While waiting for my appointment with my orthopedist

(this must be old, he is so much better looking now!)

I saw a magazine I had never seen before.

http://www.naturalhealthmag.com

It was a nice little magazine. I like their advice section because it gives answers from three different kinds of experts:

http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/expert-advice/how-can-i-calm-restless-legs

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I have lost five (ish) pounds since my husband left for China.  I am EXHAUSTED! I think losing weight could be a full time job. I've been using my fitbit and hitting the 10,000 steps a day. It's really hard. It takes, 20 minutes of bycycling, 20 minutes on the gazelle, a normal day of walking and then another 20 minutes or so on the treadmill to get to the actual 10,000 mark. On top of that three yoga sessions a week which don't count at all towards your steps because you're too still in yoga even though it can be a great workout!

But seriously, I am tired! My legs are tired. Hopefully I'm building up lots of strength so by next week or month or year, I won't be so tired just doing an hour of exercise a day. I don't know how people who work in very physical jobs do it.

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Eating a new (for me) apple. Lady Anne. Very boring apple. No apple flavor.

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Didn't bring any lunch to work. I have tons of breakfasty type of food but nothing that sounds very good. I am hopelessly addicted to raw nuts. I have to portion them out so I don't get sick.  

This is what we looked like almost 27 years ago. 

Exactly 27 years ago, almost to the minute as I type this it was beautiful sunny warm weather and we just picked up and went downtown and got married.

Crazy.

My husband emailed me pictures from his current city in China so I thought I would share them with you. He can't always access US sites from his internet connection so he will send them to me.

The hotel room is the one they moved him to a couple of days ago after his traveling companion woke up to find a rat eating his head. 

I really need to break this habit before my husband gets home and starts expecting me to cook for him too!

Tonights random food thrown together was:

Baby Bella mushrooms, quartered and spritzed with a little Olive Oil and some random spices. Soaked in it while the over preheated to 450.

Tofu - sliced in medium size chunks, sprinkled with Olive Oil & the same random spices

Thrown together on a baking sheet and into the over until everything smelled burnt & beefy.

Quinoa cooked in vegetable bouillon

Throw it all together.

It was actually very very tasty! The tofu is a little chewy but still good.

Quinoa is a pain in the ass. It's so little and so high in calories. Is there a reason I'm eating it? Is there some magical health benefit? I wish I knew something to eat that was the texture of rice or quinoa but had a whole lot less calories.

. Any suggestions?

She found the website Meetup.com. (did I tell you about the last one with the people who hate vegetarians? If I did, did I tell you about the nice lady who was at our table that I tried to get in contact with?) On the website meetup my sister also found a group for Vegetarians. We met them all for dinner tonight. 

I really enjoyed it! And the girl that I may or may not have told you from the last one came walking in.

How amazing. I am really looking forward to the next time we can all meet up for dinner. I think even my husband would enjoy this.  Not really any agenda except eating with people who for one reason or another all eat the same foods.

Of course the place we went served mostly vegetables, but I did enjoy some nice rice & tofu and sauce.

Yoga, acupunture and dinner with new people. All in all, a good day!

This is the route we will take on our tip in May.

We will fly into Los Angeles and then drive up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to Santa Barbara and stay the night there. The next day we will drive to Carmel for the night (Monterey on this map)

Then the next day onto San Francisco. We will stay in San Francisco for five days and then fly home from there. I am trying to remember all of the things my Facebook Friend has said over the years that I should not say or do while in San Francisco. For instance you are not, under any circumstances allowed to say San Fran. As if I would!

I have been on a cooking binge the last week. Cooking things that I can freeze up later for lunches. As you know my current diet is rather restricted (vegetarian & radiation damage) but recently I've been able to add a bunch more foods. YAY!

This first picture may not look very appetizing but it is so good!

It is cauliflower soup. Made with only, cauliflower, onion, olive oil, water, salt & pepper. It tastes like a good potato soup broth. Happy with it. Next time ( and there will be a next time) I will replace half of the water with coconut milk, and use more cauliflower. It wasn't as thick as I would have liked.

This is a crockpot soup. The main ingredients were cauliflower, red lentils and quinoa. There were a lot of ingredients in this. It came out quite nicely, except it's got a little bit of kick to it that I didn't want. I only used a 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne but it's too much for someone being gentle on their innards.

This was my breakfast yesterday. I cut up a banana and threw on a pack of hulled hemp seeds that I had been given. It was quite tasty, but that's not the reason you are seeing the picture. The camera on my phone has been acting funny for a week and it wasn't until this picture that I found the magic fix.

I cleaned the lens!! I must have gotten some coffee or tea on it.

Ah, this was the soup that started it all. I took all of these vegetables and chopped them up and tossed them with some olive oil and roasted them (30 minutes covered with parchment paper - 30 minutes without) 

Then I threw all the roasted vegetables in a blender with the mushroom broth.

The mushroom broth over powered everything else but it was still good. More importantly I had no problems eating it! Wasn't sick at all.

Today for the first time in at least 14 days I skipped my morning workout.  I got up late and had to make a choice. Be late to work for the THIRD day in a row or skip it, so I skipped it. I would have felt more guilty if I had been late. Monday I was late by 10 minutes and Tuesday by 25. Aggravating.

Off and running now.

Watched Three Movies;

The Awakening:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1687901/?ref_=sr_1

I liked this. Had a couple of things that I would have changed. Made it a little more subtle, added pictures on the wall of animated cats (hahahahah, that's a joke that you will only get under a certain set of circumstances if you see the movie)

The Pact:

http://www.imdb.com/rg/em_share/title_web/title/tt2040560

The Awakening got better ratings on IMDB but I would recommend this one instead. This one stuck in my head, I've had images of it pop into my brain ever since I watched it. I think that's a the sign of a good movie. Not great, but definitely my cup of tea! During one particular high stress point of the movie my big dog suddenly stood up and barked! I thought my heart stopped. Scared the bejeezus out of me. Glad I didn't watch this one late at night.

And OZ, the Great and Powerful

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623205/

I liked Oz as well. Didn't love it. I really don't like watching James Franco. I don't know why. I think the movie would have been better with a different lead, and if it had swung a little harder into either fantasy or darkness. It was too split. I think they did a great job with the 3d Effects.

I have been drinking the hell out of this tea!

Not to strong, not too weak. Low caffeine.