Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Cleansing

We're still cleansing and it's been quite the ride. We're past the first week mark now, actually we're 10 days into a 21 day cleanse. So about 1/2 way! We're craving meat! But we're planning quite the celebration for when it's over.

The cleanse, in a nutshell, is a mostly raw, vegan cleanse. It's basically sugarless, with a few exceptions, caffeine free, and alcohol free.  Here's a typical day...

Wake Up - lots of water
Breakfast - green smoothie
Throughout the rest of the morning - more water and tea
Lunch - big salad and something small cooked. (samosas, rice and veggies, udon noodles)
Throughout the rest of the afternoon - more water and tea
Around 3 or 4 - a snack. Either raw nuts and dried fruit or a rice cake with peanut butter
Dinner - big salad and another something small cooked. We've done burgers one night, we've done rice, we've done hummus and veggies, we've done vegan chili.

That's about it! We've both definitely been emotional during the cleanse. I've been teary and crabby. Ryan's mostly just been crabby and hungry. But now that most of those toxins are leaving our bodies we're feeling calmer. We're definitely sleeping WAY better at night and I have a lot more energy (that may have something to do with the no running for two weeks thing too).

We're also taking some vitamin supplements, which has been interesting to learn about. And slowly making the change to better-for-us-and-the-environment cosmetics and household supplies.

There are certainly things that we'll incorporate into our lifestyle even after the cleanse is over but I am just not ready to give up my morning cup of coffee and we're both not ready to give up alcohol and meat!

If you're interested in more information read this book: Crazy Sexy Cleanse by Kris Carr.

MULUB,
Taylor

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Fritada

Someone out there is searching for fritada recipes from Ecuador! We'd love to tell you everything we know about fritada and Ecuador!

Crazy Sexy Cleanse

Ryan and I started a post marathon cleanse on Monday. It's from the book Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr. This woman is seriously inspiring. She was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer, changed the way she lived her life, became her own health advocate and is healthier then she's ever been. This all might sound familiar if you saw her on Oprah or her documentary on TLC called Crazy Sexy Cancer. Check it out...

Now that we're back in the States, we're still trying to figure out 'what does healthy mean'. In Ecuador it was drastically different answer than here in the States. This cleanse is just the next part of that journey. So far it's been full of lots of green juice and salads.

We're having to learn how to cook differently, as it's a vegan, gluten and (processed) sugar free cleanse. There are a lot of ingredients that I've always shied away from in the past that we're having to confront. It's intimidating, to say the least. And when you're hungry and just want to eat, it's frustrating. But we're working on it.

Any ideas or suggestions just pass them on!

In other news I am now, officially, a marathoner. It was quite the experience! More on that later though!

MULUB,
Taylor

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

How early is too early...

We're planning this wedding, right. We're super excited about it! Especially now that the big stuff is over. We've got a date, a location, two officiants and a hotel! We've started working on all of the rest, or at least some of the rest. But there's just so much to do!

A girl comes into the salon last week and hands Ashley, the other receptionist, a printed out excel worksheet with these categories... Name, Role, Phone, Hair, Make Up, Mani, Pedi, Misc. And it's all nicely filled out with all of her wedding party, family members, etc for her wedding day. Then she hands Ashley a hand written schedule and politely asks if she'd make all of these appointments for her. Now, I'm sitting there thinking, 'WOW she's really organized; her wedding must be right around the corner.' Then I look at Ashley entering the appointments and they're not until the weekend after our wedding. WHAT?

Talk about making me feel like a slacker. The bride and I get to talking and she's like, 'oh you should see my wedding binder at home. It's all organized and filed and blah, blah, blah.' So needless to say I went to the store and bought a binder and have been slowly assembling it! Although, most of its contents are lying in various states on the floor in the living room.

Then another girl was in the salon yesterday talking about her wedding coming up on Saturday and her wedding purse. Apparently she through out her shoulder carrying her wedding purse. I kept racking my brain, 'what the heck is a wedding purse!?' Well, for those of you like me, a wedding purse is a bag that you keep your wedding binder and all other pertinent wedding information in. And hers was just so heavy that she hurt her shoulder from carrying it.

Also, I can't tell you how many time's I've already heard "Oh well, we're already booked for that weekend." Like seriously, it's over a year away!

Bottom line, I need to get a move on. That's why I'm meeting with Sarah today and hopefully we'll be really super duper productive!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Hiatus. Is it over?

I know, I know... sorry. Now we're moving on.

Here's a quick update on all that's been going on:
Ryan is working 50+ hours at a Japanese restaurant in Rockford. You know the kind where they cook in front of you, it's that kind! He's really enjoying it because it's busy and he's learning how to do something new. He works everyday, doubles 3-4 days a week, and has Sundays off.

I'm working about 30 hours at the Salon... of all women. It's what it is, which is work.

We're still living at my parents' house. We're loving not paying bills and very, very grateful for that.

We've been visiting Ryan's family a lot lately. I think our relationships are deepening, which is something Ryan and I hoped would happen while we're in closer proximity.

The marathon is this Sunday... WHAT? If you'd like to donate click here. Training has been hard but so much fun. I would definitely do it again. But I am looking forward to just running an hour and not being so gosh darn hungry ALL OF THE gosh darn TIME!

We're totally slacking on the cooking for ourselves realm. But after the marathon is over we'll be back with a vengeance. We're planning on doing the Crazy Sexy Cleanse from Kris Carr. I'm excited. Then we're thinking about doing either P90x or Insanity or Shred. I'd eventually like to find a yoga or pilates studio too.

It's been great to see our friends more often, although to be honest... we don't see them as much as we'd like. We're trying to do better at that.

Wedding planning is in full swing. I even made a binder! Crazy, I know! We have a lot of ideas but I'm having a hard time doing more than just thinking, 'oh it'd be fun to do this...' Hopefully as we get closer it will become more concrete and less abstract!

Here are a few things that we've been loving about being back in the States:
Edward's Apple Orchard
Sunday/Monday Night Football with friends
Having a little bit of money in the bank
Being able to be present and be helpful with our families (Matson's included :)

Until next time....
MULUB,
Taylor