Turn of the New Year 2014!

Happy New Year everyone! Its officially 2014, I'm happy to still be here ready to take on a new chapter of life.

One of the first things I did today was review my life. Where have I been? Where am I going? Who do I want to be starting from today forward. Who do I want in my life as my web of positive influence?

The power of social media and technology is vast and very powerful. We're the most social we have ever been, but are we? Facebook is platform for keeping in touch with old friends, reuniting with old high school buddies and family way out across the country. But how often do you call them and personally thank them for being apart of your life. Are they even apart of your life? Should they be apart of your life?

The hardest part about social media is shaking off the excess weight. And heres the kicker: Not every one is meant to stay in your life. Some are just people you meet in passing and that is normal and ok to recognize that. Does there really need to be a digital list of every person you have ever met over time?

When I moved from Houston to Dallas I had roughly 1,500 friends on my Facebook. I know what you're thinking, but I really did know every one of them. When I moved to Dallas, I had a much smaller pool of people to hang out with making me feel like all my friends were back home. This kept me from moving forward and dwelling on my past popularity. Then I thought, out of those 1500 people who called me to make sure my move was ok? How many didn't even know I had moved? I quickly cut that list down to 800 people and moved forward.

For the first day of 2014 I went through my phone to cut contacts again, and thought about the people I valued and kept. Did I call them all year? Maybe a few texts here and there which is not being a very good friend on my part.

Despite the amount of lazy relationships we think we have hiding in the dark of our homes, they are not relationships. Pick up the phone and call, not text someone you care about. Ask them about life and not what you just see posted on the Internet. It is better to closely manage people you value, than to loosely juggle too many people you aren't sure about.

In 2014, I promise to let people go and hold the ones I value much closer.


Post your new years resolutions in the comments, follow and share. Happy New Years!
Xoxo Dani-

Paleo for Beginners- Day 2

Day 2- where is our energy?

We were so lethargic today especially since I am used to sugar in everything. No sugar and all veggies makes Johnny a dull boy. I have had sugar withdrawals before, but not like this. I snuck some apple cinnamon granola from the pantry when Lee was not looking. 

Picture from book.

We were excited to wake up early at 7 am to start cooking. By the time your done with breakfast, its time to eat lunch...A little much work for my taste on a regular basis, but thats why we are here right?

Breakfast this morning was called Egg Custards. We used egg whites this go round, because the yolks were gnarly on my digestive system yesterday. We added some cured bacon (too salty), chives and mushrooms whipped together for a muffin type egg souffle. We made them in cupcake tins, but small porcelain baking dishes will be on my birthday list from now on. It was a great concept, but too much bacon and salt being added. I think this couple loves eggs and heavy salt because our next dish was exactly the same. We are cutting back on the salt. 

Lee's Stirfry

Lee made a great beef stir fry for lunch since our asparagus were looking unhappy we pushed this dish up on our order list. Chinese food is gross to me, but it was fine. Should have used lamb, and added more seasoning since we were cutting back on the salt too much. I think Chinese food is bland to begin with so its a wash. Lee loved it. 

We were so tired all day with no carbs. Lee made us a banana, protein chocolate powder, blueberry, chocolate coconut milk smoothie. I added a little almond milk and ice cubes to relieve the thickness. It was a great pick me up. 

My Ahi Tuna

We bought some Ahi tuna from the market for the dinner recipe and lazily thought...so much food today, we'll just make sashimi out of this...WRONG! Yuck! it was like eating a fish from the ocean. I spit it out quickly and decided to sear this sucker like the directions said. Japanese sushi chef is clearly not in my future. I made an amazing seared Ahi Tuna Salad.

Tuna are among the top endangered species right now for extinction. They are so delicious, but the hunting and value of this fish has made it a target for black markets. 

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2011/09/10_fish_youre_eating_that_are.php?page=2

Please check back to follow our adventure. Hopefully what works for us could work for you.

Namaste

Dani

Paleo for Beginners

So the new trend is Paleo or Primal eating. As I reach my 30s with bad knees from working on a retail floor, 30 added pounds, and stiffness. I've attempted different heath concepts to put a screeching halt towards deaths door. In the end I have decided that my body feels too terrible, too young. Stairs are a problem, sitting in my car after a long day at work is beyond painful on my lower back, and my energy is seriously lacking. 

My mom got me a Paleo book for Christmas this year with a 30 day bootcamp for cooking. So I thought what the hell, Ill learn how to cook a few meals, and since Lee loves cooking we could make this a couples adventure. So naturally I roped my supportive boyfriend in with me and we were off to the store! 

Since I have hardly cooked a day in my life, I thought I would share some of my dishes that I made and our progress. Lee will be there to supervise with his amazing chef skills.  $350 later and more meat then should be legal for 2 people. We were ready. I printed every recipe for the first week. 

DAY 1- here begins our journey

Breakfast was Sauteed Brussel Sprouts and Eggs. I dont know how to really make eggs since Lee is allergic to them and gluten, we have had to substitute different protein options for a lot of the dishes. Hence the average amount of eggs I eat are only in restaurants...so about 1x every year.  Bring on the sulfur farts. I wish they would have been sunny side up for more texture, but other than that I loved it!

Lunch was a Cobb Salad- In my opinion a cobb salad is too much work at home for a salad. So much cubing for something I would rather just order at a restaurant. I missed my bleu cheese dressing since dairy is not exactly on the menu. By lunch we had and amazing amount of energy. Both of us were little kids needing to jump and work. 

Dinner was Italian Wedding Soup- This took only 1.5 hours and was delicious! Our favorite one for the day. It keeps well and didn't take all day to make like most soups. I learned how to make killer meatballs. Those Italians sure do know how to cook. 

Lunch Cobb Salad. 

Brussels with Eggs.

Breakfast Brussels with ham

Italian Wedding Soup Delicious

Our new best friend, Coconut Oil

Check back and subscribe to share our tales of discovery and what works for us could work for you. 

Namaste,

Dani

Smoke on the water

This month marks the 1 year anniversary of my decision to quite smoking. I smoked for 13 years, not heavily, but socially and whenever I was stressed out. No congrats in order.

Peer pressure as a kid was a bitch. Peer pressure as an adult...well, you become your own self destructive  best friend. All your real friends get a life somewhere else and move away.  You're left to work with the friend lottery wherever your life may take you.

I had just gotten out of a heartbreaking relationship. And when I say just got out, I mean a year of wallowing in my heartache...I'm human. I quit my job around the same time, so give me a break from the shit-storm that rained down on me and the 15 lbs I gained. For the last year I dated several men who for lack of my interest in the opposite sex made them horribly undesirable. Screw em. Also undesirable. 

My friend and I had been invited to a party in an attempt to get out and meet people. It was so great to get out and feel human again. I met a hilarious man who followed me outside while I lit up a cigarette... he sized me up and said, "you were so much more attractive before you lit that nasty cigarette, I'll be inside". No one had ever been that rude to me. I was insulted and I loved it! An honest opinion was something I hadn't found in a long time.  The first step to getting a decent caliber friends around me was to stop being around self destructive people. He and I became very good friends.

I quit cold turkey. The idea that smoking made me undesirable as a woman to many men made me feel dirty and unhealthy. It was like realizing the pants I was wearing made me look awkward and saggy. Toss.  Being around men that don't smoke was a huge eye opener.  Almost as if men actually had values?  The women and media in my life set many standards about what I should be looking for in a man. However, I selfishly never thought about what a good man may be looking for out of a datable woman.
Quitting was easy after I had that realization at the party.

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