I love juicing.

My body craves it just about once a day. Sometimes more. I’m totally jumping on this bandwagon.

I always wanted to try the Blueprint cleanse, or similar juice delivery services, but I just could never justify spending hundreds of dollars on…3 days of juice and shipping said juice.  No thanks, I’d rather buy shoes.

Lots and lots of shoes.

So, as I’ve mentioned, my boyfriend and I got a juicer a lil while ago in an attempt to suck down fresh juice at home, and we’ve become obsessed!  I’ve received a few emails about what and how we juice, and I thought I would share…I’m no juice expert, but it’s workin for me. My skin has never been this clear, my energy sky rockets, and uhh…let’s just say juicing gets everything working smoothly.  Yaknowhatimsayin? I also had strep throat last month and it was difficult for me to eat, but I could drink, and still felt like I was getting all my nutrients and got better faster. Totes could have been the antibiotics too.

My favorite juice combo is apple, carrot, kale or spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley, lemon or ginger.  I like my juices as green as possible, but my boyfriend likes to add beets too…which I know a lot of people dig, but to me it just tastes like dirty dirty dirt. Although I don’t eat much fruit (ah! blasphemy, right?!) I need to keep the apple, because the slight sweetness makes it taste SO good.

We occasionally do 3 day juice cleanses, and follow this plan from a San Diego based juice bar.  Before you freak out, we eat dinner, noooo starvation station for me.  I like FOOD.

We also don’t like to waste the pulp when possible-my boyfriend makes a killer veggie soup with it, and I plan to incorporate some into black bean burgers this week.  Or, you could be like my boyfriend’s dad and throw some salad dressing on it and go to town…but I wouldn’t recommend it.

So there you go…drink up, buttercups!

Share/Bookmark

77% off a Newsweek subscription with no auto renewal.

On Friday, my boyfriend and I took a beautiful drive to a few vineyards  and went wine tasting.  It was perfect weather, perfect company, and just what I needed to snap out of my funk.   Without becoming terribly repetitive and depressing (tooooo late?!), I’ve felt like a dark cloud has been hanging over me since we lost my grandpa and over all, I just haven’t felt like myself. Apparently, it’s nothing a lil wine and cheese can’t fix.  Just reaffirms my belief that yep, wine and cheese makes everything better.

Couple of things.

• I want to get married at one of the vineyards we stopped at. SO GORG.  I think I can even get the ball and chain to agree to this since he likes the sauce.
• Wine is sometimes just a fabulous excuse to get more CHEESE.
• Pre-wine tasting, we stopped at a lil pub to get something in our tummys to soak up all the jesus juice we knew we’d be having, and I finally understand the magic that is garlic fries. We were both total dragons the rest of the day, but it was so worth it! Go here if you’re ever in the area.
• We took a few a million pictures of ourselves because we’re vain silly, and I don’t have a normal face in any of them…what a wino!

It was a good day.

Share/Bookmark

Why, hello gorgeous. This post is about diet, health, food and weight loss-so if you aren’t interested in any of that, skip this one! I’ll have some other nonsense up soon, trrrust me.

Since my guest post on Skinny Runner, I’ve received a lot of support, and a lot of questions asking HOW I specifically changed my lifestyle and lost a significant amount of weight. What do I eat? What are my workouts like? According to my analytics, “weight loss” is the number one thing being searched for on my blog, after pictures of my boyfriend. Stop that! The boy already has a big head

I’ve been hesitant to go here, because I don’t want to alienate anyone or sound preachy.  I’ve decided to write these posts for one reason-because I used to have tons of questions, too, and I’m forever thankful to the people who took time to answer them. This is my own lil way of paying it forward.

I’m going to break this into a lil series, starting with What I Ate/Eat. But first let me explain How I Eat.

Like I said in my guest post on SR, I was eating CRAP. Fast food, junk food, soda. I went cold turkey off these foods because I realized I was a french fry, cheez it, peanut m&m, ben and jerrys, taco bell lovin crackhead. Did those foods taste particularly good? I didn’t really know, because I wasn’t genuinely tasting them. I was just eating and eating and eating, mindlessly.

If you ask yourself a few questions before you put something in your mouth, you can slowly stop eating mindlessly. “Is this good for me?” is the first question I ask, but my answer does NOT decide if I’m going to eat it or not.

The second question does. “Do I really want it?” is the kicker, and dolls, you have to be real with yourself. For me, “do you really want it” was more than a yes or no. How would I feel after? Was I even hungry? Is it cheap, processed food or is it homemade amazingness? Did I really want it? And lemme tell you! Sometimes I did!  Momofuku’s Crack Pie that my pastry chef in training sister recreated one night? Heck and yes!  Packaged cookies? Not so much. To quote cinematic genius, Clueless-“Do you see the distinction?”As if.

Pretty soon, you won’t even realize you’re thinking about it anymore. It can, and will, become second nature. I never say no to frozen yogurt. That’s just ridiculous. However, without getting too psycho-babble up in here, I will say that looking back, I believe I was hunting for my joy through food. What this journey has taught me is that not every meal is going to be INCREDIBLE-let’s not kid ourselves. Everything you eat isn’t going to be some orgasmic culinary experience. I don’t believe that it’s supposed to be-sometimes I just needed to put on my big girl panties, eat some veggies and find my joy elsewhere.

Sidenote, I did not and do not count calories.

Enough about what I’m not eating-who cares?! I certainly don’t, because it’s not like I’m existing on celery sticks and grilled chicken. I eat well, and I eat often. Here are some of my staples.

Breakfast
Ezekiel tortilla with almond butter and banana or
egg whites, spinach and salsa
Oatmeal with banana, berries and protein powder
Overnight oats
Quinoa pancakes

Lunch
We do smoothies often for lunch simply because 1. I love em and 2. I like to get protein in after I work out. Basic recipe is-
1 cup almond milk
Frozen banana
Berries or almond butter
Scoop protein powder-trying to get through our bag of  nast, chalky Sun Warrior. Expensive chalk.
Cocoa powder if I’m going the choc/almond butter route, which is AMAZING
Fresh organic spinach

Snacks
Almond butter and banana
Hummus and pita chips or veggies-can’t get enough red & yellow peppers right now, it’s bizarre…
Larabars
Frozen grapes
Protein muffins
Dark chocolate-Lindt with Sea Salt is my favorite
Almonds
Popcorn

Dinner is where I have the most fun, because we love to cook. Current faves-
Salmon burgers
Black bean burgers
Shrimp and white bean burgers via The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman
We ALWAYS have veggies-roasted is my fav, specifically roasted cauliflower.
Salads and wraps with grilled veggies & hummus
Soups-packed with lots of veggies and lots of lentils
Homemade pizza with whole wheat dough, veggies galore and goat cheese

This is not all I eat, and since my boyfriend and I LOVE trying new restaurants and foods, we also eat out a lot. These are the things that I know I like, that I know keep me satisfied and full, and are healthy. Note-we are pescatarian, in case it wasn’t glaringly obvious

Work-outs are next!

Share/Bookmark

Hi hi hi. How’s it going? I miss you!

Before we get into it-I am not a food blogger whatsoever.  I get super freaked out by less than perfect photos of food, and while I love cooking, my culinary masterpieces never look as pretty as they taste.  This though…this I had to share.

I am obsessed with How Sweet It Is.  Like…HOW?  How does Jessica come up with recipes of amazingness on the daily?  I spent most of Friday sending links of her creations to my boyfriend on g-chat, saying things like, “OMG YUM I WANT TO MAKE THAT THIS WEEKEND” and “Why are you not as excited as I am about this?!!!” to which he responded with some mumbo jumbo about “work” and “busy”.

Whatever.

After a weekend of too much fun, Sunday night we were feeling a little sluggish.  The prospect of eating out again just didn’t sound appealing, so I offered to make Jessica’s Warm Strawberry Bacon Orzo Spinach Salad.
It was amazing.

My boyfriend didn’t say much…besides, “Damn.” and, “This is the best thing you’ve ever made.” and the ever so eloquent, “BACON.”

Yes, bacon.

He requested it again last night. I was happy to oblige.

I tweaked the recipe just a little, especially the second time around-but you don’t have to at all.

• We are slightly carb conscious, so I used 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Orzo rather than 1/2 cup.

• The Mr. doesn’t eat dairy, so I eliminate the cheese when cooking for the both of us. I KNOW THE BLASPHEMY. I can’t say we missed it. Although, if you don’t roll with Goat Cheese, feta would be fantastic.

• And in the spirit of keeping it real, this salad is sauteed in (deeelish) bacon.grease. So…cutting out some fat/calories in the cheese dept made me feel a bit better.

• And again in the spirit of keeping it real, I forgot the basil. And then I forgot it again the second time.

The first night, we ate the salad alone…followed by a green smoothie a few hours later.
Last night, I decided we needed more protein, so we had it on the side of chicken breasts…followed by a little bit of gelato and dark chocolate with sea salt due to a spur of the moment trip to Whole Foods. We decided wandering the aisles of WF is most def a form of cardio.

Unrelated-thank you for entering the Shopbop giveaway!! Working on figuring out the winner today! I have some other giveaways coming up this week-hope you guys don’t mind. Bikini’s anyone?

Share/Bookmark

I am nooo food blogger, obviously.  There are plenty of amazing ones out there, and cooking has never been much of a passion of mine.  Plus, do you know who my sister is?! Ms. Culinary School herself, Gabby?  Yeah, so there’s really been no need for me to venture into her domain.  I know my role.

Until tonight.  Tonight I borrowed her totes adorable Anthropologie apron (because if I’m going to cook, I’m gonna look cute), put my blackberry down and made a super healthy, and yummy fritatta loaded with veggies for dinner. All by myself.  My blog is just me…fashion, men, love, my pursuit of happiness and also, being healthy, which has become a huge part of my life as of late.  I know how to drop weight fast, and subsequently feel like shit in the process.  I could exist on coffee and a few almonds, but I’m choosing not to do it that way this time.  I’m also working out so hard that my body needs food-but the right kinds.  I’m so inspired/supported by blogs like 20somethingcupcakes, (blog/girl crush alert!) and of course everyone at In It To Gym It.

All the working out and eating right is definitely having physical affects, but I’m sleeping better, and you guys know I have the worst insomnia.  My anxiety is decreasing rapidly.  I have more energy during the day and a sense of control where I didn’t have it before.  So while I might go on and on about getting bikini ready, and the photoshoot I have next week, and yay my jeans are baggy-at the end of the day, the mental and emotional reasons are the ones that keep me going.

Bethenny Frankel’s “Naturally Thin” Easy Impressive Frittata (The recipe shown is for 1 person-I was feeding 3, so I kept the egg to yolk ratio and added about 5 cups of veggies. The more the merrier!)
Cooking spray
1 cup vegetables (onions, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, or tomatoes)
1 egg yolk and 3 to 4 egg whites
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon crumbled feta or grated Parmesan
Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a small nonstick pan with an ovenproof handle with cooking spray.
Over medium heat, sauté the vegetables.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and egg whites with a little salt and pepper.
Pour the egg mixture into the pan and move it around with a spatula until slightly solidified.
Transfer the pan to the oven.
Bake until the frittata is almost firm to the touch (approximately 15 to 20 minutes). Sprinkle with the cheese and bake until firm.
Serve immediately.

Don’t judge my pictures, ya’ll. Tasted way better than it looked, and it was Gabby approved. I’m just stoked I pushed myself to do something different, because chicken breast and broccoli every night was making me incredibly stab stab stabby. Don’t like eggs? Try something else!

New post is up at We Love Dates…On To The Next. (I know I’ve been directing you to click here! and go there! tons lately-and I truly want you guys to know how much I appreciate your support. Love you, absolutely mean it.)

Share/Bookmark

Hey dolls!

Share/Bookmark

Hey friends…

D on REAL NEW YORKERS!!! (Yay! I learned so much. It’s not all like SATC? And I guess I need a metro card!) Hey, everyone! First of all, I want to thank Liz for giving me the opportunity to do a guest post on It’s Unbeweavable! I’m a huge fan of her blog, and am excited about her future move to New York, my home sweet home for over ten years now… Some of you may already call New York home, many of you have visited, and most of you have seen pop culture depictions of New York City. For my guest post, I thought I would highlight ten misconceptions about the city and its fabulous residents. Life in New York for me is definitely NOT like a Woody Allen movie, nor an episode of Sex and the City or Real Housewives of New York! And thank goodness, too…

(4) It may be expensive to live here, but there are plenty of great free and inexpensive ways to keep yourself occupied here, especially for you foodies! I do enjoy a Michelin starred fancy meal now and then, but cheap, good eats are what really excite me about living here. Where else can you find great Thai, French, Pakistani, Chinese and Italian on one city block? There’s also nothing like a hot slice of New York pizza– sorry, Chicago! (I picked this image of G.P-because I have great memories there…lol…sorry if this is not what you meant D! )

(5) Real New Yorkers complain… a lot but it’s just their way of telling you they care. I first noticed this when I moved here years ago– my friends in New York would complain about every little thing under the sun, from the weather, the rising cost of housing, the temperature of food to their love lives. Now at dinner parties, I might complain about a lot of things related to New York, but really, it’s my coded way of saying I wouldn’t live anywhere else…(6) Despite working hard and playing hard in New York, we find a lot of time for trashy TV, even shows that revolve around fictional depictions of New York, such as Gossip Girl, NYC Prep and Real Housewives of New York. Missed that last episode of American Idol or Dancing with the Stars? You can expect a New Yorker to keep you up to date on the latest and greatest. We watched it on DVR, just like you.

(7) For a city obsessed with great restaurants and convenient delivery services, a lot of New Yorkers spend time in their tiny kitchens cooking up a storm. This place is foodie paradise, and even though I don’t personally enjoy cooking, the Mr. loves expressing himself through food. And I’m happy to experience the fruits of his labor! Yum.

(8) New Yorkers may work hard, but of course, we play hard too. And often, the best parties take place during the work week, and not on weekends. I don’t party as hard as I did when I was younger, but I love discovering a new bar or club during the week. It’s kind of a fun surprise to find yourself dancing on a banquette on a random Monday night. Sometimes you find yourself in situations where you’re out on a “school night,” and wondering who these people are and what they are doing out so late on a school night. New York is full of people with interesting schedules. (9) New Yorkers secretly LOVE chain stores. Yes, you may be moving to the city from a suburb where stores like Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond rule strip malls. But, since stores like that have invaded the city, people have been wondering how they lived without them in the first place. Sometimes I like going to a store like Bed Bath and Beyond to wander the aisles when I feel homesick about my Southern California suburban life. I think a lot of people must feel the same way, as you can glimpse people with blissed out expressions on their faces at these stores.

Share/Bookmark