food choices

in my quest to eat less meat, i find myself getting lots of questions about why i'm eating less meat.  i take that back.  not questions.  strange looks and people saying "why?" in total astonishment and disbelief, as if i just said that the sky is orange, not blue. "why??" they say, as if eating less meat is a sin against humanity; as if eating less meat makes me completely insane in some way. why is eating less meat so crazy? i mean, consider the fact that as a culture, we're eating twice as much meat as we did in the 1950's.  any chance that has anything to do with the obesity rate? or the rate of heart disease? other diseases? i digress... my main reason for eating less meat is simple: i want to feel better. i want to be healthier. but i do have a second reason. i'm taking a stand against how these poor animals are treated before they are led to slaughter, all for a juicy burger or ham sandwich. do you know that most of the animals are forced to live in dirty, unsanitary, quite frankly dangerous conditions? stacked shoulder to shoulder in conditions you would vomit if you saw? i mean, i understand that there's no "nice" way to kill something. but shouldn't these animals be treated with dignity and respect?

i recently was sent an article (thank you hubby!) that really sheds some light on this topic. it's from USA Today and is titled What's the godly way to treat animals?  Check out the article here. i encourage you to not just read it, but really digest what is written. it's not an article about not eating meat. not even close. however, it does make you stop and think "how are the animals i'm eating being treated?".

now that you've been informed, are you going to do anything about it? make any changes to your diet? make any changes to your shopping selections (i.e. free range, hormone free)? become more educated on the treatment of these animals? something simple is better than nothing. good luck :)

hooray for weekends!

ugh. sunday night again. why must you go so fast, weekend? don't you know i love you?!

what a productive weekend it was! friday i made this:

looks tasty, doesn't it? well, letmetellya, it's not only tasty. it's delicious! it's braided lemon bread. special thanks to Smitten Kitchen for this super yum recipe!  it's fairly simple to make too! Smitten Kitchen is one of my fav recipe sites. if you've never checked it out before, now is the time. super yummy recipes with beautifully written directions (including pictures!!) that help challenged cooks/bakers like me make spectacular dishes!


as you know, the hubs and i are working on being flexitarians. we decided to put a twist on mac n' cheese tonight! we added roasted bell peppers, sauteed onions and mushrooms to white cheddar mac and cheese!

it was delicious!  it was made with love. lots and lots of love. so much love, in fact, that i burned my thumb while roasting the veggies :( i think my thumb will survive. and i now have proof that i actually make food, not just eat it! see Mom! i cook!

the rest of the weekend was filled with adult beverages and delicious food. we celebrated noel and diane's wedding on saturday. congrats to the newlyweds! although it rained all day, it surely didn't stop anyone from celebrating. good party, friends!

and now it's almost time for bed... have a great week everyone!

I'm so bad at this...

wow. did i really just let almost an entire 6 months go by since my last post? i suck at this blogging game. guess i've gotta try a little harder, eh?

well life has been busy, hence the no posts. brandon and i celebrated our first wedding anniversary in the very place we got married. it was perfect! beautiful weather, tons of fun, and lots of celebrating!

i've decided to make a huge change in my life. i'm going flexitarian! so long meat, hello fish and veggies! of course, i'll still have to indulge in animal flesh at family functions and sparingly when i'm pregnant. gotta make sure i'm getting enough nutrients at that time! so far it's been roughly 2 weeks since the change and i feel great! more energy, less sickly, i'm loving life! if you have any recipe ideas, please share! i need them! special thanks to melissa for getting me started on delish recipes and a super useful cookbook!

we made some new friends recently and i think they're pretty cool.  so cool, in fact, that we've decided to all go to disney world in january! yay! i've never been and i really want to go, so i'm beyond excited! although, i made my savings plan the other day... that didn't excite me. some would say i'm more of a "spender" than a "saver." but i have a goal! and that should get me through it. hopefully.

and finally, i will leave you with the image of what surely is going to be my next puppy: a mini goldendoodle! he will be named animal because he looks like a muppet.  maybe i can afford him sometime in the next 2 years ;)

i'm famous!

so brandon and i are famous.  it's true.  our picture is in the Anna Maria Island Sun publication in the wedding pages!  check check check check it out!  see if you can find us.  it's a fun game.  like where's waldo.

(clue: page 1, bottom left picture...)

beautiful dress!

i know, i know. i've already had the wedding of my dreams. however, how adorable is this dress???


i think i've found my dress for my vow renewal ceremony... which isn't even planned yet... or even in the cards for the next 5 or 10 years. but seriously. love. this. dress!

{image courtesy of jessica claire}

2010 Goals Update

so far 2010 is going swimmingly! well, mostly. things are crazy busy at work, home life is fabulous; however, i have been fighting a wicked case of homesickness. boo on that! although, living a ridiculous number of miles away from your friends and family can make one feel sad from time to time. so i guess the feeling is normal?

on a lighter note, i am cruising though my goals! yay for me!

we tried a new dinner recipe this weekend: chicken stuffed with goat cheese (with herbs). it was pretty good. i've discovered i'm not a huge goat cheese fan, but it did taste yummy with the chicken! probably not a recipe i'll be jumping up and down to make again, but it was a new recipe!

i've been eating more fruits and veggies by eating a banana or apple in the morning and broccoli with hummus in the afternoon. woot.

took 2 dance classes this week: jazz and hip hop. loved the hip hop, but i'm feeling meh about the jazz dance class. the choreography wasn't really my style; it felt more like modern dance with jazz hands (jazz hands jazz hands jazz hands!) instead of jazz dance. so i'm thinking about jumping into ballet this week. it's always good to get back to the basics of dance.

i started the office clean-up! holy cleaning batman! but, i can now see the floor and my desk, so i call that progress! just need to find a few organizers, touch up the paint (possibly change the paint color...), add an area rug, and figure out how to decorate the blank wall. any ideas?? my sewing machine is the only thing on that wall.

i haven't yet started a budget, but i have started being extremely cautious of how we're spending money. i think that's a good start.

so there's the update! so far so good! let's hope i can continue this progress into next month.

new years goals 2010

i'm not one for making new years resolutions. i never stick to them and usually forget what the resolution was my mid-january! so instead of making a resolution, i'm going to make a list of goals and monitor my progress throughout the year. i'm hoping that by posting my goals, i'll be able to hold myself more accountable and actually remember the goals i made. so here we go!

for 2010, i will take better care of myself: mind, body, and soul.

Make a real budget and stick to it.
Read the Bible in it's entirety.
Make at least one new recipe per month.
Try snowboarding.
Be more patient by remembering that people are doing the best they can with what they have.
Eat more fruits and veggies.
Take dance classes twice a week.
Audition for the dance scholarship in August.
Finish my office/creative space.
Stop complaining about things beyond my control. Instead of complaining about things within my control; change them/make those things better.

i think that's it for now! it's a pretty solid list, i think. i'll be updating as i complete goals :) maybe make some new ones mid-year of i'm making good progress!

Happy New Year everyone!! Make the most of each day, you never know when your time is up :)