A Child’s Hope: Mexico

Today we hopped in the car and headed to Chula Vista. We= myself, jessica and zac. I randomly met them on the email list and we decided to save the earth and carpool. Upon arrival we parked at a house, ubered to walmart, and then proceeded to load all of our stuff into a cart and walk to the meeting poing.
Here were tons of families, yes, families! I knew people would be brining some teenagers but I was so excited to see full families with kids as young as 5. This makes me so excited for my future! Also if any of you have families and have wanted to so a humanitarian trip this one is pwrfect! There were families with many young kids, some with all teenages, some young college kids, some older college kids, and then me. Hahahaha. I think I’m the only solo flyer but I’ll take it. We got shirts and hopped in the van, crossed the border, and headed to the orphanage in Baja. We are staying at this one orphange that is super nice! You drive up the hill to the upper campsite and there are these little bungalows all in a row. All of us younger single people went into one together. Jessica and Zac, kiera and her sister lea and then three friends: lindsay, lauren, ans another zac.
From here we headed to our orphanage which is in a lot worse shape. We introduced ourselves to the kids and spent time teaching games, interacting, and just having fun. We had a dinner with them complete with quesadillas, rice, beans, and chicken. After we headed back to our campsite ans had a big bonfire, a debrief and some get to know you games: there are 47 of us.
All 47 of us then shared 4 bathrooms, of which they are really decent, even flushing toliets! The rooms are a square with a lot of bunkbeds. It became apparent fast that it was going to be a hot night as we had three screenless windows and no fan. But all things considered this was so nice comparable to what ive experienced in the past. The accommodations are cute, simple, and clean.
We were assigned to breakfast club so we were up at 5:30am and left to head back into Tijuana. Apparently there was a large dump and people used to come to look for trash to build things, food, etc but then it was closed down leaving this community in need. A church came in and set up a sort of food service where they cook and seeve the kids breakfast every morning and then have church services. We arrived and helped to cook food and serve the kids. We then cleaned up and took a few house baskets to those in need. The home we visited was made from scrap metal and did not consist of much. There was a mother and her two young children home. We then held hands and prayed. It was an incredibly spiritual experience. After that we headed back to the worksite where we helped sort, sweep, clean, and do various projects on the new orphanage that is being built. Then lunch with the cute kids. After making friendship bracelets with them we headed to the beach. The water was suprisingly blue and clear. We ended the night with dinner and shopping in Rosarito. I mostly followed around my new friends as I don’t eat tacos nor do I souvenier shop but we had fun in the market.
Now for sleep.
thursday
woke up. Helped with breakfast. Breakfast burritos with avocado! Yum! Headed to orphanage. Picked a room and painted. Im pretty sure we got more primer on ourselves than the wall but we had fun painting for 5 hours and got the bottom story completely primed. Lunch at the orphanage and then onto another orphanage to interact and play with the kids. They were so excited for the books. One girl was so happy to see island of the blue dolphins because there was a wolf on the front. She went around and showed everyone and then She then kept coming back for more and more books. Uber cute. One boy wanted all the super hero books and insisted I go through all of them to make sure I wasn’t missing any.
We made bracelets, played games, blew bubbles, and did crafts. Dinner was at a taco place after and I ate my weight in avocados. We ended with ice cream and a community circle around the fire doing high lows.
Day Friday
we cooked breakfast at the orphanage for the volunteers and orphans. We made pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns and fruit. Then to the new orphanage site and we primed the outside walls. We were hanging out the upstairs windows and rolling the outside. It was quite comical. We painted until 1 and pretty much finished! Then lunch: quesadilla, beans, and rice. We had a huge soccer game and then a goodbye fiesta at the orphanage.
Tomorrow we will cross back into the USA.
Final thoughts: this is a great organization for families! So wonderful to have kids serving and connecting with the orphans. Families with teenagers also would thrive. It is great for a first humanitarian trip or first trip out of the country. Very easy, cheap, and short. I would absolutely take my family. Would I personally come back? For sure but later when I have kids.
For me it was a fun week connecting with awesome people and working to build an orphanage but it did not have any of the “rip your heart out and create a firey passion within to go and save the world” feeling. But was still a great experience.

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I Just Threw Away 1,000 Pounds of Food

"There are hungry kids in China," every mother has said when her children won't finish their food. Yes, there are hungry kids in every country but we can't mail them our leftovers. However, the deeper underlying meaning of eat your food, only take what you can eat, be grateful you have something on your plate, and finish your freaking dinner, are all still there. Food waste, convenience packaging,  ignorance, and laziness in America have come to an all time high and I am at a complete loss of what to do. Yesterday my inner environmentalist ballooned out with a fury and then deflated and brought me to tears.
    Each month I find some sort of local community outreach volunteer project. I rope Abby into coming and it has just become a monthly tradition. This month we picked an organization, which for now, until I do further research on them and give them time to respond to my letters, will remain unnamed. I was super excited about their mission and that we would get some actual deep service helping to feed those in need. Upon arrival we were floored with the fact that 200 other people also showed up at 8:30 on a Saturday to serve. All sorts of groups were there to assist the needy and do what they could. There was a great spirit in the room and a lot of pears. When I mean a lot, I mean about 10,000 pounds. We gathered around the enormous boxes and figured we would be bagging pears into more manageable containers. However, the volunteer coordinator then put us into about 5 groups. Our group was assigned to the giant walk in fridge. Here were pallets upon pallets of food donated by ________, a huge company. This company will also remained unnamed until they have had a chance to respond to my letters and I have had a chance to educate myself more on the laws and hoops they have to jump through.
    I was super excited to see that this big company had donated so many pallets of food they weren't going to be able to use. That excitement lasted all of 2 minutes until I started to learn the truth of what happens.
Medicine. Immediately throw it out.
But, but, but.... it's just over the counter- throw it out.
But, it is vitamins- throw it out
Probiotics? Throw it out.
Cough drops? Throw it out.  THEY DON'T EXPIRE UNTIL OCTOBER! Throw it out.
There goes about 10 cases of perfectly good items- straight into the trash. We didn't open and dump, sort, recycle, nope- straight into the trash. Hello landfill. Not to mention the time, energy, resources it took to make those in the first place, deliver them twice, and now to be disposed of.
Ok, so there must be some law about medicine, vitamins, anything that says "consult a doctor". But... could the volunteers take them home? Could you partner with another organization that can use them? I am pretty sure there is some way to not throw them all away! Also, why is the big company sending them if you just toss everything? Why not tell them what you can and cannot accept. The big company could donate them to someone who would actually use them. Or they could sell these items at half off when they are 6 months out from sell by date. Why would you want to pay for their trash fees anyway? And if we are going to just "throw it away" can we at least dispose of it responsibly?
         Mind blown. Ok. Quell your anger and frustration and keep working.  So I kept working until....
Where does baby food go? Throw it away.
WHAT?
This is literally smashed pears in a squeezy tube. Throw it away.
All of it?
Throw it away.
More cases of perfectly good food- trashed. I am sure there are no hungry babies or toddlers anywhere, that must be why we are throwing it away. Insert deep sarcasm. Also, I would totally eat those smooshed pairs in the squeezy tube that is already a huge waste of plastic- don't get me started.
Jessica, just keep working. You are here to volunteer. Change your attitude.
Excuse me where do we put these flowers? Throw them away.
Are you kidding me?
Throw it away. You can remove the boxes and recycle them then compost the flowers.
By the way reader we are talking flowers, in boxes, that you would send to your loved ones for like $50. Oh we had a whole pallet. Throw it away.
Not only that but when I questioned how to open, correctly sort the parts and compost and recycle the girl was like just put it in the recycling. Ok but I can't put the flower food in there, nor the flowers, nor the tape.... put it in the trash.
At this point I am thinking " Put it in the trash" is this non profit's motto.
So.... why not take all of these great boxed flowers and deliver them with food to the families you serve, or put them outside the warehouse and send them home as a thank you with your 200 volunteers. Or give all the packets of flower food to a florist to use.  I know my wildlife center uses flowers in the bird's cages. What about homes for the elderly, can't we go deliver them?
Throw them away.
Animal food?
Throw it away.
Are you kidding?! Local shelters, including the one I volunteer at, spend $$$$$$$$$ to feed their animal. I am pretty sure the families you serve also probably have pets. The lady right across your street who is homeless has a hungry dog.
Organic, free range, no hormones, yada chicken breasts. Oh the sell by date was yesterday.... Throw it away.
High quality cuts of steak- throw it away.
Dude the sell by date is NOT the expiration date.
Ice Cream- throw it away.
Ok once again if you can't take ice cream why not tell the company and stop accepting it.
At this point I had literally teared up. I was throwing away so SO much meat you cannot even fathom. I was mad at the big box company for having this much excess, I was mad at the non profit for tossing everything, I was mad at society for making a 'I will sue you' everyone is afraid of being sued so we have stupid laws, I was mad at everyone in the room for not caring, I was hurting for all the hunger, all the skin and bone children, and people I have seen begging, and literally starving to death, as I stood here surrounded by food that I was told' throw that away'. I was thinking of the lady and the dog literally across the street in a makeshift house of boxes and tarps who we had given granola bars to earlier and how I could feed her and all of Skid Row for a year on what we threw away in one hour. My mind couldn't get over all the pain and hunger I have seen in my travels as I stood here surrounded by so much excess.
At this point I was so emotional and teary eyed that I told Abby we had to move to a different group. She knew how hard it was for me.
The pears! Let's go back to the pears. We walked out and... the pears were done. We started to help build boxes for the next load: carrots. That is when I saw the dumpster.
Imagine a dumpster- one the size you would find at an apartment complex.... completely full of pears. What the heck? There's got to be hundreds and hundreds of pounds of pears in here....
Some, very few, had mushy spots or broken skin but the majority just had sun spots, lines, or cuts on the skin. Throw it away.
At this point I could  not control it. I stepped outside and through held back tears texted my mom a stream of thoughts, angers, frustrations, and feeling completely helpless just stood there. Build the boxes I told myself. Think of all the people they are feeding, think of all that food from the big box company that would have just gone in the trash, think of the millions of meals they give people each year, think of the laws and binds they have to be under. So, I build boxes. I folded and built lots of boxes and thought about this society we created where we can't give food away because someone might get sick and sue us, I thought about the society we created where we won't eat a banana if it is too long or short, where if an apple is misshapen it is thrown away, where appearance of food matters more than the food. I thought about a society where we turned farming into factory farming which is ruining our environment and has turned animals into a money symbol. I thought about all of my humanitarian trips and the need around the world and also the lack of waste in other countries and how everything is used because it is precious.
So how do we change an entire nation? How do we get people to know that a sell by date is not an expiration date and that the expiration date is still early to keep the company from getting sued? How do we educate people on food waste? How do we stop a consumer society from consuming unnecessary plastic, paper, and resources in the name of convenience? How do we solve the problem of the waste in just this one facility?
I can't even fathom the grander scale because this is just one shop in one town.
Guys, I know there are laws, I know they are trying, I know they are an organization that is doing so much good, but I also know they can do better.
What about a network of nonprofits? An app that connects them? People could post what came in, what they can't use, how much of it they have and when they need to pick it up? What about partnering with local farmers and animal organizations that need to feed animals that would gladly eat the carrot that was imperfect or didn't snap right? What about not accepting items you can't use from big box companies? What if that company didn't only care about overall profits and sold the items at a discount before they "expired"? What if that company donated to an organization that could take it? Hire some volunteers and work just a little harder to save millions of pounds of food a year. I am going to personally volunteer to help them with it and I know there are more people like me. Together we can change.
You can only buy what you need at the grocery store, meal plan, don't throw away your leftovers just because you don't like leftovers. Don't over buy. If food is about to go bad package it up and take it to your local homeless man on the corner. Don't have one? I will tell you where to find them. I take them all the leftovers and food that I know I won't be able to eat and when we ask: Are you hungry? We have never, ever, had someone refuse the food we bring them. Stop "throwing it away" and make a difference in your own household and I will try to make a difference on the grander scale.
My heart broke yesterday but I am determined to do something about it. Now I just need to find the higher ups who will listen.

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Who is Joe and where did you guys go?!

I am going to try to use voice text to write this blog so please forgive any error.

So, let’s start at the beginning. With the question I bet most of you are asking: who is Joe?

Ok yall stop drooling and focus. In order to answer that question I need to back up a bit. When I was dating Eric we had a plan to bring his daughter home from Utah and do a road trip. But when we broke up that left me with a week journey of nonrefundable hotels. I planned to do it on my own but was going to have to tweak a lot of my trip due to the fact that it wasn’t safe or wise to do on my own.
So while on Mutual, a dating app, I saw a guy to love to travel so I messaged him. Within four messages we realized we were both doing a southern Utah national parks tour at the exact same time. Luckily for me he did not have hard set plans and was willing to follow my preset itinerary.

We called each other once, did background checks, and said we were all in. Now, don’t get so worried, we have many mutual friends. In Mormon world traveling with a “stranger“ is not really a huge deal when you can verify them through a friend. So we decided to meet at Capitol reefNational Park visitor Center and do our trip together as travel buddies.
And boy am I glad because I would not have had nearly as much And I would not have been able to do the slot canyon which Would have been super sad.

So, we meet at Capitol reef visitor center and begin our first journey at national Park. We did the scenic drive which was beautiful. After capital reef we decided to go to peek a boo and a spooky slot Canyon something I was really looking forward to.

This was the part of the trip I was going to have to skip because there is a 12 foot climb in and an 8 foot straight down job I would not have been able to do alone. First we parked his car at an RV campground and took my car down the dirt road. This road is no joke. It is 25 miles of rocks, bumps, and washboards. It took an hour to get there and instead of parking at the parking lot we decided to off road to the Trail head even though it said to not take your normal car. We made it with only a broken bumper.
Then we started the dissent into the wash to find the entrance to the Canyon. The climb into peekaboo was slightly challenging but once we got in it was natures paradise and playground. The colors were beautiful and the formation of the rock was stunning. We sleaze and climb and lowered ourselves through and under and on top of the rocks. Once you come out of peekaboo you walk to spooky sticky spot canyon it only 12 inches wide. These ones were crazy because inOrder to get in there is a huge drop. Thank goodness that show is 99% muscle and 1% skin Because he put me on his shoulders and got me into this canyon. It was incredible! As we were enjoying our time in the canyon we realized it was taking longer than Expected and we still had a 25 mile on the dirt road. So we hurried out and up the wash back over all the ruts And started our journey out. She got back in his car and we drove two hours to our hotel in Panguitch so we could do Bryce the next morning. If you are considering the slot canyons you should. I would not take children. It would be doable but more challenging.

The next morning we went to Willis Creek slot canyon in Escalante and hiked through much wider narrow slot Canyon. There was about an inch of water in the creek. We spent a couple hours on this hike and then headed into Bryce.

One in Bryce Canyon national Park we drove the scenic way all the way to the end of the park and then came back to hike Wall Street. We hike and then watch sunset over the Bryson amphitheater.

After that we hung out and waited for complete darkness to s t a r g a z e. Price is one of the darkest places on all of North AmericaWe were going to try night for talker fee but we left the tripod in the other car. Got back to the hotel around midnight. At this point those of you who know me know that this is complete opposite of my normal sleep schedule and I am struggling but what we are doing is totally worth it.

While at the hotel Joe asked me about the wave. I told him I had been interested in it but getting a permit was very hard and you had to do it in person at the Visitor center online ones are sold out. We had a chore reservation for 930 in the morning in page Arizona and I didn’t think it would be possible to even try to enter the lottery. But, Joe wanted to try and so he devised a plan. We would divide and conquer I would leave and drive the two hours to Paige, check us in and he would stop and enter the lottery and then get to Paige as fast as possible. So we start our journey and I don’t hear from him so I assume he is on his way.
All tjese people hoping for a spot

Well at 9:30 Utah time I get a text that says: we won! I literally screamed in the car I thought he was joking but he was totally serious our name was Pulled from among the 31 different groups and about 100 people. Ours was the last one chosen for a single spot but because it was a single they let him take two people himself and me. We literally won the lottery. But now it is 830 Arizona time and he has to be to our tour by 930. I was able to get our two are changed to 10 and the entire thing worked out plus we had permits to a once in a lifetime opportunity hike. Wow.

Joe made it and we headed on our tour of lower antelope Canyon. Lower antelope Canyon is stunning! It is worth the money and the crowd. Just know that 100 people go through every 30 minutes and they tell you what filters to use on the rocks so the colors are there but every picture you see has filters that give you a false idea. Regardless it is something to add to your bucket list, it’s incredible.
One thing I admire about Joe and he can talk to anyone so on every single one of our journeys we had new friends.

When we came out of the slot canyon we decided to change plans and head to the Grand Canyon so that Joe could see it before he went to Moab the next day. My original plan was to drive to the Grand Canyon on Thursday on my way to my Arizona hotel but I was willing to go as long as he drove. So we park my car and load head and stop through a drive-through to grab him some food. But then at the drive-through window The car dies. Dead. To the point of us pushing it. So we pushed it to the dry cleaner and parked it. It was super hot and we think the fan went out and the car overheated. So then Joe hitchhike back to get my car and we moved everything from his car into my car.

Finally, we set off for the grand canyon. Started at the east side of the Grand Canyon and then went to South rim we did not have enough time to hike down into the Grand Canyon but we walked the rim and waited at the end for a beautiful sunset.

He climbed to the edge of an overhang thing on our feet off the rim and watched a majestic sunset, complete with a man singing gospel song and serenading us from the other side of the mountain LOL. It was beautiful we then walked to the shuttle and missed the last shuttle by one minute which would not have been such a big deal but Joe.‘s blood sugar crash and he was not going able to walk back to the car. So once again we hitchhiked to the visitor center. Then we began the long drive back to Paige. At this point we realized we would get to Paige at midnight I need to leave at 4 AM…Bummer that we had a hotel and I was also very worried that now on day four I still haven’t been able to sleep.

***remember this was written using voice text***

However we both wanted to see Horshoe Bend and this would be our only chance because we had to get to the wave before it got too hot.

We got up at 4:30 and went to watch sunrise but what we did it now is that it was just over a mile hike to horseshoe Bend so he had to jog it in order to catch the sunrise, totally worth it. Horseshoe bend might be one of my favorite places it is beautiful!

We then headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and make our journey to the wave Trail head. When we started our hike I was a little worried because I was at my breaking point as far as sleep and exertion goes and was worried I was going to either faint or start throwing up. So I chugged my first energy drink filled up with water and protein bars and away we went. There is no Mark Trail you get a map with some pictures and guidelines of where to go but you are in the middle of the wilderness hiking over is wavy red rocks and through the sand. It was not an easy hike but not necessarily hard just a lot of up and down the Sand though is very very hard to walk in.

 So we hugged the rock and that train as much as we could to avoid the sand. It was 2.6 miles in and relatively hot but still doing OK. When we walked into the ways I was blown away. It is one of natures all inspiring beautys. It looks exactly like the picture. It was a group of about four guys and a husband and wife who are traveling so we took pictures and chatted with them for a while before they left. Then we had the waves to ourselves as one of only 20 people who would see it that day. I could not believe the colors and lines and curvature of the rock. Joe then hiked up to a very high arch rock I hiked eight more Platte pass to see what else I can discover in this landscape.

When the time came to go I was feeling weak but OK until we walked out of the shade and realize it was over 100° and we were on Sand and red rock which made it even hotter. Instantly our skin began to cook and I started to chug on water. After the first up down I knew I had a problem. I was at my lowest point energy and sleep wise I had been in years and began to feel very weak and nauseous. I was worried about heat exhaustion but we have 3 miles to go to get out of that.The other problem was we should have brought more water Joe was totally fine but I was struggling more than I ever had on a hike. We needed to keep one water bottle for him incase his blood sugar crAsh and we had to make joe juice To bring it back up. There was a point on the hike where I literally just cried and prayed because I did not know how I was going to make it out of here but was also trying to be tough and not “complain”. When we had just a mile to go at turn and which is hard but then luckily it turned to wash bed which was easier but at this point I was on fire and had zero energy. Joe checked his blood sugar and then you just left water bottle to completely douse me. Not sure if that was the best idea but I would not have made it out without that it gave me a nice way to a call. When I finally made it to the car I held my clothes with ice that melted instantly because I was on fire. Because a couple of cold water bottle and then we started to drive out.

We had to get the car to the mechanic before closing oh and also Joe. had lost his drone which was another problem. I decided to milk my hotel in Kingman to Friday and stay another night and Paige to make sure his car was working and he found his drone.

He went to find his drone and I went to swim in Lake Powell. Lake Powell is so beautiful. I love the scenery of the rock on the blue water. I need to plan a trip to go out there on a house. After swimming I was trying to find a hotel but my phone hates page Arizona and it cannot for the life of it get reception anywhere so after driving around the town for a half an hour I was so frustrated I just pulled over and found a hotel. Then we went back to horseshoe Bend for sunset. We hiked to the right this time and sat on the edge of a cliff watching the sunset over our shit then it was a great way to start and end the day in the same place even though it felt like a week of time had gone in just one day. This morning he got up and left to continue the search for his drone and then head to Moab a day late because of the broken car. I am going to head to a few State Park in Arizona before stopping in Kingman

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Food Boxes: Unwrapped

So, which food box to try? When my friend Sarah sent me a free Hello Fresh box I left the invite sitting in my inbox for weeks. I didn’t want to look into how to cancel and what it entailed since anything that’s free seems too good to be true.
Well, on the fifth reminder email from Hello Fresh and weeks into a diet that desperately needed a flare of food excitement, I decided to try the free box. And... thus my subscription sequence began.

I’m currently on my fourth company and have been able to get meals for $5 a night and sometimes $2.50. Out of probably 30+ recipes I have only disliked 2. Pretty good. Plus I have 28+ really great recipes to go back to.

So I’ll break them down here and give you my thoughts as well as coupon codes.
*I’ve done the vegetarian options on all of these. My roommate and I split the cost of all boxes. There is no way I would pay the price of the boxes for just myself. So... If you are in  a roommate situation this is perfect.

Hello Fresh

$60 a week. 2 people. 3 meals.
$20 a meal. $10 a person. But $20 for the first box is $7 a meal. $3.50 a person. Great deal. And.. if you split the meals they become $1.75.
- You can use a link to give your friends $40 off their first order and then you receive a $20 referral credit, you can also earn free boxes to send to friends 

- You can get $40 off HERE

- Food comes in brown paper bags all separated out.
- Our favorite by far. Guys, there’s just something about Hello Fresh, it’s the best, by far. I’ve tried to figure out why I love theirs the best but I can’t fully place a finger on it, it is just the best. Be it their menu, design, packaging... it all rocks. It is also the easiest to maks double meals from each meal. They often give you more than is needed or you can do as we do and add in an extra onion or pasta. Also, every once in awhile there would be a freebie to try like a protein bar or new drink that came out.

Home Chef

$60 a week. 2 people. 3 meals.
But... $30 off makes $30 for the first box. $10 a meal. $5 a person. If you can manage to split the meals like we do they become $2.50. 
-You have links where you can send friends $30 off and they give you $30 off

-You can get $30 off HERE

- Food comes in plastic zipper pouches with everything separated. 

- This one was ok. We liked all the meals that came but we didn't love them like we loved Home Chef. Sometimes we were able to make meals last double but not always. 

Marley and Spoon 

$60 a week. 2 people. 3 meals.
But... $30 off makes $30 for the first box. $10 a meal. $5 a person. If you can manage to split the meals like we do they become $2.50.
- You can send friends $30 and then receive $30 but there is no link you need friend's email addresses.

- Food comes in brown paper bags all separated out. 

- Marley and Spoon sent us a cute tote one week just for fun. The food seemed to be pasta heavy but good. Except the one week they gave us broccoli olive pizza. Yuck. That was the only meal I have ever not liked. 

Blue Apron 

$60 a week. 2 people. 3 meals.
$40 off first box.... $20 first box... $7 a meal. $3.50 a person. - No referral program. Eventually they will send you a chance to send a free box to friends but you have to be with them for awhile. 

- Online you can sign up and it will give you $40 off your first order and $20 off your second order. 

- Less packaging. Food come in the box and then there are small paper bags with the spices etc. 

Gobble
$71.70 per week. 2 people. 3 meals. $11.95 meal
- With Gobble you can add cookies, sides, breakfast, and other yummies for additional fees.
-There is a referral link. You can send friends 2 free meals and then you get $20 back. I assume this is like sending $40. You can try my link HERE.
- Gobble is set to deliver in May so we have not tried this one yet. It is more pricey than the others so I will come back and review soon. I do know their cookies are good though.. at least the dough part because Abby had one on her shelf and I ate it.

Green Chef
- $11.99 to $14.99 a meal. 2 people. 3 meals.
-Vegan. Vegetarian. Keto. Paleo... and on. This service has lots of options that are all organic. This service is also a little more $$ than the others. I am trying this the week Abby is out of town since I want to try their vegan line.
-Discount code off here http://greenchef.com/invite/gzy7kx
Green Chef was really high quality. All organic and so good. Also in my box they gave me a $60 off coupon to give to friends!

Milk and Eggs
I found out about this service at an event I was volunteering at and I love it! So it is like a farmer's market but delivered to you in the morning. All from local farms or bakeries. The pastries are so delicious! Plus this $20 off $35 and no delivery fee... makes your first order SO cheap!

What to do with all that packaging?

- Every service will tell you how to recycle all the pieces. The boxes are very sturdy and should be reused if you can for practically anything. Great for moving heavy duty or fragile items since they are so think. They come insulated in different items. Some we use for fire starters, others for animal bedding... be creative. 

You will get ice packs in every order perfect for summer coolers on the beach or camping. If you end up with too many do a post on Facebook and share the icepacks. 

We found that 3 meals was enough to take care of the week since we usually were able to cut all meals in half and eat the leftovers for the next day or lunch. 

They are worth trying out for a week because they are relatively cost effective with the pricing coupons and links. 

Personally, I would never pay full price for them though... you can do way better at the store with things on sale. However, if ease and convenience is what you need then these are great. Plus you will get an arsenal of recipes that are easy to create and you'll be able to try a bunch of new foods out.

What I mean when I say split a meal is literally take a 2 person meal and make it 4. Some of the meals are super high calorie so we will split it by 4 and then add in something cheap like steamed broccoli to make it appear to our minds and bellies as if we are eating more food. Or like I said before we might add in another onion, cup of couscous, pepper, etc. Modify the recipe just slightly to increase the amount of food. Sometimes they will say use only half a can of beans... um use the whole thing and presto more food. I can think of two times when we couldn't make a meal for 4. Once was this weird recipe where it was literally a piece of toast and I doubt anyone wants half a piece of toast and the other was a sandwich and we were hungry. 

I am still on this journey so check back later for more box reviews.


I just discovered Milk and Eggs. Local, fresh, farm to table items. They have bread, milk, cheese, pantry items, etc. It is pretty reasonably priced and if you use this code you can get $20 off your first purchase which is a great deal- better than the deal I started with. My box comes Thursday and I will let you know how it is:
http://fbuy.me/iMNp4

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Portugal 3: Lisbon

Lisbon was ok. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it I guess it just didn’t stand out to me. I did love the Time Out Market. Food was delicious I mean look at my salad. There is icecream on it ontop of a goat cheese honey glazed circle. Delicious. I loved that market. We went around the city, the very hilly city and explored the cute streets. This place is just like San Francisco: there are trolleys and even a Golden Gate Bridge. There was a pink street, literally painted pink to boost bar attendance. Theh had this egg tart that was good and we saw where Portugal sent their explorers and welcomed them home like De Gama that was cool. Ill be able to ahow my kids pictures when I teach it next year. There were lots of pretty look out points and we stopped by the local market swap meet. They had some very clever vendors there selling recycled merchandise which made my heart happy.
Trip notes can be found here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12hDy2SxwBNMdQWPSdiFfl5ZtTH1IMcCubajJ4-hkDxE

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Portugal 2: Sintra

Sintra. The well. This is what I was really excited about so when rain was in the forecast I was less than pleased. This picture Kari candidly captured pretty much says it all. Mostly that cheap poncho did nothing except help guide the water down the front of my skinny jeans and into my converse. Wet jeans are nasty! But... look at the well!

It is perfect. The Initiation Wells (AKA initiatic wells or inverted towers) are two wells on the property that better resemble underground towers lined with stairs. These wells never served as water sources. Instead, they were used for ceremonial purposes that included Tarot initiation rites. The tunnels described above connect these wells to one another, in addition to various caves and other monuments located around the park. Of the two wells, the larger one contains a 27-meter spiral staircase with several small landings. The spacing of these landings, combined with the number of steps in the stairs, are linked to Tarot mysticism. The smaller well contains straight stairs that connect a series of ring-shaped floors to one another. This well is also called the 'Unfinished Well'. A structure similar to these wells can be found in the Pozzo di S. Patrizio in Italy.

This well was on the ground of the Palace de Monteiro. There are lakes and caves, castle pieces, a palace. It was such a beautiful ground. I wish it wasn't raining so we had more time and desire to explore. 

Then it started to downpour so we just hung out in the palace and waited. Well once we saw that it wasn't going to stop we just braved the crazy rain and got soaked. We found an Aldi and Aldi had brie for a dollar... why the heck is cheese to cheap there. It amazes me. We ate a lot of bread and cheese it's like chips in America. 

After the first palace we went and sat in a parking lot hoping the rain would go away. And guess what it did! We raced back up the mountain and literally rain into Moorish castle. RAN. Out of breath up the fortress stairs. In the background you can see Pena Castle. 

The Moorish Castle is the name given to a medieval fortification in Gibraltar comprising various buildings, gates, and fortified walls, with the dominant features being the Tower of Homage and the Gate House. Part of the castle itself also housed the prison of Gibraltar until it was relocated in 2010.^[1] The Tower of Homage is clearly visible to all visitors to Gibraltar; not only because of its striking construction, but also because of its dominant and strategic position. Although sometimes compared to the nearby alcazars in Spain, the Moorish Castle in Gibraltar was constructed by the Marinid dynasty, making it unique in the Iberian Peninsula.^[2]

Moorish castle was so beautiful. Walking along the walls and the view of the city below was breathtaking. Keeping with the luck of no rain we raced to Pena Castle. This place was straight out of Disneyland. It is so colorful and beautiful. Absolutely amazingly colorful and beautiful. 

The castle was built on the site of a medieval chapel dedicated to the local Virgin Mary call “Our Lady of Pena.” This site gained religious importance after a reporting of the apparition of the Virgin Mary. The chapel to honor the Virgin was built on the top of the hill and many people pilgrimaged there. In 1493, the site had two more special visitors; King John II of Portugal and his wife Queen Leonor climbed up the mountain to honor their patron.

Sintra is amazing. It is a necessity in Portugal. 

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Portugal 1: Algarve

The Algarve region. Perfection. Portugal. Views. Wow. We even had sun and 70 degree weather. I didn't think it would be warm and I packed just a backpack which is the reason for my odd fashion choice in the next photos. 

Bengali cave. That is why I wanted to come here. However, the sea was bad and we couldn't swim to the cave so we had to book a boat tour. Tour set for 2:15. In the meantime we hung out at the Mahina beach which has these amazing views. 

Then we did our boat tour with an amazing guide who was showing off for us the whole time which mean we went in every cave- maybe even the ones that were too small or had high swells. 

Benagil cave... if you go I hope you can swim to it and get out on that beach. Do so for me and take a picture. 

Then we went to this beach Cavalo or something like that. It used to be private and then man built a tunnel to get to it and then a tunnel on the side of the cliff here that you can walk along for some views. Slightly scary but also needed to happen. 

Pointe de Piendre or something like that. Wowza. This is in Lagos. The view was incredible. We also hiked this steep mountain for more of a view. 

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Spain 2: Seville

Seville. It was fine. It started out rough because we could not find anywhere to park and our hostel was in the middle of the old city where parking doesn't exist. Google maps doesn't work because it can't register if you are on a street or the sidewalk and half the time we didn't know if we were on the street or the sidewalk. 1.5 hours later we were parked. We saw the center. We say flamenco dancing. 

We went to the Cathedral and paid extra to go to the roof except by roof they meant the view tower and not the actual roof. If you ever go make sure to pay for the private tour of the actual roof with all the spires. But guess what Christopher Columbus' tomb was here. That was pretty... interesting. I will use it next year when I teach explorers to my kids. 

This. This was my favorite part of Seville. TAPAS! oh my oh my they were good. That round thing is a piece of goats cheese crusted and cooked in honey until it caramelizes and then covered in some sort of perfection. Just perfect. 

Also the cuhrros and chocolate sauce. Yes please. 

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