Creamy Hemp Italian Dressing, Pineapple Vanilla Smoothie, Cacao Pear Smoothie, and Selfie Day

Happy Wednesday LOVELIES!  I have some tasty items to share with you today!  First up...take a look at the salad I had last night!  It contained Iceberg Lettuce Mix - it was the only lettuce I had on hand at the moment - as well as - fresh sugar snap peas, carrot slivers, red cabbage slivers, corn strips, and I topped it with Creamy Hemp Italian Dressing (recipe below) and sprinkled smoked paprika on top!  

Creamy Hemp Italian Dressing

1/2 C Hemp Seeds

1/2 C Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 C Lemon Juice

2 T Wildtree Italian Seasoning

1 T Wildtree Garlic Galore

Pinch Black Himalayan Sea Salt

Here's what it looked like in the bowl, too!

I found out almost TOO LATE that yesterday was National Selfie Day!

I swear I take the WORST Selfies!

I still need new glasses!  I still haven't gone to get my eyes checked since switching from contacts to glasses again!

This was my smoothie yesterday - it was Pineapple Vanilla - recipe below:

2 C Pineapple

1 C Almond Milk

1 Scoop Garden of Life Vanilla Flavored Raw Protein & Greens

Easy Peasy...RIGHT?  Yup!

And this was TODAY's Smoothie...Cacao Pear Smoothie - recipe follows:

2 C Sliced Pears

1 C Almond Milk

1 Scoop Garden of Life Cacao Flavored Raw Protein & Greens

Back-To-Blonde, The Good Kind of Peer Pressure, & Library Finds!

YAY for Fridays!

Sometimes Peer Pressure is a good thing!  After reading Vegan Power/Vegan Peace's blog posts about her KeVita Adventures over and over I was vegan-egged-on to go grab one myself!

So this photo is for her!  Mango Coconut Style!

We've been getting snow again...what a WEIRD year for weather!

I've been able to swing by the library a few times to de-compress lately and it's been nice.  I've chalked it up as a lunch hour or two!  I'm pretty sure I have already checked out all of the vegetarian and vegan and even raw foodie books my library has in stock but I visit time and time again to re-view a few of them as well as visit some of them I haven't looked at in a while.  Here are two that I recently viewed again.  I've been thinking about looking at some of the old cookbooks from specific countries and seeing what I can easily veganize.

It's been a few weeks now but I did go back to blonde again.  This is an old photo, however.  I need to get some more pics of me in my glasses again - I guess - but - I also need to get new glasses.  This morning my nose-pieces broke and one of the local eyeglass places replaced them for FREE.  How nice!

Any exciting plans for anyone this weekend!?  Let me know in comments!

Playing Catch Up!

I found this cute meme on Instagram the other day and reposted and commented...This is my Monday Face...and Tuesday Face...and Wednesday Face...lol...YEAH...it's been a rough few weeks or months but I am trying to kick the attitude and start a NEW!

Eventho it's been a very mild winter here in the snowbelt I'm looking forward to spring regardless!  So far today we had between a foot or two of snow fall.  I was shoveling my sidewalk and driveway and the city plow came thru and plowed me back in.  Nice!  I'm typing that with much sarcastically - I don't know if you picked up on that!

The furkids are doing well!  Cricket is a 'crazy lady' that is what we call her sometimes but she's also a sweet pea and darling girl!  She puts so much life into our home.  She has a devilish side, too!  She likes to torment her brothers.  Riley has a soft side for her most times whereas Paco is too polite to do anything to snap back and I usually have to stop Cricket from picking on Paco.  Paco is so funny - he actually waits in line to drink from the water bowl in the living room at night.  He lets Cricket and Riley go first and he waits until last to lap up the water!

Paco is doing really well considering all of his medical issues.  He's been on his same meds for over a year now and his blood work is consistently where it should be.  He pees a lot but I would rather him do that than not be with us.  He's still sweet as ever!  And he's so strong to deal with everything, too!  He's plumped up from the meds but just adds to his character.  

I took this photo on a sunnier day than today and just had not posted it yet.  I'm still wearing my glasses and most likely will just continue to.  I think it makes me look older but I don't really care.  I know in the past no one could believe I was 36 but maybe now I will start looking my age anyways.  It is what it is, right!?

Work has been rough but I'm still plugging along.  I've been fairly uninspired in the kitchen as of late and going back to some comfort foods, cheap foods, fast foods, and good old stand by's!

I've been throwing a lot of dishes together much like this veggie curry here.

I've been re-organizing my tea collection and re-visiting some old favorites.

I have been able to spend a good amount of time with my parents the last several months.  They went to Aruba last month.  They LOVED it.  My sister had a rough weekend because she lost one of her furkids to cancer.

I'm still VERY MUCH into the Essential Oils.  My parents have gotten into them, too!  My sister has been buying some stuff online at PipingRock.com so I thought we would try it at as well.  So my parents and I went in on it together and they bought an Essential Oil Starter Kit with about 14 different oils.  I had at least half of them so I didn't get one of the kits I opted for 4 individual oils instead.

I decided to try 2 of their blends.  The Mental Clarity and the Stress Relief blends and I have them at work.  I have tried and like both of them.

Then I grabbed some Grapefruit Oil and Pine Needle Oil.  Those were two of the ones on my results sheet I received before Christmas.  I really like both of these, too!  I will say that the Pine Needle surprised me.  I thought it was going to be way too 'manly' and pungent but it's 'just right'.

I really like Piping Rock so far!  Their prices are quite a bit lower than many other sites I have seen.  I've only gotten their oils but I intend to make a purchase down the road that contains some of their nuts, seeds, snacks, etc.

Focusing On Eye Health

It took me FOREVER and a day to FINALLY wear contacts.  I had a very hard time putting them in.  What helped me was tinted or colored contact lenses and I LOVED them.  I ended up wearing them for about a year and somehow after a year developed an allergy to the dye in them or at least that is what I was told.  After healing my eyes from that ordeal I switched to regular disposable.  I have been wearing them TOO MUCH over the past 18+ years.  Last week I took them out to give my eyes a rest and also did this prior to a massive cleaning spree in my house.  Eventho I took out my contacts prior to cleaning I started to have major sensitivity issues.  I wore my glasses for a full week.  Sunday I put my contacts back in and after a few hours I noticed issues with 2 blood vessels in my one eye.  NOT COOL.  I have to admit I have worn my contact too long and I have slept with them in.

This is bad.  I know.  I believe it has caught up with me.  I have a feeling I have given myself allergies to contacts all over again.  It's probably a warning sign to give up contacts completely.  As much as I don't want to do this I keep thinking it's the way to go.  Long term contact wear isn't good and it's not like when I am 80 I will be wearing contacts.  It's not me being vain, here, but I'm not looking forward to this full time glasses adventure.  My eyes have been bad since I was in 2nd grade but I will say the last 4 or more years my eye sight hasn't gotten worse (altho I do have a very strong prescription to begin with).  I know of people online who have reversed their eye site and no longer have to wear glasses or contacts.  I know that I am not one of those people.  My eyes are too far gone. Now I'm not saying that I'm going to give up but I don't have reversal expectations, either.  I would like to try and heal my eyes naturally from the damage I have done over the next few weeks prior to going in for a check up.  Right now I have Cayla & Co Roxie Eyeglasses but I'm open to a change.

While doing research for things I should be eating for eye health of course carrots pop up first.  Leafy Greens follow.  Well, I eat both and often.  Another suggestion is eggs.  That isn't going to happen.  When I dropped dairy and eggs it was for digestion issues.  I haven't felt this good in my entire life (including when I was a toddler!) so I will not go back to that!  Citrus & Berries is another suggestion!  I LOVE both and SHOULD consume more.  They aren't very tasty here unless they are in season and the season is very short and they are ALWAYS expensive so when I do eat them they are usually frozen.  Almonds is another food that is suggested for better eye health.  I can honestly said since dropping dairy nuts of all sorts has been my filler so I will continue to do that!  Fatty Fish was another suggestion.  And that's a NO.  I haven't eaten fish in 22 years and I'm keeping it that way.  Now...having said that...they suggest eggs because of the Lutein and Zinc and the fish because of the DHA/Omega 3.  Taking that one step farther INSTEAD of fish I will be consuming the following for the DHA and/or Omega 3's...Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Mustard Oil, Seaweed, Beans, Winter Squash, Cabbage, Wild Rice, Spices & Herbs, Mangoes, and Honeydew Melon.  MOST of these I get PLENTY of but I have to admit that I will be looking into Mustard Oil. (*I have since read that Mustard Oil is BANNED in the EU, US, and India READ MORE HERE.)  It's suggested that instead of Olive Oil to use Mustard Oil.  Well, I rarely use Olive Oil - my defaults are Grapeseed and Coconut Oils.  And I don't think I use all that much of them.  When it comes to Zinc - vegan sources are...Tofu, Tempeh, Chickpeas (and other beans), Lentils, various nuts, corn, peas, oatmeal, miso, and broccoli.  Again I think I get plenty of these foods.  I will continue to eat these but with more thought on focusing on eye health, specifically.  I know there are many more vegan sources of each but there are just a few.  I don't think my food in take is the problem.  I think I was being lazy and not focusing on my eyes when I should have been.  So what else can I do to help them now?

Rest.  Now that I will not be wearing contacts that won't be hard.  Warm Compresses is one thing I will be trying.  Other sources say warm and cool compresses even.  Eye Exercises which I will start doing soon.  And I think one of the more important ones for me personally is Stepping Away from the Computer more often.  Another thing I would like to be more consistent with with smoothies and juicing!