Food Rules

I picked up a great little book today- Michael Pollan's Food Rules. It's a really quick read- only 112 pages and mainly just common sense stuff, but it's fantastic. I highly recommend his other books if you're interested. 

Here's the info from amazon.com:

A pocket compendium of food wisdom-from the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.  Michael Pollan, our nation's most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensible guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use, Food Rules is a set of memorable rules for eating wisely, many drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat-buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food we eat. 

Here are just a few of his rules:

See, not earth shattering stuff, but definitely makes you think! Tomorrow kicks off the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. "Based on research by Neal Barnard, M.D., one of America’s leading health advocates, this program is designed for anyone who wants to explore and experience the health benefits of a vegan diet. Low-fat vegan—plant-based—diets are the easiest way to trim excess weight, prevent diabetes, cut cholesterol, lower blood pressure, prevent and reverse heart disease, and reduce cancer risk. They even trim our carbon footprint." 

I'm participating even though I already follow a vegan diet. I think it will be a great way to get some new recipes and to learn more about how to easily incorporate the vegan diet into my lifestyle. If you're interested, here's the link: 21-Day Vegan Kickstart

Flea Market Finds

Last week I made a stop at a local flea market. I found an adorable vintage apron and some cute s&p shakers. Here they are:

The apron is handmade and obviously pretty old. I love that it's been worn and used and I wonder who owned it before me. :-)

It has a few tiny holes and worn spots, but I love it all the same--and it was only $3!

The salt & pepper shakers are from my favorite line of vintage cookware. They're Corning's Spice of Life and I remember my mom using this pattern to cook with when I was growing up. I've started collecting some of it and was so excited to run across these and only $2.50 for the set! :

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for lots of things today, some serious and some not:

• My husband. This past week hasn't been the best but his support and love for me is awesome. I'm a lucky girl.
• Discovering a fantastic candle maker on etsy. I'll be posting about it next week!
• Re-connecting with a dear friend. I didn't realize how much I missed her until she was back in my life. <3
• An impromptu Jack Bauer photo shoot in the backyard. That dog cracks me up.
• Watching the Olympics! 
• A fun afternoon of sushi and shopping with a girlfriend.
• Buying a new planner. It's striped and colorful and fun- and I love filling it out. I'm a huge dork and I don't care!

keeping it real.

Because not every picture I take of Jack Bauer is cute:

He was running and in the middle of a big head shake. Yikes. Not cute.

And since I can't embarrass him without posting something adorable:

Luckily Mike was at work so JB could lounge on the ottoman. 

That's a big no-no when dad is at home!

wishing for SPRING!!

I went to a great local boutique today called The Purple Armadillo. It's furniture and home decor items and I loved everything. They just put out their spring stuff and I had to pick a few things. I am craving spring and warm weather and FLOWERS! I am so over winter.

Ignore my half-dead cheapo grocery store flowers... but see the two little glass jars? I got those today.

Yes, they're faux but wow they look real in person! The label says "baby tears in a jar" (which Mike & I agreed is the creepiest name EVER). They were like $8 or $9 a piece and will be great to use around the house this spring and summer.

My other purchase was the black box with the moss & rocks. I've been wanting something new on the entryway table and this was perfect- and on sale!

I'm one of those annoying people that decorate for every single holiday/season so I can't wait to bust out the bunnies and flowers and green stuff for spring! I can wait until March 1st... I think.

I also hit up a local antique store/flea market and got some cool stuff-- a vintage apron, some vintage s&p shakers and some cool books from the 50's & 60's. I'll post about those later this week!

I want to bring them all home!

My friends know that I am super passionate about animal rescue. I volunteer with a local animal rescue group-- you can find their link on my sidebar. These are some of the sweet babies that are up for adoption at our local shelters. If Mike didn't have a say I'd probably adopt them all!!

Andrea:

Jasmine:

Ellie:

Naina:

Rascal:

Shadow:

too cute for words!! The last two are senior dogs. So many times these guys are overlooked because of their age. Older dogs can be great- Mike and I both decided that our next rescue will be an adult dog. We had our fill of raising a puppy with Jack Bauer!

another day, another hair style

My hair grows super fast- I had it cut into the bob in the middle of December. My stylist couldn't believe how long it was when I came in to get it cut again! So here is the new style: a little shorter, a little bit more layered and a little more angled. LOVE IT.

this shows the angle/layers a bit:

and p.s.- yes, I'm wearing a Guns-N-Roses shirt. What's it to ya?!

Hello, Lover!

These pictures are all over the internets today and I had to share! Some glimpses of Eclipse:

Valentine's Day Swap

I participated in a fun Valentine's Day swap and had such a great time picking out stuff for my swap partner Kristin. I received my package this week and wanted to share!

I received a cute mug, a headband, some lip gloss and some fun nail polish. There was a candy bar too (and it looked yummy!!) but it wasn't vegan so I couldn't eat it. I'm sure I wasn't clear enough in the swap questionnaire, but since I am vegan I don't eat any animal products. That means no meat of course, but also no dairy products like milk or butter. No worries though, one of my husband's co-workers was more than happy to take it off my hands. :-)

So, a big thanks to my swap partner Kristin-- it was so fun!! I hope she liked everything I sent her and I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!!

My Valentine.

I woke up this morning with a bouquet of flowers on the pillow next to me. :) Mike is too good to me. We've had a great day, some yummy food and just some nice time together. I love this guy. <3

In honor of Valentine's Day: a truly embarrassing list of my celebrity crushes.

Mike and I were talking the other day about our first celebrity crushes. I remember them all quite well. I have always been such a pop culture junkie! I always had super tacky posters on my wall (you know, from those trashy teen magazines!) of all my favorite celebrities. And some of my celebs are still crush worthy! I think you're going to see a pattern...

I'll start off with one of my very first crushes: Jordan Knight!! Hot then and hot now! My mom and I went to a NKOTB concert last year (omg, sooo fun!) and Jordan still looked pretty damn good!

Next, Patrick Swayze. *Sigh* He was sooo hot in Dirty Dancing. And honestly seemed like such a nice guy. I was so sad when he passed away.

After Patrick, I fell in love with Luke Perry. But more specifically, Dylan McKay!!

Such a bad boy, but such a tortured soul...you just wanted to take him home and take care of him. haha!!

For a very short time I was in love with the kid from Terminator 2- Edward Furlong. Don't google him now, it's not pretty. :(

There were two guys I was obsessed with in high school. The first being Keanu Reeves. I remember seeing the movie Speed with my friend Angie- from that point forward, we were in love!

and can I just say... still hot! Check out the comparison:

 After Keanu I moved on to Leonardo DiCaprio. My friends and I must have watched Romeo & Juliet a thousand times.

I don't remember any big crushes after that until Ryan Gosling. 

I almost died when he & then-girlfriend Rachel McAdams recreated their kiss at the MTV Movie Awards:

HOT.

So, at the age of 30, I'm probably too old for celebrity crushes. But I can't help myself!! Robert Pattinson is hot. He just is. So what is my pattern?? Well apart from my heinous crush on Eddie Furlong, it seems like I've always been attracted to the sideburns, bad boys, tortured souls...mainly guys who portray characters that are misunderstood and hot. How cliché!!

 I'll stop now, even though I might have a million more rpatz pictures saved on my laptop. Don't judge!! haha! 

wait... one more:

okay, maybe just one more??

okay, I'm finished. Promise.

what about you guys? any memorable or embarrassing celebrity crushes??

completely inappropriate.

someecards is my go-to place for pretty much the most hilarious cards on the internet. Check out some of their hilarious and sometime highly inappropriate Valentine's Day cards:

I just sent that last one to Mike-hahaha!