Veggin Out

Since we've been on our own we've decided to try and be as healthy as possible.  Not at all counting our first week in the apartment when we didn't have a fridge and survived on chips, cookies and beef jerky.  Having been vegan on and off for a couple of years we figured we might as well go balls to the wall and try it.  We're relatively lenient though, we'll eat eggs every once in a while or have meat when we go out but at home there's no dairy or meat in our fridge.  So far it's been pretty good, we're having to get inventive and usually we just make alot of Asian food.

Homemade pizzas with vegan cheese

Instead of roasted marshmallows on our camping trip we roasted bananas & stuck chocolate inside

We live near Little Saigon so there's lots of Vietnamese food, my favorite being Tofu Banh Mi and Tofu Pho 

I've gotten a little homesick for my Dad's arabic food so I made a lentil dish called Mujaddarah with a salad

Made a lasagna with spaghetti squash instead of noodle and some soy cheese, so good.

Grilled fake cheese sandwich.  Galaxy Nutritional Foods makes these Veggie Slices that melt perfectly and are the best tasting I've had so far.

Instead of our usual chips and crap our beach snacks look like this now

 We're both lactose intolerant and have become OBSESSED with the shaved ice at Sticky Fingers in Irvine.  The shaved ice is so powdery like snow, I can't even explain.  Just go get it.

It was rainy down here for one day so I took advantage and made some root soup with potatoes, yams and carrots.  So unbelievably good.

Now I'm just hungry.

Mrs.

Much has happened in my little life since my last post so, a brief photo journey through my last few months.  

I had a French Garden themed bridal shower.

 A Tahoe bachelorette weekend.

 Had a rehearsal dinner.

 Got married.

Had a Vegas honeymoon

Moved to SoCal.

And so now here we are.  I'm living down south with my husband and our dog, trying to figure how to be grown-ups and married and all that super easy-not at all stressful stuff.

Down with the sickness

*when it's 4 a.m. and you're desperate for a salad but there's no lettuce to be found*

I woke up at 1am and couldn't go back to sleep for several reasons:
1. I had handled a raw jalapeno earlier and hadn't managed to wash the oils off but had managed to molest my own face throughout the night.
2. Having a tattoo healing on your rib cage does not allow for the most comfortable sleeping positions.
3. I've recently had to start sleeping with my window closed because teenage mutant ninja spiders have started coming in at night so to replace the ambient noise that the outside world provides I've had to sleep with a fan AND Pandora playing which incidentally must be played quite loud to be heard over the fan.  So during this critical time when I should be racking up the beauty sleep I am instead denying myself comfort at  every turn. Anyway, back to #3.  While sleeping this song plays on Pandora whilst I'm dreaming about walking around on my wedding day arm and arm with my husband all slow motion greeting our friends and I wake up smiling and completely unable to fall back asleep because I'm just way too excited.

So, I go downstairs to make some tea and I realize, "ah shet....birth control".  I take my pill at night because they make me really sick and so when I don't sleep through it I spend the evening hanging over the toilet heaving my guts out (a little something my soon to be husband will become very familiar with).  I attempted to blog to keep my mind distracted and instead just spend 2 hours holding back puke and changing the layout.  My sister joins me at around 3 and from then to 5am we sit in the kitchen and watch Pixar shorts, laugh at fugly cakes and appreciate the fact that after the next 15 days it won't be so easy to just walk across the hall and annoy each other.  As excited as I am to move out and start a new life with my husband I've become so accustomed to the chaos that is life at home with my family and I'm really gonna miss it.

L is for the way you Laugh at me

So,  my sweetest sweetheart came home the day after Valentine's day.  We celebrated today by going on a Thai food rampage, shopping, cuddling, and an excessive amount of hand-holding.  When it came time to exchange gifts I gave him a "soups and stews" recipe book that he had wanted and a pair of hard to find skate shoes.  For his turn he gave me a set of DJ Marvel Wolverine headphones which I loved BUT  he had already told me he was buying them so no need to act surprised.  He then said that I can have my other present later.  So an hour or two passes by full of cloying behavior and he says, "alright, I think you deserve your present" and so I unwrap and it is a two-sided frame with a picture of me on one side, and a picture of him on the other.  These pictures were taken on our last visit together with his grandpa's old film camera.  In the madness of v.day facebook postings and minor breakdowns by my peers on why they didn't get what from whom I became so overwhelmed by the simple thoughtfulness that went into this gift.  So I cried.  Alot.  Which made him extremely emotional because APPARENTLY it was supposed to be a joke.  So in the midst of my tears he reaches into his backpack and pulls out that little blue bag that makes every woman's heart, no matter how frigid, melt into a mess on the floor.  At this point I cover myself with the blanket (shown in the photo above, cape style) and cry even more whilst simultaneously refusing to open it because I can't believe he bought anything from the store that he has openly protested against, especially after I had come to terms with the fact that 1) we are planning a wedding and Tiffany anything should not be in the budget 2) he has voiced on numerous occasions that it is just a hype and that he does not see what is so special about something from Tiffany vs. Zales or Forever 21 for that matter.  So, after I partially compose myself I reach in the bag and pull out the little T&Co. note card and in his beautiful handwritten scrawl it says, "This is just the beginning.  I love you."  Again I cry.  That right there was all I needed for the rest of my life.  So now I sit at 3am in a blissful stupor with my new onyx studs in my ears, my little note card framed on my dresser, and joy in my heart that I am marrying a man who is beyond thoughtful, beyond selfless, and beyond perfect.

January in a nutshell

January has been quite the month.  On NYE I flew into LA to welcome the new year with my fiance and later on in the week we went to Disneyland before they took the Christmas decorations down.  I started a new job which although it is nowhere close to what I want to do or what I'm accustomed to being paid it is A. close to home B. seasonal so I won't have to quit the month before the wedding and C. a job.   At this point in the grand scheme of my future, money is money and now is not the time to be picky.  I've started my new weight loss/workout routine for the big day.  When we got engaged in July I weighed 149lbs I lost 9 pounds by December by going back to my vegetarian ways and have lost roughly 7 more this month with a combination of a vegan diet M-F with vegetarian options on the weekends and by going to the gym at least 4 days a week doing yoga, zumba, weights, and cardio.  I also started running a mile every morning before work.  I've been at this weight for a little while so I'm switching up my routine.  I'd love to run a marathon this year but baby steps must come first so I found a training schedule for a half-marathon so I'll be on that kick for a while.  I've always loved running but this Nike+ active game has got me hooked.  Based on how many steps you take it takes you around the world, I'm in New York right now passing through all these landmarks, I love it.  Not much else happened in this glorious month besides a few birthdays so I'll close this one out.  Here's to February, the month of pink, red, and love.  

150 days 'til the wedding :)

Disneyland at Christmas

Run Home Jack

Nike Women's Marathon

Instead of using my wedding as a motivation to lose weight I've decided the Nike Women's Marathon is a better motivator because at the end of the day I can't tell myself "your petticoat will make you look skinny anyway".  Morning runs and nighttime treadmill sprints have been doing my body so good, I'm so glad to be back in the running world.

Monday Funday

So day 3 of the new job and I haven't time to post my so-cal trip but eventually.  Tonight after work I popped into target and grabbed a few essentials and came home and made what I believe to be a decongestant aid.  Tofu, bok choy, mushrooms and bell pepper cooked with garlic, curry, ginger and sriracha sauce.  So damn good. And now I sniffle, chopsticks in hand and watch season 2 of the OC.  What a wonderful night.