Kick-Off Day

It's Day #1 of the Vegan Kick-Off Day sponsored by PCRM (as I've blogged about in previous posts) and already I've veered off the path.  Note that I haven't "cheated"....no animal products....but I'm not following the prescribed recipes they suggest. 

I had marble rye toast (no butter) and grapejuice for breakfast.

But that's okay.  They just "suggest" recipes, but I think you are encouraged to "do your own vegan thing" if you want to, too.  Here's what they suggest for today:

Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Lunch: Couscous Confetti Salad and Carrot and Red Pepper Soup

Snack: Fantastic Fruit Smoothie

Dinner: Hoppin’ John Salad and Kwick Kale

Ok, let's get real.  I am going to the local Publix in an hour, but I hate, hate, hate oatmeal, unless it's swimming in brown sugar, and although brown sugar isn't "animal", it's not real healthy, either.  (Hence the toast this AM)  I am going to prepare the soup, but not the couscous.  Instead of the fruit smoothie, I'll have my yummy chocolate soymilk/banana smoothie and forget that entire dinner.  I have another vegan one planned.

To be continued..........................................

Happy New Year 2010!

My New Year's Eve afternoon was spent walking the beach.  It was near 70 degrees and sunny with clear blue skies (although a few of the following photos appear gray....I was facing into the sun in those).  Click any to enlarge:

Too cool for me to swim.....I just strolled....

Someone's handiwork...

Ya gotta at least enlarge this one to see the flock of birds.

Spotting our plane friends (from previous post)

It's 11:30PM now and I can hear the bass and music down at Baytowne Wharf (the Village in Sandestin) as the bay amplifies it across to my part of the resort....even the din of people laughing, screaming, clapping....my rental agent dropped off a bottle of champagne for me this afternoon, but I won't pop the cork until I'm gathered with some of my new snowbird friends down here....

I did step out onto my front porch, however, and snap these shots of the Blue Moon we are witnessing tonight:

About 10PM

And at 11:15PM, as clouds rolled in....

I hear a fireworks spectacular over the bay now, horns honking outside, and Fox is showing last hour's NY ball drop in Times Square.  So while I watch Dick Clark and New Year's Eve Around the World (hoping to see my Chicago celebrations) I'll wish you all a very Happy New Year 2010!

Silent (Nearly) Night

Too busy being with the grandkids to photograph the grandkids, except for this one time I had them for the afternoon at the park last week, while Pat and Kate finished up some Christmas shopping.   On the drive from the park to CiCi's Pizza (where we don't eat but stay happily involved plunking tokens into prize-producing machines) they fell asleep.

Those are my headlights, as I sit debating about rousing them or letting them awaken on their own.  Problem solved when I turned off the car.  They awoke by themselves, and luckily, in good moods upon seeing we had arrived.

Vegan-Bound, "Julie and Julia"-Inspired

Ok, back from my son's house and a memorable 6-day Christmas visit (thank you Pat and Kate!) and back onto the vegetarian/vegan path.  Since I've been reading my daily emails from http://www.pcrm.org/ about the 21 Day Kick Off that I wrote about in a previous post, I am gearing up for this three-week vegan program. 

And I was about to go, "Oh, hell.  I've tried to do stuff like this before and haven't stuck with it.  Do I really want to expend the effort again?"  So, I took a break and went to read my email when, lo and behold, I encountered today's horoscope (oh, just humor me....I get them daily for fun): 

Tuesday, Dec 29th, 2009 -- You are usually able to cut your losses and move on because you have such a pragmatic outlook on life. But now as you face the prospects of not reaching your goal, consider talking yourself into trying one more time. Although the odds don't seem to be in your favor yet, they could dramatically turn around in just a few short weeks. If you don't give it one more shot, you'll never know what you might have accomplished.

Hmmm, see how I can immediately apply that to the subject of this post?

So I'm going to spend the next couple of afternoons at the local library, printing out what to stock my pantry with for this venture, along with many of the recipes listed at their site. If you want to join me, or attempt any of the recipes yourself, go to http://www.21daykickstart.org/.  And I'm going to blog about it, just like Julie Powell did in the Julie-Julia Project, her blog which inspired the movie (hence, this post's title.) 

Except I'm not expecting anyone to offer me money for movie rights.

Merry Christmas

Happy Winter Solstice

WINTER SOLSTICE 2005

We are approaching the seasonal time of the solar year when the ‘sun stands still’—the Winter Solstice. Our word solstice comes from the Latin sol stetit meaning ‘sun stands still.’ For approximately six days, it appears that the sun does not move—mythologically recorded in various cultures tales and mysteries ranging from the legends of the Pacific Islander’s Maui to the enigma surrounding Machu Picchu’s Sun Stone...The Winter Solstice marks the time of the longest dark and the shortest light... At this most important and very special and sacred time of the year, it is most appropriate to consider ones past year and the year to come. The following are some questions that you can ask yourself and include in your Winter Solstice honoring and celebration:



As the light returns what issues are blocking my lights expansion?

What patterns do I need to change to transform into a more loving and powerful divine human being?

What fears can I release over the next year?

What life lessons have I learned over the past year? And what do I need to do so that I do not repeat the mistakes of the past?

How best can I bring out the light to myself, to family, to others and to the earth and all its creatures?

What do I need to release that is hindering my spiritual power?

What spiritual commitment do I need to make that will heal the past, empower the present and provide the achievement of Divinehood in the future?

At this time of the returning light, honor the silence, the darkness, and the mystery of life from which all new creation emerges. Rejoice in this time of love and cheer for the eternal renewal of all things.

Happy Winter Solstice

Copyright ©2001 Spiritual Growth - Morning Star Institute. All Rights Reserved.

Christmas Lights in Sandestin

The resort is decked out with little white lights everywhere....at the gated entrances, at the neighborhood entrances, on individual houses and in Baytowne Wharf, the village within the resort.  Not "over the top" glam, but bright, cheery, holiday-spirit lights.  Here are some examples you can click to enlarge:

Main Gate

Around the Neighborhoods

Ok, I've just spent the entire evening (like four hours) searching for dozens of pictures of beautiful houses in Sandestin and their Christmas decorations (not just these simple neighborhood signs) that I took and downloaded somewhere on this computer.  I browsed through them all just the other day and now for the life of me, I cannot find them.  If anyone knows anything I don't about finding them, please holler!  Dang, this is a MYSTERY!

So unfortunately, I have to end here.