Ack, Week 5 - 52 Days til Summer

I haven't forgotten about you lovely people!! NYC was amazing. Recapping in a blog post this weekend with pictures of all the goodness. I want to move there. Week 4 of the challenge was pretty good!! Like any habit, consistent positive self talk is going to take me some time, but I'm consistently working on it.

Week 5's challenge is going to be very simple -- what's a great habit that you used to have, but have recently fallen off of? Mine is to get back to juicing every morning! When I was actively following the Crazy Sexy Diet, I juiced every day and maintained that habit for a long time. Then life got in the way and I stopped - gah! I feel incredible when I start the day off with a fresh green juice and I miss that buzz! June 1 marked day 1 of juicing again and the last two mornings I've enjoyed a One Lucky Duck inspired juice of cucumber-apple-celery-romaine-mint-lime. Oh so delicious!!

New activity calendar will also follow this weekend.

AND in June I'm planning an outdoor yoga date and potluck to celebrate the 52 Days til Summer challenge -- please comment with your email if you would like to join us! Look's like it's going to happen on June 26 in the east of the city.

Lots of fun coming up on the blog next week!! How have you been doing with the challenge so far??! Can you believe we're already in June?

Rah Rah for Raw and the Crazy Sexy Diet

I love love love love LOVE this book

I’ve been a big fan of Kris Carr for a long time and the Crazy Sexy Life forums are an awesome place to be, so when I read about her latest book, I knew I wanted to get it.

February is usually a rough month for me, so rather than feel sad (especially since my show was ending too!), I decided it would be an amazing opportunity for some “Ashley time”. I read through the book, as well as Meghan’s 21 Days to Complete Health tutorial and with guidance from both was excited to start the 21 Day Adventure cleanse as documented in Crazy Sexy Diet. Every morning I start the day with a tall glass of water with lemon and cayenne followed by a huge glass of green juiceIt’s very green…

But oh-so-delicious! I feel so energetic after my green juice (which is a combination of celery, romaine, kale, cucumber, ginger and pear)

Meals include lots of (mostly) raw goodness…

huge salads (spinach, carrot, beet, broccoli with steamed tempeh & hemp seeds)

raw soups (spinach, lime & avocado)

zucchini noodle goodness (I’m not lucky enough to have a spiralizer (yet!) , but Gena’s raw peanut noodles were awesome!! I used one of the attachments on our food processor to slice the zucchini thin, but you could use a vegetable peeler too. Topped with a bit of tempeh & sesame seeds, it was a super yummy meal!)

and trips to yummy raw restaurants

Nicole and I went to Rawlicious last week where I had the rawitch and she had the taco wrap. Both were fantastic!! I opted to have a macaroon for dessert and it was the perfect end to our meal.

Between all the incredible food I’m eating (80-90% raw), the juicing, the dry brushing, meditation, physical activity and daily affirmations, I’m feeling absolutely stellar. Today is Day 11 and we were encouraged to write a love list of 10 things we love. “Love makes us radiant. Notice the love and invite it to tea”. Here goes…

Waking up minutes (even seconds) before the alarm goes off
Wearing flowers in my hair, no matter the season
Anything pink
Eating lunch in the sunroom
Finding the perfect quote to end my meetings
Walking into my room and seeing gorgeous flowers

Getting mail that isn’t a bill or paystub
Finding amazing new songs to sing
Scoring the comfy couches on tea dates with friends
Snuggling
Laughing til it hurts

Okay, so that’s 11… but I’ve never claimed that playing by the rules or math were strengths of mine. I’m invigorated and excited for the rest of the 21 days, although I feel like much of it may just be incorporated into everyday life going forward. Ah-mazing.

What’s on your love list? How do you push past the February blahs?

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…

I’m nearly on holidays and I’m so excited!! Had a really nice day today, which shall continue with my Charis & Zoe Christmas tonight!

Last night as I prepped for my meeting I made my first juice: Beet-apple-pear-ginger (it matches my hair apparently) which was absolutely delicious!! I found my new Breville very easy to use and clean, especially since it comes with it’s own little scrubby brush. Prepare yourself for many juicy photos on the bloggy.

Led three awesome meeting this morning. We were talking about perseverance and persistence, even through the challenging times. I shared this poem with my members:

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but do not quit.
Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.
-- Author Unknown

I encourage you to think back to a time in the past when you were demonstrated perseverance. What did you do? What motivated you? How did it feel? Remember that feeling and hold it close this week if you’re facing challenges at Christmas and New Year’s events. You have the strength and determination within yourself to make great choices and keep going in your journey.

This morning was made extra special by some visiting bloggers… (Andrea, Kerry, Kate, Allie & Kat)

because Kate got to Lifetime today!! Such wonderful icing on the cake. Thank you to all of my members for their hard work and dedication this year. Each and every one of you is doing so well and I look forward to helping more of you get to Lifetime this year. Last year I had 23, let’s shoot for the stars for 2010!!!

Some of my members brought me gifts and cards which was super sweet I felt so spoiled!! One of my members even made me latkes made with quinoa flour and homemade apple sauce after I had mentioned last week that I had been craving them – how adorable is that?? I was so surprised and was incredibly touched by their kindness. It was so great to see everyone and hug and head into this busy festive week on such a positive note.

After the meeting I had lunch with Lindsay at Mocha Mocha. It was so lovely to catch up! I had my usual warm brown rice salad and it did not disappoint. We had a wonderful long chat about life and work and Weight Watchers and other goodness that we had been missing out on for a few weeks. We also exchanged Christmas gifts which was fun!!

I received a beautiful set of bamboo utensils and a book of juice recipes (which was a bonus after Lindsay had seen the post about my Breville) So thoughtful and lovely – I can’t wait to use both!! I’ve promised Lindsay that I will have her over for juice very soon.

I love the holiday season, because it means that I get to spend quality time with all my favourite people!! I feel so blessed and couldn’t ask for anything more!! I hope you’re all having a good weekend and I will be back on Monday with details of the rest of the weekend’s festivities including our gluten free vegan Christmas meal from tonight!!

Best Friends, Food and Super Duper Surprises

Melly came over for dinner last night to celebrate Christmas! She has been so busy with school and is heading home to Winnipeg for Christmas so it was fantastic to chat and giggle with her. We’ve been friends since musical theatre school and she has been an amazing source of support for me through everything in the last few years. Love that girl!!

While I don’t believe in seeking comfort from food when it’s other emotions causing the stress, there is something wonderful about preparing a delicious meal and sharing it with people you love.

For dinner I served the broccoli-teriyaki stir fry (from Eat Drink &Be Vegan) over sweet-potato buckwheat soba noodles. Everyone enjoyed the meal and Joey went back for seconds to finish it off. We all enjoyed the soba noodles but agreed that they didn’t remind us of sweet potato at all!!

Dessert was unbelievable

Raw chocolate cream cake (courtesy of the beautiful Lori & Michelle) with a scoop of vanilla non-dairy ice cream. It was really easy to make and absolutely delicious. Mel and I were commenting and mmm-ing after every bite as to how creamy and chocolately and wonderful it was!! It’s quite rich, so a small piece goes a long way. So happy that I made this (so was Melly) and can’t wait to try more of the twins’ recipes!!

I gave Melly a copy of Make it Fast, Cook it Slow for her birthday/ Christmas because she got a slow cooker awhile back and was looking for delicious, easy recipes for it. She loved it and I can’t wait to hear her thoughts about Stephanie’s awesome recipes.

  Joey & I always exchange early since we’re up in Kirkland Lake on Christmas Day and we’re impatient we’re lazy it’s become a tradition for us to exchange gifts before he goes up. I got him a few smaller things including a wallet from Herbivore, some chocolate and a Beatles mug as well as having his amp fixed for him (so he can play more music!) What did he get me?A beautiful new water bottle  (perfect for school!)and in the big box? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee A Breville Juice Fountain Compact!! I’ve been saying for awhile that I want to get a juicer and Joey made my juicy dreams come true by getting me this little guy. Even Melly exclaimed “That’s amazing!” when she came in the door. I’m so excited to try it! Get ready for lots of juice pictures coming your way!

Any favourite juice combos or tips I should know about? I get carrot-beet-pear-ginger from the Big Carrot and it’s delightful! So lucky to have such a cool fiancé who will buy me appliances for Christmas especially since he does the dishes – I promise I will help keep it clean!

Are you as ready for a holiday as I am?
Have you given or received any gifts that
you’re ultra excited about?