A bit of food + a Request!

Hi, ya’ll! Happy weekend, to you!

Like I predicted last night, I made some dinner, watched TV (TLC– What Not to Wear: Hoochie special!), finished signing up for classes & hit the hay! I’m going to yoga this morning with my sister (or… HOT YOGA, I should say!), then maybe the beach afterward because it looks like it’s going to be a b-e-a-uuuutiful day (oh, I just watched the movie Bruce Almighty last night, too).

Here’s what I made: there was some leftover whole wheat penne pasta in the fridge & I combined that (maybe 1.5 cups?) with veggies (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, carrots, tomato), edamame (for protein), some garlic powder, pepper, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast (aka “nooch”– for some cheesiness) in the microwave… when it came out, I added some flax oil to let the spices stick (because heating flax oil takes away the benefits of it!).

I always RAVE about my one-pot meals, because they’re soo easy to just put everything together & enjoy different flavors in one dish!

Blurry a bit? I have the same camera that Kath just got rid of (Sony Cyber-Shot)… which means, if you haven’t read her blog recently, that it’s kind of a foggy picture… it does what it needs to do, though: brings you photos & pieces of my life!

REQUEST/QUESTION?!

• Does anyone want to do an exchange/mailing give-away?! I’ll offer some of my favorite bars, snacks, & a random trinket for any type of package… I’m not too picky. Give me a worn pair of socks, books, more for my collections, (*ahem-flavored PB-ahem*) soap, postcard, or whatever you desire & you’ll see it here on the blog!
• Chia Goodness cereal?
• BettyLou’s balls?
• ??? requests ???
• VeggieGirl: I have some gluten-free Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose flour, if you want it! I won’t use it, now that I know I’m not gluten-intolerant

A good-kinda tired

Yesterday, work wasn’t nearly as busy… we were actually pretty slow at night, despite having a more rushed day. My day started with a 7:30 am store meeting, held by the store managers, with every department having to attend.  

I was nervous about making the meeting because 3 months ago, at the last meeting, I totally forgot to go. I had been counting on it all month long & thought about it all the time to make sure I went, but by the time that morning came, I was even up for the time of the meeting, but instead, I hung out until my class at 9! I had to go to the make-up meeting on a Sunday morning, instead.  This time, you had to get it approved ahead of time if you were going to miss it, so I didn’t want another mishap to occur.

Luckily, I worked on Wednesday night & set 2 alarms on my phone that night to be sure.  And yes! I woke up before 7 & made it to work early to clock in & get some coffee & breakfast.  They had a Panera-catered spread with bagels & cream cheese & also doughnuts & fruit.  It was early for me, so I had some fruit & coffee.  I got paid for this?! Okay! Someone from work texted me at 7:06 am to see when the meeting was… hmm, they made it (though, late). 

After that, I was feelin’ my caffeine, so I drove over the bridge to the beach & started running along this path, next to the bay/gulf:

When I looked to the left, this was my view:

What a beautiful day, huh?! It was still a little chilly because we had a storm the day before, bringing in a front, but it got warmer throughout the day.  I ran down this trail until I hit the beach… then I ran on the sand until my calves felt the work & I continued to run along the water.  I finally came to a pier which marked a good place to turn around, so I did & made the loop back along the water & back on the trail to my car again.  I didn’t bring my camera on the run, but, I assure you, it was faboo!

I ate, walked Bella, ate some more, showered, went to work, & came home really hungry! 

I had cooked some red quinoa earlier, so I opened a can of organic garbanzo beans, & added some carrots, spinach, garlic & salsa to look like this:

…then I heated it up & ate it with organic blue corn chips & more salsa. I promise I ate mannnny more chips than this, but to give you a visual:

I LOVE the way the red quinoa looks… & quinoa in general has a nutty/crunchy texture that drives me bonkers! …in a good way!

(not much) later I got pretty hungry, so I had the rest of my dark chocolate-covered ginger, & also pretzels + (Honey) Shredded Wheat dipped in almond butter & some smilk. By that time, I was finally satisfied, feeling very human & very tired. So, I went to bed! Lots of boldness going on here! Lots to high-light, I suppose!

Today I slept til’ 10:30, after waking up at 8:30 & feeling tired & willing to give sleep another go… success! It felt great to sleep, though part of me was like *oh- get up!*

I met my sister at the beach & we took a long walk together, dreaming of the beach houses we will own one day down there! No pictures of today, sorry… it was another beautiful day, though! Imagine paradise & imagine Miss OP in blissful, peaceful nature!

Well, then we saw the movie Bride Wars, which I liked more than I thought I would! Cute! My sister loves these kinds of movies… I like them, for what they are… I did like this one, though I was predicting what would happen from before I bought my ticket!

It’s not too late, but today I’m just feeling tired from the effects of the previous days being so full of exercise, energy, & life! A good tired, for sure! 

I’ll probably just stay in, watch movies, make some grub & call it a night tonight. Tomorrow, I may take another HOT YOGA class (with my sister?) & use my new orange yoga mat.  I like putting this yoga class in CAPS because it makes it seem that much more intense… ’cause I sweat like a little (not-to-be-eaten) piggy! 

Still searchin’ for a book, though I did sign up for a paperback swap program, so I’ll have to get on that…

Sisters, Events & A Symptomatic Quest!

So, I’ve got a lot to catch up on!

1st of all, I have got to give a “shout-out” to Luna Bars! The other day, I was making my way home from Target, stopped at a light, and there was a homeless man with a sign that read, “Please Help- Hungry!” I just bought a PB Cookie flavor Luna (99 cents! I had to!) and know miserable it is to be hungry, so I rolled down my window and gave him the bar. I realize Luna’s are geared toward women, but this man had no idea! All he knew was he liked peanut butter and he was hungry! And, he was very appreciative, which was nice. So, thank you to Luna! I felt good about this deed.

Soo, Sister 2 is home from working volleyball camps, with a friend. She’s been talking about dying her hair dark for a while now. Also, getting a tattoo. My parents are supportive of doing what you want to do, but they can’t get past thinking a tattoo is, in any way, classy. I say, do what you want to do. She’s paying for it, both with her money, and her life-long decision with her body! One day, while I was away from the house, dog-sitting (and watched one of my favorite movies, Love Actually…even though it’s a Christmas-sy movie and it’s the end of July!), her and her friend scheduled an appointment at an Aveda salon. I get home, she gets home, and she’s DARK! We’re both naturally blonde, and she’s tried to go strawberry-blonde before, but that didn’t turn out so well (another ORANGE POP, in a different sense!). She did that by herself, with a dye-kit, so she wanted it professionally done. Fair enough. Here she is, still beautiful and dark-haired. Her scalp is even dark. It looked reddish-brownish-purplish, but I know it will die (dye!) down!

The lighting is okay on this, but she likes it, and I like it. So glad it’s off her mind. Seriously, she collected many, many magazine cutouts of colors she was debating with, which were all the same to me!

Here’s her beautiful friend and former volleyball teammate, giving Tucker some love:

The next day, while I’m at work, my uncle biked over to have lunch with me on my break! So nice! I used my discount, but he paid… fair?! Well, I get a text-message from Sister 2 saying, “Guess what?!” (what?) “I got a tattoo!” Niiiice. Here is her “Peace Dove“:

It’s brown, if you can’t tell. Tattoo #1, and she gets it on her ribs– ow!

In other news, I’ve been having terrible stomach pains, so I’ve done a lot of research about it and paid attention to possible culprits, and you know, I’m not so excited about what I believe it is: Gluten Intolerance (aka Celiac Disease). I have many of the symptoms, which are:

• weight loss
• decreased appetite
• bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, pale + foul-smelling stool
• fatigue, weakness, lack of energy
• bruise easily
• vitamin/mineral deficiencies (vit. K) –> don’t know for sure about this one!
• hypoglycemia –> I’ve sort of felt this way, but unsure
• hair loss
• lactose intolerance
• tooth discoloration or loss of enamel
• canker sores inside mouth
• unexplained anemia –> don’t know
• bone or joint pain
• missed periods, infertility, miscarriages (well, I’m missing periods)
• behavior changes, depression, irritability

(Sorry for TMI on some of these) It’s a multi-system, multi-symptom disorder and symptoms really vary! It’s kind of unknown how it starts, but it can happen anytime in one’s life and be triggered by things like stress, surgery, viral infection… Ah, very mysterious to me!

I’ve been eating a lot of just fruits, veggies, soy products, etc, but I have been feeling fatigued, so I added more grains to my diet. Remember when I made those Chickpea Cutlets that I raved about so much?! I used whole wheat flour and my appetite was shot, and my tummy hurt. Then, that night, I had whole wheat pasta and even my new Annie’s Woodstock dressing contains wheat! I felt myself “skimping” on solid calories and added more grains. 2 nights ago, I had some awesomely delicious Thai dumplings. Oh, I love Thai! Grains + whole wheat flour. Ouch.

 

Then, I looked at my day’s worth of food from yesterday and noted my intense stomach pains, and I contribute these guys to my discomfort:

-Breakfast:  

fruit and PB&J on some whole grain + oatmeal bread

-Lunch was out (with Sister 1), and I had a sandwich on whole wheat bread and coleslaw.

-Dinner included some bean balls, which I made with whole wheat flour to bind them.

I was in dire pain for the rest of the night, and even when I woke up this morning. I wasn’t hungry, but by the time I was, I didn’t know what to make that would feel good to me. I’ve done a lot of reading and researching about gluten-free diets, and noted quinoa is okay. This morning, I went on a bike ride with my aunt and we got rained on, so afterward, I wanted something warm and comforting. I was hungry, but didn’t know what to eat!!! I’d picked up some soup the other day at work, after hearing a customer through my line rave about it, so I bought it. I went on the company’s website and it is, in fact gluten-free, but contained rice starch… rice is, indeed, gluten-free, but I’m learning. “Starch” is a word to look out for on labels. I know that foods are wheat-free if they’re gluten-free, but not always gluten-free if they say they’re wheat-free. Wow. I’m going to be holding around a list of “yes” and “no” foods/ingredients for a while until I feel comfortable. When I went into the meal, I was hungry, but my tummy was hurting. Afterward, my stomach pains disappeared! Magic! I had some Cashew-Carrot-Ginger soup over quinoa, topped with carrots, cashews and pumpkin spice (which has ginger + cinnamon!). Very good!

Well, well. I have a lot of photos for you in this post, and a lot of news. If anyone has any tips or anything like that, regarding Celiac Disease, I’d love to hear about it! I’ll be doing some more research and hopefully I’ll see the doctor soon! Is there a test he can do to tell me whether or not I am, in fact, gluten intolerant? I’ve read to not get rid of gluten in my diet before I’m diagnosed, but how long can I go on in intestinal pain?! I’m going to stay positive about this, because I can hurt or help myself on this one, and I’ve got to get educated and in-tune with myself if I want to help!