Hello Everyone!
As you all know I lost my horse recently. I have been doing my best to swing back into being myself and getting things done in my daily life, but it has really taken a toll on me. I feel as though it would be hard for anyone in this sort of situation to keep on going as if everything is normal. I wanted to write more about it because it has definitely affected one thing in particular…my eating.
I love detoxes. I mentioned in the last post I was doing a smoothie detox. For three to four days all I eat are smoothies and soups. Usually they are all raw, but they are hardly skimpy. They are packed with lots of nuts and fats to keep me full and going. I like a smoothie cleanse over a juice cleanse since you are getting a larger range of foods. Emily from This Rawsome Vegan Life did one for 7 days, which is longer than I have ever done.
I usually do a detox after big family get togethers and holidays since I usually eat foods I wouldn’t normally eat. It is nice “reboot” for some eating habits. If I am suddenly craving beer and cake every single day, I will usually go on a detox. I find that it makes me want to eat healthier foods. I am still going to want to drink beer and eat baked goods, but I know I shouldn’t be eating them everyday.
Of coarse I don’t like the connection people make with loosing weight with detoxing. Yeah, most of the time you loose weight, but it isn’t permanent. A lot of water weight is loss and quickly gained back when transitioning back to a normal diet. Which is why I like how Emily refers to it as a “Liquid Feast,” since you are feeding your body.
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I’ve been terrible at posting lately! I’ve been busy. There has been some exciting news, as my mother is moving from Utah, all the was across the country, back to the east coast in New Jersey. It has been almost a decade of her living a 4 hour flight away, so it should be an interesting change. She is already planning embroidery and sewing projects with me.
I started to write this post last night and I had the hardest time. I am currently doing a detox, which I like to do them from time to time. I haven’t done one in awhile since I have been eating so well. Writing this entry is hard since I see the photos and want to pull out the leftovers. It is a little painful.
Our etsy shop is up! We are proudly selling two types of items at this moment. We are selling prints of the illustrations that are featured on the site. They are 5×7 but we have a mat add on for the print to fit into an 8×10 frame. New prints will be added as we make drawings for the site. We are hoping to make more accessories with our artwork for the site.
We are also selling some vintage clothes and accessories. Right now we have very few to choose from, but more will be on their way. I can already tell you that there is a matching suit and dress set, and some skirts that are waiting to be listed. We also have a bunch of milk glass vases, that are overrunning the shop. I hope other people find them as elegant as I do.
A few weeks ago I visited Burlington, Vermont for my brother Trevor’s Graduation from College! He attended the University of Vermont and (as far as I know) is going to be teaching Crossfit classes and competing in Crossfit competitions for a living. It was nice to be able to see him and his lovely girlfriend, and I had never been to Burlington before then, so it was an added bonus of adventure!
My favorite part of the weekend was when we all met up (my Mother, Step Daddy, Trevor, his girlfriend Jules and myself) and walked around the Burlington Farmer’s Market. I already love farmer’s markets, and Trevor had told me that this one was especially nice.
We make a drink at work called “The MD.” It’s high in vitamin C and contains spirulina to help boost the immune system. Of course, one of the most frequently asked questions I get is, “What is Spirulina?” Usually, I give a vague answer. It is a blue-green algae that is chock full of vitamins and nutrients. Aside from that, I really don’t know where to start. It is like trying to explain why spinach is good for you; sure it is high in iron, but there are many other reasons to eat it. (Spirulina is actually more nutritious than Spinach anyway.) So much it would be pretty silly to just belt out all of its vitamins. So I’ve decided to break it all down here.
Hi, there! We are spirulina!
What the heck is Spirulina
Spirulina is a “sea vegetable,” a popular term to make algae and seaweed seem less “freaky.” Spirulina comes from the Arthrospira genus, one of the earliest living organisms to grow on earth. Although there are many different species, the ones cultivated for food are Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima. It was previously thought that Spirulina was part of the Spirulina genus, due to the similarity of the shape. Dispite the change of genus, the name sticks when it comes to its common name. The name Spirulina derives from the spiral shape of the organism when viewed under a microscope. Spirulina’s native romping grounds are Africa, Asia, Central and South America.
Spirulina’s taste can be difficult for people to articulate. Some people love the strong taste, me being one of them. And some people find it overwhelming. It can be pretty hard to eat more than one teaspoon to a tablespoon in one sitting. But keep in mind, one brand of spirulina tastes different from another. Think of it like any form of produce, it will taste different depending on the conditions it needs to grow in.
Shirt: Esley | Tank: BLVD via Six on East | Pin: Vintage | Earrings: Nicole’s Threads | Shorts: C. luce | Shoes: Nature Breeze
This week has been a nightmare. I wanted to post this outfit awhile ago, but things were busy this week. My husband and I noticed some rattling in on the bottom of the car. Not only could you hear it, you could feel it. When we looked up potential problems online, we got two possibilities, one was totally benign, the other highly dangerous. So we had to borrow my sister’s car and I had to drive my husband to and from work. It was a huge pain since his work is about 40 minutes away. Regardless, the car is fixed and safe.
Anywho…. this outfit was from a week ago. Alexa and Mr. Ian came to visit me on Memorial Day. We played games, drank beer, and more importantly ate Korean food. I haven’t been able to figure out how to dress lately with the warmer weather. Or perhaps I am just getting older and starting to hate short-shorts. Who knows. This shirt and shorts were bought from Modcloth awhile ago during one of their blow-out sales. I love the bright color of the shorts and pearl collar from the shirt.
The butterfly pin is from my birthday gift from my Mom-in-Law. Alexa surprised me with some earrings and necklace from Nicole’s Threads. I really like this new fabric button trend. I plan on writing a small little review later this week,
Hey guys! I feel as though everyone knows this by now – but if you don’t, here it is… I love Professional Wrestling. Like…really love it. I love it so much that I drunkenly stated (with GREAT emotion, on my birthday) to Mr. Ian “…I really love wrestling!” as CM Punk was having a match on Smack Down. My first real experience with watching WWE was when Mr. Ian was getting back into it. He watched a little more regularly in the 80’s and 90’s but fell out of it as the talent got muddled and confused (around 2000). No one really stuck out for him and the writing wasn’t at it’s strongest. He had been telling me all about the matches he was watching with our good friend Billy (who should be credited for me getting into wrestling in the first place – if it wasn’t for him, this never would have happened!) and asked if I would watch an episode of Monday Night RAW with him. I wasn’t too keen on it but there was really no harm in trying something new. As we turned on the TV CM Punk came down the ramp and walked into the ring to give the WWE Universe and Paul Heyman a piece of his mind (no – it was NOT the infamous pipe bomb … if you go to the link skip ahead to about the 1:40 mark) … and I was in. He didn’t even do anything that extravagant – just started talking. That was really and honestly all it took. I think I had these pre-conceived notions that pro-wrestling would be like other sports that I had been exposed to … boring. When I saw that it was *actually* more complex than that, I became obsessed! My best way of describing it to people who ask is this: Wrestling is the best live-action-comic-book-soap opera I have ever seen. And I mean all of those things in the best way possible! With all of that being said, I went to my first “Pay-Per-View” on March 4th – Extreme Rules!!!
“Tres Extremos” From left to right: Me, Mr. Ian and Billy
I went with Mr. Ian and Billy, and once parked in the parking lot outside the IZOD Center we met up with our friends Rich and Ryan where we drank beer and took in everything around us and GOT HYPED for what was in store. Sorry guys…this is about to get very picture heavy!
I’ve been meaning to post this months ago, when winter ended. Now spring is ending and I already have a set of books that I read and want to post here. I use to read all the time when I was younger. I loved book series like Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, American Girls, and The Chronicles of Narnia. I fell out of the reading habit when school started to assign books during the school year. Sure I did my summer reading, but having to read “x” amount of pages by the end of the week seemed to suck the fun out of reading.
It wasn’t until college that I really enjoyed reading textbooks (seriously). I also became more interested in reading for leisure. I’ve also learned to take graphic novels more seriously. They’re underrated. Many people seem to think graphic novels are just comics and compare them to Spiderman and Superman. But graphic novels can be an effective medium for great storytelling.
What I am Currently Reading
The Handmaid’s Tale – I picked this up after I saw it recommended on A Practical Wedding’s Feminist Reading List. I bought it for my kindle and found out that I don’t like reading novels on it. At least it is a good read.
Persimmon Cup – I donated money to this graphic novel production through Kickstarter. I just got it in the mail a few weeks ago and am very excited to read it. I haven’t come across and web links to share in case someone else is interested in purchasing this book .
The Illustrated Man – I love short stories. I finished up Night Film, which was a christmas gift, and needed something that I picked out to read. I think Jon found this at a book sale and hey! The cover has already fallen off, which is sad because I am fairly certain I started to read it because of the brilliant cover art of a tattooed man.
Shirt: H&M | Skirt: YesStyle | Shoes: Bumper via Modcloth | Pin: Vintage
I am very happy to wear this outfit. This shirt and skirt are two of my favorite but least worn pieces in my wardrobe. I got the shirt from H&M thinking it would be something cute and different, but the sleeves made it hard to layer. So it stayed at the bottom of the dresser drawer. My skirt is really has straps making it into a jumper. Sadly, I got it from a Korea company so some of the proportions are a little off for me. The straps are fairly short so waistline will come all the way up to my boobs. Ack! But I found that the straps roll down and hide well.
Another cute thing- my broach. My Mother in Law gave me some money to go towards my camera (getting close $400!) but then gave me some pins that her mother had. This turtle looked so cool next to the burnt orange stripes. I got a few other things for my birthday including a cookbook from my friend Justine, Dad is Fat and some David Attenborough docs from my hubby.
We finished up watching the Madagascar documentary and I fell in love with Tenrecs. I can’t believe I haven’t heard about them until now. They are like little hedgehogs, only in a completely different family. They have the most amount of babies in one litter- up to 30 at a time! The oddest thing is how they can use their quills. It is so cool I have to just leave a video to watch from the series.
