What I'm Thankful For~

While tooling around this morning trying to figure out what to write about, it hit me that I read nothing but depressing news all day long. So I've decided to take a break from the norm of complaining about things that bother me, and would like to share with everyone the things I am thankful for in my life right now.

My husband - who loves me no matter what, even though I know I drive him crazy. He looks after me, and cooks amazing mind blowing meals on a regular basis even though I'm lazy and don't want to do the dishes afterwards.

My friends - Though I contact them quite infrequently and irregularly they still haven't kicked me to the curb and write me back on occasion. And even help me with my problems when I find the time to post whiny rants~ thanks guys, I really appreciate the loyal support ^_^

hm.... there's quite a bit more that I'm thankful for so this should take more than one post!~

Aikido on Sat. Bitches!~

I do have to say that I am very excited about learning Aikido. I'm not looking forward to being sore all the time, but I am looking forward to gaining some strength as well as discipline. Not to mention the Sensei (Aikido instructor) totally rawks!!! ^0^

Not only is he a great teacher, but I agree with his philosophies about the art as well. He's always talking about restraint, and diffusing the situation without hurting anybody, everyone goes home in one piece kinda stuff.

I haven't attended a class yet myself, however I sat in on the last one on last Saturday and had to resist from hopping onto the mat and asking him questions. It was difficult not to want to get involved with his teachings, he's very impowering and charismatic. Here's hoping I make it home without much injury~ ^_^

Ganbatte~

Getting back on track

The intended use of this blog was to track the progression of my attempts to become more healthy and lead a more sustainable life. Which as you can see by the previous posts has started to fall by the way-side.

I'm trying to get back on track, and am doubling my efforts (as small as they may be starting out) to clean up our act a bit. ^_^

I've already gathered instructions on how to make my own cleaning supplies, air fresheners, and wood polish for my house from what's in my kitchen. I still need to pick up some essential oils, and maybe one other product, but other than that we already own the rest of the ingredients.

I've also started composting (sadly not for myself, we don't have a garden-_-) for a friend, and I enjoy finding a use for these items (kitchen scraps, coffee grounds) rather than just throwing them away or washing them down the drain. Not to mention our friend is getting compost for free for her amazing garden! ^_^

In the coming month I should have a "Greening our house and lifestyles" plan all set out for us and our cats. The hardest part is changing our lives to fit our products, instead of the other way around. It's a very eye opening endeavor, and I am enjoying the research and information gathering it has lead me to; as well as the on-line communities and many helpful blogs out there.

Onward to a healthy planet for our healthy children!!! >.<

Back from a wonderful vacation~

You know, there's not much difference once your married versus when you weren't. I thought (as most people do) that marriage is a life changing event. Honestly, we're still the same people we were before we got married, except for a slight something that wasn't there before.

I'm not too sure how to explain it except that there is this feeling of complete wholeness you get once you have found and vowed to stay with the person you love the most for the rest of your life.

I mean, we figured we'd spend the rest of our lives together anyways; but now that we're married it's like I've lost my sense of loss. (That totally doesn't make sense! >.<) What I'm trying to say is, I'd assumed we'd always be together, but now I know we'll always be together.

It's a wonderful feeling to feel complete.

YOU COMPLETE ME STEVEN AND I LOVE YOU!!! ^0^

o-hisashiburi des ne?

Wow, I can't believe it's already been over a month since the last time I posted on here! Time sure does fly, especially when your busy.

Steven and I slightly dropped off of the healthy eating kick for about a week and a half there and let me tell you, it was killing us >.< We were eating out almost everyday, and I was waking up in the middle of the night with stomach aches, and having stomach troubles at work as well.

Now that we've been cooking at home for the past two weeks, it seems that our bodies are back on track finally. We were even good on Valentines this year and didn't gorge ourselves on chocolate or sweets (even though my sister and I made a ton of cupcakes to hand out to people, we didn't keep any ^_^).

As for baking at home occasionally, it's going well except that everything I decide to make (aside from being made with organic ingredients) isn't very healthy for us at all! I need to do some digging around and find some nice simple (slightly healthier than usual) sweets to make at home.

Meh.... maybe I'll just break down and make some fudge. I'll make it so fudgy that we'll only be able to eat one a day or so. ^_^ yea, like that'll work~

Until later, I'll be posting some pictures of the cupcakes we made for V-day soon; as well as a pic of the project I'm currently working on. (Just learned how to knit last night, and I already have more projects to do than I know what to do with!) @.@

~ja ne Live happy live healthy~

Wow!

I often forget how nice it is to be completely (as much as possible -_-) organized! The last few weeks at work have been one big haze for the most part, all blurring together.

Ever since I got my butt in gear and everything is organized, I find myself with so much time left over! And you know what I get to do with all that left over time?... All the things I've been wanting to do! >.<

Ever since I made it one of my goals to bake something at least once a week, I've kept it up and even amazed myself at what I've been able to put together.

And for the first time in a long while, I have a new book! I'm excited to see how it turns out.

As far as updates in my health or my quest for sustainability:
I've been recycling about 1/2 of our garbage (which is nice, cause then the garbage can doesn't fill up as fast), and I've been striving to use less water when washing the dishes and take shorter showers (we do not have a dish washer, I do it all by hand >.<). Sadly I'm notorious for taking really long showers, but I've been trying my hardest to cut back; I dunno what it is about the shower that just relaxes me and puts me in a state of thought, I easily lose track of time when in the shower.

And for my health, well.... we ran out of enerfood for about 3-4 days there, and then our next one showed up and we're back into our daily routine. I've been wanting to exercise more too but just haven't found the time for it yet; I'm planning on whipping out DDR this weekend and getting a good workout on it.

And as soon as the weather starts to get nice again in early Spring, I'd like to start riding my bicycle to and from work. I remember how much I used to love riding around Portland, and I miss the energy it gave me (not to mention the strong legs! ^0^)

Heres' to another week of health and wellness~ (striving to attain in any case ^_^)

Brrrr........~

Ever since Christmas any type of regular schedule has been impossible >.< And is it just me, or did Christmas seem to last the whole month of December?!!

(yes... thank you local radio station for incessantly playing the same 6 Christmas songs in 5 different versions throughout the entire month of December.)

After working two irregular work weeks thanks to Christmas and New Year's both being on a Tuesday this year, (I also called in to work sick on Thursday Jan 3rd) and then after only having been at work for 1/2 an hour on Friday, a huge wind-storm blew through town and knocked our power out for a day and a half.

I realized then just how few candles we really did have.

Honestly the whole situation shouldn't have been blown out of proportion the way it was, the way people were acting you'd think a little wind and rain were the end of the world! ("Oh no! It's not a beautiful sunny 70 degrees today..... it must be the APOCALYPSE!!! >.< ")

Anywhoo, after driving around for 30 minutes or so trying to find a gas station with power(we were super low on gas), we happened upon one of the three working gas stations in the city. A fight was about to break out at the pumps, so we ended up driving over to my Boss' house (they had power) and hung out there waiting for things to die down.

We ended up just walking over to the gas station from Tim's house with some borrowed gas jugs of his (he lived pretty close). Amazingly enough we just walked right up to an empty pump since everyone that was in a car was blocking one entrance or another.

The walk back to Tim's house was peaceful enough, and we took the time to look around and see just how much damage the storm had caused. (Sadly quite a few trees no longer reside with us here in Chico anymore -_-)

We had an amazing dinner that night even though most of the city was without power. (Small plug for Sierra Nevada Brewery Taproom & Restaurant~* check out their sustaining our environment page http://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html it's animated! @.@)

The night ended well for the two of us considering we still had heat without power (thank you gas), and the evening passed on while we played cards by candle light drinking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. (quite romantic actually, been a long time for the two of us ^_^)

All in all we were quite happy when the power returned later on the next day, mad that we had to throw so much food out (>.< grrrrr....), and slightly sad to see the candles go. We need to seriously work on foods that are storable and require no refrigeration for any future power outages, as well as re-supply our horde of candles.

Hell-of-a-way to bring in the new year! ^_^

Happy New Year Y'all!~ and may you be warm and full of tasty treats ^-^