Cathedrals

Cathedrals

uyguguygu   17.49   Comment  

***

I'm wearing a striped t-shirt from target (similar here and here), a Brooks Brothers skirt, and j. crew shoes. I have no idea where the clutch is from - I borrowed it from my mom! I can't find a link to the skirt anywhere on the internet but if you are a home sewer there is a free pattern and tutorial for a skirt with a scalloped waistband here.

You Should Know: Living Gluten Free - Things I've Learned Along the Way

You Should Know: Living Gluten Free - Things I've Learned Along the Way

uyguguygu   08.29   Comment  

(This is part one of a series of Gluten Free posts. Look for a post on my favorite Gluten Free Resources coming up soon!)

I've been exclusively gluten free for many, many years. In addition to that my mother incorporated gluten free cooking into our lives even before I went gluten free myself because my sister has a pretty serious case of Celiac that manifested itself when she was a teenager.

My own gluten free journey started when I simply could not get well - I had cold after flu after ache after pain after migraine and underwent the same testing in college and got the same diagnosis. My life completely changed for the better after I took the gluten free plunge and living gluten free turned out to be pretty easy, even in the gluten-free stone age before special marked menus at restaurants and bakeries devoted to gluten free products.

1. Focus on Foods that are Already Gluten Free - This is my number one tip for people when I'm approached by people who are starting their gluten free journey, or are even in the middle of it and are finding it tougher and tougher to sustain the level of prep needed to feed a gluten free child or themselves. When you focus on foods that are already gluten free, like veggies, corn tortillas instead of wheat ones, sushi (if you get the right soy sauce!), and many soups you will find that you have a whole cache of foods that are gluten free without even trying. In fact, I generally think in specific cuisine options - I find Mexican, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian Food and Soups to be the ones we make the most often at home because they are easily modified (again, we use a gluten free Soy Sauce) or don't need to be modified at all.

2. Find the Gluten Free Hot Spots in Your Area - You know your neighborhood, city, or town and eating gluten free can be easier or harder where you live. I live in Denver which has been great for gluten free living! Almost every single restaurant has a gluten free option or two and most people here are familiar with this. But, it was not always so easy, both in the days before gluten free was a thing and in more rural ares. I have lived in Detroit (much harder!) and Milwaukee (Fair to middling, on the upswing!) in addition to Denver and have done extensive traveling around the country and internationally. Make sure you know where the gluten free friendly places are, both where you live and where you're going. This includes restaurants that allow you to "create" your own dish out of things on the menu ("Please give me a plate with fries, a side of fruit, and some of those cheeses you put on your hamburgers, but no hamburger...") or ones that do have a gluten free menu. It's also good to know where bakeries and gluten free friendly grocery stores are as well.

3. Celebrate Being Gluten Free - Being gluten free will give you an opportunity to experience things you wouldn't normally have done and meet people you wouldn't normally run into. Embrace this! I've always been a bit of a dessert connoisseur so when I travel I seek out gluten free bakeries and those often are located in interesting neighborhoods off the beaten path of a city or are tucked away in small towns. My mother-in-law has really risen to the challenge of having a gluten free family member and we've gone to some great ones in quaint little towns around Philadelphia and I can remember one memorable moment where I made my husband pull a U-turn on our way out to the beach from their house because the words "gluten free" caught my eyes on a sign. Tucked in among the dunes of New Jersey was a gluten free bakery in an old stone house from the 1700s with the most amazing Angel Food Cake. If I hadn't been gluten free we would have missed out on that awesome side trip!

4. Always Pack a Gluten Free Snack - It's not always easy to be gluten free, especially when you're traveling. Hunger can strike at any moment and you could be somewhere where there simply isn't any food you can eat, like an airport, a gas station rest stop on a road trip, or a conference or work event you can't easily leave. To fix this make sure you've packed snacks. I generally go almost everywhere with an apple (they hold up well!) a zip lock bag of a high protein snack like nuts, and a packet from my favorite snack company graze. Having a snack means I'm not stressing about being hungry and getting cranky while doing so.

5. Only Buy Pre-made Gluten Free Foods When Absolutely Necessary - The most expensive part of being gluten free are the pre-made gluten free foods. You can spend your entire grocery budget on these things if you're not careful! I find that baking mixes, recipe books, and ingredients are much, much cheaper and budget friendly. I've established, over the years, a repertoire of easy baked goods and I keep a lot of staple gluten free ingredients like cocoa powder, almond flour, corn starch, and guar gum on hand so I can get busy cooking when the inspiration strikes. Learning how to bake your own does involve trial and error - I've had to toss entire batches of things many times before - but eventually you get your go-to things down. My one exception to buying pre-made gluten free foods is a loaf of bread that I pick up every week to two weeks. I just don't have time to make a loaf of bread every week and having that on hand makes packing lunches extra easy!

I hope that this was helpful for you! What other questions do you have about gluten free living that I can help answer?

***

All photos were taken at the incredible Bloom Bake Shop in Middleton, Wisconsin. Can you believe that every single dessert pictured was gluten free? Many of them were vegan, too! We were there for gluten free wedding cake tastings for my sisters upcoming wedding. Annemarie, the proprietor of the bake shop, was an incredible hostess and an outstanding baker. I haven't eaten a donut in almost a decade and yet she created donuts that were so good I went to sleep dreaming of them!

Red Barns in the Snow

Red Barns in the Snow

uyguguygu   06.00   Comment  

About five or so years ago I asked my friend A how she figured out how things went together. She was the most put together person I knew. Well, actually, she still is. I was struggling, in my early 20's to figure out how to dress, act, put my house together.  I didn't have a heritage of style like some people do. I hadn't been taught to put things together. My parents endowed many other fantastic things to me - how to manage my finances and how to be kind and smart and relentless - but not style. Growing up was one big battle between my mom's aesthetic and my dads and there was never a compromise so it was just a tangle of objects that various people liked. We also were told almost every single day that we were going to be moving because my parents were going to sell the house. This meant that we could never settle in and invest in the way things looked. 

 To top it off, at the time A and I had this conversation, I was newly married and couldn't get my style to mesh with my husbands and I felt like my tiny house, my clothes, even my haircut was a disaster. I was trying to figure out how to meet his style expectations without compromising my own as well. 

"Well," she told me. "I just look at everything. I look and I look and I look and I look."

That was it. That was the missing piece to the puzzle. So, the very next day I began to do exactly what she told me. As I went through life I tried to notice what caught my eye, what made me excited about things, what was I drawn to. Over the course of the last half decade I feel like I've really been able to narrow down the things that make me happy, and to also reserve a little hidden place for the things that make me happy but don't usually mesh well with the other things. The advice A gave me was super simple but it's completely changed the way I look at things. I wait for things to resonate in a very specific way before I go for them. I acquire things more slowly now. My decision making takes longer. But life is quieter because the cohesion helps to calm things down, both visually and mentally. 

These red barns, dotted around the countryside near my parents house, resonated with me in that specific way. The blankets of sparkling snow surrounded these weathered red structures made me catch my breath and as we drove northward I watched them pass, delighted in the tradition and character that defines that part of the midwest.  

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I'm wearing a blazer by Ann Taylor (Similar here in black). The shirt is an old Ariat western riding shirt. (Similar cut and features here with a different plaid.) The Jeans are Madewell's Skinny Skinny.  The boots are from Frye and the sunglasses are from Betsy Johnson. 

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

uyguguygu   14.19   Comment  

We went back to the midwest this year, to my parents house. My parents moved this year and this is the first time I've actually stayed at the new house. We had to use google maps to find it which was a strange and unfamiliar feeling.

They are now out in the countryside and I love the place they moved  - there are three tack shops within a ten mile radius, a lake, a pool in the backyard, and enough room for everyone, and I mean everyone, to stay here without having to crowd in. My entire family and significant others plus my in laws are here, too!

A midwestern Christmas is always cozy - we see the the family members from my mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve and the cousins do a silly white elephant gift exchange. Then, on Christmas morning we all exchange and open presents and then tinker the rest of the day with all the new stuff. Our day also included a walk around the neighborhood in the new snow, and a giant dinner with everyone!

***

It's beautiful here! The vest is from Land's End.  The button down and jeans are from Madewell. I'm wearing my mom's sorrel boots. The scarf in my hair is vintage. 

WORS: Battle of Cam Rock

WORS: Battle of Cam Rock

uyguguygu   19.16   Comment  

I visited my family in Wisconsin this past week and managed to go race while I was there. 

Battle of Cam Rock was an interesting race - very twisty, lots of turns, not too technical. I forgot to count how many passed me at the start of the race which was a hill, a little flat, and another hill. I forgot to count how many people I passed as I continued cranking and women were starting to slow down from exerting too much effort going up the hill so I was essentially riding without a number. Later in the race I passed a guy and he said I was in fifth and I thought he was just being silly because I  felt like was going insanely slow. 

Turns out his counting was pretty much correct - after I talked to him another woman passed me and I ended up 6th overall and 1st in my age group.

How's that for a fun podium shot? 

Three Days Across the Country

Three Days Across the Country

uyguguygu   18.40   Comment  

I'm on the road all summer long. Last week I departed from Denver and left my husband behind to fend for himself. I drove through Eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and into Wisconsin. 

(Privately owned...and very difficult trails in Nebraska! I won't tell you who owns part of them but I can tell you they were flippin' sweet :)

(Beautiful books in a house of more beautiful books. This place I stayed at was a place where my soul felt at rest.) 

I split the drive up into three days -  my schedule went something like this: Wake up, Drive seven hours, Nap, Ride Bike, Sleep. There was eating somewhere in there too, but I was determined not to buy food from the gas stations or fast food places along the way so I mostly ate fruit and nutella sandwiches.

(Vast and endless driving.)

(I ended up driving behind the Miss Iowa Rodeo Queen for Miles and Miles. I passed her on the freeway and she looked like a pageant winner even from peeking in her truck!)

Honestly, despite the fact I don't have cruise control, I had the time of my life. I got to ride private trails in Nebraska and a hidden gem of a trail system in Iowa that is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers.  

(Campsite in Iowa)

(Surprisingly wonderful trail system in Iowa)

Honestly, despite the fact I don't have cruise control, I had the time of my life. I got to ride private trails in Nebraska and a hidden gem of a trail system in Iowa that is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers.  

Finally, right before I went to my parent's house in Wisconsin I stopped at the trails I learned to ride on in 2008. What was at times impossible is now a flat easy race course. I remembered every inch of those trails, too, which surprised me, and I was able to just fly around them. 

(Guitar on the dock before bed...)

(Home again, Home Again...)