january obsessions

Note: This will be my once-a-month post about my obsessions for the previous month.

The Kind Diet 

1) The kind diet. A friend recommend it as a good starting point for my jump into my vegan-month challenge. This is a great book. I've been vegetarian on and off in my life, and I've read all the books about animal cruelty and waste and how gross it is to eat animal stuff. For some reason, I was able to turn my back and go back into the chicken. This book is a little different. It's definitely more personal, in a way, but it also allows people to waver back and forth. In fact, a third of the recipes in the book are reserved for the waverers (is that a word? oh well). The other two thirds are for strictly vegans, and, what Alicia Sliverstone calls, "superheros." It's kind of inspiring to have a step backwards AND a step forwards for what I'll be eating and how I'll be living my life.

Savasana

2) Etsy.com, and more specifically, my friend Stacey's shop, Brazen Stitchery. Stacey has the cutest dyed yarn, and it's on the most amazing bases. I finally (through trading and buying) have acquired enough yarn to start working on a fingering weight sweater. She also has a bunch of totally adorable drawstring bags, and even though I can make my own, I use one of hers for my go-to yarn bag!

3) Twists! Soft back twists during yoga stretches are. amazing. I missed yoga this week, since I was subbing, and my back is sore because of it. I can't wait to start the challenge tomorrow and get into yoga more and more.

-Tracy

introducing the 28 day challenge

"February Focus" is what they're calling it. The demons who've invented this 28 day challenge. (Only partially joking). (Okay, really joking).

28 days of vegan diet. 28 days of exercise. 28 days to refocus.

Perfect balance yoga, a yoga studio I just recently started practicing at, is hosting this event. They are offering a ton of support, from cooking classes, to shopping lists (they've even threatened to shop with you), to M-F organized workouts. I don't know what drew me to this event - I think it might have been a combination of my new love of yoga, and excitement of losing weight (J+I have been counting calories since July, and I've lost 12 pounds!), and I think it might have just been the idea that it will be challenging, but I'll have built-in accountability since it's with a group.

So for the past few weeks I've been building up my excitement, and reading about all things vegan. I even made a pinterest board and I've been pinning up recipes and stuff. I want to make the transition as seamless as possible - to keep my husband on board, and so that I might want to keep it up after the month is over.

VEGAN ENCHILADAS! WHOOO 

Tonight, I made a practice run. We host a Saturday night dinner every week with our dear friend, and doggie aunt. I've been eyeing this recipe for a few days, and so when I saw avocados on sale at Trader Joes, I jumped on em.

This. was. delicious. It was beyond delicious. I used kale instead of spinach, because that's what we had. I also used super extra garlic, because that's how we roll.

The avocado-cilantro cream was incredible - smooth, lime-y, thick. Almost like guacamole but without onion flavor, and it was completely blended. I wanted to eat the whole bowl with a spoon. I only used half the called for amount of lime, because I had canned lime juice.

And, while I added some Trader Joe's brand vegan cheese to the top, I probably didn't need to. They were full of flavor - I made my own enchilada sauce that had a ton of flavor on its own.

Even my meat-eater husband was satisfied.

Do not hesitate to make this. And, I'll be posting nearly everyday during the month of February with more vegan recipes.

Tracy

craft room organization and a new blog

Oh procrastination. You make us do silly things - things like create new blogs that our DH and BFF's have been begging for.

This story actually starts a few months ago. I saw these online, and decided I must have them. The only issue is that they're $45 for a bundle of 50 and I'd probably need a million or so - ya know, give or take a hundred thousand. So I searched for reasonable cardboard substitutes, and have been happily cutting up amazon.com boxes ever since.

The orange shelf!
Original twitter photo. 

Until a few weeks ago. A friend of mine posted this lovely shelf on twitter with an explanation of first-come first-serve. I jumped on it. I was very content to leave it on the floor of the living room, but DH insisted it found a more permanent home.

Into the craft room it went.

Last year I painted one wall of the craft room green, to give it some more color. It's actually part of the garage, which was turned into a half office/half laundry room. I stole the office part (sorry hubby), and it's always had a very.. underground feel. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer. It is plain. There is one window, but not a lot of natural light. So all the things I've been bringing in to hang on the walls and the one wall I painted have been to brighten it up.

Enter the orange shelf! Fits perfectly in the corner, and I've started to wrap up some fabric and fill it up already.

Ahh fabric love on an orange shelf.
And look! < the green wall! 

It's really the little things that make us happy.

-Tracy