Thrown Together and ABCs

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes!  I felt like such a lucky girl with all the attention.  I mean, I asked for it (who else is vain enough to post her own birthday?!) but I was still all warm and fuzzy with your sweet words.  So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Because I've only got one less than awesome meal to share with you and I'm also trying to get back to normal eating while my tastebuds feel broken., I'm sharing my ABCs.  Because at 27, I feel wise enough to form opinions on web questionnaires. 


A. Age: 27
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore you dislike: I hate chores (as evidenced by the current state of our home) but I particularly hate dusting and mopping and sweeping
D. Dogs: My sweet, sweet boy Chino

E. Essential start to your day: roll over and pretend I'm asleep.  Then I come downstairs, play with the doggie, make breakfast, and try to rush out the door.
F. Favorite color: Green, turquoise, and pink.  But to wear- black, always black.
G. Gold or silver: Silver...but if we are really talking jewels then white gold or palladium:)
H. Height: 5’4″. I believe that is the average height of women in the U S and A.  Just tall enough to be too tall for petite clothes
I. Instruments you play(ed): None.  I don't have much musical talent but always wanted to play the piano
J. Job title: Program Manager.  The only thing I manage is myself though, kinda.
K. Kids: None right now.  Only a furry child.
L. Live: Suburb of San Francisco.  I love our city. Love it.

(this is the view from the trail about 2 minutes from our home)

M. Mom’s name: Tania
N. Nicknames: Lena, Lenachka (both of these are Russian nicknames), Homie, Lainy, Mother, and other names my husband calls me that would probably get us both institutionalized if mentioned in public
O. Overnight hospital stays: None that I know of
P. Pet peeve: loud chewing, people who talk without thinking, lack of self-awareness, poor grammar
Q. Quote from a movie: "I would just like to say that physical education in this school is a disgrace. I mean, standing in line for forty minutes is hardly aerobically effective. I doubt I've worked off the calories in a stick of Carefree gum." (Clueless)

(source)
R. Righty or Lefty: Righty!
S. Siblings: Older brother- a mere 9 years between us ;)
T. Time you wake up: 7:00 am most days
U. Underwear: yes?
V. Vegetables you don’t like: I like most of them and can't think of one I despise.
W. What makes you run late: Blow drying and flat ironing my 'do, choosing last minute outfits, and assuming it takes less time to get places than it really does.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Dental and knee x-rays.
Y. Yummy food you make: brownies, salads, stir fry of all kinds, chicken thighs, french toast, and other foods that I make while cleaning out my fridge
Z. Zoo animal favorite: I love penguins. Love them.

Speaking of cleaning out my fridge, my lunch today was the remainder of a frozen bag of veggies, a Trader Joe's Masala veggie burger, and some goat cheese I had in my work fridge.  I microwaved it for 4 minutes, added the goat cheese, and lunch was served!

I hope you are enjoying your week! 

Question for you: Tell me a fun trivia fact about yourself.

27...That Means Late 20s

Last night I went out on the town after a week+ of being cooped up indoors fighting a nasty sinus infection.  With antibiotics and some limited energy running through my bloodstream, we had an early birthday celebration for yours truly at a sushi restaurant and then back at our home.  It was more than I could have hoped for and just the perfect way to officially bring in my late 20s (because I'm 27 now, which is officially late 20s for you math people).
Although I complained about the slow service (sorry husband for being a meanie-head- patience is not my best quality when it comes to waiting for food) the sushi was good and just what I wanted.  We also had time to take group pictures- my favorite.

Best Husband Ever and I

My lovely in-laws

My brother, favorite nephew, and sister-in-law

My lovely parents

Once we got back to our house, it was business time.  There has been some mention of chocolate around here, and my birthday was the deadline for said chocolate consumption.  Meet my lover- the flourless gluten-free chocolate cake.  It was mine. All mine.  I did share some with our guests though, with scoops of coconut milk ice cream. 

Puppy wanted some too- but none for him.  He's on a low-carb, high protein deal right now.
We also played and laughed together.  There were clearly two stars of the show tonight- the grandkids.

I went to bed a happy girl- with flowers, personalized cards, generous gifts, and dreams of lulu threads thanks to my new gift card.

Thank you, family for making my day.

So About That Eating Lifestyle

Thank you all so very much for the warm welcome for Chino!  He has seriously made our lives exponentially happier since we got him and I so appreciate your kind words.

Now onto more trivial issues....When we came back from our vacation I went all hippie with my eating.  I did food combining, blood type diet, kicked caffeine, chocolate, and gluten.  I even successfully went vegan for a week.  This weekend I caught a flu that knocked me on my behind and felt like I was dragged face down in the gravel for several miles.  I enjoyed my first latte in 6 weeks because I needed it and it knocked my socks off.  It was like angels came down from the heavens and I was surrounded by rainbows and unicorns.

I want to be honest with you guys, so here goes.  So why the sudden change of heart?  I don't think my lifestyle is sustainable and it's a little too limiting.  Husband certainly feels the same way.  I was having a hard time feeling satisfied with not being able to eat foods that I have eaten for years and it's honestly not very practical.  Chicken soup was off limits for my cold and I needed ginger ale so that I could calm my stomach, so that was that.  I haven't completely fallen off the track, but I'm going back to 80% on hippie crazy diet and 20% off hippie crazy diet.  I will continue to follow the following guidelines:

• LOTS of fruits and veggies (duh)
• Limit my processed foods and refined sugar intake
• Drink lots of green tea and indulge in coffee on the weekends
• Make dessert special- either homemade or OMG-I-just-died-and-went-to-Godiva-heaven-amazing
• Explore different sources of protein (quinoa, millet, veggies, and some soy)
• Eat organic dairy and goat's milk dairy when I want it
• Limit gluten consumption to worth-it items
• If I want it, I'll eat it

I am still holding out on chocolate until my birthday (1 more week!) and I haven't really indulged in anything ridiculous since I've been a little under the weather.  But come the 28th, all chocolate bets are off.

So that's all.  I don't feel guilty or bad, just normal and that's OK with me.

And since I can't fathom a single thought without thinking about my fluffy creature, here is my prince training me this weekend:

XOXO

I'm One of Those People

Hi Blog Friends.  I hope you are having a great long weekend if you are off on Monday.  We are keeping busy this weekend with our new family addition.  Don't worry, I haven't gestated a baby without telling you (although that's what both of our parents thought when we told them)- we adopted this baby boy.

Chino is 2.5 years old and a very well-behaved Shar Pei who was left by his owners at the Marin Human Society because they moved across the country.  He likes naps, long walks, sniffing poles of all kinds, staring down ducks and squirrels, and he might be starting to like us.  He doesn't like loud noises or toys.  He's far too serious for toys.

We are thrilled to have this little guy as our first family pet and it was nice to have him lay by my side as I spent all day sick in bed yesterday.  My new sous-chef says hello;)

My Day in Numbers

I've seen a few numerically inclined blog ladies do a few fun numbers posts.  Here is my last 48 hours in numbers:

24: Roughly the number of hours I spent awake and working in the last 48 hours

6: The number of hotel food 'opportunities' I have had over the last 48 hours.  This halibut was really good.  The rest was alright.

21: The number of floors I had to ride to get to our meeting space over and over again in the high speed motion sickness machine (elevator). 

4: The number of hours of sleep I got last night
3: (but realistically 8) the number of pictures it took to try to get a decent shot of my work outfit to make sure it looked OK since I didn't plan it so well.  Apparently me and iPhone self-photos don't mesh.  And hello booty.

2: The number of buttons I broke on my keyboard at this meeting.  I'm a savage.

1: The number of recipes I will share with you tonight:

Vegan Wheat-Free Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Ingredients (cupcake batter):

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Flax eggs (~2 Tbsp ground flax to 6 Tbsp water)
• 1 tsp pumpkin spice mix
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup coconut milk

Ingredients (frosting):

• 1/2 - 3/4 cup Tofutti cream cheese
• 1/4 cup honey
• Meyer lemon zest and juice (I used half of a lemon)
• Vanilla extract to taste

Instructions: I have to admit I winged this recipe and this makes a really dense muffin/cupcake.  This batch will make 20 mini cupcakes or about 8 regular cupcakes.  Instructions are very loose.

1. Combine all dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, shredded coconut, pumpkin spice)

2. Add in wet ingredients (flax egg, shredded carrots, vanilla extract, coconut milk, agave nectar) and mix until combined

3. Scoop batter into cupcake wrappers and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes

4. Make frosting by combining all ingredients and mixing for 1 minute (I mixed by hand)- set in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes

5. Frost cupcakes when cooled

6. Enjoy

Ciao Bellas ;)

Happy Valentine's Day- A List

-I couldn't post because I have a meeting the next few days at work
and had to blowdry and flat iron my hair. It takes a full evening.
Hope you understand.
-My computer would not open a browser window so you get an iPhone
post.
-Work is getting busy again and I'm trying to breathe through it
-Vegan week is over and I had eggs for dinner with some vegan
cheese. This girl is confused
-Hubby and I are not doing V-day till Tuesday. Take that hallmark
-I almost forgot to take my vitamins but remembered because I like
my calcium gummy bears so much
-I tried to teach myself to run at the gym tonight and it was
moderately amusing
-I made vegan gluten free carrot cake cupcakes and they are now all
gone. Belly happy. Recipe coming soon.

A Pound of Food

Happy Weekend!  Yesterday slipped away and I skipped reporting on the Vegan Challenge, as well as my own eating challenge so let's go!

The vegan challenge went well on day 5 and I'm still going strong.  A challenge that I imposed on myself due to laziness and not being able to keep up with my own produce consumption this week was burning out and not packing a lunch on Friday.  No worries- I stocked up on some food and came to the realization that I can pack away 1.31 pounds of food in a sitting. Impressive, no?  I went to the local hot bar/salad bar near my office and got this bucket of food.

This feed pail contains spinach, kale salad, sprouts salad, roasted squash, broccoli salad, kim chee, and 2 falafels.  I'm 99% sure this was all vegan and it was shiny just how I like it.  Topped with a little hot sauce and I was a happy girl.  I could have eaten another one after this, but at $8 per pound, I need to save my money on other shiny objects.  I think that overall, vegan eating can be really easy and delicious.  What I thought was an obstacle in buying lunch was not really an obstacle. I found a vegan, soy-free option and it was delicious. 

In other eating news, things have been going well on the self-imposed holistic approach to food.  I think that I need to start trying more new things because I have started getting bored with my current staples and sometimes I just want a cookie so I'm on the hunt for a recipe that I can enjoy.  The 'deadline' is the last day of February and I only really have 2 weeks to go, but the masochist in me will probably keep going.  I like that I have become less dependent on sugar, but I still want a cookie (see a theme here)?  The only thing that keeps me from jumping head first into one is that my husband is following the plan and I have to be a good example and all.  This accountability is definitely something that makes me more successful because when you have to confess to someone, it makes the alternative, or messing up not worth it.

I'm off to take a yoga class, grocery shop, and to maybe do some damage at a couple of clothing stores.  I need to see the pretty spring clothes and pretend it's getting warm outside ;)