The ladies who lunch

Like many other people out there, I am quite passionate about finding ways to save money. I am a coupon-cutter and very proud of it. :)

Yesterday, I drafted a shopping list based off the sales and coupons in the weekly Cash Wise ad and determined meals from the ingredients I was getting for cheap. I was intending to make a cilantro-lime crab salad in avocado halves for lunch today since my wonderful, cheery cousin was joining me for lunch, and as luck would have it, imitation crab had a buy 1 get 1 free coupon! I already had the other ingredients, so this worked out beautifully. I did my grocery shopping last night and saved 26% off my bill using coupons.

Diced tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and crab
with a little mayo, lime, S&P, and cumin.

The crab salad turned out great, despite my lack of adherence to proportions or measurements. I just chopped however much I felt like of cilantro, tomatoes, and red onion, and stirred in a large scoop of mayo, then sprinkled in some salt, pepper, and cumin, and squished some lime wedges over the mixture. I did add the correct amount of crab. :) The other thing I did differently was scoop out some of the avocado, so I had a bigger "boat" to fill with salad, and mashed it up to stir in the salad.

(It is also helpful to brush the avocado halves with lime juice to prevent them from browning.)

Remove the pit by stabbing firmly with a knife
then scoop out some of the avocado to create
a shallow "boat" to fill with crab salad.

Oh! Also along the lines of saving money is my tip to check out discount grocery stores, especially for produce. Aldi's and Save-a-Lot have recently moved into town and are incredibly busy all the time. It is sometimes hit or miss with the ripeness or quality of the produce, but generally I've had a lot of luck finding 69¢ mangoes, 19¢ lemons or limes, 99¢ strawberries, and more!

Back to avocados and lunching with one of my favorite ladies...

My cousin and I had a perfect summer luncheon complete with a peach spritzer and strawberry pecan salad (with the pecans I caramelized yesterday). I felt as though I should have worn my cute polka dotted dress and discussed the latest in women's fashion.

Dancing to the beat of a different drum

To follow-up from yesterday, because I'm sure you're all dying to find out if I actually did my dishes, I wanted to say that it's amazing what a little music can do for one's motivation. I put on a great playlist of favorites from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's and went to work.

In a little under 90 minutes last night... I did the dishes, cleaned my kitchen appliances, wiped all the counters and table, swept the kitchen floor, cleaned the bathroom mirrors, sink, and toilet, and cleaned the litterbox. 

Today, I vacuumed the living room and even used that neat, fandangled nozzle end to do the edges and behind furniture. I also made caramelized pecans and tatertot hotdish and did my grocery shopping. Yay for productivity. Now for pictures of my fun caramelizing escapade:

Coating made of whipped egg white, brown sugar, and vanilla

The final product after 15 minutes of baking at 275 degrees

Burned by the fires of passion

I am always amazed at how my physical health affects my emotional health. It is something I clearly know about and understand, yet, when I don't make sure I am eating well or getting consistent sleep I wonder why I'm so distressed! I stayed up last night until 2am watching movies on cable. I can't tell you why, I just had no ambition to do much else. As a result, I slept in until 10am and woke up groggy. I ate some mango and granola, then spent a couple hours on my laptop - primarily wasting time on facebook. Then, I finally went to the park with my best friend for a picnic at lunchtime. After that, I laid in bed all afternoon and took a nap. I made myself a salad and hamburger for dinner and now it's 7pm. I've done nothing all day. And I have a scratch in my throat and sinus pressure that threatens to evolve into something worse...

Let's recap the past couple weeks: I've been running around with my head chopped off, trying to keep track of a bunch of loose ends, navigating the end of a relationship, working in a new office space, and not taking very good care of my health or home environment. It is a no brainer why I feel so off today.

Being passionate about so many things in life tends to lend itself to days like these. Sometimes, I just need to crash and sleep a lot and try NOT to take on the world for once. People say you don't get burnt out when you're doing things that matter or that you're passionate about, but the truth is, getting burnt out is the result of poor self care. When I get so wrapped up in all the wonderful things I want to do or am doing, oftentimes it is easy to overlook "me" time. Taking a brief moment to breathe deeply, journal, contemplate, meditate, and reground is something I neglect to do when I get busy. I'm not alone in this, as I have had several clients report similar experiences.

There's nothing wrong with burn-out, I suppose, so long as I don't allow it to dampen my spirits or permeate my attitude for days to come. I just need to take some time and regroup.
I am going to turn on some music now to help wake me up while I do the dishes.

Those summer nights

Here's a few pictures of henna designs I've done. These were taken last night at the Summertime by George festival that happens every Wednesday evening. If you haven't been out to Lake George to check out this free event or to see me, you're missing out! Last night's crowd enjoyed beautiful weather and the infamous Johnny Holmes Band. I tried a caribbean rice bowl this time and it was bursting with flavor. I can't wait to try some of the other foods offered in the upcoming weeks. I won't be there next Wednesday doing henna, unfortunately, but you can find me there every Wednesday night from 5-9pm for the rest of the summer!

Harmonies, black raspberries, and families

I went with my younger sister to her audition for a local adult choir yesterday. My older sister and I had briefly prepared a SSA piece with her to help showcase her ability to sing against harmonies. I think it went well, and now I need to seriously think about my audition in August. My older sister has been part of this choir for a little while now, and my sister-in-law joined last year too. It would not only be a fun thing to be a part of, considering the family involvement, but I so badly want to be in a choir again. I love singing, but I love singing in a full bodied choir even more! Here's hoping I haven't gotten too rusty and raspy that I won't be good enough to make it.

After the audition, I got to play some intense family volleyball. We play every Monday evening and it's a great way to stay connected to family and enjoy a sport I love. The heat has broken finally so it was fairly beautiful weather to play in last night.

This morning welcomed an opportunity to visit the farm and help my mom pick black raspberries. The crop is pretty dismal compared to other years, but I got almost a pint to take home. Black raspberries grown naturally and picked fresh compare to very few other fruits... the purplish stains left on my fingers are reminiscent of some very enjoyable experiences as a child.

I enjoy reminiscing about childhood. This is perhaps part of what makes hanging out with my family so fun - the inside jokes, stories, and memories shared with a tight-knit group of siblings can't ever be replaced or mimicked by another group of people.

Without even realizing it, I have written an entire post in regards to family! I could have gone back and edited this posting now that I know what my topic is; you know, the way you're taught to organize an essay with an intro, thesis, preview of main points, etc. There's something beautifully organic, though, in simply writing and recounting the events of the day only to stumble on one of my passions! I feel incredibly blessed to have the family I do. I feel even more blessed that this core value of mine is being honored and lived out each and every day of my life. I know far too many people that respond, when asked what they would do if they found out they had 6 more months to live, that they would spend more time with family/friends.

What's stopping them from doing that already?

Cool salads for a hot summer day

Today I spoiled myself with not one, BUT TWO, of my favorite summer salads. For lunch, I made a strawberry/lettuce salad with poppyseed dressing and for dinner I had a fresh tomato and mozzarella quinoa salad. Here are the recipes in case you care to try them out this summer:


Strawberry Spinach Salad
Fresh spinach
Fresh strawberries, sliced
Almond Slivers
Red onions, thinly sliced
dressing (for large salad)
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2 T Strawberry Vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
2 T poppyseeds
1/4 cup whole milk

The salad is based off of my mom's recipe - when the spinach and strawberries were ripe in the garden, we frequently got to eat this delicious salad during my childhood. Unfortunately, I didn't have spinach today. I had some artisan lettuce (you know, that hearty green and purple leafy lettuce stuff). I didn't have red onions either, so I diced some spring onions. I used Apple Cider Vinegar and I didn't have milk so I used some lemon juice and water to thin the dressing. I also mashed up some strawberries and blended them into the dressing so it was a light pink color and had natural strawberry flavor. It tasted great!

... and the recipe for the Quinoa salad is one my sister found online.

Like my lunch salad, the quinoa salad was also missing some of the required ingredients so I adapted it. I just diced up 4 oz fresh mozzarella, a tomato, 2/3 cup cilantro, and 1/2 cup spring onions to mix with the 1/3 cup cooked quinoa. I like my salad more veggie based than grain based, so you're welcome to play with the proportions. I ran out of lemon juice (since I used most of it in the poppyseed dressing!) so I squeezed fresh lime juice in place of it. The lime went very nicely with the cilantro actually.

Birth Advocacy and what it means to me

I've been having numerous discussions with people lately about birth choices. I could just talk for hours and hours! I've recently devoured the documentaries "The Business of Being Born" and "Pregnant in America" as well as numerous internet articles while expanding my library of resources at home. I met with a lactation consultant recently at my new office and we poured out our hearts and souls to each other about our passion for being birth advocates.

Since labeling myself as a birth advocate, I feel compelled to write today to clarify what that means to me. I am not anti-medicine, I am not anti-hospitals, and I am not anti-interventions. This means that if they are used during birth, I will support a mother in the same respectful, honorable role and I won't think any less of her! However, this does not mean that I think they are right for every mother. Being a birth advocate means I work to ensure that a woman's choice about how she births is respected. It is my utmost concern that she and her baby are healthy, and that she emerges a confident, empowered mother. This can be done in a hospital, or in a birth center, and it can be done at home. It is the women whose wishes are not respected in those settings who come away feeling powerless or dejected. It is the women who aren't fully educated or don't understand their options that may not experience birth in a positive way.

I want to be clear about one thing though concerning my position as a birth advocate: I believe that birth is a PROCESS our female bodies were designed to participate in and NOT a medical condition to be controlled like a disease or treated like a symptom of an underlying medical issue. About 90% of women will labor just fine, without issues or complications, and this should not be a shock to the healthcare community since it's the way we were designed to reproduce as a species. Women were laboring for generations and generations before IV's, drugs, forceps, vacuums, ultrasounds, and hospitals were around. Thankfully, with the age of technology and medical advancements, we can now help those other 10% of women with reducing many birth-related risks.

Should how we aid that 10% with complicated pregnancies form the status quo for how we deal with normal pregnancies? No. When we do, we choose to expose the other 90% to a plethora of unnecessary risks.

Some women want pain medication or an epidural during labor. Should they feel any less empowered than a woman who chooses to go "natural?" Absolutely not. Some women end up needing to have C-Sections to ensure the safety of the baby and should not be made to feel that they are any less of a mother. Other women birth at home because it is the right choice for them, and are ridiculed for putting themselves or their babies "at risk." There are two sides to every coin, and what I essentially want to say is that each woman (possibly with her partner) needs to get informed and make the best choice she can.

Surveying the masses!

I have slaved over creating a survey to gather information for my birth center. I have a whopping 10 questions for you all to answer. :) I stopped at 10 because I wanted it to be quick and easy to do, but mainly because surveymonkey.com won't let me create more questions without paying for it.

Please click here and take just 90 seconds of your life to fill it out. You could spend 90 seconds of your life in so many other ways, I know, but this is really important. :) Thank you in advance!