my new favourite summer breakfast/ lunch/ snack:

Toasted multigrain bread with homemade guacamole, field greens, sliced tomato and pepper. Delicious!

My super easy guacamole recipe:

• Three ripe avocados, mushed up in a bowl.
• Juice of a few limes, to taste.
• Organic salsa, to taste.
• One serrano pepper, split in half and seeds removed. Then chopped finely.
• Handful of cilantro, finely chopped.
• One glove of garlic, minched.
• Pinch of salt.
• If I want it chunkier, I throw in some corn or black beans.

Mash everything together into a glorious dip, spread, etc. Yum!

mxo

almost a week later...

So how am I feeling after five straight days of hot yoga? Taller, stronger, calmer, and inspired. All I want to do is yoga. Yoga, yoga, yoga. Being me, I'm already convincing myself that I want to do yoga every day for a year, maybe even two! But then I draw myself back in, centre myself, and remember to take it one breath, one posture, and one day at a time. I love it! :)

What has become absolutely apparent in my yoga-ing, is how poorly I've been fuelling the tank recently. Sure, I've sworn off meat and pretty much avoid all dairy, but long gone are the days of my superhero cleansing. I live on and crave carbs, sugar, and processed foods, and I wash it all down with copious amounts of expensive caffeine (how I love my tall, soy, extra hot latte). Here I am trying to stretch my body and soul into some blissful state, and I'm destroy it all by eating junk, and too much of it too quickly. No wonder I'm still squishy and sluggish.

The next component to my return to grace is therefore obvious, and put best by Hippocrates:

Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.

Specifically, starting this very minute, I am employing lovely Alicia's "reminders for superheros" (from pg. 106 of The Kind Diet):

• Commit to centering your diet on whole grains, vegetables, and clean proteins.
• Chew them really well.
• Make friends with sea vegetables and other magic foods.
• Stay clear of processed foods.
• Listen to your body.
• Save the world.

Here I go! As always, thanks for stopping by! :)

mxo

help end hunger...

A special message from one of my lovely lady friends:

Hi Everyone,
I have a favour to ask of all of you and I promise it won't take long. I am currently coordinating an event for my work for Hunger Awareness Day on June 1st in Toronto and, in preparation, we are collecting responses to the question "What would you do to end hunger in Canada?" from all across the country. Answers will be used in an art display on June 1st.
So...will you take a few minutes and tell me your ideas?! They can be simple or complex, short or long, practical or idealistic... we are hoping to hear from as many Canadians as we can!

Click on the link below to watch a short video as well as a comment box to submit your thoughts! www.hungerawarenessday.ca/home

Thanks in advance!

mxo

yoga...

As I mentioned a little while ago (and probably a few times), I love yoga! It is physically and spiritually healing. It is a little vacation from everything that's going on. Even (or perhaps, especially) when contorted like a rabbit, turtle, or pigeon, yoga is inherently peaceful. There's no doubt about it; I love yoga!

In my many years of practice, I have come across countless ads for month-long yoga challenges. "30 days of yoga, how nice that would be," I always think but ultimately conclude with, "but it's not for me. I'm way too busy." Bologna! There will always be excuses, to-do lists and reasons why I can't stretch myself silly. But there will also always be time to take care of myself if even for five minutes.

So here's the deal: starting this Saturday, I am embarking on a '30 days of yoga' challenge. I'm keeping the rules fairly loose so that I don't go running for the hills, but I have to do yoga everyday, somewhere, somehow, for at least a few minutes. Yipppppie! I am so excited!!! :)

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.

~B.K.S. Iyengar

mxo

reasons to smile...

1. Rainy, dreary, cozy days.

2. Yoga, and how it heals the soul instantly.

3. Simple nourishment - my new favourite meal: buckwheat soda noodles, baby bok choy, kale, shitake mushrooms, and wakame and kombu sea vegetables thrown into boiling water for 10 minutes, tossed in some soy sauce... presto! Perfectly delicious vegan dinner - yum!

4. Fiddleheads. I didn't know these existed until last Friday and now I am in LOVE. I love them just boiled but I'm sure they would be delicious marinaded and grilled.... stay tuned for fiddlehead recipes! :)

5. Vegan banana bread for dessert.

What a perfectly lovely day!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

mxo

happy mama's day!

wagons...

It's been awhile, I know, and I apologize. April was a tough, tough month. I fell off every wagon there was to fall off and nearly destroyed myself in the process. As my schedule filled up so much that I could barely breathe, caring for myself became my last priority. I stuffed my face with junk - sugar, caffeine, dairy, processed and artificial crap, etc - it all went down in copious amounts. It seemed the busier I got, the less I cared and not surprisingly, I started paying for it. Why is it that we sabotage ourselves exactly when we need to be cared for the most?

To make matters worse, the busier I got, the lonelier I felt. Despite being surrounded by people I love, and having a blast many times over, I felt less and less connected to the world - like it was me up against everything and everyone else. There were tears for no reason, stomach illnesses, headaches and heartaches... April was a tough, tough month.

So what happens after you've fallen off the wagon? Well, as I see it, my options are to let myself fall even further, an option which does not seem very appealing, or to dust myself off and get right back on. So May is Maya month and taking care of myself is top priority because when I don't take care of myself, I'm useless to everyone else.

Before I end, I leave you with two of my favourite moments from the last week:

At one of my best friend's wedding, with my lovely ladies.

With my beautiful pseudo step sister at her wedding shower.

Thanks for stopping by... happier posts to follow!!

mxo