Little Venturing Librarian

It’s so easy to come off a vacation with an amazing frame of mind. Unfortunately, after we come off that vacation high, real life sets back in, causing us to lose sight of the reflections and goals we made. Below is a letter I wrote to myself at the end of my road trip to Maine in July. I was laying in my hammock and decided to jot some advice down so I could come back to it when needed.  I haven’t done the best  job of following my own advice but plan to in the new year. I hope you can to!  Advice to my working stressed out self....take a minute, go outside and relax. Get back to nature as they say. Nothing is worth losing your true self over. Things will get done, bills will get paid and we will get by. Love is really all you need and the things you enjoy (nature and books) are free. Get back to nature. Get over your stress at work or petty drama and enjoy what’s going on around you. Remember you are strong and smart and you have all the tools you need to succeed. ...

Before my recent road trip I decided that I wanted to share my love of reading while on the road. I pulled several books from my bookshelf and made cute “read me” notes for them. As we stopped at restareas along the way to Maine, I left them on benches. I even got to see some excited faces as they discovered the books. It made my heart happy! You can be a book fairy too! The next time you make a Goodwill purge, pull some books to share!

When I'm on a camping trip, I try to pack as little as possible. Same goes for food. When preparing camp meals, I try to find recipes with only a few ingredients. On a recent trip, there was one meal in particular that I LOVED! Sausage with rice and sauteed carrots and bell peppers: All the ingredients came from Aldi! Ingredients: 1 box of dirty rice mix 1 package of chicken sausages 1 bell pepper 4 carrots Olive oil To prepare: On your camp stove, bring 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pan. Add rice mix and cut up sausage to pan and return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for around 25 minutes. Cut up bell pepper and carrots and toss with olive oil. Add to pan and saute until done. Mix everything together. Enjoy a delicious camp meal with minimal cleanup!

Hi! My name is Jenna and i'm bad at blogging. Hoping to get better. I am a high school librarian, wife and dog mom. My husband is a Park Ranger and my adventure partner. I love all things literacy, outdoors and thrifting related! I plan on posting my favorite reads and adventures here. We just got back from a road trip where we visited Shenandoah National Park, Acadia National Park, Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, White Mountains National Forest, Mt. Washington and Baxter Sate Park. We had so much fun! I plan to share more on that in future posts.