Five Things Friday

1)      I have become obsessed with tea. Erick’s sister bought me this tea infuser travel mug so now in addition to just bagged teas I can have loose leaf tea as well. I think you could even use coarsely ground coffee too but I have yet to try it. Anywho, I was really loving drinking tea every day and I even took advantage of a Groupon for 3 month subscription to Steepster (which is like a tea of the month club) which was awesome. Then last week, I found this herbal green tea kit on Uncommon Goods (is that not the best website ever?) and just had to get it. It is all loose leaf teas (three types of green tea) and herbs (nine different ones like hibiscus and lavender) allowing you to make your own herbal tea blends. It is awesome! Making my own blend is definitely the most exciting thing happening in my life at 730a every morning. Lol!

2)      I planted, or I guess I should say we planted, our first garden last night. If you follow me on FB, which I am pretty sure all six of you reading do, then you already saw the pictures. But I am just so excited that I wanted to share them again. Of course, now the hard part begins. The waiting. 50 days is the soonest anything will be ready to pick. Well, except the basil. That could probably be picked now. But we are looking 50-60 days for cucumbers and Japanese eggplant all the way up to 88 days for cantaloupe. The plan is to build a second container and plant the fall crops sometime in early July. We spaced this first container off to the right so that way we would have room for a second. I don’t know why (probably because I am a huge dork- which is totally fine by me) but I am super excited over the idea of bringing our homegrown organic veggies to share with the family over 4^th of July weekend. Here’s to hoping the weather cooperates and that I don’t have a black thumb. I would make for one bad hippie if I couldn’t even raise a small 4’x4’ garden. Lol!

 

     

      I made makrers using shells I collected at the beach a few weeks ago. I was planning on using rocks but I didn't have any on hand. I did, however, have seashells so voila!

 

 

3)      Tonight is the last Hot Glass Cold Brew of the season and I am quite sad. This is definitely one of my favorite Pensacola events. It’s a mix of live music, free food and free (local) beer, and glass blowing demos. Oh, and the artists with gallery/shop space all have food and beer/wine for passersby to enjoy while talking with them about their work. Some are painters, sculptors, glass blowers, potters, and there is even a guy with a 3D printer that does demos. It’s really cool, very informative and tons of fun.

4)      I love spring/summer time. I am definitely a warm weather person and love, love, love the sunshine. I am happy it is finally starting to warm up (although we have like rain forecasted every day for the foreseeable future) and I am feeling quite optimistic that this is going to be an amazing summer. Maybe even the best one yet. One of my favorite things about warmer weather is the food. Not just grilling and BBQs and eating outdoors but all the yummy fruits and veggies that come into season. I am a sucker for corn on the cob, rainier cherries, jersey tomatoes, asparagus, watermelon (all the melon, actually), strawberries, etc., the list could go on for days. And one of my favorite warm weather foods to make is cold pasta salad. It reminds me of my childhood. Except I don’t use mayo, or much pasta, and load mine up with whatever fresh veggies I have on hand. I wish I was a good recipe builder person. I would love to be the blogger that shares all sorts of yummy recipes but I am a fly-by-my-pants kind of cook. It’s why I don’t like baking. I am almost always successful just throwing stuff together and having it turn out. The big downside being that I never can make the same dish twice. Lol. But I digress. Lately I have been making some version of this pasta salad dish for me and E (and even made a heartier version of it for Easter dinner) and it is awesome. So I thought I would share.

Spring Time Pasta Salad (to the best of my recollection)

·         1 cup dry whole wheat orzo

·         ½ bunch of trimmed and chopped fresh asparagus

·         ½ English cucumber, quartered and chopped

·         1 small bag (maybe 3 oz) fresh peas – you could totally use frozen here too

·         A few sprigs of fresh mint

·         2 lemons

·         Dijon mustard

·         Red wine vinegar

·         Olive oil

·         Salt & Pepper

Step 1- prepare the orzo according to package

Step 2- as the pasta is cooking, prep/chop veggies

Step 3- when there is about 3-4 minutes left on the past add in the asparagus and peas to cook them

Step 4- drain pasta and cooked veggies and rinse under cold water

Step 5- add to a large bowl with mint and chopped cucumber

Step 6- make dressing by mixing together the juice of 2 lemons, approximately 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard (you can add this in gradually in case you aren’t a mustard fan- or omit it completely), 1 tablespoon of vinegar, about ¼ cup of olive oil (I use just enough to cut some of the acidity and make a ‘creamy’ dressing) and some salt and pepper. Honestly, I do the dressing all by taste. You could totally swap out for store bought dressing.

Step 7- add dressing to pasta/veggies, mix well, and refrigerate for 30 minutes+

Step 8- enjoy!

 

So much green, so much yumminess!

 

I love pasta salad. We have made a similar recipe but used quinoa pasta (for you gluten-freers) instead of orzo and added chickpeas. That was awesome too. I love to make what I call a ‘greek’ version of this with cucumber, tomatoes, green onion, Kalamata olives, chickpeas, bell pepper and spinach but E does not eat most of those things so I reserve that recipe for family or work potlucks. Lol!

5)      Wow! These past few days social media has really gotten it right! I know I talked earlier this week about my girl Brooke and her story about Shape magazine having gone viral. I never thought that what happened last week would have led to watching her on both Good Morning America and the Today Show. How awesome is that? This morning, during her piece on the Today Show, the world was informed that Shape Magazine (whose editor at large was on as well) would be rectifying this mess by featuring Brooke (as well as some others) in a magazine spread about the realities of extreme weight loss. Right on! I think that is a really important topic and it isn’t often shared…other than from bloggers who of course talk openly about it and share tons (sometimes too many, points finger at self) pictures about where their journey has led them. I know I held nothing back when it came to my skin removal surgery and showing pictures all the time. And I know the before pictures were a gleaming harsh reality of what losing a whole adult human beings (a healthy 5’ 5” woman, in my case) worth of weight looks like. And I wasn’t ashamed, or even hesitant to share, because I agree with Brooke- it is nothing to be ashamed of. That being said, I am also not ashamed that I had the skin removal surgery after. It was for both cosmetic and medical reasons. And yes, sometimes a part of me feels a bit vain. But most days I am beyond happy I had the surgery and I would do it again in a heartbeat. That being said, I am still not planning on having surgery to remove excess skin on my arms or legs nor do I plan on having a breast job- which is another common post weight loss surgery. But I don’t blame or judge anyone for doing so. I think we all have to make the decisions that are best for us as individuals.  And I am happy for any positive exposure stories like Brooke's gets. The more people know, the more they are exposed to it, the more stories like hers (or mine) become the norm. And hopefully this leads to less discussions over whether or not any person should put a shirt on and more discussions about how awesome it is seeing strong, happy, proud, and inspirational women in mainstream media- regardless of the circumstance that led them there.

Well, that’s about it for me this Friday. I hope you have a happy, healthy and amazing weekend!

Love and hugs,

Dacia
xoxoxox

Messages and Mantras

The little tags on my tea bags this morning had the following messages…

Live in your strength

Let your heart guide you

Hmmmm…is the universe speaking to me through tea bag messages? I think so!

These are great mantras to focus on as I transition into another week of activity (my first real personal training session EEK!), healthy eating, and happy living.

 It’s also Valentine’s Day week which makes the second message even more special. I would tell you all about the amazing plans I have for next Saturday but I don’t want to ruin the surprise for E, in case he is reading. I am doubly excited for our big V day plans Friday even though I don’t know much about them since E has kept his plans under wraps as well. No matter what we end up doing I know it will be another amazing weekend!

That’s about all I have for today but before I go I wanted to share this picture from our night out at Hot Glass Cold Brew at the FirstCity Art Center last Friday. At the studio they had a ‘Before I Die’ wall- giant chalkboards filled with ‘before I die’ with a blank space after for people to write in their message. We got there a little late so the board was already filled. E wrote one anyway. This was his post.

 "Before I die I want to lasso the moon for you!"

Yeah, that may have been the sweetest thing to ever happen in my life. I was crying when I saw what he wrote. In case you don’t know the reference, it is from “It’s a Wonderful Life” which is one of my favorite movies. Back in December E and I actually went and saw the play together and then proceeded to watch the movie. His message totally melted my heart. I’m one lucky girl!

Happy, happy Monday!

Love and hugs,

Dacia  

P.S. In case you were wondering, the tea was Vanilla Spice Perfect Energy from Yogi Tea ;)

Five Things Friday

Hooray! It’s Friday! And I don’t know about you but I am certainly looking forward to the weekend.  So much so, I will make it the first thing I talk about in this week’s edition of Five Things Friday.

#1- I live in Pensacola which, for those of you who don’t know, is on the gulf coast of Florida (in the central time zone) about ten miles from the Alabama border. It’s a pretty tiny city but a city nonetheless. I am always impressed with all the fun events going on around town. Tonight is a recurring event that I have yet to attend called hot glass cold brew at the First City Art Center. It is a fundraising event for the center and its programs and includes a hand-blown glass or hand-thrown pottery cup, pizza, beer, live music, live art demos and workshops. I am pretty excited for this event- I have been waiting since November (when I first learned about it) to attend one.  The rest of my weekend will probably a bit more low-key. Tomorrow I have a long list of errands and homework to do and I am also having some furniture delivered so most of my day will be spent on those things. Saturday night will more than likely be spent downtown at one of the bars we like to frequent and then Sunday we are heading out of town to visit E’s family. They live about an hour away and it’s a nice, easy drive. E has a three year old niece who is just the cutest little thing and thankfully she likes me too so I plan on spending a lot of time hanging out with her, playing Angry Birds.  All in all, it should be a really great weekend.

#2 This week was pretty good. Definitely the best one I have had activity wise since the surgery. Tuesday I had my fitness assessment and on Wednesday & Thursday I did the first two runs of the couch to 5K program. Wednesday’s run went really well but Thursday’s did not.  I think a lot of that had to do with the treadmill I was using, the one on Thursday was old and stuck on an incline and I think that was just too much for me. I scaled back as much as I could but afterwards I had some pain in my abdomen which was no bueno. I will try again next week, on the good treadmill, and see how I feel. I may need to opt for more cycling and limit my running if there is still pain. This whole surgery recovery/getting back into the swing of things is all new to me. I don’t know what is a healthy amount of pain/discomfort versus too much pain/discomfort. I know that it is possible for me to have lingering issues years after this surgery so right now I am just trying to figure things out.

#3 I need to get back into my greater than 50% raw diet. This way of eating is ideal for me. I feel really great when I eat pretty much all raw before dinner. I have tons of energy and I really enjoy the foods I eat which make it easy to do. However, it isn’t as easy to do when I am away from home which I was for pretty much every day for the past two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I still managed to pack my lunches and snacks daily and still ate a decent amount of raw foods just not as much as I would like. So this week, since I plan at being at home most nights, I will try to get back into the swing of it again. Right now I think that is the most realistic plan for me to have- stick to raw before dinner on days/weeks I am home and the rest of the time just do the best I can. I mean ultimately, I can’t beat myself up if I eat oatmeal instead of having a green smoothie…both are really good and healthy options.

#4 On a more personal note…I need dating advice. After being married for so long, I am not really sure how to be a girlfriend. I fear most days I may be too smothering or too overbearing (my words, not his) but I think it is because I am so accustomed to being with the same person day in and day out. I am not really sure if I am doing the whole dating thing right. Also, is dating in your mid-thirties different? I would think it would be. I mean I have way different expectations from a relationship now than I had in my twenties. I would hope that most people my age who are out in the dating world feel the same. Kind of like the whole ‘I don’t have time for BS or head games or drama’ type mindset. I’m too old for that crap. But I do often worry that being totally open about my wants and needs can be a bit overwhelming. But that’s just the way that I am and I doubt I will change it. I guess I really am just looking for some affirmation that being this way is ok because I doubt it is possible for me to be ‘less Dacia’. LOL!

#5 Ok, so in this segment I will actually ask for your advice/input. How do you handle toxic people, especially those ones you cannot (due to circumstances) cut out of your life? Do you have a mantra or meditative phrase or some way to help get you through those frustrating moments? Although I am sure it would feel good to just scream STFU at someone I doubt that is the right way to handle this situation. So, any ideas how to work through a difficult situation with a difficult person?

Well, that’s about all I’ve got for today. I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Love and hugs,

Dacia

From our last trip to the Abita Brewery...finally got it on there!