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…
I'm late (sorry!!) but HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to your little dollface! Glad she painted a coffee mug – you're raising her right ;)
Love those roasted veggies!! They look so tasty! When it comes to feeling sick, I just try to take it easy. Luckily I only get minor bugs thoughs!
Skylar is adorable! What a fun birthday idea for kids and adults alike. :)
I have been meaning to get some SunWarrior protein powder for the longest time. I am on a mission to find brown rice protein that actually tastes good!
I just totally impulsively shopped…for probiotic pills. I've been hearing about probiotics for a while and I read this post and just went for it. Sounds like the supply will last a long time and I'm all for cleaning myself out, if you know what I mean. So thanks Averie!
PS Skylar is ADORABLE and looks so much like you! Painting pottery is such a fun activity.
Girl- both you and your daughter are so gorgeous. What a fabulous family you have :) I hope to be just as lucky some day ;) For now..I have franky ;) Thanks for the shout out!! Which housewife is your favorite is a very important question…I take on the heavy hitters ;) Love that you guys went and painted pottery- how fun. And the roasted carrots and potatoes look just delicious. Hope you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend filled with yoga and veggies.
Your flexibility just blows me away! I can barely do a crow pose without falling flat on my face. I am insprired to improve!!
I have not tried coconut oil but I have heard so many good things about it that I really want to give it a try.
As for natural remedies I absolutely believe in them! I haven't even had a tylenol in 4-5 years. I take probiotics every day, flaxseed, and flaxseed oil. I feel much better these days.
skylar's smile is infectious!!!!
=)
hey love!! I used to love paiting pottery in fact all throughout HS my job was helping out at a store called "the kids place" that was paint yoruself pottery. They had bday parties for little kids and it was the most fun, easiest job! I loved working there (besides all the crying and nagging of the little ones of course hehe)
I cant get enough of yoru food!! I have been looking for a great energy/granola bar to make and i am going to go back to your other page on oats to find one! if you have a suggestion PLEASE email me with your favorite!!!
When I am getting a cold (just like I am getting over now) I have to admit I start taking the meds right away first is cold eeze which is packed with ZINC to get rid of it before it starts. If that doesnt work then I do take the day and nyquil and drink SO MANY FLUIDS! I pee every 5 minutes, I kid you not!! lots of tea and theraflu and my grandmothers recupe of fresh ginger, lemon, cayenne pepper over hot water-yummmmm (j/k)
lovee ya!!!
Thank you for the info on probiotics! I just mentioned them on my blog the other day and was wondering what people think of them.
Your daughter is so cute!
Oh yes we love our coconut oil…we had roasted veggies with coconut oil poured all over them : ) And a some nutritional yeast too!! YUM!
Love Old time pottery store!
oh man, thank god i'm not the only one who reuses plates. my mom always goes= WASH IT WASH IT but i'm like it's FINE.
and yeah, either that or cookies to pawn off on my coworkers! =D
Bleh. i miss crunchy!
As always your foods are making my mouth water! I'm so jealous of your sun warrior protein powder I get the natural one which is good but I so wanna try the vanilla and chocolate varieties but as stevia is not allowed in the uk I can't :(
I have not yet tried coconut oil but I keep meaning to I shall have to get on that! x x
Hi,
I love reading your posts, you're inspiring me to get back into a lapsed yoga practice (I started at 18, then at 29 kind of let it slip due to a stressful job, bad idea I know!).
If I feel a cold or flu coming on I do most of the things you suggest, I also sometimes use a neti pot (filled with warm water and a little himalayan crystal salt), have you tried one?
I have gallbladder problems, so have to be careful not to have too much fat, I find coconut oil very light and easy to digest though, as are flax seeds and hemp seeds, all of which I eat every day :)
I haven't been sick once in the 3 years since I became vegan. And Cody, who has been a vegan all this time too, has only been sick once or twice, and both times were just mild cases of the sniffles. I chock that up to the fact that he drinks coffee, which depletes the immune system, and I do not.
But whenever I've been over extending myself and pushing myself too hard, and begin to feel run down and sluggish, like I could maybe get sick, I pump up the green juices A LOT, and I take an off day, if possible, where I skip the hard work out and take an easy walk, and try not to run any errands. It's worked every time! Yay for veganism!
I LOVE roasted veggies and salad. It's one of my faves.
Like you I treat colds naturally and hit those little viruses hard at the first sign by eating loads of chilli, ginger, vit c foods etc. I rarely use pharmaceuticals unless I've got loads of shifts on the ward- can't afford for my immuno-compromised patients to catch my cold :) xxx
Holy splits! Sweetie, if I can actually get down to the splits in 60 days like you claim, I will split a whole case of gum with you! That is so impressive!!
When I feel a cold coming on, I try to relax and sleep more,was my hands a LOT, use the neti pot, and drink hot tea with agave and lemon. I always take my probiotics because I'm a big fan too, but I never thought about upping the ante on it. The majority of the time, if it seems like I've caught something that people traditionally treat with antibiotics, I'll research if it's necessary. So far, everything has said antibiotics may speed up the time but aren't necessary, so I avoid them. I don't want those heavy hitters in my body if they aren't really needed.
I found the coconut butter CCV loves so much, but I also plan to try plain ol' coconut oil for some recipes as well. I may have sampled some of the coconut milk as I made my soup recipe because it tasted so good!
Another about me question: What's a typical day in the life look like? Are you a morning person or a night person?
I have a question? do you take the 5 millilon probiotics every day? seems like a lot.
I couldn't agree with everything you said today 100 percent.
love the coconut oil…you know I do. and natural remedies and food to nourish your body before Nyquil…Amen sista.
having a long day! have a great evening!
xo