All Out 2017

REI is urging people to seize the day on January 28th. Many states are putting on awesome events to encourage people to go outside. Go to this website https://www.rei.com/all-out and enter your zip code to see all the events and classes being offered on #AllOut2017 in your area.

Here in Washington you could participate in the following:

• Join REI for a breathtaking snowshoe hike and discover the joy of winter exploration in one of the snowiest places on Earth: Mount Rainier National Park! On this outing, guides will share snowshoeing techniques and tips for winter travel. Snowshoes and lunch are provided.
• The Washington Trail Association is helping to maintain the Grand Ridge Trail above Issaquah with a Grand Ridge Trail Work Party. As someone that has done this trail, it could benefit from some work, especially since it is shared with hikers and mountain bikers.
• The Washington Trail Association is enhancing sections and replacing steps on this short but rewarding trail in Edmonds with another Work Party.
• Stevens Pass Nordic Center is offering free trail access, games, NWAC experts and more to help get more people outside every day in 2017.
• Avalanche Transceiver Training with Mt. Baker Education Center and REI at Mt. Baker Ski Area.
• Tree and Shrub Planting at King County's Tolt-MacDonald Park near the Snoqualmie River. You could be part of the effort to create a wildlife hedge row with Swansons Nursery donated plants.
• ........and many more!

How cold Iowa is...

I received the below email forward back in January 2007. At that time I was going to undergrad at a northern Iowa college. I found it to be amusing and printed it out then. I am currently recycling a lot of the paper in my apartment, and thought this would be appropriate for a blog post to share with fellow Midwesterns, plus now I can recycle the paper since it is digitized on here!

60 above zero
Arizonians turn on the heat.
People in Iowa plant gardens.

50 above zero
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Cedar Rapids sunbathe.

40 above zero
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Iowa drive with their windows down.

32 above zero
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Des Moines gets thicker.

20 above zero
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, and wool hats.
People in Iowa throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Iowa have the last cookout before it gets cold.

0 degrees
People in Miami all die.
Iowans close the windows.

10 below zero
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Iowa get out their winter coats.

25 below zero
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Iowa are selling cookies door to door.

40 below zero
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Iowa let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Iowans get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.

460 below zero
All atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale).
People in Iowa start saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero
Hell freezes over.
Iowa public schools will open two hours late.

Minimalism: Who Needs 4 Wireless Routers?

Photo of the items I just donated to Goodwill

I just finished doing another purge of items from my apartment that are no longer purposeful for me. As I continued my journey that every possession in my home serves a purpose and brings me joy, I am going through and justifying how each item adds value to my life, and if it doesn't, to be okay with letting it go. Mission: To live more deliberately with less.

Here are some of the items that I let go either via donating them to Goodwill or trashing them:

• Buttons: I have managed to keep every single extra button that has come with my clothes, in case I loose one to be sewed on to the clothing. I was able to purge almost 50 buttons because of two reasons:
• 1) Despite having a home economics class in fourth grade, and the numerous YouTube videos, I do not know how to sew on a button.
• 2) I had no idea what piece of clothing the buttons went to.
• Wireless Routers: I had four wireless routers, and only one of them are being used. How I accumulated three extra routers, I have no idea. This is a prime example of when you have so much stuff, you loose track of your household inventory, and you continue to duplicate items; or in my case, quadruple items!
• Makeup bags: Any women that has made makeup purchases from inside a mall understands that it is quite easy to have quite a collection of free makeup bags. I ended up getting rid of approximately 15 of them, and I kept two.
• Tote bags: For those that didn't know, in 2012, Seattle banned plastic bags, and so I have accumulated numerous tote bags. I was able to rid myself of almost 20 tote bags.
• Small kitchen appliances: Getting rid of kitchen items is one of the hardest things for me with becoming a minimalist, and it is definitely the room of my apartment that hasn't been decluttered too much. However, I was able to justify getting rid of a few items:
• Panini grill: The last time I used this grill was over a year ago, and everything I used it for, I can now just use my Toaster Oven to cook. However, I have been told that Panini grills make the crispiest bacon, but since I do not eat pork, bye bye Panini grill!
• Smoothie blender: This is one of these purchase that I told myself that I was going to use every day, and that lasted for about two days back in 2010. I then was using it to blend homemade soups, but then I bought an immersion blender. The immersion blender takes up less space, and blends soups and sauces so much easier.
• Overall  reducing the number of Tupperware containers. In this purge, I was able to remove seven containers.
• Photo printer: Can you remember the last time you printed photos? I can, but it happens so rarely, and I have a 24-hour photo print studio within one block of my apartment, so there is no need to own a personalized photo printer.
• Accessories: I am extremely low maintenance when it comes to my hair, it is either up in a ponytail or it is completely down. Therefore, I got rid of hair clips and many of my headbands. In addition, I got rid of a lot of jewelry that I haven't wore in years because it is too sparkly, heavy, or not my style any longer.
• Hangers: As I have been getting rid of clothing, I have accumulated a lot of empty hangers.
• Wall Pictures and clocks: I started removing things from my wall now that bring me no joy, and I realized that I had a clock on my wall that I haven't changed it's battery in three years, and it has probably been dead for three years. So obviously I do not rely on it to tell time.

Each time I purge, I noticed there are less items that I trash and more that are being donated. You may be thinking to yourself, that you do not need to declutter, or you may not know where to start. I offer you these no-time starts:

• Go to your medicine cabinet and trash all medication that has expired.
• Go to you refrigerator, and trash/compost all expired food.
• Recycle old newspapers, paper advertisements, expired coupons, and magazines.

2,250 Miles in 2016

I am having a bit of a proud moment here, which rarely happens, because I too, am my own worst critic. In 2013, I joined this online site called DailyMile, which users go online and log their miles of exercise. In 2015, I completed almost 1,300 miles of exercise, and I had plans to increase those miles for 2016, but what I did, exceeded my initial goal.

In 2016, I completed 2250 miles, and every single mile was outdoors. I did not step inside a gym. I had anticipated that I was outdoors more this year, and that it would show in the number of total miles, but I was surprised that I surpassed 2,000 miles. Also, for me to accumulate the most miles during the summer season is another pat-on-the-back that I have to give myself. In previous years, summertime has been when I am least active.

For those who are getting started in the new year with a journey of being healthier, I found this site to be helpful, and they also have an app you can download for your phone.

Minimalism: Lifestyle Resolution

Last year seemed to have been a roller coaster ride for many people, myself included. However, I am choosing to remember it as the year I became proactive in becoming a minimalist. Therefore, this year, my New Year's Resolution is to continue to declutter and adhere to my personalized minimalist rules.

• If I bring an item into my apartment, a similar item must leave. For instance, if I buy a new coat, a coat or an upper body piece of clothing must be donated/trashed/regifted.
• I will not purchase any new movies or books (outdoor activity books are the exception). If I buy a new hiking book, then at least one leisure book needs to be donated to the library.
• Instead of keeping something I use rarely, borrow it from a friend when it is needed.
• Continue to work on limiting myself to three permanent items per surface. For instance, alarm clock, coaster, and lamp on nightstand.
• Being diligent on everyday maintenance. This week, I purged again after my initial decluttering that happened in November. I took a look around my apartment, and got rid of seven more bags of things, took three pictures off the wall, and got rid of four small kitchen appliances.
• My bedroom should be the most uncluttered room in my apartment, but unfortunately it has six pieces of furniture in it. My huge six-drawer computer desk from Pottery Barn is in my bedroom, along with a four-shelf bookcase that still has enough books to fill a eight-shelf bookcase. I still have more things I need to get rid of, but have made huge strides. My nightstand drawers are 90% empty, and my vanity dresser now has three drawers that are completely empty.

I continuously search out resources to help me along this journey of decluttering. While I was in Missouri for the holidays, I watched the documentary that is available on Netflix, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. If you haven't watched it yet, I definitely guarantee there is at least one or two things that will resonant with you. In addition, they have a website that you can follow, along with a book: http://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

Completed 52-Hike Challenge

At the beginning of the 2016 year, I wanted to complete the 52-Hike Challenge. The parameters I initially set for myself was to do a different hike each week of the year. As the year progressed, there were a few weeks I was unable to complete a hike, but then, there were other weeks where I completed multiple hikes. Therefore, my 52-Hike Challenge morphed into completing 52 different hikes before the end of 2016. I am thankful to all the friends and family that joined me on these trails to help me complete my goal. Below are the trails that were part of the challenge; I ended up leaving footprints on 73 different trails:

1. Myrtle Edwards Park
2. Centennial Park
3. Twin Falls State Park
4. Preston-Snoqualmie Rail Trail
5. Snoqualmie Falls
6. Spencer Island
7. Langus Riverfront Trail
8. Point Robinson Lighthouse
9. Washington Park Arboretum to Marsh Island
10. Fort Ward State Park
11. Gazzam Lake
12. Grand Forest
13. Saint Edward State Park
14. Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park Licorice Fern Trail
15. Wilderness Creek and Wilderness Peak Loop
16. Big Tree Loop
17. Wetland Trail
18. Round Lake
19. Tradition Lake
20. Puget Power Trail
21. Swamp Monster Trail
22. Laurelhurst Park 
23. Grand Ridge Trail
24. Seward Park
25. Camp Long
26. Anti-Aircraft Peak
27. Shangri La Trail
28. Protector Trail
29. Cougar Pass Trail
30. Coyote Creek Trail
31. Red Town Trailhead 
32. North Fork Falls
33. Kubota Gardens 
34. Discovery Park
35. Kelsey Creek Farm Park 
36. Bellevue Botanical Garden
37. Squak Mountain
38. Little Cranberry Lake
39. Padilla Bay
40. Mercer Slough
41. Robinwood Park
42. Carkeek Park
43. Lake Samammish State Park
44. West Tiger Mountain Loop (No. 2 & 3 Summits)
45. Nisqually
46. Talapso Lake
47. Fort Steilacoom Park
48. Lake 22
49. Beaver Lake Park
50. Hazel Wolf Wetlands Preserve
51. Beaver Lake Preserve
52. Lord Hill Regional Park
53. Lincoln Park
54. Rattlesnake Ledge
55. Kamakazi (Teneriffe Falls)
56. Bandera Mountain
57. Twin Falls
58. Ravenna Park
59. Green Lake
60. Iron Horse Trail
61. Lake Serene
62. Bridal Veil Falls
63. Mount Pilchuck
64. Boulder River
65. Granite Mountain Lookout
66. Pratt Lake
67. Soaring Eagle Regional Park
68. Denny Creek and Melakwa Lake
69. Scriber Lake
70. Wright Park
71. Tacoma Nature Center
72. Marymoor Park
73. Point Defiance/ Owen Beach