. fuss-free friday .

06Aug10

Happy Friday, loves. It’s crazy to think that in less than a month’s time, Friday will actually start to mean something again. I know this probably doesn’t apply to those who actually have jobs and aren’t summer bums like I am, but since I’ve been out of school, Friday has become just another day of the week; a day no different than the rest. With summer coming to an end, though, and school eagerly waiting to take it’s place, Friday will once again be able claim the title of “Best Day of the Week”; a sign that it’s time to kick back, relax, and let out a huge sigh of relief.

I'm doing my best to cherish the last bit of summer, but at the same time I'm kind of looking forward to going back to school as well. I've gained so much health and clarity over these past few months, and I can't wait to see how my improved condition affects my school life...

And speaking of relief, thank you so much for all of the understanding and supportive comments you left on my last post. It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one who suffers from the blogging blues, although I have to admit that it’s a bit off-putting at the same time… Blogging can be such a positive little addition to life, and it’s kind of sad to see it become a negative one instead…

Kaiah says thank you for all of the sweet comments you left about her, and she's now convinced that she needs to be given more "air-time". But, she would like you to know that she is a SHE and not a HE.

Yes, it requires a certain time commitment, and it can be incredibly stressful if taken too seriously, but blogging is also a great way to “meet” like-minded people, receive support through many of life’s hardships, share/show-off creative talents, and learn lots of new things; it’s such a shame that all of these positives become so easy to overlook when all we do is focus on the negatives…

As much as I complain about blogging, the reality is that I do owe it quite a bit. Coming across an ED-recovery blog was what opened my eyes to the fact that I have the same kind of problem, and thus it prompted me to start on my own way back to health as well. I’m also convinced that recovery would have been a lot harder than it was had it not been for the encouragement, strength, and support of so many others who were going through the same thing. I’ve made some incredible friendships that I’ll cherish forever, and learned some invaluable lessons that have changed my life…

In addition to the return of school and colder weather, I think one of the saddest things about the end of summer has to be the end of fresh fruit. Even though I've eaten my weight in fresh berries, peaches, mangoes, melons, and cherries over the past few months, I'll still miss them when they're gone...

And then, of course, there’s the food. The blog world has completely redefined the way I eat, and I. am. loving. it. This girl used to consider Mac&Cheese or Beefaroni a pretty damn good meal, aaaaand she probably wasn’t as healthy as she could have been. But since blogging has entered her life, she’s been inspired to try new things and get a lot more creative in the kitchen. As a result, she’s found countless foods that she’s fallen in love with, while developing quite the crush on eating in general.

And I’ll stop talking about myself in the third person now… sorry.

Back in the day, beans, avocado, and pumpkin would never have found themselves in my diet, but now, one of my favorite recipes contains all three... And, it's a recipe that I came up with myself as a result of my increased culinary creativity. I have blogging to thank for that one...

Anywho, thus ends my little blogging-love shpeel. The blog and I are currently in counseling and trying to work things out; hopefully our relationship is on the mend, and we can stop calling each other nasty names very soon. *cough*Jackass*cough*

What? Right. Moving along…

The nice thing about blogging less frequently is having more time to do some of the other things that I enjoy; like playing more video games than I probably should, and finding random things while exploring my backyard…

I found this sucker growing under a tree in my backward while I was out feeding the mosquitos. I don't know much about wild mushrooms, but I DO know that I always think of the phrase "A Shortcut to Mushrooms" from LOTR whenever I see one. I know; I'm a dork... feel free to laugh.

The bad thing about blogging less frequently, however, is having a growing collection of pictures/events that I want to share pile up to the point where no longer know what to show/talk about first…

See, now this kind of situation would normally cause me a decent amount of stress, as I’d be frantically going through all of my pictures trying to figure out how I can present things in the perfect way. But, since that’s something I’m currently working on overcoming, I’m going to do my best to just go with the flow and see what I end up with, which means that things might get a little bit random from here on in…

So what have I been up to lately? Well… a decent amount of this:

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are my favorite kind out there, but for a long while, fear had me leaving out the chocolate chips... which kind of defeated the purpose, no? These days, chocolate chips have made a triumphant return, and I couldn't be happier.

I used to use an electric mixer to do all of my mixing when I was baking, but these days I really prefer to do everything by hand. It may take a little extra time and effort, but I find the whole process to be incredibly soothing and de-stressing (is that even a word?).

This was a batch of Super-Charge Me! cookies that I ended up modifying slightly. I left out the shredded coconut (didn't have any), used ¼ cup of maple syrup instead of ½ cup, and replaced half of the flaxmeal with wheat germ... Then I eyed the one that I'd be devouring as they finished baking...

There's nothing like finishing up breakfast only to start baking up a fresh loaf of banana bread. It was my rest day from the gym, and since we've been having such hot weather lately, I decided the best time to bake would be in the morning before it actually started baking outside...

... thus a deliciously dense loaf was born right before lunch, and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't tempted to try and make a meal of it. Sadly, I didn't, but that's okay because I was able to enjoy some later in the day, and banana bread tastes better when left to sit for a while anyways.

Which obviously means that there’s been plenty of this:

I always try and pick out the cookie that's the most "loaded" with goodies, and I struck gold with this one... Plenty of ooey-gooey melty chocolate chip goodness.

I'm still quite addicted to crumbling cookies into yogurt, and is it just me, or does that orchid look like it's ready to devour my precious snack? Back off buddy, you may be pretty, but I'm a mean one when I'm hungry, and when it comes to protecting my food, I don't mess around...

There have been a lot of days lately where I've been having my daily cup of coffee in the afternoon as opposed to the morning, and a slice of banana bread is a perfect accompaniment to my beloved java... especially when it's topped with melted coconut butter.

Balanced out by a good amount of this:

My meals have been getting more and more random lately, as I try to hit all of my cravings in one go. This was lunch a few days ago, and I was apparently craving hummus, broccoli, carrots, pasta sauce, avocado, a hardboiled egg, and toasted sesame bread...

This was my first attempt at baked pasta in... well... ever, and it was fan-freaking-tastic. While the noodles were cooking, I heated some pasta sauce on the skillet with red bell peppers, mushrooms, and spinach, then mixed that into the noodles, topped it all off with shredded mozza, and threw it into the oven at 350 for around 20 minutes. Oh, cheese, how I love thee.

I'm still going strong with the sesame tofu stir fries... This one had plenty of veggies, a few chunks of a mandarin orange, firm tofu, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, and was accompanied by shy brown rice that didn't want to be photographed because of an apparent malfunction in the make-up department.

But besides eating plenty of delicious food, I’ve been regularly partaking in another activity which has become incredibly near and dear to my heart… exercise. It’s been about a month since I joined my gym, and I. am. in. love.

Now, before you make any quick assumptions, no, my relationship with exercise is not headed in an unhealthy direction; quite the opposite, actually. Since I’ve started working out regularly, my desire for health has only increased. After spending so many years in a weak and fragile state that left me fatigued even after only walking up a flight of stairs, I’m amazed by my increasing strength, and I only want more.

I know it’s only been a month, and a relatively easy one at that, but I feel so much stronger and more energetic now than I did 30 days ago. I see myself able to go longer, harder, and faster than I could when I first started, and it makes me want to cry from joy. My body is coming back to life, my muscles are rebuilding (my PT said he could see some muscle definition starting to show… WOO!), and I can’t wait to see what changes another month will bring. The body is truly an amazing thing, especially when we treat it properly…

Enjoy your weekend, loves.

Q: What’s your favorite part of blogging? How about exercise?

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