no facebook. no twitter. no TV.
20 workouts. daily prayer. gratitude.
no facebook. no twitter. no TV.
20 workouts. daily prayer. gratitude.
my february vegetarian goal is going pretty well! without much angst even. i started without any real planning or groceries, hence the pretzel and mac-n-cheese in the beginning of the month. one night i improvised and made hamburger helper, sans burger, sub sardines! actually, the sardines made a couple of repeat performances throughout the last 2 weeks. other ways i’ve been getting protein is with beans and almonds. and i found this awesome recipe for avocado pasta!
then, i stumbled on the documentary, fat, sick, and nearly dead on hulu. i was inspired to start juicing the next day! except that i didn’t have a juicer. while i debated on whether to spend the $100+ on a juicer, i bought a variety of green machine/detox juices from naked, odwalla and evolution fresh. and i didn’t think i could do a total liquid diet. so started doing juice in the morning and sometimes for lunch. i find though, that i am starving by dinner and can barely last long enough to finish making dinner. so it’s best if i have a juice/smoothie for breakfast, a normal lunch, a juice/smoothie for a snack, and a mainly vegetable dinner. for me, that’s a really good balance.
eventually, i decided not to buy a juicer. since we do have a blender, i decided to find smoothie recipes that do not involve dairy or sugar. i made one this morning with spinach, avocado, banana, and strawberries. it was pretty tasty. i filled some ziploc baggies with the ingredients to make 2 servings and stocked them in the freezer to save me prep time in the mornings. i also hardboiled half a dozen eggs on the days i need a little protein pick-me-up.
so while i haven’t strictly detoxed, i do feel i have reset my body in a good way. i’m finding that i choose vegetarian options despite having meat options and am actually only eating meat once a day.
so i’m late to the game but have you noticed that friendship bracelets have made a comeback? i used to make dozens of these things, once upon a time. i was feeling nostalgic (and perhaps, bored) and thought i’d make a more grownup version. the metallic threads throughout the bracelet are a nice touch, i think. and i finished it up lickety split. it seems my fingers still remembered after all these years.
(side note: this weekend, i got a lot of it done while watching, drive. i got it to ogle ryan gosling, but holy crap had no idea it was gonna be such a mind f$ck. and bloody. so bloody)
while at the store, the nephew and i picked up some yarn for him too. i was planning on teaching him how to make bracelets, but instead we made a super awesome laser spy training maze! we strung and taped the yarn at various heights to create an obstacle course to slither through ala entrapment. and boy did he love it! i took a couple turns through, as did mom and the husband. my brother and sil were too chicken. serious fun for serious cheap.
the good news:
the bad news:
<sigh> haven’t i heard this song already?
this news has had me in a funk the last few days. it took me months to finally get comfortable with the idea of leaving my mom alone. and now that we have found an awesome place and i’ve finally let myself indulge in all of the interior decorating ideas i’ve had tucked away in my mind for months – we’re put on pause. <sigh>
the good news:
so while it isn’t the end of the world, it certainly hampers two of the best things we had planned this year. it’s embarrassingly hard to pick up the pace again after that.
but…
that’s what we’re going to do. it’s better we know now. and we’re certainly more prepared this time. and most importantly, the gloom and doom may not even happen. so i am officially putting good vibes out there. i must remember that things always have a way of working out for the best in the end.
even though my middle name is luscious pork fat, i am not opposed to vegetables. i really do love them. and i know i should eat them more often if i want to live a long healthy life enjoying meat treats. to encourage me to try more and eat more meatless meals, i am challenging myself to a month of vegetarian dinners. sure, that means i could eat cheese pizza every night and i wouldn’t be necessarily eating healthier. but if 80% of my dinners are the healthy kind of vegetarian, i think that’s a great improvement.

vegetarian dinner: day one. aka how not to do vegetarian.
i heart valentine’s day. not the long stem roses and diamonds kind of valentine’s day. the handmade paper valentine, turn a shoebox into a mailbox by gluing pompoms and doilies on it valentine’s day. though ever since they changed the formula of those conversation hearts candies, valentine’s day just isn’t the same. i loved those little candy hearts. i am not a big fan of spending tons of money on this holiday, but i do have a fun little surprise that the hubs will be delighted about receiving at work! i’m counting this as my creative project for the month.
i’ve got a lot of organizational housekeeping on the docket. i was inspired by this to streamline my closet. we’re hiring a tax accountant to do our taxes this year, since it’s our first as a married couple. so while we’re at it, i may as well collect, merge, and purge all of our financial papers. and mama needs lots of help getting her affairs in order. when my dad passed everything seamlessly transferred to her as his spouse. the same will not be true when she passes. some people may find this task morbid or uncomfortable, but it is a fact of life. and a crucial way to take care of those you love.