Let me explain…

If you’ve been following my blog for a little while, you know that I got a job at lululemon athletica back in April. I think I have the best job in the entire world. Truly. It’s fun, challenging, creative, exciting, and extremely fulfilling. Everything a job is supposed to be and much, much more. When I go to work each day, I feel like I’m giving everything I have for that day in terms of work energy. I leave on a such a high because of this! But when I come home, I’m fully ready to relax with my boyfriend and kittens. When I come home, I’m definitely not in blogging mode. I’m sure you can understand.

So I’ve kind of been waiting. I’ll never force write a blog post just to put one up for others to read. I wait to be inspired and then I write. So, tonight I was inspired by the energy I feel from my job and everything that goes along with it. I’m going to continue to seek balance and integrity within my blog and find what’s going to work for me. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

All of this was to say, simply, that I haven’t forgotten about you or G4G. Here’s to hoping for more inspiration soon!!! Until then…have a wonderful night!

Quick housekeeping note: You’ll mostly be hearing from me on the days I’m not working my full-time job. It’s just another way that I’m finding balance in my life and I hope you understand!

This morning I woke up nice and early to help Evan get ready for work (made us both CCB Shakes with kale and salads for lunch).

After guzzling my shake and cuddling with Sashi and Ramsey, I was off to try a new yoga studio with some other lululemon girls! You’ve probably heard about Orlando Power Yoga from the other bloggers in the area. They have an awesome 40 days for $40 deal for new students, and I am definitely taking advantage of it!

The class was a fabulous workout and left me extremely, extremely sweaty. I was also shaking like a leaf for a good while afterward. I appreciated the fast-paced flow and a break from holding poses like we do at College Park Yoga. Apart from the power yoga-like flow, I didn’t necessarily feel like I was in a yoga class. I felt like I was more in a boot camp that was inspired by yoga. There’s nothing wrong with this and the style certainly has its place, but I missed the zen, blissful, peaceful feeling I always have when leaving my normal studio. CPY does an incredible job of making you sweat like a mother, shake like a leaf, and leave feeling on Cloud Nine.  

I’m visiting another studio on Wednesday to try out their hot yoga class and I’m really interested to see what it’s like. I’ve heard wonderful things about the teacher, so I have high hopes! In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out when I’ll visit CPY again this week and also keep going to Orlando Power Yoga to make use of the 40 days of yoga. I am not complaining. It’s like a dream to have to figure out where I’ll practice yoga next!

I came home and whipped up some couscous topped with Newman’s Own Black Bean and Corn salsa (sooooo good!). I also ate that salad I’d prepped earlier in the morning with some Goddess dressing on top.

Newman’s O’s for a lunchtime dessert (of the mint variation – taste just like Thin Mints)

Evan and I went for a walk tonight and ended up picking up Infusion Tea To-Go. We split the Milton Salad and Pesto Panini (are you really surprised?).

Other thoughts

I’m looking forward to the day when my days off do not consist of reporting to other people for various projects I’m working committed to now (normal summertime work that I do every year). I appreciate the work, and I love doing my graphic design projects, but I won’t be complaining when I can curl up on the couch with Sashi, Ramsey, and Yoga Journal and not feel bad about it. Know what I mean?

Until then, I’m working, working, working! But at least it’s doing what I love, right? And on some days I can work at home, while still getting the laundry done with these two around:

How do you spend your days off from work?

I had the day off today and have been working hard on some extra things that I still need to finish, so I’m going to leave you with the first video of Sashi and Ramsey! Listen around 49 seconds for Ramsey’s “chirping”. They make that noise when they’re happy, amused or content.

Adios! Have a wonderful night!

What a day!

Waking up at 5 AM definitely calls for some adjustments in the eating schedule, and usually means that since I’m awake longer before lunch, a snack is more than necessary! As you may know, I’m not typically a snacker since my normal meals are relatively large and leave me full and satisfied.

I raced moved very slowly out the door for work this morning and decided to focus on driving safely and eating breakfast once I arrived. I had a Two Moms in the RAW bar and an OJ for a quick breakfast.

Later in the morning I had an Amy’s Kitchen Tofu Scramble meal. Soooo good! I highly recommend it.

When I got home from work (late lunch time) I had a Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shake with loads of spinach.

Ramsey wanted to see what all of the hype was about!

They like to stick their noses thissss close to things before deciding it’s not for them to eat.

And for dinner I grabbed a quick meal at Dandelion while I was out running errands. I love this combination of quinoa, broccoli, sprouts, chickpeas and their curryous dressing. It is soooo delicious and satisfying. I need to remember to make this at home because I think it’d be a great lunch meal at work.

I also always get a side of vegan chili too. Sometimes with vegan queso so I can have “chili cheese nachos” but I opted out of the extra cheese charge tonight.

Wondering what my errands were this afternoon? I’ll give you a hint…

THEY LOVED IT! I can’t wait to walk with Sashi and Ramsey more and more with this! I know it might seem over-the-top for cats, but seriously, why would I want to leave them at home if they can enjoy being outside while seeing some awesome squirrels and birds? Plus I can get in a decent walk without feeling bad for having to keep them in the house by themselves!

Do you have a pet stroller? Would you ever get one?

I’m going to go grab some coconut ice “cream” now and wait for Evan to get home! Have a great night

We woke up bright and early this morning to kittens that had surely been awake for 2 hours already. Luckily, they decided to let us sleep in this morning, rather than meowing incessantly at 4:45 AM like they did on Sunday. I’m not complaining though. Every meow is just a reminder of how quickly they are making us whole again.

They much prefer to sleep in our bed at night, but here is their second choice during the day:

It doesn’t get much cuter than that. They love each other.

After I woke up, I walked to Publix to pick up three Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shake essentials: frozen cherries, bananas, and my own addition of spinach. Evan is hooked on these now too, so I made one for each of us. Lots and lots of spinach in this and you’d never even know!

Then I was off to YOGA for the first time in way too long. I can walk there now. It’s incredible. Ashley met me at my house and we walked there together, which was even better. Don’t worry, I can keep going…Ashley just moved three minutes from my house, so truly, my life is now complete. Keep in mind that we lived 45 minutes from each other not even a month ago!

Yoga was deliciously warm. When it got cold this winter, I really missed the naturally heated room and how much more sweat-inducing it was than having the heaters on and no humidity. I felt really strong the entire time and cannot wait to return soon!

Let’s see, what else? Oh yes, an Infusion Tea vegan burrito for lunch! Hey Meghann and Caitlin, I think IT got your message about sweet potatoes and black beans going so well together. This burrito had both going on with some curry rice, vegan cheese and sour cream.

And for dinner I walked to Publix again (why not, right?) and picked up this quinoa blend and some sugar snap peas.

This grain blend was really tasty and filling! I really like the Seeds of Change brand for quick meals.

We had our sugar snap peas raw with some hummus. Evan wasn’t a fan of this combo and ate crackers with the hummus instead (peas plain). I didn’t mind it, but probably wouldn’t combine them again. SSP’s are good all by themselves!

For dessert we sampled some coconut milk ice cream flavors: Mint Chip and Cookie Dough. Notice how the mint chip is not artificially colored green. They’re both fantastic ice cream alternatives.

I hope you guys had a great day like I did! I’m off to bed because I work at 6 AM tomorrow! My favorite shift (not being sarcastic – I really love it)!

I always think of a song by Sister Hazel called, Life Got in the Way, when things get so crazy that I’m not able to blog normally.

To be honest, I feel like Evan and I have climbed a mountain in the last 5 months and are just getting to the bottom of the other side. From the car accident, more doctor appointments than I can count, a really tough semester of school, losing Harvey, and moving, it’s been a series of many downs for us. We breathed a collective sigh of relief when we looked at each other last night and wondered what we did to deserve such an amazing change a pace with our new house, perfect kittens, and amazingly supportive family and friends. Then we thought of the really tough half-year we’ve had, and suddenly felt very deserving.

Does anyone remember this quote by John Cusack’s character in the movie, Must Love Dogs? He’s talking about breakups here, but I think it really applies to any tough situation, and I just love how incredible true it is:

I think your heart grows back bigger, you know, once you get the shit beat out of you. And the universe lets your heart expand that way, because that’s the function of all this pain and heartache that you go through, and you’ve gotta go through that to come out to a better place.

While we may have hid how hard things have been (even from ourselves sometimes), Evan and I have finally come out to a better place in life. Things are definitely starting to look up

I do realize that I haven’t blogged about food very much lately. And that’s okay with me. The food I eat is one of the many things I can depend on to stay constant in my life, but it’s not always the most pressing thing I feel I’d like to talk about, especially when life gets in the way. Writing is usually how I deal with emotions, so having this blog to say what I need to say, when I am ready to say it, has been incredible.

Now that I’m breathing a little easier and have simplified many areas of my life that needed simplifying, I’m ready to come back to you. And I have to thank you for going through all of this with me. At the very least, I hope you feel like you’ve gotten to know me a little bit better through my very text heavy posts. I am human, after all.

Are you ready for the return of my life through food? I hope so, because I’m not wasting any time

See you later tonight for my first day of photographed eats in way too long and what I did to sweat today.

Helloooo!!!

As if moving to our new house and being surrounded by the best neighborhood couldn’t get any better, we picked up our two new additions yesterday morning!

Ramsey is 8.5 months old (left) and Sashi is 5 months (girl). They are half-brother and -sister, Egyptian Maus. We’re head over heels for these two characters!

Sashi is a small girl (she can’t be more than 3 lbs right now) and she’s a silver mau.

Ramsey is a large boy (at least 6 lbs right now) and he’s a bronze mau.

They have adjusted to their new home way faster than we expected, had many family visitors this weekend, and even slept in our bed last night (purring the entire time).

Love how Sashi was laying on her blanket.

Ramsey checking out the neighborhood.

I swear they explored, sniffed and licked every inch our house yesterday.

They give each other baths.

See the color difference? Ramsey is on the left, Sashi on the right.

This was Ramsey’s “safe” spot yesterday where he could keep an eye on everything.

Precious Sashi.

Want to learn more about Egyptian Maus? Watch this video that Evan caught on the Animal Planet a few weeks ago.

We’d never heard of them until Evan saw them on TV, but knew instantly these were the cats for us. Their breeder was impeccably perfect and we couldn’t have asked for a better experience with her. She was exactly what we needed after our loss. This combined with the fact that these were the only two mau kittens available in the state of Florida at the exact time we were ready for them, made it feel even more right.

Harvey would have been so proud to have them as his little brother and sister.

Things have been…overwhelming…in the Greens for Good world. Like a, when I think about the last month and a half, I feel like I can’t breathe, kind of overwhelming. I still have a bit to go, but I feel like I’m finally over the hardest parts of this time in my life: moving and ending one of my jobs. There are so many wonderful things to look forward to and I wanted to share them with you! Eyes on the prize(s):

• Being completely unpacked in our (amazing, peaceful, cozy, happy) new house
• Taking walks with Evan around our (amazing, peaceful, cozy, happy) new neighborhood
• Being closer to the rock climbing gym where Evan and I can have fun dates!
• Cooking in my new kitchen
• Cleaning out our old apartment, turning in the keys, and never having to worry about the noisy neighbors and loud dogs again
• Being done with my first year of graduate school
• Making the decision that I need to take the summer off from school to regain balance before going after those last two semesters next Fall and Spring
• Picking up our new kittens on May 15th and semi-filling that empty space that Harvey left with TWO little babies (a boy and a girl)
• Putting my all into my lululemon job, which I feel I haven’t been able to do since I started working there because I spread myself too thin
• A fabulous HOBY leadership seminar in St. Petersburg, FL in June!
• Working on my goals
• YOGA. Lots and lots of yoga.

All of these things are meant to achieve more balance in my life, since I’ve found myself very much out of balance lately.

How are you trying to achieve more balance? What are some things you’re looking forward to? Any new goals you’re setting for yourself?

Lately I’ve seen and heard a lot about diets and restrictions in the blog world. I’ve heard of successes and disappointments as others try to lose weight by various eating habits. While I eat a vegan “diet”, I do not consider it a diet at all. It’s just the way I eat. To me, there is nothing I can’t eat…I just eat what I crave and I don’t crave non-vegan things.

My dear friend, Lindsey, has been struggling with weight, while eating a clearly, healthy diet. I’ve got to tell you, it’s tough to see someone your care about put everything they have into something and not see the return on their efforts. I realized something while I was reading her post on burning out, and decided to share my thoughts with her. I don’t talk about my weight much on my blog for the exact reasons you’ll discover below: I don’t really think or worry about it anymore, but here are some tidbits from my email with Lindsey. I hope they will help you too!

“When I first started my food blog, I had a good 15-20 pounds to lose. I started eating better and running, but I didn’t see much change in my physical appearance or weight, even 4 months later. The change came when I started a vegan diet, but I really don’t think it was the vegan diet that did it exactly. I think it was my subconscious attitude. I started eating vegan because it was what I wanted to do, felt it was right for me, and just did it. I made that decision and at that point, I didn’t care if I lost weight. In fact, I never even thought about it until I got on the scale a few months later and realized that the weight was all gone.

My point is, our minds get in the way of our bodies. We put unnecessary stressors and pressure on ourselves to achieve a goal, but these stressors are actually inhibiting our bodies from going to work on finding the balance we crave. I’m sure this is why diets don’t work for people if their one and only goal is to lose weight through them.

Maybe it’s time to take a break from the pressure. Forget about the weight loss, forget about what you want to look like in 6 months, and just focus on how you want to feel now. Eat the foods that make you feel good because they are healthy, not because they are going to help you lose weight. Do the workouts that you love to do because they make you feel wonderful and strong, not because they’re going to get you to a beach-ready body. Don’t worry so much, and maybe it will happen? I’ve heard countless stories about people who couldn’t lose weight, and then when they just lived and stopped thinking about it, the weight came off.”

Ashley and I had a similar conversation to this one recently and she’s also taking on the mindset and told me this morning how much better she feels already. I saw that Julie is also starting to believe that this is how she wants to handle body image pressure.

Through these conversations I’ve realized that I may not convey my no-pressure way of eating on Greens for Good very well (or maybe I do?), and I’d like to make that a little more clear in the future. There’s no judgement here if you’re listening to what your body wants and needs. I’ve found a way to just trust my body and clearly, that’s how I eat. If I want two meals at Infusion Tea, I’ll order two meals and eat them. If I want to eat half a container of hummus with crackers for a meal, I’ll usually do it and not worry. On the other side, if all I want for dinner is a smoothie, that’s what I’ll have. If I don’t feel like having 3 meals and 2 snacks throughout the day, who’s to say that’s wrong?

Find your balance with healthy foods, then just let go and let your body do what it needs to do. Don’t let your head be your body’s own worst enemy and I think you’ll have great success mentally and physically.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

I’m off to pack up our lives and prepare for our move next weekend. So, if you don’t hear from me much in the next week and a half, you know why! In the mean time, enjoy cherishing your body for what it is and letting it do its thing.

We’re doing a last call for volunteers for the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY), Mid-FL seminar. I am on the director team and Caitlin will be coming to speak about Operation Beautiful!  We need volunteers who are 21 and older, who feel they have the enthusiasm to facilitate the best of the best high school sophomores in Central Florida. We promise a weekend of fun and fulfillment…become a part of the HOBY family!

Details:

• Thursday, June 10th (late afternoon) – Sunday, June 13th (early afternoon)
• St. Petersburg, FL on the Eckerd College campus
• All food and accommodations are provided, you just have to get yourself there
• Incredible leadership experiences gained and a true highlight for your resume (I use my HOBY experiences in every job I apply for!)

If you don’t live in the Central Florida area and this sounds like an interesting experience for you, we’d love to have you come to Florida to volunteer (you pay all traveling expenses, of course). Otherwise, there are seminars going on all around the country from now until the end of June. Leave a comment here or use my contact page to email me your location and I can send you the closest HOBY contact for your area.

Thanks!!