The Magical Loaf Studio

I found it! I wasn't sure where I'd come across it but OMG OMG OMG check THIS out!!!

http://www.veganlunchbox.com/loaf_studio.html

enjoy x

Eating Local

I have just finished reading “The 100 Mile Diet” by Alissa Smith & JB MacKinnon, and it was so interesting.

While eating local may not be the answer to everything (yes, it may be closer, but costwise it may not be sensible as just one fact) it raises the point that we really have become so far removed from our food. Not just physically – but on so many levels. I have no idea where my food comes from – whether in Australia or overseas. I have no idea how many pesticides it has been sprayed with, or how old it is!

Over the last 2 months my flatmate and I have been getting an Organic Fruit & Veg box deliverd (by The Organic Grocer) and the quality is amazing. See? Fruit really isn’t meant to go off and soggy within 2 days of purchase!! haha..

So I'm making a promise to myself to eat more local foods - and while I am not sure how things will go with this goal, I am interested in just finding out where my food comes from. How far it travels. Where it originates from.

It will be interesting : )

Has anyone else got any tips or does anyone know about this stuff? If so, please help this city gal out!!!

Fun posts:
Organic news and small family farms

ABC Local Challenge

The 100-Mile Diet – the book & site

Slow Food

Holidays are here!

It was not just another Saturday..... no, it was the beginning of my holidays. So a jaunt was in order!

I woke up before my alarm went off so just lazed in bed reading books, then got up and had some yummy organic strawberry jam on toast. Then we had a little visitor - Baby D came over and we had a ball just doing, um, baby stuff. Watching him, laughing at him, trying to feed him.. Babies rock : )

Next I headed into Newtown to go to the post office, and as I was over that way I dropped by the Glebe Markets. I wandered around the stalls (bought 2 awesome 2nd hand books), just taking in the colours and smells and sights, and then plonked down in the park to enjoy my feast whilst a guitarist was playing and kids were running about.

My feast? There's a regular stall there with the BEST EVA beanie nachos (you can get them on brown rice or corn chips) - it's been there for years and it's just so fresh and yummy. I just head to Glebe and get a craving for them so today it was all about the beanies : )

I then came home to devour my new books - Simple Abundance, and the Celestine Prophecy, both of which I'd been looking on amazon for! - and had a nap. I love afternoon naps!

Pottered about, had some fabulous gluten free patties on a bed of rocket with shaved parmesan and tahini for dinner, and then had an early night. Woke up to a gorgeous sunny Sunday and decided more food was in order!

Yummy scrambled eggs with fetta a fresh parsley, with jasmine & green tea

I started doing the exercises in Living Out Loud whilst sitting in the backyard, and that all got me thinking about what I want to do these holidays. Then it was time to go and see my friend's new little bubba - so so teeny tiny! Can I tell you how excited I am to have these bubs in my life??

Monday - BED DAY! You heard right, all day, in bed, books and magazines. Is this gold? Yes indeed!

The holidays are off to a good start : )

PS - isn't waking up without an alarm clock the best thing?!!

debt free by 30 three

I love books. I actually have a very real problem where if I walk into a bookstore, I walk out with 1 or 2 books, it's addictive. So it's exciting to now love Amazon, because even with all the postage, it's SO much cheaper than purchasing them in the physical stores. *Bliss* My latest arrival is the gorgeous Living Out Loud by the fantastical Keri Smith. Ohh this lady is a genius! So creating, loving, amazing and inspiring! The book is full of colour and creative ways to make your life full of beans and joy. I just had a huge grin on my face whilst reading : )

And even better, she has a new book out! Yay! So the fun will continue! I just wish it came a day earlier so I could have taken it with me on the flight to Perth. Yes - I made it over to WA for the first time this week, for some work stuff. Of course I also managed to go on the wettest day they've had in years, but still, what a beautiful city. And you gotta love inflight movies! I finally checked out The Other Boleyn Girl, and not really knowing much about it - WOW! Such a fantastic flick, and great cast. It always sounds so cheesy when people say that (oh yes, fabulous cast, dahhhhling), but with Eric Bana, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johanssen, it really did.

On the way back I got to see Lars and the Real Girl, which made me cry - really moving and yummo Ryan Gosling is tasty (even if he falls in love with a doll). What a movie - really touching. I started to also check out Manufacturing Dissent but ran out of time. That is the doco made about Michael Moore and I need to get it out! Looked great.

On the home front, I was all set in my pj's last night but ended up going out to see Something For Kate, a band who I used to lurve, but then kind of moved on from. However, so so glad I went - they played a whole mixture from all their albums and I was singing along.. fun night. Got to catch up with an old friend as well which was really nice.

So feeling a little heady today and am still in the pj's, but hey, that's what Sundays are all about, right? ;) So yes, most of the day has been spent in bed and reading. I've just started The 100 Mile Diet, which I'm just devouring. Raises so many interesting points and it's a little (lot!) scary to realise just how far removed we are from our food.

I've also been back on the lookout for new Personal Finance blogs, as I'm finally making movement on paying of the debt. It's looking like I could well be debt free by 33 and that makes my heart shine. Bring it on!!!! Anyway, so I found some cool blogs (will update my sidebar soon) and the best couple of links are below. 100 great tips for saving money & 100 things to do during a money free weekend. Some pretty cool ideas : )

So right now I'm checking out some good books, loving some interesting PF blogs and also found a new dangerous link - the Top 100 Aussie Women Blogs - because I don't already spend enough time online as it is! Eep! Some awesome new discoveries to be found.

Now though, I've got to focus on the task at hand - deciding what to cook for dinner. I am needing some more peace, love and brown rice in my life so the food is gonna be healthy and wholesome, and even better, I'll get to share it with my gorgeous flatmate.

Life is good : )

**Honourable Mention has to go to Mad Mex - an awesome new mexican place on Crown Street in Surry Hills. YUM YUM YUM. I love Mexican - but let me tell you, it's damn hard to find good tasting Mexican deliciousness around Sydney. This goes part way in helping ammend that problem.

Where the hell is Matt? You will love it!

>>>Where the Hell is Matt??<<<

This will make your heart smile : )

How to avoid being grumpy

With thanks to Hip Tranquil Chick:

- drink oodles of water

- read a good book

- don fabulous sunglasses

- wear a flowy dress

- enjoy the complimentary hot yoga

- apply waterproof mascara

- surround yourself with people who make you laugh

- go for a swim

- stay locked up in AC (or the heater!) with a yummy book (for an even better dose of tranquility, add in a yummy cupcake)

- don open-toe shoes and get a pedi

- drink more water

- eat a yummy spinach salad with strawberries

- focus on all you have to be grateful for

- call someone you love and thank them for being in your life

- meditate on a comfy cushion

- write it out in your journal

Rearview Mirror

"we form our own destiny by our thoughts and beliefs" emmet fox

We all have this great big vision of where we want our life to be - of how we want our destiny to pan out. Me, through the young eyes of a 12 year old, thought I'd be a writer with a well established career, that I would own my own house with my husband and kids.

For better or worse our visions don't always come to fruition, but it's interesting to sometimes look back on the path we created for ourselves, figure out if we chose the right fork in the road, and then if not..... do everything in our power to get back on the right track.

What is the right track? Of course it will change and ebb and flow just as the seasons do at different stages in our life. But sometimes you just 'know' that where you are, right now, is not right. It just feels a bit murky.

No matter how far you travel down a wrong road, you can always turn back. Always.

So here we go. I'm trying to leave behind some of my past (while always knowing that it has shaped me into who i am today), and turn down a different road. It's scary but also exciting.

Ok.. nah, I'm scared shitless. Haha. I know my battles and even though they make things uncomfortable, I have had them for years. They are almost like a security blanket. But the time has come to let go and jump.

It's kind of freaky really.. to get to a point and realise you are completely f*&ked and then have no idea how to go about fixing it. So i'm picking up books and podcasts and I'm going back to being a student (i always was ok at that).. and I'll follow the plan laid out in the book and the words from my friends. It's really all i can do right now and honestly, it's not too bad a beginning.

x