Are You a Vegan?!

If so you should participate in "The Big Vegan Count!" The London Vegan Society is attempting to figure out how many vegans are in the world, a very useful figure!

I just did this and it took less than a minute and you don't have to provide any personal information (unless you want to give them your email to receive updates). Let's see how many vegans are out there!

In other news, my parents and I just got to the eco-vegan resort we are staying at for a few days, the Stanford Inn by the Sea, and so far it has been amazing! Tomorrow I am taking a yoga class, having a private nutrition session with the resident nutritionist here, as well as planning on doing some outdoor activities! We already dined at the vegan restaurant which was quite tasty and very accommodating of my allergies. So far so good!

Finally, has anyone else watched the google+ hangout with JL Fields about getting more grains into your diet? I was happy to see the video was available after the hangout as I have recently been paying a little more attention to the amount of grains I consume. When I was tracking my diet for my nutrition class this summer I discovered I only consume 16% of the recommended grains daily! While nutritionally this is not presenting problems for me, I think adding more grains to my everyday diet would be a good way to keep me satisfied for longer periods of time after a meal. JL provided some useful tips and I think I am going to make more of an effort to batch cook my grains!

Check out the video!

Monday Love List Number Twelve

Oh right! It's Monday!

It has been a crazy weekend for me and my family in which we moved my younger sister into college! While we had to carry lots of stuff up stairs and went to target way too many times, we got it all done, and I am so happy for my sister.

So...

1. College!!! 

College is so much fun. So much stress, but also so much fun. I really enjoyed exploring another school's campus and community and it added to my excitement about my sister's college experience as well as my own! I can now say I am excited to head back to school in the fall (although I am still looking forward to the time I have off!)

2. Vegan fast food

This food was awesome. In San Diego, where my sister is attending San Diego State University, me and my parents ate at Evolution Fast Food, a vegan, organic, mostly raw restaurant and it was awesome. Like seriously, we enjoyed it so much that we went back to try it again!

The first night we went here I had the raw burger with stuffed veggies and a berry flax smoothie and it was all wonderful. My Dad had essentially the same thing and my Mom tried the mushroom swiss burger. The second time we came here my dad and I had the raw tacos with some more smoothies, my mom tried the south of the border burger and we also had an order of fries. And man those fries were awesome.

I also really liked having the whole fast food experience, something I don't have often. Every once and a while, that's just what you want!

This food was so good that me and my parents have still been thinking about it! If you are in the area you should definitely check it out!

3. Trail-mix cookies

For our travels I made a batch of these cookies and they are amazing. They were great for me since I had almost all of the ingredients in my pantry!

My family also really enjoyed these cookies and they were gone quickly. I try to avoid making big batches of things if I will be the only one eating them, so this was a great time to try them out. I definitely recommend them!

Alright, as I am totally exhausted, I think that's it for now. I hope you all had a great weekend and have lots of fun things planned for the upcoming week!

Happy Monday!

Monday Love List Number Five!!

Hello everyone and happy Monday!

I can't believe I'm writing my FIFTH love list! Has it really been that long?

Well apparently it has and I still have a lot to love!

1. Family vacations

Over the Fourth of July holiday I got to spend a vacation with my family and Morgan in Vancouver, BC. I had a great time exploring the city, visiting with our family that lives up there, and having a lot of good food! Hooray for vacations!

2. Lots of great food

On our vacation we had a lot of wonderful food, feeling stuffed after practically every meal. Additionally I did not get poisoned by any of the food we had! Traveling is always a bit of a danger zone for me, especially when I am going out for all meals of the day. However, this trip I only had delicious food, without any bad stuff!

The first night of our trip we went to a Lebanese restaurant called Nuba. This place was amazing!

My falafel dish, which I started devouring
before I remembered to snap a picture. 

We also had a great cauliflower dish that we all loved!

The next day we went to Aphrodite's, an organic cafe in the Kitsilano neighborhood where we dined on brunch and amazing pie!

My vegan, gluten-free mac and cheese!

Mmmm, vegan, gluten-free pies? Yes please!

I had the chocolate pecan pie, which was likely
the most decadent pie I have ever had!

We had so many other wonderful meals throughout the trip, we were certainly well fed!

3. Coconut yogurt

I found this yogurt at Trader Joe's yesterday and I was thrilled. I've found other non-dairy yogurts I can have, but none in the stores I usually shop at. Needless to say I was happy to try this and it did not disappoint!

I was surprised by this yogurt! The texture was much smoother than I thought it would be and the coconut wasn't too overpowering! If anyone is looking for a vegan yogurt try this out!

4. This post and video

5. Sun!!!

The weather has been beautiful! I'm glad the heat streak seems to have passed for now, leaving us with pleasant and sunny weather. Even though I have been working for most of the afternoon I made sure to get out and run some errands just to get outside!

Alright, that is it for now! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!

***Also, to anyone who subscribed to follow my blog before this posting, please re-subscribe! With the change of my blog title, I need to reset the widget that allows email following. Thank you!***

Monday Love List Number Four!

Happy Monday everyone!

It is beautiful, and very warm here in Seattle. I hope that everyone is staying cool!

Here is my love list for the week!

1. Cucumber water

I've just started drinking cucumber water in the mornings and it is sweet!!

I've been doing this as a replacement to having hot lemon water which is praised by many as a great way to detox and start the day. Unfortunately for me, citrus is a migraine trigger and as such I cannot consume lemon on such a regular basis. So, enter cucumber water!

Mmmm, yummy

This takes very little time to prepare. I have just been slicing cucumber, adding water, and letting it sit overnight. Then when I wake up I have a refreshing, energizing drink waiting for me!

As an added bonus, once I finish all the water I get to munch on the left over cucumbers, which are even more delicious than normal because they are so saturated from the water!

It's almost like the prize at the bottom of the cereal box!

I've also started playing around with this, for example last night I added some mint leaves to the water and man was it good! I think you could pretty much add anything you like! If you are not sensitive to citrus I would imagine a squirt of lemon or lime would be nice and any essential oils would also add a fun twist!

2. New straws and drinking lid

I ordered these from Vegan Cuts to supplement my mason jar collection and make smoothie and tea drinking super fun and easy!

This lid fits any small mouth canning jar, instantly making it a handy drinking cup! I also got three stainless steel drinking straws and a brush cleaner. What more could I need?!

Indeed, I have found that
"everything taste better out of a glass jar!"

The very entertaining packaging

3. DOMA being ruled unconstitutional and Pride!

Hooray!!!!!! I was so excited to hear that DOMA had been ruled unconstitutional. Unfortunately I was unable to attend this year's Pride Parade, but I'm sure it was a ton of fun! I was able to experience all the pride and support there was on capitol hill last week though, it was inspiring!

The banners that were all over Broadway

Me after Pride 2012

4. Weekend trips out of the city

This weekend Morgan, my parents, and I went to our river house in Rimrock Retreat (about 30 min out of Yakima) to get away from the heat in the city and have a relaxing time. On Saturday it seemed to be monsoon season as it thunder-stormed and poured down rain all afternoon and evening. This allowed us to get some things done around the house and play a lot of board games!

Carvings near the house

The Teiton river during a break in the rain

Fog on the river from all the rain

Sunday the weather improved and we got to spend some quality time outside!

Sun!

 We also stopped on the way home just outside of Rainier National Park at Wapiti Woolies, a clothing and gift store with a coffee shop.

A ski chair!

5. Washington sticker

I found this glittery Washington sticker at Wapiti Woolies. Now I just need to find a spot to put it!

6. New makeup

I went out on a limb and ordered some makeup online from Lush as the store normally located in Westlake center is under renovation and I'm so glad I did! This vegan, cruelty-free, and natural makeup is awesome!!

I got their mascara "Eyes Right" as well as their "Light Pink" color supplement. Next time I can get to a store I also want to try some of their face masks, which look really nice!

Alright! That's a lot of love for the day. I hope that everyone can enjoy the weather and doesn't get too hot, try some cucumber water to stay hydrated!

Happy Monday!