Hello dears, where did the past two weeks go?? I’ve been busy wrapping up this quarter, grading midterms and preparing for finals, and yesterday I taught my last discussions of the year! Wahoo! BRING ON SUMMER!
So yeah, I’ve been busy busy in grad school, and also I’ve been intentionally practicing pleasure-seeking. Like, as an activity. Like, as a priority. I’m the type of person who is ever practical, always putting work before play, but in light of recent battles with major stress and anxiety, I say — no more! I am making space for pure pleasure. I am gardening. I am spring cleaning. I am spellcasting, wild-food-foraging, Netflix binge-watching (Gilmore Girls finally!) and all sorts of other delicious self care. It’s wonderful and worth it, but it does tend to diplace other activities, such as blogging.
Ah well, I’m sure you understand. There’s only so many hours in a day, and sometimes putting on a podcast for mid-morning weeding in the spring sunlight just has to take priority over staying inside and writing. But hey, now I’m back! And speaking of only so many hours in the day . . . here’s how we spent a recent Sunday, the whole little family all together:
During the week I get up early to get Waits ready for school, and we let Jeremy sleep in late because he needs and deserves it for all his hard work, and also there’s no use in both of us being tired. But Sunday? Sunday is my day to sleep in, and my boys creep out of bed to let me snooze away in absolute bliss. Mmmmmm Sunday mornings are GOOD.
Waits had already eaten breakfast by the time I got up, but I’m told he had 2 slices of whole grain toast with vegan butter (we love Dave’s Killer Bread) and a side of organic soy milk.
After showering and getting myself ready to hit the road, I whipped us up a quick “road smoothie”. See, we were on our way to LA, and it would be about 2 hours until we had lunch. No worries, my standard smoothie packs quite a punch with oat milk, strawberries, bananas, kale, peanut butter, protein powder, plus vitamins and minerals (D, K2, Cal-Mag, zinc, and a probiotic — if you’re wondering which supplements I use and why, here’s the post on that).
After I pour Waits his smoothie, I add these supplements and re-blend. Jeremy and I are stretched pretty thin these days, and adaptogens like these keep our bodies semi-balanced amidst all the chaos.
But away we go, into the car, road trip tunes blasting, south along the beautiful Pacific Coast. We saw dolphins off of Rincon Point and wildflowers all along the bluffs. It’s a beautiful drive and before we knew it we were in La-La Land. First stop, VEGGIE GRILL!
If I’m being totally honest, this was not the best Veggie Grill experience. I’m not goint to rehash it here but if you’re interested, I wrote about it on Instagram (I do a lot of microblogging there, you should follow me!)
After lunch we were off on another adventure — to the California Science Center! It’s one of Waits’s favorite places, and a place we visit as often as we can. As a family of scientists (Jeremy double majored in biology and chemistry before he got into wine) it’s something we all love, and this place just never disappoints. We spent hours roaming the exhibits, playing with the demos, and filling our brains with science!
It was fun fun fun all around, so much so that Waits even got a little bit hungry again. Jeremy and I were wanting some re-caffeination, so it was a perfect opportunity to hit the snack shop and take a minute to relax out in the sun.
By then it was late afternoon/early evening, and we were ready for the last leg of our adventure. We had plans to meet up with some friends — some very SEXY friends — for a vegan Vietnamese feast.
The plan was for us to swing by and grab the food, and then take it over to our pals’ house for a backyard picnic. Restaurant eating is tough when there are multiple energetic weegans to wrassle.
And who were we meeting? Well Mr Sexy Vegan himself, Brian Patton of course! And his wonderful wife Desiree, and their adorable little weegan Oliver. We’d hung out with Brian and Desiree a bunch of times at various festivals and events, but this was our first time meeting their little one.
So of course, we hung out for like, hours, but there was Vietnamese and there were rugrats and alas, not a single picture of grown-up people was taken. Oh well, at least I got the food!
A great meal with great company, and it was so nice to hang with Brian and Desiree away from all the madness of a formal event. ♥
We left after dark and despite the 2-hour drive home, Waits stayed wide awake. Buuuuut he was asleep pretty much as soon as his head hit the pillow, and I crept out to the kitchen to make myself my new favorite bedtime drink.
You guys I drink this like every night, it’s the best thing ever!
I take a 1-inch nub of fresh ginger, skin it, chop it, and drop it in the bottom of my mug. Then I do the same to a 1-inch nub of fresh turmeric. Then I add a glug of maple syrup and the juice of one medium lemon. I mash the roots into the maple-lemon, using a cocktail muddler (any blunt object will do) and really get them good and mashed. Then I add boiling water and usually some sort of medicinal tea bag, like my hormonal balance blend or an favorite immune booster. The tea doesn’t really matter since the flavor is mostly overpowered by the lemon and roots, but I love my medicinal teas so I usually add one. Also sometimes a splash of bourbon, when I’m feeling feisty.
A perfect nightcap to end another long, lovely day.
♥ ♥ ♥
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Kati
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http://www.dayattheshore.blogspot.com Mrs. D.
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lysette
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http://windycityvegan.wordpress.com/ Monika {windycityvegan}
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Bianca Phillips
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j.
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http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal
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http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal
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http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal
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http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal
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http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal
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http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/ Sayward Rebhal
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http://windycityvegan.wordpress.com/ Monika {windycityvegan}