Tag Archives: recipes

Monday Monday

8 Jan

flowers1Hi my friends- did you have a nice weekend?  I have to say- but I had a great weekend.  Good food, music, friends, and family.  I’m feeling pretty happy these days.  This is my first full week back at work since the holidays and I taught 3 classes today.  I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the work week- but all of my classes were packed!  It always makes me really happy to see so many people interested in yoga.  I know some of it is part of the new years rush, but it still makes me smile.

On Friday night I made a delicious dinner that you must recreate! Super easy and good for a night in with a glass of vino (and watching the Sopranos.  I know- I’m ten years behind.)

Sweet potato bisque

potatosoupThis soup is super easy. I used two cans of organic sweet potato puree and added water to my desired thickness and one veggie bullion cube, garlic, rosemary, and some parsley. I used an immersion blender to mix it all together and simmer over medium heat. You can also add salt and pepper to taste!

 

potato

This is the brand I used- I got it at whole foods.

The second thing I made was gluten free veggie pizza.  Now I have made this before and you can really make it however you want.  When I made the pizzas before I made vegan ones using vegan cheese but I don’t do much soy these days so I stop using that.  You can see that post here. 

 

 

veg pizza

I made the dough according to the directions and I did use egg this time.  Toppings were broccoli, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and homemade pesto (I don’t use they vegan cheese anymore, just parmesan).  It was pretty  tasty and PBJ was impressed.  I think the cauliflower pizza crust is next on my list. 

For the record- this is PBJ:

pbj

Anyways Smile

 

Here’s a playlist for you:

Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground
OneRepublic – Feel Again
STRFKR – Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second
V V Brown – Shark In The Water
Calvin Harris Feat. Kelis – Bounce – Radio Edit
Nicki Minaj – Moment 4 Life
Clive Tanaka y su orquesta – Neu Chicago :: Side A :: For Dance
The Psychedelic Furs – Heaven
Mr Little Jeans – Rescue Song
Alexander – Let’s Win!
Portugal The Man – People Say
Hudson – Against The Grain
Grimes – Colour of Moonlight (Antiochus) [feat. Doldrums]
Milo Greene – 1957
Charlie Mars – Listen to the Darkside
The xx – Crystalised
The Lumineers – Stubborn Love
Zee Avi – Swell Window
Sting – Always On Your Side
Joshua Radin – Anywhere Your Love Goes
Chris Bathgate – Salt Year

You can click here to listen on spotify. 

I hope you had a great Monday!! See you later this week with a spotlight interview!

marms1

 

As I grow to understand life less and less,
I learn to love it more and more.
~Jules Renard

 

 

xoxo- C

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Week recap and playlist

10 Nov nov9

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Hi my blog readers!  Did you have a good week?? I’m definitely looking forward to the weekend.  It’s been kind of a crazy week.  I took Presley to the vet this week and he is cancer free!!! Yay!  I guess he has some sort of sore on his tongue that could’ve been a tumor but the meds seem to be working and it’s going away.  I am more than relieved.  I hope he lives a long kitty life!

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Did you vote??  I did.  I cannot stress how important it is that we all vote. It’s huge that we have the right to choose what we want in our society and that we can stand up for what we believe in.  I waiting in a long line in the cold to get my vote on.  I felt cool when I got my sticker hehehehe.

Here are some eats:

chaiI have been enjoying chai tea lately with coconut milk.  I look coffee (the taste and the morning pick me up) but I don’t love its acidic properties.  So I’ve been switching things up.  It’s soooo good.

The salad below I’ve made before- chick peas, black beans (both drained and rinsed), cucumbers, 1 hardboiled egg, onion, olives, salt/pepper to taste, and some Greek salad dressing.  Quick and tasty.

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The next is just some basics I picked up from Trader Joe’s.  Love that place.  I could go in there everyday and pick something different.  They’ve started putting out a lot of their holiday goodies- I had to go to the other side of the store before I walked out with a lot of chocolate.

groceries

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Here’s my latest yoga mix on spotify:

Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire
Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out
KC And The Sunshine Band – Boogie Shoes
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Ain’t No Easy Way
Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
Grimes – Be a Body
Crystal Fighters – At Home
Imagine Dragons – Demons
Fleet Foxes – Lorelai
Portugal. The Man – You Carried Us [Share With Me The Sun]
Ben Kweller – Falling
Michael Kiwanuka – I’ll Get Along
Regina Spektor – Eet
Ani Difranco – Both Hands
The Smashing Pumpkins – Disarm
Kishi Bashi – Manchester
Beach House – Wild
Jose Gonzalez – Down The Line
Soulive – Joyful Girl
Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds Of Silence
Jack Johnson – Imagine

Click here to give all the tunes a listen and feel free to connect with me on spotify.

So after you give that a listen, here’s my brief tutorial on how to make your own yoga mix!

It’s not a secret that I love music.  I grew up listening to all kinds of music and I guess I have to give my parents a lot of the credit.  I just saw Peter Gabriel with them a few weeks ago.  Music is something that will always inspire me (I sang in music groups in school and in college).  Now that we are so lucky to have technology at our finger tips all the time- I use shazam anytime I hear a song that I think I may like.  I use spotify to create my own playlists so they can stream from my iphone.  Also on spotify- once you’ve started a list you can start your own radio station that is based on the songs in your playlist.  I listen to that so that I can find songs that I know I will like but maybe have never heard before.  I used to hear songs on the radio and write down the group and the title as soon as I would hear it and keep this massive list, crossing off songs as I go along.

To make my yoga play list I think about how I sequence my class- with that being said I almost  never write out pose by pose.  Actually- I never do that.  But that’s for another blog post.  So I basically envision my class- beginning/centering, vinyasa flow/standing poses, inversions, cooling down sequence.  Clearly I don’t want to play fast paced music that’s going to bring the energy up when we are moving towards savasana.  I typically don’t play music within the first 5-10 minutes which involves centering, breath work, and sometimes ab work.  I start with a slower paced song or two, build to up beat for about 40-50 minutes, and then move to slower paced and to really slow songs.  But more than anything- I pick songs that speak to me.  I play the songs that I love and they’re songs that I’d want to hear when I am practicing.

What songs speak to you? What artists, musicians, or bands do you love?

Here’s one that I love.

I hope you all had a great week and have a nice weekend ahead of you.

xoxo- C

best

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It’s November

5 Nov flowers

sishalHi my loves- it’s been a while but I am hoping to keep posting soon!  Things have been busy- lots of teaching, yoga training, and spending time with family and friends.  My weekend was pretty low key (I am trying to keep the beginnings of a cold away).  I taught in the teacher training, went to see Cloud Atlas ( I liked it but a bit too long), and took a nap or two.  What about you?

 

 

muffinsI am totally in love with the fall weather but it is getting cold fast and I am so not ready for winter.  While we endured hurricane Sandy last week I did a bit of baking.  I posted these gluten-free muffins on facebook and many of you were curious about how to make them.  I actually found the recipe on pinterest.  I try to be gluten free but I have really been off the wagon so here’s the getting back on!  You can find the recipe here but I added fresh blueberries and I used agave instead of molasses/honey because that’s what I had.  You can also use earth balance instead of actual butter.  Also just remember that all ovens are different so temperature and length of bake time might need to be adjusted.

There’s been some green going on as well.

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Green juice- in the mix was romaine lettuce, kale, pear, lemon, apple ginger.  So good.

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This is the usual- vega protein powder in vanilla, coconut milk, banana, and nut butter.  Amazing.

presleyAnd probably one of the more exciting things- the fur children.  Presley is my first pet.  I never had a cat or dog growing up and as you all know- I love him to death (even though he sometimes pounces at my head and bites me).  M and I had gerbils and my dad had snakes but you can’t really cuddle with any of those things.

 

 

marmsM and I would always see little orange cats and call them marmalade so when I happened to see one up for adoption- I just couldn’t resist his little face.  I adopted him from Charm City Animal Rescue and he was actually free.  If you LIKE their facebook page- every day they post pics of the animals being fostered.

 

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So I named him Marmalade and well, he’s a kitten alright.  Jumps up onto the stove and into the trashcans!  But look how adorable!? So precious.  Both the brothers have been getting along pretty well (they are both sleeping as I type this. One on my bed and the other on the unfolded pile of laundry).  Unfortunately Presley is going though a cancer scare right  now and I am trying to stay positive so send him lots of positive kitty thoughts!!

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Anyways- I hope you are all safe from hurricane Sandy, had a great Halloween, and congrats to the newest group of 200 hour Charm City Yoga Teacher Trainee’s!!!

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Recharge

13 Jun mt vernon

picstitch (30)Hi my friends- how are you??? Things have been pretty crazy busy over here.  Teaching the yoga and taking the yoga- and my night kind of looks like this plus a kitten trying to eat and drink everything within reach.

I’ve been teaching a lot of yoga and doing a lot of yoga so when that happens- I really try hard to be prepared with food, drinks, and snacks when I’m on the go.

 

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I’ve been making green smoothies a lot and if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you will see these pictures.  In this smoothie is:

1 cup of coconut milk

1 frozen banana

2 handfuls or organic spinach

1 spoonful of almond butter (I’ve been using Barney Butter)

1tbs of chia seeds

1 pinch of xanthan gum for thickness

I swear- it tastes like a milkshake.  Peel your bananas and put them in the freezer and make it tomorrow!

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People ask me a lot about healthy eating but honestly  I am just like everyone else.  I love food: I like pizza, wine, cheese, and everything else that is not so healthy.  But the key is balance.  For me if I go on eating gluten and soy- I get a knee flare- so right now I am trying to clean that back up because you know- it’s a pain!

The thing is- if you give yourself two weeks of clean eating- you will feel great!  More fruits and veggies please!

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So how do you recharge your own batteries after a long day or week?

Here are some things that I do and maybe they can inspire you to help yourself unwind:

photoTreat yourself to a mani/pedi

Take a nap (one of my favorites)

Sip some bubbly (another favorite)

Indulge in a movie fest at home- some of my favorites are Sliding Doors, A lot like love, Love Actually, The Holiday, Blue Crush (don’t judge), Sideways, I could never be  your woman, and any of the Felicity and Sex in the City dvds

Bake something- I haven’t done really any gluten free baking- but I LOVE making muffins, breads, and cupcakes.  And you don’t have to indulge and eat it all- pack up half and give some to your friends

Do some YogaGlo

Have a bed day – this is a day where you stay in bed all day,surrounded by  your books, journal, dvds, laptop, iphone, and everything else you love.

Take a day trip

Try a new restaurant or order carryout from someplace other than your usual spot

Infuse your water with lemon and lime or blueberries and strawberries

Or just make this:

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Vegan and Gluten Free Fro-yo

1 and 1/2 frozen bananas

1/2 cup of coconut milk

Pinch of xanthan gum

BLEND!!!!!!!

Add some vegan chocolate chips from Trader Joe’s and eat immediately!

You can clearly add any fruit or dessert toppings you like and it doesn’t even taste like bananas.  I promise it doesn’t.  Add a dash of vanilla extract and bam.  There you go.

Do you have any tips I should add to the list?

picstitch (4)To me, there are three things we all should do every day.  We should do this every day of our lives.  Number one is laugh.  You should laugh every day.  Number two is think.  You should spend some time in thought.  And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy.  But think about it.  If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day.  That’s a heck of a day.  You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special. ~Jim Valvano

Xoxo- C

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It’s Thursday

7 Jun be kind

Hi my friends- how is your week?  I don’t know about you- but I am totally enjoying this cool weather.  Windows open, breeze blowing, life is good.  And I also listen to the summer oldies station on Pandora and sing the Beach Boys in my kitchen.  It’s ok- you can laugh.

picstitch (27) I have another recipe for you! Featuring Tessemae’s Balsamic Dressing. As I mentioned before here, Tessemae’s is made locally in Annapolis, Maryland and is family owned which I love.  You can find it at Whole Foods.

I always say that you must make the recipes I post- but really, this one is perfect for summer and the dressing (all natural, gluten free, vegan, and sugar free) gives it just the right zing.

Summer Strawberry Salad

picstitch (28)Organic Spring Mix

Cucumbers

Chopped Walnuts

Herbed Goat Cheese

Pepper to taste

Tessemae’s Balsamic drizzled on top

Yummmmmmmmm

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The dressing solidifies in the fridge but just leave it out for a few minutes before you use it.

I didn’t eat the nuts because they hurt my belly.  But it was good! I know sometimes we think salads can be boring but they don’t have to be.

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What are you trying to prove?

You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.  Not even to yourself.

A subconscious desire to prove ourselves may be hiding at the root of our fears, the root of our tension, the root of our need to do an be more.  Accompanying it can be a burning belied that we aren’t’ good enough, that we need to compensate for some deficiency in ourselves in order to take our place on this planet. 

We may feel like we have to earn our place, earn our right to be here.  Like we’re being watched, graded, and judged.

You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.  You’re fine just the way you are.  You have energy, vitality.  You have particular gifts and talents.  You have been learning your lessons just right in your life.

Let go of the need to prove yourself to others- to parents, people from the past, people in your life today.  Could it be the one you’ve really been trying to prove something to is yourself? The answer is simple: learn to approve of yourself.  Love and accept yourself the way you are today.  Then step right up and take your place in the universe. ~Melody Beattie

One of my friends made me read this yesterday when I was doing my usual I’m sad and feeling bad for myself because of xyz.  We all do that.  We do it every day and it takes practice not to go to that place of feeling like we need to reach perfection all the time.  The reality is is that we are each unique and wonderful people that have our own differences, talents, and characteristics that make us who we are.  You are already whole, complete, and perfect just as you are.

Happy Thursday!!

xoxo- C

**Don’t forget to LIKE me on Facebook, connect with me on Twitter, and check out my next international yoga retreat in Nicaragua.

(feature picture source)

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Weekend to do’s

1 Jun ganesh

picstitch (25)Hi my loves- TGIF!  I hope you have had a great week and have a beautiful weekend ahead of you.  It’s currently thunder storming but the rest of the weekend is supposed to be gorgeous and not too hot!  My fire escape garden is really looking good already and I am hoping to get in time to plant some flowers.  What are your plans?

Here’s another recipe for you.  You must make this soup!!

Summer cucumber watermelon gazpacho

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Super east to make and all you to is have to blend it up or use the food processor.

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This picture is actually missing one of the ingredients (and I didn’t use any olive oil- but you could use a drizzle).

1 and 3/4 cucumber (peeled and seeds removed)

Small (on the larger side) piece of watermelon.  You could use a bigger piece if you want it to be sweeter

Onion and garlic to taste

Cilantro (this isn’t pictured) and I used a good amount because I love the flavor.

Blend away and refrigerate so it’s extra cold!

As you can see this makes about two of those bowls pictured above so you can always freeze the extra…or slurp it down the next day like I did.  I actually went to the store to get another piece of watermelon to make more tonight.  You can also add tomatoes or peppers as well.  Let me know if you make it!  It would be great for a summer party and you can serve in little bowls as an appetizer for everyone to get a taste.

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Here’s my weekend TO DO list:

picstitch (24)Teach the 200 hour yoga teacher trainers

See my Granny and sister

Spend time with Brad Pitt

Dinner at Tio Pepe’s

Make green juice and green smoothies

Get my yoga on (probably with yogaglo)

Go to the farmers market and get some kale

Work on my art journal

Life is good!

eec

(source)

I want you to check out a video featuring Kim Manfredi! It’s done by Becca Saag (daughter of one of my yoga teacher friends). It’s featured in a film showcase and I would love for you to vote for it! It’s beautifully done. Please click on the stars below the blurb to vote! I couldn’t get the video to come up but click here to see it.

Have a great weekend!!

xox- C

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Eat your fruit and veggies-part 2

31 May 006

121Hi my loves- are you having a good week???  Things are back to the grind over here but I am already making summer plans and life is good!  Are you going to the beach this summer or any other vacation plans?

A lot of you have asked me questions about food and healthy eating and I wanted to just share my own personal experience.  I’ve talked about the importance of eating your veggies before (because your mother told you to when you were little).

**Just as a disclaimer-I am not a trained nutritionist, dietician, or healthcare professional.  Everything written here is based on my own opinion and personal experience.**

picstitch (20)I have been working on maintaining a low gluten, dairy, and soy diet for the last several months.  I have also cut out all nightshade vegetables for the most part(veggies that are known to cause inflammation) and raw nuts.  I know that list seems long.  While I would like to be totally free of all of those, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t eaten cheese or had a beer.  So all in all I am just working on finding a balance of not eating a high amount of those things.  For me when I do eat all the yummy things like pizza and my granny’s potato salad, me knee swells up and I had a stomach ache.  Womp womp.

What I wanted to briefly talk about was food combinations.  I learned a lot about this through my naturopathic doctor and it is basically the theory that certain foods don’t digest well in your system when eaten together.

(source)

It can be kind of confusing- but if you feel like you may have some tummy issues I would read over the chart because if you just make a few changes you may see a difference.

picstitch (21)The other thing I wanted to say is that if you are trying to clean up your diet- don’t just go all or nothing.  I think sometimes it’s easier to start small so you can stick with it.  Make a smoothie or salad, have a stash of berries and nuts, carrots and celery with hummus, and then you’re a little more prepared.  Don’t switch to all raw all at once because if you’re not used to eating it, your belly will be upset.  And while you may think you feel great (like I did eating soy veggie sausage all the time) you don’t realize what hurts your stomach or clogs your sinuses until you eliminate them from your diet.  If something is in your system all the time you can’t really tell it’s effects.

(source)

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Last week I was asked if I would review some locally made, all natural, gluten free, vegan, sugar free salad dressings. Yes please.

Tessemae’s All Natural

From their fact sheet:

Tessemae’s All Natural is what real salad dressings should be—a few quality ingredients, simply mixed together. Available in a variety of flavors, Tessemae’s can be used as a dressing, marinade, dip or sauce.

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Vetter Family

What I also love about this brand is that they are family and locally owned- all in Annapolis, Maryland!

This is the Vetter family.  Mom is the original creator and her three sons and daughter-in law run the business.  Aren’t they such a cute family?

I was lucky enough to test their lemon pepper and the balsamic dressings.

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I will talk about the balsamic in another post- but I was surprised at how much I loved the lemon pepper!  I normally probably wouldn’t pick that one off the shelf but it was perfect to make with salmon.  I marinated a piece of salmon for 30 minutes in the fridge before cooking it (you could leave it longer for more flavor).  I cooked the fish in a frying pan with a little bit of cooking spray just to coat the pan and poured the marinade in with it.

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Yes- I ate all of this.  It was super tasty and GREAT for a warm night.  Not too hot and nothing too spicy.  Loved it.  You must make it.  The lemon paper would also be great for grilling shrimp or pieces of tofu if you’d like.  The veggies were just steamed and I added some of Trader Joe’s 21 salute seasoning.

Tessemae’s is sold currently at Whole Foods and it’s in the refrigerated section.  They are about to expand their line to other dressings, dips, and hot sauce.  Hopefully I will be lucky enough to try them!

Happy Thursday!

xo,C

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Wednesday

29 Mar

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Oh hi there.  How is your week?  Mine hasn’t been too eventful and the weekend is quickly approaching but that’s the way I like it.  How about you?  The weather’s been pretty nice and I just cannot believe it’s spring!  I’m already making plans for months from now and I cannot believe summer is around the corner!  That also means my big 3-0 Smile

Here’s a recipe for you:

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Sautee some chickpeas (garbanzo beans rinsed and drained) with olive oil. 

Add onion and spinach till everything is cooked down. Add salt, pepper, garlic, to taste.

Add sprouts (I used alfalfa) and some chopped avocado into a separate bowl and then add cooked beans, onions, and spinach mix. 

Top with goat cheese if you like!  All kind of random ingredients but it was pretty tasty.

I seem to have almost all of these ingredients on hand most of them time which makes throwing it all together really convenient.  I haven’t bought cheese in a few months as I’ve really tried to cut out almost all dairy and I thought starting with a little goat cheese would be a good start. 

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These are my friends Melissa and Brian.  They just moved to Hawaii.  I miss you guys already and I wish you nothing but the best!  You both deserve it so much!

And I will be coming to Hawaii thank you very much.

These are a few pics from their going away happy hour which was at La Scala last weekend. 

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I’ve only been to La Scala one other time- but if you go on Sunday’s between 4 and 8pm you can get $6 wines and appetizers.  Very tasty if you’re interested.

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Here are some links you might be interested in:

Broga- yoga for dudes weary of yoga

A Cheap Trick: Handstand, Backbends, and the Deeper Dimension of Yoga

7 Vegetarian Super Foods for Protein

You must check out this video!!!

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Meditate.  Live purely.  Be quiet.  Do your work with mastery.  Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds!  Shine.  ~Buddha

Don’t forget to come to Yoga After Dark on Friday at Charm City Yoga Midtown!  Click here for more info!

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Vibrant and authentic

22 Jan

008Hi! Are you happy it’s Saturday?  I am.  And it snowed.  Well it snowed a little bit so that meant I stayed inside. Pretty much all day.  Life is good I tell you.

How is your weekend unfolding?  Did you shovel snow?  Or did you have a bed day? Kimberly Wilson talks about that in her books- it’s a day where you stay in bed; read, email, talk on the phone, eat, sleep, snuggle- all of that from bed.  Sounds good to me.

Here’s some pictures to show you what my day looked like.

A little of this:

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Yes I have flannel sheets on my bed and that spray water bottle is for when he’s not being so cute and cuddly.  If you have a cat- you know what I’m talking about. 

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All those veggies into juice.  Yes I drank it.

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Lets see- organic spinach, 1 hardboiled egg, garbanzo beans, tuna, onion, avocado-maybe I’m forgetting something.  A little Greek dressing.  It was good Smile

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Things for goodwill!

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All in all a good day I think. 

I stayed in last night and I had a few moments of feeling like I was boring and lame because I wasn’t going out, but that quickly passed as I realized that we all need down time.  Time to organize, reflect, and relax.

So we are almost at February and 2012 is in full force.  I’ve read a few blogs recently that talked about how we can choose to live our lives.  One talked about your influence on other people-basically that smiling and being kind to a complete stranger can open up so many possibilities.  Possibilities for you to find joy, kindness, happiness in your own life- you know what I’m talking about. We can choose to find happiness in our own lives.  We can make decisions to move us forwards to the life that we really want.  

All of that started to make me think about my work and my life and what it exactly is that I strive to do and who I am striving to be.  I want to be kinder and more loving.  I want to be authentic.   

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The answers to questions about who we are, what we want to become, how can we live a vibrant and creative life don’t just necessarily show up when we want them to.  So here are some questions you can ask yourself if you’re thinking the same things (because now that you’re reading this you probably are).

  • If time, money, education, experience, we no issue and you have zero constraints in the world, what would you do?
  • What are you really grateful for?
  • What’s one thing you’d choose to do or purse if you knew you couldn’t fail?
  • Name 8 of the most valuable things in your life
  • What do you really want to have?
  • Who do you really want to be?

There is no one answer to these questions.  There’s no right answer.  These are just some tools to get you thinking.  I’m thinking about them too and writing it all down.  And maybe next month they’ll be a little different and that’s ok.

Everyday, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.  I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.  I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others.  I am going to benefit others as much as I can.  ~Dalia Lama

Take the time to stop.  Breathe.  Smile.  Laugh.  Let go of a grudge.  Let go of anger.  Turn off the tv.  Plant something.  Bake something.  Hug someone.  Be grateful.  Live in the moment.

Happy Saturday <3

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Staying with it

6 Jan

004Hi friends!  How is your week going??  Things are going pretty well here.  But I must say- eating clean and going caffeine free is hard.  Obviously it’s only been a few days, but I haven’t had any caffeine since last Saturday and well- my energy is non existent.  When will it stop!? I hope soon.  Also, my throat is starting to hurt.  I hope it’s nothing.

Thank you for all the responses, emails, and facebook messages I got about my last post.  I just want to remind every single one of you who take the time to read my blog is that the things that I write about are solely my opinion.  I don’t know the right or wrong way for you to eat and work out.  I am merely offering my own suggestions to things that have worked and appeal to me (like green juice). 

So you can eat things like this:

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Peppermint and ginger herbal tea with agave nectar

Oatmeal with blueberries, about 1/3 of a banana, dash of maple syrup

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I also  made this delicious concoction- sautéed (in olive oil) broccoli, mushrooms, onion, and then added quinoa and tofu.  You don’t have to eat all raw all the time to still eat clean.  This was dinner and actually that picture is the leftover because I wasn’t that hungry.  I added a dash of spicy mustard that my friend Lauren made plus a dash of soy sauce.  You must make this!

And as for other tidbits about the new year as I see all the yoga classes and the gym being completely packed is that you can’t be too hard on yourself.  It’s all about balance.  You have to figure out your own equilibrium.  If you want to have a glass of wine- ok, have it, and don’t go overboard.  And then move on.  You need a day off from working out.  Then plan out what classes or when you will go to the gym or yoga next.  I promise that makes it easier. 

"Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface." Confucius

You should also check out my friend Sara’s blog.  She had some really nice reflections about 2011 and what’s to come in 2012. 

Here are some other interesting things to read:

Harvard’s Guide to Healthy Eating

Healing Power of Food

How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body (we can discuss this at a later time but I’d love to know your thoughts)

 

clulu

(source)

These pics were taken by my friend Sarah as part of the weekly Lululemon product notification. 

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.  ~Steve Jobs

I hope you’re having a  great week and an amazing start to 2012!

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