Charity Challenge - March

This month for my charity challenge, I decided to donate to the PKD Foundation.  PKD stands for polycystic kidney disease.  This disease runs in my family and it is known that at least 3 members of my family have it, including my aunt who was lucky enough to have received a kidney transplant last summer, thanks to one of her nieces who was a match for her.  

March is kidney awareness month so if you'd like to donate to this cause, you can do so by going HERE.

If you don't want to donate money but want to become an organ and tissue donor, go HERE!

{PKD}

Conscious Box - February and March

How come none of you told me that I missed blogging about my February Conscious Box?  How did that sneak past you?  I know it's not the most exciting but I like to document what I get in each box.  While I did blog about the February Valentine's Box, I forgot to blog about the regular subscription box.  

Here's what I got for February.  I really liked this package.

Here's March's box.  It probably was one of my least favorite boxes.  I don't see it being worth $20 at all, however I decided to renew for an entire year.  Conscious Box used to send the packing list by email but they don't do that anymore so it's not as easy for me to list the products so pictures will have to do this time.

Google Reader- Goodbye

Google Reader is going away as of July 1st, 2013.  This makes me a little sad as I use it but I'm looking for alternatives for a new reader.  Actually, I've already changed over to a new one but I don't know if I'll like it and I'm curious to know what you're using.  

So, what are you using?

Goodbye!

Dana Crocker

St. Paddy's Day weekend was spent making food.  On Saturday the 16th, I really wanted to make raw hemp seed bars with cacao drizzle but I needed almond butter, which I didn't have so I decided to make almond butter first.  Has anyone ever made almond butter?  This was my second time and it's so frustrating to make.  If you don't have patience, don't even try.  It took 30+ minutes to get it to the correct consistency and I know I'll make it again but this time I'm going to make a big enough batch to make it worth it.  It took longer for me because I used raw almonds (roasted goes faster) and added no oil so it takes quite a bit of time to leech the oil out of the almonds to make it creamy. The final product was delicious though!

My only ingredients:  raw almonds and 1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt

All that work so I could use half of it to go into the hemp seed bars.  This recipe was much easier and a lot faster.  

I know a lot of these ingredients may not be available in your kitchen.  Being my diet is mostly plant-based (vegan), items like hemp seeds and almonds are very common in my diet.  Also, this recipe ends up being very expensive to make.  After I added up all the ingredients, I think it was around $18-19!!!  The hemp seeds equaled an entire bag, which is usually around $10 and almonds aren't cheap either.  I do have to say these were so delicious and I still have some left.  They are a great way to get some energy as they are probably higher calorie but they also have a great amount of protein as well.  They truly taste like a dessert.

On Sunday the 17th, I made vegan pancakes.  I figured I might as well make them green too.  I was so proud that M ate them as well.  Being that we are on completely different ends of the food spectrum, it always makes me happy when we can eat something healthy together.  I would share the recipe but I can't remember where I found it so pictures will have to do.

Four-leaf clover

Finally on Sunday evening, I made the most delicious teriyaki sauce.  I didn't have any fresh veggies in the house so I settled with a frozen package and steamed the veggies.  I used fresh rice noodles and roasted some cashews in the oven to add a little protein.  My final result was really delicious and I ate it for the next couple of meals.  The sauce was extremely easy to make and I feel good when I can make something that isn't full of chemicals and preservatives.  This sauce only lasts about 1 week or so in the fridge and it yielded over 16 oz.  

• 1.5 cups cold water
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (I used Tamari, which is gluten free soy sauce. Try and find a brand that is organic or non-GMO as soy is one of the most genetically modified crops in the US)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons corn starch (again, try and use organic or non-GMO.  Corn is the other big crop that is mostly GMO)
• 1 tsp sesame oil (I didn't have sesame oil so I used peanut oil)

Put all together in a pan and whisk over medium heat until thick and color is dark. I put it what I wasn't going to use in a mason jar and let it cool for a long time before putting it in the fridge.  Enjoy!

Charlie's 40th

We went to a 40th birthday party for Charlie on Friday, March 15th.  The party was held at Maranatha Church in Forest Lake on a super snowy evening.

Charlie is M's oldest friend.  They've known each other since they were born.  M's siblings range from age 56 to age 39, with M being the youngest.  Charlie's siblings also have a similar age range so it was perfect for them when they grew up that the siblings in each family had a friend around their age with the other family.  (There's actually another family that are friends with them that have around same age range as well.)  I met Charlie around 6-7 years ago for my first time.  When M would talk about him, he would also talk about going over to one of Charlie's sister's house and playing with their kids as well.  After talking about it, M and I realized one of Charlie's sister's kids, (stay with me now) was my friend from junior high and high school so that makes Charlie (who's 40), the uncle of my friend from high school (who's 36).  Small world.

Charlie's heavily involved in his church so it's only natural his big bash would be there.  Despite how bad the weather was, there were lots of people there with a taco bar and cupcakes.  Charlie was the DJ to his own party and loves doing it.  If you were at my dad's benefit, Charlie was the DJ there as well.  We hung out with Charlie's wife Sarah and a couple of Charlie's siblings while we were there and listened to his great party mix.  Happy Birthday Charlie!

Dixie's

Wednesday, March 13th was our girls dinner for March.  It was my turn to choose the restaurant and I picked Dixie's on Grand in St. Paul.  Both Jamie and my mom hadn't been there before and it had been about 15 years since I had been there.

We got there at 5 pm so there really wasn't anyone there yet but by the time we left around 7:30 pm, the place was packed.  We started off with some baked mushrooms and Jamie ordered some beef jerky.  For dinner, I had a shrimp po' boy.  I really wanted to try the jambalaya but the after asking the opinion of the server which was better, she said the jambalaya is just average.

We had a lot of fun talking and relaxing.  Our conversations range all across the board and we always bring up our dad.  I know he'd love that we are doing this on a monthly basis.

I'm an Adult

When you're a full-blown adult, you get excited over household purchases, like a new vacuum.  I was pretty excited to get my new vacuum a couple of Tuesdays ago.  My favorite part is ordering it online from Amazon, not paying tax or shipping and having it come right to your door.  Oh, and cashing out some credit card points on Amazon so I got over $50 knocked off the price.  I opened it up and started vacuuming right away.  Being that I vacuumed a handful of days earlier, I didn't think I would suck up as much as I did but I knew my old vacuum just didn't work as well anymore.

Does anyone have this vacuum?  So far, so good.  What kind of vacuum do you have?  Do you get excited about household items like this too?

Baby Time

Sunday, March 10th was the day of my friend Kristi's baby shower.  She's due on April 20th, is having a boy (Bretton) and doesn't want that baby to come out any sooner than that!  

Her shower was held in one of the rooms in the upper level of Manitou Station in White Bear Lake.  I knew a good amount of people there as a lot of us went to high school together and some I hadn't seen since then.  

The food was appetizer-type foods and it was really good.  They had cake and chocolate covered strawberries for favors.  The room was decorated so cute and I'm sure a lot of the inspiration came from Pinterest.

Kristi received a lot of nice gifts and she was really grateful for her special day.  

Mom's Birthday

We celebrated my mom's birthday on Friday, March 9th.  We went to Jamie's house and Tom picked us all up fish dinners from the VFW.  We did this for my mom's birthday last year and we all love to take advantage of the fish fry during Lent.  We were obviously missing my dad that night and even though it was the second birthday in the family since he passed away, it was the first time we had a birthday get together.  She just turned 58 and in terms of age, she will outlive my dad in about a week. (My dad died 16 days after his 58th birthday.)

My mom opened her presents and liked her gifts.  She doesn't like her picture taken most of the time so these were the only photos I was able to get.

This little angel was sleeping when we arrived

Colton, Hunter and Keith

On my mom's actual birthday, the 12th, she didn't get home until 6:30 pm and so her and I went out for a quick dinner to Perkins by our house.  Given the chance, my mom picks Perkins quite a bit to eat.  Our food was pretty good but the service was terrible.  Somehow the free dessert that my mom got for her birthday made up for it.

Rojo

Rojo.  It doesn't just mean red in Spanish.  It also is a bar/restaurant in St. Louis Park's West End.

I went to happy hour there on Wednesday, March 6th.  I was the cougar of the group while I hung out with my younger friends Eric, Michael and Justin. I had never been to Rojo before but they all live in St. Louis Park so it was a convenient place for them.

I had a couple of sangria's while I was there, one white and one red.  We also ordered a couple appetizers, a vegetarian quesadilla and grilled corn.  The grilled corn was fabulous but I was a little reluctant to eat it.  No girl likes eating corn on the cob in public and especially with guys at the table.  It can be just too messy.

I would definitely go back to this place for dinner.  There's a Rojo that will be opening soon in Southdale right by my work so I'm sure I'll check it out again.

Welcome Greg Jennings!!!

If you understand this post, that means you love football and you've seen this Old Spice commercial.  If you don't, well, that's your problem.  Welcome to Minnesota, Greg Jennings!

Click to enlarge!

I Had to Play Hookey

I colored my hair on Sunday evening, March 3rd.  I hadn't colored my hair for over a year.  I bought a kit from the store, a different kit than I've always used.  I bought an intense red.  I really like my hair in any shade of red and I think it compliments my skin tone.  After putting in the color, it got really orange, really fast and it started to scare me.  I ended up washing it out 6-7 minutes early because of this.  The color was very vibrant which I could deal with as red fades every time you wash it but what I couldn't deal with is that my scalp was stained orangey-red.  It looked ridiculous enough for me to decide I couldn't go to work the next day.  So I told my supervisor Sunday night I wouldn't be coming in.  I'm not sure how your work is with time off but we can take time off as long as we have the PTO to do so.  It doesn't matter the reason and you don't have to say why.  

I woke up Monday at the same time I normally would have for work and started my day.  Since I had a free day, I took care of some admin stuff for myself and then decided to ask my mom if she wanted to bum around with me.  She did and I picked her up and we went to different stores for errands I had to run.  

We ended up stopping at Big Bowl in Rosedale Mall for lunch.  It's yet another place she had never been and was reluctant about it.  We started with vegetable potstickers and we both did the stir fry bar.  I had the veggie panang red curry with noodles and she had the veggie teriyaki with fried rice.  We both didn't eat very much and had leftovers for dinner that night.  She really liked it and I loved mine.  I wish I would have done rice but I added brown rice to it when I ate it for dinner. I could Asian food every day! 

Gophers Basketball

M bought tickets back in the fall for us to go to a Gophers basketball game.  They were red hot back then and now, not so much.

We went to the game on Saturday, March 2nd.  The sun was shining and it definitely felt warmer than close to 30 degrees when walking to Williams Arena AKA The Barn.

Bigfoot and me

Neither of us had ever been to a game before and at first, The Barn is a weird design, twisting and curving and all different levels but you get used to it quickly. Our seats were in the corner under an awning.  We could see the court just fine but there was also a TV near us as well.

It was Senior Day that day, which means the seniors on the team were being recognized by the crowd and rest of the team and their families as it was their last home game ever.  They each received their jersey in a frame.


The game got off to a good start with the Gophers up at one point 16-0 against Penn State's Nittany Lions. The Gophers were just coming off their huge win against the Indiana Hoosier's the Thursday before Penn State had just beaten the Michigan Wolverines that Wednesday.  This game, however, was never competitive.  The Gophers had the lead the entire time.  It was fun to see a win, especially for the last home game for the seniors but it would have been a little bit more fun had the game been close at times.  Gophers win, 73-44.

When I first sat in my seat, I got upset.  The first person I thought about was my dad.  He loved Gophers basketball and had for a long time.  Before he got sick, M and I told him we were going to bring him to a game for this season but it obviously never happened.  Despite this, I really FELT him there with me.  I felt and almost imagined him sitting next to me. I do believe he was there with me.

 The view from the second level during the dog halftime show.

After the game, we drove further down into Dinkytown and stopped into a store and M wanted a slice of pizza at Mesa.  I wasn't even that hungry but ended up getting one too and we sat at the benches at the window looking outside.  I wasn't paying much attention to the people on the street but two of them walked in after seeing me.  It was my friends Kristi and Erick.  While they were walking by, Erick saw me and said to Kristi, "Hey, that's Dana." so they came to chat with us for a few minutes before venturing to their dinner destination.  

We stopped at Jamba Juice in St. Paul for a wheatgrass shot and a smoothie.  I love wheatgrass shots. I wish I could drink them every day. Even M drinks them with me! Supposedly if you drink wheatgrass every day, you can turn gray hair back into your natural color.  Hmmmm!