Simple foods

Veggies. Spices. Smoked salmon. Oatmeal. Whole wheat. Banana. Grapefruit. Whole foods to remind me of the simple joys in the everyday- and the simple joy of making and sharing food with loved ones!

Enjoy today,

Addie

5 things I learned from my bicycle

1. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses. 
This week I started biking out to the farm in Fairhaven, about a five mile ride each way. On day three, as luck would have it, I rolled over a big piece of glass about 3/4 of the way there. I got to push my bike up a huge hill and realized that it might have actually been better than riding up it. I snapped a few photos of the cool neighborhood around the farm on my way there. I noticed plants, houses, and animals I never would have seen while zipping by on my bike (let alone in a car).

An overgrown garden path

Beautiful front door(s)

A house that used to be something else. Maybe a church?

2. Be thankful
I was oh so thankful for our beautiful waterfront trail that allowed me to walk my bike two miles from the farm to the community bike shop. It was nice to not have to walk on the hot sidewalk next to speedy cars. Silly me for not having a patch kit!

The South Bay Trail, connecting downtown B'ham and Fairhaven. It has beautiful greenery and lovely views of the bay.

3. People are nice
Just like the friendly bike shop guy that taught me how to patch a tire. Again, it was silly of me not to have a patch kit, even though I did have a bike pump attached to my frame. I couldn't use it without a patch! I was also thankful that the hole was small (though the glass chunk was big) and I didn't have to buy a new tube.

4. Hills are hard
All I have to say is after riding 10 miles a day, uphill for about half of it, my legs are tired and sore. I got some good use out of our hot tub this week. It made me rethink not wanting a tub in my tiny house if I'm going to get around mostly by bike.

5. When the going gets tough, imagine your supporters
When I woke up on Thursday with tired legs, windy weather, and a few hours less sleep than I would have liked, I sure didn't want to ride my bike. It's so easy to hop in the car, protected by the wind and propelled down the road by the slight push of a pedal. But if my goal is to go car-free in college I have to stick to it. So I imagined my bike cheerleaders. First, there's my friend Jessie who bikes insane numbers of miles in a day, just to train for a bike race twice that distance. Then there's Lina, a tiny house enthusiast like me who gets around mostly by bike and some bus. And finally, Tammy Strobel and her husband, Logan, who live car free (in a tiny house, of course). I just picture them cheering me on as I take off from my driveway and pedal my way towards the farm. By the end of the day, I'm happy to fall into bed tired, knowing I earned my shower and most certainly my dinner. But I sure can't wait until biking becomes habit and I don't have to force myself to roll out of bed early for my 30 minute commute (instead of 15 by car).

If you're considering commuting by bike- do it! I started with biking to school (even in the rainy winter) and progressed to grocery shopping, volunteering, restaurant eating, and picnic going- all by bike! While living car free may not be possible for everybody, think about making small trips (1-2 miles) by bike. You'd be surprised at how easily a bicycle can turn a boring errand into an adventure.

Enjoy today,
Addie

Reset

Every once and a while I find myself grumpy, anxious, and just not feeling good. Generally I'm able to snap myself out of a bad mood, but these times I wake up in the morning with lingering negativity.

Days like today, when I feel blah and yuck, generally lead to thought. I think, why do I feel this way?! And it's always the same answer. Have I been exercising? No. Have I been eating healthy? Not as much as I'd like. Am I keeping up with my projects? Not so much.

Just like in the Aaron Carter songs of my youth, in my mind I hear that 90's errrrruh of the DJ stopping the record. And I reset. I go back to what I know makes me feel good. I'm not perfect so I forget what I need to do, but I'm never too far gone to get back on track.

So after school today I made myself a tasty snack, indulged in some Pinterest, and then kickboxed for 30 minutes. As I write this, slightly sweaty, I think about how grateful I am for good moods and how thankful I am to be able to create them.

As of now, a rare Bellingham thunderstorm is rolling in, and I'm in the mood to enjoy it. I think I might make some tea.

Enjoy today,
Addie

Slowing down for details

I have a car and I love my car, but I frequently choose not to drive it. When I walk or ride my bike, I find lots of small yet beautiful things that I never seem to notice from behind the windshield of a car.

I always feel accomplished after biking somewhere, especially if I braved the Washington rain along the way. I'm lucky to live only a mile from school and downtown, so I can get most places I need to go with just ten minutes of biking or less. I love the excuse to get outside and I love the hidden exercise. Since I don't think of it as "formal" exercise, I often get an extra fifteen minutes or so of activity per day just by biking to school. That way I know that even if I don't have time to work out later, I'm still maintaining an active lifestyle that keeps me happy.

I've included some photos from my walk to school a few weeks ago. These are all things that I would never have noticed from my car, and even some smaller things I would never have noticed from my bike. It's nice to sometimes slow down and see what beautiful things we pass by every day.

Enjoy today,
Addie

Smoothie: Banana Chocolate PB "Milkshake"

My new morning obsession is smoothies. I have one every day for breakfast and I love them because they fill me up but aren't too heavy and they're a great way to get some fruits (okay... and maybe some veggies too) in the morning.

Here's a recipe for my new favorite- banana chocolate peanut butter!

Step 1: In a blender combine: about 1 cup milk (I used chocolate coconut here, you can use any kind you like), 1/2 cup yogurt or cottage cheese (non-dairy yogurt would work as well), 1 spoonful peanut butter (or other nut butter, try roasted and shelled peanuts for a more chunky texture), and 1 Tablespoon flax meal/ground flax seeds (you can't taste them and they add fiber and omega 3s!). Blend these together until the consistency is smooth. 

Step 2: Add 1/2 of a banana and a few handfuls of spinach. I promise, you can't taste the spinach because the flavor is way overpowered by the banana-chocolate-peanutbuttery goodness. The spinach just adds a dose of veggies (one serving for the day that you don't have to worry about) and makes the smoothie thick- just like a milkshake. Blend these with the first mixture until it gets smooth again.

Step 3: Add 3-5 ice cubes depending on how thick you want it, and blend until smooth again (or until your blender stops making clunky ice-chopping noises). I usually add five cubes because our blender chops them up really fine.

Step 5: Pour and enjoy! My mom is always happy to drink the extra smoothie (especially this one). This is seriously my new favorite thing. Next time I want a milkshake, I'm just going to make this. It's like a milkshake without the heavy-yucky-sluggish feeling afterwards. 

Next time I'm going to try this with frozen coffee cubes instead of ice cubes for more of a mocha "milkshake" smoothie!

Enjoy today,

Addie

Reorganization! (one of my favorite things)

I wanted a way to simplify this blog. All of the posts were jumbled together and each one had numerous different labels. After thinking about it for a while, I had a brain blast. Now, I am excited to introduce to you the new style of this blog.

Everything that I want this blog to be about can be summed up in four genres: healthy living, joyful living, creative living and simple living. Sometimes, posts may overlap multiple themes, but everything I write can be organized into at least one of these categories. 

At the top of this blog, you'll find tabs that take you to a page for each section. Each page contains all of the posts for this theme. 

These four categories represent the four focuses in my life. I can't wait to continue to share with you.

Enjoy today,

Addie

So I ate a piece of pizza (and the world didn't end)

Yes, I ate a piece of pizza. Regular pizza. Gluten and all. If you've been anywhere around me for the past few years, you'll know that I (as if I'm not picky enough about food already) was gluten-free. Long story short, I fell prey to the self-diagnosis craze and have started eating wheat again (along with a variety of other grains). So yesterday I was able to have a little doughy deliciousness.

Yesterday I wanted to take my boyfriend out to lunch to a great local place called Cicchitti's Pizza. I considered packing my own lunch, but decided against it. So I ate this (with tons of red pepper flakes, of course):

But I like to eat, and one piece of pizza is not enough to fill me up. So instead of getting two pieces of pizza, I planned ahead. When we got back to school I ate this:

Hummus and veggies. Yum. It was super easy to pack this, it took all of a minute since I had my veggies pre-cut (read more about planning ahead here). I ended lunch with a full tummy but not feeling gross (as I would have with two slices of pizza). 

In the end, my boyfriend got his pizza and so did I, just with a little veggie something on the side. For me it's all about balance, and I'd rather have once slice of pizza than none at all. All it took was a little advanced planning and self control.

Enjoy today,

Addie

Planning ahead: eat healthy on-the-go

Dinner (bites taken between giving light cues, during a musical)

I often eat on the go. Everyday life gets busy and I eat lunch at school (often during class) and usually dinner a few times a week too (I swear I never leave that theater). But, my mom and I have figured out a few ways to make packing meals during the week fast and easy. As healthy eating enthusiasts (I'll be studying nutrition next year in college) planning ahead is key to avoiding take-out, pre-packaged foods, and school lunches. These are the top five ways that we make sure our meals away from home are as wholesome as possible. 

5 ways to plan ahead (and eat healthy on the go):

1. Wash salad greens over the weekend- it makes it super easy to just toss some in a container (as shown above) and go!

1. Make & freeze: Almost anything can be frozen. We freeze soup in Mason jars, then heat the soup in the jar! This eliminates the weight of carrying around a bowl or having to microwave in plastic (ick...). The salmon pictured above was baked, portioned, wrapped in wax paper, and frozen. I simply put it in the fridge that morning so it would thaw by dinner.

1. Prep your veggies: Nothing gets me to eat vegetables more than having them already prepared. That way there are no excuses! I wash and slice carrots, cucumber, and broccoli on the weekend and then take them as snacks during the week (as shown, with hummus, above). Just make sure to store veggies like carrots and celery in water or they'll dry out.

1. Pre-package snacks: I'm not talking about pre-packed snacks, rather their alternative- whole & healthy snacks individually packaged by you. Parcel nuts, dried fruit, or salad toppings (as shown above) in small containers. Above you can see one of those containers at work holding my salad dressing.

1. Dish of the week: My mom and I will often pick a recipe (quinoa salad, coleslaw, roasted veggies) and make a large batch over the weekend. That makes it a cinch to wrap up a meal and go, an easy way to have something nice with lunch (and avoid PB&J drudgery). 

Enjoy today,
Addie

Light & simple dinner

The delicious dinner that my mom and I enjoyed last night was so tasty, I just had to share it with you! An added bonus (besides being delicious) is that it's so simple it doesn't require a recipe.

Brie cheese

Pear

Prosciutto

Salad with crasins, toasted pumpkin seeds, and balsamic dressing (1 T balsamic vinegar, 2 T oil, pinch of pepper, dash of salt)  

Enjoy today,

Addie