cleanse revisited

I'm doing a cleanse again.

Anytime I feel like my eating/drinking habits are getting out of hand, I think it is a good idea to do a cleanse. Not a full blown thing, but a mini one for a few days. Clear out the system. Stops me from doing my bad habits. Clean slate.

I am finishing day one and I feel awesome. If I remember correctly, day two is the hardest. So that should be fun. Or maybe this cleanse will just be easy the whole time?? A girl can hope.

It is amazing how much time and energy takes in my life normally. And it is so nice to just have exactly what I am going to eat laid out for me and not have to think about it at all.

I have heard that Jennifer Aniston eats a cobb salad for lunch every day (or at least a few times a week) and that is part of how she stays so thin.

There is way too much wonderful food out there for me to be eating the same old bland stuff every single day. But I do think it would work in terms of dieting. And by eating the same thing again and again you don't have to make a choice of what to eat. Which means you won't make a BAD choice of what to eat.

But where's the fun in that? So until someone starts paying me to be thin, I won't worry about it. Just saying that not thinking about food while on the cleanse does make my life easier.

yogurt

My thought of the day:

I love fruit on the bottom yogurt. I bet when they first started making it they tried and tried and tried to get it to stay mixed and it just wouldn't do it. And they were like, "Damn it! Why won't this work?!" Then finally some guy had the brilliant idea of "hey, why don't we just market it as 'fruit on the bottom yogurt'??"

valentine's day recap- happy post

I decided that I need a happy, happy post. It's been a rough week for a lot of people. So today I am just focusing on the good.

I loved Valentine's Day yesterday.

Okay, so Mike and I have a joke about "one bite courses" like you get at fancy restaurants. So while I was in the living room and he was in the kitchen, he came out with my first course- which was just a blackberry, but cute nonetheless.

This is what the plates started looking like- with tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, shallots.

But then he decided to pile everything on... so the chicken, the eggplant (some crazy sort of eggplant that looks like a banana), the mushrooms and the arugula. Not the prettiest plating job I've seen, but it was DELICIOUS!!!

This was our little set up. He picked up some hyacinths because they are his favorite, and then as an afterthought, got some daffodils which are my favorite and super cheap.

He told me I wasn't allowed to take a picture of the dessert because it was so messy. But the blueberry and blackberry tart with strawberries and chocolate sauce was still great.

I also got my ring yesterday. Just something simple and easy that I had picked out. I NEVER wear rings so it felt so weird when I put it on- but within five minutes it felt so natural.

This is a little note I had drawn for Mike on our message board. I'm only including it because I think my little panda drawing looks adorable.

My present from Mike (besides my ring) was an embosser! He had a special plate made for me which is so cute. Normally they charge extra for adding drawings (the panda in the middle) but they did that for free because they thought the writing/sentiment was so sweet!

So yeah, life is good. I mean, there are some sad/bad things happening. But life is good.

I hope everyone found some things to be happy about yesterday. And if not, well, today is a new day! :)

valentine's day

There are lots of reasons to dislike Valentine's Day. Most people do. Seriously, you RARELY hear about someone who loves Valentine's day. Mike and I have made a deal that we never have to celebrate it after this year... and truthfully we aren't really celebrating it this year. I mean, he is cooking me a delicious dinner tonight and we are exchanging a few little presents and cards... but really, we do that all the time, so it isn't like it is something crazy and new for Valentine's day.

I agree that I dislike how people make a big show out of valentine's day and showing their affection once a year. I agree that it should be an every day thing. I get that people hate the commercialization of it. It's a "hallmark holiday." Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know all that.

But I still can't find it in me to dislike Valentine's Day! Because at the root of it, it is about showing friends, family and lovers that you care. And I can get behind that. I fully agree that is a wonderful thing to do. And I try to do that every day.

So I WILL celebrate Valentine's day. Just like I will celebrate the other 364 days a year.

And the power is back on, so I will celebrate that too! I love you!!! Happy Valentine's Day! :)

thankful list

Today I was in a super sad mood. My uncle/godfather is in the hospital and it really got me down. Everyone seems to be in a bit of a mood today so maybe it was the alignment of the planets too. But then I had great clients and got cheered up.

So now it's time for a little shout out to the Universe to tell what I am thankful for:

1) had a really nice bus driver who stopped and picked up people who were hustling to the bus stop but were still half a block away.

2) Mike is cooking me a delicious dinner tonight. I don't know how he makes things smell so good. Seriously, we have no food in the house so he is just cooking hot dogs and Kraft mac n cheese and kale and yet it smells better than anything you can imagine and he will plate it so prettily that you will think it belongs in a fancy restaurant.

3) I get to marry Mike!

4) I'm treating myself to a framboise lambic beer which always makes me happy because it reminds me of my dinner at Kith and Kin (which has sadly closed) which is the first time that I looked over at Mike and thought "I love him." Not the first time I said it, but the first time I thought it.

5) I'm not fighting with anyone. No big feuds. No big stress.

6) Wedding planning is going well. Oh, except for the part where we have like 100 more people than we can really fit and that if it rains we are totally screwed. Though we did decide that if it rains we are just saying screw it and going with it and busting out the Slip N Slide!

7) my little bonsai tree with it's adorable little panda is still alive

8) I own the movie Sweet Home Alabama now which is one of my guilty little pleasures and I get to watch it tonight

9) my bad mood is gone. I used to battle so hard against depression and when I got sad it would make me worried because I didn't know when the bad/sad mood would end. But for the last few years I haven't had depression and the sad moods are just normal sad moods that end quickly.

10) tea. I love tea. I don't even need to put sugar in it any more. Who is this person that I've become??

11) I was going through my wallet and saw a receipt from the grocery store from Friday that told me the name of my cashier on the bottom of it. It said, "Your cashier today was Jesus." How awesome is that?

12) Despite being awake right now, I actually have been sleeping through the night better.

13) Luna bars. yum!

14) I really, really love my friends. Great, interesting, funny people.

15) I made Mike play the guitar for me last night. How is the guitar so damn sexy??!?

16) I'm thankful for art and paintings.

17) I'm thankful I live in a place where I feel safe. I mean, yes, there are times on public transportation or while walking that I don't feel 100% safe, but for the most part I do. And I'm thankful I have such a happy home environment. I don't get yelled at. I never get hit. And these are things that I just take for granted as a basic right. Some people aren't that lucky.

18) Sports and yoga and a really good workout.

19) The show How I Met Your Mother and Neil Patrick Harris!

20) Being fully booked and having big paychecks

21) Tax refunds

22) The Muppets

23) Love

24) not living in fear. taking control of my life and doing things that scare me and having my life be better for it.

25) George Takei- that man posts some funny stuff on Facebook! It's so nice when you go on Facebook and it makes your day brighter rather than making you cringe and roll your eyes in exasperation.

wedding planning

This wedding stuff is a piece of cake! I mean, apart from dealing with crazy relatives.

But I already have the cake, the dj, the venue, the wedding party, some of the entertainment, and possibly the rental company.

And I have talked to people about possibly helping me with my dress and the invites. Who needs a year to plan a wedding? Maybe before the internet was around, but nowadays?

I think it is frustrating having to wait five more months til the big day! I can't imagine having to wait a year!

Speaking of stuff that I finally got off my butt and did, you can check out our wedding website too:

http://Nicolette-Michael.ourwedding.com/