How has your Monday been flowing? Mine has flowed quite frantically, actually. I went to yoga this morning, and got my heated power flow going. And I’ve been busy with this and that, phone calls, errands, lots of cooking and kitchen time, and of course taking care of the Birthday Girl (her official birthday date is tomorrow Tuesday, Feb 2) and she will officially be 3!!! What have you been up to? How was your weekend? Anyone get snowed in? Hopefully you’re safe and sound and warm!
Thank you for the overwhelming and awesome feedback regarding the Vegan White Chocolate Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cups!
Some were All White with Chocolate PB Centers
And Some were White and Dark Chocolate Outers with Chocolate PB Centers
Thank you also for the feedback about What You’re Doing For Valentine’s Day and also What Kind of Gift You’d Like to Receive in the Mail. Lots of you said my homemade goodies would be very welcome, so that was really sweet to hear….Muah!!! Thank You for Your Kind Words!!
And thanks for the compliments about my cutie pie and for the Happy Birthday Wishes For Her!
As promised, here are more pictures of the big party we had for the three of us…haha! Sometimes smaller is better. Not often, but it does happen.
I strategically placed decked the house out in pink steamers
Got the Tables Set:
Big Person’s Table
Skylar’s Table
Complete with Kazoo, Hat, and Place Card for all
The Gift Stash included raiding the Target One Dollar Bins. Everything here was a buck each!
First a $1 Dollar Tutu, a $1 bracelet, and beads. Perfect!
And some socks, books, hairbrush, complete with Princess Card & Gift Bag.
A forgotten about Christmas Gift for Bitty Baby. I wonder if these Twins started wearing their baking outfits at a young age?
And I wrapped it all Up in a Princess Bag
And then My Princess Came Home and Was Pleasantly Surprised!
She loved her new books!
She wasted no time organizing & meticulously straightening her loot. Wonder who she gets her compulsive organizational tendencies from?
The Ballerina Tutu Goes On and Dancing Begins!
Is she carrying herself like a natural Ballerina or am I just a primadona stage mother?
Definitely Not a Stage Mother: Just A Grateful & Blessed Mother
And Happy…
…for the mutual adoration this little girl and I have for each other!
The ironic thing that I mentioned yesterday is that she’s never had a cupcake. Maybe Barney tipped her off that they exist!
This is My Favorite Photo of the Day of Her: When we were singing Happy Birthday to Her. I love this picture because she genuninely appears to be blown away with happiness and wonderment that all this Was For Her!
While holding Daddy’s Hand and Grinning Ear to Ear
We laughed and she ate cupcakes. And if I didn’t react to dairy like I do, you better believe that the buttercream frosting looked so stick-your-finger-in-it-and-start-lickin’ good!
And We Mutually Adored some more
And after her cupcakes, she still ate her fresh fruit. And then we ran off to dance ballerina style in her room!
And so did I! I can’t believe she’s 3!!!!!!!! It sounds so cliche but they really do grow up so incredibly fast. Kiss them, hug them, hold them, because in just a few years she may think I’m lame and won’t want to be caught dead next to me.
….tons of Sugar Snap Peas with homemade Vegan Slaw Dressing
Today I was Hard at Work in the Kitchen after yoga. I made Vegan Fudge, which is setting up now and I will post it later this week. But in making the vegan fudge, I had about 3/4th’s of a can of coconut milk leftover, so I made Vegan Coconut Milk Kefir with it. I have posted about this before both Here and Here.
Today I simply took the opened can of coconut milk (I used TJ’s Light), poured it into a glass jar and added about 3/4 cup of water to it.
Added the Starter
Stirred. Don’t use metal utensils, the bacteria don’t like metal.
And am letting nature’s friendly bacteria go to work for me on my countertop for the next 18 hours. I wish something or someone other than bacteria would go to work for me but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Need info on vegan or water kefir grains or starter? Here or Here. I sometimes get mine from this place.
Today after yoga I also made
Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs
Yes, it was time for a fresh batch for Scott.
Some of you have written that you’re having issues with them forming into balls…just add more maple syrup and/or coconut oil. Don’t be scared of the liquid, the coconut flakes and the cocoa powder will absorb it. Hope that helps those who have written in! These are Scott’s Dessert Love.
My Dessert Love was a few Vegan White Chocolate Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cups!
Yoga Today is a Side Crane, aka Parsva Bakasana.
For those of you who are regular readers, you know I’m a yoga teacher and have been since 2001. I am frequently asked how to do this pose.
The easiest explanation I can offer is:
Squat down with your feet close together.
Then point your knees all the way to one direction, let’s say the right hand side.
Make a table with your arms, and lean forward and up onto the back of your arms.
The pose is much more about center of gravity and weight distribution than it is about strength. Core strength, in this pose and in all of yoga, is fundamental, but once that’s established, just try to find the Sweet Spot, so you can lift your crane off the ground. Hopefully that explanation helps a bit!
Here’s Another Angle. Just have fun and you’ll get there!
Tip of the Day:
Two Questions:
Well, first is a request. For the bloggers who use word verification on your comment forms, please consider and re-evaluate if this is something you believe is really useful. I don’t use word verification and get a fairly decent number of comments on my posts. I would say I get, maybe 2 spam comments per month, maybe. I really don’t believe word verification does anything other than slow down the commenting process for 99.9% of your commenters. If you are on auto-pilot with that one, like you signed up for it ages ago and never took it off, please consider taking it off. Sometimes I have to re-key words two and three times and it takes up precious time. If you feel it really serves a purpose and you want to keep it, then I can respect that, too!
Next, is there something about me you’d like to know that I haven’t blogged about? I was thinking about creating and “About Me” Tab and am not sure what it is About Me that you’d want to know….haha! I get a lot of private emails asking me all kinds of things, some of which are completely inappropriate, so please, keep it tasteful, clean, and respectful, my friends, but I may do either an About Me Section or a Reader’s Ask and I Answer type of post. And if no one care’s a rat’s bootay “about me”, I can totally & completely understand that too! ha!
Last Question:
At what age do you think celebrating a birthday with a big party and gifts and the whole she-bang is played out and one should tone it down a little? Age 12? 18? 21? 25? 30? 88? Or, You’re never to old to have a huge she-bang! How old were you when you had your last amazing birthday party or celebration? I was 24, living on the beach in NC with Scott, we did sunset yoga on the beach, he had a cake made with hot pink and purple frosting, we stayed up all night drinking wine, swimming in the ocean and laughing and having a ball. So when was your last amazing birthday party or celebration?
Stay Tuned For Oats…
skylar makes my day everytime i come here and read! this girl is the most precious child i have ever seen. and your vegan lifestyle seems to fill that girl with so much joy and happiness!
i look up to your mother skills averie! no joke ;)
What a cute mommy and me day! I can't WAIT to catch up with you when I get back!
Hey Averie, what's a modified version of the splits that we (us with poor flexibility) could do?
I didn't even know the superbowl was going to be down here until today! I'm so out of the loop.
Looks like you guys had a fun day :) So creative!
Woo hoo for fat!! ;)
And also woo hoo for another looooong, entertaining post from Averie! I dunno how you do it, miss superwoman!
That mug (and Skylar) is so adorable! Love it!! :) And I do love coconut oil – I love all things coconut.
my husband LOVES potatoes too. he also loves chocolate like me. that's a good thing to have in common. :-)
my thoughts on herbal remedies are that i am into them. the times where they don't work as well are the times when the cold has gone a bit too far. then you just need to let it ride out. my ND is not that into colliodal silver. but she said if you do use it, to use probiotics because it kills the bad bacteria too.
i like coconut oil! you are so right, the brand is so important. yucky brands are no good at all.
question: is your husband vegan/vegetarian or he is just vegan-friendly? which is cool too. just curious because he seems so happy to eat your vegan foods.
I LOVE painting pottery! I go about once a month. Love it. Skylar looks so cute in her little apron!
When I feel a cold/sickness coming on: I rest. drink lots of tea. take vitamin C.
No fear of fat here! I eat coconut oil by the TBSP and I eat avocados like apples ;)
I swear by L-glutamine. I haven't been sick in 3 years.
THANKS so much for the link back!!! I have an order from iherb of maca, lucuma, and flax oil arriving tomorrow, I used your coupon code =)
Each time I see those white choc cups I think of these white choc starfish (shaped) with raspberry inside that I used to get from Godiva, have you tried any fruit fillings before?
I love going to those pottery painting places, looks like you two had lots of fun!
I really enjoy using coconut oil for food and as moisturizer for my skin and hair.
Like Gabriela, when I feel a bug coming on I get as much extra rest as I can, drink echinacea tea, and make miso soup.
What a great mug! I love that kind of stuff. I look at it and remember what the kids were like at the age they made it :)
We do mostly preventative medicine. I am still nursing my youngest so lots more nursing for him when he starts to get sick. For the others its eating more and resting more. If there is an ear ache we do garlic ear oil. Hot baths and really resting as much as they want. I make an electrolyte drink with sugar or honey, lemon juice, salt balance (just a pinch) and lots of water. Sometimes I will sneak in some sodium ascorbate too. I like to cook with garlic and ginger when a bug seems to be going around.
Love coconut oil. For cooking and moisturizing my skin.
Painting pottery is so fun- looks like Skylar had a great time! Loving the roasted veggies, my favorite way to eat them! My best remedy for a cold is SLEEP…I hit the hay at the first sign of sniffles!
Do all probiotics contain casein? I have some probiotics and I ran out to the frig to see if they were like the ones you take…when I noticed it states it contains trace amounts of casein. I am so trying to be dairy free!
What a cool activity for a little kid (and an adult, too!!!). You're such an inspiring mom!
Wow, that standing splits pose is amazing! You are flexible! Wow.
And oh my, those treats you made looks fantastic… but they always do! I can't read your blog if I'm hungry….
:)