Olive|Chia Seed Me

Mar 25, 2011 Posted by candice on Mar 25, 2011 in Olive, Uncategorized, exercise, inspiration, joy lists, mental notes, race training | 8 comments

nothing sweeter

Happy Friday!

This morning what started out as a bad attitude ended up as an amazing run. Lately, the husband and I have been trying to do our short runs together before he goes to work in the morning, which works out great because he doesn’t have to do his at lunch, and I can get my workday started extra early. But this morning, as soon as I opened my eyes I knew it was later than it should be. We overslept by a good 45 minutes and had to rush just to get ready in time. I really didn’t feel like driving down to the park to do my run, and I debated between that and just running on the street. I don’t like to run on the streets by myself out here because there are a lot of loose dogs…but I also really don’t love doing laps where one time around equals less than 1 mile. But alas I decided to get my butt down to the park and get it done.

I played a little trick by telling myself that I could walk as much as I wanted, but I had to get in the four miles. Worked like a charm. I ended up not walking at all and finished in record time (for this race training anyway).

I actually started off a bit slow and the first mile was a bit uncomfortable – about 10:30 pace – but I steadily increased my pace throughout and then kicked it into high gear, running the last mile at 8:30.

The whole time I just kept chanting to myself “it’s okay to be uncomfortable!” One thing I’ve learned about running is that there is a difference between pain and discomfort. If I’m experiencing pain, I stop. Because nothing is worth sacrificing my body. But if I’m just feeling uncomfortable, I take that as a sign to push harder and get through it. Pushing through discomfort always garners the best results. Running (at least training for longer distances) isn’t necessarily supposed to easy. If it was easy, then everyone would do it, right? If it was easy, then crossing the finish line wouldn’t feel like someone just handed over all you’ve ever wanted wrapped up with a little bow on top. Hard is worth it. Uncomfortable is worth it.

I am so excited about this weekend because my BIL and SIL who live in Tulsa are out of town, and they offered to let us (me+husband+Olive) stay at their house. We miss our furry baby so much it hurts, and nothing could make this weekend better than getting to spend the whole thing with her (and each other). I’m thinking there will be lots of exploring Tulsa, Lost marathons (we’re re-watching all the seasons), naps, photo taking and a long run on Sunday (followed by another nap:).

This past week hasn’t been an easy one. I’ve been pretty stressed about all the job stuff (read: I don’t have one), and I’ve really been struggling with wishing away time. I just want to get to June so we can move into our house and feel like we’ve officially transitioned to our new life; this in-between stage doesn’t suit me very well. I know there is goodness and joy to be found in every stage of life we experience, and I’m trying to step back and focus on all the blessings in my life. I think the more I try to seek out happiness despite my circumstances, the harder it is to find. Happiness has to be felt inside, and it stems from contentment and finding joy in the little things – breathing in fresh air, the intense flavor of dark chocolate on the tongue, having the ability to see all the bright colors emerging with the new season. The more I remind myself of how wonderful it is to be able to see, feel, smell and experience every moment of life, the more it becomes ingrained as a natural part of my day. Moving from the negative to the positive.

And speaking of the positive – this family that I told you about a few months ago is finally getting their sweet little girl this weekend. I can’t imagine many things that could be sweeter.

Takes a deep breath, wonders at the air rushing out of her lungs and steeps in the peace found in this moment of being alive.

starting with a rant and ending with a happy friday!

Warning: rant ahead.

Can I just say that sometimes I really hate technology? K, thanks. Sometimes I REALLY hate technology. For a long time I had trouble figuring out a good workflow for taking pictures, editing and uploading them and then saving them without overloading (read: sloooowing down) my computer. Finally, a few months ago, the husband and I brainstormed and came up with a decent flow. It was still kind of a pain in the you know what, but it was better than before.

Step A – Take photos
Step B – Remove card from camera and plug it into the camera using a USB camera card adapter
Step C – Open photos and immediately delete any that are not worthy of keeping.
Step D – Move all remaining photos to a folder on the desktop.
Step E – One by one, drag photos into Photoshop for editing. After editing each one, save it to the same folder, but with a different name (I don’t want to lose my unedited raw images)
Step F – Upload the entire folder into Flickr, labeling it by date and tagging as needed
Step G – As soon as a few folders have accumulated on the desktop, copy them to a DVD and store in a safe place.
Step H – Delete photos from the desktop

Sounds pretty involved, right? Well, that would be the reason why there are currently about twenty folders of pictures on our desktop. I really need to take a day (or a week) and upload all of them to Flickr and then copy to DVDs. But let’s get back to the reason why I hate technology right now.

So everything was going just fine until about a week ago when my camera card USB adapter stopped working. Walmart special, people. Apparently the only option of getting photos onto the computer without it is plugging the entire camera into the computer via the cord that came with it (which I’ve learned is not too good for the camera or the card). The biggest problem with that method is that you can only import the photos through iPhoto, and iPhoto does not accept raw. Which means I can’t edit using Photoshop. Bah.

On top of that, it seems that the husband nor I can get much service on our phones out in these parts. So, any photos I take with my iPhone are essentially useless because I can’t get enough of a connection to email them to myself.

Anyway, I took some pictures earlier today with my dslr, and now I can’t even get them to upload through iPhoto. The “import” button is grayed out and it won’t let me select it. Needless to say, this post is going to be utterly pictureless.

That’s all.

———————–

This morning I went for a four mile run per my half marathon training, and it was a tough one! Some runs are just that way. I kind of felt like I was dragging the whole time, and my pace was up and down like a kid on a rollercoaster. I finished in 40:52. I got to thinking though, that when I have a super tough run but I stick with it and push through I probably do just as much or more for my training than when I sail through. So score one point for building up endurance and mental power!

For lunch I poured 3/4 cup of Amy’s Vegan chili over a bed of greens with an apple (I’m on a huge apple kick right now!) on the side. A spin off my current favorite easy lunch. It was the first time I’d had the chili, and it was pretty good. Honestly the crumbled tofu in it was so similar to the consistency of ground meat that I almost couldn’t enjoy it. I had to keep telling myself over and over again – it’s not an animal, it’s not an animal.

This afternoon I’m heading to the city to get a haircut. A couple of people asked me about it recently, and for the record I am growing out my pixie cut…at least for the time being. I’m trying to be really low maintenance and not get worked up about the bad “inbetween phase,” but as we speak there is a mullet inching its way down the back of my neck, and it must be reigned in. Hopefully at my appointment today, I can get it cleaned up a little bit but lose as little ground as possible on the path to longer hair. This will be my first time to get it cut since we moved, so I’m going to somebody completely new, which makes me a little nervous. Cross your fingers for me!

The husband and I are going on a little date tonight. My friend and fellow Okie, Amber, emailed me today, saying there will be live music at this cute little bookstore tonight. So, we may stop by there. We shall see how it goes. Also definitely going to be stopping by BestBuy to get a new camera card reader, so tomorrow there will be lots of pretty pictures! Spring has almost arrived here, and I’ve been doing my best to capture it.

And before I go – a few old pictures of our sweet baby just because I miss her so much.

her favorite spot – on dad’s freshly ironed clothes

second best to hanging her head out the window

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

random musings on a snow day

As promised, we got quite the snowfall overnight, and today the husband and I both got a snow day! I love snow days because they’re the perfect excuse to stay home with the husband all day and be lazy get lots of stuff done! We’ve now found out that we’ll be having another snow day tomorrow. On my agenda: pack pack pack. We have three weeks left in our house, and I haven’t boxed up one thing. eek.

Unfortunately I really wasn’t too productive today…but I don’t really feel bad about it. We slept in about an hour later than usual and then got up and made some amazing breakfast.

I used a whole wheat boxed mix and then spread natural peanut butter on one half and Earth Balance on the other. Topped with pure maple syrup and banana slices. So gooooood.

After breakfast we got a little bit of work done in the office and then layered up and spent some time out in the snow!

This was the most snow we’ve had this year by far, and it was so pretty.

Olive is the funniest thing – she isn’t a big fan of the snow and acts like she’s going to die if she has to be in it for more than about 5 seconds. We took her out with us for about 10 minutes and she was trembling all over in her little coat. Poor baby. At one point, she and the husband were on the porch and I was out in the yard, so I started calling to her, trying to get her to come to me. She minds us so well that when I started calling her she kept thinking about coming, but really didn’t want to get in the snow. Finally I won her over.

She lasted about four seconds. But it sure was cute.

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping, cuddling, watching movies, eating…and now at 11pm we’re finally getting some work done. That’s the way we roll I guess.

In other news, I know I talked about this a little bit already, but I’ve decided to try and get a full-time job. I figure the husband and I could really use the money as we’re moving into our new house, and seeing as how we’re becoming “live-ins” with one of our sets of parents, I don’t think I want to be home all the time! I’m really struggling with what to do during this transition period. I really want to keep doing what I’ve been doing – tutoring, yoga, working on the biz – but I think it would be beneficial for me to branch out and try something new (full-time) for awhile. Once we have little ones, I want to be a stay-at-home mom, so now’s the time if I want to work again.

Some of the ideas so far (some far better than others): zoo worker, Starbucks shift manager, emergency dispatcher, and the one that I’ve actually applied for and am somewhat excited about – supervisor for a children’s program at a hospital. I’ve also considered going back to teaching, but I really need something right now.

If you guys have any great ideas – send them my way!!

And now for some random thoughts to end the evenings:

I am missing Thailand so much lately! I can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s always a bad idea go out in foot deep snow wearing ankle socks
Splitting a 1lb bag of peanut m&m’s with your husband over the course of 2 days is not wise
Never wait until the night before a snowstorm to hit up Walmart
If you are on city water and you lose electricity, you WILL still have water
Old houses = cold

I’m off now to get some sleep – my eyes are getting very heavy. Hope you all had a great Tuesday!

Did you get any snow? What kind of job do you do (if you don’t mind sharing!)?

peace in heart and body

Well, I’m coming in a day late with my recap of the weekend. The husband and I spent most of the weekend in our new city, and I spent this morning playing catch up with some of the things I didn’t get to even think about doing.

On Friday I really enjoyed hearing all of your stories about geese! I had no idea that so many people were afraid of them, ha! It seems that several of you have some kind of scarring memory about a run-in with a goose as a child – never knew they could be such ferocious creatures. In fairness I think I must clarify that I was catching the smaller, cuter white ducks…not the geese as shown in the picture. And it sounds like it’s a good thing based on all your stories!

As I mentioned on Friday, we went to a party with our Sunday school class. We played a game that Jonathan and I had gotten for Christmas called What’s Yours Like? I was a bit skeptical about it in the beginning, but it ended up being pretty fun! Everyone had brought different desserts, and there was definitely no shortage of sugar. I took cupcakes as planned, and I’m excited to share them with you tomorrow! They were a hit. No one knew they were vegan, and our friend Greg went back for a second which let me know that they truly passed the test:)

Saturday we got up and after doing some tasks around the house, headed to the city. We had plans to drive through our future neighborhood to get some ideas for the exterior of our house. Jonathan carefully crafted a fun design that resembles a craftsman style, and now we’re just trying to get inspired about a color scheme. While we recognize that building a house is going to be a lot of work, we are pumped to get to pick out everything and make it unique to our style as much as possible. We also met with our builder and signed our contract! Our names are written in blood…there’s not turning back. Yay! Building should start in the next month, and we’re looking at about 4ish months until it will be done.

gotta love that Oklahoma red dirt

The biggest decision (of many) that we are trying to make right now is where we’re going to live between now and the time our house gets done, which will be around the end of June. Both Jonathan’s parents and my mom and step-dad have graciously offered to let us live with them. We are so thankful for family who are supportive and will sacrifice to help us out. But the big decision is looming of which one to go with. Jonathan’s parents live about one hour and fifteen minutes from his job, so he would have to commute back and forth everyday, which would be really taxing on him. Especially considering he’ll be working on Outbox in the evenings as well. My mom and step-dad only live about thirty-five minutes from his job, but the situation is such that Olive cannot live with us there. So, we would need to figure out somewhere else for her to live, and it will be really hard for us to have to be away from her for 4 months. I honestly cannot imagine it right now. I know some people probably think that is crazy, but those of you who have pets surely understand…right? But living with my family would be so much less draining of a commute for Jonathan, and more convenient all around (i.e. dropping by our house to check progress, finding a church to get involved in in the city etc). If we are unable to find somewhere for her to live, then that will obviously make our decision…but even if we do find somewhere we are still torn as to what to do. Too many decisions!! The good news is we love both of our families, and living with either one, while being an adjustment, will be great. We are very blessed. I’m hoping to get some new perspective from you guys on this!

Anyway, so Saturday night we headed to my hometown and got to watch my little cousin play basketball. I hadn’t seen her play in years, and I had the best time! I was a super proud cousin too because she played so great. I think she scored the first ten points of the game all by herself! She’s super cute, too:)

My sister played on the state championship team when she was a junior, and now a giant picture of her team hangs in the gym. We got a huge kick out of taking our picture with the Cristen of 1998…I’m sure anyone walking by thought we were ridiculous, but that combined with my cousin being so embarrassed was what made it quite funny. Maybe you had to be there.

The husband and I partied late with my family and didn’t get back home until late. We spent Sunday morning at church, and then headed to the city once again to meet my mom and step-dad to show them our lot and walk through a house that has our floor plan. It was fun! But I realized one thing really quickly – looking at houses after you’ve already signed a contract for yours is like looking at wedding dresses after you’ve already made the purchase for your big day. Not a good idea.

All in all it was a busy busy weekend, but I’m pretty sure that’s becoming the norm these days….and we’re okay with that. I’m really making every effort possible to stay in a routine in the important areas of my life during this super chaotic time. I’ll be sharing much of the journey with you as the months go by! And for starters, that’s going to mean getting a lot more sleep.

The last few days I’ve been focusing more on getting a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables in my body. When things get busy, stressful and/or crazy, the first thing I tend to slack on is having fresh food around. While we were in the city I picked up Kris Carr’s new book, and I’ve really been enjoying it the last couple of days. Sometimes a little inspiration goes a long way! I’ll share more about the book as I keep reading, but so far it has really helped me get back on track.

I’ve been starting each day off with some warm lemon water, which is great for your skin (and we all know I need that!).

Green monsters have also been a daily staple. Unfortunately the other day I ran out of spinach, so I got creative and decided to try broccoli!

I wouldn’t recommend it. The only way I got the entire thing down was to chase each sip with water and picture all the amazing nutrients coursing through my veins with every swig. It was not pretty. I think I’ll stick to leafy greens for now.

I also had an apple mid morning

For lunch yesterday I threw together a concoction I haven’t had before, and it totally rocked!

baked sweet potato, Earth Balance, black beans, salsa, broccoli

I’ve always thought I only like sweet potatoes baked as rounds or fries, but those days are long gone! I do think the key for me was having different foods mixed in with each potato bite – it helped break up the mushy texture, and all the flavors worked so well together. Delicious!

Unfortunately, last night didn’t exactly go as planned. The husband and I got a late start to the grocery store, and by the time we got done with all our shopping it was 9pm. I was so tired and hungry, so we stopped at our favorite mexican restaurant. I ordered two black bean tacos and ate a couple handfuls of tortilla chips. Not exactly clean fresh food on the chips, but not a bad choice for a restaurant either!

One thing I love about Kris’s book so far is her stance on perfection. It coincides exactly with my thoughts on the topic.

“The crazy sexy diet (not a diet, but a lifestyle) is an optimum way of life. Let it be your foundation, a home base to come back to whenever you veer off. The cleanse is intended to give you freedom from obstruction and liberation… It’s not meant to create or support more stress in your life. As I said earlier, there’s no such thing as perfection. Perfect is beige. Obsessing over every bite is completely contrary to the purpose ans spirit of my book. Your overall goal is to have a peaceful feeling in your heart and in your body.“

With that, I’m off to bed…I hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying the start to the week!

Any advice on our living situation? What would you do?
Less than half the commute, but being separated from our baby? Or a much further commute, but keeping our little family together? Ahhh!

What was the best moment of your weekend?

olive

I have to say I do believe we have the funniest little dog there ever was.

Something you may not know about me is that I dreamed of having a Yorkshire Terrier from the first time I ever saw one. I don’t know if it was their tiny size, their silky silver hair, the fact that they don’t shed or something else, but I was hooked. I spent many years really truly believing that I would never have one because they’re a little bit costly, so I would just gaze at them from afar when I’d see one while trying to contain my envy.

So, you can imagine my disbelief and excitement when some friends of ours in Thailand asked us to dog sit their yorkie and a friend’s yorkie for a couple of weeks right before we were about to head back to the states. What luck!

At the point that the husband and I decided we would return to the states instead of staying a second year in Thailand, we started talking about getting a dog. We’re both dog lovers, and we felt that it was time for us to take on a little more responsibility, a third member of the family if you will. During our long talks about what kind of dog we would get, we discussed all kinds of different breeds, and it didn’t take long for me to win the husband over to Yorkies as well. With one stipulation that is. I had to promise to never, ever, ever…..put a bow in its hair.

While I wasn’t happy about his aversion to bows, obviously it was an easy deal to make. And so it was decided…a yorkie it would be.

Needless to say, going into our dog sitting days we were so excited because not only would we get to hang out with two yorkies, but we’d also get a taste of what it would be like to become yorkie parents.

Over those two weeks, we fell absolutely in love with Mocha and Lilly.

They were the sweetest, cutest dogs I’d ever met. They’d follow anywhere we went in the house, and they always wanted to be as close to us as possible. They were well behaved, they didn’t shed and again, they always wanted to be as close to us as possible. How sweet is that?

I think we were back in Oklahoma for about a month at most before we started the search.

And then we found her.

She was the one that wanted to lay in the corner, liquid brown eyes staring, too shy to come over and play, but sweet as pie if you picked her up and cuddled her. Her mom told us that she was holding out on selling her because she wanted to make sure she went to a home that would show her an abundant amount of love and attention. She was special.

By the way – she doesn’t have glowing blue eyes. Our camera was a little rough at the time.

We were sold.

That same sweet little Olive did the funniest thing yesterday. Like Mocha and Lilly, she never wants to leave our side when we’re at home. But now she’s taken it to a whole new level.

I was working at the computer in our office when she trotted in from the living room and hopped up onto my lap. Just like I always do I started scratching her back and rubbing her little ears. And then without warning, she stood up, turned toward the computer and jumped up onto the computer desk. It was the strangest thing she’s ever done. I just sat there laughing at her, and within the next several minutes she went from this:

to this:

I may be like one of those parents who thinks everything their kid does is SO cute, but seriously? Does it get cuter than this?

She spent about the next hour assuming all kinds of different positions on all different parts of the desk, dozing off and on as I worked away.

She has brought so much fun, happiness and love into our lives in the last two years…and I honestly can’t imagine our lives without her.

Are you a dog person? If so, what kind of dog do you have? Does he/she ever do something completely funny and out of character? Let’s talk dogs!

Happy Friday:)

**Don’t forget to click over and enter my giveaway! I’m dreaming up lots of crazy stuff to put in the secret package. muahaha.

quinoa is the new turkey

At our first Christmas with my family, I made an amazing quinoa dish per my mom’s suggestion. Believe it or not it was the recipe straight off the back of the box with maybe a couple of tweaks. I was a bit hesitant at first because it just seemed too simple, but it ended up being so delicious and I’ve still been enjoying the leftovers ever since. The simplicity is what makes this dish.

Quinoa Pilaf

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
2 tbsp Earth Balance
1 small onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup sliced almonds
sea salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Directions

Cook quinoa according to package directions
Melt Earth Balance in a frying pan over medium high heat.
Add garlic, peppers and onion and saute until tender.
Combine cooked quinoa and sauteed veggies and mix well.
Add sliced almonds and mix thoroughly.
Season with sea salt and pepper and serve hot or chilled.

This is one example of how I try to stay healthy throughout the holidays. I simply cannot depend solely on the food provided at family gatherings, even considering my grandma always provides several healthy options. It has nothing to do with being overly paranoid about my food as some people may think; it has everything to do with feeling the best I can throughout the entire holiday season. I still sampled a little bit of my mom’s mashed potatoes and my grandma’s vegetarian dressing, and I didn’t feel deprived at all. But I filled my plate mostly with healthy foods that were still delicious!

Another reason this was a great dish for me is because quinoa is one of the few vegetarian complete proteins. Quinoa is the new turkey:) I’ve definitely learned that the only way to make sure I have plenty of food options that taste great but also make me feel great is to take my own. The added bonus is that everyone in the family usually (key word:) ends up liking them too! win win.

I’m off to enjoy the evening with my two favorite people. “People” being used very loosely of course.

The husband and I are both off work tomorrow, so it’s like a double Friday night. Love it when that happens!

See you this weekend for more recipes from the holidays and more talk about enjoying the holidays and still coming out of them feeling great!

Did you try any new dishes this holiday season? What were the big hits with your family?

deck the halls

Random fact on this lovely Friday: somebody found my blog by searching the phrase “chia seed in my eye.”

I kinda like that, lol:) Not going to find any advice here, though!

I mentioned the other day that Jon and I decorated for Christmas on Sunday. I love decorating for Christmas! Last year during this time I hadn’t even started ChiaSeedMe yet. I was kind of in a transition between blogs. I had been writing at Brand New Sidewalk about random life happenings for about a year, but with the craziness also known as my first year of teaching, I just didn’t have the time or energy to put into it!

So, I started a tumbler, thinking it would be a good way to keep blogging, but with shorter, less-time consuming entries. I really liked tumbler, and sometimes I think I’d like to keep blogging there (in addition to CSM), but so far it hasn’t happened. My tumbler was geared a little more toward healthy living, but I really made the jump when I started ChiaSeedMe.

So in the spirit of decorating for Christmas here are some of last year’s decorations.

And this year.

Oops! That’s not a decoration. That would be my breakfast. A random juicing of carrots, apple, a lime, small piece of ginger and a few handfuls of spinach (aka – everything that I could scavenge from my oh so empty fridge). Plus half a leftover Cliff bar.

Let’s try this again.

And of course Christmas at our house wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for my Grandpa’s peanut brittle. He spends hours making it every year, and it’s the best peanut brittle there ever was.

The husband and I will be spending the whole weekend Christmas shopping! I’m so excited.

What are you most excited about this weekend?

Happy Friday!

no place like home

I’m now back from a 3 day hiatus.

Over the weekend, the husband and I got to visit our family in his hometown. We always love spending time there; I may be a little biased I suppose, but I’m certain that I have the best in-laws on the planet. Here are a few photos of our little weekend getaway.

They are so thoughtful to always make sure that my favorite foods are in the house. I always think it’s so sweet that they do that because these are not things they would normally have.

Breakfast Saturday morning – Ezekiel bread with almond butter and sliced banana

Playtime in the backyard:) Olive is the only grandchild so far, so she gets a LOT of attention. I worry about the day she’s no longer the only one…she will be a sad baby dog:(

ready….set….

GO!

One thing I love about visiting our family is that, like us, they love to hop in the car and just drive around, ending up wherever the days takes us. On Saturday it took us to a cemetery in this tiny little country town. Don’t even ask:)

trying to see her Grandpa

And then dinner. The family had spaghetti with meatballs, my MIL’s specialty. I fixed up a giant pan of seasoned and roasted chickpeas, sweet potato, carrots and squash. Easy and delicious.

And as usual, the day ended with a great round of game-playing

On Sunday we went to church to hear my FIL preach and then sadly, we had to rush to get back on the road toward home. I never want to leave when we visit, but this week the sadness was softened just a little bit because I was so excited about what we were headed home to do!

all kinds of delicious

Praise the Lord for daylight savings time! I keep forgetting today, and the husband keeps reminding me. With every sweet reminder I let out a mini squeal of joy at having one extra hour left in the day…kinda like when I’m certain there’s not one more can of green enchilada sauce and the husband reminds me that I bought double on our last grocery trip. Pure joy.

The weekend here at the McCoy house has been all about the small things. You know, the little details in life that if you’re not careful can pass you right by and leave you wanting more out of the days and weeks, but having no idea where to look. I’ve always been one to overlook these little details, but the older I become the more I’m (slowly) learning that life really is mostly about these things. Finding thrills in the mundane and creating moments as sweet as pumpkin butter by no other effort than focusing a little bit deeper and seeing things – a pile of laundry, taking the long route home from church, discussing our dreams and goals for the millionth time – from a different perspective.

For us, this included tossing smiles at each other through the small space between the office and the living room and hollering (brutally honest) feedback on each other’s projects as we passed the hours, hard at work.

And then breaking for (admittedly) cheap pizza and fizzy drinks, beyond exhausted and with our stomachs begging us not to wait another moment before filling them.

It included waking up late (as usual) and procrastinating getting out of bed, taking one more snooze to cuddle each other…and the pup before rushing around like mad to get dolled up for church.

It included sudsing up the baby, doing our best to avoid making contact with her pleading eyes as we reassured ourselves over and over that it really was “for her own good” and wondered how in the world we’re going to handle having a human baby.

And it included cranking Ingrid Michaelson in the kitchen, letting the final rays of light of this short day seep through the sink window while making a classic gooey vegan chocolate chip cookie pie for the husband.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
adapted from here

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached white flour (gasp! it won’t kill you I promise:)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup vegan carob or chocolate chips (or as many as suits your fancy)
1 cup organic pure cane sugar (or any raw sugar – turbinado, sucinat, whatever)
1/2 cup Earth Balance, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (water will work if you don’t have milk)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use Earth Balance and flour to coat the sides of a round cake pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, carob chips and sugar. After mixing well, make a well in the center and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together Earth Balance and sugar. Then add vanilla and soymilk and continue to mix.
Add wet mixture to the middle of dry mixture and mix well, but don’t overmix. Okay, guys, I had to seriously man-handle this dough. I forgot to use my KitchenAid (how does a girl forget her KitchenAid???) and after about 10 minutes of trying to get the dough stirred, I went into a rage and threw the spatula aside and got down and dirty with my hands, basically kneading the dough like a big happy loaf of bread dough. It was fun;)
After dough is completely mixed and moist, press it into cake pan until it is even all around.

Bake for 30 minutes, checking it every 10 minutes or so. When it’s ready to come out, it should still look very pale. This cookie pie will not be brown on top. I promise, it is done.
Immediately transfer cookie pie to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool before cutting.

I’m anxious to see how this holds up when stored in a ziplock baggie (I promise to give an update). By the time this handsome guy was done with his photo shoot (the cookie, not the husband:), we pounced on him, having been enticed by the melty carob chips and heavenly smell for far longer than any person should. The outer rim of crust had already gotten a little crispy, but everything else remained ultra soft, just how we like it. It was all kinds of delicious. The husband is always too honest about my vegan expeditions in the kitchen, and tonight he proved that this recipe rocks – and he has the tummy ache to prove it. Poor husband.

We’re planning to finish off the weekend by making dinner, watching Amazing Race and probably scheming our audition video to get on the show just like most other Sunday nights. Hope you all had a lovely weekend, full of wonderful things, whether big or small.

What was the best part of your weekend??

things that make me smile

favorite snack: homemade bread with almond butter and pumpkin butter

lists

leftovers

black skinny jeans – best Gap purchase ever

lunchtime fun with the husband

big brown Olive eyes

see above

pumpkin spice latte of course

love

What things are making you smile on this lovely Friday?

Happy Weekend.

hap-bee halloween!

Olive says “I hope you had a ‘Hap-bee’ Halloween weekend!!”

Is there some kind of competition for cutest dog costume contest?

Some may think it’s silly to dress up animals for Halloween, but I think it’s just so darn cute. And besides, with no human children to speak of we must spend our time doing something!

We did have some Halloween fun with humans this weekend as well. Saturday night we headed over to our friends’ house for a party with our Sunday School class. We had sort of potluck with lots of delicious food, roasted marshmallows and a pumpkin carving contest! I was the proud wife of the best carved pumpkin winner. Here’s the husband’s masterpiece:

Not bad for a graphic designer, eh?

Anyway, I signed up to bring a pasta salad to the party. The main dish was slated to be ribs, and when we arrived our sweet hostess proudly announced that they had grilled 15 pounds of ribs - “so eat up!!” haha. Lovely:)

I don’t mean to be cynical at all – this is one of the sweetest couples you’d ever meet, but I have to admit that I cringed a bit at the announcement. Anyway, I usually sign up to bring some kind of side dish or salad when we got to parties, so that I’ll for sure have something substantial to eat that is vegetarian. And for this particular occasion I decided to go with a classic favorite.

Summery Fall Couscous Salad

Even though it’s technically more of a summery dish, I knew it would be a hit. Plus the recipe makes a huge amount, perfect for parties and potlucks. Seriously ya’ll, if you get a chance, please make this salad. Once people get past the “foreigness” of couscous there is no holding them back. Sometimes I even make it just to have at the house – and the husband eats it like candy:) If you’re making it just for your family though, you may want to half the recipe.

The stars of this salad:

My sweet friend, Grace, also brought a tasty salad that was meat free, so I enjoyed some of that, a few chips and some bread!

And a s’more of course.

Anyway, it was a great time. You really can’t beat good food and great friends, ya know?

After the party Saturday night, we stopped by Redbox to rent a movie – The Greatest. Have you seen it? If you don’t mind movies that make you bawl for an hour straight, then you should definitely rent it!

Jon loves to rent really sad movies with me and then fall asleep and make me watch them by myself.

Case in point: When we were in Tokyo a couple of years ago, we got in bed to watch P.S. I Love You. Um, yeah. Talk about a tear jerker. Within 5 minutes the husband was fast asleep, and I was left to be sucked into this horribly sad movie all by myself. I got revenge, however, when he woke up to me sobbing uncontrollably at 1am, begging him to tell me why he made me watch it all alone. And that is no exaggeration, my friends. I was an complete mess. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.

Anyway, so last night was pretty much a replay, but not quite as intense.

Needless to say I woke up after only about 5 hours of sleep, puffy eyed and tired. I’m sure everyone at church wondered just what kind of party we had Saturday night, haha. o’well!

Naturally, it is now almost midnight, and I still have some tasks to finish up. I’m working on something for tomorrow’s post that I’m pretty excited about. Heather is having a special post this week where she’s linking other bloggers who took on a recipe that is a challenge and is out of their comfort zone. I love challenges like this! Stay tuned…

See you guys tomorrow:) Let’s start strong for another week!

What was the craziest or funniest costume you saw this weekend? While it wasn’t super crazy, on Saturday afternoon at about 4 o’clock I happened to glance out our front window, and there was a Peter Pan and Tinker Bell walking down our street. I know it was the day before Halloween and all, but there was just something funny about it:) lol.

getting real

Tonight the husband and I got a serious hankering for some diet coke. So, we decided to take an evening walk down to the grocery store before dinner.

It is quite ironic that we have three (yes, three) cars, yet we walked to the grocery store. But I love our walks. With the husband working evenings on our business, we don’t have as much time for them as we used to. I miss them.

Once we got there, I sat outside with Olive, while he ran inside for the goods.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about contentment. I am the world’s worst about getting in too big of a hurry all the time. While I love the idea of slowing down and enjoying life as it is now, I don’t practice it very often. I’m always wishing for the next thing. Always thinking that things could be just a little bit better if only…

Lately I’ve really been struggling with this, and the last couple of days I’ve actually been able to recognize how detrimental this is to my life. I count myself very blessed to be in the stage of life I’m in. I’m so thankful that Jon supported me in leaving my job so that I could pursue what I’m passionate about. And I’m tired of surrendering to discontentment and allowing fear to defeat me. I’m slowly starting to realize something about myself – I’m afraid of being successful. I think that part of my discontentment at this phase of life is due to not allowing myself to succeed.

I allow three things to defeat me on a daily basis: procrastination, being paralyzed by fear and making excuses. I’m still diligently trying to figure out why I allow these things to interfere with my goals and dreams, but I’m working on taking steps toward overcoming them.

The other night Jon and I laid awake for hours, him letting me hash out every angle of this struggle. I’m so thankful that he pushes me to challenge myself, to take myself to the next level, and most of all to believe in myself. I don’t know why he believes in me as deeply as he does, but sometimes that’s what keeps me going. Before we went to bed that night, he walked me into our office and made me put down my new commitment on our chalkboard closet door. Everyday when I see it, it reminds me that I really am stronger than I think I am.

side note – the coloration on this pic is way off. Our walls are not bright yellow:)

It’s so normal in the blog world to always focus on the positive, and I really don’t want to be a downer, but surely I’m not the only one who struggles with this? Am I alone in being my own biggest obstacle to achieving everything I want for my life? Sometimes I just ask myself “why are you procrastinating on the things you care about most?” “Why are you not focusing your intentions on the things that are most important?” “And why do you spend more time wishing for things in the future, rather than living in the present?”

So that’s me lately.

And so as not to leave on a dreary note, here’s some amazing fall food that has been warming me through and through:)

Making homemade pizza crust

The best thing about this crust was the process of making it. There’s something therapeutic about making homemade bread.

Unfortunately it was a total fail. I used too little yeast and didn’t let it sit long enough + I used all spelt flour when I probably should have incorporated in some white flour.

Even with leftover veggie spaghetti sauce from the other night and shredded vegan cheese, it still tasted terrible.

The side of broccoli saved the day! Sprinkle on a little sea salt, and you’ve got yourself heaven on a plate.

I also used that same leftover homemade spaghetti sauce in a mix with kidney beans and sauteed swiss chard. All piled on a tiny bed of pasta. The sauce was definitely the star of this show.

Oh wait.

I take that back. The kabocha squash ruled again! I seriously cannot get enough. I actually bought a whole ‘nother one this afternoon. I’m thinking maybe soup this time…

Yes, I think soup could be just the thing.

bring home elsabeth

Good morning!

Are you happy to be starting a new week? I am. As much as I used to dread Monday morning, I am so thankful these days that the end of the weekend doesn’t hold an impending sense of doom. Of course I was by no means springing out of bed with a smile on my face at 6:30 this morning, but I’m not sure that’s even possible anyway!

We had a slow and easy weekend…just how I like ‘em:) As I’m sure you can all identify…they are few and far between. So, we soaked up every moment.

Saturday morning Farmer’s Market trip was picturesque – with the beauty of fall only intensifying every day. I ate an apple on the way and was positively starving by the time we left!

We picked these up for the baby – and she was a happy girl:) And don’t worry, they’re vegetarian. Peanut Butter to be exact.

After leaving the market (one bushel of swiss chard in tow) we stopped by Starbuck’s for a soy half caf latte for two. Aren’t coffees the best when they’re shared? Having my own straw just isn’t the same.

The rest of Saturday included a long walk down to Main Street. There was a vintage car show going on downtown, and we were hoping to scope it out, but as we progressed toward Main, we began to notice a disappointingly steady stream of vintage cars cruising past us. By the time we got there, there were only a few stragglers remaining:( So, we just turned around and headed back home. Stopping for mini photo shoots along the way.

Doesn’t matter what kind of face or noises you make, this girl refuses to look at the camera.

Honestly, I was a bit lazy all weekend as far as food was concerned. I made a huge batch of crock-pot taco soup on Friday, and we ate it probably 4-3 times between then and Sunday. At least it was delicious! Leftovers are the way to go in my book:)

Crock-pot Taco Soup

Ingredients

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed (really you can use whatever kinds of beans you want!)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans – you got it, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 can sweet corn, no salt added, drained
1 can rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
3/4 small can tomato paste
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
about 1 cup water

Directions
1. Dump everything into the crock pot and turn crock pot on low. Allow to simmer all day.
2. Come home from work, give it a quick stir, and eat up! But careful – it’s hot!

It’s really very complicated.

*You may want to add more or less water, depending on how thick you want it. The husband and I like it nice and hearty!
**I know this recipe has a lot of “cans” in it – and I know you’re technically supposed to limit canned goods, but sometimes convenience just wins out. Sorry. Actually, no I’m not.

Served with a side of homemade corn chips, sprinkled with sea salt and baked at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Watch them closely because they go from not quite done to charred in about 1 minute flat. Not that I would know.

I also had a side of leftover roasted kabocha squash.

You may have noticed this really hideous looking squash in my fall post a few days ago. I basically sliced it up and roasted it at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. And let me tell you, I have eaten it for about 6 meals since then. I have tried butternut squash once and honestly really didn’t care of it. This guy is a whole different ballgame folks. If you haven’t tried kabocha squash – stop reading right now and go get one. You won’t regret it. It was a bit expensive (around $5 I think), but it’s lasted so long, and was totally and completely worth every dime. Every time I get ready to eat it leftover, I just toss a few wedges on a cookie sheet and re-roast them. Tastes like the first time every time!

Anyway, before I go I wanted to let you guys know about something called “Share the Love Week” going on over at a really lovely blog, 3 Boys and a Little Lady. I just stumbled upon this blog about a month ago, and I haven’t been able to stop reading since. Right now their family is trying to bring home the little girl they’re adopting from Ethiopia, Elsabeth. I don’t think I’ve really mentioned this before on the blog, but Jon and I have a huge heart for adoption. We hope and pray that we can adopt a child one day, but since we aren’t quite on that road yet, I’m excited about the opportunity to help out a family that is. Emily is having an auction of sorts with different Etsy shops, and all the proceeds go toward their adoption fund. It starts tomorrow morning, so please check it out if you get a chance!

Love you guys!

roadtrip time

The snacks are packed, Olive’s loaded up, and the husband and I are off for a fun and eventful weekend! When I come back, I’ll officially be trained to teach yoga. Hooray!!

Thanks for all the well wishes over my first class…you guys are way too sweet:)

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

can’t help but love her

This girl has been very naughty today.

Doesn’t she look evil?

I had an Outbox conference call today, and she waited until 2 minutes into the call to decide that she absolutely could not wait another second to go outside and relieve herself. So, I’m sitting at my desk with the call on speaker phone, trying to learn a new program that we’ll be offering to clients. She comes prancing in, collar jingling at what seems an unnaturally loud decibel, and jumps up, putting her little paws on my leg.

Anytime she does this, she gets this very knowing look in her eyes that says “take me out NOW, or else!”

Sometimes I forget who’s the adult and who’s the dog.

Seeing as how there is no way for me to let her out right away, I reach down to pick her up (and make her stop staring at me) at which point she scoots back really fast, slipping on the wood floor and landing on her face. She immediately regains her footing and in is instantly back on my leg, staring me down. This routine ensues for another several minutes with me throwing her silent threats by motioning with my hands to say “no more treats!” and “I’ll spank you!” To no avail.

All I can say is good thing it wasn’t a video conference call.

Anyway, we’ve since made up…but next time there’s a conference call on the docket, somebody’s going to her kennel!

You know I can’t help but still love her:)

Today was a stretch and strengthen day per our training schedule – a perfect opportunity for PiYo! The Tuesday class at our gym is really challenging. The type of challenging where you’re swearing half way through that you’ll never go back. And yet you do…because you love the way it makes your muscles sore, but so strong.

I threw down a handful of grapes on the way out the door.

Apparently I should have thrown down a lot more because half way through the class my energy hit rock bottom and my body was begging for fuel. Oops.

By the time I got home, my body knew exactly what it wanted. I really didn’t have a say in the matter.

For the perfect egg sandwich – mix up one free range organic egg + one egg white, sea salt and black pepper, pour it into a small microwavable bowl and cook it for 2 minutes. Don’t forget to spray the bowl first! Not that I would know any other way;)

I sandwiched it between a toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel muffin – the perfect little sandwich in under 5 minutes flat!

Side note: I wouldn’t actually suggest using the cinnamon raisin muffin variety for this sandwich. My heart said yes, but my tastebuds said no.

Lunch today was simple as I was trying to get ready for my conference call and didn’t have much time!

Amy’s low sodium Lentil Vegetable soup

I also had a few tortilla chips with salsa and more grapes on the side.

I’m currently drying some tears – the result of a really emotional thank you/explanation email to one of my principals from last year. You know, sometimes I still miss my teaching job so much it hurts. So thankful to God that I know it was the right decision. Time to pull myself together, though, because I’ve got one precious little hour left in which to finish off my list of to do’s!

Don’t forget to enter the chia giveaway. These chias need a loving home!

Oh, and if you missed my PiYo guest post at the lovely A Side of Sneakers yesterday, go check it out!

home sweet home

Good Morning!

Despite missing my peeps from HLS, I am happy to be back home with my favorite person.

and my baby of course:)

After Jon and I drove the two hours home from Wichita, we hopped into bed and slept for about 2 hours. I’ve gotten a total of about 8 hours of sleep the last two nights combined, so I needed it! I wanted to keep sleeping, actually, but had some homework to do!

My homework for my photography class is due on Sunday nights and I didn’t have time to complete it before I left for HLS, so it had to be done!

Jon and I had a great time wandering all over our little city looking for good shots…it was so sweet just to spend some time together. I missed that boy! Plus, the temps had cooled down to the mid eighties yesterday (hallelujah!), so it was a beautiful evening.

I gotta run to the city again today for my last (knock on wood) orthodontist appointment. I hope I never have to see the inside of that place again!

I thought I’d leave you with some of my homework shots from yesterday. Practice, practice, practice!!

yoga on Library Lawn – taken by Jon

This building is where most of upper level English classes were in college

Student Union

This last one is obviously way overexposed, but I had to post it because of the story. We were looking for a good shot and we saw this biker coming up the sidewalk and Jon said “see if you can get a cool shot of the biker!” So, I shoot it, totally neglecting to adjust my exposure, and then instantly realize that she is a friend of ours. Random, right? I think this picture kind of looks like it was taken with my Mini Diana.

Hope you all have a great Monday. I’ll be back later on for another HLS recap!

day in the life of olive pt 2 + summery salad recipe

Hi!

Yesterday when Jon got off work he announced that he was taking me out to eat to celebrate teaching my first PiYo class. I love that man!

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pics because I left my camera in the car, but let’s just say I thoroughly enjoyed tortilla chips…and lots of ‘em!

After dinner, we decided to go pick up Olive at the house and take her out to finish my “Day in the Life of Olive” project. It turned out to be quite the trip.

First, we stopped on the side of the road for a little photo shoot of Olive with her (and my) favorite guy in the world

Next, we headed to her favorite hang out spot in town…

Petco. Olive loves Petco!

Primarily because she gets to shop for treats. She’s a foodie just like her mama;)

One of the funniest/most awkward moments of the night was when Jon decided to snag this little mini grocery cart from one of the aisles. The plan was to put Olive in it to have her picture made (we’re looking like real winners now, right?). At this point, I have to admit I was getting a little self conscious. I mean, who goes to Petco on a Friday night and takes pictures of their pup in a child’s grocery cart?

My husband knows no bounds when it comes to Olive though, as evidenced in his reply to my comment

“Honey, this is embarrassing! What’s even cool about this picture?!”

His response, “What’s not cool about this picture?! Olive’s in a grocery cart!!”

Just as those words left his mouth, this cute little girl rounds the corner of the aisle.

Little girl: “where did you get that grocery cart?” (who is she? the mini grocery cart police?)

Us: “we found it in the aisle.”

Little girl: “well, it’s mine!”

Ohh kay, then! Sooorrry! We sheepishly lift Olive out of it and shove gently wheel it back to the little brat girl, just as her mom walks up behind her.

So, now we’re officially the bullies of Petco that go around stealing grocery carts from little girls.

We decided to go hide in the bird section.

even he looks as if he knows we just did something wrong

Actually, better stick to something smaller and less like it could claw our eyes out

hello there!

And that concluded our little outing. We decided to head out before we got kicked out, Olive complaining the entire way to the car that “it’s not faiw to have such embawasing pawents.”

That was the end of our exciting night because we had to get in bed early to prepare for our long run this morning! I’ll talk more about our training in my next post…but for now, I’ll leave you with this awesome lentil recipe I made yesterday afternoon!

Brown Rice and Lentil Salad

Ingredients
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1/2 cup dry lentils
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth (or whatever broth you perfer)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used the jarred kind)
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp red wine vinegar (can use lemon juice or plain vinegar)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
black pepper
3 green onions, trimmed and chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions
1. Combine rice and lentils along with stock or cooking liquid in medium saucepan and cook until all water is absorbed, about 40 minutes.
2. Remove cooked rice and lentils from heat. Place into a medium sized bowl and fluff with a fork.
3. Prepare dressing by combining olive oil, garlic, lime juice, red wine vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a bowl. Wisk well.
4. Add chopped green onion, tomatoes and parsley to cooled rice and lentils.
5. Add dressing. Toss to combine. Serve chilled.

recipe from The Eat Clean Diet

I made this for lunch on Friday, and we had it as a meal. I think it really works better as a side salad, though. It’s very summery and tangy!!

I gotta jet – Jon and I are headed to my mom’s house to spend the night. We’ll be celebrating my birthday (hopefully with my grandparents as well) tonight, and then tomorrow Jon and have super fun and exciting plans!! My birthday isn’t actually until Tuesday, but we’re celebrating early. I’ll tell you more about it later

Hope you all have a fantastic and relaxing weekend! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway for the Operation Beautiful book! I’ve gotten some super inspiring entries already. I think it can be beneficial to all of us in some way, or it can serve as a sweet gift to someone you care about. I’m sending one to each of two of my cousins.

a day in the life of olive

**Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for your very own Operation Beautiful book!

Good morning lovelies!

I did it, I did it, I did it! I taught my very first PiYo class. I have been so nervous about this all week. It was a great exercise in not letting fear rule me, but instead facing it head on and conquering it!

My class was supposed to start at 9:15am, so I arrived early, dimmed the lights, got the music going and waited. And waited. 9:15am came and went. 9:20 came and went. Just as I was about to give up hope, an angel (aka Betty:) walked through the door! I was so happy! It would have been a huge let down if no one had showed up. A few minutes later another person showed…so my class ended up consisting of only two people. Hey, I’ll take it. Thank the Lord for Betty;)

Despite my nervousness I think everything went really well!

Before class this morning, I was so nervous that my appetite was virtually non existent. I knew I needed some fuel though, so I managed to get a larabar down.

And then after PiYo, I had a hankering for some cereal.

Shredded wheat n bran, Kashi U + almond milk

Amidst the chaos of today, I’ve been working on my homework assignment for my photography class. For the creative part of the assignment I decided to focus on my favorite little furbaby by doing “A Day in the Life of Olive” project. So, if you’re interested in the least bit in what little miss does from the time her parents’ alarms go off to the time her furry head hits the pillow at night – or if you just get all giddy inside when you see cute pictures of pups, then here’s a little treat.

This is just the first part of the project

Olive wakes up from a restful night of sleep

A bit annoyed because she isn’t ready to get out of bed

Time to go outside to potty! Ohhh, something smells good – is that breakfast??

time to eat!

looks like someone forgot to shower

In the top five of favorite daily leisure activities. Staring out the front window.

And back outside for more potty time…and a little fresh air:)

to be continued later…

I gotta run now – I’m getting my hairs cut this afternoon!

I’ll be back a little later to show you what tasty creation I made with these

going “home”

I’m baaaaaccckkkk!

How was everyone’s weekend? I hope you got to spend some time with family and friends or at least get a little extra rest in over the long weekend.

I had a great weekend hanging out with my family. My grandparents have a cabin at the lake, and we’ve been going down there for vacation since I was born, but Jon and I haven’t been in several years. It was a bit like going home after a really long time away. So sweet.

Here’s a quick picture recap of the weekend

My step-dad’s birthday was Saturday, so I attempted to make cookies and have them ready when he and my mom arrived. Unfortunately, the baking soda we packed had less than half as much as we needed, the oven at our cabin is on the splits, and this cookie sheet…well, you can see it for yourself. FAIL

My great-grandparents built this cabin in 1960 (give or take a couple years:). Even though it’s old and a bit small, it holds so many special memories and we love it.

Olive isn’t quite sure how she feels about the lake yet

my sister, my mom and me

my sis and I

skiing under the beautiful blue sky

Olive and her cousin, Bentley

fireworks over the lake

our little cabin:)

work hard, play hard, right?

she knows how to tell us when it’s time to head home

Happy 4th of July from our family to yours!

Today has been a little slow…and it has actually been quite nice! For some reason, despite my laid-back weekend, I am exhausted! Plus, it has been storming off and on all day; Olive and I have been a bit lazy. My afternoon appt. with Mohammad even got cancelled. He called to say it wasn’t a good time for him because of the rain. lol. So endearing to me because the Thais used to do stuff like that all the time. love it:)

I did manage to make it to Piyo this morning, and got quite a workout! The more I practice piyo, the more I love it.

For breakfast I threw together a yogurt bowl

whole soy peach yogurt, 1/3 cup raw oats, frozen cherries and chia seeds!

And just a few hours later I was ready for lunch

Amy’s split pea soup with black pepper and sea salt

Ezekiel toast with Sabra roasted garlic hummus and a sprinkle of chia seeds

Don’t forget about the giveaway coming up in celebration of my 100th post! Details are soon to come…

What did you do over the weekend?

it’s the little things

Wow, today was a hot one! I about passed out on my run this morning…literally! All’s well that ends well, though, and I pulled through. It didn’t help that I waited until about 9 am to get out there. Tomorrow’s goal: get my bootay outta bed early!

Here’s the stats:

distance - 3 miles
time – 29:54 yay!
fastest pace – 7 minute mile – I sprinted it in, hoping to finish in under 30 minutes
average pace – 9:58

Guys, I seriously wanted to quit on this run at about 2.4 miles. My legs were so tired, and I’m fairly certain I was dehydrated (it was blazing hot and so humid). I just kept thinking “pain is temporary, pride is forever.” As silly as that sounds considering this was just a random 3 mile run, it’s the little things you do that add up to big things. Next time three miles won’t be quite as daunting!

By the time I recovered from the run, I had about 20 minutes ’till I had to be at my hair appointment eek! I scurried around, guzzling my green monster on my way out the door and made it there about 7 minutes late. Check out the new ‘do

Riiiight. So, you’re thinking it looks the exact same. It’s shorter…you’ll just have to take my word for it;)

After chatting with my mom for a bit, it was time for lunch!

It’s tempeh time!

I heated slices of tempeh in a skillet for just a couple of minutes, toasting a slice of ezekiel bread and whipping up a quick batch of guacamole in the meantime. I laid a thick layer of guac on my toast, topped by a layer of spinach leaves, with tempeh to finish it all off! Simple!

If you’ve never tried tempeh, you should really give it a go. It’s a great protein source for all of my fellow non-meat eaters. It’s made out of soybeans and often has seasonings and grains, such as barley added to it. Even though it’s made from soy as well, tempeh tastes almost nothing like tofu. And unlike tofu, it has a very textured consistency and nutty flavor. You can add it to stir fries, soups, sauces or eat it on a sandwich or wrap. There really are a plethora of possibilites! It can be found in the refrigerated section of most health food stores and maybe even your local grocery store.

These cherries were on their last leg, unfortunately. I even had a to pick through them and end up throwing away several:( The one thing I hate more than throwing away precious cherries is eating soft ones! The good ones were still tasty though.

A little lunch time hangin’ out. Like mother like daughter with the crazy hair!

I spent the afternoon working on these mysterious projects I keep referring to (I promise I’ll be spilling the beans soon)! I’ve been thinking through a lot of things about my life lately. I’m currently reading a book about how we should focus on our strenghts in everything we do.

What makes you strong?

Try to think of a strength as different than what you’re used to. Instead of being something that you’re good at, a strength is something that makes you feel strong when you do it. What makes you feel alive? Those are your strengths.

Have you ever felt like somebody wanted you to do something because they thought you were good at it, but it wasn’t something you enjoyed? It was something that made you feel weak or drained afterwards? That is not a strength because it doesn’t make you feel stronger.

We should all play to and focus on our strengths as much as possible. Life is too short to focus on the things that make us feel weak. Of course we have certain responsibilities that are non-negotiables. I don’t think anyone would say that cleaning the toilet makes them feel strong and alive. I’d love to hear about it if that’s you:)

But in every situation possible, we should do everything we can to incorporate those things that make us feel strong.

What are you thoughts about this idea? Do you think it’s a bunch of hullaballoo (yes, that’s a word;)? Or do you think there’s something to it?

Also, have you ever tried tempeh and did you like it? What is your favorite protein source aside from meat?

I’m off to go read and then head to bed soon. I hope you’ve all head a great Monday!

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