D's Breakfast Bagel

          During one of D's visits he introduced me to an amazing treat: the breakfast bagel.  I know I mentioned it before, but it is so good that this masterpiece is worth its own post.

          The first thing you need to do is get the bagels out of the freezer and open one up with a knife. Be careful not to break it since it's frozen still.  What?  You don't keep bagels in the freezer?  You must eat bagels really fast.

          Next, get out that lovely artery clogging butter and add a thin coating to both halves while freezing your hands on the cold bagels.  You don't need a generous layer, although go ahead and do your own thing. I love butter but I think a thinner layer will help with the frying.

          Third, place your bagel halves on a hot frying pan and enjoy that sizzling butter sound. Yes, you must enjoy it or they won't turn out right!  Trust me, you don't want to mess with this.

          Your goal is to get both halves evenly slightly brown.  I think I needed to press mine down against the pan to get the even browning.  Make sure to throw some meat in the pan as well and enjoy that sizzling sound, too.  I added two slices of honey ham, two is not nearly enough. What was I thinking?

          Now add a generous helping of butter to the hot pan and notice the difference in sizzling sounds between this, the bagels, and the meat.  Don't let it burn!  I'd recommend not trying to take pictures of it while it is on the hot pan. Instead, move that pan around to get the butter to move all over it to be ready for the egg (s).

          Here comes more breakfast for this bagel!  Fry at least one egg on there.  Now if you're really, really hungry you can try frying more than one, but remember, no matter how hungry you are the size of your stomach doesn't change.  So if you have a small stomach like me, that stinks.  Stick with one egg.  But if you're luckier, add another or more so you'll have a bigger bagel.

          After you let that egg cook a little, go ahead and break the yolk and push it around.  So it's not quite a scrambled egg because it has larger chunks of whites and yolks.  Of course, that's also your preference you should listen to.  Look, I made egg art!

          Now if you're like me, make sure you don't forget this next step: add salt and pepper.  I always forget about that.  Once the egg is cooked go ahead and push it towards the center, keeping the heat up, into one bagel sized blob.  The higher heat will cook your egg faster and make this next step easier.

          Put a slice of cheese on top of the pile, and if the heat is high enough it should start melting right away. I wouldn't recommend using a high heat while taking pictures, though, unless you have an assistant or the eggs might get brown and I hate brown eggs.

          If you aren't photographing while cooking your cheese should be a lot meltier than mine is right now.  Next is the fun part.

          In a fantastical display of your amazing frying pan dexterity, slide that mass of egg and cheese right off the pan onto the bottom bagel half.

          Add the meat and the top half of the bagel and you are ready for my favorite step.

 ENJOY!

Celebrating 100 Dates

          I don't know if all bloggers started out as writers of "Dear diary"s or journals, but I know that I did.  In 3rd grade my teacher, Mrs. Varness, introduced her class to writing in a journal.  Three days a week we would have a writing prompt on the board and we had to write at least 3 complete sentences on topics ranging from what we did over the weekend and what we hope to do when we grow up to what we would do if we were president.  I loved writing in that journal and, believe it or not, I still have it and love rereading my 3rd grader self's thoughts (10/9/96  I wonder if my parents give me money when I lose a tooth.) and feelings (10/17/96 If I was the principal at [school] I would make it so that kids wouldn’t have to take shots. Then I’d make a teachers day off. Then I would quit.).  Sadly I don't have a record of the writing prompt, so sometimes it's a game trying to guess what I'm responding to (11/22/96 I would be s[h]ocked.  I would cry. My eyes would pop out of the sockets.).

          Ever since then I've periodically kept journals, sometimes hand-written and sometimes electronic.  In 2010 I saw people making facebook photo albums called 365 Challenge where they would take a picture each day to post and write a little about what happened that day.  I loved that idea but even though I almost always have my camera with me that doesn't mean I remember to use it, so that would not work.  Instead I challenged myself at the start of 2011 to write at least a few words each day before bed that summed up some part of the day even if was just "2/9/2011 is over." or very slightly expanded thoughts on the day "4/23/2011 You know something is wrong when smiling and laughing cause your muscles to be sore within a few short minutes. Random thought of the night."

          I like keeping a journal because it is fun to look back and see what I was up to and how I was feeling through the years.  I like reflecting on parts of my life and seeing how they shaped me into who I am today.  I never dreamed that 2011 would be such a pivotal year for me.  My goals for the year were simply "to get a job for the fall, to be less stressed, and rediscover myself and be happy with what I find.  Maybe I’ll actually get in shape this year ;)  Yeah, that’s a joke.  My big hope for the summer (we’ll see if it happens) is to take a stunt driving lesson.  I’ve been toying with the idea of becoming a stunt coordinator.  It isn’t useful in the grand scheme of life, but it would work my brain and might make me happy.  Here’s to the New Year!" (1/2/2011).

          At the beginning of 2011 I was in the middle of my second year of teaching with only a yearly contract, so I didn't know if my classroom would still be there for me in the fall.  I also did not know that nearly all of my plans would change within a few months, nor did I know that I actually would get into shape by that summer and happily postpone my plans for stunt driving school.  That was the year I quit teaching, went back to school, and met D.

          I am SO happy that I chose 2011 to keep a daily journal because that allowed me to record my thoughts and feelings through the beginning of our relationship.  It also allowed me to keep track of our dates which is how I know that last Saturday, January 19, 2013 was our 100th date!  

Maybe we can keep this balloon to refill when we hit 1000!

          I consider a date any day that we spend time together.  Since our schools are 3 hours apart and even our parents' homes are 45 minutes away from each other, we don't get to see each other as often as most couples do.  There is no chance of us randomly running into each other to get to spend time together.  So each day that I spend with D, whether it is a relaxing day playing video games side by side and watching shows, or a day of adventure and going places, to me, each time I get to see D is special and therefor a date.

          For our 100th, we took my aunt out to lunch, although she generously refused to let us pay (we'll be faster at grabbing the check next time, hehe), went to church with D's family, enjoyed a family dinner together, and watched Robot Chicken.  His parents were nice enough to let me stay the night so we could share our 101st day together right away and it was the perfect start to our next 100 dates.  D's mom made us an egg scramble to go with coffee cake for breakfast, yum! Then, we got to look at puppies and other cute, and some less-cuddly animals, and he helped me try to adjust the focus on my camera to take pictures of all the amazing plants the store was also selling.  When we got back we had dinner with his family and watched Resident Evil 5 and The Lorax with them.  With such a fantastic weekend it was really hard to return to school.  At least I know that I get to see D again next weekend!

Here's to the next 100 dates!

My Golden Birthday Gift: Preparing Our First Trip

Illinois got blanketed in ice on Saturday night.

Preparing Our First Trip

            Once again I found myself on the Exploring Illinois website, but rather than searching by name, I was searching by region.  The southeast region to be exact.  My heart raced when I saw the list of over a dozen parks appear for the region.  I needed to look at each park, locate it on the map, and then determine which ones I wanted to visit most, how long to stay at each one, and where we should sleep while down there. 

            I remembered one park that had a pool and a lodge.  The combination sounded promising to me so I checked my notes and found pool listed under Dixon Springs, a part-day park with two trails and locations with funny names.  Keeping this location in mind I started down the list of southeast region parks.

            I already had notes on a few of these parks, and some of them with strike-through indicating that previously I didn’t think the park was worth the trip.  Now that we were going to be here a couple days I didn’t want to rule any place out without a second look.

            The southwest region covers a lot of area.  Using my fingers to mark the distance between my house and the University of Illinois I marked off two hours of distance from Dixon Springs.  Most likely we would want to pick our parks from this radius so we wouldn’t spend too much time in the car while on our mini-vacation.

            Delighted, I saw that Cache River state park fit.  It is a marshy area unlike anything I’ve seen in Illinois before, with 18 miles of trails mostly over water.  My only concern is rain; if it rains too much here before we arrive there won’t be much for us to see and some trails may be closed.  My notes label this as an all day park.

            Since we are spending two nights down south our first and last days will have to be part day parks giving us one day to spend at an all day.  The trouble arises when I take another look at Ferne Clyffe, a park that grabs my attention since I added ‘fun’ in its description.  Which park should I choose for our all day?  I decided to think about that later and went back to looking at the other parks in the area.

            I quickly scratch off three in a row as they are for hunting and boating.  When my list is finished I have seven parks on my list.  There are a couple I had to ignore because they were too far away.  I highlight three in blue, and two in yellow.  I have my five parks.

            Naturally Ferne Clyffe is in blue, and Dixon Springs since it will be our main base.  My third is Fort Massac.  Apparently I had skipped over this name in my earlier search because I became very excited when I looked at its description.  Not only is it a historical site with replicas of old barracks and nice short strolls along the Ohio River but it’s right on the edge of a very special city.

            Unless you know the history of how superheroes have affected my life it will be hard to understand my excitement at knowing that we will be within minutes of Metropolis and the Superman Museum rumored to have a large statue of the man of steel himself nearby.  Giddy with excitement I made sure to record the museum’s hours of operation with a plan to get us there at any cost.  Even if I have to beg, I will get a picture of myself flying beside the man of steel.

            Surprisingly, Cache River earned yellow.  While I would love to visit and capture images of all the shimmering water, I don’t know if we will have time, and I really want to make Ferne Clyffe our full day.  Cave-In-Rock got the second yellow vote since my sister was obviously excited upon hearing about it.  This park is also smaller and the farthest away, so I couldn’t make it blue and get my hopes up.

            We ended up waiting until the next day to talk about the parks.  I had already told my mom, but now I told Dad.  He heard all five names; I described their locations and told him about the lodge.  He quickly ruled out the lodge for expense reasons but he agreed to all five parks.  Smiling, we ended the conversation.  I got all five parks when I was only bargaining for three.

            With less than a week to prepare we needed to find a hotel and directions to all of the parks.  It was decided that we would leave on Tuesday, May 27 and stay two nights to return on Thursday.

            When Dad got home the next day he pulled out the road map to double check which parks I wanted, and once again I took him through the list, pointing out the parks as I described them.  He talked about hitting Ferne Clyffe on our way down there and my heart sank.  I explained that I wanted to make that our full day, he understood and agreed.  We would stop at Cache River on Tuesday instead.

            Dad informed me that we could leave home before breakfast and catch something to eat on the way down so that we could have more time to spend there since he knew I also wanted ample time to explore Cache River.  Thinking about it now makes me very excited at the prospect of getting pictures of the sunset reflecting on the watery paths.

            What he said next had me bouncing in my seat.  He is looking for a hotel in Metropolis.  This will give us plenty of time to explore the city!  Wednesday will be spent at Ferne Clyffe, and if we have time we might visit either Dixon Springs or Fort Massac so that on Thursday we can visit the remaining two parks.

            Dad pointed out other parks on the map asking me why I didn’t choose them and I gave him my reasoning why I didn’t like them or told him that they hadn’t been listed on the website.  I then pointed out Forbes Lake which was northward.  I told him it had a beach and looked interesting.  He thought about it and said that we could try to hit it on our way home if we had time.

            Now I have less than twenty-four hours to prepare to visit six parks in three days and sleep in the city of Superman.  I could not be more excited!

            Mom spent today looking through the descriptions of the parks and the type of wildlife we can expect.  She is excited about the cypress trees in Cache River, but she is not at all thrilled with the idea of all the snakes that live down south.  Already she is chiding us about staying on the marked paths and wearing bug repellent.  This is my adventure therefore I plan to disregard all of her warnings and worry.  I will wear sunscreen, I will drench myself in repellent, I will pack a bathing suit, and I will explore nature’s wonders to my heart’s content.

My Golden Birthday Gift: The Planning Process

          Hello my dear readers.  Once again I will be lazy and let my younger self do all the talking.  You will notice that while I was somewhat Internet savvy then, Google maps was not my go-to as it is now.

The Planning Process 

            As a test run to get a feel for how well accomplishing my dream may go I began talking about my idea to my family and friends.  I told my friends first, knowing that I would not meet any resistance here.  Proving me right my best friend not only said that she would go with me to these parks, but she invited me along for a trip she was already planning.  She mentioned a huge state park down south that her father visited.  Excitedly I warned her that I’ll take her up on that offer.

            At home I was slightly hesitant.  To meet my goal I need my family’s support because I know that they are the ones who are always available when needed.  As such, they will help me reach these places and make the trips more fun.  I am not visiting 21 state parks on my own.

            I mentioned it first to my mom who matched my hesitation when considering my goal.  Not encouraged, I moved to my sister.  I can always rely on my little sister, so I hope she isn’t about to make me a liar.  Finding her working on homework at the computer I stop a few feet away, testing the water.  If she glares at me then this is not the best time to approach her.  With a smile she turns to me and excitedly asks me first, “Can I come, too?”  Now I have one on board, I can probably expect my little brother to join us on at least a few trips, he isn’t back from college yet.  Then my dad will be the last one to ask, but knowing him, he’ll want in on the plan, too.

            With a guaranteed team, even if it is only myself and one other, I am on my way.  I know what I want and I have people who will help me get it.

            Knowing what I want, however, is far from actually achieving what I want.  I was not aware, at the time of my mental planning, of the amount of time and effort that meeting this goal would take.  I got my first taste when I started scoping out state parks.

            The Illinois state parks website has a nice list of all the state parks.  I can search by name or region. 

            I started with Anderson Lake. 

            Located in or near Astoria, Illinois, I still had no idea where it was.  Thank goodness for a creation called Google Earth.  After typing “Astoria, IL” into the search box I now knew where Anderson Lake is and got to see just how large the lake really is.  Seeing the size of the lake, and reading that it is six feet at its deepest, I was inspired to add one more goal to my list.  I now want to take our new Klepper, a small two-man collapsible boat, to at least one of these state parks and go for a little ride.  When I pitched this idea to my father today, he did not shoot it down.  I take this as a good sign, but I’m not foolish enough to see it as a guarantee.

            I suddenly remembered a suggestion a good friend of mine gave me last fall that brought my Illinois search to a halt.  I was spinning my Google globe toward Indiana.  My friend had told me of a great state park that is as beautiful, if not more so, as Starved Rock.  I recalled, thankfully, that the name is Turkey Run.  We had planned to visit it over our fall break but those plans fell through leaving me all the more curious about what I missed.

            Using that trusty tool at our fingertips I found the Turkey Run website and noticed that the posted images did indeed remind me of Starved Rock’s landscape.  Finding the park on Google Earth I was pleased to see the many blue dots indicating pictures of the region.  Fate must have moved my hand to find the most awe-inspiring winter images.  I am a sucker for fresh snow.  Seeing the frozen waterfalls, snowy rocks, and numerous icicles I knew that ideally I would visit this park over Christmas break.  For some reason I cannot see my mom going for this idea so I may have to drag my friends along for this trip.

            I am not a fan of wasted time and Turkey Run is certainly a location that would require a sleepover.  A few weeks prior to my planning, shortly after I’d decided that visiting state parks is what I really want, my dad had told me that it would be okay if we had to stay overnight in a hotel a few nights to see some state parks that are too far away.  Getting approval of Turkey Run from my dad now should be easy; I’ll just need to work on convincing Mom.  To not waste time in Indiana I zoomed away from the park to see what else is nearby and I was very pleased to find two more large areas outlined in green indicating a state park.  Both are within miles of Turkey Run, so before we go home we could possibly see two or three state parks.

            Pleased with my discovery I jotted down a few notes and returned to my virtual exploration of the alphabetized state parks.  I made it halfway through before I had to take a break. 

            I had started a list of all the parks that were possibilities.  I left several parks off that were only meant for hunting and fishing, and I excluded parks that were too small or too far away to be worth the gas.  My main focus is on length and number of trails.  After that I look for pictures of the park and find its location on the map.  The map also helps me to see how large the park is and to get an idea of what sort of terrain we’d be exploring.  My favorite state parks are the ones similar to Starved Rock with large rock formations, mini canyons, waterways, history, and paths that lead far from civilization.

            Using blue, I highlight the parks that I am certain need to go on my list, and I use yellow to mark places of interest that I hope to visit, if luck permits.  One such yellow highlighted park is Cave-in-Rock.  Two details peak my curiosity when reading about this park. 

            First, the hiking description calls for marked and un-marked trails.  I have never heard of visitors being able to wander on un-marked trails at a park.  Thoughts of adventure and exploration lit a fire in my mind probably not unlike that which the pioneers felt many years ago. 

            Second, as its name implies, there is a cave.  The pictures show a small, above ground, rock cave that overlooks water.  Caves are a thrill for me because while I am so very intrigued by their cool, damp interior, I am also terrified that it may come crashing down on me at any moment.  So, like riding a roller-coaster, I get a bit of an adrenaline rush exploring caves.  

            The location was the only major drawback for this park.

            One park on my search had me very excited with thoughts of caves.  It had an underground cave on its land, or rather below it called the Illinois Caverns.  My excitement did not last when I read that I would need a permit to explore the cave.  Still, I was not completely disappointed.  Before this day I did not even realize Illinois had any underground caves.  I did an internet search for caves in Illinois and I was told that are a few underground caves here but the only one I found any visitor webpages for is the Illinois Caverns in Monroe County.  With a sigh I ended that search and vowed to one day visit Mammoth Cave in Kentucky to make up for missing caves this year.

            Having tired of reading description after description of Illinois state parks I minimized the search windows and studied the short version of the afternoon’s work: my notes.  I noted general locations of the parks such as “On the Mississippi River” or “South of U of I” for quick reference.  Then I used basic descriptions of points of interest or things to remember about each park.  Some parks are labeled as “lots of marsh, picturesque, part-day” or “cliffs, stairs, covered bridges” and even “18 hiking trails, all day, cliffs, cave, fun.” 

            I also noted places of historical significance or specific things that might interest my Mom such as a tour of a grain mill.  I want these trips to be fun for everyone and Mom is the first person who I imagine will grow tired of walking through trees and creeks.

            I ended my first day’s study slightly disappointed because many of the parks that interest me most are at the opposite end of the state and I don’t imagine anyone wanting to spend so many hours in the car traveling first, there and back, and then possibly making another equally long trip to hit a few more ever so slightly closer to home. 

            Fortunately these worries were for naught.

            Later that day I spoke with my mother about the parks I was looking at down south and apparently she picked up on my excitement.  Within two days we had checked the calendar and found that everyone had a week off very soon.  Mom assured me that if we were able to make this trip it would only be for a couple nights and not the entire week.  If she thought that would disappoint me she was wrong.  I was just so grateful that my dream and desires were being taken so seriously!

            A few more days passed and I was trying very hard not to get my hopes up too high.  Mom had said we ‘might’ be able to go over that week but she and Dad still hadn’t been able to talk about it in depth.  As the week progressed with nothing said I grew continually more aggravated.  I began to believe that I had only imagined their interest in my dream and that as time passed with less of it to use for planning, the likelihood of our journey was shriveling away.

            Imagine my shock when the next day Mom approached me and informed me that when Dad arrived home from work that day I was to be prepared to pitch my park ideas to him.  I needed to choose five or six parks that I wanted to see most over a two-night stay, look for lodging, and know locations. 

            Caught off guard I sputtered, trying to separate my thoughts and emotions.  I was initially excited, but then I realized I had only six hours to completely prepare a trip to southern Illinois when I still hadn’t finished looking at all of the state parks.  After asking exactly when I needed to be prepared for Dad to arrive home, I practically ran to my room to start my computer.

My Golden Birthday Gift

Photo record of Z's past month's adventures:  D and Z explored campus to celebrate the end of the semester.
D wanted me to get this shot.

          Every year most people celebrate that one unique day that means they survived another year.  Usually on this day the one turning a year older receives gifts and/or well wishes from loved ones.  When you're 18 or younger these celebrations usually hold more meaning.  If someone doesn't show up to the birthday bash or forgets to wish us a happy birthday it might be very devastating and ruin our day.  As we get older our birthday might seem less important as we hope simply to hear a few well wishes and maybe get something from our parents or those closest to us.  I know there are even some people would rather let their day pass unnoticed.

We got a little snow at home so I made sure to take advantage and get pictures.

          I am not one of the overly dramatic types nor am I one who prefers to ignore my birthday.  I like to celebrate, and every well wish and birthday hug means a lot to me, it means I matter to the giver.  Gifts are always fun, too, of course.  As I grew up, though, my birthday focus switched from the gifts I got to the people present at my birthday dinner.  It means more to me to have my family around me on my birthday than it does to get a gift.  Most gifts are usually consumables such as sweets, or clothes.  I enjoy both of those things very much, as the givers know or they wouldn't be giving them to me.  But, for my golden birthday I decided that I didn't want any tangible gifts, no money, no sweets, nothing that comes from a store.

Sadly, the second day we got a decent amount of snow was also the day I got really sick.  I'm almost all better now.

          This is all I will tell you now, though.  I could continue typing and recount the events by memory, but wouldn't it be even better to hear about the adventure from the Czarina who was living it?  How about I let my 21 year old self tell you the beginning of this tale straight from my journal:

Guidelines 

            Today is my 21^st birthday.  Not an ordinary birthday, however, but today is my golden birthday.  As May neared I realized that I needed to decide what I wanted for this day.  For my brother’s golden birthday he received 13 candy bars on the 13^th.  I don’t want candy bars, I am trying to eat less sugar.  And I cannot think of anything that I would want 21 of them.  After mulling over a few ideas it came to me.  I do not want 21 anything, but I want to visit 21 state parks.

            Accomplishing this is easy when stated so simply.  Unfortunately for my family and friends who will be dragged along to these parks, I upped the ante by adding stipulations. 

            First, I must visit 21 state parks.  We already know that.  They cannot only be Illinois parks though, I prefer to see the world a little broader.  The second rule is a time restraint.  I’ve learned that if your goals don’t have ‘due dates’ so to speak, they will probably never get reached.  I am giving myself one full year.  I like this rule, too, because it will give me a chance to see state parks in all seasons.  Thought of seasons causes me to add a third must.  I must take pictures at each of these parks, meaning we cannot forget the cameras or it is almost a wasted trip.  It would not be a completely wasted trip because I will still have fun and enjoy the experience, but the park cannot be added to my list of 21.

            Look at a map of Illinois and you might scoff saying that I still haven’t made my goal any more difficult.  There are many dozens of state parks in Illinois so it would be nearly impossible not to visit 21 in one year.  My friend pointed this out when she started suggesting parks within five miles of my house.  I realized that this will not do.  I have probably visited over a dozen state parks during my life simply by picnicking or going for a drive.  Many of the Illinois state parks are small, without trails or much to see.  These won’t satisfy me.  I want to hike, see interesting natural formations, and get away from home.  So my final rule is that I get to choose the 21 state parks, and any that I visit outside of my choosing are just for fun.  Of course, all of my visits are for fun but the ones I choose will be special.

            Having my guidelines set up I am going to visit and photograph 21 state parks of my choice through the seasons before I turn 22.  Since I have already written this much, I may as well also record my experiences to share with others, mostly my future students.  This summer is for you as much as it is for me, my family, and my friends.  

          So there you can see 21 year old Czarina's goals and hopes for the year.  Which ones came true or not you will have to wait and see just like I did.  The anticipation is so much fun!  Since this is a very long adventure by its very nature, I'm going to try to keep the posts from becoming overwhelmingly long.  My next two posts will also be from 21 year old me about the Planning Process, and Preparing Our First Trip.  At the time my dad suggested keeping a journal of all the parks and our experiences as a resource for me to use for myself or to share.  Unfortunately that turned into an overwhelming task that I simply didn't have the time or patience for when we actually started visiting parks.  Sitting down and reflecting also took a bit of the fun out of the adventure; it felt like homework.  But I promise to share everything that I did write.

D and Z had a fun Xmas 1 with friends, Xmas 2 with Z's Dad's whole family  united for a first and amazing time, Xmas 3 with Z's family, and Xmas 4 with D's family.  Pictured: Elfonso is from Xmas 1, and Y Ddraig Goch got left behind at Xmas 2 and stayed with us until the new year.

          Come along with me on this journey and I promise you will not be disappointed.  At the very least you might have already started thinking about alternative gift ideas for you or someone else when that special day comes around.  I hope you all had a joyous holiday season and I hope the new year brings you and your loved ones much happiness and keeps you  healthy.  I had a fantastic winter break as the above pictures hopefully showed.  Oh yeah, and I only got 1 B, the rest of my grades were As!!! So yes, I celebrated.  Next semester won't be as easy.  Onward to adventure!

The two buddies enjoyed celebrating New Year's eve with D's family, so did I! They're acting like D and Z.