life on the ranch

Good afternoon! I keep thinking that today is Monday, come to find out it's actually Tuesday, and I get SUPER excited because that means only 3 1/2 more days until the weekend! Can you tell what I'm living for these days?!
If you've been reading, then you remember that the boyfriend and I packed up and hauled our butts to Brownwood, Texas to spend the weekend with his family. We had high hopes of getting away, kicking our feet up, and relaxing the weekend away. Well, that's just what we got- sort of.

We departed from Austin on Saturday afternoon, foot to the metal and the music blasting. I absolutely love going on trips with Raymond for the sole fact that I get to throw my feet up on the dash board to bask in the sun and sing to the blaring music as loud as I can, just to serenade annoy him. How could you not just love me???

The drive is only about 2+ hours, but we always make sure that we leave on an empty stomach, just so that we can stop in Lampasas at Storm's Burgers. The actual restaurant is similar to a Sonic, with the curb side ordering layout, just a wee-bit butt load older and slightly falling apart. You know, no biggie. You know what they say-- "good things come in small ugly packages!" A lot of people like to believe that Storm's is highly overrated, but I beg to differ. While I don't think that they are the best burger that I'll ever eat, they definitely are at the top of the list. Besides, I don't think the Food Network would feature somewhere that totally sucked, now would they? Take that haters.

Our first stop after getting into town, was to pick up Raymond's son... Raymond III! I absolutely love spending time with these two together. To see how happy they are around each other is awesome. To watch my man smile from ear to ear for 2 days straight just because his boy is asleep in the next room gives me the best feeling in the world. Aint it just the shweetest!?

Another 10 minute drive and we arrived at the El Rancho!... to an empty house. We were expecting to be greeted by his parents, the sisters, nephews, etc. But nope, nothing... no one. While waiting for everyone's arrival, we unloaded our things from the truck and the boys decided to start playin' around. A short while later everyone arrived home, and the fun began!

Knife Throwing

Sweet Tea Drinkin'

Rabbit Hunting

Cheesin'

With a full house of boys ranging from ages 2-15, the thoughts of relaxation were becoming more and more sparse! Looked like we were in for a looooong noisy few days!

The rest of the weekend was spent with an outing to the mall (which is the size of a Wal Mart) to see Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D. This was my first time to see a 3D movie, and it definitely took some getting used to. For some reason, those glasses were rather weird at first. After a good 15 minutes I felt like I was finally adjusted enough to where I could kick back and enjoy. I'm not sure if my expectations for a 3D movie were set too high, but I can only remember a good 2 or 3 times when I really felt like I was there in the movie. Maybe it's because it was a cartoon? Or maybe that's just how 3D movies are. I guess I'll just have to go watch more to find out! As for the actual movie itself, it was fantastic! We were a big fan of the first Kung Fu Panda, so we had high hopes for the second, and it sure did deliver. It was cute, touching, and funny, and I definitely would recommend it! Also while at the mall, we did a tiny bit of shopping and purchased some new running shorts. I wasn't planning on buying anything, but I got 2 pair of Adidas tempo shorts for $30. Couldn't pass that deal up. I also almost purchased (twice) a new pair of running shoes but decided to wait and browse a bit more here in town. I have a feeling that purchase will be happening soon, and I can't wait!

After the mall we headed over to wally world where we bought a small pool for the little ones to play in since it was about 103 degrees outside and the wind was blowing so insanely strong it felt like we were standing in front of a burning building. You know it's hot when you stand outside for .2 seconds and your back is drenched in sweat. Attractive, I know.

Playing Life Guard

The food we eat on the ranch never ceases to amaze me. I always end up trying something I've never had, and never even knew people ate. I wont lie, when I discovered what we would be eating for dinner the first night, I got a little bit nervous. On the menu? Mollejas (moy-e-has). Other wise known as cow pancreas. GET OUT OF TOWN! I seriously cringed just a little bit at the thought, and decided that some chicken better be cooked for backup. Now, I've tried menudo (soup made with cow stomach), and lengua tacos (cow tongue) and have not been a fan of either. But, I am frightened pleased to say that the mollejas were rather tasty in that it tasted just like fried meat. A few pieces were consumed and then I moved on to the chicken.

Frying Mollejas

Another not-so-tasty treat consumed this weekend? Rabbit. I watched Raymond shoot, kill, skin, wash, and cook a rabbit in 10 minutes. Not only was I sad, but rather disgusted. I tried to muster up the courage to take a picture of the boys with their catch, but upon doing so I almost died at the sight of the eyeballs dangling from the head. Seriously, worst thing ever. Not only was I not too thrilled about tasting it, when I did take a tiny bite, it was awful. (I pretended to enjoy it for Raymond's sake.) It clearly was fresh, and tasted much too gamy for my liking. Not a fan of the bunny. RIP Bugs.

The boys with their catch

I quickly got over my bunny depression and we spent the rest of the weekend listening to stories and sippin' on cold beers. I had a fantastic time and was really upset to have to return to reality. I could live the rest of my life out on a ranch under the stars (coughraymondcough)! But, we're back and it's time to move on with the usual routine and the usual foods. I must admit, I am a bit excited to eat vegetables again!
Off I go to eat some green stuff!

im not a bitch

Hello and happy Saturday! I hope your weekends have started off superbly!

Aint I puuurddy??

Sorry for the scary, picture. I'm in the process of curling my hurr as I type up this post. I thought I'd squeeze in a quick and breezy post before I head out of town for the weekend. As much as I love all of you, I have a feeling relaxing on a ranch gazing up at the stars > blogging. Please forgive me, k?

I really wanted to talk about something that happened last night while I was waiting tables. This has really bothered me more than I think it should, and I could use some advice from you guys.

Everything is going normal, and all of a sudden a huge crowd of people were surrounding a table of guests. Apparently, a woman that was sitting at the table had fainted. She had eaten, and was only on her second beer, so clearly it wasn't due to mal-nutrition and she wasn't by any means drunk. She was there with her friends and her daughter (who was probably in her early 20s). She immediately came to, but an ambulance was called anyway, as it should have been. The ambulance came, took her vitals, spent about 20 minutes with her and then left. She and her friends stayed at the retaurant for about another 2 hours just chit catting.

Now, while all of this is happening, I'm making sure to just stay out of the way, and let the retaurant managers deal with it. I'm not going to go sticking my nose into business that isn't mine. Of course, if they needed anything, I'd get it for them in a heart beat. With that being said, I notice that throughout the rest of the duration that the women were sitting there, they started talking about how "they know the owners of the restuarant and they are definitely going to take care of it." My first thought is... what are the owners going to take care of? Why are they mad at our establishment for her sickness? Something that we have no control over. Whatever. I dropped it and moved on with my night. I continued working, but I couldn't help notice that the daughter kept staring at me. Every time I looked over at their table, she was turned around shooting me evil looks. Maybe I'm just crazy and she's looking at something else. Maybe. Hopefully. For about 30 minutes, this mean-mugging went on. Seeing that they had closed out their tabs when all of the comotion was taking place, I thought maybe they needed to order something else. Finally, I went over to the table and asked if everything was okay, and if they needed anything. The daughter immediately turned her head and wouldn't even speak to me. I asked again, and the rest of the women smiled and said that they were fine. Cool. So what's this girl's problem? Whatever it is, she's going to have to deal with it herself, because I'm not about to start anything with anybody and risk loosing my job. Done and done.

Eventually, the women decided to leave, and as they were walking out, a co-worker of mine told them to have a nice night, and I smiled polititely. As that happened, the daughter looked at me, turned to one of the other women, and then proceeded to say "BITCH! Did you see that girl laughing?" HOLD. THE. PHONE. Did she just call me a bitch?? Both my co-worker and I were in awe. Seriously, I felt my chin hit the floor. I couldn't believe it. Yeah, I've been called a bitch before. That's not what upsets me. What really gets to me, is the fact that this girl truely believed that I was standing there for 2 hours laughing at the face that her mom was sick. Really???? Never in my right mind would I EVER make fun of somebody for needed medical assistance. Coming from somebody that has called an ambulance twice in the last 3 months for their own father, I don't find anything remotely funny about it.

So why did she think that? What did she think she heard/saw me saying that would give her this idea? Did I make the wrong facial expression at her? I know I couldn't have said anything that would have put this idea in her head, because the only words I spoke to her was "are you doing okay?" Is this girl just a looney tune that has no idea what she's doing or does she genuinely think she heard me say something about the situation? Whatever it may be, a big part of me is super upset about it. And I wish that I could tell her all of this. But then I wonder if it would even matter. Would she even believe me? Or would she just think I'm lying to her? I guess I will never know, but I hope that everyone can take something from this. You don't know everything that other's are thinking. Even if you think you do... you don't.

With that being said, I'm off to spend the weekend with the people I love that know me and love me too! I hope you all have a great weekend!

breakfast morning noon & night

It's FRIDAYYY!! Yee-haw! I'm stoked!

I'm not gonna lie, this week was a rough one. The boys had me at my wit's end all week, and there were a few times where I thought I wasn't gonna make it! You ever have those days where you're just so frustrated you want to stop everything, lock yourself in a room and cry? Yeah, that was my Monday-Thursday. Don't get me wrong, I love my cutie little baby cousins, but everybody needs a break every now and again. Can I get an AMEN?!

Because I was put through the ringer this week, I have never been more excited to pack up, and head out of town with my babe for a few days. This Memorial Day weekend we will be heading to his parents ranch about 2 1/2 hours North-West of Austin. I'm sure the weekend will be filled with delicious authentic homemade food (his mom makes the BEST tortillas), gun-shootin', drinkin' around the fire and looking up at all of the stars. The difference in the air between here and there is amazing. Have you ever compared the night sky between the city and the country? It's baffling at how many more stars are visible in the country, and it really puts pollution into perspective. It's beautiful out there, and I can't wait to relax with the man I love!

Moving past all of the mushy stuff.... today's eats have been all about the B-MAN aka breakfast (yes, I just made that up, and yes, I know it's really dumb)! After the typical morning green machine juice, I munched down a combo bowl of cereal that included Quaker Oatmeal Squares and Cinnamon Cheerios with Silk. I love both of these cereals, but the Cinnamon Cheerios really made it today.

For lunch I had a Thomas' Bagel Thin topped with almond butter and apple slices. The rest of the apple was consumed upon preparation. What?? I couldn't wait!

Yep, I make faces with my food.

I'm sure that I speak for many, when I say that I can eat breakfast at any time of the day. While I wouldn't say that it is my favorite meal of the day, it definitely ties for first with lunch and dinner (hehe)!

Now my belly is full and I'm ready to take on these last few hours with these children! See ya!


What are your Memorial Day plans?


What is your favorite meal of the day and why?

chocolate brownie bites

Happy hump day people!

Do you ever have those days where you just want to eat any and everything in sight? Welp, that's my day today! Seriously, I can't stop eating! I started my morning with green juice, followed by a mixed bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares and cinnamon Cheerios. That wasn't enough so I munched down a handful of raw cashews which luckily got me to lunch time. I had a salad drizzled with Caesar dressing, a leftover croissant from last night's awesome dinner, and now I'm about to pop an Amy's dinner into the microwave! And I'm already thinking about what I'm going to have for a snack later... sheeeesh! What is wrong with me today! Fatty-boombalatty!

I figured I should stay on the topic of food and being a tubbo, so I wanted to share a recipe with you guys! I made these ooey-gooey chocolatey brownie bites while I was on my vegan cleanse. Err.. that lasted a long time. Point being-- not only are these little treats to die for, they are also vegan, gluten-free, and low sugar! Sounds like a quadruple win to me!

Chocolate Coconut Brownie Bites
1/2 cup + 2 T buckwheat flower
1/2 cup + 2 T brown rice flower
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/8 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

Mix all dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix all wet ingredients together, and then combine with dry. Using a spoon (or ice cream scoop), dollop batter into mini cup cake liners. Cook for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and enjoy!

Don't forget to lick the bowl!

Leaning tower of amazing.

Don't forget a smear of nut butter! ;-)

Moist center!

These things turned out SO great, and were the perfect size! I loved them because they had a brownie AND cake like consistency (best of both worlds if you ask me), and they were moist on the inside because of the apple sauce! Plus, they are low-sugar so you don't have to feel guilty about popping 2... or 7 into your mouth!

Hope you enjoy!

guilt-less eating

Just another manic Monday here! The morning started off in quite a tizzy with 2 little boys doing lots of screaming and fussing. Between the toy jacking, finger pinching, and bloody lip, you could definitely tell it was going to be a loooong day. Although the boys gave me quite a run for my money today, I couldn't help but love on them. I mean really, who couldn't smile at the sight of this...


Dragon Boy Finn



Duckie Baby Milo

So, remember Saturday when I was debating what to do about my 21 day vegan cleanse? Well, after getting through half of day 6, and much deliberation, I raised the white flag. I couldn't handle it anymore. I could feel my body yerning for something. Something more than vegetables. More than grains. More than beans. I needed substance, meat, and happiness. I first felt so guilty, but after receiving a few comments from you guys, I realized that my happiness is all that matters. So, I threw in the towel. And now, not only do I feel great, I feel energized and I feel like my mind is at ease! Thanks again to all of you who offered your support and advice! It is so much appreciated!

This morning, for breakfast, I had a glass of green juice which consisted of romaine, cucumber, asparagus, beets, apple and strawberries. After my juice, I felt the usual hunger pains, so guess what I did? I ATE! I didn't have to wait until noon to eat a salad, either. I poured myself a small bowl of wheat Chex with milk, and munched that baby down. It was good, too! It felt so awesome to eat cereal. And milk. I ate it without any guilt, too!

Around lunch time, my stomach was hurting a bit, and I didn't have much of an appetite. Knowing that I needed to put something into my belly, I went to my go-to choice for the circumstances. A smoothie!

In my smoothie:
1 cup mixed berries
1 banana
Huge handful of baby spinach
1 cup silk soy milk
1 scoop brown rice protien powder
1 scoop vanilla whey protien powder
1 T cocoa powder

This smoothie had such a soupy consistancy, that I ended up pouring it into a mug to slurp it down. It was great, and just what my tummy needed!

Instead of worrying about eating veggies for a snack, I had a bowl of fresh fruit!


Apple and Kiwi

My long day finally ended, and now I'm at home working on filing a DBA for my business. That means I will officially be a business owner soon. Now that is weird! But I am so excited, and can't wait to start doing what I love! I guess I should find some clients first, eh? Do you need an event planner? ;-)

I hope you all have a fantastic night, I'll be working working and working!

healthified oatmeal cookies

Good morning! I hope your weekends are off to a fantastic start. I woke this morning with a scratchy throat... and I'm really excited ticked about it. Thats what I get for smooching on two little boys with runny noses all week!

Today is day 6 of my cleanse and I'm going to be honest, I'm feeling super discouraged about it. I'm not sure what it is, but I just don't want to do it anymore. I'm not finding it difficult to eat the foods, but more that I don't feel like I should be restricting myself from certain things. I know that food doesn't equal happiness, but it definitely shouldn't equal unhappiness.

Like this morning, I woke up to make my green juice, and realized that I didn't have any broccoli and my romaine was more than on it's last leg. So, I substituted baby spinach for the broccoli and used my almost-brown romaine anyway. The juice tasted fine, but it annoyed me that I woke up feeling like I had obligations. It's the weekend, and after a 60 hour work week, all I want to do is relax. I don't want to wake up, and have to haul my tired butt to the grocery store to buy fresh produce, and then spend the rest of my day worrying about working my schedule around what I'm going to eat.

With that being said, I've decided that I'm going to continue with what I've been doing on the week days for sure, and when it comes to the weekend, I will drink my juice, still eat my veggies, and incoorporate as much vegan, gluten-free, low-sugar options as possible. But, if my day is planned around a friend's 2 year old's pool party that will consist of BBQ and beer (yes, that's my day today), I'm not going to not eat, and sit there miserably. I feel like as long as I'm eating well the majority of my time, how can I feel bad about that?

So how do I feel about this? I'm torn. Am I awesome for trying or a loser for quiting? Part of me feels guilty, but the other part of me says not to. How can I be mad at myself for giving up, cold turkey, almost everything I ate in my normal day to day life? That's an accomplishment in itself, right? So how I can I feel bad about that? I can't. And I shouldn't. But I do. Part of me says "but I made it 6 days" and the other part says "you only made it 6 days". I feel proud of myself, and I feel like a failure. Well, I can't be both, so I've decided to go with the better of the two, and cut out all of the negative about it. I still plan on drinking my juice and eating my veggies. I just want to be able to eat an occasional bowl of oatmeal made with milk, a chicken salad, and maybe even a peice of cheese. I don't want to live off of beans, hummus, and brown rice. I'm sorry, but I don't want to, and I wont. I'm going to do what makes me happy, and as long as my body and mind are happy and feel good, to me, that is all that matters.

Now, to get back to what the actual title of this post is... healthified oatmeal cookies! Last week I did a guest post on Sarah's blog about ways to turn our every day junk food into something healthy. I featured a cookie recipe that I found somewhere on the internet, but drastically modified it. Here ya go!

Healthified Oatmeal Cookies:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup raw walnut pieces
1/4 cup raw almond slivers
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup skim milk
1 banana
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Combine and stir all ingredients together, until mixed well. Roll into ball in hand. (yes, this will be a sticky mess) and flatten on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and pan, and enjoy!

I'm off to eat that bowl of oatmeal I mentioned a few minutes ago! Unless I start to feel like a total loser again. See ya!

day four & five

It's Friday, Friday... gotta get down on Friday! How sucky is it that every time I say the word Friday I can't help but sing a little Rebecca Black? She's one awful smart singer!

So, yesterday was day 4 of 21. I started off the morning with the usual green juice and once again, loved every bit of it. I'm still thrilled that I get excited to wake up and drink my vegetables. Knowing that the first thing (other than water) that enters my body every day is a plethora of veggies, I can't help but feel proud of myself.

For lunch I had a large plate of slightly steamed broccoli, drizzled with a squirt of flax oil, and some salt and peppa. I was planning of saving half of the broc for dinner, but ended up eating the entire plate. Oops!

I paired the broccoli with a sweet potato, sprinkled with a tiny bit of cinnamon. It was fantastic!

 

After lunch I snacked on an un pictured banana with almond butter. Seriously, I could eat my body weight in this stuff. The mixture of the sweetness from the banana and the nutty almond flavor just make me die inside every time I take a bite. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, my week days are pretty hectic, and I work 16 hour days on Thursdays and Fridays. What do I do? I wait tables. How do I eat dinner while waiting tables? I don't. It sucks... but it's necessary, and I gotta do what I gotta do to pay the bills. Typically, I get off work anywhere from 11pm to 12am. Normally, after my shift, I'd grab a quick bite to eat from the restaurant and call it a night. Well, now that I'm on this cleanse... I can't eat anything that my restaurant serves and really don't want to be eating so late anyway. By the time I get home, I'm just ready to crawl into bed. The whole point of my rambling is that I didn't eat dinner. And while it's awesome because I wake up looking extra skinny, it sucks because it's not healthy and I also wake up starving, ready to devour any and everything! Seriously, the first thing in my head this morning was pizza and beer.

Of course though, I was a good girl and stuck to my water and green juice, which really helped take the edge off of my starvation issues. I made it through to lunch where I munched down a huge salad made of romaine, field greens, cucumbers, walnuts, and one large strawberry, all tossed in yummy honey mustard. So far, out of the three salad dressings I have tried, this is the only one I can stand. Something's gonna have to change because I still have 22 more days of this crap and I've got a feeling HM will get really old, really quick.

Along with my salad I had another black bean taco like I did on day 3. This time, I used a brown rice tortilla rather than a spelt one. I filled the tort with melted daiya cheese, black beans, avocado, and baby spinach. I definitely prefer the spelt tortilla over the brown rice, but it was still yummy and I ate it all!

Tonight will probably be the same, where I don't eat any dinner. I've got some brainstorming to do this weekend as to how I'm going to get meals into my body. Or I could just quit my job? YEAH! Problem solved!

As of day five, I haven't noticed any big changes in my body. Other than dropping about 2 pounds, nothing is any different. I don't know that I was expecting anything different, but something would be nice just to reassure myself that I am doing this for a reason. Hmph... only time will tell, and I'm determined to complete at least 7 days before I throw in the towel! Just kidding! Or am I?

See you all tomorrow with a yummy recipe!

day three

Hello! Happy hump day ladies and (maybe) gentlemen! I think the only men that read my blog is my grandpa and from time-to-time, Raymond.

Let's get right down to the nitty gritty. I woke up this morning at 6:15am and hauled my tush to the gym. My workout looked a little something like this:

Warm Up:

10 min. on bike
Arm stretches

Upper Body:

3 sets of resistance bicep curls @ 50lb., 60lb., 70lb.
3 sets of resistance tricep push @ 50lb., 60lb., 70lb.
3 sets of row @ 60lb., 75lb., 75lb.
3 sets of bicep curls w/ dumbells @ 17.5lb., 20lb., 22.5lb.
2 sets of tricep curls w/ dumbells @ 15lb.
2 sets of tricep dips on bench w/ own body weight
3 sets of shoulder pull downs @ 70lb., 80lb., 80lb.
3 sets of toe touches w/ 35 lb. bar
3 sets of shoulder shrugs w/ 35lb. bar
3 sets of over head lifts w/ 35lb. bar

Core:

2 sets of 25 standard crunches
2 sets of 15 standing obleques w/ 25lb. weight
1 min. plank

Cardio:

10 min. run/incline walk on treadmill (for the life of me, I cannot remember my speeds or incline... whoops!)

After a shower, and a bottle of water... my tummy was grumblin' like crazy! I had been up since 6:15 and wasn't planning to eat solid food until noon. Not. Cool. At. All.

Could it be? I actually was craving my green juice? What is going on here?!?! This, to me, was absolutely insane. In the Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr, she says that eventually, your tastebuds get used to the flavor of green juice and your body actually starts to crave the healthy foods you're putting into it. While I was a little skeptical of that, I somewhat thought that there was a chance it could happen. But there was no way I would've thought it would happen so soon. All I could think about was getting my lips on a glass of that green stuff! Instead of chugging it down, I sipped on it for a good 45 minutes. No joke, I enjoyed every bit of it.

I think it's getting serious. Time to make it facebook official, I guess!

For lunch I had another gigantic salad complete with romaine, baby spinach, broccoli, cucumbers, and strawberries drizzled with honey mustard. Along with my salad, I had a black bean taco on a spelt tortilla, topped with daiya cheese, avocado, and baby spinach. Let me tell you something. This was, by far, not only the best thing I have eaten in my 3 days of the cleanse, but one of the best things I have ever eaten in general. I am a sucker for anything with black beans. And what's even more awesome, is that I didn't miss the real cheese or sour cream at all!

My sweet tooth kicked in after lunch and I munched on 2 of these little babies.

Yeah, they were every bit as fantastic as they look. And don't worry, the recipe will come shortly! Can you guess what they are?

While I was preparing dinner, I munched on a few cucumber sticks with red pepper hummus. For the real deal meal I had another salad of the usual veggies and a few apple chunks, topped with ranch dressing. I'm not sure how much more of the "ranch" I can handle.. there is just something off about it. For now, I'll stick to my honey mustard. It's always got muh back, anyway. I also had brown rice and wakame noodles topped with the left over sausage from last night's dinner, satued veggies, and marinara. This meal was just so-so, but it filled me up, which is all that matters, right? Meh.

I might finish off the apple that was used in my salad, but as of now I'm not feeling hungry.

I'm thinking about hitting the gym again tomorrow morning, but I can already feel my back muscels getting sore, and Thursday and Friday are my 16 hour work days... so I might skip it. We will see how I feel at 6:15am! And that's not saying much... Lol!

I hope you all have a good night and if you're starting to get bored with the daily cleanse posts, don't worry, I've got about 4 tastey recipes coming your way VERY soon. So stay tuned and look out for those!

I'm off to watch trashy TV and hit the sack. Goodnight all, see ya later!

day two

Hope you all had a terrific Tuesday! Mine was guuuhh-rate!!! (Tony the Tiger style)

If you aren't up to date on what's been going on lately, you can catch up here. And day one's recap of my vegan/gluten-free cleanse can be read here.

Last night I set my alarm clock for a 6:15am wakeup call with plans to head to the gym. I love the feeling of accomplishment I get from waking up extra early (for me) and completing a workout before the work day even begins! Can you guess what happened? Remember yesterday when I mentioned that I got a mere 5 hours of half-ass sleep? Well, I wasn't lying because either I didn't hear my alarm clock go off, or I was so tired that I turned it off and don't remember a bit of it. It shocks me, because I am such a light sleeper. Call me crazy, but you could tip-toe, while holding your breath past my door and I'd wake up from it. Usually when I skip-out on a planned morning workout (every other day) I regret it and am really hard on myself. But this morning when I woke up... I didn't have an ounce of remorse because I knew that my body needed the rest-- especially with my cleanse going on!

Speaking of cleanse-- today is day number two! I MADE IT! Yeah, so what if it's only been two days? If you would've told me a month ago that I'd not only be giving up meat and gluten, but my beloved dairy (I'll see you in 19 days, cheese block), I would have laughed, eaten a cupcake right in your face, and told you to take a hike. I almost just wrote that I'd smash a cupcake in your face, but then I realized I would never in my right mind waste such a tasty being. Am I sad or what!?

Moving on... get it together, Sam.

Again, I began the day with a glass of water and green juice. This time we uped the anty and made 16 oz. glasses instead of 12 oz. Seriously, this whole juice thing is probably the easiest part of the cleanse (so far)and I totally plan to make it a daily (hopefully) routine whether I stay vegan or not. How awesome is it that you can get 1.5 cucumbers, 3-4 romaine leaves, 3-4 broccoli stems, and almost an entire pear in one glass that can be drank in 2 minutes (if you chug it down like me)? I think it's pretty fantastic, to say the least. Just thinking about it makes me feel healthy!

Luckily today, I didn't feel like I was going to eat my face off before lunch, and I survived until noon. After yesterday's tahini dressing disaster, I was quite a bit nervous about how I was going to get my salads down. There is only so much dry romaine a girl can handle! So, I took to ol' faithful (google) and found a "honey mustard" salad dressing that fit the qualifications! Don't worry, the recipe will come shortly.

With the honey mustard by my side, I got down most of a veggie loaded salad! Romaine, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and strawberries. Yummo!

For the rest of lunch, I sauted some baby spinach, onion, and garlic in a splash of olive oil and tossed that into a serving of brown rice & wakame noodles. Hands down, best thing I have eaten so far, in my two whole days!

A few hours after lunch I snacked on some unpictured raw cashews, cucumber sticks with roasted red pepper hummus, and a banana- half smeared with peanut butter and the other half with almond butter. HOLD THE BUS. This was my first time having almond butter... and do I dare say it? I believe I may have enjoyed it more than the PB. (Please don't hurt me all you PB lovers!) It was just much easier to eat and to me, was a little sweeter. Fantastic, I'll probably dream about it tonight.

For dinner? What else? A big bed of romaine topped with more cucumbers, carrots, and avocado, this time drizzled with "ranch" dressing. Yep, you'll get that recipe, too! I ate the veggies along with some brown rice seasoned with garlic salt, basil, thyme, and oregano topped with whole grain sausage. This meal was fantastic, but huge and I definitely couldn't finsish it all, but I did my best.

Day One Recap:

The morning started very well and I got down the green juice easily. Lunch came quickly and I thouroughly enjoyed my meal. Almost every bite of it! Snacks were amazing and made me feel like I could just nibble the night away. Dinner was not as good as lunch, but I did enjoy it and would totally eat it again!

My Concerns:

My stomach hurt a little bit today. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the extra veggies added to my diet, or if it's just leftover crap I ate from the weekend. My guess would be a mixture of both.

My Hopes:

I hope that my stomach pain subsides by the morning, and my body gets used to the added veggie intake. Also, I didn't have a headache today from sugar withdrawls, so I'm hoping it stays that way. Yesterday I had major cheesey bread, sweets, and sugar cravings which weren't so bad today. Of course it didn't help that the BF ate pizza and chicken wings for dinner, but surprisingly, the urge to eat my food was stronger than the want of that junk!

I think each day is only going to get easier, and the more recipes I try, the more foods I will learn to love!

I ended the evening with a quick 1.5 mile run/walk and a shower. Now it's time for bed... once again my alarm is set for 6:15am and I'm praying that I hear it this time! But you never know... hehe!

Goodnight!

Do you prefer to workout in the morning or evening?

Are you a light sleeper?

day one

Hi all! Hope your Mondays were fantastic! Wanna know how mine was? Heh... heh...

If you've read this morning's post, you know that today is the first day of my vegan cleanse. Welp, here's how it went...

I woke up around 6:30 this morning, after not falling asleep until about 1am. There's my first problem. But, I had taken a nap yesterday, so I guess it's my own fault. That's okay though, it just means I'll be nice and sleepy for bed tonight! (I cannot wait!)

After my shower, I went straight to the fridge for a glass of water with lemon. I decided to omit the recommended cayenne. A tid bit of information for ya-- I absolutely loathe the taste of water with lemon. I'm not a big lemon fan to begin with... but to water it down is even worse. Bleck. This was definitely difficult to get down. But, I plugged my nose and made it happen.

Next up was the "green juice". I'm not sure why I put it in quotations, because it actually is green, and so was everything that went into it.

Into the juicer went: (makes 2 servings)

2 cucumbers
5 romaine leaves
5 broccoli stems
1 large pear

Okay, so yeah... this stuff is green and smells like broccoli. Yeah it's scary and intimidating. BUT I will go ahead and tell you it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I was expecting to gag at the tiniest taste of this stuff, and out of everything I consumed today, it was one of the easiest.

I drank the juice around 10am, and was surprisingly okay, and not feeling hungry. Around 11:20, I wanted to eat my own hand off. I was immediately struck with a nauseating feeling. I needed something in my stomach, and I needed it quick. But what did I do? I waited. Until noon. There arrives my second problem. While I should have munched on an apple, I decided starving myself would be a better idea. Idiot. Hey, I never said I was the most intelligent girl!

After grazing on a few raw cashews and macadamias, noon finally rolled around and lunch was prepared. First, I had a huge salad filled with romaine, baby spinach, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, orange, yellow, and green peppers, broccoli, avocado, and 2 unpictured strawberries.

 

Third problem. I attempted to use a tahini-lemon dressing, but it just was not working. I took about 4 bites with it to make sure I wasn't a fan... and that was that. I whipped up a quick lemon, olive-oil, and S&P dressing, and drizzled it on. The avocado and strawberries really helped make this eatable.

For the first half of lunch, I smeared some tofu egg-less salad on a spelt tortilla. I paired it with a few vegan, gluten free crackers and a dollop of baba-ganoush. This was, hands down, the best thing I ate all day. Unfortunately, and much to my surprise, I was absolutely stuffed about halfway through the meal and couldn't finish it all.

Lunch kept me full until about 4:30, so I ate a chunk of cantaloupe and honey-due melon, and a few pistachios.

You know what 6pm meant? Dinner time! I had another salad, that was made up of field greens, avocado, walnuts, broccoli, and strawberries. For the dressing I used lemon juice, flax seed oil, and S&P. Once again, the strawberries came to my rescue and made the salad eatable!

 

I paired the salad with a recipe taken from Fitting It All In. It consisted of brown rice, garbanzo beans (chick-peas), onion, spinach, and lima beans. Drizzled on top was liquid aminos and tahini.

This was actually pretty tasty... at first. Problem number four. I felt the more and more I ate it, the less I enjoyed it. I'm not sure what it was about it, but something wasn't right. Ugh.

After dinner, I started to get a roaring headache, and boiled it down to needing some sugar. I turned to a bowl of fruit. In the mix was cantaloupe, honey-dew, and strawberries. Just 2 bites in, my headache was gone. Thank. The. Lord.

 

I love you, fruit! You've always got muh back!

 

Day One Recap:

I wasn't sure what to expect today. I've gone back and fourth between thinking this will be easy, then hard, then easy, then.. well... you get my drift! The morning went smoothly, I hit a bump shortly before lunch but quickly fueled up, which lasted me a while. Dinner was pretty simple to get to, and not too bad, and my headache was promptly cured with fruit.

My Concerns:

I'm already craving cheesey bread. I feel like I need some carbs. Maybe it's just my body detoxing, but I want it! Is this supposed to already be happening? If not, I may be in for a rude awakening!

My Hopes:

I am hoping that I find better dressings for my salads. I obviously am not really feeling the whole lemon/vinaigrette thing. I am more of a ranch/Caesar kind of girl! I also hope that the carb cravings go away, along with my headaches.

If you have any vegan, gluten-free recipes, or any suggestions, please share with me! I am open to anything and need lots of ideas!

See you all tomorrow with day 2 of the cleanse!

21 day vegan cleanse

***Living With Grace is now Fat Girl at Heart


Hello and happy Monday to you all! I don't know about you, but I sure as heck was not ready for the weekend to end. I was in much need a nice, calm, relaxing couple of days and that is just was I got!

I awoke earlier than planned (8:30) on Saturday morning and made my way to the farmer's market. I had never been before, but had heard many awesome things about it, and knew I had to give it a try. Luckily, the weather was beautiful, sunny, and crisp, which totally helped me get out the door. Trust me, I could have lounged around in bed all day if needed!

As awesome as the market was, I must admit that I expected a little more from it. There were so many booths filled with goodies, treats, and fresh veggies. It was so much fun to browse each booth and compare prices. Not to mention, I felt good knowing that I was supporting my local farmers! (Prices are a bit steeper than grocery stores.) And that is where the slight issue comes in. Sure, Texas is filled with land and farms and all that fun stuff. But Austin-- not so much. Pretty much all booths consisted of the same veggies and there was not a single stand that had fruit other than peaches. Also, I was in search of all gluten free, vegan foods, so my options were limited. Maybe I am being to hard on those farmers. Hehe! All in all, I had a great time and it was a fun experience. I'm sure I will be returning.

Ok, so remember the other day when I mentioned that I was going to be starting a vegan cleanse on Monday (today)? Well, the day has arrived and I have begun! I spent my Saturday buying a plethora of fruits and veggies, raw nuts, and vegan knick knacks. This was my kitchen after my shopping trip:

My plan is to document here on the blog, each day, my thoughts, expectations, how I feel, and the way my body and health are changing. Because today is not over yet (durr!), I'll make sure to have a post later on this evening after everything is all said and done! As for now, I'll go ahead and tell you that so, far, this has not been as horrible or difficult as I expected. Here is what the cleanse mostly entails:

21 Day Vegan Cleanse - Daily Routine

source

Wake up
Potty, brush teeth, etc.
Meditate 15-20 min.
Drink glass of water with lemon and cayenne
Drink glass of "green juice" - stay tuned for details/recipes
Lunch @ noon - 80/20 or 60/40 ratio of raw to cooked foods
Mainly raw and all vegan snacks
Dinner - 80/20 or 60/40 ratio of raw to cooked foods
*Sleep for 8 hours
*At least 35 minutes of exercise
*Author (Kris Carr) also suggest adding dry brushing, netti pots, enemas, vitamins, etc.

I can already guarantee there will be quite a few modifications to the "diet"/cleanse (I prefer the term lifestyle) she suggests. I don't plan on the doing the enemas, maybe the netti pot, and dry brushing occasionally. Hey, some is better than none, right?

My Questions and Hopes

While I don't have many day to day issues with how I feel, I am intrigued to see how much better I could feel. What if I can feel 10x better than the way I feel now? What if all this time I think this is as good as it gets when in reality, it can get so much better? What if I have a gluten allergy (like many others do), and I don't even know it? What if my skin glows and I never get another zit again? What if I have so much energy that I don't know what to do with myself? I have so many questions and wonders about what this cleanse is going to bring to my life.

My hopes are that all of the above will occur, and that I feel so amazing that I decide to make this a permanent lifestyle. I hope that this is easier done than said, and that my body only craves good things for the rest of my days on earth. I hope that I learn about my body, and what we, as humans should be consuming. Most of all I hope that this inspires someone else to give it a try!

Me Before Cleanse


I weigh 134 lbs. (yes, a lot of that is solid muscle... hehe!)
I have break outs from time to time
My skin is more dry than I would prefer it to be, and is very sensitive
I get about 6-8 hours of sleep a night
I consume meat and dairy on the daily

Please excuse the attractive bathroom/myspace pose pic, but it's the only full-body shot I have available.

My Concerns

I think the hardest part of all of this is going to be going without fluffy carb-a-licious bread and cheese. Also, I'm not sure how I'm going to do without my beloved crawfish. I also am concerned about how many calories I will be taking in, but apparently it will be enough. I am just keeping my fingers crossed and will only do what is in my best nutritional interest!

I hope you all follow me along this journey. I would love to hear your input and thoughts!

Have you ever done a cleanse before?

Have you ever gone vegan or gluten free?

the new layout

Living With Grace is now Fat Girl At Heart

FIRST things first! What do you all think of the new layout?!?! And the new name? Well, I hope you all like it because I sure as heck do! (There are still a few modifications to be worked out.)


I finally found my blogger identity, and am so excited to venture out and explore the focus I am aiming for. I hope you all stick with me, and learn to enjoy it as much as I do!

While you get used to the new design, why don't you head on over to Sarah's blog, where I just did my first ever guest post about turning healthy into yummy! I hope you all enjoy!

See ya later on!

WIAW #2

Hello all! It’s Thursday! You know what that means? You guessed it! Tomorrow is FRIDAY! YAY! I’m 100% ready for this weekend… I’ve got quite a few plans! I’m thinking that the new blog design will possibly be rolling out on Saturday. Can’t wait for you all to see! Remember… the name will be changing so I hope you don’t get thrown off by it!

Yesterday, I had planned to do another WIAW post, but I totally bombed on getting up any kind of post for that matter. I had a few errands to run and by the time I got settled in, all I wanted to do was snuggle with the BF. So, the rest of the evening looked a little something like:

It’s always nice to spend a few hours one evening doing absolutely nothing. Having no responsibilities or obligations every now and then is a wonderful break. Even if it is just 2 hours a week!

-WEDNESDAY-

6:30am Workout:

10 min. warm up on bike
Stretch
Hamstrings- 3 sets; 15 reps @ 50lb, 12 reps @ 55lb, 10 reps @ 65lb.
Quads- 3 sets; 15 reps @ 50lb, 12 reps @ 65lb, 10 reps @ 80lb.
Inner Thighs- 3 sets; 15 reps @ 50lb, 12 reps @ 60lb, 10 reps @ 70lb
Sitting Calves- 3 sets; 15 reps @ 45 lb, 12 reps @ 55lb, 10 reps @ 70lb
Standing Calves- 3 sets; 20 reps @ 90lb, 15 reps @ 105lb, 12 reps @ 120lb
In-place Lunges- 3 sets; 20 reps (10 each leg) @ 25lb bench weight overhead
Oblique- 3 sets; 15 reps (each side) using 25lb bench weight
25 minute alternating run/incline walk covering about 2 miles

By the time I finished my workout, showered, and was ready to head to work… I was absolutely famished. I typically don’t go for any type of energy drinks, (seeing that they don’t do anything for me) but my stomach was turning back flips at this point, so I grabbed a chocolate muscle milk from the gym cooler. I drank about one serving size out of the container and called it quits. As yummy as the stuff is, the only thing it did for me was stop the grumbling in my tummy. I didn’t feel any more energy than usual, and after reading the back of the container, I questioned how good could this stuff really be for anybody? I feel like if something contains ingredients that I can’t even begin to pronounce… I probably shouldn’t be eating it. At least that’s my theory. (Which I will get into in one hot second.)

After the muscle milk, I decided to have some real food and cooked up 2 scrambled eggs with a little bit of mozzarella cheese, S&P. Yummy. I could tell my body was craving some vitamin C, so I had a 4 oz. glass of pineapple-orange juice along with the eggs.

Before lunch rolled around I snacked on a Peanut Butter Clif Z Bar.

For lunch, I kept going on with my breakfast theme and had 2 small slices of French toast with a touch of butter and maple syrup, paired with a banana and some PB. Best “lunch” I’ve had in quite some time… I wish I had more. Drool…

4 o’ clock snuck up on me and by that time I was starting to get really hungry. Knowing that dinner was a good 3 hours away, I had a super delish yogurt bowl. I used Yoplait Greek Strawberry flavored yog, mixed in one packet of truvia, a small handful of granola and pretty much licked the bowl clean. It was delish, and just what I needed.

I also snacked on some un-pictured chips and queso, with which the first bite gave me instant heartburn. Did that stop me from eating the rest of it? Who? Me?? If you know me at all, I could live off of cheese (particularly queso) so I finished that bad boy up, heartburn and all. Oh, the sacrifices I make. Such a hard life.

For dinner Raymond and I got take out from Cheddars. I really was just craving a salad, so I got a grilled chicken Caesar salad, and shoveled it down before I could even remember to take a photo. Oops! I’m sure you all know what a salad looks like anyway… I hope.

And that’s what I ate Wednesday!

Remember up there where I mentioned my theory of what I (we) should and shouldn’t be eating? Well, a few weeks ago, my aunt purchased this book, “Crazy Sexy Diet” by Kris Carr, and instantly, I read along with her, and will be starting the CSD vegan cleanse on Monday. So your'e thinking… oh great another diet fad that wont work. I’m right there with you. I hate the concept and idea of diets, and pride myself on never having attempted one, or even remotely wanting to. That being said, I feel like the book title is a little misleading, since the “diet” is actually not a diet at all. It’s a lifestyle change. There is no counting calories or any of that kind of stuff. It’s just eating all vegan, gluten-free, mainly raw, alkaline veggies.

You’re wondering what else this “diet” entails, right? In a nut shell, (like mentioned above) it’s a vegan, gluten free, almost all raw diet, consisting of LOTS of green juice and raw veggies. Now, don’t get me wrong… while I love my vegetables, I absolutely love love love (yes, 3 times) my carbs, and my cheese. I know there are many substitutions and vegan options out there, but after 22 years of eating the “real” kind, I have a feeling this is going to be more difficult than expected. Tomorrow I will get into the “diet” and my thoughts about it a little more with you guys.

For now, I’m off to much down some lunch while I stare out the window at the rainstorm we received today. I think it’s been about 6 months since we’ve received any rain (don’t take my word for that). Austin was blessed with tons of rain, hail, wind, dark skies, and much cooler weather. While I love my sun, a little rain every now and then is nice.

See you guys tomorrow!

PS- Raymond and I watched this video multiple times last night, crying because it's so darn funny. If you like animals, or hysterical things, I suggest you watch it!