Raw Wednesday and a HUGE Thank-You

Hola bloggies!

Let's start of with the most important part of this post - I want to Thank-You! All of you!!!!

Several days ago I was feeling down in the dumps about my wedding gown shopping experience. Your comments and support lifted my spirits. See that's the wonderful things about blogs and bloggies alike - you boys and girls function as part of my support system. I appreciate all of your comments and I thank-you. From the bottom of my bloggie heart . . . I thank-you! :o)

I also want to send a shout-out and a massive thank-you to the newly engaged (!) Jenn of Eating Bender! You see not too long ago I had an extra copy of the 30 Day Shred, I tweeted about it and my very first blogger exchange was born!

Last night I was finally able to pick up my package from my U.S. P.O. Box. Let me tell you - there was some squealing and jumping up and down when I got this package. Jenn COMPLETELY outdid herself!

Want to see my goodies?

My wonderful stash featured some Luna bars, and Honest Foods Plank, a bag of carob chips (I couldn't find these anywhere - I'm so excited to use them), a lovely card from Jenn, "Super Natural Cooking . . ."


A package of Newman's Own Hermits, a package of Wholefoods coconut macaroons (Yaaay!), a package of vanilla meringues (these are a childhood favourite), a bottle of coconut oil (I think Jenn read about how I couldn't find any when I was making my macaroons - she did her research :o) ), four packages of Jay Robb's Whey Protein Powder. . .


Two cliff bars, and a lovely dark chocolate bar too!!!! :o)

All together now:


Thank-you Jenn!!!! I loved everything and I could tell you'd read up on my blog. :o) I'm seriously grateful that you answered my tweet.

And of course CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement news!!! Here's wishing you and your fiance all the best in the world!


Raw Wednesday - Today's Eats

Most of you probably know that Jenna and Gena are hosting a Raw Wednesday challenge. The idea being that every Wednesday all challengers will eat one raw snack and one raw meal.

Recently I purchased a couple of raw "cookbooks;" Since, I've dabbled in some raw food (think doughnut holes and raw macaroons) but have been wanting to try more! This challenge was just the ticket so I decided to join!

For my first raw eats I had one of the Jay Robb Whey Protein Powders. They're cold processed so I think they mostly (if not all) raw. I paired this with a lovely Granny Smith apple:

I had seen this type of protein powder on many of the blogs but I hadn't been able to find it locally. Needless to say I was psyched to finally have a go at it! I'm going to hold off on a review until I have all the packages. But let's just say I didn't know protein powder could be so awesome!

Want to see the stats?


Do you see how ridiculously low calorie it is? And so low in sugars!!!! And no fat!!! I've honestly never seen nutritional stats this good in a protein powder! :o)

Lunch was pretty good too but I had it in an area where privacy and security were a concern so I opted not to take pictures. Let's just say I got take-out and had a salad (no dressing) with 3 very (!) ground lab kabobs, chased by a glass of unsweetened home-made iced tea. It was alright but not much to look at. No big loss with the lack of pictures.

Dinner however . . . dinner was my main raw meal of the day! I took some beautiful ingredients and created a raw zucchini pasta with a raw sun dried tomato marinara (using Ani Phyo's wonderful cookbook).

The cast of characters included olive oil, 1/2 a lemon, one zucchini, sea salt (it's hiding behind the zucchini), basil, rosemary, one date, one garlic clove, two large tomatoes, and sun dried tomatoes.

After a little magic I ended up with this:


Doesn't Ani look proud!? lol :oP Since I don't have a spiralizer I sliced up my zucchini using a fairly sharp and souped up vegetable peeler. It did the trick and cheaper than buying a new kitchen tool too!

And the verdict? Seriously YUM! Who knew that raw food could taste this good! These type of meals will be perfect now that summer is fast approaching. I can't wait until next Wednesday. I'm thinking of making raw taco meat! :o)

Oh and I can't forget to mention my indulgence. While cooking dinner I snacked on a couple of these beauties:


Not raw but oh so good!!! :o)


Buenas Noches peeps!

Eighty-Five Reasons for my Tummy to Love me!

Happy Monday everyone! :o)

You may have noticed that there was a distinctive lack of meal recaps last week. That's because for about a week I'd been fighting a stomach bug of some sort (boo!). My meals mostly consisted of really bland stuff in an effort to keep my tummy happy.

I was so sick, I even called in sick on Friday. Given the massive pile of files on my desk, you know it was serious!

Pretty well all of my weekend was spent in pain and sick. But thankfully by Sunday I was better. After a week of being sick I was plain old out of good eats. So I headed to the grocery store and picked up 85 reasons for my tummy to love me:

This week's total: $85.79! Overall not bad for such a large shopping trip. It's not usual that I go and pick up everything under the sun.

What was in my haul?


One bag of frozen tropical fruit mix and another one of mangoes (these are for my Green Monsters), a large bag of organic flax seeds, one container of mushrooms, a big bag of blanched almond slivers, a huge bag of white chocolate (so I can bake cookies for the winner of the bake sale, 2 bunches of bananas, one bunch of Kale, a large bag of grapes . . .

four tomatoes, one (now that I look at it) kind of sad bunch of rapini, one red pepper, 5 apples, a big bag of spinach . . .


one box of fat-free 50 calorie yogurts, one package of smoked tofu (how I love thee!), one package of veggies spicy Italian sausages, one package of organic chicken thighs, one box of Yogi Lemon Ginger tea (good for the tummy!), one tub of Kefir yogurt (also good for the tummy).

Whew!!! That was a big shopping expedition :o) This week I'll try to stay away from too much meat. Or at least until my stomach feels 100% better. Speaking of better . . . you can expect the return of meal recaps. I promise to make them purty for you! lol


And in other wedding related news . . .

I spent some of my sick time contacting wedding photographers. I've been known to stalk photography blogs like it's my full time job! :oP

In fact out of our whole budget photography will be the biggest chunk. I want spectacular pictures! Fall off your chair amazing! Gee this photographer made me look awesome pictures!

Well I contacted my dream photographers (Chris+Lynn of Vancouver, Canada) and braced myself for them to be waaaaaaaaay out of my destination wedding budget. Guess what!??! THEY'RE NOT!!!!!!!!!!! I just about died! DIED!

Want to see one of their pictures? Hold on to your seats - Chris+Lynn are artists:


Barring any unforeseen circumstances they will be my wedding photographers and I couldn't be more thrilled!!!!!!!

Head on over to their website and check out their portfolio - it's eye candy at it's very best!

Until later . . .

FAQ: Do Green Smoothies Actually Taste Good?

Hello everyone:

Now I know many of you have wondered it . . . but Sarah of Recipes, Reviews, Running and Rants actually asked:

"Do green smoothies actually taste good? They look so . . . Green!!!"

I had to laugh when I read this question because before I started drinking them I thought the same thing. In fact I fully recognize that they look like the IT from the swamp.

Here's the thing - they do taste good! In fact they taste fantastic!! But there are some caveats. You should vary the ingredients based on your tolerance for a "greener" taste.

Let me show you my favourite stand-by Green Monster Recipe!

This is a double helping (although really it makes three large glasses so it could even be for three) so feel free to vary it for one.

2 cups of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze

2 small non-fat strawberry yogurts

1 heaping handful of spinach

1 heaping handful of kale

approx. 3/4 of a cup of slightly defrosted mangos

1 tablespoon of flax seeds

2 bananas

4 ice cubes (to drop the temperature)

I heart this combo because it has all the good stuff in there but the non-fat strawberry yogurt adds a hint of sweetness without adding any honey or other sweeteners. Although if you'd like you could add some of those as well. I now some people add things like stevia.

Also, note my fruity ingredients are light in colour. I do that in part to retain the green colour. If you go overboard and add lots of berries your smoothie will turn brown. Still super yummy! Just brown! :o)

Next you throw all the ingredients together in the blender (I like to put the ice, spinach, and kale at the bottom and hit blend for a minute or two.

See it all blends up to a generally lovely consistency. You'll still have little kale pieces and flax seeds floating around but I like that. I find it gives the drink a little "chew!"

Shall we get a close-up?

RAWR!!! It from the pond!!! lol :oP Sorry couldn't resist! In all truthfulness though it doesn't taste nearly as "green" as you would imagine. In fact, as I happily discovered, the Green Monsters are sweet and fresh tasting.

Why do I love them? They're good for me, they're portable, and quick to make! PLUS I've found that they give me loads of energy, don't make me feel bloated, and really fill me up! I'm a big believer in Green Monsters. I'm thrilled Angela introduced them to this blogger because they're now my favourite way to start my mornings!

So go ahead bloggies! I challenge you - try one soon! :o) They're good for you and yummy - I promise!


PS: Those are engagement roses in the background. Aren't they huge and beautiful? The boy did very well!

Someday somebody's going to ask you . . .

. . . a question that you should say YES! to . . . for once in your life . . . I have a question for you!

This is the story of the boy and I. We met two and a half years ago at Starbucks in Cook Street Village in Victoria. He was an undergrad and I was a law student. I was a big city girl and he was a boy from a small island. Two very different people that turned out to make a perfect pair.

Truth is I knew he was the one from the very beginning. In fact the night before we were going to go out I said to a friend of mine "I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for this!" It was a funny thing to say because I'm not prone to pronouncements like that.

But I was right . . .

And so yesterday it happened!! I knew something was up because he was acting funny. Insisting we go out for dinner and things like that. I also called him from work and he was out and would not really say what he was doing. I just knew . . .

We went out for dinner but really it was just an excuse to get me outside the house while he set things up. When we came back he had dimmed all the lights except one light which acted as a bit of a spotlight on an open ring box. Holding the most beautiful and perfect ring! :o)

Next to the ring was a card. The boy did this so I would remember what he said, knowing I would be too excited to actually remember. Also on the table was a beautiful dozen long stemmed roses.

He led me over to the ring, grabbed the box, and went to go kneel down. That's when I started bouncing up and down with excitement . . . and accidentally managed to head butt the poor boy! LOL Oh bloggies I wish I was joking but I'm not! I head butted the boy. When he was going to propose!

This led to some serious comic relief. We both laughed and laughed and made jokes about being so new to this engagement thing. :oP

Eventually we calmed down . . . he got down on one knee . . . he asked . . . and I answered. And the rest is the beginning of a wonderful story!

And when did it all set in? Not until I called my parents and told them. After I got off the phone with my Mom and Dad I was overwhelmed with emotion and cried. Tears of joy.


Yesterday bloggies I slept the sleep of the happy. The delighted!!!

And since you asked here are some ring shots I took at work. Please excuse the bling over-load. I love my ring. It's perfect!!!!

A hand shot! :o)

Turns out the Code is a wonderful background for the ring. It gives my point and shoot something to focus on!


Kind of a profile shot of the bling! I heart it!


And from above! I'm going to have to take some more shots in better light. These ones don't do the ring justice. In fact I spent a good chunk of the day sticking my hand in the recesses of my desk (the dark spots!) and watching how the light still came back to me!


And one last shot . . . these are the pictures we received after the center stone was set but before they shipped the ring:


And there you have it! :o) The story of the boy and this girl! The story of the proposal! The story of our love!