A Vegan Birthday

I realized (once again) how lucky I am to have such loving friends and family this past weekend. My husband and I went to our hometown for my birthday and we had a fantastic time! First of all, my always considerate father-in-law emailed me ahead of time for a vegan birthday cake recipe. My sis-in-law planned a picnic (really a bbq, but I think picnic sounded more vegan-friendly to everyone) with a ton of animal-free dishes! We gathered on her back deck and enjoyed a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

The cake was phenomenal. I heard a lot of people saying that it was better than any non-vegan cake they'd ever had. This was exactly what I wanted: for everyone to have a positive experience while enjoying vegan foods and realizing that it isn't a big deal!! Best birthday present ever. Plus, the menu sparked a lot of great conversations and over the course of the weekend I shared the many health benefits of juicing, eating a vegan diet, and other fun wellness habits that I adore.

I'm also happy to say that I received a subscription to Get Fresh! Magazine, a Kleen Kanteen, a salad spinner (love this! saves lots of paper towels), and many other thoughtful gifts:) I can hear my new chime dangling on my back porch.

I had some fresh young coconut water from Zia's today! They opened up a little hole at the top and I brought it home with me. There is a lot of water in one of those coconuts! Over a pint. Later, I scooped out the coconut meat for a smoothie, yum! I also had the pleasure of visiting Liquid Earth this evening with another birthday girl. We brought our hubbies along and enjoyed a delicious meal. I had the raw tacos again, they are so good:)

Tomorrow morning its off to Waverly's Farmer's Market. Time for bed, so that we can get there bright and early.

Rested

*Sigh of relief*
Well, I listened to my own advice yesterday by doing the following simple things:

• Juiced!
• Danced
  
• Yoga:)
• Meditation (ten minutes is better than zero!)
  
• Light and satisfying meals (smoothie, salads, quinoa, baked sweet potato, nuts)
• NO computer after 9pm
• Wound down for a half hour before turning out the lights (reading a novel in bed)

It all paid off. Eight wonderful, restful hours of sleep. I woke up naturally this morning and finished some writing projects before 9am! Plus, I didn't carry that negative energy with me to bed. Yes, there are dishes in the sink right now, but I feel great! It wasn't a problem fitting these things into my day even though I taught four yoga classes and worked for four hours.

This blog is a huge motivator. It keeps me on track and records my progress. I highly recommend starting a journal or a blog if you want to make healthy changes in your life or stay on track with the changes you've already made.

Composting and Smoothies

I have wanted to spiff up our backyard since we bought the house a year ago and I am especially excited about the possibility of composting. Since we live in the city, I was skeptical about whether we could pull this off without inviting every critter in the neighborhood for a nightly feast. I came across a few encouraging articles and websites, one from Urbanite and the other from NYC's Compost Project. I'm sure I've only skimmed the surface of the resources that are out there. I'll keep you posted on this composting/gardening journey. My hope is to have a nice vegetable garden this summer and to put the pulp from my juicer and other organic materials to use, rather than throwing them in the garbage.

So far, so good with the refined/processed sugar detox. I am still eating natural sugars (honey and fruit). Today I made a nice smoothie, loosely based on a recipe from Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. I threw the following ingredients into a blender: a bag of organic tropical fruit medley (frozen Whole Foods Brand), 1 tbls. raw almond butter, 1 tbls. raw honey (Lord Byron's Honey), 1 tsp. Bee Pollen (first time eating this, couldn't taste it in the smoothie!), 1 tsp. organic vanilla extract, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, pinch of celtic sea salt. It was sooooo good! I also experimented later in the day with Carob powder. I heated up 1 tbls. of Carob, 1 tbls. raw honey, and 1 cup almond milk. Although the powder wouldn't dissolve completely, it was still very good.

I'm feeling better overall. This morning, I awoke naturally at 7:30am and I didn't feel groggy for the first time in weeks! I really hope that this continues. I'm very excited to receive my new dehydrator in the mail! It should be here in a few days. Hopefully I'll be "cooking" (dehydrated food cannot be cooked over 110 degrees or the enzymes will begin to break down in the food) lots of goodies this weekend:)