This Week I Will Be Mostly...

...wearing comfortable shoes. Grocery shopping in heels threw my hips all outta whack.
...reading the last bit of Eat Pray Love. Then it's back to Byron Katie.
...watching not much; the last episode of Community I haven't seen, maybe.
...listening to calming music. I'm feeling the Billie Holiday right now.
...eating/drinking Jealousy. Not intended to be a double entendre, but it is, I think.
...shopping for a spiralizer, maybe a mincer, chia seeds, and canned pumpkin.

Hospital Food: You've Come a Long Way, Baby

The green beans and the carrots were actually LABELED as being vegan!! (clearly, the Mac & Cheese is not) That is crazy rare, and I was impressed by the loveliness of this simple fare. Simple graces.

Jealousy and Salt

a.k.a. The recipe for a good smoothie and a good evening, respectively

I am still violently in love with our new blender, Vera. And I have been so proud for people to see my/Richard's beautiful green smoothies and say yuck! Because we're scamming them. Truly, the color of the green is so beautiful that I don't know why people aren't snatching them out of our hands and guzzling them down themselves - or at least taking them to Home Depot to use as a sample for the color they would like for their bathrooms.  Anyway, the scam is, we're getting the leafy greens that all of us desperately need, but don't feel like eating, in a drink so delicious that you would never guess had spinach and other good stuff in it.  I'm telling you, Smoothie King is charging $5 for the same stuff that we get for around $1 from home.  And we know that absolutely none of it is processed, unlike Smoothie King, where you are not 100% in control of what goes into your cup.  Whoopee!  So this is where Jealousy comes in to play.  I am haphazardly busy creating recipes for smoothies of my own, and I've come across one recipe in particular that I'm really crazy about.  And being the word nerd that I am, each drink has a name, and so far, each name is a play on words.  Hence, this favorite green drink of mine is named Jealousy!
If you are feeling adventurous, here is the recipe:

Voila! Green Goodness!

• 1/2 to 1 cup water
• 1 cup green grapes
• 1 to 2 cups fresh baby-ish spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 banana, torn into 3 segments
• 1/2 Fuji apple (optional)
• ice as desired (optional)
• Hemp or other protein powder as desired (optional)

Add the ingredients in the order listed - okay, you might want to dump the protein powder after the grapes - and if you're working with a Vitamix, go from variable 1 to 10 quickly, and then go to high. Blend for 30-50 seconds.  

If you add a milk/whey based protein powder, it might affect the flavor, but I'm not sure - I'm trying to keep my green smoothies as vegan as possible. 

Now for the salt aspect: 

I have become a recent convert to Epsom salts.  I had a painful Swedish massage a few weeks ago at the start of a detox, and afterwards the masseur told me to make sure I took an Epsom salt bath that evening, which I was all too happy to do.  For whatever reason, I had a large bag of Lavender-scented Epsom salts already on hand.  Now, being the ingredient reader that I am, I had read the back label of the salt bag to see what it actually was (magnesium sulfate), and then after the bath Googled "benefits of an Epsom salt bath." You can find my favorite but altogether standard answer to that query here, but the long and short of it is that we don't really get enough Magnesium in our diets, AND we don't absorb it very well in our stomach and intestines, but GUESS WHAT!?! We absorb it very well through our SKIN!!! You'd be surprised at all Magnesium does when you get it in proper proportions - not the least of which is makes you feel better.  

All that to say, the other night I declared a "Baths and Books" night, sparked in part by Eat Pray Love, which I have embarked upon at the behest of my future sister-in-law who wants me to have read in time for our visit next week, so that we can go see it in the movie theater.  I drew a lovely Epsom salt bath, texted said Sister-in-Law, and then had a lovely reading session.  It was the recipe for a truly lovely evening.  All that was missing was a green smoothie. Cheers!

See, This is Why I Have One

Why is it that I always feel the need to impress my therapist? Like he's going, Hmm... She didn't straighten her hair this morning - clearly unstable. Or, My that blouse looks wrinkly - did she pull it straight out of the dryer and slap it on? (Yes, yes I did.) Perhaps we need to increase her dosage... 
I'm pondering this as I get ready to put on the highest heels that I own to sit with old Judgey Judgerson for 15 minutes! It's FRIDAY for crying out loud! And I am up to nothing else important today! Yet I will go trudging along to my husband's school, and Wolf Camera, and whatever else I'm doing all in heels because I'm afraid Dr. Bemused Grin with his Steno Notebook of Critical Observations will look disapprovingly upon me showing up in flip-flops.

Inspiration: Operation Beautiful

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To every woman who has ever felt unworthy

To every woman who has ever felt lonely

To every woman who has ever wondered, “Am I beautiful?”

To every woman who has compared herself to another

To every woman who has asked herself, “Why me?”

To every woman who has ever been lied to

To every woman who is struggling

To every woman who is crying

To every woman who is empty

To every woman who is searching for an answer

Take this.

From a woman who has experienced the deepest low and soared at the highest heights

From a woman who has questioned everything

From a woman who has discovered her beauty

From this woman to you.

From inside your heart, beauty blossoms.

From inside your soul, love dwells.

From inside your mind, wisdom emerges.

From the inside, your beauty shines.

Love your body for all it can do, love your body for all it has done.

Never forget how far you have come, and always remember how far you will go.

Click here, pass on the love.

The dates are a bit off, I realize, but the poem is inspiring nonetheless.  I definitely teared up towards the end.  I have certainly struggled with self-esteem and a seemingly genetic predisposition towards low self-worth, and it's nice to know not only do others fight that battle, but that someone is actively striving to get us all involved in changing it. Beauty is not a number on the scale, or even a reflection in the mirror.  It's not a size on a clothing tag.  There's an antiquated saying that my grandmother actually  used on me as a child: "Pretty is as pretty does."  Nothing could be more true.And I need reminding everyday.  

Trust

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In my lunchtime blog trollings, I have stumbled across some pretty great sites.  A friend directed me to the Green Monster movement after I posted a picture of our new pet family member, Vera  Vitamix , holding her first kale smoothie, which led me to Oh She Glows, (quite inspirational, especially for a new-ish vegetarian like myself), which finally led me to Operation Beautiful (and also Clean Eats in the Dirty South, but that comes later).   And somewhere along the way I found this lovely quote, which has been on my mind since I found it. I'm not sure what my own answer is to the question - what would I do if I knew that I could not fail? My first thought went to crazy career choices - I could become a singer! I could do voices on cartoons! Okay, so those are kindof easy ones to answer.   The one that gets a bit too personal are the health/fitness possibilities: if I knew, without a doubt, that every pound I tried to lose would come off, that all my efforts at healthy eating would have real, measurable results in the end, how much harder would I try? That certainly puts things into perspective for me.  Because if I just let go of my anxieties about the outcome and just went for it, I could accomplish what I'm after. It is possible.  As per usual, this comes down to a faith issue.  If I would truly cast all my cares upon the Lord and put ALL of my faith in His guidance of my life, my issues would cease to be my issues.  Well, life is short, but that's what I'm striving for! That never-ending quest to be more like Jesus - to empty myself of me, and fill myself with Him.  "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. He is like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and it is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8
Hey! I can relate to that! Be like a river tree! Maybe it's time to pull out the kayak and go for an object-lesson ride down the Flint...

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

...wearing my Hyperbole shirt

...reading Dominion by Matthew Scully 

...watching season 2 of Friends on DVD

...listening to Mute Math on Pandora

...eating my fruits & veggies smoothie style! 

...shopping for rare spices  Garam masala, anyone? 

I'm Not Sure How to Interpret This...

I dreamt last night that I hadn't finished trimming my nails.  

Does this mean that I'm in a wonderfully healthy state - so much so that my brain has worked absolutely everything out and untrimmed nails (only two, mind you) are the chiefest of my troubles?

Or am I just that boring these days? 

UPDATE: The next night I had a dream about the dairy industry, a horse I owned that I was worried about surviving in the heat in the back of my fictitious truck, and other random stuff. Clearly things are back to weirdness normal.

On an encounter I had at work today...

a Haiku

A thirteen-year-old
Is so condescending, but
They are just stupid.

Ah hah hah!! Taste my wrath, you wretched teenagers!!!

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

...wearing silly hats
...reading Byron Katy and Thomas Hardy
...watching Peep Show on Hulu. (It's a Brit-Com - not as bad as it sounds)
...listening to Lauren's summer mix
...eating pre-made tofurky or hummus-avocado sandwiches from Garden Cove
...shopping for groceries. Our kitchen is empty. Oops.

Sunday on the Flint

I went kayaking this afternoon - obviously on the Flint River. This trip was notable for two reasons: first, it was the first time that I flipped on a solo trip, and secondly, I made the 3.5-4 hour trip in 2.5 hours. I spilled early in the trip - actually in a place where Richard and I have flipped before on separate occasions. And I think it is significant that I'm just now flipping on a solo trip, since the majority of my river trips are alone (since I have my own boat and gear, any time that Richard can shuttle me I'm on the river without spending a dime - which I love). Where I spilled today is a great place to flip your boat, because the water is comfortably shallow and it's near a quite convenient pebbly bank. So once I flipped I managed to keep my boat upside down and walk it to the bank where I emptied it rather quickly. However, it had been so hot when I fell in, that once I got the boat settled, I decided to hop back into the water for a bit and cool off. It was great timing.
Thankfully there were hardly any people out on the water while I was out there, and I actually got a chance to stop at the caves and wander around for a bit. Very nice. The next time I've got someone with me I'd like to spend more time in the caves.
It was attempting to make up for the lost time flipping and cave exploring that I pushed so hard and managed to cut an hour off the trip unexpectedly. :) But I welcome a workout that I enjoy, and since I'm getting to know the Flint so well, I don't need as much time to look around. Quite sunny today; I am lobstery of legs and chest right now - oops! It was all good, though. Here I am on the river - not beautiful, I know, but gone are the days where I put on makeup and fix my hair for kayaking trips. It was so hot today that it wouldn't have even mattered anyway.

Looking rough, but I had a great trip! You can see the river looks rather brown today - a result of the week's precipitation. It wasn't any higher than usual, though. Richard and I ran into Ben of NACK at the Hwy 72 take out yesterday, and he said it had dropped something like 8 inches in about 24 hours! That would have been fun. The water was even slower today than it had looked yesterday afternoon.

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

...wearing socks
...reading The Ultimate pH Solution again
...watching Season 3 of Little House on the Prairie
...listening to Bread
...eating nothing interesting
...shopping for travel ideas

I got a new camera for Christmas, but I haven't even attempted to sync it with my computer, so I don't know if I'll be able to upload pictures easily or not. It has a self timer, so there's been a lot of cheesy self-portraits. I'll try to spare you, but I don't know if I'll be able to. :)

I haven't made any blogging resolutions, because I'll just break them. Hopefully the addition of the camera will inspire me. Hopefully. I just need to buckle down and realize that it doesn't have to be interesting for me to blog about it! ;)

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

Wow! That was the only post I was able to crank out last week! Hopefully I'll do better this week.

...wearing brown
...reading *The Ultimate pH Solution*
...watching nothing
...listening to Christmas music
...eating fruits and vegetables
...shopping for kids and co-worker gifts

Much like last week, really. I suspect it won't really change too much until after Christmas. I've also resolved that even though our local radio station stops playing holiday music on December 26th, I will listen (via Pandora) to Christmas music all the way into the new year. It is so depressing to have a whole month leading up to Christmas and then have it disappear in one day. While I'm near-frantic about cleaning up the wrappings and putting the gifts in their new places, I want some of Christmas to linger a bit.
Also, here's a picture of a snowy Smoky:

This Week I Will Be Mostly...

...wearing my new Little Miss Matched socks
...reading *The Ultimate pH Solution*
...watching nothing
...eating cold-weather goodies
...listening to Christmas music
...shopping for an ornament for my husband's faculty party