Fruit w/Salad Supper Day 7 – Healing Journey Day 44

Journal:
Well, today has been an interesting day. It started off with some wonderful glasses of fresh-pressed orange juice mixed with blueberry juice. I honestly could drink variations of fresh orange juice every single day. I could NEVER grow sick of it.

I did the dishes after I finished drinking my juice, and started getting ready. Our first soccer game was at 5:45 pm and I had stuff to get done before then. Since tomorrow is a fully green juice day, I had to go get the green juices I ordered. This involved two stops: One at Splash Juicery and one at Glow Juicery. I picked up my 6 juices and hopefully will have enough for tomorrow. If not, I will be arriving back at Splash.

Following the juices, I had to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things in preparation of the three green smoothie days I will have following my green juice day.

I finally came home and had just enough time to make some food and get ready for the soccer game. This is what I made, as simple as it was:

Vegetables are really so pretty! Anyways, my dip tonight contained one avocado, one stalk of celery, one Roma tomato, two stalks of green onion, the juice of half a lemon, and three florets of cauliflower. I later added some fresh dill to it to boost the flavour, but I probably could have used some extra lemon as well.

I was not able to finish all of this before the soccer game, so I finished it after. There was a mix-up, so I was unable to play the game anyways. But following the game, I did have a Fuji apple to eat on the way home.

Now, I believe I have mentioned Spud on this blog before, but I am bringing them up again because they are such an awesome company. In anticipation of the smoothie days coming up, I ordered a case of bananas from Spud. Spud is a local organic delivery service. You go on their website, select what you would like to buy, pay online, and voila: It shows up on your doorstep on delivery day. It’s wonderful. But not only is this company good with their selection and service, they also do extra things for their customers, such as writing hand-written thank you notes, or throwing in a free gift with your order. With my last order, they threw in a bag of sweet potatoes. Now, I won’t be eating sweet potatoes for quite a long time, so I took my sweet potatoes upstairs to my housemates and offered them to them. I then seized the opportunity to share where they came from and what an awesome company Spud is. So if you want to check out their services, click on www.spud.ca.

So that pretty much sums up my night. I’m actually looking forward to my green juice day tomorrow and I’m interested to see how my tastebuds have changed in regards to the less sweet flavours of so many greens.

Review of Symptoms:
-Energy is good, though slightly tired today. Haven’t been going to sleep before midnight, so that may have something to do with it.
-Acne is good and not good at the same time.
-Cauliflower FILLS MY STOMACH UP!
-Hair is still good on day 7.
-Need to drink more water.
-Skin needs exfoliated badly.

Weight at the end of the day = 168 lbs (up 0.8 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1333 (73% carbs, 17% fat, 10% protein… a little low in calories, a little high in fat)

Fruit w/Salad Supper Day 5- Healing Journey Day 42

Journal:
I have been looking forward to this morning all week. I bought tons of Navel oranges just to make a juice in the morning with my new juicer. And today, I finally had time to make it!

So I did the same thing as last time except this time I juiced 8 Navel oranges and added about a cup of organic, blueberry juice. Mmmm… it is such a good combination!

My digestion hasn’t been the greatest the past few days for some reason, and let me just say, I stand by the juicing when you’re having digestion issues. It works very well!

For the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon, I did work on the computer. I had a few stressful things to deal with and it took a lot more time than I thought. I did go to the kitchen and slice up 5 golden kiwis that I ate quickly. Eventually I took a shower and did some running around, including getting enough supplies to last me through the rest of the weekend.

Monday will begin a day of green juices all day. So I ordered some green juices from a local juice place that I will be picking up on Sunday. From Tuesday-Thursday, I will be consuming green smoothies. It’s coming! I’m pretty far down the healing spectrum.

When I got home, I was preparing to make my salad. BUT my husband wanted to Skype. So I diverged and sliced up a bunch of mushrooms and made up a quick guacamole type thing to dip it in while talking to him. In the guac, I put an avocado, a Roma tomato, a stalk of green onion, and some lemon juice. It would have been better blended, but I mashed it to save time from getting out the blender.

Well, let’s just say I was on track to getting in a large amount of calories, closer to where I should be. BUT my housemates went to sleep before I could go out to make my salad. And since they are asleep… I couldn’t use my blender, meaning I couldn’t make a dressing which also means I couldn’t have a salad. So… I started thinking hard. I restocked my pile of lettuce while shopping today, and so I wanted to be sure to get in my head of lettuce for today. It took awhile but it hit me… banana and lettuce!

I’ve seen so many people do this, and yet it didn’t come to me right away. So many people take bananas, put them in lettuce, roll the leaf up, and just eat it that way. That was how I was going to make a “salad” of sorts and get my greens in! So that’s what I did.

     

It was so simple, yet actually pretty good. And yes, I know… my bananas were ripening funny. When I received these bananas in my Organic Box, they were the greenest bananas I had ever seen. But, they were ready, so I used them! Tomorrow I should be back on to a “normal” salad.

Review of Symptoms:
-Hair looks good! No grease after 5 days of no washing.
-SKIN IS DRY!!!!!!!! My face is flaking. Need to do some serious moisturizing and consider using coconut oil. Need to start exfoliating as well.
-Digestion is back on track today.
-Noticed a bump on my ring finger… not sure what is up with that.
-Energy is good.
-Face still full of acne… and not normal acne either… deep things that deeper than anything I’ve ever had before… sometimes with a mix of little bumps too.
-Dehydrated. Need to drink more water!!

Weight at the end of the day = 167.2 lbs (down 1.2 lbs since 3 days ago)

Total Calories = 1886 (80% carbs, 12% fat, 8% protein… so much better!)

Water Fasting w/ Lemon – Healing Journey Day 5

Journal:
Today was my final day of water fasting, but I did it with a twist: I added the slices of one lemon to my water. Why would I do this? I figured it would be a good transition between water fasting to juice feasting while also giving extra motivation the final day of no eating with a beautiful taste. Lemons also have the most minimal calories so it is almost like I’m consuming nothing anyways.

Let me tell you, that first taste of lemon water was absolutely divine! I have never had better tasting lemon water. It was so satisfying and just simply amazing.

When I woke up this morning, I actually felt like a fairly normal human being for once! I cannot describe how nice it was to wake up not feeling absolutely worn out and tired already. I actually slept off and on all night, waking up every couple of hours. I was expecting to be extremely tired this morning. However, my stomach was not burning and didn’t start burning until later though much milder than the previous day. My limbs were not cold even though I didn’t have the heater on and I was not as tired as I thought I would be; I was fairly wide awake. It was honestly the most amazing feeling after days of not feeling good at all. I hadn’t had any lemon water by this point so I’m not sure why the change happened, but I will honestly say that I have never been so thankful to feel good.

So as mentioned, the stomach burning did happen shortly after I got out of bed. It wasn’t near as bad as before, but still something noticeable. Honestly, it was so mild I barely noticed it throughout the day. But in the very first part of the morning, not only did my stomach begin to burn a little (again probably from my body metabolizing fat stores), but I felt a little weak walking around. What fixed that? The blessed lemon water. Again, I cannot tell you what the little flavour and tiny calories of lemon in my water is doing for my body. I did not even squeeze the lemon into it. I simply sliced up a lemon, put it in my water bottle, and kept refilling with water as I ran out. I feel more stable and stronger when I walk though I can still tell I’m looking for opportunities to sit when possible and my energy is not back to where it should be. Still, the improvement is huge!

I got through my work day fairly well, though once again, about half way through the day, I was still looking for any opportunity to sit down and limit my walking. Of course, as the day went on, the lemon began to lose its strength of flavour. But something is still better than nothing!

After I got home, I had energy enough to actually sit upstairs and have a conversation with my housemates which was awesome. I did end up coming downstairs to my part of the house and decided just to lay down and watch some YouTube. Partly to rest my body, and partly because it was a hot day and I wanted to wait for the heat to die down before I ran any errands. I probably laid down for about an hour watching YouTube videos and then somehow fell asleep.

I did not feel so good when I woke up. My stomach was hurting again and almost felt like my stomach muscles were cinching just not to the level of being “pinched”. It was a dull but constant pain and not a sharp pain. I got a touch of the same acid reflux/heartburn feeling that I had yesterday and though I tried to use the washroom with the same proper posture I used yesterday, there was no success. My energy literally felt like it was drained from my body while I slept although I continued to drink lemon water after I woke up.

I made myself get changed for the gym and made it out to my car. I was taking many deep breaths for the rest of the night. I had to go to the store to buy a cable to tie my dog outside as he chewed through his soft leash and there are gaps in the fence that he can easily fit through. The cable is 15 feet long and he’s a miniature dachshund so that is tons of room for him to go through almost the whole backyard. But after I was done going through the store, I felt winded and awful. Still, I made myself drive to the gym.

After I got to the gym parking lot, I knew I had to make a choice. I could either force myself to go in and do a small cardio workout and risk the chance of feeling even worse than I did, or just go home and see if I could sleep it off. I decided to go home and try to sleep it off.

I think today has truly been the weakest and most uncomfortable I have felt yet. It is not pleasant though I think it is so weird how good I felt in the morning to how awful I felt towards the evening.

At this point, I’m kind of nervous about how my body will react to the introduction of juice tomorrow. I am excited that it’s the closest to “food” that I will have consumed in 6 days, but at the same time, with the way I feel, I’m not sure what my body’s reaction will be. I only pray that it is a good reaction and that it will help my energy come back.

In total, though it felt like I drank more, I only had about 2L of water today. I did savour the lemon flavour.

Review of Symptoms:
Acne is noticeably better today. No new pimples again and instead of being a brighter red, they are starting to pale-down. That is something to celebrate. Stomach burning has gone down significantly becoming almost unnoticeable. Waking up feeling refreshed and “normal” was a treat. Sleep was lacking as I woke up every couple hours throughout the night. Something odd that I noticed was the veins in my hands are much more visible. I have pale skin to begin with, but I can see many more veins than usual. Stomach cramping in the evening. Energy zapped in the evening.

Weight at the end of the day = 180.8 lbs (down 1.8 lbs in 24 hours, down a total of 8 lbs in 96 hours)

Total Calories = ~15-20 calories

Brutal Reality

I came across a picture not that long ago that clearly struck me as truth in a reality-awakening sense. This was the picture:

Yes, this is a strong picture. No, it is not something we would want to look at. But the very controversy of these pictures explains the reality that most people don’t understand.

Growing up, I knew I hated seal clubbing. It’s a brutal, beat-them-until-they-die way of getting some seal skin to make clothing for humans. It’s terrible. Imagine yourself, as the picture portrays, being beaten to death so you can be skinned and worn. It’s so unnecessary. We have so many clothing options and yet people prefer to pay a high price for brutality. Useless.

Growing up, I also knew I didn’t like trophy hunting. Trophy hunting is where the animal isn’t killed for its meat, but simply for its skin, a picture, and a trophy. Imagine if we were hunted for a trophy. Our lives a waste just to end up on somebody’s wall. A father or mother torn apart from their family, their friends, their herd just so you can kill them, stuff them, and put them up for your pleasure. Awful.

Growing up, it made me sick to think about bullfighting. What humans enjoy watching animals be injured, suffer and be killed for fun? It’s such a brutal, painful, slow death I could never stand the thought of it. And people enjoy this!! It used to make me so mad as a kid. So as the picture describes, imagine that everyone came to watch you die a slow and painful death. And just when you were on the brink of barely having a reason to live anymore, confused as to why these people would cause you so much harm, they finish you off. The last moments of the animal’s life was the cruelest it could have ever imagined. And humans enjoy this. Disgusting.

The one thing I didn’t connect growing up was the very fact of wearing fur. Of course fur is beautiful… it’s gorgeous! But it isn’t ours. And yes, you may think that the animal is killed for other reasons and then the skin has to be used, but that’s not how it is. Most of the animals who are trapped for their skins aren’t even dead when they are skinned. Meaning they are fully conscious of the skin being ripped of their very bodies all so you can wear something “fashionable”. I know there were some natives (in history) who used to scalp people. Go ask them how that turned out. The thing is, you won’t be able to because they’re dead. Just as humans can’t live without their skin, neither can animals. Instead, humans don’t care about the animals and gladly wear their bodies, their brutal death around. Terrible.

The thing is, humanity has become so blind. And though it’s not entirely our fault, a large portion of it is. The meat industry, dairy industry, egg industry, fish industry, fashion industry and entertainment industries have caused us to think so blindly. They regularly lie and hide things they don’t want you to know. But it’s on our part to do the research, to investigate what really happens. The Internet is huge. Documentaries are everywhere. What excuse do you have?

From now on, before you make the choice to buy (or not buy) animal products, do your research. I can honestly tell you the safest bet is to avoid all animal products. By avoiding all of them, you can ensure you are not contributing to the cruelty. If you already have these products, it’s up to you to decide what to do. The damage has been done and you can’t take it back. But you can decide who your future dollars are going to fund. It comes down to one simple choice: Will you pay for the cruelty to continue, or will you pay for the humane choices to thrive? Every dollar being avoided towards cruelty is another step in showing those industries we don’t want their services anymore. What will your decision be?

Coconut Oil and Eyes: The Follow-Up

Recently, I had an experience that really freaked me out. I had just gotten ready to leave the house and meet someone, and both of my eyes were going seriously blurry! I know I’ve had slight eye problems in the past, but this was almost like something was coating my eyes. I rubbed them way too much trying to get rid of it. It would go away, but then as soon as I looked down and back up, it would be back. It did go away eventually, but it made the thought of driving scary for awhile.

Naturally, I panicked over this. I couldn’t believe I was going to have some eye disease or condition. But then I got this brilliant idea to see if coconut oil must have had something to do with it. So I began researching, and lo and behold, I found my answer. Let me tell you guys, as scary as my experience was, coconut oil is SO good for your eyes!

So here’s the deal. I was being a little lazy, and not cleaning my mascara off at night. This led to me cleaning it with my homemade coconut oil eye makeup remover in the morning. Mixed with warm water, it is absolutely possible to get a little bit of the coconut oil in my eyes. Guys, coconut oil DOES NOT hurt or sting when it gets in your eyes. You’d probably never even know.

So what I researched is that coconut oil will coat your eyes. It is advised to use coconut oil at night (aka not be so lazy) because it will just prepare itself as one of those corner-of-your-eyes sleepy things in the morning, easily removed and your eyes won’t be blurry. This is a simple enough fix.

As I continued to research, I actually found out that coconut oil was a lot better than I thought for you! This is a summary of the most extreme testimony I found.

A poor woman had a bacteria/parasite infestation. For her body, she was put on some drugs from her doctor. She was also using drops for her eyes but they weren’t giving her good results. So she talked to someone who mentioned using coconut oil drops. She did this, and every morning, the same parasite eggs that the prescribed drugs were pushing through her skin were also in the corner of her eyes in the morning, ready to be wiped away. The coconut oil was actually cleaning her eyes when over-the-counter drops were not working. How awesome is that?

I always prefer natural products, things that have no chemicals, no additives that I don’t want on my body, and natural things that are brought from the earth. If you haven’t tried the coconut oil yet, definitely give it a try! Just remember to use it at night, and not in the morning to avoid blurry eyes!

Homemade Eye-Makeup Remover

Alright people. I’ve had a pattern my entire life to never buy the same products. After I finish a foundation of one brand, I try a foundation of another line. Life is too short to be boring, right?

Well, since I’ve turned vegan and have been studying the effects of not only food but chemicals that we ingest, it only made sense to study more into the products we put on our bodies as well.

Skin is the largest organ of the body. What we put on it, it soaks up and then puts IN our bodies. This can be scary if you consider the chemicals some of our products contain.

Recently, I finished my last eye makeup remover, and then was faced with the dilemma of tracking down a vegan option (which would probably be a larger amount of money), or learn to make my own. Guys, or ladies, let me tell you, I have found the cheapest and easiest to make eye makeup remover. You just need 2 things: Organic cotton pads and organic extra virgin coconut oil. That’s it.

So I don’t even make these ahead of time. What I’ve done is purchased a jar of coconut oil (solid at room temperature, but you could use the liquid oil as well), and purchased the organic cotton pads. I keep everything in the bathroom with a butter knife. When I’m washing my face, I then put a tiny amount of oil on a cotton pad (a little goes a LONG way), spread it out with the knife, and then use it as a regular eye makeup remover. It’s really that easy. The best part is, it’s so healthy for you, and the oil helps to moisturize your eyes.

Did you know that once you hit 20, your eye area quits making as much natural moisturizer as other parts of your body? This is how the market for eye moisturizers has boomed. But we now know the cheaper and healthier secret: coconut oil! Love it!

Persimmons – My Favourite!

Have you ever had a persimmon before? Did you fall in love with them as much as I did? If you’ve never had a persimmon, you’re missing out!

The first time I ever had a persimmon, I was in a RV of a youth group leader for breakfast. She had this strange, orange fruit that was hard. She sliced it up and told us to give it a try. It was different, but it was good.

Fast forward to today, and I can’t get enough of them! I would even dare say they are my favourite fruit! But enough about me, on to the persimmons.

As the picture shows, there are two types of persimmons: Hachiya and Fuyu.

The one that gets eaten while hard is the Fuyu. It’s smaller in height, and almost does resemble a small pumpkin. The flavour is sweet and very good. Go ahead and eat the peel on this one!

The Hachiya should be eaten when it is almost jelly on the inside. It should be very soft to the touch, and even some black on the peeling is good. The last Hachiya I ate had half of its peel turn black, but the inside was so delicious that I almost cried I didn’t have more. It was so good. And no, I did not eat the peel. Black peel is not my thing.

Seriously people, if you’ve never had a persimmon before, go buy one right now and try it. You won’t regret it! Check out the some of the health benefits below!

Skinned Alive

So, it’s getting time for me to get a new vehicle. Not because I’m tired of my old one, but because my current one is going a little psychotic on me. Let me explain.

Half of the time, when I turn the key in the ignition to turn my car on, it revs really high for no reason. I then usually wait a minute for it to slow down a bit before putting my foot on the brake and putting the shifter into reverse. Almost always, it will rev itself high again, and if I didn’t have my foot on the brake, I would be in the neighbour’s house. I’ve even had to slam it back into park and shut it off because the vehicle just wants to fly backwards. It’s the scariest thing.

Now, my husband asked the mechanics about the situation, and apparently it’s common for my era of Kia to do this and they aren’t really sure what causes it or how to fix it. So essentially, according to the actual Kia mechanics, I’m at a loss. I either keep driving this vehicle and chance getting seriously hurt or seriously hurting others someday, or get something new that is safer. So naturally, we’re looking for something new.

Now, since I’ve been educating myself so much on how things are going in the world, leather has become an issue for me. I don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve been car shopping, but most of the vehicles come with leather seats now. In fact, you can’t get the fancier packages without leather seats; they just don’t make them that way.

The issue is, my husband doesn’t care if it has leather. In fact, he prefers leather. I, on the other hand, do not want leather. In fact, it is my number one criteria. Cows get skinned for that leather, and it’s not a “happy” world where we think the cows are dead before they skin them. In most cases, the cows are not. And before you start distancing yourself from any feelings of understanding, put yourself in their shoes. Do you want to be alive while they are shedding your skin off of your body? Do you know the FDA says it’s ok for a cow to just be “stunned” before they are slaughtered? I refuse to have any part of this.

Let’s talk Rolls Royce for a moment. It’s a highly sought after car. But did you know they boast about how many cows the kill to get enough leather for the interior of their vehicles? They are happy to boast about containing 15-18 cow hides inside every Phantom. It’s sickening.

Maybe some of you think I’m crazy. But honestly, think about it a minute, and reply below. How can you purchase something that could have been skinned alive, feeling every stroke of that knife, having the outer layer of your nerve-attached body peeled off of you, just so you have a “fancier vehicle”? I’m not that heartless! What do you think?

Article on this issue: http://www.care2.com/causes/the-shocking-truth-about-leather-no-its-not-a-meat-byproduct.html

***The truth of the matter is, I was going to post a picture as there are many of these poor cows being skinned alive for leather. Just go to Google and type something as simple as “cows leather” and you will several pictures come up. It is a sad reality. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I can’t look at these pictures without wanting to cry, without feeling ashamed that we are treating a life like that. I have loved animals since I was young and never put the pieces together about what I was eating until a couple years ago. Animals were my pets, were my joy, were my friends. They brought a calmness and a sense of uplifting to my life. I can’t stand by and be a cause of the pain and suffering they have to endure for our own selfishness. So I will leave these pictures with you that I believe will still get the point across. All animals have brains. They all feel, have emotions, and react in their method of communication. Don’t be heartless. Have a heart.

Why Go Vegan?

Hello everyone!

This is a huge decision, as you can imagine. I want to explain myself as to why I’m choosing this venue. Let me explain my history.

My father was very young when his family went from Quebec to New Brunswick. Speaking little to no English, they struggled for awhile to because accustom to the new province. My grandfather was a woodsmen complete with a team of horses and later big machinery. My father quit school after grade 9 to work with my grandfather. And so the lifestyle of “meat and potatoes” began. Whatever they shot was their meat, and whatever my grandmother grew in the garden was their produce. A very simple, carnivorous life.

Naturally, I grew up eating A LOT of meat. Not because we didn’t go shopping, but I was still a hunter’s daughter, and meat was a regular, every-meal thing. When I was young, it would be no big deal for me to sit down to a pound of bacon myself. It’s a miracle I wasn’t obese!

When I met my first vegetarians in grade 8, I was amazed. This concept that I believed to only belong to celebrities belonged to real life people! I was the only vegetarian in my area, and the lack of knowledge was evident in a quick trip to a hospital with extensive stomach pains. The doctor then informed me of some vital nutrition I was missing, and instead of telling me to eat meat again, told me some vital vegetables I needed to be sure I ate daily.

I was vegetarian for around 10 years. I quit meat cold turkey. My grandfather of course was convinced I was going to die, and was continuously trying to feed me meat. My only family was shocked, but my grandmother on my mother’s side, who has always had an interest in health, was happy. She basically went vegetarian with me! (She never was much of a meat eater).

When I met my husband, he was vegetarian and had been his whole life. My university graduation had led my brother to convince my future husband to try the “real stuff”. From then on, he was hooked.

Eventually, it was the smell of beef jerky that won me back. That smell in my very house all over again won me in. In fact, it opened up the whole new realm of macro counting with my interest in fitness peaking too. With the high levels of protein “needed”, it seemed as if I couldn’t survive without meat. And so I ate meat again for roughly 4 years.

Now, I’ve done so much research. And to keep it short, there is so much evidence that a plant-based diet is the way to go. I would like to think of myself as “getting back to the basics”, naturally. The world of fitness and diet will continuously battle itself. All information can be conflicting. But nothing can deny the way you feel both mentally, physically, and spiritually. Mentally, I’m not hating my food, I’m not worried about going over my “macros”, and I’m not worried about having to stop myself from eating while still feeling like I’m starving. Physically, I feel better. I don’t have to worry about eliminating things to figure out what’s wrong with my body, I get to look forward to younger, more flawless skin. And spiritually, I can feel good about being accountable for selecting the best foods that I can. I can also feel good about my choice not to inflict pain on animals that I myself could not kill. If I couldn’t do it, why do I take part in the process at all?

Some things I’m going to be doing are:
-Trying to buy as much organic as I can
-Continuing my workouts
-Drinking 3L of water a day
-Learning more about, and sticking to food combining rules
-Cutting processed sugar 95%
-Eating mostly fruit until supper
-Eating raw 90% of the time
-Eating until I’m full!

I will keep you posted on my journey! I’m excited for this new phase 🙂

Week 7 Day 1

Today was a miserable day. We had to wake all too early, my girls didn’t even want to get up. The kids were tired from playing the night before, and yet games started at 9:00 a.m. with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. The poor kids. And to make it completely make it terrible the temperature was completely freezing, and it snowed, wet snow. The kids were tired, soaked, freezing, and the wind made it the worst it could get.

Our students actually made it to semi-finals. But we assured them that if they decided to quit, they would not be letting us down. I mean the weather condition was about the worst it could get. But our kids were troopers, playing through injuries, sliding on the ground, and shivering all the while. Until it got to a point that two of our good players couldn’t run anymore, and they finally understood they would not be letting us down if they quit. So they forfeited, and came inside. Some of the kids even had skin that was turning purple. I sent them immediately to warm up in sauna that was in the locker rooms. The kids were completely done and it wasn’t worth it anymore.

After the kids finished packing up and left, I actually ended up staying at a friend’s house because our staff had meetings in the same location the next day, so it wasn’t worth driving home for the night then driving back. Of course, this was just another day I didn’t see my husband, but we both rather I be safe, especially with the snow on the road.

I had an excellent night with my friend. Of course, those handy meals were still super helpful. But I did splurge and went out for supper with my friend to a restaurant I had never been to before. I had a salad and some Greek appetizers that I split with her. It was very, very good. But I did notice how full I felt afterwards. A little too full.

My friend had not been at the gym in quite awhile, and so I volunteered to go and train her. I didn’t get much of my own workout done, unfortunately, but I was able to show her many exercises for the different body parts so that she could know of some things to do while I was gone. I had so much fun training her!

I thought I had gone to bed at a fairly decent time, until her husband came home. I’ve known them both since high school, so of course I had to say hello to him. I didn’t quite expect it to turn into a few hours of talking about football, but it did. And so it was another very late night.