Fresh Green Salad

Well, grad school is a no-go, at least for now.  It was a long, frustrating process to end up not working out, but I'm really okay with it - mostly just glad that I have an answer.  I went back and forth so many times mentally that either outcome would really have been fine.

In other news, I have two embarrassing things to be proud of tonight.  The first is that I rode my bike for 2 miles.  We loaded Malachi up in his trailer and took a ride, and although my tail bone feels like someone hit it with a sledgehammer, it was fun!  Actually fun!  And that's a big deal, for me, because I have never been good at bike-riding and have had an irrational fear of it for years.  I think I am the one person in the world who actually did forget how to ride a bike, but oh well.   In related news, I'll be investing in one of these, because I most certainly do not have one of these.**
**I hate the chipmunks, but I didn't want to offend anyone.

The second thing I am embarrassingly proud of is Malachi's new-and-improved bath time routine!  By new-and-improved what I mean is, he has one now.  Our old bath time routine went something like "How long has it been since he had a bath?  Really???  No...  I'll go run the water" or "Wow, you have (fill-in-the-blank) (possible suggestions: banana, poop, dirt, cake, what-the-heck-is-THAT) all OVER you!  I don't want to try to wipe all that off.  Let's just take a bath."  So now that Malachi is officially a child and I can no longer use the "He doesn't get that dirty" excuse (successfully), we've decided to make bath time part of his bedtime routine.  On the bright side, he LOVES baths, so we get no resistance.  On the downside, he LOVES baths, so try getting him out.  But that's ok.

For our fourth (!) anniversary we had a nice, completely homemade(ish) meal that included a salad that is super easy to blog about and I'm tired I just couldn't wait to tell you about it!  Seriously, though, it was really good.  Ask my mom - she ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.  She was babysitting my little bubber while I left on a trip that included my first night away from Malachi EVER.  Be proud, people.  Be proud.

Fresh Green Salad
Thusly named because, upon completion, I noted "Wow, this salad is 100% green.  Weird."

You can put in however much of each item suits your fancy.  Really it was just this particular combination of flavors that I loved.

• Fresh spinach
• Fresh basil (surprise!)
• Alfalfa sprouts
• Snow peas
• Peeled, chopped cucumber
• Diced avocado
• Toasted pine nuts (optional - I had some leftover, but likely won't buy them again because they are cah-ra-zy expensive) 

To toast the pine nuts I just tossed them in a pan and moved them constantly for about 3 minutes over low-medium heat.  Serve this salad with a light, mild dressing that won't drown out the flavors (or just sprinkle with some lemon juice and olive oil).