New Website Love

I stumbled across this web site while trying to track down this bag that I need....yes need.

http://www.bonadrag.com/shopmain/shopmain.html



Its the Mr. Zipalot Bag by Deadly Ponies


The first site that had it was sold out of it in black, my color or choice. It also revealed the price tag- $425. I little out of my price range for today. But it did later go on sale for 50% off! They have many pieces I would love to call my own, but once again come with heavy price tags. My hopes are high that once there stock is low on an item it goes on sale, I will continue to keep an eye on a few things. Now some morning eye candy from the site.

Happy Birthday to the Boyfriend!

Its the boyfriend's big two nine! The last year of his twenties...so sad. But I don't think he is really that bothered by it. I’m not making dinner, instead we are heading out to eat tonight. But he did request a cake. This is the cake I made last weekend when we had dinner with his family. So for him to request this after just eating it and not being a huge fan of sweets it must be good. And being that I am so kind I thought I would share it with you.





It’s a Chocolate Whisky Cake with Raspberries and it’s not actually my recipe. You can find the full recipe here;

http://www.vegalicious.org/2008/02/09/chocolate-whisky-cake-with-raspberries/


It’s a very rich, dense dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a ganache like frosting. Both the batter and ganache have whisky in them. If you aren't a big whisky drinker and don't know what to use I used the boyfriends favorite Bulleit Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It worked perfect and tasted pretty amazing.

Oh, my friends that is a quart sized ice cream container you see, not the usual pint. And yes its empty. I am obsessed with this ice cream. If you have any milk or gluten issues this is by far the best. I am picky when it comes to soy ice cream, this is really the only one I can say I love. Another good option is Coconut Bliss, which uses coconut milk as a base. But for the price nothing beats Trader Joe's. I can no longer keep it in the house. So good bye Soy Creamy, I need to fit in my jeans!

Wedding Season.....its coming!

I cannot tell you how much I love attending weddings. For someone who doesn't have their heart set on having their own wedding its a bit unusual how much I love them. This spring/summer I only have four lined up so far. But I am a bridesmaid in one and the boyfriend is a groomsman in another. Given those extra duties we have a few other events to attend, like rehearsal dinners and engagement cocktail parties. I don't mind one bit, that just gives me more opportunities to play dress up! I am trying to keep my dress shopping to a limit and keep them in budget by not cashing in at more then $100 each. I also I'm trying to wear a couple at more then one event. Here are a few I am eyeing so far;









The hunt is on(can you tell I'm excited)! I find the hunt of the perfect dress a ton of fun and once I nail down the dress its not over. Nope! Shoes, clutches and jewelry here I come. I also plan to shop my own closet as well and see what I can put together. I love seeing how others put together an outfit sometimes its very inspiring. I love when I see a piece I already own used in a way I haven't thought of. I hope you will enjoy the up coming post as I master my wedding ensembles.

Raw rah ah ah ah...

Just a quick raw dinner post, bonus points for those who read the title to the tune of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance!


I'm in my second week of eating mostly raw. Its been pretty easy so far. I think allowing myself to eat cooked food when I want is helping. I have been enjoying coffee still, about 3 cups a week which is far less then I normally have. The boyfriend and I also met up with his sister and bother in law for happy hour during the week, where I did order the hummus plate. I stayed away from the pita bread but happily ate all the raw veggies with the hummus which I am sure wasn't raw. Saturday the boyfriend and I went out to breakfast to a non-raw restaurant where I ordered the organic oatmeal with bananas and raisins. And Sunday a group of us once again did happy hour where I put down two glass of their house red. So a few non-raw meals in there but I don't feel one bit guilty about it.


Thursday I made these stuffed mushrooms





They were very easy to make. I drizzled olive oil over the mushrooms with a little black pepper and let them sit a couple minutes. Then they were filled with a pistachio pesto I made and put into the dehydrator for an hour or so. Once out and warmed they got topped with some roma tomato and basil. Yum.

My own Project 10 Pan

I follower a few You Tuber's that vlog about beauty related things. I get a lot of inspiration from them, tips and reviews on products before I buy them. It’s become a habit of checking out the reviews before shelling out any dough. And it has really save me a lot of product disappointment and brought to my attention some new products that I may have never found before. One You Tube guru who goes by the screen name lollipop26 started a project she calls Project 10 Pan. Her guidelines were that you use up ten products until all that’s left of them is the metal pan you find at the bottom of eye shadows, compacts and the such. During the project you cannot buy anything new, once you have 10 items completely emptied then the boycott is over and you are free to buy at your discretion. These ten items do not have to have a pan; it could be lip gloss, lipstick, foundations, ect. The whole point of the project is to help you get a hold of your spending habits and consumption. I know I own 20 or so lip glosses. Do I need that many? No. Will I buy more without a hesitation? Of course. Its completely unnecessary, and frankly I am tired of trying to find space to store all of it. No one needs this much product. I am the only one to blame.

I have started my project shortly before leaving for my vacation and decided to share it with you. I have set up a few guidelines that are a little different, here it is. My buying boycott is on all products, not just makeup. So that also includes hair, face and skin products. Things like body lotion, I have many half full bottles sitting around and still continue to buy more. Maybe it was on sale or just smelled so good I had to have it. No longer will this be the case. I will use what I have and only repurchase once I am completely out, therefore the boycott will also not end with just ten products. This rule will go for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, facial masks, basically everything. There will be a few exceptions, for example eye shadow. I will always own more then one eye shadow. But going forward I will only repurchase ones I am out of that I use on a regular basis, such as Kid by MAC. I use it almost everyday; it’s a very neutral brown that I do not have a dupe for. However I have many purple eye shadows that only get used every once in a while. So next time I see a pretty new shade I will not buy it, instead I will wait until my current ones are used up and then decide if I need a new one. Is this making any sense?

Step two in my Project 10 Pan is to replace my used up products with a new more eco friendly version when I repurchase. While I would love to just dump all of my current supply and go out and buy all new organic, sustainable and natural ones I can’t. Besides the fact that it would be very wasteful it would also be very expensive and very opposite of the whole point of doing a Project 10 Pan.

So here I am very patiently waiting, using up my mass supply before buying anything new. I will keep you posted on the project and invite you all to take stock of what you own and maybe start your own version Project 10 Pan.

Maui and the Raw Revolution

Wow, I meant to post so much more this week then I did. Well that happens, I guess it is taking me a bit to get back into my normal schedule. Maui was amazing as it always is. It is so beautiful there, I really love the up country side you definitely get the island feel there more than anywhere else. The weather could have been a little more on our side but there isn’t much to do about that, we still made the best of it. We saw some sights; I went golfing with the boyfriend one day and mostly laid around on the beach.


Not the worse place to have to hang out during a round of golf.




The Bamboo Forest driving up country.




Some of the amazing views on the road to Hana.




The State Park and Black Sand Beach, where we had a picnic.




Our last sunset at the beach across from the condo we stayed in.




This may seem somewhat cheesy but being in Maui always makes me want to take in the purest forms of food. I also met up with my Hawaii host family that I stayed with this summer and they are always a big inspiration for me in how they live their life. They live in a very conscious way, being very aware of the choices they make and the impact those choices have not only on the earth but also for their bodies. Coming home I decided to put more effort out and try to make all choices more consciously for my own body and the earth. I have decided to go about this with a couple goals I hope to reach.

One- Eat a raw diet.
My original plan was to just set the goal to eat raw for one week, and its already Friday! It really flew by and I didn’t once feel I was struggling with it. I am really surprised by that and completely content that I am doing so well. I love raw food, I could go on and on about how amazing the food is, how good you feel eating, ect, ect. I will spare you from that. In the past my struggle with going towards a raw food diet was never eating the food, it is always the preparation it took to have a variety of things to eat. And in the past when I didn’t preplan a meal I wasn’t satisfied grabbing for some fruit, a handful of nuts or some raw veggies. I would always just eat something non-raw. This week I did prepare a few things but for the most part I have been happy with just doing with what I had. I only made one meal this week that took a little more preparation and an extra batch of seed cheese. Other then that I have been completely content snacking on raw fruits, veggies and nuts or whipping up a quick dressing for a salad or a raw soup. I have also been making many green smoothies. And now that the week is up I am just going to keep it up. If I really feel the need for something cooked I will go ahead and have it. The thing with living a raw food lifestyle is there are no rules. It’s a personal choice. Nothing is set in stone and you can decide what fits best for you. If living 100% raw is making you miserable why do it? I just read one book that said they only recommend eating 60% raw to get all the benefits and anything above that is just doing your body a favor. And than there are always the extremist who will say its all or nothing. You just have to listen to your body and live within the goals you set for yourself. In fact I think that’s a good way to live your life in all aspects not just food.


If you aren’t familiar with raw food you should really see what its all about, or invite me over to cook (well…uncook) you dinner. I am getting very good at preparing foods that are beyond delicious but my knowledge on the nutrition, science and all that jazz are a little weak. That’s part of my goal too, to gain more knowledge. I want to be a source that people can come to if they have questions about it. I have been checking books out at the library left and right and trying to absorb all the knowledge they hold. I think learning more has helped in wanting to have this raw food movement be part of my everyday life. So my journey into a raw food life style has begun, and I think it's sticking.


If you think I’m eating carrot sticks and lettuce all day you are wrong. I love food way too much for that. Tuesday night we had stuffed peppers with mole sauce. And the other day for lunch I had a veggie sandwich. Pretty normal stuff right?


Lovely Stuffed Peppers.





We even had some pretty good organic red wine with it.



Veggie Sandwich on Raw Bread.





Ok, so thats goal one in a nutshell. More post on my other goals that are in the works to come shortly. Promise!