Sunday, December 30, 2012

2012...Is coming to an end.

Wow...2012 has come and it has gone.  As I sit hear reacapping the year in my mind, it was overall a good year!  New Friends, no adventures, new goals and aspirations, and more importantly, a healthier me!  Life is a journey, life is a process and I am happy to continue on this path.   Where the path leads me in 2013, I am sure it will be an interesting ride!  I can't wait to see what is in store for the next year. 

Happy New Year to All!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

I've been naughty...

I got up this morning with the intent of finishing off my Christmas shopping.  My to do list consisted of Hallmark and Target, so I was gonna head to the Fox Hill mall in Culver City.  That I did, and suddenly all things went wrong!

I am in JcPenney's buying clothes, some for myself some for others.  Then I go to the car to unload, and I am back in the mall and now I am in Torrid.  And then things went really wrong!  I had my eye on a pair of boots from there and everything in the store, was buy one get one 1/2 off.  I fell in love with the boots, and the sales person Cesar, Insisted that I got some skinny jeans to go with the boots.  I had my normal discussion with him about me and skinny jeans...but like I said, He Insisted!   And off I went to the dressing room and then I went to try on the boots with the jeans...and Cesar was so so excited!  And...well so was I!  I was actually liking what I saw in the mirror!  I was shocked.  Little Cesar knows what he's talking about!  Ya wanna see the dressing room shot?  Do ya?


Well it didn't end there!  After Torrid, I am now in Ashley Stewart! LOL!  As I walked into Ashley Stewart the lady at the register says to me, looks like you cleaned up in Torrid.  I said yea, I did!  Then she goes well everything here is 40% off! I said to her, ya know, its funny cause I came in this mall to go to Hallmark & Target to get Christmas cards and I have yet to make my way into either one of those stores!  So a sweater and a dress later...I am finally in Hallmark!  And well it has been an expensive few hours at the mall.  It will be Ramen noodles for lunch and dinner this week!  

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Holiday Juice Challenge Update & Other Stuff

Hey gang!  I know I was all excited about this Holiday Juice Challenge and I was posting almost every day with my little recipes and pictures and I fell off the band wagon...Again.   I did do some juicing, I just did not do it every day.  It was a crazy week last week!  Holiday Parties, Trips to Laguna Niguel, Races in Pomona and Glendale..I can't remember the last time I did so much local California Travelling!

Well just a quick update on my juicing...my last post was Day 7 so here is a quick recap:

    Spiced Cranberry Apple Juice
    • Day 8 (Dec 5th)  Spiced Cranberry Apple Juice      This recipe came from the lovely folks at juicingjuice.com,     and I loved it!   
      • 1tsp Cinnamon (add to the juicer before juicing anything)
      • 1 cup fresh cranberries
      • 2 apples
    • Day 9 (Dec 6th) Bell Pepper Hormone Balancer  This recipe came from the lovely folks at earthlyjuicecart.com  Okay, I have gotten some excellent recipes from them in the past, but this one was a swing and miss for me.  The juice was not tasty, I could not drink it at all! But in case you want to try it, here is the recipe.
      • 4 whole green peppers
      • 1/4 stalk of Fennel
      • 1/4 tsp of Nativas Naturals Lucuma  (I did not add this-maybe it would have helped the taste?)
    • Day 10 (Dec 7th) - Day 12 (Dec 9th) - No juicing!  
    • Day 13 (Dec 10th) Venus Juice   
    • Day 14 (Dec 11th)  Spiced Cranberry Apple Juice


Last week we had our Christmas Party/Recognition Dinner for the Arthritis Foundation.  We ate at an italian restaurant at the Grove.  The food was good, company was great and I was taken back by the wonderful Christmas Decorations at the Grove!  It was so pretty!  It really did put in me in the Christmas Spirit!

Some of the Christmas Decorations @ The Grove

Me @ the Grove!
So that is all I have for you guys today, a quick update and I will try to do better as the days go along!  Happy Holidays!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Informatioin Overload....

I apologize in advance if this turns out to be a long post.  I feel like I have so much to report. 

Okay Item #1  
I got on the scale today!  I was yet again shocked!  286.4!  Woohoo!  I promise one day I will learn to rotate this before posting.  I thought I did right, but obviously I didn't!  Please forgive me!


Okay Item #2
Holiday Juice Challenge - Day 7 (Dec 4th)
Another juice recipe borrowed from the wonderful folks at www.earthlyjuicecart.com!  And this my friends, has completely surprised me...I love it! It is called Green Lemonade.  It is another juice in the Anti-Inflammatory category!

Here are the ingredients:
  • 3 leaves of romaine lettuce
  • 1 apple
  • 2 inches of ginger (I peeled my ginger)
  • 1 lemon
This was my first time ever juicing lettuce and I must say I am very very impressed and pleased.  This is a very tasty juice.  I am also beginning to like the taste of ginger.  This is officially one of my favorite juices now!



Item #3
Got really active today.  Did some treadmill time, did weight training, and did 30 minutes of spin class!  Yeah me! 

So overall...a great day!  I am pleased and tired!  See you next time!
Monday, December 3, 2012

Holiday Juice Challenge - Day 6

Here we are back at Monday!  And a rainy Monday morning again in California!    I love the rain, but its has been raining for 4 days straight.  At this stage, I am tired of the rain.  My pre-packing my juices ingredients, worked out rather wonderfully this morning.  It was great to just grab and bag and shove things down the chute of my juicer.

This morning's juice is called Venus.  The recipe came from the wonderful folks at www.earthlyjuicecart.com.  This juice is categorized as an Anti-Inflammatory Juice.  I learned something from their website...venture with me as I share.

Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation. We are all familiar with the classic signs of inflammation (swelling, redness and pain) that occur when we hurt ourselves or have some kind of infection. However recent research has shown that eating the wrong foods can cause inflammation within our bodies.
*Inflammation can be aggravated by diets high in refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils such as those found in margarine, potato chips and baked goods and lots of sugar.
Anti-inflammatory foods, if eaten regularly, can reduce inflammation in the body and bring the problem under control.
This page contains a list of anti-inflammatory foods that if incorporated into your regular diet will help bring balance to the inflammation in your body.
*Try and feature some kind of anti-inflammatory food into every juice that you make, and try to eliminate pro-inflammatory foods from your diet all together.
Thanks to Earthly Juices, they had several Anti-Inflammatory Juice recipes.  So I tried the Venus Juice for 2 reasons: (1) because I love the ingredients and (2) supposedly this juice is supposed to help melt cellulite!  We shall see..I may have to drink this none stop!  LOL!  Here is the recipe:

VENUS

  • 2 Grapefruit (peeled & seeded)
  • 1 Lemon juice (hand squeezed)
  • 1 inch fresh ginger (peeled)
  • 1/2 tablespoon of cardamon
  • 1 tbl Raw Honey as desired and optional if diabetic
The recipe on the website said to blend the above items, but I put the Grapefruit & ginger in my juicer and hand juiced the lemon juice at the end.  I did not add the honey, I love grapefruit juice, so it was not tart to me, but the ginger complimented the grapefruit very well.

This juice is an absolute winner for me!  I bought enough produce this weekend to do this one more time this week.  I was not able to find cardamon in the store, so I also made the juice without it.

And my amateur phot:



Sunday, December 2, 2012

Multi-tasking Like Never Before!

I had a productive day!  I am taking break right now from my meal preparation for the week.  I am waiting on my chicken to cool down, so I can chop it up and add to my salads.  I also took my food prep to a whole new level today and even pre-prepped the produce I want to juice!  I have 4 bags set aside with my stuff to juice! 

After church today, I had a rather aggressive to-do list:
  1. Go to Costco
  2. Go to Trader Joe's
  3. Go to Buy Low Warehouse
  4. Do a load laundry
  5. Return my Redbox return
  6. Get my mile in for the Mile-a-day challenge.
All was going well until my stop to Trader Joe's!  The Trader Joe's nearest to me is next to a Kohl's and there was just a never ending line to get into the parking lot!  Patience is not my strength so I ended up driving like 6 miles to another Trader Joe's!  It was beneficial, I was in and out of that one in like 5 minutes.  Now get ready for this awesome Multi-tasking story that is about to come...I get to the laundry mat which is not far from a Redbox so here is how this went.  Got my clothes in the washer, once I got them to the dryer.  Strapped on my arm band and head phones...and I walked to the Redbox, walked for a good 32 minutes I think got in a little over 2 miles.  Walked back to the laundromat grabbed my clothes and went home!  Now that I did that, I will have to do that more often, when I go to my laundromat.

Here is my Endomondo Tracking of my multitasking walk:  http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/111199655

Okay...I am overly excited about juicing again.  It was been a while since I juiced consistently. Yes, I know the challenge is called, Juice a Day..But I juiced again tonight! I am sipping it right now.  It's a bit tart, but good.  I am always a bit nervous about the juice recipes with lots of ingredients, but this is a good one.  The recipe came from the wonderful folks at JuicingJuice.Com.

Go Go Green Energy Juice
  • Large Handful of Kale
  • 1/2 Green Apple
  • 1 Grapefruit (peeled)
  • 4 stalks of celery
  • 3 inches of peeled cucumber
  • Squeeze of Lemon
Very tasty...my only dislike is that it's tart.  I think next round, I may opt for juicing the whole apple or even maybe 2 apples.  Again, putting my photography skills to test here are some shots!

Holiday Juice Challenge Day 4 & 5

Day 4 (Dec 1) ...Druid Detox From Leaf Organics
I decided to take the lazy way out with this rainy weather and I got a detox drink from Leaf Organics. It is one of my favorite drinks from Leaf Organics, here are the ingredients:
  • Burdock Root
  • Lemon
  • Ginger
  • apple
  • agave
  • cayenne
A very tasty drink that I am sure you will enjoy.  If you are ever in the Culver City area, please stop by!  http://leaforganics.com/


Day 5 (Dec 2):  Apple, Celery, Fennel, Maca Powder

I have been reading this week about Maca Powder.  This morning I walked into Sprouts, and the first thing that caught my eye...Maca Powder.  I think it was a divine sign!  So this morning, after I juiced my Apple, Celery, Fennel, I added a teaspoon of the Maca Powder to the juice.

My Comments:  It took a while to get the Maca powder to blend in with the juice.  I will need to see how else I can consume it.  I will have to try the powder again, it seems like it altered the taste of my juice.  Not in a bad way, but I love tasting the licorice like flavor of the fennel and I could not taste that today.  I assume maybe the Maca dulled the taste?  Not sure.  But I will keep trying this Maca Powder and see if I notice any change in my energy levels. 

So my juice recipe consisted of
  • 2 red apples (I think Fiji Apples)
  • 4 stalks of celery
  • 1/2 fennel bulb
  • 1 teaspoon of Maca Powder
And the outcome...An okay taste juice..(I would have been awesome w/o the Maca Powder) LOL! 


See ya next time! I am excited for the upcoming days of juicing...I got so many recipes I want to try this week!