TGIF Baby!!! What do you have planned for the weekend? Any Easter Celebrations? We have no plans and I love that I have no commitments or obligations and am free to just play things by ear! And since we did the Easter Egg Hunt and Pictures with the Easter Bunny Last Weekend, I’ve got those “parental obligations” marked off my checklist. Photo Session duly noted and recorded for posterity.
Today I went and got my eyebrows waxed. Last time I got waxed was 2 months ago. And I was due for a freshening up! I go to this place for any locals or maybe they have a location in your area. Totally professional, fast, and they always have specials so it’s not too big of a splurge as I mentioned in that post. Oh, and Skylar was of course with me, pretending to “help” wax me. Talk about a way not to relax when your child is playing near hot wax in a very small room!
Then we went to grocery store and loaded up on produce for the weekend but “food hoarding mentality” by the masses starts to happen going into holiday weekends and especially the produce, I find gets very picked over so I did the best I could.
After I got done with my shopping, and put away and cleaned my produce and believe me I didn’t take pics of it all,just things that were must-have’s…
…I opened the mail and was thrilled to find these Zak Nesting Bowls
They are made with recycled melamine & dishwasher safe
They are lightweight and so colorful!
I love them and know these bowls will get a lot of use!
I’m thinking my popcorn bowl is going from stainless to colorful!
Zak Designs was also kind enough to send a few things for the Little Princess in my Life
Reusable Snack Containers aka: Zak Paks
And there was a Hello Kitty Drink Travel Tumbler
Skylar, complete in Princess Shirt, was thrilled to see all the Pink Princess items come out of the box!
Thanks everyone for your well-wishes regarding the Trainer I Met With and My Bikini & Fitness Competitions Goal. I am really excited to meet with him and see what he recommends for me. As I mentioned yesterday, because of cost, it’s not something I can do frequently, but to get me started and on the right track, and maybe for monthly check-in’s, he’s a great resource. Thanks for letting me know if you’ve worked out with a trainer or not and how it went for you.
And a big thanks to all the trainers or trainers-to-be who wrote about your certification experiences! That kind of firsthand info is worth it’s weight in gold if I possibly decide to pursue getting a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) program because as I mentioned yesterday, it would be for self-knowledge rather than really to train others. At this point, I am leaning towards ACE because I can do it on my own time and pace and from what I hear thanks Morgan, it’s totally “do-able” to undertake it that way. If I was embarking on this as a career rather than just learning to learn, I may consider other programs, like Naomi or Jessica did, for sure.
And I am so glad to hear I am not alone in pretty much hating April Fool’s Jokes! The majority of you, judging from the comments I received, seem to dislike or despise or these jokes and some of you have banned them from your house.
Molly of Fuel Her Up took the words out of my mouth:
I do NOT like April’s Fool’s jokes for the most part. One flaw of mine is that I’m trusting to a fault. I realize that April Fool’s Jokes are all in good fun, and I’m fine with meaningless things like getting sprayed with water, but if someone “jokes” about something serious, I take it seriously and don’t find it “funny”.
And Holly touched on another point, ahem and amen. It seems there was quite a bru-ha-ha brewing over some jokes yesterday not sure if you all caught that, I know Jessica did though :
Holly : if you do an april fools joke, it better be good. that’s all i am saying about that. i’ve seen some pretty lame ones today.
Moving on….
Green Food Involved Taking some of the Cabbage for Vegan Cole Slaw that I prepped
And Layering that in the Bottom of My Trough Bowl and Adding Romaine, Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, Tomatoes, Carrots over the top
Dressed with Vegan Slaw Dressing, and a Vegan Cole Slaw Salad was born
I nibbled on the last of the 5 minute, 3 Ingredient No-Bake Vegan Maple Flaxseed Cookies that I made yesterday
Skylar & Scott tried out A Few Ginger Hermits from Newman’s Own Organics that I reviewed in This Post
They smell like Ginger or Molasses Cookies
And are super soft and moist. Like an old-fashioned molasses cookie. Swoon.
I rarely miss gluten-containing foods, but this is one I would have loved to try, but didn’t. Not worth the 2 weeks of belly pain, joint inflammation, headaches, and moodiness I would experience though. One bite is never worth that.
So, just More Hermits for Skylar and Scott. I have heard the Hippie rave about Hermits and from the looks of them, I can see why.
I decided to make some Popcorn with Coconut Oil
Coconut Oil is a product that I never knew I couldn’t live without til about 6 months ago!
And added some Pumpkin Pie Spice in addition to the Maca, Nooch, Cocoa Bean Extract and all the other toppings I’ve been piling on The Popcorn
And I loved the addition of the hint of cloves, nutmeg, & cardamom that’s in the Pumpkin Pie Spice with all the other flavors. But I adore cloves! And chocolate chips. I am on one of those kicks where I think I’ve eaten coconut oil popcorn the majority of days for the last few months, and I haven’t burned out on it yet. Which is a beautiful thing.
Tip of the Day:
My fast and easy vegan Parmesan Cheeze Recipe. No fancy appliances needed! Nor will you have to buy Parma again!
Averie’s Vegan Parmesan Cheeze
2 Tbsp Hemp Seeds
2 Tbsp Nooch (More Nutritional Yeast Recipes Here)
1/8 tsp Salt
Stir to Combine & Refrigerate
Optional: Trace drizzle of oil such as Olive, Hemp, Flax
Yields: Approximately 1/4 c
Sprinkle it on everything from Salads to Popcorn to Raw Zucchini Pasta and Raw Marinara
**If you don’t have Nooch or Hemp Seeds, Try iHerb.com and enter my code AVE630 at checkout to save $5 off your first order!
Yoga Today is Nude Yoga
As a yoga teacher, I am on a gazillion mailing lists and get so many solicitations and offers to attend this meditation workshop or that weekend retreat or a 2 day intensive on something yoga-related, but this was a first. I saw a week long nude yoga retreat in Hawaii. And I signed up! kidding!!
Hot Topic Friday Questions and if you missed last Friday’s Hot Topic about Crediting Recipes and Linking Back in the Blogosphere and how I Believe This Should be Done.
Today’s Hot Topics…
1. Do you have plans this weekend? Will you be attending any religious services or family functions? Does that make you happy or make you stress out a little?
As I mentioned, I have no plans and love it. And family functions totally stress me out but since my nearest family is 2500 miles away, I’m safe this weekend.
2. Waxing, Shaving, Hair Removal in general. What do you do and why? Or do you let it grow all natural earth goddess (or god) style?
Charlotte and I were talking about how when we shave our armpits, they are deep and sometimes it’s hard to get the razor into the nooks and crannies. I have no idea how we got on this topic, but we did. She mentioned that the more muscular she is, the deeper the armpit”holes” become and I agree.
Well, since this is a Hot Topic Friday Post, I really don’t feel too bad about asking what your hair removal methods are?
3. What do you think of nudist camps or colonies? Do you think it’s a beautiful expression of being comfortable with our bodies and expressing that side of ourselves or do you think it has very little to do with beautiful expression and much more to do with sex?
I am very comfortable in my own skin, but I would not be comfortable if there were creepy dudes hanging out, just watching me, in all their glory. Not to mention, I don’t want to look at all their glory. Plus, it’s probably not the Brad Pitt’s of the world who do nudist colonies and I fear they attract some real creepers!
But I would love to go to place that felt safe and do the nudist thing just once, maybe an all-women nudist camp, just to try it and see what it was like. However, I would not do yoga in the nude. It just seems a bit much for me, but hey, whatever works for you. Just having a cup of coffee, nude, next to a stranger is probably a good jumping off place…and I am not saying I am doing it, just musing here!
How comfortable, in general, being nude are you? Do you think there’s something in your past that has shaped whatever comfort level you have with it?
Would you got to a nudist camp? Have you ever considered it? If yes, you must tell me about it!
If you say no, why? Creeper and weirdo factor? Not comfortable with your body? Not comfortable being nude around strangers? Do Tell!
Stay Tuned For A Wonderful Give Away for a Kitchen Appliance…