unbalanced

I am feeling so emotional and worn out today. I have a headache, my ears are blocked and I am fatigued to the core. I started crying last night for reasons unknown and just couldn't stop, and negative thoughts were just circling round and round, and at the back of my mind I was thinking I feel so awful and unbalanced!

How do I get re-balanced so I feel happy and calm again??

I think maybe it would be a good time to go on another wholefoods-only stretch (but oh, how I love bread!). And put emphasis on eating lots of vegetables, wholegrains, a bit of fruit and a shitload of water and herbal tea. I can't start today because I already had toast for breakfast, and a cup of coffee- I was feeling very run-down and uninspired- but perhaps I can start tomorrow. I wish I had more time to do some cooking, but I am working a lot this week. I will just have to fit it in.

And maybe buy some Australian Bushflower Essences "Emergency" or "Calm and Clear" mist for the next emotional breakdown. I sprayed "Space Clearing" all over the bedroom this morning to try and clear all the negativity from last night. I feel like it worked a bit.

Self-explanatory

On the plus side, I have been doing well submitting my assignments. Three down, one assignment and one exam to go for mid-semester. Then things won't be due again until December. I do love this course- just the fact that I am actually doing the work is testament to that, as I am the world's worst procrastinator.

study break

I have spent most of the day working diligently on an assignment for my Communication subject, which I actually find pretty interesting. I still love my studies, and I am so glad that I didn't let fear of the unknown stop me from enrolling in this diploma.

I just took a bit of a study break which I spent outside with Toto (she is surgically attached to me today). I did some nice yoga stretches on the grass with the sun warming my back, she licked my face when I was defenseless in downward dog, and we had a wrestling match. I won, because she weighs about three kilograms. Then we planted the little punnet of lettuce I got yesterday.

My lunch was a colossal bowl of vegetable chilli with coriander, natural corn chips and some soy yoghurt with a couple of sneaky medjool dates with almond butter for dessert. I eat way too many of those!

Ashley Hart is super hot

Hey little grape tomato

I love my little baby

I hope the weather stays like this for the coast trip with Grace tomorrow. It would be nice to have a swim, even though the water temperature of the ocean will still be very chilly.

trips to look forward to

I booked tickets yesterday for The Wellness Warrior Tour! 

I AM SO EXCITED. 

I have been reading Jess Ainscough's blog for quite some time now, and am very much looking forward to seeing her speak in person. There are also some unnamed special guests, so hopefully they will be some of the other amazing health bloggers that I stalk. My Mum is coming with me so we will get to spend some girl time together in Sydney. As you know, I have missed her a lot while she has been away staying with my grandma, so this will be amazing in itself. I wish Fern could come too, but we are all in a pickle money-wise so I don't think that it's an option. Sorry Fern! Love you!

Also, this weekend I am going to the coast with Grace. It should be pretty relaxing, and I can't wait to get some sand in my toes and breathe in the ocean air. There is really nothing more soul-nourishing, I reckon. I am stupidly nervous about this trip, only because I have been a housebound hermit for a year (thanks, glandular fever) and am not used to socialising that much anymore. Sad, I know! But I am telling my insecurities to go fuck themselves. I will cook Grace and her mum (who we will be staying with) some yummy vegan food and have a good time.

I am very pleased to have energy, and getting my life back after feeling ill for so long. I am pretty sure I am ready to say goodbye to that particular chapter.

Very excited

gardening adventures

Spring has sprung (or so it seems...I think the weather will take a bit of a cold dive toward the end of the week)!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the breeze is warm and pleasant.  I spent most of yesterday happily pottering around in the backyard, tending to my little vegetable garden (along with my four-legged helper, who kept excitedly stepping all over my plants). I planted my marigolds to keep the bugs away from my spinach and silverbeet the natural way and turned over my compost, then I sat in the grass and watched Toto chew on a bone. It was very nice. The soil in my vegetable garden is looking nice and moist and healthy, and soon I will add some of my compost into the mix.

All that said, I have spent the entire day inside today browsing pictures of tiny eco-friendly houses on the internet and reading vegan blogs. I also ate a massive lunch and now feel too stuffed to move, let alone frolic in the yard. My feast involved homemade kale pesto on brown rice crackers, homemade vegetable chilli (yellow capsicum, zucchini, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, kidney beans and corn kernels) with soy yoghurt, and a few too many dates with almond butter. I am totally addicted to dates, which is kind of a shame because they are very sugary. But so delicious!

Now I think I will read over some study material before I have to head off to work. So full of food.

avocado-chocolate pudding

After a large meal of leftovers, I still couldn't resist the lure of a raw chocolate pudding for dessert. I think I actually have a second compartment in my stomach for dessert that no proper meal can fill. 

I whipped it up in about ten seconds using a ripe avocado, some agave syrup (I know, blah blah fructose blah but I have a bottle and I refuse to be wasteful), raw cacao powder and a bit of banana. After blending, I stirred in some beautiful coconut milk to make it even creamier. 

This pudding is rich. I really didn't need to eat a whole bowlful, but...I did. My bad!

Here comes the aeroplane!

the ultimate vegan candy bar

So, I have just discovered the most amazing vegan treat that probably ever existed. Well, that and raw vegan cheesecake. But this one is so simple: get a date. Cut it in half. Put a bit of almond butter in the middle. Squish it together. Eat. OMFG. I know I am really behind the 8-ball with this one, and every vegan blog ever features this treat, but I feel it needs announcing to the world. Again.

I had the day off yesterday and felt quite peaceful. I did some cooking (a macrobiotic-style dinner of baked sweet potato, tofu, brown rice and homemade kale pesto), some reading, a lot of much-needed sleeping, the dishes, and even a quick gym session. I have felt better lately than I have in ages- I think yoga and a clean vegan diet have been very therapeutic for me, both mentally and physically. I even did a successful back bend in yoga last week! The teacher is excellent at what she does.

I have been reading a lot about macrobiotics (the philosophy behind it and the food) and have become quite interested in doing a short brown rice fast. Apparently it makes you feel quite calm and helps detox the system- in macrobiotics, grain rules. I would only do a 1-2 day fast though, not the traditional 10 days.

Tomorrow I plan to write up an assignment, do some yoga at home, eat wholefoods and treat my fiance to a "him" day- similar to when he treated me a few weeks ago with sweet potato fries, massages, a film of my choice and many more lovely things of that nature. Then I am meeting up with Skye for a coffee (or maybe a herbal tea in my case?) and a catch up. Easy Sunday, love it.

Better than a Snickers because it has zero nasty chemicals!

Nourishing macro-meal

feast

I just finished a huge vegan feast, courtesy of my beautiful fiance. It was waiting for me on the kitchen bench when I got home from work, and involved "duck" pancakes, satay "chicken" skewers with peanut sauce, Mongolian "lamb" with vegetables, and vegan matcha green tea biscuits. I ate the whole lot (I was starving!) and now I look about six months pregnant. A food baby to be proud of for sure.

The picture below is unfortunately not of the amazing vegan restaurant feast because I ate it all in about ten seconds flat. Instead, it is a picture of me with the worst smoothie I have ever created. It tasted like pond sludge...I think I put too much spirulina in. Sometimes I think I'm doing this healthy vegan thing pretty well, and then this happens! Lesson for next time.

In other news, I am badly missing my Mum. My grandpa's funeral is tomorrow and I won't be there, so I will be sending my love from afar. I love my family so much.

Never again

out for breakfast

This morning Luke and I went for a very official breakfast meeting with our wedding photographer! A breakfast meeting is a very grown-up thing to do. Totes.

We ate at our wedding venue so the guy could get a look around and get some ideas. As it is now officially spring, the place looked absolutely beautiful- the copious amount of foliage were green and the sunlight was magical. I ordered my usual vegan fare of sourdough toast, kipfler potatoes and mushrooms, but they were out of sourdough and mushrooms. The lovely waiter organised some caramelised onion and beetroot for me instead, on black toast instead. And it was amazing. Thanks, cute waiter!

The rest of the day has been spent napping, dabbling in some of my study, eating a lunch of a banana sandwich, and leisurely browsing my sister's Tumblr. Tonight I plan to join the boys and head to the gym, a place that I haven't frequented in quite a few weeks. Then I will cook some meals to get my vegan ass through the week with minimal drama. I love Sunday.

P.S- I submitted my very first assignment of the Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy last night!!

brief hiatus over

As some of you may have noticed, I have taken a small hiatus from this blog. I was awfully sick (sore throat, fever, vomiting, the works!) and then my Grandpa passed away, which was very sad, so it has been a fairly crap couple of weeks. But I am back now, so I will be posting way more regularly from now on. 

I have also started up a Svpply page- I hadn't heard of it before either but my rocking sister introduced me to it yesterday and I had a lot of fun. Basically you just post items that you would like to have in your possession, and people can see, and you can see other people's and get ideas. Phew! Poorly explained but if you check it out you'll get the picture soon enough: https://svpply.com/materialnaturelove

I badly miss my Mum, who is over in Victoria helping Grandma handle everything. As I have gotten older and my misguided teenage angst worked itself out, Mum has become my best friend. Thank God I am no longer the depressed, badly dressed, wall-punching girl I used to be! I love you Mum. I hope you're okay.

Tonight I am home, working on my first essay for my Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy. It feels so good to be writing an assignment (I never thought I would utter those words). I know that this is the right path for me.

A tea candle for my oil burner

P.S- Yesterday (September 13th) was my two-month veganniversary! I didn't eat many vegetables while I was sick, but I'm back and planning to hit up the green smoothies with a vengeance.

a mix of things

My weekend involved a very sick fiance (the flu and pharyngitis!), two market trips (quite the yield of fruit and vegetables), drinking delicious coconut water and eating the meat right out of the coconut, sleeping, reading, planting some baby spinach and silverbeet in my mini vegetable patch, and a very excellent yoga class tonight. I wore my mala, but placed it in front of my mat as I didn't want it hitting me in the face every time I attempted a downward dog.

Also my textbooks finally arrived- I purchased them second hand from a fellow naturopathy student, and I am very glad that they are here- was beginning to sweat that I had been conned, although I didn't really think that anyone would rip me off like that. Dad says I am too trusting.

Feeling chilled after yoga & wearing my lovely mala

Today's lunch

P.S- Just saw a McDonald's advertisement on television getting people to upload the "Big Mac Chant." Vomit. I hate the way big disgusting food corporations are getting on the social media bandwagon to appeal to the younger generation. The number of innocent chickens McDonald's must plough through per day is too much to think about, and all so they can make money and people can stuff fatty, processed, chemical nuggets into their mouths.