Spring; love and lust

Pastel colours, Easter, budding flowers, light rain and sunshine, puddles, t-shirts, outdoor runs and all the fresh bright feelings that come with the pretty package that is spring. 

For me, these are some of my favorite parts of spring. Unfortunately they live only in my head for now. As I write this, it is officially about a week into spring (you will likely be reading this AT LEAST a few days later) and our spring gift was a big dump of snow and falling temperatures. I've had enough!!

As a rebellion, I've been wearing skirts and bright colours anyway. The calendar says it's spring, so spring it shall be, snow and all. I also had high hopes that I would be able to run outside again soon, and I would have been able to before this nasty weather flip.

These are a few things I've been loving, or lusting after in my Spring state of mind. 

Converse! I've wanted a pair for a long time and I finally decided that I would go and at least try them on. I bought the adorable pastel polka dot pair and I've already got my sights on a few others. Particularly white, mint and purple. 

Coloured khakis. Easy wearing, fun colours and somehow just lovely. These ones are from GAP. 

Plaid/tartan is a huge love of mine all year round, just the colours change. Right now I'm seriously in love with the colourful pastel one here. It's from Roots.

Braids and flower crowns. I don't have a crown, but I will. As soon as I find the one for me it will be living very firmly on my head. Maybe wrapped around a braid crown..? And the perhaps I will also stay barefoot and live in a field of flowers. Yes?

Now, not everything I like is pink and whimsical, my real love at the moment is quite a bit darker. It's Game of Thrones. I cannot get enough. I will watch it morning, noon and night given the chance. I read about it in magazines, watch the show and occasionally stalk it on Pinterest and Instagram. Any day now I will start reading the books too. In case you are wondering why the books didn't come first, I'm not a huge reader in my everyday life. 

If we are being honest, I've watched season 1&2 again within the last week and will be starting season 3 right away so I'm fully prepared for season 4 when it arrives on April 6. 

And while we are on the honesty train, I have a huge crush on this man..

His new movie Pompeii is so so good. You should see it for sure. 

Happy Spring! 

xoxo

The feast of Asia

It's no secret that chad and I love Asian food, Japanese especially.

We recently had a little feast of homemade goodness and I'm going to share it with you. Please keep in mind that we are not trained to cook Asian cuisine, nor do we have family to learn from. We just go. We use ingredients that appeal to us, and we use them in ways we like. I don't imagine either of us will be working at a sushi bar anytime soon...

Anyway, here it is. 

Onigiri with 2 fillings

We made 3 cups of sticky rice in our rice cooker and made up 2 different fillings to stuff the rice with. First, strips of steak with a carribean spice blend. Why carribean when we are making Asian??? Because... Why not?!

Second, canned salmon with dill and lemon. 

Fresh spring rolls filled with carrots, cucumber, tomato and more salmon. They were super tasty. 

And some mochi for dessert. We love mochi. I could eat it morning noon and night, on frozen yogurt, plain, with a filling, with ice cream.. It doesn't matter, I just love it. 

If you have never had mochi I suggest you go find some right now and try it. It's subtly sweet and has the softest texture, almost like a marshmallow, but not... Have I ever mentioned I also adore marshmallows?

Anyway, writing this made me hungry so I'll be off to lunch. 

xoxo

 

"Liar" bars

One of the yummiest things I found while eating paleo was the Larabar. Tasty little snack bars with a date base instead of oats. The have very simple and minimal ingredients, but a hefty price tag. I still really enjoy them but they are more of a treat now instead of a frequent snack.

Anyway, while snooping through a paleo book at Chapters (Nom Nom Paleo) the other day I found a recipe to make my snack at home!

The real beauty is that I can make a batch whatever size I want with any flavour and the price per bar is going down!

Here is my interpretation of the recipe. 

You need:

16 medjool dates (pitted and chopped)

A handful of cashews

A handful of pistachio

A smaller handful of unsweetened shredded coconut (toasted if you prefer)

Dry cranberries (however many look good)

To do:

-Pit and chop the dates

-Blitz the nuts in a food processor, not to finely though, uneven chunks are good for crunch and texture
 

 

-Put the nuts in as seperate bowl

-Process the dates until they form a sticky ball

-Add the coconut until it is well incorporated, but not to much. You don't want coconut crumbs

 

 

-Add cranberries to the nuts and then use your hands to squish everything into the date mixture
 

 

-Once everything is squashed together, but it on a piece of wax paper and cover with another piece of wax paper

-Flatten the mixture with (hands, can, heavy book, etc..) and then remove the top wax

-Shape the blob into a square and cut into bars. Any size you like!

 

Instead of making the full size or average snack bar size, I made miniature squares. They are perfect for on the go, just the right amount of sweetness and a perfect little boost through the day!

And that's it! So easy, fast, healthy and delicious. The nuts and dry fruit can be replaced or substituted for whatever you like, of course!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Dear me: 13

13 is another very memorable year, but for all the wrong reasons. You are such a little shit head! It's time to grow up a little bit. Your whole world is just fine. You are just fine. Make better choices, be happier, be nicer. 

On another note, stop torturing yourself. You will always be you and only you, try for the best version you can be. 

I know you don't know it now, but it's ok to dump friends sometimes. Some of them aren't worth being around and will only drag you down. I hope you know who I'm talking about.. 

Spend more time with the family. Give more time to your school work. Take up a hobby, anything really. Anything healthy and productive.

I guess I can't scold you all day though. You are me after all...

Let's move on to a lighter note. I know how much you love to change your hair colour, and that's fine, it's just hair. BUT, one of these days you are going to consider blonde and then you are going to go for it with a box of at home bleach. Please, please reconsider. It's an awful idea, it looks terrible on you (it's not even blonde!) and it will forever be the worst school picture. Forever. 

Grade 9 - 13/14 years old

Next up, that boy you are "dating" and have been for all of junior high... Umm, let's just say.. Be nice. He's a human, not a distraction. If you don't like him, stop "dating" him. Move along. Be his friend. And then be friends with his brother because he is going to turn out pretty fabulous. (He wears makeup better than you!) That group of boys though, they are pretty good for you. Awesome friends. And they keep you tough, that's something I've always loved. 

Speaking of friends, very soon you will find the very best ones. You already have some that will really stick with you, but the new ones are just as great. They really get you and you can be just as weird and awkward as you truly are and they'll love you anyway, just like I will. 

Anyway. Ill leave you be now. 

I love you

xoxo

...and the eye contact thing

Chad and I were talking the other day and he brought something to my attention. Something I am very well aware of, but didn't want to realize how other people notice it too. 

Basically, I can't look people in the eyes. Well, for a short time I can, but if we are having any kind of longish conversation there's a good chance I will not be looking. Maybe I'll look at your mouth, hair, or shoulder.. Perhaps I'll focus in the space behind your head or maybe (and very likely) the room we are in is suddenly very interesting and I need to check out everything else. 

I don't know where this issue comes from, what stemmed it or when, but it sucks. I feel like an ass every time. How could people not notice this? 

If you are someone who has noticed, I apologize. I'm not trying to be rude, you aren't likely hideous, I'm not trying to lie or hide anything be avoiding eye contact. Honestly, I just can't. 

It hurts my eyes and they will start to water if I look into your eyes for to long. I know, I'm kind of a weirdo. 

But, if it's weird for you, imagine how uncomfortable it is for me. I know very well that the normal thing to do is look at people when talking. Just think about how much job interviews suck for me???

And that's about all. Is anyone else like this or am I all alone?

xoxo