 Not Guilty about much actually, lol - but the blogging challenge continues. This is a tough one, cause I really don't feel guilty about much. I work hard and live my life the way I want so I'm not really guilty about anything. #TrueStory I don't "cheat" as a vegan. I eat 80/20 healthy, plant based. I don't consume sugar, drink or smoke. I haven't had a Starbucks in so long I can't remember when?! So yep, I'm pretty boring and not guilty at all. Probably my number one guilty pleasure right now is too much online shopping.  #AnotherTrueStory But its my money and I work hard for it...so I'm not guilty at all. Lately I've been buying winter clothes, art supplies, vegan make up, stuff for the new house and of course stuff for my son.  Random purchase for the house.  Random sampling of beauty products, lol  Newest box.  Even though this kinda counts as online shopping, subscription boxes are another of my weaknesses. I'm currently receiving Vegancuts, Sketchbox, and Fab Fit Fun + add ons and up-sells on all of them. I stopped the beauty mask monthly box just because I wasn't using the masks fast enough. Now that I'm about out of masks I will restart that subscription. So compared to most people I know, thats not many at all.  Vegancuts  Good amount of random vegan snacks delivered to my door.  My TBR (To Be Read) pile of books is getting pretty low... so I'm not feeling guilty about that at all. If anything I feel like I need to make an effort to find more books. #Yikes!  And you? What are your guilty pleasures? Are you overspending or over indulging? Or are you like me and not guilty about it?
Tune in tomorrow as the blogging challenge continues~  Sunrise yoga outside! The blog challenge continues - warning this is gonna be kinda of boring. Being it's just an average day - its full of work and food, lol  4:45 a.m. Let's Do this! Coffee on the Patio/Water Plants/Wake Up 5:00 Journal/Meditation 6:00 Yoga/Watch the sunrise/Cup of tea 6:45 Banana Nice Cream  7:00 Shower 7:20 Get dressed 7:45 Commute to my office (three rooms away)  7:47 Forget that I have laundry - so start the washer... 8:00 Begin Work  Work 12:00 lunch 12:45 Meeting  Snack in between. 2:00 Back to work 6:00 Call it a day! 6:05 Commute to Kitchen, lol 6:07 Cook again  I whipped up a loaded vegan pizza. (See video for description.) I was quite proud, it was amazingly good!  More vegan goodness... From 7:00-11:00 pm I usually read, sketch, write or watch a movie. Some nights I spend it catching up with friends on the phone. Then bed and do it again. #Goodtimes  Stay tuned for the next blog challenge... Are you bored yet? This is just an average day. I will be traveling this weekend so maybe I will do another 'Full Day' post, and show you what I do when I'm on a road trip.
See you at the airport~  The blog challenge continues. Read past posts here, if you need to catch up. Today I am sharing 8 things I am currently loving. These are not linked or sponsored. Just my personal finds that I use everyday and love.  Buddha Tea If you visit here often or follow me on Twitter you know I love tea! And I love trying new organic, eco-sourced products. This month I'm drinking Root Chakra Tea. Buddha Teas are not the cheapest teas, nor the most expensive, but they are some of the best. I want to say I paid about $6.50 for a box?  Garnets!  And they help plant trees!  I am also loving these three products. I love this small travel toothbrush from FFF. I picked it up as an add-on and love it! Its compact and super soft. It came with three, instead of two brush heads. I honestly have no idea what I paid, but I know it wasn't over $20-$25? I am also loving the Essential Oxygen organic toothpaste and brushing rinse. I have been using the brushing rinse for over a year, but had a lot of Earthpaste stocked piled. #TrueStory - When I find a product I like I purchase a supply of it. #NOTaHoarder I promise. Once I used it all, I bought the EO toothpaste to try. Now I really love it too. The Toothpaste is only $8.09 on Amazon and the brushing rinse is $10.27.  I still like my old brand. but wanted to try the entire line of EO together to see if it was even better together. I'm also so loving this Acure scrub and Nelson Hair Mask. I use both while soaking (and reading) in the tub, for a wonderful and relaxing afternoon. The hair mask really helps tame my thick locks and makes my hair super silky.  I love all of the Acure products! I finished off my last tube of facial scrub and decided to try this one with Sea Kelp. I'm so glad I did!  I was surprised it was green!  Between the sea kelp and the French clay this is way more than just a scrub. Really feels nourishing on my skin. Also on my list: Pacifica Dreamy Youth Day and Night Face Cream, which I also bought on Amazon for around $15USD. I not sure, but I think that was the subscription price? After using it a week I knew I wanted to try it our for several months, so I quickly added it to my monthly subscriptions. It is amazing and so light weight. In this crazy summer heat you don't want a heavy cream on your face, making you sweat even more. I have been using it for about three months now and am very pleased.  Pacifica is another brand I don't think you can go wrong with. It's not greasy at all and is easily absorbed into the skin. + Like all Pacifica products it is cruelty-free and vegan. #WIN   My last item is a couple of pens I received in a Sketchbox monthly subscription box. I am drawing more and am so pleased to try out new, professional grade products.
So how many is that?
Join me tomorrow for the next challenge post.  When not traveling, you can usually find me experimenting in the kitchen. Living in the Southwest the summers are so freaking warm that standing over a hot stove or baking seems insane! So I try to eat as much raw as possible. Luckily there are many fruits in season right now. I've had company most of the summer and we've been busy mowing through all this fruity goodness.  While I love figs, cantaloupe and berries, nothing says, "SUMMER" like fresh watermelon!   Surprisingly there aren't that many watermelon smoothie recipes. So i've had to make up my own...  If you follow me on line you know my latest obsession is watermelon based smoothies. So I turned my kitchen into a laboratory and began experimenting! One of my best creations was Kiwi/Watermelon topped with Hemp seeds. It was super quick to make (like most smoothies) and the taste was rich and refreshing. Also this is one of those odd smoothies that doesn't contain bananas.  I put a splash of unsweetened nut milk in the processor with a generous amount of watermelon and 2 ripe kiwis (peeled of course). I also removed the black seeds from the watermelon and blended well.  Topped with hemp hearts. I also tried it with strawberries. (Not my fav.) and watermelon with just nut milk. My son's favorite was mango and watermelon. I actually am not a fan of mangoes but I enjoyed it too. If your melon is ripe it will be plenty sweet and frothy no matter what you throw in. Watermelon is of course, mostly water — about 92% — but this refreshing summer fruit is also drenched with nutrients. According to Live Science.com "Each juicy bite has significant levels of vitamins A, B6 and C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids. There's even a modest amount of potassium. Plus, this quintessential summer snack is fat-free, and very low in sodium. Also there are only 40 calories per cup." #Win These smoothies are prefect for a lazy, summer morning.  Doesn't that look good? And did you know Hemp Hearts are incredibly nutritious too?  Plus they also taste good! Hemp seeds are a great source of vitamin E and minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron and zinc? If you are worried about protein, about 25% of calories in hemp seeds come from protein, which is relatively high. 30 grams of hemp seeds, or 2–3 tablespoons, provide about 11 grams of protein, so sprinkle this super food on everything! I'm wishing I had a smoothie right now. I'm currently sitting on the patio watching another phenomenal sunset. (This mostly makes up for the scorching heat.)  Catch you later-  I'm still alive! Hello! It's been awhile and I have no excuse other than I have had company almost every single day since late June! The last bunch is leaving Monday and then hopefully I can catch up on blogging. Life is really good now. I have really enjoyed visiting with everyone and exploring the area. Its great to see things through other people's eye. You, or at least I, forget how beautiful every day life can be. So truthfully we are spending most of our time outside in the garden and of course eating!  (From one ladies snapchat, lol. I'm glad they liked my vegan food. :D)  Bring on the vegan food!  OMG! These were soooo good!  And the tacos are flowing!  Meanwhile the plants are blooming..  My garden is kicking-ass!  My toad crop is really coming in nicely this year, lol!  Free range crop is not amused.   We have been chasing sunsets..(that's actually a sunrise, cause sleep is for losers)  (Sunset in progress) I'm enjoying a low key summer for a change. There are so many AMAZING travel deals right now, but I cannot get away from work yet. I'm still working almost every day, but hiring additional folks has really helped, so hopefully by next year we can return to the travel life. (Fingers crossed.)  We are in the monsoon season and it's been really nice and cool lately. Perfect weather for exploring in between rain storms.  I also have a TON of boxes and other goodies to share with you! I took lots of photos so expect to be bombarded with posts soon!  #Yum!  Newest Obsession! I really hope you are having a great summer!
I promise to put together a proper post soon, Until then-  I know most ppl are like "OMG! WTF?!?" For the long time readers of the blog, (thank you both, lol) you know I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 18 and vegan for 5 + years now, but I still get asked questions like, “What do you eat?!”  So now that vegans and vegetarians are much more mainstream, chances are good you may find yourself invited over for dinner. What can you expect? Well, first off don’t panic! If a gourmet chef invited you for dinner you would expect to try some sublime foods that you had never tried before. If a specialty pizza chef invited you for dinner, you would expect to eat some incredible pizza that evening. You would probably even look forward to the bits of flair that would be added to the plates and table as you sampled this new cuisine, yeah? So what happens when your vegetarian friend invites you to dinner? Will it be a GIANT bowl of raw salad, sans dressing and heavy on the kale? Hardly, if you are lucky enough to be invited to a vegetarian’s home for dinner you can expect a culinary adventure! Now that being said, there are many different types of vegans and vegetarians and people are all different. I for one, am not a fan of curry. (Insert hate mail here, lol) Which is the one guaranteed vegetarian meal on all flights… #FML Anyway, enough about airplane food…If you yourself are not a vegetarian, you should be open to trying a couple of new and interesting foods at your *BVFF’s house. (*Best Veggie Friend Forever) Don’t be afraid to try meat alternatives, if they serve you any, most meat eaters love them, once they get over the “TOFU FEAR” that most people seem to have. Just come hungry and enjoy yourself in a new environment of tastes and smells. I have a few tips to get you ready for what you may encounter on a typical vegetarian table. Are you game?  Seasoning Adventures Vegetarians frequently use strong seasoning in order to bring out flavors more effectively in foods that don’t necessarily add their own flavor to a dish. There is a high likelihood of finding characteristic flavorings from other cultures. So expect to try some new flavors. Traditional vegetarian cultures have influenced American vegetarians quite a bit. Indian spices are very popular in combination with vegetarian entrees and sides. But as I said not everyone eats Curry. Spices, herbs and seasoning from Mexico, Italy, and of course Asian cooking, are popular in vegetarian cooking. Ingredients such as peppers, soy sauces and sesame oil are also quite common in most vegetarian kitchens. Depending on the individual, of course, but its a safe bet that you can expect richly flavored dishes rather than simple salt and pepper. Favorite Dishes for Non-Vegetarian Guests So, what is it that you will be eating that will be seasoned so beautifully? There are a few options. Protein source - could be beans, mushrooms, lentils, quinoa or Tofu. Tofu and tempeh are common soy products, that are now easily found in most US markets. They both receive flavor very efficiently and are easy to make fit any dinner mold. In addition to the protein portion of your meal, expect a colorful variety of vegetables. A spoonful of peas or corn would be insufficient for a nutritious vegetarian meal, so expect more varieties and larger servings. Finally, the carbohydrates will finish off your plate. Potatoes are a possibility, but it is more likely that you will find pasta, rice or risotto. If you are not accustomed to eating vegetarian meals, you will be surprised at the filling and satisfying results that an experienced vegetarian cook can produce. #WIN Now, that being said, of course there are many different types of vegetarian meals, way too many for me to list here.  Trust me, not every meal is salad, but if we serve you a salad it will be amazing! The important thing to do is to be willing to sit down at the table with an open mind. Get ready to enjoy something new, fun and delicious. Vegetarian foods are definitely unique as compared to typical American fare, but they make for an incredible dining experience.
Catch you later-  The wind is howling and a storm is blowing in. I'm in the mountains so the weather is very changeable.  I may be forced to read by candle light, lol  I'm enjoying these stories. Full review coming soon.  I did get dinner made before the storm started. (This was Amazing!) This dish was super easy and quick to make. I roasted garlic, asparagus and grape tomatoes in the oven while the couscous was cooking. (It was seasoned with green onions and veggie stock.) Then plated the couscous and put roasted veggies, more green onions and slivered almonds over the top. #WIN and instant favorite! Meanwhile the rains have started.  Rain means flowers (and veggies) soon! #Win So I'm not complaining at all.
Catch you later-  And actually you know that could be anything... Mostly it's uber exciting stuff like moving furniture around, watering the plants and doing laundry...(Roll your eyes, it's okay.) This weekend I had company over.. fun, fun, fun.  Right now we are heading to Albuquerque to eat at An Hy Quan, (a Vietnamese restaurant) serving excellent Vegan food.  Yum!  See you there?  How can March almost be over? This month has flown by! So how has your month been? March has been wonderful for me. Work is going great, lots of good things are in the works (more about them soon!) And I even found time to read a bit. #WIN  Currently reading..  I am behind in my book reviews...  I hope to post the reviews later this week.  But then the trees started blooming and I don't want to stay inside on the computer...  OMG!   Spring is here!   I have also been cooking less and snacking more this month...  The March Vegan Cuts box was excellent!  Love this new tea.  Really nice and organic. More book and product reviews soon.
Plus more travel tales and more all around randomness! Catch you Later~  March is always a busy month, but that doesn't mean we can't still eat good food, yeah? So to prove that - here is a mini vegan food diary. I have tried to cook more and eat less take out. Plus be more creative and try new recipes.  I've tried to step out of the box with my cooking. Leeks and Fennel are new to me.  But cooked up with pasta make an awesome change.  Braised tofu, noodles and green beans + : jalapeños for the win!  Organic Tofu with turmeric and salsa for vegan scrambled eggs,  Corn and peppers were the base of a few quick dishes I made.  Yes, we eat a lot of peppers.  Homemade Hummus and homemade chips. (Yes, heavy on the peppers!)  Next round...  Add extra herbs and spices.  More expermenting with simple oat cookies. No flour, no sugar - just PB and dates + nuts in this batch.  Read new book while waiting for cookies to bake, lol.  Tried out this new vegan burger mix.  Add water, let it sit a few minutes and then fry up. I like to have stuff on hand for when people stop by. Stuff that is easy to cook and also doesn't scare the non-vegans. LOL So I bought a new pantry friendly burger mix. It actually tasted okay, kind of bland, but with pickles, onions and peppers it made a tasty burger. I'm gonna keep some on hand for surprise company.  I've tried some other nut based creamers, but NutPods is still my fav.  I made this vegan cheesecake last month for Valentines day- see where "someone" stuck their finger in to try it? LOL  My candy faired better, lol  A few nights we were able to eat out side on the patio and enjoy the sunset. #Heaven! Now I'm feeling inspired to try more new foods. Gotta go cook - catch you later!
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Author Welcome to my travel blog, my healthy Vegan lifestyle blog and my life! It's a lot, but it's my passions and I just love to write about it. Here I share tips, stories and photos from my adventures and life. This is the place where people can find daily inspiration to travel and motivation to live healthier lives and laugh a bit too! 
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