and reading my blog. Most popularly, the simple post PACKING FOR DORM LIFE. That’s when I realized that there are plenty of college girls like myself from all over, who enjoy maintaining a healthy lifestyle just as much as I do. (BTW there will be a sequel to that post in the next few days…the new school year is right around the corner!)

I was hesistant at first…I didn’t want to publish too much about me, didn’t want people to see this site as a way to brag or beg for attention. I just want to share what I am truly passionate about with people who feel the same way! Reading other bloggers fitness stories, race recaps, goals or even recipes inspires me :) It reminds me to be thankful for the blessings in my life and appreciate the simple joys that we often overlook. I mainly blog for myself, a way to capture my journey.

But this coffee cake I made to SHARE. And I highly encourage you to make it too, because you probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen already and any “indulgence” in moderation is perfectly compatible with a healthy lifestyle :)

Low-fat Chocolate Chip Raspberry Coffee Cake (stronglikemycoffee.com) you probably have all the ingredients..too yummy NOT to make!

The Recipe:

  • 1 Cup Non-fat milk
  • 6 oz. non-fat vanilla (or any flavor really…) Chobani Greek Yogurt
  • 2 heaping Tbs. ground flax seeds
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 Tbs. vegetable oil
  • 1 cup white flour
  • 1 cupĀ  whole wheat flour (or 1 additional cup of white flour if you don’t prefer the wheat taste)
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 Tbs. cinnamon
  • 4 Tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 Tsp. Salt
  • 1 1/2 cups raspberries (frozen berries work just fine, just thaw them out/drain beforehand!)
  • 3/4 cup chocolate chips
  • Topping: dusting of powdered sugar & additional raspberries.

1. Whisk together milk, yogurt, flax seeds, vanilla and oil.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the dry mixture to the milk mixture; stir in raspberries & chocolate chips.

4. Pour evenly into a greased spring form pam; bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees or until top is golden brown and the middle passes the toothpick test!

5. Let cool for 20 minutes before slicing and sharing with a freshly brewed pot of coffee. Cheers!

Cheers! From stronglikemycoffee.com One whole year of health and fitness blogging

365 days. 166 blog posts. Even more planned for the future! I’m excited to see what the next year brings, for myself and for stronglikemycoffee.com. There’s my first collegiate cross country season, my first apartment, my first marathon, my 21st birthday/Vegas trip, my next set of surgeries, and at least 365 more cups of coffee. Everything else…we shall just wait & see!

Thanks for reading! :)

%d