Going Back in Time!

Hey Bloggies,

I've been such a slacker in the blogging department but life has been pretty busy and aunt flo's visit this month has got me down for the count..literally! It's come to the point that I'm going to see my ND because I can't take it anymore. I was so emotional this past week that I fought with Ry, cried, was constantly on edge, and repeated many times over..not fun! I also don't want to be taking pain relievers every time she comes for a visit either. I think I should get some blood testing to make sure I'm not really low on my vitamins, minerals or if something else is out of wack! If any of your ladies have found a natural solution to combat aunt flo, I'm all eyes!

Moving on, I've decided to go back and share some of my life that I haven't had a chance to share with you. This is going back to the good 'ole Nelson days. Can you believe its been nearly 3 weeks already. It already feels like our time there is a distant memory. I do have to admit that I really miss it there. I miss the vibe, the relaxed people, the walking everywhere, and the no rush hour! I was so used to having mountains literally stare at me in the face when I went outside and now I feel like I'm living in the flatlands. For those of you living in BC or have been here you know it is NOT flatlands and there are tons of mountains, its just different in Nelson. Yet, my backyard reminds me of Nelson for some reason and so I'm loving it!

Nelson Backyard!! It's nice to know we have friends up there so we can go and visit anytime!

My backyard! Not quite as big but it'll do:) I immediately feel at peace when I go out here!

I also knew I wouldn't be finding a replacement for Oso coffee here so I literally stocked up for a year lol. This is another excuse to go back up to Nelson. Yes, I'm saying I would drive 8 hours to go get coffee..lol! I don't even drink the stuff all the time but gosh damn it's good!

The coffee shelf in the freezer lol! It smells so good when you open the door:)

This "Prince of Darkness" roast...delish! I love their label too!

Yep they roast their own coffee beans like 5 minutes away from the cafe! Oh and its made with love too so you know its gotta be AMAZING!

Here's the little story behind the name. LOVE IT! I wish more companies had this philosophy and would give people choices to not be so "culturally removed."

I didnt talk about The Preserved Seed at all when we were in Nelson because we only went there near the end of our stay there. It is run by a group called The Twelve Tribes. I don't know much about them but they remind me of Mormons or Huterites as they live together in the same communities and work together. Super nice people and doing some great things in their cafe and bakery.

The cafe is located in an old house and its super cozy inside. I forgot to take pictures but its so nice for a afternoon tea or lunch! They grow a lot of the food served in the cafe which I really love and everything is homemade.

Love the wreath! Their main beverage served here is yerba mate. I grew up with this drink so I was very excited to try it here! I would call yerba a much stronger green tea? I love it and holy the buzz you get off the stuff is crazy..haha!

We moved up to Nelson so the hubby could attend school there (in case you didn't know the story:). Every year once the program is finished they hold an open house in the local gallery so the public can see (and even purchase) their completed works. So, this time had come and I finally got to see Ry's two big pieces in their finished form. I had heard him talk about his projects for 6 months but I never saw the final product so it was an exciting time! A lot of Ryan's family and friends had come up for the event (and to help us move the next day) so it was a great celebration. It was also a sad time because it was going to be the last time he and I would see his classmates. Hopefully we can keep in touch as they all are amazing and so talented!

I love this gallery and we would check it out all the time when we would be strolling downtown. It features great, local artists with everything from jewellery and scarves to pottery and lamps.

Ta Da..the hubby's liquor cabinet! Well it's kind of an everything cabinet but he placed the shelves at a certain hight so 40 pounders can fit in there...lol! Like we ever will have those in there but oh well..maybe some fine china one day! We got to the gallery at 7:30 and someone already was asking if it was for sale. We weren't planning on selling it but we did have a price in mind in case we were in that situation. Oh well, now we get to enjoy it in our new house:)

For some reason I don't have a picture of the finished table at the show but here it is nearly complete..it's gorgeous and fits in perfectly with the house.

This was one of their first projects at school. It's such a funky box that you could use for so many things. His Dad was the lucky receiver of this piece!

I love the little cut-out in the front and the dove tails look pretty funky too!

This was the kids chair he made! So cute and love the legs on it! Our little godson proudly has this chair in his room:)

It was very packed in the gallery so I didn't snap too many photos besides Ry's work! What can I say, I was a proud wife:) This piece was Ry's favorite and I love it as well. I would so sit at that desk and blog away! To the right of this table was a beautiful tea cabinet. I really wanted this! Cute little drawers for all the tea and room for some nice tea cups too!

I think this is all the writing I can do for now but maybe I'll sneak in another post later on today! We shall see.

Talk to you soon!

Running picts and Egg-less salad

Happy Friday!

Welcome to the weekend my friends. I thought I would keep it light for Friday as I've been schooling you a lot this week...lol! It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in Nelson and I'm going to go for run #2 today. Today is my "off" day for the gym yet I still want to get in some form of physical exercise, and with today's weather you don't have to pull my rubber arm! I had a little bit of knee pain while running on Wednesday but nothing crazy. The next day I didn't have any pain in my knees which is awesome and I think that they really have gotten stronger since my PRP procedure. Two thumbs up from me:) Anywho, I wanted to share with some pictures of the path where I ran and the beautiful lake. Can you believe this was my first time down there and I've been living here 8 months? I seriously need to do more exploring before I'm outta here.

This is the orange bridge that Nelson in famous for. Pretty gorgeous hey? The mountains are so in your face here that when I went back home to the coast, I asked where are the mountains. We have gorgeous mountains at the coast..they just don't stare right back at you from my town.

Another gorgeous view of Kootenay Lake. This lake winds forever and there are little beaches all along it that you can camp at. Too bad I'm not here for the summer:(

See the kite? Ya, it was a bit windy so this guy was having a ball dipping his kite down and flying it high! The bottom left is a happy face that was drawn in the sand by a group of hippies:) If you know Nelson at all, you know we are the capital of the hippies..and other things that I'm not going to mention lol! It was fun running past the smiley face though..it was a small form of encouragment for me.

They have all these "gym" machines set up so you can do a little working out in the park. Some of them are even partner operated. I've never seen such a thing in a park and I thought it was pretty cool:)

I love this picture. I think when we go back home I'm going to frame it and put it on the wall as a reminder of this part of our life...ahh!

Okay so I've been eating a lot of salads lately and I have been satisfied with that. I'm thinking that this has a lot to do with the weather and I"m not really craving "warming" foods as much.

Like this Thai salad...ooh so good!

Yet, I have two big bags of kidney beans and chickpeas and I want to use them up so I don't have to haul them when we move! So, I decided to go with an eggless salad recipe that I found on VeganDad and I subsituted the tofu for chickpeas. I made this for the hubby because we only had mayo in the fridge. Again it needs to be used up so I opted to have a delish salad with some miso dressing...I'm officially obsessed with this dressing! But you should try it with some veganaise as I know its delish. Kelly had a food fight with two similar recipes:)

Yummeey with all the celery and pickles in there!

PS get what has been sprouting in my house??.....

One of the varities of kale was the first of my seedlings to make its presence...YAY! I've got a lot more know and I'll be sure to show you my "babies" as they continue growing. How are your gardens and seeds coming along?

I'm off to go for my run! Have a fab Friday and I'll be stopping by again soon:)

Feeling the Love, green clean, and giddiness!

Hello everyone,

Happy Wednesday to you all! I am so excited that this week is half way done as Friday is when my mom is arriving from the Okanagan. I haven't seen her since September so there is a lot of catch up to be done and sight-seeing as she only been to Nelson once. I love seeing the awe that visitors have when they get to experience an amazing view, a beautiful beach, or amazing food that they don't have back home. It really makes you appreciate your surroundings. As its my mom's birthday when she is here we are going to go out for dinner. I will take pictures of the meal for sure!! I'm lucky too that Nelson is super veggie friendly, even the steakhouse advertises that they have veggie dishes. Yum!


I want to give a huge, I mean HUGE shout out to Nikki and Evergreen for letting me know about my little commenting problem. Sorry, if you have tried to comment and the word verification was cut-off. I have changed the format so the comments will open in a new window. Looking forward to hearing from you!


I want to talk about some of the food I made this week and then I'm going to talk about something that happened yesterday that has made me totally giddy with delight:)

So, I made some of my chili and I'm amazed at how it gets better and better the more I make it. I took some pictures this time so you know I actually did do some work in the kitchen this week! It really is an easy dish and so economical too. I want to try it in my crock pot but I keep forgetting to dig it out of the box it has been since I got it as a wedding present (sorry auntie, I promise I will use it soon). Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that? lol!

I also made some sunflower seed Mexican pate from Brigette Mars's book Rawsome. I made some tweaks to suit my taste. I added a 1/2 cup soaked sundried tomatoes and some of the
soaking water just because my little food processor was having some trouble. My taste tester (hubby) told me he would like it with some fresh tomatoes. I didn't have any on hand so I took a couple tablespoons of the canned diced tomatoes I was going to add to the chili. This was great, although a fresh tomato would have really topped it off. I really like these with tortilla chips or with my salad. I usually add a dollop or two and then half the amount of dressing. love it! Pates are one of the best raw additions to my diet. Try a pate today, they are fantastic with a sandwich, salad, cracker, or veggies. Check out gone raw for some tried and tested recipes.


I'd like to switch gears a little bit and talk about green cleaning. I try to buy Eco-friendly cleaning products for every part of the house. I mainly use vinegar and baking soda. This combo is so effective and my house doesn't smell like a pine cones or a bottle of perfume afterward. Laundry detergent is one of those areas where I strive to get the best product out there. I'm quite sensitive to smells and the hubby's skin is very sensitive to chemicals. I have used a variety of Eco-friendly brands , including Ecover and Seventh Generation. They are all great and I highly recommend them. The problem comes with the price, usually the Eco-friendly products are significantly more expensive than your typical laundry detergent (at least in my neck of the woods). So, I looked into making my own and found a ton of recipes online. I followed the one for powdered detergent on the Planet Green website. This was so easy, taking only about 10 minutes to complete. I used a regular unscented bar of soap as the stores around here wanted too much for a more natural one (I already blew my weekly budget). The recipe barely made a dent in the Borax or Washing Soda, so its really great on the pocket book. The washing soda and borax came to about $10 and the bar of soap around $2. So, there is the initial investment but this will provide you with laundry detergent for a long time. The verdict? I washed my first load of laundry today and my clothes are nice and clean. I'm so glad to have a simple detergent with no added chemicals or perfumes. If you like to have a nice scent to your clothes, try adding some essential oils. Next week I'll make more and try it with an organic bar of soap. Or, I might get really ambitious and make the liquid version. Let me know if you make your own detergent and what has worked best for your clothes!


Now, what am I totally delighted about? Well, Evergreen read my post where I hoped that I could match her Happy 101 blog awards next time. Then she gave me an award! WOW, thanks Evergreen. I am smiling from ear to ear!




First: Copy the award image in your post.
Then, list 10 things that make you happy, try to do at least one of them today, and tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day.

For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you must link back to my blog!….the last part..only if you want too!

Ten things that make me happy? Can I list 100?...Just kidding! Here we go:


1. My hubby- Every day just keeps getting better! The support and love from him is endless and he truly is my soulmate. He still makes me laugh (benefit of dry humor, it never dries up haha) too much and we can still have fun doing the simple things!

2. My two families- My family will drop anything to help somebody out and they just genuinly care and love. My other family (hubby's side) is just as supportive and caring. They took me into their family and treated me with such kindness and love. They are so close and I'm so excited to have two sisters now!

3. BC- I love BC and all that it offers. The mountains, the lakes,the beaches, the ocean, the wildlife, its just incredible. I hope to discover more of my beautiful province in the summer. So much I have yet to see!

4. Blogging- Even though I'm relatively new to the blogosphere, I'm appreciative of the community that I'm surrounded with. Blogging has also allowed me to be proud of what I believe in, and to tell people about it!

5. Green Smoothies - I'm so happy to have the ability to use organic greens and fruits to make such powerful and delicious smoothies. These make my day!

6. My foster cats- These little critters have brought me so many smiles and laughs. In return, they have shown such love and affection.

7. Music - Music does something to the blood in my veins, it feels electric! I love to groove!

8. Turbulance Training- Yes, I love my exercise! I love moving my body and getting a sweat! It makes me happy to sit down after a workout and know I kicked but.

9. Eating more raw foods - It makes me happy to think that the changes I'm making to my diet are greatly benefitting my health. I love making new things and trying great recipes.

10. Doing things to better the planet- Recycling more, eating items that are not packaged, using eco-friendy products, and supporting local businesses. These put a smile on my face as I know it helps!


Now for 10 Bloggers who make my day:

The happy raw kitchen
Choosing raw
Renegade Health
Adventures of Raw Goddess Heathy
Yummy raw kitchen
A love for New Recipes
Vegan Dad
Fatfree Vegan Kitchen
Rawmazing
Love Veggies and Yoga



Hopefully, you check out these amazing bloggers! Have a great Thursday!

During my workout today Nemo was acting funny as usual! I look over and he is on his back in the prayer position. He's very spiritual, apparently. love him!