a day in the life: jamie c.

hello and a happy thursday to you!  don’t worry, it is still guest post thursday, but today’s post is coming to you in a different form and a new feature here on meals & moves!  i have asked several of my nearest and dearest freinds & family members to periodically post for me.

rather than typing up a typical guest post, i’ve requested that they document a day in their life.  you see my meals & moves day in and day out. you know how i eat and exercise. it is very similar to several other bloggers out there.  BUT.. you never get to see a day in the life of other folks AKA people who aren’t into regularly photographing their food or documenting their every move.

yeah. that is the majority of the population, folks.

i think this new “a day in the life” feature will be fun! you can have a look into the lives of non-food bloggers. and i think it will also be fun for the participants who are having to take photos all day long. in fact, today’s poster, jamie, threw away some of the food before getting the photo and had to dig it out of the trash so she could get the shot. i laughed so hard when she told me this.. it really is sometimes hard to remember to snap a photo before you eat~ but eventually it becomes second nature.

i will be posting “a day in the life” posts as they come in from my friends & family members. i hope you enjoy seeing into their lives!

so, as i mentioned up there, today’s post is a look into the life of one of my very best friends, jamie! i often refer to her as “j5” here on the blog.  she is hilarious, witty and gorgeous. and she is in my wedding. and she has that adorable puppy you’ve seen on the blog before. and guess what today happens to be?!? j5’s 25th birthday!!!  this was totally coincidental. she sent me her post earlier this week and i’d planned to post these posts on thursdays (in place of guest post thursday) and her birthday just happened to land on today!

WOOO! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMIE FIVE!

so, without further ado, i give you a day in the life: jamie c.

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My name is Jamie; I’m an archaeologist and have a dog named Indy. I’ve been friends with Janetha for a long time and was excited when she asked if I’d be willing to do a guest post on her blog. About two years ago Janetha was the person who inspired me to start Body for Life and I lost about 17 pounds (which is awesome!). Because I am so busy I sort of do my own version of BFL which involves eating small meals when I can, and working out when I’m not in the field.

I just got back from an archaeology trip in Nine Mile Canyon. Just FYI, when the weatherman says 50% chance of rain, HE MEANS IT! It rained on us the whole time, and I, my dog and my car have never been so muddy. I took a crew of four and we went out to survey and record sites. This has been an adventure for me because not only am I in charge of coordinating the archaeology aspect of the trip, I’m also the camp cook (which is scary if any of you have seen my attempts at cooking).

We stayed at the historic Nutter Ranch in this renovated cabin

Which turns out was pretty awesome since it rained non-stop. Saturday morning we woke up and it looked like this:

This put a big damper on the day since we have to be outside hiking the hillsides. So while we waited for the rain to stop we had breakfast. I usually put out a simple cold breakfast while we are in the field, there is nothing worse than eating a big thing of eggs, pancakes and sausage and then trying to hike (unless you like puking all over your shoes…) So we munched on cereal, fruit, oatmeal, apples, muffins from Costco (soooo good), and Pop Tarts!

And of course, what would any camping experience be without coffee? Let me inform all of you that I have never made coffee from a non-electrical coffee pot. It was a very interesting experience. It’s like those old jokes, “How many people does it take to….” Well, turns out it takes two archaeologists to figure out how to brew a pot of coffee.

TaDa!

Meanwhile, Indy had been keeping a watchful eye on the rain

When the rain finally stopped, well, raining on our parade, we threw on our rain jackets, grabbed our backpacks and headed out to find some sites. Hiking is always good exercise, but climbing up a 40° muddy slope was an adventure that still has my quads feeling sore. When we survey we spread out, like a comb, and walk the landscape…like this

I’m always amazed at the weird modern garbage we find on survey. I usually always find a balloon of some sort, but that day I found a winner….any guesses?

A BOOT!

I also found a pair of muddy man-panties but I decided not to take a picture of those. It was entertaining to picture some dude running around the wilderness without underwear and a boot.

As we kept walking the thing that was the best were the smells. I love the smell of sage, and everything smelled all wet and damp from the rain. Sometimes I feel really lucky that this is my office

Right after this we found a pretty neat rock art site. It was composed of petroglyphs, which are when images are pecked into the rock. So, we settled down to record the site.

I decided to pull out my lunchtime snack of Pub Mix from Costco

And when I tried to get a better picture of it in my palm, Indy snuck in like a bandit for a taste. Lesson # 1 of the day, dogs like Pub Mix too!

We also found this awesome habitation structure…

And storage structure…

I love my job!!!

We finished up recording these sites and decided to keep hiking in search of archaeology when out of nowhere a downpour of epic proportions hit us. We had to dive into the nearest shelter

As it turns out, the rain did not let up any time soon and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of feet from the car, and soaking wet. So we decided to light a fire with some of the cow dung in the shelter, we reasoned if pioneers did it, we could to. Again, “How many people does it take to….” light a fire using cow poo? Whelp, turns out it takes five, yes five, archaeologists to make a fire.

Lesson #2 of the day, smoke from cow poo fires smells bad.

We were able to warm up a bit, and when there was a break in the rain we made a mad dash to the car and headed back to camp. Where upon arrival, those under 21 had hot chocolate, and the rest of us had cocktails. Archaeologists love cheep beer like Pabst Blue Ribbon and…

OLYMPIA!

Indy was all wet and irritated that he didn’t have his dog bed, so we made him a faux bed out of a cardboard box and some bubble wrap

He looked like 7 lb. 10 oz. sweet little baby Jesus in a manger!

Then I got on to the business of getting dinner ready. I still don’t know how to use a Dutch oven so I choose recipes that avoid one altogether. I decided to make chicken kabobs. I diced chicken, soaked it in House of Tsang’s Teriyaki Stir Fry Sauce, and shoved it on some bamboo skewers. Then I put whole mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, green and red bell peppers and onion on the rest of the skewers. We made a fire in the fire pit, and grilled up our kabobs. I served them with corn on the cob and a Greek pasta salad!

Lesson of the day #3, when your dog is spazing out and chasing his tail and running in circles (which is HELARIOUS), the dishes can wait.

We then spent the rest of the night roasting marshmallows over the fire and hanging out.

Oh yeah, and drying out our sopping wet boots

So that’s what a day in the field with an archaeologist looks like. I need to convince Janetha to come out and cook for us!

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thanks, j5! loved taking a peek into your day. it is way more exciting than my 8 hours at the office every day. i am envious of your outdoor adventures!

everyone: i will be back tomorrow for flashback friday! here is a hint: it has to do with j5 and her birthday ;)

see you then!!

Qs~

1. what is your coffee brewing method of choice? janetha here. i prefer french press! but i also have an espresso machine and a drip coffee pot, i am a jack of all coffee trades, folks.

2. what do you do for work? janetha again. i am not as awesome as j5 with her master’s degree in archaeology (PROPS, sista!).. i run a window company. hey, it’s lucrative, pays the bills and is definitely a fun environment :)

xo. jamie c. & janetha b.