When I say "good," I don't just mean yummy. Yummy is very important, but "good" to me means yummy, healthy, and good for the environment. I love this video from Chipotle. It's a great introduction to start thinking about where our food comes from and what is put into it before we put it in our mouths.
I like change. I always have. After about three years of doing the same thing, I start feeling it. Then during the fourth year I start preparing or panicing or looking for ways to change it. Last year was my fourth year at my school-it was an awesome year, but by the end, I was glad the year was done and was planning out opportunities in my head. Up until Saturday, I was thinking that my big four year change wasn't going to happen this time. I would have to make some kind of change happen at home or in my routine. I was settling into that.
Little did I know that on Saturday I would be getting a call from my principal. I saw that he called and thought: #1 I have to give up my classroom or #2 something really important has come up. Turns out, both were right. I was offered a new position that is going to be an awesome challenge. A Big, big change!!! I had been curious, ooking for new possibilities, but it's very strange how this all came together. This new gig, is going to be a good fit to what I want to do. I do know it is going to be very hard work and it is going to test me in new ways. I am so thankful for the opportunity and excited to see how this adventure unfolds. And after a day and a half on the new job, I still have A LOT to learn and A LOT to do!!
I suppose though, once you "get it," the challenge is really over. I know these "Big changes" won't happen all the time- if they do, I'll be exhasted! So as long as we are still striving to learn more and be more, the changes can be little but the ideas can go far. As for now, this "big change" is going to keep this wondering mind quite busy:)
Big yummy sigh.....ahhhhh. That is how today has felt. It was my first real day off. No out of town trips or celebrations, just me at home with a little agenda- yoga and a haircut. Thursday was the last day of summer school and Sunday was my last day as a land guide. What a summer- In a little more than a week I will be back in my classroom getting ready for the year waiting for the next big exhale. For now though, I'm sneeking in a little down time and a little catch up time as well.
It's funny on "the last days," not much can bring you down. I easily go with the flow and everything just seems to be brighter. Whether it be the last day at a job, the last day of school, or the last day of vacation.....it's then we finally soak it all in. We accept the bad and we take the good, taking it all for what it is. Thursday, the kids seemed sweeter and on Sunday the customers seemed thankful....but they were like that the whole time. I was just wrapped in who knows what, to appreciate it.
I guess that's why they say to "live every day like it's your last." Get that hug and kiss in, smell the roses, and just linger. What I've learned from this.....If it's the first day or the last day, or a day in between, take a second to appreciate what it is.
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. This summer our garden has given us tomatoes- lots and lots of tomatoes. Daily, the hubster was bringing in four to five tomatoes from our crop. We could not eat them as fast as they were coming. Something had to be done.
Lucky for me, we have awesome neighbors that had brought us two types of toppings for our brown rice pasta that she had just canned. I had watched a couple canning videos on youtube but she answered a few questions that were still lingering. I bought my jars and was ready. This was my first time canning and I did not use any of the special canning tools. Really, I am crossing my fingers that they came out okay. I will be making a purchase for them the next time. I can see why they would be worth it.
Salsa was the answer for our tomatoes. We had jalepeno and bell peppers growing that I utilized as well. My cilantro took a turn about a week ago from the intense heat, so I bought from the store.
From peeling the tomatoes, to chopping onions and peppers(I love my food processor), to simmering, to all the mess with the jars....I did it.
This was a long process. If they turn out right, I think it's worth all the trouble. My food sayings for the last year have been, eat/buy local, eat with the seasons, and eat real food. Canning would be the perfect addition. I am envisioning my entire backyard becoming one giant garden that I will can throughout the year. I am feeling inspired. If I can't get the whole yard, I am going to at least double what I have now. As you can see from the pictures, the garden is overflowing.
Juice! Wonderful juice! Juicing has become a part of our morning ritual. I'm even looking up juice bars close to our hotel this weekend. I'm addicted to juice! It all started because of my new clean life I'm after now that I'm 30. I was reading "Crazy, Sexy, Diet," & feel in love with Kris Carr. She is inspiring and has made me want to make some serious adjustments to my health- this is the only body I have and I want to fill it with beneficial, nutritious stuff so it works as it was intended. So, for one big change, I bought myself a juicer, some serious veggies and fruit and have been juicing away. Yum yum yummy!!!
Luckily for me, my husband is always supportive of my new adventures and jumps on board drinking it up every morning. I'm trying out different combinations and have even made some muffins out of the pulp. The muffins need some serious tweaking, but we'll get there. For now, the pulp is making my compost happy. As of today, four weeks in, my top five juicing ingredients are: 1. Blueberries, 2. Cucumbers, 3. Chard, 4. Apples, 5. Celery. Imagine getting all that good stuff in for breakfast!!
Juice rocks and has made my mornings even brighter! After watching a documentay, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead," where two men go juice fasts that changed their health and lives forever, it made this jucing thing seem so smart and I didn't feel so crazy anymore. I proudly juice. In the film, the main guy tries to convince people to try a 10 day juice fast- he says you have to go at least seven days to feel all the benefits. This may be my next step. The hubster will probably put up a fight on this, but we'll see if my sales talk will work. All I need is seven days off in a row so I can make juice all day long......seven days in a row........
I have a problem. Not only do I want to do everything, I try to do everything. These days I'm working 7 days a week, trying my new thirty look on life, and still trying to have a clean house and wear clean clothes!
Now, this was my own doing and I do like what I'm doing, so I'm not complaining. I like the summer school, except for about an hour of it each day. I like being outside for my land guide gig and I like this new time consuming health kick I'm on. I just want to be cautious, as I have now signed up for something else to do that requires me to look very smart.
Luckily, I am a strong believer in taking care of yourself - because of that, I am including lots of yoga in my schedule and I am now trying to meditate everyday. Once is with my yoga practice and the other is in the evening, usually before bed. I need a clear head with all this stuff going on- if not, it would all be jumbled together and I would never get anything done. Now, I'm not up to thirty minutes or anything, but little by little, I am adding some time. I'm not meaning to cheat, but it takes time getting used to sitting in silence. I have read some great techniques that help me concentrate and forget about the time. One has to do with all the people that are close to me now, in the past, or are just in our lives for reasons unknown to us now. I want to do all these things, I am trying to be a better person, I want to experience new things- When all thatcomes in my head, to the meditation station we go....
Well after spending a week in my thirties, I must say, thirty is great! I probably had one of the best birthdays ever thanks to my hub knowing me so well. Nice quiet celebration with the family at mis padres; camping for the weekend with my sisters, a couple friends, and our dogs; & a delicious dinner out, just the two of us to ring it in! Not to mention his gifts were amazing and showed how much he pays attention to me:) They are so good, each one deserves a blog entry of its own. The celebrations were a wonderful way to start off this new year in the direction to help me be all the things I want to be.
Speaking of.....before entering into the thirty world I started reading a few blogs and books about one of my very favorite subjects.....FOOD... and the super powers it has against diseases, and the out of the ordinary but extraordinary way of getting all those vitamins and minerals! So I am celebrating thirty by celebrating my body! So look forward to dozens more entries on how I am trying to be the healthiest I can be. After all, the thirties are are going to be huge for this little husband, wife, and puppy dog family. I want to enjoy life with every inch of me so I can celebrate many more birthdays that have a zero in it, maybe even two:)
Today is the last day I can say I'm in my twenties. Ten years have gone by in a flash and luckily they were full of many once in a lifetime experiences that I will cherish forever. I graduated college, got my first job, ran a marathon, met and married my husband, watched friends and family get hitched, adopted my first puppy dog, completed graduate school, became an aunt, started hobbies that I love, became a vegetarian and made many new friends.
How busy has this ten years been? I would love to sit and have a conversation with that 20 year old me. If she could see where we are now, she would be proud that she could still recognize herself even with that ten years of new found wisdom. Those roots that were being grounded have began to grow and I am trying to be a person that I would have wanted to be at 20 or even 10.
I can't wait to see what the next ten years will have in store for me. Tonight I will go to sleep 29 and tomorrow I'll wake up 30!
This non schedule life is driving me crazy!! I'm a teacher- I'm used to knowing what is going on from 8:00 to 8:15 and every other minute of the day. In my "normal" life I even know what time I'm going to use the bathroom! I have designated days devoted to cleaning, laundry, and going to the grocery. The summer job thing is all crazy and it's making me feel crazy! I know it's all summer vacation time, but is it really that difficult to give me specific dates and times and locations of where I'm supposed to be?
I was all worried about not having enough to do and now I am jam packed. It took forever to get real information from people which made me feel like I was type A, OCD, loone (kinda like my husband, haha). Once they gave me dates & actual details, everything was overlapping and making me stressssed!! But I've got it figured out now and I will be busy until the day school gets back in. Seriously! There goes my "helpful down time." My calendar is getting filled up and my schedule is back to the way I like it, good crazy busy. Yay for due dates and lunch hours!!
With summer vacation apon us, although I am working, I do have some down time on random days- Such as today, Thursday. With my jam packed schedule of laundry, a little yoga, and a possible trip to the dmv, I have plenty of time to help someone out. That lucky person today is my hubs. For him today, I will ease his weekend masterpiece that he works on so perfectly........ I have cut the grass. And as you can see by the picture, I didn't do too bad either- there are pretty lines and everything! Hopefully he will spend the time I've saved him on something he enjoys doing and not doing work!!
So on this down time this summer (which probably isn't going to last much longer when all this part time stuff kicks in) instead of watching television or wandering around stores, I will try to find a way to help someone out. Yesterday was the pup, today the hubs, tomorrow....we'll see!
Most people would think that when June comes around, all teachers think, "Yay! No summer work!" For me though, if I didn't work, I would drive myself and everyone I know crazy following them around trying to entertain myself.
In my beginning years I waited tables and tutored then I moved on to summer school and nannying and then last year I worked in an office. Office life was hard for me and by the end of the summer I had enough cubicle life to last me a life time. So this year I decided to find something fun to do. Last weekend I had training for a fun outside job with zip lines and canopy tours- I've found a job to hang in nature with people who love it like I do. Awesome!!
I love morning! It's quiet and peaceful and there are so many possibilities for the day. I have had the perfect mornings this weekend. First of all, it was beautiful out and so that puts me in a good mood automatically. Yesterday morning, all before 10:30, I took the pup for walk , went to yoga, and picked up my gocery box from the local farms. Great, great, and great! Today was a run, a walk with the pup again, and a yummy breakfast! And now I even have time to relax a bit before the rest of the day begins.
I need to start finding this appreciation of the beauty if morning even on work days. Starting my day off this way not only gets me prepared for the day, but those few hours brings a calming to my day which will hopefully follow through the next 12 hours as well.
I'm pretty sure this title won't end up on anybody's google search.
I am a school teacher- I live & love the alphabet- write it, read it, sing it. But that letter "s." Oh how it gives me trouble when I'm on crafts. (my sister says crafts are like my drug- which I will be making a shirt that says exactly that- I'm on crafts, haha!)
Lately, thanks to some friends of friends and co-workers, Hermanas has been busy with orders. Yay! Lots of sewn letters I've been a-making and they keep getting better. Until..."s" shows up. I spend triple time trying to figure it out. I am going for a whimsical look, but it just does not work out. So after the first yuck, I tried another approach. Just me, the fabric and the machine. A few turns here and there and we got it. The 2nd picture shows what I ended up with, much better than the first. So I guess I found somewhat of a solution until I get an order for a Jessica or Melissa. With that new approach I have embraced the "s."
My man deserves props. He works hard (sometimes too hard), plays hard (sometimes too hard, haha) and most of all gives me support like no one else. He will see something I've made and take time to tell me how much he likes it or he'll tell me that he is proud of me. He supports all 25 of my new hobbies and even encourages them too. He goes with my new vegetable of the week, and gives me my six second hug and lets the hug last longer too.
There is nothing like a compliment. It can turn your day around, and lucky for me, he loves to give them out! So cheers to my awesome hubby who makes me feel awesome too! I can feel the love in the small moments we share and I hope this makes him feel some of that today!
Re-new. Make new. Take something, or yourself, through a transformation where what you end with still has the structure of the original, but looks unrecognizable. Here is my try at renewing some worn out furniture. As we worked in the backyard this weekend we took a long look at these chairs. What do we do with them? They were looking like trash but we didn't want them to be trash. Something had to be done.
So, wa-la! After sanding, staining, tightening, and polying, oh and sewing new pillows....here the chairs are renewed and refreshed. They are now ready for cook outs and hang outs all summer long!
Holy moly! Check out these vegetables! Looks like I know what we're having for dinner this week! A local business is now the local pick up for local farm goods. You put our order in on Thursday and it's there waiting for you Saturday morning. There is not a year long commitment and you can buy just week to week- it is awesome! This lettuce is bigger than my head and puts the lettuce we grew in the backyard to shame!! I am in love with this beautiful produce and so excited about how easy they have made it for us. Everyone wins! Yay farms, yay vegetables! I'm not sure I've ever been this excited about salads!
Check out the garden and the new scarecrow I added. Haha, We'll see if it scares the birds away from my basil. Now we wait for the veggies to arrive. With all the rain we've had, the plants are happy, now all they need is some sun.
Well, I really did not find treasure per se, but I did find one heck of a deal. The past two weekends someone in our neighborhood has had a yard sale. As we walk our dog, we walk on by to see if there is anything worth stopping. Which I now have come up with a strategy when it comes to a yard sale. First take a quick glimpse. Step two- walk through once, seeing what catches your eye. Then the final step- take another walk through, slowly. Slowly is important because you see things you didn't see the first time. My second time around last weekend landed us a Nikon camera. During the slow round I also found this cute little basket to hold my paints, Hubs found a skiiing bib and a side table for our patio. We also scored a nice back-packing back pack. Cheers for the deals and for neighbors who have cool stuff to get rid of!
So we are pretty green here at our house. We only use cloth napkins and we use rags instead of paper towels, etc, etc. I would say that we try really hard and make a sincere effort in keeping our planet as awesome as it is. I want my great grandkids, great grandkids, great grandkids, to have every bit of natural beauty that we have today.
With this green conscience, I have noticed that while at home we do great, but at work we tend to slip quite often. Little by little we get better as we figure out new ways of doing things. I finally got my husband to start taking his lunch daily and even bought him a semi-manly lunch box. But now, due to some free time today, we have a case for the silverware, a napkin, and a resuable sandwich bag! The sandwich bag needs some tweeking, probably use oilcloth, but other than that, I'm pretty pleased with the green lunch I made today! Another high five to the sewing machine! -which I'm going to have to name her after all this recognition I'm giving her!
A welcoming cozy kind of house is where I want to live. I like for my house to say, "Come on in, mi casa es su casa, stay awhile." I also want it to reflect little pieces of who we are as a family and what is important to us. That's a lot for a house! And a lot to think about when selecting pieces. As we also know I tend to get bored easy and need to change things up like moving furniture or getting a new lamp. Recently I have vowed to do-it-yourself and buy used, so changes do not come easy, but they do come cheap:) Anyway, our bedroom needed some color to add some excitement. So here it is......fresh pillows made by me. This great feeling of satisfaction surely beats the uneasy guilt I get when spending $50 on pillows! Yay for funky fabric and the sewing machine!
Everybody needs a mom and if you are lucky enough, you will get a good one. It's too bad I didn't acknowledge this until I was basically out of my teens! With all the craziness I put my mom through during those years, I probably won't ever be able to make it up to her, but I sure am trying.Lucky enough we don't talk too much about my rebelliuos days and my mom still loves me.
A good mom can be described as so many things, having so many magic powers, and such giant hearts. My mom and my mother in law are always surprising me. I love that I can and I do look to learn from them. And they, although they may just be incredibly good liars, show absolute interest in whatever is going on in my life and they try to help in both small and big ways.
I love the feeling of appreciation I have for them. No Brunch, dinner, or gift basket can say it all, but hopefully, little by little they will know.
Girls on the Run is so much fun (what we say at the end of each practice). And pretty awesome too I might add. After 12 weeks, today was the big race, the 5k that finishes off the season. Each race day I stress a little- do they all have a ride, will they show up, will they be on time, will they eat breakfast, etc, etc etc. Both seasons this year I had at least one girl show up at exactly the start time of the race and both times someone in our group needed medical attention! No worries, both were fine, and I found a very quick way to get my heart rate up.
Today was great- I had my own little buddy and as we ran, she as all smiles. Towards the finish we grabbed hands as we crossed the finish line- which was enough to melt my heart. The program teaches confidence and being proud of who they are. Today I was able to see it on their faces, and that felt good. Confidence a girl has can make the difference in making a smart decision over a bad one. Hopefully, they will continue to build onto the confidence that we sparked today.
Being a school teacher can be pretty darn frustrating. I love the kids no matter how many different ways I have to teach the same thing. I am not about test scores, I am about making them proud of who they are and how they can make this world a better place. I don't see data and numbers when I look at their faces, I see smiles and their need to be loved. I figure, if I can make them smile once a day, with whatever is going on in their lives, then maybe by the end of the year, all those smiles added up, they had a great day!
As I said before, I am not a big "sleeper." I don't take naps and I enjoy waking up before everyone else does. But sometimes it gets a little ridiculous and I'm up at 4:00 in the morning on a Saturday cleaning the house. This happened this Saturday. By 9:00 I had cleaned the house, except for where hubs was sleeping, done laundry, walked the dog, went to home depot, the farmer's market and Target! That is a whole day worth of activities for most!! Honestly I think it's my constant going, doing and thinking about going and doing that brings this on, but it is torture just laying in the bed forcing myself to be tired. I can't go back to sleep!
With this problem I end up becoming extremely curious and envious when I see other people sleeping. My mom for example, although she'll get up at odd hours as well, can sleep anywhere- she has even fallen asleep in the dentist chair! On a plane, both parents are out even before take off. I am even amazed when my husband is still sleeping soundly until 8:30 on a weekend!
My most envious sleeper, of course, is my dog. Nobody can sleep like her. If only I could get her to do and go to the places I am always thinking about while I am at work! This is her right now- lights on, television on, hubs and I talking, and if we don't get up for awhile, she will be snoring before long. Oh to sleep like my puppy...
Depending on the day, sometimes I have to admit, I am in quite a hurry to roll over, namaste, and walk on out. This week though, when I am instructed to start wiggling my fingers and toes, and wake my body back up, my mind says, "nooooo!" I do not want to move. I do not want to get up. I want to stay in that sweet savasana. Pure relaxation, rejuvination, and a reward for getting through all those chaturangas! My not wanting to get up has made me think about how tired I must be. It's not until I am instructed into savasana that I really give myself a chance to let go. So I am going to soak it all up, every second, and I may even try and find some even outside of yoga class as well.
Let the fresh air in! If I had it my way, we would not put the heat or air on until the very last unbearable moment. I don't mind wearing my scarf and hat inside the house and as if right now, I am welcoming the sweat. But then one day I'll come home and the house will be warm in the winter o cool in the summer. We are very big on energy saving so we do keep it at a modest temperature, but it is always the husband who turns it on. He has not given in yet with the evenings feeling fantastic the last couple days. With the windows open I can hear the people lingering in the park until the last bit of sunlight and the birds chirpping away. We are getting some stale, old air out and welcoming the fresh, new air of spring. As long as I can get them all closed before the storm comes, I think we can last awhile longer.
Google "cake pop" images and the cutest, most creatively perfect little desserts will come up. Possibly you have tried them lately at Starbucks as well. I warn you though, once you have one, you'll dream of your next one. So this is my first attempt in making them. After seeing those cutesy images, I thought, "I can do that!" I wanted to make them but needed a reason and the Easter family gathering seemed like a good time to try and share. They didn't turn out too pretty (they were supposes to llok like easter eggs,haha), but they were an impressive presentation because they were new and exciting to the fam. We had four left over after sending other extras home and I have now ate one a day since Sunday. So make, eat one, share, and then give away!! Too cute and just too dangerous to keep in the house! Trying to make something delicious was so successful I can't even keep them in the house!
New places, new faces-it was about time for a new adventure. So I took my first visit to the Big Apple with my mom last week! Had a great time being complete tourists- double decker bus, the today show, and eating NY cheesecake and pizza. But the best part were the broadway shows. The costumes, the dances, singing, the set, were just beautiful. I would go to two a day if I could.
After a few days in the city, I was thinking that as a New Yorker, can you ever see everything? Is there enough time to soak it all up. The bakeries, the shops, the shows- how can you fit it all in? So then I was thinking about the hidden gems that are in my own city. Or the places that I pass and always say I want to try. So maybe when I am in need of that new place I can save my money and adventure to a new place in my own town. I do get stuck going and love going to the same spots but a new place for a fun change can be a quick adventure but can also a nice reminder of how good we have it.
I am not ashamed to cry. I cry when I'm mad, when I'm sad, and very often at televsion commercials. Graduations, dance recitals, sports events, you name it, I am fighting back the tears. And I don't even have kids yet!
So crying at movies should not be a big surprise. The big surprise is what movies the tears come and won't stop. This weekend I was working on some craft stuff and decided to put on a movie to have in the background. But the movie pulled me in and I cried the whole way through. And wow did it feel good. Letting the tears go, what a release! Best thing of all was that the movie didn't make me feel all sad and depressed when it was over. Probably because, embarrassing as it is, the movie was Toy Story 3!
Our initial plans for the day were to drive up to Lexington, KY and visit some awesome friends for the weekend. But with a crazy weather forecast of hail and possible flooding, are plans of outdoor fun weekend were over. So we rescheduled for June but we already had the day off for today. What to do, what to do? We decided to take a day trip up to one of my favorite places on earth. Good ole' Boone, NC. Great day for some hiking, a little shopping, and eating good food. Best of all Penny Lane could join us on our day trip.
Here she is doing what she loves best. Freedom, fresh air, and a little splashing on the stream. I think we are all tired enough today that even though we will not be where we had planned to be for the weekend, being inside tomorrow watching the rain and relaxing will be a fine time for all.
With my new tablet, I must admit, life has become a little easier. I did not ask for the tablet but my husband has a way of surprising me with things that help me and end up helping him as well. I am no longer asking the time constantly thanks to last years watch for christmas. And now my calendar, meeting notes, to do lists, and camera are all in one place and are easily transported from one bag to the next without question or wonder of where they disappeared to.
I also admit that I am forgetful and I never bring my camera anywhere- missing wonderful photo opportunities of the beauty of everyday life. So the camera on the tab is now with me pretty much wherever I go. So my challenge to myself is to find that beauty and take a quick picture everyday. Maybe it's a tree or my dog, or my students hard at work. I would like to capture those moments. As I scroll through my photos I will be reminded of all the beauty and blessings that surrounds us daily.
Starting off easy today with the wonderfulness of my apple. Grows on a tree at it's own speed with these bright mix of colors. Yummy to taste with nutrition benefits too! Beautiful apple I see...
Hubs and I used to have Spanish Wednesdays and Sundays where we would only speak Spanish in the house. And after our South American trip in December we said we wanted to keep that practice up. So far we have not done a very good job. But we did start listening to some seriously fun Spanish music when cleaning the house!
This morning I was asked to translate for a parent and I got by fine, only because I am used to talking about school in Spanish. If I stay on the same subjects, no problem. But take me out of the school or average day context, I'm struggling. So maybe I can talk the husband into getting out the paper at dinner andchallenging ourselves to Spanish current event talk. This is going to be tricky and we will need to have a dictionary very close by. Vamos a ver!
Right now I have two cuts on my right knee and a bruise on my left leg. One cut came from me rushing like a fool. Why can't I give myself more time to get ready in the morning! I cut myself shaving as if it was the first time I ever did it. Having just a few extra minutes could have saved my poor knee. The other cut came from running into a table and the bruise, who knows.
This is not unusual either. I am always running into things because of rushing around and not paying attention. And believe it or not at one time in my life I was a dancer- ballerina even! Haha. I must say yoga has helped me being graceful in balance and in posture, but in walking, I need more help. To be graceful and float in and out of rooms is the dream. Maybe I will start practicing by sneaking up on my husband, tippy toes and all.
I could be talking about a presentation at work or for something important but I am talking about Thursday night's dinner presentation. Yes, food again.
When I cook, I like to say I cook with a lot of love. And when cooking with love, love is the most important part so the look of it can be a little off at times. I hear "Smells good" a lot more often then "looks good." For today I am trying a little love with a little of style and going for presentation. Pictured here we have layers of garlic polenta slices and bread crumb/parmesean encrusted eggplant, topped with sauteed onions tomatoes and spinach. So for today, the description sounds pretty fancey and as you can see from the pic, the presentation was not so bad either. But I can't seem to get it all. It was good, but didn't have that "yummy, yummy in my tummy" awesomeness. Hopefully the presentation points saved the meal and next time I will put double the love in to make it just right.
In October, the hubs and I went to visit his brother and sister in law in Lowell, Mass, right outside Boston. The trip was great, seeing them was the highlight, of course, but a close second was eating at Life Alive. http://www.lifealive.com/ Thanks to the sister in law knowing we would love it. It was obviously good because it is now April and I am still talking about it. The week after we got home I printed out their menu to see if I could somehow recreate their amazing vegetarian dishes. The whole menu is vegetarian and amazing. So naturally fresh and good it made us feel naturally fresh and good eating it. If you're ever in Lowell or Cambridge, it is a must. Or if I cook you dinner just ask for an inspired live alive dish and I will do my best.
Here is tonight's life alive inspired dish- israeli couscous (which, by the way, is amazing in itself), kale, onion, spinach, red wine vinegar, salt, cumin, and some lime. The hubster even said, "I love the kale in here." The great sounds of success!
Planning my life around a yoga class schedule can get a little crazy. I may have extra time before so I try to fit other things in or I may be running late and it throws everything off. Both situations make me anxious and frazzled about what to do. This is the main reason why I like to practice bright and early before the work day even begins. The only thing that can get in my way is me forgetting to set the alarm or me just turning it off. Some mornings I just need those few extra moments of sleep. So the morning yoga is out and practicing at home at a convenient time later on in the day is in. As an extra bonus, the hubster joined me a couple times this past week. Being in class and being at home are very different but both are very rewarding. So yay for getting that practice in where ever it is.
Riding my bike is one of my very favorite things to do. With the cold weather, my bike has been locked in the shed and there has been no hair helmet hair for months. Yesterday morning I decided that the hubster and I would ride to get our groceries for the evening. It was a gorgeous day, we needed groceries, and the workout helped too. And a work out it was. Who pays attention to all the hills when driving? Yikes! There was some definite huffing puffing going on a couple times. This deep breathing has clued us in that we may be a little out of shape. Ouch! So tomorrow, if the morning is rain free, I will be on the bike again to work. Leaving a little earlier than the cool day in early October, my last ride to work. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it again in a couple of weeks...
