Where did Sweetdena go?
This pose brought to you by Beer.
Did she go to Austin? To the furthest corners of her garden? To Grandma’s house?
Yes to all.
But I’m back.
So many updates and Simple Veggie things coming soon.
I missed you!
Searing hot steering wheels and seatbelts. A decidedly un-fall looking fall season. Air conditioning bills the size of tuition payments.
These are staples of living in The Desert.
I know I’m crazy, but Gimme Gimme Gimme.
I genuinely LOVE the heat. When the temperatures climb past 100 I may be the only person in town jumping for joy. Granted, I do looove our gorgeous springs – and I’m a total Spring Training baseball junkie – but when I can open the front door at 8pm and step out into a blanket of warm dry air, I’m in heaven.
As I woke up this morning I dug my knuckles into my eyelids and rubbed them sleepily like a two year old.
Noooo I don’t wanna get up.
I’m not a jump-out-of-bed kind of person.
Squishing my eyelashes hard against my face and fingers, I thought Well shit, now I’ve got mascara all over the place. Nice start to the day.
See, I’m not good at washing my face before bed. Or in the morning, for that matter. Basically whenever I shower, that’s when my face gets washed.
And I’ve never been big on showers.
But before I finished my toddler impersonation I realized Wait I can rub these eyeballs all damm day!
Because I haven’t used any beauty products for well over a week.
Last weekend I broke one of my own rules and bought a non-food item.
Ok, it was actually 2 non-food items and yeah I’ve broken that rule more than once already anyways but I’ll get to that another day.
Last weekend’s two non-food purchases were: A retractable clothesline & clothes pins.
A whole new world.
I love plants.
I love to eat them, I love to cook them, I love to smell them, I love to look at them, I love to water them, and occasionally I love to destroy them. (Some plants are real bastards.)
But, let’s be honest – the part I love most is the eating.
So last year I became a gardener.
Recently I found myself with a perishing Eggplant.
An Eggplant that promised to expire at any moment, sneaking twoish dollars from my pocket, bypassing my stomach entirely, and placing them firmly in the trash.
An Emergency Eggplant Recipe had to be concocted! An Emergency Eggplant Recipe with exactly the few ingredients I had on hand! An Emergency Eggplant Recipe to feed the starving roommates! Could it be done before the Eggplant went bad?? Stay tuned.
My life kinda turned into an episode of The Lone Ranger or something just then. Nifty.
Anywayyyy, the Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetarian dietary staples, right up there with Heirloom tomatoes (gimmegimmegimme), Quinoa (drool) and Hummus (do not even get me started seriously). So I was particularly inspired to save this Mighty Eggplant, Purplest Vegetable of My Heart from dying in the trash and opted to kill it by pan, teeth and stomach juices instead.
If only I were an “avid reader” …Sigh.
Alas, I am doomed to be but a “wishful learner.”
I love to be informed. I want to know thangs. I want to speak eloquently, factually and at length about some of my favorite topics, including:
politics – vegan/vegetarianism – the environment – economics – nutrition – the middle east – art – consumerism – fashion – history – all things central & south america – the politics of consumerism – the history of the environmental movement – the economics of the art of fashionable vegans in the middle east -
… you get the idea.
And for this reason, I hang onto magazines, newspapers and books that promise the answers to so many of my questions. Because I must know!
And then I never read them.
So I got real about what I will and will not read, what I will and will not actually remember if I do read it, and made a plan to read, learn or purge.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference between minimalism and simplicity. Will I ever be a “true” minimalist? Is striving for simplicity enough? What are the drawbacks of a minimalist lifestyle? Is simplicity just failed minimalism?
I’ve come to the realization that for many of us, the label of minimalist can be intimidating, and in fact unnecessary.
Smalltopia: A Practical Guide to Working for Yourself is an in-depth and accessible guide to leaving the 9-5 behind and running your own very small business. I had the opportunity to purchase, read and review this little gem by Tammy Strobel, and I’m so happy to share it with you!
So cute and yet serene, how could I resist?
Tammy candidly describes the joys and pains of starting and running your own endeavor, and you feel like maybe she’d even be your friend if you two were neighbors.
She wouldn’t be the neighbor who tattles on you to the HOA, that’s for sure.
Smalltopia radiates a “You can do it!” attitude but takes a “This is how” approach. It’s full of lists and tips and micro-actions that make it an actual guide and not just a pep-talk.
Because come on, if you’re really considering dropping off someone else’s payroll and starting your own business, you need to know some real dirt up front.
Yesterday was a big day for yours truly. Yesterday I made my first Green Smoothie.
Inspired by Mike Roberts’ experience doing a month-long raw food diet, I decided to look into the raw food movement more closely. A homemade green smoothie was the perfect snack for beginning my research, so I (literally) dusted off my gorgeous KitchenAid blender and gave it fair warning: Don’t get your hopes up for tequila, pretty lady; today you’re gonna chop some GREENS.
