I Could Cry

Not really, but I am so bummed that the Heat lost the NBA Finals!

This is my sad face.

I know, I’m a total weirdo and way too obsessed, but I have been rooting for the Heat since the season started, thinking that they definitely wouldn’t make it this far since they were such a new team.  Plus, I totally love LeBron. 

He’s awesome.  He’s the next Michael Jordan.  I don’t think he’s there yet…he’s too young, but by the time his career is over I think he’s gonna show us all what’s up. 

Okay.  Enough with that rant.  Let’s get to the food!

My first meal at work today was this lovely sandwich.

By “lovely”, obviously I meant “didn’t survive the trip in my backpack, but still tasted bomb”.  Hummus, cucumber and sun-dried tomatoes on Dave’s Killer Bread Good Seed bread.  Great combo!

My salad was also super delicious today, as always.

Spring mix, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, grated carrot, sprouts, garbanzos, and this fantastic Asian miso dressing that I picked up recently. 

I’ve noticed that in my salad pics, all the good veggies seem to hide under the greens. 

See?? Once I get past all those greens there actually are other veggies hiding under there!  Lots and lots of veggie goodness!

By the way, I’ve decided that I need to drown myself in beta-carotene-containing foods so that maybe I can give myself a tan from the inside out.  Not a horrible plan, right?  😉

My soup of the day was Wolfgang Puck’s Classic Minestrone.

Honestly, I think I might like it even more than Amy’s minestrone soup.  Shhhh, don’t tell Amy!!  Wolfgang Puck was the soup brand on sale when I went to Fred Meyer last week.   They were cheaper than the rest of the soup in the health food section, but still more expensive than I would like, at $2 a can.  I think I see some soup-making in my future!

I guess Keenan is bringing me home some tasty treats from the restaurant tonight.  I can’t wait to see what he whips up!

I have the next two days off of work, and other than beginning a new Bible study group tomorrow morning, I really have no idea what my plans will be.  I’m definitely going to get some workouts in, and hang out with my little man, Arlo.  It’s really going to take some adjusting to not having Keenan around 100% of the time that I’m not at work.  I will definitely miss it, but I think it’s good that I’m getting some time to just chill out and do my own thing on occasion.  I will certainly be savoring the time we have together a bit more now that I can’t take it for granted.

What’s your favorite brand of soup?

Any cool plans for the week ahead?

Have a good night!

❤ Lindsay

Red Robin Burger and Lots of Basketball

Hey!  How’s your week going so far?  I had a fun couple of days off from work.  It involved basketball…lots of basketball.

Sunday night, I played poker with Keenan, our neighbor, and some of their friends.  It was a house game with a $10 buy-in.  I had never played poker before in my life, unless you count playing on Keenan’s phone.  I wasn’t the first to get out of the tournament, but I was close to it.  I really wasn’t getting any good hands though.  Gambling always makes me nervous anyway, not really my cup of tea.

Monday, I drove out to Silverdale, where my parent’s live, and met up with my dad to change my car insurance company, and finally get my own policy.  Yes, I am 24 and was still on my parent’s insurance.  It ended up being a great switch for me.  I’m actually saving over $100 a month by switching from Geico to State Farm.  Definitely nothing to complain about!

After the business was taken care of, I met my friend, Molly, to get pedicures and coffee (well, chai, for me), and chit-chat.  I absolutely love getting pedicures, and I thought about taking a picture, but my toes are definitely not cute enough to put on the internet.  I chose a pale pinky-nude color by OPI.  I wish I could remember the name.  OPI always has the funnest shade names.  I also managed to just about cut off the circulation to my legs by pushing my skinny jeans up to my knees. 😛

Post-pedicures, we headed back to my house to go watch the NBA playoff games at my neighbor’s house with Keenan.  I don’t know how I always manage to get so into the basketball playoffs, even though I’m really not a huge sports fan.  My state doesn’t even have a team anymore, since the Sonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder.   The two games of the evening took about four hours, then we all headed home for the night.

Yesterday, Keenan and I got up, and decided that instead of going for a run, that we would go kick around a soccer ball at a nearby field.  I only played soccer for one season when I was seven, but I was definitely down to go play around.  I think it made me happiest to go play soccer, because of how happy it made Keenan.  He played soccer for most of his life, and even played in college, plus he was really good back in the day, so it’s kind of his thing.  You can tell he’s really in his element when he’s got his cleats on.  Seriously though, just running around, passing the ball and kicking goals ended up being quite the workout.  I was definitely breathing heavily, plus my legs are sore today from using new muscles.  Changing up your exercise is great way to keep from being bored with your activities.  Also, it keeps your body guessing, which can prevent your fitness level from plateauing. 🙂

After playing, we went home, got all cute-ed up and headed out to Red Robin to get some dinner and watch game two of the Heat vs. Celtics series.  Guess who dominated again… the Heat!  Of course.  Lebron James scored 35 points, to which I told Keenan, “Booyah!” and did a little happy dance.  Because I’m mature like that.

I also decided to play undercover blogger and grab a Blackberry pic of the delicious Red Robin burger.

I ordered the Pub Burger with a Gardenburger, and no ranch or cheese.  Red Robin will actually make any of their burgers with a Boca Vegan Burger or a Gardenburger.  Pretty sweet deal.  The picture is too dark to see, but it contains sauteed onions and mushrooms, and tomato slices.  It was bomb.

I also ate about twice that many fries with ketchup, and enjoyed a Pyramid Thunder Head IPA and a Classic Mojito.  I can’t resist bottomless steak fries or Mojitos.  They’re definitely two of my weaknesses.

We went home to watch the other basketball game, with the Thunder vs. the Grizzlies, then went home and went to bed.

Today it’s back to the grind, as usual.  Time to go feed some hospital patients!

What’s your favorite vegan food from a normal restaurant? 

What do you like to do as an alternative activity to standard running and walking?

Have a good one!

❤ Lindsay

AB&….S???

Hello!

Wasn’t today just gorgeous out???

Seattle love. ❤

Did you hear that they caught and killed this guy?

Go Team America!  I’m kind of embarrassed that I actually found out about this from the Facebook newsfeed, rather than from any credible news source.  When you have hundreds of people updating their statuses that Osama bin Laden is dead, I guess you can assume that it’s true.  Then again, the same thing happened with that crazy horoscope thing back in January, and that ended up being a hoax…

In other news, my basketball team won today 97-91!

They kind of rock.  Plus now I have bragging rights for at least the next few days, since Keenan is pulling for the Celtics. 🙂

I also made my first ever iHerb.com purchase today!  I got myself a 2lb bag of vanilla Sun Warrior protein powder.   I’ve never tried it, but I’ve heard so many people in the blog world raving about it, that I figured it was worth a shot.  I use protein powder in my smoothies daily, so I’m pretty stoked to try this one out.  I also bought a bag of chia seeds, which I haven’t had on hand for a few months now.  These will also go in smoothies, for omega-3 power, but I also plan on using them for other recipes, which I’m sure you’ll end up seeing on the blog.  My final purchase was dulse powder, which I’m excited to try out.  I’ve had regular dried dulse, but I haven’t tried it in a powder form before.  Should be interesting to try out, and experiment with different uses for it, besides just a smoothie add-in.

So, on to my food for the day….

When I got to work I bought myself a grande soy chai from Starbucks.

For my first lunch, I enjoyed this sandwich, sitting out on the patio at the hospital, enjoying the sunshine.

On the outside, it may looks like a normal sandwich, but on the inside…

…packed with berry goodness!  I requested this almond butter and strawberry sandwich this morning as a healthier alternative to an AB&J.  AB&S, I suppose??  This was actually my first time trying a sandwich like this, and, let me tell you, it will not be the last.  Despite lacking all the added sugar that jelly contains, this was still sweet and delicious.  I would say that this will be a staple of mine in the future, but I actually don’t keep fresh berries in the house too often because of the price.  I was lucky enough to score these strawberries from my farm delivery last week.

As usual, my second lunch was a huge ol’ salad.

In the mix: spring mix (with the radicchio picked out, of course), shredded carrot, red bell pepper, sprouts, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, and Goddess dressing.

My dinner at work consisted of half of a baked sweet potato with BBQ sauce.

It photographed poorly, but tasted amazing.

These are super easy to make, by the way.  All I did was cut a large sweet potato in half, poke it with a fork a few times, then put in in the microwave for five minutes.  I poured on the bbq sauce, then packed it for work.  When I was ready to eat it, I simply put it in the microwave for about 45 seconds, then enjoyed.  I just wish that I had some itty-bitty containers that I could have carried the sauce in, to put on after microwaving.  However, It still tasted great anyway.

I still haven’t decided on my after work snack, but apparently, since it’s my Friday night, I might be going to play poker at one of Keenan’s friend’s houses.  That should be interesting.  I’ll let you know how it goes, k? 😉

I hope you all have a lovely night, and a great Monday!

Who’s your team in the NBA playoffs? Do you even care?

Tell me about something exciting that happened to you this weekend!

❤ Lindsay

How to Start on Your Path to Health Part Three

Did you all do something Earth-friendly yesterday?

I decided to go pick up trash in the park near my home.

Arlo and the bf helped.

Of course we took time to stop and smell the flowers.

After our trash collecting adventure, we watched the Boston vs. New York NBA playoff game, and I enjoyed a Blue Moon Spring Blonde Wheat Ale or two.  The Celtics smashed. Or course. 🙂  (I’m rooting for Miami, but the bf is pulling for Boston.  We’d love to see a Celtics vs. Heat round 2!)

After the game, we went home and I cooked up dinner.  Quinoa, zucchini and Mama Pea’s Mmmm Sauce.  Simple, but delicious.

The curry flavor of the sauce really stood out to me, in a good way.  I’m having leftovers for dinner tonight. 🙂

How to Start on Your Path to Health Part Three

Congratulations! You have been working hard for the last two weeks to establish healthy habits in your life that will lead to a better, more energetic future!  How are you doing on your goals from last week?

If you missed the first two parts of my How to Start on Your Path to Health series you can find them here:

• Part One
• Part Two

This week is simple.  If the time limit of your goal has not yet been reached, then continue working on that goal, plus add another goal.  Refer to Part Two to learn to how to set the best goals for you.  If your goal was just for the week, and is now complete, then come up with a new health-related goal to work on for the next week.  You can also build on the goal that you accomplished this past week.

My task for you this week is reading labels!  No, I don’t mean the calorie, fat or carb contents.  Percentages aren’t what makes a food.  Instead, I want you to break these old habits and just start reading the ingredients in what you’re purchasing.

When you take the time to find out what’s in your food, I bet you’ll be really surprised at all the nasty stuff you’re putting in your body everyday.  All the preservatives and dyes at the end of the list, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and enriched wheat flour at the beginning of the list.  When you see these, I challenge you to put them down and find another product with a shorter, better ingredient list.  They may cost a little bit more, but this is your health we’re talking about here.  Those extra dollars you’re spending now could keep you from spending many more dollars for medical treatment in the years to come.

Not only will your body thank you, but your taste buds will as well.  When you finally get used to not having HFCS and other bleached, overly processed ingredients in your diet, you will realize how much better REAL food tastes!  All the complexities of the flavors of healthy, organic foods will be realized.

Give it a try and let me know what your thoughts are throughout the next week!

Did you accomplish your goal from last week?  If not, what do you think was your biggest barrier?

What will you be doing this week to improve your health??

❤ Lindsay