No Regrets

Two Januarys ago my husband and I went to Turks and Caicos for a long weekend to celebrate his birthday as well as get out of NY to escape the dead of winter January cold. It was a much needed vacation for us as the few months leading up to it were filled with unsuccessful fertility treatments and a series of meltdowns. We spent each day lying on the beach drinking mimosas, margaritas, pina coladas etc. and talking…..lots and lots of talking.  It was vital for us to be on that beach together disconnected from the city, work, life, plans and to reconnect as a couple.

As we were trying to solve the worlds and our problems, one mimosa at a time, Scott turned to me and asked “Is there anything you wish you could do over again”, and I pretty quickly responded “No”. I think I surprised both of us with my answer because that was probably the first time in my life I actually really felt that way, and still do.

It’s not because I think I did everything “right”….on the contrary, actually. I have done a LOT of sh*t not fit for this blog that idontCARA to re-live. There were too many times I did not value myself enough, didn’t trust my instincts, was careless with myself and others, and really just plain stupid. I have spent A LOT of time ( too much) feeling ashamed of those mistakes and have beat myself up over many of them, over and over again. I can remember when Scott and I were first dating and we would stay up late talking and sharing “secrets” about ourselves to one another. I would cringe with each one I revealed….and he wouldn’t flinch. None of it mattered to him. He has never once held anything over my head, threw it in my face or judged me. It is actually one of the things I love and admire most about him. The reason I would cringe was because I hadn’t forgiven myself. It’s like that fight between Hannah and Marnie on Girls, where Hannah says  “No one could ever hate me as much as I hate myself. So any mean thing someone’s gonna think of to say about me, I’ve already said to me, about me, probably in the last half hour!”  Watching that episode made me laugh and cry a little all at the same time, as do a lot of Girls episodes. Because ain’t that the truth? We really are our own worst enemies and critics. It is harder to forgive ourselves than it is to ask for forgiveness from others.

I’m not proud of a lot of mistakes I’ve made… but unfortunately I don’t get to erase them and still be the person I am right NOW. You cannot rewrite history, but you can learn from it and move on. It has taken me a while to have this perspective, and still need to be reminded by others (often a text to my best friend from college Bianca, who has seen me do it all ) as well as reminding myself.  I am thankful for the lessons I’ve learned and really do believe that all my life’s experiences, mistakes, and choices (good, bad and stupid) were each a stepping-stone to the life I am living NOW and have shaped who I am TODAY. 

So as much as I hated and struggled through each fertility disappointment, those disappointments are what made me take a look inside, and back, take better care of myself and Scott, accept the past and leave it where it belongs….. It’s what got me to forgive and got me on that beach with my partner for life with a mimosa in hand with NO REGRETS.

Hoping this post helps you all to try to do the same. 

“The past is like an anchor holding us back. You have to let go of who you are to become who you will be”.

Bamboozie

It’s that time of the week when nothing sounds better than clocking out of the office and clocking in to some much deserved cocktail time. Aside from the psychotic bouts of rain that have been rolling in and out the past few weeks, I just love early June weather and temperatures in NY….especially the evenings.

Sitting outside, with just enough chill in the air to warrant a jean jacket or cotton sweater, watching the sun go down right about 8:21pm with friends and/or my hubby sipping on a deliciously crafted cocktail is how I love to start the weekend off. 

While I do love me some chilled Rose, skinny ginger margaritas and other various pretty pink drinks I do also enjoy a brown liquor based beverage. I think most people are surprised when they hear me order something concocted with bourbon or scotch because I guess it’s not all that girly. I have to say it’s an acquired taste but also one that is kind of nostalgic for me. One of my Dad’s go to drinks is something called a Rusty Nail, which is 1/2 Scotch and 1/2 Drambuie ( a scotch liqueur). I remember when I was young, but also of the age to know that is WAS NOT iced tea, thinking it smelled good and then I would sneak a taste and realized it didn’t taste quite like it smelled but I still kind of liked it. ( yes Mom, Dad and Mary….I was sneaking sippy-poos on the DL) 

Fast Forward to me of legal drinking age…..where I would cap off a night out on the town with a Drambuie on the rocks. My friends would think it was hysterical because really, what 20something orders a Drambuie? It was quickly coined “Bamboozie” because truth be told, right about the time I would order a Bamboozie is coincidentally the exact time I SHOULD have been put in a cab and sent home. Ahhhhhhh youth….what is that saying “it’s wasted on the young”. Although, I guess it’s not a waste if you are having fun.

Fast Forward once again to a much older, I’d like to think at least a little bit wiser and healthier me, whodoesCARA about the quality of her morning after. I drink much more responsibly now and treat it like a reward for the weeks worth of working and WERKing it out. All that being said, I do still thoroughly enjoy a scotch or bourbon based cocktail and one in my repertoire I’d like to share. 

I by no means created this on my own. It’s called a Gold Rush, and I first had it at my friend Brendan’s birthday a couple years ago at Double Seven. It’s the perfect sipping drink year round but I actually think its totally complimentary to the current just about summer temperatures we are experiencing right about now. I’m pretty sure there are different variations of it out there but here is how I make it and sip it.

Here’s what you need for 2 drinks:

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons boiling water

1/2 cup (4 ounces) bourbon 

* I used a locally distilled bourbon called Widow Jane. If you are ever in Red Hook, BK, NY you should check out the distillery and do a little tasting. 

1 1/2 lemons, juiced, about 4 tablespoons

Ice 

Sprig of mint ( totally optional, just thought is was a nice touch for sum-sum- summah) 

Here’s what you do:

Pour honey into a small jar or mixing bowl. Pour in the boiling water and whisk vigorously until they form a thin syrup. Whisk in the bourbon and lemon juice. Mixture can be refrigerated until ready to serve.

To serve, shake with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain over ice in a rocks glass. 

I’m going to make this one for my Dad this weekend. I am pretty sure this blows the old Rusty Nail out the water. Test it out on your Dad this fathers day and make it a family affair.

Just add water.

Did you know that the human body is made up of between 60-75% water and the brain is 85% water?  It’s one of those things I knew but didn’t reallllllllly know, ya know? So, now that I’m in “the know” it makes total sense that the amount of water I drink has a direct impact on my health. But before I continue I need call myself out, because nobody hates a “do as I say and not as I do” scenario more than me. I don’t drink enough water, most of us don’t (I’m sure of that) but I REALLY don’t drink enough water. There, I said it. I have the best intentions of doing so but aside from the bottle of water I buy for spin class, yoga, fhitting room or whatever workout I am tackling that day, I am definitely not hydrating my body as much as I should. 

I was just traveling for work and went back and forth from NY to Los Angeles to NYC to San Francisco and finally back to NY. That means I was on 3 different round trip flights coast to coast within 8 days which also means I had a couple of inflight ice cream sundaes ( what up United Premium Service) with a side of dehydration. And, while I watched what I ate to some extent and made sure I got some form of exercise in just about everyday, I definitely didn’t eat nearly as many green leafy vegetables as I should have, ate out for every meal, and absolutely didn’t drink enough water. So the past few days have been about settling back in to my normal routine and trying to drink lots of water to hydrate,clean up my act and try to get rid of my travel “baggage”, idontCARA to hang on to. 

Regardless of whether you have been eating clean or going off the rails a bit, it is always important to drink plenty of water. Every system in our body depends on it. It flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to cells, provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues, helps to suppress cravings, is good for your skin. and so on and so on….

Unless I am parched  a.k.a dehydrated, I really only like to drink water that’s very cold, actually on ice…with a little flare like lemon, or mint. My friend and “cousin in law” Sarah, I were talking about how we need to drink more water and how we both preferred our water with some pizzazz. She told me about something she has made called “Sassy Water” and how making it and having it in her fridge was the only time she actively and consciously drank more of it. I looked it up, it and it’s actually from The Flat Belly Diet, which I’m not suggesting doing but am borrowing just this piece of it, for my life and pursuit of proper hydration.  It’s just a fresh approach to H2Ohhhhh that’s good… which I have been enjoying and am making a conscious effort to have in my fridge regularly.

Here’s what you need:

Fill a pitcher with roughly 8.5 cups of purified or filtered water. 

1 teaspoon grated ginger or 5- 6 slices of ginger root ( that’s what I have been doing) 

1 medium cucumber, sliced thin- I sliced 1/2 of a large persian cucumber

1 lemon, cut into thin slices

*Use fresh lemons that haven’t been exposed to air for more than 30 minutes.

12 mint leaves 

Here’s what you do:

Mix all ingredients together in a pitcher and refrigerate overnight. You can strain the water, especially if you are grating the ginger, but I actually prefer it with the sliced ingredients in my glass. I think it looks pretty :)

Try to drink all 8 1/2 cups a day.

What you should know about this Sassy Water:

While I really enjoy the flavors of the ingredients, they aren’t in this water just for flavor.

Ginger helps calm and soothe your GI tract and helps to relieve bloating as does the mint. The cucumber and lemon are natural diuretics. Lemon also helps to alkaline the water and in turn alkaline your body. 

Put a little sass in your water, fridge and body. It will thank you for it. 

Health tips from a french bulldog.

For those of you who don’t know me, I have a very complicated french bulldog named Lulu. While Lulu has spent just about all of her life in Manhattan and Brooklyn, she is absolutely not a city dog. shedontCARA for, and actually hates buses, sirens, sidewalk salt, loud noises, sudden movements and so on, and so on….. The poor thing is often really stressed out when we take her for morning, mid-day and evening walks, or as we like to call them “drags”, until she see’s a rat and the chase is on. Lulu ‘the dooders” is the happiest version of her conflicted self when she is surrounded by grass and has the option to go from sunbathing to cooling off in some cool dirt under the shade of a bush, shrub or tree on the outermost perimeter of whatever yard she in. 

The past 4 summers we rented a house in East Quogue with our dear friends, which was amazing for us but was also like HEAVEN for Lulu. It had a huge fenced in yard with lots of little hideouts for her and often squirrels for her to chase (country rats). There was a bit of a slope in the yard where rain water and sprinkler water would settle that Lulu particularly and unfortunately loved. That puddle/cesspool eventually sent her to the vet with what he called the worst paw infection he had ever seen. When Lulu is in the wild she is very “go big or go home” (Lulu made history at The Sag Harbor Veterinary Clinic). We put her on some serious antibiotics and gave her daily sink soaks with Epsom Salts and tea tree oil, which was my first introduction this amazing natural healing agent. 

Epsom salt. known scientifically as hydrated magnesium sulfate, is rich in both magnesium and sulfate. Magnesium is the second most abundant element in human cells and the fourth most important positively charged ion in the body. It helps the body regulate over 325 enzymes and plays an important role in organizing many bodily functions, like muscle control, electrical impulses, energy production and the elimination of harmful toxins. Sulfates play an important role in the formation of brain tissue, joint proteins and the proteins that line the walls of the digestive tract. They stimulate the pancreas to generate digestive enzymes and are thought to help detoxify the body of medicines and environmental contaminants.

While both magnesium and sulfate can be poorly absorbed through the stomach, studies show increased magnesium levels from soaking in a bath enriched with epsom salt. Magnesium and sulfate are both easily absorbed through the skin. 

Aside from healing an infected frenchie paw, here are some of the health benefits from proper magnesium and sulfate levels, as listed on the web site of the Epsom Salt Industry Council:

• Improved heart and circulatory health, reducing irregular heartbeats, preventing hardening of the arteries, reducing blood clots and lowering blood pressure.
• Improved ability for the body to use insulin, reducing the incidence or severity of diabetes.
• Flushed toxins and heavy metals from the cells, easing muscle pain and helping the body to eliminate harmful substances.
• Improved nerve function by electrolyte regulation. Also, calcium is the main conductor for electrical current in the body, and magnesium is necessary to maintain proper calcium levels in the blood.
• Relieved stress. Excess adrenaline and stress are believed to drain magnesium, a natural stress reliever, from the body. Magnesium is necessary for the body to bind adequate amounts of serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical within the brain that creates a feeling of well being and relaxation.
• Reduced inflammation to relieve pain and muscle cramps.
• Improved oxygen use.
• Improved absorption of nutrients.
• Improved formation of joint proteins, brain tissue and mucin proteins.
• Prevention or easing of migraine headaches.

So what I’m saying is you can enjoy a nice relaxing hot bath with the addition of some Epsom Salts and get ALL of those added health benefits too…..iCARA about a two birds with one stone moment. Don’t you? I most enjoy taking a salt bath after a hard workout, stressful day at work or when I am having trouble winding down and want to relax. 

There are many different brands of Epsom salt, but they are all the chemically the same. You can purchase them at at most drug stores, grocery and health food stores. I personally like to add a little essential oils to my bath as well, to incorporate a little aromatherapy…depending on the purpose of the bath. 

Here’s what you do:

Just Add two cups of epsom salt to your tub, with the option of adding 5+ drops of your preferred essential oil, and soak for at least 12 minutes. Do this as frequently as you can, three times a week is optimal.

What to buy:

Epsom Salts-  $10.95

“Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” - Baz Luhrmann 

Remember that tune or the Chicago Tribune article from whence it came? I had not heard it in years until Laurie Cole played it in her Soul Warrior class last night. It was an awesome class and blast from the past. I was reminded of how simple and poignent the lyrics are and definitely got a little nostalgic.  That song came out when I was graduating from college, preparing to move to NYC and TANNING ( yes, tanning ) wearing nothing more than spf 4. I am still in NYC, hopefully it hasn’t made me hard, but I do now wear an appropriate amount of sunscreen… amply. Speaking of which, hearing that song was so serendipitous because I had been working on this post to share my recent favorite paraben free sunscreens (all in the double digits and actually protect you from the sun).

Here are the products I am currently using and think you might want to check out as we approach the holiday weekend and summer. 

ELTA MD UV AERO BROAD-SPECTRUM 45 CONTINUOUS SPRAY - $30.00

I have used ELTA MD products before for my face specifically and really like them. So I was really happy to find this full-body version with continuous spray, iCARA for some easy application. It’s oil free and noncomedogenic which makes it great for those of you who have sensitive skin. 

This natural sunscreen is make with aloe vera and sunflower seed oil which nourish and moisturize sun-exposed skin. Yet it’s not greasy, quick-absorbing, water resistant (40 minutes), and perfect for daily wear. The au nauturale in me loves that this product is 100% vegetarian, no animal testing or artificial colors and paraben free. ( amongst other things.) 

SUGAR ROSE TINTED LIP TREATMENT SPF 15- $22.50

I just love this product. It smells good, feels good and has a hint of color. It has SPF 15 so it protects and smoothes the lips while leaving a natural rosy tint. Just add a pop of waterproof mascara on and you can werk your poolside SPF’d look. 

Wishing everyone a happy & healthy Memorial Weekend and now trust ME on the sunscreen. 

If you forgot about the song and video you can take a stroll down memory lane here.

Bok Bok Burgers

As I was shopping for Mother’s Day cards a couple weeks ago I meandered into the “just because” section and stumbled upon one that really made me laugh. It says “I bought a free-range chicken. you know, the kind that gets pampered like a family pet, right up until the day they kill it”  Seriously cracked me up because, well,  it’s funny and also because I am that person that wants to know what kind of life the chicken I am about to eat had. I was also reminded of an episode of Portlandia poking fun at the same topic, which is also hysterical. 

Here’s the thing. I have recently been educated on all the horrible things that happen and don’t happen in factory farm environments, and it’s beyond horrible. It actually plays on my mind daily. I am not a vegetarian but idoCARA about what I put in my body because you quite literally are what you eat. So it’s important to know if, for example, the chicken you are eating has been fed a diet it can actually digest, that it wasn’t crammed in a box with 100 other chickens and all their excrement, and that it was not given any sort of hormone or antibiotics. 

Now that summer is upon us I love nothing more than grilling and eating outside. Summers right of passage. During our visit to see Scott’s parents  my mother in law planned a family BBQ and emailed me before we flew down to ask me for some healthy burger recipes. I sent her one of my all time summer favorites for organic free-range hormone free, bon-bon fed, high maintenance ;) Chicken burgers.  I have been making these for a while now and actually got the idea from my friend Manda who used to buy them at Eli’s on the Upper East Side. 

They are made with organic cage free hormone and antibiotic free chicken breasts that Whole Foods ground fresh for us. Whole Foods Market has adopted the Global Animal Partnership’s  5-Step Animal Welfare Program, ensuring that you are eating the highest quality meat possible, which is awesome and I am happy to support that initiative. Anyway, enough about the chicken……here’s how you make these delicious healthy summer staple burger.

Chicken Bruschetta Burgers

What you need for the Bruschetta:

2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

2 slices of red onion finely chopped 

few dashes of salt

drizzle balsamic vinegar *1 roughly -2 tablespoons

1 tbsp olive oil

For the burgers: 

1 Lb ground chicken * you now know what kind to buy

1 egg 

1/2 cup grated parmesan 

1/2 cup whole wheat or whole grain breadcrumbs

1 tsp red pepper flakes *optional and feel free to add more if you like

Sea salt and fresh black pepper 

Whole grain buns.

What to do:

Make the bruschetta first. In a large bowl combine your chopped tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and seasonings and set aside. This will allow some time for the oil and vinegar to soak into your tomatoes. 

In a larger bowl combine ground chicken, egg, parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs and seasonings. Mix together well, I use my hands to really get in there and ensure that the eggs, cheese and breadcrumbs are evenly distributed. If you don’t want to get messy you could also use a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer or something similar. Once you have all of those ingredients mixed well add in your bruschetta. The recipe above is for 4 burgers so divide the combination into 4 burgers or less if you prefer to have them on the smaller side. 

Turn on your grill to a medium-high heat and grill until cooked throughout. 

Serve on a bun with some greens and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

*You could also double the bruschetta recipe and use the extra to top your burgers. 

Give them a whirl this weekend! They are a total crowd pleaser. 

On the road again…..

Whether you are travelling for business or pleasure that is frequently the demise of most peoples fitness and diet routines. I know until recent years all it took was 2 days in another zip code for me to go completley off the rails. I would be on what I then considered “a good stride” which was really more like extreme dieting and one type of workout I was currently obsessed with and then I go on vacation or off on a shoot and it would all go down the drain. I would get back home coming off of a week or more of eating poorly, drinking excessively and little to no working out. Surprisingly ( I laugh) I would then have a really hard time getting back into my workout groove. That first week back was “I’ll start next week” then two weeks would pass, three weeks….and so the viscous cycle would begin (and my jeans beging to tighten) .

Once I started taking real steps to proactively make eating well and exercise part of my “lifestyle” and not just to lose 5lbs I have been much better about keeping on course with some form of exercise when I’m traveling for production or leisure.  The honest truth is it’s probably not necessarily always weighing out the wine, dessert and lack of restraint I’m with my diet but I’m atleast on track physically and mentally (probably more than anything) which makes the transition back into real life much much easier. 

This may seem like a no brainer but sometimes there is merit it stating the obvious. When travelling or even when you are right where you always are, having a work out buddy is one of the best ways to incentivize you get up when that alarm starts to buzz, ring, or play a tune and send you off to move and sweat. When I’m travelling for work I’ve found it so helpful and fun to have a partner in crime who wants to join me in whatever local class or morning run I am squeezing in. In fact it makes ALL the difference.  I have been really fortunate to travel with coworkers, who have become friends and people iCARA about, that are likeminded and interested in exercising with me before starting over our crazy production schedules. My friend Melissa and I have rented bikes in Venice Beach, got our tushes kicked in boot camp class and “ran the stairs” in Santa Monica together. My friend David and I have spent many mornings hiking Runyon Canyon and hitting the hotel gym while shooting in LA and my friend Alison and I got our down dog on and namaste’d together in hot yoga while shooting outside Seattle together. (we also got our moneys worth and then some of soup & salad…and maybe a couple breadsticks at Olive Garden but that’s another post allllllll together). 

When it comes to travelling on my own time and dime, I am almost always vacationing with my most favorite work out companion of all, my husband. For the most part he is down to do whatever class I have conjured up, at least for a portion of the time.  A perfect example of my/our travel exercise regime was on our most recent trip to Arizona a couple of weeks ago…which already seems like it kind of didn’t happen. As soon as our flights were booked  I did a lil’ google search for yoga, spin and pilates studios near Scott’s parents house and in Scottdale, as we took a couple days there on our own to celebrate our anniversary.

One of the places I found and wound up visiting just about everyday while we were in Gilbert, AZ was Sumit’s Yoga. I absolutely loved it. I practice hot vinyasa regularly here in NYC and have dabbled in Bikram as well. Sumit’s is basically the love child of the two. It was created by Sumit Banerjee based on his own years of experience practicing and teaching various yoga styles including Bikram and Vinyasa. Classes at Sumit’s Yoga flow to music through a sequence of both balancing and energizing asanas (poses) in a heated practice environment. For my friends and family who live in the Phoenix area I highly recommend checking it out. There was an introductory offer for new students 2 weeks for $20, which is such a great value. The class was great, studio was clean and smelled wonderful as they mist you down with essential oils. Their studios seems to popping up all over AZ, CA, TX, ID and MO…..  I’ve got my fingers crossed that it makes it’s way to right coast soon. 

During our 2 day Anniversary getaway in Scottsdale Scott and I enjoyed a combination of spa, group fitness and just exploring the great outdoors. We stayed at The Sanctuary which is perfectly situated at the base of Camelback Mountain. The hotel is great, reasonably priced in comparison to a lot of the other spas I was researching and I would absolutely suggest checking it out. The spa is wonderful, as is the fitness facility and the restaurant was excellent. While we were there we enjoyed a pretty challenging spin class, stretched it out in a restorative yoga class, and had an awesome hike of Camelback Mountain on Cholla Trail, which was a 2.2 mile trek and a great way see Scottsdale from a different perspective while getting in a great work out. 

So whether you are planning your next vacation or business trip do a bit of research on the local fitness offerings and start screening your travel companions so you can cast yourself a workout buddy. You will be so happy you did. 

Yard to Table

The week before last my husband and I had a nice relaxing week in hot and sunny Arizona visiting his parents and family. I even got to see my friend Tara from high school who just so happens to live in the same town as my mother and father in law, which we realized via a facebook posting I made last year while visiting them…..never underestimate the power of social media. All in all we had a really nice time. It was kind of like a “stay-cation” except we stayed in his parents home, instead of ours. Scott and I were both able to really relax, rest and just be still. All of which are things iCARA about but never seem to allow myself to do frequently enough while I am here in NYC.

One of the things I love the most about our visits to Arizona is cooking meals for all of us in a spacious kitchen, grilling, and coming up with recipes that incorporate the ingredients growing right in my in law’s, Debbie & Jim, backyard. Specifically their 2 grapefruit trees. 

As much as I love living and working in BK/NYC I do wish we had outdoor space and often fantasize about how cool it would it be to have something growing right outside my door that I could pluck little organic delicious citrusness from, whenever I like. I’ve tried the windowsill herb garden and it’s just doesn’t cut it, or maybe it’s that I forget to water it…either way its not a backyard. Scott and I frequently talk a big game about moving out of the city, maybe check out the west coast and do some time in Cali….about how nice it would be if things were “simpler”…all that good stuff. The truth is I don’t know if that will ever actually happen. This city has become so much a part of me and I love it. SO, for the unforeseeable future I will  continue to appreciate Debbie and Jim’s sustainable barkyard grapefruit “farm”.

On our visit last year I googled recipes for things with grapefruit and mint so I could “forage” our meal AND because one of my favorite flavor combinations is grapefruit and mint. In my opinion the two go together like pb & j, or like Forrest said peas and carrots. I stumbled upon a great salad recipe I found on blissfulbblog and have been making a slight variation of it ever since. The salad, of course, has Grapefruit which is bursting with vitamin C, which supports cardiovascular health, supports the immune system, and leads to reduced risk of death from heart disease, cancer and stroke. Another main ingredient is my friend and yours…Kale. I just learned that green vegetables like Kale are the most powerful anti-breast cancer foods. Cruciferous vegetables, such as Kale, contain powerful anti-cancer compounds that halt the growth of breast cancer cells and promote excretion of estrogen. All the more reason to continue eating it. 

Here is my recipe for….

Kale, Fennel, Coconut , Grapefruit & Mint Salad with Rice Wine Vinaigrette

What you need:

serves 4

6 cups Kale   

*I used mixed baby Kale for this particular Salad but you can use any Kale you like

1 Grapefruit peeled, seeded and segmented 

1/4 cup Fresh torn mint leaves

1 Fennel bulb thinly sliced

1/2 cup Toasted Unsweetened Coconut Flake 

1/4 cup Sunflower seeds

* or hazelnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds….your call really

For the dressing:

Juice from 1/2 lemon

2 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 shallot minced

1/2 tsp agave or honey

* just to tone down the tart and tanginess of the lemon and rice wine vinegar along with the grapefruit

Season to taste with Salt & Pepper

* Scott’s mom had some great seasonings I also used and have since purchased 

-Simply Organic, Citrus A’Peel Organic sesame seed, organic orange peel, organic lemon peel, organic garlic, organic onion, organic parsley, organic coriander, organic fennel seed.

- Simply Organic Garlic Pepper Organic garlic, organic black pepper, sea salt, organic onion, organic cane sugar, silicon dioxide, organic parsley

What to do:

Wisk together Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Rice Wine Vinegar, Shallot, Agave, Salt and Pepper + any additional seasonings. Set Aside.

In a large bowl combine the Kale, Fennel and Mint leaves. Add 1/2 of the dressing to the bowl and massage the dressing into the Kale using your hands. The acidity from the citrus helps soften up the kale a bit. Do that for a few minutes. Then toss in the Coconut, Sunflower Seeds, Grapefruit and plate. 

Serve with remaining dressing on the side for anyone who would like to add a bit more. 

It is sooooooooooo good. 

2,922 days

For those of you who don’t know my husband or havent seen many pictures of him, he has tatoos, LOTS of them actually. He had a few when I met him, got a couple more when we were just friends, and has continued to get them throughout our close to 11 years together. There are a handful pre-me that I know he wishes he could take back, and a couple others pre-me he has repurposed with an artful sleeve but they all have a story and sort mark the many stages of his life as well as ours, which is cool.

When Scott and I were just dating he got a tattoo with his birthdate and the phrase “Day 1”. I didn’t “get it” and teased him about it A LOT. But that tattoo, as silly as I thought it was, sparked a theme in our relationship. Eight years ago today, I gave Scott a wedding band engraved with our wedding date and the phrase Day 1. (which he later replaced with a tattoo of my name) That was OUR Day 1 and today is our Day 2,922. 

I hate to be mushy and generally try not to do the “I have THE BEST husband EVER” post, status etc….because doesn’t everyone think that about the person they married?  BUT today I’m going to be that girl. Because 2,922 days ago I married a good, decent, honest, openminded, handsome and hysterical man….and while I’m at it…..my best friend, my biggest fan, greatest support, a ginger and my love. I am proud to say that I am CELEBRATING 8 years of marriage to an amazing man and partner and THE BEST guy for me.

There was a period of time where I thought it was silly to make a big deal out of each anniversary and quite honestly took each year for granted. As I get older, take better care of myself, keep myself (and Scott) in check and the more effort and attention I put into our relationship the more I realize that each year is a blessing and deserves attention and acknowledgement. 

Don’t get it twisted, NO relationship or person is perfect. I was 24 when we met, 25 when we started dating, and 29 when we got married. While I was by no means a child bride, I definitely had an immature POV on marriage. It  took me a while to truly understand the importance and significance of the commitment we made. We have had our ups, downs, lefts, wrongs and rights (and still do) but we both work hard at our perfectly imperfect relationship……everyday. 

In our wedding vows Scott said that his happiness was so closely tied to mine…..that his sun rises and sets with me. I think that about that so often and to this day it makes me well up. Even though I didn’t say that in my vows on Day 1, I feel the exact same way. So today, and last week ;), I am proud to CELEBRATE us.  

This post is for the “thing” iCARA about more than anything, which happens to be the “thing” that frequently and supportively takes the backseat to my work, my flaws, my course, my friends and shedontCARA. 

This ones for you Scotty Beavs. I love you to the moon and back.

Like Tony! Toni!+Tone! sang….

It’s Our Anniversary… It’s Our Anniversary, Anniversary……