Miles & Travel

Many of you know that I/we love to travel. Along with that I (just me, I'm the only insane one) have made a hobby out of frequent flyer miles. It's what happens when your husband has a job that requires twice as many hours of work as yours does (at least this time of year). So I admit it, I have a slight obsession with frequent flyer miles. It's how we got to South America (those were $2000/each plane tickets!). It's how we're getting to Peru in May. Its fantastic!

I try to keep up with all the new offers that come out for a variety of airlines. As we plan more and more trips with our miles people start asking me how I do it so...I thought I would share some new things when they come out.

Now, if you really want to make a hobby out if it, you should keep up with FlyerTalk. It's pretty much the Mecca of miles enthusiasts. (And for those of you laughing at me right now they have 250k members, I am definitely on the least-crazy end of the spectrum).

But if you just think it's kinda cool to get some miles once in a while, read ahead:

There are tons of credit card offers out there that give you anywhere from 25k-35k miles for signing up. But signing up for tons of credit cards can significantly hurt your credit, so I try to stay away from those. Here's my current favorite non-credit card deal.

Chase will give you 25k miles if you sign up for their Continental Airlines checking account. The account is free as long as you have direct depoist going in (I send $5 of my paycheck there). The debit card has a $25 annual fee (don't let them convince you to get the more expensive one, you don't need it to get the miles). You get miles when you use the debit card, but mainly you just think about it as paying $25 to get 25k miles, which is an amazing deal.
Here's the coupon:   make sure you refresh the coupon before printing it, you need the unique offer code.

But it gets even better...

They will ALSO give you another 25k for opening up a business account with them. "But I don't have a business Mackenzie!". I just told them I sell stuff on Craigslist. Which is very true. Let me know if you want some help with this one....I promise it really is easy. Here's the coupon on that one.

If you still need some inspiration to get your butt out the door and head to Chase click here to see how few miles is takes to go some really cool places. Hawaii, the Caribbean, Central America, and Northern South America are all only 35k miles. Europe is only 55k.

DO IT!




More will follow in the coming days/weeks....

January - Bend, OR and Cascades, WA

Nothing too exciting going on in our lives lately, but here are a few highlights:
Matt spent another weekend in Bend with the Bro's.  They went snowshoeing, are some good food and...well, I'm not sure. Boy stuff. You would have to ask him. I think it also involed watching Hangover (the movie).

Matt, Greg, Andy and cousin Ryan

Snowshoeing

Tug

I went snowshoeing with Lance & Val. We went up to the Commonwealth Basin area right near Alpental. The day was pretty cloudy and the snow pretty icy, so it wasn't ideal conditions but it was nice to get outside in January. We started out across Commonwealth Basin, headed straight up the mountainside for a bit, came across a different trail, and found our way back. Here's some pics Val took.

I was trying really hard to make a snow angel. But it was so icy!

I had this past Monday off for MLK day and we had a Second Annual Girls Snowshoeing Day. This started last year cuz all our boys were working and we decided to carry on the tradition in 2010. This was also our second year in a row of beautiful, blue-sky, sunny, perfect conditions, so we expect that part to continue next year too! ha! We had a lovely time, though it had snowed a significant amount the night before and there wasn't anyone else out on the trail so we spent the vast majority of the time lost. I think they should take a tip from Patagonia and put markers on the trees of snowshoe trails. I mean, really, how are you supposed to know where you go?! We were doing Keechelus Ridge and since its a ridge not a mountain its a lot harder to identify where you are headed. Anyways, we got a significantly better workout than we would have if we went the correct way!

Val, Catherine,and Chelsea

steep

Beautiful

Mt. Rainier

We had breakfast with Andy + Jen (Matt's bro and his wife) this morning as a very late 'congratulations your having a baby!' breakfast. We are SO excited for them. Our first lil nephew. Awwww. Matt & I had some time to kill after than and before church and wandered around at the Ballard locks for a while.

The bathroom in the basement has sheetrock now. Wahoo. Me and possibly Matt are going to attempt tiling this week. If anyone has wisdom and wants to volunteer their services you are welcome anytime. ;)

My tiling guide. This is going to be bad...

Poor Matt worked 65 hours this past week. I give a big thumbs down to busy season. I'm baking his team Funfetti cookies right now as a consolation prize. If you have never looked on the side of a funfetti cake box for the cookies recipe you are missing out on a wonderful chunk of life. I highly recommend that you do so at the earliest possible moment.

We've had some lovely evening with friends too. But no pics, so it's really not that interesting.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. :)

More basement

Sorry, I know some of you could care less about our basement.  But the other half of you seem really excited to see the pictures. So I'm going to go for it, and feel free to skip this one. :)

Bedroom

(its got a heater, and framed for a small window on the side

Bedroom

(closet framed in behind the saw, awesome framing around the heat duct)

Stairs framed in on both sides-closet coming!

storage-room-to-be

bathrooms' got lights and insulation now

Shower + heater

The deep, dark dungeon (aka, our basement)

Our lovely unfinished basement has been awaiting finishing in various stages since...well probably since the house was built. Someone in the 70s thought it would be a good idea to put in a bedroom with bright orange wood paneling. Someone else thought it would be a good idea to put in a golden throne toilet. Someone else thought they knew how to do wiring and put in some sweet can lights. Mostly we thought it would be a good idea to take that all out and do something right. Our upstairs is a comfortable, if not extremely spacious, 810sq ft and this would give us another 810sq ft of daylight basement, effectively doubling the size of our house.

The orange bedroom. Before we even bought the house.

(aka, that is not my bedspread)

We started with replacing some ductwork. Matt took it apart, and then realized Home Depot didn't have the stuff we needed to put it back together. Then he left for Arizona for two weeks while I contracted hypothermia. Actually it was September, and I was only kinda chilly. But I found the stuff at McClendon’s while he was gone. I love McClendons.

Then we punched a hole in the chimney to move some more ducts around. It was New Years day and we had to leave the heat off for 24 hours while the cement dried. That one actually was cold. Quite cold. Thanks Mom and Dad for the heated blanket.

New Years Day punching a hole in the chimney

Then Matt did some framing. Then he had to re-do some of it. Then he had to re-do more of it. Mostly its gone now, but that was good practice, right honey?

Then we invited some tough manly men over to help us tear out the infamous throne, jackhammer a large hole into our foundation, and jackhammer up a portion of our patio.

The original Golden Throne

Almost gone

Tough manly men

I played the part of the good wife by making 5 trips to Home Depot that day and  going to the store to buy these men some pizza and beer.

Then Matt and I dug a 6.5 ft deep hole on the side of our house so the plumber could replace the water main. Good thing I can curl up in little balls and fit in tight spaces to scrape out dirt. (This is about the only thing in the whole remodel that I have been good for).

And then along came an angel from heaven. By the name of Ron, who is our contractor who likes to argue with us, who we love. He has completely gutted and remodeled two of my parents houses over the years and done a fantastic job at a fantastic price. While Matt and I wanted to do most of the basement ourselves (read: didn't want to spend $$) putting in a bathroom was not something that was ever going to make it onto our heretofore non-existent list of expertise. Ron to the rescue.

New bathroom!

He did all the hard stuff for the bathroom like move the laundry and hot water heater, change the plumbing for most of the house, pour cement, and install the shower. Then he decided that before he could do the sheetrock he needed to wire the rest of the basement correctly because it would be hard to do after the sheetrock was in the bathroom. And you have to have framing to do wiring.

New bedroom

So he framed. And he wired. And he's gonna finish the bathroom. All for one fantastic price. Which is why we love him even though he doesn't always like our harebrained ideas about the way we want things. So here's a little photo tour of how it’s coming. Doesn't it actually look like something is happening?! Finally?!

...aaannd I just found this picture on his website. This is Ron.

Holidays - Olalla, WA

We have had a very nice, low-key last couple weeks spending lots of time with family, friends, and eachother. Since we were down in Medford last Christmas with Matts family we were with my family this year in Gig Harbor. It was great to spend some quality time with my sister, parents, and grandparents.

Christmas dinner

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day down in Gig Harbor with the fam. Got to see my Aunt Lynn and Uncle David, cousin Leslie and her cutest-kids-in-the-whole-wide-world Sophie and Harrison. Delicious eggnog french toast made by my papa. Fun presents. Yummy Christmas dinner. The works.

Adrienne + Sophie

Leslie and her boy Harrison

The next day was my birthday.  I'm a whole year older. Yipee-do-dah. Matt and I slept in until an unheard of 9:30 and then spent a relaxing day around the house. It was beautiful blue sky and sunny so we got ourselves some Ladro and took a walk down at the beuatiful Lincoln Park. Ashley + Steven came over and we had a delicious dinner at a new restaurant called Sip. Its downtown, and I would highly recommend it. Stopped at the store for some drinks and pizuki making supplies, and then back to our house. We  hunkered down for a little Peru planning since this was then only time the four of us would be together, and then headed outside for a bonfire with our drinks and desserts. Day-after-Christmas birthdays are sad because everyone is always out of town with their family but it was a really special day to hang out with Matt, see my out of town friends Ashley and Steven, hear from some family and friends, and get a rockin awesome tribute from my friend Val here.

Ladro at the beach. Perfection.

Matts drinking the sun!

Grandmamas famous peanut butter pie-cake

Its my birthday!

We went snowboarding the next day which was pretty fun even though there was hardly any snow. boooooo

This week we have just been enjoying a light work load, spending some time with friends and getting ready for an awesome New Years Eve tonight!

Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Latin Citrus Sauce

Yum Yum Yum. This is what we made for dinner Thursday. We do a lot of chicken and I feel like sometimes it can all start running together and tasting kind of the same no matter how good it is. This was an awesome way to get away from the norm. The sweet/tangy rub and sauce was delicious and totally out of the ordinary.


I was lazy/busy and didn't end up making a side dish to go with it but I think a fresh salad would have been really good with the lemon/lime juice freshness of the chicken. Maybe avacados on the salad to go with the 'latin' theme? Or even asparagus with lemon juice on it.


I hate recipes that call themselves 'one pan' recipes and tell you to cook the meat and then take it out and cook the sauce. The sauce always takes way longer to reduce down to something slightly thick than the recipe says and by that point the chicken would be stone cold. So suck it up and use two pans. Start the sauce and the chicken at the same time. I got distracted looking at UW project management programs while I was making the sauce and when I ran back into the kitchen the sauce was totally bubbling up and I thought I had burned it but...it turned out to be deliciously thick and good. I hate runny sauces. Maybe its because I have a problem with things on my plate mixing, and runny sauces mean it get all over everything. But aside from that I feel like you never actually get enough on the meat when its runny because its going everywhere. So cook it 'til it gets thick! It will!


Ok. Here's the recipe (from myrecipes.com)!


The sauce, also known as mojo criollo, requires very little chopping and provides a tangy counterpart to the cumin-rubbed chicken. Serve over white rice.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and about 1 tablespoon sauce)

Ingredients
Chicken:
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Sauce:



1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint



Preparation



To prepare chicken, combine brown sugar, cumin, salt, garlic powder, and red pepper; rub over chicken. Heat vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook for 5 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

To prepare sauce, add garlic to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add juices and honey; cook 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro and mint. Serve with chicken.




And on a completely unrelated side note.

This is me, Matt, Ashley, my sis Adrienne, and Steven. They live in Colorado and we visited them in Breckenridge earlier this year. Ashley is coming home today, and Adrienne is coming home tomorrow, and Steven on Wednesday and I am SO excited to see all these people I love who live so far from me. yayyyy

The Next Big Journey: Peru

Our next out-of-country travel plans involve a trip to Peru with our amazing friends Ashley + Steven. It's been in the works (as in, being talked about) for a few months now, but everyones airline miles are almost ready, and Ashley + Steven who live in Colorado are going to be here over Christmas, so we are planning on booking our flights then. On the list of things-we-want-to-do there are: hike the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca, among other things. We're planning the trip for late May. If you have any Peru wisdom, send it our way!!