Fighting off Winter

Matt and I both spent this week in a winter-induced funk, thus my radio silence over the past week- my apologies. Our mutual blues were primarily due to the fact that once it stopped snowing on Wednesday, it began to rain and hasn't stopped bucketing down since. Last time I checked the rainfall website, we had gotten 5 inches in as many days. We've barely gone outside, gotten bored and not been able to come up with ideas for things to do to keep ourselves busy, and have been eating a lot of popcorn and watching a lot of Doctor Who. Not that popcorn and Doctor Who are necessarily bad things (I love me some Doctor Who), but we both feel better when we're staying busy and accomplishing things, and usually are much better at snapping out of feelings of boredom and stir-craziness. We managed to throw off some of the weight today by getting ourselves out of the house to hike around a nearby state park for an hour or so in the rain. It was so nice to be outside, if in the cold and drippy forest. We made ourselves a delicious dinner tonight, which makes me feel so much more alive, somehow. We cooked up the Hazelnut-Crusted Salmon from Dishing Up Oregon, which turned out to be an unexpectedly simple recipe, and oh so tasty. We ate it alongside steamed carrots dressed with garlic and lemon, and skillet potatoes with lemon, tarragon and thyme. And now we're eating a European-style dessert of apples and brie, feeling much better about life in general.

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

Apart from exercise and quality food, I have found that the best antidote to the seemingly endless rain, cold, and fog is listening to reggae and dreaming about where we were a year ago this week: summer.

And also, Hawaii:

Can't you just feel the warm air? I love Portland and my life here, but this time of year, I think a little escapism is healthy! After that nice little dose of sunshine, I am feeling ready to head into another week and do it smiling.