Distorted Reality

How are those new years resolutions coming? Bombed already? SHOCKING! I also want to say that you can't out exercise a shitty diet. A 20 minute run won't do crap if you make tons of sugary grain filled shit off of Pinterest (Pinterest...the bane of my exsistence). It's like 85% diet 15% exercise. Also, Pinterest would have you believe that doing 20 squats during a commercial break is going to make you look like a VS model....oh Pinterest you lying lying whore....

And Pinterest isn't the only one who is lying or giving you false ideas about what reality really is like. Check out all this bullshit that the covers of no less than 5 magazines espoused at the grocery check out...the place where you are totally captive and are basically forced to read their drivel (I think the lady behind me thought I was nuts for photographing magazine covers)

Get thin fast!! YAY....who cares about health....wanna get thin fast? Try the cocaine diet

Wonder why we are thin obsessed? shit like this

Slightly less bullshitty but of course capitalizing on the the new years resoltionfails...don't buy the magazine...here, Imma tell you the secret...stop eating shit and move, preferably lift heavy things

Eat Twinkies...lose weight! Sure you might lose weight (please note I have no idea what the premise of this diet is) the question should be...Is this sustainable? Is this healthy? Oh right...we don't care, we just want to be thin...AND FAST! (also note the pounds you might be dropping will probably be muscle too....HORRAY who cares about lean body mass if the numbers on the scale are smaller)

And something for the older ladies

I was almost dizzy and sick from all the bullshit...I had to look away. We went to the other health food store to check a few things out. I usually avoid this one, but I have no idea why....this place had tons of great stuff that I haven't seen at the other store like this weird coconut oil and ghee mix. I would be interested to see what the flavour is like. I do not cook with coconut oil, I think it's disgusting. I made eggs with coconut oil once and almost puked....fucking gross. I would have to know what this tastes like before I committed to buying a massive container of it.

Fresh-a-licious tomatoes....except tomatoes are for wankers! I liked the color contrast of green on red

Husbie bought this chocolate bar for himself. I am proud to say that 75% of it is still in the freezer and he was satisfied with the 2 pieces he did have *misty and proud*...Also, I told you he was a mint fan

 Lipton has a few new teas in their caffeine-free herbal line...camomile tastes like pee so I grabbed the lemon ginger, summer fruits and I actually needed peppermint tea so I grabbed that one too. All are free of creepy shit like soy...I am avoiding soy like the plague. Lots of teas, especially fruit ones have soy in them.

I am *officially* on a tea buying ban from the husbie. That is 2 half shelves full of tea! That yogi brand one my mom bought for me but I don't drink it because it has stevia in it and I don't consume stevia.

Check out my new 'booch flavours! This was another unexpected lovely surprise going to the other health food store. They had SOOOOOOO MANY different flavours of GT's booch I had never seen before. The one on the left is a raspberry, lemon and something else and the opened one (with a broccoli rubber band around it because I can never open them after the initial opening) is a green 'booch with spirulina, blue-gree algae and other stuff in it. Gingerberry is still my #1 love but the green one isn't too bad. I will fully admit that I am addicted to kombucha. I love it!

Speaking of the booch...Harold is still doing his thing. I checked out the top of the tea and there isn't anything growing on the top yet (Harold is supposed to grow a baby, but there is no sign of a Harold fetus yet). I haven't talked to my mom in a few days so I have no idea what Agnes is up to...if she has grown a baby yet or what. I am going to test out Harold brew on Saturday, that will be 7 days since I started it (you test to see if all the sugar has been eaten up). I also think that GT's is made with green tea not, black based on the color of it so my next batch will be made with green tea. I sniffed the container and it certainly smells like kombucha. Oh and Harold is a semi-floater...he likes to hang out near the top. Mom says Agnes is a sinker. According to booch sites....either is perfectly acceptable.

Now for some random pictures of things. I always keep the baby camera in my coat pocket so I can snap away. This was on max zoom because I couldn't read what it said. Someone loves the democratic process and wants you to (FTR...I am a voter)

I am obsessed with rainbow anything lately and had I not stopped storing food in plastic I totally would have picked these up....LOVE THE RAINBOW!

Unrelated but...I had to do my high heel test for the hair show the other day. I was kinda confused as to what it was going to be all about until I got there and I was told I was going to have to model walk for a bunch of gay men. All the other chicks were dressed up "bar ready" and I was in jeans and a short sleeve hoodie (I swear the email only said bring heels, not dress to the 9s). I had just finished at the gym and my hair was up in a sweaty top knot. So I strutted my stuff (in retrospect I should have kept my head up more but whatevs) and blew them a kiss...obvs not to seduce them but show them I am just fun and playful.

And now I will leave you with this inspirational love that was posted at yoga...it's alllllll about the passion...passionate miles lover, passionate miles.

Mishity Mashity

What is up peoples? Are you watching Biggest Loser? A.C and I are! We love us some yelling, non-coddling of fat people approach....LOVE IT! Coddling got people to where they are now and JM isn't about to feed into the cycle. I am holding my breath waiting to be horrified at the CW (conventional "wisdom") nutritional advice they give to the contestants...low card, low fat blahblahblah but I am excited to see Bob get all CrossFit on everyone's ass! I love his elliptical machine FAIL shirt.

Speaking of the elliptical...have y'all been to the gym or yoga lately....FUCKING PACKED! So stupid. I can't wait until people give up on wanting to be skinny and go back to doing whatever the hell they do so I can lay my arms out in savasana again. There was like 70 people in my hatha class last night, insanely packed and don't get me start on Barre. I love that class because I pound it out like champ and some chicks looks like they are dying lifting the 3lb balls. Check out my baby muscles (and my lulu yoga tank top...aaaaand dirty mirror) I am starting to look more buffy and sinewy! p.s...that is the no limits tank and looooove it. I am going to do a "best of lulu" post soon.

Anyways...Update on Harold and Agnes. Mom said Agnes spent her whole first night farting up a storm (eating the sugar and "farting" out C02). I listened to Harold and he didn't appear to be making any noise but he is happily hanging out in the hall closet with the door open, doing the fermented tango with himself. I will test him out on Saturday to see if enough of the sugar has been eaten so I can bottle it and begin my second ferment...but for now....patience. Harold sleeping in the closet.

Husbie and I went sledding at the tourist trap that is the Forks. Lots of yucky food to take pictures of. FRIED THINGS at the Sri Lankan restaurant

Sugared things at the fudge shack. I have never like candy apples, but I used to eat fudge

Colorful non-edible woven knitted ponchos

My handsome old thing. He FINALLY bought a new winter coat! He had been wearing the same one since high school and ever year he said he would buy a new one and he never did but we went to the Sporting goods store and they had nice winter coats on for half price. He tried on coats for an hour (and left his phone at the store!!) and came away with this gem. I have always wanted to see him in a coat with a fur hood but that's not his style, although I did make him try on the $500+ North Face coat with a fur hood.

Male model material....ONE LOOK!

Check out the fat tires! I have seen lots of people winter riding with these crazy big oversized tires, I am pretty sure it's for extra grip on the snow.

A jaunty happy snowman

It was cold...I needed a tea...and Uggs are slippery as shit. I had a hard time getting up the hill. I was sliding all over the place and fell on my butt a few times.

Doesn't it look like he is floating in mid air? I don't know why he was scooting down like this. I went down and asked for a push and I promptly bailed and got snow all in the pocket that was holding the camera....smooth move!

And in boring news...It has officially been 1 year since I have colored my hair. I colored it January.6th of last year before we went to Colorado. I went back to blonde because in my head I just see myself as a blonde. I hate the roots and come July I thought I should color it but then I decided to see just how long my hair could grow in one full year.....drumroll......5.5 INCHES! IN ONE YEAR! Holy poopers! That seems like a lot. It almost doubled the length of my hair. Now I am going to be in the charity hair show and I am sooooo excited. I have done about 6 or 7 hair shows in the past and it's always fun. I have to go do a high heel test tonight. I have to bring heels to the salon and do a walk in them. I assume it's to make sure that I don't fall on my ass on stage making a mockery of their show. No problem... I am a pro heel walker!

'BOOCH...it begins!

I finally did it!! I did too much reading. When I read too much I get overwhelmed AND it seems like assholes...everyone has an opinion on how kombucha should be made. So I gave up reading and just started doing.

I was initially going to make my 'booch with tap water but some people seem against that so I made a special trip out for bottled water. My first batch I will make with bottled water but fucked if I am going to do that every single time so I will do my next batch with tap water to see how it turns out. I might leave the tap water out overnight just to decholrinate it.

I boiled up about 3 quarts/3 liters of water....liters and quarts are about the same size and I didn't want to stress the amount so it was about 3ish quarts/liters of bottled spring water.

I used 5 Orange Pekoe black tea bags of regular old Tetley tea. Only tea no-nos are decaf, herbal or anything that has added stuff like essential oils. Apparently, Earl Grey doesn't really work either but I have no idea why. I didn't have any Earl Grey so it doesn't matter.

I steeped the tea for 5 minutes. Some people said to steep it 10-15 minutes but then I read something that said something along the lines of "you wouldn't drink over-steeped bitter tea, so why would you use it for 'booch?" true dat! the same people also said they have been make booch with tapwater for years...my kinda people!

After the tea steeped I removed the tea bags...hehehehe...TEA BAG! and I stirred in 1 cup of plain white sugar. Yup, plain white table sugar. FEAR NOT! The sugar is food for the yeasties to eat. It eats up all the sugar and very little is left in the final 'booch. Don't use anything else like Splenda or other shit, just use the real white sugar. I saved all my "conventional baking" supplies when I did my cupboard clean out so I still have lots of white sugar kicking around.

I figured if I was going to be doing this and I would be growing "babies" I needed to name my SCOBY. I named my SCOBY "Harold". Harold is precious to me and in a high-larious addition to the 'booch making process, my Mama decided making kombucha was her bag too so she bought her own SCOBY from her local health food store. This is an option, you can also grow one from a store bought bottle of 'booch which I was going to do before I was gifted Harold (thanks again K.P!) ANYWAYS...My Mama named her SCOBY...she named it Agnes! BAHAHAHA Agnes is Harold's other half...they are SCOBY lovers! So entertaining! Agnes is working on her own fermentation process right now on top of my mom's fridge.

After the tea had cooled I transferred it all to my 1 gallon glass vessel that I bought the other day. I extracted Harold from his tiny mason jar home, poured the started liquid that came with him into the sweetened cooled tea then carefully placed him on the top of the liquid. I washed my hands, rinsed them, then poured white vinegar over my hands and shook them mostly dry (clean hands, clean jar, clean shit... all important!)

Harold felt like a wet marshmallow, slimy but firm and quite ummm substantial...someone loved and took care of Harold before giving him to me *mushmush*. After getting him set up I covered the top of the glass vessel with a dish cloth and secured it with an elastic band. Then I placed him in his new home to hang out and do his thing. Harold told me he likes a warm, dark place away from direct sunlight. Typical initial fermentation takes between 7-10 days depending on how warm your house is. It's pretty warm here so I am guessing that it will be on the shorter end of the fermentation time but we'll see!

Now I leave him to do his thing and begin making my tasty tasty 'booch. I will be doing a second ferment since I like fizzy 'booch. The 'booch won't be fizzy if you do not do a secondary ferment (as is my understanding). A second ferment isn't that difficult. You take the 'booch, put it in bottles (I have been saving my old GT bottles for just this purpose), add a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle (same as the first time, it's "food" and will get eaten up) along with whatever flavouring you want. I will be doing a blackberry one since I love the gingerberry GT 'booch so much. A second ferment takes another couple to 7 days for it to be complete so I won't be drinking my own 'booch for at least a couple weeks but, the process has begun!

I will keep y'all up to date with Harold's progress, spying on him and taking pictures (so happy he is in clear glass container) and I will see if my Mama will take pictures of Agnes' progress so we can compare our SCOBY lovers.

In non-bacterial news...if you still have your Christmas tree up....TAKE IT DOWN! Sweet Zuzel. I'll never understand the people that leave it up until February. TAKE IT DOWN!

Also...I made RAW BALLZ! Sorry...I didn't take pictures. This isn't one of those fancy ass blogs where I take lovely arty picture of shit in measuring cups and what not. My counter was messy and hoarded and I barely had enough space to take work but I will share the recipe and promise you that they are mega easy and you can use lots of different things in them.

RAW BALLZ!  yields like 12-20 balls depending on how big you like your ballz *winkwinknudgenudgehowsyourfather*

- 1 cup pitted medjool (I buy the non-pitted kind and just pit em myself) cut in half
- 1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds or you can omit the seeds and double the nuts
- 1/2 cup walnuts or almonds or 1/4 cup walnuts and 1/4 almonds or really any nuts you want...the gist is you need 1 cup of seeds or nuts...whatever kinds and in what ratios you want, it doesn't matter just end up with a 1 cup of them.
- 6 tbsps of cocoa powder...I buy Nutivas brand organic raw cacao powder but the dutch processed stuff from the grocery store works fine, I am just picky with what I buy and I have no idea what the difference between cocoa and cacao is.
- 1/2 tbsp of vanilla or more if you are like me and like vanilla and/or you can add other extracts, this time I added peppermint extract for my mint loving husbie or you could add a tbsp of cinnamon (I don't recommend cinnamon and mint but do what you like!) or pumpkin pie spice...really, this recipe has a billion hacks and I promise if you follow the basic formula it will be yummo!
- optionals: a few tbsps of ground flax seeds, coconut flakes, protein powder, sesame seeds (if you are a wanker since sesame seeds are for wankers!) etc - this time I added a 1/4 cup of dessicated coconut. Pick one of the optionals... not all of them.

- process your combinations of nuts and seeds until finely ground...oh yeah, you need a food processor for this...doubtful it would work in a blender or magic bullet but you could try...if it's a fucking flop... NMP (not my problem). Don't over process them into butter, you want just a nice ground seed/nut meal.

- Add cocoa/cacao powder, extracts, other spices (if using) and blend again until mixed evenly (a couple seconds...not too long)

- Now add your cup of dates and process the whole lot until a dough forms or about a minute. I have made these a few times and this time a dough ball didn't form BUT FEAR not after about a minute in the FP the oils will be released from the seeds and nuts and dates will be a sticky ground up mess so it may look crumbly but it will be ok...I promise.

- I put the mix in a bowl or you can just work from the FP bowl if you want less dishes. Grab a handful of the mixture and squeeze it into ballz in your hand. Don't worry, they'll stick. If you wanted to get decadent (see: fat) you could shake some Enjoy Life mini chips into the mix before rolling into balls but I promise they are mega chocolately enough without. Enjoy Life chocolate is  THE SHIT! and only 3 non-creepy ingredients. They are yummo and worth the outrageous price.

- I put the rolled balls on a plate and then freeze em. Once frozen I transfer to a wide mouth mason jar and freeze (I don't really store food in plastic anymore...such a hippie, I know)

That's it! Raw BALLZ! Super easy, endless possibilities and mega chocolately! No one who has tried these has disliked them. If you think you can't control yourself, don't make these....1 cup of seeds/nuts is a lot to devour in one day...but you know yourself better than me.

River Skatin'

So I didn't tell y'all this but I lost my gangsta scarf at yoga the other night. I was mega upset and bawled like a little bitch when I realized it was gone. I called the studio when I got home and one of the instructors said she would take a good look for it for me and if she found it she would stash it away in her office for me. I mourned the loss of my precious scarf all night. I took to the bed and moped and went to bed without eating (when I get upset I usually don't want to eat). Let me tell you why the scarf was so precious. Husbie, and I and K.P and some other peeps all went to Vegas for my champagne birthday (champagne birthday is the year you turn the same age as your birthdate...mine was the 25th). We only went for 46 hours or something insane like that. No one slept, all we did was party (Scores anyone?) and the scarf was one of only 2 things I bought whilst shopping the circular mall heavily intoxicated on Fat Tuesday's delicious boozy slushie concoctions (the other thing I bought was a pair of Baby Phat high heels that I adore as well). The scarf wasn't name brand or anything but I had been wanting a shemag (arab style) scarf for awhile and this one was totally perfect. It's a heavy weight cotton and just cool looking. So when I realized it was gone I was waaaaay more upset over a piece of cloth than I should have been.

I went to a new restorative yoga class last night, similar to Yin with the lovely Leslee and when the instructor I spoke with the day before about the scarf saw me walk in she lit up, pointed at me and scuttled to her office. IT WAS FOUND!!! I sobbed again, this time tears of happiness and gave her and big hug and explained why the scarf was so important to me. She nodded and smiled. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and smooched my scarf...Life was good.

Husbie and I went skating on the river yesterday! I haven't done this in a long time and lots of people are big vaginas about stuff like (Mama, I'm looking at you...with love of course). The city controls it so they would never let people out on the river much less plow it and flood certain spots without it being good to go. It's been minus a billion here for over a month, I bet the ice is over a foot thick. I have skates but Husbie doesn't, no matter. He took my skates to get sharpened the other day *mushmush* what a lover! He just wore his big ass boots and maned the beasts. We went all the way down to the Forks, along the same path that I ride my bike in the summer. There were tons of people out and about enjoying the river skating.

Check out how someone disposed of their real Christmas tree....keep it klassy!

This must have been added when the made they bridge bigger. I don't go down here much so I never saw it, but the transients like to sleep under the bridge in the summer and fall so I assume that this is a preventative hobo measure, it also will probably stop some of the graffiti too (which I could care less about)
 

Graffiti man! This is right in the middle of the river, it's old so it must have been done some winters ago

On the open river! PANIC

Just to freak my mom out...this was over 50 yards away from the path and this was on max zoom on the baby camera

SKATIN'! My skates are old and shit but they still fit and some skates are better than no skates! Excuse the tabs on the sleeves of my coat

Crap scooter frozen in the ice...Ooo so arty

Under a bridge...in the spring at this spot we would be up to 15 feet under water

Wintery lovely-ness and I love how industrial the train bridge looks. The bike/foot path runs along the tree line/shore

In front of Forks they have a big rink with hockey nets set up for anyone to play a pick up game

Happy skating peeps

Parts of the river were not open to skate on, husbie said these were iceberg tombstones

The baby cam failed to accurately capture the soft pink in the fading evening sky

Look at my handsome old thing! That is his new Volcom shirt that we got from the thrift store when I got my Apple Bottom jeans. I love a burly beard and a plaid shirt....swoon!

What the?

 Haha what a hotty goofball!

BISON PEPPERETTES! So freaking delicious! I ate 2 and enjoyed every fucking bite..nomnomnom! A pepperette is like a slim jim but less fucking disgusting and more locally made delicious. I also NEED to change that polish a.s.a.p.

The tree and all the other decorations came down on the 27th but apparently I forgot my door decoration, a nice non-denominational snowflake

Check out the Chinese New Year decorations!

It is the year of the snake this year! Hissssssss

So then this happened. I was personjacked into going here against my will. We spent a good deal of time searching for an appropriate container to make my 'booch in and this was husbie's idea not mine. We actually scored a really good parking spot.

I lasted 10 minutes before I flipped my shit and we left. I officially hate Ikea and have no desire to ever go back for shit furniture, gross meatballs or whatever other crap they have to offer.

I bought MOAR 'booch since 1. I need the bottles for when I make my own and 2. I haven't made my own yet. My SCOBY is sleeping in my fridge. This flavor is not horrible but certainly not my fav. Gingerberry is my fav.

This is the container that I ended up with for my 'booch (not bought at Ikea) It's 4 quarts/1 gallon which is the perfect size. I wanted something with a spigot at the bottom but that was proving to be too challenging a find in January when no one is thinking about iced tea and lemonade and the container needs to be glass. So this will have to do!

 Here is my precious gift SCOBY. Thanks again K.P...you're the bees knees biotch!

BE WARNED...You might think it's gross looking but I don't give a squirt what you think. Look at him sleeping peacefully. Rest my precious...soon we will do the fermented tango!

Topless cooking!! Sessy! Poultry bone broth simmering away in the crockpot. Make sure you only let your poultry broth go for 24 hours so as not to compromise the fats that are high in PUFAs (which I pronounce "pouffas"). That is also a vintage pink Pyrex dish. About 3 years ago I went on a HUGE vintage Pyrex kick. The pink is actually quiet rare. I have lots of bowls, none of the patterns match and I have one fridge container which most people think is a butter dish...I actually used it as butter dish in the past and now it is the cooked sweet potatoes dish, but I digress.

Mmmmmm beets! Who knew I would love beets? I love every single paleo thing he has made. Roasted beets with garlic and rosemary!

Over it

Without going into tons of detail I want to officially announce the end to my Whole30/100. No, I did not face plant in a pile of cookies or even "accidentally" consume any non-compliants. This is a completely conscious decision on the part of myself. Based on some recent information I cannot in good conscious get behind a program that condones mediocrity and wishywashyness of any kind. I have a deep respect for commitment. Mean what you say, say what you mean and stand behind that statement.

I will continue to eat super clean and paleo like I have been doing because I feel best when doing it but I am pulling out the locally made bison pepperettes from my freezer than I stashed over a month ago because they have a tiny amount potato starch in them. I will be buying my fish oil pills again and not worrying that they have gelatin and glycerine in them and killing myself trying to find special stuff. I will drink a David's Tea that might not have compliants in it. I am going to make yummy yummo RAW BALLZ with vanilla extract.

You will not hear me mention Whole30 again or compliant or anything else like that again. I will simply be referring to things as paleo or primal which is a much larger umbrella. Please know this is my personal decision based on where my morals lie and I REFUSE to divulge any further. I made it to Day 34 and I ate my normal paleo breakfast thing morning as usual and it was super yummy. I am still upping my protein to up my lean muscle mass. I still have all the same health and fitness goals as I did 2 days ago aside from completing 100 days

In happy news....K.P gifted me a super special gift...A SCOBY! A SCOBY is a symbiotic colony of bacterial yeast. It's used to make your own kombucha. I was going to grow my own from a store bought bottle of 'booch but I was surprised out of the blue by K.P (I love K.P so much and maybe one day you will hear the story of how we met). So thanks K.P you rule and I am doing all my reading today so I can start my own home brew tomorrow...I am waaaay more excited than I should be about bacteria.

Keep on keepin' on paleo peeps!!

I'm flexy and I know it!

The new year has been fabulous so far even though I feel like I am running on borrowed time because husbie can and will be called away for work at a moments notice so I am just enjoying my little family all being together. That said I still need mah space with all this family time! So I go to yoga. Serious yoga gangsta look. I look more badass with my shades on and that sparkle nail polish needs to go.

It was a cold sunshiney first day of the year

Yesterday's class was awesome even though it felt like my fav instructor had jacked the heat super high. It was mega hot and I was panting. I felt bad for all the newbies, lots of people had to take child's pose to regain themselves. I pride myself on never stopping and never taking child's pose to compose myself but I have been going to yoga almost daily since September so I have no need to rest...I am strong and heat adapted.

This is just a note...if you are new to hot yoga be it Moksha or Bikram I HIGHLY suggest arriving to the hot room 15 minutes early to give your body time to get adjusted to the heat. Arriving moments before class starts is stressful enough but not giving your body a chance to adjust to heat is even more stressful and will ensure that you will not enjoy your yoga time as much as you could. Also while we are on the topic of yoga...etiquette in the hot room is shut your mouth. Other people use this time to unwind. If you want to chitchat, others don't want to hear it so kindly take yourself out of the hot room if you feel like flapping your lips.

I took a few pictures on my walk home from yoga. It's 2k round trip walk that I do no matter the weather and it has been freezing here lately. It's a great warm up and cool down and there still are things to take pictures of despite the frigid temps.

I spied this weird blob that I figured out was a cat after much squinting. I only wear my glasses to drive because my vision isn't that horrible for everyday walking around. I have no idea why he was just chillin' there giving me the stink eye. Maybe there was a sewer grate or something that was keeping him warm (disgusting). This might come as a surprise (or not) but I am not a cat lover in the least and I am in fact allergic to cats so my hatred for them has an actual real root.

I had to wait for a car to turn so it didn't wreck my shot of snow and lovely wrought iron fence

There aren't many posters up in the winter, it's just too damn cold out but this one was up by an ambitious promoter....a "rave party" on boxing day...missed it....pffff my raving days are over but I still do enjoy dubstep

I especially like the little monkey man on the bottom of the poster...so cute!

Shade of winter....lots of whites and browns. These little burs look wizened and cold...I was wizened and cold standing there taking a picture of them

Husbie made nomnom's BEETS the other day. He has always liked beets and I normally don't like beets but these were really good and I might be a beet convert...and fyi, beets make your poop slightly pink tinged...I know...super fun!

He also made chili! Tons of paleo/W30 recipes are tomato based so I try to limit my beef and tomato based recipes to one a week. Look at all those spices!!

This was our new years bubbly... Perrier pink grapefruit sparkling water. It smelled just like a pink grapefruit soda...so much so my mouth expected the sugary tang when I took a sip. Obviously no sugary tang but it was delicious. When I wanted to give up drinking pop over a year ago I started drinking club soda (the kind I bought was not compliant) so I like tasteless bubbly water.

I also gave away our wine glasses in my compliant clean out so we had to drink it out of plastic cups like the classy beasts that we are

Remember how I had said that I wasn't going to be able to have a BIA done? Well I was wrong and I got one done yesterday. I had to fast in the morning for it and that was awful. I woke up starving and my not eating right away in the morning messed up my eating for the rest of the day...messed up as in I ate at different times than I normally do, not eating shit but the data from the BIA is so important and I am back on track with my eating at normal times today.

Soooooo here are my results. I had my first BIA on Dec.1st and my second on Jan.1st. In one month I lost 5lbs...not too shabby....the good news.... 1lb of that was pure fat....the bad news...some of that was muscle. This is why just going off of weight is useless. Who cares if you lost weight if the weight you lost was muscle?! I also lost 2 inches off my waist, 3/4 of an inch off my bicep and a quarter inch off my thighs which I think is more of a victory than 5lbs.

I think it's mega important to have all this data for my journey because I now know that I need to increase my protein intake and really buckle down and start lifting heavier shit. I'm not getting bummed about any information from the BIA I am just using it as a marker and something to help moving in the right direction. If you are able to have BIAs done, I would HIGHLY recommend it. It is quick and painless and gives you tons and tons of great data to help you on your journey.

What I am now doing is keeping a food log, so I can accurately track my protein intake. I really really want/need to build up my lean muscle mass and the only way to do that is to eat MORE protein, not that I was lacking before but 3 extra eggs a day might be the difference between maintaining and gaining and I want to be a SHE-BEAST! All ripped like the hulk or to be "flexy" as my good friend B says... I'm flexy and I know it!!

From now on I will just put what day I am on at the bottom of my post: DAY 33/Husbie Day 32

Best of 2012

HELLO 2013! I don't think I have ever been so excited for the year to change. I was sooooo over 2012 and just wanted the new year to be here already and now it is and now I'm going to talk about 2012 (ummmm...ooookaayyy). The following is my Best of 2012...10 of the best things that happened to me, that I did or whatever in 2012. It was a pretty good year with the end of the year being much better than the beginning health and wellness wise.

Counting down starting with my #10 best thing from 2012

10. FRINGE FEST

2012 Fringe was awesome. I attended more shows than I ever have before. I got to share it with my friends. I normally make a half assed promise to see a show or 2 but this year I was down at the square almost everyday that it was on. LadySkits with K.P was my favourite show and Fringe is during the nicest part of the summer so the weather was gorgeous. I also got to use the water taxi which stops right by my place and right by the Fringe grounds. We watched tons of acts on the free stage, we drank in the beer gardens one gorgeous Friday night and I ate about my weight in poutine. Such an awesome awesome time making Fringe my #10 thing of 2012.

9. FULL FLEX TOUR

This one was a total surprise and what I consider a gift from Indiana. I so badly wanted to go to this and then ended up not only being able to go but getting backstage, drinking free beer, meeting the artists including Skrillex, dancing on stage and finishing the night on the top of some really high scaffolding platform. It was an absolutely amazing time in absolutely scorching weather. I felt so lucky and blessed to go to this FOR FREE. I walked home tired and almost unable to comprehend the day that had taken place. So much outdoor electronic music love. Thank you Indiana! The Full Flex tour comes in at my #9 thing of 2012

8. HOMEMADE MAYO

Yup, homemade mayo was good enough to make #8 on my hot 10 of 2012 list. I never imagined that I would be making my own mayo in 2012. Had you told me that in February I would have laughed a hearty laugh in your face but now not a day goes by where I don't consume my own mayo. I have yet to have a failed mayo and mine is just as thick as any store bought creepy mayo. My husbie said he wouldn't have been successful on his W30 without it. We love love love homemade mayo and for that it clocks in as the #8 thing of 2012

7. BONE BROTH

Another paleo staple makes the list. When I first read about bone broth I was intriguied, not freaked out. I knew I wanted to do the whole paleo thing legit and fo' real and bone broth is part of that. I was excited to fire up the crock pot, toss in some bones and see what happened. I knew about the gut health benefits but I never imagine it would become so pivotal in my life. It is a true staple and I am the only one in my house who eats it. Who knew that jiggly, wiggly boney jello would be one of my top 10 things of 2012 but here it is at #7

6. GOING TO COLORADO

This happened before I started my blog but in January the husbie and I crossed the bored to meet up with a group of special ladies and their hubbies for a couples weekend in Colorado, in a big ass mansion in Vail. This meet up was special because this was the first time that these people from all over North America would be meeting IRL, face to face (potential for Catfish was low). We had a blast and it was so awesome to meet everyone IRL and to just get away for a weekend. The mansion we stayed at was hella cool. I don't think I have ever seen a bigger circular dining room table or a more disgusting and high-larious game of Apples to Apples. The laughs were numerous and it was definitely a high light of 2012 coming in at #6 on the list

5. GETTING MY BIG MAMA JAMA

My big camera was a random gift from my darling husbie because he is so awesome and so good to me. He knew that I wanted a new camera so we just went out and got one (this is why I don't get Christmas presents, because I am randomly spoiled all year long). Not only did he get me a nice new camera, he got me a bad ass nice new camera and an accessories kit. It so freaking awesome and it takes amazing pictures which has made me more interested in photography and it makes my visions come to life. I love love love my 3.5lb camera and I carried it around for most of the summer making it #5 on the best of 2012 list

4. GETTING DRAKE

Another gift from my darling. Drake came to me in June. I was feeling a lot of discontent in June, I was feeling like I needed something for me, an outlet for me. I was also reading some blogs of ladies who bike and I was totally inspired. A few of my lovelies tried to caution me against a single or fixed speed bike but I knew exactly what I wanted. After looking at a few shops for a girlie fixed speed and coming up short I found Drake, my manly man bike. So handsome and so badass. One ride around the block and I knew he was meant to be mine. I love love love my bike. I feel like a kid again when I ride him and that is exactly what I wanted to feel on my bike. No fancy pedals or gears or froufrou business. Just a gal and her badass bike. He's so awesome that he gets all the attenshunz usually "Sick bike". Typing all this makes me really really want to go out for a ride but he is a summer bike only. Soon my love soon but you are #4 on my list of love


3. HAVING THE COURAGE TO FIND AND GO SEE DR.H

This was huge! I spent the better part of the summer being completely lost and self-medicating with food and booze and just generally being unhappy with where my life was at. Having the ladyballs to go see and continue seeing Dr.H after my unsuccessful first encounter with a Dr was such a big and bold step for me. I finally got to say a lot of things that I had been keeping locked up for years and Dr.H has given me some really great insights into my own life. I am 100% proud and not ashamed of my adventure to see a clinical psychologist. I was stuck in my own life and seeing him helped me get unstuck. Dealing with my mental state was so important it makes my top 3 of 2012


2. GOING BACK TO MOKSHA HOT YOGA

I never imagined that I would have fallen so head over heels in love with yoga all over again when I got that email at the end of August saying come back for a cheap month but I was already on my healing path thanks to Dr.H and little did I know that this was going to be just another extension of that. My practice has evolved so much since September and I love love love my studio and my instructor yogis. Yoga does so much for my life I get misty talking about it, yoga will be in my life forever and I look forward to growing my practice a little more each time and I hope to one day be a human pretzel although some would argue that I already am. Yoga is of course #2 on my 2012 hot list


1. FINDING PALEO AND DOING MY WHOLE30

Shocking right, I know my #1 thing for 2012 was a big fat surprise! But seriously, my life changed and coupled with #3 and #2 my life changed drastically....like 40lbs drastically. Something just finally clicked for me. It's like I have pushed the reset button on my life and I feel like literally anything is possible. I don't feel 30, I don't look 30 and I am in better shape and health than I ever have been in my life. #3, #2 and #1 saved me from myself. I grew up, wised up, learned about me and more about nutrition and it has put me in an amazing position to go forward with the rest of my life.

So there you have it, my best of 2012. It was the year I turned 30 and it was a great year full of great things and I am so looking forward to 2013 and whatever awesomeness and surprises it has in store for me and my family.

In W30 news...things are still going great. I will update y'all on the 40th, 50th, 60th days etc just so I don't bore you to death with "Day 57, still drinking bone broth" but I did say that I wanted to start off the new year with a foray into fermenteds (fermented lemons and kombucha!) so watch for those soon! I also promise to get behind the camera more since I have been doing a lot of blahblahblahtalkytalkytalky lately and that is boooooooooring. Also, expect a ragealicious post tomorrow with all the stupidity of people and their resolutions.