The Nerd Comes Out

As part of our orientation schedule for law school, we have a book discussion. Obviously, this isn't like those days in high school or undergrad when you bought the book, flexed the spine a few times to make it look read and then hit the spark notes hard. I'm pretty sure spark notes aren't going to cut it in law school... And, since I'm a super nerd, I've pulled out my crazy, cool reading glasses and stepped into study mentality already to make sure I kill this book discussion. Law School here I am!

As I recall from my previous study days, I don't study at home so well. There's always something to distract me - the cat, dishes, a nap - you name it. Quiet, but not too quite, coffee shops are usually what do the trick for me, so yesterday I went to find a cool place to study, errm, read. I had read about Flight Path Coffee House when I was doing some research for a friend's trip to town, and thought I'd check it out. It was perfecto! The barista was super nice, the atmosphere was kinda funky, and it was the perfect study atmosphere - a delicate balance between library quiet, where keyboard punching is a MAJOR distraction, and cafe buzz, where you just want to know what everyone is laughing about. I had a lovely hibiscus mint iced tea while I read and got a lot done. I'm sure I'll be hitting this place up again soon for a good study session.

Check it out! Pretty funky, right? Lots of space - front, back and outside.

By the way, the book is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Anyone read it? 

Whole30:Vegan Day 3

Oh man, I am so glad this was the last day of juicing. Every time I juice, I am always amazed that I don't feel hungry, but it sure will be nice to chew something! Still, I'm really proud of myself for sticking to all three full days of this. I definitely feel clean and refreshed from this experience, and that was the goal.

I was running out of vegetables to juice but wanted to use up the last of my store, so I got a little desperate. Let's just say, in case you were wondering, kale and carrots do not a yummy juice make!

Still, today was a peaceful and relaxing day. I felt a little bit like you do on the first day that you're well after a long cold. You know - when you have energy and verve for life and everything is wonderful, but if you do too much at once you get tired? That's exactly what day three was like (I swear it was a good thing, kind of), so I listened to my body and took it easy.

I painted my toes (got a little on me, whoops); took a nice, meditative, stretching yoga class online from Priscilla at The Black Swan Yoga; and finished my day off with this yumalicious, pretty-in-pink, watermelon and grape juice recipe.

Recipe:

1/2 of a very small watermelon with rind removed

30 or so red or purple grapes

a little bit of raw ginger

Throw it all in your juicer and enjoy! 

*Since this juice is pretty sugary, you don't want to drink too much of it, and you don't want to do it too often, but it's a nice little reward at the end of a long day or a tedious juicing session. 

Eewie, Gooey, Chewy Bars

I am a power bar fanatic. I have a little bit of a fear of hunger - I blame my mother - and power bars are an awesome way to keep hunger and my fear in check. I always have at least one on me and a few around the house, but man, are they expensive! I was perusing the ingredients list on the label of one of my go-to bars trying to figure out what all the weird unpronounceable, no-no-food words were, when it occurred to me that I could make myself a power bar at home. I could save myself from ingesting some weird-o ingredients and save my wallet from thinning. So, I got in the kitchen and started concocting. What I ended up with was like a Larabar, but cheaper and yummier due to it being filled with homemade goodness. 

Plus, these babies are raw, vegan, gluten free and paleo!

How about that!? 

These days, it seems like everyone has special diet requirements (me included), and these delicious, energy filled bars can be made to satisfy just about any dietary regimen that someone may follow. Woopie. Here's to eating good food for not too much money no matter what our needs are!

I literally eat them all the time. 

Ingredients:

1 pound of dates pitted

1 Tbsp nut butter (I used almond)
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp coco nibs
1 Tbsp hydrated chia seeds
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts this time)

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and process until it holds together.

Then, dump the mix onto parchment paper, and use your fingers or a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula (though your mix may stick to the tools) to press the mix into a rectangular shape (you could use a casserole dish as a mold, but it's not necessary.

Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. After they set a little, you can cut them up however you like: lots of mini sized bars, a few big-daddy sized bars, or maybe some mama-bear sized bars.

Store in the fridge. 

Eat and enjoy as desired!

You could easily alter this any way you like. You can add in more nuts or seeds (or take them out), dried fruit, coconut flakes ... The sky is the limit! Also, not hydrating the chia seeds would make them a little firmer.

Whole30:Vegan Day 2

Today was a much better juicing day, but I always forget that I've got to take it a little easy when juicing. I went to a vinyasa yoga class at my new FAVORITE yoga studio downtown, Wanderlust, and boy was it hard! I was a little embarrassed about the amount of sweat dripping off of me from trying to all those downward dogs. I'm supposed to be stronger than this!

Still, in spite of, and perhaps because of, my morning yoga session, yesterday was a nice peaceful day. Maybe I was feeling peaceful because I was too tired to think or move too much due to lack of food! Anyway, if you're visiting in town or new in town, definitely check out Wanderlust. They have great drop-in rates and an awesome first time member package. I'm planning to go back again tomorrow, but for a more gentle session - haha.

Namaste

Whole30:Vegan Day 1

Let's just talk about how much I need this reboot. July has been a crazy, out of control month! I started the month out with a move to a brand new city. While I managed to stay mostly healthy and happy during the car ride from Houston to my new home in Austin (I scored some of my favorite Larabars and lots of water), things went downhill from there. There are just way too many awesome vegan and vegan friendly eateries around here and that means way too many chances to make not so great choices. Guero's, Tacodeli, Mother's Cafe, and Magnolia Cafe have all quickly made their way to the top of my Yum List. I also live dangerously close to the amazebells flagship Whole Foods where, I admit, I have been purchasing lots and lots of prepared foods. Plus, home cooking means settling in enough to plan out a grocery list and then stay in town to eat the groceries!

On top of having just moved in, I have been back and forth from Austin to Houston lots starting with 4th of July weekend. Need I explain the amount of excessive consumption that happened during that weekend? I didn't think so.

I have fallen so far off the wagon that, when a friend came to visit last weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed a chopped beef sandwich at Iron Works. I know. I know. It was a very big cheat. And it was incredible. But it is time to pull it together.

I decided to start with a juice cleanse. It seemed like a good way to get all the cheats cleaned out of my system and get in some much needed plant nutrients. Plus, nothing hits the reset button on clean living quite like a good juice cleanse.

A juice cleans really just isn't my favorite thing. People who love them just can't seem to get enough of them, but I have not had that juice cleanse bliss experience yet - and this isn't my first rodeo. Anyway, to start this cleanse, I went to juicing guru Joe Cross and was pleased to see that he had updated things since I last visited his website. I downloaded the 3 day quick start plan and turned on my juicer.

I've had all the classic symptoms that juicers claim are your body detoxing - fatigue, dizziness, headache, digestive lovelies... I certainly had a lot to detox from, but I just can't decide if I buy the detox theory or if I just think my body is hungry! Also, juicing makes my teeth stick together and feel a little fuzzy. I guess its the sugar. Anyone else have this problem or other juicing woes, thoughts or feelings?

I had planned to head to my awesome new gym, Danes Body Shop, but knew I couldn't handle the intensity on just juice, so I went for a nice walk in Pease Park instead.

I can't believe I live here!

Day 1 of 30 - over and out. 

Whole30:Vegan

My Sister is pretty cool. 

But she's going to kill me for this. 

She has been getting into eating paleo for a while now and recently started a Whole30 program. For those of you who don't have a cool sister to teach you about these things, the Whole30 program is a program designed as a nutritional reset to calm, heal and restore your body and to help you create a healthy, happy relationship with food.

Happy Food

Now, this nutritional reset is based on the paleo diet. While I am not paleo and don't really endorse the paleo diet (for reasons we wont go into here), there are some things I really like about the paleo mindset and about this program in particular. I love the idea of eating cleanly, of eating in a way that is most healthy for your body and of eating so that you feel your best. Although whole foods plant based campers (Campbell, Esselstyn, Fuhrman, et. al) and paleo campers usually get there different ways, we both are of the healthy lifestyle camp and are striving to live our best lives with optimally functioning bodies.

My sister has been raving about how great she has been feeling during her Whole30 experience. She has also enjoyed expanding the idea from a purity of body to a purity of body AND mind experience by committing to limit her "plugged in" time by not watching TV and by refraining from using technology after a certain time. Listening to her got me thinking - there's no reason that this same concept of committing 30 days to reset and focus on obtaining a pure mind and body couldn't be applied to a vegan diet, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I made up some goals to aspire to for the next 30 days:

1. No alcohol

2. No peanuts, soy, gluten or refined oils

3. No packaged foods, frozen foods, imitation meet or cheese

4. No added sweeteners

5. Aim to make as much from scratch as possible

6. Buy local and organic when possible

7. Consider limiting or eliminating legumes and grains

8. No TV

9. No technology after 9:00 pm

10. Exercise for 30+ minutes 5 times per week

11. Drink 64 ounces of water

12. Meditate at least once per day

13. Eat when you're hungry

14. Stop when you're full

15. Maintain a pure whole foods plant based diet

Here we go!

A New Adventure, A New Reason to Blog

As my blog's title suggests, I'm all for new experiences, new chances and new challenges. Well, after almost two years working as a caseworker at the incredible organization Casa De Esperanza de los Ninos, Inc. in Houston, TX, I will be starting law school at the University of Texas in the fall.

In other updates, I have begun following a mostly vegan, whole foods, plant based diet and have been working on improving my health and fitness. I am down right determined to live my best life in my best body. While I have only been living in Austin for about three weeks now, I am loving exploring this new city and all that it has to offer, and the healthy life attitude that abounds here is right up my alley.

I can't wait to see how things unfold in my new life here:

actually, more like here:

and here:

I know it's going to be just like this:

I will be using this space to keep track of my thoughts and ideas including all things Austin, law school and mostly-vegan related. Stay tuned.