City Love

Real Juice Cleanse

    Juice is a wonderful thing. I'm not talking about the "from concentrate" juices that you buy from the store that have been sitting on shelves for more than a few hours. I'm talking about juice right from the juicer, made with fresh fruits and vegetables.
 
Why fresh juice?

(1) Juice needs to be consumed right away, because unfortunately the nutrients begin to dissipate as soon as they are juiced.

(2) Store bought juice has nothing good to offer you. Think about orange juice for minute, imagine the flavor-did you know that store bought orange juice and fresh orange juice don't taste anything alike? Companies who make orange juice process it so much that it no longer deserves to be called orange juice. After sucking all the oxygen and nutrients out of it (in order to give it a long shelf life), they dump in "orange flavor" that is obviously unnatural. How does orange juice sound now?

What are the benefits of fresh juice?

(1) Lots of vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants

(1) Fresh juice cleanses the body of stored waste and toxins which interfere with proper body functions. As a result, problems that you may have had previously, such as lack of energy, lack of concentration, skin problems, hair problems, ect., would no longer exist.

    This weekend I decided to go on a little bit of a juice cleanse because I had been feeling sick with some sort of stomach bug all week. I thought some good raw juice would be a good boost for my system to get it ready for a new week. Drinking juice gives me a wonderful feeling. It's rejuvenating, like a breath of fresh air. I would recommend juicing to anyone and if you don't have a juicer-go get one! It's a great investment.
    Normally, on a juice cleanse I would only consume juice, but because I haven't eaten anything this week due to the stomach bug, I decided to juice through the day and then have dinner. Here is what I originally planned to do.

Breakfast Juice:
Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)
Lemon (1/2)

Mid-Morning Juice:

Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)

Lunch Juice:

Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)
Ginger (1/2 inch piece)

Afternoon drink:
Bottle of Alkaline water (or add 1 tbs baking soda to bottle of water)
Lemon (1/2)
Cayenne Pepper (1 pinch)
Raw Agave (1 tbs)

Dinner Juice:

Kale (1 cup)
Romaine (1/2 stalk)
Spinach (1 cup)
Celery (1 rib)
Cucumber (1/2)
Green Apple (1)

Evening Drink:
Almond Milk (16 oz)
Cinnamon (1/2 tsp)
Vanilla (1 tsp)
Nutmeg (1/2 tsp)


For a full detox I would do this for three days. If the measurements I gave don't make enough to satisfy you then just make more! No biggie.

Also, if you plan to work out during your cleanse or if you just want something to boost your workout on a regular basis, try these:

Pre-workout Juice:
Beet (1)
Apple (1)
Pear (1)
Celery (1 rib)

Post-workout drink:
Almond Milk (16 oz)
Vanilla (1 tsp)
Raw agave (1 tbs)
Cinnamon (1/2 tsp)

Here's to healthy living

 

Sunday Morning Pancakes

    Sunday mornings are a beautiful thing. I get up at seven which is a nice early hour, but it still feels like I'm sleeping in compared to my normal 5:30 wake up time. I grab my workout pants and a t-shirt and head off to the gym for an invigorating morning workout (the walk to the gym is probably the most quiet and peaceful on a Sunday morning). Upon my return home I throw together a protein shake and hop in the shower. Finally to wrap up the first part of my morning I get dressed for church and spend some time reading the Bible before our 10:30 service. *Sigh* Doesn't that just sound like the perfect schedule for every morning?

    Today, I thought I'd add a little twist to the schedule and make some nommy (if you are unfamiliar with the word you may feel free to educate yourself with this urban dictionary reading) pancakes! Now I realize that fall has passed and it's not kosher to cook with pumpkin out of season, but you can pretend with me, right?

    

Here is my recipe for Whole Wheat, Low Fat, Vegan, Pumpkin Pancakes:

 Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs honey

1/2 ripe banana

1 15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 1/4 cup almond milk

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions: 

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and scoop into a frying pan in 1/4 cup sized portions. Cook until golden brown on both sides. 

I topped mine with slices of banana, raw wheat germ and a honey syrup*

*To make the honey syrup all you have to do is simmer 1 part honey and 1 part water for a few minutes, then pour it over your pancakes.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Baklava Love

Ok, I know you are sick of Valentines day Vlogs by now, but bear with me. Here is our Valentines Day Baklava adventures.

2 1/2 years reminiscing session

A few months after Steven and I got married we were surprised to learn that our 1/2 year anniversary falls on Valentines day (yes, we are super skilled). So, in honor of our 2 1/2 years of wonderful marriage, we decided to sit and remember our beginnings and record them to share with all of you!

Brothers

    To the outside world we all grow old.

But not to brothers and sisters.

We know each other as we always were.

We know each other's hearts.

We share private family jokes.

We remember family feuds and secrets,

family griefs and joys.

We live outside the touch of time.

-Clara Ortega 

    Today I was thinking that I really haven't shared too much about my life before getting married to Steven. I have such a wonderful past full of so many great memories that absolutely must be shared! 

    For starters, I grew up in a homeschooling family, which automatically tells you that I have led a different life from most of my peers. It means that I spent the majority of my time at home (when I wasn't traveling across the United States, going on field trips to places that most people only get to read about, and attending church, Co-op, and music lessons) and that my brothers were my best friends for the first twelve years of my life. As I mentioned before, I have three brothers: Garrett, Cory, and Karson. Each one of them has a special personality that contributes to this thing I like to call "One big happy family".

    Garrett is two years younger than I and has always been my bestest buddy. I can't remember anything of life before him. We used to spend many an afternoon running around in the backyard building club houses and pretending to be police officers with some lovely police uniforms that my mom made for us. 

    I remember one of our favorite things to do was to collect all the dead squirrels that our cat would kill and then run over to the pizza place next door and bury them under their welcome mat. Then every once in a while we would go check on them and slowly watch them decompose. Great idea right?! Hey, what can I say, we were home-schooled...it was a science project that we invented for ourselves.

    As we got older we made more friends, but still remained close. We would confide in each other, laugh with each other, and spend time together. Despite being the older sister, I have still always valued Garrett's opinion and have enjoyed his company because he has always had this wonderful ability to make me laugh.

    Cory is four years younger than me and has always been the quiet child. He was always very organized and liked his toys to be set up just right when he was playing-which meant that very often he played by himself, but that seemed to be what he wanted anyway.

     Cory was cutest little boy you'd ever set eyes on. His little melting chocolate brown eyes could persuade you to do just about anything he wanted you to do (thankfully he never really wanted anything). I always said that Cory was probably the most perfect child out of the four of us. Though he was younger, I respected and admired him greatly for his obedience and behavior. He has always been quick to obey, willing to do anything asked of him, never whining, never begging, and never really needing anything. I love Cory for his sensitive spirit.

    Finally there is Karson who is eight years younger than me. There is much to be said about this little boy. He has always been the outspoken, excessively loud, incredibly funny, and most passionate boy you could ever meet. His personality was a surprise to all of us because as a baby he was just a quiet blob that never moved or made a peep. I have no idea what happened, but whatever it was I'm glad it did because his personality was the final piece to our family's puzzle. 

     Growing up with Karson was never dull (unless of course he wanted you to play with him, because he never actually wanted you to play with him, he only wanted you to watch him play). I remember he went through a phase where he loved playing with pet rocks (he painted them himself) and one day he must have been playing a little too hard and one of the rocks lost it's face. This was incredibly traumatic for him and so he wanted to have a funeral for this pet rock and then bury it in the backyard. The entire family was made to stop what they were doing and head outside where the service would take place. My dad, being the only ordained minster in our midst performed the service,  and then we each proceeded to say a kind word or two, and finally the service was wrapped up with a few memories recounted by Karson and quick prayer.

    I'm pretty sure each of my family members is writing a "Quotes by Karson" book, which we should someday all combine and give to him as a wedding gift (because he will most certainly get married, as he has spent most of his childhood expressing his undying love for any young lady he happened to come into contact with). I could easily go on with story after story about this one, but I'm not sure that any of you would actually have time to sit and read the whole thing. 

   In short, I am so very thankful for the three young men that God has allowed me to grow up with. For their encouragement, love, laughter, and friendship. Thanks for everything guys!   

                                             

                    Children of the same family, the same blood,

with the same first associations and habits,

have some means of enjoyment in their power,

which no subsequent connections can supply...

-Jane Austen 

Valentines Date

    Steven surprised me with a day of fun for Valentines (a little bit early...) I loves him!

Here and Now

    Life is short. The older I get, the more I realize that my existence on this earth is here today and gone tomorrow. To go even further, my life could literally be over tomorrow. Like any normal person I see myself growing old and dying a natural death, but maybe I'll never make it.
    Two weeks ago a Moody Student drowned in the swimming pool here on campus. He was a freshman, in the Moody Symphonic Band, probably looking forward to a long life of service to God, but his life suddenly came to an end. The interesting thing about it is that in this modern day in age we can hop on Facebook and see peoples lives unfold-we can feel a connection to them. Over the past couple months several people that I have connected with on Facebook one way or another have died and it's shocking. I can see posts from them hours before they died-they didn't know what was coming for them-death is unexpected.
    All this has been to say that I don't know when my life is going to end and I want to make sure that I'm living the time that I have been given to it's full potential. I don't want to suddenly die, then find myself standing before the Lord saying "Crap, I'm sorry, I thought I was going to have a whole lifetime to live for you...I was so excited to get started with your plan for my life that I forgot that every moment I'm alive, I'm living part of your plan for me."
    To be honest, it's very hard to spend my days enjoying any particular moment. I spend my day anticipating getting home to Steven, planning my weekend, and getting excited to leave Chicago and start our lives elsewhere. What if I never get there? What if I end up spending my life excited about God's plan for the future, instead of God's plan for me right here and now? It's a very sobering thought.
    I need to remind myself daily that each decision I make as to how I spend my time, should reflect my desires for a life of service to Christ. My life isn't in the future, it's in the here and now.

Going Natural

    Over the past couple weeks I have been researching natural, non-chemical substances to replace my cleaning supplies, shampoo, hand soap, dish soap, toothpaste, ect.. After hours of scouring the internet for natural ways to replace these everyday products I came upon Dr. Bronners 18-in-one liquid castile soap. Most of the review I found for this product were great and I found lots of wonderful ways to use it.
    Having tried the product in the shower once before (and loving it), I decided to go all in and buy the gallon jug of the stuff off amazon. I must add that I searched everywhere for a place I could just walk to and buy it at a decent price, but alas I had order it....and wait for it. You are probably thinking that I have some serious issues if I can't wait for soap, and I probably do. It was like waiting for Christmas! I asked Steven everyday if it had arrived in the mail yet and when it finally had I ran to it and grabbed it up in a loving embrace. Ok, I've said too much.
    Upon receiving this wonderful soap I began dumping all of my chemical ridden soaps down the drain. Here are some of the ways I have used the soap already (btw I bought the peppermint soap):

Hand Soap: Fill half of your soap container with water and half with Dr. Bronner's soap.

Shampoo: I chose to use a spray bottle because a little of this stuff goes a long way. Use 10 parts water to 1 part Dr. Bronner's soap.

Body Wash: I just use the same spray bottle that I use for shampoo. See above.

Tooth Paste: When I first told Steven that we could use it to brush our teeth, his response was a crinkled up nose. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the idea of brushing his teeth with the same substance he just washed his hair with. When I brush my teeth I brush with baking soda first and then squirt a dab of Dr. Bronner's soap out of the hand soap container and onto my tooth brush. It isn't sweet like normal toothpaste, but it has a pleasant peppermint taste to it.

Dish Soap: It's great for washing dishes too! The measurements are the same as the hand soap. Half water, half soap.

Cleaning Spray: I just cleaned the house with it yesterday and it was a wonderful experience. I love cleaning, but I usually have a small little voice in the back of my mind telling me I am slowly killing myself with all the chemicals. But I am happy to report that I had a guilt free cleaning experience yesterday, and not only that but it smells wonderful and cleans great. The measurements are the same as the shampoo. 10 parts water, 1 part soap.

Deodorant:  My most recent discovery was natural homemade deodorant. I fount this recipe online, but modified it slightly to include Dr. Bronners soap. My modifications:

Ingredients:
5 tbs coconut oil
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup corn starch
1 tbs Dr. Bronner's soap

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Pour the mixture into old deodorant containers. Store in the fridge (Otherwise it will melt).

    Seriously, if you are tired of chemicals or you want an opportunity to be as excited as me...Go. Buy. This. Stuff. Have a happy Saturday everyone!