if you’re here in the states than you very well may share my excitement about this holiday centered around friends, family, gratitude and an amazing meal. ahhh! i can’t wait! here are a few recipes from around the interwebs that are on my maybe-make list. any thanskgiving recipes that you think we would be mistaken to miss out on? i love the traditional dishes but this year i think i’m going to try to make all new-to-us recipes! and, as always, our thanksgiving will be equally vegan, delicious and healthy!
butternut squash and farro with honey-harissa dressing via happyolks
*really, my maybe-make list is ridiculous, you would think i was single-handedly trying to feed all of palm springs… oh i’m getting even more excited just typing this! yay for the holidays!!
lately i’ve been re-focusing on my health. when we were in europe i didn’t worry too much about what i was eating, i wanted to be present in the experience, enjoy the local foods, forget for a minute that i have crohn’s disease and feel totally normal. which was brilliant, while we were there. but when we came home i had a hard time transitioning back to eating really clean, so the new less-healthy habits i picked up on vacation started to infiltrate my regular life. but i payed the price- i didn’t feel that great for a big part of october and towards the end i decided that i needed to do a cleanse and give myself a fresh start.
for the first week i started every day with a green juice, ate enough raw veggies and fruit to keep me going through lunch and finished with another juice around late afternoon. almost immediately i saw my health improve dramatically. (have you seen fat, sick and nearly dead? it’s amazing and you can watch it for free here). so, i kept it up for another week- doing three and a half days of just fresh juice in the middle. this is my third week and i’m enjoying lots of fresh juice, veggies and fruits. i’m also starting to slowly incorporate other things into my diet so that by the end of this weekend i’ll be done cutting out foods and back to my normal, healthy eating!
at the beginning of the cleanse i also started drinking a glass of warm water with half a lemon squeezed in it first thing every morning. it’s supposed to help flush toxins out of your system. whether it works or not i have no idea, but the routine of it and the intention behind it are good enough for me! and i will definitely keep both the lemon water and the green juice breakfast as part of my daily life even after i’ve finished the cleanse. it’s so helpful to start the day off with really healthy intentions, it makes it so easier to make good decisions later in the day. so tell me, do you have any new healthy habits i should know about?!
have you started your holiday shopping? are you playing christmas music yet? I AM! i can’t wait to get into the baking, decorating and other merriment! lou won’t let me put the tree up until after thanksgiving, which i think is ridiculous but agree to only so i can then argue that it needs to stay up well past new years- the extra week or two helps me extend those warm holiday fuzzies. ok, it’s possible i have holiday fever. and i’m especially anxious because our house is still in total disarray and i think that putting some christmas decor up will make me feel better about the patio furniture in our living room. i mean, hopefully?
ps- see some of what’s on my wishlist here, and my holiday gift guide just for you, here! i’ve been having so much fun stalking great holiday gifts and updating it, i hope you like!
hi everyone! thanks so much for your rad comments in the radisson hotel giveaway, i read them all. it was so great to get a peek into your lives and read where you’d go and why! there were also some stories that really pulled at my heart strings, i’m so grateful this was a random contest and not something where i’d have to choose! the winner has been chosen and notified. hopefully i’ll have more opportunities like this in the near future for those of you who didn’t win.
on another note, i have exciting news! i’ve been working with the amazingly talented aileen cheng on a blog re-design. we’re going to make this place easier to navigate, better to look at and add in a few new features to improve it overall. below is a sneak peek, the new logo! since we technically don’t live in the hills anymore, but i still have attachments to the name and the idea behind it, i wanted a new interpretation that better reflects where we’re at. aileen, you’re incredible. the logo is beyond what i could’ve hoped for, especially with the random mess of inspiration i gave you. how you manage to crawl inside my brain and produce exactly what (even when i have no idea what that is) is really incredible. thank you a million times over. blog friends, i hope you like it, i can’t wait until you see the rest!
my love of travel is no secret. and my love of staying in hotels is a big part of that. even now, with years and years of travel under my belt i still feel like a kid in a candy store when i close the door behind me in my very own hotel room. even when i just have a quick overnight stay for a work trip, i still get a little thrill just from having a hotel room all to myself- it feels like a luxury to me!
so, it’s with great excitement that i tell you that the radisson hotel has asked me to take part in their 50 years, 50 days, 50 rooms giveaway! the winner will receive a one night stay in any standard, double occupancy room at any radisson or radisson blu in north america. to enter, leave a comment below telling me where in this fine land you’d want to go. a winner will be chosen at random on friday. GOOD LUCK!
*please don’t forget to leave your contact information so i can get in touch if you’re the winner! and for the purpose of full disclosure i want you to know that the radisson has also graciously gifted me a hotel stay for my participation in this giveaway.
** the giveaway is now CLOSED. big congrats to the winner, Beth!
i have to tell you, i felt this amazing sense of happiness when i voted today. i looked around and saw all the people there who CARE, who will make sure their voice is heard, and it reminded me quickly that whatever way we vote, we’re all in this together. we can now put this presidential campaign behind us and hopefully work together with a common goal. we all want the best for this country and it’s citizens, it’s so important to remember that. our country is incredibly divided right now and i feel like this is the time to reach out to those who are disappointed with the results and try to find common ground. we can’t effect any change if we can’t find a way to work together. let’s be kind to each other, respect different viewpoints (as difficult as it may be) and move forward in the most positive way we can!
now i’ll get back to biting my nails as i wait for the proposition results to get in (and YAY MAINE, my sweet home state, for finally legalizing gay marriage!!!!!)
