My Mom sent this to me as it reminded her of me and the Bear. I would have to agree.
Off to run, walk the dogs and see Horrible Bosses tonight.
xo
K
Things that make me happy
Hi Bloggies!
As I have mentioned before, I am on a health, fitness, cooking, and life journey to figure out what I love and what works for me. For the past seven months I have been doing Yoga Yoga teacher training which I think deserves a post of it’s own. In addition to the Yoga teacher training, I have been doing Jazzercise, where they asked me to become an instructor, still subbing Weight Watchers meetings and working full time as a social worker. Here are some of the things that just make me happy in random order:
Yoga yoga- the smell of yogi tea, the colorful pillows scattered, the jade budhas
Cooking new recipes
Whole Foods
Husband
My friends
Rocky and Lola
Avant salon, specifically highlights
Sweaty Yoga @Blackswanyoga
Farmers Markets
Eating at Uchiko- (Thank you Bear!)
My birthday
What makes you happy?
xo
K
Make salad, not war or What I eat at a BBQ
So living in Texas (as opposed to Manhattan, where I lived for the first 27 years of my life) definitely has its food challenges. Austin has amazing food, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it dietetic, and it’s still working on becoming more veg friendly. However, it is much more veg friendly than I thought it would be. Recently one of the healthy eating challenges I seem to face at least three times per weekend are all of the bbq’s. Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful to have met so many wonderful people who I love in Austin, and get invited to all of these parties. However, going to so many bbq’s and parties every weekend has been a HUGE challenge for my healthy, Weight Watcher Leader eating ways. Here are the strategies I use to get through it:
1. No alcohol. Not even one drink. It cuts out the empty alcohol calories and also keeps me on my toes with food choices.
2. Make and bring a HUGE salad to share. Here is my current super easy and simple recipe: Huge bag of organic mixed baby greens, 1-2 organic avocados cubed, 2 large organic tomatoes, and some chopped up fresh basil from my garden (go me!) Sometimes I also throw on some slivered almonds if I have them around. If there are grilled vegetables and or corn on the cob without butter/oil at the party, I will throw this on top as well.
3. I also bring an embarrassing amount of cut up watermelon. First of all, I LO-VE watermelon and its in season, so I can get a huge organic watermelon at the local farmers market, Whole Foods, or Central Market for 4-6 dollars depending on the size and the sale. I finally decided to start buying my own and cutting it up rather than buying those pre-cut packages that cost 3-5 x as much. This serves as a yummy and super healthy desert instead of the baked goods and ice cream. It also leaves me with plenty for the rest of the week.
4. I have a small snack before I go. Usually watermelon since I have so much!
5. I get up from the table as much as possible to help clean. This accomplishes two things: it takes me out of the eating game which can go on for hours at a party, and I feel the longer you sit at the table, the more you will eat. And second, it’s just a nice thing to do, and people are nicer in the south.
6. I eat lighter earlier in the day. I don’t starve or anything, but I will just eat fewer calories and plan what I will eat at the bbq which is typically something I will bring.
7. I don’t stay until the very end for the same reason as number 5, often using the puppies as an excuse “I have to get back to walk the dogs.” This is usually true, but it also helps me out of a pickle.
What types of strategies do you guys use to stay on target at a party? Hope this helps!
xo
K
Welcome back, Karen
Hi Guys! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you in blog land, it’s been a whirlwind of a few months.
1. We bought a house:
2. UT pride took over the city for awhile (these are soda boxes at HEB- they don’t call me the “HEB Devotee” for nothing)
3. Rocky and Lola became a little family
4. Lots o’ furniture shopping
5. Trip to Fredericksberg (where we rescued Rocky last summer)
6. Ran into the guy who we adopted Rocky from in Frederickberg who was walking Rocky’s brother, Ollie!
Lots more to catch up on, but I wanted to give you a brief update in the mean time. Off to do cardio with the bear.
xo
K
Her name was Lola.
Here I am sitting in bed with two puppies and a husband. Two puppies, you ask? Yes. So last week my good friend, Pamela, called me at 1pm on a Wednesday asking if I was busy. My answer should have been, “why yes, I am working!” But I said, “depends” and she told me to come right over. I literally ran over to her apartment and walked in to see six of the cutest puppies running amok in her living room. Apparently our other neighbor saw them on the side of the highway and scooped them up before they got into the street. We spent the rest of the afternoon bathing these adorable, but filthy, flea covered little furry muffins of love.
There were 5 boys and one girl and needless to say, I named her Lola.
I was able to find homes for 4 of the puppies, but two were brought to the humane society, which at least is an absolutely no kill shelter.
The Bear was not convinced that we should get another dog in addition to Rocky, or that we were ready for two. (Are you every ready for two of anything- dogs, kids etc?) Anyway, he fell in love with her and of the idea of our furry family and thus I am lying here now with two.
Now, currently we are living in a one bedroom apartment, but we are set to close on the house on April 22nd (god willing) so my thinking is that it won’t be nearly as hard once we have a backyard. 
Rocky and Lola enjoy Shabby Chic bedding aparently.
Do any of you have two dogs? Backyards? New puppies? Share
On a sadder note, Pamela’s puppy ran away and she found her dead yesterday. Ironically her name was Lola, and so I dedicate this post to her and her husband Eduardo and her little Lola, who we will all miss dearly.
While I am now officially in Veganland, my hungry bear of a husband is most definitely not. We are learning to compromise so that I don’t feel like I am killing animals in his name, and he doesn’t feel like he is subsisting on oatmeal and nutritional yeast.
Thus, I agreed to cook something for him tonight that has meat in it for fear that The Bear might go on strike if I didn’t. We compromised and I made a yummy Broccoli “Cheddar” vegan soup from thedailygarnish.com and I made a modified Weight Watchers chicken apple sausage baked ziti for the Bear.
This is the baked ziti for the Bear. However, I did not tell him that I mixed real cheese with Daiya (50/50) hopefully he won’t notice!
Here is my big cup of vegan Broccoli Cheddar Soup. I already had a cranberry kale salad from Whole Foods with some peanut tofu, lest you think I don’t eat enough. In fact, I was too hungry to stop to take a picture of the Whole Foods deliciousness.
Also, since I am a fan of Q and A, I will add the blogger ABC’s..
A. Age: 28
B. Bed size: Queen, but hopefully we will soon get a king when we move into a house
C. Chore you dislike: Putting wet clothes into the drier, sweeping and mopping
D. Dogs: Rocky, a boxer mix and temporarily Sheldon, a border collie mix
E. Essential start to your day: A yoga sun salutation and big mug of yerba mate tea
F. Favorite color: Pink
G. Gold or silver: Platinum, baby
H. Height: 5’3″
I. Instruments you play(ed): Violin. Does the recorder in the 3rd grade count?
J. Job title: Social Worker, Yoga Teacher, Weight Watchers leader
K. Kids: Rocky aka “Million Dollar Punim”
L. Live: In Austin, TX where we moved a year and a half ago from Manhattan, NYC
M. Mom’s name: Elinor
N. Nicknames: Karey, karebear
O. Overnight hospital stays: None
P. Pet peeves: Rude people, narcissism
Q. Quote from a movie: “Hi, I’m Elle Woods, and this is Bruiser Woods, we are both Gemini Vegetarians” – Legally Blonde
R. Righty or lefty: Righty
S. Siblings: Alison
T. Time you wake up: 7am
U. Underwear: Just in case my boss is reading this, I take the 5th
V. Vegetables you dont’ like: Beets, and olives if they count
W. What makes you run late: Walking Rocky and forgetting to get gas before work
X. X-rays you’ve had: Nose, knee, neck- by a crappy chiropractor
Y. Yummy food you make: Everything- I hope! I love my green smoothies, the bear loves my baked ziti
Z. Zoo animal favorites: Bears of course!
What are your ABC’s?
xoxo
K
Gimme that Frisby
Currently The Bear and I are dog-sitting for our amazing neighbor’s Pamela y Eduardo. Since I am an english speaking person, I should probably say “Pamela and Eduardo” but since they have the best spanish accents and they are from Costa Rica, I use “y” as it seems more fitting. Even better is they have Border Collie mix named “Sheldon” perhaps the most brittish sounding dog name ever. Rocky and Sheldon love/hate each other and bicker and tug on everything like only surrogate puppy brothers can.
Rocky and sheldon fighting over a frisby
Sheldon found a ball and decided Rocky was annoying him. The boys are clearly ready for some water and nap time.
Next up is lunch which will probably be an Amy’s bowl as I have been too lazy/busy to cook. Will be posting recipes soon!
xo
K
Hugging Countertops
The Bear and I went to look at houses with our fabulous realtor, Rebecca, from Carol Dochen realtors yesterday and literally found our dream house. I am skeptical about whether or not I should even be posting about this as I don’t want to get my hopes up as we are still working on getting the paperwork together etc. It’s in the Crestview area of Austin, which is pretty up and coming, i.e., still in our price range.
At one point in the tour I hugged the granite island in the kitchen. Oy. I have lots of pictures that I want to post but for fear of jinxing things, I am going to hold off… Pictures to come soon.
After obsessing over the house we went to dinner at Trudy’s- I had the Ensalada Grande Salad, no cheese with extra avocado. Yum.
Welcome to My Veganland!
Hi Everyone, welcome to My Veganland! This is my very first post, so I thought it would be fitting to introduce myself. As I mention in my about page, I am a 20 something girl who recently moved to Austin, TX from NYC with my husband, Mike (aka The Bear). Over the past year I have been inspired by many of my favorite blogs to start my own. My personal message is one of experiementation with vegan style diets, yoga and fitness, setting intensions and animal rights. Oh and maybe a little shopping. Thank you for stopping by, and I hope that you will follow me to get to know this Veganland a little bit better.
Currently I am in Veganland and following a mostly vegan diet. While I would love to be totally vegan, I realize that I need to take baby steps so that I don’t get too overwhelmed. At this point, I do not eat any meat and I avoid dairy as much as possible. At a recent luncheon for NCJW (National Counsel of Jewish Women) I failed to call ahead to make special arrangements for a Vegan lunch, thus learning my lesson. Part of my own challenges of this lifestyle are speaking up for myself, yet not wanting to be the “annoying one on a special diet”. My goal is not necessarily to draw attention to what I am eating, especially if I think it might make someone else feel badly about their own choices. So I am experimenting with the balance.
How do you guys feel about eating at other people’s houses? Do you make sure they have vegan options? Do you bring vegan dishes? For example, I am going to a birthday party tonight at my cousin’s house (Hey Matt!) that will have a Wine and Cheese theme. I am interpreting this to mean that there will probably be lots of wine, cheese, and crackers containing as much gluten as someone can eat. Knowing me, after a few glasses of pinot, my vegan resolve might get a little fuzzy and lead me towards a platter of bree. Any ideas? Part of my goal of this blog is to share my ideas but also learn from my readers on how to make this into a balanced lifestyle.
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