There won’t be blood.

When people talk about living they use words like ’grinding’, ‘slaying’, they are ‘killing it’. Mondays are full of these kinda vibes. I have tried these methods of living and have talked about living in these terms. I’m over it. I’m not killing or slaying anything… anymore. I want to breeze and sail and break a sweat only in the name of fun or self improvement. The things I want in life, the things meant for me, do not require any more blood to be shed. I just feel that if it is to be mine I won’t have to war my way to it.. ya know?

So heres a tiny pro tip for getting outta bed on a Monday. Having already accomplished something, peacefully on the way to what the world has to offer you… Make your bed while you are still in it. This can be your first stretch of the day too! Pretend you are a starfish and adjust all your blankets back to where they were before you came along. Then slide out from under them. Make any aesthetic adjustments once you’ve escaped the sheets. *For extra fun turn on some Harry Belafonte while you do this*

Day 12: Green Beast smoothie side of grapefruit + vitamins
Smoothie Details: Banana, date, oat milk, flax, chia, spinach, spirulina, chorella, moringa, nettle & alfalfa. RAWR! I’ve been taking Ritual vitamins for a minute now. I know they are trendy but I wanted to see what all the fuss is about. I swear my hair has grown an inch in the past month.. I got some Cousin It vibes in the mirror this morning. A++

Leftovers & Bubbles

Sunday funday? I am catching up on reading for school today. So I spent the morning learning all the ways that commercial farming is basically killing us and the planet. Pesticides, bad vibes, arsenic, antibiotic resistant bacteria.. that is what’s for dinner. It’s challenging to spend so much time with all the evidence and not go into a full on John B. McLemore doomsday tailspin. For now I’ll contain myself and just keep doing what I can. Shop local, buy organic, eat a mostly plant based diet, breathe… I swear I’m breathing. Will you join me?

Day 11: Leftover Japchae & scrambled eggs with sparking Kefir.
I can’t help but order the Japchae everytime I go to Koriente. I love those sweet potato noodles! I also love the story behind this restaurant! As for this sparkling kefir from Austin Kefir Microbrewry, I am obsessed! I always have a bottle in my fridge. It’s all the fun of champagne, none of the hangover and has a ton of B1, B6, B9 and Folate. I especially enjoy the CBD blend. It’s mega relaxing… kinda wish I had more of that right now. To pick up a bottle for yourself head to the Mueller Farmers Market or Austinite Market.
*Herbs, green onions and eggs were all purchased yesterday at the farm.

Oatmeal kinda sucks…

Oh oatmeal.. I have never liked it. Oatmeal is the ‘nice guy’ of breakfast fare. The guy who didn’t do anything specifically to make me dislike him, yet I can’t help but make a yuck face when anyone asks if I’ve talked to him lately. I know, it’s got a ton of health benefits and I’m really trying to get on board. He’s all like “I’ve got soluble fiber for days and I’m antioxidant rich, bitch!” And I’m all like “Yeah… but you’re fucking boring. People have to shove you into cookies to get anywhere near excited about you.”

Truth hurts.

I want to like it. I really do. We just need to zhuzh it up a bit.

Day 10: Oatmeal with EVERYTHING
I threw everything in the pantry at this and.. I really didn’t hate it. Cashew, pistachio, seeds, a cornucopia of dried fruits and ginger. Bananas, berries and some leftover crunchy butternut bread bits toasted in ghee that I put on my ice cream last night.

The zhuzh is complete.

Un croissant s’il vous plait

Study break. I did not want to cook today. If there’s cooking, there’s dishes and I did not want to wash dishes today. Not even one. Sour Duck has my back and some very good croissants.

Day 9: Mocha latte (I couldn’t help myself) and un croissant.

“Do you believe in magic?”

“… in a young girl’s heart. How the music can blah blah blah…”

This song has been cartwheeling around in my head all morning. In an annoying, persistent loop. I’ve tried answering the question out loud to make it stop. “Yes! I do! I believe!” Believing, apparently, is not enough. This is not the most annoying ear worm of all time. It’s not great though. I’m just not a big Loving Spoonful fan. No one needs to make a case for them. I don’t hate them. I just prefer The Troggs or The Association more. An ear worm is like the hiccups. The cures are odd and endless. I’ve heard that chewing gum can help. Doing a puzzle is another idea. Some say you should listen to the song in it’s entirety “to bring closure”. I think I’m going to combine my knowledge of hiccup cures with a few of these suggestions by throwing a head stand into the mix. Maybe this giddy tune will fall out of my mind while I’m upside down. How do you get an unwanted song out of your head? What’s the worst ear worm you’ve ever had? Truth, I had Tom’s Diner stuck in my head for so much of the 90’s that it became my brain’s “on hold” music. Da da da duh, da da da duh…

Day 8: Rice cakes w/ Avocado salad. Berries for back up. Coffee AND Magic Mix (because I really do believe)! Avo includes lemon, cilantro & a splash of brags amino acids. Garnished with toasted nori, seeds and snap peas. Now, Magic Mix! I juiced some oranges, carrots, tumeric and ginger then topped it off with some KT Tonic’s Golden Flower kombucha. Then a little juice from the old kimchi jar and ABRACADABRA! I have found my michelada replacement! That is magic in a cup. Maybe it will banish this song from my mind!

Life is like underwear. Change is good.

I’m not sure who said it but I am in full agreement. Change is good. Fresh underwear, also good. Change. Shift. Transform. It can be fun when you surrender to it. Playing and moving the pieces around until you reach a desired outcome. Any hint of resistance, however, will render even the concept of ‘fun’ into something alien and unrecognizable. Everything in my life has been up for review lately. Change is what’s on the menu. “What is this? Do I need this? Could it be something else? Who wants this?” Whether I’m going through my closet, my address book or an ancient self limiting belief (seriously, who wants this?)... Shit is changing.

I asked myself all of these questions again last night as I was going through my fridge. Leftover roasted butternut squash? No thanks. What else could it be? *Poof * transformed into some pretty satisfying bread that will now delight my neighbors and make many of my breakfast and snack dreams come true. I loosely used my go to recipe for banana bread.

Day 7: Visionary Loaf topped off with yogurt, blackberry syrup, seeds, cocoa nibs, bananas and blueberries.

I subbed out the bananas for butternut squash (about 2.5 cups), used half the sugar and skipping the eggs all together by adding a splash of vinegar to the oat milk. Delicious. Tons of potassium and Beta carotene. Great for your bones, muscles and cardiovascular system. Your body converts Beta Carotene to Vitamin A which is great for your eyes. Hence the name “Visionary Loaf”, may it help me see what I need for my highest good.

If you you too find yourself going through a lot of changes (or needing to).. don’t resist! Don’t be afraid see what else it could be.

The Land of Indecision

I slept like a rock on the dark side of the moon! My to-do list is long today and perhaps my indecision over what I wanted for breakfast was nothing more than a subconscious form of procrastination. Something sweet? Something salty? I could not decide.. Eventually I said ‘fuck it’ and went both ways. Sometimes you just want it all!

Day 6: Smoothie & Avo-kimchi salad. The smoothie was sweet and comforting. The salad (flashback to day 2) was salty and spicy enough to open up my sinuses. Winning! Smoothie details: Bananas, a date, fresh ginger, oat milk, cinnamon, cocoa, chia seeds + 3 of my favorite tinctures. Anytime I make juices, smoothies or “mocktails” (what a terrible word), I add whatever tinctures I’m into at the time.

Todays selection:

Moringa has a ton of calcium, Vitamin C & A, iron & potassium. It’s a powerful antioxidant and anti depressant. It is also known to increase mental clarity and make your hair grow! I picked this tincture up at Eden East Farm.

Cleavers relieve stress and anxiety with a calming and strengthening effect on the nervous system. This helps with adrenal fatigue by supporting the adrenal, nervous and immune systems. These are also local from Riverbend Remedies.

Chestnut Bud is for when you just can’t get out of your own way. If you are a person who fails to learn a lesson the first time around, I suggest giving this a shot. It will help you avoid making the same mistakes twice or thrice! To learn more about flower essences you can dig in here.

Chronicles of an imperfect being…

Day 5 and I failed!
I had a breakfast date at Bouldin Creek this morning. I was so excited to see my friend, Twila (who owns The Herb Bar -if you haven’t been, go!) and so hungry from yoga that I just dug in. I didn’t even think about pulling out my phone to snap a photo of my El Tipico. My eggs and hash cake were perfect and I am not. But I never wanted to be. I get another shot at redeeming myself tomorrow morning. Thank you for understanding.

I went and read by the lake for a few on my way home. Currently I am reading Walden by Thoreau and felt called to, perhaps even obligated, to actually read it near the water. This passage here sums up (in much higher poetics) the gist of the conversation over breakfast…

“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us even in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavour. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” - Thoreau

Brunch & Bosch

Once upon a time Sunday’s meant getting up early to go work a brunch shift. It was a choppy sea of eggs and hangovers. I don’t miss it at all. Let’s all give a round of applause to those who are flipping pancakes and topping off coffee cups at warp speed this morning. Heroes, each and every one of them. I’m grateful that my day will be spent doing some reading for school, quietly at home in sweatpants.

It’s been a stellar week. I had some little victories, soaked up the Cancer full moon vibes AND I saw a Bosch painting, in the flesh, with my own two eyes. The Blanton’s Medieval Monsters exhibit, (which closes today) was exactly the kind of place one might encounter a Bosch. Still, it caught me by surprise and made my fucking week. The whole show was incredible. The patience and craft that went into some of the art and texts was dumbfounding… as was the visual reminder that we’ve literally been painting women and anyone perceived as “alien” to us as monsters for longer than I can even comprehend. Troubling. I walked away thinking about what and how much it takes to change our beliefs. I decided that from here on out when I’m feeling frustrated about my progress in changing my own ways/beliefs/actions/habits im going to beat myself with a feather rather than a bat. I have changed a lot and luckily it hasn’t taken 100’s of years. I am also going to be more grateful and aware of the positive shift in the world that is happening. Slow and steady. Just like Sunday.

Day 4: Steel cut oatmeal with ba-na-na-na’s, blueberries, dates, crystallized ginger & seeds. *side of waffles*

St Christopher Carrying the Christ Child Through a Sinful World - Hieronymous Bosch Early 16th Century

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Last night I was at home smudging away, singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and waiting for Tornado 2020 to roll in. It was a no show but the city got a long overdue bath.

Rain + full moon = brand new squeaky clean vibes!

I’m about to run over to the farm. I need greens! I’m lucky to live in walking distance of three urban farms. Visiting them once a week keeps me feeling grounded. A trip to the farm is so much more centering than going to the grocery store. No fluorescent lights. No one is in a hurry. There is no check out line purgatory. Just farm dogs and fresh dirt and people who are as excited about cauliflower and root vegetables as I am. Find a farm near you..

Day 3: almond butter on wild rice cakes with blueberries and seeds (hemp, sunflower, chia and pumpkin). 

I stayed up too late watching Chernobyl..

For those of you with children or those who are currently self parenting, take it from me, Chernobyl is not recommended bedtime story material. Sure, nearly all of the classics are a little sinister. A wolf who eats a grandmother and then assumes her identity. A boy baked into a pie. A young girl waking up surrounded by bears after a lukewarm helping of porridge, bleh.. all very odd choices for ushering anyone to sleep. STILL better than Chernobyl. 

The nuclear disaster found it’s way into my dreams and I felt dirty and worried when I woke up. Worried about THE END as if I’d watched too many VICE documentaries,  which I am also known to do. However, WWIII hasn’t kicked off just yet and there is living to be done! So I put on the coffee and danced away the dreamland doom. 

For breakfast, something cleansing.

Day 2: Kitchari with sautéed carrots, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and kale with a poached egg and a little dukkah sprinkled on top. For extra “I’m gonna live forever!” vibes I made a tiny kimchi and blueberry salad to wash it all down with. This little salad has become one of my favorite snacks. The color and flavor contrast excites me and delivers a rad probiotic/ antioxidant punch. What I’m saying is, add fresh berries to your kimchi. It feels wrong which makes it more fun. You will dig the results. 

If you want to dance through the doom with me, this feels mega appropriate:

There will be breakfast...

My life changed a lot this past fall. I decided to go back to school. These days I beat the sun out of bed. Before I hit the books I yoga and put on some coffee. I check in with the news just to make sure the world is still ending and then it is time to eat. While the coffee was percolating away the other day I was reminded of this guy I used to follow on Flickr (the original instagram). This guy, Evan, he took a picture of himself and his breakfast every day for a year. Three hundred and sixty five delicious breakfasts.. I loved this project. I looked forward to finding out what Evan was making for breakfast as if he had made a plate for me too. While that may as well have been a thousand years ago I still find myself inspired by it. AND SO, I’m going to attempt my very own three hundred and sixty five days of breakfast!

Day one: Cornbread, blueberry & pomegranate waffles with maple, almond, miso syrup. This was inspired by the shitty cornbread I made on New Year’s Day. It was a pan of disappointment and I had not been able to let it go. I had something to prove! So today I danced the recipe around and tossed it in the ole waffle iron. For the record, I am the only one that called the cornbread shitty. My friends are very kind and I love them for plenty, including choking through the words “what do you mean? It’s really good!” As they struggled to swallow what was truly dense and incredibly dry cornbread. The waffles on the other hand did not disappoint at all. So, suck it cornbread! I win! Who else wants to go?

…and a very belated Happy New Year to you all!